Where's The Music?

In case you were wondering, I hadn't quit trying to play the piano yet. I just haven't posted videos of me playing because synchronizing the music and video is a pain, plus every now and then a freaking circular saw operates in the garage and ruins the sound. Also, I've been baking and my fingers are a little tired from doing all the mixing, and are a little shaky (apparently not tired enough to type).

What I won't be doing is singing in the video. I realize that all this time of talking very little and not practicing my singing has taken a toll on my voice. It sounds like crap on a microphone. Oh well, again.

Just please keep on coming to the site regularly and I'll warn you if the time comes that I won't be updating regularly. Or I'll warn you if I'm about to assault you with my amateurish piano playing. Either way, I want to keep you interested, so please check this blog every now and then, I'm very frequently updating and finding ways to jester my way into your hearts. Ha ha ha.

TRP 32: From Concept to Final Work Series 1

From among the publications committee in the Medical Students Society, we had to come up with a poster for the 32nd TRP variety show, which had a theme of "Movie Night." I knew immediately I wanted a glamorous image of an theater, with the marquee, and the red-carpet feeling. So I made a concept sketch:

However, working directly on computer wasn't a great idea. First of all, it looked like shit. No red carpet feeling. This might as well have been a depressing unpopulated discotheque. So we start from scratch, this time on paper:

I showed it over the mailing list and Winlove loved it, asking the rest if we could pursue the design. I was flattered and immediately got to work. I had obviously been greatly influenced by the work of Bert Monroy, so I bought his book to fully grasp the concepts behind photrealistic computer art. Again, I made the same mistake of working directly on the computer first, but it was a good exercise to get the techniques just right and to get a feel for the colors.

Working in a traditional manner, I made the perspective skeleton in Adobe Illustrator:

The proceeded to fill in the details.

Unfortunately, the giant TRP 32 sign was too much work and it was incredibly ugly, so I decided to change it to an easier (cheating, really) method and at the same time, make it look glamorous. So, my favorite method. Winlove made a few more suggestions about adding views of Manila in the background, hence the final product:

I hope this feature has cleared up the creative process to you guys, and shown that good design takes a lot of thought, and hard work really shows. It's not a matter of plopping down all the elements you can in Photoshop and adding a cool Filter. I hope you also had fun reading this, by the way.

Basil Panna Cotta and Green Tea Gelée

I had some extra cream lying around after my Chocolate Sauce, so when life hands you, er, cream, make Panna Cotta! I could have made Pavlova with my frozen egg whites, but that serves twelve and I didn't want another dessert overload. I improvised this recipe and thought, let's go with a cool white-green combo. So Green Tea Gelée it was.

I was afraid the green tea would taste bad because after I'd infused it, it smelled like RUBBER. I wanted to vomit. I smelled the tea bag to check if it was really supposed to be that way, or if I'd burned the tea (with boiling water?) or the green food coloring (can that happen with 90°C water?). Thankfully, it had no super-bitter taste. After it cooled down, though, it wasn't clear anymore, that was disappointing. I wanted a clear green jelly. The Panna Cotta overpowered the jelly; the green tea was undetectable. Oh well!

Lasagna Spinaci (with how-to)

There are times when my mom thinks I can do anything culinary-wise when I really, really can't. All I am is adventurous. Sometimes she'd just buy a whole bunch of ingredients and say something tantamount to, "turn this into that." And that is the story behind my Spinach Lasagna:

One day she bought a whole bunch of spinach and, being a fan of spinach lasagna from restaurants, she told me to turn it into lasagna. But wha--!? I've never cooked spinach before! So I quickly got on the internet and found the most reasonable method of cooking spinach-- the microwave.

What you do is put the cleaned and spun-dry spinach in a microwaveable bowl, put a microwave-safe plate on top, and nuke it for a few minutes until wilted. In my case it only takes about 2 minutes on HIGH.

When the spinach is tolerably hot on your hands, wring all the water out of it. The last time I did this I made the mistake of cooking something else during the whole process, and it cooled down too much. The water re-equilibrated and the spinach was mushier and harder to wring to very compact bundles. I also once made the mistake of thinking that the water was a big waste since it probably had a lot of vitamins and minerals, so I drank it unseasoned. BIG mistake. It tasted like feet. I gagged immediately and threw the rest into the sink.

Chop the bundles of spinach. That is, by the way, my favorite Chef's knife. It does everything. At this point you can cool it then freeze for a few months in a ziploc bag. This you can do ahead if you want to save time.

The original recipe calls for ricotta and parmesan. A cup of Ricotta cheese is P233 ($4.60). Yeah, I wasn't going to buy that. I buy 2 tubs of cottage cheese (2 cups) for P180 ($3.60). Then I add two types of really cheap cheese-- processed cheese food. Specifically, Kraft Eden and Magnolia Quickmelt. They have the salty properties you'd want from Parmesan and the chewy properties of Mozarella. They don't have much depth of flavor, but if it tastes good, go with it. Plus, I save a lot.

This is after I've mixed everything together. I place it in the fridge because I did this in advance. When I wake up, I just add 2 eggs. My tomato sauce is made from canned diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, chili flakes, white wine, spaghetti sauce, and chopped flat-leaf parsley. Not too complex but it tastes good.

On Shyness

Some people might be wondering if I've lost my mind posting my face on the internet. I know-- it's not me, right? But I took a cue from The Amateur Gourmet and decided that there's nothing to be shy about (somehow, his big goofy eyes and glasses reminded me of myself) if it helps to communicate my thoughts better. And make whatever I'm saying more interesting, anyway. I know I'm not the best looking apple in the bunch, but I don't care! To be ashamed of your own face is a step back from being yourself.

I saw this at Nike at Baguio:

"Shyness is no excuse. I used to think I was too shy to dance-- but then I felt so happy doing it I could never go back. Am still a shy person, but one who will do whatever she wants." In addition to being light years better than that impossible is nothing nonsense, this is a beautiful message that I think everyone can learn from.