Pork Menudo

Pork Menudo

Description: One of favorite dishes of Filipinos with appetizing smell & taste. This dish is a Spanish heritage. Preparation time around 45mins.

Ingredient:

Olive oil

6 cloves garlic (minced)

1 medium size onion (diced)

½ kilo pork tenderloin (cut into chunk cubes)

¼ kilo pork liver (cut into cubes)

1 big green bell pepper (diced)

1 big potatoes (peeled, diced and deep fried)

1 big carrots (diced)

½ -cup raisins 1 teaspoon

Italian herbs salt and pepper to taste

1 can (305ml) Hunts tomato sauce

¼ cup Del Monte tomato ketchup

2 tablespoon Thaisweet chili sauce

¼ cup Silver Swan soy sauce

2 tablespoon vinegar

Procedure

1. Boil pork w/ salt, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar & 1/2 liter of water. Boil for 15mins untile tender.

2. In a cooking pot, heat olive oil. Then saute garlic, onion.

3. Add the boiled pork w/ the water used for boiling. Mix & simmer saute for 3 mins.

4. Add the carrots, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup & Thai sweet chili sauce (optional).

5. Let it boil for 5 mins

6. Add in fried potatoes, fresh greenbell pepper, liver, Italian herbs and raisins.

7. Simmer until pork is tender for 10mins until the sauce is thinken.

8. Season to taste.

9. Serve hot with rice.

Singlish Dictionary

English is widely spoken in Singapore ... or is it? Many first-time visitors have been confounded by the colloquialisms that pepper Singaporeans' speech. This is because we speak very quickly (or so it's been said) and with a distinct Singaporean accent. Over the years, Singaporeans have developed their own brand of English fondly referred to as 'Singlish'.
With our multi-racial background, it's not surprising that 'Singlish' borrows from the many different languages spoken in Singapore. Here's a collection of 'Singlish' terms which you might find handy on your visit to Singapore.

Action (verb)Derived from the English language meaning to show off.
Example: That fellow always like to action, walking around with his Rolex over his shirt sleeves.

Arrow (verb)Derived from the English language meaning to be given a task that you don't want to do.
Example: I was arrowed to paint this wall.

Blur (adj)Derived from the English language meaning does not know what is going on.
Example: He hasn't read up on the background to this project and was very blur at the meeting.

Boh-Chup (adj)Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning couldn't care less.
Example: Ah, boh-chup, I'm not going to hand in my assignment.

Chim (adj)Pronounced 'cheem'. Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning profound.
Example: The professor's lecture was very chim.

Chope (verb)Derived from the English language meaning to reserve.
Example: It's free seating at the concert, we need to get there early to chope seats for our group.

Gostun (verb) Derived from the English language (go stern) meaning to reverse.
Example: He overshot the turning so had to gostun back up the road.

Havoc (adj)Derived from the English language meaning wild and uncontrollable.
Example: That person is very havoc, always out late every night.

Kayu (adj)Pronounced 'kah-yoo'. Derived from the Malay language meaning dumb or stupid.
Example: How come he is so kayu? Teach him so many times and he still cannot do it.

Kiasu (adj)Pronounced 'kee-a-soo'.Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning afraid to lose out to others or not to lose face.
Example: He sent his family to line up in different queues for the same item, so kiasu.

LahThe most famous of Singaporean expressions used at the end of sentences for emphasis.
Example: Very funny, lah!

Langgar (verb)Derived from the Malay language meaning to collide. Example: This van suddenly pulled out and langgar my car.

Obiang (adj)Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning ugly or outdated.
Example: This dress is so obiang! Who is going to buy it?

Pai seh (adj)Pronounced 'pie-say'. Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning embarrassed or shy.
Example: That's the third time I've forgotten her name. So pai seh.

Shiok (adj)Pronounced 'shee-oak'Derived from the Malay language (Straits Chinese) meaning fantastic or marvellous.
Example: That prawn mee soup was shiok!"

Sekali A word meaning suddenly.
Example: "I was about to make a right turn. Sekali this car appears from nowhere and nearly langgar me!"

Solid (adj)Derived from the English language meaning great or superb.
Example: Did you see how he scored the goal? Solid, man!

Sotong (adj)Derived from the Malay language meaning does not know what is going on. Similar meaning to 'blur'. (Sotong is the Malay word for octopus which squirts ink and clouds everything.)
Example: This has been going on for months, didn't you know? Sotong!

Suaku (noun)Pronounced 'soo-ah-koo'. Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning country bumpkin.
Example: Don't be so suaku lah, don't you know what a VCD player is?

Terok (adj)Derived from the Malay language meaning troublesome or difficult. Example: That customer was very terok.

Tompang (verb)Pronounced 'tome-pang'. Derived from the Malay language meaning to ride on or request a favour.
Example: You're going to the post office? Can I tompang some letters to be mailed?

Ulu (adj)Pronounced 'oo-loo'. Derived from Malay language meaning rural or a deserted place.
Example: This place is so ulu, you hardly see a single soul around even on weekends.

Ya Ya (adj)An expression meaning boastful or arrogant.
Example: Wah, he's so ya ya

LOST main characters

Matthew Fox
Dr. Jack Shephard
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Spinal surgeon, just like his father
· So driven by his need to help others that he married a woman whose life he saved
· Betrayed his alcoholic father to the hospital board after a patient died under his knife
· Went to
Australiato find his missing father only to discover he'd drank himself to death
· Bringing father's body home from
Australiafor burial ON THE ISLAND
· Reluctant leader who made decision to cremate the passengers who didn't survive
· Euthanized US Marshal after a botched mercy killing attempt by Sawyer
· Solves disputes with reason but not afraid to use guns or torture if necessary
· Discovered caves with fresh water supply for shelter
· Found father's coffin, but no body
· Trapped by cave-in, rescued by Charlie
· Tried but failed to save Boone's life
· Competes with Sawyer for Kate's attention

Evangeline Lilly
Kate
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Fugitive from justice for several years
· Crimes included armed robbery, assault, resisting arrest
· Caused the death of her childhood boyfriend while resisting arrest
· Extradited to US to stand trial ON THE ISLAND
· Bravely led the first exploration into the jungle
· Helped try to rescue Claire and Charlie when they were kidnapped by sinister Ethan Rom
· Recovered US Marshal's Halliburton case full of guns from island pond
· Also in the case was her most cherished possession, a metal toy plane that belonged to her childhood sweetheart
· Delivered Claire's baby in the middle of the jungle
· Exposed to the group as a fugitive by Sawyer after trying to steal his place on the raft

Dominic Monaghan
Charlie Pace
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Bass player for successful
UKband Drive Shaft; his younger brother Liam was lead singer
· Heroin addiction lasted far longer than band's fame
· Turned to crime to support his habit
· Went to
Australiato convince brother to re-form band ON THE ISLAND
· Locke helped him kick drug addiction
· Rescued Jack from cave-in while in withdrawal
· Befriended Claire, convincing her to move to caves
· Almost killed when they were kidnapped by sinister Ethan Rom; Jack saved him with CPR
· Hunted down and shot Ethan Rom in revenge
· Tempted by heroin found on wrecked smuggler's plane
· Nicknamed Claire's baby Turnip Head

Jorge Garcia
Hugo "Hurley" Reyes
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Won $156 million lottery with numbers from patient in a mental institution: 4 8 15 16 23 42
· Suffered from bad luck after win: grandfather died, new house burned, mom broke foot
· Bought the box company Locke works for with his winnings
· Traced the numbers to another unlucky man in
Australia
· Almost missed the flight, but tenaciously made it on board in spite of several omens warning him to stay off the plane ON THE ISLAND
· His laid-back humor keeps the survivors' spirits up
· Secretly believes his bad luck caused crash
· Owes Walt $20,000 for losing in backgammon
· Developed two-hole island golf course
· Took census revealing Ethan Rom wasn't on plane
· Panicked when he saw the winning numbers on the mysterious hatch right before Locke blew it open

Malcolm David Kelley
Walt Lloyd
BEFORE THE CRASH:
· Nine-year-old son of Michael
· Lived with mother Susan and her husband in
Australia
· Going to live with Michael after the death of his mother
· Attached to his dog, VincentON THE
ISLAND:
· Befriended by Locke
· Likes reading a Spanish-language comic book found after the plane crash
· Burned the raft his father built in an effort to stay on the island
· Kidnapped after setting out on the rebuilt raft with Michael

Naveen Andrews
Sayid Jarrah
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Communications Officer for Iraqi Republican Guard in first Gulf War
· Tortured and interrogated prisoners for the Iraqi government
· Helped his childhood love Nadia escape prison
· Recruited by US and Australian agents to infiltrate a terrorist cell which included his best friend from college
· Foiled the terrorist cell's bombing attempt but watched his friend commit suicide as a result
· Racing to LA to reunite with
Nadia
ONTHE
ISLAND
· Repaired transponder, picked up distress signal
· Attacked by Locke while locating signal transmitter
· Mistakenly tortured Sawyer to get hoarded medicine
· While exploring, captured by crazy French woman who's been alone for 16 years—escaped with her island maps
· Despite romance with
Shannon, stopped her from killing Locke in revenge for Boone's death
· Rigged radar for raft

Harold Perrineau
Michael Dawson
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Construction worker, sketch artist
· Brutal car accident resulted in long hospital recovery
· Ex-girlfriend used accident to gain full custody of their son Walt
· Got custody of his son back when the ex died from a rare blood disorder
· Afraid he can't take care of Walt by himself ON THE ISLAND
· Befriended Sun, which made her husband jealous
· Envious of his son Walt's friendship with Locke
· Finally bonded with his son over box of drawings and letters to Walt that the ex had kept hidden
· Built raft, but his son burns it to remain on the island together
· Built and launched second raft, only to have his son kidnapped several miles from shore

Josh Holloway
James "Sawyer" Ford
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Watched parents die in murder/suicide after being swindled out of their life savings by "Sawyer"
· Became a con man and adopted the name and methods of the man he holds responsible for his parents' deaths
· Obsessed with hunting for the original "Sawyer" for revenge
· Killed the wrong man thinking he was "Sawyer"
· Encountered Jack's father in an Australian bar
· Deported from
Australiafor head-butting the Minister of
Agriculture
ONTHE
ISLAND
· Good ol' boy plays all the angles and hoards supplies, booze, sunscreen, etc.
· Stubbornly allowed Sayid to torture him
· Carrying on a hot and heavy flirtation with Kate
· Bought his way onto raft with hoarded supplies
· Shot by Walt's kidnappers during incident on raft

Terry O'Quinn
John Locke
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Collections supervisor for a box company
· Master of war and strategy games
· Raised in a foster home
· As adult, found his ailing biological father who conned him out of a kidney then cruelly cut him off again
· In wheelchair for last 4 years—reason unknown ON THE ISLAND
· Miraculously able to walk again after crash
· Uses his skills to hunt and live off the land
· Discovered unnatural sealed hatch to unknown underground area
· Visions led him to drug smuggler's plane
· May have caused Boone's death by allowing him to explore a plane wreck precariously perched in a tree canopy
· Unafraid of island's "monster security system"
· Believes the island has brought them all here for a reason—it's their fate

Daniel Dae Kim
Jin-Soo Kwon
BEFORE THE CRASH
· A fisherman's son who courted Sun in secret but insisted on asking her wealthy father for permission to marry
· Worked for her father as an enforcer after their wedding
· Refused to tell Sun about her father's shady dealings
· Planned to run away with Sun while on a business trip in the
USON THE ISLAND
· An outsider because he doesn't speak English
· Tried to make friends by sharing seafood he caught
· Wears handcuff souvenir from a fight with Michael
· Estranged from Sun when he discovered she secretly learned English
· Made up with Sun before leaving on raft
· Dove off raft to rescue Sawyer after he was shot

Yunjin Kim
Sun Kwon
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Rich girl who married Jin despite him being from a lower class
· Only companion was Shar-Pei puppy Jin gave her
· Learned English in secret so she could run away from her failing marriage
· At the last minute, decided to stay with her husband and board flight 815 ON THE ISLAND
· Eager to help, but Jin's jealousy holds her back
· Cured
Shannon's asthma attack with herbal remedy
· Planted herb garden to grow "medicine"
· Revealed she could speak English to the group when her husband was accused of burning the raft
· Estranged from Jin because of her secrets
· Attempted to poison Jin in order to keep him from risking his life by going on the raft

Emilie de Ravin
Claire Littleton
BEFORE THE CRASH
· Her boyfriend convinced her to have his baby
· Desperate to give up her baby for adoption after he walked out on her
· A psychic insisted she must raise child herself, "Danger surrounds this baby"
· Out of the blue, the psychic arranged adoption in
Los AngelesON THE ISLAND
· Feels outcast because of her pregnancy
· Thinks the psychic knew the plane was going down
· Kidnapped with Charlie by stranger Ethan Rom
· Reappeared with no memory of time since the crash
· Kate helped deliver her son, Aaron
· Helped Locke make cradle for Aaron
· Relieved to discover Sawyer's voice soothes her crying baby
· Remembered escaping from the French woman by scratching her

Christmas day

Christmas is about giving. :-) But this year, we only received gifts because, well, we couldn’t afford to give gifts after our huge house renovation and moving expenses. Since I started to work (which around one decade ago), I think this is the first time that I received something without giving in return. :-) I want to say thank you very much to those people! :-)

On Christmas day, we invited Alvin’s colleagues. I prepared pizza, baked mac, baked potatoes, fried chicken wings and lasagna. I’ve prepared all BAKED foods because I wanted to try my oven. Our guests left around 10pm and we slept past 11pm. It was a lucky night for us because Albert only ask for milk once for the whole night. Maybe he was also tired, ha ha ha!. Albert woke-up at seven but I passed him to Auntie Leng for their morning walk then I continued my sleep. I felt really tired. It was like the combined tiredness since renovation, packing, moving, unpacking and cleaning the new home. Alvin and I only woke-up around 12pm. It’s been awhile since I slept that long! I think the last time when I was still working in the Philippines.

New Home (part 1)

After months of planning and looking around for the right place (hope it is, he he he), we finally got our keys of our flat last 7th November 2005. After working hard in Singapore for almost 5 years now, we could say at last we have our own house. I am glad that finally we decided to buy our own flat here in Singapore after renting a condo unit for quite sometime. I consider this as a reward for us.

Last Monday, 14th November our contractor started the renovation. I am excited and at the same time anxious on how our flat would look like. We really wanted to move-in before 19th of December so we can celebrate Albert’s 1st Christmas and New Year in our new home.

Last Saturday 26th November 2005, we will finally saw what happened on the 1st week of renovation. So far, the renovation is on schedule, contractor managed to finish the piping, electrical, tiling for the living and dining area and L-box. Then our anxiety came back again because we ordered an L-shaped sofa which is larger from the allocated space for our living room. We can’t cancel it because it has already been shipped when we noticed it was too big for our living room. We had a wrong calculation. We didn’t allot space for the curtain railings. What we did was really a wrong mistake he he he! Our passage area now would only be half a meter. Hope it won’t be not that bad L.

After attending the Sunday mass, we went to Hoe Kee Hardware to buy some bathroom and kitchen mixers, shower heads, bathroom fittings and accessories.

Tomorrow, we are planning to view (again) the improvements of the renovation. On the work plan, they’re supposed to finish the aircon piping and bedroom floor. Then we will finalize our curtain and shop for our new kitchen utensils, dining wares and accessories. We’re planning to shop at Ikea. I hope that we can get big deal there!

To be continued…

How I wish

My best friend since high school is getting marriedthis coming 20th of December. And I am somewhat havinga difficulty to inform her that I cannot be one of herentourage for her wedding because of work and we’ll beshifting place. I just came back from my maternityleave last August and there are some backlogs thatneed to be done. Our home renovation will also havesome delay because we can only get the house keys on November.

We actually planned to go back for her wedding forquite sometime. We already booked last August. I knowI will be hard for her to accept that I cannot come toher wedding. I just hope that these changes won’tcause more headaches for her wedding preparations. Ireally love to go back especially this coming Christmas. How I wish we could go back home…

BZ Bee

I had a very hectic and tiring weekend. It was the very last city tour of Rose (my Friend) and Rhea (Alvin’s niece) on Saturday evening. We left home at around 6pm and reached Plaza Singapura at 6.20. There was a long queue at Café Cartel so I & AJ w/ Alvin queued up while Rose and Rhea went for window-shopping. After 15 minutes of waiting, we managed to go in. After eating and with (very) full stomachs, we’re all ready for an extensive walk night city tour!

We took MRT from Dhoby Ghaut to Raffles City. Dhoby Ghaut station is currently the deepest and largest MRT station in Singapore (as far as I know). This is the only station with five storeys below ground level and there are two commercial blocks build above the station. City Hall station is beneath the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road. We exited at Raffles Shopping Centre and took some photos at Swissotel - The Stamford, the tallest hotel in Singapore.

Then we walked towards Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay. It is located at the waterfront overlooking Singapore’s Marina Bay. With its distinctive dome-shaped roofs, it is comprised of theatres, recital rooms, and rehearsal studios. It is also called “The Durian” by locals. Our guests were amazed by the architectural design of Esplanade. We walked on the Esplanade Bridge (not so sure about its actual name), sat there for a while; enjoyed the cooling sea wind and the cityscape. It was already late and AJ our Tamagochi was still wide awake. He was also enjoying the see breeze and the city lights! I think he was having fun as well! Then we went to Merlion Park and took a lot of photos. It was already quite late so we decided to go home.

When we reached home, I changed AJ’s clothes while daddy sang him lullabies. I went outside to have my last chitchat my friend Rose and Rhea. By the way, Rose was my ex-colleague in RSH Marketing Philippines. We worked together for about more than two years. We slept almost 2am and woke up again at 4am prepare their breakfast. Rose’s flight was 7:00 while Rhea’s was 7.50. We didn’t send them to the airport because AJ needed to rest and we would still need to fetch my mom at 2:50 in the afternoon. We went down and waited for the cab. Then we went to bed again and took more rest!

Miracle of life being a woman

May 30, 2005, we woke-up early not because we were going for work. It was because we were going to Raffles Hospital for my scheduled delivery. It was a sunny Monday morning. Alvin, my Mom and I were all energized for this big day. We arrived at the hospital before 8 am and filled-up the admission form. After a while, the nurse weighed me. I weighed 72 kg. My goodness! I was a very heavy fat pregnant woman. After that, the nurse assisted me to the delivery suite, helped me to change my clothes and inserted some jelly into my *** to have a fast motion. Only Alvin could go with me inside the delivery suite so my mom just stayed at the waiting area. The nurse started to induce labor at 9am. After an hour, I started to feel pain in my tummy which meant the labor started. I still could tolerate the pain. Alvin and I still had time to take photos while I was in pain. :)

I took my lunch at 12. After 2pm and it is been 6 hours of labor, I already couldn’t stand the pain. It was every painful. The nurse told me if I couldn’t bare the pain I could ask for epidurial. So I decided for epidurial. The anesthesiologist injected it to my spine while my body was in a C-position. The procedure was quite delicate you couldn’t move during the procedure. Right after a few minutes, I still felt the contraction but without pain. At 4pm, my opening was still at 3cm and my baby needed at least 10cm dilation. I could hear a baby’s cry at a nearby delivery room and I am still at my delivery suite. The contractions were getting more frequent but were tolerable. It’s dinner time and they didn’t give me dinner though I was hungry. :( The nurse told me I might vomit if I took my dinner.

At 7:50 my opening was 10cm and my doctor arrived. Alvin felt excited and tensed again. The nurse helped me to push. I don’t know how to because I didn’t attend course. They told me to push like when you’re constipated. Sometimes, I could push but most of the time, I was doing wrongly. I could see that Alvin was tense. At last! They could see the head and the doctor showed it to Alvin. Everybody felt very thrilled. My baby’s heartbeat was irregular so the doctor decided to use a vacuum to pull out the baby. Finally, at 8:11 pm Albert Kristoffer Valera was out from my tummy! Seeing my cute baby was the most amazing experience that ever happened in my life! He weighed 3.098 kg and his length was 51 cm. Albert Kristoffer looks 100% like his daddy. The nurse gave Albert to me and I kissed him. Daddy Alvin started to take photos and video again. What I experienced I was a miracle. How wonderful it is to be a mother!

Feeding infants during the first 6 months

I want to share this experience of mine to all new mothers out there…I felt sad and I blamed myself because my son lost his appetite for a week. It’s like he didn’t want the taste of the milk and his feeding got lesser and lesser. I noticed only on last Sunday because it’s the only day I stayed the whole day with him. I searched from the net what could be the possible reasons. One of the reasons is feeding fruit juice before 6 months. It alarmed me because I fed AJ fruit juice when he was three months old only. From what I read, you can feed juice only if your son is constipation during his 1 st six months. Take note that carrot juice can cause constipation while pear juice can help to have a fast motion. Apple juice is somewhat more balanced from what I have experienced during the two weeks of feeding AJ. Infants need more nutrients and vitamins from their milk which fruit juice cannot provide during the first 6 months.

Tuesday Morning with AJ

Today is Tuesday and I was behind schedule for work but it is quite worth-it. After doing my morning routine which includes bathing AJ, fixing his bed and preparing his fresh juice, AJ went for his morning walk. Then I prepared myself for work. Same with my daily schedule, I would rush down to the estate park before I go to office. I was still far from AJ but I could sense his sadness the way he stared at me. As if he was saying to me, “Mommy you’re going to work again”. Then I carried and cuddled him. I felt his happiness while feeding him with fresh pear juice that I made just for him. I enjoyed so much talking to him. Hearing all his giggles and sounds made my heart pound. Then I didn’t realize that I was almost late for work but I still stayed for about 5 minutes more. While writing this blog, I am wishing for the time to go faster so I can go back home and see my son soon again!.