My Favorite Pasta Dish: (Carbonara)

The very first time I saw this pasta dish on TV, I thought it was just an ordinary pasta dish, and I even thought it has just the same taste as spaghetti does. I did not even knew what's CARBONARA, because when I saw the dish in a cooking show, it was named "WHITE SAUCE SPAGHETTI" until the time came that I was able to eat this dish for the first time. It was good and I am starting to like it.When I asked what is the dish called, they say it's Carbonara.

My friend Yie, used to cook this dish as well, and her style of carbonara was great. I did even love eating carbonara. I was asking her for a copy of ingredients and how to cook it, but maybe she has no time to prepare it for me since she is also preparing for her trip on Dubai that time and according to her, it's just so easy to cook carbonara. So later on, I was the one who explored for the copy of the recipe.. but due to shortness of the budget, I did not follow the exact recipe I saw in the internet. And the first time I cooked Carbonara was during my brother's Birthday last August 26, 2011. And I would like to share in this blogsite of mine how I prepared for my Carbonara. :)




Ingredients:

1kg of Pasta Spaghetti
4 cups of Chicken Broth
1/2 kg of ground pork
1 pack of Ham (sliced into small pieces)
1 onion chopped into small pieces
1 garlic chopped into small pices
1 can of Nestle All purpose Cream (300 ml)
1 can of Alpine Evaporated milk (154 ml)
salt and peppers
Maggi magic sarap for additional seasoning
I pack of cheese -for toppings and additional taste :)

Procedure:

1. Cook the pasta in boiling water

FOR THE SAUCE
1.Saute onion and garlic into pan
2. Add the ground pork, saute and mix well
3. Add the chicken broth
4. Add the sliced Ham
5. Add the evaporated milk
6. Add the all purpose cream
7. Mix and wait until the sauce starts to become creamy
8. for the satisfaction of your taste, you can add the seasoning for additional taste
9. after cooking, mix the sauce and the pasta and you are now about to plate the dish.
10. top your dish with a generous amount of cheese.

For cooking this dish, I spent about more or less 300 pesos, and it is good for 10-15 servings. If you have a huge amount of budget, you may add mushrooms and shrimps. or you can even use ground breast chicken (which is actually I saw in the original recipe in the internet) in replacement to ground pork.

R U Crazy for Style?

A fashion show contest held every month at SM Valenzuela. I first saw this banner last March 2010. It is a contest specially made for male and female fashionistas, ages 15-22 years of age. Part of the mechanics of the contest is that each contestant must collect lots of receipts of different fashion items coming from different boutiques and stores at SM Valenzuela that was sponsoring the show. Contestant with most number of receipts collected will win the People's choice award. I never had the chance to watch what's going on to the contest, until my Niece Shanice joined the said contest.

Shanice is my niece, daughter of my Brother Junard and Zerlene, his wife. She joined the said contest last August. I was not able to watch the presentation of the candidates, but according to kuya Norman, also my brother who was there, Shan was one of the crowd's favorite.

August 27, 2011 was their monthly finals and luckily, I was able to watch the whole show. For female fashionista, her number was 3. these are some of her pictures taken during the contest, courtesy of my brother.


During her Casual Attire Category






During Her Semi-Formal Attire Category






During her Featured theme Attire Category (Rainy Season)



until the end of the show, she was still the crowd's favorite, majority of the audiences were shouting for her number, and we also thought she's going to have the title but she's still happy for the winner since she is considering the winner as one of her sisters in the contest. We are also happy for Shan as she gave a good fight for the show. And her mom Ate Zerlene also won the raffle drw.. :)

Planking: How it became popular today?

That is also unknown to me, many people used to do it nowadays. All you need is a model or even yourself if you do planking as well, cameras off course no need to be that much expensive or of high resolution, even just a cell phone camera will do but if you want a clearer image, well it’s up to you already and lastly different venues you want to do your planking thing. It’s up to you where do you want to do planking; you can do it anywhere, even on silly places.

One day while my brother is browsing on his facebook, he showed me lots of pictures of people who are planking anywhere, someone do it in different roads, someone do it on stairs, comfort rooms, tables, computer shops, bridges, flyovers, sidewalks, etc etc.

A friend of mine also showed me more pictures of people doing it, through their university’s fan page on facebook, I was shocked to see pictures of students from Trinity University of Asia, doing the same thing in different places, like on roads, on top of a car, at school entrance, on their classrooms, laboratory rooms, etc etc.






I saw another fan page on facebook about planking; it was named “Planking Pinas”, so I tried to click the like button to enter the said fan page. Going on the page, I saw, huge pictures of people doing it as well; they do it on sports arena, fast food chains, rails of the stairs, and trash cans even at the roof of their homes. I think it started outside the country, no idea where planking really began, but one thing is for sure, as it was introduced here in the country, it grew faster and became popular.







So an idea comes on my brother’s mind, since he has a camera, he wanted to do the same thing. What’s more interesting is that the model for his planking thing was our 2 year old nephew JV. As I observed JV doing it, he was hesitant to do it at first, maybe he was wondering what was he doing, and why his uncle enjoying doing it. But as the time goes by, JV began to enjoy it as well. If he is being asked to plank, he voluntarily goes to a place where he is being directed to plank, on dining table, terrace, stairs, kitchen, cartons, chairs, headboard, even inside the cabinet. It seems like JV is enjoying a lot, given that he is also a camera addict. He always smiles and sometimes poses every time we are taking pictures of him. Now that he already knows how to plank, what can I say? More planking to come!!!!








Plank Safe! :)

All photos courtesy of "Planking Pinas", "TUA Planking Society" Fan page on Facebook and Doomazt Arcangel planking album on facebook. :)

Watching movies ALONE :)

A Movie comes almost every week and lasted for a month or more depending on it's popularity. It seems like I am becoming a movie goer. The very first time I watched a movie in a cinema was about several years ago, 2006 or 2007 I think, the movie then was THE SILENT HILL, a horror movie. I go and watch movies with my friends, relatives but lately or most of the time, I go and watch movies at cinemas alone. Yes, ALONE, and I kinda liked it and enjoyed it as well. Honestly I became a fan of Filipino movies particularly comedy.. :) kinda "MABABAW", I just wanted a stress-free type of movie but I also watch intense movies like action, horror etc etc and movies like romance and drama, depending on my mood..hahaha It's just that I wanted to watch more of a comedy type of film and Filipino made.

Lately, it became more often that I did watched movies alone. I would like to share some of the movies I watched recently and try to give a little bit of description or a bit of review in it.





Transformers (Dark of the moon)

I actually watched this movie a day before my board exam. That time, I was looking for a Pinoy comedy film which is relaxing and stress free for me to unwind and prepare myself for the board exam. Unfortunately there is no pinoy comedy movie that is showing that time, so I choose to watch this movie since it's so popular that time.

A film starring Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson and many others together with the robots Optimus Prime, Megatron etc. A film about friendship between humans and robots who fought those bad robots coming from a discovery to the moon and who wanted to dominate the earth and lead over the humans. A great movie for me except for some annoying sounds during the fight scenes and sadly, Megan Fox is missing in action.. Where was she?... but over-all, a great movie for me.




p'Wedding Tayo p'Wedding Hindi

Finally I was able to watch my favorite type of movie few weeks after the release of the results of my board exam; even though I watched it alone since a get together plan with some of my friends was cancelled few hours before the plan, so I decided go alone, food trip and watch movie again. And I found this movie.

A film starring Toni Gonzaga, Eugene Domingo, Zanjoe Marudo and Wendell Ramos. A 2-in-1 story about marriage, and other stuffs regarding marriage; planning, handling own family after marriage, solving conflicts with in-laws etc. A funny movie yet with lots of moral lessons to be learned. A great movie again since it's comedy, casts were great everything was great. And the theme song is my favorite from DJ Chacha's MWAH MWAH TSUP TSUP.. :)




My Neighbor's Wife

Right after my oath taking and Victory party at school, I decided to go on malling even just me and myself again. I've been trying to look for someone to accompany me, but I thought no one was available so I have to do it alone. Food trip as well, and I missed eating lasagna so I grabbed an order at greenwhich. then walk around then I saw another poster of a movie, and yes MY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE, so without any hesitations, I bought the ticket and watched it as I relaxed.

It is a film starring Lovi Poe, Carla Abellana, Jake Cuenca and Dennis Trillo. A story of two couples who were neighbors at a condominium, A couple wherein the husband (Jake) was not faithful with his wife (Carla) and a couple wherein the husband (Dennis) wants to control his wife ( Lovi) on accepting products and special offers for the sake of basic needs. A big mistake happened (between Lovi and Jake) that lead them into trouble and that the other husband (Dennis) suddenly fell in love with his neighbor's wife (Carla). A good movie, a must watch movie especially made for couples.


And that's it, these are just some of the movies I enjoyed watching alone. :) Happy Reading everybody!

Filipina placed 4th among 89 ladies at Sao Paulo, Brazil

Philippines' pride Shamcey Supsup placed 3rd runner-up in the recently concluded Miss Universe 2011 wherein 89 countries where competing for the said title.



The pageant happened few days ago, particularly September 12, 2011 (Brazil's time) and aired via satellite through ABS-CBN September 13, 2011 (Manila's Time). Pride of General Santos City, UP College of Architecture's Magna Cum Laude and a board topnotcher was this year's Filipino representative for the event.



It was a two consecutive year victory for the country wherein Philippines entered to the top 5 after Venus Raj's victory and placed 5th last year, and as well as this year's Shamcey Supsup who placed 4th and same with Ukraine who also made it to the top 5 for two consecutive years.




During the pageant, Shamcey was one of the favorites after fan votes were casted in every round of the competition. She placed 2nd in swim suit and long gown competition and topped in Question and Answer portion. surprisingly, early favorites like Malaysia and Greece did not make it on the 1st cut (top 16), while popular countries like USA and Venezuela made it to the top 16 but did not made it to the next cut.




After top 5 was selected, question and answer followed, Ms. Philippines was the only one who answered the question without using an interpreter, and that made her fans and fellow kababayans more proud of her. after deliberation, 4th Runner-up goes to Miss China, 3rd Runner-up is Shamcey Supsup of the Philippines, 2nd runner up goes to Miss Brazil (the host country), 1st runner-up was Miss Ukraine and this year's Miss Universe came from Angola, Miss Leila Lopes.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF "SHAMCEY GURREA SUPSUP" FANPAGE ON FACEBOOK. :)

July 2011 NLE Results are out last August 20, 2011

the result of the July 2011 Nursing Licensure (Board) Examination has now been released by the PRC. 37,513 out of 78,135 examinees passed the said exam given by the Board of Nursing in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Dagupan, Davao, Iloilo, La Union, Legazpi, Lucena, Nueva Ecija, Pagadian, Pampanga, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga.

After my last blog post,and the articles above this post, here are some of my friends, classmates including me, who passed the recent board exam.


#2918 ARIOLA, JONATHAN MARTIN RN



THE REST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER


#107 ABAR, CHRISTIAN ACEDILLA RN



#9462 CONCEPCION, YVAN CO RN



#10963 DE GUZMAN, EMIL JOHN ACUÑA RN



#10995 DE GUZMAN, JOHN PAUL VILLASANA RN



#17090 GUIAO, RAF PORLUCAS RN



#25253 OBMERGA, ZEUS MANEJA RN



#32501 SIA, KATHLEEN ANNE RAMORES RN



#34514 TEÑOSO, DON JAYSON CRUZ RN



#35147 TUASON, NICOLO VINCENT CAJAYON RN



And to the rest of the passers, Congratulations to all of us, may we all serve as inspirations to the future board exam takers. :)

And I Made it this Time! : a short story of my board exam journey :)

After failing on the December 2010 NLE, I was so depressed and feeling so frustrated as the results came in last February 19, 2011, questioning my self "why did others made it?" "why my name was not included?", "what subject did I get the lowest score?", "What's my board rating?" so many questions,until I finally saw my board ratings, just point six away and again makes me more frustrating. So that makes me decided to review and retake again for the second time.

I decided to review at my school wherein I graduated a year ago. Luckily, the review coordinator Mr. Francis Vasquez, gave us a good review program with excellent reviewers.Reviewing became fun and has lots of learning. And little by little I was able to be friends with my co-past grad classmates.

After almost 4 months of review at school, filing is done, room assignments came in, luckily my room assignment is at College of the Holy Spirit Manila. As I took my exam, I was feeling hopeless because of the difficulties of every test subjects. After taking my last subject, that was way back July 3 around 1 pm,as I finished my exam, I started praying so bad saying "Lord sana po last exam ko na ito, ayaw ko na pong ulitin itong board exam".

Seeing those examinees going to St. Jude, and recognizing that it was a sunday afternoon, I also find a nearest church since I'm a Latter-Day Saints member, luckily I saw a Mormon Chapel near PRC, so I went there and attended the sacrament meeting of Manila University Ward. The members there were very warm in welcoming me especially the Bishopric. Going to University Ward makes it one of my lucky charms upon waiting for the results, since I made the right choice to go to the church after the exams instead of going to mall and unwind and enjoy.

Then comes the agony of waiting, 37 working days upon processing the results, there is feeling of hopelessness, frustrations, what if's etc etc.. I even tried to apply at some call center companies to divert my attention, but I did not make it so I decided to wait for the results.

August 19, 2011, I remember that was around 1 pm or lunch time, as we are about to eat at Chowking located at Grand Central, I heard an Inspirational song played at Chowking, it was Fantasia's "I believe" which became her winning piece after winning American Idol Season 3. I almost cry and asked God "Lord is this the sign I'm asking from you?", after shopping JV's clothes for his birthday, Mama, JV and I went home tired and felt sleepy. As we arrived at home, I slept Immediately for about an hour or more.

The time comes, around 6 to 6:30 in the evening, this is what I saw


Roll of Successful Examinees in the
NURSE LICENSURE EXAMINATION
Held on JULY 2 & 3, 2011
Released on AUGUST 19, 2011

................
................
................
2918 ARIOLA, JONATHAN MARTIN
................
................
................

This is the sample of the page in the internet wherein I saw my name:




I have the plans of surprising my family but as I saw the result wherein my name was included, I was the one who was surprised, that is why I cried, the tears of joy fell out from my eyes, and the rest here at home were laughing at me, but I believe that behind those laughter, are the happiness they felt that finally I made it this time around. After seeing the results, I texted my Sister abroad, and she was so happy that I passed the board exam.

And then I prayed using the candle which I used before taking the board exam. Thanking the Lord for giving me one of the biggest blessing I ever wanted. It was really an answered prayer and a dream came true. :)

"I can see little stars across the sky, dream of hundred thousand dreams before now I finally realize, you see I've waited all my life, for this moment to arrive, and finally, I BELIEVE.. :)

The Magnificent Survivors! ;)

Due to some events happened few months ago, I wasn't able to update my posts here or even add another post. I had my review on Merge Review Center for my December 2010 NLE, unfortunately when the results are in, my name was not included in the list of passers, that is why I need to review again and take the local boards for the second time. So it took more time before updating my blog.

Speaking of December 2010 NLE Results, only 29,711 out of 84,287 passed the said exam, that is why they were called the "Magnificent Survivors"

Having said that, these are some of my friends and classmates who passed the exam.

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

#855 Aguinaldo, Michael Tabigne RN



#7226 Centeno, Jan Hervie Salvador RN


#7441 Ciego, Jan Michael Bernardino RN



#9452 Dela Cruz, Jacquiline Zarate RN



10014 Dimailig Rumalyn Uy RN



#11975 Flores, Felizze Faye Fernandez RN



#12696 Ganzon, Maria Antonette Cachuela RN




#14990 Josue, Gebrain Sarabia RN



#18066 Manzanillo, Ann Bernadette Acuna RN



#26883 Tajon, Jerty Anne Rosselle Yamson RN



#28752 Vergara, Jannelyn Blanco RN



#29684 Zeta, Jeric Elicana RN




And again, my apology for my very late posting regarding this blog post, and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. I'm so glad and proud of you. :)