Photos From Nikki & Ann's Blogs

Morphed photos by Ann





Easter celebration during the Holy Week in Tagaytay, Cavite- Philippines~photos by Nikki

Let's Celebrate!

Today is our anniversary and we are doing great! Cheers!

P.S. Thanks for remembering us and for the cards you sent, to Dave and Judy (they are vacationing in Yuma, AZ) and to Greg and Emily (in Jacksonville, FL)!!!

Fat Baguette

The baguette prior to baking time, 45 minutes after it has doubled its size;

The baked "fat baguette" sprinkled with corn mill;

Close up of the baked baguette after I got it from the oven;

The sliced baguette, ready for eating- husband ate these first three slices with his own spread of his very own "homemade peanut butter" (yes~we love organically made, grown, cooked and baked stuff). He topped these with my own version/homemade "plum jam" I made last year. I canned it so it's still very good even it's almost one year this spring!


I just finished baking this baguette. It's the same recipe I posted here last year but the rising time was quadrupled since husband and I walked at Kearny where our dentist has a clinic. The second rising should only be for 25 minutes. However, I had a dental appointment and had to compromise the rising time. As soon as we were home, I reshaped this baguette from 14 pieces of baguette buns that I made earlier this morning. I made them into one huge ball and dumped it again in the food processor to make it smooth. After 45 minutes (rising time), I placed in a hot oven of 350 degrees F and baked it for 25 minutes only. This is the result, a crispy baguette on the outside and a very nice texture that is soft and yummy on the inside. Inside the oven, I filled up the cookie sheet with water to keep the moisture of the oven stable for the crispy effect. Check out the photos. Click to enlarge!

Easter At Home

We had a quiet Easter celebration here at home last Sunday.

We had a luncheon invitation to be with our friends in Sta. Rosa, CA but husband was under the weather so we canceled this. However, we tried to do our holiday of obligation as Catholics so we were at the 1 PM mass at our parish at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in North Beach. At mass, it was quite a site. It was solemn and nice. The sermon was very touching about the rebirth of Christ. Many people were present and all the lights of our church were on, the altar was filled with multi-colored spring flowers of peach, blue, lilac, yellow, green, orange, red, and pink. As always after the mass, our parish priest would ask the people to raise their hands if they are not from San Francisco and each moment, our priest is thankful and happy for those tourists (both local and foreign) who came by and attended mass with us despite their tight vacation schedule. Our Salesians priests are proud about our church and happy to share the words of God, especially to the visitors of our city- San Francisco.


After mass, we went for a walk at the wharf. There were so many there people being Easter Sunday. We left after about two hours of walking around this area. This was at 5:00 PM. It was foggy but sunny so it was somewhat nippy. We listened to the live saxophone player at the entrance of Pier 39 after which we then decided to head back home. We stopped by at Safeway at North Point and got some potato salad and turkey sandwich, some chocolates, and chips. We brought our water and some homemade cookies (oatmeal) with us to snack on. I also got the dill weed for salad and pickles I'd make this week.

Black Saturday, we went to church as well at half past four in the afternoon for the sacrament of reconciliation. It was a peaceful feeling I had after I have done it. Husband was with me and did the same thing. It was old-fashion at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish here in North Beach. Each of the parish priests (Salesians of Don Bosco) has their names inscribed on the confessional box. When the light is on, you know the priest is there and then, there is the parishioner’s area where it is lighted, too, to signify their presence in this booth. Neat.

After our church time, we went to the Condor House Of Sea Foods and Jazz Bar. We had our southern Cajun dinner, New Orleans style of gumbo, garden salad, and the Cajun soup with rice in it. I must admit, am not very fond of this cuisine. It's like a mix of Mexican, Spanish and Italian dish stirred heavily with tomato sauce and pepper. We listened to the jazz music and danced the night away. We were home before 8:30 PM and dropped dead in bed, watching several movies on the cable TV (digital video recording) and then finally calling it a night. We were light weights and feel asleep after drinking and dancing earlier on.

Good Friday was a record breaker for us as far as hearing mass is concerned. All was solemn when all of a sudden we heard the chatting of apparently, two old women, Italians, speaking in their mother tongue. I thought, they were praying. However, after many times like 5th, 6th, and 7th time they were doing it, talking not in a whisper but in a loud speaking manner- we people inside the church were ready to pull them out of their pews! Each time they spoke, it was loud! At one point the priest had to stop momentarily the mass to look at them, signaled them that they were loud! They did not get it and didn't stop. Their voices were echoing inside the Gothic church, madre mia! Finally, husband gestured them to quiet down because we are all praying. And you know what the two monsters did. They gave him a nasty look implying moi husband to shut up and to mind his own business! Just imagine how the crowd of worshippers had turned their heads so many times to tell them to behave. Well, we are just glad they spoke in Italian since if they were cursing us all, we did not get it so far. Haha!

Belated Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!!

Holy Week Menu: SIMPLY VEGETARIAN

This week find me cooking veggies only as this reflects our Catholic practice at home. We refrain from eating meat during this time of the year. The Good Friday dinner menu I made was simple: "Couscous Salad" and for Black Satuday lunch, I made "Sushi." Prep time for the sushi was two hours but I enjoyed it!




Last Friday, we walked from North Beach to Union Square. It's about a half hour walk. It was nice. An art exhibit was going on at the square across Macy's. After several rounds of admiring the exhibit, we headed forth to Macy's, snacked there at the basement then bought the square plates I used for our sushi lunch. Click photos above to enlarge. Cheers!

Palm Sunday in San Francisco & Car Racing Event @ San Rafael, CA

This morning we woke up early and attended the 7:30 AM PALM SUNDAY mass at our Sts Peter and Paul Church. Am proud to say that despite the fact that we came home last night (at almost 11 PM from our reunion in Danville, CA), we still made it today for the early morning mass.

While on foot along Union, it was quite windy and nippy. I was glad I was wearing my gear of black jacket, red shawl, Levi's jeans and brown beret. They at least helped me to be warm while walking with Little Boy Blue. And as I glided with him along the streets of San Francisco, it felt like the winter breeze was here once more. The fog makes it cool, of course~ plus the fact that my hair was still wet when we went out to walk. I didn't have much time to dry it so that was culprit!
At Sts. Peter and Paul, husband and I got each a palm. To our surprise, no one else did get except us. We felt a bit odd. There, we found out that Palm Sunday mass is celebrated differently. Traditionally, the palm is blessed during the mass. Before the mass ends that is when the priest blesses them with the holy water while the people raise their arms and wave them for grace. Then, we recalled that the priest mentioned that palms were already blessed . We were surprised! Well, here is another example of a “culture shock" for us. Day by day we learn a lot here. San Francisco is filled with surprises! The mass was an hour and a half long. It marked the advent of the Holy Week. It ended at 9 AM. After the mass, we decided to go back home although earlier, we had planned to drive at once to San Rafael (California) to be at the “Infenion Raceway.” However, we decided to make some slight changes because our stomach was growling. At home, I boiled some pasta and defroze the home-made marinara sauce I did last week and reheated it at the microwave. I also boiled a liter of hot water and made oolang and jasmine tea; packed some chocolate almond cookies for dessert and dumped the fork and linen into our food bag. At the finale of my packing, husband finally arrived (after taking our vehicle from the parking garage, three blocks away from our living quarters).

CAR RACING EVENT



At a little past nine in the morning, we headed to San Rafael (an hour's drive from San Francisco). There, we arrived at the racetrack at past 10 AM. Our friend Luis was racing in the amateur sports car competition and he and his family invited us to come. It was our first time to be in such an event. And we were glad we came. It was fantastic!


Luis’ family prepared the lunch and Luis, was the main chef; made a barbeque of lamb, beef and Portuguese sausage plus green salad served with sweet buns. While chatting and eating, we learned a lot about the art of car racing and the culture behind it. We left the racetrack at around 3 PM and we were home before 5 PM. Here are some photos. Enjoy!

March 27: CARMEN'S BIRTHDAY!

We hope you have a wonderful, happy and memorable birthday bash with your daughters. Take care!

Carmen is a a great person with lots of superlative qualities that makes her unforgettable, lovable, and a fun person to deal with! Take care!

Family Time

What I Baked Today: "Chocolate Almond Oatmeal Cookies"

I can't resist baking again so I did bake this just now. Two days I baked the apple pie and we finished it last night! Here are the photos of the "oatmeal cookies." I vacuum packed them in two canisters to keep them fresh for the next few days or weeks, months and even for a year- this is the greatest thing about this vacuum packer we have. Cheers!

BTW, this is a very crunchy cookie...it's yummy!

Salsa Basic

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An After Thought: Baroque Music And Baroque Period In My Time

When I was a music student in college, I would save some money from my weekly allowance to be able to buy those long-playing (LP) records that I liked. FYI, these LPs have been replaced by CDs since the emergence of this technology in the music industry in the early 90s. Anyhow, one of my favorites is Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor.” This evening I found the CD version of this at www.amazon.com

Well, I look forward to finding out where to buy the music score of this piece so I could play this on the piano. I love baroque music and my hands are feeling itchy and wanting to play some prelude and fugue, lol. Ah, well~ to listen to this concerto click this link:

Johann Sebastian Bach's HARPSICHORD CONCERTO IN D MINOR

LOOKING BACK

When I was teaching middle school art (up until March 2004) in international schools under the British and American system, my favorite subject was art history where the lives of artists of different centuries are studied in reference to their influence in the development of art globally. Likewise, in my music classes (yes, I taught the fine arts: art, music and drama) music history is integrated in the study of music theory and in the interpretation of musical compositions of each century. What I did then was to compare and contrast what transpired in art and music . This holistic learning experience is very informative and usually, students find every bit of information quite helpful. Of course, I had to modify the lecture and made sure it was quite colorful and easy to comprehend. Otherwise, it would have been a bore studying history had I have been a lousy teacher. I didn't want my students to dislike history (the way I did). Later, I realized it was only boring because history learning was associated with memorization of data, figures and the stuff. When I started my teaching career it dawned on me that history is indeed a wonderful subject to learn. However, what made it less interesting for me then as a student was the way classes were conducted during my time. Teachers were not creative enough to do something bold in class and it was all one-sided which was based under the category that the huge contributor in class was the teacher and there was so much authority addressed to it. Students were the silent majority and this is where my love for history died. There was also the infinite writing time and copying of information from history book to one's notebook. Grrrrrrrrrr! I won't recommend this approach at all~ as it was a nightmare (sigh) just thinking about it. Yikes! I hated writing and my handwriting for that matter. Then, there was the lecture part of the history class that was dull; there's the pack of history teachers in my time who were autocratic zombie creatures in my class.

BUT---when I became a professional, I decided that my students would love my subject so I did my best in teaching. As an educator, my favorite subject has always been baroque period because of its musical form which is polyphony (counterpoint). I like listening to it and to the sound of harpsichord and the whole orchestral works. Now that I am speaking about teaching- apparently, I miss it at times but not always. Sometimes I still wonder in awe about what I am doing inside the house I share with moi husband; and with me being a stay-at-home wife~ twenty four hours a day~seven days a week. But I am liking it!


Years ago when I was single, I'd roll my eyes about giving up my successful career and a lifestyle that evolved around so much on travelling, meeting people from cross-cultural groups, partying with honchos from the diplomatic circle, shopping non-stop; living/vacationing in different cities of the world. I did all these while teaching in the international community where ENGLISH as a language was like music to my ears as it came in different tones and harmony because people come from different continents of the world. In international schools, the studentry is mostly comprised of "third-culture kids." Why third culture kids? Because these kids deal with three cultures in their lifetime living and studying overseas: the host country's culture, the school's culture plus their own as foreign students from different countries. Most of their parents work as expats for multi-national firms and/ or for the diplomatic circle. This was my world~ international education and living overseas.

But LOVE changes priorities. I fell in love. Finally, I decided to give it all up for love. These days, I am happy and I am not complaining. It's beautiful. Being "domestic" is now my generic title and relative to it, "homemaking" is my career. The transition was tough during my first two years as a married woman. Life style changes gave me streaks of gray hair (laughs) initially but I am getting by with it. I just color my hair when needed- haha! I am better off now on my third year, in fact. I love it. Sometimes, I just get sentimental like right now. Otherwise, there's nothing more inspiring than being in control of my own time and space. Mostly, I can't even say what day it is today or what'sthe date itself since I am all so pre-occupied with my own little wide world of domesticity. But, hey, has it been that long? Not really. Old folks say that when you love what you have or love what you're doing, the hours pass by so quickly... like years. Well, I think they are right! These days, I still travel but with moi husband mostly and it has been amazing so far. It is absolutely wonderful being married than being single (wink*wink*) so it's worth every bit of what I have given up in life. Whoah!

BELOW ARE SOME USEFUL INFORMATION YOU MAY WISH TO READ ON...

Baroque 1600-1750


Extravagant, ornamented, fancy, irregular... These are all adjectives that describe the music of the Baroque period- a period in which the art and architecture in the world was also very ornate and fancy. During the Baroque period, royalty and church leaders were focused on being the best and brightest and showing off their finest things- including music written for them. They hired composers to write pieces that they insisted be flashier than pieces of the past. With every composition, music grew more and more showy and complicated. Composers were treated like servants- they were only allowed to compose what their religious bosses or noble employers asked them to compose, and oftentimes, it was on VERY short notice!

The Baroque period saw the beginnings of instrumental concertos (pieces featuring one instrument). Keyboard music for the harpsichord was also a focus of compositions-there were many composers of the time that were amazing keyboardists. Dance music also saw a rise in popularity. However, music written for the human voice was the most common composition style of the time. Operas and oratorios (musical settings of a sacred text) were unbelievably popular with Baroque audiences.

Bach was an example of a master composer of the Baroque who wrote very fancy-sounding keyboard music. Listen for the "showy" sounds of this piece for organ

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, a control of harmonic and motivic organisation from the smallest to the largest scales, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. He is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Revered for their intellectual depth and technical and artistic beauty, JS Bach's works include the Brandenburg concerti, the Goldberg Variations, the keyboard Suites(1)(2) and Partitas, the Mass in B Minor, the St Matthew Passion, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, and more than 200 cantatas.

Baking My First Pie For 2007: "Lattice Apple Pie With Streusel Topping And Toasted Chopped Almond"

We have been dieting so I have not been baking since January this year. However, with the amount of apples we got at the fridge (they are quite a lot), today I decided to bake a pie. The top is a bit brownish due to the extra sugar that I sifted over it. I used olive oil to make the crust. This pie is perfect when served with a cup of freshly brewed hot coffee. Bon appetito!

See photos below. Click to enlarge.




ABOVE: The crust that I refrigerated for a few hours and covered with cling wrap plus the lattice top crust in close up. The lattice top crust looks great. I initially worked on this in my Bethany pastry cloth then I transfered the woven crust at the back of a round pizza pan. I roll my dough in the pastry cloth which actually has a wood underneath it. I put it on top of the table and there I do the magic trick! To do this lattice crust is quite simple as this is like weaving several strips of paper to make a paper mat. To cut it straight, I used a pizza cutter and a wooden ruler to cut off the thin vertical crust for this my apple pie crust.



The apple pie filling is cooked with butter for 8 minutes on the caserolle. I like this version as the meat of the apple is really cooked and is tender. I don't like to eat raw apples as filling of my apple pie. Yikes! Husband loves this version as well. In fact, this is his favorite aside from cherry pie!

The baked apple pie fresh from the oven...



Wouldn't you like to be my house guest and have a taste of my culinary expertise? *Wink*Wink*