Thursday Tricks: Sleepyti.me Bedtime Calculator

School starts on Monday. Though I'm no longer a student, I still need to wake up earlier to compensate for the expected heavy traffic (ugh!). There are times when I sleep early but still find it difficult to wake up. And what's worse, I'd still feel sleepy the whole day as if my body got so used to sleeping that it's all it wants to do!
Waking up early is one of my waterloos especially during the cold weather when your pillow is cool and comfortable and you can curl underneath your blanket while wearing Blues Clues socks..... Alright, before I fall asleep, the trick we will feature this Thursday is Sleepyti.me Bed time Calculator

The interface is very intuitive. You just have to specify the hour and minute you have to wake up and hit calculate! My friends working night shift can also choose PM instead of AM.
So for me, I need to be up by 4:45 AM (just 15 minutes earlier than my current wake up time. Hihi).

After hitting calculate, this is what I got:

7:45 is impossible, 9:15 is a little on the borderline and 12:15 is too late. So, 10:45 it is!
Also on the results page are some reminders.

So by 10:30 I should already be in bed with eyes closed. Fairly doable!
I'll update this post with feedback on how it went for me. You should try it too!

Yay for better sleeping patterns!
Yay for waking up early!

Wordy Wednesday: Slow Motion Drowning

Water up to my throat
Threatening my quivering breaths
Climbing my skin in creepy slow motion
I'm drowning
I'm drowning in slow motion
My legs flail helplessly to gain ground
My arms scream loudly with no sound
My eyes have given up
Raining tears in a suicide attempt
And I ask myself:
Why did I drown myself in this ocean?
If I am the willing victim, who is this damsel whining?
Are the waves worth the cliff jump?
Are you still worth the drowning?
Are you still worth the slow motion drowning?

Glazed Pork With Carabao Mangoes

It was one of those evenings when I want something other than plain fried pork or pork adobo. I did a quick search and was inspired by the Glazed Pork Recipe of Budget Bytes.

It looked fairly easy to make. The pork we have on hand was thinly cut so there is no need for an oven. I revised it a bit to add onions and carabao mangoes.

Here's my version:


Ingredients:
-4 pieces of thinly sliced pork
-1 tablespoon of sugar
-salt and pepper
-oil
- 1 small onion
-carabao mangoes for the side dish (I had this sudden inspiration while peeling the carabao mangoes intended to be eaten separately)

Procedure

1. Wash the pork pieces and dry them with paper towel (Don't skip drying. I'll explain later).

2. Rub the pieces with salt, pepper and sugar.

3. Leave it for a few minutes while heating the oil.

4. When your oil is hot enough ( my quick test is to place your hand a foot above the pan, if you feel the heat from there, it is hot enough), fry the onions until they become soft and translucent.

5. Place your pieces on the pan. Because I did not dry my chops, the sugar I rubbed in dissolved. So I poured the dissolved sugar to the pan as well and left it uncovered to allow the water to evaporate.

6.To pass the time while waiting for it to boil, I peeled the carabao mangoes I was going to eat after dinner and had a sudden inspiration of including it to the dish. So I sliced it into strips and added it to the boiling mixture.

7. Turn the chops to the other side. When the water evaporated, the sugar and onion will caramelize. You will see it sticking to the pan. So whenever you turn the chops, be sure to rub it to the sides so that the glaze will stick to the pork.

8. After about 5 minutes of frying on each side, you are now ready to serve!

The pork turned out nice, sweet and tender and the mango gave its flavor a surprise kick.

Perfect for those summer craving nights!

Taste it Tuesday: Snack Substitute First Edition

Today's Taste It Tuesday is all about snack substitutes. Throughout my snacking life (yes I am a fan!), I equate snacks to fast food or junk food. I have a particularly soft spot for the Hawaiian pizza of Pizza Hut which you can buy for P55 for two slices. Sounds like a great deal, right?

Yessss, until you look up it's nutritional contents. With the help of My Fitness Pal.Com, I was able to find out what I was really eating.

For Taste It Tuesdays Snack Sub, I prowled the grocery store to find a better snack alternative. It must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Easy to find.
2.  About the same price range as my snack substitute (in this case, P55)
3.  Equally filling and tasty and
4. Healthier

After a few minutes, I found this wonderful combo: a small apple and Nestle Fruit Selection Yogurt.

Now, let's check our criteria:

1. It is easy to find! You can buy apples at most grocery stores and fruit stalls by the road (for an even cheaper price). The yogurt, although less common, can still be found in most grocery and convenience stores.
2. The apple is priced P14 (you can buy it for P10 in fruit stalls) while the yogurt is P29. Adding that up makes P43, P12 less than our budget!
3. This apple I bought was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. In fact, I wasn't able to eat it all because my brother took a slice for himself! Haha. The yogurt was creamy and the fruit bits tasted like the real thing.
4. I again consulted my new good friend, My Fitness Pal.Com and made a table of comparison.

 Our Snack Sub won 12 is to 1! This means that you get at lot more for paying less. What a deal!
Yay for a healthier snack!
Certified Snack Subbing Success!

Mani Mondays: Summer Nostalgia

With the rains starting to pour every few days or so, I can't help but feel nostalgic for summer. This summer has been filled with a lot of new adventures, fun thrills, heartbreaks and realizations. I just don't want it to end yet!

So this week's Mani Monday is all about summer.

I used Caronia Sweet Surprise, Caronia Stellar, Caronia Sunkissed and Caress Mango.

For the yellow base, I brushed alternate layers of Caronia Sweet Surprise and Caress Mango. It gave my nails a very sunny look. I then dotted the tips with Caronia Sunkissed in the center surrounded by three dots of Caronia Stellar. Here is the end product:

It is pretty simple to make. Perfect for a quick summer fix.

Copying Tables in PDF to Excel

I am currently scouting for population data of species for our market study. All was going well (meaning all the data can be exported directly to Excel for easy tabulation and counting). Until I found this file on the list of registered horses from the Philippine Racing Commission.

It was in PDF file and whenever I try to save it to text, it saves in one column.

If you are like me who is lazy enough to fix the file manually in Excel (and who is optimistic that there is a better alternative *wink!), you will thank Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the Optical Character Recognition or OCR. What it does basically is recognize typewritten, printed or even handwritten text in images and convert it to a digital form that is searchable and editable. No more manual encoding!

Now, this may sound like an expensive software but it surprisingly isn't. In fact, there are OCR online sites that will let you convert your image for free! The most dependable one for me in terms of recognition accuracy  is OnlineOCR.net.

Here is the screenshot of the converted registered horses file.

Cool right?

But this site has its limitations also (don't we all?).

• You can only convert one page of image a time (The image above is only the first page out the 42 pages in the PDF file).
• You can convert at most 20 pages if you create an account because they will give you free credits

 However, beyond that you have to purchase credits.

But who needs to purchase if you can just snip your files into separate files, right?

And, like all other OCR's there is no perfect tool for recognition (at least not yet) so it is still better to double check the recognition before you hand it to your boss. At least, you can now use Spelling and Grammar to help you with that.

Now that Ray saved you a lot of encoding time, you should utilize that saved time properly. Smile for the whole time you should have been encoding. You may look silly but you will feel a lot better.

KFC Mini Bucket Of Fries With Cheese And Salsa

I came across the KFC Mini Bucket of Fries with Cheese and Salsa as I was looking for merienda today. I was intrigued. By the sound of it, I thought "lasagna"!

I excitedly ordered and paid P69. Expensive, I know but how will I know if it's worth it if I don't try?

Well, it isn't worth it. For starters, the cheese shaved on top was not melted. So in order to eat it, you have to coat the fries in salsa so the cheese will stick to it. The salsa is drizzled on the fries itself so you have to eat fast or else your fries will be somewhat soggy.



I found myself constantly drinking water while eating to push the fries down. Major case of "umay."

I have always loved KFC's fries because it's thick and crispy and chewy at the same time. But this serving did not really sit well with me.

Maybe if they served this with melted cheese on top and a separate salsa dip, it would be a hit.

So, although it was filling and heavy, I still need something else to satisfy my tummy. (A decent excuse to have merienda no.2 *wink)

Labor Day Adventure Part 2: Panguil River Ecopark

After resting, we traveled to the Panguil River Ecopark. It was a thrilling ride. The road is like a 1 hour long roller coaster

And the sights varied from the lake,

rolling hills,

and rice fields.

It was already 5PM when we arrived at the Panguil River Ecopark. A sign outside says entrance fees are P60 for 6AM to 6PM and P80 for overnight. We waited for somebody to ask for our payment but no one approached us. Haha. So we just made our way inside. We were greeted by a hanging bridge.

Abs po yan. Abs with a T.... Tabs.

We went straight to the guide's table hoping to participate in the trek to Ambon-Ambon Falls but according to them, the last trip left at around 4:30 PM. We were 30 mins late. Aww. So instead, we looked for a spot by the river for a quick dip.

The river was cold and clear. It looks green from afar because of the moss that grew on the rocks.







On the part where we stayed, the water was only mid leg to waist deep. But, I think there are parts where the level reaches the chest to shoulder since some kids managed to dive in.



After about 15 minutes of swimming, we had to leave because it is still a 3-hour long drive to Mendez. We went to the shower rooms but as expected, it was jampacked. There are only 5 shower cubicles in the shower room we entered. We opted to change in one of the toilets instead. After freshening up and changing clothes, we headed home.



We parked by a mall and ate our dinner (Jollibee 1 pc Chicken with Spaghetti + the rice cooked by Dad + Sundae Mixins Cookie Berry) with bare hands. We had some sort of a picnic inside the car. It was so much fun.



I realize a lot of things after this impromptu trip.
1. Don't get disheartened when your plans don't materialize. Open your eyes. God must have a better plan.
2. Your friends will inevitably leave you. People will get mad at you for screwing up. But, your family will always accept you for who you are and will support your craziness (if you want it badly enough).
3. If you care for the people you are with, you will always have fun no matter where you go, no matter what you eat.
4. The world is full wonder. Explore! Curiosity may kill but ignorance is suicide.

Tea Bag. Tea Back?

A woman is like a teabag; you never know how strong she is until she's in hot water

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Am I in hot water?

Is this my hot water?

I'm so tired.

I feel so tired.

I feel so tired of feeling inadequate

I feel so tired of being unappreciated

I feel so tired of being backstabbed

I feel so tired of those pitiful looks

I feel so tired of deadlines

I feel so tired of feeling so tired.

Is this my hot water?

What am I doing?

Am I giving up?

Am I giving in?

Am I not strong enough?

Well, even teabags have their limit.

Once you've exhausted its essence, no matter how hot the water you put in, it will taste like nothing.

Am I at my limit?

Is this still worth pushing my limit?

Is this still worth it?

Are you still worth it?

I want to tell the person who wrote this this:

If every person who ever got depressed, failed, stressed, pressured and cried gave up, there wouldn't be any Thomas Edison, Michael Jordan or even Steve Jobs.

If all diamonds cracked at the pressure of being carved, there wouldn't be any pretty engagement rings to offer during proposals.

If all mommy dogs shunned the pain of giving birth, there wouldn't be any cute puppies to cuddle.

If all the people who got their hearts broken never loved again, the world would be in a grand state of chaos.

We all have our own pains given according to how much we can take, plus a little bit more so that we can improve.

Pain is good. Pain justifies that you are still alive. Pain justifies that you have the opportunity to feel joy and love.

So, to you, stop all these negativities. Half of it is your own doing. Make things happen. Make good things happen. Never lose sight of your priorities. Enjoy the pain. Joy will come soon after. Aja Myka!

Stove Top Pizza With Stale Bread Base

I was craving for pizza yesterday but it wasn't in my budget for the week. So, I realized why not make my own?

I have stale bread, tomato sauce, pineapples from the fruit snack, cheese and hotdog.

I figured, I'll just make the conventional loaf pizza. But after minutes of googling, I found this site.

She used stale bread as base for her pizza. She first broke it into little pieces, added milk and water, mashed it and pressed it to a pan. She then placed her favorite toppings and cooked it inside the oven.

It was a great unconventional idea compared to ordinary loaf pizza. And I have all the ingredients right here in our kitchen.

My next problem was I do not have any form of oven, just the stove and a rice cooker. Mr. Google did not fail to give me a solution to this one too! I found this incredible site listing several methods of cooking pizza without an oven.

So, here's the fusion of the two ideas.

Stove Top Pizza With Stale Bread Base

Ingredients: -6 slices of loaf bread
-100 ml evaporated milk
-1 cup water
-1 egg (I figured I need the egg so the bread would stick to each other when cooked in the pan)
-oil (for greasing the pan before putting the bread mixture)
-tomato sauce or pizza sauce
-your favorite toppings

Tools needed:
-large bowl where the bread will be mashed
-stove
-pan with lid

Instructions:
1. Break the bread to pieces



2. Pour in the milk and water. Do this gradually while mashing the bread. You know you got it right when you have a mashed potato consistency.



3. Grease the pan and press the bread mixture to it. It will slide around at first because of the oil but once you fill the whole pan, it will stay still.

4. Brush the top with tomato sauce and place your favorite toppings (splurge time. Haha)

5. Cover and pan and cook in low heat for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.

6. Once done, scrape the sides of the pan and slowly lift the pizza off. Don't worry if the underside is a little burnt. I think it's because of the milk so it will still taste fine.


Sorry I dived right in without taking a picture of the whole thing first. Haha.


As you can see, I like my crust thin. It is very soft but not sogging with oil. It tasted great. I'll be sure to experiment with other toppings soon.

Labor Day Adventure Part 1: Daranak Falls

It was 5:30 AM, May 1, 2013. I had a lot of plans for that day. Needless to say, none of them materialized but was I going to let this stop me? Nah. So I called up my dad. He said he is in a poultry farm in Tanay Rizal.Perfect! Daranak Falls is in Tanay, Rizal! So I dragged my sister off her bed and prepared to go to Tanay.

We were in the Pasay area so we boarded the MRT and got off at the Shaw Blvd Station. We walked on the EDSA Shang side of the MRT to the direction of the Boni Station until we reached EDSA Central. It is a mall with call centers on the second floor. We walked a little further south and made a left turn on United St. Then, we saw an old barrel like building. We headed towards that building because behind that is the parking lot where the jeeps and FX's bound to Tanay are parked.

Because it was a hot hot day. We opted to ride the air-conditioned FX. Fare to Tanay was P70 per person.

After almost two hours of travel, we arrived at the Tanay town proper, hopped on Dad's van and headed to Daranak Falls.

The place was jampacked. The nearest parking was not near at all! We had to rent a trike for P20 each which we haggled for P50 for the 3 of us.

Entrance fee to the falls and river was P20 for adults and P15 for children. You can opt to rent a cottage for P300 or a table for P150. We chose not to rent either. What is more exciting than eating your lunch sitting on the huge rocks by the river?

After paying the entrance fee, we passed through this bridge to the cottages area.

From the bridge, you can see the the downstream part of the river. To our disappointment, the water is a bit murky. Maybe due to the fact that a lot of people bathed there that day.

Below the bridge, we found these amazing rock balancing sculptures.

After eating our lunch (grilled tilapia stuffed with onions and tomatoes) by the river, we headed to the falls and we were astounded by the number of people there!

 

Minus the people, the false was still beautiful. The water is a nice shade of green (despite the number of bodies soaked in it at that time). Probably the best time to visit this place is sometime February or December.

I will definitely come back. I am looking forward to seeing this place without the people, with only the sound of the falls to hear, with only the leaves swimming in the water and with only the huge river stones to keep me company.


After taking a few pictures, at around 2PM, we left the place. Since it was so hot and the van lacks air-conditioning, it was virtually impossible to drive around without having a heat stroke. So we went to one of the farms my dad is supervising. We rested for a good hour and headed to our next destination: Panguil River Ecopark.