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.