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!