Foot and Fire

I liked this granola-like macaroons I made because it pairs well with my green tea in the morning. I got raisins and cashew nuts so it's a perfect combination for that nutty, sweet and tangy twist. Another interesting twist is that I have no macaroons baking tin and it's difficult to mould with my hands only and further, I refused to add more condensed milk or even sugar to further act as binder (you may add sugar to bind the mixture so you can achieve the cookie look). The solution to my problem? I used my sushi rice moulder so I got oval macaroons! Here is how you can duplicate mine. 500g Dessicated Coconut 250g cashew nuts 125g raisin 1 can condensed milk Pinch of salt 2 eggs (yolk and white separated) Pre-heat oven for 180C. In a bowl, separate egg white and yolk. Whisk the eggwhite until fluffy.  In a bigger bowl, add all ingredients with the fluffy eggwhite as last. Mix well.  Spoon the mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes for each batch. As my oven got hotter,...

A good film transports us to a place, feeling or event however realistic, magical or fictional without straining the viewers into liking it immediately. And here is a good full-feature film worth my one hour and thirty minutes. I miss good films and this one is like reading a novel with its personality sketch, engaging visuals and storytelling, and one good unexpected ending coming in when every aspect of the story is ripe for the ending.    There are some very French reference like the "raunchy painting" which I could not immediately place why it made its way to the film. Maybe, it refers to a woman's inner desire, not necessarily carnal? But then, that is not the point of the film. The film is about coping one's loss. The film is about facing loss alone, being brave. But isn't that an innermost feeling of a woman too?   And why Tim has to be weird? hahahhaha. Maybe only his personality can put up with the sadness inside the serious, highly organized,...

    This magical realism short film, Let The Beast Rise , is engaging and the director drove his point home in the last few minutes of the film. I thought it was just some ordinary film but the ending is one interesting topic for left-over popcorns and soda one prepare for a full-length film.  Of course, the location is interesting, from cornfields to rain forest. The actors are natural too. The shots are definitely visually appealing. The unfolding of the story, not rushed despite the time constraint. With lots of convenience the technology now affords filmmakers, a good film I think comes down into the message it tries to convey, stir or challenge!!!! Who is the beast in the story? Tree-huggers, environmentalist, conservationist, and nature-lover should watch this. If I have a lecture on environment or film appreciation, I will want this to be part of the critique.   Message me when you get to see the film and let's discuss. And I will edit this blog whe...

    I managed to finish watching one short and two full-length films over the weekend though my wifi connection is so erratic (Hello PLDT!). The featured films are for free via the myfrenchfestival.com. One just needs to create an account with the site and films can be rented and viewed for free via many platforms if one is in the Philippines. I have one month to enjoy all the french films with subtitles.   I watched The Braves and I was happy that it is finally a good film to recommend to others. It is about the friendship of two young women and their dream to become actresses. They are young, so full of life, and ambitions and they were on their road to their dream when a tragedy struck. This is a story of friendship, and sisterhood.    I just could not relate a bit why the play featured in the film is about an immigrant in New York. It could be much more interesting if it features an immigrant in France. Maybe, the play is just the parallel of the two ...

    The Life List of Adrian Mandrick  Chris White  Hardbound, 274 pages     This book is a novel but it feels like it's a biography or something. This tells about the psychological life of Doc Mandrick, an anesthesiologist, who avoids pain, physical and otherwise. He is also a record-holder birder, thus the title. He is juggling his marriage and family life, professional life, the darker side of life that is his drug addiction and a revelation by his father when he was a teen, a birder who had 800 plus sightings and held the third spot among the elite birders.   It is almost all throughout a soliloquy about his struggles. I have not made a research if the regulated/prescription drugs he used were really be taken but then could really mask his addiction or make him functional. Despite that, you will love him a bit for his determination to be a good father and husband.   His birding is part of his life, an interest he took after his mother w...

Last Christmas and New Year's eve, we had cheeses for our boards. So the leftover cheeses - the quickmelt, quezo de bola and cream cheese - are in the fridge, and of course, they can still be made into a good dish when paired with my favorite bellpeppers. Of course, many can be added like ground beef, leftover fried or roasted chicken, onions, rice, herbs and canned tuna. Cheeses, grated or chopped Bellpeppers, halved  Stuff the peppers with cheeses then airfry at 180c for 3 to 5 minutes

In 2017, a friend based in Paris wanted to gift me some books, and she asked me for my preference. I asked for poetry books and she got me e.e. cummings and Maria Rainer Rilke from Shakespeare and Company bookstore.  The copy of the ee cummings I got is his 100 selected poems and it has the thrift-book style cover above which I liked. It is hard to love Cummings but you can love him in a specific poem that conveys special feelings to you just as he did for me. Don't worry, I have far and wide favorite from him because honestly, I could not dig some of his poems.  For me, his poems are abstraction rendered in words, and I specifically love him in this one because this defies reality, logic, organization, reason but celebrates color, childhood, dreams, ideals, abstraction. When I read this poem the first time, I instantly thought of Chagall's The Village and I, the painting I personally wished to see in person the first time I saw it in a book. I don't know what my logica...

Hahaha! The title is a scam just for fun. I am writing about what I was eating during my month-long vacation in the Big Apple. Well, I can say that I liked what I ate all throughout.  I disliked what I had only on three occasions: I don't like the bread used in the sandwich of Nathan's Cart as well as in The Met cafe. While both are in New York City, the only proper eatery I disliked was in DC where I had Chinese noodles and dumplings in the only-open restaurant at 10 am and the best according to the bills posted on its door. I started this blog with what I didn't like so you won't think that I am no picky eater, and that I have no discriminating palate given that I liked almost everything even the neighborhood Colombian food. Let me group the food I had and let me walk you through the memory lane of my gustatory delight sans the elaborated plating and expensive ambiance.   1. ITALIAN Carnegie Diner and Cafe Having jet-lag is never good as the appeti...

If it were just left to me, I would rather either pass by or just want to laze around these thirteen places than have the "mandatory" poses expected of a tourist in these attractions or interesting street stories in New York. But since this is the era of smart phones rather than the expensive film, I did the "proof of life" poses anyway. And why not? 1. STATUE OF LIBERTY -- Happy I did. Well, I would have settled to take only the photo of the Statue of Liberty because this site should not just be a touristy area proving that one is in New York. For me, it should be a mecca of ideals, that is, the place should remind us about the importance and responsibility of liberty; that we should not neglect it. It is that essence which is often lost or not captured in photos, and must be internalized.       2. CONEY ISLAND -- Nice that I did. It is a place to loaf around with lots of food and rides as well as ample kisses from fresh salty breeze. Well, ...

Fangirling, if you describe me when I saw Marc Chagall's The Village and I at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on my second week in New York City. I went to MoMA to see Van Gogh's Starry Night, which is the Museum's star masterpiece if I must rate it according to the flock of tourists at a time fighting for a spot to take a photo with it and the existing articles on it in the web each time MoMA is mentioned. But Lo and behold, I saw a masterpiece that never left me from the time I learned about it in our Humanities Class in college. I thought I have to go to a Jewish museum before I can see this piece. Modern art sometimes does not hold one's breath because it lacks the mystery and the depth of chiaroscuro. One example is this piece. It is colorful, has geometry in it which suggests that the piece must be logical but it is not logical given how the objects are drawn which shows that it is dreamy and tells a story. When I read one e.e. cummings poem, I thought...