If the statement, 'You are what you eat' was true, I would be a salt statue.
If you had to have one piece of music (softly) playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?
"Amazing Grace", flute. I need to get reminded always how blessed my life is and thankful I should be.
What is the most important thing in any relationship?
Commitment. If you don't commit as a friend, you won't do things a friend should do. If you don't commit yourself as a parent, you'd make an irresponsible parent. If you don't commit yourself as a spouse to your significant other, you'd be an asshole. Hehe.
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If you read my post on pistachio caramels, you'll remember that I had some temperature issues that weekend. It was so warm in my air condition-less apartment, that my first batch of caramels started getting all melty and greasy. Definitely not suitable for the public. I was heartbroken, but there was work to be done, so I shoved the rejects into the cupboard to deal with later on. Later on arrived and I thought back to a soy caramel sauce that I had had at Ludobites a few months ago. I believe that theirs had accompanied a fish dish. Another savory and sweet winning combination. For the soy caramel sauce, I simply melted down the caramels and added a few dashes of soy sauce. That's it. Easy enough, right?
I had a few pounds of oxtails in the freezer that I had been dying to use. Oxtails are one of my favorite foods in the world. Top five for sure. The meat is extremely tender and full of gelatinous goodness. I braised the oxtails in my soy caramel sauce, red wine, onions, carrots and celery. After a six hour braise the meat was falling off the bones and the yummy gelatin in the bones had flavored the broth nicely. I skimmed the fat from the broth and reduced it to concentrate the flavors. It would serve as the base to my noodle soup. Chestnut noodles lent just the right amount of sweetness. Here's the assembly of the bowl... Swirl a nest of fresh pasta into the bottom of the bowl, sprinkle with blanched rainbow carrots, add baby mizuna leaves and shredded napa cabbage to the bowl (it'll get wilted when it's swirled in by the eater), garnish with scallions and finally add a ladle of broth. Brush oxtail meat with the caramel sauce and place it on top of the noodles. I removed my meat from the bones, just because I had some squeamish eaters coming over.
I know I talk about my city a lot but that is because I love it so much! It's a fantastic city with a real community sense about it and it has one of the best school systems around. Everyone else that lives here loves it too! They loved it so much that about 25 years ago they dubbed the first Saturday in May 'We Love Homewood Day'. I don't know the details of it's origin because I've only lived here for 7 years but today it is a huge fund raiser for the Middle and High School band programs. It starts out at 8am with a carnival and arts and crafts thingy at Patriot Park. At 6pm the We Love Homewood Day parade steps off from the library and marches down Oxmoor Road ending in Edgewood. Edgewood is a little neighborhood in Homewood that is as quaint as quaint can be. All of the streets have sidewalks and the homes are quaint cottages (the property values are through the roof in Homewood, especially in Edgewood so house flippers have descended upon the neighborhood and demolished the original homes, replacing them with gargantuous, multi-story homes that are too big for the modest size lots, this is unfortunate but many of the original homes remain). When the parade ends there is a 'dance in the street' in Edgewood for everyone to celebrate the city they love!
Hailey has been involved with We Love Homewood Day since she was in the 7th grade. She was in the H.E.A.T. group in 7th and 8th grade and working the carnival rides was part of the community service that the middle-schoolers in this group do. H.E.A.T. stands for Homewood Exploration Adventurer Team. The group was founded by a member of the Homewood Park and Recreation board specifically for Homewood students in middle school. In return for the community service they provide the group gets to go on various adventures. During Hailey's 2 years in this group she went white water rafting, snorkeling with manatees in Florida and skiing in Gatlinburg, among other things.
Of course, since she's been in High School she has marched in the parade with the High School band (that's one of my pictures by the way). The whole town comes out to watch the parade and always gives the band tremendous support and cheers! When I'm walking along side them, trying to video/photograph as much as I can I see the parents with their little kids, holding them up and pointing and saying "Look! There's the Band!". I can't even describe in words how PROUD it makes me feel that my daughter is a part of this!
So this year, Mother Nature played a dirty trick on us and decided to rain and I mean pour down rain on Saturday morning. The carnival and arts and crafts thingy was cancelled. But, by parade time everything had dried up, the sun was shining and it was absolutely perfect weather for a parade!
So here's my pics and one video that I made:
Notice Hailey telling me (nicely) to go away LOL!
Got these pictures from my friend few days ago, and I combined them all together as one picture.
And since I think they are so cute, I picked up a couple of them and made a banner.
Show us your mother.
See how beautiful she was on her engagement and wedding day...
Took this picture on her 63rd birthday. The last birthday she had.
My heart still breaks every time I see this picture. I took this picture secretly with my camphone on Thursday - December 01, 2005. In about 15 hours after I took this picture, she passed away...
And this is the picture that's hanging on the wall of our living room. The same picture she had on her ID :)
This banner I dedicate for my Mother and Mother's Day. Will put it off tomorrow morning. These pictures were taken in a photo booth of Somerset MRT Station - Singapore, in 1994. She's not fat in this picture, but her face was swollen from the medicine she took. She'd had a fight against Lupus since 1990 and lost the battle in 2005. What a warrior queen, eh? :)
What's the best thing about your mom?
Words can't never describe how wonderful she was as a woman, a child of God, a daughter, a friend, a sister, a wife, and a mother. Selfishly, I'd say that I don't care if anyone think that their mother is the best, but none can ever beat my Mom :)
Anyway, I think the best thing about my Mom is that she's a woman of God who always prayed for her husband and daughter, day and night - until her last day on Earth.
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