starshadow_rivaulx (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2012-01-02 10:59 pm
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2012-01-02 10:59 pm
Some thoughts as the new year comes in
So before I get distracted by anything else, I'm going to sit right down and write me a blog post. No cuts for the moment, so bear with me. Or you could always apply the "tl;dr principle". *grin*
2011 is behind me now, and my goodness, what a year *that* was. I am glad that it is over. God willing and the gunpowder stays dry, 2012 is going to be a better year. New Year's Eve started off on the right foot, with no one in the immediate vicinity of the house investing in pyrotech stuff. I kid you not, some of the stuff that people can buy right now could easily be repurposed into IEDs, they are just that bad. Quite a few of those monster firecrackers are illegal imports and substandard into the bargain - with the often tragic results of people ending up disabled as the New Year comes in.
We will not talk about the Libyan rebel-like practice of firing guns indiscriminately in the air, with more tragic results. It seems that this year, there wasn't as much of this type of "celebration" going on, which is a good way to start things.
Myself, I am in a financial wringer, but as long as I can say I am surviving, I know things will work out. It's happened before, though not, I think, with the intensity of the last six months or so. If only there was a way I could have a rest from wondering when the next shoe will fall, life would be a lot easier to manage. *shrug* What will be, will be.
In brighter news: the daughter of Ramon's cousin, who was a flower girl at our wedding these 20 years past, recently graduated from Stony Brook University. Cum laude! Cookie (the proud mother, and deservedly so) sent us pictures of the event - and it is amazing how Angela (the grad) and her sisters Dorothy and Bernadette, the wee kids I knew when they were still in the Philippines, have grown into gorgeous young women. They are *beautiful*! It's always a heartwarming thing to see immigrant family do well in the States.
Well, at least for 99% of the people I know, it would be a heartwarming thing. There's the 1% determined to rain on the parade, one way or another. Fortunately, such are easily ignored, thank heavens!
Our New Year dinner was a simple one: Majestic ham, pancit canton, fruit salad, rice, Coke and sparkly grape juice. Ma turned over the making of the fruit salad to me, and apparently I have mastered the technique to her satisfaction. *grin* Two cans of Nestle Cream, one can of condensed milk; well-drained fruit cocktail, a small jar of cherries and a large jar of strawberry nata de coco, not to forget one of the gift apples from the next-door neighbors, and two small boxes of raisins. Half the finished product was gone by the time we left the dinner table, so I think it turned out rather well.
I managed to intercept the cooking of the pancit sauce in time to get the maid to add the important things like chicken liver, Chinese sausage, and the cilantro. As only 20% of the final product now sits in the refrigerator for tomorrow's lunch, I think that was a success as well.
Of course, there is no way anyone could go wrong with Majestic ham. It is THE go-to ham for generations of Filipinos, along with Excelente and (I think it's called) Adelina's from Chinatown. We started working on the half leg on my birthday (Christmas Day) and then put it back in the freezer till New Year's Eve. Since then it has been found in the macaroni sopas, the munggo, random slices of bread, and as part of either lunch or dinner.
I see where LJ has been tweaking stuff to everyone's dissatisfaction again. Ah well, Dreamwidth has been my home for quite a bit now, and as long as the cross-posting works, anyone reading me on LJ can still do that. I have a little Android app on my Tabbie that does what Loudtwitter and Twittinesis used to do for me: gather up all my tweets for the day and post them to LJ. It has a nifty setting to post the tweets as private-only, which is a very good thing, as the formatting might wreck various layouts if out in the open.
So. I think that's all for the moment. I'll sign off here and try to catch up with all the posts I haven't read yet. Catch you soon, and may 2012 bring good fortune to us all!
2011 is behind me now, and my goodness, what a year *that* was. I am glad that it is over. God willing and the gunpowder stays dry, 2012 is going to be a better year. New Year's Eve started off on the right foot, with no one in the immediate vicinity of the house investing in pyrotech stuff. I kid you not, some of the stuff that people can buy right now could easily be repurposed into IEDs, they are just that bad. Quite a few of those monster firecrackers are illegal imports and substandard into the bargain - with the often tragic results of people ending up disabled as the New Year comes in.
We will not talk about the Libyan rebel-like practice of firing guns indiscriminately in the air, with more tragic results. It seems that this year, there wasn't as much of this type of "celebration" going on, which is a good way to start things.
Myself, I am in a financial wringer, but as long as I can say I am surviving, I know things will work out. It's happened before, though not, I think, with the intensity of the last six months or so. If only there was a way I could have a rest from wondering when the next shoe will fall, life would be a lot easier to manage. *shrug* What will be, will be.
In brighter news: the daughter of Ramon's cousin, who was a flower girl at our wedding these 20 years past, recently graduated from Stony Brook University. Cum laude! Cookie (the proud mother, and deservedly so) sent us pictures of the event - and it is amazing how Angela (the grad) and her sisters Dorothy and Bernadette, the wee kids I knew when they were still in the Philippines, have grown into gorgeous young women. They are *beautiful*! It's always a heartwarming thing to see immigrant family do well in the States.
Well, at least for 99% of the people I know, it would be a heartwarming thing. There's the 1% determined to rain on the parade, one way or another. Fortunately, such are easily ignored, thank heavens!
Our New Year dinner was a simple one: Majestic ham, pancit canton, fruit salad, rice, Coke and sparkly grape juice. Ma turned over the making of the fruit salad to me, and apparently I have mastered the technique to her satisfaction. *grin* Two cans of Nestle Cream, one can of condensed milk; well-drained fruit cocktail, a small jar of cherries and a large jar of strawberry nata de coco, not to forget one of the gift apples from the next-door neighbors, and two small boxes of raisins. Half the finished product was gone by the time we left the dinner table, so I think it turned out rather well.
I managed to intercept the cooking of the pancit sauce in time to get the maid to add the important things like chicken liver, Chinese sausage, and the cilantro. As only 20% of the final product now sits in the refrigerator for tomorrow's lunch, I think that was a success as well.
Of course, there is no way anyone could go wrong with Majestic ham. It is THE go-to ham for generations of Filipinos, along with Excelente and (I think it's called) Adelina's from Chinatown. We started working on the half leg on my birthday (Christmas Day) and then put it back in the freezer till New Year's Eve. Since then it has been found in the macaroni sopas, the munggo, random slices of bread, and as part of either lunch or dinner.
I see where LJ has been tweaking stuff to everyone's dissatisfaction again. Ah well, Dreamwidth has been my home for quite a bit now, and as long as the cross-posting works, anyone reading me on LJ can still do that. I have a little Android app on my Tabbie that does what Loudtwitter and Twittinesis used to do for me: gather up all my tweets for the day and post them to LJ. It has a nifty setting to post the tweets as private-only, which is a very good thing, as the formatting might wreck various layouts if out in the open.
So. I think that's all for the moment. I'll sign off here and try to catch up with all the posts I haven't read yet. Catch you soon, and may 2012 bring good fortune to us all!
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I hope 2012 is a nicer year to all of us and that the financial wringing passes.
Your New Year's dinner sounds fantastic! Especially the fruit salad.
^___^ I also received your card today. Thank you! I loved the scene on the front and the added bits of insight for it inside the card.
Lots of love.
H.
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