where the moon shines

Seeing The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook, and always hanging out at her blog, makes me think that maybe it’s about time I learned how to cook.

See, I don’t cook. But she really makes me want to.

If someone gets me her cookbook, I swear I will make all of the recipes in it at least once. Promise.

I’ve already done her cinnamon rolls more than once and that turned out awesome.

But first thing’s first, someone get me that cookbook!

Checkout this wonderful sorta review by Bakerella on the wonderful awesome cookbook.

Click on the photo below:

Also, visit thePioneerwoman.com, checkout all the sumptuous recipes she’s already shared there!

He is soooo good isn’t he?

I can never play the guitar this well, but I can play along Livin’ on a Prayer in Guitar Hero for sure

There should be a Guitar Hero – Jung Sungha edition

By the way, have you seen my Guitar Hero posts here and here?

In Christmas 2007 and 2008, I joined the many others who patronized Starbucks just to earn the stickers for the planners to be used the next year. Last year, I skipped it. It was mainly because I found the design horrible, but also because of Peppermint Mocha’s absence in last year’s holiday drinks lineup.

I tried to make my own personalized Starbucks planner; but then realized just when I was about to print them out, that I didn’t want them anymore. I spent hours going through the design using my digital scrapbooking stash, only to give up on it.

This year, the tandem is back:

My favorite Peppermint Brownie and Peppermint Mocha! I just had to have these two while we waited for Vanessa at the Starbucks at the Sky Garden, SM North.  I got to see the 2010 planners too, and I like what I saw. Liked it even more when I found out that there are freebie/discount coupons in them

So I completely fell off the bandwagon this week, as I found myself heading for a coffee and cake fix everyday after shift.  I had a ‘fun’ time people watching and looking at others who were there with their laptops, and their Promotional flash drive hanging around their necks, and small groups who were having meetings over brunch.

On Monday morning, this was my meryenda:

That’s a Dark Cherry Mocha and a slice of Chocolate Toffee Nut Loaf.  I read about Dorothy’s adventure in Oz while enjoying these and waiting for the boyfriend.

The next day, as I was leaving the office, I had an internal debate about passing by Starbucks yet again or heading straight home. My mind was telling me to stay away, that I could still save myself – both my weight and my wallet – from this pre-Christmas disaster. BUT all those new treats were just too difficult to ignore. My heart led me to ELJ’s other entrance, and eventually inside the cafe. This was what I tried next:

The Chocolate Molten Cake is their version of a lava cake. Once you dig in, more gooey chocolate plus caramel oozes through. There’s also a surprise marble of a choco truffle inside. It might prove to be a little sweet for those who aren’t really chocoholics. I definitely had to ask for water to flush it all down. I love it, but I don’t think I’ll be having this again. The 110 peso price tag is just too much for someone who needs to learn to be more thrifty.

The very next day, despite having other plans, I found myself in the same spot. I just could not stop thinking about the Crepe Cake. I had to have it. So I did. It has eighteen layers. I counted (although I’ve seen others say it has only seventeen).

If the Molten Cake is very sweet, this one is just right. You will definitely recognize the taste of crepe that is alternating with cream filling, and finally finished off with chocolate ganache frosting. I’d love to make something like this! It is so yummy, I had to twit about it real time. Haha Sadly though, it costs as much as the molten cake does.

Thankfully, I stopped myself from heading to the cafe yesterday. But that was only because Alfred and I went to Greenhills right after shift.

Okay, I admit it. I also coaxed him to buy me coffee there. I stayed away from any pastries or cakes but I sure did see even more yummy treats there including sugar free concoctions.

We’re only two weeks into November and yet the damage has already done. Goodluck for the rest of the season!

(The above photos were taken using my phone’s camera, not very good quality . Checkout Dessert Comes First for better photos of these Starbucks treats. I really miss toting my camera around with me because I miss out on photo opportunities.)

A short lesson on Pilipino contemporary culture.

Nosebleed is a term that is used to pertain to situations where one finds him/herself racking his/her brains to seek comprehension. Does that make sense? In other words, nosebleed situations are those that make you think really really hard. Also, this is used when you just can’t seem to understand something.

Looking around the Internet, some people believe that it was popularized by a Pinoy movie a few years back where the lead character uses the term whenever she has to speak to someone in English. You might want to checkout this thread in a Pinoy forum. I think that the usage of the term goes back way before the movie though.

There’s also a Yahoo Answers thread on the same topic (probably started by the same person), and I particularly like this reply:

I think this term originated back in the 70′s or 80′s, when there are popular movies like Scanners where people with telephatic powers can concentrate and make people’s brains explode. Some of them who are not so good in using their power suffers nosebleeds, hence it became a housword for somebody who is having a hard time understanding a problem or situation.

That makes a lot of sense to me. After all, don’t we call it nosebleed because it feels like brain matter is leaking out through the nose? LOL!

So why the sudden interest in the term nosebleed? Because it’s the only way I can describe how my day went. NOSEBLEED!

As soon as I arrived at work, I had to deal with figuring out why my survey results was as bad as it was. I got a whopping 8 surveys in one week. Eight. In my business that is a lot, I tell you. (sorry I can’t really give out more details) And the results was just so horrible. Horrible. And the reasons that made it so varied. It wasn’t as if there was just one explanation. Reviewing the data and trying to analyze it left me with no time to prepare for an exam that I had to take.

Yes, I took an exam* today. It’s supposed to be simple and in truth it was. If only I actually prepared for it. And I will forever hit myself for not doing so if failing the darn test ruins my chances at this. The thing is, I understood everything it asked for – in principle. I was like – I know this! But I just could not confidently provide the answers right then. Grr!

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Anyway…

I have a question: we have a digibox from our cable TV provider. Does that mean that when a TV show is offered in HD, we see it in HD even if we don’t have an HD TV? Haha, nakaka-nosebleed ba yung question? I just saw this page on bell tv and I wondered whether the digibox we have worked the same way.

*It’s an exam for a position that I’m applying for.

For the past three weeks, we have been hooked on this game, and this song has become one of our favorites from the playlist:

Since I started with my current account a year ago, I’ve only taken advantage of the availability of Xbox 360s on the floor a few times. I tried Halo, but that isn’t really for me. I just couldn’t shoot that well. I tried Viva Piñata too. I liked it, but didn’t get to play too much because our agents would rather borrow other games (like UFC). Then there was Guitar Hero. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. It was like the day would not be complete without us borrowing the console, setting it up in our bay, and then playing a few songs.

I’m still at Medium level. Wondering when I’ll finally get up a notch to Hard.

I love the melody of Mr. Brightside, and another The Killers song too – Human. Here’s the band’s video (which is way better than the recorded one of a player playing the song on Guitar Hero World Tour):

I’ve never thought of owning another gaming console since we last owned a Play Station (the first edition, the gray one) years ago. But having games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band make me just want to own one again!

Alfred’s friend gave him his old Play Station 2, it’s the fat one and needs to be serviced. We’ll take it to Greenhills one of these days and see if it still can be repaired. I’m sure though that we won’t be spending on a GH or RockBand. We just don’t have that money lying around. There are cheaper alternatives though, I wonder if they’re any good?

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On a totally unrelated note… Have you seen the 2010 Starbucks Planner? Have you seen their new cakes and breads just in time for Christmas? I plan to have a separate post about this but I just had to say – this season is killing my weight loss dream! As in! I am supposed to stay away from all the sugar in the coffee, and from the cakes. But I’ve been to Starbucks two days in a row! Talk about sabotaging my own plan.

I might just have to follow the boyfriend’s suggestion: take a weight loss diet pill! No no no! Not just yet.