SingSnap : Don't Know Why

This is a very hard song to sing...I "don't know why" I did it. Heheh.
Well, this is just my first attempt. I would try singing this again standing up. Maybe that will help a little. :)

Feel free to criticize. :D

My Kitchen Chronicles : Pininyahang Manok

Last week, a co-worker of mine had pininyahang manok (pineapple chicken) for baon. And today I remembered I still have chicken thighs in the freezer.

Pininyahang manok has always been one of my favorite dishes - it's one of my mom's specialties. (I miss you mama!) And today, I decided to give it a try. I found a recipe from Panlasang Pinoy - which has always been one of my references when I feel like cooking Pinoy food.

I halved the ingredients listed in PP's recipe because (1) my husband is a vegetarian, and (2) I only have 4chicken thighs. Below is an image of the ingredients I've used. Patis is not shown in the image.

                    I followed PP's instructions to a T. And below is an image of the steps. :)

I am pretty satisfied with the dish, but I would do the following changes on my next attempt:

1) Be more careful. I cut my pinky when I was opening the canned pineapple chunks.
2) I would use a bigger pan. It may not be obvious in the pictures but the pan I used is filled to the brim. So, it was hard to stir.
3) I would use green bell peppers to make the dish more colorful.
4) I would add more pineapple. :)
5) I would remove some of the chicken skin for less fat. :)

That's all for now. Time for more karaoke! :)
Happy eating! :)

SingSnap : Online Karaoke

Woohoo! I just signed up for a free account on SingSnap - Online Karaoke!
I am planning to try all their free songs first before I decide if I will upgrade to Gold Membership. Hihi.

Here's my first recording on SingSnap. (Matt is playing WoW and the washer and dryer are running.) Below is a list of some of the free songs. Items in bold are candidates for my next recording. Excited much! Hihihi

Enjoy! I hope to see you there! :)

Adele	Chasing Pavements
Alanis Morissette	Ironic, Hand In My Pocket
Natalie Imbruglia	Torn, Shiver
Lady Gaga	Bad Romance, Born This Way, Poker Face
Madonna	Like A Virgin, Borderline
Shania Twain	Man I Feel Like A Woman
Carpenters	Top Of The World, Rainy Days and Mondays
Whitney Houston	I Wanna Dance with Somebody, When You Believe, I Will Always Love You
Christina Aguilera	Beautiful, Genie In A Bottle
Maroon5	This Love
Olivia Newton John	Hopelessly Devoted To You
Bette Midler	Wind Beneath My Wings
Beatles	Yesterday, Can't Buy Me Love
R. Kelly	I Believe I Can Fly
Jason Mraz	I'm Yours
Journey	Open Arms, Faithfully
Little Mermaid OST	Part Of Your World
Vanessa Williams	Colors Of The Wind
Oleta Adams	Get Here
Taylor Swift	Love Story, You Belong With Me
Sarah McLachlan	Angel
Rascal Flatts	Bless The Broken Road
Josh Groban	You Raise Me Up
Michael Jackson	Billy Jean, The way You Make Me Feel
Lady Antebellum	Need You Know
Chris Brown - Jordin Sparks	No Air
Peabo Bryson	A Whole New World
Tom Jones	Baby It's Cold Outside
Lionel Richie and Diana Ross	Endless Love
Wicked	Defying Gravity

and of course... Justin Bieber's Baby :)

Karaoke Fix : Jar Of Hearts

Here I am again with my karaoke fix. :)
My first attempt at Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts.
Matt is distracting me. I'll try this again next time when he's not home. Heheh

I just noticed, I look like I'm in pain. Hahah

Thursday night is Food Truck night!

It's Thursday! And for Matt (my husband) and I, it means food truck dinner - local delicious eats on the street. :) There's been a food truck craze in the bay area and it's been our tradition for over three months now. We always catch Off the Grid on Upper Haight (Stanyan St and Waller St). The food trucks are parked next to Golden Gate Park so the place is always packed. We would love to stay there and eat while listening to free live entertainment, but all the seats were taken and we don't want to sit on the curb. And besides it's f****n' cold!




I normally get my food from the following trucks:
Hapa SF (Filipino) - my favorite is lumpiang shanghai
Senor Sisig (Filipino) - don't expect authentic Filipino sisig. It's quite different.
Chairman Bao (Chinese) and
An the Go (Asian Fusion - Vietnamese) - my favorite is the garlic noodles and chicken skewers
And Matt usually gets his from Chairman Bao and Curry Up Now (Indian).

Tonight I tried Phat Thai and got Pad Thai and Cucumber Salad. I loved the salad, Pad Thai is just ok though. Matt got his usual Crispy Garlic Tofu with Miso Greens (Steamed) - this is really tasty,  and a vegetarian taco from Kung Fu Tacos. 

That's it for tonight. Looking forward to next Thursday for another food truck night. :)

My Karaoke Fix

Karaoke, more commonly known in the Philippines as "videoke", is one of my favorite things. I really miss "karaoke-ing" with my family and friends. Karaoke bars here in SF are expensive so I can't just go anytime I want. Unlike in the Philippines where even "sari-sari stores" have karaoke machines you can use for 5Php/song (at 1USD =40Php, this is 12.5cents/song). An hour of singing 4-min songs would cost me less than $2. Ok, I've made my point.

So how do I get my karaoke fix?

When my husband and I are planning to do something  to celebrate a special occasion, I always suggest "Karaoke!". So, we were able to visit YamaSho Karaoke Bar twice. I am really lucky to have a very loving husband. :)

And, YouTube of course! :) Just search for the title of the song you like and append "karaoke" (but you already know that of course. hehe). If you're lucky, you'll get your karaoke fix. Here's a sample of me trying out
Lady Gaga's You and I. I hope you like it. :)

The idiot has landed.

Hi everyone. I would like to welcome my self to the wonderful(?) world of blogging. I am not really a good writer. That said,  I am not sure why I decided to start blogging. Is blogger == good writer? Sana naman hindi. Ano ba sinusulat sa mga ganito? Parang ganito? LOL

Anyway, KJ, a previous co-worker from the Philippines asked me to visit his blog and click on an ad. Tamang duda naman ako. Baka virus eto. Heheh. But I trust this guy so I did what he asked me to do. He said he's going to earn a few cents for every click on the ad in his blog. Then he suggested that I should also start blogging and post ads that he can click. Then we'll both earn some money! :) Hmmm...extra income...why not? Well, maybe if I really start to like blogging then I'll start posting ads on my blog site.

Anyway, it took me a very long time to start setting up this site. And the hardest part for me was not customizing the css, but thinking of the blog title. Hindi nga kc creative,e. Sorry naman. Malamang naman I will change the title in the future. So for now, I'll do with "An Idiot Abroad" even if I know I am not an idiot. Heheh.

I am not in any way connected to the people behind the TV series An Idiot Abroad. I just thought that it might be a good title for my blog since I am living abroad. I haven't even seen an episode of the said TV show. But a co-worker of mine highly recommends it. So I will definitely add it to my bucket list.

That's all for today. Wish me luck with my blogging. :)