Mindfulness and Poetry

 

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott

~~

My takeaway from the recorded session is this lovely poem.  Apart from the questions meant to be answered in coming meditations.  Ganda.

Perfect Cookie Dough Base

200g softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup muscovado sugar
2 whole eggs
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Combine butter, sugar, salt.  Add eggs to emulsify wet ingredients.
Combine flour, baking soda.
Mix and fold.

You can directly add desired combination of dried fruits, nuts and chips into the dough.  For this batch, I divided my dough initially into three to make different cookies.  

Preheat air fryer 180C for 2mins.  With about 5 to 6 small cookies placed on greased parchment paper, default setting of muffin/cookie (180C) for 9mins.  Here's the tricky part:  check the cookies and allow to cool for a minute then turn it over and put it back for another 2mins to allow the bottom part to bake further.  In retro, maybe I should've flattened by cookies, hmm..

I ended up with five variants. 

Not in the photo:  Rolled oats with Dates and Nuts.  Planned to be pecans only and mistakenly added the walnuts which was supposed to add crunch for the choco chip mix instead.  Also, sprinkled some cinnamon into the dough for more aroma.  I've added maybe about 2 tbsp of cocoa to the dough with Reese peanut chips no nuts.  For the cream cheese mix, I've sweetened it with 3 tsp of confectioners sugar.  Since I can't do cream cheese cake, attempted but for another entry, I made blueberry and macadamia with cream cheese mix. I probably made about 30pcs cookies of approx 25g per piece.

T-B: Oats, Dates and Nuts with Cream Cheese Fill, Blueberry and Macadamia, Choco Peanut Chips, Choco Chip with Walnuts

Threading on Dangerous Waters

Is what it means to feel nostalgic while listening to old playlists.  What was on my mind when I first listened to this song?  The way my insides turn upside down.. why?

Revisiting sounds leads me to new ones tho, 

at least that's what I got 

out of this topsy turvy 

emo surfin 

some sound waves trippin

am I wastin 

my precious time 

with too much thinkin..

all I'm sayin

I ain't stayin

until salty water dries 

from my eyes

Guitar-ist D

 

It was D's School Christmas Party and since we haven't done any real shopping for the past two years, I had to halungkat and reuse whatever we have for her OOTD.  Good thing she has this periwinkle top perfect for sweater weather and to tap her feminine side, she obliged to wear a spaghetti offwhite dress.  To complete her look, make the most out of her van's suede skater shoes before it disintegrates :D

I had to wait until her party's over and begged her to come out for a quick photoshoot in anticipation of her slides for her graduation.  It's easier now since we used her guitar as prop and it's an extension of her now that she's almost glued to it.

Back in the game

Armed with my brand new laptop and trusty earcandy player, fingers flexed, I am all set!

Will make the most out of the free 1k photos in flickr.  I'm so psyched I just had to post something and make my presence felt here :)

Hugot and Baking

"Buti pa yung cookies ko may dates!"

Modified recipe from Chef RV Choco Chip Cookies

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup muscovado sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 whole egg

1 1/4 cup All purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

choco chips, walnuts, dates, oats, whathaveyous 😅

mix 1: butter+sugars+egg+chips and nuts

mix 2: flour+baking soda+salt

mix 1+mix 2

scoop in preheated air fryer in 160°C for 8mins.  i ruin my cookies by turning them over and baked for another 4mins.

transfer to rack and patiently wait until cool enough to munch on.  makes 12-14pcs depending on greediness and mood at the time 😅

With Anchor butter, it smells even more heavenly.  Queensland butter is flavorful enough.  i've yet to sub with margarine pero baka madisappoint ako so next time pag wala na talagang pang butter 😁

2021 Music Mood: Chill and Wistful

coz that's what i need to be with all the crazy stuff.

not music related.  i find myself sending a draft of my resignation letter to my boss asking him of his thoughts on the matter.  bet he tried to be cool about it and simply asked me, off the record, what "personal reason" led me to this decision.

to put a soundtrack on this post, #3 and #4 are just so apt and right to the feels. 

We drink alien blood

Actually it's a Berries Slush with Spirulina power up!

I just realized that I miss creating healthy drinks and crafting salads as well.   The Teen was able to drink half only because she had a bottle of buco juice already. 

Blended crushed ice with one mango cheek, about 15 pcs blueberries and 10 pcs strawberries, 200ml srawberry yogurt drink and some honey and condensed milk (which i could do without it's just that they like it sweet) and a tablespoon of spirulina powder.  Serves 4pax.

Anime: Horimiya

ccto

i used to do this, snip anime side by side with manga.  pag nagkatime uli, sana.

https://youtu.be/1EhSCf5TFks

hey, stranger but not really. 

Bookworm wanna be

what happened to my 2020 reasing challenge? talaga bang wala kong nabasa last year? Gideon the Ninth is still in progress so that might be true 🤔😅 because i love going to the bookstore to shop for good reads and i prefer the real thing than an ebook, as i cannot do that due to pandemic and got a new hobby instead (hello plant babies, budget and time consuming hehe) so am i excused na?!

my nakaline up na book series reco from the Teen (six of crows etal) now in page 29, kumusta naman speed ko haha.

ok yun muna, gotta run, literally.  Hope your 4th of July was eventful kahit hindi ako makarelate sa historical but i would love to watch fireworks sometime soon. 

Getting To Know You 2021

1. What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?

Be one with nature. 

2. What type of music are you into?

Lo-Fi, Tita's music BSB pa rin

3. What was the best vacation you ever took and why?

S.Kor 1999 with Olgs

4. Where’s the next place on your travel bucket list and why?

Switzerland.  Alpines. 

5, .What are your hobbies, and how did you get into them?

Planting.  Pandemic made me do it. 

6. What was your favorite age growing up?

35, valid ba? 

7. Was the last thing you read?

Gideon the Ninth.  Currently reading: The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 

8. Would you say you’re more of an extrovert or an introvert?

Introvert for sure. 

9. What's your favorite ice cream topping?

Walnuts

10. What was the last TV show you binge-watched?

Shadow and Bone

11. Are you into podcasts or do you only listen to music?

Music def

12. Do you have a favorite holiday? Why or why not?

Christmas.  Stressful pero worth it. 

13. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Egg

14. Do you like going to the movies or prefer watching at home?

Home

15. What’s your favorite sleeping position?

Side mala-shrimp

16. What’s your go-to guilty pleasure?

Chocolate

17. In the summer, would you rather go to the beach or go camping?

Camping

18. What’s your favorite quote from a TV show/movie/book?

Everybody lies. House. 

19. How old were you when you had your first celebrity crush, and who was it?

Ovaltine boy.  Elem days. 

20. What's one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Music

21. Do you have any pet peeves?

Grammer.  Guilty.

* * *

Not sure if you miss me but I miss myself thinking out loud here.