Dirty Rice, Anyone?

The best thing about buffet meal is you can find many assortment of dishes. For an adventurous eater, this is a real advantage. The disadvantage will be when you could not find anything that you like. In buffet, whatever is there, that's it. For a picky eater, it might be difficult!

Like for this dish called Dirty Rice Salad. I asked the chef, "are you sure i can eat this? This is dirty!" Of course, i am just joking! For a picky eater like my husband, this "dirty rice" is a big no no. He is not an adventurous eater. For me, i tried the other dishes first and might try this one if there is still some room on my belly.



I really needed to know why it is called dirty rice. Good thing Wikipedia is very helpful. It is said that Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun dish made from white rice cooked with small pieces of chicken liver or giblets, which give it a dark ("dirty") color. The cooked livers tend to be dry, but carry a very mild flavor. Similar to a pilaf, it also includes green bell pepper, celery and onion (the "holy trinity"). Parsley and/or chopped green onions are common garnishes. Dirty rice is most common in the Cajun regions of southern Louisiana and Mississippi; however, it can also be found in other areas of the American south. Of course, it is here is Scotland also.

According to WiseGeek"from its inception, dirty rice was a good way to make the most out of killing a chicken — or buying livers and gizzards cheap — feeding a family and doing it for pennies, all in the bargain. Rice was inexpensive and the chicken liver and gizzard, along with the “Holy Trinity” of Cajun cooking — onion, bell pepper and celery — extended the meal. Dirty rice, then, was often eaten as a main dish. Dirty rice gets its name from the color the liver and broth imparted to the white rice.In these more health-conscious days, liver and gizzards are not used as often. Instead, small amounts of ground pork or beef are used, but the trinity and spices remain the same. Some cooks also throw in a little bacon grease for extra flavoring. The meat is first browned, and then the vegetables, including fresh garlic and green onions are browned together until the onions are clear. All is drained and then the rice and spices such as salt, pepper, cayenne, pepper sauce and paprika go into the pot. The cook adds water, brings it to a boil, adds the vegetables and meat back into the saucepan, covers it, turns the heat to low and waits for the rice to cook. Beef broth or any other available broth may be substituted in place of part, or all, of the water. When the rice has cooked, it stands, covered, away from the heat for five to 10 minutes before serving. Dirty rice can be served with a salad as a main dish, depending on the amount of meat, or to accompany jambalaya or gumbo. Dirty rice is easy to make and a cook can alter the recipe to suit his or her tastes, and the family’s tastes. That, after all, is a Cajun tradition."

Another interesting rice recipe i found is called Jambalaya rice. Just like dirty rice, Jambalaya is a traditional delicious Louisiana Cajun or Creole dish. The main ingredients of Jambalaya includes meats, vegetables, seafoods and rice. These ingredients are prepared together in one pot adding one after another. Here's what it looks like...




What reminds me of Jambalaya Rice is the 1952 country song called Jambalaya(On the Bayou) by Hank Williams. On 1973, Carpenters made another cover version of the song. It is a very popular song and i can even memorize it! Of course, the song is named after this Creole and Cajun dish.

Good-bye, Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou.
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

(Chorus)
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Thibodaux, Fontaineaux, the place is buzzin'
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dress in style and go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

(Chorus)
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Settle down far from town, get me a pirogue
And I'll catch all the fish in the bayou
Swap my mon to buy Yvonne what she need-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

(Chorus)Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

I think i had tried the little of this Jambalaya Rice(probably because i love that country song!). As for the Dirty Rice salad, i got no more room for it! As for my picky husband, nope, he didn't even look at them!

Impact of Marrying Foreigners:A Personal Experience

Whenever i am blog hopping,80% of the blogs i will be spotting will be by a Filipina married to a foreigner. WOW!!! I have this great feeling of excitement that ,"hey there are sooo many of us!" There will be more and more since the impact of internet on interracial marriages is sooo dramatic, widespread and powerful.

When i was a little girl whenever i heared a Filipina married to a foreigner(Australian,European,North American,etc...) i got sooo excited. My mom originally is from Negros Oriental and my dad from the Cebu Province. Whenever we went to these places --- Cebu, Dumaguete, Tanjay, Bais, etc... etc... usually the bigger houses on the community are owned by Filipinas married to foreigners. For example, The La Hacienda Hotel in Tanjay, Negros Oriental is owned by a Filipina married to a British --- a Filipina who once was a very poor girl whose parents can't even afford a small lot now owns a huge hacienda. Whether we accept it or not, that was possible because of her marriage to a British.

Now, let us be honest here : why do we marry foreigners? Okay, of course, LOVE,LOVE,LOVE. What a sweetest thing in the world! But is it just it? I mean, come on, look at our country! Look at that old man in the airport who can hardly even walk who got a 20 year old wife and he's more than 80! Come on, let us be honest!

Of course, there are really lucky ones who married because of true love, but honestly, there are others who married because they saw it as the only way out in a country where extreme poverty is prevalent. Take for example: I'd known a native woman(a B'laan tribe) who can't even speak a word of English and married to an English. Now, okay, you tell me action speaks louder than words, but oh, dear, can you live in a country very much different from yours with a person whom you can't even understand the word he speaks???? Okay, of course, she had survived. Little by little she learnt. And isn't that amazing how strong our coping mechanism is? We need to because there is no real hope for our country! For her, better to marry a foreigner than being a domestic helper (sometimes the working agency will trick you and only get your placement fee!) or being a wife to a Filipino who loves cockfighting and treats his roosters as more valuable than his wife! (Ah, i know, i know, i am just being real here, i knew lots of Filipino husbands who love cockfighting! Asked Manny Paquiao if he loves his fighting cocks more than Jinky? Probably? Ah, Sorry i am out of the topic now!!!!).

There is big impact on marrying a foreigner. Personally, it is a great impact. Okay, i had finished my education and probably would land a good job and probably had married any of my former Filipino boyfriends. But i might not got the chance to go to Paris or any first class travel destinations. Okay, we might got the chance to go but not when we are 27 or 28 0r 30 years old? probably when we will be 50 or 60? or probably not at all? I don't know, i am just only guessing. And i am only speaking in general.

But anyway, I think God had answered my mother's prayer that i will marry a foreigner !(I knew she always looked happy whenever i broke up with my former Flipino boyfriends!). It was a long-time dream of my mom for me to marry a White Guy. I really understand why. The rate of unemployment in the Philippines is too high. With one available job there might be 2000 applicants, and don't apply if you got no back-up!!! And with a population that is surging so high every day, resources are not enough! My mom also knew that by me marrying a foreigner the chances of having a good, comfortable life is higher than being married to a fellow Filipino.(Now, Filipino guys don't get mad at me!!!! I am only telling the truth!). I always believe that MOTHERS KNOW BEST! So, as a good daughter, i heeded my mom's advice. But really, it was the best choice i made in my life!

I still believe this is FATE. I still believe that God has plans to each one of us. My personal experience had been truly amazing and the impact is quite impressive. For more of my personal experience, you can read my Cinderella Story.

Probably the greatest impact i can give in marrying my wonderful, white husband? The mixed kids that we have. The "mestizo" children are the greatest impacts of all! And if you ask me if i married my husband because of LOVE? Big YES. And did i marry him for me to have a good, secured future? BIG, BIG YES! But most of all, because of love!

Internet Hoax

While waiting for my chatmate in the receiving area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport last 2000, the airport security guard chatted with me and said, "who are you waiting for and what flight?..." I told him i am waiting for my online friend(who definitely is my boyfriend before we even physically met each other. The physical meeting was just a confirmation. I am referring to my husband now). The security guard told me, "are you sure he is coming?" I said of course! But really i was stunned why he asked me that. So i asked him,"why you asked that?" So, he told me there were lots of Filipina girls crying and endlessly waiting in the airport and that nobody arrived! In other words, they had been bluffed and fooled by their so-called chatmates.

I can't understand how those buggers feel that they had fooled somebody. Probably they were feasting and feeling like conquerors that they had fooled Asian ladies? Or had they also been fooled before because some Asian girls also asked them money? I can't really answer. In the internet world, i am very sure there are lots of imaginary things, there are lots of stories being made, and of course,mostly are not true. Things like their chatmates died, etc..etc... Oh well, just really bad.

Here is a case in California wherein a mom was indicted in deadly Myspace hoax. This Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide. Lori Drew, of suburban St. Louis, allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. She was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer.Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending."The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl's weaknesses," Hernandez said. "Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she's responsible for her actions." Read full story here.


I can only agree what Hernandez had said.

My Travel Personality

Got this tag from my cousin Lynn
. Thanks,my dear! I am loving it!

Your Travel Personality Is: The Adventurer

For you, travel is how you learn about the world. And you like to learn the stuff that's not in guidebooks. You truly have wanderlust. When you're not traveling, you're dreaming about where you'll go next. And your travels are truly legendary - they leave you with stories you'll be telling for the rest of your life!

What's Your Travel Personality?

I am tagging my friends Wendy, Jana, Portia, and Amor. Have a great month of May to everyone!

Spoiled-Rotten in the Philippines?....

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE BUSY; THE QUESTION IS : WHAT ARE YOU BUSY ABOUT? --- Henry David Thoreau

Okay, i would admit it, i miss being spoiled by my mother and sisters in the Philippines. They are always there when i needed help for taking care of my kids. I think one of the reasons why there are lots of kids in my country of origin is because there are just so many hands who can hold the kids and the nanny fee is not that much.
But, oh well, i am an independent person and i never grew up to be a spoiled brat. As a working student, i know how to handle crisis situations. I know that everyday is a survival of the fittest and that everyday is a learning experience. I am happy i grew up a hardlife because i have very high tolerance level with regards to pain and punishment. Ah, punishment, what a harsh word!
And here in Scotland, taking care of two boys plus one big one, hehehe, is never easy. It is very stressful sometimes. You know, no help at all --- cook, clean the house (ah, oftentimes it's just a mess!), send Prisco to school, play with the kids, read stories, give them a bath, change nappies, feed them, wash the dishes, do the laundry, iron the clothes, etc....etc... These are like routine chores. i still can't believe i did these all? hehehehe!
Oh,well, life is a struggle... the thing is : i might be tired sometimes doing these routines but inside my heart, really, i am happy i am doing these! Unbelievable, with all the lots of household chores, i can still blog?hehehehe. That's the beauty of life --- there's just time for everything.

Having a Baby is Expensive --- Part II

Here in United Kingdom and in many affluent countries, people don't want lots of kids, some can't even afford to have one. And for those who really want will consider their budget very well (unlike in the Philippines where many just get pregnant without realizing the consequences!).
The cost of baby cots, baby prams, car seats, high chairs, nursery items, baby slings, baby clothes, baby toys, baby foods, baby nappies, not to mention the high cost of childminders, are horrendously increasing. If i will convert what i had bought here into pesos just for baby stuffs, i probably would have lots of Louis Vuitton bags now. hehehe. But really, what the heck!
In a place where your mothers, aunties and sisters are far, you just need many things to make your baby occupied. Back home it is very easy to hire a "yaya" or baby sitter and it is very cheap. But, here, no way, if i'll get a baby sitter we'll gonna be bankrupt after one month! So, anyway, my husband told me, we'll get anything that will atleast help me with the baby---things that can occupy Baby Cam for a while to give me a break also.
This one surely occupies his time...


Prisco is enjoying our shopping in Mothercare World.


A very good baby cot is a must. We have this Winnie-the-Pooh bed.


Now, we really don't care how much we spent. We need these stuffs. Now, having a baby might be expensive but the experience of being parents is priceless.

Are You the Next Top Model?

Here's the beauty contest that will give you lots of opportunities in life. You might be that special someone who got the looks, beauty, body and charisma.
http://www.lookoftheyear.comis the latest way to get recognized. You might be spotted also by a modelling agency for that modelling career that you are really dreaming of. So, this is your chance and this is your chance to win that $ 10,000 !
Come on,guys, if you got what it takes to be a model, send in your best picture,get spotted by premier Look of the year people and you are on your way to start a whole new life together. You might get the chance to do modelling work in fashionable cities of Paris, Milan and New York. This is your chance and i am wishing you all the luck!