Cravin' for Nero Pasta

I've been to Italy for a few times already.  And I thought that my sole favorite Italian dish is Frutti de Mare.  That changed when, during our most recent deployment, we dined in a restaurant, which was literally just a few steps away from the place where we used to stay.  It was my first time in that restaurant and my first time to taste nero pasta.  By the way, "nero", in Italian, means black.  It was so yummy that I did not mind being told by a Director that the squid ink painted my lips black.  I thought that she was joking when she further said that I was wearing a Gothic lipstick!

Nonetheless, knowing that I enjoyed my pasta so well, my seatmate gave me a quick cooking lesson on nero pasta dish.  Thanks to her simple recipe, at that moment, I couldn't wait to buy and take home as much nero pasta as I can.  Sad to say, not all grocery stores in Rome have nero pasta on their shelves.  In my recollection, there were only three grocery stores that sell nero pasta, one of which is Conad City (but not all branches!).  And take note, nero pasta is so expensive compared to other pasta noodles!

By the way, frutti de mare and nero pasta are both served with seafoods - shellfish and squid, respectively.  My love for seafoods explains why the aforesaid dishes are my favorites!

I haven't tried cooking nero pasta yet.  It's been almost a month since I received the box containing, among others, my priced nero pasta.  Just looking at the packed noodles brings back memories of how tasty the dish was.  Perhaps this weekend, I will have the privilege to challenge my culinary skills (or incompetence) and hopefully savor what I am craving for right now.  Perhaps this weekend.. ;)

My Harvest!

That feeling when you wake up one morning and see another beautiful flower in full bloom in your own humble little terrace, almost a thousand feet above the ground.. Priceless!!!

Reminiscin..

Urghhh!  Work-related stress is too much these days.  That's what I said to somebody just few days ago.  Wish I were back in time when what I was all worried about was not to fall from riding the snow sled.  It was such a great feeling then when, thereafter, I stood up beaming with a triumphant smile on my face and vowed to ride again.  Hayyy..... :(

I wanna go to Easy Street!!!

It's been a long while since I watched a musical.  The last one that I distinctly remember was, "The Sound of Music", which was shown in my alma mater in Cebu.  It was an enjoyable, eye-opener experience and I even had a crush on the Captain then, played by a young priest, who is now married :(

Last November 18, 2016, my colleagues and I went to Newport Performing Arts Theater at the center of Resorts World Manila to watch the musical, "Annie".  I admit I was not able to watch the original (1982) version of the movie from start to end so I was not really much familiar with the story.  I even learned only recently that there were two other movie revivals (1999 and 2014)..

Nonetheless, I was so impressed with the dance performance of the actors when they sang the song, "Easy Street".  It was so cool!  Thereafter I searched for that video in YouTube and voila!  I like the performance in 1999 version better.  I played it countless times even up to this day.  I guess that is my favorite video for now.  :)

While waiting for the show to start..
Credits to the owner of the photo (jojo) and the YouTube video above

Smart No More...

That's it!  I'm done with it!  It's over!  Twice is too much!

Two years ago, I tried to access the net through my Smart mobile data, armed with a P300+ load.  Few minutes after I finished surfing and turned off the mobile data button, I checked my balance, was stripped off less than a 50 bucks, and was okay with it.  Later, I was surprised when I failed to register for a P150 international call promo.  When I checked my balance, lo and behold!  I didn't have sufficient load for that promo!  Thus, I called up Smart and was advised to turn off my phone and take out the sim card.  Thereafter, I checked my balance from a non-internet capable phone and.. surprise to my surprise!  My load balance had been continuously declining!

I called up Smart again and I was told that, according to their system, I was using my mobile data!  But they could not explain how on earth was I able to fully consume my load even when the sim card was already taken out from the mobile phone!

And now, it's happening again!  This time, I lost P1000+!  Smart customer representative said that, according to their system, I used my mobile data few minutes before 6 o'clock in the morning of a Monday.  How could that be?  I usually get up early every Monday morning to hastily prepare for work!  Also, I have a sky broadband at home! Why the hell would I shift to mobile data when I didn't have problems with my wifi connection, particularly for that questioned period?!

Smart, you are so smart...

Free Uber Ride

My first uber car ride was free.  It was about a year ago.  I should say I was impressed!  To find out why, click this link:  https://www.uber.com/invite/2kgzf3urue or use the promo code: 2kgzf3urue when booking a ride.

Happy riding! :)

I knew you were there..

(Video credits to the owner)

For the past few months I had been grieving for the loss of my mama (and still am..) while dealing with a mryiad of workload.  And now that I am halfway done, I've been spending my weekends taking a break including watching movies in the comforts of my home sweet home.  Then I came across with an article posted in Facebook that had something to do about 10 best romantic movies.  When I checked, the movie entitled, "An Affair to Remember" was not even there!  Albeit my other favorite romantic film, "The Notebook" was listed in the article but it just didn't seem right that the movie of one of my most adored actresses, Annette Bening, wasn't!  (By the way, we have the same birthday!)

I'm sure I have a copy of the original version of the movie but I don't like it as much as I do with the 1994 version.  Since I was too lazy to check my external drive and watch again the entire film, I just settled for 3-5-minute unforgettable scenes in You Tube (why don't they just post the full movie so I can watch it?!).  And mind you, I've been watching the final scene for countless times already while writing this post!

Click the video link above to see why I'm so into it right now.. ;)