prime gods

Whenever people come to a decision that they are in dire need of hiatus, they generally opt to go to places where they can forget about work and their problems. They start planning on a secluded romantic, active, or relaxation getaway to compensate for their busy and sometimes exhausting routine.

Now when this happens to you, you ought to make sure that your vacation is worth it. Otherwise, you would just have wasted your money and your precious leaves from work.

One of the best places to go for an escapade is in Hawaii. Not only can you hike, boat, snorkel and whale watch in an unaffected, natural habitat, you can also stay in unique places, such as villas, with your family and/or friends so you can spend more quality time with them. Do try a Kauai Vacation.

To ensure that you achieve maximum pleasure from your trip, I suggest you visit websites like the Hawaiian Beach Rentals which offers KAUAI VACATION PACKAGES and allows you to plan a customized, unique, memorable, and even environmentally-friendly vacation at economical rates.

We recently had a drinking-bowling company outing last August 10. I had so much fun that I recounted the entire evening to my mom.

She told me that bowling is a great game and we ought to do it as a family recreation one of these days. I told her a bowling game is expensive, so why not just play billiards? In fact, since we have plenty of space in our new house, why not avail of a pool table so we can have unlimited fun without the hassle of time constraint and per hour gaming fee. Besides, pool tables nowadays aren’t that expensive. My mom said she’ll consider it.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It would be really great to be able to play billiards in your own house and even invite friends for a game every now and then.

Drained from work, I decided to browse over some websites during break and encountered this, “Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.”

As of the moment, I am not satisfied with my answers to those three questions. But then again, I am still able to “work to live” and NOT “live to work”. That is, I can still squeeze in some time to meet up with my friends and I am still capable of spending some dough in out-of-towns. I guess my breaking point will be when my main existence revolves on my job. Until then, I am going to continue looking at leisuretime promotion brochures and websites and enjoy the “fruits of my labor” (or what’s left of it).

No matter how much creativity goes into it, cooking is an art. Or perhaps I should say a craft. It abides by absolute rules, physics, chemistry, etc. and that means that unless you understand the science you cannot reach the art. We’re not talking about painting here. Cooking’s more like engineering. I happen to think that there is great beauty in great engineering.

ALTON BROWN, interview, Sep. 12, 2002

Anxious on finding a good cooking school to create “great engineering”, I surfed the net once again and came across this: http://www.baychef.com/student_services.asp

While I’m still undecided, I like the fact that, you are not only “in the middle of a culinary playground” at California Culinary Academy… they also help their students secure significant jobs in restaurants, hotels, resorts, bakeries, and other culinary and hospitality related businesses. What makes it more captivating is the student housing options and the personal and professional development activities that they offer throughout the term.

So far, so good. I’ll keep you posted on my final culinary school decision.

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.

ELSA SCHIAPARELLI, Shocking Life

I just came home from dinner with my officemates at Gateway. While eating, Maricel, one of my colleagues, heard me producing delighted and satisfied, “Mmmm!” chewing sounds. She looked at me, saw my equally delighted expression towards the dish I’m savoring, and laughingly commented, “Fe’s really appreciative. Feeding her gives one a sense of gratification.”

True. I’m one of those people who delight in eating (especially if it’s free!). In fact, food has a great influence in my mood. Bland dishes can add to my depression. On the other hand, exquisitely prepared food can momentarily (or even permanently) dispel some of my unceasing anxieties.

With this wondrous effect, I aim to be able to produce the latter effect (conjure happiness) to the recipient of my cooking. Achieving this will of course entail notable training. Still in search for an appropriate school to get this high-end cooking skill, I browsed the net once more and encountered this: http://www.twincitiesculinary.com/. What can you say about that culinary school?

“Picture, picture!”

This is one of my colleagues’ famous (shrieking) quotable quotes on me.

You see, I’m a camera and picture addict. I take pictures at whim; of just about anything I fancy at any given moment (sense of decency, common sense, and all caution being set aside for the sake of art – MY collection of art that is).

From coincidental same-colored shirts of my colleagues to glorious sunsets, I savor them all by freezing them in a photo. And every time, the pictures I take are worth throwing away all caution and enduring the ceaseless banters of my colleagues about my weird photo-hobby. They’re simply exquisite. And looking through them sometimes literally takes my breath away – in an awe or nostalgic fashion, depending on the picture.

Thus, when I have enough money (I know, I know. It will still take time to reach that state.), I intend to upgrade my basic photography skills (I did take a photography class in college if you must know – complete with SLR and developing sessions). Someone recommended Brooks school of photography. I had a look at it and I like the fact that it offers training in filmmaking,graphic design and photojournalism too. We’ll see…

I am a frustrated cook.

On second thought, I take it back. I am a decent cook (bordering on excellent I might add), when I am in the mood.

Truthfully, I prefer to be the guinea pig than to be the cook. All the meticulous, sometimes tedious preparation for one special meal that will be consumed in less than 15 minutes (depending on how palatable it is) generally takes too much time for me to handle. But then again, the satisfied huge smiles, the appreciation, and sporadic flowing compliments of my tasters more than compensate my exhaustive time in the almost intolerably warm kitchen.

In fact, their delighted expressions inspired me to start saving up for a good culinary school. Speaking of which, I encountered this unusual yummy sounding culinary school online – the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts. I find it amazing that cooking schools actually “combines classical methodology with a contemporary philosophy” aside from the usual culinary proficiencies such as the recipe and menu creation, preparation, and sanitation (read: http://www.atlantaculinary.com/programs/culinaryarts.asp).

Nevertheless, cooking IS an art and has long been practiced. Consequently, philosophizing about it is comme il faut.