Sango Attack! - Japinoy.com goes to Sango July 17, 2008
Japanese Restaurant Review - Originally posted in Japinoy.com
Restaurant name: Sango - The Burger Master
Clockwise from top left: Curry rice, Oyakodon, Sango interior, Omurice
Reviewers
-Wigent
-Maneki Neko
-Moeru
-Amanatsu
Lazy girl’s bento - 12 June 2008 June 20, 2008
I finally made my first bento for my new job! I can explain the unfortunate title of this thread…I am still adjusting to my new work schedule (not so ungodly, but still a bit unusual for me) so I am finding it difficult to find time to really cook. Also, my “new” fridge (actually, my sister’s) is quite empty, which leaves me very little choice for my baon.
Anyway, Wednesday last week, my colleagues and I went to the nearby McDonald’s to get dinner, and the crew accidentally packed an entra order of nuggets for me. I only found out about it when we got back to the office, and I didn’t want to go all the way back to McDo to return it 
So I decided that I will have a chicken nuggets bento for my lunch the following day! The contents of my lunch:
Tax good news for the Working Class Pinoy June 18, 2008
At least something to look forward to — paying less taxes to our government!! I am not anti-tax…I am just anti “paying hard earned money to those who don’t deserve it”. Hehe. Got this bit of good news from a friend (too lazy to read the papers myself so I asked her to forward an email to me). *boink* Important part in red. I did not paste the entire article…just the important bits. ^_^
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law a bill that would exempt minimum wage earners from paying income tax and increasing personal exemptions for other employees.
Arroyo signed in Malacañang Tuesday Republic Act 9504 or an act amending Sections 22, 24, 34, 35, 51, and 79 of RA 8424 or the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
Nintendo DS keeps kicking PSP’s butt! (How Sony lost the handheld war) June 17, 2008
Oh yeah! I knew it! Dami ko nang kino-convince na mas maganda ang DS — maski nga estudyante ko, gusto kong bumili sila ng DS para kuno mapractice nila ang Japanese writing nila, hehe (kuno)…pero alam mo naman ang mga Pinoy — kaya nga hit ang PSP dito, kasi all-in-one gadget. Ika nga ni Dards, kulang na lang cellphone. Just wanted to post this article, to drive home the point:
How Sony lost the handheld war
It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly things can turn around. Back when Sony confirmed that it was looking to introduce a portable version of its PlayStation console, speculation was rife that Nintendo was on the verge of following Sega and becoming exclusively a software producer. After all, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox had soundly beaten the GameCube, and the one area where Nintendo had ruled the roost for the decade before – the handheld segment – was about to get serious competition from arguably the most potent brand in gaming at the time: the PlayStation.
DFA and passport renewal: The good, the bad and the ugly May 26, 2008
Finally! After 50 long years of trying to get my passport renewed, I actually finished it today. YAY! My passport expired in March and it was only today that I was finally able to renew it. While I am not really scheduled to go anywhere soon, you never know, right? ^__^ Whew. All I need now is to wait a couple of weeks then I can go back to DFA to claim it.
Anyway, dealing with government agencies like the DFA and the SSS is always a test of patience. For anyone. While I do pride myself in my patience, government agencies somehow manage to get the better of me. I did not have the chance to write about my SSS experience earlier this month, but I really want to write about the DFA. I will try to be as objective as possible, I promise. After all, I used to be in public service too. ^_^
Say No to Toxic People! May 6, 2008
So right! M likes to forward emails. Sometimes, I ignore them altogether (because they are mostly email money making schemes — you click, she earns). But there are also lots of forwarded ‘gems’ like this one and I thought it would be a shame if I don’t share. ^_^
If I may add…another type of toxic person we should avoid are those who do not have anything good to say about others. I have this co-teacher who is like that. Even the nicest person in school has a negative side, apparently, because she was able to find something bad to say about that person (who happens to be a friend of mine). This co-teacher is also like Type #6, who does not find anything nice to be thankful for in life. Now, I am avoiding all her negative energy…I don’t care if she starts spreading gossip about me. Who would believe her, anyway?
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By Bo Sanchez
There are many types of Toxic Persons, but let me focus on 6 types that you should avoid:
Toxic Person #1:
Those Who Encourage Your Addiction
You know this story very well because it happens too often. My friend “Jim” was a drug addict. He entered a rehab for a year. In that entire year, Jim didn’t touch the drug. He went back home a new man.
Gobo maki bento (17 March 2008) - the overdue bento April 10, 2008
This was my baon for March 17th. I can’t believe I freaking forgot to post. Almost a month, sheesh. Anyway, for this bento, the main star is gobo maki! Gobo maki is a fishcake roll (maki, as in ‘roll’ or ‘rolled) stuffed with gobo or burdock root in the middle. Gobo maki is a common ingredient in shabu-shabu/nabe/hot pot and is usually boiled or steamed. In this bento, I fried the gobo maki and cut them into bite size pieces. I prefer frying it so it does not taste like rubber (though frying is less healthy, of course). Gobo maki, surprisingly, is quite cheap. I got this in Hatchin Kamagong for P30 a pack. I think it was 5 or 6 rolls in one pack. Must get some soon.
1. Gobo maki on a bed of plain steamed rice. - The gobo maki tastes good by itself. No need for dipping sauces.
2. Curry korokke (curry-flavored potato croquette, deep fried) on a bed of lettuce. (Or was it pechay Baguio? I think the veggie was left over from the taco dinner we had over the weekend) - On top of the korokke is a small amount of tonkatsu sauce (Bulldog, of course). Curry korokke is P12 each, also at Hatchin. Regular korokke is also P12, I think.
3. Gobo maki again - Used as space/gap fillers
4. Some veggie/fruit preserve I don’t recognize - Got this in Hatchin as well. They have a 3-for-P100 promo for various food stuff, and Schatz got a handful of those. I didn’t like this very much. Too salty, with a weird texture.
I really should get a better camera! My pics are all crappy. Yeah, my phone cam is crappy…plus I don’t have natural lighting at my apartment, because I live in an inner unit.
My ‘kawaii cuisine’ adventures begin today! March 27, 2008
I’ve started living alone in January. I’ve finally moved out of my family’s house and now fully independent. OK, I’m renting the flat, so I’m not exactly 100% independent. But still…yada yada. The nice thing about living alone is that I do everything for myself and I have lots of space for…more creative pursuits. Haha. Like bento, for one. And so to sort of chronicle my independent life, and my improvements in bento-making, I decided to start my own Hitorigurashi O-bento, aka ‘Living Alone Bento’. Somehow, translating that in English doesn’t sound too happy, does it?
I’m such a bento newbie and a struggling cook, but I feel that these past months of experimenting with food has given me some degree of culinary confidence (powtah, sarap pakinggan nun a) and now I am inspired to keep on making bento (and buying bento stuff over Ebay? That counts too…). I do hope I’d be able to keep this up, so I can keep track of my progress as a bento maker.
So here begins Cat’s culinary adventures in kawaii cuisine! *insert sound*
For the first entry, my baon for March 18 (at least I think it was March 18. It says so on the pic date stamp). I make 2 obento for each day, because I like to have my dinner at work (while watching Jdorama, harhar).
Bento #3 This was my lunch for the day. I used my 2-tier PutiFresh apple lunch box. In the bottom tier, I had plain rice sprinkled with my noritama furikake, then shaped into a heart and a star using my onigiri molds. I had extra rice so I shaped that into a small ball. It tasted OK, but I guess I’m getting tired of the taste of nori, so I might have to lay off it for a while. Good thing I got this pack of furikake with 5 different varieties: nori, tamago, sake, tarako and…I forgot the last one ^^;; Also, I forgot to pack in some soy sauce for the onigiri…kaya pala matabang!! Anyway, I got those kawaii animal-shaped sauce bottles from Ebay so I will have them in my future onigiri bento ^_^
Officially hooked on bento March 17, 2008
It’s only the first day of the week, and already, I made 2 successful Ebay bids on various bento paraphernalia! One local, one from Japan. Each Ebay transaction with multiple items bought via Buy It Now. My Japan transaction was paid via Paypal and items are to be delivered via EMS, with the shipping cost amounting to half of my total. Ayos ba? Potek, iniisip ko na lang, sa tyan din naman mapupunta ang mga bentong gagawin ko, so pampalubag ng loob din yon.
This is even worse than my MMU addiction. MMU? Ano yun? 
Japanese bento and the IBM ThinkPad March 12, 2008
This is a cross-post from my entry in www.Japinoy.com ^__^ For more Japan-related trivia, visit www.Japinoy.com
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Did you know that the IBM ThinkPad design was inspired from the Japanese traditional bento?
According to Wikipedia, the original design was a collaboration between Tom Hardy, corporate manager of the IBM Design Program, Italian-based designer Richard Sapper (noted then for the design of the Tizio lamp and later commissioned to design a ballpoint for Lamy) and Kazuhiko Yamazaki, lead notebook designer at IBM’s Yamato Design Center in Japan. Sapper proposed a design inspired by the Shōkadō bentō, a traditional black-lacquered Japanese lunch box.
Truly, the beauty of Japanese tradition never fails to inspire. ^_^
