Flower Power - A Collection of Photos to Welcome Spring of 2011

My friend Rhodora and I have weekly trips to cupcake stores, restaurants, botanical gardens, tea houses, etc.  I guess when one reaches this age, there is a natural need to compensate yourself for the hard work that you've put in over the past few days...or simply to enrich what you already have in your bank of experiences, and have a first hand connection with anything that appeals the senses. 

So over the past couple of weeks, she and I have thought about going to see the cherry blossoms in the country's capital, but it never happened due to schedule conflicts.  But here in Virginia Beach, we found this quaint Japanese garden at the Red Wing Park and saw a row of beautiful cherry blossoms amidst a 50 degree weather.  They were absolutely gorgeous, so despite the threat of allergies, we stayed for a little bit and took pictures.

I am not a professional photographer, but I have the leanings to become one.  I have a decent Cybershot DSC-H20 point and shoot which does all the photography tricks my imagination can create, and of course, my partnership with Picnik makes my pictures look uberly dramatic, if not, stunning.

Yesterday, we visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA and took photos of their beautiful blooms.

Although we were expecting quite a few more flowers (the rose garden has no flowers yet), I was quite pleased just chillin' with Rhodora and driving for a couple of hours out to Richmond. 

This weekend, I'm going to visit Jmom in Durham, NC and will request that we see the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. My Cybershot and I will be very busy, that's for sure :)

We Saw Our Worlds Through Different Spectacles

"Hindsight is always 20/20..." That's what the priest had said. 

Looking back, I take stock of things and ask myself about pain...

Now everything is crystal clear...
Pain is what I brought  upon myself because I had a choice.

I chose to continue seeing you despite knowing the truth.

I chose to love you and tried to love you as a friend...but the heart can't be taught.

You made me feel special because that's what you thought was appropriate.

No...it would have been better if we just acted upon our instincts and did not share endearing moments.

Afterall, we're biological beings...

But we're also feeling beings...

When you had put your hand in mine, you called it touch...

When you rubbed my hand with your fingers, I call it comfort.

When you knelt in front of me to remove my shoes, you called it duty.

When you did it in purpose, time and again, I call that gallantry.

When you cooked dinners and shared recipes, you thought that was friendship...

When you reached over to put food in my mouth, I felt it more like bliss.

When you had let me sit beside you to watch a movie, you called that entertainment...

When you pulled me down to lay my head on your thighs, rubbed my arms with your fingers, shouldn't I call that affable kindness?

When we were alone and intimate, you called that a "need".

When you had put your arms around me, and nuzzled on my neck, there was overpowering warmth.

When you asked to be picked up, you said it was a returned favor...
Oh I was so happy to oblige...didn't think you can be vulnerable.

Comfort...Gallantry...Bliss...Kindness...Warmth...Vulnerability...

This list can go on as we saw our worlds through different spectacles.

Too bad...you didn't see with your heart, Kerry W.

Until one of us goes blind and decides to depend on what the other sees, I surmise that I shall never see you again, my friend.  My tears aren't enough to drown this truth in my consciousness.  It's a quiet chaos that pinches my heart each time a memory flashes before me.  I beg you...eleven months is not easy to erase.  I move on with uncertainty, pushing this feeling aside, as if I can contain it.

We saw each other's world through different spectacles.  We'll never see eye to eye.
The feeling is raw...it's real...it's about to succumb.

Let it not resurface.

What are you most looking forward to right now?

to get over with this emotional turmoil and be able to completely move on with my life

Ask me anything

Merry Christmas Blogkada!

This free digital greeting card personalized with Smilebox

If you could go on a road trip with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?

It would be K, no doubt about it. Anywhere should be fun, but I would like to go to Lake Tahoe :)

Ask me anything

If you won a $1,000 shopping spree for any store, which store would you pick?

Nowadays, a thousand dollars isn't really that much. But given the choice, I'd pick Pier 1 :)

Ask me anything

If you had access to a time machine, where and when would be the first place you travel to?

I would like to be teleported 10 years from now. I think the place is immaterial...it all depends on what I will become...successful or not.

Ask me anything

What music are you listening to today?

Vitamin String Quartet's Don't Stop Believin'....and some country music (don't ask me why).

Ask me anything

What/Who makes you smile these days?

Friends like you, Doc :) For the record, you always make me smile. And sometimes, students who come back just to say that they wish their teacher was good like me :) Isn't that sweet?

Ask me anything

Apple Crisp a la Shelby

Shelby is my department chair and on Tuesday, she posted on her FB profile that she just made an apple crisp out of her mom's original recipe.  I teased her about bringing some to school for me, and although it was just a joke, lo and behold...she got me a little plastic container with a tiny piece of heaven in it :) I  told her how much I love apple pies and anything baked with apples.  During my first trimester with Jacinth, I craved anything that is baked apple (from Sugarhouse to McDonald's), and that's all the sweet stuff I could literally handle as I hated anything sweet (it left a bitter aftertaste at that time). You know how pregnant women can get weird. But I digress.

So after savoring my scrumptious desert, I asked her for the ingredients and how to bake it.  I had the chance to use Lissette's beautiful kitchen and so I was inspired to make some glorious treat for me, and for some people I love :)

Here are the ingredients:

6-7 pieces of apple, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
(You may want to soak the apples in water to prevent it from getting brown)
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 tsp of salt
1 raw egg, unbeaten
1/3 cup of melted and cooled butter for drizzling
1 tbsp of melted butter for buttering the pan
cinnamon powder
2 8"x8" pans

1) Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. 

2) Butter the pan and lay all the apple pieces on it.  Drizzle the apples with 1/3 cup of the cooled, melted butter.

3)  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and the egg.  Use a fork to mix it until it gets crumbly. 

4.  Pour the batter on top of the apples and sprinkle with cinnamon.

5.  Bake for 40-45 mins., or until you see the top turning crisp and bubbly. 

I have learned when I was younger to soak apples (or potatoes) in water so they won't turn brown.  And so I did.  However, I think due to excitement, I didn't drain it too well that this yummy apple crisp turned out to be a tad watery.  So for those of you who will be trying this out, make sure that you drain the apples very well.  Use paper towels, if you must.

As it turned out, it still tasted great! My friends loved it :)