cooking

Relax and Chat… Oliver the Foodie, the Friend, the Photographer

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Another week has gone by once again.  If you didn’t guess today was Friday.

On the work front all is good, stress is low today it was just another day in the office.  The only thing I had to do that was out of the ordinary was that I once again had to make some modifications to the right way limits and easements that I had submitted last month.  This change was due to the comments that received from another agency that we are working with.  And since we are fast approaching our project deadline this needed to be made.

After work was completed I head over to BMW of San Diego for a checkup on my car.  Earlier in the week the check oil light came on and I thought I wasn’t due for a oil change for awhile.  But being cautious, I decided that it was best just to take it in and have it looked at.  When I arrived, I dropped off my car, handed off the keys, and headed to the waiting room.  Gosh, sounds like a hospital.  LOL.  While I was waiting there I wrote yesterday’s post on my iPhone which I find cool and interesting that I now write more than ever.  I’m still trying to get use to the fact that I don’t have a piece of paper with me all of the time but I think I can get over it.  🙂  It had been 20 minutes since my schedule appointment before the advisor saw me but arrived with good news.  The good news was that nothing was won with my car except that the fluids needed to be top off.  I asked how much that would cost and they said it free of charge.  So they took care of me there.  And while I was getting my car topped off I had a good conversation with one of the technicians there.  Having this conversation reminded of a post that I read from photographer Eric O’Connor who talked about customer service and reminded us to make it about the customer.  In my humble opinion my dealership was just doing that.

When the car was completed I headed grocery store to purchase the ingredients for dinner.  Today’s dinner was Chicken Adobe.  Chicken Adobe is one my go to dinner to make because it easy to make, no fuss, and full of flavor.  I headed to my local Vons to get the ingredients.  Once the ingredients were in hand, I headed home to start cooking.  Prep took about 5 minutes.  And then I just let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

While dinner was cooking I decided to do some work on the HOBY packages that I have been working on.  So the DVD burning began with another round of DVDs being burned.  I think I will need to find a way to work this out for a faster return because this burning of DVD one at a time is not working.

Now with dinner cooked, it being hot, and it being Friday, I figure it would be a good time to hang out with my buddy Dave and have some dessert.  So I chatted with him via the internets and decided that dessert was in the plans.  Today’s dessert was a mix of Ice Cream and Coffee.

Around 8pm, I headed over to Dave’s place to get him.  It was 8pm because we both had some work to do that we wanted to complete beforehand.  We knew that if we hung out we would chat for a couple of hours so we might as well get some work done before we head out.  When I got Dave it was decided that we would try something new that we haven’t been too or at least a place that Dave has not tried out yet.  Today’s new place was Moo Time Creamery.

Getting some Ice Cream with @davidjcrewe #hangout #foodie

Moo Time Creamery is another one of my favorite places to get ice cream in town.  All of the ice cream is just homemade and made everyday, and every flavor is seasonal.  Another reason that I like going there is that it is in Coronado.  Coronado is the typical small town American town located right in our backyard.  So when I go to Moo Time it is an opportunity to get that feeling of nostalgia.  Moo Time is definitely decorated in the 1950s ice cream parlor style.  The palor is decorated with a checkerboard pattern tile floor, old fashion soda machine with unique soda flavors, and on one wall many of the accolades that it has gotten over the years adorns one wall.  And from the ceiling hangs a kids plane rider.

Flight of fancy... #mootime

Summer Treat.. #foodie

The ice cream here comes in many varieties and you’ll have to come to see what is available.  I got the toasted Coconut and Mango Sherbet today.  I was feeling a tropical this evening.  Dave got their Double Dark Chocolate and the Coconut.  As tradition follows, I usually pick up the tab when my friends go to one of my favorite places for the first time.  After getting our Ice Cream sat and chatted for a bit.

When our Ice Cream was happily consumed we headed for part two of the evening which was coffee.  Today’s coffee stop was Cafe Vero in Mission Hills.  Coffee was a nice way to close off the evening.  With coffee in hand we grab a sit out and just chatted about all thing photography.  One of the cool things that we discussed about was that we should definitely try to get an office space for ourselves for the photography.  Which these days, i’m seriously considering more and more because I would like to up the feel and look of my photography company.  So that this point only time will tell.  Hopefully this will happen sooner than later.  We finished up around midnight and headed home.  Good times, good discussion, and a good evening.  🙂

Sip... #coffee

Half Days are good until… Oliver the Engineer, the Cook, the Photographer

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Today was a half day, which in itself is a good thing.  I actually got a crap ton of work completed and in only the mere 4 hours that I was putting your tax dollars at work.  I guess maybe it was the motivation that I would get to have a more time off than usual that was helping make the day for me.  So I work diligently for the 4 hours.  I made a to-do list to visually see what I need to get done and I tried to put a deadline on it but knowing that it would change but I resisted.  Although now thinking about it I should have at least put a date on it for my personal deadline verses my boss’ deadline.  I guess I’ll have to do that on Monday.

So the 12 o’clock hour was coming up and what do you know my boss comes to my cubicle to ask me once again for an exhibit that he intends to send out in about 1 hour.  And of course there are some changes that need to get done and assumes it will only take 10 minutes to change however I know its going to take about 30 minutes to change.  So I knew in the back of my head today that it wasn’t going to go as smoothly.  And this just proves it yet again.  So I spent 45 minutes fixing the map and of course I send it to my boss who doesn’t check it for about 1 hour and then just when I’m about to leave mentions that more corrections are needed.  Oh really?!  Seriously?!  I think I should have just said “NO,” but I’m still working on that.  I know I would never ask someone to do something for me at the last minute unless it was the FINAL resort that I had to do but I will under no circumstances do that to anyone.  So I hurried turned on my computer and fix the map and then sent it off.

Now with the rest of the after ahead of me, I sat in my car for a couple of minutes thinking what I could do.  And I couldn’t think of a thing to do.  Grrr.  Now that I have all this time I couldn’t think of anything fun to do.  So I headed home and through out the drive home I keep thinking of what to do.  And by the time I got home, still nothing.  I knew that I was at least hungry but I didn’t want to eat alone so I tried to call up some friends but they were all at work.  Go figure, right?  So I search the refrigde for what I could eat.  Luckily there were some cucumber and olives to eat up as snacks but those didn’t fill me up.  But in the moment I decided that I wanted to cook.  And I figure I should cook something that takes some time.  So I decided beef stew would be a good choice; I haven’t cooked it in awhile and I knew it would take some time.

Off to the internet I go.  Since it has been awhile that I’ve cooked it, I had to make sure what I needed to cook it.  So I spent about 5 minutes to search for the “perfect” recipe.  But as it turns out there isn’t any perfect recipe.  I finally decided on a recipe that was simple and would have a lot of flavor.  With the recipe in hand I head over to my local Vons.  While in Vons, being hungry (which I don’t recommend), I bought more than I intended.  I’m just happy to report that it was a lot of vegetables and fruits.  So I headed off home to begin cooking the stew.  And much to my surprise I didn’t take me too long to prepare and cook.  In about 15 minutes everything was stewing together.  And I finished cooking it off and put the stovetop on low and let it cook for about 2 hours.  It turned out marvelous, a little bland but still flavorful.  Add salt and pepper for tastes ( just saying ).

While the stew was cooking I decided to get working on some pictures that I have been putting off for quite a bit.  I worked on them for about an hour.  One of the cool things that I am lucky enough or crazy to do is that I never delete any images that I take.  I do that because I always on a look out for the situation that a photo doesn’t look right at the moment but when I learn a new skill, I get that lightbulb moment.  And that’s when I realize that I could “salvage” a picture that just didn’t look right.  So that’s what I did for the hour of time that I worked on pictures.  I like to think that sometimes the solution is present but when it is ready it will show itself.  So I have a few hard-drives just full of pictures.  🙂

After dinner and working a few more pictures.  I was a bit hungry for dessert so I called up a few friends.  I ended up going to get some gelato with my friend Dave.  We chatted about photo projects and did a recap on the shoot that we did on Sunday.  So for a Friday it was pretty good.

But getting back to the title of the post.  Half Days are good until…you don’t know what you are going to do with your half day.  But as it turns out I did a lot but I just didn’t do what I thought was exciting.  I guess that’s why writing and looking back on the day helps.

 

A Quiet Day but Productive Day…Oliver the Engineer, the Cook, the Photographer

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Today was another somewhat interesting day at work.  Interesting, in terms that it seem that all the huff and puff of getting things done ASAP was immediately wiped cleaned from everyone’s radar.  Seriously it was strangely weird for it to happen but I would be lying to say that it hasn’t happen before.  This is one of the things about work that I’m seriously confused about. And to add insult it makes me frustrated and makes me feel that i’m not productive.  The confusing thing is that one day certain things are a huge issue and then the next its not and then in that same day another issue is priority.  Sometimes I just want to throw my hands up and give up on this project.  But then I tell myself that I’m not one to quit and that if it hasn’t killed me yet, it will only make me stronger.  I wonder if this is flawed thinking?

Is it flawed?  I really do like my job but this project is seriously “work.”  But it is work that just doesn’t seem productive and leading to anywhere.  Writing this is seriously just making me a bit frustrated to think that I just wasted a lot of time doing nothing.  So at this point time will only tell what will happen or at least I will report what happens.

But since it was a quiet day in the office, this gave me an opportunity to do some thinking and some time to go over the work that I just submitted.  So I did that like a good school kid and work diligently at the assignment.  The funny thing is that I found a lot of mistakes that I know that I will have fix and correct soon.  But at least this time around I have a game plan.  I just hope this game plan isn’t interrupted with another “priority” side project.  And it is just this kind of talk that I seriously want to have a cubicle that I can close and work on my portion of the project.

Now with my current coworkers out of the office, that gave me another opportunity to hang out with my work family.  My work family has been an integral part of my work ethic at Caltrans.  These are the people that gave me an opportunity and believed in me to be the best that I can be at my job.  So to hang out with them, we went to one of our normal lunch time hangout places, Ichiban in Pacific Beach, CA.

At Ichiban, we always get the lunch special bento box and a side of sushi that we all share.  It is a nice bonding time.  We catch up on what’s going, talk about what happening around work, and as of lately has been my venting session about my current work place.  I appreciate my former co-workers giving me an opportunity to do some venting.  And then they also give me some feedback on what I should do and just give me support.  In addition my former supervisor gets to hear what’s going on in my group and gain some insight into what’s going on.  So today’s vent session basically just confirmed my suspicions that some people are setting up some other people to ultimately fail which for the life of me I just don’t understand.  I thought, that we are all on the same team but I guess with today’s revelation we are not.  Is it everyman for himself?  I don’t know but it sure seems like that.  Like a said before only time will tell.  But i’m going to try my hardest to not be sucked into this void of a hole.  This session was a good one to have because it has been awhile that we had a talk like this in a few weeks.

After lunch, we head back to the “dungeon” as I like to call it.  I only call my floor the dungeon, everywhere else around the complex is pretty much happyland to me.  The rest of the afternoon at work went by uneventful.  Which is a good thing because it allowed me to leave work on schedule.  So ask you can see it was a relatively quiet day.

With work out of the way, I went about my normal routine which usually calls for checking in with my parents to see what they would like to eat for dinner.  I’ve been cooking for my parents for close to 2 years now.  Wow!  Seriously 2 years, I just realized that.  All I can say is damn.  In those 2 years, I have learned to be confident as a cook.  My cooking aspirations will have to wait for another post.  Let just say for the mean time that I’ve seriously had fears of not learning how to cook.  I seriously doubt that I would like eating out everyday and relying on someone to cook for me.  So 2 years ago I made a promise to myself to 1) learn how to cook my mom’s food, 2) learn how to cook so that I can do it my way and experiment, and 3) to show people that I can do and that guys can seriously cook ( we don’t just grill, ladies ).

For today’s dinner, I was ask to make Sinigang.  Sinigang is a Filipino dish / stew, that is made of pork ribs or any other meat, Chinese eggplant, green beans, onions, tomatoes, and some tamarindo seasoning.  The pork ribs are chopped and boiled and the tomatoes, as well as the tamarindo seasoning mixed together, and cooked until the meat is tender.  Usually I have my meats cut at the market. I tell the butcher what I’m using it for and they cut it accordingly.  Although if I went to a non-Asian supermarket I don’t think the butcher would know what I’m asking him / her to do.  And when I want the meat to tenderize it faster, I use a pressure cooker, to help.  I do have to say that the pressure cooker freaks me out.  I always imagine a huge explosion happening when I use it.  So use caution when operating a pressure cooker.  In the meantime while the meat is cooking, I prep the other ingredients.  The prep usually just means to clean and chop up the eggplant, green beans, and onions into quarters.  And then after about 15 to 20 minutes all of the ingredients are added in the same cooker and then I let it cook for another 10 minutes until the eggplant and green beans are tender enough to eat.  And then you take the soup and have some rice and enjoy.  In a future post I will post a step by step recipe so you can create this delicious dish.

And lastly to finish off the evening I finally finished up my photo edits for my recent trip to the World Domination Summit.  I went through the images and create a gallery to tell the story of that amazing weekend.  This was the same weekend that inspired me to start this blog.  So instead of telling you what that weekend was like, I’ll let you see the pictures for yourself.  Check out it out here: World Domination Summit 2012.  Enjoy!