Ciao Sprinkles

It wasn't Chicago Italian, but it was still a good time with good eats. Sharon and I meandered around the Festa Italiana in Tampa today. The gods on Vesuvius were also generous by arranging the rain to move away by the time the festa was in full swing.

A hearty "salut" and a toast of our plastic flutes filled with a nice slice of fresh peach, chilled peach puree and sparkling prosecco for the famous Italian cocktail Bellini christened our day. We received quite a few queries along our trek around the park where we bought the colorful drinks.

The park swelled with guests as the hours wore on making standing in line for the different vendors and moving around a challenge. Sharon and I shared a dish sample from several vendors so we could get a good taste of more instead of filling up on fewer items. We ended the feast with cannolis from a local bakery known for good food and one more Bellini each. There were still a few hours left and we could have stayed for more of the entertainment, but we were full from food and the heat was pressing on us not to mention the humidity from the light storm in the morning.



We walked a couple blocks to the art center to see the building and Tawny, but Tawny was doing a beer and wine run for their evening event. Her husband Jeff was present making final arrangements for the event. A quick tour and some hanging around wound us down. We were both ready for a nap. I dropped Sharon off at work where I picked her up earlier for our meet-up.

The nap never materialized thanks to me fiddling online with e-mails and this blog. I spoke to my aunt and then later her daughter Angie in LA...It is 9:23pm and I am still wired from a second surge of energy. Sipping warm jasmine tea isn't helping me that much. I know I have to be in bed soon to continue my commitment to getting more sleep. It is a conscious effort each evening and I keep that effort as it has become paramount to my goal. I try to keep the lights low in the evening so that my body starts to produce melatonin to signal sleep. Are you laughing? It is funny. Honeys, if I don't approach this scientifically, I am not going to be as successful. At least, that's what I tell myself.
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Ciao Sprinkles

Bah Humbug...Pass the Canape

Not another one...before Christmas for crissakes! One of my best friends Tawny was made redundant two days ago around 11am. She was part of over 100 individuals being let go in our North American mother ship. You may recall in July my healthcare division lost over 300. This certainly makes my department's transition from healthcare to North America next month a little scary despite all assurances given in conference calls and meetings.

This news comes when my department is very busy. I thought that Bridget would show me up by getting most of the items waiting attention finished while I was on vacation. I came back to more of the same. There was an influx and significant changes to old items which required her attention during three of the five days, the last two part of a national holiday. With this back up, my boss' edict is to minimize distractions during work hours regardless. I've tried to give Tawny as much support as I can, but it is not the amount I would like to give during the day. She understands I hope.

Tuesday night found us sharing a meal at a Mexican restaurant with her husband Jeff; all of us drinking frozen strawberry margaritas while doing a post mortem on the day's events. The quirkiest thing was that Tawny was over my apartment on Monday night to return a casserole dish she borrowed from me. I expressed to her a sense of foreboding I had of me being made redundant at work that morning and she shared an incident at work that gave her the same thing only for her it came to fruition the next day. I am proud to say my gal is holding up well under the circumstances...

On a lighter note, we laughed the whole day about the free food we received at work and elsewhere. The property managers set-up a catering station between two of the buildings for all the tenants to enjoy a hot breakfast of eggs, ham, sausage, blintzes, crepes, fruit, etc. There was a chill in the air during our wait, but the yummy smells wafting over kept us in line. Later after lunch, the property managers again set-up a chocolate fountain station in our downstairs lobby while an ice cream station was set-up in the other building. It was almost too much.

The trifecta was complete when Sharon reminded me we were going to a Cadillac dealership that evening for an event. It was being catered by a well-known company. Yeah, we mingled and munched while drooling over leather seats and the behemoth SUV Cadillac Escalade. Talk about a total pimp vehicle! All we needed to do was tint the windows more and get different tires. I'll stick to my fuel efficient cutie while Sharon sticks to her Cadillac CTS lease for one more year.

The second batch of cooked jasmine rice needs readying for tomorrow's lunch so I need to get with it. Several people are bringing different dishes and we're all sharing. Gosh, I probably shouldn't think about it too much right now. Feeling a little queasy. Ha!


Help me say a prayer for Tawny and help me say another prayer for all of us to survive the holiday well and to be full of the smiles that comes from the caring and abundant love we share with each another.

Kisses and Big Hugs,
Sprinkles
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Bah Humbug...Pass the Canape

Early Voting

Cabal and I were arguing at 3:40am. He woke me up and wanted to go outside. Begrudgingly, I got up to empty my bladder first and it was then I noticed a quick beep on my cell phone signaling a text message. I thought, Okay - it is the reminder beep that has the dog crawling the walls. For some reason some text messages sent earlier in the day have been coming in around the wee hours. After reading the message, I snuck back into bed. For one minute. The dog was insistent to be walked. I went back to sleep after our jaunt which made me get up later and late for my early voting option.

Armed with Dunkin Donuts coffees (one iced/one hot) and their new egg & cheese wrap from the drive-thru, I drove further up the road to a popular library for early voting. Cars were parked on the grass just up on the curb off the main road far in advance of the library. It was about 8:30a; the polling place had opened at 7am. I braved a stop first inside the library parking lot and got lucky with someone pulling out. By this time, all that was left was hot coffee which I took with me and a book to read during the long queue snaking in front of the library. The signs said it was a two-hour wait to vote. Bullshit. I waited four hours! Luckily I talked to a charming lady who worked for Christian Dior cosmetics. What else could make an AGOL happy but talk about Shallowville stuff? Not the whole four hours of course...

My sensible sneakers made the wait in line more than bearable. Others were succumbing to sitting on the curb once they got to it or were complaining about their aching backs. No one fell out of line because to us voting was not an option but a requirement. This election year is too important not to vote.

Before I went inside the library, I called the girls to let them know that I was running an hour late for our lunch date. Sharon, Amy and I were all meeting at work and then taking Sharon's car to St. Petersburg to find this Filipino restaurant we hadn't tried in a while. I still had to go home and take care of the dog before a longer stretch out. It took us an extra 20 minutes to find the place because we got lost. At 3pm, we finally ate lunch like wolves starving from a long winter without food. The food was better than my last trip there but did not outshine my aunt's or my cooking. We just use more quality vegetables/meat and make sure to have fuller flavor by seasoning properly through marinades or ingredients. Our food has more color, too. What can I say?

This was funny...Sharon insisted going a different way home and bragged about how much easier it was. Yes, we got lost again for 10 minutes and almost got killed twice with Sharon not yielding to traffic. We laughed it off since our humor was back thanks to lunch.

Tawny texted me while we were out. She was expressing how she missed me and wished I was going to the Halloween party at Dan's house tonight. As soon as the invite had been sent last week, I declined. I didn't feel like driving home late with my night blindness from his home which was miles from mine. My desire to dress up in costume was non-existent. There would be enough guests and I didn't feel like pretending joy. The last couple of weeks have been trying at work. My rule for myself lately has been: If it won't give you joy and you have to pretend too much, then don't do it. I would still miss being with Tawny and our other friends plus seeing their creative Halloween decor at Dan's house.

I contributed to the world today. It is time for change and I want to see a black man become president. My belief in the hope he represents brings tears to my eyes. The last eight years have felt like a group of people letting some popular person's son play at a high office and using him for a puppet for their own agenda. It is at the end of his two terms that I feel he now fully understands what havoc his playacting and marionette responses have yielded. Four hours in line was well worth the wait and that investment in joy will be paying off next Tuesday.


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Early Voting

Working on the Weekend

A trip to Shallowville had me skipping my four-mile morning walk with Kristey. It was justified. I had a hair appointment this morning. My dark brown roots were no longer complimenting the nice fiery red strands. I know. It was dire.

Our normally fun appointment was more sedate. Michelle was on antibiotics and her mouth was swollen from surgery. Thankfully, she was able to cut, color and style. I had places to go.

First stop after was at a McDonald's drive-thru for a late lunch to be eaten at work. Yes, I went in since I was already half way there and I brought my laptop. There were more cars around the building and the parking garage than I expected.

I set up camp at my desk by starting my laptop, spreading out my lunch and engaging the fan to be on and oscillate. The building turns the air down during the weekends. Thank God for my very nice tower fan so I wouldn't feel suffocated with no air moving.

Why was I at work? Well...no real reason, but to get some work done. I had some interruptions. Kristey called me and we chatted for a bit. Sharon returned my call. She invited me to a nice restaurant bar by the water later in the evening after she and her visiting buddy had dinner. I told her I would let her know by 8:30pm.

The funniest part about being at work on a Saturday was scaring the cleaning crew. They accessed my area of the building and was greeted with the lights on and Amy Winehouse blasting from my cube. They do not expect anyone to be there on the weekends. Two of them came over to specifically say hello and to let me know they were on my floor.

The best part for me was blaring CDs of Robin Thicke, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Brian Setzer Orchestra (swing) and a some middle eastern mixes while I worked.

I left work around 6:30pm and ended up catching up with Kathy on my cell on the way home. We made plans for the middle of the week. By the time I picked up dinner and got settled at home, I didn't want to drive back about 23 miles to meet up so late. I have to watch out for my night blindness when I am tired. One or two drinks at the bar after staring at my computer screen for several hours definitely puts me in the realm of fatigue. I made a quick call and my apologies to Sharon.

My body knows when the weekend is here. For some reason it signals to sleep early and to sleep in late. What the hell is that about? That quirky Circadian Rhythm was dancing the slower rumba when it should be jumping to the samba. Sigh.


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Working on the Weekend

Now Dining with a Flying Saucer

Friday could not have come fast enough. Bridget was off, my boss was exhausted and I was too cheery for my own good despite my workload...

Two of the Asian Mafia and I walked to lunch. We ate bad Asian food from the food court. One of us (not me!) was desperate for rice. I tortured the girls with two stops: 1) Origins for a bottle of Ginger Essence perfume and 2) Sephora for more BareMineral make-up and TooFaced's Lash Injection mascara. Hellooooooooo Shallowville!

It was my plan to get off early, but my boss stayed later and then left me with a small assignment. It was to provide my SVP with an update on something which I couldn't do half-assed and required careful verbiage. I still made good time going home to take care of Cabal.

There was a goldenrod-colored hang tag on my apartment door. That signaled that maintenance had come in. Hmmm..No permission from me, I thought. Upon closer inspection of the notes scribbled, the maintenance lady who Cabal likes had replaced my old canister light in the dining room with what appears to be a flying saucer. Holy cow! It is rather impressive in the tiny space. This was my upgrade choice when I renewed my lease last month.

AGOL's flying saucer:


The good and bad thing about the new chandelier? It brightens the area significantly. While lovely, I can see I need to take a vacuum to the hanging dust bunnies on the ceiling. Yikes.

Two days ago I had told Filipino Sharon that I would see her and Korean Kim at the bowling alley where they compete in a league. The bowling alley is located in Clearwater, near my old house which is now an hour's drive across the bay. Let's just say the variety of crowd milling about this place provided good people watching.

Kim brought warm sake in a thermos which threw me for a loop. I had to buy the requisite greasy bowling alley food to soak it up. Our group ended up in the bar attached to the alley where we danced, sang out loud with the music, drank a little and laughed. We left at 11:30pm and I arrived home 15 minutes sooner thanks to no traffic. Too bad I couldn't get my new flying saucer to take me home.


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Now Dining with a Flying Saucer

Filipino Babysitting

Today I was babysitting Sharon. Yes, she is older than me by two years. Don't get so technical. Ha! Sharon is like a Filipino sister to me (other than Angie). She lived in the Philippines until high school was over. When I mention certain things, she knows exactly what I am referring to and that comforts me somehow.

Picked up Sharon at the Cadillac dealership where her vehicle was scheduled for maintenance and a window tint. I drove us to Cracker Barrel near my place so she could have her lunch of Chicken and Rice and I could finally have breakfast at 11:30am. We were so famished and struggled to contain our shoveling of food into our mouths.

Sharon began her marathon training today; the six miles she ran earlier this morning resulted in her body craving real food. Me? I had been saving my appetite for the big dig, if you will. We shopped around in the country store after. I pressed everything that would animate and make noise while she went behind me to shut them off or hold the ones that were falling off their perch on the shelf until their animation cycle ended. Yes, I am a brat.

We watched Something New with Simon Baker at my place. She hadn't seen it before and we both love Simon Baker. I stopped it at a logical point so we could pick up her car and then return to my place to resume the movie. What I like about re-watching movies you haven't seen in a while is that you get to be surprised again.

We ordered Chinese and picked it up. We ate while we watched the riveting film Closer with Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Julia Roberts...Ten minutes after she left for home, I found her still at the gasoline station filling up her car; she had gotten sidetracked talking to her husband first. We laughed as she saw me pulling up to the next pump. Silly girls.

PS Today was my cousin Angie's birthday. I left her a rather loud squawking rendition of Happy Birthday on her cellphone while I drove home from dropping Sharon off at the dealership.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANGELITA!!


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Filipino Babysitting

Garage Party at Harley-Davidson

My carpool ride picked me up at the mechanic's just as I was finishing my conversation a little after 7am. A few people were shocked to see me in before 8am. My routine was interrupted but I managed my energy with breakfast at 5:15am, snack at 8am and a Korean lunch with the Asian mafia at 11:30am. Anthony was wandering in our building and went with us.

The afternoon was spent putting out fires and wrapping up last minute things before taking some time off. Sharon gave me a ride home but before that we went to the Harley-Davidson showroom in Tampa where we had signed up for a Garage Party for women only. Bridget followed us.

When we arrived at this sprawling showroom of American symbolism, we were greeted by several people and were handed our name tags, a logo pen and a very nice booklet/Adventure Manual to carry during our introduction and overview of Harley-Davidson Motorcycle brand.

Harley-Davidson has been extremely busy revamping and expanding their brand to appeal to women. Below is a picture of one of the many belt buckles deemed girly (but tough!). Nothing like a little bling with your mean skull emblem.




What could announce female better than the color pink as seen in this baseball cap? You should have seen the rest of the apparel and accessories -- some pink, but definitely with a feminine flavor and design.



We were separated into four teams of five ladies. There were four stations: Apparel, Customization, Bike Mount/Dismount & Learning How to Pick Up a Motorcycle (when it falls on its side), and Introduction to the Five Families of Motorcycles offered under the Harley-Davidson name. Touching and mounting the bikes were strongly encouraged. I tried out two and participated in practicing what they were teaching. (Not sure why I don't have pics of the bikes??)

We took a break where they offered us refreshments and sandwich wraps. After all, we were there after work and during dinner time. For a total event participation of two hours, we left with a logo bag containing the goodies below: Informational and promotional pamphlets, logo items including an emery board for nails, a magnet, mardi gras beads and bumper stickers. Oh -- we all left with an individual picture of ourselves on a Harley-Davidson as well as a little personalized certificate of completion!



I came in a bit intimidated, but I left with a better understanding and appreciation of Harley Davidson. The evening was heavily staffed with both sexes but an emphasis on women. These folks put on a first class introduction to Harley Davidson. Everyone was nice, approachable, smiling, friendly and knowledgeable. If you EVER have the opportunity to attend a Garage Party, I strongly encourage it. I learned so much and opened a door to something I feel I could take part in should the inclination grow. Harley-Davidson also offers a 25-hour course on how to ride a motorcycle. This is more robust than the 15 hours required by the State to get your motorcycle's license. Tampa Harley rocks.

Just what you need...An AGOL on two fast wheels.


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Garage Party at Harley-Davidson

Krazy Korean Karaoke

AGOL IS AN UBER GEEK! Armed with my digital camera, I set it on video and filmed my attempts to start my vehicle. The purpose? So I don't have to clumsily explain the nature of my car's malady. You can't be taken seriously wearing a lot of lip gloss and hairspray. Imagine the mechanic's surprise when I told him what I did right before I arrived and showed him. I was the talk of the shop.

The morning brought rain from stubborn Tropical Storm Fay which made the humidity fog up the lens of my camera. Here was my brilliant idea...

CAUTION: Sound level


A misdiagnosis...a new part ordered....whoops -- a wrong part ordered...correct part arrives...and four hours later in the waiting room. SIGH. The assistant manager tried to flirt and wink at me to try and lessen my frustration, but it was obvious I wasn't buying his crap. I wouldn't even look at him as he delivered news to me. My eyes were focused on changing the channel on television when they weren't on my laptop screen.

One thing made me laugh while I was at the mechanics. Two other women had used the ladies restroom. My bladder reminded me how much coffee and jasmine tea I drank so far. The fluorescent lights were not working and it was pitch dark in there. I asked them if the lights were working when they went and the lady closest to me got up and jiggled the switch. A very very low light came on but enough to go. As I sat there (ahem!), I noticed that the lights were strobing. I thought to myself, Shoot. All I need is Donna Summer. Of course, silly AGOL had to text that piece of news to her boss and a couple of other people. No, not WHILE in the restroom, but straight after.

A few hundred dollars later and a new ignition switch...MORE SIGHS. It was past my lunch hour so I succumbed to picking up fast food on the way home to eat it, walk the dog and feed him half his dinner and also get dressed for two hours of work. Luckily, my boss was understanding.


AND THEN...God made Karaoke Night:

Our group met up at Pine Tree Cafe off of Hillsborough. The bottom level is a Korean Cafe and the top level is a catacomb of Karaoke Rooms. We were in one of the largest ones.

Snaps of specially ordered buffet, Michelle and hubby, karaoke room and karaoke wall.




Beautiful dish of Chop Che. It deserved its own spot.




Kim with and without the flash. She was the best!




Sharon in video singing "Ironic"


CAUTION: Sound level


..and the diva of the evening: Kim


CAUTION: Sound level

My voice was hoarse for some reason. Maybe it was the screaming and my voice ended up sucking. I still sang I Will Survive (with Kim), Le Freak, Woman in Love (with Michelle), Footloose (with Shirley) and several others I cannot remember. There were a couple of song we sang as a group, too. It was three hours of nonstop karaoke. Talk about getting your Asian on.


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Krazy Korean Karaoke

Watermill

Laundry and cooking. Sounds like my Filipina maid was here today. Ha.

I get to spend many hours lost in my own thoughts. It wouldn't matter if I am deep in my work or house chores like today. My thoughts or ideas are constantly on a big watermill rolling forward to let the wooden buckets spill ideas only to pick them up and recycle them again in my mind.

As an only child I was used to spending time in my own company and the comfort of being solitary calms me and can, on sporadic occasion, cause anxiety until I examine my feelings or talk to the angels and old spirits that surround me. It doesn't matter to me if you don't believe, it matters that I do.

The past week I lost my muse to write. I was letting the disappointment of losing my places in my cooking classes get to me. My previous and very timely reservations were ignored and tossed aside in favor of the new online self-serve reservation system. Those four classes I signed up for showed the status waiting list instead of confirmed. I know I was the first to reserve those classes with the main coordinator who is visiting the UK at the moment. The chef/owner and his staff assisting him with this didn't handle the transition well. After trying to rectify it gently via e-mails, I decided to let karma take care of it.

On Friday, all the volunteers/cooking assistants were sent a note saying to disregard every note in the past received from coordinators and that the new system would be the (next to) final say. It would appear I wasn't the only one e-mailing. I am glad I wasn't on the other end of those e-mails.

The classes for next month were a mixed bag, but I can handle those. I have since taken my name off two classes for the current month with waiting list status. I couldn't do the one today as it wasn't enough notice. Still no one sent an e-mail with anyone dropping out. C'est la vie.

During my preparation of a favorite Filipino dish of mung beans, I received a call from my fellow Filipina friend Sharon. She was trying a recipe I gave her today and was shopping for the ingredients. I corrected some of her selections and then waited for her to call me much later. When she did, she was distraught that it had not turned out correctly.

It is Sprinkles to the rescue: Rather than have her start over, I coached her by asking what it tasted like. Was it more salty than vinegary? How many laurel/bay leaves did you put in? How much crushed pepper did you use? Well, we were able to salvage it by adding water to tame the strong taste. Next time, she will also be adding the cubed potatoes I encouraged her to get before. Now she can enjoy her dinner.

Not much the rest of the day. I am bracing for the week that may get screwed up with the hurricane approaching. Lovely. Let me run the mill again while I put another load of wash before bed.


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Watermill

A Visit to the Thai Temple

For years I had heard about this place and the food served on Sundays to the public. Today was my first pilgrimage to the Thai Temple in Tampa. It is situated on several acres next to a main river. Trees and lush tropical plants hug the buildings.

Ant was the first one who told me about it years ago and then recently Michelle from work. Michelle and her husband were taking her Vietnamese cousin and aunt visiting from France. Sharon and I were invited and I, in turn, invited Ant and his wife Rebecca. Ant was dying to go again after a few years.

Near the inside entrance of this Buddhist temple...



Anthony about to chow down on his big bowl of nuclear spicy Thai soup and equally nuclear spicy fresh green papaya salad. Cute pic of Ant and his expectant wife Rebecca who is due in November.



Views around the golden temple and the adjacent building: The backside of the adjacent building is where all the cooking and serving of food were located. We descended from there towards the picnic tables lined next to the river. It was cool enough with the mild breezes and abundant shade from the surrounding trees.


I would have taken more shots of the other food, but we were all too busy sharing it. Everything was good from the noodle dishes to the skewered meat and curries. Dessert was yucca, sweet potato and banana slices dipped in batter with sesame seeds and fried to golden. This dish was so popular that we had to pay ahead and put our order in so we could come back up the steps 15 minutes later. We had a great time eating, laughing and enjoying the surroundings plus meeting new people. We arrived at 10:30am and done by noon.

Sharon drove us back to Brandon where we made a stop at the gourmet shop. I wanted to give her a better sense of what I have been talking about these days. En route, I received a voicemail from the owner/chef that I hadn't registered for the online reservation system which is also used by cooking assistants. Huh? I registered one hour after he sent the e-mail. I am sure I was first.

Thanks to on site Internet connection and dual sets of computers at the register, I was able to pull up my Google e-mail account and show my confirmation e-mail. I logged in and the marketing lady immediately saw my error. I had transposed the fields for my last name and first name. Instead of saying, Hello Sarah, it said Hello A------. Whoops. There was some more mix-up later with classes on the new system, but I don't mind. It's a new system and there are too many variables to get used to during new installations.

My poetic heart was out in full force today. I think the breeze at the temple teased it out of me. Sharon and I were in the spice aisle and I pointed to the colorful spice jars holding their precious dried herbs. I told her that they were like flowers to me. Seeing them lined along the shelves made me very happy and filled with their beauty. I didn't tell her that the taste they help create in a dish also made me appreciate their beauty even more. From there the good feeling from ingesting the cooked dish creates an outward expression of that same beauty. It is like beauty begetting more beauty.

I welcomed my afternoon nap after Sharon dropped me off... Kathy called me in the evening and regaled me with her visit last week to an old friend of ours' home. I also received a call back from Trish in San Francisco. She had typed something on her current facebook status that alarmed me and made me call her initially. Everything was good; she was just trying to make some changes in her employment.

My mind meanders through the events of the weekend and I am very pleased to have been productive and free flowing with new fun. Buddha was smiling on this AGOL.


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A Visit to the Thai Temple

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My morning date ended up with 11 children. No, not a date with a guy -- my gourmet class! It was a last minute addition to my schedule as they were short in assistants. I arrived at 9:30am, one hour before class.

The more the morning wore on, the more I started to feel inept. When I expressed my concern, I was told that we should have had one more assistant and that the recipes chosen were not all kid friendly or cooking assistant friendly. I washed a lot of stuff and boy was I glad I didn't get my nails done yet!

The guest chef was also an attorney during the week. She seemed overwhelmed at some point and we helped her out during the dumpling making. The kids were starting to fling some dough. There were five boys and six girls ranging from 7-9 years old. Yes, I know you can imagine. I had no problem corralling my group. Kids thrive on gentle, but firm guidance.

I was asked to read aloud one recipe and then ended up finishing it with the kids. They were happy when I asked them to take their seats so we could serve them this portion of the lesson. We had them from 10:30am to 12:30pm. After all was said and done, I received a few hugs from the kids. It was 2pm when I begged off to leave. Not only were my fingers morphing into prunes, I was late meeting Sharon miles across on her side of Tampa.

(When I arrived to class, it was sunny. During class, it monsooned. After class, it was sunny and steamy icky. Lucky AGOL.)


I love Sharon's candidness. Here not-so-welcome mat greeted me below:



Sharon gave me a tour of her cute one-bedroom apartment and showed off her Filipino souvenirs which made me laugh. She drove us to Cracker Barrel for her loved Chicken and Rice dish. We chowed down on a late lunch/early dinner and became uncomfortably full.

Filipino flags displayed on a small store window assured us of our visit to a Filipino store. We shopped with our eyes, but somehow a small tub of avocado ice cream made it with us. While I showed her something online, she served us generous scoops of ice cream for dessert. I didn't leave her side of town until 8pm. I was ready to go and I could mentally hear Cabal call my name.

There was one stop at a gas station/convenience store right by my apartment. It was on a sudden idea to buy two lottery tickets (hey, you never know), but nooooooooooooooooooooo I had to stop and give directions in Spanish to a guy who was clearly lost and low on English words. It was late, I was tired and couldn't think of Spanish words. I could barely speak English, but with my demented map drawings and explanations, the guy was thankful. It really wasn't the lottery tickets for my stop; the universe needed me to give directions to this man for a baby hospital across town. I saw him as I was parking and knew I was going to help him. Sometimes it just happens that way.

*Kids in the Kitchen Menu: Cornbread, Chicken and Dumplings, Glazed Carrots and Steamed Green Beans, and Strawberry Shortcake.


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Leave

Four Asian Markets and Little Philippines

Coffee from my French press was like nectar of the gods this morning. I had to prepare for a big day with my Filipino friend Sharon. Your AGOL was playing tour guide around town to four Asian markets and a stop for lunch at auntie's house to start.

Sharon received the quickie tour of the Sprinkles Sanctuary first. She told me how girlie I am yet how comfy my place makes her feel. The thing that surprised her the most was how tiny my kitchen was in proportion to all the kitchen paraphernalia. I showed her my overstuffed kitchen drawers/cabinets and revealed to her the other places of storage for kitchen stuff. She said I can open my own catering business with all of it. Nah...but close.

I had warned Sharon that my aunt's house was like Little Philippines with the tropical fruit trees around the house and the decor inside. She agreed after seeing everything. My aunt fulfilled my request for a certain Filipino dish and augmented it with other stuff that Sharon and I quickly wolfed down. The grandkids were over, too, so the rest of the household was still full from a late breakfast. I doubt they would've eaten what we had. In fact, little Kristen commented how something was stinky and I brought a serving bowl up to her nose which she quickly wrinkled.

The Brandon Oriental Market had moved to a bigger spot as they had outgrown the other place. They had things I have never seen before at an oriental market. Spent $23 and took home three bagsful of stuff. Sweet. You get way more and way cooler stuff from the Asian store.

Our next stop was downtown where Oceanic, the mother of all Asian markets in Tampa, was located. Sharon had a good time looking at everything. We both shopped conservatively. This was only Asian market no. 2 out of 4 after all. From downtown we stopped at MD Oriental Market which Sharon loved. We took home one large cooked tilapia fish each. The one store she loved the most was our last stop: Philippine Oriental Market where we ate halo-halo for a late afternoon snack.

Just a few of my groceries...


Both of these cost $1.99: Round wooden chopsticks for Sprinkles and red plastic attached cheater sticks for Bridget.


Who doesn't have fish sauce mingling with their Colman's?


Sharon brought in some of her cold items in my refrigerator so she could hang out with me a little bit. Tired and suffering from sensory overload, Sharon couldn't wait to regale her husband and her mother with our adventures around town. She's not much of a cook, but she loves to eat and vows to run more tomorrow to offset all the goodies she bought. I loved watching her childlike delight in purchasing items she hasn't seen in 2o years and I enjoyed reliving the Philippines with her. It's all in a day's work for this AGOL. Mabuhay!*

*Mabuhay (mah-BOO-hai) meaning long-live and more recently something said to welcome foreigners like when the Hawaiians say aloha.


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Four Asian Markets and Little Philippines