masthead graphic by Ingga Alcala

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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Goodbye MMV!

2005 was, among other things, the World Year of Physics, the Chinese Year of the Rooster and the Catholic Year of the Eucharist.

I kind of thought it was the Hollywood Year of Anorexia, until I figured maybe I was just watching too much ET.

For me and my buddies, 2005 was our year because we belong, after all, to The Class of 2005. This means that most of us turned legal this year, and we all capped off high school and entered university this year.

What's in store for 2006?

Well, for starters, it's the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, the Rembrandt Year, the Mozart Year, the Tesla Year and the International Asperger's Year.

A lot of magazines, websites and TV shows will present their own take on the Year That Was, but none of those will be able to capture MMV the way you will remember it.

CHEERS!

Friday, December 23, 2005

Friday, December 16, 2005

Friday Flashback: 1969


This day in lava history.

First of all, I would like to apologize. I have been restricting Friday Flashback to 1970's history, when the very icon/symbol of this meme is the lava lamp, the popularity of which dates back to the late 1960's (it did capture the psychedelic movement of the time); therefore, I will now extend the coverage of Friday Flashback to as early as 1965, the year the lava lamp was introduced in a Hamburg trade fair. So, today in lava history....

The British House of Commons votes 343-185 to abolish the death penalty.

Kettle Corn

Kettle corn is a fairly easy snack to make, except for this one step in the procedure. The only ingredient you wouldn't normally find in your kitchen cupboard is the popcorn kernels, which can be bought in any grocery or convenience store.

Ingredients:
popcorn kernels
sugar
salt
corn oil

Procedure:
Take one cup of the kernels and place it in ample-sized pot...a kettle if you will...Take the corn oil (though I hear corn oil and canola oil have a lot of toxins...) and pour enough to cover all the kernels with a thin layer of oil. Place the pot under medium heat. HERE'S THE TRICKY BIT: When the kernels start to get "excited" and are just about to pop, cover the bed of kernels with around half a cup of sugar or more. Putting the sugar in too early would cause the sugar to scorch while putting them in too late would result in grainy sugar bits. When you've popped enough, take the pot away from the fire right away and sprinkle the popcorn with salt.

REMINDERS: I myself have not yet perfected the recipe. Firstly, I get scared that them kernels might start popping while I'm placing the sugar in, so I tend to add the sugar too early. Also, I had this habit of trying to pop most of the kernels, so I end up with burned results. Remember that you are NOT supposed to pop all the kernels. Err on the safe side, and pop only a little. You'll only a have little, but a perfect serving of kettle corn. For the when-to-put-the-suger-in dilemma, well, it's a leap of faith, I guess.

Masala Chai

For the past month, I have been addicted to a beverage called chai. We were treated to Starbucks by my grandmother, and while drinking, I picked up those brochures they have at the condiments counter or whatever you call it. There was this brochure on tea, which made me happy. I read it and came across chai. I immediately craved for it. The following day, at Seattle's Best (I guess we were commercial coffee shop hopping), I decided to order their chai. I loved it. A few days later, I went to watch a movie with Ina at the Promenade, and I decided to try Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's chai. I loved it as well, but seeing how my pocket will not be able afford regular servings of chai from these commercial coffee shop chains (Seattle's was like 80 pesos and Coffee Bean's was 99 pesos), I decided to research on chai recipes.

Chai is actually an Indian word for "tea," so saying "chai tea" is like saying "pizza pie." Anyway, chai or masala chai is basically tea prepared Indian style. It's composed of black tea, milk, sugar and spices. I have been concoting the following recipe for a month now. I'm not claiming that this is an authentic chai recipe (I hear the real one requires only two spices at most), but I've become quite the addict.

Ingredients
black tea leaves (I prefer Oolong though...well, I don't really have much of a choice since Cherry's only sells oolong, jasmine and green tea leaves)
Spices: star anise, cloves, a chunk of dried ginger, cinnamon, whole black pepper
To taste: milk and sugar

I boil the tea leaves with the spices, and I add the milk and sugar later on, when I'm about to drink it. Some recipes say that you should add the sugar and the milk, and then boil it again. I didn't give any proportions to the ingredients since it really depends on how many cups you're making and how strong you want it to taste. I decide on the right amount by "feeling" it.

Remember: tea LEAVES, not tea BAGS

Monday, December 05, 2005

Teaser









The 4th Annual Oscar Predicter Contest is not affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Oscar Statuette (c)AMPAS. The word "Predicter" is purposely misspelled.