Lost Too!

Speaking of lost, a man whom we once knew as a good shepherd has gone astray.

A scandal erupted in our parish this week. Imagine our shock when we were informed at mass on Sunday that one of the three priests in our beloved parish of St. Isabella has been arrested and in jail for inappropriate behavior.  Without knowing any details, the first thing that came to my mind was, "this better not involve a minor!" Thank God, it didn't (as far as we know)!

The story is now all over the local news. If you want to know more, read here.  I would only caution you that it's not a nice read at all! And for those of you who respect and value the sacredness of the priesthood, you might find this sickening!

This was not only a big blow to us parishioners of St. Isabella, this was a huge disappointment to our Filipino community here. Yes, he is a Filipino priest, to make matters worse.

I know we're all humans. We make mistakes and we all have our limitations. I am in no position to judge. But there is such a thing as common sense and a human's ability to distinguish right from wrong. I can only wish that he had used it before doing what he did. We all have our share of sacrifices, and I know that committing to a vocation like his requires a lot of it. I only wish he had sacrificed a little more for the greater good.

May God pardon him, be with him in this trying time and lead him to a better path.  I pray.

Lost

I got lost biking a few days ago. I was exploring trails and found one on the internet that looks like a scenic one.  I followed it. A few miles later, I found myself at a dead end of a road, right at the foot of a hill.  I've already biked for 40 minutes and going back would take me another 40 minutes, which I thought was going to be too long. I pulled out my iPhone to see if there was another route I could take only to realize that there was no cell phone reception in that area.  Crap!

Then I found a hiker who said she lives close by. I asked if she knew of another way to go to Lucas Valley Road (the part of the trail that supposedly leads to home).  I am one who is never shy about asking directions. She said it was very close. It's on the other side of the hill, and the quickest way to get there was through the hill. Otherwise, I'd have to go back.  

So I had a choice between riding back or hiking through the hill with my bike in tow. That afternoon, I was supposed to pick up Lucas from day care so I chose the latter, which was supposedly a quicker option. I was wrong. The hike turned out to be miserable. I went through dirt roads, boulders, gravel and very steep paths, I slid down so many times!  I was not even halfway yet I was so exhausted. A mountain biker passed by and wished me a good ride. I tried to respond but no voice came out of me. I had completely dried out my throat! It was so hot that day and ran out of water. It then dawned on me that the trail I took was a mountain bike trail, designed for off-road riders--pro level at that. It was too late to go back. I had to go on. 

Long story short, I managed to reach the top of the hill and what a relief it was! I survived! And not only did I find a perfect view of San Rafael, Marin County, the East Bay and San Francisco from afar (photo above), I also got my cell phone reception back, which allowed me to call the husband and ask him to pick up Lucas. Going downhill from up there wasn't as bad as going up. 

It was that time when I questioned myself, "what on earth did you get yourself into?!" It was also that time when I realized that I live in such a beautiful neighborhood that ought to be explored more. 

Braised Oxtail

Once upon a time, we had a favorite restaurant called Northbay. It was a Chinese place but they made both traditional and non-traditional Chinese food so good.  My former co-workers and I used to frequent the place. It was our "overtime hangout" (we would always go there for dinner when we work overtime) because they closed late.

Everything there was so good, we probably tried their entire menu selection. So when they closed their doors some years back, we were so sad. We heard they opened a place in San Francisco but until now, we have yet to find them. Until now, we haven't found a place like them. And until now, we still remember their special dishes and how good they were.

One of our favorites was the Braised Oxtail in Red Wine sauce. They served the dish in a clay pot. It usually took a long time to cook, but we would wait for it anyway.  This was one of the dishes I clearly remember, and one that I miss the most.

Today, I saw that I had oxtail in the freezer. I usually get some and make them into a soup. But today was a very warm day, I didn't feel like making soup. I immediately remembered the oxtail dish at Northbay and thought it was time to give it a try. I remembered it tasted a bit like "Humba" (pork stew) and a bit like "Adobo", but it definitely had the taste of red wine. The taste of ginger was pretty prominent in the dish, and I thought maybe lemongrass would give it more aroma. So to make this dish, I had to combine the ingredients of Humba and Adobo and add the ingredients that I know should be there.

So here's the recipe that I came up with. I have to save this somewhere because I am definitely making this again. This was a huge success and I think I made the husband very happy.

You'll need:
About 3 lbs of oxtail
4 cups water
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1 cube beef bouillon
freshly ground pepper
ginger
2 tbsp vegetable oil
garlic (1 whole bulb), peeled and chopped into big pieces
yellow onion (1 whole bulb), chopped into big pieces
1 stalk lemongrass (tanglad), chopped into 4-inch pieces
green onions, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 large carrot, cubed
2/3 cup red wine
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2-3 tbsp refined or brown sugar

In a pressure cooker, bring the oxtail to a boil with 4 cups of water, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, sliced ginger, beef bouillon and freshly ground pepper (sorry, I don't measure pepper--just put as much as you want). Pressure-cook until the oxtail is fall-off-the-bone tender, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

To make the sauce, heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Cook the garlic, onions and lemongrass until golden brown. Add the carrots. Add soy sauce, red wine and 1 cup of the beef broth from the pressure cooker and simmer until reduced by nearly half. Add the cooked oxtail to the sauce and continue to simmer. Add oyster sauce and sugar. You may add more sugar until you achieve desired sweetness. Add the green onions last.

The fat from the oxtail will usually make the sauce thicker, but if it doesn't, add a little bit of corn starch dissolved in water until you achieve desired thickness of the sauce.

Discard the lemongrass before serving. By that time, it would have served its purpose.

Finally, serve with rice and enjoy dinner with people you love! :-)

Rafael

Today, I made a new commitment. Commitment to becoming active--to living a healthy life. Commitment to exploring our beautiful neighborhood, city and county.

Along with that commitment came Rafael, my new road bike. I've considered riding since summer of last year, but I waited and waited and waited, hoping that I can convince the husband to join me in this journey. I didn't think I was going to be successful if I ride alone. I know it was going to be more fun if done with a peer, partner or a group. But after a year of convincing, sometimes renting bikes so we could both try riding together, he is still not sold to the idea of biking. He said he would rather just run. He used to be a runner back in the days.

Finally, I just made up my mind to just go for it. My will is strong and I think I can be in this for the long haul even if I were to do this journey alone.  Besides, it was quite a big investment to acquire Rafael. I have to recoup that investment by riding as often as I can and getting the most mileage out of him.

Today, I took Rafael out for our first ride. We were out for only less than an hour but it was awesome. He is so light yet sturdy and smooth. It almost felt like we were off the ground instead of on it. It's only day one, but Rafael is already proving to be one great buddy of mine!

On Wedding Photography

I've known it before, but now I am even more convinced--

--that Wedding Photography isn't for me.

Two weekends ago, I was second-shooting for my cousin J, who covered her first wedding gig.  When she first asked me to shoot with her, I said "Sure!" without any hesitation.  It was not because I was confident in my ability to do a good job, but because it was a privilege for me to shoot next to my cousin on a real life event.

I have never believed in my ability to do wedding photography, and I thought that maybe the experience would change my mind about it.  I was wrong.

Those who have done this I think will agree with me that it's laborious, stressful and exhausting. But those who have the passion for it will find a way to make it fun and rewarding. That's the part I couldn't do. At the end of the day, my entire body ached and it went on for days. And while others would say, "it was worth it", I was thinking "I would never do this again".

I'd say half of my photos were fine. The other half were bad and some were just simply unusable. The photos I'm sharing here are among those I consider the good ones. I only hope I didn't disappoint my cousin too much!

I was assigned to the groom (thank God!) during the preparation, so most of my photos were that of the groom and his men.

The groom's dad was so much fun to photograph. He loved the camera and he was very cooperative, especially with the "acting" part (not all of the candid shots were really "candid". I had to let them act out some of them). I found it a little too uncomfortable at first being in the room with all men, but the old man made me feel very at ease.

I must say he's a good-looking groom.

The groom, like most, didn't really need so much time to prepare. So I still had a little bit of time with the bride too.

After the wedding (before the reception), we had to drive an hour (each way) to a winery for the bridal party photoshoot. My cousin and I didn't think it was a good idea and she tried hard to convince the bride not to do it. But the bride insisted and because it's her day, we had to let her be. We ended up with some good shots in a very nice setting, but the couple ended up having really upset, starving guests!