Quarantine Entry 2

One of my biggest worries in the city's current condition is that I will spend my weekends drinking alcohol.. Well, wine specifically. I can definitely down a bottle (and a half) by myself knowing that my limit is probably only half a bottle. I am glad that is not the case lately. I had been drinking tea instead thanks to Sipsby. Sipsby is a monthly subscription box that contains different teas to sample. It is amazing because they would send me teas of different caffeine levels. I will dedicate a post to review my box in the future. If you like tea that is not limited to just milk tea (haha), I highly recommend it. My girlfriend from the Netherlands has been my tea supplier for many years and she definitely expanded my taste from a regular green tea to a lot of fruity ones. Tea also helps increase my daily fluid intake.

As of a few days ago, I had been officially living in NYC for 7 months. I plan to stop keeping track after my one year anniversary with the city (bare with me). Again, I cannot believe that a pandemic will be happening around the time when I am still adjusting living here or adjusting to my (new) job. I imagine the moment when the shelter in place order is finally lifted. I think I will be in tears, seriously. This pandemic has taken a mental toll on me as a healthcare worker and as someone who is new to the city. It affected everyone no matter what occupation. Regardless, I have no regrets in moving here and I still plan to survive. I have to.

Personal goals does not stop even in the midst of a pandemic. I have a list of things to do in the city and I plan to accomplish them. I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge numerous times, crave the walk, and I realized that I even miss it when a tourist would stop me on my walk to take a photo of them. I liked their reactions.

On my days off during the quarantine, I usually have no desire to do anything unless it involves a food delivery. That does not require a lot of movement. There has been a lot of moments when ordering a food delivery is the only option to cope (ha!) even if I should be saving money. With that in mind, I am grateful for restaurants that are open and the people who safely deliver the food. I was able to get my sushi and roast duck fix over the weekend, thankfully. I had been trying to keep active, gave up on the Splits Training on my last week, but continued with my twice a week exercise via the FitOn app. All my rice consumption is catching up in my belly, seriously. At the same time, I am perfectly fine with this.

I had been quite hooked on the show Money Heist. I also got another expansion for Sims 4 and bought their seasons expansion. It is interesting. I made all the characters from Sex and the City and pursuing the careers they had at the show. Fun game but I could also use a replay of the Mass Effect trilogy.

I attempted to cook the Filipino style chicken curry last week and I've put so much curry powder that made it bitter or maybe I did not put enough coconut milk (or the coconut milk itself is unsweetened).  I intend to try this again. I need to replenish the pantry for other recipes but it seems like we will be stuck with pork adobo, pork or beef mechado, and baked salmon this week. I moved to NYC with a fully stocked kitchen and my better half has an Instant Pot. That gadget is one of the most amazing things to have in the kitchen especially since I come home right at dinner hours. It simply cuts the cooking time in half.


There are more thoughts to add as the day goes by. I wish the best for everyone.

Quarantine Entry 1

I am finally going to add a label just to document this whole quarantine. As much as I am grateful about having a job in the midst of this pandemic, it is so risky to go out there and commute. I cherish the moments when I do not have to work so I try to do other things to keep my head clear. So far I had one mental breakdown throughout this whole fiasco which isn't as bad as I thought. I need the tone of this entry to be positive.

I started playing SIMS 4 on Xbox One and bought the City Living expansion. I decided to finally take a whole day of break today because it is so easy to get into the game and waste the whole day. Time definitely passes by when playing this game. If you are someone with a lot of errands, steer clear from this game. I wish I am playing the Mass Effect trilogy though..

I am not claiming to be a cooking prowess but the amount of time I spent in the kitchen increased. In fact, moving to NYC increased my time in the kitchen. I know that my access to Filipino food is not the same here in Brooklyn compared to San Diego but I am so much more eager to try and cook my favorite foods from home.

Over the weekend, I started cooking mechadong baka using the Instant Pot. For years now, I had been referring to Panlasang Pinoy for my Filipino cooking needs. Some of my influences came from my father who tends to make Filipino food with healthier alternatives. I've come a long way from just baking salmon to utilizing the Instant Pot. I am happy to say that the mechadong baka turned out very well. Tender beef, flavorful, hearthy.. Amazing stew! The better half had three servings of it! I look forward to trying pork pochero and beef nilaga (buto buto!) next.

A friend of mine also recommended that we do the (splits challenge) and I had successfully done day 12 last night ( we started April 1st) and I don't believe I can learn the splits in 30 days but I feel the progress doing these stretches. It works in little ways. It is my current physical activity right now when I should be trying harder because of my eating habits (I consume so much rice!).

Currently binge watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and it is giving me so many good laughs.

Take care!