Gindara: Too good to be true

They say that too much of a good thing is bad. And Gindara, also known as Cod Fish, Escolar or Sablefish, is a white fish usually served as a steak or sashimi, is a good example.
Gindara Steak

Gindara Sashimi
I once encountered this fish a few years back when a seafood store opened up near our house. My mom would usually prepare it by cooking it in a little butter and adding a little worcestershire sauce, calamansi juice, and oyster sauce or teryaki sauce. The fish is quite soft and flakes up when cut with a fork. Taste wise, I have to say it tastes amazing! It's quite creamy and not fishy at all.

Normally, when we have it for dinner, my mom would serve up at most two pieces of Gindara steaks along with other dishes. And because at lest four of us would have to share with the fish, I get to eat roughly half of a steak cut. A couple of weeks ago, my mom bought this fish from a department store and prepared it as usual. But this time, I enjoyed eating it that I got to finish almost one whole cut of the fish.

I had no idea what was going to happen next. My night went normal, as well as most of my next day, until later that evening. I was in the bathroom doing my business (sorry for sharing this, but I think it might benefit some of you in the future). In the middle of everything, I noticed a rather foul scent different from what I usual smell. I thought it was nothing, but when I washed my behind, I felt that it was quite slippery. And when I looked down, that's when I noticed red-orange oily spots in the toilet together with my stool.

I was scared. I had no idea what was going on, but I tried not to let it show at first. I went online and tried to look for stuff similar to what I have and got even more afraid. I read a lot (and I mean a lot) of articles about them (the orange oily culprits) being caused by malabsorption of fat, a liver/gallbladder/bile release problem, or some kind of intestinal problem. I've read a few saying something about lacking probiotics in the intestinal tract. And because I just underwent some kind of detox with the use of tea laxatives a day before, I thought this was the cause. Others also mentioned something about eating too much fish or nuts, but my little "fish feast" last night didn't really come to mind at that moment.

After about an hour of keeping things to myself, I decided that I had to tell my mom whats going on. She agreed with me that probably it was because of my detox-gone-wrong so I asked my dad to buy me some yogurt and Yakult which are good sources of lactobacilli. Although I thought that I finally found the cause and solution of my problem, I still furthered my research.

After a few more clicks on various links, I found this blog that cleared everything out. This guy was talking about a past experience with a fish called escolar. Compared to me, he ate a lot more of the fish (he said a cut the size of his plate!). Reading his blog, I found out that this fish was once banned in countries like Japan and the United States because of it's possible harm it may have on our health, saying that eating the fish is like eating a bar of butter because of how oily it was. This is due to the fish's inability to absorb oil, therefore storing the oil close to its flesh. A Japanese sushi maker was even quoted of saying that the fish was too much for him when it comes to sushi. The ban was lifted when studies failed to prove how dangerous the fish was to the health of humans and was once again sold in these countries with a warning that people should only eat a maximum of 6 oz. After his story, I looked for a picture of escolar in the internet and at once recognized the all-too-familiar cut of fish.
Gindara
 His (the blogger's) experience was a lot worse than mine because his unwanted visitors stayed with him for a week if I recall correctly (mine stayed for three days). And also because, the way he described it, there were more of "them" than mine.

I have to say that my experience changed the way I look at one of my favorite fish steaks. I may have to be careful when I am faced with this dish in the future. And like what I have said, I have to keep in mind that too much of a good thing really is bad.

P.S. I tried my best to look for the blog I mentioned, but I couldn't find it (sorry).



Lots of Love,
J<3

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Eye can see you...

When I was in second year high school, I remember getting interested by our lessons in genetics. Most of my classmates had a hard time understanding this lesson, while on the other hand, I enjoyed every bit of it.

My fascination for genetics didn't end there. The summer before I entered college, I spent most of my days on the computer learning more about heredity. I found out that the simple Punnet Square I once associated with the subject doesn't really explain to us the exact way we got our looks from our parents.
Different eye colors 01
Different eye colors 02

At that time, I dreamt of trading my dark hair and eyes for lighter ones. I spent hours looking at pictures of different eye colors and feeling a bit jealous of those with blue, grey, hazel, green, or even light brown eyes. And it doesn't help that my mom has light brown eyes. I sometimes wonder why I didn't inherit that instead of the plain looking dark brown ones that I have.
Light brown eye

Chocolate brown eye

Blue eye

Green eye

Hazel eye 01

Hazel eye 02

Grey eye

It's a good thing that those days have now gone, but different eye colors still has this alluring effect on me. I still sometimes find myself reading articles about the genetics of eye color, or looking for pictures of people, especially Asians and Filipinos with eye colors other than dark brown. And whenever I meet someone new or see someone on TV, I get drawn to look at their eyes, wanting to see what color they are.

They say that the eyes are windows to the soul. And no matter how dark or lightly colored someone's eyes are, we could easily decipher what they truly feel and who they really are.

Sources: http://bodywonders.com/whyd-do-we-have-different-eye-colors
http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/fave-colour-of-eyes/question-2375981/?page=2&postId=74891727#post_74891727&link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs50/i/2009/333/0/8/Brown_Eye_stock_by_Rakkety.jpg
http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=499&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=mnr0N5422i8rVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/makeup-tips-for-brown-eyes.html&docid=B-VHYbWcBRfxDM&imgurl=http://www.targetwoman.com/image/brown-eyes.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=52q2T5PDBMfzmAXXy-nPCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=608&vpy=163&dur=516&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=107&ty=157&sig=103528680823103478562&page=2&tbnh=140&tbnw=142&start=11&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:11,i:180
http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=499&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=4WM3cSEWjtx42M:&imgrefurl=http://photoblog.nicubunu.ro/2009/10/eye.html&docid=gp894A9TGOKpzM&imgurl=http://nicubunu.ro/pictures/photoblog/eyes-all.jpg&w=2160&h=1820&ei=52q2T5PDBMfzmAXXy-nPCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=594&vpy=182&dur=2245&hovh=206&hovw=245&tx=92&ty=197&sig=103528680823103478562&page=2&tbnh=153&tbnw=172&start=11&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:11,i:204



Lots of Love,
J<3

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Castle: Always

She's armed, he's dangerous. Source: sharetv.org/images/castle-show.jpg


For Castle Fans and Addicts like me: Don't worry, there aren't any spoilers :)

I have always been a fan of the TV series Castle. Okay, not ALWAYS. I have been a fan of Castle since I first got to watch it in 2010. I got hooked immediately, and I remember feeling bad whenever I missed an episode. After some persuasion, I got my sister into liking it as well. When we finally got to finish the whole Season 3, which is the episode being shown in Star World, we felt we needed more. So we bought DVDs and had an ultimate Castle Marathon of all the three seasons.

A couple of days after, we finished everything and started craving for more. For days I was in a daze, dreaming of Castle snippets and badly needing to watch Season 4. We had to wait a little for the given deadline of our suffering: September 19, 2011. We managed to stay alive and found some other stuff to do as we waited for Season 4, but we realized we're not in the US. It means that deadline gets extended. More suffering :((

I did my best and searched online, wishing some local cable network would say when they're planning to show it here. Thankfully, one day, during one of my searches, I realized I could just look for a site that could let me watch it online. A few more days of staying online, and I finally found the one and got to watch episode after episode of my beloved Castle. <3

And now, here I am once again in the crossroads: a few days right after the season-ender "Always" was shown, feeling bittersweet because of what I got to watch and knowing that I have to wait for the first episode of Season 5 to finally air.

I'm sure I'll manage a few months of not getting a dosage of Castle in my bloodstream. Or maybe I could watch Season 1 to Season 4 once again just to quench the thirst a little. I just have to hold on to that tiny ray of hope that I will get to watch it once again knowing that ABC has finally said that most awaited 'Yes" by Castle fans. No matter what happens, I will always have that feeling of wanting something I can't get for now. But who knows, maybe this experience can teach me the virtue of patience.


Lots of Love,
J<3

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Summer Getaway: It's more fun-tastic in Subic!

Source: www.subichomes.com/img/fun-tastic-in-SUBIC.png
After a month of bumming around the house, I finally got out and started to celebrate my summer break the way we usually do: GO OUT OF TOWN.

I've got lots of things planned for my summer, but as usual, I haven't done half of it. Thank goodness my dad decided to bring us to Subic. Although, we didn't really go there for the beach (we're there for an opening of a mall my dad has to attend for work), which is what Subic is mostly famous for. But never mind that! I still get to go out of the house, right?


Going there, I fell asleep as we entered the North Luzon Expressway entrance, so I had no idea how the traffic was. But we went there on a weekday, so I think it wasn't that heavy. When I opened my eyes, we were nearing the exit of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway that lead to Subic. My dad was really sleepy, so I offered to drive the rest of the way to the hotel.


Being a new driver, I was really excited to experience driving in Subic. I know it's not much different  to driving back home, but my dad told me to be extremely careful because the people there are really strict about the traffic rules.


It didn't really bother me 'cause I'm the kind of person who's a stickler to rules, so I thought "I'm sure that's not a problem. I'm good at following rules." But as I started driving, I see an additional lane for cars who are about to turn left. I think "That's fine, dad will tell you when you need to use that lane." Then there were additional writings on the road. It's a good thing they were just additional instructions telling you if you have to stop, and where to exactly stop. After noticing all this changes, in every turn I make, I ended up feeling a bit queasy because I kept thinking that I'm doing something wrong. Thankfully that was just my imagination and I still got home with a clean record, but that was one experience I won't soon forget.


Sorry for babbling about my driving, that's not really what this is about. Okay, so I have to say that the experience was really fun. It's a great break from the hustle and bustle I usually experience back home. First of all, very little traffic, second, there aren't as much people  in the streets, third, there are more "greens", and the best of all, the beach is just a few minutes away!


But I must admit, the place has changed since I have last been there. Although the memories are quite blurry because I haven't been there for a while, but I remember seeing less commercial establishments. I'm sure there wasn't an SM the last time I was there.


We stayed in a hotel just across Harbor Point (the mall that's about to open the next day) so that it wont be a problem in the morning when it comes to parking and such, but I think it was a bad idea (I'll get to that later). When we got to Subic, it was about 2pm, but we haven't had our lunch yet, so we ate at Racks. I got to enjoy that really well. (Yum!) After wards, we had a little tour of the place. We visited the old hotel we stayed in when I was a toddler, we had a stroll in the beach during sunset, and we looked for the monkeys along some street we ALWAYS visited whenever we were in Subic. But sadly, they weren't there anymore. :(


My mom, my sister and I went back to the hotel because my dad still had some work to do in the mall (see, I told you it was work-related), and when he got back a little after eight in the evening, we decided to eat out for dinner. But we were surprised to see that most of the establishments are either closed or about to close. All the Freeport malls have already dimmed their lights and started fixing up their things, and only a few stores, like the gasoline stations, the 7-Eleven outlets, and a few other mini-groceries were open. We were surprised by this because we got used to stores closing at 10pm. But anyways, we found a restaurant called Meat Plus, a store famous for their stakes, but even they were about to close up (they close at nine in the weekdays). It was a good thing we got in there just in time to have our orders placed and get the last call  a few minutes after.


So I said having a hotel right across Harbor Point was bad, right? Well it's not THAT bad, it's just that we had to walk a couple of minutes UNDER THE SCORCHING HEAT OF THE SUMMER SUN. Sorry for the emphasis, but I'm trying my best to take care of my skin, so I'm a bit OC when it comes to these things. Other than that, everything went pretty well aside from a little "accident" that happened along the way. I mean, we got to eat for free (although a lot of the dishes contained chicken, which I am allergic to - Boo D:), we got to be among the first to see the place, we got to meet a few celebrities, and got a free ride on one of their attractions: The Fun Rider 5D (a perk of being my father's daughter Hihi :3 ).


After everything that happened, may it be good or not so good, I can say that it really is more fun-tastic in Subic.


Lots of Love,
J<3

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