Casual Lunches

 

Here's a plate of lunch that I randomly threw together with ingredients I had left in the fridge. I just got hungry so I figured, why don't I cook something instead of starving? So I scavenged some carrots, leftover parsley and lightly pan-fried them. The omelet was thrown into the mix simply because it's just so easy. 

This is actually quite a pretty sandwich. I had some leftover ingredients from making the burgers (previous post) and decided to use the roasted ham bought from the supermarket too. The slices of bread used in this sandwich was also from that local bakery I mentioned before. For any sandwich, I always add a little of pepper to the inside for an extra tang. If you look closely in the photo, you'll see a small speck of yellow. That is actually some yellow mustard (well some sort of mustard). When I was in Moscow in February, my family and I had bought this spicy but yet flavorful Russian mustard. It tasted like normal mustard but gave off the sensation of wasabi. Strange but very delicious.  

This 'casual lunch' dish was yet another meal that was thrown together with whatever was left in the fridge. I had just came back from the US and bought these Cajun spices. What better way to use them than on shrimp! I had mixed the shrimp in the Cajun spices and also dashes of paprika. I seared them with a little olive oil and finished them with a dried parsley garnish. As for the vegetables, they were very delicious. I lightly cooked the baby corn also in olive oil and later added on the cherry tomatoes with a gentle sprinkle of pepper and salt. Cajun shrimp and colorful vegetables. 

Homemade Hamburgers

Here are two, surprisingly, well presented hamburgers. I had watched a YouTube video just the day before on how to make homemade hamburgers. The ingredients and process was extremely easy and I thought it would be fun to try it out. I first bought two buns from a local (kind of local, within the city I guess) bakery that had freshly baked bread. I also bought some tomatoes, onions, lettuce, minced beef, bread crumbs and unfortunately processed cheddar cheese. I wanted to get some better chunks of cheese like Emmental or Irish cheddar but they were so expensive! I remembered that in the video I had watched, it said to season the minced beef and also mix it with bread crumbs for a better structure (so it won't fall apart as easily). I also added some finely chopped onion into the mix for better flavor. I think I didn't mix it well enough or something of that sort because my patties, in the end, weren't as tough and as woven well together as I thought it would be. After the patties were all cooked and 'well done', I put the squares of cheese on top of the two buddies for it melt. Finally, I plated it all up together with the other condiments and voila, I had two burgers. It's a very simple process and probably healthier too because you know what you're putting in your food! 

Casual Pastas

This dish was very enjoyable. It had multicolored farfalle pasta that was tossed in this concoction of onions, tomatoes, garlic and also my personal favorite seafood, razor clams. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to get razor clams in Malaysia but luckily, my dad is a avid buyer of can foods from foreign countries (occurs whenever we go traveling) and he bought these from Spain a year or two ago. These 'navajas' were extremely delicious, especially for a canned food.  

This bowl of pasta (fusilli) is full of good memories. I actually cooked this at my very best friend's house (Mauro C.)  when I was sleeping over. We just simply tossed the sauce together by cutting up some onions, carrots and garlic with the mix of a can of plum tomatoes. The carrots were added mainly to balance the acidity taste in the tomatoes and in the end, it was quite good! My other friend David S. came over just minutes after finishing and we all enjoyed it together. Good old memories with good old friends.

Different Pastas

Here is a one dish that was completely experimental. I had a sort of dark pasta which I can't quite recall if it was the squid ink or some type of brown wheat. I think I may have put the other obvious ingredients underneath the pasta and laid the pasta itself on top. I garnished it by sprinkling shredded Parmesan on its surface. I remember I over seasoned this with an assortment of Italian herbs that contained high levels of chili peppers (chili flakes) and therefore made it spicy. Sure didn't turn out too well! 

This is one dish that I am actually satisfied with. The texture, flavor, fragrance and overall enjoyment of cooking it made it a favorite. Instead of traditional spaghetti this time, I had used a bundle of mixed color fettucine. The ingredients included cucumbers, peppers and some shrimp. It retained quite the spring season feel with all the whole, green (and yellow) vegetables I have used which I usually don't with pasta. 

When I first completed this dish, I was so enraged. The pasta I had been working with was also fettucine but it was made of brown rice. This was a first working with it and I even followed the instructions on the package. It stated that I was to bring the water to a boil and let the pasta sit in there for 1-2 minutes and after that to let it sit for about 17 minutes with the heat off (lid on of course). The moment I lifted the lid up, most of the pasta was stuck together! There were normal pieces of pasta floating around but there were these massive, grotesque and just ugly pieces of pasta stuck together in. The mutants floated around in 5-10 strands and it just irritated me. I moved along, however, to the sauce of the meal which was a prime essential. It's not under any type of recipe I found online but really a recipe I have developed over the years of trial and error. I had added diced tomatoes, onions, fresh sweet basil leaves, garlic, olive oil and a dash of pepper, salt and a bit of sugar (to balance acidity). I also lightly peppered and salted the pasta with the mixture of fresh sweet basil leaves for the obvious flavors to stand out. If I hadn't messed up on the pasta, I think this would have been a quite enjoyable dish.  

Casual Salads

Here's a sketchy salad I threw together on a very hungry afternoon. It has cucumbers and a some lettuce that is sprinkled with pepper, dried green onions (chives, spring onions, scallions) and drizzled with a little bit of olive oil and soy sauce (weird right?) but I like it. 

This salad wasn't for me but for my dad (father, pops, pa). I made it for late breakfast or brunch if you will and I think the presentation was much more scrumptious than the one above. It had chicken breast that had been marinated in a little peri-peri hot sauce, mixture of dried herbs, olive oil and some chicken seasoning (because I'm perezoso) the day before. I threw in some sweet basil leaves in that mix of romaine lettuce. To really top it all off I had sprinkled (assuming you can do that with liquids), the homemade balsamic dressing I had posted earlier onto this very salad. Sounds appetizing doesn't it?

Homemade Balsamic Dressing

This little jar of Balsamic dressing was threw together purely out of experimentation. There was a time where I ate salads every other break time for school and it hit me, why not make my own balsamic dressing? No offense to Connie's salad dressing but it was just too acidic for me! So for my little bottle of flavor, I had gone out to buy a bottle of Italian (Basso) Balsamic Vinegar. I had just glanced at a couple of videos on YouTube on how to make this dressing and adjusted the ratios of oil to vinegar. Once that was settled, I cut up some garlic, added sugar, salt, pepper, dried parsley and I was done! There it is, my very own bottle of Balsamic Dressing, as homemade as it gets.

Aglio e Olio con Gamberetti

My first attempt at Aglio e Olio with Shrimp (Gamberreti), that's the full extent of my Italian. Chao.

My second attempt turned out much appealing and somewhat tastier. I need to watch out on the chili flakes, piccante! (That's also Italian)

I don't think these are very traditional recipes for Italian spaghetti but a little fusion here and there would not hurt.

Mi poema

Vida
Nací, vi, miré, comí, bebí,

crecí, hablé, escuché, pregunté, pensé,
supe, contesté, fui, senté, creí,
dormí, descansé, estudié, escribí, dibujé,
sonreí, reí, amé, lloré, sentí,
viví

Perdóname si me equivoqué


In English

Life
I was born, I saw, I looked, I ate, I drank
I grew, I talked, I listened, I asked, I thought
I knew, I asked, I went, I sat, I believed
I slept, I rested, I studied, I wrote, I drew
I smiled, I laughed, I loved, I cried, I felt
I lived

Top 13 video parts and review (Skateboarding)

Here is my list of 13 (was meant to be 15 but can't think) video parts with the best (in my opinion) skating, style, editing, feeling and of course the song. These video parts are full of inspiration for skateboarding and also moves me at the same time. These 13 are composed of songs that I would personally download and listen to just because I want to be reminded of the skateboarding
(no specific order on best to last, vice versa)

The two most important parts to a video part is the song and without a doubt, the skater (whether style, trick selection, fluidity). The song is that one thing that distinguishes it from any other video part but yet again, does not necessarily always apply. I can definitely find a video part that does not have a good song (that fits my preference) but has flawless and pure skateboarding at its rawest. In this case, I am listing the parts with the perfect combination (or almost perfect).  

1. Kenny Hoyle Expedition One Madness
Song: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - 40 Day Dream
An epic Edward Sharpe single backed with Hoyle's loose but hardworking style. The song reflects with the sunny filter and glaze of the video. It matches everything! A very well deserved, soulful, first, pro-part.

2. Josiah Gatlyn Full Part 2012
Song: Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
The soothing, whistling Gorillaz song that is surrounded by the echoing vocals takes Josiah's technical skating to its best. Switch heels, lasers, perfect tricks man...

3. Marc Johnson Lakai Fully Flared
Song 1: Q Lazzarus - Goodbye Horses
Song 2: Fischerspooner - All We Are
Song 3: She Wants Revenge - Us
Marc Johnson's crazy part to date. He had three songs! Could you believe that? I can't even put out a part with a full three minute song. These three songs are almost completely different. The first single shot out right after Marc's mud treatment scene is Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus. This song is so mysterious and symbolic that it makes me want to mentally float away into the far distances of the universe. It's overall a very low but smooth song which compliments the first part of Marc's tech in Euro spots or open schoolyards. The second song, however, is even lower than the first. It just gets more mellow doesn't it? Well kind of, but don't get too excited. This low profile Fischerspooner song matches hand in hand with Marc's vast range of manual tricks. The song gets so low in volume that I actually hear most of the manual reverts in his part! The last but my favorite song of his entire part is Us by She Wants Revenge. It goes from the two low songs to a deep song. Deep as in voice and also...feeling? Marc went through some tough times during the filming of Fully Flared and that last final song sort of sums up all the sorrow and self-destruction he had inflicted. 'All the hushed who and whys, all the fiction and lies, all the tears and the laughs, take a walk in the past, you and I, hand in hand, as we look at this thing called us.' You could feel it through his pushes. 

4. Marc Johnson Transworld Modus Operandi
Song: Built to Spill - The Plan
This is the probably the oldest skate video I have actually watched but I enjoyed every moment of it. The song by Built to Spill was full of nostalgic post-punk or just punk feels. It reminded me of the days when I use to listen to punk rock and all that  omg Angelo's 'emo', omg he's gonna cut himself type stuff (Don't worry I sustained). It's just pure nostalgia at its best.

5. Marc Johnson Girl/Chocolate Pretty Sweet
Song: David Bowie - 5 Years
I feel like almost every part Marc has put out contains so much soul. I mean some people don't like his style with the arms and all (that's you David) but I personally like it. It's not the mechanical, Nyjah Huston or Chaz Ortiz video parts where I would already get sick of within the first 10 seconds. I want EMOTION when I watch a video part and most of Marc's parts has contained that. Call me what you want but when he pops that backside flip over that picnic table as the song jumps in...wow, just pure serenity. 'Pushing through the market square, so many mother's sighing'. I sigh along with those mothers, just kidding, only at times.

6. Heath Kirchart Emerica Stay Gold Easter Egg Part
Song: Joy Division - Atmosphere
Man, oh man, Heath with his all white outfits just breaks through with pure suave and smooth style. A Joy Division song was used too, that's sick. Stay Gold was a really good video, the editing was the polisher, pretty much. I've got nothing else to say but for you (the audience ghosts) to watch it. 

7. Jason Dill Alien Workshop Mindfield
Song: Animal Collective - In The Flowers
Yet, ANOTHER part with pure emotion. This wasn't emotion in a sense where I felt sympathy or even empathy. It's the type of 'society sucks, I can only skate, they dont' really understand' type of emotion. I mean hopefully some of you understand what I mean so I don't sound like a passionate emotion freak. It's the Animal Collective song that springs out just before Dill pops an ollie over this street bump. The whole Mindfield video itself, the abstract, artsy pieces of footage just makes my artsy hipster side go crazy. 

8. Mikey Taylor Alien Workshop Mindfield
Song: Dinosaur Jr. - Crumble
Dinosaur Jr. is probably one of my favorite bands of all time (much thanks for my friend, David, who truly opened my eyes to them). This song crumble is also the most touchy, feel-y, emotional type song. I mean if you listen to this, it doesn't make YOU the touchy, feel-y, weak guy like me, you're still the Dinosaur Jr. guitar-loving ripper, don't worry. I'm considering using this song for my part since it's such a great song and represents so much soul (there's that word again). Okay, now back to the part. Mikey Taylor mentioned in a Transworld Mag interview that during the filming of Mindfield, he wasn't really the person he was. He was pissed off all the time and not truly enjoying skateboarding which is the main reason why we all get into it. The line from the song 'I got nothing where I've been, will you bring me there again? no one ever understands...' just summarizes his troubles at the time and maybe symbolically of a skater's life too haha. Interpretation is all up from you. 

9. Jerry Hsu Enjoi Bag of Suck (Second song part)
Song: Sonic Youth - Superstar
Jerry Hsu has always been one of my favorite skaters and his Enjoi Bag of Suck part was just pure...Jerry. It was full of switch, nollie, 5-0's, nollie back heels, the Jerry type of skating that is just distinguishing. His second part of his video part had the Sonic Youth song, 'Superstar'. It was the most low, sad song ever. I mean just look at the lyrics and you'll know what I mean. Jerry's skating suited the song perfectly though. Long ago...

10. Brian Hansen Fallen Ride The Sky
Song: Pentagram - Last Days Here

This is definitely a different approach since most of the video parts I like are full of this 'emotion' but I really liked Slash's Ride the Sky Fallen part. It was just the most hardcore, handrail, eating it, type of skating you could imagine, just pure gnar. The song complimented his part perfectly too, it makes me want to skate handrails (even though it takes me 50 tries just to roll up to one that's like knee-high but not even get a proper try, like actually getting onto it). I still need to watch his new Deathwish part.

11. Rick Howard Lakai Fully Flared
Song: Echo and the Bunnymen - Cutter
Rick Howard, this guy, the brainchild behind Lakai. Lakai is, honestly, one of my all time favorite footwear companies, I'd back them any day. This reputation was mainly built up from their Fully Flared video and actually the quality they deliver with their footwear. Ok, so back to his part. Let's start with the song by Echo and the Bunneymen. It is probably the most cheery/happy/mess around song in my entire list of video parts here haha but I loved it. It showed Rick's personality and his unique style of skating. I remember there's this manual trick he does but he pops out with a fs halfcab (it's front halfcab trust me, not fakie front 180, call it what you want) onto a slightly higher pavement, that was so sick. Not just another drop in the ocean.. 

12. Mike Mo Capaldi Lakai Fully Flared
Song: Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
Mike Mo, haha every kid's favorite skater but this part is a million times better compared to his half-assed (sorry for language) Pretty Sweet part (sorry Mo). First of all the song...Arcade Fire is definitely a very soulful band, it has so many different instruments to pretty much measure your feelings. No Cars Go is still my favorite song from them behind the crazy happy ones like Sprawl II or the pump up ones like Ready to Start or Wake Up. It fit Mo's skating, I'm telling you. It was like this smooth line of music that followed the path of his skateboarding lines, that's pretty much how I describe every other song that matches with the video part in this whole blogpost! But the skating, it was just so raw. It wasn't a bunch of tricks that he had already knew how to do and have them on lock like in Pretty Sweet, he had a large variety. Tricks ranged from Hardflips, Switch Heels, Nollie Flips, Nollie Big Flips, fakie front crooks (Technically fakie front suskis haha), switch back tails and in Pretty Sweet he just stuck to his comfortable frontside flips and old footy from the Lakai days. Don't get me start on the song choice for Pretty Sweet either, sorry but ABD (already been done), Kenny had it used for his Extra for his Madness part. Okay, no big deal but c'mon Mo! He has so much potential...Don't know where we're going.

13. Austyn Gilette Thrasher Unlimited (First song part)
Song: Future Islands - Tin Man
The first thing that comes to mind for Austyn is that this guy has perfect, SMOOTH style, no joke man. This guy has board feel like a gamer has prestige in COD. A lot of my content sounds really repetitive but sorry that's just how boring and bland I am (also another reason why I have a horrible grade in English). Ok so they song was by Future Islands. Future Islands has become one of my favorite synth-pop bands (see, synthpop does not equal to pop). The beats, strong shooting sounds backed with the deep vocals of Samuel T. Herring makes it seem Austyn is skating through problems, but nothing holds him back. I really don't know where I'm going with these reviews, they are so boring...sorry. Just watch his Unlimited part and hopefully you get an idea of what I mean.

Hope you guys endured,

Angelo