Mama's House

Arroz Caldo wins as your favorite filipino food. I know it's mine. There's nothing more satisfying in my mind than a meal consisting of chicken and rice. To be able to have it in a hot porridge form makes it all the more satisfying.

Arroz Caldo: 4
Lechon: 2
Kare-kare: 1
Leche flan: 1
Sinigang: 1
Afritada: 1

It is official, we finally picked a place to hold this thing. It's going to be at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in Buena Park. A few of the amenities include baseball fields, volleyball courts, tennis courts, fishing, hiking trails, and barbeque/fire rings but sadly no basketball courts.

Well if you haven't heard yet there's going to be a Fonacier family reunion come this September 22, which is what the above countdown timer is all about. Outside of the date the particulars are still being decided. However, there is strong speculation that it will be held at Craig Park in Fullerton. The odds of it having it there are about the same as Austin having the next kid in the family. By the way, is this blog too young to be self-referential? It's also rumored that a shelter is to be had and that it will be a catered event. And if that's not enough to bring you out to get to know long lost family from Papa's side, then maybe talks of a family reunion t-shirt might persuade you otherwise.






So who's up for some softball that day?

What are we doing for this momentous occasion? Anyone have any ideas other than the obligatory acts of getting him drunk and getting him a $50 - is that enough to say we like you and yet not too excessive that it might offend? - hooker?

Me: I heard you got a job as an event planner.
Sara: Event Coordinator, not event planner.
Me: Sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive or anything.
Sara: I'm not offensive.
EJ: Uh, no, you're not. And that's a good thing.

Granted, this was towards the end of a night of drinking and Sara had just shared a few shots of Malibu Mango with EJ and an unidentifiable minor.

If Faye landed safely after doing like Wesley Snipes?

Long lost family perhaps? I have no idea. Probably not. And that only adds to my irritation because their page is ranked #2 by Google in a search for "Fonacier," right ahead of Uncle Wilson's site, while this site is nowhere to be found on the first two pages of Google. What do I have to do to get some Google love?

Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier, Fonacier.

Well where to begin? First, Jade lived up to his reputation as a lightweight. I will give him credit for holding his liquor but the guy does turn into a talkative drunk relatively quick. How quick? Well far be it for this lightweight to say how much of a lightweight someone else is. Also, so impaired was Jade that he actually argued that Jello shots were for girls while expressing his affinity for daiquiris in the same breath.

Speaking of drinking, chocolate cake shots, while looking nothing like chocolate, are surprisingly tasty.

This is not to say that the whole night was about drinking. There was plenty of food ranging from bbq chicken to balut and an ice cream cake to boot. Activities ranged from playing the Wii, EJ has a heavier brain than Sara; finding out that EJ and Sara only read books with Harry Potter as the main character; taking a tour of Roland's new toy, it has Vortec if you haven't heard; debating which sports were worthy of disapproval, soccer won; and wondering why Meka was crying when he wasn't even bleeding, several times.

Roland got himself a 2005 Denali the other day with navigation, 6 screens (one in the passenger side visor), satellite radio, and a Vortec engine.

Yes Roll, it's "gangsta" and yes Roll, you're like Turtle.

Jason: I love Roland's dog.
Me: When did you see Roland's dog?
Jason: I've seen pictures of it and I want it.
Me: Why?
Jason: I just like cute and dumb things.
Me: Then you've got the right girlfriend. (Pats Faye on head.)

Darryll got himself a Xbox 360 yesterday. The only game he currently has is NCAA Football 2008 and has yet to sign up for Xbox Live. What other games MUST he own?

For those keeping score that's 3 Xbox 360s, 3 Wiis, and 0 PS3s in our little family circle.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Annette will be having a bbq at her place starting around 6:30 tonight for Jade's 29th. Lots of food and probably a lot more drinks to be had. See you all there.

I only recently heard about Max's Restaurant and that they had locations here in SoCal and although I've been aware of Jollibee, I didn't know they had locations all over SoCal.

So who's down for some filipino fast food?

Did anyone feel that one last? That was the most action I've got in bed since... well we won't get into that. For those of you who were actually engaging in extracurricular activities in bed and assumed that their partner was merely being extra vigorous, we had ourselves a little 4.5 earthquake in our backyard:

Ohhh, that was a nice 20 to 30 second rumbler too. Tonight's 4.5 earthquake, minutes before 1:00 a.m..... The epicenter is in the Santa Susana Mountains north of the intersection of the 118 freeway and Topanga Canyon Blvd. near the split of the San Fernando and Simi Valleys.

No major damages to speak of unless you count one severely broken Eric Gagne bobblehead as major damage and that I do - I know Austin is happy right now because he hates Gagne. So here's the total cost of last night's earthquake.

So what did everyone think about it? Did you even notice it?

I don't want to be rude or anything like that, I am completely staggered at the results of the poll. I know we all like to pick on Roland (atleast I do) and use him as some sort of scapegoat for why the lives of all are failing and the world is going in turmoil, but did anyone seriously think before voting? Who honestly believes Rol is getting some ... "action"? Someone please justify the last poll's results. Also, who the heck voted for me?

New poll out, remember you can vote for multiple items. Not that any explanation of the dishes should be needed because we're all true filipinos here, but here you go courtesy of Wikipedia:

1. Adobo - consists of pork and/or chicken stewed in a broth of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns, a favorite dish among many.
   
2. Pancit - a dish primarily consisting of noodles, vegetables, and a bit of meat or shrimp with variations primarily distinguished by the type of noodles used.
   
3. Lechón - whole roasted suckling pig. Sometimes, either a piglet (lechonillo, or lechon de leche) or cattle calf (lechong baka) is baked instead.
   
4. Kare-kare - also known as "peanut stew," boiled oxtail and/or ox tripe in a peanut-based stew of mixed vegetables, served with alamang (fermented shrimp paste).
   
5. Sinigang - tamarind-soured soup typically made with pork, beef, or seafood. But tamarind is not the only souring ingredient used: Variants include guava and miso, but these are only used on seafood.
   
6. Kaldereta - beef or goat simmered in vinegar and tomato sauce. There is a variant that uses dog meat.
   
7. Afritada - made of pork or beef and vegetables simmered in tomato sauce.
   
8. Dinuguan - a stew made from pig blood, entrails, and meat.
   
9. Balut - is a partially-developed duck embryo boiled then served in its shell.
   
10. Halo-halo - composed of shaved ice, milk, coconut sport, purple yam pudding, caramel custard, sweetened plantains, and jackfruit.
    
11. Bibingka - hot rice cake topped with a spread of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut.
    
12. Leche Flan - caramel custard made with eggs and milk.
    
13. Puto - sweet steamed rice muffins.
    
14. Dinengdeng - consists of malunggay leafs and bittermelon similar presentation to pinakbet.
    
15. Pinakbet - vegetables stewed with bagoong.
    
16. Arroz caldo - a Spanish inspired rice porridge cooked with chicken, ginger and cheap saffron, garnished with spring onions (chives).
    
17. Soup No. 5 (Also spelled as "Soup #5") - a soup made out of testicles. Found in restaurants in Ongpin St., Binondo, Manila.

And others that didn't make the cut include:

1. Camaro - are field crickets cooked in soy sauce, salt, and vinegar. It is popular in Pampanga.
   
2. Asocena - Dog meat, is especially popular in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
   
3. Pinikpikan chicken - chicken which has been beaten to death. Cooks do this to tenderize the meat and to infuse it with blood. It is then burned in fire to remove its feathers then boiled with salt and pork.

Here are the results to the question: Who Will Be Next To Have A Kid?

Roland: 4
EJ: 2
Austin: 1
Oliver: 1

I suppose that makes Roland the odds on favorite to have the next kid with the odds for everyone being,*

Roland: 1/1
EJ: 3/1
Austin: 7/1
Oliver: 7/1
The Field: 1,000,000/1

Basically, everyone other than Roland and maybe EJ is a sucker bet. Although with the odds The Field is getting you may want to lay down a buck and hope to get lucky.

*These odds are merely for use as entertainment purposes and are not intended for betting purposes - no matter what the last paragraph above states. By the way, if I've messed up in my calculations of odds, please excuse.

Revised to more accurately reflect how odds are really displayed.

For those of you who don't have an Xbox360 - I can't believe there's only two in the family who have one - and because I'm tired of chainsawing Austin, the 360 is having a price drop starting tomorrow. Need more reasons to get a 360? Well here you go.

Here's a list of each Dodger player and their chosen "at-bat" or "entrance" song.

Currently, Roland leads all vote getters, outdistancing his closest competitors by having twice as many votes as Oliver, Austin, and EJ - can anyone say landslide?

I'm somewhat surprised that no one voted for one of the girls, especially Faye, seeing that girls typically have kids at a much younger age than guys. Also, I suspect that none of the guys in this group are going to have kids until their 30s, which I guess Roland is. By the way, is this a poll that anyone wants to even win?

Everyone does say that to have kids is the best thing EVER.