Credenda

During high school, we had a list of books to choose from every year that we could make a report on. Glad I chose "The Gift of Acabar" by Og Mandino because ever since then it has been my favorite.

Here is a chapter  that continues to inspire me until today:

CHAPTER 16 - CREDENDA

Turn away from the crowd and its fruitful pursuit of fame and gold. Never look back as you close your door to the sorry tumult of greed and ambition.  Wipe away your tears of failure and misfortune.  Lay aside your heavy load and rest until your heart is still.  Be at peace.  Already, it is later than you think, for your earthly life, at best, is only the blink of an eye between two eternities.  Be unafraid.  Nothing here can harm you except yourself.  Do that which you dread and cherish those victories with pride.  Concentrate your energy.  To be everywhere is to be nowhere.  Be jealous of your time, since it is your greatest treasure.  Reconsider your goals.  Before you set your heart too much on anything, examine how happy they are who already possess what you desire.  Love your family and count your blessings.  Reflect on how eagerly they would be sought if you did not have them.  Put aside your impossible dreams and complete the task at hand no matter how distasteful.  All great achievements come from working and waiting.  Be patient.  God's delays are never God's denials.  Hold on.  Hold fast.  Know that your paymaster is always near.  What you sow, good or evil, that you will reap.  Never blame your condition on others.  You are what you are through your choice alone.  Learn to live with honest poverty, if you must, and turn to more important matters than transporting gold to your grave.  Never meet trouble halfway.  Anxiety is the rust of life; when you add tomorrow's burdens to today's their weight becomes unbearable.  Avoid the mourner's bench and give thanks, instead, for your defeats. You would not receive them if you did not need them.  Always learn from others.  He who teaches himself has a fool for a master.  Be careful.  Do not overload your conscience.  Conduct your life as if it were spent in an arena filled with tattlers.  Avoid boasting.  If you see anything in you that puffs you with pride look closer and you will find more than enough to make you humble.  Be wise.  Realize that all men are not created equal, for there is no equality in nature, yet no man was ever born whose work was not born with him.  Work everyday as if it were your first, yet tenderly treat the lives you touch as if they will all end at midnight.  Love everyone, even those who deny you, for hate is a luxury you cannot afford.  Seek out those in need.  Learn that he who delivers in one hand will always gather with two.  Be of good cheer.  Above all, remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.  Look up.  Reach out.  Cling simply to God and journey quietly on your pathway to forever with charity and smile.  When you depart it will be said by all that your legacy was a better world than the one you found.

Which are you: Carrot, egg, or coffee bean?

One day, a daughter complained to her father how things were going hard for her.  She said, “Father, I do not know how I am going to make it.  I feel like giving up. I’m tired of fighting and struggling. Every time a problem is solved, a new one comes along. I just can’t take it anymore.”
Her father took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water, and placed them each on high heat. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one pot of boiling water, he placed carrots. In the second, he placed eggs, and in the last pot, he placed coffee beans.  He let them sit and boil, without saying a word. The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

Twenty minutes later, he turned off the burners. He strained the water from the carrots and placed them in a bowl. He lifted the eggs out and placed them in another bowl. Then he ladled the steaming coffee into a third bowl.

Turning to her he asked, “What do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied. He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots first.  She touched the carrots and noted that they were soft and mushy. He then asked her to take an egg and break it.  After cracking its shell, she saw the hard-boiled egg.  Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee.  She smiled as she tasted its flavor and smelled the rich aroma.

She humbly asked, “But what does it mean, Father?” He explained that each of them had been plunged into boiling water, but  each had reacted differently. The carrot went into the water strong and hard but after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile.  Its thin outer shell had protected its soft, liquid interior.  But after sitting in the boiling water, it became hard on the inside.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After being in the boiling water, the water did not change them. They changed the water! “Which are you?” the father gently asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?  Are you more like a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

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How about you?  Are you the carrot that started out strong and hard long ago, but with the pain and adversity of your life struggles, did you become soft and lose your strength?   Are you the egg that started out soft inside?  Were you a fluid spirit, but after the pain of death, abuse, rejection, poor health, divorce, or a layoff, have you become hardened?  Your outer shell may look the same, but has your heart become hard-boiled and toughened?

Or are you like the coffee bean?  That was plunged into the rapidly boiling water when the beans gave flavor and aroma, and would even please whoever encounters it. Do you worship God more in the midst of problems, that people see that you have used the situation to make you into a better person?

Be like the coffee bean and leave a fragrance that lasts. :)

Browsed through Francis Kong's blog and read this. Thought I might share it here because I really loved it.

Cotton Candy Love

It's been a while since I last drew something. The last time was during college when we were required to submit storyboards. So last night, I pulled out some materials and since my last blog browse was about cotton candies and Maggie's blog, here's what I came up with:

"Fairy Tales and Cotton Candy Dreams" (Soft Pastel on Paper)

It was my first time to use soft pastel (like chalk) and it was difficult to be precise. The colors kept smudging. But after a while, I enjoyed mixing and blending the colors that made a soft overall look to the drawing.

Then here are some of my favorite cotton candy photos from Pinterest:

I was amazed on how people experiment with cotton candy to complement well-known drinks and desserts, like for example:

Cotton Candy Meringue and Cake

Cupcakes, and...

Drinks! Coffee or Martini (with cotton candy), anyone?

I remember as a kid, I would treat myself to a cup of cotton candy ice cream from Baskin-Robbins after school. It was my favorite flavor from BR. I was one of those who mourned when its Katipunan shop closed down. Good-bye to 30+ flavors of ice cream. :( Sadly, we don't have Baskin-Robbins in the country anymore.

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EXTRA THOUGHTS: 

Right now, a warfare is going on in my mind: whether to post drawings here or not.

 Since I want a "food blog", I'm supposed to stick to food/ product reviews and less on the personal side. Plus, my latest blog posts were more about inspiration/ photographs from other blogs, rather than reviews or recipes.

So, I thought of putting up another blog so I could be free to write and upload anything I like. But the thought was immediately rejected since I can't (-slash-I don't like to) maintain two blogs.

*Sigh* The last thing I want for this blog is for it to have an identity crisis. But okay. I really can't make another blog so I just have to do this. =)) Personal stuff will now be categorized under: RANDOM.
Besides, I stick to the blog's motto of good things are meant to be shared-- 
whatever that is.:)

Cupcake Craze

I've been thinking about my FAR future in baking/cooking and I feel that I would most enjoy making desserts particularly cupcakes, pies, and tarts. Then fast forward to that day, I would name my Facebook Fan Page (lol!) something like:

CUPS AND TARTS

 (Yay! It rhymes! :)) Think tea party theme)

Anyway, I'm currently browsing blogs for cupcake flavors and designs and I found FOUR fab blogs that offers them both: (Tongue Twister Alert: Found Four Fab Flavor Blogs -- repeat 10 times)

LOVE AND OLIVE OIL (http://loveandoliveoil.com/)

Chocolate Chip Dough Cupcake

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcake

Peach Bourbon Cupcake

SMITTEN KITCHEN (http://smittenkitchen.com)

Carrot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Rootbear Float Cupcake

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcake

CALL ME CUPCAKE (http://call-me-cupcake.blogspot.com/)

S'mores Cupcake

Banana Cupcake with Caramel Frosting

Oreo Cupcake

JOY THE BAKER (http://joythebaker.com/)

Ice-Cream Cupcake

 Carrot Cupcake with Dulce de Leche Frosting

Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcake

It would really be nice if these flavors were available here in the "Philippine cupcake market". 

For now, we can only try to experiment these in our homes and hope that our family and friends would love them. Because if not, then it's a sign for us to stick to salads and sandwiches. Which is sad.

Inspiration by The Food Club

Found a major inspiration for baking + amazing food + photography.

I love the traditional, country bakeshop feel. But the site is not limited to that.

Pic overload-- sorry, I just couldn't choose "some".

All of them looked so good. Now, only if I can understand Danish.

 http://www.thefoodclub.dk/ ♥