While I was having a good time chatting with my sisters on Yahoo! Messenger, it  came to a point that we were just exchanging recipes.  The recent one was the Kip Saute a la Mina of which recipe I will share later on when I am able to get a good picture of the dish.  For the meantime, allow me to share to you one of my successful recipes called the Breaded Chicken Fillet.

Ingredients:

• 4 pcs chicken breast fillets
• Chicken Cubes
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
• oil for frying
• lemon wedges
• green peas, buttered

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“Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.”

-Bertrand Russell

Nope! It’s no typo. It just so happen that on the same month as the Americans celebrate their Independence and the same date as the Filipinos celebrate ours, Travis and I have finally achieved the Independence that we have been waiting for. Yes, we are out of the basement and out from the responsibilities that shouldn’t be ours in the first place.

We rented an apartment with Travis’ bestfriend in one of the beautiful suburbs of Minneapolis. It is just a stone throw distance from a small lake and about 0.7 miles from a way bigger lake. This is where Travis always wanted to live.  It may be a longer drive to his work but with the beautiful neighborhood, he said it’s all worth it.  We have made few steps closer to our dreams. I know that we can’t realize our dreams overnight.  It takes hardwork, perseverance, determination and yes it takes time.  And we are conditioned to have just that.

This entire experience has given me enough transformation.  Three days of cleaning and still counting earned me the title of being domesticated.  I now understand when they say that the home is what brings pride to a wife.  I am proud of what I have done although I haven’t cooked yet and there is a mountain pile of clothes to sort, I have done enough to please Travis and most of all myself.

Tomorrow is going to be another day for me and I plan to start it by attending mass in church.  Luckily, the Catholic church is just 0.2 miles away from our place and it has a daily mass schedule at 8am.  Just about time after Travis leave for work.  And the rest of the day will be spent cleaning or relaxing and enjoying the freedom that I have all been yearning for.  It is just a wonderful feeling waking up not to noises but to the sound of birds chirping outside our window.   Freedom is just sweet!

Minnesota has been known as The Land of 10,000 Lakes and that is no exaggeration. In fact, Minnesota for real has 11,842 lakes over 10 acres in size. In warmer months like this, outdoor recreation often involves water. Weekends and summer vacations to family cabins in the numerous Minnesota lakes are a way of life for many residents. These activities involves water sports like water skiing, boating, canoeing and fishing. More than 36% of Minnesotans fish.

Last weekend, I made my first attempt to discover why a lot of people get hooked with this hobby called fishing. Travis and I bought a combination Angling license (husband and wife) online for only $26. Individual license will cost you $18 for residents.  Licenses are also available to purchase for non-residents.  Here are the different types of fishing license and its corresponding fees: LICENSES and FEES

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If you’d like to build a nest egg with your paycheck, it may be time to give up New York and head for Plano, Texas.  I read this on Yahoo! Financial section and thought I should share it.

A survey by pay experts at Salary.com evaluated 69 cities with more than 250,000 people and ranked the Big Apple last. Plano came in first among American cities in which to build personal wealth.
The survey, based on census data and Salary.com analysis, focused on local salaries, the cost of living and unemployment. Secondary factors, such as diversity of the local economy, residents’ education, percentage of population below poverty level and commute time were also measured.

According to the survey, the top five cities are home to some of the nation’s largest companies and have recorded strong periods of growth. Following first-place Plano came Aurora, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Minneapolis and Albuquerque N.M.

New York’s diverse economy and highly-educated residents couldn’t save it from sinking to the bottom due to its high cost of living and paychecks that just aren’t “inflated” enough to make up the difference, the report stated.

Looks like I’m in the right place… so far!

The rise of the gas prices seemed to be uncontrollable.  I could still remember when I first got here that a gallon of gas is only $2.47 and that was last year.  Today, the national average of gas prices now is almost double.  Undoubtedly, we can feel the effect of it.

Let’s take for an instance airline prices.  In a country as big as the USA, one needs to drive long distance to get to another state if not take a flight to be there sooner.  With the current situation, both doesn’t seem to an alternative over the other.  If you choose to drive, it will not only take you days to get to your destination but it will also make you spend a lot for the tank.  The alternative of taking a flight to your destination no longer seems to be a good alternative.  Airline prices have soared high.  And not only that, just this month, US Airways and other airlines have gotten rid of their complimentary sodas and pretzels or peanuts on board.  And are you aware that checking in bags now will cost you an additional fee?

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Even when we were young, she has always been the person that I look up to.  I have been a witness to her journey in life.  When she was in Kindergarten, Nanay and I would bring her lunch.  As she continued with Elementary, her performance turned out to be my own benchmark.  Ifollowed her footsteps.  I too became an achiever like her.  When she was in High School, she discovered a hidden talent.  She started writing and she was very good at it.  She can give you a perfect visual of the story, poem or composition that she wrote.  It is at this point that I realized I can’t be like her.  I attended different High School which made us away from each other.  But even then, I never stopped being her #1 supporter.  Before anyone could read her composition, I get to read it first.  When she attended College, she didn’t stop writing.  She wrote more poems inspired and dedicated to her crush-Stoner.

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Last weekend, Travis and I spent quality time together seeing places.  We explored the places where Travis was raised and spent his growing years.  We went to the western suburbs of Minnetonka, Excelsior, Mound, Spring Park and even farther west to Watertown.  It was not my first time to visit the area except for Watertown.  Travis and I drove to it last year after we attended the Budke-Jorgenson Reunion.  This trip was different though because we had more time to stop and find our way without the fear of being lost.   Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, after a bitter lost against Russia during the Quarterfinals of Euro 2008 (Football Tournament), the most capped Dutch player of all-time took his sad final bow. The 37-year old Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made his final appearance on the International Football League after the Russians took away Van der Sar’s chances of ending his career gracefully by winning the finals. He made a number of vital saves at St. Jakob-Park on yesterday’s game but was powerless to keep Russia at bay as Dmitri Torbinski and Andrei Arshavin scored in the last eight minutes of extra time.

The announcement of his retirement was made before the game. Many fans including myself was sad to hear about it and many of us will surely miss that beautiful face by the goal. Although Van der Sar ended his international career, he will continue to play one more season with the Manchester United until March of 2009. So, it won’t be a long farewell ‘coz we will continue to see that talent and beauty of course until he will make his final wave.

Schengen Visa is a short stay visa that allows you to enter any state of the Schengen Region.  The internal border controls have disappeared; there are no or few stops and checks.  This means that internal air, road and train travel are considered domestic trips which is similar to having a US visa of which you can travel from one US state to the other.  So once you have this visa, you can travel to the different states in Europe who took part of the Schengen Agreement.    Currently there are 15 member countries of the European Union.  The 15 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. All these countries except Norway and Iceland are European Union members. Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland are not part of the Schengen Visa Agreement.
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I have decided to get a new look without changing my hair and clothes. As you might have noticed, I changed the theme on my site. It is a theme called “Flawless Imperfection” by Colleen Chard. I am very much impressed of the neat layout and design which features my favorite butterflies and not much else. The name of the theme is inspired by this quote, “Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. – Robert Schuller”.

Finally, I was able to sort my blogroll and links. Of course, I have included the pages of my favorite people who never failed to visit my site and leave a comment. If you want to be included in the list or if I missed you out and want your site to be linked, just leave me a comment below and I’ll make sure to add you. I don’t need to know you to be included in the link, a brief introduction will do.

I hope you like it and please feel at home on my site. Do come again!