The Convivial Gist

The last time I was in Paris, the European continent was sizzling due to the heatwave. Me and my travelling buddy took a side trip to Barcelona and Paris en route to attend a friend's wedding in London.  We were supposed to represent our company's  CEO in that wedding hence it's a freebie trip.  My TB (travelling buddy) had relatives working in Spain and France so our accommodations were taken care of .   As espoused by the queen of irony -  Jessica Zafra of  the impending world domination of Filipinos via diaspora - for wanna be globe trotters; start making lists of relatives to the nth degree of consanguinity living abroad or even people you are remotely related.  You might need them if you ever caught the travel itch but can only spare for the airfare and pasalubong (presents/keepsake) or you will end up eating ramen all the time. Filipinos abroad still practice their genuine unequaled hospitality .  When my ni...

Espresso Chocolate Mega Cupcake for Pinay   Key Lime Pie Pantry shelf chocolate Orange cake  Ricciarelli - Seines (almond)  Macaroons  Cheers, our cat Pinay turned 4 today.  In lieu of this auspicious occasion I baked a ginormous  Espresso Cupcake for her in spite of the fact that she does not fancy a brew of any kind or  my gourmet creations for that matter.  Oh, maybe it was  just my excuse every year this time in October to fill myself with calorie boosting  food.   A friend of mine from England gifted me this recipe book by Nigella Lawson, How to Be a Domestic Goddess .  I am a late bloomer when it comes to baking, I find it a daunting task, messy and I believe the probability of my failing in this field is as high as the current unemployment index.  I assumed my friend gave this to me to compel me to explore the intricacies of...

  Dr. Gunther Von Hagen's Skinman       Coming in the bedroom, she was suffused in ethereal peacefulness emanating from the horizontal shafts of morning lights streaming from the window blinds bathing her sleeping cat on the bed. Odd it may seems,this scene impels her to write on issue of race.     She met her husband on line almost 7 years ago and  married him for love.  A native of a third world country, considering the circumstances of how they met, it is common to assume that she may be one of the many who will marry a foreigner for economic reasons, a mercantile refugee. She has a comfortable life in her native country, a house paid for, a chauffeur, financially rewarding career, traveled a lot and indulged in hosts of activities that single women would do. Why would she leave this comfort zone for a man, live 8,249 miles  from her family and friends, kibitzed by her expatriate acquaintances.  ...

For some woman, it is considered  sacrilegious to wear  the same outfit that was worn before to another occasion, apropos with her shoes.  If you have a talent for dressmaking or you have your own seamstress (lucky me I got  3 dressmaker sisters) , then the dress can be altered but you are somewhat limited to what you can do with it, maybe accessorize it or forget about it. I hang on to my shoes as much as possible, especially if the fit is excellent and  it is not giving me  mountains of bunions or calluses as rough as sandpaper .  Eventually I will get tired of  the shoe  but it is mighty difficult to give it away, donate it or throw it. Then maybe its time to pimp the shoes, add more pizzas to it , make it look new. When my vanity outsizes my bank account, then my creativity rears its beautiful head . I thought of getting shoe clips, its like clips used for ...

   Door Stopper  Last night, while I was in the roiling sea of  back pain, I decided to keep my creative juices on a high gear to to keep my mind off the pain. Our cat Pinay has an issue with our bedroom door.  She will meow, scratch her clawless paw on the door until you open it for her, she prefers it to be a little bit ajar.  You see, she wants to have the liberty of moving in to our bed  so that she can curl with us or have her neck rub .  If you are ready for a sleepless night then shut it tight.  We can not use the wedge door stopper for some reasons that I will not waste time discussing on my blog.  My husband uses his shoe, and it irritates me for it has no aesthetic sense. In order to solve this pestering issue, I made a door stopper. I got the inspiration on line. See the attached link if your cats need one.               ...

The two pound bag of King Arthur Flour 100% organic whole wheat flour (wheat germ and bran, never bleached and never bromated - it's written  on the package, I never made this up I swear) had been staring at me from the corner of my topmost pantry eversince my husband bought it for reason I am not aware of. Being a purveyor of saving, I hunted the net for a cookie recipe so that I can use the wheat flour and prevent it from ending in the landfill.  It's in allrecipe.com and the link  if you are interested  : http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies/Detail.aspx  . I decided to do it after lunch, that was when my husband was ensconced in his favorite chair ready to turn into a football coach potato yelling at the top of his lungs and occasionally cursing like a drunken sailor whenever his team team was winning or losing. Regretfully, St. Louis Rams lost despite the unsolicited coaching of my husband fr...

I distinctly recalled what I was doing when Lady Diana had the fatal accident in Paris, it was one sweaty August afternoon and I was trying to balance my measly paycheck against my insurmountable pile of bills. Like any female besotted by a Princess, I was inconsolable.  9/11 tragedy - I associate it with women's shoes. You might wonder what twisted situation I was in at  that time.  I was figuratively burning the midnight oil doing a term paper for a lady friend (taking up fashion designing course)  of  the Executive who happens to be my superior on the evolution of ladies shoes.  The Executive, lugging tomes of hardbound books with glossy illustrations of  ladies footwear, non chalantly informed me that I need to do a 12 page paper on history of  women's shoes complete with bibliographies,references, photos etc. He needs it the next day.  I am an accoun...