Akemashite Omedetou!!

Garandee and I always spend New Year's Eve at our balcony watching the fireworks go off while sipping wine and eating leftovers.

But what's even more amusing than seeing fireworks light up the skyline is watching Rockwell disappear right before our eyes!





Ha! I'd like to see David Copperfield pull off a trick like that.

But seriously, this is how polluted the air gets from all that gunpowder smoke from firecrackers and fireworks. It's almost 12:00am... Time to take a deep breath and welcome the new year! Now where did I put that asthma medicine...

Garando: "Happy New Year!!"

Garandee: "Akemashite Omedetou!!"

Wet Tarsier: "Punk is not dead!!"

Wishing all of you happiness and prosperity for 2009!


Garando mode:
Let's do the "New Year Dance"! Shake it, baby!! Read More......

Dental Dilemma

Garando: "Mine is on the far left of the case, and yours is on the far right. OK?"

Garandee: "Hai!"

Garando: "Great! And since we never brush our teeth at the same time, then there's a slim chance for error."

Garandee: "Hai!"

This was my strategy after "accidentally" buying a toothbrush that was identical to Garandee's. A brilliant solution if I might say, but apparently not sustainable.

Because after a few days...

Garando: "Dee, my toothbrush is wet. I saw you brushing earlier, did you use it?"

Garandee: "Nyo."

Garando: "But your toothbrush is dry..."

Garandee: "Ooops! Sorry po! But no big deal, it's like kissing anyway."

Garando: "Kissing?!"

Garandee: "Hee hee..."

So then I thought of an even better solution: The Kitchen. If I keep my toothbrush there, it's too far from hers to accidentally get switched!


It worked really well for a good couple of years, I'm particularly proud of that. Besides, I also made sure that never again will I end up with the same toothbrush as hers.

But last weekend...

Garando: "Dee, my toothbrush is wet. Did you use it?"

Garandee: "Of course not!!"

Garando: "But... how...? "

Then I saw it.

Another toothbrush was on the kitchen counter and it was exactly identical to mine!

Garandee: "Oh! Please don't keep your toothbrush in the kitchen because that's where I keep the one I've been using to clean the oven."

Garando: " !!!!! "


Garando mode:
I probably finished half a bottle of mouthwash...

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The day after Christmas...

The morning after Christmas:
Garando: "ZZZZZZZZZZ...."
Garandee: "zzzzzzzzzz....."

Around noon:
Garando: "ZZZZZZZZZZ...."
Garandee: "zzzzzzzzzz....."

Around 2PM...
Garandee: "zzzzz.... time to wake up, Garando!"
Garando: "ZZZZZZ uuurrnnhhhh.... again?"

After getting up I looked back at our bed and was surprised to see my body engraved on it... The form was so detailed you can trace it with chalk just like in a crime scene.

eeeeep!! Did I eat that much?!?!

Ok, now I'm seriously going on that fruit & veggies diet now! ...at least until New Years' Eve when I need to take a quick break to eat my juicy grilled steak, then resume eating plants for the rest of 2009.


And speaking of fruits, Garandee made this delicious Fresh Fruit Trifle for my family's Christmas party! As expected, it was another hit!


Originally an English dessert (hint: Nigella), no fancy recipe here! Just chop 'em all up, dump these in a container and enjoy:
Fruits:: strawberries, melons, bananas, mangoes
Etc: sponge cake, whipped cream, custard
For Luck: chocolate sprinkles
* you may want to bake your own sponge cake and prepare your own custard though

DOH! My diet is screwed...


Garando mode:
must... chop... more... strawberries! Read More......

Our Christmas Wish...

To all our readers and friends, old and new
may your Holidays be filled with cheer
and may all your hopes and wishes come true

- from Garando & Garandee

*Do & Dee avatars were created using Weeworld.com Read More......

Garandee's Christmas Hit!

Oh my gulay!! I never expected the last few days of Christmas to be this busy!


Christmas parties, a LOT of shopping and wrapping of presents have taken most, if not all of our time... The presents are stacking up at home and we're not even done shopping! I guess that explains my week-long hiatus from blogging.


But last week's real highlight was Garandee's first shot at baking an authentic Japanese Cheesecake. She never expected it'll become an instant hit!


If you haven't tried one yet, Japanese Cheesecake is a light, moist and spongy cheesecake that simply melts in your mouth. Think of it as the exact opposite of the rich New York Cheesecake or the infamous Filipino Blueberry Cheesecake. Its taste, flavor and texture is so light that you can easily devour half of the cake in one sitting and not feel full at all. It also has significantly less calories so you can toss the guilt out the window.

...straight out of the oven!
I know Bread Talk is selling these for a bit over P300, but Garandee's cake is definitely superior than those. Why? Because Garandee uses LOVE as the main ingredient. Now that's what makes this cheesecake so cheesy!

Sent early prototypes to some colleagues and friends to try out and now we have serious orders for 6 - 8 pcs! (Thanks to Jonie!) Now how can we even think of mass production with our tiny oven? We'll figure it out!


Garandee: "oooooh... Garandee's Pastry Shoppe!! Do you think I can start one in the future?"

Garando: "Of course! But we'll need a bigger oven for that dear..."

Garandee: "Ahhh... hai!"

Garando: "Let me go ask Santa if he can send some elves over to help out... I heard they're cheap labor."

Garandee: " ok po... "


Garando mode:
All set for Christmas Eve!
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H, and what it means to Garando...

It's my first blog game!! Sheng sent me the letter "H", so now I need to post 10 words that mean a lot to me, and they should all start with that letter.

I'm glad she met my request of not giving an "X" or "Z". That would've been too easy!

HTML - Something I had to learn when I started Balut & Natto

Hope - Something everyone should always have.

Hide - Something I'm starting to get good at whenever I made a boo-boo at home.

Harmony - Something I wish for the whole world.

Helium - Something I'd like to suck on before going Christmas caroling. I always wanted that authentic chipmunks singing voice!

Home - Ain't no place like it!

Hot - Garandee's goal... No, not for her, she already is! It's actually for me... but the diet officially starts after the holidays. Phew!

Happiness - Something I wish for everybody.

Hero - The Mighty Garando that Garandee can count on to save her day. Only I don't usually wear my underwear over my pants and since I'm a proud owner of genuine love handles, a tight hero suit is out of the question.

Humor - If I didn't believe in it, I would have never reached 2 blog visits/day.

Soooo... WHO's NEXT?? The "X" and the "Z" are still open for challengers...


Garando mode:
That was pretty fun! Read More......

A Little Taste of Europe in Japan

I was going through some of my old folders the other day and found these photos of the Kawaguchi-Ko Music Forest. It was one of the most fascinating places Garandee's best friend brought us the last time we were in Japan.


The moment you enter, it almost feels like you've left Japan and gone into one of those fantasy novels set during the Renaissance. It's no wonder why like magic, all three of us started talking funny all of a sudden..

Garando: "Care for some tea, mi lady?"

Garandee: "Oh I'd be delighted, Sir Garando. But we'd like to see the museum first."

Garandee's friend: "It's bloody beautiful, isn't it?"



The place is at one of the mountain resorts near Mt. Fuji, and that explains why the clouds were hanging so low like my old underwear...


Garandee is a magnet for swans. Either they're just curious or they're guard swans in attack mode.


I can almost imagine Frodo and Sam happily frolicking around... holding hands, looking gleefully at each other and... never mind.

But the main reason we went there was for the huge collection of antique automated music boxes. You know those wind-up music boxes that played either Christmas tunes or tunes from Disney's Fantasia? Imagine a museum filled with these music boxes only they were a hundred times bigger! Big enough that their main attraction was an entire orchestra!



This is an orchestra of dolls playing instruments. It's one humongous music box surrounding the entire hall, it felt like we were looking at the true origin of Dolby Surround Sound!

This orchestra originated from Belgium in the 1800's and was unfortunately abandoned until a Japanese collector decided to purchase and restore it before bringing it back home to Japan. I heard all the music boxes in the museum were owned by that same collector, and to think I saw over a hundred!

I wish I had more photos, but taking pictures wasn't allowed in some parts of the museum... At least I was able to sneak in some videos. Here's a one minute video of their most kawaii (pretty) music boxes!




Garandee mode:
I want that English accent!
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