From the Kraft Website...

Our best cheesecake recipe
1-3/4 cups HONEY MAID Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1-1/4 cups sugar, divided

3 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling (optional)


PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 8- or 9-inch springform pan (or to 325°F if using a dark nonstick 8- or 9-inch springform pan). Mix crumbs, butter and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Press firmly onto bottom and 2-1/2 inches up side of pan; set aside.

BEAT cream cheese, remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Blend in sour cream. Pour into crust.

BAKE 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until center is almost set. Turn off oven. Leaving door slightly ajar, leave cheesecake in oven 1 hour. Remove from oven; cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove side of pan; top with pie filling. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Wednesday... Sleepy Wednesday's more like it!

I cooked the beef this morning and went to bed! Was really pooped from all the slicing and sauteeing that I had to catch a few ZZZs for 2 hours!

Bench is the word this week! But it's a pleasant kind of bench. I've been blog-gerific these past few days. This afternoon, I've been working on a video for the recently promoted Miss Rema. A nice break from the monotonous coding, monitoring, testing, documenting... blah, blah, blah...

Another word for this week... restlessness. State of being, state of mind. The late arrival to the office has been a clear indicator of the desire to do something else. I'm grateful to Accenture, I have to say. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I guess it's a matter of having passion for what you do. I had a blast doing the shoot today. :) Laughter is best cure for the dull drums.

My Extraordinary weekend

It was extraordinary, not your average, everyday same cycle... hehe! Take that Liz Phair!

It began with a shopping filled Friday. Topshop tops my shopping meccas. I just had to get my hands on those Moto capri pants! Talk about excited, right after office hours, I changed into them. The pair easily eased into their softer mode a few hours after. We met with Allan at Cafe Bola for dinner and marveled over this XDA2 Pocket PC slash cellphone. Change location to South Bay alabang a few hours after when I picked Karina up from her office partey. A Messianic mission which concluded at Cafe Francias BF Homes! Thanks much Figsters for the ham and cheese crepe with maple syrup, and creme of tomato soup!

Saturday was the partey-day of the week! Of course, the weekend was teed off by the viewing of 2 movies, the latest addition to our growing DVD collection. The Girl Next Door was an Elisha Cuthbert infomercial! An awfully cute movie! I liked the songs they used. Next up was Bend it Like Beckham. Suckers for Soccer will love this movie. Anyway, back to the partey- track. First partey was Camille's beeday party. Her 9th bday party!! How time flies, I frequently told myself that Saturday afternoon. Intermission: heard the 630 pm mass with Karina. Then we went to Pricesmart to get the Artic Melon and Mudslide bottles.

Tita Marison's party was the bomb! eyeToy and Videoke everywhere!! I was the "tagay" maiden of the evening. Artic Melon was the big hit of the evening! And oh my!!! First time ever that I got tipsy at home! The results: flushed cheeks and the American-Idol singing drive! Haha! Hogging the mic was more like it! I belted my heart out to Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody". Take note : No falsetos! It was like open mic night at some wholesome bar! It was great actually!

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Clocks strikes upon the hour
And the sun begins to fade
Still enough time to figure out
How to chase my blues away
I've done alright up 'til now
It's the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls loneliness calls

Chorus:
Oh! Wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah! Wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me

I've been in love and lost my senses
Spinning through the town
Soon or later the fever ends
And I wind up feeling down
I need a man who'll take a chance
On a love that burns hot enough to last
So when the night falls
My lonely heart calls

We ended the evening with the classic, "That's what friends are for". I think I was too tipsy to shed a tear along with my nostalgic aunts who are arm-in-arm.

Anyway... Wish there could be more weekends like that!! It was awesome!!

Artist: Liz Phair Lyrics
Song: Extraordinary Lyrics

You think that I go home at night
Take off my clothes, turn out the lights
But I burn letters that I write
To you, to make you love me

Yeah, I drive naked through the park
And run the stop sign in the dark
Stand in the street, yell out my heart
To make, to make you love me

I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

You may not believe in me
But I believe in you
So I still take the trash out
Does that make me too normal for you?

So dig a little deeper, cause
You still don't get it yet
See me lickin' my lips, need a primitive fix
And I'll make, I'll make you love me

I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess

See me jump through hoops for you
You stand there watching me performing
What exactly do you do?
Have you ever thought it's you that's boring?
Who the hell are you?

I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho

Tuesday rolls in....

Yesterday, on our way back to the office from our short Wendy's expedition, Marchae and I passed by Tower Records. I had the chance then to listen to the soundtrack of one of my favorite TV shows, Queer Eye for the straight guy. After listening to 6 tracks (and doing my listening to house music dance bit), I purchased the CD! It's an awesome buy! So many great tracks!

More thoughts for today...

As usual, I am struggling with my "need-to-organize" nagging feeling. My room has seen better days, and I know for a fact I have stuff I can dispose of for more breathing room in my closets. So many to-dos too! I need to give my resume a quick make over. I need to develop pictures to be displayed in our house (was thinking of Thom-Felicia-esque simple black frames, only problem is where to put them!). I need to start my Christmas shopping! Never too early! Gosh! I need to do so many things... Oh! And visit my Ob-GYN! Yikes!

Oh well... I need to start somewhere, that's a definite. I'm considering if the first step is to get one of em high tech organizers. My old Palm Pilot has taken flight into obscurity and obsoletion... Not a very good sign. Hehe... Maybe I'm just slacking and the bigger problem is sloth! Hehehe!

Ooops... Running WinRunner scripts now (story of my life - busy everyday with things drilling a bore hole in my head). Hope we finish this one today...

COLDPLAY FEVER!

I've been listening to Coldplay these past few weeks. They rock man!! I then figured out some of my musical preference within a year -

Sounds of Summer - Beach Boys and Gypsy Kings
Rumbling with the Rainy Season - Coldplay
Cheers of Christmas - Eva Cassidy, Bing Crosby

I'm loving the song Warning Signs by Coldplay :

A warning sign
I missed the good part, then I realised
I started looking and the bubble burst
I started looking for excuses
Come on in
I've gotta tell you what a state I'm in
I've gotta tell you in my loudest tones
That I started looking for a warning sign

When the truth is, I miss you
Yeah the truth is, that I miss you so

A warning sign
It came back to haunt me, and I realised
That you were an island and I passed you by
And you were an island to discover

Come on in
I've gotta tell you what a state I'm in
I've gotta tell you in my loudest tones
That I started looking for a warning sign

When the truth is, I miss you
Yeah the truth is, that I miss you so

And I'm tired, I should not have let you go
Oooooooo

So I crawl back into your open arms
Yes I crawl back into your open arms
And I crawl back into your open arms
Yes I crawl back into your open arms.

My parents just got back from their trip to Europe! I can't believe how much I've missed them! Haha! Being in charge is no easy task. Responsibilities galore, I would say. There were times when I felt I had no idea what to do. Having my parents around puts things back in order, somewhat.

Anyway, the entire weekend was mostly about catching up. They shared in wide-eyed fascination their European adventure. It made all the months of preparation and cajoling worth it. To see how much this trip has brought to their lives, their richer and better appreciation of art, culture, and history.

I wish to visit Europe myself someday. I'm pretty happy that both my mom and dad were telling us they had dreams of sending us to Europe for vacay as well, so we can experience what they experienced. :-) I'm looking forward to that!

"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd; "
- Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard

I saw Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind twice in the past two weeks. Such a nice and touching movie. This is by far, my favorite Jim Carrey movie. He was effortless in his portrayal of lovestruck and grief-stricken Joel Barish. The first time I saw it, I felt an immediate connection to his character. He was lonely (borderline depressed, I would say) until he found Clementine. For the record, I'm not a lonely gal. Hehehe. Better put, there are days in the week when I'm in a Joel Barish mood. Hehe. Anyway, his world falls apart when he discovers Clementine has erased him from her memory. In spite, he rushes to Lacuna (the clinic), to have the procedure done on himself too.

Anyway, in a nutshell, the movie is a journey into Joel's memories of Clementine. Their memories together. And how when we evaluate the significance of a relationship, we should consider the good times, too. Tis so easy to remember the sad ones, the memories we wish to forget, but could not.

I realized after seeing that movie that I am such a sucker for memory and time-bending flicks. It's pretty fascinating!

Anyway, tis enuf for Eternal Sunshine talk! Next entry please!