Productivity Monday: Someone Loves a Belly Rub

I just CANNOT get enough of this belly-rubbing business. And I guess neither can this little sleepy prairie dog who seems to be enjoying this too much. I watched the video and wished it never ended :3

More productivity-boosting good stuff at Buzzfeed (The 40 Cutest Things That Happened This Year).

A Shot of Chili Vodka and a Poem in the Asahi Haikuist Network, Jan 4, 2013

I'm so sleepy. Haven't had much sleep after taking that chili vodka shot, which is one of the main features in a friend's bar (Escobar in Cubao Expo). Oh... dear.... God. My tongue was aflame with glorious chili fire. My tummy and throat, too. Milk didn't quite help. I was suffering. I dunno why the others who took the shot didn't have the level of bad reaction I did. It was a good thing that I had a good laugh before the ordeal. I laughed with friends and at the funny menu item "Chicken Ass" hihi

Gimme dat Ass

And in other news, one haiku of mine appears in the January 4, 2013 edition of the Asahi Hakuist Network. Check it out ;)

Productivity Monday: Sleepy Cat Doesn't Care if You Wanna Play

This cat's face... I must say, the face says it all. Not sure if this counts as cute, because cute supposedly boosts productivity. But it gave me a good laugh, now I feel like working again :D

Crash Course on Buddhism

Reading up on Buddhist concepts for a new story. What I learned:

1. Karma is action. Thoughts/intentions are considered actions as well.
2. The six realms of Buddhist cosmology are as much mental states as they are "spaces." Anger, passion, ignorance, jealousy, pride, attachment are all realms we can be reincarnated into the same life and the life after.
3. Both wholesome and unwholesome actions done in these states of mind may result in either suffering or happiness.
4. Transient happiness is, by nature, a source of suffering as it cannot last.
5. True happiness happens through wishing others to be happy (through love and compassion)

It's Productivity Monday

They say, when you're in a rut, take some time off. They also say that a better way to do it is to look at cute animals. The Washington Post writes about a Japanese study that proves this, and when it's the Japanese that confirm this, we must believe!

"Japanese researchers, however, have come up with a very offbeat approach: Showing workers lots of pictures of adorable, fuzzy, baby animals... What they found, in research published today, was that those who saw the baby animal pictures did more productive work after seeing those photographs – even more than those who saw a picture of an adult animal or a pleasant food."

Hear that? Cute BABY animals work best.

And since I was in a rut today, I searched some of the cuties that top my list: Kittens, dog puppies, seal pups, and otter pups. I also find parrots and other fluffy colorful birds very amusing, but I guess I can't include them in the list, huh? Only bebehs over here. :/

I found this gonna-make-you-squeal video of chirping (?) and bouncing otter pups. They're like toys! If only I could keep one as a pet. :3

I Dub this: Las-Anne-ya Lasagna!!!

This isn't a cooking blog. This isn't a makeup blog. This isn't a fashion blog. This isn't a literary blog.

But this is my blog, therefore I name my lasagna creation Las-Anne-ya Lasagna!!! :<

Actually I just wanna share the first ever lasagna I baked in my life and how I did it. You see, all 12 servings disappeared in the course of two meals, so that must mean something. I was also told it's restaurant-level cooking. So that must also mean something.

Look at My Cheesy Baby

Here's what I used:

• 1/2 Kg ground beef sirloin
• 1 whole + 1/2 minced onion
• 1 whole + 1/2 Pinoy garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp salt
• fresh honey, to taste
• 12 lasagna noodles
• olive oil
• 2 bricks Cheesemelt (grated)
• Butter

White Sauce

• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 250g Cottage Cheese
• 250g Sour Cream
• 1 cup diced Double Cream Cheese
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large egg (beaten)

Make it!

1. Season beef with basil, rosemary, italian seasoning, and 1 tbsp salt.
2. Brown garlic and onions in olive oil.
3. Add beef and cook till lightly browned.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, parsley, and black pepper. Simmer for 1hr and 30 mins.
5. Cook lasagna noodles for 10 mins.
6. Preheat oven to 180C
7. Prepare the white sauce by mixing all the white sauce ingredients
8. Butter the casserole before putting a layer of red sauce at the bottom.
9. Layer: Add lasagna noodles. Spread white sauce on top of the noodles, and then spread read sauce. Topmost layer will have white sauce and grated cheesemelt.
10. Bake covered with foil for 25 mins. Uncovered for another 25 mins. And then, yum!

Here are some pictures:

The making of the Red Sauce

This thing smells great

Notoriously buttery Double Cream Cheese

Las-Anne-ya!

Light Makeup for Work

Was trying out some of the pink-colored makeup I have, they're very light and I found that they look good for daytime stuff like work.

The color payoff of the Skin 79 Oriental Plus lip-n-cheek tint is superb. I've been using this and I need very little, so it will last a long time. My Jewel blush, I've owned this for a while, got it from Korea. The color has gold shimmer so it makes my skin look very healthy.

Meanwhile, the Maxfactor mascara is never clunky, gives a very natural lengthened look.

Prestige Two Way Foundation, Jewel blush (Korean), Revlon lipstick in Strawberry Shortcake, Maxfactor Xperience volumizing mascara, Skin 79 Oriental Gold Plus BB

The "Natural Look" Myth

Perhaps there is no beauty myth more harmful than this one. Sure, it seems we are making waves, telling women they don't need makeup to look beautiful. Beauty comes from within, yada yada yada. However, it seems the beauty industry has caught up.

Or have they known all along?

Doesn't it feel great when you're told, "You look better without makeup"?
I think there's nothing wrong with this. Though, these days, we should look at what we mean by "no makeup." I've noticed how lifestyle magazines feature celebs in supposedly "no makeup" except some foundation, light blush and mascara. Hmm no makeup huh?

The danger here is that these fashion leaders are making us believe that celebs actually look like that the moment they wake up. Obviously they don't, or maybe some of them do. But making girls believe they should "naturally" look this flawless to be beautiful is downright flawed.

I guess I'm thankful someone finally wrote about this problem. An article in Slate entitled Natural Beauty More Oppressive than Makeup tackles just this.