Never Can Say Goodbye: This Month's Clearance List

And so the economic downturn begins, with a look at the online sale racks and clearance bins at your favorite beauty stores....

Sephora: There really is a couple of schaedenfreude-licious entries here, like the No!No! and SkinFusion (although I'll admit that I've got my eye on this set, and I'm hoping against hope that it's still available when my tax refund rolls in). I'm also sad about all the Vincent Longo stuff here, although I'm probably just hoping that it's just a matter of the brand moving, to, say, Ulta or Bath and Body Works instead, and not because the company itself is losing money. Otherwise, there are good deals to be had here, especially when it comes to the sets for makeup and body products. Also, get those on10 lip balms while you can; it's the perfect combination of scent, flavor, SPF and price.

MAC: Website redesign notwithstanding, the Featured Goodbyes are a good place to look at a few things you may have missed from the last, oh, ten billion color collections they've issued last year. Yes, it's a pity that they're still selling the regular stuff at regular price (standard practice, I realized, after looking at the bye-bye lists at other department-store brand sites), but if you're the kind of person who did find the most perfect shade of eyeshadow ever but couldn't come back to the store for it, this is always a good place to start. There's also a feature where you can plug in the name of your fave now-discontinued MAC product and check out their recommendations; it's not as accurate as, say, doing a search on Specktra, but it's a good start.

Bath and Body Works: Here's a confession - I like going to the clearance bins at the actual B&BW stores because I always find better deals there than I would online. Unfortunately, since there's no Mainland trip in the future (unless I'm crazy enough to convince my sister to pay extra for a suitcase containing nothing but Bath and Body Swag), I'll have to content myself with sifting through the online sales and clearance bins. Take this page, for example: Some of the stuff are cheesy leftovers from the holidays, and the lipglosses - with the exception of the Bigelow Mentha stuff, of course - leave much to be desired... but just mention the words "Japanese Cherry Blossom" and "Velvet Tuberose" to me, and I'll start raving like a madwoman. Since I'm also easily amused, I find myself drawn to the Lippmann Collection nailpolishes, especially Stop and Stare (what, no "Apologize"?) and Shut Up and Drive (very Rihanna-ish, dontcha think?). Also: lambs!

No Snarky Explanation Necessary

What else can I say? Well, I did finally get a sniff of Dolce & Gabbana's The One at Sephora the other day, and now I'm convinced that D&G are giving Chanel a run on the iconic-fragrance department.... not to mention my hard-earned cash, since I've been wearing Chanel Chance for the last seven years. Someday, when my cash isn't too hard to earn, I'll splurge on a bottle of this.
Although, to be fair, there is another fragrance that does come close...


Yeah, I said it: Deseo by Jennifer Lopez really does come close to replicating The One, at least as far as my nose is concerned. Come to think of it, J. Lo has been really doing well in the fragrance department lately, ever since she came out with Live. (Also: the Deseo for Men smells fantastic, too - so much that I'd buy it for myself!)
But alas, neither one is meant to be. Now I must go back to doctoring body sprays with patchouli...

Don't Call It a Diet

Suuuuure, I tell myself. Of course I'm not on a diet. I only got those cans of Slim-Fast Optima because I'm too lazy to wash dishes after breakfast. I only got the mini plate because I wanted to make room for dessert. I only got those apples from the store because I got used to my parents eating fruit after every meal.

(...Wait, that last part is a bold-faced white lie, and I know it. My sister will tell you how much pie I destroyed over the holidays compared to the amount of fruit and veg on my plate.)

And then it hits me, when I get to the store and pick up the 5-lb. bag of pink grapefruit because it was "more affordable" than the bag of apples, that I really should stop lying to myself.

The fact remains that I did gain a lot of poundage back - not just for the lack of exercise and the roller-coaster cycles of depression and stress that besieged me all of last year, but because I didn't watch everything I ate for the whole year. That doesn't mean I've stopped the stress-eating - yet - but judging by the way I went through four pounds of apples since Sunday, it looks like I'm beginning to get the hang of this whole "healthy eating" stuff.

That's why, when my friend proposed going on a diet together, the first thing that came out of my mouth was "I'm in." Trust me, I don't like cutting calories and eyeballing portions as much as you do, but there's a very competitive person who's dying to get out from under all this cellulite - and that person would practically kill to fit into another pair of Size 14 jeans this spring. That's also the same person who's sick and tired of being the person who takes home cake and macaroni salad from every party. (And why does it have to be the cake and the macaroni salad? I can't even make sandwiches out of that stuff, people.) I may be broke, but this one-person pity party isn't going to stand back and go home with sloppy seconds any more... not just with food, but with, you know, practically everything else in my life.

Still and all: I'm not going on a "diet."

Here's what happened during the last few times I went on a "diet": I tried so hard because I wanted to be loved. I thought that cutting portions would make me smarter, sexier, or a better person over all. I always went in thinking that my friends and family were going to love me more if I lost X pounds in Y amount of time, in greater direct proportions. When I failed, I failed spectacularly, to the point where I did become suicidal. Talk to me about the times when I stopped eating in college because I just stopped "feeling like it," or the times when I wanted to overdose on fatburners because I felt like a loser at work, and I'll be quite blunt with you. Talk to me about the last time I tried intense high-impact cardio - with the hope that I'll burn off pounds and meet hot guys while doing so - and I'll tell you how my lungs gave out so much that I ended up with relapses of both my asthma and bronchitis.

This moment, with all the shakes and the fresh fruit and the smaller portions? Doesn't feel like a diet to me. The shakes really are there because my mornings are always rushed and I'd rather not blow all my calories on a greasy omelet. The fruits are there to take care of both the fiber and the stress-eating, especially during the times when I would rather eat than knit. (Also because I hate the processed-food aftertaste that I get from most snacks.) And the mini plates? Not only are they easy on my pocketbook and my calorie counts, but they're also easy for my stomach, since I can't handle big meals any more... or at least any big meal that isn't attached to celebrations at hand.

No more sweets, mac salad, or leftover fried whatevers from other people's pupu platters that I can't recycle into legitimate meals the next day. And definitely no soda. Not even diet soda, which I used to drink by the gallon. That stuff I have to cut down to no more than 2 a week, because anything more than that would just irritate my stomach on top of the bloating and the heartburn.

Not a diet, really. More like a change of pace.

It's All About The O

Let me preface this by saying that I, as a resident of the same Makiki neighborhood where he grew up, am very proud of our President. I may not fundamentally agree with everything that he stands for, but that's to be expected - and since when did I have to agree with every single opinion held by every single person I've ever respected and admired? Beside the point, people. All I know is that we have a new President, and he's as human as can be. So there.



That said: Before we move forward, let's just bask in the moment here.

File published at Mrs-O.org; photo credited toTimothy Clary of AFP/Getty Images.

You know what I'm also loving, beside that white dress and Michelle O's love and support for immigrant designers like Jason Wu, Isabel Toledo, and Narciso Rodriguez? The ongoing fashion coverage at Mrs. O and Allure Daily Reporter. Just brush off the blog-trolls and feel the love.

Not Another Recipe!

Still life of stock pot on stove. Taken with the webcam.

If I wasn't already laid up with bronchitis this weekend (boo), I would've taken all this crazy weather we've been having as a good time to start experimenting with soup - and in particular, the graniteware stock pot that I purchased for myself at Wal-Mart over the holidays. However, given that my respiratory health hasn't been the greatest lately, I decided that now was a good time to play around with our family's panacea of choice: chicken and rice soup.

Call it what you will - congee, jook, bubur, arroz caldo, lugaw, pospas (what up, Visayas!) - whatever it is, it's definitely comfort food for the days when you could really use the strength. Being the urbanized Pinoy that I am, I usually prefer to make the stuff with chicken because 1) chicken = good, and 2) I've had lugaw with tripe before, and it does nothing for me. In the Meimei household, the only spices that go into our rice soup are ginger, onions, garlic, and other members of the onion/garlic family, to keep the porridge "blonde"; anything else is either optional (Sriracha and fish sauce, hayyyy!) or just plain showing off, which explains why I never liked the saffron-laced versions I've seen in Manila restaurants.

Beyond that, however, there is much considerable debate - starting, of course, with the rice itself. Traditionally most home cooks make arroz caldo with sticky rice, which gives the soup a risotto-like consistency. (If you've ever been to my Mom's kitchen, where jasmine rice is a daily staple by decree of Dad, you'd understand why.) Pinoy expats, on the other hand, like to use a base of regular Calrose or supermarket medium-grain, which has more of the desired soupy-starchy texture found in congee; it does get watery after a while, but some cooks would rather put a lot of Calrose in the stock pot and let it boil until it's thick and porridge-y.

And then there are cooks like me, who just make what I feel like making.

Over the holidays, I got to try SisMei's mother-in-law's legendary Leftover Turkey Jook, made with the remains of this year's Thanksgiving turkey - starting with the carcass in the stock. Not only was it delicious (made even more so by me adding tons of pickled ginger in my bowl) but it was also the perfect antidote to the eat-fests we've had over the holidays. That gave me an even more wicked craving for my Mom's usual sick-day porridge, fueled more so by both my actual sickness and my curiosity about using leftover turkey.

Smoked turkey drumsticks happened to be on sale at Safeway over the week, so I decided to go with making the stock from those - along with dried shiitake mushrooms, which are supposed to be good for your immune system, and brown rice for fiber. The rest of the recipe - which I've now rechristened Turkey, Mushroom, and Rice Panacea - is outlined below...

• Start with 1 whole chopped yellow onion, 1 tsp. crushed black pepper, and 2 tbsp. of ginger-and-garlic paste (or 2 cloves of garlic) in a 5- or 7-quart stock pot. Add 3 skin-on smoked turkey drumsticks (about 2.5 lbs. if you can find them), then add enough water to cover the meat (about 3-4 quarts). Cover with the stock pot lid and simmer for about 2 hours on low heat or until meat and cartilage starts falling off the bones. (Note: The smoked turkey eliminates the need for salt and any additional flavoring at this point; if you're an umami junkie, though, I'd recommend holding off on the soy sauce and other condiments until later.)
• After 2 hours, discard the bones; the meat and cartilage should fall away easily when prodded with the back of a spoon, leaving you with a clean bone to toss in the garbage. Stir constantly to separate meat further from cartilage and/or any of the tiny pin bones you might find sticking out, which you can also throw in the garbage. (Note: It's important that you do not throw the cartilage away; not only does it add flavor to the stock, but they're also an important source of collagen. I also like to keep the skin on in this case, since the skins lend a ham-like texture to the proteins in the soup.
• Once you get rid of the bones, add about 2 tbsp. (an entire 1-inch knob) of chopped fresh ginger - you can add as much as you want, depending on how much you like ginger, but if you're as sick as I am you will need a lot of ginger. If there's a significant amount of water loss, add 1 can (2 cups) of low-sodium chicken broth, put the lid back on, and let simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes on low heat.
• Meanwhile, soak a 1-oz. package of dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for at least 2 minutes, to soften them up. Add the mushrooms and the water to the pot once they're soft enough to be pliable, but not too soft to be mushy.
• Now here's the tricky part: Because of the smokiness of the turkey drums, and also for health reasons, I decided to add some brown rice to the mix, which maintains more of the soupy balance without sacrificing the heft of the starch. Since we have about 3 quarts of liquid in the pan, I went with a ratio of 1 cup brown rice to 1 cup regular white, which makes 2 cups of starch altogether. Depending on how soupy you want this, you could also make this with half Calrose and half sticky if you want the thicker, heartier version, as long as you limit the brown rice to no more than 1 cup - it really does make a difference, since the brown rice does cook into a barley-like consistency.
• Once you've added the rice to the pot, put the lid back on and let it simmer on low heat, again, for at least 30 more minutes or until the rice has expanded to twice its size and the soup is thick. Turn off the heat and let it cool before serving.

Voila: a perfectly Asian-American rice soup with all the healthiness and heft from the mushrooms and brown rice, the smokiness from the turkey, and the kick from the ginger. You can eat this straight from the pot, or you can go all Fusion on it and top it with green onions, tofu, soy sauce, fish sauce, and even more ginger (pickled or fresh, your choice). You can even eat it with breadsticks, if you are so inclined.

This recipe should last you at least three days if you're single, or should serve at least 4 to 6 guests; refrigerate or freeze any leftovers - but reheat on the stovetop for best results, since microwaving sometimes leaves portions too soupy.

Randomesticity: My Blog is On Fire

Some things that are taking over my attention right now:
- RIP, Ricardo Montalban. May you be welcomed in heaven as warmly and hospitably as you have welcomed everyone else on Fantasy Island... preferably with Saint Peter presenting you with your own seat of Corinthian leather.
- Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire." I would've put this on my New Year's 2008 list (as if throwing Lesley Gore in the same playlist as TI and Kevin Rudolf wasn't crazy enough) but I think this song deserves a separate category in itself. Dark, dirty, danceable: it's up there with "The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret" on my list of hot, sweaty, sexy indie-rock joints.

- Eddie Izzard, again. As far as MAC-endorsing drag queens go, I'd still take him over Dame Edna any given day... and, since he does admit to fancying "birds" (ahem), I'd also take him anytime, anywhere, any way I can get him. Even if it means he'll need to take me out to shop for hot shoes first.

- Which reminds me: As much as I adore Dame Edna (and don't get me wrong, I actually do), I am actually getting tired of looking at that old heffa's face every single time I pass by the MAC stores at Ala Moana and Pearlridge. Why? Brunette Blonde Redhead -that's the reason why.

- Rock-n-roll shirts. Usually I have a hate-on for the likes of Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier, not the least of which because the tattoo-print tee is already an overplayed look all over HNL. (Seriously, I can't even go to the supermarket without my eyeballs getting seared by an overly blinged Ed Hardy shirt.) That changed, however, when last weekend I accompanied a friend to a store that sold shirts from Affliction and Sinful, on top of the usual Hardy/Audigier stuff. Let me tell you: When I say it's hot, I mean hot - in a biker/rocker, Mickey Rourke-before-he-messed-his-face-up kind of way. The Sinful shirts, in particular, looked super hot on my friend (who has a day job in the medical field), but I, personally, still can't get away with wearing any of it without looking like a total poser. Still hot and adorable, though - and a surefire cure for the American Apparel-style hipster chic that we've been enduring for the last few years.

- Flirting with the dark side. We all know that the dark side has cookies, on top of biker-tattoo shirts, male lesbians, the Wrath of Khan, and rock anthems about hot sex. And while nothing, not even the messed-up face of Mickey Rourke, is going to get me to watch Grindhouse, this hilarious fake trailer from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright - which also has a short cameo by featured player (and certifiable hottie) Rafe Spall - comes dangerously close.
- Letters from home. One thing that does keep me from being enticed to the dark side, however, is the occasional sunny missive from friends and family. It just so happens that the lovely Dess (who went to school with yours truly and Scribey) just started her own blog, All Things Manila - and what do you know, the most recent posts have been about two of my favorite things in the Philippines: food and travel! Definitely worth a read. :)

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

Black, supersoft mock-croc satchel from Red by Marc Ecko. Original price: $74.00.

Tag price at Macy's Ala Moana: 55.50.

Final price at Macy's Ala Moana, after One-Day Sale markdown: $27.75.

Awwww yeaaahhhh.

Although, if any of those plastic rings ever break on me, it will be a long day at the cobbler, for sure.