Jay Lagare

General

Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken

By on Thursday, January 1, 2009

For New Year’s Eve dinner, Lawrence, Elwyna, Michelle, and I tried our collective hands at our version of a recipe from QEFTSG.

1 chicken
1 lemon*, quartered and zested
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus several sprigs for stuffing and garnishing
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, quartered

Preheat pot with pot holder inside. The pot holder is to keep the chicken from getting in contact with the heat directly.

Mix lemon zest, chopped rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic. Dump half inside chicken along with lemon and some  sprigs of rosemary.

Add olive oil into bowl and mix. Massage all over the outside of chicken.
Wrap chicken in foil and throw in some onions.

Put in pre-heated pot and roast for as long as necessary

*We actually used some weird citrus since no lemon was available. Bad idea. It resulted in a weird bitter after-taste.

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General

Happy New Year!

By on Thursday, January 1, 2009

It’s about time I review my past year’s resolution. And it doesn’t look good:

  1. Reach French level B1 by the end of year. This means I actually have to study!
  2. Read more books. Specifically literary classics but maybe I’ll throw in a contemporary book. Maybe also one in French.
  3. Take cooking or dance classes.
  4. Take advanced photography classes.
  5. Watch F1 in Singapore on September 26 to 28. Shanghai would probably be nice but I heard it will be way crowded. Singapore will hopefully be less so. Besides, I like F1 more than most Olympic sports.
  6. Go on a road trip. Maybe Pagudpud. You’ll probably be driving more than you actually staying there but in this is a road trip. It is really about the journey! Question is who shares this philosophy? :))
  7. Go surfing in Zambales or La Union.
  8. Go hiking and camping in one trip.
  9. Resume wargaming whether via paintball or airsoft.
  10. Be less patient with people. You read that right :D

Two out of ten?!? That sucks! Oh well. I guess I’ll keep the same plans for this year.

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General

Hamachi

By on Saturday, December 27, 2008

My brothers are out of town but that won’t stop us from playing DOTA :P This morning, we played against each other as if we were on the same network. Well, not really since there was a slight latency delay due to the generally poor quality (and expensive at that!) of Internet connection in this country. But it definitely was playable.

So how did we do it? We used Hamachi, an almost zero-configuration virtual private networking (VPN) utility. It was such a breeze to use: We set it up, I created a VPN (along with an access password), and we all joined the VPN. It’s not your heavy metal, ultra-robust, super secure VPN solution but it’s enough for most needs and, as I said, almost zero-configuration*.

*We did encounter a snag when we couldn’t find games in DOTA but we found the solution here. Basically it means going to Control Panel->Network Connections->Advanced->Advanced Settings and putting Hamachi to the top of the list of connections.

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General

Foxit Reader Firefox Plugin

By on Friday, December 26, 2008

Foxit Reader is a leaner and meaner alternative to Acrobat Reader for reading Portable Document Format (PDF) files. I’ve been using it for some time but disliked the fact that PDF files opened outside of Firefox. Finally, while trying to view my credit card statement online and having it complain about needing to install Acrobat Reader, I decided I’ve had enough.

I googled for a solution and found out about the Foxit Reader Firefox Plugin. I looked for it at the Foxit Software website to no avail. Finally I found instructions on how to install it: After downloading and installing Foxit Reader, run it then click Help->Check for Updates Now. On the tree view, you will see the plugin. Select, add, and install it. You may need to restart Firefox but once you’re done, you can now view PDF files from within Firefox. Problem solved!

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General

Collision

By on Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I’ve just gotten my car back from Fusion R for starter motor repairs when I smacked by another huge repair problem. Michelle and I were just leaving Mall of Asia after some last minute shopping. We were crossing an intersection and I have already cleared the left incoming lane when a speeding taxi suddenly appeared on my right. I hit the brakes but before  I can completely stop, he has clipped me.

The damage to the cab: A dented rear fender. The damage to me: 2 front fenders, 2 headlights, 2 turn lights, and 1 bumper. Christmas suddenly is so much less bright. It’s a good thing that nobody got hurt.

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