Author: Yelly

Taking each day one smile at a time!
Yelly Writes

iOS 9 data warning!

Yelly

This is not a tech blog.  I repeat.  This is not a tech blog.  But I thought I’d share this little tidbit of information, as shared with me by Alan tonight.

Do you have an iPhone?  Have you updated to the new iOS9?  Do you use data…a lot?  Well, do this now: Head to Settings, then Mobile Data, then scroll to the bottom of the menu where you can turn Wi-Fi Assist off.

I have a little gizmo which is otherwise known as mifi but I noticed that since I upgraded to the new iOS, my phone automatically disconnected from the wifi connection from my little mifi thingmebob and switched to 3G.  This happened only when my wifi signal from the mifi was weak or when the connection failed.  I don’t mind so much, but the whole point of my mifi is so that I don’t use up all the data that I have.

Apparently, the new iOS has a feature called “wifi assist” which automatically helps you connect to the best data connection.  So if, like me, you’ve a mifi thingmebob or mobile broadbandy thing, and the little doohickey has a weak connection, your lovely iPhone which you dutifully upgraded to the next brand spanking new operating system, will disconnect from your weak wifi mifi and connect to the strongest wifi signal around.  If said wifi signal isn’t available, it’ll use your data connection.  If, like me, you’re trying to be diligent and trying not to use up your data allowance, then this spells bad news.  Luckily, I’m on a prepaid account so I can still monitor my usage.  But for everyone on a mobile contract, you might see your data usage skyrocket ergo, HUGE mobile phone bills!

So, have a care and head to Settings, then Mobile Data, then scroll to the bottom of the menu where you can turn Wi-Fi Assist off.

If you’d like to read more, the Washington Post article is one of the best articles that explains this.

Really, Apple was a bit naughty doing this, but I forgive them.  Am just thankful the tech boffins cottoned on to this little hiccup before I managed to use up all my mobile data!  Phew!

Yelly Writes

Radio silence

Yelly

Sorry about the non-updates.  Life has a way of interrupting writing goals.

In my head, I’ve got this all planned.  But the to-do list in my head doesn’t always translate into what I want to do in reality.  I need time to think about everything I want to do.

Yelly Writes

Old thinking

Yelly

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Lao Tzu

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Sometimes the old quotes grab you.  They made a lot of sense in the old days.  They make sense now.  There is a certain timelessness in true wisdom and true insight.

Yelly Writes

Disconnected

Yelly

Yesterday was a bit of a shock to the system.

I forgot my mobile phone at home!

Quelle horreur!

Ever since I got a mobile phone (gawd! nearly 20 years ago now!), I’ve very rarely forgotten it.  I can count on one hand the times that I’ve forgotten the phone, and each time, I felt like I lost a limb (and in some situations, sometimes more than one major limb!).  There is this crippling sort of fear that encompassed me each time.  I think it had something to do with my control issues.  I didn’t feel on top of things when I didn’t have my phone.  I felt like my most convenient (and comfortable) method of communication was snatched away.  I remember feeling the same way when I moved back home in the Philippines.  Mobile phone contracts are different in the Philippines and 3G access isn’t built into the mobile phone plans so I didn’t have access to the internet in the same way I do here (24/7 unlimited connection to 3G and a pocket mifi gizmo is a necessary creature comfort to me!).

Yesterday, I went to London and discovered whilst I was on the train that I’d forgotten my phone.  I desperately wanted to get off at the next stop and go back to my flat and get my beloved phone.  I didn’t.  And for the rest of journey into the Big Smoke I felt utterly bereft.  I could feel the familiar stirrings of a panic attack beginning.  I was going to LONDON without my phone.  How was I going to survive?!?  Now bearing in mind that I had my handbag (which contained my emergency pouch – lippy, emergency meds, hand cream, pressed powder, hand wipes and tissues!), my purse (debit and credit cards) and my trusty bridge camera, I was panicking about the situations when I might have to use my phone.  Also, Alan was with me (with HIS mobile phone).

But yesterday, despite the heat and humidity (it reached 31°C in London!), was the most fun I’d had.  Alan and I had actual conversations and I was actually in the moment, enjoying each experience.  Yesterday ended up being one of the best days ever.  Sometimes, accidents turn out to be the best things.  Going off the grid, albeit inadvertently, was a good thing to do.  Maybe I will be brave enough to do this again!

Yelly Writes

How to cook Adobo

Yelly

Adobo or adobar is the Spanish word for marinade, sauce or seasoning.  I’ve heard references to adobo in several foodie shows now, which relate to a powdered seasoning that gets sprinkled on mostly Mexican- style or Spanish-influenced dishes.  In the Philippines, however, the word adobo refers to a dish that is, arguably, the national dish of the Philippines.  While adobo is a dish, it is called as such because it is a method of cooking: it is meat, vegetable or seafood marinated in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic, browned in oil and simmered in the marinade.

Before adobo was called adobo (prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonisers), our Filipino ancestors cooked food in vinegar, mostly to preserve the food and extend its shelf-life.  Historically, the early Filipinos enjoyed a healthy trading relationship with the Chinese and as a result, soy sauce was incorporated into the cooking process.  There isn’t really a set version of adobo because there are numerous versions of the basic recipe which, at its most basic, is vinegar, garlic and a salt alternative (most use soy sauce, but there are versions with just salt – which they say is closer to the original version of adobo, and some might even use patis or fish sauce), depending on the region in the country.  I think it’s safe to say that each household has its own adobo recipe handed down in the family.

The adobo recipe that I’m sharing with you is my mum’s recipe.  I’m not entirely sure who taught my mum how to cook adobo but it was probably an aunt or my granny.  She didn’t measure her ingredients and cooked adobo by eye.  When I moved to England, it was such a comfort to be able to cook adobo because the ingredients were readily available from the shops:  all you needed was vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, a little sugar and a couple of bay leaves, well it’s probably a little more than that but those are the primary ingredients.  I’ve written down a complete list below:

  • 650g of pork belly or pork shoulder steaks cut into cubes or chicken thighs
  • 5 tablespoons of soy sauce + 2 tablespoons for cooking
  • 2 ½ tablespoons of vinegar + 1 tablespoon for cooking
  • 3 large cloves of garlic crushed (or 3 teaspoons of garlic granules)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar + 1 tablespoon for cooking
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon of whole pepper corns (or 1 heaping teaspoon ground pepper)
  • 1 meat stock cube (chicken or pork, whichever meat you’re cooking) – optional
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 400 ml water

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Adobo is a dish that requires preparation – but don’t let that scare you.  All you need to “prepare” is to cut up the meat and grab a big enough zip lock bag (other brands of zip-seal bags are available, of course!) .  Place all the ingredients in the bag and gently massage the pork through the bag (gently, of course as you don’t want the bag to get any holes!).  Once this is done, marinate for at least an hour.  The longer the pork sits in the marinade, the better.

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Heat the oil in a stir-fry pan and add the meat pieces, making sure that you keep the marinating liquid.  Brown the meat on all sides.  Once the meat has browned, add the marinating liquid.

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Add the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, the stock cube and water.  Make sure that the stock cube and the sugar are dissolved well and make sure that all the meat are covered by the marinating liquid.  Add the bay leaves  and cook for about 30-45 minutes or until the fat (if cooking pork) has rendered a little bit.

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Everyone  has their little tricks to cooking their adobo.   Mine is to keep the lid on and keep the pot over the hot plate (if you’re using an electric stove, or over the ring, if you’re using a gas range) for 5 to 10 minutes without lifting the lid.

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Serve over boiled rice or garlic fried rice with (or without) the vegetable of your choice!

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Yelly Writes

National Girlfriends Day

Yelly

To all the beautiful women I am privileged to call friend, today I celebrate you all.  I could not get through this thing we call life without you!

Girlfriends

Yelly Writes

Clarity

Yelly

Sometimes when one needs clarity, one just has to step back and look at things differently.  Sometimes, when we’re too preoccupied with the everyday busy-ness, we lose sight of what we’ve always believed was the bigger picture.

I’ve always loved the phrase “can’t see the wood for the trees.”  That’s what happens when we get bogged down in the detail.  But then again, on the flip side, sometimes we get too preoccupied with looking at the bigger picture, we forget that it’s the pixels that make up the image.  The art of not losing sight of the end goal is to make sure you’re looking at the picture from exactly the right angle, from exactly the right distance.  When we lose our way, we get into a muddle.

Sometimes stepping back, looking at things differently, thinking about things differently helps us get out of the muddle.  Sometimes we become to preoccupied with living our everyday life, we forget to listen to our inner selves.  Sometimes taking a step back lets us hear our inner voices again.  When we do that, we find clarity again and the murky waters become less muddy.

Clarity

Yelly Snaps

St Paul’s

Yelly

Sometimes you take a picture and you give yourself a pat on the back because you took a really good picture.  Alan told me that this would be a great place to take a snapshot of St Paul’s Cathedral.

And he was right!

St Paul's Cathedral

Yelly Snaps

Upwards and onwards

Yelly

In 1666 a great fire ravaged London for 3 days, devouring 13,200 houses, 87 parishes, St Paul’s Cathedral and most of the buildings of the city’s government.  At the time, there were about 80,000 people living in London and it is estimated that 70,000 of that total number lost their homes.  The fire, which apparently started on Pudding Lane, in the bakery of Thomas Farriner, very nearly reached Whitehall Palace where the current monarch of the day, Charles II, was in residence.  Surprisingly, only 6 deaths were verified.

On the corner of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill stands a monument to the Great Fire commissioned by Charles II.  Identified simply as “The Monument,” it is described as a fluted Doric column and stands 202 feet from where the Great Fire started.  Until very recently, I didn’t know that you could go up the Monument.

The Monument

On a bright, breezy and sunny Saturday morning, Alan and I went up the Monument.  I approached this challenge with trepidation.  I am not the fittest of people and have been known to huff and puff on some days when brisk walking from my flat into town to get groceries.  I’d much rather read than walk these days.  So this activity worried me a lot.  I was afraid I’d embarrass Alan by wanting to stop in the middle of the trek up to the top of the Monument.

Up we go!

So we paid our £4 for the privilege (it’s £4 for each adult to go up but we had a 2 for 1 voucher, so it was only £4 for the 2 of us) and up we went.  There are 311 steps.  Yes.  Three.  HUNDRED.  Eleven.  Steps.  At first, I wondered why there were hooky bits along the banister.  Then I figured, about a third of the way up that you could use those hooky bits to pull yourself up the steps!  There were these lovely little alcoves as you went up and boy, was I ever grateful they were there!  You could sit down, catch your breath while not get in the way of the other people, more fit than you who trudged up that blessed spiral staircase!

Look down!

But somehow, despite the huffing and puffing, screaming leg and thigh muscles, thinking in my head that I was going to die soon, I made it up the top!  I had to catch my breath first.  But after that, after I recovered from the jelly legs and shortness of breath and pounding heart, I looked around and marveled at the view.  It was glorious!

Look down!

The mesh cage at the top was added mid-19th century to prevent any other persons from leaping off the the platform.  I think it was a good decision!

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You get to see the Tower Bridge.

The Tower Bridge and the Thames

An unobstructed view of the Shard.

The Shard

The BT Tower.

The BT Tower

The The Cheese Grater (the Leaden Hall building), the Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) and the Walkie-Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street) and the Lloyds Building.

London skyline

So, if you want a challenge, a work out with a reward of a brilliant view of London, go up the Monument.  Despite the palpitations, the hyperventilation, the jelly legs, the view is spectacular and very definitely worth it!

Monument to the Great Fire

Yelly Eats

Beseder the Bell and Brisket!

Yelly

When I was little, my father talked about salt beef and chicken soup all the time.  He always waxed poetic about how life was in kibbutz that he stayed in.  He studied in Israel and loved his time there, eventually converting to Judaism.  Most of the memories that I remember him sharing with us while we were growing up was about the food that he ate.

I am more partial to chicken, but will eat beef, occasionally.  But I do love salt beef.  Especially when it’s done right.  We met the lovely Bel Shapiro of The Bell and Brisket, oh maybe, three years ago, at the Brewer Street Market (I think it was in the Brewer Street parking building).  Her salt beef is beautiful and delicious and yummy and succulent and flavourful…I could go on.  I am such a fan.  But this fan hasn’t been able to have a salt beef fix in a very long time.  That salt beef desert ended last Friday though.

I got a “naked” Old Timer from The Bell and Brisket (sans any carbs) so I could enjoy the lovely salt beef in all its deliciousness, only adorned with horseradish and mustard and complimented by pickled gherkins and beets and it was beseder!  Well, not just good.  It was AMAZING!

Old Timer