Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie honors his student, who surpassed him. H/t

Midnight Snack is today’s apolitical post. (We all need a break from this political stuff every now and then!) When commenting on apolitical posts do not start political, religious, or philosophical debates. In fact from now on any serious debating comments on such posts will be deleted. You’ve got all of NewsReal’s other posts to get argumentative, lets keep this one pure. (Humorous debates about meaningless subjects are permitted.)

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A few happened last night and this morning.

First time I’ve printed art that I’ve done to blue tack on my wall.

First time I’ve made a full out pasta dish for a midnight snack.

First time I’m going to use my iPod Nano without the protective case it’s been in for the last 3 years. Pretty insane stuff…

Some people have a vice for potato chips and others simply have cravings from time to time (like me) but the dilemma is the same – having fresh chips on hand when that craving strikes.

Some people are also quite health conscious and avoid deep fried chips.  It seems like the food companies have caught on because baked chips are quite popular, but also seem to be a bit more expensive.  Well, I’ve found a way around that and it only takes about 5 minutes for a satisfying amount of chips (for one) and only takes a potato and a microwave.

Ingredients:

1 good sized potato

Seasonings to taste, I used coarse salt this time

Instructions:

1. Put a piece of paper towel on a microwave safe plate

2. Slice the potato with a potato peeler*

3. Place the slices on the paper towel making sure that they don’t overlap.  They’ll stick together if they touch.

4. Season to taste.  I used salt this time, but have used Parmesan cheese, various herbs and spices, red pepper flakes and various other pantry items in the past.  Whatever suits the moment.

5. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

6. Remove from the microwave and flip them over.  You can season this side too.  The potatoes will still be soggy, and they will be hot so be careful.

7. Microwave on high for 2 minutes again but keep an eye on them.  If sliced very thin, they may begin to brown and burn toward the end.

8. Remove the chips from microwave and peel them off of the paper towel.  Most should come off easily.  If they are still soggy, continue to microwave for a minute at a time until fairly crisp – they’ll continue to cook a bit after being removed from the microwave and crisp up as they cool down.

Enjoy!  I had these for lunch today, but they make a great, quick, relatively healthy snack when you’re in a hurry and all it takes is one potato.  If you’re making for more people you can bake them in the oven at about 350, though I don’t know exact times since I messed up last time.  You can also deep fry the slices, but again it takes longer to setup and there are more dishes to do in the end defeating the purpose of a midnight snack!

* I’d have preferred a mandolin slicer for consistency and avoiding peeling my knuckles but you do with what you have when a craving hits!

Which will it be tonight?

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Which will it be tonight?

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Er, not exactly eye candy, eh? hehe

Which are we giving away tonight?

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Scroll down to see what we are giving away tonight…

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Which will it be tonight?
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Which one will we give away tonight?

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Would you let this vampire bite you?  Hehe.

Ah, Eric Northman. Sexiest. Vamp. Ever. 

Which one will it be?

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Ah, Nathan. There’s a reason he’s one of the biggest romance cover models in the business. Abs anyone?

Hmm… Which one will it be tonight?

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Which will it be tonight?

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In honor of Supernatural, of course!

Which one will it be tonight?

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Ew. Ouch! LOL. Um… I think I’ll pass on this candy. I’m full. He he

Which are we giving out tonight?

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Which are we giving out tonight?

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Do you really want to know?

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The Cover…

 The Model…

Sorry, I couldn’t pick which picture of Andrei Claude I liked better – so you get TWO  treats tonight! LOL.

Scroll down to see what we’re handing out tonight;)

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Better than chocolate! 

Scroll down to see what we’re handing out tonight;)

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Be sure to take just one!

One of the reasons why I love some time off work is that I get to do anything. I have an excuse to pass up reading A.S Byatt’s Possession (I have imposed upon myself a one chapter per night rule during workdays), I can roll onto and off the bed whenever I want, or I can go out and shop for random little things. I have the weirdest shopping habit. I’m not attracted to clothes, shoes, or bags— instead, I love ‘em little whisks or vials of food colouring, or muffin pans and moulders. And of course, books. Recently, I was inspired by Lucy Torres’ article to make polvoron. The question that jumped out of that page though, was: “What’s a polvoron moulder?”

Photo from etsy

And google, I did, before venturing out to the market/general merchandise/superstores to hunt for this little contraption. My heart did a little dance when I spotted it on the baking/cooking ware section in South Supermarket in Alabang. I was a bit disappointed about the limited shapes, but I was still ecstatic about it—a polvoron moulder!!!

So off I went to buy the other ingredients, and after a failed attempt (I followed the recipe to a T and got Diabetes candy. Bad.), I finally whipped up something by feel, and presented it to my certified taste-testers: Kuya Mark and May.

May: (tiningnan. Ayaw kunin. Sabi ko, sige na, tikman mo lang para pag may kulang tell me. Kumuha ng 1/4 tsp.) Mmmmm. Pwede na ‘to. Masarap!

Kuya Mark: Mmmmm! Akin na lang! (points to the tub of powder).

With my little polvoron moulder, I made around 40 pieces with this recipe:

1 1/2 cup powdered milk
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar (or you can put less)
Unsalted butter
Pinipig (optional)

Disclaimer: I am not a food photographer.

Toast flour and pinipig over medium heat until light brown. In a bowl, combine milk, sugar, and toasted flour-pinipig mix. Put a little butter in it. I don’t recommend 1 stick of butter because it may affect the flavor. Around three to four tablespoons will do; one stick is equal to 8 tablespoons, so you get the picture. You can also try to pinch the mixture to see if it somehow holds together. Then you’re ready to use that little moulder!

***

The only problem I have with my kind of work is that I’m getting fat—-that is, I don’t get to exercise in the morning anymore.

I love mornings, but nowadays I don’t see it anymore. Add to that my fondness for eating like crazy in the office. And drinking alcohol. Which is yucky, now that I’m catching myself doing it at least once a week. But what I’m really worried about are my pants and the strain they would bear to tuck in that bulging waistline.

I have not yet imposed a certain level of discipline when it comes to matters of the stomach.

Just last night, I had that familiar craving, during the same time we take “lunch” breaks. It was easier to keep my mind off food if my sister had not been on the computer, because I would have Facebook and Stumble Upon to distract. I didn’t want to shoo her away to the other room, and I was too lazy to tiptoe and start the computer there. So I read a book. After about half an hour—

Ate, kain tayo. Luto mo kong noodles.

My sister suddenly came up to me with an earnest plea to please, ate, cook me something. (She wouldn’t survive home without us, even if it’s stacked with canned goods and instant noodles).

The aftermath

So I promptly stood up from the bed where I was reading, and remembering my favorite midnight snack, I said. “I’m going to cook hotdog too.” (I love hotdog dipped in mayo. Late at night. Love!) She forgot about the noodles, and in the solitude of my room we had rice, hotdogs, mayonnaise, and instant crab and corn soup that I mixed with thin noodles I found in one of the cabinets. We also had Mer-nels’ cake for dessert.

Afterwards, she told me that Plock was a nice game, and I clicked away until early morning.

The best “American” delicacy at 12:00 midnight is the one and only…PB n J sandwich. I just ate one so I’m happy!

By Marie Dufour, RD – Midnight snacking influences weight gain, say researchers at Northwestern University.

We are, normally, diurnal animals. We’ve evolved to work and play during daylight and to rest at night, adapting our body to two cycles: day and night. This human circadian rhythm of 24 hours (really, 24 hours-11 minutes) guides our body functions, temperature, sleep, heart rate, and moods. If you’ve ever been jet-lagged, you know what a disturbance in your circadian rhythm means: sleepiness, hunger pangs, irritability.

What happens to individuals whose circadian rhythm is disrupted? From an overweight and obesity standpoint, they have a tendency to be overweight. I had often noticed that my most overweight hospital patients were night shift workers, night-time computer gamers, day-time sleepers, and midnight snackers. Recent studies showed that sleeping more than 9 hours per night increased weight gain risk.

A new study discovered that midnight snacking is more obesogenic than daytime eating. In other words, the calories ingested during the night are not burned as efficiently as those eaten during the day, and are stored as fat. Our biological internal clock regulates energy use, therefore a regular (or routine) activity pattern and regular timing of our meals is important. For those of us who lead a standard diurnal life, we should eat a substantial breakfast, a solid lunch, and a light dinner (40%, 35%, 25% of daily calories at each meal) and no night snack. For those of us who work at night, while there is no study on calorie distribution for shift workers, it would make sense to adjust our eating patterns to our work pattern.

For all of us, the routine sleeping hours we have adopted regulate our physiology. Sleeping time is no time to eat. For the insomniac among us, the refrigerator light is only a beacon of obesity-in-the-waiting and the bulge to come.

Good night, fridge!  That’s a healthy move!

Ref: Northwestern University (2009, September 7). That Late-night Snack: Worse Than You Think. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 7, 2009,

…the refridger after midnight. I’m fan of Ritz with silce of cheddar cheese on top. Once I eat one, I can’t stop popping in my mouth. From my childhood, my mother usually serve crackers with silces of cheese and pepperoni on the side before Christmas.

There is one recipe that caught my eye. A recipe for basic crackers. That look so easy enough for a child to make it.

Basic Crackers (From The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion)

About 8 dozen 2 1/2 inches crackers..

-2 cups flour (all-purpose, pastry, whole wheat, rye, barley, or semolina. I used all-purpose)
-Flavorings (spices, herbs, extracts, seeds, minced vegetables. I used spices) optional
-2 to 8 tablespoon fat (butter, margarine, shortening, or oil. I used shortening)
-2 to 8 tablespoon liquid (water, milk, beer, wine, yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream. I used beer)

*Preheat the oven to 350.
*Place the flour in bowl. Add the flavorings if any. Cut in fat as if you were making piecrust. Work the fat together until the mixture forms small, even crumbles. Then quickly stir in liquid. Use only enough liquid to hold the dough together. Too much liquid will toughen the crackers and make them hard to roll out.
*Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Use a heavy rolling pin and a firm hand, use a minimal numbers of strokes to roll the dough very thin – appro. 1/8 inch. Prick the dough all over with fork.
*Cut the dough into squares, rounds, triangles or even into hoilday shapes.
*Transfer the crackers to parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes…until the crackers begin to brown.
*Remove and let them cool down on a rack. They will become crispy as they cool down.

The more fat you use, the less liquid you will need….

Don’t forget to dip the cream cheese!

It’s hard to believe that this will be my second to last summer of being a true kid. Those summers when as soon as that last bell rings everything becomes a bit lighter, a bit clearer. Those summers when you really have nothing worry about besides having fun, those summers that are amazing every single year. When seeing your friends isn’t a privilege, it’s a priority. When you can go for a run at 4 in the morning, or at 11 at night, or any time in between. When bike rides aren’t home to school to home again.

I love summer, not just for the sunny weather, not just for the lack of school, but simply because it’s summer. It’s what we dream about all year, it’s the one date that everyone knows, it’s just the most amazing time of year. Like all great things it is rather ephemeral, but that doesn’t stop us from having fun. Childhood, summer, life, they’re all pretty short if we think about it, so just get out there and enjoy it.

I know I have.

When you can take a picture like this at eight o’clock in the evening

When you see ambulances stopping at Taco Bell for a midnight snack

And of course when you go off on a 32 mile bike ride without worrying about getting home or having anything to do besides pedaling.

All that’s missing is a beautiful night run, but don’t worry, I’ll be blindly killing some hills soon enough.

Leave those books, pencils, and calculators at home.

Pick up a soccer ball, get on your bike, or just lace up those running shoes…

It’s summer, go live it.