Foods prepared with vinegar or lemon juice have always been a favorite of mine. I stopped by a local Filipino restaurant last week and decided to grab Adobo. For those of you familiar with Filipino food, Adobo is a common dish prepared with either chicken or pork. Adobo actually refers to a cooking process in which the meat is stewed in vinegar - hence the direct translation of the word to English means pickled. Adobo is one of my favorites dishes but is also extremely fattening. Although I recommend learning to make the dish from scratch to reduce the fat intake, some restaurants that I would recommend for this include Nanay Gloria and Goldilocks. These restaurants are 'food-to-go-style' and are quite inexpensive (less than $10 per person).

Tip of the day: Vinegar has long been known to be a good natural cleaning agent and has also been known to help when applied on sunburns. Carry mini packs of vinegar if you want a quick and easy way to clean your forks and spoons at restaurants.

Inspirations for Life

In life, we each have our own paths to walk, obstacles to overcome, challenges to face. Our friends, our families, our mentors, or other people we meet in life usually give us advice, if not help guide us, along the way. I have never had a "mentor" in life primarily due to my poor abilities to keep in touch with past bosses, teachers, etc and quite possibly, there may be a part of me that does not feel the need to do so (shame on me!). Instead, I've found that I am better at finding what I call "quick inspiration": a character in a movie, a quote from a reading, a clip from a Youtube sensation. Recently, while randomly web surfing (and trying to find 5 minutes of escape from life's everyday stresses), I found a very inspiring clip on Youtube. I would like to introduce Queenie Chen. I feel she is a great inspiration for Chinese females all over the world. She has traveled the world, has a great passion for art and beauty, and is able to express herself confidently and successfully. Honestly, I would love to reach her level of accomplishment one day. So, without further adieu, please check her video out below. Maybe it will inspire you as it has me. We all have rough days (or months) but we must remember to find peace within and cherish what has already been given to us in life. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrSZesAff6E