Like The Tomato
just me, my books, and my journals
Because the weather has been cold-ish here, well it has been fluctuating, so I decided to just cook arroz caldo. This is a Filipino chicken porridge dish. I don’t remember my mom ever cooking this for me when I was young, but we had a neighbor who sold this in the neighborhood in the afternoons. This dish was definitely perfect for chilly weather, but I also love having this when I am feeling under the weather.
I make mine pretty simple. I used chicken thighs for the protein, but you can also add some hard-boiled eggs. Then, of course, the staples → onion, garlic, and ginger. I also used some roasted chicken base for added chicken flavor. I added some fish sauce to taste. And the star of the show – jasmine rice.
I sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger first. Then I added the chicken thighs and let them brown for a little bit. After that, I added about maybe 6 to 7 cups of water. I waited for it to boil then I added about 7 teaspoons of the roasted chicken base. I also added the washed jasmine rice at this time too. Then it was just a waiting game at this point until the rice was cooked. I added some fish sauce of course to lift it up a little bit. And then it was done!
It was satisfying. It was definitely something that I needed at this time since I was not feeling my best as of late. Definitely comforting.
One weekend, my hun was in the mood to watch an animated movie. We did not really have anything on our watchlist. But I have been eyeing this movie on Netflix for a while. So we just decided to check it out.
- Title: Bubble (2022 Film)
- Run Time: 100 minutes
- Directed By: Tetsuro Araki
- Distributed By: Warner Brothers Pictures (Japan, theatrical); Netflix (worldwide)
This movie was set in dystopian Tokyo where bubbles made the city uninhabitable. However, a bunch of orphans lived there anyway. Tokyo was now being used as the center of parkour tournaments for these youngsters to barter and trade supplies. Hibiki was introduced as an exceptional parkour talent and a member of the Blue Blazes. He mainly isolated himself and wore headphones because of his hearing ultrasensitivity. This was very loosely based on The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Or at least I think it was. There were definitely some marked similarities between the two.
The premise was interesting. I enjoyed the few parkour tournaments that were shown in the movie. I enjoyed seeing Hibiki slowly come out of his shell once Uta was introduced. He started opening up to his peers and hanging out with them. The only fleshed-out character for me was Hibiki and maybe Uta, barely. I wished that they had enough time to give the other characters a bit more meat. It was a bit difficult to know the characters, especially the ones who were members of the Blue Blazes considering that they all lived in one ship. They kind of just blended in the background.
My hun and I agreed that this would have been better as a serialized anime than a movie. Aside from a lot of the characters just being background, the conflict was resolved pretty quickly. Almost rushed, in my opinion. Basically, this happened, bubbles came down the world, accumulated in Tokyo, parkour tournament, Uta appeared, parkour tournament, then the conflict was resolved. Done. All wrapped in a 100-minute film.
Regardless, it was a pretty decent film. The animation was great. And the soundtrack was pretty good as well. I enjoyed it while I was watching it. I was engaged with the story and with Hibiki. The movie made me smile and made me cry. I cannot ask for anything more. However, it did not do anything exemplary. Would I watch it again? Maybe, but it definitely would not be my go-to.
I’ve been wanting to make this dish for quite some time. tried maybe a couple of times in the past but for some reason, I cannot get the taste right. It always end up tasting like another Filipino dish called mechado. For years, I did not want to even try learning how to cook this again. When I go to the Filipino store close to my apartment, I just buy cooked beef caldereta if they have it that day.
Anyway, beef caldereta is a hearty Filipino beef dish simmered in spicy tomato sauce with potatoes, carrots, and bell pepper. Very simple to cook, but like I said, I was having trouble with it. Before, I cooked it by taste, this time I decided to follow a recipe just to get started (Spicy Beef Caldereta by Kawaling Pinoy).
I used pretty much what was listed except for olives. I was never a fan of olives. From my experience, olives tend to overpower other flavors. So I decided not to use it in this dish. But I did use onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, Thai chili, liver spread, tomato sauce, tomato paste, cheddar cheese, and salt and pepper. However, I did not follow the measurements exactly. I tend to cook by feel and taste, so I never follow recipes to the exact measurements. I pretty much followed the steps on the recipe except #1. I went straight to sautéing the onions and garlic. But the recipe itself acted as a guide for me this time.
For the first actual try, I thought I did decently. Chris liked it. I appreciated the heat from the Thai chili, I used 4 reds and 6 greens. Surprisingly it turned out pretty good considering the recipe called for 10 red Thai chilis. I wanted to start moderately on the spiciness. But at least 4:6 was a good ratio for my taste. The flavors were better the next day, like any Filipino stew dish.
However, I was not satisfied. It was not the caldereta that I grew up in. I would need to tweak the recipe a bit to make it my own. I was looking for a full-bodied flavor that I was not able to recreate this time around. Chris added some fish sauce while eating it. It gave it a good flavor. But I was thinking of cooking the beef with soy sauce first before adding the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water next time. See if that helps the flavor a bit. Maybe it would make the dish closer to how my mom’s side of the family cooks it.
- Anime Title: given
- Episodes: 11 episodes, 1 movie, 1 special episode
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Fuji Creative Corporation
- Title: given
- Author: Natsuki Kizu
- Genre: BL, Drama
- Volumes: 8
- Run: April 30, 2013 to March 30, 2023
I found this anime by accident. I do not remember what I was doing at the time. I could be studying, which was a high possibility. But I found this one night and stayed up for hours to actually finish the anime. And I have rewatched this anime many times since then.
The anime has two major arcs – Ritsuka and Mafuyu arc, and Akihiko and Haruki arc. The manga has three arcs – the first two being the same as the anime and the third being the Hiiragi and Shizusumi arc.
The first arc focused on the Ritsuka and Mafuyu relationship. From the moment they met on the stairs of the gym to their first live performance. Ritsuka was the genius lead guitarist, and Mafuyu was the shy musical genius vocalist. I enjoyed seeing Ritsuka’s journey in coming to terms with his feelings for Mafuyu and his music. It was young love and I was there for it. There was also the journey of the band itself and how it grew. A watcher could leave it as that. Enjoy the ride of young love and great music. But this was also a story about grief and moving on. About opening your heart to new love. It was amazing. All the things that needed to be said to a past lover all wrapped into one song. Did it pull at my heartstrings? Yes. And I cried every single time that song played.
The second arc focused on the relationship between Akihiko and Haruki. Akihiko was the playboy drummer, and Haruki was the leader of the band and bassist. Now, this was a story of unrequited love. It was so relatable that it was difficult to watch. It was too real. We have all been there. Admiring someone from afar. Deeping those feelings for someone as time goes on. Being heartbroken because for some reason or another, that other person just does not see you the same way. It was hard. Seeing these characters in pain because they were hurting each other or just the pain in the situation they were in, let’s just say that my heart broke for the people in this arc.
The third arc focused on Hiiragi and Shizusumi’s relationship. These two were Mafuyu’s childhood friends and also Yuki’s bandmates. Another young love. But more focused on Hiiragi coming to terms with his feelings for Shizusumi and Shizusumi’s unrequited love for Hiiragi. It was a whole misunderstanding trope and all that. This was pretty good as well. Shizusumi stayed by Hiiragi’s side this whole time while watching Hiiragi put Yuki on such a pedestal. Hiiragi trying to make Shizusumi understand that he was never in love with Yuki, to begin with. Ugh. Such angst.
So the first arc for anime was a serialized anime with 11 episodes. The second arc was a one-hour movie. And the third arc was manga only. The manga has 8 volumes although volume 8 is not available in English yet, which I am patiently waiting for. (Per Amazon, the title will be released on Oct 10, 2023.)
I say give it a try. My hun did. He liked it enough. I loved it. I think I said before that this was not a 5-star for me. But you know what, after rewatching the anime this week, I don’t understand why I even said that it wasn’t. I mean sure I can find faults in it if I really try, but honestly, I don’t want to. That’s how much I love this story. And the soundtrack? I would even rewatch this anime just for the music alone. It’s that good.
- Anime Title: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Episodes: 64
- Where to watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Aniplex of America
This anime is overhyped and overrated. Yes, I know this is an unpopular opinion. From my previous posts, I think you can deduce that for the most part, I think this anime is okay. It’s not the greatest thing I watched. And I had to stop watching it because it became a chore. Basically, it came to the point that I was watching it just to watch it because it was part of the anime list that we wanted to finish.
I do however understand why a lot of people chose this as their greatest anime of all time. I understand its popularity. I mean, this is one of the first anime that became mainstream for a lot of people. It became available to a wider set of audience. But I think that ultimately became its downfall for me. Since this anime is so popular and loved by many, I expected more. And I should not have.
What did I like? The subject matter. The premise was really good and interesting. Brothers involved in alchemy trying to retrieve their bodies back. The bodies that they lost because they tried to resurrect their dead mother through alchemy. There were definitely some political struggles going on. And the episodes can go dark so quickly. These were all positives in my book.
What else? Characters are likable. Aside from the homunculi, I think the MCs and the supporting characters were great. I personally like Roy Mustang and Captain Armstrong. The way Mustang killed that one thing lives rent-free in my head. It was visceral. And that puts Mustang as one of the darker characters in the anime regardless of how noble his fight was. My favorite character, despite his short-lived screen time, was Maes Hughes. Such a lovable character and I mourned with Mustang when that happened to Hughes.
What fell short for me? I think the plot was barely moving. Episode 35 and we were still talking about that one incident. Seriously? All I could think of was can we move on to the next topic? 35 episodes in, the plot barely revealed the whole larger concept, but still talking of that ONE INCIDENT. I know, they were connected, but that was also just one incident out of what? Five? I mean come on.
I am not new to watching slow plots – I’ve seen Naruto and Bleach where a conflict can drag on. But those anime had something going on per episode, even the filler episodes had something going on in them. To say that I was getting sleepy watching an episode of FMA was a huge understatement.
I know I should not be even talking about this anime since I did not finish it. But I think 35 episodes is enough for me to form opinions about it. This will not be the anime that I will recommend for a new anime watcher. I would definitely lean toward an anime that’s a bit more fast-paced and cover the plot in 12 episodes.
Will I ever give this one a chance and continue on? No idea yet. I am leaning a bit toward not continuing on. I would lie if I say I would not want to see Mustang kill another thing in the most visceral and satisfying manner (which he will because I saw a clip). My boyfriend said that he might continue watching at a later time. I told him to just let me know if he reaches that specific Mustang episode. I just really want to see that one.
- Anime Title: Sasaki and Miyano
- Episodes: 13
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Kadokawa Pictures Inc.
Ah the story of young love. You know how it is. Your first love. I mean the feeling of yearning, being scared that the person you love will run away once you confess your feelings, the excitement when you see that person walking the corridors, the butterflies in your stomach when that person just even smiles at you. Yeah, all that packaged in this nice BL/Yaoi anime.
I picked this up because it’s BL, which is my romance preference. But I got so much more from it. From the moment that they met, until they got together, it was such a ride. I mean, my experiences were nothing like this but it did give me a sense of nostalgia as I think about that moment I saw him during P.E. class back in high school. Anyway, we will not rehash my ill fated first “love” here. We are going to talk about this anime.
One thing that stood out for me was the character development and internal struggles. Both the main characters – Sasaki and Miyano – have good character arcs. From Sasaki’s struggle with hiding his true feelings for Miyano just to not scare him away. To Miyano’s struggle with his sexuality. The anime was really good in depicting these emotions. (Ask my boyfriend, if you do not believe me)
The sweet moments were such gems. I still remember Sasaki’s reaction when Miyano gave him a gift for White Day. It still makes me smile. That reaction was too precious and basically lives in my head rent free.
The supporting characters, their friends, were also such good ones. You cannot find better friends than these boys. I mean, seriously, they are so supportive that it hurts when I think that not all friends are like these guys in real life. Such treasures.
Voice acting were done beautifully. I watched the anime both in dubbed and subbed versions. The actors were superb! I did prefer the dubbed version more, which does not happen often when I watch anime. I have rewatched this anime so many times in the dubbed version because the voice actors just did great.
I have watched a fair share of yaoi anime, and this for sure does not follow the regular trope that I am used to. This is such a slow burn romance that leads to that one moment in episode 12. I loved every minute of anticipation, every minute of the journey these two characters took to get together.
This post does not give the anime any justice whatsoever. It was so much more. My hun gave this anime a 10/10, a person whose preference does not fall in this category. But he enjoyed it a lot. And I am glad that I shared this with him.