Get a Theme Song!

I found a new Theme Song for personal finance!

For those who are not acquainted with what a theme song is, it is simply a song you sing to yourself to make you feel better.  It can be to induce confidence, to make you happy, or for any other reason for that matter.  This time I've found a perfect song to improve your finances.  If you're familiar with the Law of Attraction, this theme song business works in similar ways.   Sing along with me after the jump.

Billionaire

by: Travie McCoy

(Some lyrics edited for the sole purpose of this site.)

I'm gonna be a billionaire so freakin' right.

Buy all of the things I never had

Uh, I'm gonna be on the cover of Forbes Magazine

Smiling next to Oprah (Bill Gates) and the Queen

Oh every time I close my eyes

I see my name in shining lights

A different city every night oh

I swear the world better prepare

For when I'm a billionaire

Yeah I would have a show like Oprah

I would be the host of, everyday Christmas

Give Travie a wish list

I'd probably pull an Angelina and Brad Pitt

And adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had it

Give away a few Mercedes like here lady have this

And last but not least grant somebody their last wish

Its been a couple months since I'm single so

You can call me Travie Claus minus the Ho Ho

Get it, hehe, I'd probably visit where Katrina hit

And damn sure do a lot more than FEMA did

Yeah can't forget about me stupid

Everywhere I go Imma have my own theme music

Oh every time I close my eyes

I see my name in shining lights

A different city every night oh

I swear the world better prepare

For when I'm a billionaire

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Anybody for Carrot Cake?

There's something about a carrot cake that's very deceiving.  It must be the fact that it's made from carrots that leads one to believe that it is a healthier alternative.  Well, considering that carrots are good for us, then in a way it is definitely a healthier option than say a butter cake.  And if you don't like carrots, you might hesitate to order this because you're afraid of the taste.  That's another misleading fact because you don't really get to taste the carrots in the cake.  The carrots are shredded and most of the carrot flavor are masked by the other ingredients.  

The highlight in the carrot cake, I have to say, is the cream cheese frosting on top!  It's the dominant taste and flavor that sticks.  It just goes very well with the bland taste of the cake making the carrot cake a favorite among many.  And to prove that the frosting plays an important role, try the Velvet Cake from UCC (Coffee shop).  Their version of the Velvet cake also comes with a cream cheese frosting that makes every bite as memorable as eating a Carrot Cake.  

Carrot Cake recipe to follow after the jump.  Continue reading this article to see it.

Carrot Cake recipe
(adapted from FOOD Magazine's Custer Carrot Cake recipe)

1 cup Cake Flour (sifted)
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 and 1/2 cup Carrots (shredded, about 2 pieces medium-sized carrots)
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Optional:
3/4 cup Walnut (coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup Raisins

Frosting Recipe:
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (softened at room temperature)
1/2 bar Cream Cheese (4 oz. , softened)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
150 - 200 grams Confectioner's sugar, sifted

Procedure:
1. Prepare 9 x 11 pan.  Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Sift and mix dry ingredients (Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Salt) in a mixing bowl.
3. Add vegetable oil to mixture.  Mix.
4. Add sugar to mixture.  Mix until well incorporated.
5. Add eggs one at a time.  Mix.
6. Lastly, mix in carrots and vanilla extract.
7. If using them, fold in walnuts and raisins.
8. Pour into baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake in preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Bake until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Using this pan size and batter quantity, you will have a thin cake (1/2 inch thick).  If you want a thicker cake, according to the article in FOOD Magazine, double the recipe and change pan size to 9x13.  You can also double the recipe and use two 9 inch round cake pans to make a double layer carrot cake.

Add walnuts and raisins to add flavor to your cake.  It also makes your cake more luxurious (and nutritious).

Frosting procedure:
1. Mix butter and cream cheese in a bowl until well blended.
2. Add vanilla extract.
3. Add sugar gradually tasting as you go along to find the perfect sweetness level for yourself.  My personal taste is around 150 to 170 grams of confectioner's sugar.
4. When cake is completely cooled, apply a generous amount of frosting on top of cake.

In the picture, I sprinkled finely chopped walnuts on top after the frosting to add contrast and improve the overall look of the cake.  Feel free to unleash your creative juices and decorate your cake however you like.  It's part of the fun involved in baking cakes.

Reviews: The cake was generally loved by everyone.  The frosting can still be improved by lessening the sweetness and increasing the cream cheese flavor.

This goes perfectly well with coffee!  Carrot cakes, together with banana cakes, are staples in coffee shops. Enjoy!   

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Starbucks Instant Coffee

Starbucks will probably kill me for calling their new product, the Starbucks VIA®, an "instant coffee".  Well, how else should I put it? Instant is instant right?  Well, for Starbucks it isn't.  They market the product with the tagline "This is not instant coffee as you know it.  This is rich, flavorful Starbucks coffee in an instant." Notice the difference? Naaaaaah .... hehehe (^o^)/

The Starbucks VIA® Ready Brew was introduced here in the Philippines just yesterday, September 15, 2010.  It comes in 3 different brews namely: Colombia (medium), Italian Roast (extra bold), and Decaf Italian Roast (extra bold).  

Finally, Starbucks has come up with its own instant coffee line.  It supposedly took them 20 years to develop this.  They're using a new micro grind technology that preserves the coffee beans' essential oils and flavor.  It promises to deliver a rich and flavorful experience close to a freshly brewed Starbucks coffee.  And all the consumer has to do is add hot water.    

True enough, the cups I tasted earlier smelled and tasted like freshly brewed coffee or Cafe Americano sans the crema on top.  I didn't enjoy it that much however because I never take my coffee black.  I like my coffee with cream and sugar and preferably iced (iced cafe latte).  (Visiting the Starbucks site will reveal a 4th type which is Starbucks VIA® Iced - instant coffee specially formulated for cold water. I wonder when this will be introduced here.)

Note however that the cups I tried were prepared by the partners of Starbucks.  I still don't have first hand experience on preparing and drinking it at home.  If you visit a Starbucks outlet this week, I bet the product will be available for tasting just like today.  I was planning on buying some to take home but at 130 pesos for a 3-pack or 450 pesos for a 12-pack, I decided not to.  That's roughly around 40 pesos per cup which is 8x the cost of a Nescafe 3-in-1 instant coffee.  Don't get me wrong.  It does taste much better than Nescafe.  In fact, they shouldn't be compared at all.  It's just that I take my time when I prepare and drink my coffee.  Coffee time is time to relax and slow things down.  I do this even when my day is turtle-slow.  I simply don't have a need for anything instant as of the moment.       

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Falling Short of Expectation

Have you ever fallen short of your own or others' expectations? Well, it really wouldn't be that unusual.  Everybody probably have at one point in life.  What's probably more important though is that those expectations existed.  Would you rather have a world with no expectations? 

Don't worry this post is no longer about me.  Rather it's about two great rivals that I dearly miss watching on TV.

The US Open (Grand Slam Tennis tournament) 2010 has been airing on TV for a couple of weeks now and I watched in fervent anticipation only to be disappointed in the end.  These guys have fallen short of my expectations again.  Who am I referring to? It's no other than the no. 1 and no. 2 seeds of the tournament, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, respectively.  The last time these two met on a grand slam final was way back in the Australian Open 2009 finals, the tournament where Federer broke down in tears after losing his 3rd straight grand slam final against Nadal.  I dearly miss their rivalry.  I was really hoping for a showdown in New York but Roger Federer lost his semi-finals match to crush my hopes again.

It may seem that Federer is purposely avoiding a match up against Nadal as when the Spaniard advanced to the finals, the Swiss suddenly played like he's having a bad day and lost in the semis.  In Paris and Wimbledon earlier this year, where Federer was the defending champion, he only managed to reach the quarterfinals while Nadal went all the way to win.  However, it is not all Federer's fault.  After that breakdown in Australia, Federer went on to win his first French Open title and then another Wimbledon title while Nadal was nowhere near him.  And in last year's US Open, it was Nadal who lost in the semis after Federer advanced to the finals first.    And in the Australian Open this year, Federer won while Nadal lost in the quarterfinals.  

Sigh.  I wonder when I would be able to see them play in a grand slam finals match again.  All these expectations are making me disappointed but hopeful and excited as well.

Maybe I'd get lucky and see them live in Melbourne on 2011. (^o^)/

       

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Bygones

I decided that today would be the perfect day to write about my WORD.  I'm such in a good mood today.  If I don't start writing about it today, then tomorrow, when my mood changes, I might not write about it at all ever.  As a matter of fact, I've been in a good mood for a couple of weeks now, ever since I finished writing that article and thought of my Word.  

My positive outlook may have been connected with the performance of the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) as well.  The PSEi closed at an all time high of 3902.56  yesterday, surpassing the index way back in 2007 before the global economic crisis hit.  This makes me happy because most of my income these past couple of years have been from trading in the stock market.  This week though, I got out a week too early and so I'm still waiting for the market to correct before I buy again.   If everything works out fine, I might squeeze out another 10% before the year ends. *fingers-crossed* (Southeast Asian markets are among the top earners worldwide this year.)   

Another reason why I chose today to officially announce my Word is because today happens to be World Suicide Prevention day.  I heard it in the news earlier.  And I couldn't believe it when I saw how much Japan spent last year on matters related to suicide.  The exact amount escapes me as of the moment but if my chinky eyes saw the monitor correctly, it was about 32 billion dollars!  Imagine that?!  With that kind of amount, I wonder how many hungry people we would be able to feed here in the Philippines.  Well, I just thought that maybe if the Japanese knew how to use my Word then there wouldn't be that many suicide cases in Japan.  The news report also said that in Japan they consider feeling lonely and depressed as a weakness while committing suicide as something honorable.  *tsk tsk tsk* (hand me the toothpick please, there's something stuck in between my teeth)

So here goes.  The word I've chosen for myself is simply "Bygones."  You've probably guessed that already from the title.  Richard Fish of Ally McBeal helped me find that word.  It was his favorite expression in the sitcom.  With the word comes the promise of learning how to let go of the past in favor of starting new beginnings for the future.  It also comes with a new concept I learned from the same book (Eat Pray Love) about controlling your thoughts.  Sometimes I tend to over think and generate thoughts beyond what actually transpired which usually leads me to loathness and anger.  It just dawned on me that my thoughts can actually be controlled as well.  I hope to put my instincts to better use, maybe into something that can be more productive like the stock market.  And the girl who would be able to say the same thing back to me, probably even do a little math and multiply it by itself, would be the ideal one.          

Next thing I wanna learn is how not to worry about money ever.  Okay, maybe a little worry is good but a little too much can be unhealthy as well.  As for tomorrow, I will go out to celebrate and eat Lechon served 5 different ways!  Looking forward to it.  Have a great weekend everyone.  

After thought:

>- In Japan, they actually have a TV ad to help prevent suicide.  In the ad, they hired a young professional soccer player who plays for the national team to deliver the message "kizuite hoshii, kokoro no koe o" which translates to "take heed of the voice in your heart" or as Beyonce might put it ... Listen to the song in your heart. (^o^)/

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