They say things that give us more meaningful and lasting happiness are the simple pleasures of life. It appears that simple and healthy living can provide more contentment, compared to the glitz and glamor of a rich but hedonistic lifestyle, let alone the baggage the comes with it – the vanity and self-indulgence that often destroy relationships and even one’s sanity. Yes, we occasionally blow our pockets to feed our whims but in truth, happiness is like a chameleon and has many faces. In the end, we embark on a search for a kind of happiness that is honest, pristine, uncomplicated. At this point in my life, contentment would be a simple house near a golf course, a lake and the woodlands where I can hunt and fish. A 15 ft. bass boat, broadband internet access and HDTV cable would be real dandy. And of course my dear genie, I also must not need to work 🙂
Well, in these cold days what makes me incredibly happy is watching a real nice DVD or movie on cable TV a couple of hours before bedtime and snacking on glorious fish balls. Not the dirty looking fish balls from the street hawkers but the clean and healthy variety made from squid and cuttlefish that we often see at the frozen section of Asian supermarkets. Deep fry them in peanut or canola oil until they brown and bloat a bit. My favorite dip would be a combination of malt and white vinegar with lots of chopped garlic. Man, they’re heavenly taken with tea on the sides. Take these babies on a single toothpick until you finish your plate. Don’t forget to ask your partner to get her own toothpick – just in case she forgets that the toothpick is meant for the fish ball 😆 For some reason these babies don’t taste good if eaten by hand methinks 😉 And never take these balls with rice – you can’t stop and you’d be having your second dinner for the night 
NO PANTS SUBWAY RIDE 2009
Not too sure what this is all about but last Jan 10th, 300 pants-less folks rode a certain segment of the city’s subway here to celebrate the annual no pants subway ride, along with several major cities in the world. You would at least think that people would do this crazy stuff in summer but not in sub-zero January temperatures ! Well, for one thing, most people don’t wear pants in summer anyways 🙂 so I guess there’s a bit of justification there. Hmmm…. interesting. Maybe they should make this an entire day affair for a change 🙂
Flashback Photo
Underground shop at the Cayman Islands
Filed under: Human Interest |
The Warped Zone 
Luv these fish balls ! Have you tried the curry sauce dip?
No pants on the subway in winter is crazy. OMG, what if my parents see me 🙂
Irrealis – yes, I have tried the curry sauce dip and it’s good too but it doesn’t a llow me to eat a lot 😉
Well, as long as you are with your pals, maybe they won’t feel as bad hehe 🙂
Suddenly, I miss fish balls! And kwek kwek. And squid balls! Hay. Your post made me gastronomically homesick all of a sudden. 🙂
No-pants subway ride? What a nutty idea. The things that people do talaga.
Nice pic. Is that the Missus?
Jayred – I’m sure you can buy the frozen stuff there too 😯 Yep, people do crazy things to break the winter blues 🙂
Nope that’s the Masseuse not the Missus hahaha ! Joke only 🙂
I get these balls (shrimp and lobster) at the Asian grocery, but never thought of frying them up. I always put them in the soup. Thanks for the neat idea.
Brain freeze during the long winter months has given rise to the no pants idea.
Ewok – yeah, you gotta try it. seems that the shrip, lobster and squid variety are the ideal meats for fish balls. The harder they are, they seem to taste better 🙂 I also find that the chopped garlic sold in bottles are betetr tasting when splashed over vinegar .
Hehe.. they end up with butt freeze 😆
I enjoy life’s simple pleasures too. I often spend Friday and Saturday nights in front of the TV watching a movie or a ball game while munching on a bag of Chippy. Coca-Cola has to be part of the evening too. 😀
As for those pantless subway riders, may their tribe increase! Hehehe 😀
Panaderos – I’m glad you’re not nibbling on those 5 gallon looking pop-corns like they sell in movie houses 😉 Man, that size of it scares me 🙂
Indeed and may they make it a habit haha 🙂
Switching from years of meat-eating to consuming vegetables that I never imagined in my life I would ingest is now my life’s pleasure. It’s quite a challenge for me but am getting used to it.
I put in a mixer the following: (WARNING! It’ sounds BAD) – Bitter Squash (ampalaya or parya), celery, carrots, green apples, broccoli, garlic, ginger, strawberries, a glass of h2o, and a glass of pomegrenade/cranberry juice. Turn on the mixer like you’re mixing a cement and WALLA! I chug 12oz of it twice a day. Why am I doing this? Lots of aliens swore up and down, it cured some diseases in their bodies so I jumped on their bandwagon, what have I got to lose, none, hehe….it’s simplicity at it’s bitterness.
Those guys should just go naked and reduced their real balls to fishballs in the freaking cold, hehe…
Cheers to my new found drink!
TrueBlue – looks like you’ve found Love Potion No. 9 bro hehe 🙂 Now that looks really healthy to me – although the ampalaya adds to the exotic bitter taste, it’s one heck of a healthy vegetable full of nutrients and vitamins. I’d like to try it too !
Hehe.. glad they still have their undies on else it will be one cold ride 😆
golf course tops your list, of course :D.
on your squid balls, try a sweet chili sauce dip. masarap din sya.
can’t help but post this… to panaderos – chippy na naman??! 😀
Mari – yep, sweet chili sauce dip is great as well 🙂
Note to Panaderos – Pards, I know you’re having a swell time watching sports on TV on weekend nights – you’re not sharing the Chippy to anyone are you ? 😆
True, there is joy in simple things.. my friends and I used to eat fish balls when we were still in college. And one good thing was that we even befriended the fish ball vendor and shared a good laugh with him. 🙂
NYL – smart for you guys to befriend the vendor.. an extra ball or two on the stick wouldn’t be bad eh ? 🙂
“Nope that’s the Masseuse not the Missus hahaha ! Joke only”
— LOL. Maybe both. 🙂 BTW, she’s sexy.
Jayred – or… nothing more than materiales fuertes
Fish balls! I’ve never thought of them for a long time! And you could buy them in Asian stores? I bet I could find them in one of the Chinese stores I frequent. Thanks for the idea! 😀 Your post made me crave for fish balls…at 12 mn! lol
Kathy – I’m sure there is fish balls in the UK, esp in that Asian store you mentioned , as long as it isn’t an Indian store 🙂 In fact, fish balls are being made locally here in Canada nowadays 😎
Fish balls makes me reminisce my college days. This and other street foods (adidas, walkman, bituka etc.) composed our “pulutan”.
Blogusvox – we hardly throw away anything from the animals eh ? That’s maximizing resources 🙂 Here I was shocked to see folks being oriented by restaurants on how to eat whole lobsters and when you see folks trim and discard the head off, aligi and all the good green stuff included, you’d like to shout – “give them to me ! ” Darn, they’re missing the best part 🙂
Squid and cuttlefish? Hindi na fishballs yan kundi squidballs, haha. But yeah, they taste better than those made from fish. Aside being free from “tinik” which sometimes find their way into those balls, the squidballs are meatier and tastier me thinks. Thinking about it now, I wonder how much germs I had actually ingested from eating those fishballs back in school hehe… 😀
I assume that’s the wifey in the pic?
Have a great weekend, bro
Sngl – actually bro, you’re right — they should be called squid balls, even the cuttlefish which is a variety of the squid specie. But since these fish balls are manufactured here, they mix in a bit of flesh from cod and pollock, fish mainly harvested in the Atlantic coast, so it becomes a little softer and adds that sweet, fishy flavor 🙂 They sell them a little over two bucks for a frozen packet of 20 pieces which is relatively inexpensive. On the fish balls from street hawkers back home, you don’t only get the odd fish bone, you might get fingernail bits on them too hehe 🙂
mas masarap kaya yung fishball na binebenta sa kalye ;p
Tin- masarap nga siguro kasi maraming ingridients to make the ball a little bigger hehe 😉
Is this the Asian version of fondue or just a toothpick party 🙂
There’s a few good looking gals on that link, especially the one with red shoes and colored panty 😉
Natez1 – no fire or cheese of any sort , just a toothpick party 🙂
You’ve got good eyes – you sure she was wearing clean underwear? 😉
wow ang daming fishball nyan ah! and they look so good unlike the scary fishballs being sold on the street LOL si my man sobrang kain nun dati may tumatapat kasi sa malapit sa pinupuntahan niya yung tipong on wheels eh nakakatakot praning ako sa hepa so i always tell him to stop eating them! LOL.
nice ibang klase din ang trip nila pantless subway LOL baka nainspire sila kay red guy ng cow amd chicken LOL
Prinsesa – in truth, you’ll never know that the fish balls these street hawkers sell are made of ! ugh, baka naman pagpag 😯
The pant less ride is truly a trip 😆 . I’d do it wit buddies for fun but if it was just me, no can’t do 🙂
I still prefer the fishball sold by the street vendor. I cannot imagine how they make those heavenly sauces that you simply couldn’t replicate at home. =)
Jeff – I guess you can say their fish ball sauce is a trade secret 😉
hmmm…sarap ng fishballs! ako, i’ll take it with vinegar, soya sauce with lots of chilli! 🙂
and speaking of being pants-less at freezing point [or worse than that], baka umandar rayuma ko. 🙂
did you participate? 🙂
Ipanema – I love vinegar with lots of chili too 🙂
Well, you can try to wear a long trench coat 🙂 Nope, I didn’t participate. In this situation it’s preferable to be just a passenger hehe 😉
Gawd, I miss the fish balls again! Right now, contentment for me is just being home, sleeping or reading/ watching DVDs while munching Pinoy food.
Witsandnuts – I can tell you that’s a very enjoyable pastime, especially here when it’s so darn cold outside hehe 🙂
or the guilty pleasures of life? he he 😀
i prefer squid balls than fish balls but those fish balls in the photo looks more than yummy! and i love sweet chili sauce as dip!
Bing – guilty indeed coz I can finish the bowl by myself, yikes 🙂 Next time I may have to make three kinds of dips – vinegar, curry and sweet chili 😉
wow, seeing this post had me suddenly hankering for some of them 😉
Caryn – I’m sure you can get them easily – where you are 🙂
Hmmm, this post reminds me of one of my fave sites http://1000awesomethings.com
A house near a lake sounds great, but I kind of fancy a condominium unit in the center of the city more. Maybe when I get older I’d want the country life.
I want my place to have a library….doesn’t matter if the bedrooms are cramped as long as I get one big room with ceiling-high shelves and lotsa lotsa books. I also don’t want to have to work but instead spend my time doing volunteer stuff. Right now I’m a volunteer teacher for this org that helps poor but deserving students go to college. I want to do more of that. I want to focus on my interests that I simply don’t have the time to pursue—drawing, guitar-playing, writing songs, dancing, theater. I always tell my friends I’ll do these things when I become a rich man’s wife in the future.
For now, fast-paced and hectic as my life may be, I still pause once in a while to notice little awesome things.
Kat – true, the condo really appeals to the younger set who like to be in the middle of the vibrant metropolis at all times. I guess when you grow a little tired and weary of the hustle and bustle of the city life you’d like a little peace and quiet like I do 😉
I live in the suburbs which is relatively quiet but I still long for that tranquility that harmonizes with nature. Oh well, I guess I’m getting old 🙂