TOPAZ HORIZON

I'll get to my Magnificent Women Series soonest. I've purposely refrained from writing more serious stuff and have been distracting myself recently with shallowness because there's real sadness pervading the house this past week. My baby, Galadriel Rabbit, is very very sick. And we're afraid this is it.
Galady is 7 years old and 6 months. That's very old in rabbit years. She's really slow and mellow now, although she always gets excited and greedy whenever there's food around. Just last June, I posted about her and Matilda. She looked like this:
Still healthy and happy, tolerating Matilda's naughtiness. But I've noticed over August that Galady would usually just stay in one place now, napping, but once she sees me with food, up she goes to greet me. Last weekend, however, my sweet Galady suddenly didn't get up anymore. She'd hobble about but she'd quickly get exhausted. She's also lost a huge amount of weight in a few days. Galady now looks like this:
Only Matilda, food, Vince and me seem to wake her from her stupor. Most of the time, she just lies quietly, unmoving, gently lapping at her water bowl. I've moved her back to her cage so she can be more comfy and to keep her from Matilda's roughhousing. She enjoys being hand-fed and me singing lullabyes to her, especially "Ugoy ng Duyan," her favorite. Then she sighs and closes her eyes and I cry quietly while she sleeps.
My heart is breaking slowly and then it heals and jumps for joy when I wake in the morning and see those huge ears up and those big brown eyes alert. Yet... It won't be long now, I guess. I'm just really having a hard time saying good-bye to my baby girl.

Saw this quirky fun dress on eBay:The seller said it's an Anna Sui. If you click on the photo, you can just barely make out ANNA SUI on the black label.

When I googled it, however, another eBay seller was selling it--the identical dress!--as a Marc Jacobs.
Ack! What is it really? I need to know before I bid! And I want to bid on the right one! Or is this another case of the ladybug dress?

UPDATE: Gorgeous fashion writer Leona told me it's actually a Lanvin from the Spring 08 collection! Oh my! Guess I'm not getting this one, then. Thanks, Leona!

Tonight, I made pomodoro soup for the first time. Now, I love tomatoes--I bite into tomatoes like they're apples, I drown a lot of my food in catsup, I love tomato sauce-based food and I absolutely love tomato soup. I'm so full of lycopene I hardly ever need lipstick or blush!

Last weekend, I found a recipe for classic Tuscan pomodoro soup in this month's issue of InStyle. And because I always want to make a recipe my own, I tweaked it a bit!

Chop chop chop 3 large cloves of garlic. I love garlic. Love it! I think all my favorite food has a healthy helping of garlic.

Tear apart a handful of fresh basil leaves. This smells fantastic--made my mouth water for the tomato feast to come!

Cut 3 slices of old white bread into 1/2-inch cubes. I used the last slices of my week-old Gardenia white loaf.

Pour 3 tablespoons of the best olive oil you can find into a saucepan over medium heat.

Add garlic then basil and a teaspoon of McCormick's Italian Seasoning--a secret my friend Mariel shared with me. By the way, the garlic, basil and dried herbs smell heavenly!

When the garlic and leaves look golden and toasted, stir in chopped tomatoes. I used the entire can of Hunt's Whole Roasted Tomatoes (that's about 1.7 lbs). Don't pour in all the sauce, by the way, just half a cup. When it begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir the pot a lot!

Add bread and 3 cups of water. Turn up the heat again until it boils, then bring down the heat for simmering time. Stir constantly, breaking up the bread and tomatoes (press against the sides of the pot).

Season with salt and pepper. I used about a tablespoon of rock salt and a generous helping of freshly cracked pepper. I know that's a lot but it's a lot of soup, too. Simmer away for about 5 minutes.

Ladle immediately into a bowl or big mug (sprinkle fresh basil leaves and drizzle olive oil on top) and serve with grilled fish or grilled chicken and red wine. We had Minute Maid's new Mango-Orange juice, though--and it is very good!

Oh, this soup was so rich, hearty and good! Really really good--the stuff of cold nights, happy laughter and heartfelt conversations. Vince loved it. Yey!

Gap launched their 1969 Premium Jeans last night at the Bonifacio High Street store. Vince and I went to check it out. We don't own Gap jeans, you see, as we are die-hard Levi's wearers. I've been wearing Levi's since I was 13, then I switched to Guess in college, then to Lee and Ensembles in my early 20s, then I went back to Levi's. Vince, meanwhile, only wears Levi's. The Gap jeans look nice and comfy and sleek enough... so maybe we'll go try them out soon! The Gap 1969 Premium Jeans are available at all the Gap stores: Bonifacio High Street, Megamall, Mall of Asia, Shangri-la Plaza, Glorietta 4, Trinoma, Robinsons Place Manila and ATC.

My sister-in-law Rose is the perfect example of silent strength. She's very feminine and quiet, traits which people mistake as shyness or weakness. I certainly thought so and how wrong I was!

In my last post on my Magnificent Women Series, some of my readers didn't believe me when I said I can be very unpleasant. Well, this confession might change your mind!

I have caused Rose unimaginable pain because I had treated her as someone who wasn't good enough to marry my younger brother. Despite her deep commitment to him, despite her utter devotion, despite their being together since they were toddlers, despite everything! I was immature and cruel, a sister's jealousy gone bad. And my jealousy can be nasty and extreme. If this were a telenovela or a soap, Rose would be played by a long-suffering Kristine Hermosa and I would be played by... hmmm, I dunno, just someone really bitchy and speaks English all the time!

She did tell me off finally--gently but firmly--which shocked me to offer an apology. Though you might think it would be war from then on, Rose has embraced me and loved me and shown me that her formidable strength of character lies in patience, forgiveness and grace--traits which I now hope to instill in my own life.


Rose, thank you for showing me how a wife can serve her husband without losing herself and for taking care of my brother who can be the most absent-minded person ever. And though I resisted welcoming you into our family, you have only opened your arms wider and instead took me in... and my family, too! You take care of everyone I love even more than I do, showing me in your quiet way how a daughter, a sister, a woman should be. You have shown me that a woman's heart can be immense and that to take the world into one's heart is most possible, most important and most beautiful.
Ate

Magnificent Woman 1: Jacqui