Vegetable au gratin... and the UP Pep Squad

Vegetable au gratin is French style baked casserole.  This was served at Lozzi the previous week.  As I mentioned in the previous post, student meal is cheap at the University I have always eaten lunch on campus on weekdays.  They had a beautiful vegetable-filled pancakes and veggie patties last week but I didn't have the courage to take out my camera to take a photo of my food.  The cafeteria was full of people and I didn't want to look like an geek taking photos of his food.  Talk about self-presentation issues.

For 2.50 euros, I had two scoops of the vegetable au gratin and took as much salad as I wanted.  I also mentioned that bread is unlimited but I saw a sign in Lozzi that you can take only 3 slices of bread.  It didn't say how big a slice should be so it's rather relative.  Two slices are usually enough for me.


What I learned last week was that you can take coffee for only 80 cents if you pay it with your meal.  The normal price of a cup of coffee is 1 euro.  Coffee is rather expensive here so I had decided to pay for the coffee with my meal and just have it for take away after lunch.

With the academic load, I'm not really keen on cooking elaborate dishes so I have only been making stir fries and fried rice.  I stir fry vegetables and tofu in the evening and what's left becomes fried rice in the morning. Now that's convenient.  I need to spend more time reading as some of the required articles are too abstract for my PE mind to comprehend.  Can I just go back on my mat and do asanas instead? Or maybe I can go back to dancing.

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Talk about dancing, the UP Pep Squad retained their title in the recently concluded 2011 UAAP Samsung Cheerdance Competition.  I am proud to be a part of this group.  Truly, this group is an icon of reinvention.  As I posted in my fb status, people used to think that stunting is UP Pep Squad's weakest skill.  Ten years ago, UP Pep won its 3rd straight title through a dance-filled routine.  The stunts were creative but lacked difficulty in transitions.  Now, the squad has developed into a full fledged cheerleading team.  They even earned the right to represent the country in the upcoming World Cheerleading Championships to be held in Hong Kong this coming November.

Kudos to Coach Lala and the rest of her coaching staff for making UP Pep Squad truly the "Pep Squad ng Bayan."

Here is the 2001 UP Pep Squad routine...



Be amazed at how they are now...



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Oh, and here's a basic Vegetable Au Gratin Recipe.

Enjoy!