Popsicle on a Cold Afternoon

My little girl has been requesting for strawberry popsicle every single day but we didn't have any strawberry fruit or strawberry syrup. I looked inside the refrigerator and found an orange/strawberry/banana/ juice. I convinced her somehow that it has strawberry in it even if it's color yellow. Usually, I would make a strawberry smoothie and freeze them for her popsicles but lately all our strawberries go into the chocolate fondue.

Giving in to her demands, I finally made 4 popsicles. When it was frozen enough, I called her into the kitchen and after licking her popsicle she said, "Good job Mom for making a good popsicle, this is good for me." What a funny and sweet thing to say, icy cold snack just warmed up my heart.

Who wants Ham?

I got a new request from Lance today, a ham and cheese sandwich! He never eats anything but a cheese sandwich. He said he likes trying new things. Lately he's been talking about granola bars, wraps and how healthy these foods are. The snack days in school are obviously doing him good, making him try new food aside from his usual cheese sandwich, nuggets, mac and cheese, pizza diet.

Two ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner for my picky eater isn't bad at all! I just wish I have that same desire for bread like him. He can live without rice, unfortunately for me, I can't.

When the Sun is not Enough

It's too cold at -26 but very sunny, I'm torn between walking to school or getting a cab. If it weren't for the cold temperature it would be fun to walk, roads are not wet with puddles unlike last week, pavements are just partially covered  with powdery snow except those that are not shoveled.

Fooled by the sunny weather out there, Lei and I walked. I knew it wasn't a good idea the moment Lei asked to be carried after only walking a half  block. What's worse was, we had to walk back and with 2 kids getting restless, I suddenly missed the tricycles and pedicabs in the Philippines :D

Green Leafy Veggies

Back home there are several varieties of leafy green vegetables. I miss the kangkong, kamote leaves, sayote leaves, pepper leaves, bittermelon leaves, malunggay, squash flowers, etc. During one of our many visits to our friends Millet and Arni's house, they cooked sinigang and added spinach to it. It was really good, you can pretend that there was kangkong in it. Thus, our switch to spinach. So far it's been a mainstay to our stir fry, it was on the mussels soup as well and it's going to be in a lot more meals. No wonder Popeye likes it so much :D

A Week's Menu/Guide (soon!)

Lunch today was easy, honey garlic wings on the box and garlic butter mushrooms and wilted spinach. Yesterday's chicken stir fry was delicious, the chicken was tender and seasoned well. I'm gonna fillet more chicken today and will reserve the skin for some crispy chicharon soon.

How I wish I have a week's menu. Organized that I am, I've never had a full week's menu. It is easy to make one, just look what's inside the freezer and create a menu from there, following it would be harder. Sometimes planning ahead of time just don't work. Especially if you have lazy days and cravings that might disrupt your menu. Not to mention, late nights that would result to waking up late and having no time at all to cook.

So instead of a week's menu, I'll just make a week's guide. It could be followed or not, it doesn't really matter, it's just a guide anyway.

Diaper no More!

Goodbye Dora!

We started 2011 with a diaper free home! Leila is officially toilet trained as of January 1. She would have been trained earlier if it weren't for the cute pull up pants. She loved those Pampers Dora pull up pants so much she didn't want to go to the washroom and pee on the potty. When we stopped buying, that's when she started using the potty more. So far no major accidents when we're outside, a few bed wetting episodes but none lately. Lance was about the same age when he got toilet trained.

Ideally, you start toilet training when they're able to walk but aside from that, it's their awareness and readiness to use the potty that's gonna bring you closer to successful toilet training. Early introduction and constant reminders are also great tools. Once they know what pee and poop means, orienting as to where they should go and bringing them even before they feel the urge will build a regular pattern and they would easily sink into the regimen.

Now, I can't wait to get rid of the feeding bottles as well. No amount of bribing with a cute sippy cup seems to work :D

Maja Mais (Corn Pudding)

Maja cooling

Maja mais for me, is almost synonimous to my Kuya Randy (a friend, godfather/godmother to Lance and former co-worker and neighbor.) He never fails to bring either this or leche flan, espasol, pichi-pichi and his other specialties. With no Kuya Randy here and my desire to eat maja, it seems the perfect opportunity to finally make my own. It's now stored in different containers and cooling inside the refrigerator. We sampled one this afternoon, barely cooled. Lei liked the corn and Lance only wanted the pudding part. If Kuya Randy was here he'd say his is more delicious but of course, I prefer mine. Too bad we were so full after dinner there was no room left for any dessert. The chicken stir fry and baked mussels were so good we stuffed ourselves so much. Dessert would have to wait until midnight I guess :D

Baked Mussels vs. Mussels soup

Aside from the bags of vegetables that we bought, we also got this big container of mussels. Surprisingly, the kids love mussels which they refer to as shells. Back home you just buy fresh mussels in the market, saute them in garlic, onions, ginger, add some rice wash, pepper leaves, fish sauce and you've got mussels soup already.  Easy to make and very cheap too!

I mentioned to Mark I missed eating that, we cook mussels here but we usually bake them and drizzle with lemon garlic butter sauce. So for lunch, I finally cooked the mussels soup. Instead of pepper leaves, I put slices of bell pepper, celery and spinach. The soup was delicious, Lei liked it a lot while Lance, only cares about the shells and prefers them baked!!!

Assignments, Good Study Habits and a Pushy Mom

Lance doing his assignment

My February calendar is already organized as far as I know. It's mostly marked with Lance's school activities and assignments. Starting January 31 they have to read every night for at least 15 minutes until February 10 for the school's Readathon.

For Valentine's Day, the kindergarten kids' assignment is to do cards for each of their classmates and they have to do all the writing. Since Lance has to make 16 cards, I told him to at least make 2 cards per day in order for him to finish way before the deadline. Writing is not his favorite thing, mainly the reason why it's imperative for me to set a goal and encourage him to do assignments in advance (obviously, cramming is not in my vocabulary) at the same time, hopefully establishing good study habits as he grows older.

The deadline for the assignment is on February 10, it's not even February and Lance is almost finished, only 3 more cards to go! Way to go Lance, good job Mom for being pushy :D

A Family Portrait (At Last!)

My Family

It's hard to have a family picture when you got two kids whose attention span is so little and who prefers to do anything but have their picture taken. Last Friday however, we managed to have our first family photo shoot. It was fun and could have been more fun if Leila was in the mood but she wasn't. Lance on the other hand was so into it and looked so handsome in all of the pictures. I can't wait to get those pictures!

Anyway, good or bad mood, smiling or not, I still think I have the most beautiful family.

Meat Lovers Going GREEN

Bags of veggies from Costco

My husband and I are no doubt meat lovers. Aside from it not being healthy, buying packs and packs of meat could also be costly. So during our recent supermarket trip, we bought several bags of vegetables. I know it's about time we load it up with greens and cut down on our meat intake. Us having stir fried meals would allow us to have all the vegetables our bodies need yet, have reasonable meat portions and enjoy the food as well. I could probably cook this everyday and get away with it by doing a little mix and match with the vegetables. So yeah, it's about time to bring in the vegetables and a wok please!

Crunch Time

We were supposed to go to a party last night but the kids napped at the last minute and due to the freezing temperature outside, we opted to stay home. Faced with no dinner menu, I gathered some vegetables from the refrigerator and threw them on a skillet. Broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, carrots and spinach were the stars of my 5 spice beef stir fry. In the oven are the 'daing na bangus' being broiled since I'm too lazy to fry and I didn't want any lingering smell of fried fish inside the house mainly because the freshly laundered clothes are still on the baskets waiting to be folded and would be fully exposed to the fish smell.

Dinner was ready in less than an hour. The stir fry was delicious along with the broiled daing. Leftover went straight to Mark's lunch bag leaving us no choice but to have crackers and feta cheese for midnight snack instead of the usual dinner leftovers.

Hubby's Kitchen Assignment

Mark deboning milkfish

Mark's Feta Cheese in Oil with Herbs and Spices

While I do most of the cooking, my husband does the slicing as long as I let him do it which he really insists on doing. He is mighty proud of his knife set, uses this knife for the meat and this for the fish and another one for the vegetables and so on and so forth (I use only 1 or 2 knives.) He is in charge of the fish, the filleting and deboning part that is, I do the scaling. And between the two of us, he is more of the gourmet kinda cook, using herbs and spices, different sauces, researching this and that and more adventurous in trying out new recipes and food. I tend to comfortably settle with anything Filipino when it comes to cooking.

Fortunately for me, I have a hubby who has as much interest in cooking and eating like me but the reason why I do most of the cooking? It is because, when he does, he messes up the kitchen :D

It's all about the ICE

Lance skating for the first time

Lance had 3 skating sessions for this month as part of their curriculum in school. For the first two sessions, he mostly relied on pylons and chairs for support. Since the 3rd session is also their last, we told him that he's not supposed to use any more pylons and skate for real this time.

We were only half serious about it because we never thought he'd learn that easily although we could see his determination even from the start. So there, much to our amazement he zoomed past everyone and skated unaided! He fell a couple of times or was it a hundred times? (Lol)

Leila skating while holding on to a pylon

Hopefully this won't be the kids' last skating experience. I've been looking at the monthly skating schedules and we plan to take them skating atleast once a week. We want them to be good at it and it's something the kids enjoy doing. Might as well develop that interest and maybe Lance will shift from being a soccer player to a hockey player and Leila a figure skater!

My Sugary Sweet Toddler

Giving Mac a kiss!

Holding hands with Ninong Joel

While Lance is on his way to maturity (early onset), our little girl is at her sweetest minus the tantrums. She is no longer shy (sometimes) and is getting ready to attend preschool this year. She says her name with a slang, has a song ready for the teacher which she was practicing on the cab driver the other day. She says hello to almost everyone, talks to the parents in school, she could go on and on about her new shoes or whatever she's wearing. Oftentimes you'd hear her ask, "Do you like my new boots? or my glasses? or my new hat?" And it doesn't end there, she would follow it up with, "My Dad bought it for me." She also told the cab driver about her dream, something with flowers, much to the amazement of the driver. And here's what brought me to laughter, when we got down from the cab, aside from the usual goodbye, she told the driver, "Thank you for riding!"

getting close during a photo op with Ninong Millet

Before, she won't let others kiss her, but now you'll hear her say, "Give me a hug or a kiss first." When we bring Lance to school, she tells her kuya "Give me a hug!" And the sweetest? When it's bedtime, she never fails to say "Goodnight boys."

A Valuable Lesson for a 6 yr. old

Lance with Mommy

Mommy with her grandchildren

Lance, from what I've observed is quite over his sweet stage towards us. Gone are the days that he'd cuddle up and shower us kisses publicly but he still does that from time to time, only in private and by request. But he does have good memory and frequently tells us what he remembers when he was still small, mostly stories when we were still in the Philippines. He remembers his toys, his yellow trike, the guard at PNB, our pedicab rides, our trips to Trabajo market, eating fishball, our old apartment, etc. but sometimes his memory of Mom whom he calls 'Iya' is fading. The other day he told me he can't remember Mom anymore and I asked him if he wants me to show him a picture and he said "I'll just close my eyes and I'll see her." He gets so sad and teary eyed when he forgets how my Mom looks like. I told him once that when you love a person, even if you don't see him/her, keep them in your heart forever, keep them close so that you'll always remember and that you never ever forget a person you love. At his young age, I know he understands and I also know that what I said to him will serve as a valuable lesson to him. I don't mind losing his sweet personality as he grows up because I know his sensitivity will pave way for a much better Lance in the future.

Afternoon errands

When Mark is on day shift he's supposed to pick up Lance from school but last Monday's weather was so perfect Lei and I walked to school (Lei was on the stroller while I walked) and met the boys there. After that we threw out some trash from Lance's birthday, boxes and boxes to the recycling bin at Safeway. Then, we dropped by at Costco to look at something (which was out of stock by the way) fortunately there were a lot of free food to sample. The kids loved it!!! Lei ate everything from the salad greens to the dumpling! We all liked the garlic sausage which we ended up buying which was also our dinner last night (cooked c/o hubby while I watched TV) and Mark's lunch today!

Goodbye Sheila...

Me, Sheila & Grace

I received a sad news this morning regarding the passing of a previous co-staff, Sheila. I informed another co-staff, my senior, Ma'am Chit. Another co-staff messaged me about it. It made me miss all my previous co-staff nurses at CC Ward. At times like this, you can't help but journey back to those happy moments with these people (happy happy while on duty) LOL.

I lost contact with Sheila from the time she surprised us with her resignation. It was no secret to us that she had a heart ailment during her time with us. Her cardiologist even told us to convince her to undergo an operation. She used to ignore her illness before and would even drink Red Horse as if she was the healthiest person in the world! After she resigned, I wasn't sure if she went abroad then went back to her native Baguio and worked as a clinical instructor. I found her again on Facebook, we just exchanged a couple hi's and hellos and that's about it, until this sad news.

CC Ward Outing '05, Sheila in a Superman shirt

Sheila, with tears in my eyes, I'm proud to have known and worked with you, we may not have been the 'bestest' of friends, but in my heart you will always be remembered. Do you still remember our endless conversations about love and relationships? How many times I called you stubborn? You used to ignore the fact that your days were numbered eversince your heart illness was diagnosed. You said you didn't care and you lived life as to how you wanted to live it, you lived by your rules and no one else's and I wished to God it brought you happiness until your last breath.

Our condolences to your family, and may you rest in peace, Sheila.

Kitchen Happiness

I sooo love kitchen stuff! During our recent trip to Walmart, the microwavable egg poacher and omelet pan caught our eye. Mark has been requesting for Eggs Benedict for the longest time now, maybe this week I'll get to try it. I also got the pyrex with lids, perfect for baking and storing. I am on happy mode once again.

Post Bday Weekend

1st stop: We had brunch at Burger King, ate the usual Whopper, poutine for Lance and the kid's meal along with the toys of course.
2nd stop: The kids went sledding at Sugar Bowl. I went down once but after seeing an injured adult, I didn't feel like sledding again, instead, I focused more on the kids giving them nonstop instructions to hold on tightly to their sleds.

3rd stop: The kids went golfing!
4th stop: The movies! We finally watched a movie as a whole family for the first time ever.
5th stop: Walmart for some window shopping but ended up buying a few things. Lance and his Bakugan toys, Lei's shopping cart, my kitchen stuff, new lamp, etc. and we managed to get a free family portrait!
Last stop: HOME! Made a super fast 5 spice pork stir fry served over eggplants and jasmine rice.

This was indeed a super fun weekend spent with my loved ones. Started with some fast food and ended with a home cooked meal.

Puto Pao

Puto + Pork Asado filling = Puto Pao

Our freezer is almost empty except for some pork fats so I decided to finally make Puto Pao and use the pork fats for the asado filling. I made it alright just that I didn't achieve the right amount of tenderness of the pork, so once again, I'd have to make some adjustments on the recipe but other than that it's still Puto Pao. Maybe next time I'll try my luck and make Siopao!

The Unexpected Hit

Coconut Custard

Few days before the party, I attempted to make Coconut Custard for the second time (my first attempt was a complete failure, it didn't get firm enough). I made some adjustments on the recipe particularly on the number of eggs to be used. The result was a creamy custard with solid coconut flavor. I wasn't sure if they are going to like it since I didn't even know if it's delicious or not. It is basically Leche Flan with coconut flavor brought about by the coco milk used. So there, unsure of its fate, I put it on the refrigerator temporarily just until I decide what to do with it. I didn't even let Mark taste it.

On the night of the party, I took it out and served it, warning everyone that it's not the usual Leche Flan. It was devoured in less than 10 minutes or 5 minutes? I'm not so sure. What's important is that they liked it.

I'm still in the process of perfecting my version, especially as to the ratio of egg yolks and whites, the use of white sugar compared to condensed milk, whether to use heavy coco milk or the coco milk lite. Updates to follow.

Triple Celebration

January, I think, is my favorite month. Aside from being the first month of a whole new year, it is also my birth month and also Lance's, not to mention that our wedding anniversary falls on this month too. Lance turned 6 while I turned 32 and our marriage is on it's 7th year!!!

We had a triple celebration of sorts for our friends. It took me two days to complete all the cooking. Much as I'd love to cook, it was too much hard work but I guess it was all worth it since the visitors liked the food. The difficult part wasn't even the cooking but thinking of what to cook and assessing if they're enough. I don't think I've ever slaved that much and cooked so much in my entire life!!!

Made me think too, is nursing really my profession or is it catering? LOL!