TWF 964

Note to self. (It's a he for me though.)

All Souls' Day

Taking a moment to remember and say a little prayer for our departed loved ones.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Calvin & Hobbes 110601

quoting

from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

"We are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

"It' okay to feel things. And be who you are about them."


I took a break from non-fiction (pregnancy and parenting) and went back to fiction for a couple of days. :) "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was showing in cinemas a couple of weeks ago and friends' reviews were all, "You should watch it!" My present situation doesn't allow me to enter a movie theater for the next few months so I read the book instead. :D (Borrowed my sister's copy--thanks, Mela!) Good book, I liked it! Read it during breastfeeding sessions and I finished it in 2 days. My view is that the book is always better than its movie version, but I'd still want to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie someday. Adding it to my list of movies to watch, which also includes The Dark Knight Rises. (Yes, I haven't seen it yet.) Basta, as soon as the videos come out...

Mutts 120927

Ronjie & Alfonso come to mind... ♥

mmm... chocolate!

Chocolate treats this month:

black-bottom cupcakes baked by my sister & her friends, which I had with my evening milk

(the cupcakes tasted like cheesecake brownies)

cookies & cream Kit Kat

(from Japan, pasalubong from Ronjie)

chocolate suman from my sister's Leyte dive trip

tiramisu-flavored hot cocoa (pasalubong from my brother, from _____)

which I had with a bañada (pasalubong from Iloilo)

:D

insect bites

Calvin and Hobbes 120826

One thing I do not like about summer: all the bugs and creepy crawlies which start coming out! >:(

An insect (mosquito?) feasted on my wrist just recently, while I was having my afternoon nap, and left a constellation of bites. They're really itchy! Haay!

Anyway, I'm just thankful that I'm in Manila now and do not have to deal with irritating cicadas or cockroaches while alone in the apartment in Japan. Hope the husband doesn't have to deal with so much of the summer pests over there this year though. :D

R.I.P. Sec. Jesse Robredo

Link to Mayor Jesse Robredo's speech to Ateneo de Manila University's 2003 Graduating Class: http://www.naga.gov.ph/cityhall/ademu2003.html

#SalamatJesse

Kit Kat from Keith

I like how the title sounds. :D

Kit Kat vanilla ice cream - pasalubong from my cousin Keith who's on vacation here from Japan

Calvin and Hobbes 120802

FreeCell update! Finished game 787 today. :)

July baked goods

I missed baking. So this July, we've been baking at least once a week at home. :)

Started off with regular fudge brownies baked by my sister. Using White King instant brownie mix. Sarap! It was moist, soft & fudgy. :9 The week after, I tried making cheesecake brownies, but they ended up a failure. :( My fault actually, I didn't read the recipe beforehand. The brownie mix I got was only half the amount required in the recipe, and I still used the full amount of cheesecake topping mixture. They ended up too moist, with the brownie section not being cooked through. Taste-wise, masarap naman. :) I was luckier the following week when I made strawberry crumb bars (using a blueberry crumb bars recipe but substituting stuff). The strawberry crumb bars were good, though they probably would have tasted better if fresh strawberries were used. Lastly, I made Nutella cupcakes for my birthday. :) We didn't have enough Nutella though so half the batch just had half the amount of Nutella--and to augment this, I dropped in some peanut m&ms into the kulang-ng-Nutella cupcakes. I overbaked the cupcakes so they ended up dry. :( Lesson learned. Oh well. (Pero masarap pa rin naman sila ha. Can't go wrong with Nutella.)

I've been collecting recipes for next month's baking sessions. Excited to try them out already and post about them too. :)

anniversary

Fifth anniversary today! -- of our first official date. :) (Ronjie & I had lunch & dinner a couple of times before, but I didn't consider them dates.) And after 5 years, we've been married a year already, with baby on the way. It's been wonderful. Thank you, Lord. :)

Anyway, on our first wedding anniversary 7 months ago (delayed blog post again :D), we were blessed to both be in Manila, together, to celebrate. We went to mass in the same church where we first met and were married in and got a special blessing from the presiding priest after. :)

Our Lady of Pentecost Church, near Katipunan Ave., Q.C.

Then dinner date in a nearby Chinese restaurant. ♥
We had been looking for a Chinese restaurant in Japan which served Peking duck (Beijing duck?) but couldn't find any. So we told ourselves we'd have our Peking duck fix when we vacation in Manila for the holidays, and we did! Hah!

We ordered some dim sum and half a Peking duck, which we requested to be served 3 ways (a tip which I got from here). Before, I only knew of Peking duck served 2 ways.

the soup made with duck bones, etc. was really flavorful

Took home the leftover soup, and still enjoyed it for the next couple of days.

We were so full after dinner and couldn't think of anything else to do but head straight back home, where we quietly spent the rest of the night just lounging. :D Already looking forward to our second wedding anniversary in 5 months' time. This time we'll be celebrating with our son (who's coming in a few weeks). Yay!

strawberry crumb bars

Back in Japan, I came across this recipe for blueberry crumb bars while surfing the net. They looked so yummy, I told myself I'd make them someday. Bookmarked the site, blueberry crumb bars for baking once I get to Manila. (We didn't have an oven in our Japan apartment.)

I couldn't find fresh or frozen blueberries here so I settled for canned strawberry pie filling. (Hmm... next time I make this I'll use fresh strawberries naman.)

Followed the instructions step-by-step. :)

before

after

After an hour or so of baking + overnight chilling, I have yummy ready-to-eat strawberry crumb bars! :9 Found them a bit too sweet though, but it was fine. :)

nomnomnom

15 July 2012

I'm done with my May blog backlog! (June, not yet, but getting there... :D) Spending the whole of today at home, except for mass later, to rest and recharge in the hopes of fighting this cold I just got. (I hate being sick. :/)

Sharing a couple of stuff from thingsweforget and Garfield, before they start piling up in my post-in-blog folder:

twf 894

Garfield 120713

I'm baking this today! But with major substitutions: strawberries for blueberries & canned for fresh. Let's see how it'll end up. Stay tuned! :D

Garfield 120703

pasalubong from Australia :)

I love when my siblings go out-of-town or out-of-the-country... because they always come home with pasalubong! :D My brother got back from a business trip in Australia and brought these home for us. Sarap ng fresh cherries! :9

pineapple 120620

Visited my former office today and was happy to see that pineapple is still alive! Here it is - now with another plant accompanying it in its pot.

wind engineering

Sometime late last year, I got to visit the wind engineering laboratory in my husband's school. Ronjie toured me around the lab, showed me his experiment model (not posting photos of it here, though - sikreto pa muna yon - until Ronjie's dissertation is published) and explained the functions of the various testing machines, etc. It was a different, cool experience!

My husband is studying wind engineering, the structural field of wind engineering. To explain more about wind engineering, I was supposed to link you to this article in Malaya (a local newspaper) where a representative of RWDI (the top wind engineering firm in the world) was interviewed, but when I checked the link, I found it inaccessible. :( Should have saved a screenshot of the page or should not have procrastinated in writing this entry. (Almost a year! Hehe.) Still, here's the link to the Malaya article:  http://www.malaya.com.ph/aug26/envi1.html - I hope it goes up again soon.

To make up for the lost link, here's another link instead... to my husband's blog post (which was also my source of the Malaya article), where he has a short introduction to wind engineering and where he also writes about its importance and relevance in the Philippine setting. Check it out, here!

Oh, and enjoy the photos! :)

one end of a small wind tunnel

the other end of the wind tunnel

a small wind tunnel

earthquake simulator?

tornado simulator

Cool stuff, huh?

By the way, it's my husband's birthday today, June 20. Happy birthday, dear! :) I'm so proud of you. :)

Calvin and Hobbes 111221

Unlike Calvin, our son is lucky - his dad knows how to correctly answer the load limit determination query. :D

Calvin and Hobbes 120612

I wonder what crazy ideas our son will have. :)

Mr. Owl 120609

I've been gone from Japan for 2 weeks now, but happy that Ronjie updates me on how things are there. He sent me this photo of Mr. Owl, taken last Saturday, so I could also update you all about their situation. :D New flowers have been planted and Mr. Owl & Ms. Duck were moved a bit to the side. Hehe. Ang cute nila. Hello, Summer! :)

photo by Ronjie

In other news, Hugh Jackman received a special Tony Award last night for his "contributions to the Broadway community, both as a performer and humanitarian; his tireless dedication to charitable works of many types; and his personal generosity of spirit." His wife, who hates public speaking, surprised him by presenting the award! Aww! ♥ This is his acceptance speech.

I miss my husband more now. :/ Anyway, have a great week everyone! :) I have a lot of blog backlog, working on them this week. Will be posting antedated (hehe! :D) blog entries and photos in the coming days. :)

other May food

We introduced our silog + hash brown series with cornedbeefsilog last month. This month, we're starting off with longsilog! (using Pampanga's Best longganisa)

stir-fried beef and asparagus

 with carrots because Ronjie was able to buy carrots on sale :D

fill the bag with all the carrots and/or potatoes you can and everything is just ¥200!

grapefruit

Meiji chocolate-coated rice crispies snack?

on most days, breakfast is toast with assorted jams

top: mango jam
bottom: blueberry jam

tinolang manok with pechay and potatoes

(using Connie Veneracion's recipe)

Peanuts Choco

carbonara (with mushrooms)

I ♥ bacon

tapsilog

my plate on top, Ronjie's at the bottom
(I don't like my egg runny)

fish fillets braised in tartar sauce

this looks oily and unappetizing, but it tasted really good!

 peanut butter toast + apples

sweet & savory grilled chicken - we ate this with rice

(I also used some of this for grilled chicken wraps)

honeydew melon

beef caldereta

some corn snack

coconut biscuits

tortang talong (with ground pork)
(using a recipe from Connie Veneracion)

microwave carrot mugcakes

(this is the best of the mugcakes I've made!)

chicken fillets with hoisin sauce

fried sausages with hash browns

I think I over-fried the sausages. Their skins broke already. :/

microwaved sausages with nori-rice

Doritos - taco flavor

fried beef and potatoes with sour cream

honey-ginger chicken

pork asado (with spinach in oyster sauce)

(the pork asado I had left over, I added to my hawaiian fried rice)

sinigang na salmon sa miso

mixed fruits

pork siomai

Koka spicy black pepper instant noodles

(I first heard about them here.)

A&W gave us a whole stash of Koka instant noodles when they visited. :D

Cajun chicken fillets with ranch dressing + corn on the cob

lumpiang shanghai (using leftover siomai filling) + cucumber-onion-tomato salad

fried pork chops

pag tinatamad magluto

raspberry Kit Kat

didn't like this

beef pie which I had on Flight CX905 (HKG-MNL leg)

(forgot to take a photo of my food on the HND-HKG flight)

Manang L's patola with misua

Manang L's tinolang manok with sayote, potatoes & malunggay leaves

Parang namimiss ko na magluto.