32 Lunches - Day 5, Dec. 4: Baked basa fillet + steamed asparagus

I had late lunch today because I napped with my son and we both woke up a little past noon. Lunch was leftovers from the other day: baked basa fillet & steamed asparagus with rice, and apple wedges & a chocolate cookie cake slice for dessert.

32 Lunches - Day 4, Dec. 3: Pho Kinh Do’s mango salad + vermicelli bowl

We had Sunday lunch out as we came from R’s company’s children’s Christmas party in the morning. His company sponsored a movie for the kids (“The Star”) and Santa Claus came to distribute presents for the kids. Pho Kinh Do is one of the many Vietnamese restaurants/ neighborhood pho joints in Guelph. Vietnamese were one of the first Asian immigrants in Guelph (they started coming in during the time of the Vietnam War over 30 years ago). If in other Canadian cities the Asian supermarkets are owned by Chinese, in Guelph the Asian groceries are Vietnamese-owned. The many neighborhood family-owned pho restaurants usually serve Vietnamese and Thai food. I love pho (noodle soup is a comfort food) so I’m really happy that there’s always a place just around the corner where I can get my pho fix. I usually order pho, but for Sunday lunch I got a grilled pork + minced shrimp + spring roll vermicelli bowl for myself and shared a mango salad with R who got a plate of seafood pad thai for himself. My elder son A got a vermicelli bowl too, and we just gave N the youngest a little bit of what each of us got.

mango salad with shrimp

32 Lunches - Day 3, Dec. 2: Turkey meatballs + mac & cheese + steamed asparagus

Almost forgot to take a photo of today’s lunch: turkey meatballs, mac and cheese, and steamed asparagus.

32 Lunches - Day 2, Dec. 1: Pork ribs sinigang leftovers

Leftovers from dinner last night. Pork sinigang is always a good idea. Comfort food from the Philippines.

32 Lunches - Day 1, Nov. 30: Chicken leftovers + cucumber-apple salsa wrap

Hi! I’m back! In my attempt to blog again, I decided on a 32-day project to help me write/post something more regularly, get back into the habit. A lot has changed in 4.5 years. From Japan, we moved back to the Philippines, then we moved to Guelph, Ontario, Canada 3 years ago. I am now a stay-at-home-mom of 2 beautiful boys. Amidst the chaos of managing a preschooler and almost-1-year-old, I try to find some peace and calm in my daily weekday lunches (while my eldest is in school and I just have 1 kid to handle). Lunch prep is done while the baby naps and my it’s ready when he wakes up, in time for us to enjoy lunch together.

November 30 lunch was a chicken wrap using shredded leftover baked chicken (I used this recipe for the marinade and baked the chicken pieces—breasts, thighs, legs—at 375F for 45+ minutes) from the night before + cucumber-apple salsa (cucumber, apple, red onion, cilantro, lemon juice, salt & pepper) + Kraft BBQ sauce + sour cream. My son had the chicken too, but he ate it with rice. Dessert was vanilla yogurt with Philippine mango jam (my last spoonfuls! 😱😩). It was a good, light lunch.