25 Years After World Youth Day 1995

Oh wow! It's been 25 years since World Youth Day 1995. I realized this when Ate Neysa pinged me a few weeks ago. She said that her choir was going to come out with a new version of the theme song, "Tell the World of His Love". Trina Belamide, the composer of the song, is part of the choir and was looking for WYD 1995 photos to use for the video. Of course, my photo collection got volunteered. It's a good thing that I had scanned my WYD 1995 photos because they got destroyed during Typhoon Ondoy. So the set of photos are really precious to me.

I'm always happy to share my WYD 1995 experience. I had previously shared it on a news segment (tiny version is here). My Ate said that my photos are also displayed in the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II in Washington. I hope whoever sees the photos would feel the love and happiness I was feeling during that time.

Ate Neysa is one of the singers in the new version of Tell the World of His Love.

Yesterday wasn't a good day for me. I felt so drained because of some uncontrollable situations. I normally read Didache before I sleep and the title of yesterday's reflection was, "Be a Prophet". I wanted to write about the new version of "Tell the World of His Love" yesterday, but I was just really tired. Reading the Word yesterday reminded me that I have to have faith. I am where I am because I have a mission to fulfill.

And that's why I easily agreed to share my old photos for the video of "Tell the World of His Love". I felt so much joy on that day especially when Pope John Paul II passed in front of us. It was the same feeling when we visited Kamay ni Hesus for healing in 2009. And most recently when we were blessed by Pope Francis in Rome two years ago.

I have been struggling health-wise the last few years. There are good days and there are bad days, but I always pull through mainly because of my faith and the love of my family. That's all that matters and I just leave where I should be to Him.

Where you at World Youth Day 1995? What was your experience?


#CB//88 #WFH66 #StuckAtHomeDay/118 #StayHome #BeKind 

I Miss My Mom and Miggy

I feel so drained this past week. I think I need a break. I've also been missing my Mom and Miggy a lot. This is the longest I have been away from them.

I just realized that I won't be with them on my birthday. Last year I had the best birthday. We were in Manila and we ate at my favorite spaghetti place -- Makati Supermart. In the evening we had Korean barbeque at Romantic Baboy. It was a simple happy day with the family.

Sweetie has been a really good companion. He's been very patient and has provided the stability I need. He knows when I'm feeling down and does things to make me feel better. I guess what has helped us is the many hobbies and interests we have. That's what we do on weekends.

Of course I cannot help but worry over my Mom and Miggy. They both say they're okay and have been managing well. Mom had been having cough and colds often, but I noticed that this has been drastically reduced since she's just been home. She still tends to her garden everyday and it's still so hard to get through her landline (coz it's always busy!).

I pray though that things will be a bit better this Christmas and we can all be together again.

#CB//87 #WFH65 #StuckAtHomeDay/117 #StayHome #BeKind 

The Chedeng

In the Philippines we fondly call the Mercedes Benz, the Chedeng. I don't really know why, I grew up hearing people refer to the Benz as the Chedeng. My Dad worked for General Motors and that's how he obtained a Benz. My Tito Louie said it was a 1967 W11 190D. It was the car I grew up with. It was huge, super sturdy and it had a pull down seat which was my designated seat. The doors were always too heavy for me and I could never open and close it by myself.

Daddy's car looked a bit like this, same color and build but the headlights were different. I saw this car back in 2016 at a university in Northern Luzon. Took all my will not to fling my arms around it LOL. 

My Dad never sold the car. He had an idea to keep it useful and eventually turned it into a pick-up. He super loved the car and we had it at home until I was in college. We had so many adventures with it. Every summer we'd pile up in the car and Dad would drive all the way to Bicol. There was that memorable pig in the highway (story here) and the snake in the car!

I have so many precious memories about Daddy's Benz. It was the car where my family was always complete. And so today when I went out for my physiotherapy session I saw a Benz taxi when I alighted from my Grab. I hoped then that I'd get to ride one on the way home.

Benz is <3 I think it's the perfect car.

Bought milk and juice after my session and crossed the street to the taxi stand. I had a huge smile on my face when I saw that the taxi waiting was a Benz. Uncle greeted me with a huge smile and all the way home I reminisced happy childhood memories. It also made me feel like Daddy was just around watching over me.


#CB//86 #WFH64 #StuckAtHomeDay/116 #StayHome #BeKind 

New Dishes and Bread I Want to Make/Bake

I'm reaching that point when I feel I'm getting cabin fever again. I know I'm getting to that point when my back starts hurting and when I start falling asleep on the couch right after work. Even though I like staying home I still miss the outside world. And I miss traveling.

The yummiest gyoza in the world by my friend Shirni <3

When this happens I try to think about new things I can do so I don't fall in a rut. I've been thinking about new dishes I can try cooking and other types of bread I can bake. Here's a list of what I'm thinking of doing -

Cook

Baked sushi
Soy garlic chicken
Baked fish (no idea what kind yet)
Carbonara (I still haven't found the best recipe)
Yilan pork dish (they sent me this recipe to follow)
Siopao

Bake
*Need to finish my Pinoy buns season

Monay
Ensaymada (the megamelt version)
Foccacia
Coffee bun
Pizza dough (Sweetie will take care of the toppings)
Italian bread or honey oat bread (should probably check with Tappy)

For cooking I'm still thinking whether I should do a theme, maybe a cluster of North Asian dishes (Japan/South Korea/Taiwan) and some traditional Filipino recipes I've never tried. For baking, Sweetie's been really curious about those types of bread that have veggies/nuts in it. Comment below if you have any recommendations :)

#CB//85 #WFH63 #StuckAtHomeDay/115 #StayHome #BeKind 

Before We had Fancy Home Appliances

A new season has began for my kitchen adventures. I finally got a food processor and I'm enjoying the benefits of having one. I told Sweetie I never experienced using one because we did not have it at home when I was growing up. After trying out the food processor last weekend Sweetie wished that someone had given us a food processor as a wedding present. It could've saved me from getting wounded many times when I was learning how to properly slice veggies.

Getting a food processor made me realize that there are so many conveniences now that didn't exist back we I was growing up. Here are some I could think of -

1. All our laundry was done by hand. It was only in the 90s when we got a washing machine. During the rainy season I would oftentimes see my uniform hung at the back of our fridge to dry.

2. One of the kitchen appliances my Mom got immediately was a rice cooker. I never learned how to cook rice the traditional way. The old rice cookers though would always have burnt rice (tipo) at the bottom. My Dad love that part. Newer rice cookers now (the Japanese ones) always come out perfect.

3. A reason why I never learned how to cook growing up is because I'm scared of fire. I only learned how to light a candle when I was 12 years old because I had to stand-in as candle sponsor for my Ate's wedding. Our gas stove at home would sometimes blow out huge gusts of fire. It terrified me. I discovered electric stoves when Sweetie and I married and I learned how to cook for survival.

4. Walis tambo and bunot. Every young child knew how to use both when I was growing up. Nowadays it's more common to use vacuum cleaners and those fancy robot vacuum cleaners. We have those, but I still use a walis tambo every so often. I also have a trusty walis tingting back home.

5. My Mama Lola had a traditional Singer sewing machine when I was growing up and that's how i learned how to use a sewing machine. She also had an electric one (it was ginormous!). My Mom thought got a nice Brother sewing machine in the laste 80s (110 volts!), but she had me learn how to quilt by hand and didn't really allow me to use her fancy sewing machine. She lent it to me last Christmas (after 30 years!), but 110 volt plugs don't exist now. Those electric sewing machines used to cost a lot, but now they're quite cheap and I'm happy Sweetie got me one.

What the food processor outdated was... my hand. Having one has made food prep time much shorter. I normally take so long preparing anything that require vegetables. I'm so slow at chopping since my eye and hand coordination are not in-sync. Like seriously.

We're lucky to be in this era where we have all these conveniences. It's probably made our lives easier, but it's probably contributed to the deterioration of Mother Earth. I think the best I can do is make sure to use the appliances for a long, long time and make sure it is disposed properly (or re-used).

What about you? What are your favorite conveniences now that didn't exist before?


#CB//84 #WFH62 #StuckAtHomeDay/114 #StayHome #BeKind 

Weekends Then, Weekends Now

I love weekends. I wish everyday was a weekend! Before Taal Volcano erupted and before we started staying home mostly our weekends were always busy. We usually had our cleaner come on Saturday mornings and then we'd spend afternoons doing hobbies. On Sundays we hear mass and then head to the mall to eat and do groceries. Sometimes we also go out on Saturdays to watch a movie or late night ice cream runs to the nearby McDonald's.

The routine changed when Miggy went back to Manila. We officially became empty nesters then and it took us several weeks before we adjusted to not having him around. We spent so much time outside because we dreaded going home to an empty house. We also ran out the door once our cleaner left and just went wherever we could. We were so relieved when he came back for our visit. It took us a long while before we got used to not having him around.

Weekends before meant going out. 

Things actually changed when I took a break in early December. It was two whole months of weekends! Haha. What was funny was I'd wake up early even while on break. Those were two very busy months since I worked on tidying up the house, clearing away old stuff and reducing stuff. We traveled a little, but generally stayed home. When I came back to Singapore and started to work again we only enjoyed one weekend where we did our old routine.

Since March our weekends have been devoted to working on our hobbies. Saturdays are usually for baking and cooking something new. Sundays for quilting and gardening. Sometimes I just sit on the couch and do nothing. We're free to move around now, but being really vulnerable we can't take any chances. So the routine isn't going to change any time soon. Well at least I can hand off some of my baked goodies to our neighbors now.

Weekends now are spent learning something new. 

I spent the entire weekend getting to know my new toy -- the food processor. I used it last night to chop veggies for my spaghetti and today I used it to knead dough! I made pandesal. Sweetie also made a smoothie which we drank while eating pandesal. I think this is going to be a new season of kitchen adventures!

What about you? How do you spend your weekends?



#CB//83 #StuckAtHomeDay/113 #StayHome #BeKind  

Unboxed a New Kitchen Gadget!

Since we moved I've been using our blender a lot more. Our tiny kitchen in our new home has more plugs so it's been easier to prepare fruit shakes using our blender. I got the blender a few years ago from Giant and it was one of those cheap ones. Mind you the inexpensive appliances I bought here in Singapore last a long time (like the SG$20 mixer I got ten years ago, it's what I still use when I bake in Manila). I noticed though that the blender hasn't really been chopping up ice so my shakes have been ending up weird.

I normally replace gadgets only when they're not working anymore, but I thought it's about time to replace my blender. I asked my friends on FB if I should get a new one. Of course, everyone was super supportive! My friend, Jessica from Malaysia commented and said I should get a food processor instead since it can do much more.

To be honest, I have never used a food processor. We didn't have it in our house when I was growing up. Everything was chopped up manually and so I never saw the need for it. I immediately did some research and what got me interested is the point that food processors can knead dough! OMG! After reading up about food processors my friends continued to make suggestions on what brand I should get.

I have a policy for myself while I'm here in Singapore -- do not buy expensive appliances/furniture and home items while here in Singapore. I've been disciplining myself to only buy what I need and I have to bear in mind that I can't possibly bring everything back home. My friend Mark suggested I get a Philips food processor. I told him that I'd likely do that since my Philips induction stove is still working perfectly well after 7 years. I actually prefer to use it over the built in Smeg induction stove in our current kitchen.

I'm so excited to use my new kitchen gadget! I think it's going to level up my kitchen adventures! Here's the unboxing vid!

#CB//82 #StuckAtHomeDay/112 #StayHome #BeKind