Home on Mondays: New Kitchen is Almost Done!

I stayed away from the kitchen when it was being renovated. They also covered it up while working on it, so I only saw updates through the photos Sweetie would send. Everyday Sweetie would have a timelapse of the work. It was fascinating to watch it being torn down, seeing the huge damage made by the termites and then seeing a new kitchen being built from ground up. 

Here's a before and after photo:

We're not done yet. There's a hole in the ceiling because the roof and electrical installation needs to be fixed. The top of the cabinets will be boarded up when the roof is fixed. I went through the cabinets and drawers and there are a few things that need to be tweaked to fit my needs. And, just confirmed our choice for the backsplash.

I'm really happy about our kitchen now. The remnants of what it went through is gone now. The team captured my needs and what I wanted. We chose to use wood laminate to make the look more timeless. White and grey squiggly lines countertop to make it look clean. And matte grey tiles for the floor (glad it's no longer slippery). 

The appliances are the same. Architect Wansi and his team decided to switch the refrigerator and pantry. The stove was moved closer to the sink. The ugly part of the exhaust is also now covered (no more eyesore!). The counter is also a bit longer now. If you notice though, the oven is gone! 

View from the other end.

Really grateful to Architect Wansi Oliveros and the whole Alab team for our beautiful kitchen. Thankful to Ms. Myna for introducing Architect Wansi to us. I'm excited to finish the priority works we've identified so we can have a beautiful and happy (and hopefully de-cluttered) Christmas!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Miracle Sundays: Don't Beg for Love

We were busy all day clearing up space for the workers tomorrow, so it's going to be a short reflection today. I chanced upon this post by The Feast Official on IG yesterday. It spoke to me because I finally realized why a part of me always felt incomplete. 

I was only ten years when my sister flew out of the nest. She left for the US to study. She also got married there. Since 1985, I've only seen her less than 5 times. My brother got married when I was 13 and soon got busy with his own family. I saw him at least once or twice a year even when he moved to another country. The last time my family was complete was during my wedding. That was almost 13 years ago.  

Before I met Sweetie, I took a long break from being in a relationship. I had been making bad decisions on who to love. It was a good thing I took a break because I learned to love and value myself. I went into relationships where I always felt I wasn't enough. The last one reached the point where my parents talked to me and told me he wasn't the right guy. 

Those bad decisions stemmed from feeling abandoned by my siblings. It's not their fault they were much older than me (16 and 13 years older). They were already well on their way to adulthood when I was still going through my terrible twos. They already had their own families when I was in high school. I skipped growing up with siblings to tita-hood.  

I think I turned out okay anyway. Made a lot of mistakes. Got hurt and disappointed many times. But life is beautiful. I have what I need and I know God always has my back. Appreciate what you have and be grateful for those people in your life who really show you that they care. Don't ever beg for love. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Kitchen Scraps Experiment Results

The past few months I've been trying to grow veggies from kitchen scraps. Some were successful, some did not work out. I've been experimenting so I could learn and hopefully have my own produce. I'll probably continue to experiment until I get things right. Here's a list of what I've tried to grow from kitchen scraps:

Tomatoes

I tried this experiment in Singapore. I cut up one tomato and planted it directly on soil (apparently you're supposed to just get the seeds hehe). I soon enough had a lot of seedlings. Several survived when I transplanted them and I was able to harvest some. They were tiny though and I now know what went wrong (it lacked calcium and phosphate). You can read up more about the experiment here.

Bell Peppers

Best to dry the seeds before you plant them. They are quite prolific, but it takes a bit of time for it to grow. I was able to harvest some, but they were not perfect. Also realized that I should have given it fertilizer so it would grow well. More about the experiment here.

Lemongrass/Tanglad

After cutting off the leaves, I propagated the bottom part of the lemongrass in water for a few days. Then I planted it in soil. It's one of the easier veggies to grow. I just chop off some every so often and it grows back immediately. 

Onions

Made several attempts to grow onions. I tried propagating the roots in water, then planted it. Tried directly growing on soil. I must have overwatered it because they died after a few weeks. Maybe I'll try planting from seed. 

Garlic

It's so easy to propagate roots in water. After planting them in soil they would grow stalks for a few weeks. I'm not sure what went wrong, but they all died too. Gaaaah. I'll probably try again when the weather is hotter. 

Ginger

Ahhh, one of the easier ones to propagate. Just make sure to propagate the roots when the ginger is still fresh. Plant in soil once the roots grow out. The ones I propagated and planted in early August. Should be ready for harvest by summer! More about ginger here.

Tumeric

Got a bunch of tumeric from a friend. Propagated them the same time I tried growing ginger. They have grown nicely and should be ready to harvest by June next year (yeah, longer than ginger!). More about tumeric here.

I've suspended planting anything for now since there's work being done at home. Sawdust hasn't been good for my plants. I think the weather hasn't been good also since my seedlings have been dying from the lack of sun (the angle has noticeably changed). I'll probably focus on maintenance for now and just start planting again early next year. 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Lakwatsera Fridays: First Time at Alabang West Parade

We're usually hungry after buying some groceries at Landers. We usually go on a weekday to avoid the crowd, but since we're tied up with renovations we only had time to go last Sunday (after a full month of just being home!). 

We normally buy some food before going home, but the queue was so long we decided to check out the Alabang West Parade. We saw it when we went to Landers for the first time last month and was curious to check it out. We immediately checked if there were any good places to dine at via Google Maps.

Boy it was hard to make a u-turn from the gasoline station. They should probably place a traffic light in the area for safety (and remove that McDonald's signage since it's blocking the view of drivers). We eventually found ourselves at Alabang West Parade. 

We were so hungry and went in the first resto that was almost empty. The place housed two restos, Bad Bird and Tsuke-men. Miggy got some umami chicken. I had gyudon (their best seller) and Sweetie had Japanese curry. We were so excited because it was first family lunch out. We used to do that after hearing mass before in Singapore before Miggy went back home. Good thing it was an odd time to eat lunch so the resto was pretty empty. 

After eating we went around and checked out what else was open. We went to UCC to check out their coffee, but it was full so I immediately went out after looking at the menu. They have eggs benedict! It's one thing that's been hard to find here, so we'll likely go back one of these days. Milk tea lovers would be happy to hear there's Macao Imperial Tea. I noticed though there was a number of steak places, Brotzeit and Wolfgage (obviously their target market is very different). There's Mama Lou's if you want pasta and several new places have just opened too. Got some peppermit mocha frap (non-fat!) just before we left. 

Alabang West Parade is a nice new place to explore. They have a number of these smaller resto/shopping nooks across Alabang (at least two between West Gate and Filinvest). It reminds me of neighborhoods in the US where they have a row of stores. Near AWB is a market where you can buy fresh seafood. Lots of places to explore!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Throwback Thursday: Monthly Birthday Celebrations

The best thing about being part of a community is you gain an extended family. I had a multitude of Ates and Kuyas as I grew up. They were also all my neighbors so we naturally hung-out after our service. We spent many years celebrating birthdays monthly. 

c2007 at Tita Eva's

It was a monthly feast where we got to sample their specialties. It was fun because we all came from different provinces. We usually buy Baliwag chicken also as an add on. During those times we didn't need to diet, haha. 

c2006 I think at Papa Ray's

The kids back then were all still chikitings. They had their own little world while the adults would eat then do some jamming. It's a great memory for me because my choir family did not make me long for my siblings who both lived in other countries. Most of the kids now are already working, some in university and a few still in high school. 

Soon enough though we started fragmenting. People started to get married and move to other places. Some of us moved to other countries because of work. We were able to have Christmas reunions for a few years, but it was hard since those who'd come home would also be busy with their family reunions. 

Most recent get-together was Papa Ray's surprise birthday party, c. 2019

When we came home, my Ates and Kuyas welcomed us back. We've been able to see some of them and they also helped us when the boys had COVID-19. I'm eternally grateful to have my choir family and hope when renovations are done we could host a get-together or smaller dinners. 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Wellness Wednesdays: Make the Time to Prettify

I was better at taking care of my looks when I was still working. I honestly got lazy moisturizing during the lockdown. My cardiologist had a dermatologist look at me too when I was hospitalized. She just advised me to moisturize everyday (luckily she did not find any issues!). 

I was browsing through a PE* patient support group last week and one of the patients advised that it would help if you make the time to make yourself pretty. Fix your hair, moisturize, put on some make up, wear some earrings. Make the effort to look good because it will help you feel good. 

Thought it was good advise. The day after I started to moisturize twice a day. I also started to wear earrings after taking a shower. It did make me feel better. Last Sunday, I finally got a haircut after over a year. I've been attempting to do that for six months now. I even asked the hair dresser to give me some bangs! LOL. 

While it doesn't remove the fact that I sometimes feel unwell during the day, at least I'm more presentable now, haha. A friend told me to buy a new pair of sneakers. Told him I rarely go out. He said I could wear them at home. Haha. Told him, maybe I'll eventually get there. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

*Pulmonary Embolism

Creative Happy Tuesdays: My Ambitious Christmas Project

My dining chairs are black. I had them made that way coz I could make quilted seat covers. You can also buy seat covers online. I saw some cute seat covers online, but they're too small. My chairs are too big, so I'll just make some. 

After getting inspiration, I started doodling on how I wanted my first seat cover should look like. I decided on a simple Santa and snowman design. I quickly pieced the base together and soon realized it was harder than I thought it would be. 

The first big hump was the size of the face. The first one I made was too small. I made several templates before I replaced the face. I'll just use it for another project. The second hump was making the nose. I thought it was as easy as making pincushions. It took several tries before I was satisfied with what I made. Third challenge was making the mustache. Then I realized I didn't have big buttons for the eyes. Luckily the one I ordered online was delivered in two days.

I'm probably just halfway through. I'm debating on whether I'll add more hair and a beard for Santa. I didn't realize it would be this challenging, haha. The tree skirt was much easier to do. Hopefully, I'll be done before Christmas!

#BeKind #StaySafe