Hubby and My Cooking

Back in 2012 I got Sweetie a birthday card from Changi Airport while I was on my way to Morocco. I got the card because of the introductory line...

We've surely come a long way from the first time I attempted to cook. The first dish I cooked for Sweetie was pork adobo and it has become one of his all-time favorites (except now he doesn't eat rice with it!). I cannot say that I'm a real cook because I treat each dish I cook like a science experiment. I follow recipes like how I used to do my chemistry lab assignments back in high school. I hated the bunsen burner and I'm allergic to LPG, so the greatest invention for me is the electric stove (haha!).

It's been four years since Sweetie had to live on my cooking. I've managed to perfect a few dishes that he likes, but since he's trying to lose weight I'm now trying to learn to cook healthy dishes. Well, whatever happens to my new experiments, because he loves me (and is usually hungry), he'll probably eat it, haha.

Easy recipes and our married life adventure is over at Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal. 

Movie: Bride for Rent

Kept myself busy all day to keep myself from going emo. Three years ago today my Dad passed away. I know he's happy up there and he must've guided me in my brazen attempt to cook tempura and make kani salad for my boys (my Dad's a really great cook, he never needed a recipe book). I'm sure he would've been proud of the outcome of my cooking adventure today.

Anyway, after hearing mass we watched "Bride for Rent" together with friends. Here's the full trailer:

The only film I got to watch during the Manila Film Fest was "Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy". I had wanted to check out other movies, but I got sick on New Year's Day (bad cough due to the haze) and then I got busy already. I got curious when I saw the trailer of "Bride for Rent" since it seemed like a fun movie to watch. I mentioned this to my friends mid-week last week and then hatched the plan to watch today. Endless thanks to Malou for the sponsorship (haha!).

We missed the first few minutes of the movie, but we were soon engrossed with the story. It's a romcom with a gazillion of kilig moments. Kim and Xian's tandem just really works (I watched part of My Binondo Girl). Their chemistry and good rapport shined throughout the film. The storyline though isn't really any different from formula local romcoms, but it was a fun movie to watch nonetheless.

We didn't actually notice that the movie lasted more than 2 hours since the pace was quite fast. I liked the fact that each scene was well thought-out. It was clear and concise and got to the point immediately. I also liked the fact that the characters weren't pretentious and walang angst (maybe I'm watching too many telenovelas haha). This movie was definitely what I was expecting it to be - light, no brainer and full of kilig and laughs. Watch it if you have extra time. 

Baguio oh Baguio

To kick off work this year I headed up to Baguio for the inaugural of their GEG chapter led by Aris. It's my third visit in the last 6 months, but it was only on this trip I had some time to do other fun stuff. I was planning to recount this on a day to day basic but a creepy night visitor took over my blog for a few days. What I didn't expect was the trip would kinda detoxify me and wean me away from pork, beef and sweets! Argh!

On the first night I met up with Vince, Dean, Aris together with Philip and Iosif. I had always wanted to try out Oh My Gulay but never had the chance. I was ecstatic to finally visit the all-veggie resto (much to Philip's chagrin hehe) and was so excited I looked up their menu while waiting for my companions to come back from their meetings.

Vince, Dean, Iosif, Philip and Me.

I did not expect that the resto was on the fourth floor in a building on Session Road. I still have issues going up stairways and so I forced everyone to take breaks in every floor (haha). By the time we got to the resto I was huffing like I climbed Borubodur. I was so hungry by then I pigged out on bulaklak tempura, kabute pasta and OMG salad. Vince said all their veggies was organic. I was so inspired by the resto that I've been researching on all-veggie recipes.

Onion Rings, Bulaklak Tempura, OMG Sald, Kabute Pasta

The next day we went to the strawberry farm to pick strawberries. In the afternoon was the highlight of my trip where we had an overwhelming number of teachers attend the first GEG Baguio meet-up. It was really a momentous day and it was great to hear the expectations of the teachers on this new community. Congratulations Aris and all the teachers! And special thanks to GBG Baguio and GDG Baguio for the support.

Welcome to the family GEG Baguio!

I must say that even though Baguio is known to be one of the coldest places in the Philippines, it has the most hospitable people. Aris wanted us to experience the traditional Baguio home and invited us to his home. We had a pizza party and roasted marshmallows on the fireplace. It was a fun-filled evening and Aris really has a lovely home. Thank you Aris for this experience!

At Aris' home. I had 4 layers of clothing on coz it was coooooold!

And then well, you know what happened next.

Bacon

There isn't much to say today
Even though it was a great work day
I'm still very much sad
About yesterday that turned out bad.

So I leave this post
With something
That brightened up my day.

P.S. I didn't have any. 

Goodbye Partner

One of the lessons my Dad always told me when I was growing up was that each of us have a mission and that is why we are alive. Once you are done with your mission it's the only time that you can finally go home. He started telling me about this when my Lola passed away. I was so devastated since it was the first time for me to experience death of a loved one.

When we found out my Dad had stage 4 cancer I didn't really know what to do. It was the moment that I had been fearing all my life since I couldn't imagine living without my Dad. My Dad though was happy. Yes, happy! He said he was happy because it meant he had completed his mission.

I'm very much devastated from the news that my vlogging partner has passed away. We call each other "partner" because we were paired up to do the vlogging segment at one of the iBlog conferences a few years back. During that time I was the "amateur" vlogger while he was the "expert" vlogger. I learned a lot from him and will never forget the time that the MOA guard chased us when we were filming our presentation at the bay area of the mall.

Coy was still a student when I met him so I automatically became his "Ate". I'd bug him whenever I visit his school and eventually I'd always bump into him during blogging events. He was always there and we always had good laughs. And who'd ever forget his "panga pose". I never really knew if he actually lost weight when he did his diet vlog (I think he did). Well, he always gave huge bear hugs.

Here was the vlog he had painstakingly edited in time for our talk at iBlog4.

And our teaser video (my goodness we were both so thin back then!).

Well Partner, you've made a lot of people happy and I'm glad you were a part of my life. I'm just thinking now you're with AJ up there taking selfies and making new vlogs with him. Please watch over us who's still stuck here trying to complete our mission. Will miss you.

*Photo from Philippine Blog Awards.

Other links:
iBlog4 Q&A (thanks Ninang Janette!)
at iBlog4 during our presentation
You Got Tech awarding

The Big Shift

In the last few weeks I was faced with a major fork in the road. There were three choices and all of them I love dearly. It was hard to choose so I reached out to my Kuya for some guidance. He immediately responded to me and gave me an exercise I should go through.

I didn't go through the exercise and chose the easiest logical choice before Christmas.

I thought I was okay with the choice but it didn't sit well with me. I felt I had gotten emotional and chose only based on the conditions. I had not taken into consideration other facets of my life that were equally important. I had been carrying a heavy heart for a few weeks.

Going on vacation does wonders for a person. I had been so busy the last few months and everything was just about work. I didn't have a weekend for 3 straight months and I badly needed rest. It took a few weeks for me to get out of the zone and when I did I realized that I should've done the exercise my Kuya had sent me.

The exercise allowed me to make my choice based on what I like doing, how it will affect my family and my health, my future plans, personal growth and service to my community/faith. I had mistakenly made my original decision based on logic and what would've been easiest to do. It was a very selfish decision and I realized that it wasn't my current mission.

So 2014 is going to be a big shift for me in my career. It's going to be a challenging year!  

Strawberry Picking in Benguet

Last weekend I finally (finally!!!) had the chance to pick strawberries in La Trinidad, Benguet. When I went there last November it wasn't strawberry season yet.

During that time the farmers were busy planting and so all we could do was walk up and down the narrow farm path (I'm flat-footed and balance beams are dangerous to my health). It was good exercise though.

No strawberries at all, boohoo.

But I was in good company so the trip was still fun.

This time around the strawberry field was lushly green and alive!

Strawberry picking costs PhP400 per kilo. The farmers though allow you and about 5 of your friends to help pick a kilo worth of strawberries.

Armed with a basket and scissors the farmer taught us how to harvest and wished us luck. Yes, luck because it's actually hard to pick strawberries.

First you have to find a big red ripe one from under the leaves. Then you have to squat down in the narrow foot path in between the plant rows and just then you can snip off the strawberry.

After about 15 berries I gave up. Haha!

Iosif though is a natural farmer. He probably completed 1.8 kilograms of the 2 kilograms of strawberries we harvested. Good job! (We had to pay additional PhP400 though).

The experience though reminded me to appreciate all the food I eat. Back when I was a kid they told us in school that each grain of rice is the hardwork (dugo't pawis) of a farmer somewhere. I can't imagine how they manage all day and this also reminded me of the Philippine folksong "Magtanim ay di biro, maghapon nakayuko..." God bless all the farmers!

It was worth all the effort though and we had a strawberry merienda party after our event in the afternoon.

Oh, you can also pick lettuce! Just make sure you borrow a knife because you aren't supposed to uproot it. Right Phillip?

Thanks Vince, Ellaine, Saki, Aldreen, Phillip and Iosif for the fun-filled morning! My Mom said I actually got a tan!