Last Sunday of September

I woke up a bit late today. My forehead is still smarting after I bumped it on a table yesterday. I had a goose egg lump, but the swelling has gone down after icing it several times.

Anyway, I didn't let it get in the way on what I wanted to do today. I had to water the plants generously today because we won't have water tomorrow according to Maynilad. I gave the plants some bone meal too before I watered them. They're going to have a nutrition boost. 

After a bit of rest, Sweetie and I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. We baked salmon in garlic cream cheese, made fried brown rice, and prepped red onion pickles for tomorrow's food. The food disappeared in a jiffy, haha.

And now my energy is depleted. Good thing I squeezed in some sewing time after lunch.

Happy new week!

#BeKind #StaySafe

5 Months After Propagating Mom's Bougainvillea

I was warned by our architect that Mom's plants would not survive the construction. I made it my mission to propagate Mom's plants especially her bougainvillea trees.

Mom told me several times that she just propagated the bougainvillea from cuttings. I only realized that she had different varieties. 

I made a final push to propagate different varieties. I crossed my fingers and prayed that the project would succeed because on April 1, the summer heat was really bad. Above are the bunch I placed in an area where anything I propagate usually succeeds.

I started seeing new leaves grow after a few weeks. I did the ICU method and kept the plastic bottles on for two to three months to make sure they were stable. 

 

I would trim as needed, but in the past two months I let them grow like crazy. They're in an open space and hard to reach when it's raining. At least, they're all growing well and are healthy!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Homemade Menudillo at Itlog

It's been awhile since we had Menudillo at Itlog at home. I saw a friend make it and I had a sudden craving for it. We got the ingredients and then immediately cooked it. Ahh, craving satisfied.

Menudillo is very easy to make. Just add the ingredients one after another and season with salt and pepper. I usually make it with just 400 grams of ground pork. It's just enough for two meals for us and not too heavy on the belly. You can also opt to add raisins if you like (I usually don't). 

Here's how I make it at home:

Full recipe at: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2026/09/recipes-for-my-son-menudillo-at-itlog.html

Happy weekend everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Carbin Reef

There's a good beach anywhere you go across the Philippines and since we went to the Negros Trade Fair it reminded me of Carbin Reef and Manami Resort. Both are on opposite sides of Negros and they're up in my "I want to go back list". 

It's been years since I last visited Carbin Reef. It's located in Sagay, Negros Occidental which is about an hour and a half car ride from Bacolod and a short boat ride to the reef. The first time I went there it felt weird to be dropped off in the middle of the sea. 

Carbin Reef is a strip of sand that's bigger and longer during low tide. It almost disappears during high tide. There's just a few huts on it, a lifeguard chair and you'd have to bring your own food if you want to eat. Of course, you have to bring your trash too when you leave. 

What I enjoyed most was the clear water and beautiful white sand. What we'd do is hang out in the water until we got hungry, swim some more and then go back to Bacolod. The caretakers make sure you make it out before the water gets too high. Last time we went the sea was pretty rough on the way back, but the boat men expertly navigated the crazy ride back to land.

Go visit!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Do Things That Make You Happy

I love going to trade fairs, so when a friend told me there's a Negros Trade Fair at SM Aura this week I told the boys I want to go. We had other errands to do at SM Aura, so we went yesterday. 

My friend warned there would be a lot of people since it's the first day, but that's just how trade fairs work. The more people the better! We braved the crowd and slowly made our way around the venue. It was a bit hard going around in a wheelchair. The huge outlet humps didn't make it easy to go around, so I tried walking while holding on to the wheelchair. 

It got hairy since there were a lot of people, but I was distracted enough to go around. I love seeing local products. There were a lot of decors, home items, clothes, bags, and jewelry. We focused on finding favorite food we love from Negros and said hello to the staff of our favorite resort, Manami (watch my video here!).

We went crazy and got a lot of goodies from El Ideal, cheese roll from Felicia's and silvanas from Sans Rival. Just having their food within reach gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling!

The trade fair is ongoing for a few more days at SM Aura. Just go and have fun!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Tried the Bostik Fabric Glue

I have a favorite Uniqlo shirt which I've had for a couple of years now. I wear it often and the fabric has no issues except the neck area started unraveling. I never noticed that the seams were just glued on with what looked like thermal double sided adhesive. 

Anyway, I'm not ready to give up the shirt since the fabric has no issues. I decided to order the Bostik fabric glue and the double sided adhesive. The fabric glue arrived first so I went to work to see if it would work. 

After reading the instructions I immediately tried the fabric glue. Oh boy, I didn't expect it to be super sticky. It was a bit hard to control unlike your usual Elmer's glue. I left the shirt to dry for a few days and ironed it. It's now being laundered and I hope it'll stick. I'm also hoping the excess glue won't stain the shirt (it was really hard to control the output). 

If it stains, I'll just use it at home. It could probably give me 5 more years, haha. Oh, BTW, the fabric glue was really hard to wash off. Make sure you wash your hands immediately after use. I lost count how many times I soaped and washed my hands to get it off!

#BeKind #StaySafe

 

Found the Original Plans for My Childhood Home

While clearing my childhood home, I found the original location plan and house plan. Being over 50 years old, the plans were brittle already. I carefully scanned them and have been trying to stitch the huge paper together. 

It's an amazing find since I wasn't even born yet when the house was built. My Mom told me they originally did not plan to have a basement. It only happened because the architect, my Dad's brother - Tito Bert, told them that it would be very expensive to buy panambak to cover the area. It was cheaper to add windows and doors. That fact is still true until today*.

The plans were hand drawn. Nowadays, they are made with a computer application and printed. I've seen architects still hand draw initial plans and they just re-draw them when it's finalized and submitted to the building official. 

The colored adobe veneer

 I also found an old photo of the house when it was being built. It's the back side though. 

And here's a photo from the 90s. The newer ones I have doesn't really show the house because of the huge bougainvillea my Mom planted in front.

I'll probably find some older photos eventually. It's just fun to see the original plans of the house. One thing you should keep on hand also are the electrical and plumbing plans. 

*It will be almost x3 the cost to just add doors and windows to cover the basement.

#BeKind #StaySafe