Kare Kare for Matet

Today is Matet's (Ann Michelle - my younger sister) birthday. I took pictures of the dishes that my dad cooked for her. These are her favorites:


The kare-kare while it was still on a large serving bowl. So yummy! So creamy!


Here's a closer look. On my next post I will post the other delicious dish that made all of us full today. :)

Another Blog in the Making

After careful consideration of my available funds for blogging, I am going to cook another blog. This is going to be a lot different from my previous blogs because this will be a more informative one rather than like this which acts as my online diary.

I still have to figure out my way to finalize everything. I already have the domain name reserved. I just need to figure out which hosting provider will I use this time. I don't want to experience the same hassle that I've experienced with the other hosting providers that I had on my other blogs. I already learned that part of blogging lesson the hard way but it made me more cautious now.

Aside from that, I will have to devote more time to work on that blog. But that doesn't mean that I will give less time to maintain my other blogs. :) Wish me luck! :)

Entrecard Issues

Have you had this concern when you drop your cards?

I tried to close around 300 drops today, but I only made almost 245 drops because the entrecard pages are loading too slow. I guess, it goes with the blogs with a lot of unnecessary widgets, maybe it is with my dsl connection, or maybe because of the Entrecard tool. Whew!

All I know is that now, I am starting to be more careful in my dropping habits. Of course I'm doing my best to return your love drops, because that's the essence of joining Entrecard network right? But I am now starting to be picky with the blogs that I visit and place drops on after returning your visits.

I am also starting to cancel all the paid Entrecard ads. I just checked a lot of blogs that are also starting to do the same. I want to help Entrecard to generate money because I believe it will cost a lot for them to maintain the server that they're using. But I also believe that they should make up their minds. Will they continue to offer paid ads or just use the old way of placing EC ads on blogs?

What's your take on it?

Inconsiderate Neighbors

Have you had one in your area?

Today I got another dose of little sleep time because of some insensitive neighbors around.

One of our neighbors in the block is celebrating his birthday and I guess he is singing it with a 'bang'.

Why singing? Let's put it this way, I came home from my shift around 10 in the morning and he was singing in full volume using a rented videoke machine. Well I didn't care much about it until I realized that I can't sleep. I locked our front door, went upstairs, tried to lock myself in my room, then in my parent's and last in my sister's room, but I can still hear not only his voice but his other relatives belting something out. I cannot stand it.

Then I sprayed some relaxing mist in my room, in the beddings but it did not help me relax and put myself to sleep.

Even the milk strategy and earplugs did not work. Goodness!

I already told Mom about it, but I'm not sure if they approached our neighbors about it, but they kept on singing until I left the house around 9:30 in the evening.

I am a very sensitive neighbor. I respect the space and privacy of other people especially when they need to have some rest. Even if I need to adjust and let go of some stuff that I want to do, I'd consider first the welfare of our neighbors before I do it.

I just cannot understand why they can't do it this time. :(

Too Late to Buy Sunglasses?

I already have a pair, I have been using it for years but now I want to buy another one.

So I looked for my Belle De Jour Organizer where I have some discount coupons to use when my younger sister told me that it is too late to buy one.

I know it is now May, and here in the Philippines, it also marks almost the end of summer. My sister told me that I will not make use of it that much because it will be rainy season soon.

But I beg to disagree. In my opinion, sunglasses should always be part of my daily wear as I would use it whenever I go out in the office in the morning (after the shift). I have read a lot of online articles as well that sunglasses can prevent my eyes from the long-term affects of sun damage. Of course, I won't appreciate it that much today because I do not see the effects yet, but I don't want to take risks.

Anyway, to make this long story short, I will just buy a pair next week even if my sister would tease me after that. Maybe I'll just buy her a pair instead. What do you think?

Got Four Hours of Sleep

I am used to get lesser hours of sleep. I have been working in the call center for more than seven years now and I usually have this concern when my shift changes.

But now, aside from shift change, I still have to work out something on my other .com blogs. I just got the email today informing me of opportunities to earn something extra should I transfer my blogging platform that is why I am taking my chances.

Aside from that, I also have to check out something on some of my other blogging tasks. :) So that is something that I always look forward to. We are all in this global financial crisis and so we have to welcome every legal opportunity to earn extra bucks online. :)

So thats what happened to me. How about you? How may hours of sleep have you had recently?

Mom's Moments with Me

I already greeted my Mom this morning but today, I want to make this short post about my Mom and why I am grateful for her love.

When I was a little girl, I came to know my Mom as a disciplinarian. She would always remind me to act appropriately, give courtesy to others and just be a good girl all the time. At that time, it seemed that she single-handedly did everything for me, as my chef dad is always away for overseas work.

I even remembered how she would ask me to sing and talk to my Dad as she held the radio close to me to record my voice. So whenever we had those recording sessions, I would have to stop playing and do it. Only when we're through that I will be allowed to play with the other kids again. :)

When it comes to budgeting, she has her own way to do it. She would prefer to allocate just good enough budget for food to keep us healthy, but she would always tell us not to leave food on the plate (literally). She would always remind us to only eat what we can consume and not to waste food because it can also mean wasting my Dad's time and effort in his work. And that is something that I am doing until now, something that I can pass on to my kids as soon as I have one. Aside from that she would always impose for us to take care of our things so we don't need to buy one, talk about being frugal. :)

We had our misunderstandings over things especially as I grow older, but that's normal. I will tell you more of my Mom in my next few posts, but for now, I would like to share with you how thankful I am that I have my Mom with me. :)

Happy Mothers Day to all Moms, bloggers or not. :)

Cleaning Blog Categories

I still feel the natural high because of my simple and cute flower garden template.

Well the layout template work is not yet done because I still have to pepper this page with useful chunks of widgets and make it ready for some readers to visit. I'll continue with that blog work later.

Speaking of spring cleaning work on this blog, I also trimmed some categories here. This is better to keep my focus on the topics that I will have to write on this blog. Before, I noticed that I used blogger labels to act as tags ( since I was used to do that in Wordpress ) but now I just realized that labels do not work as tags but as categories. So I made some adjustments on my categories yesterday and this should look neat now.

I still have a lot of work to do on this blog. But I want to ask your experience on the same thing. How much work do you still need on your blog in terms of look and organization?


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Flower Garden Template for The Chefs Daughter

Remember what I mentioned last time about doing spring cleaning on this blog?

This is it. I finally started to make some changes in my blog. If you are reading this post today, you will see the new template that I am using.

This template is called Flower Garden 3 Column. I just came to check out this cute template when I did my usual bloghopping yesterday. The good thing about it is that I don't need to do much customization on the layout. It looks neat, good and simple for me, something that reflects this blog's posts and personality. :)

So if you would like to see his / her other cool templates, head on to Ipietown. You'll surely find a blogger template that you'll definitely like. :)

Blog's Spring Cleaning

After a few months, I checked this blog again and I decided to implement some changes.

For one, I had a hard time before looking for some templates to use that will fit this blog's niche about family matters. So what I am planning now is to continue and look for a nicer template that will satisfy my aesthetic requirement for this blog.

I wanted something clean, eyecatching and professional. I also wanted a template that has built in ads spaces so it can also help us get to some more.

So that's for the template. Aside from that, I have one more major concern to do ASAP.

That deals more about my blog's categories. I wanted to keep few categories and move the rest to the new ones. This I have to do right away even before I get to change my template and write some more posts for this blog.

And the last of my concerns is to think of some more content for this blog. When I started this blog, I initially want this to mirror my thoughts about my family and our relationships with our relatives. But now, I want to expand this to include some more issues about family in general. I will also have to think of a meme that will fit the theme of this blog, something that I can share to the rest of bloggers who share the same niche.

Well, I hope to accomplish all of these things just in time before my 29th birthday. :) I'll post the developments of my spring cleaning activity in the next few days, just to make sure that I will have an online accountability.

How about you? What was the last time you did 'spring clean' your blog?

Error in Uploading Pics in Flickr

My Dad requested that I upload the latest pictures on my Flickr account so he can check the development of the house renovation. Well since he is the one who's giving the budget for it, I wanted him to see how the once abandoned house became as beautiful as it is now.

But the thing is that I have been uploading our update house renovation pics in Flickr since yesterday but I cannot seem to post these pictures. I also tried to do this using my Eeepc but I can't seem to upload it still.

Anytime now, my Dad will be online again and will call my Mom via Skype to ask for these pics. I'll try to upload these again after their chat, but if it won't work for me (for the nth time) then I might have to find Flickr's support link to raise my concern.

Living Far from Home

I just uploaded some pictures of the house that my parents bought for renovation. You can check it out on my callcentergal flicker account.

At first, I do not really have that much idea as to what they will use the house for. In the first place, we are already paying the equity of the house that we are suppose to occupy after our wedding in December.

But things changed after realizing how far it is to live in Binangonan if we are going to work in Makati. I estimated the travel time as well as the budget for transportation, I just found out that I need a huge budget for transpo if we will commute as well as a bigger amount to pay for the gas should we have our own car by then.

Well aside from the travel time, I also noticed on our 'test travels' that I easily get tired after reaching the 'place'. I am anticipating that if that's the case then we won't spend as much quality time doing things at home if we're both tired coming from work.

In short, I just asked my Dad if he will allow us to stay in that house after the wedding (the property is under my name anyway) and what we will do is just to pay them a monthly amount until we get to own the property.

As for the other house, we will just have it rented so it can help us pay for the monthly amortization.

How about you? How far is your pad from your parent's house? Did it make you miss your family more? :)

Any Plans for Mothers Day?

Have you had something in place for Mother's day?

When I was young, I remembered giving my Mom a card with my own masterpiece (yeah, I'm good in drawing 'stick men'). I would sometimes cut out some colored papers and stick it on the card for an added touch.

As I grow older, I learned to give my mom a variety treat. I would give her gifts like perfumes, clothes, some household items, even flower pots (because she likes gardening as well). I'm glad that she liked it, especially because the money that I used to pay for it came from my own pocket and not from my parent's allowance anymore.

I would've given her some more expensive treats, but knowing my mom, she would love to just keep the money instead of taking advantage of some short-lived luxuries. That's one unique thing about her that I would love to do as soon as I become a Mom myself.

So now, I am thinking of what to give her for Mother's day. Can you suggest some good treats that I can give to her?

Jamie Pugh: A Different Kind of Dad

Jamie Pugh had my heart today. :)

And why not, this Dad proved the world how important it is to live the dream. Yahoo did not post his video yet, and a lot of people have yet to see how good he was.

Do a favor for me, please listen to his audition piece in Britain's Got Talent, he sang Bring Him Home (Les Miserables).





I can say that he is a different kind of dad. If a lot of dads would be the one to push the dreams of their kids, in his case he gave himself a push to conquer his fear.

I just learned from Jamie Pugh's fansite that his wife died in her 20's making him a young widower and father to his kid. Now that he got a new partner, he is starting to recover and build his life again.

I wonder how he is at home, being a singer dad. :) I would love to hear Jamie make it to the finals. I am not sure if Jamie will read it, but if you do, I wish you the best of luck! :)

Dad Watching Pacquiao-Hatton Fight

I remembered watching some of Manny Pacquiao's fights especially when he was just starting to get notice on national television.




That's one of my shared hobby with my Chef Dad. We love to watch shows on free TV while sharing our opinion on certain topics. This includes preparing the snacks we have to consume :)

I did not have the chance to chat with my dad days ago before the fight that is broadcasting on national TV here in the Philippines. But based on our previous habits, he will make it a point to watch the fight, even if he's now in Bermuda.

I could just imagine his cheering moments while watching Pacquiao's fight (especially if he's so into the fight).

How about you? Have you watched this fight with your family as well?

Photo credit: Pasky 29

Finished Other Blogging Opportunities

It was one of my busiest 24-hour period ever.

I juggled my time to attend to some wedding preparations, write blog posts and paid opportunities, network with my other blogger friends thru Twitter and Plurk, among others. :)

Of course, I am not complaining. I am very happy because this means another set of paid stuff to augment my online income. :)

With a wedding due late this year and a house to start my married life with Johann, everything that will cause me to earn legally is worth my time. :)

Happy Easter!

Today marks another Easter Sunday and I am very happy.

Why happy? Because this also marks another day for me to appreciate my unseen blessings. Today I am going to give you a hint on those things I am thankful for:

• I am alive and well.

Everytime I woke up, I sometimes missed to thank the Lord for the sound sleep even if it was only for a few hours (because of my shifting schedule). So today, I want to thank him for a peaceful sleep and I will try to do this more often.

• I still have my family

We're only a small family. But since my Dad wasn't here, I am thankful that all of us are fine and we hardly get sick. I am hoping that this will continue, to have a healthy and loving family as I grow older and have my own family too in the coming months.

• I still have my work

With everyone worrying about job loss left and right, I appreciate this job that I have in the call center. I can use my skills in a positive way and be productive in my own right. I can help the family in paying the bills and I can have some for my wedding budget and other needs. :)

How about you? What are you thankful for this Easter Sunday?

Bougainvillea Memories

Look at this wonderful picture. This reminds me of my younger days here in our house in Cainta. :) I remembered that my Mom will not allow me to play outside if I won't help her with some household chores.

One of my favorite chores to do at that time was to water the plants. I just love to play with the water coming out from the hose and you know what comes next, her voice telling me to stop playing with water as we have to save it as much as we can.

Okay, so I love to water the plants. I really do, if I love to give moisture to those greenies, my mom loves to plant those.

My Mom has a great liking for everything green, like plants and flowers. She would always set aside sometime everyday to maintain her garden and look after the plants.

Just like this bougainvillea in the picture. We have a lot of flowers like this in our garden. Do you know why I like this flower? Before, I thought that this was the flower thats recommended if you want to create bubbles, until I found out that it was Gumamela that I should use instead.

But before I found that out, I almost picked all the pink bougainvillea flowers that my mom caught me picking the last few petals. Hehe :)

Picture from: Thai Jasmine

Looking for a Great Car Deal Online

We seldom talk online via Skype because I am very busy with my call center work.

That's why I am glad to talk to my dad right now via Skype. He wants me to see some of the car makes he wanted to buy as soon as he arrives.

He saw some ads of Honda Accord while my fiance and I are looking for Nissan Exalta STA. My dad showed me only a number of links because the rest are not updated anymore. Maybe those cars were already sold, anyway...

He just reminded me to get a driver's license because that was one of my overdue commitments to him. He just wanted to make sure that I can drive that car as soon as possible. Also, I guess part of the reason that I wanted to have another one is that I just cannot drive our Space Gear. I find it hard to drive the car because of the gear being located in a different place than where you would normally find it.

Chef Daughter's Early Biking Memories

Do you know how to run a bike?

When I saw this picture it made me remember how I learned to run a bike. Unlike in this picture, I learned to run a bike on the streets near the apartment that my parents rented in Cainta.

My parents bought me a kiddie bike like this one. Since my dad is always out of the country to work, I am always left with my mom, who's also out most of the time then because she works then on a beauty parlor. Anyway, I have a cousin who eventually turned out to be my nanny. She would always be there, in a distance while watching me learn how to bike, oftentimes I remembered she would shout and immediately run to me, maybe she's afraid that I'll get bruises. You know how good nannies work right? They are just as protective as your parents.

How about you? Do you know how to run a bike? What are your early memories of it?

Photo credit: ido_cga

Debut Pictures to Follow

This is going to be a short post for today.

I was supposed to let you peek at the pictures that I got from the debut party that we attended yesterday night. But there were some email inquiries that I have to answer as soon as possible.

After this post, I will have to go back and attend to those things. I promise to come up with a post of those pictures probably next week.

Violet Motif for a Debut Party

What are the usual motif used in debut parties?

I usually see pink, blue, red and yellow. Sometimes, lime green.

How about violet?

Later tonight I will see a violet motif debut party and I am excited to see how violet will create a new look for Gette, the debutant.

It was stated in the photo invite that guests are requested to refrain in wearing anything violet. When my mom asked me about it, I just told her that the purpose of the reminder is to make the debutant a stand out in the party later.

After that my mom breezed through some of her clothes and checked what she's going to wear. Good thing she doesn't have anything 'violet' to wear at the party tonight haha. :)

Mom's New Hair Do!

My mom rarely gets to style her hair.

Why? That's because she wanted to always sport a clean and simple look. So she only calls on her favorite friend / hairdresser once in a while.

Just like today. She needed Tita Linda's service because we will go to a debut party later. I'm so excited because I'll get to have my free hair blow dry service courtesy of my mom.

I'll have to charge the batteries of my digicam first and will share with you the photo invite that we received days ago. :)

Joining Blog Contests

Have you joined any blog contests before?

A lot of bloggers say that if you want to earn some prizes online, you might as well join blog contests. One good thing about blog contests is that they offer interesting prizes.

Some bloggers offer cash and they prefer to transfer the amount won on the winners Paypal account. So if you don't have one, make sure to register for an account and verify it using your bank cards or Unionbank EON card.

Other prizes offer books, shirts, free domain for a year, even cereals in a box. See how interesting those prizes are?

But one popular prize for bloggers are the Entrecard credits. In the Entrecard community, you can use these credits to promote your blogs and increase traffic.

But here's the thing. Before you will have the chance to win those prizes, you must be willing to follow some instructions to enter their contest. You will have to either subscribe, leave a comment, copy all the sponsors links or fave their blogs in technorati among others. Easy right?

So if you want to experience how fun it is to join blog contests, find one and see if you can enter to qualify. You can also share your experience if you've already joined one. :)

Efren Penaflorida is Our Modern Day Hero

You don't need to be a celebrity or a philanthropist to help other people.

That's what Efren Penaflorida did to the youth in Cavite. For almost 12 years, he and his other teen companions frequent the streets and other slum areas to teach basic writing and reading to the youth.

Aside from a heart and willingness to help, they have an armored push cart that never fails to carry books and school supplies to aid their teaching and facilitation to the kids.

I only knew how some fellow Filipinos regard him and his teams work, locally. So I was surprised to see on TV that he was interviewed by Larry King because he was nominated to be a CNN hero.

Being a fellow Filipino who believes on his talent, I am proud to say that he deserves to be recognized for his efforts. So if you have some time to spend online, please checkout the CNN article about him and his group. I'm sure this is worth your time.

And if you have some more minutes left, please drop a comment or post about him and his Dynamic Teen Company. A little post can extend pride and support to the people who always in the look for kids' literacy amidst poverty.

Oh Strawberries!

I often just see strawberries in jams, ice creams and wines. Here in the Philippines we have the strawberry-flavored local wine and since I do not consume much alcoholic drinks anymore, I just want to taste the real fruit instead.

I remembered the time when my parents got themselves a free time before. They went to Baguio city and went to a strawberry farm. I envy their experience as they get to pick (harvest) strawberries from the farm. Hence, we got that fresh treat from them.

If you happen to have some strawberry inspired or flavored products please let me know. If you can share a picture or two, please do share it here in the comments section. You know what? I'm dreaming to have a line of strawberry inspired and or flavored products for sale aside from the conventional ones. I would love to buy a strawberry soap, strawberry essential oil, strawberry lotion and strawberry candies.

Image credit: Sage...here and away

Why Every OFW Needs to Know How to Chat

If you're here in the Philippines you will get to know a lot of families who had a parent or both parents working as an OFW.

With that you will also get to expose yourself that an incomplete family setup is just ordinary. Seeing your parents every two, three or five years is just the usual setup for families who depend on the earnings of their OFW parents for a living.

But with some families who have older folks, it is usually their eldest son or daughter who shoulders the responsibility of working outside of the country to provide for their needs.

I know better because I've been a chefs daughter for over 28 years. Before, I usually see my mom writing endless letters to my dad and waiting for days, even weeks for his reply. In the course of my parents exchanging letters, I was able to save some stamps which made me possible to have my mini stamp collection.

With all the online messaging services going on, I now see how my parents are very excited to see each other on yahoo messenger everyday.

But before that happens, my mom tried her best to learn the basics of using the computer. I usually write the step by step instructions in Tagalog so she can best understand what to do. Now, my mom can log on to the computer, use the Yahoo Messenger service for the video and Skype to talk to my dad.

I really saw how they were able to sustain their relationship because of the chat and endless calls online. So if you are a part of an OFW family or you're the one who is working away from your family, I would advise you to start learning how to chat and use these other helpful online messaging service to keep you connected. This will also avoid the 'homesick' feeling that OFWs feel out of missing their families back home.

Happy Birthday to our Chef Dad!

While I'm writing this post I know that my dad got a hold of the extreme magic sing that my mom sent him for his birthday. I bet he'll use it as soon as he has the 'free' time to belt out his favorite songs. I just hope that the neighbors won't mind hehe.

Anyway, I wrote this post as well to greet my dad a Happy 54th Birthday! When I arrived home this morning, I saw my mom chatting with my dad and his friend. All these while my mom is using her other hand to hold the phone as she was chatting with Tita Lyn, her friend. Now my mom knows how to multi-task online. I wonder if she also would like to be in a call center. :)

So there, I just greeted my Dad and I excused myself because I really have to rest my tired eyes. Being awake for almost 25 hours is no joke.

So to my Dad, I hope you'll have a great day. We miss you! :)

The Chef Wants Extreme Magic Sing

We all love to sing. It is a generalization. Even if you do not sing with the complete and accurate lyrics, we are still 'moved' especially when we hear a melody that brings back memories.

And my dad is no exception. In fact, the Chef asked for an Extreme Magic Sing for his birthday present.

And why not? He would always sing his heart out whenever he's here on vacation. I grew up listening to his rendition of his favorite songs.

And before I knew it, I was humming those old songs as well, trying to be his singing duet :)

Speaking of magic sing, we have an old unit here, complete with chips (storage device for the songs). But since my dad wanted the newest model, my Mom will be more than happy to buy him one. :)

Mountain Adventure this Weekend

I've been having an office-home life for the past few months and I wanted to really give myself a break. Working in a call center is okay for me, but it won't hurt to get a nicer view other than tall buildings in Ayala, right?



So I said yes to an out of town team building session this weekend. Finally! I can experience nature's wonders again. Although there are times that I still have difficulty walking long distance because of this @^&#@ on my feet, I just have to make sure that I'll bring comfy slippers and take my time walking. Recently, my feet hurts when I'm trying to do brisk walking even when I'm heading to work.

Anyway, I'm sure that I'm going to have a good time with the team. I'll post some pictures of it as soon as we get back from the team building sessions.

When was the last time you had a real break from office work? Where did you go?

Image credit: www.adirondackvic.org

Missed Dad this Day

We both love the boob tube.

That's something my Dad and I share in common. We both love to hear news and other public affairs programs. While watching these coverages closely on the screen we exchange our opinions about the subject and that is the start of endless conversation about the subject.

If Dad was here yesterday, we could've watched Obama's speech together. We could've talked about it while waiting for our lil sweet snack treats from Mom. :)

Landi the Dog

Let me tell you about our pet Landi (Flirt). She was called as such because she's such a flirt most of the time. She always wanted to smell the legs of all people who goes in our house. If we don't have visitors, she would always be around waiting for any customer who would buy in our store.

Some said they find Landi adorable. But I find her to flirt that some would want Landi to be theirs. Sometimes, she would bark endlessly even if there's no other dog around. My mom sometimes tie Landi to our tree in the backyard, but she would just bark louder :)

When she gave birth to her puppies, only one was left with her because we gave the rest to our relatives and or family friends.



Which is good because she now has a playful companion around.

Photo credit: Papa Ces (I asked him to take pictures of Landi days ago)

Chef's Daughter's thoughts on a Sunday

The holidays allowed me to have a break from work and I really love the time given to me to spend with my family. It was a much needed rest and if you're like me who works in a call center, working in different shifts then you can best relate on what I'm talking about.

I also had a chance to chat with my father, having an OFW dad for almost 28 years is no joke. Of course he went here for vacation but that's about it. He still has to go back, if not for his work we won't be enjoying the little comforts we have now.

Tomorrow, I'll be back in the corporate world, which is good. I miss working for some time. :)

Photo Credit: Fletchy182

Pictures of Mama's Friends and (some) Relatives

I dug some more pictures on my file and here's what I got. These pictures were taken on December 1, the day we celebrated the Feast of San Roque. She said 'cheese' with some of our neighbors and her friends.



Here's a collage of (some) relatives that visited us during the day. I hope Dad will get to see these pictures soon. :)

Spacey and the newly painted lil park

In time for the new year celebration, she had our lil home park benches painted and cleaned Spacey (as requested by my dad).

Christmas and New Year Foodie

Fatty food, yeah but these are what we had over the holidays, need to really trim down now the holidays are over *sigh*.


For the New Year Foodie, there has to be some, ooops 12 or 13 fruit in the table (as what my Mom directed) to invite prosperity.



Have sweet treats on the table to enjoy the sweet life in the coming year.

Mama's New Year 2007 - 2008 Pictures

I'd like you to meet my mom. She has been very busy throughout the holidays. My Mom loves to prepare food to us and of course to Dad as well, whenever he's around on vacation.



Before the year 2008 finally bade goodbye, I took this other picture of her sitting with her lucky elephant on her new granite table.




Now let's come up with a comparison. I searched her pictures the same date last 2007 with Ann and me.


More pictures to come, as requested by my Dad. :)

Fish From Lingayen Pangasinan

In my last few posts, I told you about the starlet crabs we had for our Christmas dinner, today I'll show you their companion all the way here in our house.




I don't know the type of fish you're looking at but these were also cooked by my Mom a little later after she asked me to take a picture of these aqua friends. :)

These can be cooked in different ways, you can steam, fry, grill (with onions, tomatoes and chilis to stuff the body as stuffings) or just make a soup out of it.

In the end, Mom decided to put them on the grill. Goodbye fishy friends. :P

Crabs for Christmas Dinner, Why Not?

Ham will always be the star of every Filipino's Noche Buena (Christmas Dinner). But this time we want another star to be on our table.

Introducing.....(drum roll please) fresh crabs from Pangasinan.

2008 Christmas Tree

This is the Christmas tree that we have last year. I wasn't the one who put that up. It was my cousin who visited weeks before Christmas. This was the same one that we've been using for almost five years now. What we change every year are the little details like the ribbons, Christmas balls, the little lights around it among others.

What I like about it is it never failed to amaze everyone who visits us because not everyone in the subdivision, especially when they see it lit at night just like what you're seeing now.

That also invites more kids to go to our house and sing Christmas carols even before the Simbang Gabi starts.

Happy New Year

It's the first day of 2009. You may have been celebrating all night, feeling tired and all set to relax but not in my case. I have to start posting these pictures that's due these past few days. Since I committed to Dad that I'll do it, then I'll do it, in increments :)

So excuse me for posting Christmas photos and other past stuff. It's just me, the chefs daughter, trying to make up for the lost chances of having all these fixed just now. :)

Oh, before I end this post, I want to say that I wish you all good health and a more intimate relationship with your family. :)