Twins at Seven

They turned seven last October 24, 2012. Big boys really. My little Chinese-like kiddos are now in their adolescent years. Whew! Time flies so quickly.

The Twins: Maki & Kiah

The Twins with their younger sister Reese

Just a small celebration

I so love the pig lechon (roasted whole pig)

The Choco Moist Cupcakes

The Chocolate Cake

Oh well, it's because they're twins so two cakes! ^^,

Daddy Rex holding the balloons while the kids attending the small celebration  shook hands with the twins before the can have a balloon and some loot bags filled with yummies and sweets.

cutesies

After Pose 

I Now Cook! (^^,)

We don't have a house helper for more than a month and am now getting used to it. Though I seldom wake up as early as five in the morning, I see to it I get to finish my basic house chores before 10 a.m. like scrubbing and sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, arranging or rearranging my hoarded books for the nth time, checking my counters and containers for refills and maybe requiring me to do a run to the cheapest grocery store in town, wiping the window blades with wet cloths and segregating the laundry for my two-times-a-week washing schedule. Breakfasts are done in fast modes: almost fried - eggplant, eggs, potatoes, ripe bananas, ham, hotdogs, longganisa, chorizo, embutido, corned beef, chayote, simple hotcakes and so many more. Lunch sometimes sees my effort in cooking but the dinner or supper usually gets my supreme act of the kitchen. Hehe. I graduated my "Ms." name with just the knowledge of frying, sauteing, making dishes with sauces like fish escabeche and some vegetables, fish paksiw, simple chicken and pork adobo and to cook tinolang fish and chicken, sinigang pork and bulalo. Plainly basic. I don't even know how the shrimps, seashells, seafood and all other kinds of pork, beef, chicken and fish dishes which seemed to be so complicated in my eyes are to be made by my own hands. And now, I'm looking forward to learning so much of these complicated dishes as I've called. Some of them are not anymore that hard, hehe. I know now how to cook pork kare-kare, chicken afritada, sinigang na hipon sa miso, ginataang hipon, ginataang gulay (vegetables), rellenong pusit, sauteed oysters, clams and other kinds of seashells, binagoongang karne ng baboy, chicken cordon bleu, I even make my own version of sushi and maki rolls and a lot more recipes I scout online, in magazines and on tv. 

Here are just a few of my cooked dishes at home. I'm not a camera pro and I just used a cellphone to take the shots. 

My first ever pork kare-kare [pork (leg part) cooked in peanut butter sauce with  pechay leaves] paired by no other than alamang!

My husband enjoying his late lunch. He even posted these two-above photos on his Facebook wall. 

Sinigang na Hipon

Sauteed Tahong

More photos to follow!

Decaf or Not?

This will be my second post about coffee. Just for today I gulped three cups of three kinds of coffee: 3-in-1 (coffee, creamer & sugar), 5-in-1 (coffee, sugar, ginseng, mushroom & creamer) and the usual black one with sugar to taste. Weather's pretty cold, skies are dark since morning and the rain already made its own clock which is to shower or just to pour whenever it wants all day long. It's almost three o'clock in the afternoon and I'm still planning to gulp in some more coffee not just in cups but in mugs. I actually purchased mugs for the sake of my coffee-taste-buds and loving it. Hehe.

Now for the question I raised, decaf or not? I'd say, I'll have both. There'll be times I'd want coffee without its caffeine just to warm my freezing tummy during rainy season or my stomach gathered gas from traveling and outdoor activities or after my laundry session so I may need something warm - a coffee without its usual known strength. But what's coffee without caffeine they say? People who get bloated and experience nausea after drinking coffee might want to try the decaffeinated before saying "coffee is not for me" or before hating coffee. Coffee is known to be rich in antioxidants and is anti-aging as well. I take the strong coffee when I feel so drowsy and sleep is not yet permitted. I worked in several call centers before and coffee is this work's prime commodity.

But there was a time when I stopped drinking coffee (temporarily though) and that was during my second pregnancy. That started from my first trimester up to the time I gave birth. But overall, I love coffee! :)

Globe, the #1 in Postpaid PLUS GADGETS!!!

Oh yes! It's been almost three months now since our first postpaid phones at home plus our postpaid wireless internet connection powered by the no other than - GLOBE! My husband and I are Smart Telecom & Sun Cellular prepaid subscribers for more than half a decade. There's no place for a Touch Mobile or Globe in our minds until the opening of  SM in General Santos City. It was already a month since the mall's grand opening when my husband and I made rounds and happened to drop by at Globe located on its third floor. The sales agents are approachable so we did not hesitate asking questions. My eyes were caught by the Samsung gadgets arrayed on the center aisle so I asked my husband if we can apply for a plan just to have the gadget I'm so much interested with - for him, not for me, ok?. Hehehe. The sales agent gave us the list of requirements we need to comply and had me fill up the application form. The following day I submitted the papers they asked for and was told after an hour later that our application already has an approval. It was under my husband's name by the way. Based on his financial statements and the calls Globe made to the bank where my husband owns a savings and deposit accounts, he was given an 8,000 php credit line consumable. That was more than the plan I was aiming at for the gadget I wanted him to have.

My husband is always at mobile so carrying his Samsung Netbook plus charger at around 2-3 kilograms is not a good idea after all. I can't stand seeing him with so much luggage during transportation. So just like a handy cellphone he can flip, turn and move wherever and whichever he wants with his Samsung Galaxy SIII. He can open his email, watch videos most especially his fave Naruto series online, read the latest news, see the weather forecast, download files and do things over the world wide web with it using his Unlisurf 2,499 php postpaid plan. The plan has its freebies like calls and textx to other networks, to Globe and TM as well and is programmed to my Globe number too for unlimited calls and texts.

At home, I now have an internet connection which I use to blog and to sell anything I can think of online plus my Blackberry Curve - er, am not a fan of this BB but happy to say it's working so so so fab and fine for me. The wifi service connection and my new phone is in an ultimate bundle plan - and I find it reasonable for the price of 999 php. How we consume our cellphone load plans is like how we eat rice at home - use and save cause tomorrow we aren't sure if we still can afford to buy rice at the same price.

We're still conscious of our spending that's why the remaining balance of our consumable credit line will be up for plans LATER. Hehehe. It's December. Holidays are here and I just can't prepare a saucy-cellphone-cordon bleu on the table for Christmas Eve or a creamy Samsung Tablet before 2012 year ends. @_@

South Cotabato's Durian

Say Durian. Say Davao. It’s like they are one and yes, true. But having been into the different parts of my beloved country Philippines, almost all farmers now from the north to the south are growing trees of durian! I’ve learned to eat durian at the age of six and it became my staple when I got pregnant to my third child (actually my second since the eldest are twins). Blessed me, we were residing in the heart of Davao City that time and to indulge whenever craving comes were just steps away. Getting the information from the internet and from the store itself where my husband bought me ‘my fruit’ that a seed of flesh coated durian (let’s expound to a cob variety) is equivalent to two glasses of milk made me dunk in for more and more of it from frozen plastic containers and even from the harshy-thorny thistle outer cover.

My father in Bukidnon grows durian trees in his farm; as well as with my father in-law in Apayao. Which all of those trees bore fruits already and were enjoyed by grandchildren and those whom they don’t even know. He he he. Here in South Cotabato, the land is rich and luscious and durian is still abundant in heaps. Now I know why they call durian as the king of all fruits. Even if these trees are cultivated and are grown in different places, the taste of the fruits’ flesh sing out just one name – I AM A DURIAN. 

Visting OMF Lit Bookshops, NATIONWIDE!

yours truly standing outside OMF Lit Bookshop at Robinsons Place, Cagayan de Oro City 

I AM SO INTO BOOKS! That's me. A part of myself that was nurtured and sparked by my devoted Mother since I learned to grasp things. Thank you, Mama for the inspiration. She was a high school teacher then but gave up her profession when she married a Minister of God. And so, her teaching skills were applied to her children in the long run and now towards her grandchildren, my kids. He he he.

I've been reading English pocketbooks during my high school years and was an addict of fairy tales & story books before. Comic series of Archie & a lot more were also my fave way back then. My reading blues changed when I became a wife and a mom. I turned to home magazines and just last year started my collection of Christian & leadership books, children books, Bibles & a whole lot of arrays! 

So much about my stuff, my source of Christian Literature is the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) Literature Inc. They have their shops located in the Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao and blessed me I have one here in General Santos City where I can run to when I need to find a refuge for my book cravings. 

Just last month I aimed to visit each OMF Lit Bookshops around the Philippines and to take a pose for my HALL of OMF Lit Wall. I want to pay tribute to this group of people for being a channel of blessing in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus and promoting spiritual growth primarily among Filipinos through a publishing business.

I still have a long way to go! Of the OMF Lit's ten (10) bookshops, I visited only two (2). Eight (8) more to go! Pray for me! Pictures coming soon! Hurray! 

Banana Benefit

When you say banana, it’s always associated with monkeys for it is their basic food according to eye-witness statements and studies and stories told by old folks which co-starred a turtle. I remember reading an article in a certain health and wellness book telling its readers that bananas are reach in pectin which helps wounds to heal rapidly and lightens dark scars. Banana eaters also are those people who are avoided by mosquitoes according to their research.

Growing up in a humble town in the heart of Mindanao where farm and fields are almost everywhere, fruits including bananas are naturally common. In fact, you can buy a kilo of ‘tundan’ bananas at my mother’s mini fruit stand for only 10 Php and a kilo of this most sought-after ‘lakatan’ at 20 to 30 Php, prices vary during out of season harvesting. My eyes were accustomed of having bananas in our kitchen, may it be a bunch sitting in a corner or displayed on top of a table. Aside from having these ripe bananas up for grabs and just a peel away, we also have bananas made more suitable when boiled, when fried with caramelized sugar or when grilled over hot coals. The choices are endless when it comes to banana delicacies. This fruit can be seen on plates of all people in all levels. I mean, all of us eat bananas.

Banana is also advised by doctors to pregnant women since it can soothe the heat of their growing belly. It can cool down the temperature of one’s body making it stabilized and calm during warm weather conditions. I’d attest to that since I ate a lot of bananas when I was pregnant. Up to now, I’d run for some bananas to neutralize my taste when nausea strikes. I’ve heard a friend who said that when you got problems, when you are angry or in times of thought-panic, munch on a banana and you’ll soon forget your worries after a few moments. I laughed and later I tried the advice and indeed again I’d attest it’s true. Experience is a teacher after all.

Lucky me, even when I reached the most northern part of Luzon where my in-laws are happily residing, bananas are also a part of their daily commodities. My father in-law has a lot of banana plants providing different varieties of them to which I happily cook every now and then upon my visit. It then became a routine, he joyfully harvests his produce when I’m in their presence seeing that his daughter in-law is very fond of eating what he has in his ‘sari-sari plantation’.

Banana has become a part of my staple and I’m passing it on to my kids. My husband is even an avid eater of this fruit and I’d say we are pretty much happy of what we have when we bond with food.