Kids say the darnest heartbreaking things

My husband has been working in Manila for more than two months now after 6 months of being a house husband. That 6 months have been the bonding time especially with my eldest MJ. Sometimes when we go to the open field of the university campus, they would bring along Jojo's old soccer ball and play. MJ would just run around, kick the ball to any direction and have Jojo run after her. They always have a blast. But ever since Jojo started working 6 days a week to a place 2 hours away from home, he cannot come home as often as he wants to especially with the increasing bus fares. MJ still hasn't gotten over the thought that her father is not always home. Every morning she would look for him before we prepare for school (she probably misses the cuddle time). Or whenever I would go out using my small scooter she would ask me to fetch her father (which i always do at his drop-off point whenever he comes home). However, the other night was different. As I was cooking our supper, she came to me out of the blue, told me in a cracking voice on the verge of crying "Mom, puntahan mo na si daddy. Gusto ko na sya uwi. Miss na miss ko na sya kasi (Mom, please go to daddy. I want him to come home. I miss him so much). I was so moved that I picked her up and comforted her. With her, I sent a text message to Jojo about what happened and additional message from MJ that she loves him very much and miss him so. Jojo replied that he was crying when he read the message, added that he wants to come as soon as he can.

And he did came home last night (he took a ride with his father who also works in Manila). Well, you can imagine how happy MJ was, as well as Ysa (of course me too). But just like any early mornings before he leaves for work, MJ would be crying a river, wanting to come with him, saying some loving mantra while holding on to him "Kasi mami-miss kita daddy eh. Kasi lab lab kita (Because I will miss you so much. Because I love you so". With a heavy heart, Jojo can't do anything. Oh well, we will continue to be like this until hopefully he could find work closer to home.

Just a few of my (food) experiments

I like to try out different recipes especially when I have the needed ingredients at hand. And I call them "Experiments", which gives me some justification if the food didn't end up right especially the taste. However, 80% of my so-called experiments ended up better than I expected, which often surprises me. But the weird thing is I cannot replicate these experiments; I have to do several trials. But I have no complaints. Example, a couple of my experiments are my banana-kiwi-hazelnut spread crepe and chocolate cupcake.

Banana-kiwi-hazelnut spread crepe

My hubby loved this one. I made it for breakfast one weekend. Good thing we were given a few yellow kiwi fruit brought by hubby's aunt from a visit to New Zealand. I really wanted to use Nutella but my budget does not permit so I used the regular hazelnut chocolate spread. It turned out fine.

Chocolate cupcake

Relatively moist inside

This one my daughter loved. Ever since my sister gave me an electric mixer, I try to use it whenever I can. Since I don't have an actual oven (someday..will definitely buy one when I have the budget), I use my turbo broiler for baking. My baking trials always end up too dry or burnt on top. Lessons learned has finally paid up. For this mini chocolate cake, I lessened the baking time, lowered the temperature and covered the top with aluminum foil to keep it from overbaking the top portion. And viola! I made my first moist cake made from scratch and baked from my turbo broiler. As I have said, it is relatively moist on the inside compared to my previous cakes (from the box). Next project: to make a better moist cake. But for now, I quite satisfied with myself ;).

PS. Pardon my choice of words like trials and experiments. I have worked in research for several years so naturally, I can't shake off using some relatively scientific words.

A few perks of being a crafty mom

As I have mentioned before, I am into crafts. I really like working with beads, papers, cross-stitching etc..the more tedious the craft the better. That was before i had kids. I still have some unfinished patterns with me ever since i got married. Whew, anyone would understand a day in the life of a mother. Anyways, there are a few perks being into crafts and having kids, especially toddlers and pre-schoolers. First, baby clothes and cloth diapers can be personalized with embroidery and embelishments. I embroidered MJ's name in all of her cloth diapers, and now have added Ysa's name. Second, baptisms and birthdays are a real treat; from invitations to souvenirs creative minds and hands are put to a challenge. I so love planning and preparing baptisms and birthdays. I was able to make nice invites, diaper cake (for baptism) and cute swimming pool birthday cake (inspired by the cake we found from Kraft magazine), decorated shoebox (for school) for MJ. We had a blast decorating the pool cake, actually it was my hubby and I who were arguing where to put what. As for Ysa, I've made nice baptismal candles and souvenirs using scrapbooking materials. And now I'm planning what to do for her first birthday. Uhmm exciting! Lastly, no matter what the craft looks like (of course best efforts are applied), anything made are greatly appreciated with a big embrace and lots of kisses. Since pre-schoolers still doesn't have a clear understanding what looks good or not, anything I made were greeted with a response "Nice" (with a wide grin) or "Thanks mom" followed by a kiss. Who wouldn't be inspired to make more crafts for the kids? I only do hope they'll appreciate these things when they get older ;).

Loved the rain

Thanks to the passing typhoon, we just had some heavy rains for the past few days. Actually my daughter and I just came in after running and playing on the street while there's a heavy downpour. She was truly ecstatic, running around with a few children also playing in the rain. I remember the time when my mom won't allow us to have a bath in the rain. I decided not to be like that. I want my kids to enjoy playing in the rain, I'd even join them. It should be part of growing up as children. Of course, this should always be a proper bath afterwards.

I just love it when it rains. Just rain, not the devastatingly heavy typhoon. It allows me to have some quiet time and reflect while watching raindrops fall on the ground or make some ripples on the puddle. It is also calming to see the leaves' slight movements as rains hit them. It also reminds me to have my umbrella repaired o just buy a new one for I remembered I still got wet even with the umbrella for it already had some holes ;). Oh well, we'll be having several rains (as always) since rainy season has begun. That means more rain baths to come.

So you, when have you had your rain bath?

Going to the fresh market

When I was young, my mother would often bring us along when she goes to the market. Bringing us along means extra help for carrying the bags of fresh goods. I don't mind too much when I accompany her except during the times when we go to her suki (patron) butcher for the meat for her small business. I truly disgust it when male butcher make some comments like 'oh, how pretty is your daughter'. Ew, people shouldn't make uncomfortable comments like that to young children; nowadays it's called sexual harassment. Going back to what I was saying earlier, going to the market was okey. I just wished that my mother should have taught us how to buy properly, how to choose the right product, especially how to haggle. Anyhow, I still learned something from it. Before we go home, she would almost always buy some native foods or kakanin like kutsinta or suman. Uhmm, that made my day. I think my Lola Maring also did that, buying kakanin from the market for she would always serve us some when we visit her.
Nowadays, I still like going to the fresh market. I like choosing my vegetables by feeling them, checking out their quality. I don't know how it started but I always, always go to the vegetable section first..then to the fish and meat sections. Last is to the fruit section. I guess everybody has their own route when buying their ingredients. One time, my husband joined me to the market and he automatically turned to this specific row of fish vendors. Oh well, that's his route.
Now is my time to bring my own daughter to the market. She likes to come along especially when we stop to buy her favorite tinapa or other fresh fish. And just like any other market day I had, I also buy some suman or sapin-sapin before I go home. Having some suman with sugar after getting back home still brings me to that place in time when I also got home from a market day with my mom or a visit to my Lola.

Food and world peace

All along I thought it is just a Philippine phenomenon (or Asian or African problem for that matter). I haven't been watching any foreign news channels lately but when I did yesterday, the new anchor said that food has become a global crisis as affected by climate change. It has definitely affected crop, livestock and fish production. Some areas are heavily flooded while others have cracked fields due to much drought. Food has now become a commodity that tests a country's political and economic powers. I fear that access to food will become like those in the historical war movies or documentaries of personal accounts of people who experienced it. This has gone beyond food preference (being vegetarian or vegan) or fad diets (low carb high protein diets, grapefruit or cabbage soup diets). I have this friend whose family is well off. Whenever she would eat out, there will always be some leftovers. One time a companion pointed it out to her to finish her food. Her reply? "Eh, ako naman nagbayad" ("Well, I paid for it"), implying that she can do whatever she wants because she paid for it. Boy, was I blown away. I hope those people who have access to food (financial and physical access) will think beyond themselves and know that their i-can-eat-whenever-whatever-i-want-so-i-can-throw-it-away-or-give-it-to-the-dogs days will come to an end. One way or another, the food crisis will catch them up. So eat up everything on that tiny plate of food knowing that there are many people who haven't had any decent food and water for the past weeks or months.

Counting the summer days

Have you had your favorite summer food? I myself have yet to have the halo-halo. I remember during my college years when there was a small stall near our apartment that sells halo-halo at P10 a cup, a good deal i may say since the prices now has gone up. Now I think a cup of halo-halo costs around P15-25 depending on where you'll buy it. I also had my constant fill of ice cream cone, thanks to the summer discount of Mini-stop which costs us only P10/cone. And of course, summer will never be summer without going to the beach. My all time fave beach foods include pork and chicken barbeque, juicy watermelons and muskmelons, ice cold fresh fruit juice...uhmm my mouth waters just imaging myself on the beach preparing these foods for my family.

Since we're counting down the days left for summer, we have to hurry up with our activities and enjoy the time with families and friends. Activities with families may not necessarily mean spending a lot of money. Growing up in Iloilo allowed us to have easy access to the beach but I remember one time when my mom won't allow us to go because we didn't have money to buy extra food to bring to the beach. I was kind of frustrated for I thought we need have any food as long as we can enjoy and have our swim. Simple activities may just be a mat, some cold water and a few bread brought to a nearby field or park under a late afternoon sun or just visit an old friend or relative who lives nearby but has not seen each other in a month or two. Summer is a great time to reacquaint the kids with cousins they rarely see, for this may establish or re-establish their friendships. Of course, it will always be fun to have some food along the way.

Pancit molo of Ramehi Foods

Being an Ilongga, I grew up eating pancit molo, sipping its hot clear soup and consuming its meat-filled noodles. In college, I discovered that other people called it "ulo ng madre" (probably because the molo has an excess noodle part which looked like the veils of the nuns). Actually I don't know how it came about, but i think it was a variation of chinese dumplings and a distant relative of the italian tortelinni.

Among the pancit molo I have tried, only one has remained my favorite..the one homemade by Ramehi Foods. Based in Iloilo City, you'll know that they use the right combination of ingredients unlike others that have gummy noodles and unpleasant smell. The pancit molo of Ramehi Foods has noodles that are thin and light, and nice egg-y aroma. Available in selected supermarkets in Iloilo City, all you need then are chicken pieces, garlic, onions, chicken cubes, water and green onions. Then viola! You have your own bowl of pancit molo. You could also try their molo wrapper if you want to make your own filling. I have tried using it for my siomai (actually not my recipe, I just buy the Magnolia prepared siomai filling), it turned out great.

For orders, just contact Monet of Ramehi Foods at (033) 509-6026.

Drooling over Claycakes

Cakes, cakes and more cakes...Who wouldn't be happy to even have just a mouthful especially if it's made by Ate Karla of Claycakes. We are so lucky that she's a cousin of my hubby Jojo. She made our beautiful wedding cake with signature caketopper and luscious chocolate sauce (yumyum!).

It is one of those things you can't get enough of. For my father Rusty's 60th birthday, Ate Karla was kind enough to accommodate me in her busy schedule. Though he's an accountant by profession, my father is a farmer at heart. So that's the concept, a cake with my father and some animals as topper. Boy, it was a hit! You'll be the judge. See the uncanny resemblance of my father and his cake topper?

His cake..or what's left of it anyways ;)

A friend of mine is getting married this year. So more than a month ago, I accompanied her and her mother to Ate Karla for cake tasting. On the way, yeah, I was cool but deep inside I was esctatic, thinking "Would I just watch have those yummy cakes o would they share even a bit?". Upon arrival and after a few introductions, Ate Karla served us (US!) her lemon and chocolate cakes. My friend got to share her piece with her mother, while I, without batting an eyelash, ate up (actually, it was more like gobbled up) my portion. I didn't even think about sharing ;)... hmm I thought about it only when I saw the crumbs on my plate (hehe sorry Ri!). Uhmmm, yummy!.

Actually what reminded be of Ate Karla was the invitation to the birthday party of her youngest son Gio. Probably the whole clan will be there along with the family's friends so definitely it will be one great party. Of course, one thing to watch for is the birthday cake (which actually started it (as in Claycakes) all as for the case of her eldest son's birthday). It will definitely, definitely be one of those cakes you want your picture to be taken with......and may we get to have a piece of that gorgeous cake, pretty please?!

Heart-warming Arroz caldo

It may be too simple for others but this is the first time I made such dish. Arroz caldo is a chicken-ginger-garlic based porridge often eaten during the cold, rainy season or when one is sick. Thanks to the recipe I found from Mr. Marketman's website, I finally was able to cook arroz caldo having all the ingredients available at hand (except for kalamansi or calamondin). It just so happen that I have lots of ginger root so I intentionally added more than is require. I also used almost 2 cups of bigas na malagkit or sticky rice. Boy, I didn't know it would need much water or broth so as not to come out too thick. I should have researched the correct water:rice ratio. Though I know others prefer to use bigger proportion of regular rice instead of pure sticky rice so that it will not be as sticky as my porridge.
Anyhow, the result? Yep, it was thick, gooey porridge with heavy therapeutic flavor of ginger running down my throat. Uhmm, it was delish. I was imaging having this dish while curled up in a corner with the rain so pouring (Actually, i made it because it was raining ;). The mood has to be perfect). I will definitely make it again.
The next dish to conquer - chicken-pork adobo...

First entry to the blogsphere

This is one of the moments when I am quite nervous that my mind goes blank. Don't know what to expect, don't know what is expected. Encouraged by my good friend, now i'll try my luck in blogging.

Why the title? It literally means "Let's eat" or "Kain tayo" in Karay-a. One of the dialects spoken in Iloilo, Karay-a is one dialect I like to hear being spoken but didn't have the chance to learn. Anyway, obviously, my blogs will be mostly about food, my adventures (and misadventures) in and out of my one-burner-stove kitchen. I like to eat...no, love to eat..trying new tastes, textures and aromas, may it be of local or international cuisine.

I love to cook. My family and friends usually are the ones who try out my "experiments". I love browsing through cookbooks, food sites and blogs, even newspaper clippings or product labels for new or updated recipes. I also like recreating some recipes from my travels. Therefore, expect some exciting mishaps of this trying-hard food blogger, among other things.