Trick or Treat

***School***

October 29, was supposed to be my son’s Trick or Treat but they moved it last Tuesday because of the semestral break. It was a simple trick or treat for the kids, parents need to bring two packs of cookies, candies or chocolates but I decided to bring 16 packs of goodies. Click here to learn my DIY.

We have the option to wear costume or not but of course I wanted my son to wear costume. As I mentioned in my other post we just borrowed his Halloween costume, if you answer Peter Pan and Astronaut your guess is right. He used his old pumpkin basket and I just replaced the handle. 

My son wore peter pan costume during his trick or treat in school.

After trick of treat, my son happily went home with his goodies.

***Office***

Day before the event I packed another set of goodies, I have no idea how many kids would be present so I just packed 35 pieces. My son wore astronaut costume last Thursday and we have no idea that the theme was recycle costume, my husband checked the email again and there was no note about it. Most of the kids wear costume made of carton, flour sack, garlic sack, plastic and many more.

Anyway, because it was raining cats and dogs last Thursday we were not able to roam around. My son just enjoyed drawing and coloring in this illustration board. There was poster making contest but my son did not join the contest because he was only 4 years old. The contest is open for 5-12 yrs old.

The theme is “earth day” and this is the finish product of my son. I know it is abstract! Hehe!

He went home with his goodies. Konti lang compared last year. Hehe!

We have another trick or treat today in our subdivision but I decided not join anymore because I don’t want to pack any more goodies and I think two trick or treat events are enough. 

Interesting Perfume Facts You Will Love To Know

You might have read a lot of facts about perfume, on how to buy it, where to wear it, how to wear it, and many more. There are also resources available on the net that would suggest getting the best perfume and brand.

Whether you shop perfume online or offline, you should spend some fruitful time researching. After all, you are going to buy your signature. Perfumes not only decide the mood but set the mood. It also increases the confidence level of the wearer so there is nothing wrong with spending some great time searching sites like True Pheromones, or similar, or at the market to get the best possible perfume for yourself.

It is a known fact that wearing perfume is a personal thing and people hardly feel comfortable discussing the matter. However, perfume is enough to define the persona of a person; you may detect the person blindfolded by the perfume he/she is wearing. I would be not wrong if I say that perfume sets uniqueness, individuality, and personality. Just shop for the right perfume and the world is yours.

In this article, I would discuss some interesting facts related to perfume. Some would be common to you and some would be totally unknown to you. 

• Females enjoy a keener and better sense of smell as compared to men. So, seriously saying when shopping around for perfume go with your girlfriend for better suggestions.
• If you too want to develop a better sense of fragrance and smell, change your lifestyle and diet. 
• The sense of smell is also affected by medication. 
• Every human skin is different so perfumes also react differently. Don’t get confused a better-smelling perfume for your boyfriend may not be the same for you. 
• The olfactory sense is better than the sense of visibility, so you will remember the smell better than the thing you see. 
• Again a thing to try out, research says that the sense of smell is better in the later part of the day.
• Sense of smell is inversely proportionated to your age.
• Wear perfume on the nerve pulse area. You can try behind the ears; it will stay longer as compared to other parts of your body. 
• If you have oily skin, the perfume will hold better on your skin as compared to your friend’s having dry skin. Versace perfume in Australia is said to be the perfume working well with both dry and oily skin. 
•  Don’t keep perfume open, it reacts with air. You will find your expensive Versace perfume fade off quickly if kept open and not kept nicely. The smell and efficiency of perfume reduce with altitude, so your perfume is not going to work on height. 
• Studies show that pheromones are also common in humans and it is more than just chemicals. It is a scent that we can’t smell but it can attract other people. There are products that will help you boosts your own natural pheromone.

These were some simple yet interesting facts about perfume; feel free to comment about some more facts and help me to increase the list. Your feedback is really appreciated. Hope to see you soon with the new interesting write-up. For then enjoy reading.

DIY Halloween Goodies

Yesterday was my son’s first trick or treat experience in school. It was supposed to be on Oct. 29, Monday but there was a change of schedule because of the semestral break. And because I was so busy last weekend because of my training and funwalk I had a last minute preparation.

I was told to bring 2 packs of cookies, candies or chocolates but I realized that not all packs of candies, cookies and chocolates have the same quantity. Some are packed by 20, 24, 50 etc. so I decided to pack all my goodies so each kids will receive the same stuff and the teacher can easily distribute it. My son has 15 classmates now; there was an additional of two classmates after his birthday so I prepared 16 Halloween goodies including my son.

What do I need?

Cookies, candies and chocolates

Printed Halloween stuff

Black Cartolina

Ice plastic bag

Stapler

Scotch tape

Double sided tape

I put the stuff inside the plastic bags, two milk chococate, 4 choco-choco, 2 tootsie roll and 2 wafers. I used scotch tape to bind each goodies before placing it inside the plastic bag so they will stay in its place.

Then staple the plastic bag.

Use scotch tape to connect the paper and plastic bag.

Then I use double sided tape to seal the paper.

Finished product. 

A repost from my old blog Michi's Home Sweet Home

Oatmeal Cupcakes

Yesterday, I decided to make an oatmeal cupcake and while waiting for the cupcake I was doing some chores and when I got back, I was shocked because there was no fire, my husband turned off the gas before he left so I have to bake the cupcake again and I don’t know how many more minutes I need to bake it. Grrr!

So what happened to my oatmeal cupcake….the top and bottom were over bake and the middle was under bake and it has no taste. Honestly, I can’t explain the taste, I asked my husband to taste it and the same reaction but because he was guilty, he said: “I will eat it for you”. 

I checked the recipe again and there was no sugar but there is 3 tbsp of chocolate chips which I did not include in the recipe. Epic failure! I will never try this recipe again. Hehe! 

Sharing the recipe from Green Lite Bites site

3 mashed bananas (the riper the better!)

1 cup vanilla Almond milk (you could use skim but you may want to add a little sweetener)

2 eggs

1 tbsp Baking powder

3 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp (42g) mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together, and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.

Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with non-stick spray.

Stir the chocolate chips into the oatmeal batter.

Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled.

Bake 20-30 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.

Read: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

FunWALK and FunGAMES

World Psoriasis Day is a yearly event for those people who have psoriasis like me so last Sunday we went to Maysilo Circle in Mandaluyong City to join the Funwalk and Fungames of PsorPhil. Actually, not only psoriasis patients were present because even doctors, sponsors, supporters, and other volunteers joined us to promote the global theme “Put Psoriasis on The Agenda Now” and of course to tell the whole world that psoriasis is not contagious.

I became a member last 2010 and this was my second time joining the funwalk. I was happy because my husband and my son always accompany me even if it is more than an hour of walking. 

Photo from PsorPhil group

After the fun walk we had parlor games and we were lucky to win the sack race game. Go Asian PsorClub!

Click here if you want to know more about psoriasis. 

If you have psoriasis, join our group here and register here.

P.L.A.N.E.T.

I was one of the lucky participants of P.L.A.N.E.T or Psoriasis Livelihood Assistance Network and Training. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that I have psoriasis and I’m a member of PsorPhil group. One of the visions of PsorPhil is to help and support people with psoriasis. For your information, we have members that are unemployed, they were either terminated or they can’t find a job because of the skin condition so it is PsorPhil aims to help members by providing livelihood assistance and training. PsorPhil hopes that this training can help them to earn.

I was able to attend the Basic Web Designing and Basic PC troubleshooting training at Hope Christian High School in Sta. Cruz, Manila last Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, 2012. It was half day training so don’t expect that I can do web design or troubleshoot computer already but at least I’ve learned the basics. Now, I know and understand some html and css terminology and I’ve tried to assemble and disassemble computers. I just hope there’s a continuation of this training.

This was the second livelihood assistance that I’ve attended the first one was soap making, jewelry making and loadingbusiness.

If you have psoriasis, join our group here and register here.

Photos from PsorPhil group. 

World Psoriasis Day 2012

Leo Pharma Asia’s Top Executive to join National Psoriasis Week

Ricky Teo, a top-ranking executive of LEO Pharma-Asia will grace this year’s celebration of the National Psoriasis Awareness Week at the Kaban ng Hiyas of the Mandaluyong City Hall.

The annual event, a testament to the importance of Presidential Proclamation No. 179 declaring every last week of October as the National Psoriasis Week, will carry the global theme “Put Psoriasis on The Agenda Now” for this year’s celebration.

Despite his hectic schedule, Teo, Leo Pharma-Asia’s Area Director for South Asia, will join the national events as a show of support for the region. Teo is responsible for Leo Pharma’s markets in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Hongkong, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

Teo will discuss the topic of the stigma of psoriasis why a great number living with it take their own lives to escape the suffering that it entails and why is this the only solution they see. He will also post the question of why in a world where beautiful and clear skin is the benchmark of beauty, psoriasis patients are being treated negatively because of the inflamed, thick red scaly lesions found in their skin.

Most people think that the physical symptoms of psoriasis patients are contagious and people tend to ostracize patients with psoriasis. These instances lower the self-esteem of the patients and they shy away from the public, hiding from the judging eyes of the outside world. They hide in their homes and most patients fall into depression.

About 30% of Psoriasis patients develop painful and debilitating psoriatic Arthritis. Their quality of life is lessened and can’t do some of the simple things that most people take for granted in their daily lives. Recent global studies also show that psoriasis patients are at higher risk of developing other co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Crohn’s Disease, and other chronic conditions.

Psoriasis Philippines, along with Leo Pharma and Teo, advocates for the Filipinos with psoriasis who are estimated to be between 1 to 2 million. Every year Psorphil celebrates World Psoriasis Day together with 64 other countries.

This year's Psoriasis Awareness Week is also supported by Pfizer Phils, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Galderma Phils. and Pascual Laboratories.

Ghirardelli: Triple Chocolate Brownies

I remember when I was still starting to bake I tried few instant mixes first before baking from scratch. After learning how to bake from scratch I never bought any instant recipe mix but last month I bought this Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate instant mix. I’m not familiar with the brand maybe because it’s imported but since it was a sale I bought 1 box good for six batches.

I baked it yesterday and I just told my husband that we have brownies inside the fridge if he wants to bring some in the office. My son and I ate this during our breakfast and then few minutes ago I received a text from my husband and he said “sarap ng brownies”. I hate to admit but this triple chocolate instant mix is better than the two brownies recipe that I baked from scratch. This brownie is so rich, dense, chewy and chocolate-y. It is a balance of semi-sweet, milk and bittersweet chocolate chips.

I’m not a fan of ready mixes but after tasting these brownies, I will definitely buy this again. It is starting to convince me that I will not bake brownies from scratch again. Hehe! Another thing is it is so easy to make, I just need to add water, oil, and egg. 

Update: July 2019

It's been a while since the last time I bought Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownies so I was really surprised when I saw the packaging, bago na pala ang packaging and 5 packs of brownie mix na lang per box. The price is almost P800 so mahal na siya but this is the favorite of my son so no choice kundi bumili. hehehe!

I will put the recipe here so I don't have to keep the box. I'll just refer to this post if I will bake brownies.

How to Prepare Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownies

For 16 Brownies using 8x8, 9x9 or 11x7 pan

1 Pouch Mix
1/3 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Egg

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare baking pan by lightly greasing or spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place water, oil, and egg in mixing bowl and stir until fully mixed.
3. Bake for 45-50 minutes. For glass pan, add 5 minutes to the bake time.
4. Cool completely in pan before cutting.

Monggo

Twelve days ago before my son’s birthday party started, kids planted monggo seeds on this cup, using water, cotton and monggo seeds. It is one of their activities in school and this is the result after four days.

…after 7 days

…and on the 8^th day, monggo plant withered. 

And because of this project, my son doesn't like to eat monggo because it will grow on his tummy daw. Hehehe!

Oreo Cheesecake

I wanted to make blueberry cheesecake but I don’t have blueberry at home so I check the internet for possible recipes with cheesecake but I did not get anything I like so I used the recipe of no-bake blueberry cheesecake, I just change some of the ingredients.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups oreo cookie crumbs

1/2 cup (approx. 100g) softened butter

Cheesecake filling:

1 cup (1 brick) cream cheese

1 cup (1 brick) all purpose cream

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons liquid milk

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin (1 sachet of Knox)

Few pieces of chopped oreo cookies

To prepare crust:

Mix oreo cookie crumbs and add butter to bind. Mash well.

*Crust mixture should be close to texture of moist sand; add a bit more butter if too dry.

Transfer and press evenly on bottom of ungreased springform pan (or any pie dish you prefer).

Place in the freezer to harden crust while you make the filling.

To prepare filling:

Using a mixer, whip chilled cream with 2 tablespoon sugar until stiff. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, gradually mix remaining sugar into softened cream cheese. Beat until fluffy and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, combine milk and gelatine powder. Heat until completely dissolved (don't boil, use a wire whisk while heating to remove lumps). Remove from heat, pour and beat into cream cheese mixture.

Fold in cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat on medium to high.

Add few pieces of chopped oreo cookie.

To assemble:

Bring out pan from freezer and pour in the cheesecake filling. Spread evenly with spatula and tap pan lightly to set and release some air bubbles.

Cover pan and chill for a few hours.

.

It was a sure hit to my son but hubby and I still prefer the no-bake blueberry cheesecake because eating oreo cheesecake is like eating cookies and cream ice cream. Hehe!

Caramia: Sansrival

We trooped to Alabang Town Center last weekend because I need to buy some baking supplies in Gourdos. It was my first time visiting the store and it wasn’t easy locating it. Gourdos has two stores in ATC, one in Homezone and one in Entertainment Complex. I visited the two stores to check the difference and I prefer the Entertainment Complex branch because it is much bigger.

Then we had an early lunch at Amici and ordered our old time favorite Spaghetti Al Carbonara and Pollo Arrostito but for a change, we order Sansrival cake instead of Sansrival gelato. We all love it and I think I can finish half of the whole cake and as of this writing, I’m craving for Sansrival how I wish I know how to make this.

Read: Lunch at Amici

Bread Pudding

I’ve read the bread pudding post of “The Harassed Mom’s Food Journey” last Friday so yesterday; I’ve made my very first bread pudding. I dislike leftover so if I have time I make French toast using our old bread but for a change I tried different recipe. I got the recipe from Mom Who Think site. 

  

2 cups whole milk (or 2 cups half & half)

1/4 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark, depending on taste preference)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups bread, torn into small pieces (french bread works best)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat milk (or half & half) just until film forms over top. Combine butter and milk, stirring until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm.

2. Combine sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.

3. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole.

4. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.

While making my bread pudding my son joined me so I gave him all the sides of the bread to keep him busy.

I have few pieces of old bread so I increase the measurement of the ingredients but I guess I miscalculated the measurement because my bread pudding wasn’t that successful.

It is crunchy on the top but too soft and wet at the bottom. Nevertheless, my boys love this or maybe because they eat anything I serve. 

4th Birthday

If you’ve been reading this blog for quite some time now, you know that I’m not a fan of parties but since this is my son’s first school experience, I decided to celebrate his birthday in school. My son has only 13 classmates so this is really a simple celebration. I started the preparation three weeks before the event so it would be less stressful for me.

I was really worried day before my son’s birthday because we went to school only to find out that the class was suspended (Typhoon Marce). I was really praying hard that there will be no class suspension on his birthday and God is indeed good because He gave us good weather. I realized that maybe he suspended the class so I have more time to prepare.

Invitation

Giveaways

Guest thumb print

Vanilla Cupcake + Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

These are all D.I.Y. so click here for the instructions.

Compared to his last three birthdays, my son really enjoyed his 4^th birthday. Happy birthday Ethan! We love you! 

Vanilla Cupcake + Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Yesterday was my son’s 4^th birthday party in school and I baked choco-banana cupcake and vanilla cupcake. My initial plan was to buy cake but I realized that it would be easy for the kids to bring home the cupcake after eating their meal.

I baked the cupcake day before the party and I made the vanilla buttercream frosting few hours before the party. I got this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker site. 

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature

½ cup sour cream

1 large egg , room temperature

2 large egg yolks , room temperature

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

3. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2½ cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.

2. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

My son loves the vanilla cupcake and he keeps on eating my cupcake while I’m waiting for the other batches to finish so I ended up baking more.

It was my first time to decorate a cupcake and I thought it was easy but it wasn’t. I need more practice, but at least I did it, I’m still happy with the result. Hehe!

DIY Car’s Birthday Party Theme

I’m not fond of big parties so we don’t throw birthday party instead we just travel but this time I decided to celebrate my son’s 4^th birthday in school. I dislike preparation because I find it stressful but since my son has only 13 classmates it would not be difficult to prepare. Anyway, it is just a simple party, less than an hour celebration. All we need is invitation, guestbook, giveaways and of course food.

My son loves “Lightning Mcqueen” so Car was our theme. Three weeks before my son’s birthday I started the preparation. I got this invitation in Toy Kingdom, P60 for 6 pieces. I personally wrote all the details.

I bought picture frame and stamp pad for the guestbook. I added some car’s picture.

I decided not to have loot bags because not all kids eat candies just like my son so I just bought small Pringles as a giveaway.

I used red cartolina, double sided tape, printed car’s theme and glue.

I also bought bottled water for the drinks because soda and chocolate drinks are not allowed in school. I used red and black cartolina, double sided tape, printed car’s theme and glue.

I baked vanilla cupcake and choco-banana cupcake. I used printed car’s theme for the cupcake topper. Click here for banana cupcake recipe and here for the vanilla cupcake + vanilla buttercream frosting recipe., 

Jollibee for the food! hehe!

A repost from my old blog Michi's Home Sweet Home

Camaron Rebosado Recipe

I wanted to cook shrimp tempura but looking at the procedures it makes me so lazy so I ended up cooking camaron rebosado. I don’t normally measure my ingredients so season your shrimp according to your taste. This is my version of camaron rebosado. I used the F.E.B. (Flour, Egg, and Breadcrumbs) procedure.

½ kilo of shrimp (shelled and deveined)
1 lemon
8 tbsp of flour
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder
2 Raw eggs
Breadcrumbs
Cooking oil for deep frying

Marinate the shrimp in lemon juice for 30 minutes. Heat a pan and pour in the cooking oil. Combine flour, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Beat the eggs. Put the shrimp in flour mixture, then egg, and lastly breadcrumbs. Then deep-fry until the color turns to golden brown.

Update: August 2021 Purefoods Tail-on Shrimp

I love shrimp but I seldom cook Camaron Rebosado or Shrimp Tempura because it needs a lot of cooking oil. I can’t even remember the last time I cooked this at home but I love eating this if this is available on the buffet table. 

Anyway, just this year I discovered that Purefoods has Seafoods Delight Tail-on Shrimp so I ordered this online.  What is nice about this product is you don’t need to thaw and no more cooking oil, you can toast it on your oven toaster for 15 minutes. But if you don’t have an oven toaster, you can also deep fry it. 

Oven Toaster 

1. Take out from the freezer. No need to thaw. 

2. Oven toast for 15 minutes. (cooking may vary depending on cooking wattage) 

3. Serve Crunchy 

Deep Fry 

1. Take out from the freezer. No need to thaw. 

2. Deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat or until golden brown. 

3. Remove from pan and drain excess oil. 

4. Serve while hot. 

But since I have an air fryer, I use my Philips HD9270 Air Fryer to cook this Tail-on Shrimp. The same process with the oven toaster but I only cook this for 8-10 minutes at 190C. It turned out really crunchy compared to my Camaron Rebosado from scratch. 

With regard to taste, it is just okay. I just find it a little bit salty for my taste kung pang appetizer pero okay naman kung may rice. I still have another pack, let see kung mabago lasa sa next na luto. Hehehe!