Michi Photostory

August 23, 2011

29 Years and Counting

Celebrating my birthday and this is the last year that my age will start in 2 but I don’t look and feel old. Hahaha! But looking back, I’m so happy and grateful to God because He’s been with me throughout these years and I could not imagine my life living without His guidance, protection, understanding, and love.

There are really no words good enough to express how grateful I am for all the blessings that He has given to me though sometimes I feel that I do not deserve it. Thank you, Lord, for giving me 29 years and I am still counting for more years, I know that you have still something for me and the best is yet to come. Happy birthday to me, to my brother, and to my niece!

I just came back from our Cebu trip so I’m still tired but happy. I will soon share my birthday celebration in Cebu but for now, I will take a break.

August 19, 2011

Simple Shrimp Pasta

I have no internet connection for almost two days and using tattoo is not helping me because it took me forever just to load the page. I have nothing to do on my spare time so I cooked red spaghetti sauce then after cooking red spaghetti sauce; I decided to make another sauce from our leftover shrimp. I just used all the ingredients in my pantry so I called this simple shrimp pasta. And because of this, we’ll be eating pasta for the next few days.

August 15, 2011

Bibingkinitan

I always love bibingka and this is one of the reasons why I am so much excited on ber months but I do not have to wait for ber months to enjoy this food because Bibingkinitan is almost everywhere. We had a quick snack last Saturday at Bibingkinitan kiosk while waiting for the rain to stop. For P50, you already have barako coffee and one piece of bibingka. My son loves bibingka too.

P20 per piece

August 13, 2011

Best Love Advice

I can definitely say that I am not an expert when it comes to love because I only had one boyfriend in my entire life and I am proud of it because not all women ended with their first boyfriend. Of course our relationship is not perfect; we had our own ups and downs but thank God because we are still together.

Cliché as it may sounds but I really want to grow old with my husband so annulment is not an option for me. I know that there is no perfect marriage but if you put God in the center of your relationship, He will hold your hands to pass all your trials.

Like what I’ve said I am not a love guru but I want to share some of my favorite quotes that might help you along the way.

“Love is not about staying with someone because you don’t want to get hurt… It’s all about staying because you are happy and there’s no place you would rather be...”

When you love someone you’ll realize that it would never be about you and how you want your relationship to be. It’s about staying and finding ways of making things alright when life says they shouldn’t be. It’s called defying all the odds for something they call everything.

One rule in every relationship: “No matter how fed up and carried away you are in a fight, never ever suggest a breakup”

August 11, 2011

Goodbye Sofa Bed

Yesterday, I left my son in our room to put the laundry in washing machine and I was shocked when I came back, my son is ripping his sofa bed into pieces. I don’t know what in his mind why he ripped his sofa bed and I don’t know how I can put this back together. When I showed this to my hubby, he just smiled at me and told me that we can no longer use it. So I placed everything in plastic bag.

The same day my son was looking for his sofa bed so I am not sure if I will buy the same sofa bed or the real one. I know that he loves his sofa bed because this is where he sits while watching TV. There are times that he will sleep here during day and night time and I’ll just transfer him in our bed. But we have to say goodbye to his sofa bed but for sure it will be missed.

Ilog Maria Honey-Propolis Feminine Wash

I bought this product few months ago when I visited the Ilog Maria Honeybee farm, see my previous post here. I’ve been using feminine wash for the past few years even my OB told me to use regular soap to avoid UTI.

This week, I’ve tried to use this and they have the same cooling effect of ph care. So if ever I will visit Ilog Maria Honeybee farm, I will definitely buy this. From the name itself, it contains honey and propolis that will protects you from fungi and bacteria. It is affordable, P45 per bar so why not use natural products.

Description: Propolis is a powerful natural resin which bees collect to protect their beehives from fungal, viral and bacterial infections. Honey is bacteriostatic, emollient and is the best skin cleanser.

Grilled Rosemary Pork Chops

While checking my recipe notebook, I found this recipe “grilled rosemary pork chops”. I’ve got it from old magazine but I can’t remember which magazine. =) I decided to give it a try since I have all the ingredients in the pantry. I was so happy with the result and we both enjoy our grilled pork chop and my hubby suggested trying the recipe with beef. The pork chops are very flavorful and I like the aroma of rosemary herbs.

Here is the recipe

6 pork chops, skin removed (but I did not remove the skin)

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tbsp rock salt

1 tbsp black pepper (coarsely ground)

1 ½ tbsp dried rosemary

6 tbsp olive oil

In a mortar, roughly pound the garlic with the salt, pepper, and rosemary. Add olive oil. Spread this marinade over both side of each chop and leave in a cool place, covered, for about 15 minutes. Preheat the griddle pan to very hot and grill each chop for 5-6 minutes on each side. Maybe the grilling part will depend on how thick is your pork chop.

August 10, 2011

Viaje Del Sol

Viaje Del Sol means “the way of the sun”. It is a map with a list of places you can visit in Laguna, Batangas and Quezon. Some map has 16 or 19 places but I have my own list from what I’ve researched on.

Viaje del Sol is like having an educational tour because you will learn more about food, art and cultures. Not only that, you can also relax and stay in different bed and breakfast.

I’ve been raving about this tour for quite some time now but still, I was not able to finish the list. Out of 26, I’ve only visited two places, Villa Escudero and Arabela in Liliw, Laguna.

Read: Viaje Del Sol

There is an upcoming long weekend this August and I’ve told my mom that I want to go to Lake Pandin and she suggested celebrating our birthday there. So this will be an extension of my birthday, I mean our birthday. August 23 is my brother, my niece and my birthday so it is really hard to celebrate on the same day because we have our own celebration. The truth is I never attended any birthday of my niece except her upcoming 7^th birthday which will be held on Aug. 27. If there is no rain, we can go to Lake Pandin which is part of Viaje Del Sol list. I guess, this is the longest celebration of my birthday.

Here is the map of Viaje Del Sol just in case you want to have this tour.

Laguna

1. La Vista Pansol

2. Petty John Pottery workshop

3. Casa San Pablo

4. Herbana Farms

5. Café Lago

6. Majayjay Bed and Breakfast

7. Museo di Cipra

8. Villa Socorro

9. Sampaloc and Pandin Lakes

10. Tahanan ni Aling Meding

11. Carlito’s Workshop

12. Colette’s Buko Pie

13. Pillar Plants and Novelties

14. Sitio De Amor

15. Successful Family Farm

16. Sulyap Gallery Café

17. Arabela

18. Nagcarlan Cemetery

Batangas

1. Casa Rap

2. First Asian Institute of Technology

Quezon

1. Earthkeeper’s Garden and Restaurant

2. Café San luis

3. Ugu Bigyan Potter’s Garden

4. Villa Escudero

5. Kinabuhayan Café

If you’ve been here, please share your stories or links so I can read them.

Chicken Curry

Every time I include chicken curry on my menu I ended up cooking chicken adobo because that is my favorite dish so sometimes my husband will ask me what happened to the chicken curry. I just smiled. Coconut milk is not my main concern because it is readily available in supermarket so no more squeezing of grated coconut but I am not into curry powder so I rarely cook this dish but finally I follow my menu list so I cooked chicken curry.

Tim Tam

Last month I attended my cousin’s daughter's 1^st birthday party and my brother just came back from Australia so I was able to get our pasalubong. It is like hitting two birds at the same time, I guess I really have good timing when it comes to packages and pasalubong. Hehe!

Well, one of the pasalubong is Tim Tam, actually this is his favorite pasalubong because the last time that he went there, he also gave us this chocolate. Tim Tam is the favorite chocolate biscuit of Australians. It is composed of textured chocolate for coating, chocolate cream filling, and chocolate malted biscuits. Other variants are chewy caramel, hazelnut praline, double coat, classic dark, and fingers. For me, this is a better version of Kit Kat.

photo from arnotts

This is the last chocolate that we have in the fridge to give way for the next pasalubong because my mom will be home next week. (expecting for chocolates) =)

August 09, 2011

Egg White Omelet

After baking my leche flan, my next question is what will happen to the egg whites? I remember the last time that I make a leche flan, (3 years ago) I make meringue using the egg whites, the taste are good but I cannot say that it was successful. I have no plan to repeat the recipe, not this time.

So, I decided to make egg white omelet, this is an experimental dish. I sauté the bacon, garlic, onion, tomato and egg white. Season with salt and pepper. For me, the taste and appearance is the same, with or without the yolk but when I’ve asked my husband, he said, it taste good but I think something is missing. Then I said, of course, something is missing, there is no egg yolk. Hehe!

Next time, I will add 1 whole eggs, maybe it will improve the dish.

August 08, 2011

Leche Flan

quite blurry, but this is my best shot. :)

Few months ago, I’ve got leche flan recipe from GT forum but I’m still hesitant to try the recipe because of my previous failures in making leche flan. But last Saturday I tried the recipe and I was so happy with the result. Like they always say, try and try until you succeed.

Here’s the recipe

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk (size of condensed milk)

7 eggs (5 eggyolks + 2 whole eggs)

1 tsp of vanilla or lemon

Bake it at 175 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes.

The recipe is so easy and I’m sure you can do this.

Hair Play

Hair Play is located in Festival Mall, it is quite far from our place but we have to go here for my son’s regular trimming because this is the only kid’s salon that I know. If I have a choice, any barber shop will do but every time we go there, my son refuses to cut his hair. The barbers will always say “kawawa naman umiiyak” or “kung tahimik magugupitan” so in short they do not want to cut my son’s hair.

I cannot blame them because my son is not really cooperative. It happened again last Saturday, when I was in my Asian PsorClub meeting, I’ve asked my hubby to go to barbershop but they ended up in Hair Play Salon again.

Hair Play trim cost is P280 while the regular barbershop is only P120, so imagine my savings if my son will just cooperate. But I have no choice but to give in with his wants, I just don’t know when he will graduate on this salon.

August 07, 2011

Lanzones Festival in Camiguin

Last October 2010, we went to Camiguin to celebrate my son’s second birthday. We have no idea that Camiguin has Lanzones Festival and they celebrate it every third week of October. Too bad that we were not able to witness the celebration but still we are happy to taste Camiguin’s lanzones.

Read: 2 Days Trip in Camiguin

Do you know that Camiguin produces the sweetest lanzones in the Philippines and you can buy them for P25 -P30 per kilo and sometimes as low as P20. You can see this fruit anywhere in Camiguin and we always have them wherever we go. Don’t be surprised if you see lanzones in airport’s conveyor because most of the tourists buy lanzones in boxes. This serves as their pasalubong aside from pastel.

Festival is very famous in the Philippines, every place has their own festival. It is their own way of thanking God for giving them a bountiful harvest. Expect that this is a long week celebration, full of activities such as parades, street dancing competitions, cultural shows, beauty pageants, trade fairs, and more parties.

There is no doubt that there are so many tourists who visit the Philippines festivals but I have never attended any festival in the province and given the chance, I would love to go back to Camiguin to join and experience their Lanzones Festival. I do not want to miss the celebration and I want to enjoy their sweetest lanzones and famous pastel once again.

Well, it is not only the festival that I’m looking forward to Camiguin but I want to go back there and have my relaxation and rewind. Camiguin is a small place but there are so many tourist attractions that you should not miss. You can visit beach, waterfalls, cold spring, hot spring and many more.

August 05, 2011

Bistik Tagalog

I like any food with soy sauce so it is no longer surprising if I like Bistik Tagalog. My son always enjoys chewing bistik tagalong strips, he will only chew them without the intention of swallowing them. I love this dish because it is so easy to cook and you can have different versions of it.

Another good thing about this dish is you only need a few ingredients like beef, calamansi juice, onion, soy sauce, pepper, and oil. But with this dish, I add a few tablespoons of evaporated milk to lighten the color. Sometimes I add sugar to make it sweet. My husband likes the sweet version of Bistik Tagalog which is why he always orders this whenever we eat at Goldilocks.

August 04, 2011

Little Muralist

17 mos old

I gave my son his first set of crayons when he was one year old because I wanted him to practice his grip. I also want to know if he will enjoy scribbling and coloring his sketch pad. I was right because he truly enjoyed this activity and he always asks for his crayons. His teacher even praised him because he knew how to hold the chalk and crayons when I enrolled him in summer class.

But I am not sure if that was a good idea because my son wants to do his artwork everywhere, sometimes on our furniture, on our appliances especially our TV screen, in books, on our walls and many more. Our wall is his favorite spot, imagine how stressed I was in removing all the mess, I even asked him to clean his mess as his punishment (bad mommy) but he even enjoyed it.

I had already given up on cleaning our walls because I couldn’t stop my son from scribbling and coloring them even though I told him to spare our walls. I don’t want to sweat on small stuff so I will just wait till he stops painting our walls. Our house badly needs a repainting job but I still don’t know when is the right time to repaint our walls.

August 02, 2011

Divisoria Experience

The rain did not stop me last Sunday; I still went to Divisoria to buy “formal vest set” for my son. My niece will celebrate her 7th birthday on last week of August and my son is part of her 7th roses so I have no choice but to buy formal vests for him.

I do not want to splurge on his clothes because he will only use this once and the only place I know where I can buy clothes for less is Divisoria.

Divisoria is 1 - 2 hours drive from our place depending on traffic so it is very seldom that you will see me here. But I really enjoy shopping here because your money can go a long way unlike in malls.

Because of the rain, Divisoria is not crowded, lucky for me. I’m having a hard time to haggle and look for a smaller size but since I have limited time, I settled for P670 (though I know I can get it for P500 if I’ll look around). I just hope it will fit my son. I am now looking for cheap black shoes that will match his clothes. I can’t wait to see my son wearing this.

Disney Eskulin Kids

My son has been using Nivea shampoo for quite some time and I want to try something new. While checking the grocery shelves, I’ve found Disney Eskulin Kids. I was attracted with the packaging so I bought this one. It is shampoo and conditioner in one with aloe vera extract. I like the smell and the scent lasts longer than Nivea shampoo. P103.75 for 200ml.

August 01, 2011

We Love Red Ribbon

Last weekend, I want to buy leche flan roll before going home but there was no stock so I’ve asked my hubby what should I buy, he said mamon. We all love red ribbon mamon, we can finish the pasalubong pack (6pcs.) in one sitting.

I suggested the yummy cheese roll because I always see this in commercial but they did not agree with me so I bought pasalubong pack of mamon and one cheese roll. Cheese roll is really yummy; it is simple bread with slice of cheese filling. One roll is not enough, too bad, I only bought one piece.

September 14, 2011

From the time that my mom went home in the Philippines, she will always suggest Red Ribbon. It seems that this is her flavor of the month so we always eat here whenever we go out. And because they only have few meal options, we’ve been eating the same meal over and over again. She finds Red Ribbon meals very affordable because drinks and desserts are already included.

my favorite

September 2, 2014

Red Ribbon Merienda Meals

I posted here before that we love Red Ribbon. Aside from their cake, we like their meals because I find it affordable. The meal already includes drinks and dessert so busog ka talaga. I was deleting files in my phone memory and I found these photos. We had merienda two months ago in Red Ribbon after buying mamon for my son. My son loves mamon for his baon.

I also bought macaroons. Masarap pala and sulit din for P50. How about you what’s your favorite cake or meal in Red Ribbon.

Lydia’s Lechon

I am looking for armband floaters for my son so last Saturday, we went to Southmall but there was no stock. For the past few weeks, I’ve been to 3 different malls to buy armband floaters but I have no luck. I know that summer is already over but I am still hoping that I can buy this before our trip.

Anyhow, I found Lydia’s Lechon in front of Toy Kingdom so we ate our lunch here. We ordered dinuguan and lechon meal with a vegetable side dish. Dinuguan is too salty for me, I still like Goldilocks version. Ampalaya con carne is just ok but I love their pinakbet. Sorry, I can’t remember the price because I lost my receipt but the total of food and drinks is more or less P250.