Sweet and Sour Dreams

I have been cooking a lot lately which means: I am stressed a lot lately. My preoccupations ranges from the exotic Thai and Indian based curry dishes (very sosyal sounding I know!), the fiesta staple beef ribs caldereta, the ever homey and dependable (1 week in the ref and still tasty) twice cooked adobo. Which brings us to today. I want you to know how today’s dish was decided upon.

Me: I will cook today. What you want?

Hubby (H): (thinks for 2 minutes) Hmm.. something fish?

Me: Nahh.. we just had fish, plus it’s Saturday so let’s treat ourselves and have something meat. What you want?

H: Okay! Gourmet tokwa’t baboy! (I do this pork thing where I mix it with tokwa then oyster sauce and he calls it gourmet LOL)

Me: Don’t you want something sweet and sour?

H: Yay! Sweet and sour meatballs nalang.

Me: No not giniling. I have something else planned for that.

H: (a little hesitant this time, thinks) Sweet and sour liempo?

Me: Wow! Ang galing mo. How did you know I wanted to cook that? :D

Anyhow, after that nonsense introduction let me just say that all great cooks every now and then have to start over while cooking. So I was following the recipe exactly. I was doing the sauce part. I misread the measurement for cornstarch. It was supposed to be teaspoon. I’ve put tablespoons. I was stirring my concoction and it was looking more and more like a martian vomit (like if say there’s people in planet Mars and they vomit – I hate it when I explain my own jokes eheheh).

I threw it in the sink. Sabi na nga ba I was more of the eyeball-er cook. As in I hate it when I have to measure stuff. So I start over. Followed my instincts nalang. When I was putting in the soy sauce nabuhos ko pa. But, that is the beauty and magic if you’re a great (make that excellent) cook: everything still comes together in the end. Thing is our maid forgot to cook additional rice. So rice: fail but sweet and sour pork belly ala Chinese Restos: success!

Our Little Bookworm

It’s 4am in the morning and maybe I have better things to do. Instead I realized that I am looking at my dear baby’s picture for the nth time. Come to think of it, is there something else better to do than this?

I blink and my baby seems longer. I blink and he can now suddenly hold his head steady. Then he’ll start eating solids. Then he’ll start walking. Then school. Then new friends at bigger school. These thoughts swell my brain but goes straight into my heart saying: I better not blink.

Every baby is precious. Ours in my unbiased (hehheh) opinion is extra precious and adorable.

He laughs generously like his mom.

He looks with kind understanding likes his dad.

And he is a bookworm like his parents!

What more could a mommy ask for?

Toxins Galore

There’s a reason why I have not been blogging: my zero followers (with the exception of my dear husband). I have been sick lately. A bit under the weather since Monday. Full-blown fever last Tuesday and for 2 days now loose bowel.

I’d like to believe that my body is trying to get rid of toxins. And there’s just so much to get rid of, hence the process taking a while. I am absent from work again today. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me to go to work anymore.

Please please Lord.

I promise happier news in the next few days. If only my digestive system would cooperate soon.

Touched by the Master

He is an Australian but he rides the jeepneys, he never uses a car or a cab to go anywhere. He spent 12 years in Hong Kong and he knows of places here in Manila that I’ve never been to (Balintawak, Monumento, Cainta, etc.). He came to our house, all two big bags and him. He has needles, incense, TENS machine (google it if you do not know – no time to explain ehehe), extension cords, a vibration thingy, a host of herbal medicines, he is a walking acupuncture clinic. He told me many, many, great stories. Like how doctors are just in there for the money, what is wrong about the entire hospital system, his plans to set up a wellness clinic in Coron, his family, his life, his teachers, his patients, on how he doesn’t have a day off, raising bi racial children, profound and deep truths about his practice BUT what blew my mind is that he commutes! He goes from one patient to the next by walking (gasp!), riding jeepneys (ohmy!), buses (faints!).

Whatever that gives him the stamina to do his job 7 days of the week, I want one! The passion, the commitment, the strong will, those calves and back it must be aching by the end of the day. But he moves with such lithe and grace that it makes me realize, I am just too darn lazy and that I am not using my muscles enough haha. Anyway back to my husband’s treatment. He has backaches and sore feet. To summarize the session:

Husband: I felt I shortchanged him. Do you think I should have given him a tip? (We paid P1500 for the 2.5hrs session + herbal medicine)

Me: I think you did. He even went here!

Husband: Yeah, kakaibang feeling pa naman. Pagbalik nya nalang sa next session.

Me: Yes, oo nga bigyan mo sya ng tip ha. Bee saan ang Balintawak? Malapit ba yun sa Quiapo? ;)

Try him out. Sifu Jen Sam. He was fascinating and I cannot wait for my own session next week. He has facebook. Look him up. Now.

Family Fun Day

I used to hate attending family fun thingies before I got preggers. I used to hate insensitive, well meaning friends and acquaintances:

Insensitive: Oi! Buntis ka na?

Me: Naku, madam di pa po.

Insensitive A: Ang hina nyo naman!

Insensitive B: Darating din yan relaks lang!

Insensitive C: (Does not speak in return, but instead holds my hand squishes them, and look at me with pure pity)

Urgh! How I hate those three types! But, now I have Elijah. The center of my universe. So, carry na for me to attend those gatherings haha. But I still promise never to become any of those insensitive types. Now to a very important point.

Why do parents dress their children like wh*res? I mean, I know I sound so mean. But come on parents: children are only that young for a few years. Give them a break and DON’T dress them up in adult looking sl*tty dresses, high heels & make-up! And the dance. They dance like a-go-go dancers (I just revealed my age hehe).

Me: Ang arte nitong bata na ito. Ang sarap kurutin sa singit.

Hubby: Ang sama mo. Don’t be like that.

Me: Okay, I will keep my mouth shut. I-ba-blog ko nalang.

Wanted to post picture of the very young child na weird yung outfit kaso she might grow up and stumble on this blog someday. (Feeling). So, here is a shot nalang of another young girl whom I found so cute. She was much to shy to join the games so she ended up just watching from the sidelines with the rest of us adults who were also busy people watching.

Rolling Over Just in Time for Our 3rd Month

I am a very competitive mom I must admit. I think all first time moms are. I obsess about one detail and research how other babies are. I was thinking will my baby roll over in time? While in my office shuttle on my way home I called my baby's yaya.

Yaya: Love, si Eli gumugulong na!

Me: Ha?

Yaya: Gumugulong gulong na sya. Tatlong beses na.

Me: Ay ganun! (happy then half sad because I failed to be the witness of this 'first')

30 minutes later I got home. Baby is on our bed. He saw me. I believe that he recognized me because the moment he saw me he rolled over. To me this is the true "first roll over". The earlier ones were just his practice roll overs. He saved the best one till I got home.

I know I would say this over and over in his lifetime, so let me declare now. Elijah, you make daddy and mommy proud over and over again. Thank you for making us happy witnesses of your awesome growth. Love you.

The Jack (or Jill) of All Trades

So very first post huh? Not sure if anyone out there will be reading this soon. But as the title goes, this will be about anything, everything and nothing. Topics will include food, movies, boredom, my hate affair with my current job, my son (the very lovely lovely thing!), rants about my hubby (or raves), breastfeeding, finance, mommyhood, stories too candid like you wouldn't believe it happened, so many things that I love to hate and vice versa. In the end they say everything is about love. And that is what I am all about.

           

From Alice in Wonderland:

(Alice) Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?


That depends a good deal on where you want to get to said the cat.


I don't much care where, said Alice.


Then it doesn't matter which way you go, said the cat.