NEW YEAR 2009 CELEBRATION

We had the usual fun and games for the new year and suffice it to say everyone had a grand time tonight with the games and laughter and the dancing and singing we all shared the whole night long... truly a fitting way to cap another glorious year! May the year 2010 bring us all even more happiness and blessings!

CHRISTMAS 2009 CELEBRATION

We had the usual fun and food for Christmas and though our festivities were simple, we were all together and quite happy, I guess that's all that matters...here are a few pictures of how our celebration went...

VMS XMAS PROGRAM

Today I took a leave of absence from work to attend my daughter’s Christmas program… she will be performing a dance number with her classmates and I want to be there to watch her. They danced to the tune of All I want for Christmas and I’m glad she danced well and was not at all shy to perform on stage. I’m glad she is starting to come out of her shell na din and is becoming more comfortable with her classmates… here are some of the pics I took, as usual I had a difficult time because the camera’s range was limited so I could only take pictures of her while she was still near me…the place was a bit crowded and stuffy so I could not venture near the stage. Maybe, when we get a better camera I would be able to take better pictures…hehehe. I wish I could post the video na lang, which was a bit clearer…but I really don’t know how.

ONE BIG RIPE LANGKA

Finally, after four months of waiting…we have already harvested the first ever langka that came from our very own tree! Imagine that! In fact, I could not even remember anymore when the langka was first planted but I guess it was already there when the hubby and Kuya Ric constructed the fence sometime March of this year. Then, at around August (I think) we began to see some semblance of a real fruit coming out. You see, prior to that, we have already been seeing small bits of langka fruit but it only reaches the size of a normal fist before it would suddenly fall to the ground, all black and withered. But around the third week of August we already saw some that reached the size of an open palmed hand. And when it still hasn’t fallen to the ground after a few more days, we were finally convinced that these were real fruits this time. One tree had as much as five fruits in all while the other one had only about two. Our first harvested fruit came from that tree (the one on the left side) that only bore two fruits but boy oh boy those two langka fruits were huge…and I mean huge! I don’t think I would be able to lift it even if I tried… just check out the pics! What’s even great about our langka, even if they were so big, they were still quite sweet…I guess it was also because the fruit was ‘hinog sa puno’. Now, our only problem would be what to do with all the langka??? Of course, we could only use so much for paladusdos and minatamisan…? Maybe, we could give some to our neighbors and the others bring home to our province and give to the hubby’s sister who cooks puto, biko, espasol and other kakanin for a living…but definitely, I am quite sure not an inch of this fruit would go to waste, after all many in our family love this fruit and could eat it as is after picking out the flesh with our bare hands! Ohhh, thank God He blessed our tree with so much fruit…I hope the tree won’t make ‘tampo’ and just continue bearing this much fruit for many many years to come!

RENOVATING THE KITCHEN

We finally decided to commence our home project of renovating the kitchen – it started at around November 20 though we had the money about a month ago already from Jun’s GSIS Conso loan… We actually had this extension for our kitchen constructed last February 2006 but due to budget constraints we were unable to complete the finishing touches to the kitchen and instead just used it after smooth finishing of the walls was done. At that time, I wrote that we may have to continue the finishing touches (like tiles and cabinets) at a much later time whenever we have the extra money for it… And now I guess is the time… we decided on putting in some tiles, after the hubby had excess money from his GSIS loan that he took out to help him finance his brother’s funeral. But it turned out we spent just a little money and relied mostly on dole-outs from relatives and friends (which were quite many, mind you!) And so we had money to tile and paint the kitchen. We hired the same guy who does the tiles for Ate Ne/Inang in their Norzagaray home. He worked slow but sure… The only problem we had with him was that he tended to disappear for a few days without so much as a text or warning…then he would come back without much ado and go on with his task just whistling and not saying much. He really is a good worker it’s just that he has such an erratic sked that he doesn’t inform us about. We think he may be taking on odd jobs that pay higher than we do…well, that’s his choice but he should have informed us and not left us hanging. As a matter of fact, the last few tiles underneath the sink were already placed by the hubby na…because he never returned…oh well, I guess this will be the last time we will be getting him na…But at least, he did good work on our kitchen – just check out the pics!

KIDS’ FIELDTRIPS

For this year, the kids went to Mt. Samat in Bataan for their fieldtrip. Kit’s class went ahead this time on November 23 while Kaye’s class had theirs on December 14. I decided to go with Kaye though there wasn’t much pretty places to visit this was because I haven’t been to Mt. Samat’s cross in Bataan… I know, I know it’s a common site for field trips since time immemorial but I guess I was absent that year. So I decided to join her ... besides there was an added ‘shopping spree’ at Clark after the kids had visited a museum so that’s another incentive for me to go huh! I let Keith borrow the old camera for him to use but it seems he is not really into taking pics, he would just rather have his pics taken with his friends using their cameras…so he just had a few pics when he came back. In fact, most of his pics were landscapes or trees or taken inside the bus… expectedly, he wasn’t in any of them so that is why he opted to just join in other people’s kodakan!

Kaye, on the other hand, had lots and lots of pics because I was with her and so she had an official photographer. Her fieldtrip started with the visit to Mt. Samat…we spent lots of time there because only a few at a time are allowed to go up all the way to the cross so the students with their parents/teachers/guardians had to go up by batches. After we had our fill of the view, the strong wind up on the cross and of picture-taking, we wandered around the grounds of Mt. Samat and also visited their museum.

After Mt. Samat, the kids had fun in the Clark Airfield playground (the one we went to with Adrian and Budong) and this is where we had our lunch seated on the grass like a picnic. But I guess the highlight of the trip for Kaye is the visit to Feliz Cidade, a mini carnival / theme park with lots of kiddie rides like Star City. It was located in Mabalacat, Pampanga. We spent the rest of the afternoon there and left only when it was a bit dark already outside. We bought some dinner to eat during the bus ride because it would be quite late when we got home to San Jose…Kaye slept most of the ride home and I guess I am just happy that she is happy and that we were able to spend some time together because soon enough when she is a bit older, she will have her friends to go with …so I have to treasure moments like this that we still spend together.

TICKETS TO BOHOL

Okay…okay… I am doing this again…I guess it’s true what they say once it bites you… you're hooked! By what??? The travel bug that is! Well, you see for the past two years, the hubby and I have been going around the country doing travels with the office for work (seminars/workshops) but of course, it can’t be helped that there would be times when we would be given a tour by our hosts (usually politicos) in order for us to savor what their province had to offer. And so this year, to make up for our absence, the hubby and I decided to take the kids with us on a trip to Palawan (well, we’ve been there last year when the hubby went there for a seminar and I decided to follow him there as a birthday treat for myself). The kids thoroughly enjoyed the vacation in Palawan last February and so when my fave flag carrier (CEBUPAC) went on sale again today…I went crazy and decided to book us all on a trip to Bohol. But this time, we are taking Myk and Inang with us. We timed the vacation to coincide with Inang’s birthday since it would be in a way, our birthday treat for her. The only problem was that I didn’t have a credit card and my mother’s credit limit had already been maxed…well, considering her recent ‘troubles’ it would be understandable that she’ll be relying more on her card for their daily needs. The only choice I had left was Ate Ne and thankfully she was more than willing to let us borrow her card for the online transaction. So that before the day ended, I had been able to book all six of us on a trip to Bohol….hurrah! I am sure the kids would be so excited the moment they learn about this! It cost me back some PhP9500++ but it would be okay…we’d be receiving some money naman for Christmas and what better way to spend it than for ourselves. What’s good though is that we still have about three months to save up more money for our lodging, food, and other transportation/pasyal expenses. So here’s good luck to us! And hopefully nothing derails our plans to visit Bohol next year…

MAMA GOT SCAMMED!

It’s her birthday today and in lieu of a gift, I decided to just give her cash…nope not because I want her to buy a gift for herself but because she had just recently been SCAMMED!!! Yup …you heard it right my mom got scammed! I guess all her years as an intelligence officer did not truly prepare her for these kinds of things…or I guess my mom’s gullibility got the better of her and so got victimized. You see it’s not an entirely new modus operandi but when she got a text message from an unknown number telling her that this is his/her new roaming number, she immediately assumed it was my brother (who was in Abu Dhabi). Then, when he asked for some load, at first she thought nothing of it; maybe he was just out of money and needed to call someone. But when the scammer started asking for more and told her that he is doing it as some sort of a ‘loading business’ for other Filipinos in the area, she even felt happy. She thought that finally my brother had become wise enough and business-minded so that his hard-earned money would not just go to waste. And so she thought nothing of pawning her jewelry and borrowing money from friends just so she could buy enough cell cards that he asked – I think about 20 or 50K! The sad part is that my brother failed to call her that Friday (I think the scammer started texting her around Wednesday) as his usual habit (because Friday was his day-off) so he failed to alert her to the scammer’s evil intent. In fact, her giving of load continued up to Sunday when my brother finally called and told her he has not changed his roaming number at all…oh no! And that was when she felt her world crashing on her… And so this is the reason why I am giving her money…not much but just enough to tide her over with her day-to-day necessities. Since all the money she would be earning now would be used to pay her loans and the jewelry she pawned, she would have not much left to buy her food and other stuff… but, I guess my brother would also help her out…after all though he did not intend to it was indirectly his fault that this happened to her. I just hope now Mama would learn her lesson and not be so gullible anymore…I remember when I was still a teen-ager, she almost always gets enticed by some smooth-talking sales personnel to buy something she doesn’t really need – that’s how gullible she is! Or maybe she just has a soft spot for people in need so even if she doesn’t really have the money to spare, she couldn’t help but give it away to someone whom she feels needed it more than she does…

A NEW BABY…

It’s another long holiday weekend and we spent some time this year at the cemetery unlike in previous years…well, I guess they just wanted to visit their brother who just recently died…it’s also a perfect time to catch up with relatives who come from far away to visit their loved ones…Many of the people there I didn’t recognize but I went anyway and kissed the hands of the oldies there. We brought with us some snacks and drinks to keep the kids and our mouths preoccupied. Of course, we were already busy chatting with their cousins there while the kids were busy playing around with the candles and running around and above the tombs. But the highlight of this year’s long weekend vacation is the birth recently of another of our ‘grandchildren’ from another pamangkin, who lived for awhile in our place at San Jose - Ate Peng. She also just recently graduated from college but (unfortunately for her Mom who slaved abroad to let her study) she got pregnant immediately after graduating so her plans to bring her daughter with her abroad got delayed. But Peng still has every intention to work abroad (in Qatar, particularly where her Mom also works as a tutor) but only after her baby has grown enough to be left in the care of a dependable caretaker (maybe her mother-in-law). But I guess all of her mother’s anger would surely fade upon seeing this new bundle of joy --- he is so cute and looks just like her…hehehe

ALENG’S BIRTHDAY

We had a simple dinner celebration today for Aleng’s birthday. She’s with us for the year because she’s currently studying at PUP to obtain a degree in B.A. Entrepreneurial Management. It’s basically like Marketing or Business Management din naman. I guess the focus is just more on honing a person’s skills to be an entrepreneur… I think she likes the school naman but she is just so silent always, never really talks and makes kuwento. But I hope she makes good and finishes her course or even just two years of it so she can take the sub-professional civil service exam and maybe enter the government service. A college degree is also necessary even for private companies so I just hope she doesn’t go the way of Annie and gets married before she finishes college. Meantime, here are some pics taken after we had eaten simple dinner fare of spaghetti, cake and ice cream for Aleng’s birthday…

NEW BANK ACCOUNT WITH METRO

This year 2009, I finally decided to push through with my plans to set aside some money for a savings account…it may be used for a planned trip/vacation…or an appliance/electronic gadget …or a birthday party or summer outing with the family…or even just for an emergency slush fund…whatever the purpose may be, the important thing is that I will try my best to set aside a little money each payday into a savings account. I was only able to start this at around March using the money my Papa gifted me as the initial seed money… then from each month’s payday, I would set aside an amount ranging from 200 to 500 to put into this savings fund. Sometimes, I admit I inadvertently get money from said account to buy needed toiletries/groceries but I still try to return the money as much as possible. Then, when the hubby took out a GSIS loan this month to refurbish the kitchen, I decided to finally open an account with Metrobank (which is just across the street from us) and deposit the money while waiting for our ‘tile-man’ to become available ( I think he stil has a pending project with Ate Ne and would be available next month pa…) I guess now that the money is in the bank, it would make it more difficult for me to get it easily well, sure there’s an ATM but I still need to get to an ATM machine diba? Unlike when the money is just stashed inside my cabinet in the house and I could easily get it anytime I want…now, at least I am more or less assured that I would only be using the money for meaningful purposes! So, here’s good luck to me! And I hope this venture of mine to save money would flourish for a long...long…long…time!

KUYA DOMENG IS DEAD!

We got the fateful call at around 6 am last week, as the hubby and I were getting ready for work and I heard him curse over the phone…then, after a while I saw him sitting on the sofa hunched over and emotional though I couldn’t really say if he was crying. I learned the sad news then that his brother died – in his sleep like a bangungot. It seems (from the stories of Ditse who was at BP at the time) he slept the night before with his tummy aching, they figured it was just from too much food intake. Then, in the middle of the night his wife was awakened by restless noises made by Kuya in his sleep. She tried to wake him up but he wouldn’t wake…fearful that he may be afflicted with ‘bangungot’ she called for help and they decided to bring Kuya to the hospital. He never made it alive to the hospital…he was dead before they even got there. Of course, it is expected that my husband, as well as the rest of his siblings, would be affected by his death. They are a close-knit family despite the fact that they were nine siblings in all. Kuya is the second in their brood and when I became part of their family, he was the one who usually tends to their farm. Since their Tatang died, no one else in their family had followed his footsteps except Kuya. My hubby did for awhile, but work in Manila beckoned and was far more lucrative so he left their province for greener pastures. But when Kuya grew old, he found he could not farm anymore so they left their house (which was situated at the back of the compound) to live in Pulilan, where her wife and family resides to help her sell puto and chicharon at the tiangge. Maybe, he had been feeling sick a long time but no one really knows…he is not the type to talk and complain much kasi e… I guess he feels he doesn’t have the money to go for a checkup and so he just lets his body heal itself naturally. But I wish he would have said something…anything to anyone so that his other siblings could have helped him… but now I guess it’s too late…today we lay his body to rest…goodbye Kuya…I will always be reminded of you whenever I prepare your favorite fruit salad every Christmas…I promise to send one out to the heavens for you each year… Rest in Peace brother…

A time to stop and play

Last Sunday, my daughter made a very odd request… at 7 pm (considered the oras de peligro) moreso since we just arrived from our nearby province in Pampanga and I was right smack in the middle of getting our Sunday dinner ready… she was holding her ceramic tea-set in her hands and she asked (oh so pitifully) that we play for I haven’t played with her in ages!!! I was quite about ready to brush her off and tell her to go play computers instead with her brother when I stopped, took a step back and told her sweetly to wait a bit until nanay finishes cooking and then we can play…she jumped in glee and I will never exchange that joyful expression in her face for anything else in the world. After a time, I felt she was getting a bit impatient … I was too but I had to let the adobo simmer for awhile… I told her to wash the tiny cups and saucers and even the teensy plates first so it would be clean for us to use real food and drinks in. By the time she was through washing and drying, dinner was ready! And so I had my niece finish up preparing the dinner table… while I set off to play teatime with my daughter. While we were drinking mango juice (not tea) in her teensy cups, and ate mini puto and kutsinta which fit perfectly in her tiny plates, I took advantage of her good mood and fed her dinner (rice and chicken adobo) at the same time. You see this daughter of mine is one very difficult child to feed ---remember that TV commercial with the mom doing all sorts of tricks just to feed her child, well I’ve done all that and so much more… I gave her vitamins and appetite stimulants; made her meals pleasing to the eye; hid carrots and other veggies in omelettes and ground meat patties; fed her milk and cookies and healthy sandwiches as snacks… but she still ends up looking terribly undernourished. So totally unlike her kuya whom we (almost always) had to pry with a crow bar from the dinner table! So I guess the moment she asked me to play teatime with her… I decided to hit two birds with one stone – well, make that three birds – one, I was able to fulfill a little girl’s wish to have a teatime party; second, I was able to feed her dinner without much of a fuss and; third, I was able to spend some precious bonding (and even relaxing!) time with my daughter…something which we might just make a regular habit every weekend.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURES 10 – Sweet and Sour fish

This is another dish that has become a family favorite, particularly the hubby’s. I got the recipe from my favorite food blogger (Connie Veneracion) You will find two recipes of sweet and sour fish in her archive and they’re both delicious… the procedure is basically the same you fry the fish first (any kind of fleshy one will do). Then you mix all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce (vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper) and cook over low heat. Finally, you stir-fry the vegetables (ginger, onions, carrots, bell pepper) and assemble everything together – place the fried fish on a platter, top with vegetables and then pour the sauce all over the fish and vegetables. Serve while hot!

LOOKING FOR A SECOND JOB

For the past month, I got busy searching for a second job…I searched websites to try part-time work for online tutors, medical transcriptionists, editors, blog-writers and I found a few possibilities. In fact, I went so far as to send out my resumes to some of them but only a few of them replied back. And those that did I did not find so desirable pa…either the place was too far for me to make the commute or the time slot they had available did not fit my schedule because it would interfere with my work here at the office. But why do you think I need another job when I am already doing well in my job here and in fact, I just got regularized (at last!) after three years here at my new office and fourteen years in the government service! Imagine that… I wasted so much time! Six years from now I could be eligible na sana for early retirement! But as it is now, I have to wait until 2029 – I’ll be about 58 years old by then! Oh no! But that would be fine…I guess, I am just glad that I got to be regularized after all and I have to thank my new bosses for that! You see the reason why I need another job is because the finances lately have not been meeting up. Well, I have been used for quite some time that the hubby’s salary is almost always used up in loans for the kids’ education or maybe some other things/renovations for the house. But for me…it’s a different story… I have always been used to having ‘other’ sources of income like in my old job at the PNP I used to work as a writer, co-editor, and what-have-yous for the organization journal/magazine. Then, there was a time that I worked as media officer for an NGO of legislators so I had two jobs then so I figured I could still wing it this time. But I guess the circumstances are different – I am a bit older now and most of the companies particularly the tutorial jobs for Koreans were looking for younger applicants, especially those that just graduated. I even went for an interview for two companies that did decide to call me…and both times, the Filipino manager accepted me but said they hoped I won’t look my age when I get interviewed by the Korean bosses. They even lied for me and said I was just thirty-five but then too bad that they never called me back so I guess I wasn’t believable enough for the Korean boss huh? Meanwhile, the writing jobs are too difficult because it would require me to write a certain number of articles per day and I don’t think I can do that anymore because there may be times when I have a full workload at the office and thus I may not be able to fulfill my obligations… So, I guess I will just have to keep looking elsewhere…weekend jobs na lang sana para I won’t be so tired every night. Meanwhile, I’ll have to make a few budgetary adjustments na lang muna to make ends meet…I will have to make the kids (and the hubby too!) realize that our money isn’t like it used to be and so some penny pinching efforts have to be made collectively. I just hope this works…Good luck to me!

BUWAN NG WIKA @ VMS

It’s our second year to celebrate Buwan ng Wika at VMS and my daughter is quite excited because this time around their class is required to come up with a costume that’s Muslim-inspired. I am glad, too, that their costume is simple enough and would not require me to scour the shops of Divisoria, Quiapo, or other similar places. Instead, the teacher just required the children to dress all in black, then a multi-colored malong or sarong shall be wrapped and/or secured with a pin on the shoulder. Quite simple eh? What we just made were the gold-colored fans that was shaped from cardboard and wrapped in gold foil. Then, for her accessories she wore pearls around her neck, on her wrists, ears and even her hair and a red jewel sticker was placed on her forehead to simulate the Bindis worn by Hindu women. It’s just so bad that the venue for their dance is quite small (the roofdeck of their school) so I was only able to take her picture while in the classroom and while they were awaiting their turn to dance. But during the dance, I found it quite difficult to get near the stage as I was afraid to block the view of the other parents and students watching… maybe next time I’ll get a better vantage point so my photos of her dance won’t turn out so blurred…or better yet, I should get a new DSLR camera so I would be able to shoot pictures no matter how far I am from the stage…now, that’s a nice thought!

KING CRAB @ PAPA’S

This is not a dish I cooked nor did I eat it at a restaurant… but rather this is common food fare that we indulge in whenever we hold get-togethers at Papa’s house. As is the usual case, they call us up or text us to ask what kind of food we like and we usually end up asking for pretty much the same thing…not just because it is our fave kind of food to eat but also because the food we want is not the usual stuff we could buy at our local market. Besides, its prices are usually not very cheap and so we take advantage of the chance for them to buy us what we couldn’t afford hehehe… like sushi, pink salmon sashimi, tiger prawns and this king crab…yummy! Now, I can’t wait for our next gustatory feast!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 9: PORK BROCCOLI IN OYSTER SAUCE

This is one favorite food that I usually order whenever I am in Chinese restaurants. But it’s good that I do not have to wait to visit a Chinese restaurant to be able to eat this dish because this is after all just a stir-fry dish that is quite easy to prepare. Sometimes it can be done with beef but this time, I made it with pork tenderloins since it cooks faster and besides, beef is quite expensive nowadays. All that needs to be done is to first slice the pork thinly and then also the garlic, onions and the broccoli florets. When everything is ready, you heat up some oil in a wok or whatever non-stick pan, sauté the garlic, onions and then the beef. Wait until the pork changes color then add the broccoli florets, the oyster sauce, a bit of water, then salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the fire and transfer to a serving platter. And you now have a quick and easy pork broccoli in oyster sauce.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF LANGKA FROM OUR TREE

I am not quite sure at all when our langka was planted…I think it was about a year ago when Ditse asked for ‘binhi’ from Inang’s brother whose tree has been producing very big langka fruits and that’s not all cuz their tree has been known to produce so many at a time – even ten! That’s why after about a year or more of waiting, we are so excited that our very own langka tree has started to bear fruit – in fact, 6 fruits in all! But that’s not all in one tree… rather there are four fruits in one and two more in another tree! I just wonder how long it’s gonna take for all of them to grow big and ripen…I just hope they don’t do so all at the same time cuz we don’t have a ready market for them! All I could think about is the paladusdos/ginataan, pastillas, ice candy or even just plain minatamisang langka that we could make with our very own langka fruit – I could hardly wait!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 8 – CHICKEN AND POTATOES IN CREAMY CHEESE

And so after the somewhat disaster that I experienced with cooking Bachoy…I decided to cook something that is quite close to my heart…one that I know my kids and hubby would love – after all it had all their fave ingredients – milk and cheese! This is another recipe I got from CASA Veneracion and it is truly another super easy dish to prepare. For the exact recipe, just browse her site. All that needs to be done is to lightly brown the chicken then the potatoes in a little butter. Season with salt and pepper then add some water and let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes to let the liquid evaporate. After that, you add the milk and cheese and when the cheese melts, you simmer for a few minutes more, turn off the fire and serve while hot! I tell you the creamy goodness of this dish is something the kids will surely love!