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!

New Phone from SUN

Today, I and a few officemates decided to take out a SUN Group plan for PhP999 that we could share among ourselves and pay the cost depending on our consumption. It was actually quite a good deal / promo from SUN since we are given unlimited calls and texts to other SUN numbers plus 250 free combined texts to other networks - all that we get for our monthly service fee of PhP333 per month. The ones we had to pay for are the calls we make to other networks and also the PASA load to SUN plus international and other system texts we make. The only problem was that the units that they give out for free are not very good ones; in fact, they are just the typical phone with the basic features like call and text messaging capabilities, camera, FM radio, MP3 player, etc. And so since we didn’t have much choice, I opted to go with the one with dual sim capabilities na lang so I can do away with my other phone na. It was just a simple MyPhone unit, nothing spectacular although it did have interchangeable back covers so you can change the phone’s colors with just one snap. The one other benefit of having a group plan is that it would save me much time and effort in getting the needed credentials because in this case, only the principal member (in this case Ate Ne) would provide her billing statement, proof of income (payslip or certificate of compensation) and all we had to do was pay the advance fee of PhP333 each and voila! We have a new phone with our own 333 SUN plans! Hurrah for SUN!