KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 12: Polvoron ala Lucy

Today, my daughter and I shared another bonding moment when we made polvoron using a recipe from Lucy Torres-Gomez which I read in an old newspaper entry( I just forgot when???) The recipe called for the following ingredients (which we were lucky to have on hand) – ½ c toasted flour, ½ c skimmed milk (in lieu of Birch Tree which I understand Lucy is endorsing), 2/3 c white sugar, ½ c unsalted butter.

My daughter just watched and asked a myriad of questions while I was toasting the flour, then she helped measure out the sugar and milk and in mixing in the butter. But what was truly fun for both of us was the molding and wrapping process – we used pretty red Japanese paper to wrap the 23 pieces we were able to make…well, some of them got eaten even before they got wrapped! Which is why our plans to sell sana our polvoron went pfft! The resulting polvoron was so good so we just decided to eat them all!!! Next time we vowed to double the ingredients and take note of the cost of the items we bought (well, because the flour and the sugar was already on hand, I couldn’t recall how much they cost!) so that even after we’ve had our fill of this very delectable dessert, we’d still have something left over to sell…

ON KIDS AND COURTSHIP


Yesterday, I had a funny yet totally disturbing conversation with my daughter - she told me that her cousin who is nine years old (just one year older than her) already had a boyfriend…a classmate who was also her textmate…When I asked how he became her boyfriend, she just said that he was her crush and she was likewise his crush and when they both knew that simple fact – that was it! They were ‘ON’ na!!! And I go what??? It’s that easy!?! No more courtship??? No more getting-to-know-you stage??? Grabe naman! I never realized how quickly times have changed…before courtship was a very long and tedious process that starts with friendship…(well, my grandma can argue they had a more difficult time – I’m sure!) But still…I wonder??? What happens when they realize they don’t like each other pala…they drop the relationship like one hot potato??? Oh dear, so that’s why I have been noticing that this niece of mine has long stopped playing with her other cousins whenever we come home to the province to visit, while my daughter and her other cousins play ball and bathe outside by the poso, she just sits in her corner, texting and mostly keeping to herself…I just hope that my daughter won’t do the same thing her cousin did and have a boyfriend at such a young age…if my wish would be granted, I hope she enjoys her youth and plays with her friends and her girly toys for a long…long…long…time! After all, she’d have the rest of her adult life to worry about boys and getting into (and out of) relationships!!!

PIAO outing @ Subic and Olongapo

Finally, we had the chance to experience another real outing with the PIAO staff… because for the past two years we have not been able to go on what others may consider a REAL team-building because we only just go to Tagaytay to eat and tour the sites (visit zoos, ride the zip, do some souvenir shopping) then eat; pose for pictures and eat again…before heading home without sleeping over…really just one big food trip and daytour (whatever you may wish to call it…)






But this time, we decided to visit Subic and sleepover at a nondescript inn at Olongapo city that’s well within our budget (hehehe coz we can’t afford to stay inside Subic eh) …our group left early at 6am so we could travel to Subic within three hours. We had a short side trip at Jolibee in Tabang for breakfast. We reached Ocean Adventure at 9am but only Kaye, Kit, Jairah and I entered because the others didn’t feel like watching e…or maybe they didn’t want to shell out that much money. Instead, they went to JEST camp for some trekking and survival training (which I believe only cost about PhP150 or PhP200). But then again, I wouldn’t trade our Ocean Adventure for anything because WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!...and its PhP 500 price tag is truly truly worth it!!! Just too bad for the others huh?







The adventure started with a short briefing about the animals we would soon encounter – the seals and dolphins they have acquired and named liked regular pets. Then, we visited them in their pens and cages and we saw even then that they were truly such playful creatures…after about 30 minutes of just idle browsing, off we went na to our first show – The Sea Lion Show!








It was funny and at the same time educational – the seals displayed their tricks and antics really well and taught the people (esp the kids) in the audience the importance of caring for the environment. The next show was a bit boring – on jungle survival and they showcased some jungle animals that had been trained to do some tricks but it wasn’t as engaging as the previous show. The most exciting part (well, for me that is) is the Diving Act It was truly amazing and quite funny too – how the Australian divers interacted with the audience and with each other so they just didn’t do one dive after another but instead had a funny story to tell – their stunts were truly death-defying and breathtaking! And last but not the least is another great show which the kids truly loved – the dolphin show! It would have been fun to be able to interact live with the dolphins but we heard it cost an arm and a leg so we just contented ourselves to watching them from afar…anyway, it was fun just being there and watching them perform…













It was even worth it to have missed the lunch that they had at JEST camp because the show ended at past 1:00 PM already and so we only passed by a Jollibee drive-thru en route to Olongapo’s By the Sea Resort so the kids and I can eat lunch in the van. We reached Olongapo after an hour and we rested a bit inside the room before the kids hankered to swim in the pool and so I just let them go ahead while we just stayed inside to enjoy the room's airconditioning. Around 5, Joey and I went out to try to scout around for a restaurant for our dinner tonight and luckily we found one just walking distance from the hotel/inn. By 5 and it was already a bit cool, the hubby and I decided to join the kids in the pool.













At around 7 we took a bath na so that we could be ready for dinner at 7:30… After dinner, we went back to the inn where the boys had some drinks (at an outdoor bar) while we just hanged out and took advantage of the free wi-fi in the bar. By 10, we went back in the room, watched a bit of TV and fell asleep shortly…









The next day, we had breakfast at a nearby Andok’s resto then the kids took an early morning dip (both in the beach and in the pool) The hubby and I decided against swimming with them na and instead just took a bath in the hotel bathroom. By 11:30 we checked out of the hotel na and proceeded to buy some Lotus slippers (in Olongapo market) and do some duty-free shopping at Puregold, Subic. By 1PM, we had lunch at JEST camp (again!) although we should have called them first so that they could have prepared for our meal ahead of time… as it was we waited a bit for the food to be cooked. Ended up leaving for the office at 3PM na and reached VLuna at 5:00 …waited a bit for the shuttle and finally got home at 7:30 PM…truly tired but so much satiated at how well everyone enjoyed our office team-building no matter how simple and tight-budgeted it was…

A BROKEN MP5


…my daughter’s heartbroken…because her MP5’s LCD got broken…We were home for BP for the weekend and I was inside the room alone since the kids were noisy - dancing and singing outside. When suddenly my daughter barged inside the room crying, she said her MP5 was inside her pocket and as she was trying to take it out to play with it, it suddenly slipped from her hands AND …IT…JUST…BROKE! And it totally broke her heart too…I knew how devastated she felt but there was nothing much I could do about it??? I’m not even sure if they do repairs for such kind of damage…or if I could go to Quiapo to have it fixed…well, considering that I still have to pay for the MP5 for two more months (we just bought it last month as a graduation present!)…I guess I should be more devastated than she is!?!

A new credit card!

I got a surprise visit today from Metrobank who came to deliver my NEW CREDIT CARD! It was truly a surprise because the last time I heard I was blacklisted from ever getting a credit card because as my dad says my name was included in the list of people who still have pending loans…mine was incurred from my previous credit card when I was still in college. Then, when we moved from place to place, my address was changed constantly so they had no way to trace me anymore…and besides they have already been charging me for incurred interests that amounted to almost P10K when in fact my credit limit was just P4K!

I am just glad that Metrobank merely took into consideration the fact that I am currently an accountholder with their bank and so they offered to give me a card and notwithstanding my previous record, decided to take a risk on me since anyway, they could always freeze my money if I don’t get to pay diba? And besides, they just gave me a teensy credit limit of 15K so I guess it’s one drawback I had to live with after all I still have to prove that I am quite capable of keeping and holding a credit card once again…

TAKE 2 AT KWEBANG LAMPAS

It’s our second time to visit ‘Kwebang Lampas’ at Pagbilao, Quezon but this time we’ll be joining Ate Ne’s family (her sisters and their families plus Inang) …my only regret is that Kit would not be able to come with us because they have quite a big brood and so it was quite difficult to fit him in anymore …anyway, he says it was OK naman daw for him since he had already been to that place before…but still I could not help but worry…

With a heavy heart, we left him alone at home last Saturday morning at around 3 am to pick up Ate Ne’s sister and mother at Sapang Palay and Garay, respectively. Then, we proceeded to Lagro to unload some of the passengers to Ate Ne’s Revo and April’s car. We finally left at around 4:30 and after 3 ½ hours of traveling reached Ate Ne’s house in Pagbilao. Her new house there was huge and very airy…with very large windows that lets in so much air…it was already quite finished except for the paint and we ate breakfast there first upon arrival before leaving for Kwebang Lampas at around 10 am. Kwebang Lampas was still as beautiful as I remembered it – its water still pristine, its pure white sand beaches still untouched by commercialism. The wooden huts still remained the same, just blending in the background, never sticking out like a concrete sore thumb like in most popular resorts like Puerto Galera or Boracay…and I hope it stays that way…







The only thing was that there were more people now, so I guess the place is not our secret anymore…it’s become popular not just among the locals here but even to some outsiders since it truly is like Boracay but without the crowds and noise. I guess it would be quite difficult to keep a secret like this for very long huh?











We returned to Ate Ne’s house for dinner and to retire for the night…the main house had (I think) four bedrooms and a huge sala upstairs which can be slept in too… but we slept in our own room in the next house (where Analyn stays in) which had three more rooms – so I guess her place is truly fit for an office outing eh? Maybe next year? (saying, I forgot to take pics of her house)

We had a good night’s sleep and were, in fact, the last ones to awaken. We then had our breakfast, took our baths, packed our things to leave and waited for the others to get ready. It turns out we’d still have our lunch here pa pala and so we ate first before leaving for Tayabas, Quezon or maybe it was already Lucena …to visit the Kamay ni Hesus shrine. We went up some 300 or so steps to reach the statue of Christ with arms upward to the sky while the old ones stayed down and heard mass lang. We said a prayer and lit candles lang for our own personal intentions. After that, its time for more picture-taking, souvenir shopping before finally leaving for home at around 6 pm…just stopped over at McDonald’s at Tiaong, Quezon for a bit of dinner and finally got home at 12…

KIDS ON VACATION AT AUNTIE JING’S

Today, I left after lunch to bring my kids for a short vacation with Auntie Jingay in her house… she has long been asking me to let the kids come over and stay even for just a few days and finally after so much thinking over I finally relented and allowed them to stay for three days in Pasig…why just three days? Well, because our office had an outing on Thursday so I had to pick them up Wednesday afternoon so that they will be able to join us in our Subic-Olongapo outing.

But why the dilly-dally when in fact, I myself have been the product of too much shuttling from one relative's house to another…especially during the summer break. Well, it’s actually because times are different now and I do not trust my kids to behave properly if they are away from me for too long…it’s actually Kaye’s first time not to sleep beside me (although she has slept with Ditse or even Inang or Alona) whenever she goes on vacation in the province…but this is different, these are relatives she sees only very momentarily at least once a month or not even that often… so I wouldn’t know for sure if they would enjoy being there…or even if my relatives (Auntie Jing, in particular) would enjoy having them around…hence, the reason for my hesitation.

But I guess the time has come when I should learn to let them go and start living on their own…and what better way to train them than by starting now…anyway, I am sure my kids will be well-fed there. And they would have no time to get bored since the entire house is equipped with numerous games/gadgets for kids to enjoy…and there’s always the swimming pool…I just hope they have fun there! And maybe…just maybe, (if they behave well) I’d let them stay even longer next year…

FAS OUTING AT ANAWANGIN

…this is our first outing without Ate Ne …well, because her hubby is home and I guess he wasn’t really in the mood to join the entire office in some jolly-making just yet... which was just too bad for us – because the outing just wasn’t the same without her!







…We had an early start because we would be going back home in the afternoon, so we left the house at around 3 am to pick up Ging then Jojo and we reached the office at 4 am…however, we waited for the others to arrive so it was thirty minutes later when we started traveling to Zambales. We reached Pundaquit in 3 ½ hours and after a bit more of waiting we were on the boat to Anawangin …by 9 am we had our first glimpse of the beautiful cove.






…upon arrival they prepared lunch while I headed out to the beach to take some pictures and watch over the kids already swimming… the water was great – it was calm but not too shallow that it would impede the swimmers from swimming freely, but the waves weren’t crashing either which makes it ideal even for the little ones just as long as they stay within their depth…By 12, we had a fun and raucous lunch, there was so much food with one table laden with pork bbq, grilled fish, the usual adobo, and so much more while the other table was filled with fruits…just too bad that I wasn’t able to take any pictures – everyone was just too hungry to bother with the camera na e!
















…after eating and while the others were playing games, we went back to enjoy the water some more since they said we need to be ready to leave at 2 pm… too bad huh because we truly enjoyed swimming in the cool clear waters of Anawangin even if the sand wasn’t pristine white, it was soft on our feet…I guess the only complaint was that the tables were quite far from the water so when resting, you couldn’t see the people swimming in the water. Also, the distance was difficult to traverse especially if walking on the very hot sand… and the flies…though the place seemed clean enough there were just too many flies!








…we left the island of Anawangin after we all had our baths and got dressed using the poso and some makeshift bathrooms in the island. The place had no true facilities - no water, no electricity, no hotels, no restaurant… but I guess it’s better that way otherwise, all its purity and simplicity would be spoiled… as it is we said goodbye to the beautiful island with a promise to return and savor its raw beauty once more.

EASTER EGG HUNT AT AFPOVAI

the hunt begins…






even the kids-at-heart joined the fun!













…and the winner is…

Keith got 10 eggs @ 50 each that’s a whopping P500.00

Kaye got 6 eggs – P300.00

Alex had 3 eggs – P150.00

Xuey found 2 eggs – P100.00

and Tweet 1 egg – P50.00 (pang-load din daw! hehehe)




After that we all feasted on the sumptuous buffet spread that was prepared to celebrate Christ’s rebirth… we had pancit bam-i, fried bangus, adobo, pork and chicken inihaw and of course, lechon cebu!







Well, truly a redeeming ending for what could have been a most boring vacation ever…