Silog (Garlic Rice and Egg)

Silog is a contraction of sinangag at itlog (garlic rice and egg) which is a very popular Filipino food. One can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And one can do a lot with it - partner it with different viands and have some side dish and voila, you have one perfect meal. Its rich flavor satisfies the appetite and makes one crave for more.

Normally when our family goes malling we already have a restaurant on mind. We already know where we will go after a movie/shopping/grocery to rest our tired feet and feed our hungry stomach. But at times we get really indecisive. We don't want pasta, we don't want pizza or any elaborate concoctions. When these happens, we go for Filipino dishes - caldereta, sinigang, veggies, and yes, silog. Like what we had a few weeks ago at Razon's at the foodcourt of Trinoma.

Longsilog (longanisa + sinangag + garlic egg)

Bangusilog (bangus + sinangag + garlic egg)

Tocilog (tocino + sinangag + garlic egg)

While I am at it, let me share two more dishes we ordered. My husband loved the sisig. And I think the other one is chicken adobo. It completely slipped my mind.

Sizzling Sisig

Chicken/Pork Adobo

What we did not have was the famous Razon's halo-halo. With all that we had, there's no more room for anything else in our tummy. Next time, halo-halo will be included in our menu.

With all the pictures I posted, I definitely enjoyed Lasang Pinoy Sundays today. :)

Chill

My late post for Filipino Mom Blog's What's in Your Lunchbox? meme. My daughter wants some ChillBev in orange and lemonade so she grabbed them as soon as she saw them when he did our grocery last Sunday. She packed the orange flavor the following day together with her morning snack. Its transparent packaging never fails to attract attention. It's cute. I just feel anytime it would burst. :)

Horseradish Tree (Malunggay)

There is no doubt I love eating, I love food. But I used to shun away from the kitchen. I do not detest cooking but I am not at all happy with all the preparations - slicing, mincing, mixing, etcetera. I would rather do other things which I think are more productive. Oh yes, anything that has got to do with the kitchen I feel the help can very well do them. I'd rather review my take home work than sweat it out in the kitchen.

But it grew on me. Gone were the days that I cannot stay in the kitchen for even a few minutes. Now I love it! I really, really do. I may still be a mess but I take every opportunity to learn and actually do the cooking - from buying the ingredients myself to preparing everything. This is one of the activities I look forward to during weekends. It used to be a hit and miss but now I'm making good progress. The dishes I prepare for the past months actually taste like real food! Proof is the honest-to-goodness commendations of my husband and daughter. The more I get encourage to hone my latent cooking powers. :D

I also love browsing on food blogs especially those with great pictures attached to the post. It makes me marvel how they can do all these cooking so effortlessly, from simple to the elaborate dishes. And now I am participating in food memes. I would like to get to know more of what others share from their kitchen, what good finds they have which I can learn from.

For this week's Lasang Pinoy Sundays, I am sharing my own Green - malunggay (horseradish tree) which I used for ginisang monggo (mung bean stew with pork rind). Labeled as a poor man's dish, it proves to be very nutritious as the beans and malunggay are good sources of protein and vitamins. Go green!

That's Us!

We have identified all the characters in each movie poster mounted on the wall. We have scribbled on the table's paper mat and did some tic-tac-toe. I have checked incoming texts and replied to some. I checked my emails. My daughter played with her DS Lite for a few minutes. We did everything we can think of while waiting for our food. Almost twenty minutes has passed from the time we ordered and ten minutes from my first follow-up, still our food is "a minute to go m'aam, truly sorry for the delay."

What else is there to do but take our pictures. We thought of taking a picture of us looking at the mirror in front of us. So, there, we have our own reflection. And I thought I will have no use for this picture. :D

For other photo hunts on "reflection", please visit here. :) Another entry at Everything and then Some..... for a great sunset reflection. Happy weekend! :)

I'm At a Lost

Yes I am. What should it be this time?

Like what I have shared at the start of this year, I go nuts with planners and notebooks. I collect them. I have loads of them. Fully Booked and Power Books earn substantially from yours truly because of this compulsion to collect them. There's always one every year which I use as my journal - not really a diary - more like when a thought enters my mind and I don't want to lose it, especially if I have suddenly uttered a nice quote, I pull out my notebook and jot it down.

I also shared that I am a schedule freak. Never mind that I have a Treo which acts as my PDA, I need to have my planner! I should be planting trees in exchange of all the paper in my possession. I need to have a calendar on my desk. I need to have my trusty planner always within my reach. Ha! I feel naked without them.

But now, I don't know what planner I should use for 2009. Next year, as how it is yearly, will be loaded with meetings, plannings, client meet-ups and to-do lists, both personal and professional. After all these years I have learned that I should have a planner that provides a lot of writing space. My planner and my calendar are both full of post-it in different colors to accommodate all the schedules and everything else I need to put in together. The color coding is aligned with the calendar in my Treo - personal, work, school, church, etcetera, etcetera.

One thing's for sure, I have no intention of purchasing the Starbucks planner but the pen looks nice. I sort of got tired of it. Or should I just use the company planner. Or should I use Belle de Jour again. I used it this year but was not able to use any of the discount coupons.

BDJ sent an email a couple of weeks ago to everybody in their list showing their 2009 planner. I did not read much but tonight while at Power Books, I saw the BDJ 2009 Power Planner. Hmmm, looks good. More discounts. I'm still undecided though if I'll buy it.

I want something inspirational. I fancied buying The Power of Now planner but since the book did not make me feel what it is trying to espouse, that is definitely out of my list. I checked out a planner which contains Toltec teachings. Hmmm, nope, I don't like the design. I want a planner from The Secret but they don't have it.

My quest is still on for my perfect 2009 planner. I just might decide on a Bible planner. Nothing fancy but something that will really inspire me. That should make me reflect everyday and who knows, might make me more patient.

Hey, everyone has their obsessions. I'm entitled to my own. :)

Belated Happy Birthday Post

This is my first time to participate in Photo Story Friday. I would love to share my pictures taken during my husband's birthday a few weeks ago. This is a long over due post.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

There is no big celebration except that I prepared his favorite, or our favorite, seafood jambalaya. Normally we just order this from a restaurant. That was the first time I prepared one. So glad it was good. No left over.


I love cakes so it's a staple in any occasion (or even when there's no occasion) in our home. I'm not that adventurous though. I only have what I got used to having - chocolate or mocha. Boring I know. But husband thought of having Smores instead. It has caramel topping and chocolate everywhere. I did not complain. It was good. :)


We had dinner the night before his birthday at Fish and Co. There is not much people at this side of the dining area. I love the warm light and the wooden finish which dominates the restaurant.


I love their Marsala Pizza specifically the crust. It's croissant crust if I'm not mistaken. It does get messy sometimes but every bite is worth it. I'm an onion lover so the generous onion topping is a big plus for me.


My husband is a pasta lover so the best choice for him was fettucine in creamy mushroom sauce. Hmmm, love it too.


As always, my daughter had her chicken tenders with fries with a teeny weeny cupcake as dessert.


A belated birthday greeting post to Daddy! From me and our not-so-little-girl-anymore. :)

My Daughter's Favorite Things

...as of the moment that is. This is supposed to be my post for Thursday Thirteen, the first time this blog is going to participate. I asked my daughter what I can share. She readily thought of sharing her current favorites. But it won't stop at thirteen, thus the 13-A at the end of the list. Kids...they have a way of getting around. :)










There they are!
1. She loves Miley Cyrus. That was taken at the cinema lobby after watching Miley's 3D concert which I've shared in this blog already.

2. She loves doing collage. She has loads of collages!

3. Dancing is one of the ways she relax, true.

4. Among the Jonas Brothers, she likes Nick J a lot.

5. Singing and playing the guitar are two things she loves doing everyday.

6. Camp Rock is her current favorite. High School Musical was taken over.

7. Alyson Stoner from Camp Rock is one of her favorite young actress.

8. Total Girl Magazine is not just my daughter's favorite but mine too.

9. Shopping was included in her list of favorite things to do. We mostly shop for her clothes and school needs.

10. Going to happy places, that's how she termed it. She loves this place, Animaland where she can stuff her own toys.

11. She loves watching The Disney Channel Games!

12. The song "Please Be Mine" by, who else, The Jonas Brothers is always playing in the house.

13. Her favorite team at the Disney Game is the Comets because it includes Selena Gomez.

13-A. She loves her latest book find, "Spells and Sleeping Bags".

Whew! Haha, I enjoyed doing this with my daughter. :)

An Antidote to My Grumpy Stomach

I was a little indisposed this afternoon. I was a regular visitor of the wash room in a span of an hour I think, get the picture? It must be something I ate, maybe the dried fish left at the refrigerator for more than a week now which served as my breakfast. I remember I had a tooth infection about three years ago. The suspect was the toothbrush left in the refrigerator with the cap slightly open. Yes there's a designated area in my ref for our toothbrush. We got used to having our toothbrush at least 35-40 degrees F. The ref is clean, everything in order so who would think there could be something in there that could have infected my toothbrush which had caused mild irritation on my tooth.

Anyway, I just stayed in our room for the rest of the afternoon. I channel surfed like there's no tomorrow while lying on bed and occasionally checking on my daughter while she's surfing the net - mostly meez.com and exploring further windows movie maker.

Ironically, lying down on the bed with a grumpy stomach gave me quite a good feeling. It felt great rubbing my legs on the smooth bed sheet. Soothing. I was able to rest. Admittedly, I do not really rest even on weekends. There are a lot of things I want to do, need to do, things I cannot do on weekdays because of work. It's a nice feeling after all to just have a laid back day. Sometimes a small glitch is needed to make one realize a full day's rest actually feels great and does not mean you are doing nothing and just being lazy. No guilt feelings, just letting the hours go by, savoring each moment.

Channel surfing, I had the privilege to nitpick most of the shows I have encountered - mostly local. We do not watch noon time shows. I stopped watching them even if I could on Saturdays. I tried but my golly, Wowowee is too much to my ears. The hosts shout, it's ear splitting and more than that, the content of the show is something that needs a lot to work on, capitalizing on poverty. This is debatable and I do no want to discuss further right now. I watch ASAP though sometimes. I enjoy their production numbers.

This family rarely watch GMA 7. I don't know how my husband did it but the remote control of our television inside our room skips GMA 7 channel. I did not bother to ask nor did I checked it myself. I have to manually press the channel so it would appear. That's how much he abhors the network. He hates it that the network brag so much but has very poor production numbers and cannot even provide a decent remote coverage. For me, it's most of their artists, they do not have the aura of a celebrity. The network should learn how to better package their actors.

Anyway, this was the first time I had a peek of this game show. So the dancing girls are still in business...and still do the same choreography and "awww" thing. This was what they have been doing since their day one in show business. And how many years have passed? And my lord. A lot of kids are in the audience. Sure a game show should have all the fun fare they could have, but girls in skimpy clothes wriggling all the way? Come on, we can do better than that.

I watched the gossip shows from the two rivaling channels. Same old, same old. Everything is on pep.ph. Marian Rivera pala is beautiful (though not my kind of pretty) and always smiling but seems to be greatly lacking in personality. And Dingdong Dantes was in purple top and pink belt. Lol. Statement? If I'd join the Ponds date promo, I'd go for Piolo Pascual.

See what a grumpy stomach can do to me. I was back to my regular programming as the afternoon pushed forward and as I was feeling better. Good thing there was The Daily Show on CNN.

Mood Swings

As I have shared here a few months back, my daughter participated in the McDonald's Kiddie Crew program as part of her summer activity. The culminating program was a gathering of all kids who participated as kiddie staff. My daughter was really excited on the way to the venue. She was all smiles as she lined up and get to know her team mates.


The kids were on the line for about an hour already since we arrive. I was wondering what was taking the organizers so long to start the games. My daughter was still smiling which is a good sign. It was a bit surprising since she does not like to be in a large crowd like this.


Another hour has passed and my daughter was not in anyway motivated anymore. She got upset with all the waiting plus the fact that the weather was so humid.


Uh-oh, she was definitely not smiling anymore. Her jolly mood got totally ruined.


So after the program we dropped by her favorite game station, Time Zone, to cool down. And she played to her heart's content. :) I hope next time McDonald's will have better logistics.

You may check other entries of photo hunters here. My other entry on 'ruin(ed)' is at Everything and then Some.... Hope to see you there too. Thank you. :)

In Spite of the Bleeps

Not necessarily in this order at times but most of the time overlapping - my routine getting home from work would be a) check on my daughter, b) freshen up, c) have a nice, light conversation with my daughter and husband (if he's home already or not busy doing anything else) while helping prepare the dinner, d) look at my daughter's homeworks, e) have our dinner, f) freshen up/have a quick bath, g) tuck my daughter to bed (which she says I should stop doing since she's ten years old), h) browse on my emails and paper works in preparation for the next day's meetings, and when everything and everyone else is settled, i) finally go online for blogging, plurking and browsing or I read (but the former wins a lot of times).

But there had been alterations. Take for example the letter 'i'. It has been overtaken by television, me and my husband's form of relaxation at night. The culprit would be these two guys to your left. Thanks to Maxxx channel. I missed these two shows, The Daily Show and Colbert Report. And by the way, Indecision 2008 was hilarious.

Jon Stewart has earned mixed reviews. As in most reviews, you have the pro and the con. I am on the pro side. I like his deadpan humor, his wit, his coolness. Political satire, news parody at its best. Definitely not to be watched within earshot of the kids because of some words they use and cut with 'bleep'. But then again, they crystallize issues and hand them over to the suspecting public. Shows like these do give the message across clearly.

In my own backyard, there were The Sic O'Clock News and Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata, satirical comedies which, through the years, were replaced by comedy shows which has shown a lot of form but less substance (think women in skimpy attires trying to act and deliver funny lines). I need the kind of hilarity I get from a Jon Stewart. That's the point of this post.

How Does One Pursue Peace?

That is the question GreenBucks posted for us.

What a timely question. I'm not only speaking of world peace as we know it but inner peace. My inner peace was challenged in a way during the past days. I have been reading quite a number of books lately. Two of them were authored by a spiritual leader as maybe the media has called him. I first heard of Eckart Tolle from a friend who was frantically waiting for her Amazon delivery of A New Earth. I got all the more interested when I saw it in Oprah's web page with the line, "Life is the dancer and you are the dance". Wow, I like that. I must have the book. I get a natural high reading inspirational books. I bought not only A New Earth but also his first best seller, The Power of Now. I told myself I could understand A New Earth better if I read where it started.

Somewhere along the way something bothered me with all the readings I am doing. It's as if there is a clutter of thoughts on my mind. It doesn't feel good. It confused me. Have I taken it too seriously? I was comparing the idea presented with The Secret, a book which really motivated me. In fact, it has become a part of my everyday life. I got all confused.

One morning I decided not to be confused as there is only one teaching that I have to fully subscribe and believe in. I have not forgotten. God's words. I got my Bible, the Bible I bought years ago and read them. If I make time reading all the other books, why don't I give time reading my Bible? I read a number of passages. I prayed that my mind and my heart will be clear. I need not rely on anything as God's help have always been present in my life and in my family's. I should only look back with all the help He had given us and look forward to more blessings. True enough, my mind was cleared and I have experienced peace in my heart. I recognize the daily blessings that are given to me and my family. In fact, there are unexpected blessings coming my way. I couldn't be happier. I am grateful.

Praying to God, having a quiet time with Him, that is how I pursue peace in my life.

Birthday on a Weekend

My niece celebrated her birthday on a weekend last September. I missed it because I needed to attend to something work-related at the time. My daughter went with her cousins though and had so much fun wearing her blue, feathery headband given by her Aunt as part of the party's give away.


Here's she is again with one of her favorite cousins, Ate J. They both look lovely. These two love music very much that they decided to form a band, Kidz in School. Based on their agreement, their practice will start on summer. :)



Here's Snow White! She's two!


More pictures here at Weekend Snapshot. My other entry is at Everything and then Some.....

We're All in this Together

.....That's the title of one of the songs from High School Musical 1. It is of course most tweens' favorite Disney movie. It's now on its third musical as we all know it. Below are pictures of my daughter posing together with the cast of High School Musical, in 2D.




And here's another one with Miley Cyrus taken at the lobby of the theater after we watched Best of Both Worlds 3D Concert.


Check all other wonderful pictures at Photo Hunt. I have another entry of "together" at Everything and then Some..... Hope to see you there too. :)