marriage thoughts from joanne woodward

"Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that's a real treat."
- Joanne Woodward, actress, television and theatrical producer
(Joanne married Paul Newman and stayed married till Paul died)

the scores are in

After the gruelling week of review for V's periodical exam, the results are finally in. And she passed with flying colors! I'm so happy! She had a perfect score for Civics! And an almost perfect score in Science and Filipino. Yup, just one wrong answer in these 2 subjects. Math would have been perfect too had it not been for one part of the exam. She got confused as to the odd and even numbers. She mixed it up and so everything was wrong. But all other answers except for these were correct. Sayang talaga, perfect na naman sana.

surviving V's periodical exam

I survived!...The first grading periodical exam of Vivian! So on Friday afternoon we all went out to celebrate. Picnic sa Good Shepherd (para ka-join si Tatay). I ordered take-out from McDonald's at dahil ako ang nagcecelebrate ang kinain ko ay ang Big Mac meal. Akala nyo si V ang magcecelebrate? Hindi ah! It's me who is celebrating kase nasurvive ko ang pagtuturo sa kanya for the first grading period! Hay! Ang hirap kaya ng pinagdaanan ko! Feeling ko I deserve a medal dahil sa na-experience ko the past months.
Now the agony of waiting for the exam results. Sana naman pasado sya!

daddy thoughts from ninoy aquino

You are my only son. You carry my name and the name of my father. I have no material wealth to leave you. I never had time to make money while I was in the hire of our people. For this I am very sorry. I had hopes of building a little nest egg for you. I bought a ranch in Masbate in the hope that after ten or fifteen years, the coconut trees I planted there would be yielding enough to assure you a modest but comfortable existence. Unfortunately, I had to sell all our properties as I fought battle after political battle as a beleaguered member of the opposition. And after the last battle, I had more obligations than assets.
The only valuable asset I can bequeth to you now is the name you carry. I have tried my best during my years of public service to keep that name untarnished and respected, unmarked by sorry compromises for expediency. I now pass it on to you, as good, I pray, as when my father, your grandfather passed it on to me.
-Ninoy Aquino, Philippine senator and hero
(letter for Noynoy Aquino)

mommy thoughts from bette davis

If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.
-Bette Davis, actress

picadillo

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
4 cups water
1 beef broth cube
2 tbsp. patis
oil
salt and pepper
Directions:
Saute garlic and onion in oil. Add ground beef and cook until it browns. Pour in the water and add the broth cube. Bring to a boil. Simmer over medium heat. Add potato and carrots. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are done. Add patis. Season to taste.

This is my first time to cook this recipe and ayun sold out! (kaya walang picture kase immediately after cooking we ate na)

bagoong rice

I first learned about Clara Ole Ora Mixmo from my Ate Cel. She was asking us if we can send some to her. This came as a surprise to me because my sister is based abroad and she is asking us to buy this product which I haven't even heard of. So the next time I went to the grocery I looked for it. Bought some and tested it in our kitchen. From then on I was hooked. The next time I went grocery shopping I bought tons of it to stock at home (of course, I had to send some to my Ate)
Yesterday I tweaked the recipe just because... (I am a girl and I want to do so) and the outcome was yum yum!
Here is the recipe:
oil for frying
2 cups cooked rice
1 pack Clara Ole Bagoong flavor
2-3 tablespoon of Barrio Fiesta Bagoong


Heat oil in pan. Add cooked rice and mix to fry for a few minutes. Pour in Bagoong flavor. Mix until well distributed throughout the rice. Add Barrio Fiesta Bagoong. Mix well. Serve hot!

potassium: regulates blood pressure

Potassium is the third most abundant mineral in our body. It is an electrolyte that carries nutrients into the cell and wastes out of them.
Is potassium important in our diet? Yes of course! I haven't really realized the importance of potassium until recently. I read that potassium is best known for its blood-pressure regulation. This made me sit straight and pay attention. My mother has hypertension. My father had borderline hypertension. I have aunts and uncles with hypertension. So I am preparing myself because it is pretty obvious that I have (+) family history. Plus hypertension is also prevalent in hubs side of the family. (Double whammy for our future kids)
Potassium can be found in most foods that we eat but there are still studies that says that we aren't getting enough of it. So starting today I am making a conscious effort to include potassium-rich foods in our diet.

closet space: organize!

There's never enough closet space. At the start of our marriage hubs and I share one closet. Now we have two and there's still not enough space for our clothes and shoes.
A major organizing revamp is needed!
The closet should have varous partitions so you can group the clothes according to kind. And when folding shirts, it is best to fold it trifold. It looks more organized that way.
Just like in the kitchen, a pull-out pantry can also be used in a closet. Just make sure that it is installed in an angle. There is a terrific way to store shoes. And we have a lot of these! Hubs collects rubber shoes while I heart sandals/slip-ons/flip-flops!
Before storing handbags take out all its contents. I have a habit of putting back the bag I used without taking out the contents and this consumes time when I'm trying to find something and don't know which bag to check. So before you put it back in the closet, dump it's contents on a table. Then put acid-free tissue paper inside the bag so as to preserve its shape.
(pictures grabbed from marthastewart.com)

before the month ends

It's August already! And (gasp!) before the month ends my hubs will be with me again! Four months of being apart is a long time.
We are both counting the days till we can be in each others arms again. Plus we are going to be away for a few days for some R&R!

ginataang kalabasa

Here is my recipe for ginataang kalabasa:
1/2 kilo squash peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup kakang gata (1st extract)
1 1/2 cup second extract of gata
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
fried dilis

Saute onion and garlic. Then add in the ginger.
Add the squash and second extract of gata. Bring to boil and then let simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour in the kakang gata. Bring to a boil. Add in the chili powder, salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes till the squash becomes tender.
Remove from heat. Top with fried dilis.

Most ginataang kalabasa recipes calls for either shrimp or pork. I decided to veer away from this and try a different approach to this viand. And since we usually have ginataang kalabasa wth pork my new version of ginataang kalabasa with dilis was a hit with my family!

PR up and down

Sadness! My other blog bumagsak ang PR...waaaahhhhh! Napenalize na ng google for all the paid blogging I did! Kaya pala kumonti ang opps!
The bright side is this blog tumaas ang ranking! Only thing is I haven't enrolled this in paid blogging pa. So I have to work on this muna and hopefully get opps for this blog.