Greetings: Happy Birthday, Abel!

Singapore Adventure: Saturday Breakfast

I woke up today feeling a lot better. The two days of resting did me good. And so, I was able to prepare a nice breakfast for us.

Garlic rice is a regular at the Cookie's dining table. And as I have recently learned of the wonders of Sesame Seed Oil, there's something extra to my garlic rice now. ;) I just need to learn to do a really nice sauteéd veggie dish to put my newly found kitchen condiment to full use.

I and my Cookie fell in love with the Tulip cocktails sausages. We just pop them into the microwave straight from the can.

My Cookie wanted some eggs for breakfast. I prepared him an Onion and Tomato Omelette. It has been a while since I last prepared something like this. Fortunately, it turned out quite pretty with the nice blend of colors from the ingredients.

And that was breakfast, which we had at around 11:30 this morning. The same time I took another tablet of Biogesic just to make sure that the fever doesn't return anymore.

As this post is being written, the Cookies are preparing to leave the house to grab some lunch. It has been decided that we'll be having some Chicken Rice at the Loy Kee Best Chicken Rice restaurant just down the street.

More post later on our Chicken Rice hunt when we get back. ;)

Singapore Adventure: Cooking Frenzy

What can I say... I am bored.. And so this is how I chose to spend my day... Cooking.

MY SPECIAL MEATBALLS

This is a regular in the Cookie's dinner menu. And each time, I try to put in something extra into my meatballs with the hopes of improving its taste.

This time, I added a little butter and tomato paste. It did bring something nice to this version of my meatballs.

Hopefully, my Cookie loves it. :)

ADOBONG KANGKONG

It's another of my first attempts. And it is a hit, at least for me.

My Cookie has not come home from work yet, but I left him some so he can have a say if we can put this dish in the "regulars".

Thanks to my Mama for the recipe. But I put a little of my own in this recipe, too. I used sesame seed oil to saute the kangkong stalks and leaves. ;)

This blog is shaping up to becoming a cooking blog! Hahaha...

Singapore Adventure: Shiny and (almost) New

I woke up feeling not so well today. And so, I skipped work and went to see the doctor at the clinic nearby. And sure enough, I was running a fever. My temperature was at 37.6°C.

Well, there really is nothing much to do at home. I am watching Robin Williams' Man of the Year just to pass the time.

And a little while back, I tended to my few silver accessories. They seem to have tarnished already. Good thing I brought a small bottle of "silver dip" from home. So now, they are shiny and almost new again. :)

Obviously, I am fond of heart shapes. Thus, even the few pieces of accessories I have should be this shape. Sweet. ^_^

Singapore Adventure: Of Firsts and Regulars

MENUDILLO

This is my first attempt to cook Menudillo. I have always had an idea of how it is prepared, but only summed up the strength to cook it tonight for dinner.

I got a little overzealous with the potatoes, but in my honest opinion backed by my Cookie's happy tastebuds, I did a pretty good job with this dish. :)

This time, my menudillo has ground pork, diced potatoes, carrots, red and green bell peppers. For my next attempt for this dish, I am thinking of putting in some quail eggs and green peas.

~ o0o ~

CHIX DRUMETTE BARBECUE

I have prepared this dish several times for my friends here in SG. But I think I have only cooked it a few times for my Cookie. And since he says it's his favorite, I may consider this to be a regular in the Cookie's dinner menu. :)

When my Cookie finally gets me my oven, then I can experiment on where else I can use my special barbecue marinade on. Hehehe...

And oh, did I mention it goes perfectly with my special vinegar dipping sauce. ;)

Singapore Adventure: Saturday Movie Date, etc.

The Cookies went out to run some errands. And afterwards we were off to a whole day of fun out on a date.


First stop was Lucky Plaza along Orchard Road. SGD to PHP exchange rate still has not picked up. It was only at 28.25 PHP to a dollar. After doing that errand at iRemit, we went to the food court at the Lucky Plaza basement to grab some lunch. I missed Chicken Rice and so I had the White Chicken Set. My Cookie had his favorite Mixed Rice combo. Yum! ^_^


After a filling lunch, we had a little stroll along Orchard Road, and found ourselves at the facade of Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. It's about time for a movie date. It's something the Cookies haven't done for a while. Last movie we saw at the theaters was Enchanted.



We spent some 30 minutes at the cinema lobby while waiting for the movie. We shot some photos with my phone camera to pass the time.

Isn't my Cookie just the cutest? Hihihi.. ^_^
While waiting for the movie, we also munched on some snacks - salted popcorn, Coke Light for my Cookie, and Qoo White Grape Juice Drink for me!

I was first introduced to Qoo at the Kopitiam drinks stall at Plaza Singapura. Since then, I have been fond of it. I look for it at the groceries each time but to no avail. And so, seeing that Cathay was having a snack promotion for a Qoo combo, I went for it!

Aside from Qoo, the candy shoppe close by the cinema entrance also had some interesting stuff. I bought a pack of Strawberry flavoured sour candy tape.

The movie for that afternoon was Cloverfield. Hmm... It didn't quite win me over. But my Cookie loved it. The movie just gave me "Blairwitch" déjà vu. But this time, it's an unidentified creature from somewhere that tried to destroy Manhattan. Well, I hate to spoil it for you, so just try to go and see if you share my opinion. :P

Okay, enough of the rants. After the movie, we went for another stroll and made it to Wheelock Place where there is a stall from Crumpler. We shelled out a few hundred dollars for new packs. I got an orange The Westerna Lawn, and my Cookie got a red The King Single. ^_^

After bag shopping, we had dinner at Modesto's. Calamari Fritti for starters. Four Cheese Pizza and Spaghetti Alfredo for the main event. And then we called it a night.

It was a great day! :)

Singapore Adventure: Shrimps!

It's back to the SG OFW lifestyle. Work on weekdays, housechores on weekends. Sigh.

But there's a bright side to my weekends inspite of this. On weekends, I get to work in my kitchen. And this weekend, it's Buttered Garlic Shrimps for lunch!

A quick trip to Sheng Shiong to gather the ingredients, and then to the main event.

Ingredients. Hmmm... Shrimps, of course. The medium-sized ones will be good. I bought the shrimps that sold for 10.50 SGD a kilo. Some onion, garlic, ginger and butter. :)

Okay, let's heat up the pan!

Put in the butter, let it melt. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Put in the shrimps. Add salt and sugar to taste. Add some chili flakes (from Pizza Hut take away) for heat. And... Tada! A delicious viand that goes perfectly with steaming boiled rice.

In a while, I'll start working on my special spaghetti recipe for dinner. ;)

Singapore Adventure: There and Back Again

My happy days on holiday are over. And now, time for a reality check. It's back to work, and back to household chores. But there's an upside to it, too. I am also back in my Cookie's arms. Yihee... ^_^

Yesterday, my plane from Manila touched down at the Changi Airport at 12:05 am. My Cookie fetched me at the airport and we were home past 1:00 am. And at 9:30 am, I checked back in the office. Whew! Are there a lot of new changes at work.

Our team went out to lunch to welcome people back from vacation (ehem!), to welcome a new joiner into the team, and to send off a teammate who is moving out of the team to transfer to a different group. It was our PM's treat - a buffet lunch of Indian cuisine at Masala Art in City Hall district.

This photo is of a Khoya Apple. An Indian dessert with an interesting flavour and texture. It was too sweet for me so I can only down half of it. That's sago pudding in the bowl. And a variety of fruit slices.

It was a fun Day One back at work. But this morning, I woke up feeling sick and just couldn't pull myself out of bed. I just need to take the day off to re-energize. Hopefully, when I come back to work on Monday, I am back to tiptop shape.

Philippine Adventure: Day 19 to 22: Final Stretch

Its the final stretch of my 3 week holiday. Tomorrow, I will be flying back to Singapore to face reality again - that is work. Sniff! I am sure going to miss being on vacation.

And I am glad I made time to put together these Philippine Adventure blog entries to keep a journal of my holiday. Something to look back to when I start missing home again.

Okay, here's what happened from Day 19 to 22.

6 January 2008, Sunday

A day of pampering for me and my girls. Yup, we went to the salon - me, my Mama and my sister.

I got a hot oil and had my hair trimmed. I only asked the hairdresser to trim off the ends. I am still enjoying my long hair and so I passed for my once a year hair cut for a short hairstyle. :)

It's my first foot spa experience. ^_^ I wasn't that satisfied with the outcome, but I am happy enough being pampered. :)

7 January 2008, Monday

Since it's down to the last few days of my vacation, I opt to spend them at home, just like how I used to spend my weekends before I went to Singapore.

I missed being a couch potato! Hehehe...

And when the movies on cable TV gets a little too draggy, there's my ever reliable Nintendo DS Lite. I have unlocked most of the stages in the Mariokart DS game I am playing. I just love this game! Hehehe....

My pink Nintendo DS Lite will surely be missed by my siblings. Too bad I can't leave it with them. R4 units are hard to come by in SG and if I leave my NDS unit with them, I might not be able to score a new set with an R4. Sorry, sibs. ;)

8 January 2008, Tuesday

This morning, the crew from Sta. Fe came by to assist in the packing of my personal effects for shipping to Singapore. They arrived at 9:00 am and finished the job by 10:30 am. The packing team is very efficient and did a quick job without compromising careful handling of my belongings.

Hopefully, my things get shipped immediately to arrive in Singapore by Saturday. My shipment contains mostly food stuff, clothing and toiletries - both mine and my Cookie's.

I only had little stuff to ship. And from the 500lbs air shipment allowance, I didn't even fill half of it. But it's just cool. After all, there's just two of us to consume the entire food stuff packed in there. And it is just appalling to see food go to waste.

- o0o -

As I write this blog entry, I am enjoying an 80's Sharon Cuneta movie on Cinema One - Forgive and Forget. And for lunch which is happening in 30 minutes, I will enjoy a steaming bowl of my Mama's Pork Sinigang. ^_^

Philippine Adventure: Day 9 - 18: A Recap

Blogging was put on hold due to some family emergency. Well, viruses don't honor holidays, and they picked this season to invade my brother's immune system. He caught Dengue, and we had to be admitted to the hospital.

Thinking out loud: And so the elements who had a bunch of fun burning my chatbox while I attended to my family can wish payback doesn't come soon enough.

Sorry, I just had to let that out. I am just curious why they obsess over my blog so much that they just have to keep coming back. Fanatics? Hahaha...

Okay, moving on to the pleasant happenings.

28 December 2007, Friday


Cousin Rose and I went to see Judy Ann and Ryan's MMFF flick Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo. Since we saw the first movie Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo, it's just hard to miss the sequel.

It was a fun movie. The characters and dialogues are the highlight of the movie. Gina Pareño's role and lines are just hysterically funny. Over all, it's a movie worth watching.

29 December 2007, Saturday

I met up with my Kumares and little inaanaks. We had a wonderful seafood lunch at the Seaside Paluto place near the Mall Of Asia.

I missed having food trips li$ke this with friends. Food has always been our weakness and our common guilty pleasure. Hehehehe...

What did we have for lunch? Hmmm... A kilo of fresh shrimps cooked in butter and garlic. Grilled lumot. That's how they call the big squids. And crispy fried tilapia. Lots of rice. And of course, I can never miss my favorite green mango salad. Yummy!!!

After that big lunch, we set off for a little stroll at the Mall Of Asia. There were still tons of people at the mall. It seems that they haven't run out of shopping money yet! Hehehe...

We had to cut the party short because of some family errands that I and Eileene had. Sayang, we were not able to go by the carnival anymore.

Here are some of the pretty photos we shot at the MOA to cap off the event. The group with now big boys Jan (my inaanak) and Xander (my Cookie's inaanak).

30 December 2007, Sunday

This is the day we have set for the AIU-RP Year-End Reunion Party. And it was surely a blast. The gift grabbing, mahjong clinic, poker game and videoke session got the team to re-bond ang catch up on each other's lives.

And inspite of the time that we have been apart and busy with our own businesses, the friendship just goes on. And we are still a group of photo-maniacs! Hahaha... ;)

31 December 2007, Monday

New Year's Eve was spent at the hospital. Well, it's the first for our family to not spend the last day of the year at home, but it doesn't mean it is less special.

It turned out quite fine, actually. We still had the usual Media Noche. And the residents within the vicinity of the hospital gave a really nice fireworks show, and we had front seats. Hehehe... My sister even recorded some video clips with her N6300.

2 January 2008, Wednesday

It's my sister's birthday. But since my brother is still in the hospital, we just had some pizza, chicken and chips "take away" from Shakey's.

Good thing my brother was already discharged from the hospital and will just continue to recuperate here at home. Hopefully, we can do some family lakwatsa over the weekend.

Only a few more days and I will be back in Singapore to be with my Cookie. I miss him terribly and I am excited to be with him again. But while I am here, I want to spend as much quality time as possible with my Mama and sibs. I am not sure when I can come back for another visit. But hopefully, next time around, they can come to Singapore to visit me. ^_^