14 May 2012

My Love for Cooking + Pork Stir-Fry Recipe

I am an above-average cook. So fab moms who can't, forgive me for bragging a bit. Your kids will still love you if you choose delivery or take-outs. But this is my take.


Cooking kalderetang kambing at my husband's camp

A way to a hungry man's heart is definitely through his rumbling stomach. I'm one of the gifted wives who has kitchen skills. Modesty aside, I can definitely cook & it tastes good, actually. But I do have days when what I prepared didn't even look like food. Cuisine-wise, I'm still in the beginner's level. Conceptualizing on what to prepare for the family is one big task, considering that my husband comes home only on special occasions and that my daughter is a little picky-eater. So reading a magazine's food section helps me a lot. It has tips on how to prepare food for kids; should be healthy and visually-enticing at the same time; like what I have written in my previous post about the Sotanghon Bunny. It also has sample dining table setting or proper food plating, that I try all my best to copy. You know, the feeling of being an "expert". The reason why I love watching Top Chef and other cooking-related TV shows.

11 May 2012

Orange Away the Colds at Bay

One of the most "natural" ways for colds to go away!
Philippines has only two weather conditions --- rainy & sunny. Yes, right? A smart 5th-grader can disagree if typhoon is another type of weather. But whatever it is that the country has, we are prone to having colds due to allergens (which are due to pollutants that are in default settings with our lovely Republic). No, I am not here to advertise any non-drowsy allergy-relief medicine. Though I will if they will ask me to do it. Of course, let's talk if the medium is Php. Hahaha. As if. Well, I may be a modern mom, but I make sure that we will not depend on drugs whenever we feel sick. I have this sort of "barrio lass" inside me, going organic. Like, I used to try on boiling oregano leaves and making my little daughter drink its juice when she has cough. But I just can't make her get used to it. 'Cause I can't even drink it myself! So I concede, I just make her take a Lagundi-based cough syrup, a lesser evil than something so drug-ish. So when she has colds, her usual sickness (thank God!) aside from bruises & burns (LB is a little Parkour athlete), I just tell her to drink lots of water and I encourage her to do her own OJ. Mmm, yes, I finish all the tasks of doing so but I make her feel she did it all by herself. Fellow parents, Nido Milk is true to their words that the time you say YES to your children is the time they start learning. 

LB posing with her almost-full glass of fresh OJ
(which is actually a sunkist. ;p)
So here, even if it's a bit messy and there's more juice that'd gone to waste than what she actually poured in the glass, I'm proud of LB. That means, she really wanted to get well the soonest and that she trusts me. When I tell her to finish her milk so she'll become taller, she does. So when I told her to drink her OJ so she'd get well immediately and that I won't be there to take care of her 'cause I'll be at the office, she drank it in one count. I couldn't utter a better phrase to praise her, but a modest & uncool "Great job Pia!". Oh shucks, perks of motherhood. How about you?

09 May 2012

Sotanghon Bunny

Based on the magazine articles I read, like ones I see in Smart Parenting, it's advisable to prepare food that are enticing to the kids' eyes. I once served the family buttered veggies, in which I told my little foodie, three-year-old Sophia, that the broccoli is a tree and baby potatoes are mountains. She didn't like the baby potatoes. Maybe it looks dirty. But she really did impress me with broccoli. So to enhance her palate, I'm slowly introducing her to different viands that a usual adult eats. I think we have the "Ground Pork in Tomato Sauce with Potatoes, Carrots, Green Peas & Raisins", like, every week. So yesterday, while doing my grocery-shopping in Rustan's Supermarket in Gateway, I found a really cute fish cake used in Shabu-Shabu. So because I know Shabu-Shabu won't be appealing to my daughter, I made a SOTANGHON BUNNY instead!


You basically saute garlic, onion and carrots. Put in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Salt & pepper to taste (Yeah, it sounds I know a lot!) then drop the bunnies! Once the bunnies are cooked, you can put in the sotanghon (aka Chinese Vermicelli; blanch it first in water). Voila, you made a Sotanghon Bunny! Best served hot. Indulge.


P.S. I apologize for my instructions. I'm not really good in recipe-writing.

05 May 2012

Sophia Ballerina

Today is my daughter's 2nd session of ballet class in Primemont Science School. And well, because I have to go to the office and can't file a leave all the time, she was accompanied by her nanny and nanny's cousin (who is my mother-in-law's go girl). Before I left for work earlier, I made sure that the nanny (N) understood all my instructions. But lo and behold! When I called them up at 12 noon, my little ballerina (LB) was already dressed up. The ballet class starts at 2 pm! Didn't she think LB would have gotten dirty before going to school?! Ugh. So instead of getting more frustrated (which I already was, by the way), I told all my instructions to the nanny's cousin (NC). When I texted NC by the time they were done, she said they were already home. So I called them up and N answered. N said LB was more well-behaved than when she attended her 1st session. I'm happy to know about that but it sort of pinch my heart a bit, that I was not there to witness it. Sigh. I just thought that it's a stepping stone to eventually making her go on her own. Shucks. She's only turning four and she can now do well without me. Sniff-sniff. Ohh-kaay, cut the drama.

My Little Ballerina a.k.a. Little Bebeng