Friendships 2012 and Beyond

Photo courtesy of quotes4friendship.blogspot.com

2012 was a year of extremes. Extreme losses and extreme blessings.

The year started with a promotion. Then followed by five awards. Major challenges also prompted significant changes with family, immediate and otherwise. Relationships tested - some endured, some fell apart.

As I was to embark another journey in my career, someone very dear, a friend and mentor passed. It was a big blow emotionally; I felt lost. Shook me to my core. Admittedly, I am still coping. No one will be ever ready for death. When it's someone close, it's hard to put meaning to it. It's never easy having to give up or end friendships, what more losing one permanently.

Despite the lowest lows, I have been blessed with overwhelming friendships - old ones, renewed ones and a lot of new ones. Aside from my family, I have my friends to thank for being my anchor, strength and inspiration in more ways I can imagine. I would not have survived this year without their compassion, sincerity, generosity and love. During the time I felt alone, they kept me company. When I was sad, they did not only make me laugh, they made me happy. When I was at the brink of not believing in myself, they reminded me passionately and patiently of my worth. When I was taking myself too seriously, they drove me crazy and let me be crazy without any judgement or ridicule. 

 

2012 was also a year of abundance. The blessings were overwhelming. For sure, this is only the start of more to come. 2012 is extra meaningful because I discovered and experienced the power of positivity, creative thinking, giving more to have more. It changed my life tremendously, and I'm happy to have shared this with friends as well. These blessings came from friends, enabled by friends, shared with friends and celebrated and enjoyed with friends.

 

This year was definitely a year of friendship. And I pray that these friendships last a lifetime, and beyond.

Mr. Moo's Milk Planet

I love cheese. Who doesn't? So discovering Mr. Moo's Milk Planet is happiness! 

Mr. Moo is on Aguinaldo Highway in Tagaytay. At the right side when you're Manila bound. It's a few meters after Gourmet Cafe. 

The shop basically sells milk and milk products. They have three milk sources - cows, goats and carabaos. Aside from freshness, the don't use preservatives and additives on any of their products.

My personal favorites are the goat feta cheese, jumbo pastillas made of carabao's milk and fresh goat's milk. Goat's milk, I learned from a Mr. Moo staff, is naturally low in fat. Although, they also have low fat cow's milk, if you're not into goat's milk. I just love the feta cheese in olive oil. They have feta cheese in brine too. My kids particularly like the chocolate and strawberry milk drinks. 

Mr. Moo offers so many products. Dips, shakes, yogurt and even soy milk. As they say, there's something for everyone.

Aside from everything edible, they have soap too. Also made from milk.

Checkout the bulletin board for information about their products, proper storage and more. 

Aside from all natural ingredients, their 'squeezing' process is also all natural, as this sign says :)

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Baking Again

I'm reviving my love affair with baking. Starting with cupcakes. Getting a bit bolder though - trying out cake decorating.

I only bake cookies, pies and bars because most do not need frosting or icing. I have always been intimidated with decorating. Although I never tried, I believed I couldn't do it.


Thanks to Olga Logronio of Cupcakes by Olga for offering her cupcake baking and decorating class. It was enough for me to at least try cupcake decorating. I'm no professional yet but practice makes perfect. At least I'm heating the oven again.

Today's batch is Dark Chocolate Cupcakes. Will post the recipe soon.

Mabuhay ang Arroz Caldo!

Number one in my list of comfort foods - arroz caldo.

When traveling, I always look forward to Mabuhay Lounge's Arroz Caldo. Yummmmmm! One reason why I only fly Philippine Airlines. I was told that it's Kapitan's (the Lucio Tan) personal favorite as well.

It has chunks of chicken, topped with chopped salted egg, fried garlic and crispy dilis. Then a drizzle of patis and calamansi. Panalo!

I don't really care anymore what will be served in the plane. By the time we board, I'd be so full and sleepy.

Daddy's Lechon Kawali - to die for!

Our potluck for tonight's homeowner's Christmas party.

Renato's Lechon Kawali

1 kg Pork belly
Water with some salt
Oil

Daddy's secret is the pork. He's very picky and meticulous with the meat he cooks with. He wants it ultra fresh, as much as possible. With this, less seasoning is needed. Just your usual and preferred 'sawsawan'.

Boil pork until soft. Tried asking Daddy how long but he can't determine a specific time. He insists 'just until it's soft.'

Drain meat, wrap in foil and then freeze overnight. Keep the pork broth for nilaga or sinigang.

How much oil is needed? A lot! Make sure that you're able to completely submerge the meat. Ensure that oil is really hot. Smoking hot - literally.

Straight from the freezer, cook meat until skin is crispy. If you wont serve it immediately, wrap again in foil. If you wish to reheat, use a turbo broiler. On high for 10-15 minutes.

Our preferred sawsawan is bagoong isda (not alamang) with calamansi or our new favorite Sukang Pinakurat

I've been getting requests and demands for Daddy's Lechon Kawali. Especially from those who've tasted it. That's why Daddy always has at least one pre-boiled pork inside the freezer. Ready to fry on demand!

Best Raisin Bread - Bag of Beans, Tagaytay

For years, the best raisin bread for me was Baguio Country Club's until I tried Bag of Beans' today. Fresh from the oven, so soft, and packed with raisins! Be purist or with butter and jam, still heavenly. Now, we don't have to drive 6 hours and spend P6k/night for a night's stay in a hotel; just an hour's drive (less if there's no traffic) and we have really good raisin bread.

Just make sure to enjoy it with freshly brewed coffee.

Home-mixed

Can't call it homemade. We bought everything and mixed them at home. So home-mixed halo-halo seem more appropriate.

This is how we celebrated Easter, while trying to beat the heat.

Highly recommended. Cheaper than having it in a restaurant or fast-food.

Next time will include minatamis na saba and Erwin's leche flan.

Bye, Jolo

Another death in the family.

They say it comes in threes. Uncle Bob, Lola Luz, now Jolo.

I hope this is the last in a very long time.

What Would You Do?

This was MMS'ed by my friend Rodger last Friday with the message "Kasabay ko sa bus. Sasabihan ko ba? (Riding the bus with this person. Will I tell him?)"

Looking at the picture closely, it's a grown man! If this were a kid, I might tell the mother or companion.

Had a good laugh, though.

Tuna Adobo

I had to figure out what to do with the fresh tuna I still had. I had two 5oz. packs of sashimi and 500 grams of tuna pieces. I was told to stay away from eating raw fish because I’m pregnant, so that’s goodbye to tuna sashimi and kinilaw na tuna – my original plans. I ended up doing my first Tuna Adobo for lunch today.

Tuna Adobo

Ingredients
500-700 grams of fresh tuna
1 head of garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped
½ cup light soy sauce
¼ to 1/3 of a 40g sabaw ng sinigang powder mix
Ground pepper
1/3 cup water
Oil for sautéing

Procedure
1. For the marinade, mix soy sauce, sabaw ng sinigang powder, ¼ of the minced garlic, ½ of the chopped onions and ground pepper. Mix until the sabaw ng sinigang powder is completely dissolved.
2. Marinate the fresh tuna for 2-3 minutes. Remove the tuna, drain and set aside.
3. In a hot skillet, sauté the remaining onions and garlic.
4. Add the tuna, and sauté for 3 minutes.
5. Add the marinade and simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Add water. If sauce is too rich, add more water.
7. Simmer for another minute.
8. Serve with steamed or garlic rice.

If you cut the liquid portions in half, this becomes Tuna Salpicao. My kids love adobo sauce so I made sure the recipe is saucy, almost a stew.

I was in the mood for presentation so I fried some garlic and topped the steamed rice with it for garnish.

First Recipe for 2009 - Sweet Chili Garlic Prawns

A very good friend of mine, Gani Mateos, asked how come I haven't updated my blog with new recipes. Not that I haven't been cooking but I haven't been really paying attention with what I cook. Sad to say, most of the time it's just a chore - to feed the family. Not too much heart into it.

I'm hoping to get my groove back. To start, let me share with you one of the dishes I prepared for noche buena. This was actually an impromptu dish. Kuya Jad and Mhea brought fresh prawns so we just had to find a way to cook them.

So, Gani, here's your first recipe for the year.

Sweet Chili Garlic Prawns

Ingredients
1 kg prawns (any size)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 heads of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 siling labuyo, chopped finely, remove seeds if you want.

Procedures
1. Drain prawns well. In the refrigerator or chiller to keep it fresh. At least an hour or 2 before cooking. Otherwise, this recipe will become stew with all the liquid from the prawns.
2. Use a big pan to ensure even cooking of the prawns.
3. Heat pan very well then put oil. Lower fire so as not to burn the garlic.
4. Do not brown garlic! Make sure your fire is low. We just want the garlic flavor infused with the oil. Saute for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add butter, sugar and siling labuyo. Saute/mix well so all favors come together.
6. Add prawns. Cook until all turn orange. Do not overcook. Just wait until color of ALL prawns change.
7. Season with salt and pepper.

If you don't want it too spicy, add the labuyo at the end. You can also use siling haba or the long green chili used for siningang.

I also ordered lechon from Virgilio's (046-4712844, look for Tita Baby), a recommendation of my Tita Nina Medina (aka Lola Obang). It was really good - almost like lechon Cebu! Ate Fiona did her Pakbet - Inang style - which Ate Fiona can only do. Aside from lechon, Erwin ordered Paella from Paella Express, which was ok. Not comparable to paellas of Casa Armas or Terry's but ok for the price.

How To Eat A Very Long Hotdog Sandwich

Too cute not to post :)

A Happy Happy News

Image courtesy of The Endowment for Human Development


A few minutes ago I learned that one of my dearest cousins, Nadya, is 8 weeks in the family way! I am just so happy to hear this news.

After the passing of my Lola Luz and Uncle Bob, news of new life brings me so much happiness - overwhelming joy!

Nadz, praying for a safe pregnancy. Enjoy it!

Chubby Cuppy Cake Sam

I think he's adorable. My two boys, Ren and Irvin, say he's so cute! I think he is!

The Sunshine of Counting Sheep

I have the privilege of owning a coffee painting of Sunshine Plata. What makes this painting extra especial is Sunshine did it for me. What makes it UBER especial is it came at the right time - I needed it.

Some blogs ago, I wrote something about Counting Sheep. Counting sheep was the only natural way I could doze off. It was a very stressful time - personal and professional. There were so many things going on and it was so hard for me to cope. The hardest part was I kept everything bottled up. I was suffering already and I just didn't want the people around me to know, to be worried. My mind couldn't rest. I was thinking all the time, trying to figure out how to fix everything, how to make things work, how not to mess up. I would lie in bed 10pm and still be awake by 2am. In the morning when I woke, it was like I never slept.

When the painting was finally delivered to me, there was a rush of emotions. I felt so happy and relieved. I felt peace. I was so emotional I started crying in front of Sunshine's brother - it was embarrassing! Sunshine's painting was like an outlet. Although I didn't create it, seeing how beautiful it was unloaded me the emotional baggage I had at that time. Literally, the timing was also perfect. It was delivered on June 27, the day I held one of my biggest projects.

This painting will always remind me that out of struggles and sufferings can come out something beautiful and peaceful.

Thanks, Sunshine.

Irvin's Jingle Bells

With the "ber" months starting, my youngest son, Irvin, is so excited with Christmas already. Heard him singing a few days ago his own version of Jingle Bells.

Jingle bells
Jingle bells
Jingle all the bells

Just yesterday, he ask me, though, if Santa Claus is real. I told him that the answer is in his heart. If he wants Santa to be real, he will be.

He's only 8. I just feel it's too early for him to stop believing.

How NOT to talk to a Myna Bird

Picture was taken last Father's Day at Bag of Beans in Tagaytay.

Star Struck with Mark Meily

I had the privilege of working with Director Mark Meily for a tv commercial. He is so creative, intense, down-to-earth and so so funny.

I was so star struck I just had to have a picture with him. More! I had the storyboard autographed!



Of course, reverse side autographed by Lee Meily, the cinematographer of the tvc. Lee is also very pleasant and nice. Soft-spoken. Always saying "please" and "po" to all her instructions to the crew, and not forgetting to say "thank you" as things get done.


Given the opportunity, I'd work again with the Meilys (together with the whole Spark* team) without thinking twice. Thanks to Ideas Direct for bringing in Spark* to work on the project.

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