Tita’s still relatively new abode is somewhere in the heart of the city so when we needed a place to stay at during a very busy week, we stayed there a couple of nights. Man, I like their house. It is an inspiration.

I love how close it is to so many eating places! That would be like heaven to me if I could live there permanently but could be so bad to my weight. I remember there’s a Ferino’s Bibingka there that I want to try. And a pancit malabon place I still have to try yet. Ahhh so many. Now I appreciate living in the city. It’s not so bad really.

Then I love some of their “stuff”. I love their really nice chandelier, their ceramic switch plate covers and the less than 10 minute drive to Quezon City hall. So close to malls and close to NLEX. Hmmmn in time, we’ll have our place piece of land in that area as well.

In the porch. It’s that hot right now in the Philippines. Whewww! It’s summer time here and I never liked summer time, except for when I was still in school because that meant no classes for me. I stayed indoors though. I’m so not the type who likes burning my skin under the sun. And no, it’s not because I don’t want to tan. (Most Asians like their skin fair, while I am contented with the color I have, so no whitening creams and lotions for me.)

Again, it’s so hot that I can only go out under the sun maximum of a minute. You can walk outside and feel your head and it gets so hot way too fast. And I’m pregnant so I feel even hotter than most non-pregnant people.

So even if I didn’t want to buy an air conditioner because electricity cost here in the Philippines is insane, Mommy and I went ahead and bought one. It’s going to be delivered and installed this weekend. I have no choice! I can’t sleep anymore as I’m sweating like a pig and I get headaches all day long, even if I am home all the time. A pregnant lady needs her good night (and afternoon) sleep you know.

We are blessed to be living in a house with a high ceiling that lets the air circulate, so I can’t imagine those families who live in a house with low ceiling s and specially those who doesn’t have ceilings at all. Well what can I say, we have to survive.

So these past days have been about researching with air conditioner (AC) brand is good, is efficient and will not give me a headache. I’ve been looking at inverter AC’s so we won’t get a heart attack upon receiving the electricity bill. So it’s been about brands, horse powers compressors, wattage that I’ve been reading about way to much. (which reminds me I have to buy compression springs asap!) We bough a 1 HP inverter wall mounted split type AC.  Just a helpful tip, it’s alright to listen to the sales person but you also have to do your own reading. Remember, they are there to sell, so they’ll tell you whatever it is you want to hear.

So I hope I don’t regret this purchase, that’s the reason I do so much reading and research, I don’t want to regret any purchase I make. I feel like it’s burning money and I’d hate seeing the thing for weeks. So yeah, I hope I made a great choice.

I’ve been wanting to buy this really cute and yet I know is going to be very useful to me kitchen gadget, a Cuisinart Mini Food processor. I always need a whole lot chopped garlic and onions and even tomatoes. I found one specific model which is just right for this purpose and it’s small enough that I can use it everyday and I can store it close to the sandwich maker. And another good thing? It’s only worth USD39!

But then I live in the Philippines. And I had very bad experiences with Johnny Air so no I will not give them another business ever again and I would hate to give myself unnecessary stress. I always checked the truck tracking and it’s been on time. So I know that it is in this company where the problem lies.

Hmmmn what to do?

Once upon a time I got somewhat addicted/obsessed to some kind of Halo-Halo.  (Well I just realized, I’m always addicted to something, obsessed with something.) So yes, macapuno.

See I always want to make things myself, this is usually with food, to make them better than if I just buy them. (I want to learn how to sew now.) But I also get lazy hehe. So What I do is I compromise with myself. Like in this case, instead of having an all star cast of Halo-Halo The Movie with sweetened munggo, beans, bananas, jackfruit (langka) and gulaman and tapioca pearls (gelatin and sago), I just pick my some from my favorites or whatever is available in the market. So sometimes my halo-halo will just consist of sweetened saba (plantain) bananas and sweetened macapuno. It taste as good. For me, together with the effort (effort counts like 60% of everything) nothing beats homemade.

So buying macapuno is a hit and miss as you won’t know the quality of it until it’s cracked open but somehow the vendors know which is good and not. So I just want to share this photo. These gorgeous gooey macapuno. This should act as basis for future macapuno purchases. It shouldn’t look like simple coconut. It flesh should be thick and gooey, water thick as well. Hmmmn… temptation temptation!!!!

I didn’t know that as simple as a new pair of jeans could me happy. I’ve been spending these past years for my kitchen gadgets and appliances that I’ve been neglecting my clothes. I’ve been using my old jeans for years and it has given up on me. There was a big sale in SM the last 3 days so I begged Mommy to go with me to buy a new pair of jeans and wow it felt so good. By the way for some reason, the trolley there was so hard to push! It will help if it has some kind of utv power steering hehe.. Honestly, our car is easier to drive than that thing! The new pair of jeans makes me feel like I’m sexier and now I made a mental note to buy at least a pair a year. This is a case of being so frugal it did hurt me!

I’ve been eyeing this mount for a long time now. But I just can’t go on and order this in Amazon even though this is pretty cheap. Why? Because I need to have this shipped from US to here and I hate Johnny Air!!!  And until now they still haven’t tried to contact me about my missing package. I hate them so much.

Photo: Amazon.com

I need to find some other way as I really want this. I’ve always wanted to video myself driving. I will have to check if this or a similar product is available locally. But then I want this one as the reviews sound so good! I’ve seen the video that comes along with a review in Amazon and that got me sold.

Help! Is anyone going to US soon? Can you please bring this home with you? Please?

My love for cooking and baking started early. I don’t really remember how young I was but I remember to being so interested to peel potatoes and cut them in perfect squares. Then I would find a chair and watch my mom and my nanay saute garlic and onions. I would be in awe with every graceful movement of their sandok (ladle). I would then ask them what to do next. Then I started cooking Maggie noodles and fry fish balls and fries. My kitchen experiments came a bit later. When I’m alone in the house and I saw something interesting in the television, I’d try to do them myself.

Crunchy and yet chewy. Just like how I prefer my cookies.

Baking was more of a challenge for me. Why? Because we didn’t have an oven then. Also, baking equipments and tools are much more expensive. I remember always getting frustrated when I wanted to bake a cake but we don’t have an oven. Now that we have the basic things needed, I can now bake to my heart’s delight. (I try to neglect the electric bill though, the guilt it gives me.) That is if I’m at home in Philippines. In Singapore, we don’t have an oven. So when I need to have my dose of baking and kneading of dough, I just make chapati.

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Photo: theonlinecitizen.com

My nose is working crazy. Every time I go out, I get dizzy with the things I smell. Like in MRT, say my nose has already gotten used to the distinct MRT smell (mix of sweat, body odour and other things I do not want to know) and I could keep a poker face all these years. But that changed recently. I get dizzy with the smell. I’d rather smell ashton cigars (I don’t smoke and I don’t appreciate second hand smoke either) than be stuck in the MRT for 10-15 minutes and keep a straight face. I just can’t. So if I’m not in a hurry, I just take the bus.

Yesterday I was doing shopping in SM and I can’t stand the smell of meats. What’s up!

Yesterday, after my successful attempt at making homemade taho or soya beancurd or tau huay (which I still have to make a post about), it gave me much more courage and inspiration to try to make another experiment. It’s siopao asado or if I can, I want to try char siew pao. I brought home Hong Kong flour as I want my siopaos to be very white.

I never want to leave the comfort of our house to go out and conquer the sizzling heat of the summer sun but I had to buy my ingredients so I waited until late in the afternoon to go to SM. I haven’t been to SM in a while so it shocked me to see the long lines/queues at that day and time it’s like there’s a give away sale for Ipod Shuffle for Php1. I forgot it’s Holy Week and the store is gonna close by Wednesday. Oooh that’s why.

Also, the aisles are so packed, turns out they’re renovating. It’s about time as this mall is the oldest one in this area, so outdated. So after I got everything I needed I headed home but not before buying Shakey’s pizza. I wasn’t able to stop myself as I’ve been craving for pizza the past weeks. Not happy with it though, the crust is too thin. Next time, either I try their hand tossed crust or I’ll settle for Greenwich. I should satisfy this crazy pizza craving while I’m here as it’s cheaper here, it’s expensive somewhere else!

A stainless steel measuring cup, an egg ring/sunny side up egg mold/cookie cutter, a pineapple peeler and a handy size rolling pin just perfect for rolling out Indian chapati or Mexican flour tortillas (which is a favorite of mine these days) are the small cutie things I have found in my happy place (where you’ll find great quality vintage hardware pieces) in addition to the Japanese Rice cooker which is our favorite, the personal Sukiyaki Hot Pot Nabe Set and of course my Takoyaki pan which I has used a lot of times already, also used for my experiments with Aebleskivers.

You just have to have an eye when going in these stores. My current favorite thing that I’ve been using frequently that I bought from there is my small rolling pin. I found it under a pile of what looked like junk. It looked dirty but I know I could clean it. Even I was amazed how much it “sparkled” after I cleaned it. It was just dirty when I bought it but it’s steal at it’s top most shape. Bought it for Php10! I love these kind of stores. Heaven sent for someone like me. I wouldn’t buy spoons by the way.