Lip Balm, Strawberries and Laughing Cow

I promised myself at least a monthly update on this blog but with so much work waiting everyday at the office and the new baby keeping us on our toes, blogging is still on the backseat. But just to keep myself on the move, here are the inprocess in our home:

1. I realized that transferring lot ownership here in the Philippines is expensive and requires a lot of waiting. Red tape is always present in our government offices here. Even if we pay thousand of pesos, we still get our time wasted because a simple signature of who-ever-the head of their department can't make it on the deadline (even if we waited two days or more, they are not able to give us the receipt that we need.) I hope someone from the Bureau of Internal Revenues get to read this. Hello, your Red Tape in the office cost us our 1000/day salary!

2. It is still summer here. An officemate gave us strawberries from Bagiuo and ube halaya:

 3. I am still preparing bento for G. But I have been skipping the photo sessions because I am too tired to take them. Preparing bento, although I am faster now and less panicky still requires time in the morning. Here is our new bento hero: The Laughing Cow. It saved me from the picky palate lately because according to G, "it is not salty nor sweet. Just creamy and cheesy".

 4. I have few addictions: blog hopping , bento, lip care like lipbalm, lipgloss, and the likes and movie marathons

5. I am now finding time to read my ebooks using my tab. But I was disappointed with the 50 Shades of Grey. I have issues with the grammar and the trying-hard to be romantic dialogues. I did not get past the 4th Chapter. To each his own I guess. Not just my type. I am still looking for new books to read. I think its time to reread Ender's Game. It was a nice sci-fi book.

2013: A New Leaf

Hello, Readers.

Hello, 2013.

I hope this post is not too late. Even if it's been weeks past the New Year, there are still adjustments going on in our small abode.

I am glad to be back.

One of my resolutions is to be able to post more.

But with a new baby girl that demands so much of my time, (and the lack of househelp), I am targeting  posting of blogs at least twice a month.

Here are the new things in our life for the new year (it's actually more of continuation of what we have started last year):

1. We are going more green.

- I breastfeed.
- We use cloth diapers
- We line dry our laundry ~ bought something similar to this from a local hardware for P800. It has a slot for shoes on the two feet:

source

2. Organizing our small place

- "created" a dedicated pantry in one of the cupboards
- purged my size small clothes. (I can't let go yet, though I gave away few during the Christmas season but we are going there. I already hid two shelves of clothes in boxes)

source

- G's room is clean and slightly decluttered but I am still hoping to make it more kid friendly.

I miss writing here and on my other blogs. The husband gave me last Christmas a tablet but instead of blogging, I end up reading ebooks which is good.

Pictures will be posted soon. Keep updated.

Thrifting and Bento Stuff

I have been bento-crazed lately (even if I can't go to any bento store to buy supplies) so here is another bento post for you. Bringing lunch to work has been saving me a lot of money and I have been learning a lot. I have learned that:

•   my rice will be edible even after few hours in my lunchbox if I sprinkle some salt before putting in the hot rice
• a peeled and sliced apple will not turn brown if you dip it into a salty water (not too salty though) and the apple will not be salty. 
• a bento box or lunch box athough looking small can be deceiving. I was surprised when I started reading more about bento that the boxes have different capacity. I know, it is no brainer but I though just being visual will enable you to know how much you eat. My ever loyal (G's lunch box, actually) lock*lock is surprisingly 800ml! if you are on a diet, you should watch your lunch box capacity because you tend to packed them full to avoid juggling the food around.
• Sandwiches in bento are prepared/stashed like below for some reason, not just on space reason: your bread will not be soggy.

photo source: kitchen cow

•  food that should be served hot, should be maintained in that temperature. Same rule applies to cold foods like sandwiches, yogurt, etc.

Going back to thrifting, I  am happy to show you my latest purchase:

mini cooler brick! they are on sale. 2 pcs for half a dollar.

Lock & Lock insulated bag for half the price: P225.00 

Not bad for two dollars! 

What did you buy lately?

Japanese Curry In Few Minutes

This is not my first time to cook Japanese Curry. I have been a fan of this curry since I found the recipe at my favorite local bento blogger, kaoko . And I am such a bad blogger that I forgot to take a photo of my cooked pork curry. But I did not forgot the ingredients:

The star of the post. What you see in the box is how the cooked curry will look.

S&B Golden Curry No.3

You will need at least a half kilo of pork (not pictured), potatoes, carrots and onion. I used three potatoes although the recipe calls for one potato only, one carrots and one small onion. Diced the three ingredients.
Saute the onion and add the pork until brown. Add the potatoes and carrots and six cups of water. Make sure that everything is covered by the liquid. Let simmer until pork and vegetables are cooked.

potatoes, carrots and onion

 Add one pack of curry. You can dissolve the curry first by adding some liquid from the pot in a bowl and mixing the curry to avoid undissolved curry. Simmer until it thickens.

another photo of potatoes, carrots and onion together with one pack of S&B golden curry

Serve with rice or put in a bento box with rice and fruit (i prefer banana) and you are on your way.

DIY Obsessions

With our homeownership still on hold (we are paying for the lot first, plus we are considering the expenses of having a new baby) it still did not stop me from looking for DIYs and other interior designs that comes up in the web. Below is another inspiration that I want in our house someday (for G's plan, someday is two years from now):

I love it! White subway tiles, window on sink, closed cupboard (we are currently living in a state of clutter visible to everyone with our mixed open/close cupboard system), a pantry on the side and stainless steel counter! Husband and I have been talking about considering stainless steel (or SS) counters that are sold to restaurants (we always passes by a shop that sells/displays ready to install SS counters) because we believe that hygiene-wise, they are the best option. You have to believe me about the hygiene part because the hubs works in a food company and I worked for one before too!

Above is their less-empty photo. By the way, the owner of this photo did their kitchen DIY. I am not sure if we can do that (labor is less expensive than buying our own materials and equipment to do DIY) but you might be interested to know how they did it on their own.

Are you DIY'ng something lately? Have a great week. I am still resting because I am still coughing badly. I will probably be going back to work tomorrow once I feel a whole lot better.

photo credits: The Home Project