Saturday, June 16, 2012

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?

Friday, June 8, 2012

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.

Monday, June 4, 2012

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

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Lock & Lock Bento: Leftover Bento Madness

Entering my third trimester, with workload still as difficult as before I have to resort to food for some energy. I have been bringing bento to work than ever. They are not as pretty as the previous one, more on the practical side. I have encountered some bento safety issues lately and manages to find solution through google and other bloggers.

I have been using G's Lock&Lock because its available and most of my bento boxes are small (or so i think!).


Pink Salmon and Scrambled Egg Bento

This bento is a speedy bento. The Pink Salmon is a canned-store bought one which I nuked for few minutes while the egg is a easy-peasy scrambled egg. I added a tiny ripe tomato for my vegetable and a dash color on a blue penguin food pick.It goes well with my bento staple: rice. 




Tuna Soboro with ginger - ground pork with potatoes -cucumber - rice bento:

The tuna soboro is an experiment (found the recipe from justbento) and still quite tasty after being stocked in the refrigerator for two days. It's a little bit too tasty for my pregnant-affected taste buds though so I might adjust the seasoning next time. The ground pork is a sauted port with potato and a dinner leftover. The cute ms. monkey container (she used to be mrs. monkey but the hubs lost her partner, mr. monkey few years ago.sad ) have mayonnaise for my cucumber. It was a delicious lunch and I think its a hearty lunch. Too big actually for me and the little one in my belly.



What's in your lunch box? I have been reading a 9 year old blogger's account of her daily school  lunch lately and I wish we have lunch like that here in the office. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

24 Weeks and It's A She

I have been daydreaming lately. A beautiful girl that I can bond with. I can dress up, buy clothes and celebrate with. We are going to welcome a baby girl soon!

Life has been a bit of a struggle lately. We dismissed our househelp because she forgot that we are the one paying her salary,not the other way around. She wants to lay her own rule in our household. And I don't allow that. She has to go.

We are lucky to find a replacement. She is younger but better than the dismissed maid. I am happy to have her even if she sometimes spend lot of time watching television. The other day, my MIL helped her declutter our "catch-all" room. No photo though. I am not yet sold with the idea of baring our still cluttered room. And because they tidied up the room, I have to decide on my own clutter. My calculation is that I will still wear my maternity dress for awhile. Maybe at least on the 4th month of our baby before I lose all the added weight. But I have been thinking of looking for great shoes and outfit in preparation for my post-maternity activities. I have been eying this winter boots. Never mind that there is no winter here, but with lots of opportunity abroad I have this foresight that I will be needing it soon.

How about you? This is actually on sale and you will be saving lots of money. If I have the budget, I will probably buy this one.




Are you having a great week so far? I do.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Office Snacks

Our summer turned into a rainy season with all the rain showers lately. Although some find that annoying (especially those who are beach lovers), we welcome rain in our weekend. It made our days and nights cooler. Summer here in the PI meas intense heat that you will probably be dehydrated if you do not bring with you a water bottle to cool off.

As I get bigger (my belly), my food fatigue wore off. I can now eat the things that I used to love except coffee.
Okay, I have to admit that there are days that I sneak in some decaf but that's all.

This is the best snack for me at this time of deprivation:


krispy kreme (glazed) and brewed coffee 
 This snack cost me almost nothing. I have a great friend who would visit us at the house and brings us a dozen of this donuts and the coffee is a gift from friend.

local brewed coffee (or kapeng barako) and bibingka
This combo cost 50 pesos. You can buy it on the go or dine-in.

 As a precaution (I am freaking out on the what-nots of being pregnant, even when it comes to food), I have been bringing my own lunch in the office. I am still lazy.

I know that brewed coffee is off-limits for me. That's why this bibingka will do for now. I will pretend that my Anmum choco drink is as good as my home brewed coffee when it comes to taste.

bibingka from Bibingkinitan

What's in your snack bag?



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Another Easy Bento Rice-Based and Favorite Snacks

My energy is coming back! Being pregnant is not a walk in the park but you it is a great experience knowing that you have another life living inside you. One of my DH's colleague lost her baby last Saturday and we are saddened with the news. It reminds me of being extra careful for the next five months so that this kiddo inside my belly will grow stronger each day, safe and sound.

For the brighter issues, here is another bento that I have not posted yet. It was easy and tasty! Next time though I will be adding some vegetables and fruits for a more balance meal:

bacon, meatloaf and rice. 
I used my daiso-bought rice mold and small butterfly cutter + flower food picks and panda&tiger.

On breakfast, I missed my favorite "taho". It is a soya yogurt that is served with brown sugar and sago pearls.

yummy taho!
Our weekend is fun except for an incident with the househelp that leads us to the decision of finding a new one. Do you have any househelp issues?

Joining linky party:

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple
Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Easy Cooking: Chicken Adobo

Since we moved into our new place I have been trying to put some time on cooking. Our no-fail favorite is the Adobo. Its easy to cook, does not require lots of ingredients, and taste better even for leftovers. In fact, the left over ones are the best ones. .

I have tried different versions of adobo (filipino adobo): chicken adobo, pork adobo and chicken-pork adobo. My favorite is the chicken adobo.


Here's how:

You will need the following:

1/2 kg chicken pieces (my favorite are wings and thigh!)
10 cloves garlic ( you can add more if you want)
1 large onion
1/4 cup vinegar
3 bayleaf
1 tbsp crushed black peppercorn
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
4-5 medium-sized potatoes ( you can add more if you like)

In a pot, put the chicken pieces, crushed garlic, vinegar, black peppercorn, onion and bayleaf.

Simmer for 20 minutes without stirring.




Sauce will start to reduce and the chicken will start to render fat.

Turn chicken pieces over when sides are golden brown.

Add soy sauce and the potatoes.

Add water if sauce dries up before potatoes were cooked.

Serve hot.
yummy~

Here is one of my favorite desserts: Brazo de mercedes. Don't ask me why its called like that here but I think there are counterparts that I've seen around the net. I don't know what its called though.





Joining the party at:

HappyHourProjects
Whipperberry
Home is where my story begins
Raising  Oranges

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Fish Fillet and Hashbrown Bento

I am still here. Our wifi connection had some technical issues and I cannot upload any pictures, that is my excuse for not blogging. But really, pregnancy makes me not so eager to blog and even read blogs! But I am on my second trimester of pregnancy now (we were on 3 months and 2 weeks, so that means I am already on my 2nd trimester right?) so most of my former self is back. I have more energy to stay long in front of the computer.

There are so many photos that I haven't posted yet so expect more photos to come!

Here are my creativity on the move:

Fish Bento:

Lunch Bento: Fish Fillet, Banana and Rice (house-topped container has store-bought sweet&sour sauce for the fish)



Hashbrown Bento:  

Snack Bento: strawberry and peanut butter rolled sandwich on white bread, store-bought hashbrown. yellow container have some ketchup on them.



For the fish fillet recipe, you can find it here.

I did some bento-shopping and here's the new addition to my growing collection:

sweets food picks, small cutters
Food at the office cafeteria taste awful, so expect more bento and recipe posts soon.

I am joining the fun at:

Whipperberry's
Happy Hour Projects




Friday, January 20, 2012

First Trimester

Things became pretty busy in our household even before the Christmas season started. And we are busier than ever...or shall I say, I have been doing more couch-sitting than ever because we are pregnant!

I am on my 8th week now and the cravings and hating (i hate every food and smell that I used to love!) is at its worst.

And with the hate relationship with food, I avoided the kitchen as much as possible. I even stopped my daily browsing of AT (is it possible that I also hate anything interior related too??!)

Anyway, I have been eyeing some beautiful bags but too thrifty to buy anything. But sometimes you get to stumble on good deals too. I just wish the hubs reads this: SATCHELS. Affordable satchels. depending on size, price ranges from 700 to 800. Can anyone buy this for me?


And for some valentines day food ideas, here's one from family fun:

My mood swings are not helping much but I have been planning on making a new blog for the pregnancy and baby documentation. I hope to get working on it later this week. Although the first trimester is really hard, we are the happiest couple on earth. We are so blessed.

How about you? How's your 2012 so far?

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