I won! I won! again

We bought a new LCD computer monitor after our old crt conked out and I saw an ad in the paper that if you register your purchase online, you can win samsung products. I was praying to win a 32" LCD tv...I got a call one day informing me I won a printer! Wow! Cool, i thought...so I got it at Greenhills last week and it was a monochrome laser printer.

So...does anyone want to buy a brand new black ink only printer? :)

bye wowa!

wowa left to go back to the states this morning! bye! we'll miss you! we're luck she was here to attend dana's debut and nico's first communion.

Chrismas memories

it's that time of the year again but due to lots of busy times at home and at work, I haven't bought any gifts yet! I ususally buy stuff for my godchildren early october. but my wowa's arrival, editing dana's debut and covering nico's 1st communion has got me swamped! not that i'm complaining...

but i do wish i could get some really good gifts for my inaanaks this year. problem is, i don't know what's the hot gift for kids nowadays...i'm probably the worst gift-giver in their eyes coz i always give cutely-illustrated filipino storybooks. ugh! they'd probabaly cry: it's like getting homework for christmas!!!

i was shopping for a gift for my cousin nico at SM last week and my head hurt just looking at all the stuff on sale at such exorbitant prices! i felt sorry ,too coz i looked at the new transformers toys and they were made of cheap-looking plastic and priced at almost a thousand pesos! poor kids. my 1st transformer was red alert and he looked awesome!

i remember counting the days before christmas break and spending all day watching christmas cartoon specials on TV. when i'd go to my dad's office, i'd look inside his metal file cabinet and touch the he-man "dragon walker" toy he had hidden for my christmas gift. hehehe! i don't know if i remembered to act surprised when i finally got it on christmas morning.

all these memories came flooding back when i saw some GI joe toys on display! My cousins and i knew we couldn't possibly collect all of them so we just updated each other on what we had so we wouldn't be buying duplicates. i almost squealed when i saw my old toys "duke", "flint", "barbecue", "scarlet", "snake eyes"!!! most of them got destroyed while playing slide down the clothesline...and these new editions were P349 each! man, i would buy mine at cartimar for only P89! and i still think they look better than these new ones. but i really almost bought them to give to some of my inaanaks hoping they wouldn't like them so that i could have them all to myself! bwahahaha!!! god, i really should grow up!

all saints' day

We don't typically celebrate Halloween here, though we used to rush home every Saturday to watch the spooky special on Magandang Gabi Bayan, where now Vice president Noil de Castro would showcase scary stories and places they covered with matching godawful special effects supposed to scare but turn out really funny, instead.

Every year on the 1st of November, Filipino families troop to the cemetery to visit their departed loved ones. As with all family gatherings in our country, this becomes a fiesta. There's food and drinks and stories are shared not about the dead but about each other. Fortunately, loud music has been banned so there is still some solemnity mixed with bouts of laughter. my nephew Sherwin hams it up for the camera.

When we were kids, we would play with the candle drippings and form all sorts of toys with it. I resisted the urge to make a rose like I used to make and just watched the kids make a ball of candle wax and had to smile at the sense of wonder and the pride they got from watching their ball of wax grow larger. If my aunt Diche /Fernanda were still alive she would tell us playing with candles will make you wet your bed! :) I forgot to tell Bien that his dad used to gather the wax and sell them for a small sum to people who would turn them into candles again. Since they paid so little, some kids would cheat by covering a heavy stone with wax to get more cash. Don't know if the buyers were ever fooled, though.

turbo boost chicken

nah, it's really turbo -brolied chicken, made by my lola.

first, marinate the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic overnight.

then, mix 1 can of mushroom soup with 1 can of sliced mushrooms. stuff chicken with the mixture and sew the chicken butt shut so the mixture won't spill out.

place the chicken in the turbo broiler or oven. grease sides with butter.zap for 25 minutes at 400(?) degrees celsius. turn over and cook till it is evenly brown.

serve. i tried this last new year but i thought i needed special cooking thread to close the chicken butt, so i used tootpicks instead. not recommended. the mixture oozed out.

How I cook caldereta

Pa casually mentioned that he set aside some beef if I wanted to make caldereta, which I took to mean "cook some caldereta"

So I drizzled the beef with some salt, pepper, garlic and about half a cup of vinegar before reaching for our dog-eared and stained copy of "Filipino cooking here and abroad". Hmmmm, this recipe is probably from the original Spanish version which called for stuffed olives and boiled eggs so I overruled that .

The book said the beef had to marinate for at least an hour or 2 so I went window-shopping at the appliance center, video shop and bookstore before I headed for SM supermarket to buy:

2 carrots

2 small bags of baby potatoes

1 big green bell pepper

500g pack of tomato sauce

1 can of liver spread

a bag of popcorn (for snacking, not for the recipe)

When I got home, the beef had turned pale from the vinegar. I then browned the beef in olive oil before I added some sauted onions and tomato sauce, water, potatos, bay leaf and carrots. I then plopped in front of the TV to watch Project Runway Phils., where my friend Apples is a judge. I would stir the pot occasionally during commercial breaks.

After the hour-long show was over, the beef was still tough so I put on a DVD of Family Guy and snacked on my popcorn.

2 hilarious episode later, I stirred in the liver spread, bell pepper and some leftover packets of pizza hot sauce. After the 3rd episode, the beef had become deliciously tender so I turned off the heat and closed the lid to let the flavors blend into each other.

The carrots and potatoes are part of the Pinoy version, which not only add color to the dish, it makes it healthier, too. Caldereta is really easy to make just as long as you have the ingredients and a little patience.

new shirt paintings

New stuff I did over the past 2 weeks

Another monk painting for my uncle. He wanted my original one but it was a size medium and he's not. This is XL, the only other size my mom bought. I have learned that I hate repeating myself that's why I made slight changes like the beard, the different colored frapuccino...

This is called "Maingay ba ?" If you look closely,you can still see parts of the original sketch.

This is inspired by one of Malang's cartoons. I call this "kusinera" especially made for my mom's birthday.

This is the cake we bought for her, Red Ribbon's Dulce de leche.And this is my sister absolutely loving her new magicsing.

videos and photos from dana's debut

as promised, here are some more pix from dana's debut

and...some newly uploaded videos as well!

this is jon playing the guitar for dana

dana's debut

pics from dana's videos. sorry, konti lang. i took mostly videos which i will upload soon.floating lanterns made by father and daughter punong-abala dad mingling with all the guests

the debutante

the family after dinner.

lunch at silangang nayon

dalagang bukid

bonding time: nico and kuya kristov

T shirt art!

I love having 2 days off from work. Even if it's not a regular weekend, it gives me a chance to rediscover my hobbies like editing and burning DVDs and now, fabric painting! I used to do lots of these in high school and college but work got in the way.
I've had this in my head for years but it's just now that I finally got around to it. My mom bought these shirts years ago! I call the painting above "Dalagang nagte-text." I used acrylic and fabric paint to sign it. My canvas is an XL cotton black shirt.

This is the first of my "I luv eat" series. This is "halo-halo-special ." Acrylic and fabric paint on Medium electric blue shirt.And this is "Mahilig si padre sa Starbucks White tsokolate-e"My sister says I could make a killing if I sold these at her school. But if I handpainted lots of these, my arm would fall off.

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UPDATE: i have placed more shirt paintings on my multiply site

Binibining Twinkle

Twinx in traditonal Filipino garb for their school's Buwan ng wika celebration

Food finds at Glorietta 4 foodcourt

Went to watch Wall E at Glorietta 4 last Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised to find a small Dulcelin stall near Gourdo's where they sell their mango torte and other sweets and unlike Cuervo, they sell a smaller serving of their torte for people who want that sweet fix but can't shell out P700+. Dulcelin offers a big frozen cup for P80.



But I must admit that I much prefer Cuervo's mango torte. I find Dulcelin's version too sweet , with a peanut brittle-like nougatine base which also had something like coconut milk mixed in. A nine inch version is "always available " for P580 but I'm more interested in their strawberry cake which is a bit pricey (6" cake for P550, 10", P950) but I'm told is delectable but advance notice is required. Call 374 2165 or mobile number 0917 535 2592. or email them at dulcelingourmet@msn.com



I also saw a sign that said that Savory,(sometimes mispronounced here as "sah-boree") the old chicken restaurant will soon have a stall in the foodcourt! I'm excited! They serve delicious fried chicken and a flavorful pancit canton that makes my mouth water just writing about it. Hope to see you soon!