Books Galore!

I started reading pocketbooks at a late age: 11.  I started with Enid Blyton's books which were all about brownies, pixies, talking dolls and toys, giants, witches, enchanted forests and chairs, and many more. 

I got influenced into reading the more serious novels in my college years at the same time that my Papa was influenced by my Ninang Mamater to read pocketbooks.  Imagine, my Papa would finish a book in one or two days and being the type who likes to collect things, he would buy at least three pocket books in a day.  

Hmm... maybe this is one trait I got from him: the desire to collect and collect things (thus causing them to pile up and be delicious food for the anays!)

So, here's a part of our collection of books:   (I mean part, because this was taken last year, and I don't know how many books have been added to our collection.)

A lot of Stuart Woods here!

This is from my room in my parents' home:

Oops, there's another bookshelf on the side.
I forgot to take a pic of it

The library in my parents' home:

It's so hard to fit inside here

I still haven't included the books in the JaDon house and the books in the LaDon house and the books in the Graben house (about a shelf each).

The JaDon House contains the Harry Potter collection, Willilam Bernhardt Collection, a part of Stuart Woods, PD James, CS Lewis and Stephanie Meyers.

The LaDon House contains the Vince Flynn collection, Lee Child Collection, the Mario Puzo Collection and the Law Books and Reviewers.

The Graben House contains the Steve Martin Collection, Nora Roberts, Judith McNaught, Sidney Sheldon, JRR Tolkien Collection, and Ann Rice Collection.

My siblings and I consider all our books as common property, since we dig almost the same authors. 

Now that we have kids of our own, we noticed that they are into books as well, which is a really nice thing! My nephew already has a collection of avatars comics. My little kid has a collection of story books now. 

Some: Take note: SOME Story books and toys:

They aren't arranged since the boys keep on getting
books for their consumption. 

Ahhh, reading is such as bliss!

My kid on the left, nephew on the right, with his mom-
all engrossed in their books in a coffee shop

Banat ni Little Einstein

Little Einstein made banat again!

Photo credit: www.apple.com

On our way from school last Tuesday, while on a taxicab, the little Einstein bombarded me with a lot of questions.  The following are the last few questions before we arrived at Mall of Asia:

1. Sino po ang nag-o-on ng ilaw sa roads?

So I explained about how the lamps have sensors in them which automatically turn on and off depending on the available light.

2. Paano po pag nasira ang bridge, paano po madadaanan yun?

So I told him, if a bridge needs to be repaired, then vehicles would definitely not be allowed to pass by it until the bridge is stable.

At eto ang winner...

3. Mom, saan po galing ang kulangot?

OMG!

Instead of laughing, I had to explain about the cillia, the mucous and how dirt is trapped inside the nose until they form into a solid mass and how the snot traps the dirt and prevent it from getting inside one's lungs.

Hay, nosebleed.  But see, no matter how innocent his questions are, I am now forced to read on a lot of things, lest my little boy ask more "why's" of the world.

I want to make sure I am able to answer his questions as truthfully and as intelligently as I can, even if oftentimes, I want to roll on the floor, laughing, at how wild his questions are.

While doing my Google review/research, I chanced upon this site which I think would help mommies and daddies explain things to their kids: http://kidshealth.org... The questions are interesting and the answers are easy to understand.

Yep, and the snot/booger thingie is explained there too... 

Haipad by Lazada: Review

Last week, I made an online purchase at Lazada .  I've been eyeing a particular tablet since December because it was on sale, but by the time I got around to ordering it (meaning, may pambayad na ako), there are no more stocks available.

So last Thursday, I finally had the courage/money to purchase a tablet (for my Mamsie) online.

From www.lazada.com.ph

The purchase was COD- Cash on Delivery and I addressed it at home, outside Metro Manila.  What's nice is that the next day, around 10 am, it arrived at our doorstep already! HA! Super fast! And I thought it would take 2-5 for a provincial order to reach the recipient.  I was really impressed.

Now, here are my small views on this gadget:

Price: Php 3,489.00  (37% off)
Actual Price; Php 5,499.00
Delivery Charge: Free! (yey!!!)

Inclusions:

Charger
USB adaptor
Synthetic Leather Case

Smiley points: 
1. Love the free Leather case (It's usually 250-300 in the tiangges).
2. It's easy to use.
3. It's cheap.
4. The casing is color violet!
5. It's an Android 4.0 Ice cream sandwich, 8G Internal.
6. It has a slot for Micro SD.
7. It has two cameras (2MP back camera, VGA front camera).
8. It has Wi-fi capability and bluetooth.

7-inch touch screen

Compared the size with an Alcatel tablet.
The Haipad is the one on top.

The leather case has an embossed "android"
on the lower right portion :)

Sad face points:
1. The screen has a lag in responding to the touch.
2. There's no earphone included.
3. Battery life, if one uses the applications lasts for about 2 hours only; 10 hours if idle.
4. There's no manual.
5. The gadget hangs sometimes (am I too much for its memory?).
6. There's no light indicating that the gadget is being charged.
7. It often hangs.
8. You can't play Castle Defense on it. Your castle will be taken over by orcs because the screen doesn't respond easily.
9. It has no NTC sticker :( (bummer)

Oh well, for almost P3,500.00 this gadget is good for me, except for the occasional lag time.   I am even thinking of buying another unit while Lazada is still offering it at 37% off.

I'm giving this 3 stars.  

We have a new Pope!

The Roman Catholic Church is celebrating! We have a new Pope!

His name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio and he is from Argentina in Latin America. 

He is 76 years old and he chose to use the name Pope Francis.  Pope Francis is the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

For the first time, it is the Pope who asked the people to bless him.  

This photo by Peter Macdiarmid was taken from
Yahoo! News

His leadership is expected to address the challenges that the Catholic Church is facing ahead: the dwindling number of churchgoers, homosexuality and gay marriages, leaks from the Vatican, ordination of women as priests, abortion, sexual abuses and more.

Let us all pray for him and our Church. 

Take your grilling FLAVOR to the next level!

For more details: Please visit this page.

I love grilled foods. One wedding anniversary a few years ago, my hubby and I opted to stay at home and cook for each other instead.  

In connection with grilling,  thought it would be nice to share with you a nice grilling activity courtesy of McCormick on April 7, 2013.  But before I continue with that, I'll share my favorite grilled recipe first.  It's a dish that I make for my family every time there's a get-together ever since that first try a few years ago.

Now, going back a few years ago during our anniversary, I told hubby that I would like to try shrimp kebabs and I came up with a very simple recipe.  My hubby absolutely loved it! Of course, appearance-wise, it doesn't look as yummy as those in restaurants, but since it was cooked/grilled with love, it tasted much better than those!

This was a picture of  my yummy Shrimp Kebabs
the first time I came up with the recipe.
This was taken on our anniversary!

Ingredients:

1 kilo of shrimps (or prawns), shelled, deveined

1 big yellow bell pepper

1 big green pepper

1/2 kilo onions (red variety, small ones)

1/2 tsp. McCormick dried rosemary

1/2 tsp. McCormick dried thyme

1/2 tsp. McCormick dried oregano

2 tbsp of  fresh lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

BBQ sticks

1. Wash and strain the deveined shrimps. 

2. Place the following in a medium-sized bowl: all the herbs, lemon juice, shrimps.  Add a little salt and pepper to taste (about 1/4 tsp each).

3. Marinade for about 30-40 minutes.

4. While marinading, prepare the griller. Dice the bell peppers into approximately 1"x2" squares.  Cut the onions into four. 

5. Skewer into a stick a piece of yellow bell pepper, shrimp, green bell pepper, shrimp and onion (or however way you like your kebab to look)  

6.  Grill for about 10 minutes or until the shrimps and the veggies turn a little brown.

Note:
If you do not like rosemary, thyme and oregano, you can replace it all with 1 tsp. McCormick Cajun.  A teaspoon really goes a long, long way!

Side note: I have been looking Cajun seasoning for the longest time, and I only got to have it when last Christmas, my friend Eve, gave me a tiny pack of it (which I'm so thankful for!).  Good thing, I discovered McCormick's Grill Line, which includes Cajun.  

I love McCormick and I have been using it ever since I learned how to cook about ten years ago. Yes, I'm a late bloomer!  

Did you know, I won a McCormick spice rack many, many years ago (when I could still only barely cook) and all my friends have attempted to ask me to give it to them instead.  I've turned down all of them since it's one of my prized possessions and I make sure to replenish all my spices when they're running very low.

Anyway, McCormick will hold an event on April 7, 2013 which highlights their Grill Mates line.  It will be called McCormick Grill Nation and it will feature McCormick's different seasoning mixes through serving grilled meats.  Again, this will be held on April 7, 2013 at Bonifacio High Street, Lane O cor. 9^th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The event starts at 4pm.

Here's part of the announcement of McCormick: 

"The event will have a cover charge of Php 100 but with that, a lot of freebies will be given away! 

(The event is open to the public, however, food samples will be given to participants 

who purchase 5 packs of McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning Mix – you get these with the P100 already!)"

Nice!!!!!! So please, do come and let's have fun grilling!

Oh by the way, each pack of McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning Mixes (Pepper Steak, Hickory Smoked, Cajun, Steak a la Pobre, and Korean BBQ) gives you a wonderful blend of authentic McCormick herbs and spices!) Hmmmm... Yummylicious!!!!

Next time, I want to try McCormick's Hickory Smoked Seasoning Mix. I bet it's as good as the other McCormick Flavorings that I've tried. 

Add caption

Enjoy steaks the way Americans do with McCormick Hickory Smoked Seasoning Mix.  It gives that sweet, hickory-smoked, hot-off-the-grill flavor to beef, pork or chicken.

Now I'm feeling hungry...

Bookmark with Love

My little boy is starting to love arts and crafts.  He saw a bookmark made by his "kuya's" teacher and he asked him to teach him how to make one.  

I like arts and crafts, but I am not into origami.  I don't even know how to make a paper boat.  But this little guy can make a paper boat already!

The little boy adding some finishing touches

So after many efforts of "pangungulit", the little boy finally made a bookmark. And what's sweet is that he made it for me daw because I love reading books! Awww!! ang sarap maging nanny, nanay pala. So, please don't ask me how it was done.  All I know is that there was a lot of folding that went on (and I heard he asked for a teeny weeny help from Momi G.). Shhhh...secret lang...

My boy and his masterpiece!

There, you insert the page/s that you want to mark.

Slip on/Slip off bookies

This is really nice since bookmarks easily fall off, so the page you are marking can be easily lost. Since this is a slip on, not only will the marked page be safe, but it's easy to find since you easily slip it off.  You can even mark an entire chapter if you want since it would fit inside the bookmark.

My favorite bookmark of my favorite book

See, I don't like it when people who borrow my books don't use bookmarks, but instead fold the edges of the page to mark it.  Grrrr...nakakainis yun, parang nava-violate yung book ko!

The bookmark with a smiley face!
Gawa ng baby ko 'yan!

Kaya, to my little boy, thank you my baby love... I really appreciate the hard work you put into this.  And you might not be able to read this yet, but when you're good at reading na, and much bigger, I'll let you see my blog.

Questions from Little Einstein

The little genius is asking a lot of profound questions

My kid is now at this stage where he asks a lot of difficult questions.  I search all my brain cells for the correct answer since I believe that an adult must answer a kid's questions to the best of his/her knowledge.

Last night, before going to sleep, my kid bombarded me with the following questions:

"Mommy, 'pag lahat tayo dead na, sinong mag-aalaga sa dogs natin?"

Gosh!!! 

I told him that if we all die, our dogs will all be coming with us to heaven since God would not allow our pets to be left behind to fend for themselves.  

Here's another.  

"Mommy, 'san ba galing si Lord?"

Whew!  

So I said, in the beginning there was Word, and the Word was God. God is Lord. (And made an elaborate explanation of the Creation.)

And his final question before we slept: 

"Pag nasa heaven na tayo, kakain pa rin ba tayo?"

I said, maybe we don't need to eat when we're in heaven already because we won't feel hungry anymore when we're there. 

He gladly took my explanation.

Photo credit:  depositphotos.com

Do kids really have to ask those profound questions?  And do we really need them?

Kids will always be kids and they will always want answers to all the things that mystify them.  And as adults, we should do our best to educate them. It's not good to lie about things because they may just be kids, but they are smart and they sure know when they are being lied to.  

So my policy for my kid? I will answer all his questions as truthfully and as honestly as I can.

Sossy Kami: Lagi Kaming Kumakain sa Labas

That's my Mamsie and Pamsie

I am very lucky to have the best family ever!!!  We may have our ups and downs, but still, I know they will always be there for me.  That's why, now that I have my own family now, I try to instill in my kid all the values I've learned from my family (Parents and siblings included).  And one of the most important things in a family is to always remember that love.

We don't fit inside the kitchen anymore
so we eat in the garden or in the garage instead

Every weekend, ever since we siblings moved out to our own houses, we make it a point to gather and at least have lunch together.  Lagi kaming kumakain sa labas... ng bahay!!!

Kainan na!!!

Food Attack!

Now that we (my sister and brother) have children of our own, we make sure to remind our kids the value of family and spending every possible moment with each other.

Ito ang simpleng buhay... Ang saya!

Women of Confidence... Food to Boost One's Confidence

Don't ask me what the ingredients in there were.
Basta ibang klase, parang liverspread na hindi liver.

Yesterday, I made a post about Tupperware's 10 Women of Confidence which my sister was blessed to have become part of.

Posing artista

My sister told me na "feeling artista siya" when they had the photoshoot for the feature on them at Celebrity Living Magazine.  Pinasuot daw siya ng damit at sapatos "libo" and halaga.  Alam niya, kasi may tag price pa!!!

Naloka daw siya sa tagal ng photoshoot- super daming poses at shots... only to find out that the magazine contained only one picture of each of them. Ha! Ha! Ha!!!!

During their video shoot, she was made to wear a different set of clothes plus shoesesss! Mamahalin uli, kasi may tag price din.  (If you were wondering, hindi pinauwi sa kanila ang kanilang mga costume!!!)

I also mentioned in my post that the awarding ceremonies was held at Sweet Bella Cafe in Glorietta. This one's a nice cafe talaga!!!  I couldn't help but take pictures of all the food that we had.  Busog na busog ang mata ko, bundat pa ako!  (sorry naman, Pinay ako, aminado akong mahilig akong magpichur ng food)

Sosyal na canapes. Di ko kinaya ang lasa. Di ko naintindihan.

Canape!

Mini veggie burgers

Ang palaman:  olives, tomato and grilled eggplant

Eto ang gusto ko: Shrimp Scampi. 

Jologs moment: We were initially served the canapes and the mini burgers. (Yun ba yung tinatawag na hors d'oeuvres?).  Next was the shrimp scampi.  Since there was four of us in the table, we were hesitant to eat the shrimp (Pare-pareho naming di naintindihan ang lasa ng mga hinain sa amin).  Tapos, being typical Filipinos, nagkahiyaan kami sa isang piraso.  A few moments later, the waiter came and took the scampi with the lone shrimp survivor.  Napanganga ako. Sayang, yun lang ang kilala kong food eh. Hay!!!

Couldn't help but rearrange the food so that they'd look happy

Hee heee

Smile Canape!!

Salad with raspberry sauce

I thought the dressing was caesar's or something with mayo, but I was wrong, this one was super sarap!!! Una, when it was served to me, I asked if it would be possible to only have the greens, sans the dressing.  The waiter obliged naman.  Then I tasted my sister's salad. It's raspberry sauce daw, basta walang mayo, wala ding raw egg! Ang sarap talaga! Nakakahiya namang ibalik at sabihin ko, "ay, yung may dressing na lang, kuya." Diba?

Main course (walang kanin?)

That's mashed potato, two piece of brocolli, a slice of baby carrot (julienned), cream dory in white sauce with overcooked greens (Kung ano man 'yung green na 'yun eh hindi ko alam, masarap naman) and roasted chicken with gravy. Sayang, walang breast part, so I wasn't able to enjoy the chicken.  Naisip ko na naman yung naiwang isang pirasong hipon...

Ah of course, dessert!

This was was guava jelly something cake.
 Lasang bayabas talaga. Matamis naman na bayabas.

Awarding.  Artistang artista diba? May bouquet pa!

Hay, paminsan-minsan, ang sarap talagang maging sosyal at makatikim ng sosyal na pagkain na di ko alam ang pangalan. Hahahah!

Tupperware Women of Confidence

Last year, Tupperware Philippines launched the Search for the Ten Women of Confidence.   Tupperware received nominations from all over the Philippines.  The only qualification was that the nominee must be an example of confidence in her own chosen field of endeavor.

I kept of forgetting to send my nomination via email. Then I saw on their Facebook Page that the nomination was extended, so I submitted on the last day and nominated my sister, Gracie.

Tupperware later on emailed me that my nominee was chosen for the Top 12 and voting for the Top 10 would be based on the most number of likes.  So I rallied, hard, for my friends to vote for her everyday.  A lot ignored me when I rallied for her, but despite my being ignored, my sister still got in the Top Ten. (Partida yun ah!)

Practicing her smile for the awarding ceremony

The event was capped with a Magazine feature of the Ten Women of Confidence at Celebrity Living Magazine (December 2012 issue), a Video Shoot to be used as an ad for Tupperware's Ten Women of Confidence and a simple awarding ceremony at Sweet Bella in Glorietta 5.  

Each winner brought home a copy of the video
in this cute personalized flash disk

We had lunch first ( a long, long wait, since there were still latecomers.  Women of confidence nga, but necessarily early birds.)

Siyempre kelangan picture-an ang food!

Yumminess! Macaroons!

Sweet sweet creations from Sweet Bella

With Tupperware GM and Bianca

With the other winners

Hmmm... Ate ko yan!!!

That's my sister in the video with her world-famous dimples

The Ten Women of Confidence with Bianca Valerio

Funny, until now, my sister still doesn't know what I put in my entry form for Tupperware. I'll just keep her guessing. Hahahaha!!!!

This was taken from Maurice Arcache's February 20, 2013 Article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

" As a tribute to empowered women, Tupperware Brands Philippines held the awarding ceremonies of its Search for 10 Women of Confidence at Sweet Bella Cafe in Greenbelt 5.

The 10 women-honorees were chosen for "having brought positive change in the lives of others through their inspiring life stories."

...

"Through the Chain of Confidence campaign, which is just the first of our many efforts to empower women, we hope to inspire and help them achieve their full potential so they can in turn make a difference in society."

...

Chain of Confidence ambassador Bianca Valerio said, "If there's something we should learn from this experience, is that we all have different stories and we have something to learn from one another, and all deserve to be stars in our own time.  Congratulations to all our Women of Confidence.  Be proud of yourselves and continue spreading positivity to other people."

(Sayang, walang picture and names of winners sa internet.  Sa print, meron eh.)

Check out another article featuring these amazing women from Malaya.com.ph.