what's new in my dining?

My blog is becoming fewer these past couple of days. Aside from nothing really much to write about because I seldom shop nowadays and hubby doesn't like to "document" (a.k.a. taking food selfie) our eating out, I am just left with what's going on inside our house. 

So what is new?

Finally, i had our ten year old (plus plus) carpet changed. I succeeded on convincing Dar to replace it even with the cheapest carpet in town.

Hot hot red!

Goodbye oldie!

Prayer works! Haha

And....
I have cousins coming over this weekend so it's time to use my new cups. Yay!!!

Oh by the way, I will try this "lifter" one of these days. It says it's a good alternative to coffee, it's organic and made from guarana extract. I have yet to check the net what this guarana is. I'll let you know.

Surprisingly, I found these varieties of mango yummy.
These are from Peru. Looks like apple mango back home, it has the smell of it, but the taste is different. It's sweet and sour at the same time. Masarap. But of course nothing beat our own. But these will do. :)

This is Indian Mango. Mas masarap sya kesa sa indian natin. I guess this is the original Indian mango. What do you think? Galing India kasi.

As I have mentioned before, i am so desperate to eat avocado here. Kaya tyaga tyaga kung ano ang na lang ang makita. I don't exactly remember if these are from Kenya or US. Let me see kung masarap.

Mahirap talaga ang wala sa sariling bayan. But there are other blessings that we need to be thankful for. There are compromises but definitely there are rewards. :)

Have a great week ahead people!

Teacher's Parent's Conference

When DJ started going to Xavier School Nuvali I also became familiar with PTC because I was the one delegated to attend this school activity. So when GEMS World Academy informed us about their PTC's, I already knew what to expect.

We also had the chance to attend the once a year Parent's Teacher's meeting for the first quarter report card issuance in Colegio san Agustine (Binan) and one would see that the academic competition was given the highest premium in the school. The list of honor students, academic awardees, extra curricular awards etc etc were posted in almost every places. I think this is common in our schools in the Philippines. The purpose I am sure is to encourage their students to strive more as well as to give due recognition to those who gave their best efforts to to be on top of the class. I didn't see anything wrong with that, in fact I admire those students who excel and who make their parents' really proud with their achievements.

XSN and GWA however are quite different from other traditional schools. In fact, I found similarity between them when it comes to their PTC; one major thing I noticed was the relax atmosphere in the school.

When I had my first PTC in Xavier, I never saw any honor roll posts, I observed how relaxed parents were, teachers were very objective with their feedbacks, they knew their students in their personal level  and they were sympathetic. They had time to laugh with the parents, they listened when a mother would vent out her frustrations over her kid's behavior towards homework and they were so generous with their praises and suggestions to further develop the kids. But that's Xavier School. :)

I have the same feeling of ease in GWA during their PTC's despite being with different races and wealthy families. There are only ten Filipino students (four families) in GWA, majority are British/ Europeans, so you could imagine during PTCs that I am surrounded with tall, blondes and heavily "accented" people.  But you'd also see a lot of smiles everywhere esp. from the teachers. Feedbacks are focused on your child's performance, progress and rooms for development/enhancement.

Yesterday, we had our PTC for Primary School Program (Grade 1-5) but this time it was our children who did the discussion/presentation to the parents. It was a different experience for me and it was fun. I also had the time to take some photos in the lobby while waiting for our turn.

See our own flag up there? Flags are all around the lobby.

 This is the lobby, my view from the coffee shop. It's resembles a hotel. The front view is more amazing. If only I had the photos. Next time, maybe.

See how relax Abi is?

I always wear my parent's ID although they are not strict with that, because if I don't I might be mistaken as an Assistant Teacher. You see and I am very proud of this, almost all the assistant teachers are Filipina. They are the preferred AT. :) And they are nice to me. :)

This is it for now. Nothing much is happening nowadays.

Discovery

Yesterday was supposed to be a chillax day for me. It's the boys' turn to prepare lunch because we had planned to have pork barbeque in our backyard (ooops, sorry my Muslim neighbors). But in the middle of our grill, the wind started to blow hard until our vision became blurred due to the sand. We hurriedly went inside with my husband carrying our disposable grill (still with flame) and with pork on top. Haizzt. We ended up at the back door of our garage, still windy but no choice. Just when we thought we could finish smoothly, all the fire alarms broke out because of the smoke coming from the grill. Ay sus. Ang kinatapusan, ako at si DJ pa rin ang nag ihaw while Dar had to check all the alarms.

After clearing the plates, hubby checked our oven and told me to try the oven grill next time. So today, I tried grilling my talong. Tsamba lang the temperature :) 

For lunch, I had this tortang talong! Yeheyyy! Happiness!

To tell you in all honesty, this is the first time I ever cooked tortang talong. I never allowed my helpers before to cook talong directly on top of the stove because I would imagine the lpg going to the food. Although I would always see my mother doing this back in Mindoro.
So now it's a major major accomplishment for me. And so I had a sumptuous lunch!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Lunch

Yesterday, I had the time of my life. You know why? Because my lunch was this

Pusit dipped in Pinakurat. Kamatis with Spicy Barrio Fiesta bagoong. And Rice. And Rice. Purrrfect...

But today, I have to tone my meal down. Just salad. Lettuce, corn, grapes and boiled eggs. I put a little honey plus this balsamic vinegar. Last Sunday, I also had a plate of salad but instead of using balsamic, I had apple cider and a squeeze of lemon juice.

But originally, I was looking forward on using my Thousand Island dressing which has been sitting in my fridge for decades. But I got disappointed when I found out that it expired February. :(

Untouched and EXPIRED! So sad.

I have to surf the net for more interesting salad mix.

I can do this. :)

Past Revisited

Whenever we go to a new place, we would always incorporate little "education" for the children like visiting museums and animal parks. I remember when they were still so young, we brought them already to National Museum in Manila. I don't think there was already appreciation that time, but we believe there is really never too early for knowledge.  You root them so they will not go astray later on. When we were in Singapore for instance, we went to their Asian Museum on the first day and then we visited their zoo and bird parks and sanctuaries. When the Underground River in Puerto Prinsesa was declared as one of the New Seven Wonders Of Nature, we immediately booked our summer vacation in Palawan. Of course, Anjo has been so persistent asking us to go to Disneyland (even in HK, she pleas). In time, we said. 

This year, we are looking forward to the opening of the The Louvre in Abu Dhabi. Paris is still a dream, so for now, we are truly grateful that UAE is giving us an opportunity to see the universal collections of paintings. I heard opening is 2015, so heads up!

When we were in the Philippines for our short vacation, we booked the whole family in a heritage village in Bataan. It's a collection of old houses bought from several owners from different provinces. It was a good educational trip for the children. 

 This was where we spent the night. Wala namang multo, don't worry.


Some of the houses

 This church is still under construction.

 This also.

 There was a cultural show when we were there. Our hotel room was the one behind the dancers. So could just have stayed in our veranda to watch the shows.

Some of the houses looked familiar to me, even their furniture, their woods and lamps because my paternal grandmother's family was once the owner of a grand house in Mindoro. My lola who had a strong Spanish features grew up in a prominent family which explained why she and her other sisters had fine demeanor. During our tour, the guide was telling us about how the wealthy families would treat their alipin and I could very well attest to the veracity of what she was telling. 

When I was younger, I was told by my mother that my grandmother (my father's mother) and her siblings had their own "slaves" following them wherever they would go. I even told my husband that some of these slaves even up to their old age had remained their "alila" because I would see them before cleaning the house and washing the dishes in the old house. 

Of course, my grandparents went bankrupt when my grandfather became paralyzed and was unable to effectively supervise the vast tract of lands. He lost the authority over the whole property and later on he just have to make do of my grandmother's inheritance. It was still a lot though and we still have them until now, but due to his illness that time, harvest was not maximized due to cheating of the caretakers. My father and his other siblings had to send themselves to school while being servants  to their rich cousins. Hard time for them, indeed.

Anyway, back to the houses...

 The village has also a nice beach. They have a lot of activities too.

I have a lot of photos but you might get bored. If you're looking for an adventure, this Las Casas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan is surely worth your time. Better to stay longer so you'll have time to explore their beach and aquatic activities. Foods were good but please bring money. It's expensive, I tell you. Don't buy their halo halo, it's Php178.00 and it's just an ordinary halo halo. Maraming lahok but no science applied. If you know what I mean. :)

Happy Summer Philippines!

Paying Forward

"To whom much is given, much will be required".

Aside from leisure and relaxation, going to a charitable institution was also one of the plans we had in our Philippine vacation. Since I could not do any abstinence from sweets (this is my greatest pleasure) for Lent, I decided to set aside a portion of my monthly allowance which was intended for my "guilty pleasures" here in Dubai and shared it with this foundation. We let the children do the labor of carrying all the items under the heat of the sun and despite that we could see that they were all happy doing it. My mother and my aunt also supervised them when they did actual giving. 

Next year, we might visit the orphanage for the street kids. I was told that there is one in Calapan.
God Bless everyone!

Anong Trip Mo Ngayon?

Today is Sunday and while everyone else around the world is still savoring the relaxing Sunday we in the Middle East are already on the go. It's the start of the long week stretching until Thursday.  While my kabayans here are probably all dressed up and beautifully made up for work, I am again so alone in the house- with ruffled hair and still in my pyjamas - all set for a serious cleaning after a messy weekend.

But wait, I had a craving, cravings pala. I want banana with peanut butter. I want to eat chicken macaroni. 

And I want that bun, yes that bun.

This is our weekend treat. Everyone in the family loves their buns, just the plain one.
Comfort food, yeah.

Last night, I told my husband I want to eat banana with peanut butter. He said, "Anu un?" But I had to stop myself. Calories!!! So today, I gave in. Or else the whole week is going to be a disaster. haha.

DOLE bananas from Philippines! Wala ng sasarap pa sa saging mula sa Pilipinas.

While I was cooking our breakfast, I suddenly thought of making chicken macaroni. I checked the fridge and saw I had an extra chicken breast, cheddar, mayonnaise and carrot. When I finally had the time to cook my macaroni, I discovered that I didn't have carrots. What I saw this morning was actually pepper not carrots! Ouch.

So I said "don't lose hope". Kaya natin yan.

Anyway, the next step was to choose which type of macaroni would I use.

The tricolor or the plain one? I chose the simple one.
So here are the ingredients minus the carrots and the raisins (Yes! I don't have raisins either hmp)

Lesson of the day: Plan your cravings! :)
Pero sa awa ng Diyos eh natapos ko rin naman.
Here is the finish product , ready for an hour of cooling inside the ref.

I sprinkled some dried parsley. wala lang.

What's the verdict? I had second serving when I ate it for my lunch. baka gutom lang. :) 

It's better if I put two cans of pineapple tidbits, but I only had one in my cupboard. Of course, it would be aesthetically palatable if it has carrots. But nevertheless,  it had satisfied my cravings. I just don't know if my employers later on will give me a passing mark. Baka NI. heehee.

Hoping you had a great great weekend with your loved ones. Have a stress free week everybody!