Thankful Everyday!

This month have been a roller coaster of emotions. Devastated today, oozing with happiness the next day. No matter what the weather is, I can't help but thank the Lord for all the wonderful blessings He has given me.

Here are the things I am so thankful for, lately:

- quiet and clean neighborhood
- smell of freshly cut grass
- Koi Ice Cream Milk Tea
- hubby coming home from work
- wake-up kisses in the morning
- calmness after a strong rain
- Facetime and Facebook
- surprise message from an old friend
- Couples for Christ Community
- hot shower
- pizza! it comes in handy when you're too lazy to cook.
- Oreomisu by Emicake, the next best thing to Estrel's
- automatic washing machine
- Saturdays to laze around the house
- movie marathon at home with my favorite beau
- Viber messages from hubby
- Happy Feet 2!
- my first Elephant Parade - The Love Song
- blanket tug-of-war in the middle of the night

Lastly, my birthday last Saturday! I get to be treated like a queen even for a day. More importantly for all the things I have learned through out the year and the new experience of being a 100% housewife. It is just amazing and I am so excited with the coming year!

Friends Along The Way...

I don't know what's up with me today. I feel like missing my friends and missing being a friend. Add to that seeing on FB my high school/college close friends whom I used to call my best friends are now BFF with somebody else. What's with this feeling? 

I lost some buddies through the years. Some reasons I know. Some my fault. Some theirs. But, some are puzzling. Like, have I done something wrong without me knowing. Or have I done nothing to keep it up to this day?

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'Some people are not meant to be with you forever...' is what they say but wouldn't it be great if all the people you have known since time immemorial remained with you as close as you were? Sadly, that's not how life works, isn't it? People grow and, yeah, the cliche, sometimes they grow apart. We realize that that is just as far as we can go in the journey together. We need to continue on spreading our wings and chase after our own adventures even if it means chasing it without each other.

After few moments of re-assessment. I realized that I still have friends who are with me despite everything. Real friends, not just the, 'oh hi' kind of one. Whom you are able to be who and what you are. When you pretend and try to be someone you are not, they know. They just know. They notice. They would then encourage you to be just the way you are. No icings or toppings. Then, at the end of the day they embrace you for all that you are! 

I can only count my real friends with just one hand but, hey, they are hard to find! I am not choosy, they are just rare. Rare enough for me to work on giving my time and attention. Making sure that no matter how seldom we connect we nurture the relationship that we have. Pick up where we left off. Recount those happy and not-so-good moments. Share our dreams and aspirations. Most of all laugh even if it means via the emoticons.

God loves me! He gives me friends so I won't be pathetically stuck in the four corners of this room. And, I just love it!

My Attempt to Cook: Singaporean Chili Crab

I had almost depressing moments the past few days so, as with some of us, I vented out that moment to food. I was thinking of the usual streamed crab but I challenged myself to cooking something complicated. I guess when you are down there's something inside you that wants to get up to have that feeling that even if you're not good at this one then go be better at the other. In my case, I guess, this is the other.

Anyway, I am going to provide you here on how to cook the Chili Crab which is a famous dish in Singapore. There are many restaurants and hawkers offering Chili Crab and, though I haven't been in these heavenly places, Jumbo Seafood Restaurant and No Sign Board Seafood Restaurant are the two of the most famous places to try it out. But, after cooking them myself I can say that no need to go to those expensive diners. A happy eating-husband is an accomplished cooking-wife. Haha!

Ingredients:
4 to 5 pcs medium crabs
5 tbs ketchup, better to mix tomato and banana ketchup for that sweet sour taste
1 cup water
3/4 tsp soy sauce
2 tbs cornstarch
salt to taste
5 tbs vegetable oil, i used 3 tbs canola butter with olive oil for lower saturated fat
7 cloves garlic crushed
2 tbs chopped shallots or onion springs
chili peppers or black pepper corn, adjust to your preference
3/4 tsp lemon juice
1 beaten egg

Directions

1. Wash crabs and separate the claws and shell from the body. Cut into two or four if the crab is big.

2. In a large bowl, mix together ketchup, water, cornstarch, soy sauce, salt and black pepper.

3. Heat skillet and the oil or butter, stir in garlic and shallots. Add the chili peppers once the garlic turns golden brown. After 2 minutes, add the crabs and fry until red. 

4. Stir sauce mixture into the skillet until the crabs are well coated. Cover the skillet and simmer for about 7 to 10 minutes or until the shells are bright red.

5. Next, pour the lime juice all over the crab. Put the beaten egg, quickly mixing it with the crabs until cooked.

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Crabs are good sources of selenium, an anti-oxidant, zinc and omega-3, as with other seafood, vit B12, niacin, phosphorus and copper. But, be careful of eating too much of it specially if you don't know the source as it may contain mercury and PCB. Prefer the locally grown crabs to ensure you'd get the benefits more than the contaminants. Happy eating!

Mila's Daydreams

Mommies! You are so going to love this:

I stumbled upon Adele Enerson's blog, Mila's Daydreams, and was in total awe at her amazing creativity of taking pictures while her daughter Mila is sleeping. She was on maternity leave and with nothing much to do while her adorable new born takes a nap, she brought out to life what she thought her baby is dreaming about. Sadly, she removed some of her baby pictures due to copyright infringement made by unscrupulous media and advertising companies. But, you'll enjoy some of Mila's daydreams and the mommy's blogs while the baby is having her nap. And, oh, she has a book titled "When My Baby Dreams", that would be available in 2012. Yay, for that!

Alone

While waiting for hubby I decided to pass the time here at Toast Box. One hot Milo on my left hand and an Entrepreneur magazine on the other. Yes, I am now taking baby walks to make my dream come true. A lot of ideas are coming which I often remind myself to stick to my core and at the same time go where the market is.

There will still be a loy of hurdles before things come to a reality but I know with passion, prayers and support from my loved ones I am sure I will get there.

Aja!

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Philippines Consistently at the Top

In the world's worst airport. Last October The Guide to Sleeping In Airports listed the NAIA Terminal 1 at the top of the list as the world's worst airport. Now, CNN GO included as one of the world's 10 most hated airports. The last time that Terminal 1 was rehabilitated was in 1981, imagine how long it has been since it had a touch up? 

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I wonder where they are taking the ridiculous travel tax and terminal fees? Each passenger have to pay about Php1,500 for travel tax and Php750 terminal fee. Imagine around Php2,500 for each 27 million passengers that traveled in 2010 and yet the service and facilities were a throw-out! The fees really have to go. The front desk officers are rude, things miraculously get 'lost', the toilets are filthy! You even have to use an improvised pail to flush the toilet! Urgh!! No decent chairs for you to relax while waiting for your flight. The concessions are very few. The airport officers are of no help even. You thought you're being helped by giving you a push cart and pushing it for you, only to find out that there's a fee. So, embarrassing! And the corruption is even worse at the Customs.

I don't remember ever paying a fee or whatever in other countries. Here in SG, if you are holding a long term pass, you don't have to line up at the immigration desk. The immigration desks are mostly for visiting foreigners. But, if you have a pass, all you have to do is flash your ID at the scanner, when the first door opens, you put your thumb at the biometric scanner, the second door opens and walah! You're out in a breeze!

Wait, I am not done yet. I also often fetch our parents whenever they come home from Riyadh. The waiting area outside the terminal would make you feel really pathetic. It is so hot and the only thing that comforts you is that there's a roof and few chairs which some are even dilapidated. When the passengers arrive, looking for them would make you feel dizzy because there are no more big bold letters where they could line up based on their surnames. So what we do is we get away with the guards to run towards the terminal so we'll be able to immediately see our parents.

After media hullabaloo, the government is, finally, looking into the rehabilitation and renovation of NAIA Terminal 1 and will be giving a Php1 billion budget by January 2012. Kevin Cobonpue, Budji Layug and Royal Pineda have done the pro-bono design which have been approved by the NAIA Board and DOTC Chair Manuel Roxas.

I really hope that this is the start of taking these issues seriously. We have been wanting to promote tourism in the Philippines but when the start and end of your travel is an airport-rage, you would think gazillion times to ever coming back. Because, honestly not all travelers are backpackers who find it exciting and adventurous to survive in a fist fight mode in the airport. It would also be great if the renovation would also include an easy access to the public transportation aside from taxi cabs. Which reminds me, these cabs charges so high that would pull your wits out if you aren't smart enough to ask first how much it would cost you to get to your destination. Hope they would get rid of corrupt and bribing employees and officers. Provide free wireless service in all areas, please, we are now in the 20th Century. Connect the three terminals via a tram or whatever means so it would be easier to transfer from one terminal to another in case you went to a wrong terminal by mistake.

Finally, let this improvement start as soon as possible and finish without delays. Manual V. Pangilinan of First Pacific Co. have expressed interest in bidding for the privatization of the airport. If this will make things better so be it but the netizens will be waiting.

Joan Bowen Special Restaurant

Good unexpected things are often the best. We found this quaint restaurant in unassuming community along McPherson Road, the Joan Bowen Cafe. 

When we went in, we felt a homey ambiance and received by a crew whom I perceived as someone special. Yes, he is and so as the other staff in the cafe. It turns out that this establishment, born on August 9, 2009, is owned by Khong Yoon Kay and Jean Seah parents of Joan Bo Wen, from where the name of the cafe came from, their daughter with special needs. Through this they aim to enhance the lives of the youths with special needs by providing training on culinary skills and eventually immerse them in the mainstream.

We ordered our dish and was served by kind and courteous staff. 

Hubby: Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Mushroom

Me: Fish and Fries

Our order came hot enough not to burn the tongue. I hate it when the food is so hot that it burns my mouth and I can't taste the goodness of the food anymore. The serving is big and cooked just right. I love my dory fillet. Crisp outside and soft inside. There's nothing unusual with the tartar sauce. Lucky for me I am not into sauces or condiments because I want to enjoy the meal the way it was cooked.

This is the first time I dined in a restaurant having staff with special needs. It is good to know that a business can also be part of the social responsibility to help the special youths in making a mark in the community in their own simple ways.

The Legend of Angry Birds Characters

My friends call me a late bloomer. When their level is already 32-40 in Farmville, mine was only about 5. That has always been my case. Haha! When angry birds have long been famous and waned its popularity it is only now that I am playing the game. And this post from Heart-to-Heart Online made me smile because now I can totally relate with Angry Bird Games.

How The Angry Birds Characters Originated

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Made sense, right?