Korean snacks

We went to a Korean store today and hoarded these stuff!!

I will be blogging about the taste soon!=)

Blueberry muffin yum

Its been a week since I posted to my mini blog.  I baked my first ever blueberry muffin. So proud!! yum!

Buttered shrimp recipe (Dampa style)

It has been a busy Sunday!  Bug and I started our day with an 8 am mass. We were suppose to have brekkie at McD's but Bug thought we still have left overs from last night, so we headed home instead. 

After brekkie, few household chores and internet, we then left for a friend's son's Christening. The host serve Filipino food and i so love the dessert! yum!

When we arrived home, I decided to check our fridge and think of what dinner to cook.  I settled for the prawns we bought from PaknSave last Friday! So here is our dinner!

 
Ingredients:
2 lbs prawns
1/4 cup butter
7-8 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp parsley
1-2 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup sprite or 7-up
salt
pepper

Procedure:
1. Marinate the prawns to the sprite or 7-up;
2. Melt the butter in pan and heat it until hot enough for the garlic (I usually put a tsp of olive oil so the butter won't burn);
3. Add the garlic until it turns to golden brown;
4. Put in the shrimp including the marinate (let it cook until the liquid completely evaporates);
5. Add the oyster sauce and soy sauce;
6. Sprinkle the parsley, black pepper and salt;
7. Serve with rice.

Enjoy!!

Thai deep fried ribs

Zap is our favorite Thai place here in Auckland.  We love their deep friend pork ribs. We normally order one serving of this dish plus 2 plate of rice and we're solved! However, lately, we notice that they started minimising their servings.  They used to serve 15-20 mini spare ribs but now they only serve 10 spare ribs. I think they realised our strategy to save $$$. Oh well, being the frugal that we are, we searched the recipe in the net and tried cooking our own version.  It took me 3 trials to get the exact version, but all good now. So I'm confident to share the recipe now!  So here we go!!

Ingredients:
Pork spare ribs (about 20 pcs when chopped)
7-8 cloves of garlic, chopped in very small pieces, finely minced
1 tsp coriander leaves, minced
3-4 table spoon of fish sauce
1/4 -1/2 tsp of salt
pepper
1 egg, beaten
4-5 table spoon flour

1. Rub all the ingredients to the spare ribs and marinate in the fridge for one - two hours;
2. Once you are ready to cook add the egg and the flour to the mixture;
3. Coat the ribs with the egg and flour mixture;
4. Heat up the deep fryer and add the ribs in batches (oil should fully cover the ribs to cook well);
5. Serve with rice.

I usually put fish sauce or patis with chili as my dip ("sawsawan") while eating it with rice! yum!

Enjoy!

Ipad craze

Its been almost a year since I received my Ipad from the firm I work for.  It was given as a gift for my promotion as a manager. Bug was also promoted then, but I remember teasing bug that our division is way more generous than theire division since they dont have the Ipad reward (although their increase is higher)!
We were happy since wehave our Ipad to play around. It was just a shame that Ipad 2 got released so soon, but that's okay we were contented with the original ipad we have anyway.  To my amaze, bug surprised me with this

Ipad 2

Our Ipads

The Bug was given an Ipad 2 by their department! Spell g-e-n-e-r-o-u-s! He was awarded as a top performer as nominated by his PIC so we won and got this reward!
Thanks EY! and ofcourse these blessings are really from the heavens! Thank God!! =)

Baked pork chop

Old recipe with a healthier twist...

As a kid, I have always enjoyed having deep friend prok chop. Its my all time favorite meal!
I realise now that I have to watch on what I eat, so I googled around and found a healtier version, so here it goes:

Ingredients:
4 pcs pork chops
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Mama sita bbq marinate
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F or 195 deg C;
2. Dip the pork to the ddq marinate, then dip to the egg;
3. Mix all dry ingediets on a separate plate;
4. Roll chops in the mixture of dry ingredients;
5. Place the chops over large non-stick baking pan, you may want to rub small potion of oil to the non-stick baking pan.;
6. Bake on rack for 1 hour or until juice runs clear when chops are pierced with fork, turning once after 30 minutes;
7. Serve with rice.

There you go!! pork chop without the oil! =)

Peri-peri chicken

This is today’s lunch

I cooked this last night. I always try to bring lunch whenever I could to save some money! 

Ingredients:

4 pieces chicken legs (skin removed for a healthier meal)

8 pieces chicken wings (skin removed for a healthier meal)

Peri peri mix

½ Lemon (or 3 pcs calamansi)

2 tbsp soy sauce

4 cloves minced garlic

Chilli flakes (depending on your preference)

Instructions:

1.      Lay the chicken in a rectangular oven-safe dish, put the Periperi mix to the chicken. Make sure that the chicken is well covered;

2.  Squeeze the lemon to the chicken;

3.  Rub the garlic to the chicken and leave it;

4.  Add the soy sauce;

5.  Add the chiliflakes;

6.  Preheat oven to 350F;

7.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for about a 30-45 minutes;

8.  Once cooked, serve with rice or bread.

Till my next post! =)

Future home sweet home!

Bug and I have been very disciplined on savings for the past three years. Although we had splurges (vacations, wedding, shopping, etc) we make sure we save a part of our salary for our downpayment for our house.  We though we have enough deposit now so for the past weeks, we were house hunting trying to find a house within our budget (indo: our budget is limited so there goes the challenge!).  Luckily, we found the house that's just alittle above the budget and and located in a good area.  The house is a 1950's bungalow and has 2 bedroom.  Pretty small, but I coudn't complain.  We can leave with this for now.  Rental here in Auckland are really high and expected to still be increasing.  We though having our own house is smarter rather than paying someone else's mortgage by renting their property.  We have paid the down payment last week and will have our final settlement on July 29.  Hopefully, all things turns well!! So here it goes!!(note: furnitures are the owner's property, we have yet t buy our own once we move in)

Living room

Bedroom 1

Kitchen

Kitchen again

Garage

Toilet and bath

Bedroom 2

Front of the house

Lawn in front of the house

Till my next post! =)

My pansit canton recipe

Yesterday, I had a sudden craving for noodles!Instead of having take away, I decided to create my own pansit canton recipe.  Home made meals are always better than buying out, right?! Atleast I know exactly what goes with my food. Well here is the finished product!


1 big bowl of my version of pansit canton




My first serving

  Ingredients are the following:
1 pack of pansit canton (I bought mine from Filipino store at $2.50)
2 pieces of skin less chicken breast, chopped according to desired size ( from foodtown about $5.40)
1 cup of Mixed frozen veggies (mixture of green peas, carrots, beans and corn, 10 cups costs $3.50 from food town)
2 small capsicums, chopped (1 red and one yellow), we call this bell pepper back home
1 pack of Mama Sita's chopseuy/pansit canton mix ($1.50 from Tindahang pinoy)
2 tablespoon of olive oil (or any kind of oil)
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

Cooking instructions:
1. Dissolve the Mama Sita's mix to 1 cup boiling water, mix thoroughly and set aside;
2. Boil water and then pour this to the pansit canton until the canton is cooked, drain the water, then set aside;
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan;
4. Once the oil is properly heated, put the garlic.  Sautee until you can smell the garlic's aroma;
5. Mix the red and yellow capsicum, continue to sautee with the garlic;
6. Add the chicken pieces, stir fry with the garlic and capsicum until chicken is fully cooked;
6. Add the mixed veggies to the frying pan;
7. Add the dissolved Mama Sita's mix to the frying pan and leave for 5 minutes;
8. Once enough water has evaporated, remove the mixture from heat;
9. Add the mixture to the cooked pansit canton and mix thoroughly;
10. Serve with lemon.

I think this serves 5.  The bug doesn't like pansit canton so I'll be eating all of this by myself.  I think this recipe costs about $3 per serving. Not bad!! plus I know that its healthy!

Till my next post! =)

Weekend splurge!!

The bug and I started our day early for a Saturday.  We have things planned so we were awake at 8 am. Braekfast was heavy, we had our tempura left over (cooked by chef bug) as well as some leftover salmon.  We then headed to the grocery to do our weekly food shopping.  Since the bug has received a $100 gift voucher due to his hard work, we then went straight to The Warehouse. He bought me a bathrobe.  My old bathrobe is starting to get smelly! ewww! hahaha he can't stand the smell so he said, go buy one. This is what I grabbed

That is actually a bathrobe, lol! I was not able to manage to get a better photo that would show its size.  I think bathrobes have only one style. It just varies in the color and its fabric.  I love the hearts design of my robe!

We also bought a knife.  The knife we use at home needs to retire.  We've been using that knife since we came here in NZ. It has been almost 3 years.  Poor knife. 

We also got 2 glass water dispensers, 2 storage boxes and bug's winter scraf. I was planning to get a watch as well but our bill is already reached to $107, so maybe next time.

After warehouse we walked our way to Queen's street.  Bug is planning to get a new tranch coat and a badminton shoes. Too bad, we didn't like the styles available. He went home then afterwards. I think guys don't have the patience we have to try to look around on other shops. 

I continued shopping, alone. I prefer to be alone. I don't like him waiting and making faces to me as if saying hurry up, get what you want! These are what I've got

Yes, I've got 2 bags same design, different colors.  I've been eyeing on these bags for the longest time.  They were on sale today at 50% off so I've got two.  Im sure my sisters would use these even if I used it already. lol. Got these for $20 each! Super bargain!

I've also got myself undies from Cotton.

These too are on special.  got them at 50% off. One undies would originally costs $10, I got one for $5. Cute aye!

My last splurge for the day is my membership to Les Mills! Bug agreed this morning that I can get myself enrolled! I better be attending gym now!

I just love Saturdays!!!

I shouldn't be alive

Watching I shouldn't be alive every Tuesday has been my bonding moment with the bug. Today's episode is about Steven Callahan.  He survived 76 days in the ocean in a raft boat.  This is an excerpt from the ever reliable wikipedia:

"Callahan departed Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 1981 on Napoleon Solo, a 6.5 meter sloop he designed and built himself, singlehandedly sailed the boat to Bermuda, and continued the voyage to England with friend Chris Latchem. He left Cornwall that fall, bound for Antigua as part of the Mini Transat 6.50 single-handed sailing race from Penzance, England, but dropped out of the race in La Coruña, Spain. Bad weather had sunk several boats in the fleet and damaged many others including "Napoleon Solo". Callahan made repairs and continued voyaging down the coast of Spain and Portugal, out to Madeira and the Canaries. He departed El Hierro in the Canary Islands on January 29, 1982, still headed for Antigua. In a growing gale, seven days out, his vessel was badly holed by an unknown object at night storm, and became swamped, although it did not sink outright due to watertight compartments Callahan had designed into the boat. In his book, Callahan writes that he suspects the damage occurred from a collision with a whale. Unable to stay aboard "Napoleon Solo" due to it being full of water and getting overwhelmed by breaking seas, he escaped into a six-person Avon inflatable life raft, measuring about six feet across. He stood off in the raft, but managed to get back aboard several times to dive below and retrieve a piece of cushion, a sleeping bag, and an emergency kit containing, among other things, some food, navigation charts, a short spear gun, flares, torch, solar stills for producing rainwater and a copy of Sea Survival, a survival manual written by Dougal Robertson, a fellow ocean survivor. Before dawn, a big breaking sea parted the life raft from "Napoleon Solo", and Callahan drifted away.^[2]
The raft drifted westward with the South Equatorial Current and the trade winds. After exhausting the meager food supplies he was able to salvage from the sinking sloop, Callahan survived by "learning to live like an aquatic caveman." He ate primarily mahi-mahi as well as triggerfish, which he speared, along with flying fish, barnacles, and birds that he captured. The sea life was all part of an ecosystem that evolved and followed him for 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km) across the ocean. He collected drinking water from two solar stills and various jury-rigged devices for collecting rainwater, which together produced on average just over a pint of water per day.
No rescue was initiated from Callahan's use of an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) and many flares. EPIRBs were not monitored by satellites at the time, and he was in too empty a part of the ocean to be heard by aircraft. Ships did not spot his flares. While adrift, he spotted nine ships, most in the two sea lanes he crossed, but from the beginning, Callahan knew that he could not rely upon rescue but instead must, for an undetermined time, rely upon himself and maintaining a shipboard routine for survival. He routinely exercised, navigated, prioritized problems, made repairs, fished, improved systems, and built food and water stocks for emergencies.
On the eve of April 20, 1982, he spotted lights on the island of Marie Galante, south east of Guadeloupe. The next day, his 76th afloat in the raft, fishermen picked him up just offshore, drawn to him by birds hovering over the raft, which were attracted by the ecosystem that had developed around it. During the ordeal, he faced sharks, raft punctures, equipment deterioration, physical deterioration, and mental stress. Having lost a third of his weight and being covered with scores of saltwater sores, he was taken to a local hospital for an afternoon, but left that evening and spent the following weeks recovering on the island and while hitchhiking on boats up through the West Indies. He found within his journey many gifts and profoundly positive elements as well as suffering, describing it at one point as "A view of heaven from a seat in hell." He still enjoys sailing and the sea, which he calls the world's greatest wilderness. Since his survival drift, he's made dozens of additional offshore passages and ocean crossings, most of them with no more than two other crew."

Great aye!!

Going nuts

I initially planned spending my Queen's bday holiday by working in the office.  I have so many things to catch up to but laziness kicked in so I stayed at home. I've been reading blogs and familiarising myself on the art of blogging, watched filipino news, series, watched Tyra, facebooked and stalked at peoples twitter accounts, lol! I worked for an hour though, checked one of client's financial statements. Ohh boy, when will I get over this?? I hope my next job will be more exciting. 

Being a couch potato is not complete without snacks.  Instead of having chips this is what I had

b

Im trying to be healthy so I go nuts! Although I would still choose Beer Match's salt and vinegar if those are easily available in dairies (a.k.a sari sari stores).

Till my next blog =)

When life gives you lemons... squeeze it!

Today is Queen's birthday holiday in New Zealand and I started this day by this

I mixed the lemons with warm water and drink it before I eat anything.  I have read that this is a good beauty and health regimen.  It detoxify our liver so I thought of trying it.  List of its benefits are as follows:

• Lemon water helps clean the toxins out of your body;
• Lemon can help relieve many digestion problems when mixed with hot water;
• Lemon is high in vitamins C so it helps diminish allergies;
• Lemon is good for people who has urinary tract infection;
• Trivia: if you apply lemon juice poured on a cotton ball to your nostril it can stop nosebleed!

Well I'm mostly keen on the first benefit.  I would like to see how it will cleanse my skin! I'll do it in 30 days and see how it goes!

French macaroons cravings

Bug and I started our day by attending the 11 am mass at St Pat's. The sun is out but still cold outside, still alot better than how was it yesterday.  After the mass, bug and I headed out to Atrium food court.  We were really hungry as it was 12.30ish and this will be our first meal for the day.  I had steamed chicken with black mushroom and chinese sausage while bug has his all-time-favorite dimsum.  I finish the meal with an egg tart.

We then walked back to the office since I need to do some work.  Bug walked with me because he needs to sign some documents related to the house we are trying to buy (will blog about this later).  After our brainstorming on the house hunting, I suddenly felt this craving for a sweet treat.  And this is what I got!!

  (note: photo taken from the internet sudipdangarfu.blogspot.com/2011/03/cookie-mon..., for some reason my bluetooth can't connect).

I first saw this from NZ masterchef where Naja and Jacqs had to made a tower of terror made of french macaroons! well not exactly terror for me.  It was so yummy, the colors makes it looks so appetizing! I so love it.

Being the frugal that I am, I cant believe I bought 5 pices of this which costs me a total of $11!! and did I mention that the lunch I had was just $7!! I think this will be the last time I'll buy 5 pieces of this.  I'll settle for 1 piece a week again! haha!

My first ever blog

My first ever blog.  I have been planning for the longest time to start my own blog.  I just want to have an online diary where I can express myself and keep a record of adventures and/or misadventures. Hopefully I can manage to keep this blog on track!