Thursday, 21 March 2013
39 weeks preggy shot
My brother requested me to send him a photo of me so here is my photo at 39 weeks. One more week to go!!! woohooo!! I also had my scan today and midwife said that she estimates my bub will be an eight pounder!! ohhhmyy!!
Fried Chicken in fish sauce and lemon
This dish has only 3 main ingredients and so simple to prepare:
Ingredients:
7-8 pieces of chicken wings
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. In a bowl, mix the chicken and fish sauce (adjust the measurement of the fish sauce depending on your taste);
2. Squeeze the lemon into the mixture;
3. Add salt and pepper to taste;
4. Marinade for at least 2 hours;
5. Deep fry when ready;
6. Serve with rice.
Yummy!!
Ingredients:
7-8 pieces of chicken wings
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. In a bowl, mix the chicken and fish sauce (adjust the measurement of the fish sauce depending on your taste);
2. Squeeze the lemon into the mixture;
3. Add salt and pepper to taste;
4. Marinade for at least 2 hours;
5. Deep fry when ready;
6. Serve with rice.
Yummy!!
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Filipino style coconut macaroons
It's long weekend here again for the annual celebration of the Auckland anniversary. Bug came back Friday night from a field work just in time for the long weekend celebration. Woohoo!!!
We started our weekend on Saturday morning by attending our ante natal classes. We had breakfast at Starbucks then off we went for our 9.30 am ante-natal class. This session is the first of four so three more sessions to go. It was really informative and will help first time moms to have an idea of what we will be going through. I'm on my 31st week and have 9 more weeks to go so it's good to have information that makes me realise that all I feel is normal! no dramas!
After the 3 hour ante-natal session Bug and I headed to the International Food Court in Sunnynook. As usual we had our deep fried snapper with 2 rice. Bug told me to order something else because he though it would not be enough for us. I ordered two chicken satay from the Korean place and it was yummy as well.
We initially planned of attending open homes but we were late on the ones we wanted to see. Instead of attending open homes, we ended up looking for baby capsules, prams and other baby products. We visited Baby factory and Baby on the move but they do not have a lot of choices for the capsules and prams so we ended up empty handed. I was able to purchase some baby bathing products from Baby Factory under the Mustella brand. I heard these products are good so hopefully the bub does not get any allergy. I hope bub's skin is clear. I always have this frustrations on how my skin is not clear but hopping that bub's will be better than mine. We were also able to purchase baby wipes. These were on special at 3 for $5 so I purchased them.
At 3.30 we were home. I did some cleaning and then baked a Filipino style macaroons. My friend from the office, C, gave me this uber easy recipe below:
Ingredients:
1 200 grams pack of dessicated coconut
1 250 ml pack of sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup of light brown sugar (for me this is optional as the sweetness from the milk is enough)
1/2 tsp of lemon rind or a few drops of lemon extract
48 pieces of small paper cups (this recipe will make 48 mini cupcakes)
Procedure:
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well blended.
Arrange the paper cup on a shallow baking tray.
Fill each paper cup with the coconut batter until 3/4 full.
Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Cool for ten minutes before serving. It can also be eaten straight but be careful -they are hot!
Photos:
We started our weekend on Saturday morning by attending our ante natal classes. We had breakfast at Starbucks then off we went for our 9.30 am ante-natal class. This session is the first of four so three more sessions to go. It was really informative and will help first time moms to have an idea of what we will be going through. I'm on my 31st week and have 9 more weeks to go so it's good to have information that makes me realise that all I feel is normal! no dramas!
After the 3 hour ante-natal session Bug and I headed to the International Food Court in Sunnynook. As usual we had our deep fried snapper with 2 rice. Bug told me to order something else because he though it would not be enough for us. I ordered two chicken satay from the Korean place and it was yummy as well.
We initially planned of attending open homes but we were late on the ones we wanted to see. Instead of attending open homes, we ended up looking for baby capsules, prams and other baby products. We visited Baby factory and Baby on the move but they do not have a lot of choices for the capsules and prams so we ended up empty handed. I was able to purchase some baby bathing products from Baby Factory under the Mustella brand. I heard these products are good so hopefully the bub does not get any allergy. I hope bub's skin is clear. I always have this frustrations on how my skin is not clear but hopping that bub's will be better than mine. We were also able to purchase baby wipes. These were on special at 3 for $5 so I purchased them.
At 3.30 we were home. I did some cleaning and then baked a Filipino style macaroons. My friend from the office, C, gave me this uber easy recipe below:
Ingredients:
1 200 grams pack of dessicated coconut
1 250 ml pack of sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup of light brown sugar (for me this is optional as the sweetness from the milk is enough)
1/2 tsp of lemon rind or a few drops of lemon extract
48 pieces of small paper cups (this recipe will make 48 mini cupcakes)
Procedure:
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well blended.
Arrange the paper cup on a shallow baking tray.
Fill each paper cup with the coconut batter until 3/4 full.
Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Cool for ten minutes before serving. It can also be eaten straight but be careful -they are hot!
Photos:
 |
| Mixing the coconut butter |
 |
| Coconut batter on the molds |
 |
| Finished product - Filipino style macaroons |
Saturday, 5 January 2013
New Year 2013
This is the first time we celebrated New Year with relatives with us here in Auckland. We did not really waited for midnight to eat, instead, we just had a lunch feast on new year's day. We had nilagang baka, grilled fish, grilled squid, roast pork and leche flan. We invited Ate Glenda and Kuya Ruben to have lunch with us.
Celebrating New Year with family just makes it extra special!
Celebrating New Year with family just makes it extra special!
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Quickie
Still alone today as my bug is still assigned in Hamilton. I had pinoy bistek for brekkie, adobo for lunch and tortang talong for dinner. In between, my snacks are watermelon, strawberries , malaysian almond cookies, a very small piece of carrot cake and 2 pieces of chocolates. This little bunny inside my tummy is really driving me crazy eating. I always feel hungry but I have to be disciplined on eating only good type of snacks. I also did my second preggy yoga today. I feel I'm still flexible as I was still able to do all poses the instructor asked us to do. woohoo!!
I also got my cover for my new phone, Im happy with this purchase, only $12 including postage!!
I also got my cover for my new phone, Im happy with this purchase, only $12 including postage!!
Monday, 26 November 2012
Back from the hibernation
It's been awhile since I last posted on this online diary. A lot has happened from June till now, probably the most important is me getting preggy!! woohoo. I'm on my 22nd weeks now. I've been feeling morning sickness on my first trimester but all is good now. We have also found out that we are having a baby girl. =) I promise to post atleast every week now. More updates on the coming posts!!
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Grilling fish outside of our house
Despite a cold Auckland winter (for someone born in the Tropics), my somewhat paleolethic habits have prompted me to grill snapper outside our house. So on an early Saturday morning on the last June weekend, I dropped by the Auckland Fish Market to buy a couple of medium-sized snappers after driving my wife into her office in the local insurance company (she was a bit busy as doing work during weekends, even for just a couple of hours is not a norm in corporate New Zealand).
Immediately right after arriving at our home (that's about 15 kms from the CBD where the fish market is), I wasted no time in grabbing the small BBQ grill that I kept just at the side of our small house and started piling up the used charcoal. I realised that they were slightly wet for quick use, probably because the grill was rained on a couple of days ago or more likely, as the grill is water-tight covered, because I've used too much water putting off the live coals the last time that I did grilling (couple or so months). I have to get my stock of charcoals I stored in my garage (garage which I recently converted into a "boxing gym" but it has been more than 3 months since I actually put on the boxing gloves and sweat it out with the standing punching bag. As a consequence my fairly aged car, a Nissan Primera Camino 1996, has to endure being parked outside and being covered with frost every morning. I need to get serious with this boxing stuff!).
Anyway, going back to the charcoal, I have accummulated 3 bags of different types/grade of charcoal. The story behind is that I initially bought a bag of charcoal that was really easy to use, but out of ignorance, I wasn't aware of the relative priciness. On my second purchase, I decided to buy the cheapest available; it felt and weighted like they were stones! This is probably what they call "coal" and not "charcoal". When I attempted to use them, it took my entire Sunday afternoon and partly the evening to successfully grill fish! It was horrible and took all of my patience and persistence, but I kept telling myself I should not give up and set my mind as if I was stranded on an island and I'd either sleep with empty stomach or persevere and have a yummy fish dinner. So basically, I started like 1 pm in the afternoon trying to start an ember on the rock-like coals. It was already 5-ish when I was able to generate enough live coals to guaranty a well-cooked grilled fish. My arms took a good deal of exercise by having to fan the live coals to life from a small ember for more than 3 hours. And I have to inhale a good deal of smoke and my eyes were already cursing me after an hour of constant irritation. But I managed to convince myself that failure is not an option if I were to survive in this imaginary uninhabited island. The third bag was a bit in the middle between the last two I've tried in terms of difficulty in creating embers. I actually discovered it when we were attending a get-together a friend couple's place (it was a dinner with a mix of watching and cheering our national fist "Manny Pacquiao" fight against his kryptonite nemesis, Juan Manual Marquez). It wasn't the kind of outcome we hoped for in the fight but it was a very enjoyable get-together.
And that's how I ended up with these 3 odd bags of charcoals of different types. I decided to use them in combination and thought this would be the best grilling session I will have so far (in a cost and convenience perspective, cost because I don't have to use all of my previous 1st choice charcoal and convenience because I don't have to endure an inordinate length of time in fanning live charcoals). But I learned another important lesson from the last session: it's not all about charcoal! I basically didn't have a good fan available and as a result, fanning the coals required triple effort to achieve the same level I had on my previous sessions! And once again, it took almost my entire afternoon to just grill a couple of snappers! I was literally starving and out of patience when I started putting the first fish on the grill. I didn't even mind or notice the cold winter wind but was silently praying that the threat of rain which the ominous clouds wanted me to know won't materialise before I finish my stuff.
After all those hard lessons, I decided that an activity as simple as grilling fish requires some serious planning and preparation. Next time, I should have all the following essentials:
1. A reliable and efficient fan
2. Sufficient fire starters and matches
3. Dry fuel. Any wet charcoals should be removed (and can be added back once there are enough embers). I also learned that I can actually extinguish embers on my BBQ grill without pouring water. I just have to cover the live coals with the airtight cover and that should do the trick as the absence of oxygen will put off the embers.
4. A mask to minise inhalation of smoke
5. A rainless weather (you can opt to use a canopy or tent though)
6. Some imagination (mostly, to help you with patience)
And with that, I will prepare a "grilling checklist" for my next session!
Immediately right after arriving at our home (that's about 15 kms from the CBD where the fish market is), I wasted no time in grabbing the small BBQ grill that I kept just at the side of our small house and started piling up the used charcoal. I realised that they were slightly wet for quick use, probably because the grill was rained on a couple of days ago or more likely, as the grill is water-tight covered, because I've used too much water putting off the live coals the last time that I did grilling (couple or so months). I have to get my stock of charcoals I stored in my garage (garage which I recently converted into a "boxing gym" but it has been more than 3 months since I actually put on the boxing gloves and sweat it out with the standing punching bag. As a consequence my fairly aged car, a Nissan Primera Camino 1996, has to endure being parked outside and being covered with frost every morning. I need to get serious with this boxing stuff!).
Anyway, going back to the charcoal, I have accummulated 3 bags of different types/grade of charcoal. The story behind is that I initially bought a bag of charcoal that was really easy to use, but out of ignorance, I wasn't aware of the relative priciness. On my second purchase, I decided to buy the cheapest available; it felt and weighted like they were stones! This is probably what they call "coal" and not "charcoal". When I attempted to use them, it took my entire Sunday afternoon and partly the evening to successfully grill fish! It was horrible and took all of my patience and persistence, but I kept telling myself I should not give up and set my mind as if I was stranded on an island and I'd either sleep with empty stomach or persevere and have a yummy fish dinner. So basically, I started like 1 pm in the afternoon trying to start an ember on the rock-like coals. It was already 5-ish when I was able to generate enough live coals to guaranty a well-cooked grilled fish. My arms took a good deal of exercise by having to fan the live coals to life from a small ember for more than 3 hours. And I have to inhale a good deal of smoke and my eyes were already cursing me after an hour of constant irritation. But I managed to convince myself that failure is not an option if I were to survive in this imaginary uninhabited island. The third bag was a bit in the middle between the last two I've tried in terms of difficulty in creating embers. I actually discovered it when we were attending a get-together a friend couple's place (it was a dinner with a mix of watching and cheering our national fist "Manny Pacquiao" fight against his kryptonite nemesis, Juan Manual Marquez). It wasn't the kind of outcome we hoped for in the fight but it was a very enjoyable get-together.
And that's how I ended up with these 3 odd bags of charcoals of different types. I decided to use them in combination and thought this would be the best grilling session I will have so far (in a cost and convenience perspective, cost because I don't have to use all of my previous 1st choice charcoal and convenience because I don't have to endure an inordinate length of time in fanning live charcoals). But I learned another important lesson from the last session: it's not all about charcoal! I basically didn't have a good fan available and as a result, fanning the coals required triple effort to achieve the same level I had on my previous sessions! And once again, it took almost my entire afternoon to just grill a couple of snappers! I was literally starving and out of patience when I started putting the first fish on the grill. I didn't even mind or notice the cold winter wind but was silently praying that the threat of rain which the ominous clouds wanted me to know won't materialise before I finish my stuff.
After all those hard lessons, I decided that an activity as simple as grilling fish requires some serious planning and preparation. Next time, I should have all the following essentials:
1. A reliable and efficient fan
2. Sufficient fire starters and matches
3. Dry fuel. Any wet charcoals should be removed (and can be added back once there are enough embers). I also learned that I can actually extinguish embers on my BBQ grill without pouring water. I just have to cover the live coals with the airtight cover and that should do the trick as the absence of oxygen will put off the embers.
4. A mask to minise inhalation of smoke
5. A rainless weather (you can opt to use a canopy or tent though)
6. Some imagination (mostly, to help you with patience)
And with that, I will prepare a "grilling checklist" for my next session!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)