Bicol Express

     Hello everyone! Here's another cooking post lol!.. Looks like my page is turning out to be a recipe blog 😊. Anyway, few days ago I watched Michelle Dy's Youtube vlog and she featured herself cooking this Filipino dish called The Bicol Express and I had the craving for this dish and checked my pantry and voila! I got all the ingredients. You know how it feels when you want to cook something and you got all the ingredients on hand? Woah! Heaven! Lol

So here are the ingredients and how I cooked it. Enjoy!

     Minced garlic, ginger, diced onion, serrano pepper
                          
             2lbs pork belly cut into desired serving size

                                         Coconut milk

Not in the picture: shrimp paste, cooking oil and lemon grass

Instructions:

Sautee pork in medium heat with oil, onion, garlic and ginger. Then cover the pan and let it simmer until pork becomes brown in color.

Add serrano pepper and shrimp paste. Stir, cover the pan and let it simmer for 3mins.

Add coconut milk and lemon grass. Stir and bring to boil. To adjust the spiciness, you can add white sugar, more coconut milk or use less serrano peppers.

Once the sauce becomes creamy and pork is kinda toasted (which I prefer), turn off the heat and serve.

Yema Cake

As a wife and a fulltime mom, I am a fan of quick, easy and delicious recipes to prepare for my loveys. And ofcourse, my ultimate cookbook is-- the internet. Google and Youtube tutorials.

Aside from cooking Filipino dishes, I also like to bake. But sometimes baking doesn't like me :c Btw, today I got the energy (yes! Energy it is because my current pregnancy would always put me to bed. Very opposite with my first born) to make a Yema Cake for everybody here at home. So here's how I made it and I hope you will have a good one if ever you want to give this a try.

The ingredients:

Yup! Cake mix is the key! I told you im into quick and easy ones lol! (You can use any brand of your choice)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven in 350F. In a mixing bowl, put rice mix, 1cup water, 3eggs and 1/3 cup melted and unsalted butter together and mix together until everything is combined. You can use an electric mixer or a wire wisk  will do the trick.

2. After you get the desired consistency of the cake batter, pour it in a round springform cake pan like this.

Size depends on your desired servings. But before pouring the batter, cover the entire bottom part of the pan with an aluminum foil. This will prevent the bottom of the cake to get overcooked and avoid spills from pan.

3. Put the round pan on top of a large rectangular pan and get ready to pop it inside the oven at 375F for 25-30mins.

While baking.. On a separate pan, (for the Yema Frosting)
1. Turn on the stove in a medium heat. In a sauce pan, pour 1can of condensed milk, 3egg yolks, 1/3cup softened butter and bring to boil. Give it a stir while waiting to boil so that all ingredients will be combined well and once the mixture becomes to thickened or a little bit creamy and sticky like the Yema/custard, turn of the heat and let it cool.

Final instruction:
1. Once the cake is done, let it out from the oven and cool it down a bit. Once its cooled, pour the yema mixture on top of the cake. Add grated cheese (ooops! I forgot to put this on the ingredients list) on top for added flavor and also as a garnish lol!

2. Store in the fridge for like about 3-5mins depends on your preference. You can take off the round panel of the pan and serve it either cold or warm over a hot coffee and im sure you will surely love it!

ELF Haul

Im a happy buntis! :)

I am not a pro when it comes to applying make up but at least I love how it turns out whenever I use them (hello Youtube Tutorials), I love cheap (or I should say affordable) make up and stuff and this goes out with shopping for clothes and shoes lol!

So i got these items from Elf Cosmetics today which I ordered last Jan. 3 when they were having a HUUUUUUGE sale! I guess this was like their last minute Holiday sale for Christmas and New Year.. I mean these are already affordable yet most of the time (well on holidays) they have promocodes and discounts going on.  These items are only $25 w/o tax just in order for me to take advantage of the free shipping.  And I so love them all and can't wait to try them on.

Here's a clickable screenshot of the name of the products which I got it on a discounted price that you can check out if you would like to. Other items not listed because It was bundled as a mystery gifts upon my purchase. How's that?

So if you guys are make-up enthusiast, you might have some (beauty) hacks or tips that you can share with me below in the comment box and I would really appreciate it.

Thanks guys and till my next post! :)

Twice as Nice!

Dear Shiloh Zooey,

Happy 2nd Birthday!. Time flies really fast but it's alright. I will never ask you to stop growing up because I will always be excited to see what's in store for you in the future and we promise that mom and dad will support you all the way.

But for now, we want you to enjoy your childhood. We may be unable to give you ALL you want. But we assure to give you ALL you need. On your birthday, we wish you good health always, more blessings from God and continue being loving, sweet and smart.

We love you so much and thank you for giving so much joy to our lives. Again, Happy Birthday BabyBop!!

From Dad, Mom and BabyNo.2.

(c)photo credits to me lol!..Yes it was a DIY Photoshoot which I got the idea from Pinterest

Shiloh turns two

Hi guys! Today is a sun-shinny day! Perfect time to capture great memories. And so me and my husband took our daughter to the park and had her a photoshoot for her 2nd birthday.  Yup! this is a yearly tradition for her (atleast until she's 7 lol!) and I do it for her. No professional cameras used. only my phone and some application filters :) see my next post for her photos.

After the shoot, my MIL decided to cook a special dinner for us in celebration of my daughter's birthday. We really didn't have a children's party just like we did on her 1st birthday but just a special dinner and get together with relatives. We wanted to do it today, a day advanced since its Sunday, family day and the weather is great for travel especially for my BIL and SIL coming from Fairfield and SFO.

We had Valenciana (an Ilonggo version of Paella), Pancit Palabok, Friend Chicken, Cakes from Red Ribbon and Little Ceasar's Pizza. It was again a burp day for us and we also announced to everyone about my pregnancy and off course, everybody is so happy and excited about it.

Baby Number 2!

Remember when I said I was feeling nauseated, dizzy and weird on my Dec.19 post? Well it was all because God answered our prayer already!

I am 6weeks delayed now and based on what I learned in Nursing, it's the best time to take pregnancy tests. And so I did and viola! Thank God it's POSITIVE!!

We just figure it out yesterday. My goodness! I even had a tiring day yesterday because we were at Kangazoom at the Tracy Mall and played with my daughter along with the other kids on the jump-jump bouncers, trampoline and giant slides. Yes! My weight passed the requirement lol! And not to mention, I started Zumba and jogging and cutting down on my calorie intake. So I guess I will continue cutting on carbs and sweets this time since I have the tendency (and I was with my daughter) to become diabetic when pregnant. Aka Gestational Diabetes.

So today I have an OB Appointment today to confirm the pregnancy via bloodtest and to make sure it's intrauterine pregnancy and not ectopic. I pray everything will be ok and we will stay healthy all through out the pregnancy.

However, the OB said it is still too early to see the embryo. I am 6wks delayed and 3wks pregnant. She said most of the time the embryo can be seen at 6-8wks AOG but she said she can see a gestational sac which confirms a pregnancy and we have done another urine and blood HCG tests and both are positive. So we set up another ultrasound appointment next month.

Cauliflower Fried Rice with Turkey Chorizo

So since this recipe has been circulating in Facebook and I started my diet to loose some weight brought by the holidays, I told myself to give this a try and it was sure a fire hit!. It is healthy, a great substitute for rice aside from Quinoa and so easy to prepare and lastly, it is tasty and my daughter even loves it and I guess for picky eaters, they would not even notice that its ground cauliflower-- unless you will really take a closer look at it lol!. So let me share it with you how I made it.

Ingredients:
Cooking oil
Onions (diced)
Carrots (diced or cut into tidbits)
Cauliflower (cut into tidbits) --I used a food processor though for faster result
Soysauce/salt and ground black pepper to taste

Optional:
Luckily, we still have some leftover homemade Turkey Chorizo made by my MIL so I used that as extra ingredients or you can use ham, shredded chicken, pork etc. Or you can just leave it as it is.

How to cook:
Sautee onions in cooking oil over a medium heat.
Once onions are tender, add your optional ingredients (ham, chicken, pork etc)
Once its cooked, add the cauliflower and carrots, mix everything in the pan and cover for 3 minutes.
Add soysauce/salt and pepper to taste and mix again
Transfer to serving plate and enjoy

I noticed that after eating, since it is not rice, i really dont feel heavily full (know what I mean?). It is just right and i feel lighter and energized to do more stuff. Unlike when you eat a lot of rice, you will feel heavy and sleepy haha. So there you go guys, this is worth giving a try and let me know in your comments how it works for you.

Ciao,
Anne

Oh Hi There, Mr. Sun!

Finally! After so many days (i guess almost a week) of rains, Mr. Sun finally showed up. So we took advantage of the great weather today and since we are all tired of doing nothing at home besides eating and sleeping lol!, we went to the Livermore Outlet and went shopping with the In-laws.

We got my daughter her birthday dress and stuff from the Disney store and an Under Armour kicks for me and my MIL. (A different pair for her off course) Its my 1st pair actually since I own a lot of Converse.

The Outlet wasn't that jampacked. Probably because the Holidays are over and some people are back to work, but I was surprised that the stores are still offering a holiday deals. 50-60-75% off. Lesson learned, I won't go shopping again on Thanksgiving and Christmas lol! We tried going there on those holidays and it was crazy and crowded! Long lines formed outside the stores and parking spaces are already full. We even didn't get a chance to get off the car so we ended up going back home haha!

Do you guys have some crazy experience(s) shopping on Holidays? I would love to read them on the comment box below.

Gotta go and get ready for another week of rain starting this Saturday. Tss!

Keep safe Loves!
-Anne

2017 Planner

Yey! I got my 2017 coloring planner and pens from Walmart. Looking forward to a much brighter and colorful New Year!

Hello 2017!

Our New Year's celebration was pretty simple yet so special. It was just my MIL, FIL, BIL, hubby and my baby. Since my MIL did the cooking last Christmas, I told her that we can take care of the dinner tonight. However, she did the empanada which was so tasty that we couldn't stop ourselves from grabbing a bite once its out from the oven. I will surely ask for her recipe.

Btw, we had my sweet style meatball spaghetti, lumpia, fruit salad and hubby baked some turkey.

And since In-laws couldn't stay up late at night, we had the Media Noche at 10pm and Hubby and I stayed up till 12am.. 010117 . When the time ticked at 12mn, there was some fireworks in our neighborhood that lasted for about 5mins. That made me miss how festive the Filipinos celebrate NYE.

So there you go guys, New Year, New Opportunities -- Better Life. Do you have a New Year's Resolution? I would love to see it in my comment box below. 

Have a Prosperous New Year Everyone!