STAYCATION

I turned down an invitation to spend the 4-day weekend with a good friend's family in a beach house in Sariaya, Quezon. Now before you bop me in the head, I declined because my friend's sons were with their mother, which meant that my son would be the only kid on the trip. I asked Joaquin if he still wanted to go to the beach even if he was the only kid and he said he'd rather go to Tita Carla's house and play with her kids.

Staycationing is nice. I was able to keep tabs on episodes of my favorite TV shows, catch up on my reading, sleep, nap and cook. And I think I'll get a massage tonight, if one of the home service massage places are open.

How's your long weekend going so far?

The little boy and I are just happy to be able to spend more quality time together. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, guys!

RECIPE: SOFT AND CHEWY BROWNIE COOKIES

I have to admit, there are days when I just don't want to bake.

Especially now that it's been too hot to do anything except turn on the aircon, stay in bed and catch up on my TV shows.

Seriously, that's how I wanted to spend my Sunday.

But the little boy kept prodding me to bake or bring him to his Tita Carla's house so he can play with her kids.

We started baking after lunch and then that's when I got the call from my friend, Carla sounding very frantic and asking if I could accompany her to St. Luke's because she needs to have her son checked.  You see, she had her son circumcised early last week and according to her, she felt something was wrong because "it" looked wrong.  Of course, when it comes to emergencies like these, you just drop whatever it is you're doing and go.

Luckily, I was almost finished with the batter so I decided to just keep it in the refrigerator.  Joaquin and I got ready as fast as we could and then Carla and I dropped Joaquin off at her house and to the hospital we went.

Turns out, my friend's son's--you know-- was normal and the doctor and urologist assured us that it would look like a typical *ehem*, you know, as soon as it heals.

So anyway, Joaquin and I ended up staying at Carla's till dinner and then our other friends came too and before you know it, it was 10pm and it was time to go home.

"Mama, let's bake the brownie cookies!", my son said while we were on our way home.  I tried to argue that it was night time but at the same time, I kept thinking about how long the batter has been in the refrigerator and how the cookies might not turn out as good if I wait till the next day.

So we baked them cookies.  And how yummy!  They turned out a little crisp on the outside and all chewy and moist inside.  I wouldn't think twice about making these again. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped and divided into 7 ounces and 5 ounces. (12oz = 1.5 cups)
3 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Combine 7 ounces of chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave for 1 minute.   Give it a stir then heat in 10-second bursts until the mixture can be stirred smooth.  Set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, add eggs, sugar, vanilla and beat for 8 minutes on medium speed or until it looks pale and creamy.

Add the flour, baking powder, melted chocolate-and-butter mixture, and pour in the remaining 5 ounces of chopped chocolate.  Mix for about 1 minute on medium speed. 

Your mixture will look like and have the consistency of chocolate fudge.  And that's why you need to cover your bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to stand at room temperature for about an hour so the batter firms up.

When ready, scoop out mounds of dough onto buttered baking sheets or silicone mats (I don't have one and I want one but so expensive!).  Do not crowd your cookies because these spread.  I placed 9 mounds per tray. I didn't do this part but it is suggested that you do (I think this is why my cookies turned out thinner than I would have liked) -- allow mounds to remain on baking trays, uncovered for about an hour before baking to help batter really set.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on trays before transferring to your mouth (haha!) or an airtight container.

Nomnom!

CONGRATULATIONS, JOAQUIN!

I'm so proud of you, my love.

 So proud that it makes me kind of proud of me, too.

May you be braver, happier and smarter.  I promise to be with you every step of the way.

The world is yours for the taking!

So I was reading this article on the NY Times this morning and I don't know if my parents were aware that telling me and my sisters stories of our family's roots, trials and victories would equip us to handle challenges more effectively but you know what, I'd like to say it worked.

"The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come."

Now that I'm a parent, I have challenges of my own and I find myself being inspired by how my Lola would wake up early everyday to either go to Baclaran or go from office to office to sell her Baclaran finds just to earn money.  Or how my lolo grew his fleet of jeepneys. Or how my mom managed to work 2 positions (she had a full-time job and a business) for how many years.  Or how my dad had to sell the Rolex my Angkong gave him because we really needed the money.

Papa, being the funny guy, always told us the good stories, the stories of how he was like as a kid, how he and Mama met, where they went on their first date, how Mama was like when she was younger. My mom, on the other hand, was the storyteller of our hardships and what they had to do to go around it. I was the eldest and my mom always kept me abreast with the good, the bad and the ugly.  This was something I didn't appreciate very much when I was younger because like any teenager, I just wanted to have fun. But now that I think about it, I learned so much from them.

We grew up with a family driver but my parents forced me to learn how to commute in highschool.  Every summer, my mom would make me go with our store clerk to our boutique in Greenhills (commute again!) and make me stay there the entire day to help man the store and sell clothes.  My sisters and my cousins (who lived with us then) would take turns washing dishes every night. Papa would also bring me to different restaurants, from the fanciest to the hole-in-the-wall-carinderia type. Later on, he would explain that they want to make sure that no matter what happens in the future, we will survive.  And the reason why they have given us a taste of expensive cuisine, nice vacations and luxurious things is so that we can decide what kind of lifestyle we want to live and how hard we should work to maintain it.  Most importantly, they wanted us to simply be happy and appreciative of our life, whether we end up commuting everyday or living in a mansion.

My parents weren't perfect and we didn't exactly have a picturesque family life but I am utterly grateful that they have raised me and my sisters to be so grounded. And of course, I'll be raising Joaquin the same way.

FALLING OUT

I had this dilemma which dawned on me early February and I only made sense of why I was feeling that way last week. I didn't want to write about it because I might come off as downright mean but you be the judge. Here goes nothing.

I have this friend who I have known for close to 8 years. She's a simple girl who lives a simple life but early this year, I found myself annoyed by some of the things she does.  Like when she speaks in Jejemon linggo.  A little jejemon, I can tolerate but to actually make it part of everyday conversion, I cringe! Some of you are probably saying that I should talk to her about it, but how?  How do you ask someone to stop being so...so...jejemon-ish?

It also irked me that she passed on a, what I think, was a great opportunity to earn more just because she felt she couldn't work with the schedule. She's a mother and her husband doesn't have a stable job so I know that she could really really use the added income. I also know that she wants to send her son to a much better school.

Now I feel like I'm falling out of friendship with her, and I don't like it one bit.  I've broken up with friends before but that's because they were people who brought me down, betrayed my trust or were just toxic to be around with.  She isn't any of that.

So for like a month, I kept asking myself why I was feeling that way.  Why I was nitpicking her.

And then last week, the answer came to me while I was sharing this particular problem with one of my closest friends, April.

And the answer is this: She never changed.

You see, growing up, my parents always reminded me to choose my friends.  At first I thought they were being discriminating but it didn't take very long for me to understand what they meant.  It meant that I should choose to surround myself with people who will inspire me and motivate me.  People who have a zest for life, people who are eager to learn new things and who are constantly trying to improve themselves in one way or another.

And you know what? I think I did a good job.  Looking at my closest friends now, they're all incredible.  Kookie is successfully pursuing a dream to be a make-up artist and Charo has been helping make the world a better place in her own little ways.  Then there's Bea who now runs faster than me. Hahaha!  Do you know that my friend, Carla makes her own mayo, ketchup, ice cream and peanut butter?  April is hell-bent on getting her sexy back and she's been working out like crazy.  She also designs wrapping paper.  There's Lia who makes these awesome and surprisingly good smoothies made out of raw vegetables and fruits and her twin, Mia, is a wonderful housewife who I can always count on for arts and crafts for the kids and the home.  There are a few others who I will not mention anymore but it all comes down to this:

Each of my closest friends have their own "thing". They all make the most out of life and they are continuously learning and trying new things.  Doesn't matter to me if they failed, the point is they tried. Most of all, they are genuinely good people who have been nothing but wonderful to me and Joaquin.  And yes, they also have a bit of crazy in them which makes them even more fun and interesting.  And I have to admit, sometimes scary. Hehe!

Anyhoo, so that's why I feel like I am falling out of friendship with my other friend-- because in the years I have known her, she has not changed. As in she's in the same job and she has not tried or done anything new and is refusing to improve the quality of her life. Lately, I find myself running out of things to talk about with her.  I mean, she doesn't play any sport, doesn't really read books, doesn't write, doesn't watch movies, doesn't go out with friends, doesn't have any particular interest. Snoozefest. I feel that she is complacent and mediocre, and I don't know about you but when you reach a certain age, you're pretty much sure of the kind of life you want to live and the kind of people that you want to be in it.

Don't get me wrong, I am content and happy with the life that has been given to me but that doesn't mean that I can no longer make it better. Just because I am content doesn't mean that I have given up on my dreams. I want to do more and be more while I still can.  After all, (haters gonna hate) YOLO. Hahaha!

So tell me, am I being shallow?

RECIPE: LONGGANISA and SPINACH PASTA

If you're a fan of reality cooking competitions, you'll be familiar with challenges where they provide the contestants with crazy ingredients and ask them to turn it into something mind-blowing.

I kind of gave myself the exact same challenge last Saturday.

I didn't wake up early enough to go to the market. I checked the ref and I had 4 pieces of longganisa hamonado and some spinach.

It was close to lunch and I decided to just make do with those 2 key ingredients. This dish turned out absolutely yummy and as with most pasta dishes, it tasted better the next day.

LONGGANISA SPINACH PASTA

Ingredients:

cooked pasta (I used about 400 grams)
olive oil
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 white onion, minced
chili flakes (optional)
4 pcs. longganisa, minced
a bunch of spinach leaves, chiffonade
salt and pepper
250 ml all purpose cream
grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta accordingly. Set aside.
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan (if you want it a little spicy, this is when you add the chili flakes so it infuses with the olive oil) and add the longganisa. Fry until it turns golden brown.
3. Toss in the garlic and onions. Be careful not to burn them. Saute until the onions turn translucent.
4. Add the spinach. Give it a minute to get settled :)
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Pour the cream.
7. Add the cooked pasta. Fold pasta and sauce together using tongs.
8. Sprinkle a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese while mixing pasta. Turn off heat and eat!

Bon appetit!

RECIPE: DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

This may sound silly but when I became a mother, I wanted my home to always have homemade goodies available for my kids.

And since I purchased an oven last December, I have somehow been able to live that dream.

2 weeks ago, Joaquin and I made butterscotch brownies.  When I got home Friday night, there was only one bar left.

I have a few dark chocolate bars at home which I, for some reason, don't feel like eating anymore so I chopped them up and decided to bake some dark chocolate chip cookies.  This is, by far, the best choco chip cookie recipe I've tried.

DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Recipe from Apple A Day
Makes approximately 3 dozens

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. dark chocolate chunks

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Drop dough (by the tablespoon) onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. 

P.S.
As of this writing, the cookies are all gone.