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Showing posts from December, 2012

New Year Greetings From My Family To Yours

It's been a busy long weekend, indeed! Cleaning up household mess (partially, yes, but more to be done), clearing the laundry baskets, preparing meals for and bonding with the family. Last minute gift packing (deciding which goes to whom?)! Finishing all my WIPs, yehey! Movie marathon tonight (in my part of the globe, that is) --- the large pack of chips is waiting :) for the goodbye 2012 - welcome 2013 big bang! Multitasking to the max! As I prepare to go to the market to claim my fish and veggie reservations from my favorite vendors, allow me to leave our family greetings to you all.  This is a product of our simple bonding yesterday consisting of a few-minute family date at a photo studio, then me and my hubby headed to the groceries while our two daughters did their own last-minute shopping. This was culminated by a dinner at Banana Leaf Asian Cafe. I enjoyed the Pomelo Salad Thai Style, Vegetable Samosas and Steamed HK Fish Fillet with Garlic which I shared with m

One Yummy and Healthy Idea a Week: a Year-ender Resolution

In one of my posts as a new blogger last year, I featured the crochet works of my younger daughter, Ana Cristina when she was still a college student. Click here to view post entitled, " Does it Really Run in the Blood? " Well, many things have changed now. At 20 and having landed a job ( a month after graduating from college) in a marketing company ( Focus Global, Inc. ) that is an e xclusive Philippine distributor of several well-known international brands including consumer goods and home furnishings, there had been a shift of her interest from volleyball and entrepreneurship into products showcased by her company. Quite noticeably lately, she has gotten into the habit of bringing home food magazines that I didn't have time browsing until last Saturday. As I entered the door coming from the market, she excitedly showed off a page from the Olive Magazine telling me, "You make one like this! You make one like this!"    The remark seemed like a ke

Under the Shadow of His Wings

In my post entitled, " The Birth of a Hobby " I featured about how I became enamored with plants.  In that post I said I'll share about the plants I have in my coming posts. Well, it's been more than a year now and I'm sorry I haven't posted any sequel to that. I'm afraid I haven't been a good mother to my plants for months now.  Oh, I'm so guilty of not spending much time with them the way I used to in the past. I'm so glad the Christmas holidays allowed me to give them a shower twice a day. Every time I do, I couldn't help but notice the flowers in one of the pots, that remind me of a photo I took more than a year ago. Inspired by Psalm 17: 8 that says, "Hide me under the shadow of Your wings..." I wrote the caption.   

Savor the Flute Aroma

I arrived home one day to the smell of cumin. I asked my daughter, Ayana Grace , "Why the Mexican smell?" Well, her seeming invasion into my kitchen laboratory is fast becoming a habit!  (Honestly, I like it especially after working more than eight hours in the office. What could be a better relief than going home to a hearty meal?) An avid fan (errr stalker?) of the Divas Can Cook YT channel and website, she was into another experiment. Oh yes, she's living up to her profession as a chemist, indeed! Last month, I posted about the Pepperoni Pizza Quesadilla dish she made, also from Divas Can Cook . This time, I'm featuring her Tuna Flautas wrapped in tortillas. Ayana Grace used the Chicken Flautas recipe (minus the cayenne powder and cilantro which were not available in our laboratory) from the Divas Can Cook but used tuna flakes instead of chicken.   Well, it was my first time to get a taste of Tuna Flautas   and truly, her stalking the Diva Channel was wo

Crochet Necklace

For this post, I'm featuring the  Crochet Necklace by Creativeyarn from Crochetme.com. Photo from Crochetme.com I made one like this last year which is featured in my post entitled, " Holiday Season Crochet Marathon Part 3 ." I used black so that it would match any color of blouse or dress. I like this crochet necklace so much that I couldn't resist making another one now. This time, of similar color as the original design as featured by Creativeyarn. Forgive me for the photography...  For its embellishment, I used the pattern of Art Threads in making large and small petals. It's the same pattern I used for the flowers I featured in the Flower Necklace . Then, instead of using a button at the center of the flower (see original design from first photo), I crocheted an apple green bud using the pattern from Crochet Flower Fridgies to enhance the effect. I also sewed a small bead from a broken bracelet to fit into the button hole.    So ho

Flower Necklace

Last year, I posted about the crocheted gifts I gave away for my friends (click  here to view post). These are the Rainbow Coasters, the Lacy Hair Scrunchies, the Crocheted Necklace, Coffee Sleeves, Flower Basket Corsage, Beverage Cozies and the Retro Neck Band. For the past weeks, I've been posting also about the making of each of these crocheted gifts.  So far, I have featured individually the making of the Retro Neck Band , the Lacy Hair Scrunchies, the Rainbow Coasters and the Flower Basket Corsage . I haven't posted yet about the making of the Coffee Sleeves and the Beverage Cozies. But I will, yes, very, very soon! For this year, I've been thinking of making floral give-aways. In fact, I have already started another flower crochet marathon! To start with, I made a rose which I featured in the post entitled, " Rose Buds as Identifiers ." Click here to view post. And now, for my second flower project, here, take a look...

Bamboo Shoots with Coconut Milk (Ginataang Labong)

As a week-ender, let me feature one of my favorite native recipes, a very popular dish among Negrenses in the Visayas region of my country, the Philippines. Bamboo shoots are best cooked with shrimps and saluyot (jutes or Corchorus Olitorius). I can still vividly remember the first time my parents asked me to taste this dish. A preschooler I was then. Imagine the usual drama at the dining table as my mother and father would repeatedly and alternately say in our native Ilonggo dialect, "Tilawi lang bala!" ("Just taste it first!") . It wasn't easy... I mean, on their part, because it was with much resistance before I would succumb to their prodding. And, take note, only after my father would start rolling his belt on his hand, ready to strike anytime his temper is provoked any further!   But wait, again, I remember how I would continue, in disguise, the tearful drama as I consumed the serving, concealing the truthful realization that the cre

Moebius Headband Earwarmer

This is my second mobius. The first one I made, the  Neckie Mobius Cowl , is featured in one of my previous posts last month. This time it's another mobius but a headband and earwarmer in one, the pattern for which I got from PDDesigns: Crochet Patterns, Crochet Accessories and More . I believe I was love struck the moment I saw this headband.  The original pattern from PDDesigns I love the color, yes, and the design at a glance. I didn't look for a similar color though, because I had left-over yarn from my stash. I had somebody in mind when I first saw this and so I didn't waste any time.  The pattern was very easy to follow although in this pattern, I discovered another way of making the twist needed to form a mobius compared to the one featured in my previous post , that which I followed in making a cowl. In this pattern what I enjoyed most was doing Round 3 where the directions required one to make DCs that cross each other.  See the DCs that cr