Garden Chef's Needle and Pen

In my post about my crochet marathon , I promised to write about each of the featured crochet works I made. They say promises are made to be broken but here I keep my promise. Let me start with this... My Flower Corsage   THE MAKING... For this crochet project, I used Tara Murray's pattern from Leaves and Flowers . The patterns for both flowers and leaves were very easy to follow in that both involved just a few steps. From Tara Murray's "Easy Makes Me Happy"  In making the flowers,  I enjoyed choosing and deciding which colors would make a good combination.  I also had to consider the color preferences of the persons to whom I would give the corsage. There were only 6 rounds in the making of a larger flower (4 rounds for a smaller one) so that in a very short while you are done making a number of flowers. Two-layered flowers (small and large petals)  Now for the leaves , Tara's instructions include an easy-to-fo...

I'm not ashamed to admit that I learned about nail art only recently although I have seen the "half-moon" design in my mother's nails when I was still a little child. Little did I know that nail art has evolved so much through the years! Ayana, my eldest daughter, is into it. And now, I have another addition to my vocabulary-- "water marbling". I also learned about this from Ayana. Well, this is what we call learning from the younger generation. Interested to view her own creations? Here, take a look... This is her winning entry in the Caronia website promo contest for the month of January. To view the details? click here . See the next photo. This was featured in Caronia Philippines Facebook wall last February 3, 2012. And as I was saying earlier, here's her latest creation, "Water Marbling".  To take a look at her tutorial, click here .  Have you tried any of these designs for your nails? Hmmm... it mus...

Reflections on a preaching of our Pastor one Sunday of June in 2010. Key verse: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor 10: 13) As an introduction to his message, Pastor John mentioned something about the impossible rigors of life which he graphically illustrated using the sand sculpture “ Agony ” by Bert Adams. The word, “rigor”, plus the illustration instantly brought to my mind “rigor mortis”, a medical term which means body stiffness that occurs several hours after death as a result of the coagulation of protein in the muscles. In his exposition, he gave as an example of the rigors of life, that of Job---God’s perfect model of victory in response to intense physical, emotional and spiritual temptation, so intense to have rendered his body in total stif...

This past week I chanced upon our hospital cafeteria a breakfast menu consisting of fried Galunggong with achara (pickled green papaya with carrots, ginger and onions) as side dish. I wasn't able to resist the sight of the crispy fried galunggong  which I imagined to be statuettes of somersaulting ballerinas after bathing on high heat. I ordered one serving for my lunch which I very much enjoyed, leaving a small portion which I was able to bring home for dinner. Galunggong ( big-bellied round scad or Mackerel Scad <Decapterus macarellus>) is among the very common fishes in Philippine waters and markets. It is usually considered as the index of  well-being among the Filipino common Tao in the same way that the Big Mac is used globally 1 . GG, as it is abbreviated by Filipinos  has a dark somewhat oily but tasty flesh. Seeing the heap of galunggong in the market this morning reminded me of the crispy GG I ate for lunch last week.  That gave me in an i...

Hello there! Today is Sunday but I wasn't able to attend the Worship Service. There were carpentry jobs at home which I had to supervise, and while doing so, as usual, the experiment in the kitchen goes on. Never a day without trials and tests in my kitchen. My experiments usually consist of  modifications in the original recipes that happen when: I deliberately change the ingredients of the recipe according to what is available  I modify the sequence of the cooking directions as I deem appropriate Today's recipe experiment is a variation of Betty Crocker 's Quick Chicken Scampi . This is a delicious skillet dinner made with linguine served with chicken mixture and vegetables. Betty Crocker's recipe has the following ingredients:

How are you spending your weekend? Remember my post two Sundays ago featuring the poem of Corrie Ten Boom? Here's a sequel to that.

Hello there! How well do you like fairy tales? Well, I do (did, and still do)… very much! As a child, I was able to keep my own collection of Classics Illustrated, numbered them one by one as my mother bought one or two every time we would go to the city to shop. Then my father would read the stories first and read them to me, until I was old enough to read them myself. I would keep them in my bookshelf, invite my friends to read over, until I left our hometown for my college education. Sad to say, while I was away, my mother lent quite a number to a cousin who never got to return the borrowed items :( Years later, I had all my comic books bound and read to my own children during their early years, just the very same way my father did when I was still a small child. This morning, as I went to the market earlier than usual, I remembered the story of the Three Little Pigs . Let me reminisce a little bit. In the story, one of the three pigs was wise enough to build a house of bri...

It's been more than a month since I last posted ( I Turned my Kitchen into a Laboratory this New Year ) about my kitchen spree. After more than a week of being contented with fast food meals due to overtime and late nights from work, I was finally able to spend more time in the kitchen this weekend. For this post, I'd like to feature the salad showcases by Chef Dolly for lunch on February 3, 2012  during the Closing Meeting of the FERCAP-PHREB Advanced Training for Surveyors/Accreditors. Chef Dolly is the Head of 1475 Cafeteria of the Philippine Heart Center , the hospital where I work.  She impressed not only the local and foreign surveyors but all the participants with her Talinum-Apple  Salad with Bagna Cauda Sauce ,  Melon-Bitter Melon Salad with French Onion Sauce and Alugbati-spinach-camote tops-sigarillas-papaya salad with bagoong-vinegar sauce . Here, take a glimpse at each of the three---  First, the TALINUM-APPLE SALAD WITH BAGNA CAUDA SAUCE...

Praise God I found this poem by Corrie Ten Boom. 

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted anything for the past two weeks. Just been quite busy with office work. Do you remember my last post? The one entitled, " Holiday Season Crochet Marathon Part 3 ". Well, in that post, I featured some crocheted items I made for my friends and colleagues during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Among the featured gift items is a set of rainbow coasters . Here is the original pattern and the set I made. Photo by Crochet Spot I got the original design from Crochet Spot , a site that provides crochet patterns and tutorials. Let me share with you my experience while working on the  Rainbow Coasters and how it led me to discover the glittering pot of gold!  Read my featured article, Golden Treasures in Rainbow Coasters. Or you may click this link: http://www.crochetspot.com/golden-treasures-in-rainbow-coasters/