Avocado for Andre

As a mom, I always look into it that my kids get only the most natural snacks and food most of the time, with very minimal canned goods and fast food. I also give 'em chips only once in a blue moon. It helps me that they're not picky and that they don't demand too much on what particular food to eat. So I get to choose what to give them. Of course, I cannot control everything, they might get unhealthy foods sometimes when they're at school or in some other occasions when they are tempted to. That is why at home, we go natural and if possible organic, to make up for those times when they crave for those appetizing junk foods and sodas.
At least the habit of not eating healthy does not come from our household.

The best time to give the kids healthy snacks is when they're bored and hungry in a lazy weekend afternoon. Believe me they'll eat anything as long as they don't have access to chips. I'm happy that we live in a gated community where there aren't sari-sari stores nearby. They can't just go and buy whatever they want. My son, Andre, came to love avocado when I topped it with some condensed milk. He even actually asked me to make him an avocado shake later on.

Healthy and natural, that's what we should always aim for, as long as we have choices. And guilt-free too, for Andre ate his avocado snacks with a smile on his face.

In the backyard

It was just me wanting to calm myself down when I am feeling frantic because of some deadlines or busy schedules coming my way - I went outdoors, in my backyard, got my camera and just did point and shoot at some random objects. Some of these were those of our tiny vegetable garden, other were just those of interesting things of nature, whose beauty we often take for granted. It was a good, inspiring break - just enough to get me back on my knees. 

Tiny balls of dew - makes me regret I didn't have a zooming lens.

Green camote grows like a wild fire in the backyard.

The red camote that continues to go on and on even after cutting it all down.

 Heart strings in my neighbor's doorstep, (they haven't moved in yet). Their kitchen is about to turn into a mini-forest now.

The wonder plant "saluyot" above. Our local chili plants never fail our "tinola".

This looks like a poor thing caught up in a web.

A delightful snack

This post was inspired by a friend's status in Facebook. It's about her eating mangoes with bagoong and it was so mouth-watering. So here it is, the power of Facebook materializing. I got these mangoes this morning from a nearby home-based fruit stand here in our village at a very cheap price of P15 per kilo (the joys of living in the suburbs, stuffs are way cheaper here). For my dip, I mixed the bagoong with my favorite vinegar brand "Pinoy Kurat" from Datu Puti. The best tuba vinegar I've tasted. It's a great substitute for my most fave red cane vinegar from Ilocos. Just so yummy!

What to make of it?

Got an old fish bowl and don't know what to do about it? Aside from keeping this bulky bowl, which can surely eat up a lot of your closet space,  you might want to use it to store your trinkets, hair pins, or beads. Better, use it to jazz up a corner, or an empty shelf. Add color to an all-white room like ours - collect dried flowers, or used potpourri, in assorted colors, and pile them up inside the bowl. I think it's cool!

Favorite Sewing Blog

I'm a bit obsessed these days, I found this really nice sewing blog called  flossieteacakes. I felt like I wanna start a career on sewing already, to make nice, fancy things like what Florence, the blog author, is doing, really charming.

Her blog has lots of sewing tutorials, for bags, home accessories, and many others. I just fell in love with the colors, how she played with them to create such fun fun objects. I felt like sewing and making new things out of dreamy fabrics was my passion in my past life. 

It is amazing how simple make-up bags like the ones above can be so pretty and charming because of the print of the fabric used. I also love her ideas for laptop cover and mobile phone cases. Check out her blog flossieteacakes.blogspot.com and see for yourself. (Photos of the make up bags courtesy of Flossieteacakes).

Camella Homes: Cerritos Trails

This post serves as a guide to those people who are planning to get a house and lot here in Cerritos Trails. We moved here just September last year and though it was not easy at first, coming from the ever convenient Makati City, we found ourselves getting by slowly each day and eventually liking and loving the place. I’d like to share some information on schools, nearest hospital, shopping areas, churches, public utility going to Metro Manila.

Cerritos Trails in the second phase of Camella’s Cerritos subdivision, it’s farther from the main road than the Phase 1. It is also bigger and more spacious than the first phase. The Camella Cerritos is located within the Camella Meadows and Springville communities, about 10 to 15 minutes drive from Alabang.

Back to a new school

It's back to school once more. This time the anxiety for my household is quite different. The kids are going to new schools. Sean is going to Divine Light Academy (DLA) while Andre will be going to Montessori dei San Lorenzo. Moving from Makati to Cavite has been a huge turnaround for us. At first it was really difficult having to move out from the urban, convenient way of life, where the supermarket is just around the corner and public transport is just a jump away. But the desire to have a bigger space and cleaner, better environment especially for growing kids gets stronger by the day. So now we're here, and so far, so good.

Growing Up

'Remember my post about the movie Up? Well, my younger son is actually not over it yet and his fondness seems to be growing as he himself grows up. He drew Mr. Fredricksen's house with the balloons on it in many pages of his sketch pads over and over again in different angles, different scenes. He was only 4 when the movie came out, now he's 6 and he still loves it. He has made himself lots of versions out of Lego, be it simple or 3D, used blocks too, and improvised with small balls of styrofoam for the balloons.

The one he drew above is the movie cover while the one below is a scene on top of the plateau where the Paradise Falls is found. Like his Kuya Sean, Andre is really talented. I couldn't be more proud. Take a look.

Drawn from below version

The midget out of Lego or the floor version out of Megablocks.

The 3D version he made in 2009.

A grander version he made just recently mixing Lego with styro balls.

And a whole bunch of random sketches.

Meet the Lego artist

If I'm not mistaken, this the first time I am going to introduce my lego artist - Sean, my eldest son. He's 10 but he started creating those lego transformers and other characters  back when he was only 6 years old. One of my favorites that he created is the Optimus-Jetfire union. The simple Wall-e he did was also cute. The liger (combination of lion and tiger) was really awesome. He still continues to amaze me and his dad until now. We're so proud of him, he did it all without any pattern, just pure imagination.
I'm sharing again some of his most recent works. One is a land rover, a mammoth, and his version of Demolishor from the movie Transformers. There were others before but sadly I was not able to photograph them.

Loyalty Cards Anyone?

Loyalty cards are in. Go to the nearest shopping mall or supermarket, even drugstore, and it’s likely that you’ll be offered a loyalty or rewards card if you still don’t have one. Its main objective (at least for me) is to reward shoppers for being loyal. It’s also an easy way to get people to continue patronizing the store.  After experiencing some of these rewards cards myself, I couldn't help but compare them and see which stands out in terms of service, practicality, and convenience.(Photo courtesy of justanotherpixel.net)

Ensaladang Bagnet

This reminds me of one of my favorite appetizers in Via Mare, their ensaladang bagnet. One day I was really craving for  it at home so we improvised. Here's what we did.