Monthly Archives: May 2004

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I made my very first ice cream! I went to a cooking seminar today, sponsored by Work. Yipee! One of our many assigned recipes was Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I’m sharing it with you:

Ingredients:
Eggs, whole, 2 pieces
Sugar, 150 grams
Peanut butter, chunky, 150 grams < — We were out of chunky though, so we used creamy instead.
Whipping creme, (liquid) 400 ml
Milk, 400 ml
Chocolate Chips (semi-sweet), 120 grams < — We didn’t have any, so we just had a chocolate bar and grated it!

Preparation:
1. Whisk eggs and sugar until light, add the peanut butter and mix until smooth.
2. Mix whipping creme and milk. Stir the chocolate chips.
3. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and process. (When the mixture looks thick enough, then it’s practically done. It took us around an hour for processing.)
4. Freeze in covered container until ready to serve.

It was delicious. Yum yum yum. It was as good as Selecta’s Chocopeanut ice cream. It was really easy! I would love to do this recipe for my family but I don’t have an ice cream maker. And to do it manually is way too tiring. But I am definitely keeping this recipe on file… who knows? Maybe someone’s gonna gift me with an ice cream maker or H & I splurge on one sometime. This recipe is for keeps!

Opening Doors

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“Follow your hopes and dreams. Some opportunities come once in a lifetime. It’s better to try than always wonder what could have been.”

I had a phone interview today for a company abroad. I knew I was too junior for what they wanted, but I went for it anyway. I was seriously contemplating on not continuing that interview anymore. But I’m glad I pushed through with it. I had a nice chat with the company head. We were very honest with each other, she telling me my working experience was short of 2 years of what they needed, me telling her the same thing. Still the talk went beautifully and I was able to share some of my passions about advertising with her. I think it turned out pretty well. She did say that when the time comes for them to beef up their team, she’d give me a call. I said that was very much fine with me.

I’m happy the interview went well. I’m happy that she liked me. But most of all, I’m happy that I did go for the interview, even if some doubts were pulling me down last week. I never would’ve opened this door had I listened to those doubts in my head.

I may not have been meant to walk through THIS door, but I’m glad I was able to open it for awhile and chat with the person on the other end. I have a feeling a similar door will open for me soon. Hopefully, I walk through that door. Let’s wait and see.

My little blue friend

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I keep a little notebook with me everywhere I go. I take it out everytime I read a magazine or a book. I don’t like using highlighter or writing on the pages of my books, so whenever a passage strikes me, I write it down in my little notebook. It’s a good source of inspiration and a pretty good way to start generating ideas, especially when you’re having a mental block. I just whip out my little blue friend and ta-da! Quotes and inspirations galore. More importantly, my books are spared of semi-fluorescent markers.

The first of many more to come :)

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One year ago today, I was dressed in a flowing white gown and he in a barong tagalog. I carried a bouquet of pink and orange gerberas and a wide smile on my face. He wore a nervous grin on his face and beads of sweat decorated his forehead. I walked down the aisle to our wedding song, “The Prayer”, and he waited at the altar, tears shining in his eyes. What bonded us the best was not the “You may kiss the bride” bit, but the embrace we shared after that first kiss as husband and wife. It was the embrace that would start a life of warm embraces, a life of holding each other come what may.

One year ago today was the beginning of many happy days together. I can’t wait to see what this second year of togetherness will bring us.

Man for a night

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I got a lot of flack from my friends last Friday night. As I gave my best friend a hug, he goes, “Why do you smell like a man?!” My girl friend shrieks, “Ikaw pala yon!!!!!” (So that was you!!!)

Uh-oh. Looks like my Johnson’s Baby Cologne didn’t work. I reluctantly took out the small pink bottle and told them it was called “Morning Dew” and well… didn’t I smell like the morning dew? (Haha…)

A fit of hysterical shrieks and giggles burst out. And a big N-O too. A couple more friends arrived and after letting them smell the cologne, they did say it did smell like a man’s musk. A friend recommended Bench. Maybe I’ll drop by that store sometime.

Oh well. We left the “Morning Dew” bottle at the coffee shop. Maybe a guy would pick it up, and hopefully, he uses it and gets compliments like, “You’re so manly!”

Lesson learned! If it smells like a man, well, it’s not for me.

These little things

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Gifts don’t have to be grand. Gifts don’t have to come only on an occasion. I find that gifts are best liked if they’re unexpected too.

H came home last night with a grocery bag saying, “I have a surprise for you!” He whipped out 3 packs of Lucky Me Supreme (Sotanghon Soup). He said, “Sometimes you tell me that you’re hungry but there’s nothing to eat here, and I know you like these…” (Like these? I love these!) And then he told me he had another surprise. He took out 3 Selecta ChocoPeanut Ice Cream Bars. My favorite! I was jumping up and down. And finally, because he knew I craved for chocolate every now and then, he bought me a bar of Toblerone. Mmm.

It was really sweet. The funny thing was, I had a surprise for him too. I surprised him with a big dinner from Aristocrat. (Delivery is my best friend!) We had a feast with the Chicken Barbeque, Atsara, BBQ sauce, Java Rice, Crab and Corn soup, Sotanghon Soup, and pancit canton. We indulged ourselves by washing down the yummy dinner with ice cold Coca-Cola. I had my ChocoPeanut dessert.

And then we watched our favorite silly show, Blind Date. After that, I snoozed beside him on the couch wrapped like a lumpia in my rainbow-colored sarong (it was cold!) while he watched a Titanic documentary.

That’s how we usually spend our weeknights. Our little “lambingans.” And the little surprises come often, too. These little things make me feel ten-feet-tall.

The unquestioned life could be worth living!

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I subscribe to Globe’s HerInspiration, and they send out daily doses of inspiration like this one. I loved this particular message. I forwarded this quote to about all my friends last night:

“There are times we have so many questions and seem to have no answers. The answers will soon come. Enjoy life’s little surprises.”

I don’t think I’m the most spontaneous person in this world. I’m probably about 80% a planner, and 20% a spontaneous gal. Yep, I’m into schedules and routines and planning things out. I’ve started loosening up since H and I got together — thank goodness! So many questions have been filling my head lately. When will we have children? Will I ever get a raise? Where will I be by the time I’m 30? What should I have accomplished by then? When is the best time to buy that kitchen shelf? How much will termite control cost? What time should I leave the house tomorrow morning?

When I got that text message, it hit home. Yup. I can’t be in control all the time. I should let go of all the questions in my head, even for just a moment. It’s difficult, but it has to be done.

As H would say, “Wifey, relaaaaax.”

*reluctantly lets go of her pen and To-Do list…..*

(Okay, Husby! I’ll try my best!)

The Money Box

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I can’t help it. After a day of work, I always, ALWAYS have spare change in my pocket. I have a coin purse in my bag but still loose change finds it way to my jeans pocket. I think if I do the Dance of Joy (remember Perfect Strangers?), a certain jingling and chiming would help keep the beat of the dance.

Solution? The money box. We bought a really nice looking wooden box from Landmark (Cheap finds! Value finds!). Whenever we arrive home, we head for it and empty our pockets. As of this morning, I think there was about 30-something pesos in change there… a mix of 25 centavo coins, 1 peso coins, 5 peso and 10 peso coins.

The other good thing about it is whenever we’re in need for spare change, we don’t have to go looking under the couch or in the pockets of my office bag. I need spare change whenever I ride the cab or when I need to get coffee from the vending machine at work, so our money box is a big convenience. Meanwhile, I’ll work my way up to putting in paper bills in the money box sometime…

(I still do the Dance of Joy in my weird and wacky moments, but the jingling and chiming’s all in my head now.)

Can’t get enough of your pearly whites

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Guess what my Dad gave my Mom for Mother’s Day? An electric toothbrush. You read that right. An electric toothbrush.

We were all in the family car last Sunday when he asked my younger sister to take out his present. It was in a beautiful paper bag. My Mom looked so excited! She reached into the paper bag, and a lopsided smile flashed across her face. An electric toothbrush. My sisters and I broke into giggles in the backseat.

My Mom was obviously disturbed by this, well, appliance. How totally unromantic right? Wrong. While my Mom flipped the toothbrush over and over (trying to get to love it I guess), my Dad continued driving and started to tell her why this was such a great toothbrush.

“There’s a timer so you brush your upper set of teeth for 1 minute… When the vibrating stops, you turn it on again because it’s time to brush your lower set of teeth. So you know when to start and stop brushing…”

My Mom softened up a bit after hearing Dad enthusiastically tell her about the features of this electric toothbrush. I think he really thought it was romantic. It’s the thought that counts. And at least he’s concerned about my Mom’s oral health!

Elle Woods seeking Elle Woods

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I miss my girlfriends. They’re all over the country, and I see them once in a blue moon. My best friend is a guy. My other best friend is my husband, who is, obviously, a guy. (Is it possible to have two best friends, by the way?) I digress. I was talking about girlfriends.

I’m not exactly kikay¹, but I do have my girlie moments. For example, I want to have my eyebrows threaded, get a haircut, possibly some highlights, get a facial, get a massage, go shopping, go window-shopping, all those girlie things. But I’m stuck in losyang² land for now. Though I CAN be kikay and do those kikay stuff on my own, it’s not as fun as doing with a friend.

My officemate and I were talking about girlfriends once, and I realized I didn’t have a constant girl buddy. By constant I mean someone I see every week, or every other week, someone I can talk girl stuff with. I have a lot of girlfriends, but not one who’s really close to me, proximity-wise as well.

It’s not a terrible case. I’m very happy with the circle of friends I have. I just miss having to chatter endlessly while getting your nails done together. Come to think of it, I’ve never done that with a friend.

Having guys for best friends is huge fun and a huge advantage. But a girl best friend? That’s still entirely different, and someone I wish I had. There’ll be that constant buddy I can watch girly movies with or just talk and do girl stuff with.

But for now, I’ll be going to the parlor alone, cherishing my quiet time before walking back out into the noisy city. For now, I’ll be reading through fashion magazines alone, still wondering whether this outfit would make my hips look big. For now, I’ll be watching girly movies with my officemates, or just be catching them on DVD so I can watch them at home. For now (and as always), I’ll be looking forward to the elusive and precious coffee and dinner dates my girlfriends and I have. (Miss you, beautiful girls of LHC!)

Lucky are those who have these best girly buddies. Treasure them, cherish them, have fun with them, the way only girls can.

¹ Very girlie. Hmmm. I can’t think of an apt translation for this word.
² A woman letting herself go. Haha!

On vitamins and makeovers

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No need for that spoonful of sugar
I make sure H and I take our vitamins faithfully. Here’s a list of what we’ve been putting into our systems every night:

Ascorbic Acid
Ferrous Sulfate
Multivitamin
Vitamin E
Fish Oil
Folic Acid (for me)

Am I missing out on anything? Or is this too much? I wonder. I wonder. *slaps her forehead* I forgot to buy Calcium tablets.

Wishing they could do MY home
Finally saw Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on ETC! last night. I’ve fallen in love with the show. I wish the Fab Five were my friends. I wish they could help fix up our home and my wardrobe. Heehee.

Loving the new look!
It’s so pleasing to the eye and makes blogging more enjoyable. Uh-oh… does this mean I’ll be updating every hour? Haha. Loving this new Blogger! Good job, Team Blogger!

Hands off!

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Ever since Day 1 of my married life, people have been asking me if I’m pregnant or already have kids. I tell them in my usual cheery voice, “Coming soon!” I don’t mind the questioning really. What I do mind is when they ask, “So are you pregnant yet?” and then they reach out and touch my tummy. Even total strangers do that. Well, okay, not strangers… acquaintances is more the appropriate term.

I’m a demonstrative person. I like hugging people, holding on to their arms, giving them a pat on the back. I only do this however to people close to me. So it really irritates me when people who I hardly consider close friends reach out and touch my tummy. I wanna say, “Watch the hand! You’re invading my personal space!”

Receiving a pat on the back from an acquaintance for a job well done is fine. But a pat on the tummy? All I do is freeze. Sometimes I inhale so they don’t feel my love handles (LOL!). The truth is I get really annoyed. I mean, I don’t do that to my pregnant friends. If I wanna feel their tummy, I ask for permission first.

I just had to let that out. Just because you’re asking or concerned if your friend’s pregnant, it doesn’t give you the right to reach out and touch her tummy! Never forget the concept of personal space, man!

Maybe I should wear a shirt that says, “No, I am not yet pregnant so don’t even think of touching my tummy.” Heehee.

Classical music + Wild imagination = Kiddie stories!

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I’m not a die-hard classical music fan, but I do like listening to it to relax. To help me appreciate classical music, I try imagining a story while the music plays. I make the stories up in my head! If the music’s all tinkly and light, I imagine bunnies hopping in the meadow. If it’s low and loud, I imagine sharks in the ocean circling a tugboat. Letting my imagination run wild was what I did at the Bocelli concert last Friday.

I thank Bocelli for making my Mom have a fantastic time. She was in tears while at the concert! She was even humming along to the songs. I was at the concert more for her, than for him. I was super happy that she enjoyed herself.

I thank Bocelli for sparking in me my old love of writing short stories. With all the songs he sang, stories unfolded in my head. My imagination ran wild — I thought of little girl’s tales, rainbows and butterflies… children’s stories! I had a bunch of children’s stories in my memory as we stepped out of the concert. I couldn’t wait to write them down!

The next day, I wrote two of the stories that popped in my head. I wanted to see how it would turn out so I read them both to my 9-year-old cousin, Maxine. She LOVED them! And I was so happy. I loved seeing her eyes widen and her smile grow bigger while I read the story out loud. And when the second story was done, she said, “Ang ganda!” (“It’s beautiful!”). That made my day!!!

I now want to buy all of Bocelli’s CDs. I can’t wait to just put them on the player and listen to them during the weekend, sit lazily on the couch and listen to his heavenly voice. Then I’ll just let my imagination wander. And more short stories will come out.

Another way to get the creative juices flowing!