same old rants

Last week was a crazy week. I had barely a weekend because I started working on Sunday. Apart from a two-day “raket” I also worked the entire week to prepare for a major workshop which we hosted Friday. Outside office hours me and my friends are cooking up a business endeavor that will hopefully be operational come mid-Feb. While the weekend was somehow relaxing because we went swimming, I probably went too far celebrating on Saturday night and had the worst hangover come Sunday morning. Today, I could not go to work because I was very nauseous. Unfortunately, I have deadlines to meet so I would likely be up until 2 or 3 so I could beat them.

how does your garden grow?

My present read is about gardening in small spaces. I bought the book three years before as a birthday gift for Turo for the obvious reason that he likes gardening more than I do. Well, I also like gardens. Just not the soil digging and plant growing part, which I’m not any good at. For me, it’s mostly just the admiring and appreciating part that I like.

time for some pet lovin’

We had long been contemplating on getting a pet for the kids seeing how happily they run after street pups and stray cats and how often they visit our neighbor’s dog cage each day. We’ve almost decided on getting a pot bellied piglet from a friend of my brother but the piglets were sold before we could get one. I guess we have to wait until the next birthing season.

last minute entertaining

Still hazy from the holiday gatherings, I can safely say I’ve managed to gain some expertise in entertaining guests, putting up simple décor for the dinner table, and serving dishes and drinks that are easy to prepare and lighter on the pocket.

Party hosting entails a great deal of planning. No less than a month for major parties, such as first birthdays or family reunions. The more time you have to organize and prepare, the less money you’ll spend. Most of the time, and I’d like to say this with some air of authority, the biggest cashouts are those made for unplanned and unforeseen expenses. So if you’re planning to host something major this year, you better grab your pens and start listing stuff down.

Here’s my list of foolproof ideas for making party hosting a seamless act.

eating the holidays away

My holidays officially end today. You’d think three weeks of christmas vacation would be enough but it hardly was. On some days i’d be dead tired cooking and serving food to guests, other days i’d be dead tired cleaning up after the mess that party guests left. And just this week i was tired day after day looking after my incredibly active little boys, then sneaking up on some cooking, cleaning and laundry while they sleep, just because i sent yaya on vacation (househelp deserve holiday breaks too). Despite the exhaustion, christmas remains my favorite season. I can’t believe I keep looking forward to such a tiring time of the year.

So how were your holidays?

I probably gained a few pounds from eating too much holiday food. Heck, I don’t keep cooking just to watch all the good food disappear in front of my eyes. I also eat what I cook, y’know?

And before I forget them, I’m listing down some of the great holiday menus I came up with for this year. A lot of seemingly fancy but very easy to prepare food fare for the most special of your guests.

greener gift giving

We have more people on our Christmas list this year but in terms of expenses, we seem to be spending less for gifts compared to last year. Possibly because I’ve decided to prepare a lot of DIY gifts and homemade stuff for give away. Although they require a lot of planning and effort, I believe such presents are made more special that way. I’m not one for spoiling surprises so I’m keeping my mouth shut on what those gifts are until after Christmas. What I can reveal in this post is how I plan to wrap and package those ultra-special gifts.

how to store leafy greens

If you can’t go to market during the weekend, better do it in the middle of the week. Last night was Wednesday night and I made a lucky stop at Farmer’s Market. Vegetables were cheaper compared to post-Pepeng prices and there was greater variety. I bought lettuce for P120/kilo and basil for P80/kilo. Fruits were expectedly pricey as we near Christmas but I thought lemons at P12 a piece were a better deal than when you buy one for twenty pesos in the grocery.

I planned to make tuna pesto sandwiches for breakfast this morning and woke up extra early only to find out that Turo already cooked chicken sopas while I lulled the babies (and myself) to sleep. The leafy greens I bought last night will have to wait for another breakfast opportunity over the weekend. In such cases, storing vegetables, particularly the green leafy ones, are important if you want to maintain their crispness and freshness.

interior inspirations

After hitting a record of 50 posts on my last entry (who would’ve thought I could take blogging this far?), I went on a 15-day writing slump. I apologize for the lack of posts for the last half-month. I wasn’t sure if it was because I ran out of ideas to write about, or photos to show, or topics to match the photos I took, and vice versa. It may also be because I had been too busy with parties, both as a guest and a hostess. Didn’t I mention that it’s THAT time of the year again?

Thankfully, this week is a lazy week at work. Next week will be another hell week, but let’s not rush into that just yet. While basking in laziness, I found again precious time to look for home design ideas online. This is my first attempt at sorting the tons of photos and interior design ideas I practically stole from other people’s homes.

the involvement technique

i’ve read a lot of parenting books but i don’t normally put everything i read to practice. i still keep on reading because it doesn’t hurt to know how other people raise their own kids. sometimes i pick up one or two tricks that help an awful lot but most of the time everything else is just literature for publishing’s sake.

but there is one child rearing technique that i’ve come to know pretty well and one that i follow entirely by the book. it’s called the involvement technique and the whole point of it is to get your child involved with what you’re doing so you can continue to work while you get to take care of him at the same time.

a glassful of cool

our children are suckers for iced tea. a glassful of caramel colored liquid is a time-tested way to get them to behave on the table. we can run out of choco milk, yakult or juice but we would never be out of a pitcher of iced tea. and we don’t use those instant iced tea mixes. they’re expensive and sugar-laden, although i have to admit that they can be convenient. we still keep a container of nestea at home but “for emergency use” only.