Goodbye To You...2015

Happy 2016, year of the Monkey. And oh happy Three Kings as well since today is already January the 3rd. The holiday season is finally over.  

I hope this year will be good to me since I was born year of the Monkey which only happens every twelve years thus the next would be on 2028. 

Not that 2015 wasn't good to me, it’s just that a death of a long time family companion, our dog for ten years is just kind of hard to bear since he passed away few days after Christmas. All could’ve been perfect this year, from my sister and I’s most sought after birthday travel, the new home, me leaving my job for three years since I was never happy with it anyways, the feeling you’re finally settled until the unexpected happened, the demise of our beloved family canine. 

I truly believe you cannot have everything. The ups and downs is part of life, to maintain some sort of balance to everything, to keep the ball of fate going perhaps. I am just thankful to God for joyous 2015, nevertheless. For me and my family’s good health, and let me also mention that one of our dog who was tested positive for blood parasite infection came negative after couple of months. The news came that same fateful day of Brandon’s (the german shepherd) passing. 

stash from the Sunflower Festival, the Elephant key chain
 and the lovely mango soap, smell so good you can
almost eat it.

my DIY bathroom mirror...

Moving on, new year, fresh start, clean slate. My sissy and I will be renewing our passports this year. We’re brewing a trip to Thailand for our birthday (hopefully). My niece suggested Pattaya, Thailand to this place called Sanctuary of Truth since she recently attended this event called the Sunflower Festival. We saw the temples there through pictures and we were amazed since we love to travel to temples with intricate structures and carvings. We’re crossing our fingers it would materialise and not just wishful thinking although chances are it will because we are eager, adventurous souls who will never say never. 

another one of my DIY projects:
jutified yoghurt bottle :D

As for me, I started my year with more DIY projects such as the one I recently made--couple of flower vases from empty/recycled wine bottles which I decorated with jute twines, plain monochromatic mirror turned into work of art etc. I am also venturing into making other steamed foods other than pastries such as my new baby, rice cake with caramel custard on top (Puto Flan) recipe I found on YouTube.

freshly made Puto Flan

PUTO FLAN RECIPE

Ingredients

5 egg yolks

5 egg whites

2 cups cake flour

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tsp lemon

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup condensed milk

1. flan mixture : add together lemon, condensed, egg yolks

• grease pans with butter
• steam for 10mins

2. rice cake mixture: combine egg white, evap milk, sugar mix till well blended

3. mix dry ingredients: baking powder, cake flour, salt

4. combine rice cake and dry ingredients together whilst pouring water, mix until well blended.

5. pour cake mix on top of cooked flan; steam for 10mins again.

let it cool. 

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. I also cooked Aglio Oglio pasta paired with breaded pork chops which I sliced so thinly then breaded it using eggs, cornstarch and bread crumbs for Media Noche. It was heaven though especially when dashed with this homemade sauce I found in Google last minute too called Honey Garlic Sauce which is an amalgamation of  the ff:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

I can’t find any chicken last minute before New Year’s eve and as much as I hate eating pork I had no choice though.

Again, Happy New Year!!! Let’s bury all the hatchet.

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New Beginnings

Back to the world again. I was all gloomy over the holidays because I needed to control my diet to avoid the holiday weight gain and yeah I know how ridiculous it sounds but If I don't, I'll freakin' balloon. It sucks to be Hypothyroid for life geez. I am kind of happy though because I felt I lost weight after drinking nothing but fruit smoothies and crackers during my break time at work, salad in a mason jar for lunch. It's a struggle to ignore my cravings but the result is stunning. No sweets for now, no rice except  (brown or red) and to go easy on bread for as much as possible.

New Year, New Life.

I don't normally believe in new years resolution but I guess it won't hurt to at least set some rules to live by. So what's my new year's resolutions then? First,  to lose weight further the healthy way by exercising (walking instead of taking the cab, eat more veggies and fruits and ditch if not totally eradicate those junk food and sugar. Second, travel cheap as it helps enrich my soul and third, find better job opportunities somewhere to sustain my plans of living healthy and travel (i hope). Living healthy is pricey because of the cost of organic buys out there. Brown rice is not cheap and so as the 'non-fat' products, wheat breads and all.

Moving on, It's time to pay off everything I spent during the holiday season so I'm back to working regular hours and counting how much to shell off for my credit card bills. I love to spend yet it's such a pain to pay them all off but whaddaheck I am a responsible person. To start off the year I bought myself this cute rock cat power bank 5000 mah online to address my phone's battery issues. It's really not my phone but my usage, I am online most of the time thus explains why my phone's battery life won't last long. My new power bank is so rad that it seems to be watching me as it charges haha! Let me just share how it works, the light flickers red once it's almost empty, orange when it's close to being empty whilst green once fully charged. So stoked by my new power bank right now.

I also bought this cute cat coin purse (yes I am a cat person) from the same online seller where I got my power bank from and It helps whenever I miss my cat which I only get to see during my rest days from work. My cat is with my parents 'cuz my sister and live in an apartment somewhat close to work. We both own and care for our cat (handles the vet bills, cat food etc) we just don't want our cat unsupervised whilst we are at work especially now he already lost his tail more than a year ago.

"soul brothers" until he started munching...

Artsy Places.

My sissy and I both love hanging out in artsy and not so crowded places. Those wherein you only get to know by research and blogs from people who have been there. Not to mention we are very particular with what's on the menu given the fact that we already both started living healthy years back the place must serve foods that are delectable and healthy at the same time.

We visited Ili-Likha Artist Village few days back after having read it on blogs that the resto serves healthy foods and the idea spawned from the same people behind Oh My Gulay thus explains the eccentric pieces of art adorning the place. My sister and I had their Chia Tea (yes with chia seeds) and their Ches Cake. It really is called Ches cake by the way as it's a cheese cake. It was good. The tea was not too sweet and same goes with the cheese cake.

We met a feline friend, their resident cat who's been begging us for cheese cake (who says cats don't have sweet tooth e?) I gave her a tiny chunk and told her she can't have no more because it's not healthy both humans and animals as its high on calories. She left after getting bored then came back to play with my backpack's key chains! Some cats are playful while some love to sleep wayyy too much than play.

We named her 'Iluya' from the name of the place 'Ili-Likha' and 'Luya' which is a Tagalog for Ginger and orange tabby cats are called 'Ginger.' We'll try their brown rice meals one of these days or whenever we have the time.

posted from Bloggeroid

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new year, new beginnings

(photo grabbed from google photos)

another year has gone by and i'd like to welcome 2014, the year of the wooden horse.

my work schedule this previous year was quite hectic all the way down to christmas. it was really disappointing. i hate working during christmas season even if i get paid double because the time spent with the family is priceless. you'll never know what the next year holds for you. the yuletide

season is just once in every year so i hope mutinational companies should take into account that the workforce kingdom badly needs time off from work to celebrate christmas and new year with their families. 

when i was in the big city, my previous job values the yuletide season thus they understand the part that if an employee worked really hard the entire year and was never absent nor late for work they truly deserve a big break at the end of the year. as opposed to the company i currently work for, they don't really care because the holidays is the time to work your ass off even more! how BS isn't it? as if you're getting even a fraction of what the company as a whole is earning??! BPO companies suck. this is why they like to outsource for cheap labor..so they can earn much much more and spend less on manpower. i've been here in this industry for so long and i know how corporate slavery is their 'thing.' f*ckin' capitalists. 

anyways nuff of my rants. i was just annoyed that while everyone else is celebrating christmas and new year i slept early for work the next freakin' day. haist. life. 2013 was never good to me 'til the very last minute the clock ticked 11:59 PM. 

new year, new beginnings. i hope so. i am hoping that this year would be better for me and my countrymen that are poverty stricken; those who lost their loved ones last year including myself; for those people who were affected by the calamites that frequented our country; and lastly, those who have hoped that the next years would bring about fortune and financial ease. i wish God's trunkline wouldn't be that busy this year. but then, good things comes to those who wait :)

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THE YEAR OF THE OX

THE YEAR OF THE OX
1/26/2009 - 2/13/2010 (Earth)

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2009 is the Year of the Ox. The Ox, or the Buffalo sign symbolizes prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Those born under the influence of the Ox or Buffalo are fortunate to be stable and persevering. The typical Ox is a tolerant person with strong character. Not many people could equal the resolution and fearlessness that the Ox exhibits when deciding to accomplish a task. Ox people work hard without complaints at work or at home. They know that they will succeed through hard work and sustained efforts, and do not believe in get-rich-quick schemes.

happy new year!  a lot has happened this year;  i left my job in two years, my sister graduated from law school and took her bar exam, my entire family all moved up north and last but not the least, a new member of the family arrived..baby Gabrielle, my eldest sister's second child and my second niece.

this year is prob'ly the simplest new year i've had here in shaw.  last year's fireworks display were really awesome. other people might've realized they'd rather spend their money in other things than fireworks. we slept past 1am and it's just surprising how fast the sound of fireworks dissipated as if the rest of the world just took the time to welcome the year of the ox and everybody went back to bed afterwards. i have a new journal, we have a new calendar and we hang as soon as the noise outside died down. what more can i say? ei, happy new year. hope it's be better than the last.

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flaky week offs...

i've been glued lately to ghost whisperer's latest season.  that darn tv series is  quite addicting. 

today.

i bought myself a new journal. i know it's really cheesy to be keeping a journal this age of cyberspace where everyone else are blogging. but hey, you can't write everything on your blog of course. a journal is where unspoken words belong. anyways, i thought, i could get one from papelmeroti but i didn't find any because they still do not manufacture journals. they have lovely stationeries though, very eco-friendly. they even have bohemian wind chimes. 

new years resolution.

i promised myself, to not be an impulsive shopper anymore.

preparing for new years eve.
i went to the groceries to pick up some nestle cream and graham crackers for our mango float this coming new years eve. the first time again (after last year) i'd be spending my new year with my sister who was at work last year whilst the rest of the world celebrated nye with their families.

and for me, i bought my parents coffee mug presents. i wrapped them up with red japanese paper (papel de hapon) instead of the usual newspaper or bubble wraps most people use. i re-used this christmas paper bag i found at home and there you go, instant gift for less.

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