Meet Hazel

Hi again,

Recently I adopted yet another pup so that Bree my 11 month pup can have a sister and a playmate at home. Hubs and I went to the Humane Society just to see the cute cats and dogs for fun, and fell in love with this little pup, who is an American Pit Mix, almost like her big sis. Her name was Honeybee, but we changed it to Hazel because of her beautiful hazel eyes and light tan color. Plus, her cute painted pink and purple crackle nail colors, which the volunteers painted, also attracted me. That also gave me the idea to paint Bree's nails, lol. Hazel has been living with us for 2 days now and she is so energetic, playful, cute, happy, and loves to cuddle, just like her big sis, Bree. They both fell in love with each other when they first met. Hazel is about 9 weeks old, but hope the vet can determine her actual age.

Here are some pictures of our new and last addition to the family.

Check out her pink nails and a purple crackle nail, lol.

Garlic Roasted Grape Tomato Bruschetta

Hi again,

Today's dinner we had whole wheat linguine with meatballs, homemade pasta sauce, and garlic roasted grape tomato bruschetta topped over a homemade braided french bread. The french bread was so crusty which was so perfect for the bruschetta.

If you want to try this recipe...


Rinse and dry the grape or cherry tomatoes, add about 2 tbsp of EVOO, sprinkle some dried oregano and basil, add a dash of salt and pepper to taste, and mix well. Place the tomatoes close together on a cookie sheet in one layer. Slice 2 cloves of fresh garlic and place on top of tomatoes so that it won't burn. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. You can bake your sliced baquettes at the same time to save some baking or cooking time.  Make sure you drizzle some EVOO on the sliced baquettes before putting in the oven. Let cool for 20 minutes, add the tomatoes on the sliced baquettes and enjoy it with some wholesome pasta.

Happy eating!

Roti (Trinidad Style)

Hi again,

Last night for dinner hubby did the cooking and made some chicken curry to go with the skins his parents brought over. The curry consisted of chicken cut into cubes, potatoes, chick peas, cumin, curry powder, tumeric, coconut milk and other essential ingredients to make the curry so tastey. Skins are used to wrap the curry, it's similar to the Indian roti, which can either be wrapped or torn and dipped into the curry. Skins can be found/bought in Brooklyn, New York, if you're wondering.

The first time I had roti was during our wedding rehearsal. We had both ethnic cuisines, which consisted roti (Trinidad) and the infamous pancit (Philippines), and other dishes, but these were the main dishes served. Ever since then, I always crave for roti whenever I'm in town, lol. Luckily, the hubby likes Filipino food too!

Here are some pictures of the curry and the skin, roti. If you're ever in Brooklyn, NY or Trinidad and Tobago (TnT), you should try the Caribbean roti. Enjoy.

Homemade curry (not too spicy)

Curry wrapped in the skins

Sinful Colors Nail Polish

Hi again!

I love nail polish! My favs are OPI and China Glaze; however, a few months ago I came upon a brand that I vaguely heard about and wanted to try it, as it is only $1.99 (and up) and comparable to my two favorite brands. Sinful Colors applies well, most colors are opaque, stays on long with the help of a top coat chip resistant polish. Plus, there are a plethora of colors to choose from and so cheap!! You can find Sinful Colors at Walgreens, Target, Duane Reade, etc. Walgreens recently had these on sale for 0.99! Sometimes they would have it as buy two for $1. If you don't want to splurge on higher brand names, try out Sinful Colors!

Garlic Mash Potatoes

Hi again!

Today for dinner, hubs and I had some grilled steak, veggies, and garlic mash potatoes. I love the taste of garlic mash potatoes, especially when the garlic is baked in the oven with a touch of EVOO and rosemary. It gives plain ol' mash potatoes more life. You have to cut 2 whole garlic bulbs in half, drizzled with EVOO inside, and sprinkled with dried or fresh rosemary. Wrap the garlic bulbs in foil and put it in the oven at 325 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then squeeze out the garlic, which should come out quite easily and mix it well into your mash potatoes, add a bit of cream or milk with butter, salt and pepper to taste. It's all up to you how you would like your garlic mash potatoes to taste, but this is how I do it and hope you get to try it soon. Great with steak and chicken.

Pictures don't do it justice and since it's late at night I'm a tad bit lazy and tired to adjust the colorization and lighting, hehe.

Happy eating!

Skincare Line: Mario Badescu

Hi again!

Who loves free samples? Not sure what skin care line you should try? I don't like wasting money just to see which skincare line works best for me, although at times I do.  I stumbled across a few YouTube channels where I found out that I can receive free Mario Badescu skincare line samples just by going to their website and answering a few questions. However, some gurus have mentioned that they did not receive their samples and some have. I was a bit skeptical, but decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, within 2 to 3 weeks I received my free samples of Mario Badescu that should fit my skin type. I'm still trying out the products to see whether it's a go or not. If you want to try out Mario Badescu skincare line, go to their website http://mariobadescu.com/ and answer the questionnaires so you too can receive free samples. Happy freebies!

Look what I received!

Hyaluronic Eye Cream

Healing & Soothing Mask

 Drying Cream

Botanical Facial Gel and Special Cleansing Lotion "C"

Zeppole

Hi again!

I love Italian food, especially the desserts! I found an easy recipe on how to make zeppole and wanted to share it with you. It's not hard to make and the end result is very yum-o! I made the dough from scratch and most people use fresh pizza dough to make zeppole. If you want to know how to make fresh pizza dough, I will post the recipe in another blog. If you are wondering what zeppole is, it is a sweet Italian type of timbit (Canadians know what that is or should, hehe) or small donut bites with granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar, or powdered sugar sprinkled on. It's a must try recipe and great for family gatherings too!

Zeppoles taste better when made fresh. Let me know what you think.

Makes About 2 Dozen

Ingredients:

1 Ball of Pizza Dough
Vegetable Oil, for frying

For topping:

Regular Granulated Sugar
Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon Sugar, (half a cup of sugar with 1 Tbsp of cinnamon and mix)

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in a deep fryer or large pot to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Cut the dough into strips and cut the strips into little squares.

3) Fry them in the hot oil until golden brown all around, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4) Drain on a paper towel lined plate and immediately dip into desired topping.

5) Serve right away for the best donuts you will ever have.

Crispy, garlic, lemon zest tilapia

Hi again,

For dinner, I was craving for some fish and do like the lightness and taste of a tilapia. I decided to play around with some different flavors to dress up the tilapia a bit. I seasoned the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to give it some additional taste, as well as seasoning the fish. In addition, I added some lemon zest to the bread crumbs to give it a little bit of a citrus punch to it. As much as I am trying to stay away from frying my food, I had to fry the breaded tilapia 4-6 minutes on each side to give it the extra crispiness it needed. When done, I squeezed a bit of fresh lemon juice from the lemon used to zest on the fish. As for the meal, I added brown rice, sweet corn on the cob (but scraped off for my benefit), and homemade tarter sauce made by the hubs. It was very delicious and almost a healthy meal to have for dinner.

Banana Bread

Hi again,

This week has been crazy busy, but had the urge to make some banana bread from scratch one late night. Plus, we had some very riped bananas that we didn't want to waste, so it was perfect to use them to make banana bread. I love banana bread, because it just taste so good. I also provided the recipe just incase you want to try making it too. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 stick of Unsalted Butter at room temperature

3 Ripe Bananas, lightly mashed

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp Whole Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2) Grease a 9’ by 5’ loaf pan.

3) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla and mix to combine.

4) Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix together until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX!! Add milk while mixing in the dry ingredients.

5) Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. At the 50 minute mark test it by inserting a toothpick in the center and if it comes out really wet than let it go until 1 hour.

6) When ready, let it cool for about 20 minutes.

Granola Bar

Hi again,

After a visit from the parents, I decided to take the plunge in making a mix of granola bars. Rather than loose granola that you can either eat on the go or with soy milk, I made mine into chewy granola bars. I divided the granola into two sections and baked it together in one square glass pan. One side was a mix of dried cranberries, semi sweet chocolate chips, and sliced almonds and the other half was chocolate chips and sliced almonds. It was very easy to make and bake and great for breakfast or on the go.

Can you guess which side is which?

Dessert: Chocolate Blackberry Crumb Bar

Hi again!

I decided to make dessert along with having chicken adobo for dinner. Although this is not a Filipino dessert, it still taste good. Chocolate blackberry crumb bar isn't too hard to make, but it is a little bit time consuming when putting all the ingredients together. You can use any fruity preserves or jams your heart desires, such as blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, etc. that goes well with semisweet chocolate, as long as it is seedless. You don't want any seeds stuck in between your teeth. Also, I added some chopped hazelnuts to give it some added crunch to the texture. I saw this recipe and it looked so delicious that I had to try it. The taste is not too sweet nor too chocolatey, just perfect in my opinion. Even the hubs ate most of it as I've noticed most of the bars were missing this morning, plus he's not a chocolate lover.

Go ahead and try this recipe out. Let me know what you think. Happy baking!

Makes 3 Dozen Bars

Ingredients

1 Cup of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
½ Cup of Brown Sugar
¼ tsp of Salt
2 Cups of Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 14oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 Cup of Seedless Fruit Preserves / Jams

Process,

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9 inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar, add the flour and salt and mix together until you have a crumbly mixture.

3) Press ¾ of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for about 12 minutes.

4) In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the 1 cup of the chocolate chips and the condensed milk. Stir until the mixture has come together and the chocolate has melted.

5) Spread the chocolate mixture over the crust, dot the top with the remaining flour mixture. Sprinkle over the remaining chocolate chips and drop teaspoonfuls of the fruit preserves / jam all over the top.

6) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center looks set. Let cool for a few hours before cutting into bars. 

Caught!

Filipino Dish: Chicken Adobo

Hi again,

A few days ago I was craving for some Filipino Chicken Adobo and took a trip to the local grocery store to buy some of the ingredients. It's not hard to make and cooks for at least 30 minutes. Chicken adobo is one of the main favorite Filipino dishes among the Filipinos, I believe, along with sinigang, pancit, etc. I used chicken drumlettes because they are much easier to work with compared to chopping up a whole chicken like how my parents make it. That's too much work for me, lol. The ingredients mainly used are chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, water, and black pepper. It's all up to you in whatever else you want to add to the recipe. I make this dish from scratch so I can't really say how much tablespoon or cups I add when I make chicken adobo, because it all depends on how much chicken drumlettes I use. This dish goes well with steam rice too.

Happy eating!

Ay Sarap!

Filipino Dish: Sinigang Sa Bayabas

Hi again,

I was craving for some Filipino food and decided to make sinigang for lunch. It's a guava soup with fish (I used salmon) and vegetables (bok choy, green beans, onions, tomatoes, etc.), which is one of the main dishes in the Philippines, if I'm not mistaken. It's one of my favorite Filipino dishes topped off with steam rice, yum-o! Hubby and I devoured it for lunch yesterday, because it was so delicious and somewhat light to eat, besides the steam rice added. However,  I used a Mama Sita Sinigang Sa Bayabas mix to help me out a little bit with the taste, but the rest I make it how I like it. This is the only Filipino dish I use a mix for compared to all the other dishes I make from scratch. I applaud you if you can make this from scratch :o)

If you're thinking of what to make for lunch or dinner, try cooking some sinigang...a taste from the Philippines. It's so easy to make and very delicious! Happy eating!

Directions:

* Cook for 30 minutes at medium heat.

1) Fill large pot with water halfway and add the Mama Sita Sinigang Sa Bayabas mix.

2) Add the fish (salmon...chunks).

3) After 15 minutes, add the vegetables.

4) Stir occasionally.

Knitted Scarves: Purl and Stitch

Hi again,

Fall has just arrived bringing in colder weather and people wearing cool looking scarves adds a stylish touch and warmth to the everyday look. The beginning of this year 2011, I was determined to learn how to knit a scarf just for fun. It took me a few tries just to start the process of knitting and finally got the hang of it. I learned from watching many youtube channels and found one that worked for me. After knitting my first scarf, I started to get addicted to knitting more beautiful scarves in different colors and yarn types. I even made some as gifts to some family members. I only know two types of styles and hope to learn more, so that I can become a pro, hehe. If you are curious, I've been purchasing my yarn at Michaels because of their yarn sales in January and all the coupons I've been receiving from them since I have a Michael's loyalty member card.

If you know how to do the purl and stitch, then you're good to go. Please take a look at some of my knitted scarves I've done over the past few months. Happy knitting!

Homemade Natural Lip Scrubs

Hi again!

I love making homemade natural things, such as lip scrubs. I've been requested by a few on how to make a simple sugar lip scrub using natural ingredients found in your kitchen. I recently purchased a lip scrub in "sweet lips" from Lush, chocolate scented/flavored lip scrub that is 0.8 oz and cost about $8.95 USD. A small container filled with sugar, added oils and extracts, didn't seem to be as reasonable or cost effective as my own lip scrub. My alternative is cheaper, more moisturizing, and does the job by smoothing your lips and making it more softer. You can put the sugar lip scrub in a small container that I found at Dollar Tree, Michaels, Jo Anns, or any other craft store, which can last you for a few months if used once a week or so. My advice is to use the lip scrub over your sink, because it can be really messy.

Here are two recipes to try out. Try them and let me know what you think. Happy spa day!

Lemon and Honey Lip Scrub Ingredients:

1/4 tsp of fresh squeezed lemon

1/2 tbsp of honey

1 tsp of white sugar

(adjust ingredients if necessary)

Honey and Brown Sugar Lip Scrub Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp of EVOO 

1/2 tbsp of honey

1 tsp of brown sugar

(adjust ingredients if necessary)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, cup, or any small container. Then put the lip scrub mixture in a small air tight container. Scrub should last for 1-3 months.