The World of Second Chances

Sinigang With Saba, Nilaga With Kamatis

August 23, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

Two of my favorite dishes are sinigang na hipon/baka/baboy and nilagang baka/baboy. We seldom cook beef so beef steak and nilagang baka are considered special dishes. (The mini-market near our house does not sell beef, we buy beef from the supermarket) Cooking in our house is alternatively done by my husband and I. Call it regional differences but we sometimes have small arguments about how a dish is supposed to be cooked. Do you put ginger on nilagang baka? We don’t do it in Bataan. Do you put saging na saba on sinigang? The taste would be weird! Do you put tomato on nilaga? Ah, that would appear to be meztisang sinigang! One thing that I notice about Visayans are their simple taste in food. They don’t prefer foods with a lot of spices and ingredients. They would rather eat sinigang sa sampalok na isda instead of afritada or menudo. Okay, maybe this only applies to the Visayans that I’ve met.

Going back to cooking nilaga and sinigang, I still prefer my nilaga with corn kernels, stringbeans and cabbage. My sinigang should have lady finger, kangkong and eggplant. Minor things like what ingredients must be put on the dish should be discussed by couples of different regional background because eating together should be harmonious.
From Good To Bad And Vice Versa

August 18, 2011

Life & Love

Have you ever experienced that feeling when you think that you are acting not your usual self? I’ve been on the fighting mood since middle of last week. Something snapped in me when a co-worker disregarded me in one of our activities. I felt used and abused and powerless. I wouldn’t mind being disregarded had it been the first, second or even third time. But this person has a habit of treating everyone below him as thrash; I hate it. Things were not okay at the province, too; some family issues. I hate it when relatives fight with one another. I hate it even more when their judgment is clouded by emotions and pride. My toddler’s nanny got into my nerves last week. She just couldn’t get it why SECURITY was very important to me; she had a habit of leaving the door unlocked. Worse, my husband did not get it why I was upset at the nanny! The nanny had a habit of using my personal things which I found disrespectful. My husband did not make a big deal out of it and it just fueled my emotions against the nanny.

I assessed myself and discovered that I’ve always concealed my emotions in the past. That is why when I couldn’t take it, I tend to explode and turn nasty. I realize that I have the right to voice out my concerns when I am still at the “cool” stage rather than tolerate the intolerable and explode later. I had this feeling in 2009 after my mother’s death. I felt that the world was so unfair and unkind.

Life is a cycle and so are emotions. I’d like to learn how to manage my high tides and low tides.
Spoiling Toddlers

August 17, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

Adi’s toy cabinet needs some good housekeeping or 5S. Some of his toys are broken but can be repaired, some needs to be thrown away and some needs a new owner. Most of his toys last year were birthday gifts when he turned one while the most recent ones were bought by his loving parents. Adi has a collection of books, too. Some were given by his cousin Kai while most were bought by his loving parents. At two years old, he has a CD collection of nursery rhymes, Sesame Street and cartoons. I’d like to justify our generosity to our toddler but at the back of my mind, too much exposure to material things might result to Adi being a spoiled brat. He might think that things are easily taken without working hard for it as long as his parents are there. He might think that it’s okay to break toys because new ones can easily be bought by his parents.

Having a toddler as bubbly and handsome as Adi will melt any parents heart. But I don’t want to raise a spoiled brat. I have the obligation to raise him and teach him positive values like contentment and gratitude.
Fitrum

August 17, 2011

Health & Beauty

Today is my 3rd day of taking Fitrum capsule. As advertised, each capsule is high in L-Carnitine and green tea extract which promotes faster metabolism. My OB-gyne prescribed Fitrum during one of my post-natal visits. I’ve taken Fitrum in 2007, I lost 10 lbs in two months. I could have maximized its effect had I been more physically active then. I stopped taking Fitrum because of some side effects like palpitations. After four years (2011), I decided to try it again and I noticed that the formulation is much stronger than in 2007. I didn’t experience stomach pains in 2007 but now, I have stomach pains specially in the morning. I am taking the capsule 3x a day after every meal,as written on the box. Last Monday, I can hardly sleep and I think a glass of coke and Fitrum increased the caffeine level on my blood.

I am not a voracious eater but I have a less active lifestyle now. I intend to enroll in a gym or aerobics class when my time permits. For the meantime, I will take advantage of my countryside life and take a walk in the fields at 30 minutes each day. Speaking of diet, I am getting tired of oatmeal and banana. I’d like to eat a basket of apples instead.

My husband’s talent in cooking is slowly getting on my system; I tend to eat more whenever he cooks chicken adobo. I’ve stopped buying doughnuts and ice cream for dessert.

I’m giving myself two weeks to take Fitrum. If the stomach ache continues, I shall stop. =)
Toy Story

August 9, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

My 23-month old is glued on Toy Story 3. This is a story about a boy leaving his toys in the attic weeks before he goes to college. The mother thought that Andy (college boy) left the garbage bag for collection; not minding to see what’s inside. The journey of the toys led by Woody the cowboy is moving; you’ll ask yourself what happened to the toys that you outgrew as a child.

Two weeks before I had a copy of Toy Story 3, I handed down some old stuffed toys to my neighbors. What will I do of them? My Adi prefers guns and cars while Chang is more interested on make up. After watching Toy Story, I came to think what happened to the toys that were part of my childhood.

1. Candy the rag doll- I had Candy when I was five years old. She was 2.5 feet high and stuffed with soft cotton inside. She was huggable but with a hair made out of brown yarn so combing it was not possible. I gave Candy to Chang when she was a baby. She was left outside and was ravaged by our dogs.
2. Crying Baby- She would stop crying if I would insert her pacifier. One of my playmates put salt into her mouth. The melted salt destroyed the interior of my doll’s mouth so it never cried again after that. I threw her away when I was 14 years old. It took me less than a decade to throw her away.
3. Barbie- She’s actually not a barbie doll. She was another brand of lesser quality. I was eight years old and jealous of my playmate’s barbie doll. Barbie dolls were expensive so my mother bought me a more affordable one. I thought she was a barbie doll. I combed her wiry hair and I wonder why her hair was not silky-smooth unlike my playmate’s barbie. I passed on my barbie lookalike to my daughter. Barbie lookalike survived until Chang was four years old.
4. Cuddly Bunnie- Bunnie was a product of a livelihood project spearheaded by my mother. Bunnie, the best stuffed toy among the batches produced, was given to my mother as a sign of their gratitude for supporting the livelihood project. I was 12 or 13 when Bunnie came into my life. Bunnie was handed down to Chang and then to my niece, Kaila. Kaila gave back the Bunnie to me. Bunnie is older than my 20 year old brother, my 14 year old daughter, my five year old niece and my 23 month old son. =)
5. Whitey- A friend from college gave me this toy in 1998. Whitey is a white cat. Adi used to play with Whitey when he was a small baby. Now Whitey is kept on Adi’s toy cabinet.
All About Nannies

August 2, 2011

Wedding & Family Life

My baby has a new nanny from Camotes Island in Cebu. She’s 17 years old and a single mom. She left her one year old in the care of her mother. My husband fetched him at the domestic airport last Friday. That afternoon, when I arrived home, I interviewed her; our first talk. I asked her what motivated her to go to “Manila” to work. She said that it’s the family’s finances. It was then when she mentioned about her one-year old. Surprised, I asked her if it would not cause her personal conflict to go to “Manila” to take care of my baby when she left her own in the province. She was speechless. Nevertheless, I cheered her up and told her that two of our neighbors are from the Visayas so she wouldn’t feel isolated from the dialect that she’s familiar with. Being young and being away from home for the first time is a challenge for both of us. I found out that she’s not familiar with the basic home gadgets that we’re using; I needed to train her harder. There’s a lot of do’s and don’ts that I need to tell her about taking care of Adi. I could be very meticulous about my baby and I hate to see him soaked in sweat or dirt! Take note that the only time that we require a nanny to work on other household chores is when either, both or all three of us are at the house and the nanny has nothing productive to do. Prior to staying with us, the nanny is given anti-lice shampoo just to make sure that she won’t bring lice into the house. All of us, except my brother who stays with me, have flu shot; I might as well require the nanny to have one along with my brother. Previous nannies were given medicine supply, Sunday day off and other perks. They can eat whatever they like to eat EXCEPT my chocolates. Toiletries are also provided. When it comes to compensation, they are well-compensated. I have this principle of giving what’s due to a person: I’ll give you this much but give me this much of your service and loyalty. So far, this proved to be effective to the previous nanny who could have stayed until March next year had her mother not needed her to take care of her youngest brother. In our humble home, the nanny is treated like a family member, I think that’s the best way to keep them loyal and provide good service to us. 😉
Wet Shoes and Nice Umbrella

July 28, 2011

Life & Love

I arrived at the office wet from the rain. It’s typhoon Juaning’s fault! While some people get melancholic when it’s raining, the opposite happens to me. Rain is my aphrodisiac, my endorphin; I get romantic only when it’s raining. There’s something magical about the rain: the rain forms bubbles on the surface that it falls, matresses get dampy even if you live on a concrete house, the rhythmn of the rain is music to my ears.

When I was in kindergarten, I had a brown Otto sandals that I only use during the rainy season. The sole is anti-slip and the body is made of durable leather. I had a red umbrella that literally flew in the middle of the traffic when I let go of it during a heavy wind.

From grade school onwards, I wore plastic shoes during the rainy season. I had a red plastic shoes and a white one. They were very durable and I just grew tired of them; I gave them away. My umbrella in High School was given to me by an uncle. It was very durable; it took me four years to replace and it was even because of its fading leaf. Products then were more durable than today. Now, I replace my umbrella on the average of four times a year. Quality umbrella is a rarity these days and high price has nothing to do with the promised quality of it.

I love traveling when it’s raining. It was raining hard when we had our honeymoon in Puerto Galera. It was raining hard when we went to Bohol last February. It was raining hard when I first stepped in Baguio. It was raining hard during my final interview with the company president.I realize, all the good things that happened in my life happened when it was raining hard. 🙂