Day 161: Good to the last drop

My adorable CeeJae has been wowing us with her developmental milestones ever since she was born so it wasn't a surprise to me when she  grasped the juice pack on the table and sipped away. 

What did surprise me was how she managed to sip the whole tetra pack dry since my two older kids would usually leave some liquid at the bottom portion of the container. It seems that CeeJae had tremendous sucking power and really enjoyed her drink up to the last drop.

Day 160: Fast Food

What was supposed to be a quick errand at the local mall turned out into a family bonding moment. I planned it all in my head already...quick stop at the courier to send off a document then to the telecom shop to send payment for a purchase - two tasks that could've been done in less than 30 minutes. Well, that's the ideal situation had I been by myself however, my 3 rugrats tagged along so you could pretty much guess that each child added about 30 minutes or so to the tasks at hand. It was almost past lunchtime when I finally finished the things I set out to do and just decided that we grab a quick bite at the mall's fast food area.

To avoid too much mess, I decided on burgers for the two older kids, a pasta dish for the baby and mami with empanada for me paired with tetra pack juices. I had low expectations for the food since I knew it was a local mall that's not in the same caliber as SM or Robinson's but I must say their food fare were both yummy and affordable. At the end of  an hour's meal, the plates on our tray were wiped clean...burp!!!

Day 159: A New Look

Blogger has come up with new designer templates and I jumped on the opportunity to give my Project 365 blog a fresh new look.

Thanks to this new feature, my space on the web is more vibrant and alive than ever before.

What do you think?

Day 158: A Mediterranean Treat

Apart from Japanese cuisine, another type of food that hubby and I share a love for is Mediterranean. We won't turn down any opportunity to feast on hummus, gyros/shawarma, kabobs or lassi. 

One of the more popular Mediterranean food fare that is readily available in the country is Shawarma. We like the combination of the meat, fresh veggies, garlic sauce and spicy sauce with the softness of the tortilla bread. A complete meal in itself, it is surely one of our favorites. 

Day 157: Mommy Piggy is expecting...

Remember Mommy Piggy? Well, here she is, posing readily for the camera. She is now on the family way...about one and a half months to be exact. By August, she's expected to deliver a whole bunch of piglets. 
It's a wonder to see her gamely showing off her best angle. And if you look closely, you'll see that she's smiling in all of these shots.

Day 156: Summer Ender

The week-long DVBS finished with a grand culminating activity featuring the different children's groups performing songs and reciting bible verses. With this final summer school activity in wraps, the kids only have one more week of summer vacation before starting off a new school year on June 15. 

These videos show my firstborn Jarred performing with his Primary class and my darling daughter Cailie's very first onstage performance together with her Preschool class:

Day 155: Deja vu

When I saw little CeeJae walking along the hallway of BFCS, I couldn't resist snapping a photo. I instantly remembered taking a similar shot of Cailie 2 years ago. 


In this photo, Caitlin was 1 year and 8 months old while CeeJae is 1 year and 1 month here. It's just cool to see how much Cailie has grown and that she's gone past being Kuya Jarred's sidekick in school. This summer gave her such a wonderful learning experience. I'm sure that in no time, CeeJae would follow in her Atchie's footsteps. 

Day 154: Cailie the Concert Diva

My daughter Caitlin Alyssa sings her signature song whenever she gets the opportunity. She sings it to put her baby sister CeeJae to sleep or whenever she gets cranky. Recently, Cailie discovered different things at home that could let her stage a concert in our living room. Standing on our antique chest/coffee table, it becomes her stage while a rainmaker from Palawan stands proud as her mic stand. A baby rattle becomes her mic and a toy pan is her make-believe guitar. In this video, she renders her favorite song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"...here she is, our family's concert diva!

Day 153: Yummy Takoyaki

Hubby and I are lovers of Japanese food. When we were still stationed in General Santos City, there was a couple of good restaurants there that served pretty good Japanese cuisine so we were always "belly-happy". Unfortunately, the case isn't the same where we live now. We only get to turn Japanese whenever we visit Cebu or Manila which isn't that often. 

The closest to a Japanese fix we can get is imitation Takoyaki from a food kiosk at the local mall. A set of 3 balls cost P20 so it's a relatively cheap snack to munch on. This is Wikipedia's definition of Takoyaki:

Takoyaki (literally fried or baked octopus) is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, ponzu, mayonnaise, green laver (aonori), and katsuobushi (fish shavings), first popularized in Taisho-era Osaka,[1] where a street vendor named Endo Tomekichi is credited with its invention in 1935 [2]. Takoyaki can be found in shops called issen-yoshoku, which roughly translates to "one-penny Western food" [3]. There is a similarly named dish called ikayaki but it is a broiled whole squid and bears no resemblance. Yaki is derived from "yaku" (焼く^?) which simply means "to bake or grill" in Japanese, and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as teriyaki or sukiyaki.

I doubt if the ones we get here are really made out of octopus...maybe it's just batter, tons of shredded cabbage, some carrots and a combination of the spicy sauce and mayo. Well, I heard that real Takoyaki in Manila would cost about P100/order so that must be really good balls. In the meantime, I guess we have to satisfy ourselves with these yummy knock-offs of the real thing.

Day 152: Cailie takes the plunge!

The summer of 2010 has given little Caitlin Alyssa the opportunity to know her abilities and be able to use them effectively. In the Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS), she showed great independence since she didn't need to be watched over by a parent or guardian. When they get dropped off at the school gate, her Kuya Jarred brings her to her assigned classroom and she manages on her own. How's that for a 3.5 year old?