MyParty. Finds. A Home.

My sister-in-law is visiting us from Australia and look what she hoarded all the way from down under.

My daughter absolutely loves the original kind while I, of course, go gaga over the blue double coat. We do have TimTams at the local superstore but there’s something about the ones directly from Australia that changes everything. Like dependable tv mounts for huge flat screens, this stash (there’s more of them that you don’t see in the picture!) will definitely prop us up happily for the next few days weeks.

This has become a favorite snack of ours ever since we bought a bunch of them at my daughter’s school’s fundraising activity. Personally, the white cheddar is my favorite although my daughter and my husband prefer the basic butter and salt variety.

We love these so much because they’re a healthier snack alternative than our usual chips and cookies, and they simply taste good. Granted, they cost more than the usual microwaved popcorn products, which is why I usually store them at the topmost shelf of our pantry because they tend to disappear in a snap. And here I thought that the need for a metal step stool to reach a snack would be a deterrent.

My husband and I have tried a couple of times to bake our own pandesal at home. Unfortunately, on both occasions, let’s just say that our bread turned out quite differently from what we intended it to be. A pandesal, or salted bread, is one of our favorites in the Philippines and, from time to time, my husband and I crave for it here.

Now, though, we need not make our own pseudo-pandesal because we found some readily available for consumption at our local asian supermarket.

Mang Pedro’s is a local bakery that makes good pandesal. Although a bit pricey, it couldn’t hurt to satisfy our pandesal craving once in a while, right? Their bread is well-balanced – not too sweet and not too salty – and the bread crumbs are tempting, unlike some other pandesals we’ve had that reminded us of blackheads on nose. Haha!

A single pack contains a dozen good-sized buns, which my family and I actually devour in a sitting. At the rate we’re going, we’re probably going to make Mang Pedro a rich guy, I guess.

My daughter avidly collects Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) toys. I can’t blame her, these critter dolls are super cute. Also, I let her create an online account with LPS (that she only plays when I am around to supervise, of course), and loves to play with the interactive content of the website.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, while tinkering with the LPS products online,  she discovered their Blythe doll – a stylish pet-sitter who loves pets of all kinds – and my daughter went rabid over her. She has been acting all sweet and nice these past weeks, hoping to get my precious “yes” to get Blythe for her. And then, as if heaven was conspiring with my daughter, the Blythe doll set went on sale ($10 off!) at our local superstore.

Presenting, Blythe on a scooter with her pet Corgi.

Initially, my daughter wanted the Playfully Plaid Blythe set because she liked the pink equestrian helmets and the pet pony that came with the doll. However, we couldn’t find that set so instead got this one, which my daughter fell in love with at first sight. Of course, this gullible doting mom had no choice but to get her.

What can I say, Blythe sure is cute.

Spring is here and we all know what that means – spring cleaning! We’re lucky if we there’s but a few wayward dust mites to sweep up and throw away, but what if winter decided to settle inside your house rather than outside and it’s heavy duty carpet and furniture cleaning austin that you need?

If you’re lucky enough to be living in Austin, TX, then turn to The Steam Team at http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-cleaning-services, the leading carpet & upholstery cleaning services in Austin. They take pride, not only in the quality of their work, but also in giving their customers the utmost satisfaction.

With a clean home and all, its now time to get ready for summer.

Happy Birthday, Bunso!

For her first month birthday celebration, I left the cake up to the experts. Above is the Brownie Bits and Swirls ice cream cake from the Marble Slab Creamery. The cake itself was super yummy although the people at the ice cream store made a booboo and spelled my baby’s name wrong. Friends, it’s Mian, not Mina – thus the erasure. And yes, the weather was warm enough to have some ice cream cake (finally!), which explains why the ice cream store was packed with people who perhaps were all thinking the same thing. I guess, the store people were as busy as generac generators during a blackout, trying to serve everyone that they eventually made the spelling mistake. Anyway, they fixed it as best they could but, in the grander scheme of things, nobody in the house minded the spelling anyway as everyone was just too busy eating.

All I can say is, sometimes it really is best to leave the baking to the professionals.

For her third week birthday celebration, big sis had another rice cake in mind. She calls this “the yellow one with the eggs on top”. Ladies and gentlemen, she meant the Bibingka. A bibingka, along with the puto, is another type of Filipino rice cake but is traditionally eaten during the Christmas season.

This particular one is as close as we could get to an authentic bibingka – instead of cooking it in traditional earthenware, we baked it in the oven in a pyrex dish and instead of using banana leaves to line the dish, we just used wax paper because that was what was on hand. In the end, with the sprinkling of shredded coconut and sliced salted duck egg on top, the celebratory cake may not have looked exactly like a bibingka per se but it definitely tasted like one.

My girl turns one month old next week, which means I have been sleepless for almost that long, too. Can someone tell me how to get rid of pimples? I have been so sleep deprived that my complexion has become a nightmare. Oh well, I’ll just drown myself then in yummy rice cakes and the sweet scent of my month old chick. That’ll work for me.

Happy Easter, everyone!

After attending Easter mass, our family trekked over to Cora’s for some yummy brunch. As you must know by now, our family is big on brunches. We usually have special Saturday brunches but had to put that on hold when the baby came along. Anyway, I have been badgering hubby to revive that eating tradition of ours and to score our new city for great places to have breakfast (or lunch).

Cora’s was mentioned by an officemate of his and I, on the other hand, read about it in a local magazine. Thus, it was the first place we thought about for our Easter brunch. And, for a first time visit, we totally appreciated the place.

The decor was cheery, the atmosphere was very casual, and you can smell the mouth-watering crepes wafting along as you enter the very friendly restaurant.

My daughter had an egg, ham, and potatoes plate. She shared her potatoes with my mom, though, and her fruits she slid onto my plate.

My husband had the crepomelette (an omelette wrapped in crepe), which was also very yummy. It’s basically a crepe stuffed with a Western-Cheddar omelette and covered in Hollandaise sauce. I had to swipe this pic from the website because I wasn’t able to take a picture of my hubby’s food – he was so hungry he started eating even before I was able to whip out my camera.

My mom had the spinach and cheddar omelette. A very good choice.

As for me, glutton that I was, I got the 10-star omelette. It’s made with bacon, ham, sausages, Frankfurters, bologna, spinach, green onions, tomatoes, onions, red peppers, green peppers, mushrooms and Cheddar.

We also shared this plate of fluffy pancakes. And they were yummy, nice, and really, truly fluffy.

The omelettes are served with roasted potatoes and toast but every dish had cute little fruits on the side, too. I hope an agent would give me life insurance no exam because after eating all of this, I will have some trouble getting a decent policy.

Brunch destination number one. We’ll be back for sure.

~~~

Cora
5111 Northland Drive N.W., Calgary
Alberta, T2L 2J8
(403) 288-0040
http://www.chezcora.com

Puto? Yes, and this was big sister’s idea. She didn’t like the idea of making another cupcake for baby, but I told big sis that we needed to make another small cake to celebrate her sister’s second week birthday. She said, but a puto is like a little rice cake too! And she had a point. I think she deserves teaching degrees for that!

So puto it was. We made a dozen of these little rice cakes (with cheese on top, of course!) and the whole family (like the four of us) almost devoured the entire lot before I could even finish singing “happy birthday” and before I could snatch two for the photo op.

For week three, my daughter already has something in mind. Wait and see.

I still can’t believe it, I have a one week old baby!

Forty-one weeks of waiting and, here she is, finally! And because we are so excited, her big sister and I have decided to celebrate each and every milestone of our little jelly bean. This week we baked her a “Happy One Week Old Birthday” chocolate cupcake (with a jellybean on top)! The little one is like our very own air purifier, whenever we breathe her scent in, we are rejuvenated! We shall be reserving the bigger cakes for bigger milestones but, just the same, a little goes a long way in celebrating how grateful we are for this lovely miracle that we now have.