Kitchen Experiments

Spanky and I recently attended a wedding reception, which served yummy ham and cheese croquettes. So one day, Spanky decided to make a ouido recipe that involved tuna and cheese.

It was difficult shaping the mixture into croquettes so instead, we formed it into patties...

And topped it with parmesan. It was gooood.

Next, Spanky roasted some marshmallows in the oven.


Until they were burnt and puffy.


Blended them in cream, milk and vanilla ice cream.


And voila! Roasted marshmallow shake!


(Taste Tidbit: We found out later that marshmallows were tastier when roasted in fire, instead of in the oven.)

Pundaquit Weekend

It was one of 'em long weekends and Spanky was free so decided to join my family for yet another trip to our default beach--Pundaquit, Zambales.

The van was cramped with my mom, 2 brothers, 4 pamangkins, and 2 yayas. Spanky and I stayed at the very last row. When we got to Pundaks, the normally ankle-deep river was overflowing so we had to ride bancas.



And when we got to the house, midmorning merienda was served--the usual kakanin plus two sweet surprises: ginataang bilo-bilo and binatog, the snack which I had dreamt about 2 days before.




Lunch was bought from the shore when one of the fishermen came in from the sea. We didn't have a proper stove; all our meals were cooked barrio-style.

And the rest of the weekend was just filled with whatever caught our fancy.


At sunrise, Spanks, dad and I walked 6 kms. to town just to buy freshly baked pan de sal.


Beach basics.



The twin islands yonder.



The boat ride that never happened.



We'll be back, Pundaks.

Pegged Photos

While I was gone for almost a week, Spanks made his own DIY on the living room wall. And yup, it was inspired by our trip to a certain resto.



By using twine, wooden pegs and a wall hooks, he made a unique photo display. it's a fresh spin on the usual framed photos tacked on the wall.

Any way you look at it, it's quite pretty.

Like banderitas for the fiesta.

Drawing on Our Bedroom Wall

The walls of the Master's bedroom (which also doubled as my home office) was looking bare. I was thinking of hanging framed photos. Or sticking on decals, which were ultra-cute but also quite pricey. So I thought of a way to combine both design ideas.

With wewilldoodle masterpieces as inspiration, I grabbed my black marker and bravely drew a tree...

with photos as leaves.

It was really fun to draw on the wall.

Tribute to Domesticity

Walang stir!

Every time Spanks is busy with work, I take over the kitchen. Just this morning, I burned 3 pieces of toast. For lunch, we had leftover sardine pasta from yesterday. And for dinner, I decided to try out this recipe from my friend Ella. It looked so simple and foolproof.


And whaddya know...it really was!


Served with healthy, full-bodied Ifugao rice, the recipe was deliciously simple. Also, simply delicious.

Dutch Treat

No, we didn't take photos because we didn't bring a camera. But yes, we enjoyed the dinner because 1) it was a new resto which Spanky discovered here, 2) we both want to go to the Netherlands someday (soon, i hope!), 3) we walked all the way from Sikatuna to Xavierville (and back), 4) the owner gave us complimentary 3 pieces of nutella and praline dutchkins (soft and chewy--my fave textures--but we liked the berry and cream dutchkins more), and 5) we got to sample a new beer.


Welcome, happy hormones.