Food Friday: Choco Muffin

Ate this yesterday … hubby bought that for me. From a bakeshop just a street away from us. It was nice … really so chocolatey!

Food Friday

Knowing Me, Knowing You

I got tagged by Nona. The rules…
Copy this entire list of questions and change all the answers so that they apply to you.

Then tag and pass it along to other blogging friends. Let’s see how well we can get to know one another!

1. What is your occupation? - SAHM

2. What color are your socks right now? -gray

3. What are you listening to right now? -Missing by Everything But The Girl

4. What was the last thing that you ate? -half a banana and milk

5. Can you drive a stick shift? -guess so. it has been ages since I’ve driven a car, but i know it’ll all come back again …

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? -blue

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? -my son’s classmate, Jolo.

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? -of course

9. Favorite drink? - Lipton’s Green Tea (mint)

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? -taekwondo

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? -nope … I chickened out.

12. Pets? -a German Shepherd dog named Bagheera

13. Favorite food? -too numerous to mention!

14. Last movie you watched? -Casablanca (cable tv)

15. Favorite Day of the year? -any day, really …

16. What do you do to vent anger? -I keep myself busy and it helps take my mind away from the disturbing situation …

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? -some dolls and stuffed toys .. but I was more of an ‘outdoor’ kid, really.

18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? -I haven’t experienced both, but I lthink I’d love fall and it’s changing colors.

19. Hugs or kisses? -kisses and hugs

20. What kind of pie? -i loved the moist, soft, and freshly cooked Letty’s buko pie over at UP Los Baños! happy memories …

21. Do you want your friends to email you back? -Yes, of course!

22. Who is most likely to respond? -most of them, actually.

23. Who is least likely to respond? -the super busy ones, but I understand their situation so it’s fine with me.

24. Living arrangements? -am living together with hubby and our son.

25. When was the last time you cried? -am a softie … cried yesterday while watching a touching program on television.

26. What is on the floor of your closet? -boxes with books and magazines

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? -Zen, Jen and Lynn

28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending this to? - have known them at just about the same time (more or less) …

29. Favorite smell? -nothing in particular; strong perfumes and colognes makes me sneeze …

30. What inspires you? -My faith in the Lord as well as my family…

31. What are you afraid of? -dying while my son’s still young and leaving him! scary thought …

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? -i prefer double cheeseburgers …

33. Favorite car? -any will do, as long as it’s in good working order!

34. Favorite cat breed? -any; they’re ok, but i don’t prefer them as pets, really.

35. Number of keys on your key ring? -4

36. How many years at your current job? - oh my … almost nine years as a SAHM!

37. Favorite day of the week? -saturday, definitely!

38. How many provinces have you lived in? -Leyte, Laguna, Mindanao, and Cavite (4)

39. How many countries have you been to? -haven’t gone abroad, yet.

Am tagging Zen, Jen, and Lynn … hope you can continue the meme! But if not, then thats ok.

Weekend Snapshot: Lato (Edible Seaweed)

That’s part of what we had this weekend … we call them “lato“. They tastes like the fresh sea and the way they “pop” inside your mouth when you eat them is kind of funny at first. Tastes great sprinkled with calamansi/lemon juice!

Some info about the lato, and other Philippine edible seaweeds, here.

Weekend Snapshot

Different Interests

I’m so sure that my brother-in-law knows what a Cat 5 cable is since he’s an electrical engineer. I, however, have only the faintest idea what that is, except that it’s a sort of a communications networking product.

Some things really interest others while for some it could be uninteresting. I guess that’s really nice. I just love the diversity!

Josh Groban ~ To Where You Are

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baWBHZ7Fo6c]

Oh my … it has been ages since I first watched this. A friend who was then taking her masteral studies abroad sent me a link to this video and the first time I heard it, I immediately LOVED it! But it wasn’t after a few weeks later that I got his cd, though. We were leaving in the province back then and I simply didn’t have the time to go to the “main city” and purchase Josh Groban’s cd instantly.

Players nowadays …

MP3 players are quite common these days that you can even buy some pretty cheap ones that are really good. Of course, nothing can really beat the BEST ones, but they are more expensive. Some phones even have MP3 capabilities and I think that’s really cool. I mean, you can listen to your favorite songs wherever you are, even with just your phone!

House All Our Own

It has already been some time since hubby and I have been thinking of getting a place of our own. Currently we are staying at a place which my parents own, so we’re not paying for any rent, and that’s already a huge blessing for us. However, we believe that it’s a really good idea to have something which we both can call as our own, and we have been looking at some of the house designs being offered. We both like some of the houses over at Branson Missouri so maybe we just might “steal” some ideas from there.

For now, we are content with searching for the perfect (and affordable!) place for us. We’re not in a hurry, but it would be great if we’ll find the one that we want real soon!

Food Friday: Puto (Rice Muffin)

That’s puto … one of my fave “kakanins”.

Some people love eating that together with dinuguan, but not me, really. Maybe it’s because at my place we usually have that as a snack without the dinuguan. It tastes much better at times topped with butter and if it’s still steaming hot you can see the butter melt …. yummy! I really like the “old” recipe which uses rice because you can feel the texture when you bite into it; some recipes use super-fine flour and I guess that’s why it’s so smooth. Me and my “old-fashioned” food, huh? …

This brought back wonderful memories … what’s interesting about the recipe below is that it uses anis seeds (but it’s optional); something which my mom’s side of the family uses whenever they make their own kakanins.

Below is a recipe taken from this site:

Puto (Rice Muffins)

Ingredients:
2 cups rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup white sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon anise seeds (optional)
1 cup grated coconut (or coconut flakes)

Sift first four ingredients together. In a mixing bowl, add coconut milk to sifted ingredients and blend well to make a smooth mixture. Add anise seeds. Mix and blend thoroughly and fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full. Cook in a steamer for 30 minutes. Test for doneness. Muffins are done when toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Serve hot topped with grated coconut, or butter.

(Recipe from Reynaldo Alejandro’s excellent The Philippine Cookbook )
Food Friday

Internet thoughts …

Have you ever tried playing in one of those online casino sites? I haven’t. I guess it’s because I know so little about them. Lately, though, an online friend has been telling me about them and that they could be fun. I guess they could be, specially if you’ve got the extra money!

They do interest me, though, so occasionally I try to read some of the online casino reviews when I’ve got the time. I know it will be ages before I’d try betting on those sites, but for now I am really enjoying myself just doing some readings. Or learning some more about them, little by little. I’m not in a hurry to go and bet right now since I’m having fun learning!

Hopefully, when I’ve got enough courage to bet real money my online friend will be there with me. I’m not sure if that’s possible, but it would be nice having somebody with you on your first bet! But like what I said earlier, am not in a hurry.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

New Year Greetings to my Chinese friends, before the day ends!