Chop, Chat and Chomp

    It was a sunny morning of the 19th of May, this year, when my one of the things to do before I turn 60, materialized. Many thanks to my loving sister who treated us as her Mother's Day gift to us, namely, my mom, my sister, Lolit, and me. It was also her birthday gift to my other sister, Luchi who turned 50 on April of this year. My ever-supportive daughter, Georgina, willingly offered to take me to Subic, the place where we all agreed to stay. On our way to Subic, at SCTEX Georgina, driving We're almost there :) Stopped by Texas Joe's for our lunch We were given crayons and manila paper spread out on our table My note to my daughter :) Georgina's fancy doodles Our barbecued baby back ribs, so far the best ribs I have tasted. Along the same street, a few steps away,  is Terrace Hotel, where we planned to stay. The receiving area, with my mom,  Lolit and Luchi TV on the left, facing the receiving area, and TV

    Having read so much about kale being a superfood and a cancer-fighting vegetable, I began to search for recipes to see how kale looks. Fortunately, my supplier of organic vegetables sells kale. I ordered a quarter of a kilo initially, to try if it's good. And it's good, this will be a regular fare from now on.     I have this dried cranberries which I got recently from Healthy Option and I know this will go well with my Kale Salad.     I added chicken breast to make this dish a complete meal. It was a refreshing meal, filling and fitting to eat on a hot weather.     Kale Salad with Pan-fried Chicken and Cranberries 1/4 kilo kale 1 chicken breast 1 pc. onion, chopped 2 pcs. tomatoes, sliced 1/4 cup dried cranberries 3 tbsp. olive oil sea salt freshly-ground pepper     Steam kale and set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Pan-fry seasoned chicken. Set aside. In a large bowl, put kale, chicken, onion and tomatoes. Ad

    I wanted to be a nutritionist when I was growing up. Food excites me. It all started when I was in Grade V. We had this subject, Home Economics, wherein I was a leader of one of the 4 groups in my class. This subject was about home management and caring for your home and family. We were taught how to run a family properly, handicrafts, sewing, cleaning a house, cooking, baking, nutrition, even how to plan a balanced meal. I was always excited to learn anything about this subject but what really sparked my interest  was food and nutrition. Hence, I started to read about food, what it does to our body, what the nutrition value of a certain food is, and recipes!     I baked my first cookie when I was 12 and have been baking since then. It gives me a certain high every time I see my baked products. But after all the butter, gluten from flour, sugar that I consumed for the past 40+ years, I acquired this problem in my stomach. I had hyperacidity or acid dyspepsia which later led to st

    I was glad to see my plants growing abundantly in my garden after more than two weeks of not seeing them. Thank God for my household help who tended my garden while I was away. cuban oregano pansit-pansitan basil, my poor basil, leaves were eaten by insects     I decided to try making spaghetti using carrots as pasta (Erich taught me this idea) so I can make use of these plants. Paleo Tuna Spaghetti with Pansit-pansitan     I have not cooked spaghetti since I turned Paleo and Tommy's eyes brightened when he saw what I was serving him. Spaghetti was his favorite and still is. I didn't tell him it was carrots, I just let him eat. He liked it! He consumed half of it, I ate one-fourth, the remaining we will bring to my kids for them to taste.  We will be going there in their apartment in a few hours.     I would love to share the recipe:) Paleo Tuna Spaghetti with Pansit-pansitan 2 big carrots, julliened enough olive oil to fry the carrots (I

   It was in 2008 when I went to Hongkong with my daughter, Cham, my first ever trip out of the country and (please don't laugh at me) my first time to ride an airplane. The whole trip was a gift from my loving sister and because Tommy was not so keen yet on traveling, my daughter volunteered to accompany me. Her savings from her salaries proved very useful. It was also her first time to travel abroad. You can just imagine how fun it was for the two of us. This is Cham, while waiting aboard at NAIA2 and me with my newly-bought suitcase and Cham's    Unlike my children, I am not an adventurous person but I have my dreams. Just like everybody, I also want to travel but the reason why it took me this long to finally get to ride an airplane is simply because I just didn't have this in mind - to travel at a young age. My mind was occupied with first working my way to success. The early years of my married life was dedicated to work, work, and work. The cl