Rainy days means sopas!

My all time favorite kind of soup. It's creamy and I love it.
last night, I was in the mood to cook and I made this for the nth time and because yeah..this is perfect for rainy weather :)

Come let's eat!

For the recipe : click my old SOPAS post here.

We survived typhoon Glenda

Praise the Lord!

Metro Manila was placed under signal number 3 Tuesday night but it was Wednesday morning when we felt the fury of Glenda. Strong winds battered the city (and our old building) and boy I was scared :(

Thankfully though, that wind was gone in the afternoon and...our roof still intact.

The day before the typhoon, we bought extra food just in case of flooding and we might got stuck in the house like what happened to us last 2011. Hubby had to wade through the flood so he can buy us food. 

Power was out the whole day yesterday and it only came back this morning. I was prepared though, both our cellphones were fully charged.

Today, clearing operations are still on going, I am now back in the office and along the way, I saw many trees in the streets but it was not that bad compared to other typhoons. I seriously hope we have learned our lessons well and that we have learned to cope up with calamities like this.

Thank you Lord..we are safe and we continue to pray for those who are greatly affected.

Here are some photos of the typhoon aftermath.

image source: https://twitter.com/julius_segovia/status/489199121488564225

image source: https://twitter.com/julius_segovia/status/489191271135576064

image source:https://twitter.com/susan_enriquez/status/489308842103017473

Throwback Tuesday

This picture is already 6 years old. Taken last March 2008 at Pagudpud, Ilocos Sur.
Memories are indeed our treasure and I am looking forward to making more memories with my husband :)

Rak of Aegis Date

We had FUN! Look at our pictures with some of the cast after the show, we are smiling big because we really did enjoy the show. Pure talent!  The production is superb!

and most of all, it was nice to have that quality time with my husband again:)

Husband and Wife date ideas

The past months have been work and work and work for me and my husband. Due to financial constraint, we have to do that and forget (for a while) some dates and relaxation time. But we know how important it is in our marriage to have those free and leisure time so I’m trying to find ways on how we can still have it sans the expenses.

Today I am grateful that we can go watch a very good musical for FREE! Yes! An admin from an online group where I am a member of is giving us the two free tickets. It’s a comical musical play and I so wanted to see it. It’s double happiness for me because I can bring my husband along. 

 That’s what I am talking about. Even if we don’t have the means there still could be ways to be able to have that husband and wife date. You just have to recognize that it is important and that you have to have it. I’m sure there is a way right?

 I’m thinking that next time, my husband and I could…

1. Go to a park and have some food over a picnic mat. We haven't done this yet and I think it sounds fun and nice.

2. Visit museums- WE could have gone to National Museum last Tuesday because entrance is free that day but we had another appointment. Sayang, anyway, we can go next time.

I wish I can say "stay home and play a CD/DVD movie from our collection" which we often do before but unfortunately that is not an option for us now because our home is in chaos with the in laws and an infant. But someday when we have our privacy back we can do that again.

Anyways, whatever the situation is, we should always have time for each other-that's what matter most.

Father's Day

Yesterday - as it was the second Sunday of June.

We had the normal activity in the church, we recognized the fathers and let them stand in front, the congregation prayed for them and wished them Happy Father's Day. Family members hugged and kissed them.

I have two major reasons now to put this special occasion as my least favorite.

1. It's never the same and will never be without my father. While he was still with us, we'd gather and have some special food during the day or for dinner but it's been different for the 2nd time now. I have no one to kiss and say how much I love him. But I'm glad and thankful I did all that while he was still here. 

2.  Since we got married, every time this day comes and we do that normal routine activity in the church, they will ask my husband to stand along with the fathers and it hurts so bad that no child (of our own) is going in front to hug him and kiss him. For 8 long years,I've put on-we've put on a smile but I think that has to stop now. Yes, we have learn to accept the reality that we might not have children but it still hurt that much when they do that. It's like telling us a million times again-that my husband is still a husband and not a Father.

So there it is...but of course, it doesn't mean I'm not going to greet all the great fathers I know there. After all it's their day sadly though not my husbands'.

Better things are coming

image source : https://www.flickr.com/photos/nailahcasimiro/5957172826/

I’d rather think positive than complain and be sullen about how things are not better at this point in time.  I know that things will eventually get better.

Nanay will be better.

Our small business will eventually pick up and give us passive income :)

We will be able to pay our lot in full and build our dream house someday soon.

Increase in our salaries is coming-yup! I believe in power of declaration.

My health will be better.

I will HOLD ON for I know the best is yet to come.
Better things are coming.

Learning to paint

I've been wanting to do this, learn how to paint or at least be able to paint one on canvass and I know it is not too late to start even at my age :D

My husband can draw and paint, during his younger years he used to be in art competition in their school and he said he won most of the time. So it is but proper that he taught me the basic. He said before using brush and paints, I should start in oil pastel first and here is what I did last night :)

 the upper one is his and the lower one mine :)

 Not bad for a start right?

 Till our next painting/art lesson!

Our newest nephew

Hello world :) let us all welcome the newest addition to our family..my very cute nephew :)
He was born May 6, 2014.

Isn't he adorable? Those cute little feet..I so love to kiss them. 

One year and still missing him

This weekend, we commemorated my Dads passing. It was a sad/happy occasion. Happy that we got to see all our dear friends and relatives again, sad that we still do miss Tatay very much. We prepared most of his favorite food such as menudo and lechonn (roast pig). I'm sure he's happy.

It has been one year-and still I can not look at his pictures and not cry. 

But of course, we have moved on despite the sadness and grief. I guess missing him is now part of our existence and that there will always be that special space in our heart for him. A space that only belongs to a father.

I spent 3 days in the province and we really had a good time with the kids, we went swimming in a nearby resort which we usually do during summer.

Today, my mom will finally go home with my sister and will stay here in the city for good. To my relief because that means I can now see her often. Our house in the province will be temporarily empty but it will always be full of happy memories.

Celebrating 8

and because I still have no energy to make another post, I'm grabbing my post from my facebook page :) and also the photo.

"This was 8 years ago and the smiles and laughter we had then did not fade a bit.
Happy Anniversary mahal. Thank you for loving the Lord first and foremost because with that I know I am always secured of your love. God must have loved me that much, so happy and grateful He gave me YOU. Naks!! I love you! "

Our homemade California Maki

Our very first attempt was a failure because of the wrong nori (seaweeds) sheets size we bought. It was very disappointing  but  of course we did not give up. Last night we tried again and it was a success!!

Ours is cheaper version because we did not have japanese mayo and a salmon or any fish for that matter. We only used cucumber, mango, crab meat sticks and the rice :)

here's a picture guide on how we did it

At first I thought it was hard but the only tricky part for me is the rice. Take note that we did not use Japanese rice also,  we substituted it with our own local sticky/glutinous (malagkit) rice. In fact, the only Japaneses ingredient we had is the Wasabi. Nonetheless, it was still yummy for us :D

We had extra mangoes, cucumbers and crab meat sticks so we used it to top our maki rolls :)