Che's 31st Birthday

It was Che's birthday yesterday so I took a leave since Monday. Last year, I was guilty for not doing something special for him and so I tried to make it up to him this year. I initially planned a surprise party at a function room in my friend's condo in Greenbelt but the thought of having to prepare for many guests scared me. You see, I am not a cooking expert so I should better start with a simple celebration at home! Che also doesn't want too many guests as that means entertaining and drinking until late at night.

So with the help of my mom (haha, yeah, mom is someone you first call during emergency, right?!), we prepared for a dinner with the following menu:

Maja Blanca
Kare-Kare (mom's specialty)
Bangus Sisig
Chicken Kebab
Siomai
Lumpiang Shanghai
Pasta Puttanesca
Banofee Pie
Mango Bravo from Conti's

Well, well. Mom did the cooking but hey, I wrapped the siomai and fillet the chicken breasts! Talk about efforts, right? I am also very proud to have done a delicious Banofee Pie and the Puttanesca! Ok, I have to be honest here. For the puttanesca, I did asked mom to taste it and add some salt and pepper. I was scared to fail considering it's my first attempt to do puttanesca. But boy, it was easy!

Here's the recipe in case you may want to try. Promise, it's yummy. The Banofee pie tastes better than the Mango Bravo from Conti's. Both the Banofee and the Puttanesca were smashed!

Banofee Pie



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of crushed Graham Crackers (equivalent to a pack of crushed crackers available in grocery stores)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup melted butter
3 tsp ground ginger (optional- i didn't include this)
1 can of condensed milk
3 pieces of bananas (i suggest you add more)
4 tetra pack of Nestle All Purpose Cream

Mix graham, sugar, butter until well blended. Press in a pan. Cool in ref. In saucepan, boil the unopened can of condensed milk for 3 hrs. Make sure you check if the water is enough (should fill the top of the can or at least up to 3/4 level). Set aside and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Open the can and spread it on top of the crust. Layer with bananas and add the whipped cream. Put chocolate syrup and spread with grated chocolate. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve.

Pasta Puttanesca


This is Rachel Ray's recipe in Food Network.com. But more or less I used the following:

Ingredients:
500g spaghetti
1 can (28oz) Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes
1 can (28oz) Hunt's Diced Tomatoes
1 small jar of flat anchovy fillets
1 1/2 small jar of black sliced olives (the more the better)
3 tbsp of capers (i used up about half the small jar)
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic (in recipe, it's 4-6 cloves, so up to you)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
grated parmesan

Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Set aside. Saute oil, garlic and anchovies until anchovies melt and garlic is tender. Add olives, capers, tomatoes, black peper and parsley. Put some black pepper and salt. Bring sauce to bubble and simmer. Toss the pasta into sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan. Serve with buttered slice of bagette.

Finally!

I had long been wanting to pamper myself or have at least some time off to make me feel good/better. Finally, Saturday was a good time to do that.

10am - Headed off to Makati Med for an appointment with a new Dermatologist

I was impressed! The doctor had at least 4 assistants, they take a picture of each patient for their online patient record and the doctor is using a tablet pc! She's nice and she's also a mom of twins! Probably the only thing I don't like about her is that she doesn't have stretchmarks after pregnancy. Hmp, that lucky gal!

1pm - Pampered myself at Jesi Mendez

It's my first time in Jesi Mendez and I was also satisfied with the services. I had a trim, hair spa and pedicure. The salon was crispy clean and with nice interiors. I love the black chandelier. Very baroque. The price is also cheaper than Salon de Manila - half the price for cut and pedicure. The only bad thing is that my nails were murdered again. But I'd definitely come back there again for some

4pm - Had late lunch with a friend in Teriyaki Boy
Yummy kani salad and kani furai!

7pm - Attended Ian (Che's cousin) thanksgiving party at Henry's Grill in QC for passing the bar exam. He's finally a lawyer just like his dad!

11pm - Since Ian's thanksgiving party was sort of like a family reunion and Crikette is now in town, we (with my girl cousins -in-law) continued the night at TGIF in Bonifacio High Street.

Tagaytay Highlands Part1

Last Friday, my Dad texted me that he might already leave the country for work today or tomorrow so we decided to spend the weekend with the family and so we went to Tagaytay Highlands.

Ever since, I love Tagaytay Highlands. Every visit, I am fascinated by the facilities and the ambiance. Che has always wanted to build a house in Tagaytay. I of course disagree since he wants to settle down there without having a house in Manila. Yes, he doesn't want his Tagaytay home to be just a vacation house, he wanted it to be our permanent abode. But yesterday, I told him that if we are to buy a house inside Tagaytay Highlands, then he will get my buy-in. :)

So how about the trip?

We left QC at 7am and arrived the Highlands before 9am. I didn't brought any jacket for myself and the twins. In fact, I was even wearing shorts. We arrived Tagaytay feeling cold due to some showers and the air is filled with fog. Good thing is that after few hours, we felt the summer heat.

Our Tagaytay trip of course wouldn't be complete without a visit at the Pink Sisters and buying pasalubong at Good Shepherd (for ube of course!) and at Rowena's (yummy apple and buko tarts!). On the way back, we also had a stopover at Paseo de Santa Rosa for a visit at the Nike Outlet and Speedo shop.

So bon voyage to my dad and I'm happy to know that he'll be back in time for Sean and Sophia's birthday party. I was kidding him when I told him if he could be the sponsor for the type of party that I already have in mind. Hahaha.

I'll post more pictures in my next post.

I wish

• I wish I had more time to do household chores (yes, you read it right!)
• I wish I had more time to play with my twins
• I wish I had more time to sleep
• I wish I had more time for myself to take a long bath, shop and go to the parlor
• I wish I had more time to work to finish all in one day without having to leave some tasks in the pending tray.

But unfortunately, a day lasts only 24 hours. Tsk.

Anyway, the weekend that was is just what I wanted. A 3-day weekend that is. So what did we do?

Sunday brunch at Conti's in Trinoma

Attended a Class at Gymboree (they just slept cried)

Played with our adoring twins

Gear them up

Spend more time with cousins/relatives (at home on Mickey and Cyril's Graduation/Thanksgiving Party)

*with my cousins. I don't look like I am a decade older no? haha!*

The pretty girl in skirt and the boy who just woke up...

I'm catching up...

Yeah, catching up on blogging...

Extremely busy at work lately and my twins are more than a handful so blogging became last of the priority. But now that my dearest husband and kids are asleep, I can spend a little more time to update my blog.

Here are some updates:

March: The Birthday Month/ Bora Trip
Spent my birthday in Boracay with my family and my in-laws! We were close to 20. It was fun and yet so 'bitin'. It's Sean and Sophia's first time on the beach. They were at 4.5 months then. We were surprised since they hate the beach. We wonder why given that Che and I are both beach lovers. Anyway, here are some pics.

More bora pics to follow.

The Graduation
Attended 2 graduation rites - Sato graduating from High School and Mickey graduating from College. Cyril has also recently graduated. I'm proud to say that my sister Mickey graduated Cum Laude! Congrats! Mana sa ate hehe!

cc

Celebrating Easter
We heard mass at Mount Carmel Church and then had lunch at C2 restaurant in Shangri-la Place. Oh boy, Sean and Sophia love malling! They never cried and was just happy sight-seeing. I didn't had a solo picture of Sean here... love Sophia's outfit hehe.

The Ear Piercing
It was their scheduled visit to the pedia (we switched to Che's cousin Ate Ruchie) for Sean and Sophia's scheduled immunization. I had to double the pain for Sophia wth her ears pierced. Well, just for the sake of vanity. Look at the picture though, she seems to enjoy it..

First Solid Feeding
Exactly on their 5th month bday, Sean and Sophia had their first solid food - Cerelac 1. Sean really liked it and can really munch and swallow. Sophia pushed the cereal out using her tongue. It was a milestone that of course had to be recorded.

Daddy Mito's Bday at Market! Market!
It was Daddy Mito's bday today and we had buffet lunch at Kamayan in Market! Market! Love all the pics of Sean and Sophia. Check more in my friendster account..

Proud Mommy

Love to Laugh

Bulaga!

Bulagta!

gosh, the look! *like mother, like daughter*

Whew! That was quite a plenty. Well those are the highlights since March!

2nd Wedding Anniversary

It was Che and I's wedding anniversary yesterday. Since we are both busy, we just had dinner at Chelsea in Serendra. I've had dinner there before with my boss and my supervisors. Food was good so I taught it was a good choice.

We had the following for our menu:

Summer Squash Soup

Cheese Fondue (combination of two kinds of cheese with dips like nachos, croutons, olives, bell peppers, potatoes etc)

Salmon Sandwich (an uncooked salmon with mangoes, onions and herbs on top of a sandwhich served with fries)

Herb Marinated Chicken (this one was good except that the veggies were overcooked)

Our refreshing drinks were Frozen Lemon Iced Tea and Peach Iced Tea. Funny we didn't go for white wine which we originally intend to drink to match the cheese. :)

The food was too much. The guests next to our table look in awe whenever the food is served and probably wondering how hungry we were. Hahaha. Well, every serving from soup to main course is always good to share. But probably since it's our wedding anniversary, an excuse to skip our diet, we ordered items of our liking in the menu. So it turned out that we have leftovers today for breakfast.

As usual, the restaurant was full even it's a raining weekday. We even saw Ogie and Regine and they actually look good together in person. I am not a fan of them though. And I was thrilled to also saw an old colleague, Angelie. She used to work in my department and was a MISE trainee (like me). She resigned few months back and is now currently studying at AIM. She was with the other MISE trainees from Belgium who came here to visit them.

First Trip

Some parents prefer to keep their newborns inside the comfort of their homes for a few months and allow only a trip to the hospital or to the relatives' houses. I know that will not be the case for our twins since their cousins have travelled to different places, even out-of-town, when they were still few months old. That's the reason why baptism at 1 month is a must for the San Gabriel clan.

At 3 weeks old, Sean and Sophia already attended the 1st birthday party of their 2nd cousin, JB, at the clubhouse of Urdaneta Village. I had them wear the red and blue onesies which was a gift to us by our friend who had a vacation in the US last September. Daddy Che was unfortunately not with us but kept on texting me what the twins will wear. :) We arrived the venue and some people look kinda amazed seeing a girl and boy twin. Although my kids wouldn't get to enjoy this kind of event, it was still nice bringing them along. Aheheh. The theme was Pirates of the Carribean and kids and some adults came in looking like pirates. They served japanese food (Sai Bachi Catering) with different food carts for kids to enjoy. The host, lootbags, balloon decoration etc all were in tune with the theme.

Even at 1 year old, a kid won't enjoy this kind of 'surprisingly expensive' party. But it is such a milestone that parents will not hesitate to spend money on. I believe the party is more for the parents instead of the kids. And I have to admit I am one of those parents. I am already counting the next 11 months till I plan their 1st birthday party (maybe with a Trick or Treat theme since party will be held at Nov1? haha). But before that, I am looking forward to the next trip of Sean and Sophia. The doctor recommended we go ahead and visit Tagaytay... :)