Our First Christmas Twogether

Merry Christmas everybody!!!


It’s our first Christmas as a married couple, our first Christmas away from our families and friends, and our first Christmas in Singapore. We could have been too homesick if not for the Christmas decors around the city and malls. I insisted on buying a Christmas tree for our house here just so we could feel the spirit of this most awaited event at home. I didn't want to splurge too much on decorating our house so we just bought a small tree.


Also to feed our soul, we have completed the Simbang Gabi here in Singapore. There is no one church here that holds the nine nights novena masses in just one church. It's like doing Visita Iglesia and Simbang Gabi all at the same time. Every night, simbang gabi is held at different churches. It's too tiring for most of the churches are far from our home. Nevertheless our will power to complete it always win!


On Christmas eve, I prepared a small feast for our Noche Buena. Since it'll be just the two of us, I cooked three dishes only, Roasted Chicken, Beef Lasagna, and Buttered Garlic Prawns.

As we have been traditionally doing since we were still dating, our Kris Kringle was the highlight of our Christmas celebration. Since our first wedding anniversary is just around the corner, I chose a "Wedding" theme for our Kris Kringle.

Category 1: Something Blue and Stretchable
Inspiration: Garter
I gave him: A blue boxer shorts
I got: A blue socks







Category 2: Something that Can Be Borrowed (Something the we could both use.)
Inspiration: Something Borrowed for the Bride
I gave him: Swimming goggles (very timely for our Bintan pre-Anniversary weekend getaway.)
I got: A Nike cap that perfectly fits his head!





Category 3: Something Round and Shiny
Inspiration: Wedding Rings
I gave him: A clear hair gel placed in a round container
I got: A paper weight! *tsk tsk







Category 4: Something Long and White
Inspiration: Wedding Gown
I gave him: Four Pieces of White Toblerone
I got: A personalized bag charm! (This is my favorite!! Thanks sweetie!)






Category 5: Something your Baby Needs
Inspiration: Sacrament of Marriage
I gave him: A set of Adidas Deodorizer and Bath Gel (Not that he smells..hahaha!)
I got: A Pooh stick massager (Perfect for smacking his head if he's makulit! hahaha!)




For our special gifts, we bought each other what we really liked. For our special gift 1, I got a DKNY watch, and he got a free mug from Pizza Hut! :D
For our special gift 2, I got an Oakley sunglasses, and he got his cds of games. For our special gift 3, I got my waterproof digicam while I gave him one thing he had been asking me to buy since early this year, PS3!

House Update: Puzzle Almost Complete

After 4 and a half months of construction, the puzzle is almost complete, with every bits and pieces now in its proper place and perspective.

Front View (With grills)

Toilet and Bathroom Kitchen
Kitchen Counter (Nook)
Ceiling Fan and Lights
Front Door (With Locks)

House Update: Interior Improvement

House Front View

Front (Main) Entrance

Toilet and Bathroom

Bedroom Closet

Kitchen Area

Cooking Challenge 3: Morcon

I have mixed emotions with this challenge. I'm not sure if I'll give myself a failing grade with this one. Morcon indeed gave me a hard time in preparing this dish. I had a hard time slicing the chunk of beef to flat sheets. Also, I can't find the right strings to tie the meat so I just used a normal thread. I'm prepared to give myself a Fail grade while preparing the dish but thought not to after I've presented and tasted it. I was a bit scared since we've invited our friend, Macky for dinner. It all add up with the pressure. I'm just relieved that they liked it. I'll definitely make this dish in the future so I can improve.



Ingredients:

1 kg kalitiran or round, cut in flat sheets.
1/4 c of calamansi juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup reserved juice from pickles
whole sweet pickles, quartered lengthwise
hotdogs, halved lengthwise
hardboiled eggs, quartered lengthwise
pimientos, sliced into lengthwise strips
strip of cheese
carrot, sliced into 1/4 inch thick long strips
tomato sauce
string used for trussing chicken
flour
oil for frying
beef stock
salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Combine soy sauce, calamansi juice and the pickle liquid. Place beef and rest for a few hours.
2. Lay the marinated beef flat on a board or cookie sheet. Add strips of hotdog, pickles, egg, cheese, carrots, and pimientos.
3. Roll the beef, keeping the filling in the center.
4. Tie the roll with string to keep it together.
5. Roll morcon over flour.
6. Pan-fry the morcon over high heat. Brown all sides, drain of fat.
7. Saute garlic, onion. Place the seared morcon, then fill with beef stock and leftover marinade. Simmer covered for 2 hours or until tender over low fire.
8. 30 minutes before the cooking time, put tomato sauce and simmer. May opt to add more vegetables.
9. Let the roll cool a bit.
10. Slice into 1/2 to 1-inch thick slices.

Presenting my Morcon!

House Update: The Cover-Up

Another week has gone by and the workers now started covering the floor, walls and ceiling of our "skeletal" house with tiles and hardiflex sheets.

Ceiling

Bathroom Tiles Installation

Service Area

Kitchen Area

Garage Gate

Reminiscing: Our first meeting

I can still remember, one Friday, I was in a meeting for the whole day with our Japanese guest when I received a text from my former officemate, Raymund, asking my permission if he could give my number to his friend. I ignored it for a while but he is persistent, sending me texts every hour. I tried to get information about his friend as much as I can and still focus on the meeting. He had said a lot of positive traits of this friend of his. I did not give him a definite answer of my approval. He kept saying that he strongly feels that we would look good together. Got an eyebrow raised when I read his message. More messages exchanged until late in the afternoon. I even remembered asking him if he’s actually at work w-o-r-k-i-n-g! Hahaha. I don’t go on blind dates. And I’m sure once I agreed to give him my number, meeting him would be next. Actually, I have two reasons why I can’t give him my permission right away. First, his friend is working at my former office, in which I know gossip travels fast. Secondly, I’m thinking it would just be a waste of time in case we didn’t like each other in the first place. But this former officemate of mine did not lose hope and seemed so sure of what’s going to happen. I reasoned with myself. First, in case we’ll be the talk in the office, it’ll be in his office and not mine! Secondly, I ask myself what do I got to lose? So at the end of the day I gave him my permission to finally give him my number.

The meeting I’m into ended late. Just as I sat at my desk, I got a message from his friend, said his name is JayR. Really, this guy didn’t want to lose any second I thought. I replied trying to be friendly. In 30 minutes I’m home. As I rest in my bed more getting-to-know-you messages were sent. Suddenly my celfone rang! Shocked, I instantly sat upright. With my mind arguing if I should answer it or not. Whoever it was on my mind urging me to answer it won. Next thing I knew, we were talking on the phone. Imagining what he looked like, I envisioned a tall guy, with tanned skin, and a clean shaved head. Hehe. I remember him asking me if I like to go bar hopping. The time he asked me this question, I knew right away that he’s close to asking me out. I honestly told him that I’m past those activities. And that I only go to bars when I got invited to a friend’s birthday that happens to be in a bar. Needless did I know that his birthday was coming! I got caught off-guard! He did not let one opportunity slip. I’m left with no choice. I didn’t want to be rude so we set to meet on one condition. He has to bring along our other officemate, Tere, who lives near our home. Who says asking me out is easy! Hahaha! Now he had to ask permission from our officemate’s fiancé so she could accompany us.

So the day has arrived. We agreed that he’ll pick me up from my office in Alabang, By the way, did I mention he works in Makati, lives in Taytay Rizal and that I live in Laguna? Poor guy! Hahaha! He had asked me not to bring a car so he could give me a ride home. I insisted that I might be late for work if I don’t bring a car. He didn’t know it’s just my way not to ride with him in case our night won’t turn out the way Raymund had foreseen it’ll be. Also, I asked my officemates to be alert with my text in case I need to escape from our dinner! I had everything planned. I would text my officemates where we’ll have dinner so they could have their dinner there as well. Then when I signal them to help me, they’d find a way to get me out of there! Hahaha! One great plan huh! Unfortunately my fone went dead by the time he picked me up. Maybe cupid’s starting to do wonders by that time! Hahaha! So much for planning!

The first time I saw him, he was wearing a pink long sleeves. I said to myself this guy is confident enough to wear pink. It looked good on him though. I actually though he looked cute, very neat. Perfect! We had dinner at Friday’s. Thank goodness Tere was there so that we, at least my POV speaking, didn’t feel awkward. I just felt that I’m meeting an old friend. I tried to act cool and not give him the impression that I’m nervous and wanted to impress him. I’m matured enough to accept it if he won’t like me the way I am and that would be the last time I’d see him. Then after dinner he took out his fone and started taking pictures. I was a bit surprised but glad that he is not shy when it comes to camera. The night ended fine. Since I brought along my car, he just followed me home. I won’t mention that he got lost getting home. Oops, I just did! Hahaha! Apparently he’s not familiar with SLEX.

How in the world would I know that one text message can change my life forever? The picture of us together then is just the first of the thousands of pictures we have right now and the pictures we’ll have in the future.

Cooking Challenge 2: California Maki

Maki is not my favorite dish. But since, it's my habibi's fave I decided to learn how to make one. I can still recall when I had my first taste of Maki. Back in college, my friend Donna, now living in Dubai, bought one and had me taste it. I bravely took a bite. Instantly, I tasted the mango, felt strange about it and decided that would be the last time I'd eat one. Then my habibi came and re-introduced me to the dish. Strangely, I loved it. So here is my attempt to make the dish my habibi loved. We decided to have an Japanese themed dinner with the dish. I also cooked poached salmon, recipe below.

Ingredients


Baboo mat wrapped in Clingfilm
2 sheets seaweed paper
sushi rice (refer below for the recipe)
Thinly sliced mango
Imitation crab meat
Sesame seeds
Wasabe
Soy Sauce
Calamansi

Procedure:

1. On the bamboo mat, lay the seaweed paper then cover with sushi rice leaving about 1/2 inch seaweed without rice at the bottom. Press lightly so the rice will stick into place. You may deep your fingers on a bowl of water so the rice won't stick.



2. Turn the seaweed paper and rice over.

3. Place crab meat and mango at about 1 inch away from the bottom.




4. Then carefully, start to roll the mat. Hold firmly to form a roll. Continue rolling until the seaweed and rice is compressed into a roll.









5. Unroll the mat.

6. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

7. Cut with cold knife.

8. Serve with soy sauce mixed with wasabe and calamansi.



Sushi Rice (This recipe can make 4 sushi rolls)

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked rice
water

Sushi Vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

I've read that the secret to a perfect maki or sushi roll is its sushi rice. I thoroughly washed the uncooked rice thoroughly and let it drain for about 45 minutes. Instead of cooking it the conventional way, I cooked it in a rice cooker. :D I'm not that confident in cooking rice. Once the rice is cooked, I prepared the vinegar mixture.


Poached Salmon

This is my second time to cook this dish. I got intrigued with this dish when we ate at Ikea Restaurant. When I ordered for a salmon, I saw that their salmon were just sitting on a container with clear liquid. I'm sure that it's just not water so I searched for its recipe in the net. I found one at elise.com. It was so easy to do. Anyone without cooking skills can do this. I had some leeks and green onions left overs so I used it as a substitute for onions.

Ingredients:

2 cuts of salmon
1/2 cup rice wine
1/2 cup water
slices of onions
fresh parsley
salt
ground pepper


1. Combine all ingredients in a pan. Bring to boil.







2. Place salmon, skin down. Put salt and pepper on top of salmon. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Update 1: House Project

10 days had gone by since our last posting regarding the construction of our house and as it slowly reaching its completion, the more we want to see every corner and details of it. Our next task is to look for good color combinations for the walls, ceilings, what types of furnitures to install, design for the window grills and for the gate and other stuffs for finishing touches.

Front View

Ceiling

Back Area

Front Entrance / Living Room

Kitchen Area

Bedroom Area

House Project

Our dream of having a having a house which we can call "our own" is slowly coming to reality and we are very much excited about it. As much as possible, we want to be involved in everything - from floor plan layout design, to furniture arrangements, materials to be used for flooring, bathroom motiff, color of the roof and eventually every corners of the house and other stuffs - giving suggestions on what we want it to look like. But since we are here in SG, my father is the one who supervise the house construction, giving me updates on the progress through phone calls and MMS (for the pictures). He sent me the initial floor plan layout through MMS and I think it took the architect around 3 revisions until we finally arrived on the final floor plan layout design of the house. The construction is estimated to be completed by August. So after 2 1/2 months of construction, here is what our house looks like.

Cooking Challenge 1: Pansit Palabok

Yes! The image you are seeing is my cooking! I can't believe it myself. I'm not an expert in cooking but I'm knowledgeable enough to follow recipes and tweak it a bit to my liking. I've been wanting to cook Palabok ever since I was in my school days. But knowing how tedious it will be, I focused on mastering my baked mac dish. Now that we are living in Singapore where the source of Palabok is scarce, I'm forced to face the dish I've been avoiding to cook. Last week, we ate Palabok at Kabayan, a Filipino restaurant in Orchard, to pacify my craving. I personally didn't like it. Maybe, I just expected too much on it. Anyway, when I told our experience to my friend Lia (who apparently works in Korea), she suggested that we learn to cook dishes that we haven't tried yet together. So we agreed to make Palabok first. It's a good thing mamaKaye (my officemate) went home to Pinas so I was able to ask my parents to buy me "atchuete" (annato seeds) for her to bring to us. Since I didn't want to use Palabok mix, I searched the net for some easy palabok recipes I could learn from. Below is the recipe I made based on other four recipes I found in the net. So here it goes!

Pansit Palabok

Ingredients:



100grams Crab meat
2 c. shrimp juice
2 tbsp. annato powder mixed with 1/2c water
2 tbsp. fish sauce
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 1/2 c water
1 egg, beaten



Bihon
cooked shrimp
cooked squid
2 hard boiled egg, sliced
bacon bits (in replace of chicharon)
spring onion
calamansi

Procedure:

To prepare shrimp juice:

1. Place shrimp heads of 500grams uncooked shrimp in a bowl.
2. Pound to extract the juice from the shrimp.
3. Put 2 cups water on extracted shrimp juice.
4. Strain shells from the liquid.

To cook noodles:

1. Soak bihon noodles in cold water for 20 minutes.
2. Boil water or chicken stock.
3. Drain noodles from cold water.
4. Put noodles in boiling water
5. Cook for less than a minute.
6. Drain noodles.

To cook sauce:

1. Saute garlic and onion until cooked.
2. Add crab meat, shrimp juice and simmer.
3. Add annato mixture, fish sauce, salt, and pepper.
4. Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add cornstarch mixture and simmer to thicken sauce stirring constantly.
6. Add beaten egg, stir, then turn off fire.

To serve:

1. Place noodles on a plate.
2. Put sauce over noodles.
3. Top with garnishes; shrimp, squid, egg, spring onions, bacon bits.
4. Serve with calamansi on the side.

I'm so proud of myself after I cooked this dish. The sauce I made tasted exactly the way I wanted it to be. I'm able to achieve the taste I wanted. And most especially, my habibi loved it so much! The palabok I made is worth all the effort I exerted. As you can see in the text and pictures above, you'll notice that I used and done some unusual things in the recipe. Since we don't have a pestle, I used a clean bottle to pound the shrimp. I cooked the noodles in the water I used to cook the shrimp. Instead of a chicharon, I used bacon bits. We found a chicharon in the grocery last night, but it's too expensive! A pack costs SG$7! I settled with bacon bits and surprisingly it blend well with the sauce! Too bad, I don't think I'll cook this dish again until next year. Hahaha! I'm not sure if I'll have the same enthusiasm the next time. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to our next challenge! We haven't decided on it yet. If you have some suggestions, we'd gladly appreciate it!

We agreed to learn two(2) dishes a month! Stay tuned!

Malaysia Truly Asia Trip

Malaysia Trip

We’ve been planning this trip with Lia, our friend from Korea, since March I think. I asked Mitzi, my friend who works here as well, to join us. It’s so timely coz her sister is here for vacation at that time.

From Singapore we rode a bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We chose Aeroline simply for convenience. Drop off point and pick up point of the bus in Malaysia is at Corus Hotel where we stayed. Aeroline is a bit pricey compared to other bus lines but considering the previous point, Aeroline is the choice for us. We rode a double decked bus. There’s a wi-fi lounge and toilet at the first level and the seats were at the second level. The seats with foot rest were comfy. There are pillows and blankets available for each passenger. You can recline it for a more comfortable sleep. I fit comfortably but for a taller guy like my habibi, it won’t hurt to have more space between rows of seats. There’s a stewardess to attend to your needs. Since it’s our first time to ride a coach bus, we thought highly of Aeroline. But when we got to the immigration at the border of Singapore and Malaysia, I got envious of the other busses. Most busses provided individual LCD screens per passenger!

We arrived at Corus Hotel a little past 5am in the morning. Good thing we are allowed an early check-in. Since we got only little sleep we snoozed for a while. Since our free breakfast is applicable on the next day, we looked for nearby hawkers to eat. We found one just across the Hotel. I’m a bit excited to taste their local food. Since it’s still early, their menu is limited. We settled for a “mee goreng”, a noodle dish that looked like our own “Palabok”. Only their Palabok is too spicy! Hahahaha! That dish woke us up! But the coffee we had was delish!

Our itinerary for our first day is Genting Highlands. We took a cab to KL Sentral Station. We were 2 hours behind our schedule. We did not book a bus to Genting prior our trip thinking there are a lot of busses going there. Unfortunately there weren’t. The next available trip is at 12noon. We had no choice but to take a cab to Genting Skyway. From Genting Skyway, we rode a cable car going up the Genting Highlands. This is the longest cable car I’ve ridden. And its direction is almost vertical, literally climbing a mountain. Next thing we knew, we’re surrounded by clouds! I’ve read that it’s cold in Genting. I thought it would be just like the temperature in Baguio. But it’s beyond comparison. In Genting, you can literally touch the sky! It’s like a theme park in heaven! The park is huge. There are a lot of rides but we weren’t able to ride all since we need to catch our bus back to KL at 5PM. There are a lot of people so we sometimes queued for almost an hour to a less than 2 minute ride. We’ll definitely come back to Genting!

Back to KL, since we are all tired, we just walked our way to Petronas Tower for some night shooting which is just around 100 meters away from our hotel.

The next day, we took an Elephant Tour + Batu Cave that Lia and I booked weeks before the trip. I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant and this tour was more than I imagined. First we headed to Batu Cave. It’s a Hindu temple that has 272 steps going up the cave. One highlight to this cave is the huge gold statue of a Hindu God. I was amused with the different images that they have in their temple. It’s definitely a mirror of their culture. I could tell that elephants and peacocks played a significant role to their spiritual beliefs. Another highlight is the monkeys that freely roam the area. I’ve never been fond of monkeys. I can’t remember one monkey cartoon character or even a monkey stuff toy that I found cute. I even thought “Kiko Matsing” of “Batibot” is a villain when I was a kid! Hahahaha!

Then we headed to the Elephant Sanctuary. It’s a one and a half hour drive from Batu Caves. When we got there, we first watched a short documentary film about elephants in Malaysia. The film showed how they transfer the elephants to other forests in Malaysia to keep them away from people. It’s nice to know that Malaysia still have untouched forests for those elephants. The film is also the sanctuary’s way to reach out to people who can help them fund the transportation of elephants. Due to limited funds, the elephants have no choice but to endure the long trip of forced migration.

The guests of the sanctuary are given three activities to enjoy with the elephants. First is the feeding of the elephants. Watermelons and bananas were prepared by the sanctuary. There are some elephants that are choosy. They would throw the watermelons you hand them and eat only the bananas. Very clever!

Next activity is the riding the elephants. This was what I was waiting for the whole trip. I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant and I won’t let this pass! Unfortunately the ride is very short! The elephant just walked in a small circle and that’s it! I put on so much anticipation for such a short ride. Hehe.

The last activity was bathing with the elephants in a nearby river! I came prepared for this. I brought change clothes for me and jayr. The guests will ride an elephant then the elephant will drop the guests by lying down in the water. We did not mind if the water was brown. I just enjoyed the moment! There were also two baby elephants nearby that you could bathe and play with. It’s such an experience. I’m definitely an “Elefriend” now!

We’re back at the hotel at 6PM. Then we headed to Petalling Street, their Chinatown, for some shopping. I was disappointed with their Chinatown. Most items they are selling were fake apparels, shoes, and bags. I was expecting to find more of their local products but did not find any. Their Chinatown made us feel like we were in Quiapo. The surrounding is very similar. Hehe. I also felt that I am in Manila when I saw huge billboards along the street. That’s one thing you can’t find here in Singapore.

The next day and our last day in KL, we had a city tour just to make the most of our trip. Since Petronas Tower is closed on Mondays, we took a cab and headed to KL Tower. KL Tower is known for its observation deck. We were able to see the bird’s eye view of the city. They also have a sky glide which I thought would start at the top of the tower but apparently it’s just a short trip from their lobby to the car park. I bought ticket for JayR for I don’t want him to miss this kind of adventure. The fee for the ride is fair enough for he gets to ride it twice! I waited at the car park and took some pictures.

It’s such a blessing we went to KL Tower first. There’s a budget taxi that you could hire for RM35 per hour per taxi. Good thing we listed the places we wanted to see so with little time we were able to check them all out. Aside from the places in the list, our driver brought us to two other spot that is not written in any tour guide book or leaflets. Our driver first drove us to a nearby chocolate factory! Who wouldn’t want to go there anyway? We bought durian chocolates and coffee chocolates. There is also a chili chocolate but we’re not brave enough to try it. Then he brought us to a sarong store where we were shown how it is done by hand. Those two trips already consumed our 1 hour. Since we booked the cab for two hours only just enough to catch our bus at 2:30pm, we didn’t get to see one place from our list. Nevertheless, the additional side trips were worth that one stop I’m sure. It had started to rain so we need to move fast. It was raining hard when we get to the King’s Palace. Since we’re not allowed to go beyond the palace’s gate, we squeezed ourselves inside the guard’s post. Hahaha! Then we headed to National Mosque. The rain had stopped but their prayer time has started, how lucky can we get? Hehe. We just took some pictures outside. Then we headed to our last stop which is the Sultan Abdul Building. It’s one of the oldest buildings in KL and just right in front of it is the Freedom Park where the tallest flag pole is. We’ve exceeded our contracted hours with the cab, but the driver is friendly enough to ignore it.

That wraps it all! With the rich culture of the country, indeed, Malaysia is truly Asia.

Lenten Season In Singapore

Holy Week in Singapore is nothing compared to what it is in the Philippines. Despite that we are not in a Christian country, we are blessed with one day off from work on Good Friday. I was on a diet in preparation for my friend’s wedding the following week, so I just considered it as my penance for the holy week. Since I’ve just arrived and am still familiarizing myself with the city, we took this opportunity to be a tourist even for just one day. We joined my visiting friends at the Jurong Bird Park. Macky (my former officemate) and Ruthie (who rocked Macky’s world! That’s how he described Ruthie to us. Ain’t it sweet?) spent their holy week in Singapore with Ruthie’s family. With our work and their itineraries, we only had one day to go out before they leave. Packed with our 3 cameras, (yes! you read right!), we walked through cages of birds.



First, we watched a show where parrots do tricks.











The show was alright. There were not much tricks to awe you that much. The parrots can be easily distracted so audience must follow instructions of the trainer seriously. A man in front of us read a paper the whole period of the show. Hehe..



Honestly, we really didn’t pay much attention to the different species of birds at the park. We just looked for good spots for picturesque sake! Hahaha! But we didn’t let go of the chance to feed the birds. I didn’t know that I can get this close to them without scaring them!






Just as we decided to have lunch and go somewhere else, dark clouds started to fill the sky. We got lost finding the short cut to the exit making it even longer than the usual route! Hahaha! As we got to a little tunnel, the heavy cloud rain started pouring hard. We were thankful that we didn’t get soaked in the rain or our 3 precious cameras will pay for it! Ironic as it can be, on a rainy day we have 3 cameras and only one umbrella! Hahaha! The rain poured and we’re trapped for almost an hour with our growling stomachs. It seemed like we’re in the middle of a rain forest where civilization is far.


When I can’t handle it anymore, I grabbed my umbrella and searched for a nearby bar to grab some snacks. That’s when I found out that we’re just a few meters away from the civilization, i mean the main hall!

Fortunately we were able to pose for some pictures before the rain poured.