Monday, June 27, 2011

547 Clicks (Days)

Yesterday, Sweetie and I celebrated our one year and a half anniversary. It's just amazing how Sweetie manages to remember important dates (more than me!)! We didn't make any grand plans to celebrate and just heard mass and ate lunch at my Mom's. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home doing chores! Haha.

We've been through a lot in the past 547 days. After getting over our frequent household chore mishaps we got busy with Miguel's college application and exams, moved to a new home, went through graduation ball and graduation and then prepared Miguel for college.


And here are ten things I learned in the past 547 days:

1. Chores are bottomless. Instead of hating it you just have to embrace it and find joy in doing it. I've found joy in letting our laundry bin roll down the stairs and I have discovered the secret to distributing laundry load is in how you sort them.

2. Things can get pretty routine and you just have to spice things up every once in awhile. We try to head out of town every once in awhile when time and budget permits. (Buying stuff on group buying sites helps!).

3. Delegate responsibilities. I'm glad that Sweetie and I filled-out the "100 Questions" book before we got married because we got the chance to discuss important matters like finances, household chores etc. The book got wiped out during Typhoon Ondoy, good thing we spent time discussing several chapters every week before we tied the knot.

4. It helps to draw up a budget sheet. This is where we put in all our bills and monthly obligations. Being transparent with your finances is important.

5. Be frugal and just spend as needed. Inasmuch as I'd love to travel every so often our budget sheet keeps me on ground. Unlike before we just go out now at least once on weekends so we can save.

6. Don't let your expectations rule your marriage. Leave that baggage even before you walk down the aisle because if you don't you'll just set yourself up for disappointment. It is always better to give than to receive. Wow-ing your spouse with little surprises every so often keeps the fire burning.

7. Write love letters or love notes. Sweetie does this for me every day (except weekends) because all of his love letters perished during Typhoon Ondoy. He also files it for me! And surprised me once by putting those notes in an album.

8. One of you will get sick every so often. Be supportive by being attentive to his/her needs. I'm glad that Sweetie runs to my side whenever I SMS him about an ailment. Miguel's also been great at taking care of me when I'm sick because he can already cook!

9. Sweetie has been travelling often too, so we try to space our travels so we can be together. I've been grounded for the rest of the month because I traveled a lot in May haha.

10.  Don't forget the good night kiss! And always have fun!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Menudo Espesyal

Last night I got the chance to watch Nestle's short film anthology, "Kasambuhay Habambuhay" and they gave out limited edition recipe books! I was so excited about receiving a new recipe book and scanned through it before I slept and told myself I'll try one of the recipes today.

The recipes were not arrange alphabetically nor by ingredients. It was arranged in a very Pinoy fashion - Pangtawid, Pang-baon, Pambiglang Bisita, Pang-Pasko, Pang-Sikat etc.. The Menudillo Itlog caught my eye since I like dishes with hard-boiled egg. I studied the recipe during lunch, but unfortunately I didn't have any ground pork. I didn't want to substitute it with ground beef so I just looked for another recipe.

I had all the ingredients for the Menudo Espesyal save for pork liver. Sweetie doesn't like liver so I decided to leave it out. What made the recipe different is the addition of longganisa macau and fried cubed potatoes. I decided to use the Mandarin chorizo I got from Cebu (I just assumed it's the same hehe) and cubed 2 potatoes.

I fried the potatoes first so that the pan would be hot already once I start cooking the menudo. It took me about an hour and half to finish, but it turned out well since I marinated the meat for over an hour before I started cooking. Here's the outcome -


I got two thumbs up from my boys for this special menudo.