The Dreaded Meralco Bill

We weren't looking forward to receiving our Meralco bill this month. A good number of our online friends have been ranting about how their electricity bill have skyrocketed. Some said their bill increased by at least 30% and a couple said that their bill more than doubled.

At home we always expected our electricity bill to go up by at least 20-30% during Christmas and summer. It's been unusually hot this summer and one cannot help but use airconditioning (lest you want to faint from heat exhaustion).

I was unfortunately the one who found our Meralco bill in our mail box. I was hoping that our bill would've just increased by about 30% but it increased by 50% despite the fact that we've only used the aircon once! A neighbor of mine said that he was really surprised with the extra charges in the bill and a note explained that these were fees being passed on to consumers because they were charges done by Meralco suppliers. And (I dunno) to add insult to injury Meralco included a flyer promoting "energy saving appliances". Goodness gracious!

Oh well, I guess this means that we will NEVER experience again the all-time low of PhP5.55.

Oyster Mushroom Atsara

This uber yummy recipe was concocted by my Dad. I've been trying to learn how to do it for a couple of years now, but my Dad never measures anything whenever he cooks! Good thing I can now more or less gauge how much stuff he put in, hopefully I'd manage when I try making it.

Ingredients:

1 tray oyster mushroom
3 Tbsp toyo
3 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp patis
1/2 Tsp pepper
2-4 Tbsp sugar
6 pcs. calamansi (juice)

Put mushroom in boiling water until it cooks a bit. Drain. Mix the rest of the ingredients

Top Ten Things We Learned in Our First 100 Days

We celebrated our first 100 days by going to Enchanted Kingdom as a family. It was a good day to take a break. And here are top ten things we learned in our first 100 days together:

1. Chores are BOTTOMLESS.

2. Cooking can be learned, so do not fear!

3. The best way to kill pests and insects is to kill the source by sending back infected (with insecticide) insects.

4. Always have canned goods and food delivery flyers on hand. (For the days you are too lazy to cook and have no leftovers).

5. You will discover a lot of things about the previous tenant, so be a good one!

6. Before moving in a new home check every nook and cranny. The repairs we had to do cost about PhP15K. Good thing our landlady reimbursed everything. It was hard to know about the status of the septic tank though.

7. You don't need to have everything all at once. You can always just borrow a mattress first and sleep on the floor.

8. Staying home for 3 straight days might drive you crazy. Take a walk. There's always a Mini-Stop or 7-Eleven around the corner.

9. When in doubt, call Mom. (Or we ask via Plurk). This is in reference to our first cooking attempt and our dancing washing machine.

10. At the end of the day, don't worry you are married and that means you have a partner for life!

More about our 100 days on An Apple a Day (part 1 and part 2).