helping

This past week, the world saw the devastation that Typhoon Haiyan brought to the central part of our country. I am grateful for all my friends from all over who took the time to ask me how I am and my family. We are okay. We had been spared by the wrath of the typhoon. But I cannot say the same thing for my fellow countrymen. Most of them lost everything, including loved ones (that's the hardest part), and it seems that relief couldn't get there fast enough because of logistics problems (and politicking).

I am just in awe though on how Filipinos respond to the call of the needy. In just less than a week, relief operations all over the country materialized, people volunteering their time to pack relief goods, people who have extra gave what they can. Everyone just moved to help the needy.

I am just proud that I am surrounded by friends who are giving more than they can. Our office has willingly given up our annual Christmas party and give the money to the victims; my Geol friends gave part of their travel fund to Red Cross and one of my friend's office will match that amount to give to the Red Cross; another friend of mine went around collecting goods to send to the people of Ilo-Ilo who were also affected. My sister and I collected clothes that are still good but are not being used anymore and we have given away most of our toys for the kids who needs these more now than ever.

Sending our love to the kids who suffered from Typhoon Yolanda

 
I just hope with the little we have, those who receives it feels the love that we are sending them.

*****

Some of the stories that have touched me this past week. Truly, every Filipino today is a hero:

A lady military personnel breastfeeding babies in the evacuation centers
People with vehicles shuttling people arriving from Tacloban to their relative's homes
Fellow UP alumni raising money to support UP dormers whose families were affected by the typhoon
Students abroad with less still giving cash to send to the relief aid

***** 

Lots of thanks going out to the countries and private sector who had been helping out. I just realized that the Philippine military has a long way to go in terms of improvement. We do not lack brave and honorable military servicemen. Our government lacks the vision and left the military to decay. Imagine, only three C130s servicing the whole country of almost 100M people and 7,107 islands. Well, that is just my opinion.

yolanda

It was only after I watched the news on TV that I saw the massive destruction brought by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) to the central area of the Philippines. Footages of gusty winds with its noise like a car being revved forever hurling stuff, taking away roofings, storrm surge coming into the city of Tacloban are being flashed on tv. I just can't imagine what the victims are feeling right now. It seems that most of them lost everything, and sadly, including their family members.

It is times like this that you feel helpless for other people. The same feeling when I heard my hometown being attacked by the rebel army.

new tumbler

A few days ago, I broke my one and only tumbler given to me by my friend two Christmases ago. I love it and I can't help but be sad because I can't use it anymore. So just to make up for it, I bought a new one from the same store. I love it but it will be able to replace the first one.

calamansi muffin

A friend requested that I make a calamansi muffin, which she really loves after tasting the one from Boracay. As I've never been to Boracay in years and that shop was not even around when I went there, I got curious. Also, I've tasted one before, made by a friend's sister, and it really tastes good. I looked up on the internet lots of calamansi recipe, until I found one which looks really good. It also says that they "hacked" the Boracay recipe into a 95% "hackurracy."

It was pretty simple to make although one needs to be prepared for crinkly fingers after squeezing a lot of calamansi. The calamansi muffin turned out well but it cracked on top unlike the picture shown in the original blog. It is also dense and as recommended, it should be enjoyed with coffee.

I also followed some suggestions online, and my friend, to glaze the top of the muffin. So I used powdered sugar and calamansi juice and made glaze out of it. It turned out well, too!

Note: To make sure that I don't burn my muffins, I make sure that I set the alarm at half the time it takes to bake these things and check or turn it around to even the baking process at both sides of the pan.

Thank you to Pepper.ph for the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 pcs eggs
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup calamansi

Procedure

1. Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Mix together milk and calamansi in a bowl, set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
5. Add in milk mixture and flour mixture.
6. Mix until well blended, don’t over mix.
7. Scoop in non stick muffin pans.
8. Bake in preheated 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 18-23 minutes.

home made pandesal

My first attempt at baking pandesal and they turned out so yummy!

Thank you to Ms. Connie for sharing her great recipe to first time bakers. View her recipe here.

something new

While doing my Christmas list, I thought of putting everything on excel file so I won't miss the number in my inventory of gifts once I assign these gifts to names. However, the task/equation I needed was out of my league so I asked an officemate to help me. Now, I learned a new thing in excel which I think is worth sharing :)

#-countif(range,"value") --> e.g., #ofgifts-(A1:D12,"gift1")

countif(range,"value") & "," & countif(range,"value") --> e.g., countif(A1:D12,"gift1") & "," & countif...

corn muffin time

I found this website with what looks like a very good recipe for corn bread. It just took me a while to bake it because I had a hard time looking for one of its ingredients - cornmeal. I went to the supermarket and all I found was corn starch which the product guy vehemently pointed to me was totally different from a corn meal. I went home to my hometown and while accompanying my mother to the market, looked for cornmeal, too, but there was none. A few weeks after, I finally found a shop that's selling it but I had to go back in a few weeks' time since they ran out of stock. Fortunately, there was some cornmeal by the time I went back. So here it is, my corn muffin.

It tasted good however, the inside was a bit soggy, owing to the fact that I did not put in fresh corn but instead, I put in a cream style corn. It was yummier but a little wet, and when it cooled, the muffin deflated. I am going to try this again with the kernel.

---- update 11 November ----

I made the muffin again but this one is less better than the first one. I think I put muffins in a too hot oven and the grainier corn bits in the corn meal did not cook well. Next time, I'm gonna make it perfect!

----

Thank you to Ms. Connie of Casa Veneracion website for the recipes!

darth vader in lego

How I love thee, Darth Vader Lego! I wish I can have you for my own.

@SM MOA

vintage mugs

Remember this Jollibee mug?

These had been with us since I can remember, bought home from Manila as pasalubong to us kids at home. Just seeing these still intact is a testament of how our mom takes care of all our stuff. Amazing!

christmas tree

After twenty-two years, we are finally retiring our well-loved Christmas tree.

I remember when our mom bought this tree. She picked me up at school after a weekend of Girl Scout event and there it was, the box that held the Christmas tree! So excited to set it up and see how it looked like. Now, it's time to retire her but I will always remember the happy Christmas moments we have with her.

Now, we have a new one that will light up our Christmas celebration at home.