A lot of things had been picking on me lately especially for the past month. But God is still so good that He didn't let my August to just pass like that. Just before the month ended, last August 20, He gave my family two new blessings that made us all remember that no problem can't be solved when we entrust everything to Him.

Mommy went through an operation and she is now safe from harm and is recovering very fast; and my sister's hard work has paid off as she is now a Registered Nurse. :)

And there's no better way to celebrate all these blessing than having a thanksgiving feast. And so after hearing mass the Sunday after, daddy prepared a scrumptious lunch which our family feasted on.

Thanksgiving Lunch - August 21, 2011

Crabs

Adobong Pusit

Clam Soup

Lechon Paksiw

Lechon

The weekend after, we again had another thanksgiving lunch at Tita Tessa's house.

Thanksgiving Lunch - August 28, 2011

Tita Tessa prepared these:

Beef Caldereta

Pork and Chicken Embutido

Leche Flan

Garden Fresh Salad

And daddy added on some of these:

Kobe Chicken

Fish Sarsiado

Ginataang Hipon

We also bought Pancit Malabon and Lechon to add to the feast.

Pancit Malabon

Lechon

Thank you Lord for all the blessings!

Wishing you good health Mommy! Glad you're safe from harm! :-*

Congratulations Nurse Gia! :)

My friend can attest to how ill-tempered I was over a lot of things for the past few weeks. I've been ranting about a lot of things lately. I get easily irritated with even the littlest imperfections of the things and people around me. And just this morning, I had an argument with my significant other. *sigh*

And then I came across this article about dealing with ones temper and found some inspiring words:

"Stop, Look, and Listen!"

"Never make decisions when you're angry."

"Don’t obey your anger. Don’t send that angry email. Don’t send that angry text. Don’t shout that angry word."

"Believe me, if you do, you’ll regret it forever."

"Next time you want to say angry words, remember its consequences. Remember that even if you apologize later, angry words leave scars in the hearts of people. Even if you’re forgiven, that scar remains for a long time."
Read full article here...

I know things have been picking on me lately, most of which I don't have control over, but I guess it's my fault that I didn't respond the right way. Thanks Bo for making me enlightened. :)

On August 27, 2004, Mark and I fell in love with each other. Today, seven years later, the love is still the same. Well, even better. So much better. :)

Happy 7th anniversary, my love!

Even after all these years, amidst all this distance, you still manage to make me fall in love over and over and make my heart skip a beat. :D

Thank you! I love you! I miss you!!! See you soon! ♥♥♥

It is very seldom that we get to dine at or order from Pizza Hut because: 1-we're not really so much into pan pizzas, 2-they're thin crust pizzas do not even come close to that of Shakey's (well at least for me), and 3: in the very few times that we opted for Pizza Hut delivery or even during dine-ins, their poor service is always what gets into our nerves.

But I don't know what got into me last Saturday afternoon, after my mom got discharged from the hospital, when I insisted on ordering from Pizza Hut using my Palm Card when daddy handed me his Shakey's Super Card and tasked me to order pizzas for merienda. Well Gia and Jaoey also wanted some stuffed crust pizzas too so I guess I did a right choice. :p

Not until we got a call a few minutes after we placed our orders, saying that we have to expect our pizzas to arrive after an hour, which was supposedly just within 30 minutes. I guess my dad got really pissed that he told them that we should have just ordered at Shakey's. He also stressed that wouldn't be paying for the pizzas since they have this Hate Late offer wherein they guarantee on time delivery or the pizzas will be for free.

They were very apologetic and explained that they were just having system issues that time and that they really wanted to make it up to us so they would just give us one Super Supreme Family Pan Pizza for free.

3 Family Pizzas for just Php 673.25 ^_^

I ordered one Family Supreme Stuffed Crust Pizza and, using my Palm Card, had another free Family Hawaiian Pan Pizza. You need to buy a 1.5L Pepsi to avail of the free pizza though.

The stuffed crust pizza wasn't really an eye candy. It was soggy and not that hot, good thing the cheese stuffing was satisfying.

Family Supreme Stuffed Crust Pizza

This one was more pleasing to the eyes, but since I don't really enjoy pan pizzas, I just had to try to finish the 'bread' after I munched on all the toppings haha!

Family Super Supreme Pan Pizza for free! :D

I guess we really don't have an appetite for pan pizzas which is why this box was still intact and each of us just got a slice or two (at the most) of the other pizzas.

Family Hawaiian Pan Pizza

We really appreciated how the manager tried to iron out things by being so apologetic and offering us some free treats, but I guess this still wouldn't change our bad impressions on Pizza Hut. :p

PIZZA HUT Delivery
911-11-11

I was caught up with a lot of things lately, and so I haven't had the chance to update my blog as often as I want. I know I have been saying this for the past few months, but yes, I still have a lot of backlogs piling up, most of which I haven't even started to draft, but I thought I shouldn't let this one pass. :)

Last Friday, August 5, was my mom's 48th birthday. I immediately hurried home after my shift at work and good thing I was able to arrive just in time for the celebration. And I'm sure you know what happens during special occasions in our family, right? :p Yes, we had yet another scrumptious feast courtesy of course of my dad. :)

Mommy's birthday feast :)

During special occasions like this, my dad always makes sure that he cooks different kinds of viands so as to accommodate all of our guests' food preferences.

For the health conscious, here are veggie dishes:

Garden Fresh Salad - shredded carrots and jicama plus corn kernels, sliced cucumbers, and pineapple chunks on a bed of lettuce.

Garden Fresh Salad

Fresh Lumpia - shredded carrots and jicama, plus baguio beans sautéed with garlic and onions. Other veggies may also be added in, but what makes this dish stand out is my dad's special peanut sauce, which up to now I don't know how he does. :p

Fresh Lumpia

Pancit Bihon-Canton - bihon and canton noodles with cabbage, carrots, squid balls, fish balls, and tofu.

Pancit Bihon-Canton

For the seafood lovers, daddy prepared:

Steamed Tilapia - fresh steamed tilapia with mayonnaise and fried garlic bits.

Steamed Tilapia

Prawns and Crabs in Coconut Milk - fresh prawns and crabs sautéed in garlic, onions, and coconut milk.

Ginataang Sugpo

Ginataang Alimango

For the Chicken dishes we had:

Chicken Feet - fried chicken feet sautéed in garlic, onions, and oyster sauce (i think) plus star anis.

Chicken Feet

Crispy Fried Chicken - breaded chicken fried to perfection. Perfect for the kids and kids at heart. :)

Crispy Fried Chicken

For those who really love to eat and doesn't really mind all the cholesterol here are what they can choose from:

Lumpiang Shanghai - fried ground pork with minced carrots, onions, garlic and seasonings wrapped in rice wraps.

Lumpiang Shanghai

Lechon Kawali - or Bagnet as what we Ilocanos call it, pork cheeks boiled until tender and then fried to perfection.

Lechon Kawali

Sizzling Pork Sisig - fried (or grilled) pork ears, cheeks, and liver with minced onions and chilis, perfect when paired with a cup of hot steamed rice or a bottle of ice cold beer. See recipe here :)

Sizzling Pork Sisig

These next dishes are my mom's favorite, and would also be a hit for beef lovers:

Kare-kare - beef stew in peanut sauce with a variety of veggies like eggplants, puso ng saging, string beans, and pechay.

Kare-kare

Beef Caldereta - tomato-based beef stew with potatoes and chick peas.

Beef Caldereta

And who wouldn't love desserts? For those with sweet tooth, here are what we got:

Classic fruit salad - fruit cocktail out from the can with thick cream and condensed milk.

Fruit Salad

And my mom's favorite: Chocolate Cakes!

Red Ribbon's Chocolate Fudge Cake

Red Ribbon's Chocolate Dedication Cake

We shared this scrumptious feast with my mom's friends from Rizal Fitness Club.


We also had some rounds of videoke...


and some tequila shots up until dawn. :)

Happy birthday Mommy! :)

To the prettiest and coolest mom, Happy Birthday!!!
We love you!!!

If there's one person who's so much into nail polishes, that would be my mom. Although my dad doesn't really want polished nails, my mom still sees to it that she has her nails polished all the time. She's not fond of going to salons to have her nails done though, because she does her own manicure and pedicure for her nails.

She's not so particular with nail polish brands, just as long as she likes the color she'll definitely have it on her nails. :) This is the latest addition to her nail polish collection:

Jolly Jelly, Neon Yellow, Neon Orange, Neon Fuchsia, Neon Green

I love how adventurous she is when it comes to nail polish colors. It's amazing how my mom can sport any nail polish color from plum, to avocado, to neon and glow in the dark shades, unlike me who always use safe colors like nude and pearl. The loudest color that I can have would be red, and that would only be for special occasions. :p

I wanted to try out my mom's new nail polish colors but didn't know what to wear, so I had her try all the colors on her nails. :)

My Mom's colorful nails

I liked the Jolly Jelly shade the most. I think I can also handle sporting the Neon Fuchsia shade. Will definitely try them on my nails soon, I just need to grow them a little longer. :)