An Apple a Day

Amici

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:02:56 +0000

It's been awhile since I last got to dine at Amici. If I remember correctly, I was able to dine at the original resto in Don Bosco many, many years ago. We have not been able to come across it when we go out. Funny thing is it's just a few steps away from Lore where we've dined at several times, haha.

Anyway, Sweetie and I got to try it last week while waiting for Miggy. I absolutely loved the carbonara I ordered and also got Miggy a plate so he could try it too. The small plate I got was enough for two meals for me.

Sweetie got chicken parmigiana which he liked too.

The staff were very friendly and efficient, we came back after some errands to pick up our cake and also got pizza to bring home, haha.

And pistachio chocolate cake was amazing!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Still

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:48:52 +0000

I woke up with slight fever and just rested the whole day. I didn't even get to see any of the cats :'(

I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Downed by Haze

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:26:39 +0000

I stepped out for less than five minutes. Fifteen minutes later I had to lie down because I didn't feel well.

I napped for almost two hours on the couch. I felt better after and watched the news.

Note to self: don't go out without a mask!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Look at My Beautiful Cat

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:22:24 +0000

I have no crafting update today. I'm still quilting by hand the Grogu project. I'm really hoping to finish it soon, but duty calls and we've been busy tending to our house and working on our health.

For now, take a look at our beautiful cat, Meredith.

Ain't she adorable? Just be careful, she only allows 2-second pets, haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Determining Your Electrical Needs for Your New House

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:03:50 +0000

When we visited my Mom when we got home from Singapore, I was surprised with the many extension cords in her room. They were plugged in from other rooms and I was really concerned with what was plugged in the extension cords. It was a jaw-dropping discovery.

A small refrigerator and the aircon on another extension cord.

What?!?!?

60-year old outlet. It included a 110 volt socket which was common in the 70s

I was just thankful that no untoward incident has happened. They probably did that even during the pandemic. I immediately had a licensed electrician check everything. The house was built in 1970 and it definitely did not take into consideration any newer appliances.

Modern outlet of a hotel. We're skipping the ones with USB options since that changes quite frequently. We'll stick to traditional ones and just work on keeping them out of sight

Anyway, the shock probably contributed to my heart deteriorating further. We also did an electrical audit for our new home. The house was deemed a fire hazard and so we had to re-wire everything and changed all the cheap lights installed on the renovated house.

Research on brands. Did you know electricians prefer Panasonic for outlets and switches?

We learned a lot from that experience and we followed this process when we were given the floor layout:

Listed all appliances per room
Marked where all the appliances were to be placed per room

A sheet listing all appliances and gadgets
A separate sheet listing air conditioner placement
CCTV placement (check with your provider if it gets its power from the server or requires it's own plug)
Network needs (internet is more important nowadays than a phone line)
Outdoor needs for your laundry area and garage and lights for your garden if you need it

Noted what kind of outlets we needed, i.e. universal outlets for kitchen appliances and placement of energy guzzling appliances like the fridge, oven and microwave
We followed most of the planned lighting and just added some wall mounted lights outdoor. We also decided to use smart lighting sparingly (less fuss = less stuff to think about and replace in the future).

#BeKind #StaySafe

Sunday in Haze

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 14:20:15 +0000

I woke up wheezing today. I had a hard time with the bad air quality yesterday. I skipped watering the plants and playing with the cats.

I thought it would be a better day. It rained a bit, but the bad air came back immediately. We cancelled our plans to go to the park for the parish fiesta.

Apparently, our air purifier wasn't giving the right status. Sweetie changed the filter and it was covered in dust. Ughhhh. We'll probably check all our purifiers to make sure all the filters are still clean.

Happy Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Eggshells, A Garden Staple

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:49:06 +0000

I have been using eggshells for my plants for a few years now. I think it's one of the "ingredients" that helped make my bell pepper plants produce a lot of fruit.

I read in several sources that you should boil it before using it in the garden. I have a regular supply because we normally use at least 2 dozen eggs every month. After cracking the egg open, we normally wash off the sticky residue and set it aside. When the container of egg shells gets filled that's when I boil it.

After boiling, I set aside the shells to dry for a day or two. I also transfer the water to a bottle to be used when I water the plants. Once the egg shells are dry, I then grind it to make it smaller. Then I put one to two tablespoons per pot.

I read that it takes time for the nutrients to be absorbed in the soil. That's fine, I treat it as a "slow release" fertilizer with the plants. It also helps ward off pests because they don't like the sharp edges of the egg shell. I also use the crushed eggshells when preparing soil for planting seeds and for re-potting growing plants. I basically put it on everything since different kinds of plants need calcium anyway.

For the more adventurous, you can also brown the shells on a pan or bake it after you boil it. Grind the eggshells and then place them in a bottle. Then add vinegar (sukang paombong) at 1:10 ratio (egg shells:vinegar). Cover the bottle only when it stops bubbling. Let it ferment for a few weeks and then use 1 to 2 tablespoons for every liter of water. You're plant will go crazy over the nutrients, haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made Salmon Lemon Cream Pasta at Home

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 01:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite resto dishes is Nono's salmon lemon cream pasta. It's expensive, so I only enjoy it once in a while. Unfortunately, they removed it from the menu, so I've been experimenting on making it at home. Of course, cost-wise, it's much cheaper since I can share what I cook with the boys.

I've made it twice and the second attempt was much better. I put a lot of spinach and it kinda freaked out Miggy (haha). I'll probably reduce that next time, but taste-wise, this attempt was much closer to what I usually have at Nono's.

Here's how I made it:

Full recipe: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2026/10/recipes-for-my-son-salmon-lemon-cream.html

Any tips or suggestions are welcome!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Wake Up! September has Ended!

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:13:46 +0000

The song "Wake me up when September ends" by Green Day never gets old. It's a song about the grief Billie Joe Armstrong felt when his father passed away. I guess all of us have gone through similar journeys.

September has ended and what I remember about the past month is the rain was replaced by haze. We were also busy trying to reach our health goals. That keeps us going every week. In between those appointments we were home doing a myriad of things. Tending to the garden, playing with cats, decluttering, and we were able to cook some good food too.

Here's the one second everyday for the month of September:

I can say it was a pretty mundane month. Boring is good since it was already a struggle to combat the haze and breathe clean air. I hope October will be a better month. We have started to think about how best to survive the super El Nino which is supposed to hit us starting this month.

Have a great week everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Bad Air Quality (It's Really Bad!)

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:24:01 +0000

On our way home yesterday my nose started dripping while we were in the middle of EDSA. I immediately checked the IQ Air app and saw the reading was at 228 violet alert. That means the air quality is very unhealthy for everyone. I immediately wore my mask again even though we were in the car and I had a portable air purifier running. Better to be safe than to get sick.

With no rain, the air quality was worse today. My tonsils have been hurting a bit, so I've been drinking more water. I remember my pulmo told me before that bad air can affect your breathing and your tonsils. Stay hydrated he said and stay in a room with your windows closed and use your air purifier.

As much as I want to do some gardening, I've just been watering the plants. I also wear a mask to be sure I don't have an asthma attack. There's nothing much you can do when there is haze, just protect yourself by wearing a mask, staying indoors, hydrating and using an air purifier.

Time to wake up tomorrow!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Work in Progress: Baby Yoda Project

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:20:33 +0000

I'm still working on my Baby Yoda grid quilt project. Hand quilting is taking longer than I expected since I can't overdo using my wrist.

I'm planning to frame it when I'm done and I'll also have the Pikachu one framed too.

Happy crafting everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Details that Need Input for Your House Construction

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:07:54 +0000

To be honest, we all got cross-eyed when we were presented with the planned details. They were made by our architect together with engineers. There were pages upon pages of drawings showing the structure, elevation, ceiling, electrical, windows, tile count etc. Printed on huge blue paper, they were overwhelming.

We started a shared document with our architect to note down our requests. It started with comments on the layout and after that followed details on the following:

Electrical needs

List of appliances per room
Where we wanted outlets
Placement of airconditioners
Additional lights
Outdoor electrical needs

Plumbing

Installation of water heater for bathrooms (if any)
Outdoor needs for plumbing
Plan for water tank
Plan for rainwater collection

Internet/phone

Point the location for your Telco wirings for internet and phone
Extenders where needed

CCTV

Pinpoint where you intend to put CCTV since that requires wirings too

Solar

Get your solar provider to do an inspection for solar installation. There are requirements they need to follow from Meralco

Pest control

This is important especially if you're in an area where there are a lot of termites. Pest control companies can install pipes around your house to make it easier to do treatment.

Including details to the plan will help the construction team a lot. We were able to avoid doing corrections which can get expensive especially with plumbing and electrical requirements.

Or I'm just probably a bit OCD, haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Last Sunday of September

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 14:12:09 +0000

I woke up a bit late today. My forehead is still smarting after I bumped it on a table yesterday. I had a goose egg lump, but the swelling has gone down after icing it several times.

Anyway, I didn't let it get in the way on what I wanted to do today. I had to water the plants generously today because we won't have water tomorrow according to Maynilad. I gave the plants some bone meal too before I watered them. They're going to have a nutrition boost.

After a bit of rest, Sweetie and I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. We baked salmon in garlic cream cheese, made fried brown rice, and prepped red onion pickles for tomorrow's food. The food disappeared in a jiffy, haha.

And now my energy is depleted. Good thing I squeezed in some sewing time after lunch.

Happy new week!

#BeKind #StaySafe

5 Months After Propagating Mom's Bougainvillea

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 13:19:20 +0000

I was warned by our architect that Mom's plants would not survive the construction. I made it my mission to propagate Mom's plants especially her bougainvillea trees.

Mom told me several times that she just propagated the bougainvillea from cuttings. I only realized that she had different varieties.

I made a final push to propagate different varieties. I crossed my fingers and prayed that the project would succeed because on April 1, the summer heat was really bad. Above are the bunch I placed in an area where anything I propagate usually succeeds.

I started seeing new leaves grow after a few weeks. I did the ICU method and kept the plastic bottles on for two to three months to make sure they were stable.

I would trim as needed, but in the past two months I let them grow like crazy. They're in an open space and hard to reach when it's raining. At least, they're all growing well and are healthy!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Homemade Menudillo at Itlog

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

It's been awhile since we had Menudillo at Itlog at home. I saw a friend make it and I had a sudden craving for it. We got the ingredients and then immediately cooked it. Ahh, craving satisfied.

Menudillo is very easy to make. Just add the ingredients one after another and season with salt and pepper. I usually make it with just 400 grams of ground pork. It's just enough for two meals for us and not too heavy on the belly. You can also opt to add raisins if you like (I usually don't).

Here's how I make it at home:

Full recipe at: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2026/09/recipes-for-my-son-menudillo-at-itlog.html

Happy weekend everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Carbin Reef

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

There's a good beach anywhere you go across the Philippines and since we went to the Negros Trade Fair it reminded me of Carbin Reef and Manami Resort. Both are on opposite sides of Negros and they're up in my "I want to go back list".

It's been years since I last visited Carbin Reef. It's located in Sagay, Negros Occidental which is about an hour and a half car ride from Bacolod and a short boat ride to the reef. The first time I went there it felt weird to be dropped off in the middle of the sea.

Carbin Reef is a strip of sand that's bigger and longer during low tide. It almost disappears during high tide. There's just a few huts on it, a lifeguard chair and you'd have to bring your own food if you want to eat. Of course, you have to bring your trash too when you leave.

What I enjoyed most was the clear water and beautiful white sand. What we'd do is hang out in the water until we got hungry, swim some more and then go back to Bacolod. The caretakers make sure you make it out before the water gets too high. Last time we went the sea was pretty rough on the way back, but the boat men expertly navigated the crazy ride back to land.

Go visit!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Do Things That Make You Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

I love going to trade fairs, so when a friend told me there's a Negros Trade Fair at SM Aura this week I told the boys I want to go. We had other errands to do at SM Aura, so we went yesterday.

My friend warned there would be a lot of people since it's the first day, but that's just how trade fairs work. The more people the better! We braved the crowd and slowly made our way around the venue. It was a bit hard going around in a wheelchair. The huge outlet humps didn't make it easy to go around, so I tried walking while holding on to the wheelchair.

It got hairy since there were a lot of people, but I was distracted enough to go around. I love seeing local products. There were a lot of decors, home items, clothes, bags, and jewelry. We focused on finding favorite food we love from Negros and said hello to the staff of our favorite resort, Manami (watch my video here!).

We went crazy and got a lot of goodies from El Ideal, cheese roll from Felicia's and silvanas from Sans Rival. Just having their food within reach gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling!

The trade fair is ongoing for a few more days at SM Aura. Just go and have fun!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Tried the Bostik Fabric Glue

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

I have a favorite Uniqlo shirt which I've had for a couple of years now. I wear it often and the fabric has no issues except the neck area started unraveling. I never noticed that the seams were just glued on with what looked like thermal double sided adhesive.

Anyway, I'm not ready to give up the shirt since the fabric has no issues. I decided to order the Bostik fabric glue and the double sided adhesive. The fabric glue arrived first so I went to work to see if it would work.

After reading the instructions I immediately tried the fabric glue. Oh boy, I didn't expect it to be super sticky. It was a bit hard to control unlike your usual Elmer's glue. I left the shirt to dry for a few days and ironed it. It's now being laundered and I hope it'll stick. I'm also hoping the excess glue won't stain the shirt (it was really hard to control the output).

If it stains, I'll just use it at home. It could probably give me 5 more years, haha. Oh, BTW, the fabric glue was really hard to wash off. Make sure you wash your hands immediately after use. I lost count how many times I soaped and washed my hands to get it off!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Found the Original Plans for My Childhood Home

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:00:22 +0000

While clearing my childhood home, I found the original location plan and house plan. Being over 50 years old, the plans were brittle already. I carefully scanned them and have been trying to stitch the huge paper together.

It's an amazing find since I wasn't even born yet when the house was built. My Mom told me they originally did not plan to have a basement. It only happened because the architect, my Dad's brother - Tito Bert, told them that it would be very expensive to buy panambak to cover the area. It was cheaper to add windows and doors. That fact is still true until today*.

The plans were hand drawn. Nowadays, they are made with a computer application and printed. I've seen architects still hand draw initial plans and they just re-draw them when it's finalized and submitted to the building official.

The colored adobe veneer

I also found an old photo of the house when it was being built. It's the back side though.

And here's a photo from the 90s. The newer ones I have doesn't really show the house because of the huge bougainvillea my Mom planted in front.

I'll probably find some older photos eventually. It's just fun to see the original plans of the house. One thing you should keep on hand also are the electrical and plumbing plans.

*It will be almost x3 the cost to just add doors and windows to cover the basement.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Happy Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 12:24:31 +0000

Have a restful Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

It Became a Jungle

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:28:52 +0000

Miggy has been managing the pocket garden the past few months. I just go there to give the plants some fertilizer monthly. The rain though made the plants grow faster and Miggy said he was having a hard time getting around.

Luckily, it didn't rain last Wednesday afternoon, so Sweetie and I went to work on the pocket garden. It was a huge mess. I trimmed plants by section and terminated some that drowned from the rain. Sadly, our bell pepper plants needed a lot of trimming. They seem to have been infected by something. If they don't recover in two weeks I'll just uproot and start over.

The tomato plants needed a lot of trimming too, but without full sunlight it will be hard to get them to produce blooms. I gave them a bit of fertilizer, so we'll see.

The biggest surprise for me are the cacti and succulents I re-potted. They grew a lot and I noticed most of them are flowering despite being ignored. They don't really get wet, but I guess the moisture from the rain help keep them hydrated. I'll have to clean them up again and possibly move them to bigger pots.

Grogu spent the afternoon with us. He made sure we took breaks in between the clean up. Of course, he got a lot of treats for keeping us company. The next day he also did a full inspection of our work, haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made Porchetta Wrap from Leftovers

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:06:11 +0000

My birthday celebration left us with some leftover porchetta, so I researched to see how best we could eat it at home with just a few pieces left. I thought about making some paksiw, but the boys are not fond of eating paksiw. It can also be made into a sandwich, pasta, taco, ramen topping or fried rice.

I decided to use it for a wrap. I first made a small jar of pickled red onion and got the other ingredients. We decided to buy wraps instead of taco shells, sour cream, salsa, lettuce and cheese. Here's how I prepared it:

It's been weeks since we had it and I'm now craving to have some again.

Full recipe: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2026/09/recipes-for-my-son-porchetta-wrap-from.html

Happy Friday!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Mount Isarog View

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

When I was a young child, when we'd visit the ancestral house in Naga City (where my Dad grew up), he would bring me to the room which had access to the roof. That would usually be early in the morning when you can see Mt. Isarog and sometimes the Mayon Volcano (on clear days).

I remember my Dad would also sing the Ateneo marching song (Regnum Dei). Mount Isarog is part of the song and I guess it was my Dad's way to teach me about Naga City. It was effective since I still remember it to this day.

I brought this up because my "cousin" (he's actually technically my nephew but we're almost the same age), recently posted a photo of the area. It apparently eventually became his room. I remembered it and also scanned the photo again a few weeks ago. (My brain likes connecting pieces of information).

Miss you Dad!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Some Gardening Exercise, Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:59:40 +0000

We've been waiting for a clear day to do some much needed gardening. At 2pm, the sky started becoming noisy. Surprisingly by 4 in the afternoon it didn't rain yet. We headed out then and went through the plants that badly needed trimming.

It's been raining like crazy the past two months and that gave the plants a lot of extra vitamins. They all grew and badly needed trimming. We filled up an extra large trash bag with stems, leaves, and dead plants.

Grogu and Meredith provided motivation. Meredith looked satisfied with the clean up, while Grogu asked for a lot of chin and belly rubs. We had to be careful walking around to avoid accidentally stepping on him. If not for Grogu, I don't think I would have lasted long working in the garden. He made sure we took breaks by rubbing our legs and asking for belly rubs.

I had a good workout and Sweetie helped a lot. The garden is back to being more spacious. Miggy said he had a hard time watering plants because the garden was starting to look like a jungle. We're not done yet since we still need to trim the maki plants and Eugenia.

Day spent well :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

My Favorite Rubber Stamps

noreply@blogger.com (Aileen Apolo-de Jesus) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:05:00 +0000

Sweetie and I have a collection of rubber stamps. Actually, Sweetie owns the majority of it and I only bought the Papemelroti Christmas rubber stamp set and a Frixion stamp set.

I love the Frixion stamp set. I got it in Tokyo before the pandemic and I used it sparingly. It was only when it started raining last July that I started using it everyday. I started tracking the weather when the habagat started going crazy. It helped me realize we had rain everyday for 3 straight weeks.

I got the set in a shop in Ginza. It's actually just about 2 inches each with a small icon. You also don't need stamp ink since it's self-inking. I had about ten and I added a few more, so I can stamp more "occasions" and activities.

The Frixion stamp set works perfectly well with the small Starbucks planner I got last Christmas. The planner is the smallest I've ever had and TBH you can barely read what I write everyday. Think size 8 font to list what I ate and did everyday, haha. The stamps help give it a bit more color.

I'm hoping to find one stamp to represent gardening. I think that's the only thing I lack from the set :)

#BeKind #StaySafe