Life Simplified

First Trimester

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 06:19:00 +0000

Things became pretty busy in our household even before the Christmas season started. And we are busier than ever...or shall I say, I have been doing more couch-sitting than ever because we are pregnant!

I am on my 8th week now and the cravings and hating (i hate every food and smell that I used to love!) is at its worst.

And with the hate relationship with food, I avoided the kitchen as much as possible. I even stopped my daily browsing of AT (is it possible that I also hate anything interior related too??!)

Anyway, I have been eyeing some beautiful bags but too thrifty to buy anything. But sometimes you get to stumble on good deals too. I just wish the hubs reads this: SATCHELS. Affordable satchels. depending on size, price ranges from 700 to 800. Can anyone buy this for me?

And for some valentines day food ideas, here's one from family fun:

My mood swings are not helping much but I have been planning on making a new blog for the pregnancy and baby documentation. I hope to get working on it later this week. Although the first trimester is really hard, we are the happiest couple on earth. We are so blessed.

How about you? How's your 2012 so far?

Decorating with Green and Red Theme for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:01:00 +0000

It's already past midnight here, I know. I have been busy catching up with the workload. Whoever claims that working in the government is the easiest, they are either the lazy ones or they never worked for any government agency at all. I have worked for two government agencies and even here at my new office where there are just 200 employees, I am overloaded (and underpaid? well, compared to what the private counterpart of my position). That's why I am still up, preparing for my trip tomorrow.

I have lots of photos for you, especially the DIYs that we have done so far for the christmas season and recipes but don't have much time to transfer photos from my camera's memory. When I get back, blogging will be on the top of my list.

For now, here are my favorite desserts (two flavors, of course):

yogurt with strawberry syrup

yogurt with choco syrup

We live in a small town and having access to this kind of sweet treat is a big deal already ( because yogurt is not an organic in this country. ice cream and ice candy, yes but yogurt is still a bit new to the general population so its a store for this one is something that you don't see much in small, rural area)

For DIY inspirations, here are some ideas from the web:

1. tree planters for small christmas tree: you can buy a $1 worth tree planter from the garden store + spray paint.

via

2. garland for the christmas tree(not the venetian star topper) : if you will look closely, they used buttons (white ones) instead of the usual ribbon/garland type on the tree. The venetian star can be DIYed as well (but that is another story)

via

or you can go for a green and red books display for this season. That way, you can design using books that you already have. or anything green and red design that you have will do. You can display them around.

Cheap DIY Wreath for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:47:00 +0000

We (I) have been busy with the decorations.
This is one of the many things I have done in the house.
It was easy and cheap because there are lots of stuff to choose from.
I bought the materials from the local dry/wet market.
The salesgirl offered the cheaper, not assembled wreath materials, but I told her I prefer the one already shaped into a wreath since it was relatively cheap and will save me time.
Then I bought the other three decor for around $1.

Here is the breakdown cost:

$1 = 43 pesos (you can do the math, but basically its around $2 in all)

After 5 minutes, here's my DIY wreath on our front door:

I did not use any glue since the ornaments have a wire that you can twist at the back and you're all set.
It's an easy-peasy ornamental wreath, making the holiday preparation stress-free.

Linking this to:

ShabbyNest

DIY Showoff

Chic on A Shoe String Decorating

House of Hepworths

Happy Hour Projects
The ShabbyCreekCottage

Simple Everyday Foods

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Christmas season has started on this side of the world. The shops are now full of decors that one can choose from, cheap to expensive stuff. Our tree is decorated and I will be posting a photo one of these days.

On the other hand, our experience on our domestic life continues. I have a househelp who do the cleaning/unclettering everyday, sometimes cook dishes (but we are hoping she learns to cook them well), do the laundry and ironing and stay at home housesitting all day long. Most of the time (even when we are at home) she stays on her cellphone chatting over with her friends and boyfriend. Lately, this is getitng on my nerves because she seems to be forever on it and would get into a shouting match with whoever is on the other line.

I am now in the process of creating a procedure manual for her (aka schedule of cleaning and other how tos) to follow because she seems to be forgetting most of the things that should be done. Simultaneously, I have been on the hunt for recipes that we can actually use with minimal supervision on my part. My househelp's idea of vegetable dish is mixing all the vegetables available in the refrigerator into one single dish (imagine potato + squash+ eggplant+beans, all in one dish). I am glad to finally found another local blogger who is into cooking. Here are the his dishes that I am hoping to make:

1. Stir-fried chicken and vegetables

recipe via

2. Pork Giniling

photo and recipe via

3. Pork Menudo

photo and recipe via

4. homemade no-bake macaroni and cheese

photo and recipe via

So far I have tried cooking japanese curry, fish fillet, pork and chicken adobo with a twist, and chicken adobo. I will be posting them here soon.

Easy to Cook Fish Fillet

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 04:41:00 +0000

This is my first time to cook for the family. And I am carefully choosing my first dish (?!). Here's the easy to cook fish fillet:


fish fillet with store-bought sweet and sour sauce

It was an easy task and the family loved the crispy outside,very soft inside texture.

Here's how to do it, amateur-style:

You will need:

1 pack of fish fillet (approx. 500g, store bought fillet)
1/2 slice lemon
3 tbs soy sauce (i used kikkoman soy sauce, that's how i roll.)
3 cups japanese breadcrumbs
1 egg
oil for frying

1. cut the fish on your desired size.
2. mix the lemon juice and soy sauce in a bowl. marinate the fish for 10 minutes. set aside.
3. prepare your fyring pan. heat the oil.
4. Here's a trick that will require your attention. *just kidding. but i read somewhere that there is a tendency of getting a hard crust not the light and crisp that you like if you roll the fish on the crumbs and set it aside for frying. You must do the dip in egg followed by roll on crumb method then fry on the pan to get the right texture.

5. Fry until lightly golden brown. Serve with rice.

The serve with rice is optional. G ate it after lunch without rice. But since we eat rice on every mealtime, I recommend you eat the fish with rice. That's hiow we do it here.

linking to: Shabby Nest , Whipperberry

DIY: Old Furniture + Spray Paint = New Bookshelf

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:19:00 +0000

My first major DIY is this: an old shelf that is a staple on old houses from the 70's.

This is courtesy of my MIL. So it cost me nothing.

BEFORE

AFTER

Our new place's wall was painted white and my goal is to introduce pops of colors through furniture. For this project, I have chosen a spray paint color of sky blue. It cost me less than $2 (99pesos) for the can of paint, nothing more

Here's how I did it:

I wiped it with a damp rug and let it dry for at least 30 minutes. It was a sunny day on this part of the globe so drying is not a problem.
Then I started on spraying the entire thing.I am lazy and the materials for DIY are not available ( MIL do not DIY) so I did not sand or primed it. I just sprayed. The husband even joined the fun!
I left it to dry for few minutes.

Warning though, you have to do it outside where ventilation is good because spray paint really smells.

I did not distress it because there are sides where the brown paint seems to shows off, giving it the distress look that I want (another bonus for me).

I had fun doing this project because its my dream to recycle/reuse something. and it cost me $2 for a brNS new looking furniture!

I will be linking this to the following Linky Party :

1. Today's Creative Blog

2. My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

3. The DIY Showoff
4.Coastal Charm
5. Tuesday Time Out

Going Do-It-Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:12:00 +0000

It's good to know that we will have our own place before the year2012 starts. And I can finally incorporate my own style on our new home. For my first two projects of DIY here are the plans:

1. Re-upholster an old sofa.

Sources:

Sofa: MIL's old rose-colored sofa
Fabric: I have been eyeing Ukay-ukays (Goodwill version of PI). There are several stores near the market that opens only during Saturday. Or a new fabric from Divisoria.
Paint: Will buy (I don't have stash of paint somewhere since we are starting on clean slate. No accumulated things for us).
Instructions: Little Green Notebook, Design Sponge and Apartment Therapy. They seems to have posted instructions about re-upholster at almost the same time {though AT has referred to Little Green Notebooks DIY that lead me to the blog}. Below are snapshots of their works:

both made the project look I easy to make. Something that I have to decide once I started the project.

2. DIY Curtain {Print Using Stencil}

Sources:

Curtain: Thrift Stores or Fabric Stores whichever cost lower. On thrift stores, I am hoping to buy old bed sheets. On Fabric stores, I am eyeing plain, cheap fabrics.
Paint: Will buy
Instructions: Apartment Therapy, here and here.

These are the pictures from AT:

the projects look easy to do, I hope they are. :D

Hello Monday. Goodnight Sunday.

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:54:00 +0000

A storm is probably brewing on the lower part of our country again. Although it was a wet Saturday, we were able to catch up with our sleep yesterday. It was cold and raining every few hours, sleeping is necessary.

After the Sunday service we went to the mall to pay to our internet provider. We got hungry and ate some of this local delicacy: Bibingka:

locally grown coffee + hot bibingka + rainy morning = love

Sorry about not posting a photo that I actually took. Photo was from their Facebook account. It was really delish.

The husband has finally talked to the InLaws and we are officially anticipating the Moving Out within the month. We are looking for househelp, so we have to wait a little bit. But all plans are already laid out.

For the interior inspiration, here goes:

from here

Love the color combination.

photo here

Wont be able to have the same look on my small kitchen but this is a very nice kitchen that I can't get out of my head.

from here

This is my favorite. I'm not sure if this is the second time I have posted it here in this blog. I love this DIY.

Good night Sunday, Hello Monday.

Have a good time this week.

White and Wood for My Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:49:00 +0000

We are trying to fix the things that went wrong last month. So even if it seems that our home ownership is postponed, we are looking forward at the rental of our first new house. It is probably a small one {honestly, we have seen a vacant space near our in laws house} but we are still excited. Because I am scared of clutter, I asked my friends and relatives to skip the dinner wares when planning for their gift on our wedding. I am glad I did because they will probably not have survived a year.

Inspired with our ongoing plans, I went blog surfing of course. Although not a blog, I often visit Etsy. Even if there are only few selling their stuff at our local Etsy here. Here are the beautiful things I found:

jar

stoneware covered casserole

ceramic plates

potential DIY bench?

don't you love them white and wood?

DIY Inspirations

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:43:00 +0000

I caught some bug two weeks ago but it did not stop me from reporting to work and blog hopping for things that can inspire our "put on hold" home.

Here are the things that I might ask a local carpenter to do for me {since pottery barn and other stores like these are not yet available here in our town}:


clean lines, wood + white drawers underneath = love. found here.

photo credit

The white sofa is my all time favorite. I will probably reupholster MIL's rose-colored sofa to white. The wicker baskets are cheap buys here. I remember buying something like that when I was in college for a P100 ($2).

dining table from Target

I love white and wood. Finding that dining table available here locally and affordable would make me one lucky homeowner.

My aim is to have less cluttered house, living in the conditions that we have right now. We are not sure when will that happen but I know its gonna be soon.

Life is a Blessing

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:26:00 +0000

I have been down with a flu but worked the entire week after taking a one day break to let my body heal a bit. It's not an excuse for not blogging, my target is to blog at least twice a week but it is impossible right now. So many things has been keeping us busy.

photo from flickr

Our home ownership seems to be on hold again.

photo source: unknown

And we are keeping our fingers crossed that things will work according to the (revised) plan: buy the smaller lot and pay for it before the month ends. Then we will be paying for the funds that we borrowed to pay the lot in full. for two years. so two years of no house of our own yet. Then we will start building.
or maybe, we will be migrating somewhere, outside the PI. New Zealand, maybe?

image from flickr

WE are still considering a small house. A rental perhaps so that we can play house like real family. Well, let's hope that the lot acquisition pushes through first, then we will have our teeny tiny rental house for two years ( we've asked around and found a small house we can rent for awhile).

I am still inspired. and will continue on dreaming of having my own space.

For now, here are the photos that keeps me planning, doing and working on something we will own someday.

From Apartment Therapy, of course.

I love this simple bench. from here.

another angle, facing the bench (behind the white sofa)

I love white sofa and white walls. Don't you?

How Do You Spend Your Weekend?

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:19:00 +0000

One of my blog hopping agenda is looking at how people from other places spend their days particularly on the food that they enjoy. Based on the blog comments from my favorite sites, there are lot of us who are interested on everyday, ordinary people's way of living. For those people out there wondering how we spend our ordinary day here in the Philippines, here's mine:

Yes, you are looking at an arcade machine. We spend our Sunday (after church) at an arcade playing games. And this is my favorite game because I always win tokens:

This is not the ordinary day things. I had this baby back ribs while vacationing in Cebu City, visiting my best friend working there.

Another food while on Cebu vacation. We ate at the famous AA's Barbeque :

One of my ordinary day activities, playing play-doh with kids. Yes, I did that, dressed the gecko toy with clay, a summer outfit. or maybe it's a spa for mr. gecko.

And this is part of my weekly grocery shopping list. They vary of course but you can already imagine how my grocery bag contents look like.

and this is an authentic Filipino sweet from one of the cafe near a tourist destination in our town, Sampaloc Lake. This delicacy is called suman for those living in the metro. I don't know what its called here {my bad}.Its a sweet sticky rice with sweet coconut syrup.

I wanted to show off the house that we purchased but its too soon to do that because we are having some issues with the financing. What are the things on your everyday, ordinary life?

Decluttering Yahoo E-Mail Account

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:07:00 +0000

My day would always start with blog hopping and pinterest "pinning".

Pinterest account have served me well until I forgot my passwrod and user account.

My bad.

I am back to pinning again since I was able to retrieve the information I need to get back on the roll.

image credit here

Another thing that kept me busy this week is my email organization.

Yes, I finally found the time to work on my email account and remove the 9,000 unimportant emails that has been there for years.

After deleting those, I feel sort of free from clutter.

That was for my yahoo account.

My gmail is another story.

I haven't started on working on it.

image credit here

With the yahoo account, I have been using the "Other InBox" organizer that comes with the email. It makes deleting messages easier and faster.

You just have to click the icon on the left side bar and it will prompt you to update your settings.

The cons will be additional folders on your account with names like OIB Home, OIB Social Network...etc. existing and new emails will be categorized there.

Then you can delete.

If you haven't tried it, do it now.

Home Ownership in the Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:38:00 +0000

We are in the process of waiting for our home loan application results.

The ad says processing of the loan will take five days.

The home ownership is putting us into another level of planning and organization. I have failed terribly on the planning part. At least around 25K has been lost from my poor planning and maybe we will have another dent on my planning ability when we are done paying to the realtor. Silly me have forgotten the registration process right that comes after paying the whole amount. according to some website the transaction cost comprises the following:

legal fees
local transfer tax
deed of sale
Capital Gains Tax
Real State agent 's fee
document stamp tax fee

the last three items will be shouldered by the seller and the first three will be the one the homeowners will have to prepare for. Based on the computations, legal fee such as notarial will cost around P200 per document, local transfer tax will depend on the zonal value imposed by the municipality government and the documentary stamp tax will cost around P15 per P1000 (value of the property, i assume) or 1.5% whichever is higher. House and lot with value of 2.5 Million below are VAT-exempt so mine will fall under that category. To give an idea of how much a registration cost will be, the example on the website provided a computation of around P28,898 for a 12M property. If the zonal value is not that high, our house and lot processing fee will probably cost around 4k.

Vice Ganda Concert: An Hour Late and Other Weekend Specials

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:11:00 +0000

I watched Vice Ganda's concert at the Araneta Coliseum, Friday night.

S/He is more than an hour late.

I was pissed when the show have started and told my best-friend that even if Vice makes me happy and rolling with laughter the whole show, I will blog about the tardiness.

She was late.

But I laughed non-stop till one o'clock in the morning.

While waiting, we had our fill of Jamaican Pattie. It is one of the hubs favorite.

my favorite, Beef Pinatubo. This is the spicy one.

(photos from their fb page.)

Sleepless from the show, I have to proceed to our family date (I missed the seminar at work because it will be impossible to get back to the metro on time, i feel sort of guilty).

mozzarella sticks

banana split worth 25 pesos with edible bowl

banana split (again!) with textured ice cream

pizza, Hawaiian and bacon&ham

I had a great week although the rest of the Sunday was spent sleeping almost the entire day, thus we were not able to attend the Sunday service.

I hope you had a great weekend too.

Inspiration of the Day: Stamping (DIY)

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:50:00 +0000

I love crafting. Although time is scarce these days because of the new job and other things that keeps me busy, bloghopping is still my favorite past time. Today, this one caught my interest:

Hand Carved Stamp Tutorials!

hop on to Genine's blog.

That is where I found the photo and tutorial.

This is going to my to-do project list for sure.

and another discovery from her blog: Craft Gawker.

How did I miss that site? It has the best diy that are doable for people like me.

Go on, visit the site and do some craft like this one:

fabric lanterns found through Craft Gawker.

found original photo here

Rain and Storms on Summer Days

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sun, 15 May 2011 14:23:00 +0000

We only have two months of summer here in the PI and there is only two weeks left and rainy days will be here.

But this post is not about summer and rainy days. Just something to keep readers visiting.

like photos of food for you to crave (like I did):

Soft-serve Ice Cream of 7-11. Cost: P15


crepe with strawberry, ,mango and creme. {we ate at a crowded store selling crepes while in SM Cebu}

I think the crepe cost around P100 and it's a favorite,though expensive. But it is the company I was with that made the crepe more tasty,{ imagine talking with your friend that you haven't seen since she relocated in Cebu ten years ago}.

and here is the inspiration for my kitchen/dining area that is so small it will probably accommodate only four person during dinner time. I prefer white walls. or any color except this one.

image credit: apartment therapy

and my excuse for not blogging: I have a new job! a real job. When I say a real job, it is something that gives you benefits and does not have any "no employee-employer" relationship in the contract.

The sad thing about is is that I was not assigned at the technology transfer unit (my area of expertise, or so i think).

But rather, I would be forging international relationship and making economic studies, etc.

The hard stuff that I would really avoid if I have the chance.

But I cannot say no to a challenge.

And they made me feel really welcome. Specially the top management. and i hope to be part of the top management or at least rise from my entry level (which is a senior position, anyway. not an ordinary feat for my age. when working for the government, i mean) before I reached the 24th month of my stay there.

I owe my former boss a lot.

for the training and the network and perhaps even the confidence.

and of course, for allowing me to grab the opportunity.

I hope we all have a blessed and productive week ahead.

SM San Pablo City: Things That Customers Should Be Aware Of

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:26:00 +0000

Before the SM City was built, San Pablo City is a small town with lots of small stores and malls. Having a mall that will provide an easy access to all things that we need sans going to the Metro would have made it a perfect place to live. You see, San Pablo is a peaceful city. Not a zero crime zone but still peaceful enough to raise kids and stay during weekends. The only issue that keeps people from staying here for good is the transportation within the city.

photo from here

An honest tricycle driver would charge you P20-25 if you are going to the subdivisions from the bayan or vice versa. We have some suki that we trust and they are always happy to have us as passengers because we are their regular clients. They charge us P25 when we give them larger bills and when I have exact money with me, I give them P30, the P5 is a tip.

With the SM City around, we were pretty excited to do some shopping. The only issue that keeps us on patronizing the other supermarket, PureGold, is that the they have a better public transportation terminal than SM. And the fact that it is very far from the main business district of the city.

Here are the things that customers should know:

1. If you are coming from the bayan area, tricycle driver will charge you P20 to bring you to SM. You can take the jeepney (SM-Bayan route) and pay for the regular fare of P8.

2. There are two atms at SM (currently): BDO and Chinabank. The Chinabank can be found found near the escalator. Both charges P10 per transaction for other bank's atm.

3. They have terminal on the right side of their building (if you are facing the main entrance). You can choose between jeepney ride and tricycle ride. If you choose the tricycle, you will not know how much they will charge you when you get to your destination. As far as legal fare is concern, they will have to charge you P25 for special trip plus an additional amount per additional kilometer. If they are honest workers and follow this, they will not be asking you for more than P50.

4. Just to give you an idea of how much a P30 will get you: if you ride a jeepney from San Pablo to UP LosBanos, you will pay P30. That far. Compare that to P30 from bayan to your respective subdivision..

5. Puregold sometimes offer free rides to bayan from their store.

6. To be fair with SM, SM Bicutan and other SM stores offers free rides as well.

photos from here

My issue here is not about whether SM gives their customers a free ride or not. I was charged P60 from SM to our home. The P60 is already a round trip fare for someone going to UP Los Banos and back. It means passing through several towns like Bae (or Bay), Calaun, Wawa (not sure if I missed other towns). It would also mean a roundtrip fare from San Pablo to Sto. Tomas Palengke via aircon bus that offers a free wi-fi!

I have the money to pay for my fare from San Pablo to Manila everyday, and what pisses me off is that the driver of that tricycle swindled me by overcharging and he reasoned that the SM management is charging them at the terminal! Is it true? I think, the management should regulate the fare from the terminal, just like how they do it with the taxis on metro manila.

I encourage you to buy somewhere else if you do not have any means of transportation to bring home your groceries because those swindlers of a driver at the SM terminal will probably overcharge you.

I already emailed SM about it and hopefully they will do something. If not, I will encourage others to boycott their services because according to the swindler/driver, it was the SM terminal that is burdening them with payment hence they have to overcharge us. At the back of my mind, I know that that as*h*le of a driver is lying at the skin of his teeth but still, SM have to do something to stop these swindlers.

About the driver, karma is just around the corner. Let's hope his swindling days will be over soon.

Thinking of Homemade Halo-Halo

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:26:00 +0000

There will be some changes on my workload soon. I will probably be starting to work on the new company before the summer is over. There are three offers that I received but recently, I turned down the consultancy job because I realized that working on a Saturday means we have to squeeze in all the activities like shopping, spending quality time together and visiting friends/family in one day. Working on a Saturday is not for me.

I hope that it will be easier to choose between the two offers but choosing the higher position
is easier if only they keep you away from the guessing game for too long. I just want to have a more focus type of work. To earn, to show them what I have to help the company. Anything else aside from that, I would ditch because I am a very private person.

♥○♥○♥○♥○♥○♥

Now, on the food stuff. I love halo-halo.

image from here

It is a sweet concoction that is available year round on some local fast food and restaurant here in the country. Although it is available yea round, the best time to have them is during summer. And the best place to buy them is from the neighborhood temporary halo-halo stand. If you are familiar with lemonade stands, then this is the lemonade stand version here. You only get to see them in your neighborhood during summer and this is the venue to see old friends and new people living in the community because no one at least once in the summertime, can resist buying a glass of halo-halo. It usually cost around Php 20 (too expensive, actually for that price). If you prefer the quality controlled ones like ChowKing's halo-halo, you will shell out around 50pesos.

If you prefer less textured type of cold sweets and cheaper, you can opt for the ice candy.


image from here

My favorite flavors are mango and chocolate.

the all time favorite of my age {and above}, the

Ice Scrambles

you can buy them on the streets, usually on small makeshift stands near grade schools. The good thing about innovation is that there are business-minded people who finds the opportunity to sell them up-scaled. You can now buy them at the malls costing around 8-10 pesos for the plain one.

What is your favorite summer food/sweets?

Homemade Eye Candy

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:30:00 +0000

Its going to be a cold summer here in the PI and I love choco + marshmallow combo! I found this homemade recipe today and will probably make one over the weekend:

HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOW

image and recipe from here.

recipe inventory checklist: 

3 packs unflavored gelatin - will buy

granulated sugar - check

light corn syrup - will buy

kosher salt - will buy

vanilla extract - check

confectioners sugar - check

I am a fan of Apartment Therapy. I have been waiting for their small/cool contest this year. Here are some of the early entries at the moment {my favorites so far}.

SMALL/COOL 2011

i ♥ white and black motif

i ♥ white kitchen with a dash of color

sans the huge sofas, I ♥ the built-ins.

Special Note:

These past few weeks has been a very busy for me, with job hunting and such. We are looking forward to finishing our payment for the house so that we can start moving in. For the meantime, be inspired by my internet finds.

Basic Pancake Recipe {from Scratch}

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:05:00 +0000

We are not into baking lately.

We have lots of baking supplies but too tired to do some baking {or in my case, asking the hubby to do some baking}.

But I have been craving for a pancake lately since we always miss the morning visit to one of the fast food chains here because there are lots of things to do on a Saturday.

So we made some pancake from scratch...err, from what we have in the kitchen.

We used a basic recipe for this delicious pancake:

HOW TO MAKE PANCAKES

(for 6-8 people)

You will need the following:

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 and a half teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoon sugar (or more, if you do not have honey)

2 eggs

3 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter (we used virgin olive oil)

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients.

Then add milk, egg and oil (or butter, if you prefer).

Mix until smooth.

2. Heat an frying pan on medium heat (add very small amount of oil).

Turn to low heat when oil is hot enough (on my weird way, test the oil temperature by putting the hand over the pan five inches high, if you can feel heat then it is ready).

Scoop around 1/4 cup of batter on the pan. turn when sides are firm but not burnt (this is the indication one side is already cooked).

Serve hot.

If only there is a honey or maple syrup...

I am linking this to this link party:

Check ME Out Saturday week 53

Coffee, Cookies and Creative Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 05:45:00 +0000

If you read this blog, you will notice some changes.

My target of changing jobs by the start of April is a work in progress. Sending out application letters and resume has been a difficult decision but a task that I have been trying to squeeze in everyday.

I am not referring to day job alone. Plan B is to become a stay-at-home wife and online-based writer. So this is the cause of the series of additions in my blog.

The most obvious change is the header.

If you know me, you will probably guessed it right.

I did not use any software or complicated applications.

That header was created using Microsoft Powerpoint application and the clip arts are from Microsoft as well.

It was not difficult to create the theme as well.

It takes time to come up with a color scheme though.

That is the hardest part of creating the banner. The rest is just a matter of saving it {I used Microsoft 2007} as a jpeg or png file.

I am tempted to promise a tutorial but there are too many promises that were never delivered by yours truly.

So no promises of any tutorial here.

Hope you are having a great Friday.

{I will blog later about the other blog renovations done here}

Bento on the Cheap

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:55:00 +0000

To be honest about it, my bento making days was gladly set aside as I adjusted back to my pre-graduate school days.

And now that I am well adjusted, here are the stash of bento photos that I had found on our computer.

I hope that the photos will give you an idea of making your bento, fast and on the cheap:

Rolled bread with spread, meatloaf on cute animal picks, cherries

Assemble the sandwich theme: mini french bread, cheese {below the bread, not pictured}, black grapes, cherries, tomatoes

another bento sandwich: cheddar cheese, italian herb {on yellow capped bottle}, sliced tomatoes, mayonaise, lettuce and a chocolate

peanut butter heart mini sandwich, grapes and banana

The steps on creating those lunches are easy. I came up with whatever is available in our pantry and tried to have a balance of taste.

Do you have bento questions in mind that is related to this post? just ask.

Time Fly Fast!

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:11:00 +0000

I am on a mission.

As the February started there are several issues that I have to deal with.

One of them is my career.

Although my status is still on the waiting side, the date of my last working day with the company has been decided.

Two months from now, new challenges and environment is a welcome buddy.

With the decision over holding on to a particular job been settled, I am on the roll to depersonalized my office space and remove all my things out of there.

My target date of complete clean office {no personal things that would not fit my purse} is until the end of month.

It means returning all gadgets to the office as well,like USB and portable HD.

And since we expect some financial changes for this new stage in my life this blog will be more active as I realized its use for times like this.

Today, there are changes on this blog.

I changed layout.

Added Feeds and used Feedburner. I even maximize all of its feature.

{I will be writing a full post about tweaking blogs for better traffic later}

For tomorrow, here are the things that I have to do:

Finished the " Favorite Links " page
Add this blog to Technorati
Grocery Day
Financial /Home Management Organization
Credit Card Payment

That's for a busy Sunday.

We will be attending the Sunday service and will probably visit the organic market near the lake later.

Have a Blessed Sunday.

Drawing on a Friday and some Decluttering Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Tara) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:40:00 +0000

My interest is a mix of art and science.

Today, while resting from decluttering activities {it's more of removing papers that will be candidate for the shredder from my boxes under the office table} it downed on me that it is the best time to start with my drawing lessons online.

Actually, it has long been decided that I will be taking online lessons but my memory failed me again and even if I have searched all of the computers in the house, there is not trace of the drawing website that provides the exact lessons that I want.

Today, I found it.

And I will get myself listed this very minute.

On the blogging world, I want to do a project like this on our home-to-be:

from here and here.

It's been an emotional week but with the great people who are showing their love and care, this week is still a great week with minor challenges.