Weekend Market Finds

These are some of our "great finds" at the weekend market of Alabang Town Center.

Jumbo Pastillas

These pastillas, candies made from carabao/buffalo's milk and sugar are literally as big as your thumb, five inches long TOPS! It melts in your mouth and is oh, so good!!!For P120 a box, it's worth every bite. I didn't count the number of wrappers but i think it's between 20 to 24 pieces.

milky polvoron

Polvoron or toasted milk with sugar satisfied my sweet tooth. Each cup is intricately covered with dainty detailed designs of a whale, a starfish, a frog and an octopus. Skid was eager and happy to touch each one since he is already familiar with these underwater creatures. The fondant was thin and crispy. None of that gummy, rubbery texture I associate with fondant cupcakes.

Will definitely go back another weekend and find more goodies =)

The weekend market of Alabang Town Center is within the Entertaiment Area and operates during mall hours of Saturday-Sunday. 10am to 8pm.

Birthday Joy

Our family celebrates Skid's birthdate every month. He is now 29 months old. Dad brought us to Shakey's for dinner and we had pizza, spaghetti and of course Skid's favorite, CHICKEN!

This is our family photo of this special day.

And this is Skid and Dad waving and calling me over...

Skid is so sweet. He loves it when the three of us would "group hug" and lie side-by-side in bed. Here's a shot of him holding our heads and pushing our heads together =)

improve your argument

Down with laryngitis for six straight days. Having difficulty expressing myself. Now i appreciate the difficulties encoutered by the physically challenged: the deaf/mute.

On my third day, I was already irritable and frustrated. The white-board thing doesn't work for me. I discovered that it was more effective to improve my chances of being understood rather than strain my vocal chords.

I try to call people over and whisper. I make use my hands to let myself be better understood.

quote from http://happywalldecals.com

Beef Wanton Noodle Soup

feeling a bit under the weather. went to Chow King (my favorite Chinese fastfood) and enjoyed a piping hot bowl of Beef Wanton Noodle.

lexibook gadgets

At two and a half years old my boy loves pictures. always game to have his pic taken and asking to look at the digi-still afterwards. He pronounces it as "Cam-ra" without an "e"

he loves Batman, Spidey, Toy Story and Cars, i'm thinking of giving him his first Digital Camera.One that is easy to use and Kid friendly.

Manufacturer's recommend that kids need to be at least 6+ years old but i'm excited to see my kid take his first pic and have fun. i browsed online and found one that is 5 megapixels but it costs 20 to 50 British pounds.

Having second thoughts because of the price. thinking of getting a Canon or Olympus instamatic but i'm worried that it would not be appropriate for kids. HELP!

Jack & Jill Instant Mami

i'm a self confessed fan of Lucky Me Pancit Canton.

the other day, i saw this new brand on the grocery shelf and bought it out of curiosity. not sold on the taste of adobo and tinapa on noodles but i'm game enough to try it!

Tomato Basil Spaghettini

Hubby told me that my mom requested me to cook Tom Yum Goong for dinner. so i got home early to slice garlic and shallots.

turned out that message was wrong and request from the chef was instead Tomato-Basil Pasta.

good thing i've already made the base of my pasta sauce over the weekend.

finished the dish in less than an hour. Skid who loves noodles (a.k.a pancit) loved my pasta with the zing of basil.

end result: impromptu dinner was a hit!

on the lookout for a surefire recipe for skinless porkchops. any suggestions?

The Memory Keeper's Daughter - the book!

initially i did not want to use this sight for a review...i have a separate site for the that: Goodreads.com

but i found myself finishing this one in bed at 430 in the morning, it's been a long while that i stayed up all night to read a good story.

i ended up loving and hating the characters, even if i tried to understand their life-changing decisions. i was one of them wondering what would have happened if that split-second decision did not happen. what-if?

David was a doctor who (forced by circumstances) delivered his twins with the help of his ever dependable ("in-love") nurse, Caroline. This was in the 1960s when mental retardation and Down Syndrome was something not widely accepted by society. Having one in the family could mean giving them away to an institution. And David did just that. choosing to keep his normal, first-born son Paul and giving away his daughter Phoebe to Caroline.

At the last minute, Caroline could not do it, she chose to abandon her earlier life and ran away with the baby. For the next 25 years she would give David glimpses of Phoebe's life through quick notes and snapshots that she would forward through a mailbox. i hated David for this: playing God, for making that decision that would affect the lives of four(??) other people.

Because of family "secrets", the couple (David and Norah) drifted apart and went their own ways. David immersed himself in altruistic doctoral work and photography. His favorite subject were children (girls!) where he could catch glimpses of the daughter he sent away.

After all this time Paul (the first-born) fought for his father's attention, trying to please him yet being himself and living his own life. As a child, he drew a family portrait with his "dead" sister included in the picture. He was gifted in the field of music, performing on-stage professionally.

After David died and the truth came out, Paul and Norah tried to reach out to Phoebe but she is now used to her "old" life and would only call Caroline mother. (this is the part that pained me MOST!)

In the end, Paul decided to give up his old life and be near Phoebe to know her better. I found it unbelievable that Norah (who can't cope with the loss of her daughter for 25 years) and who suddenly finds her alive can just go on with her life. Pack her bags, get married and move to Paris for the next two (2) years. that's hard for normal people and that would be triply hard with a gifted child like Phoebe. How can she know her? let her get used to her if she only sees her once or twice a year.

but overall, this is a book is one with no simple ending. the one that would always be filled with what-ifs. it would always be controversial a one worthy of a lengthy discussion over a casual group of friends.