Kulitan During Lunch at Seasons

One fine Sunday, we had lunch at this small restaurant right across the church. I first heard about Seasons through my friend Jenn. She said the food was good and the prices are reasonable. Let's go!
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We were all in the mood for picture taking. Good thing I brought our Sony Camera. Note to self: always keep a small camera in bag in case of emergency!
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aI like the sunny country style decor. It made us feel like we were having lunch at a friend's house.
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The following kulitan photos were directed by Alyannah.
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Mommy and Aly chatting.
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aSi mommy pinapagalitan si Aly. Mommy sucks at acting. Pareho lang yung pose ko sa chatting and pinapagalitan pic. Heehee!
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aAly pinapagalitan si mommy.
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aMommy and daddy sweet talking. Yihee!
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aDaddy and Aly pretending to look at the drinks menu.
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The chow.
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Aly's super tall strawberry and banana shake.
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aFried chicken drumsticks with plum sauce.
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aTom Yum Kung.
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aKhao Phad Kung.
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The food was ok. The Tom Yum was just right -- not too spicy, not too salty. I was just a bit disappointed with the fried rice. It could have been better.
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Let me end this post with one last kulit picture...
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aRichard inside a phone booth. Bihira lang makakita ng ganyan. Hehe!

A Lesson in Procrastination

This is a lesson in not putting off for tomorrow the things that you are supposed to do for today. Case in point: ironing Aly's school uniforms.
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Background kwento muna. When I'm preparing for something, I usually make a list to ensure that I won't forget anything. For Aly's school preps, I wrote down all my to-do's complete with a target date of completion. First day of school was on a Monday and according to my schedule, I should have completed all my to-do's on the Friday before that. Everything was right on schedule: skirts were altered by Monday and washed by Tuesday...notebooks and writing materials were labelled by Thursday...all except for one last thing: ironing Aly's school uniforms, which was supposed to be done by Thursday. Ironing is my least favorite among all household chores. So instead of doing it on Thursday, I put it off for Friday. Friday came and I still didn't feel like doing it. Sunday night na lang talaga whether I like it or not.
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On Sunday night, after washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, I was finally ready to iron Aly's uniforms. BUT there was a problem: my steam iron won't turn on. As in ayaw nyang uminit. Ok, this particular iron is more than a year old already. I bought it from Shopwise Alabang before we moved to Bangkok. It's had more than its fair share of wear and tear. I probably dropped it around three times already. The red light that's supposed to indicate if it's turned on does not work anymore, but the iron still heats up. Also, the iron sometimes gets too hot (probably as a result from the three times that I dropped it) that I need to use a mitt to hold it. I have to admit, it's not in top working condition, but it still gets the job done. Unfortunately, just when I need it the most, my dear old steam iron died on me. Great. Of all the days when it can malfunction, it chooses to do so during crunch time. Stress!!
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So off I went to Tesco Lotus for the quickest household-appliance-shopping I've ever had in my existence as a housewife. Normally, I take my sweet time with the decision-making; I don't want to be rushed when it comes to choosing my household appliances, big or small. But there's no time for sweet time this time!
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Meet my new iron. Ayoko na ng steam iron, I opted for the traditional iron instead. Plus, this one is red. I love the color so binili ko na sya.
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What happened to our old steam iron? Richard took care of it. The Mafia way. Hehe!
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a In other words, niligpit nya yung lumang plantsa. Goodbye!
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Sigh...if only I didn't procrastinate, I would have saved myself all that stress. So now, with my new plantsa, I'm more ganado to do the ironing. I don't wait for a big pile of clothes to build up. I allot an hour every night to do them. Now I don't hate ironing so much. Just a little na lang. Heehee!

Our First Grader

I promised to post pics of Aly's first day in school. I'm sorry it took me this long to do it. The photos got buried in my files. I have more that I have yet to share with you. I'll do that in the next posts.
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Meanwhile, here are photos of Aly's first day in grade one.
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Mommy doing some last-minute check on Aly's school stuff. I actually checked her bag the night before. Heehee! Maybe I was just anxious, nervous and excited for my little girl. I still can't believe that she's in gradeschool now. Sniff!
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aAly checking her own bag. I think I told her at least five times where her pencil case is, her notebooks are, etc. I just want to be extra sure that she'll know where to get her things in case she needed them. I'm just nervous because I won't be around to help or remind her. Over ba si mommy?
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aI'm now in grade one!
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aThis is my classroom!
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aWith my classmates Meena and Vanessa.
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aOur homeroom teacher, Mr. Justin, doing a roll call.
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aLooks like we're off a to good start! :)
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We didn't have a family photo because we were running a little late. Good thing Richard was with me when we brought Aly to school. He kept assuring me that our little girl will be fine on her own.
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Today is Aly's fourth week in school and she's doing great so far. She got stars, merits...Last night, she was explaining the Butterfly Life Cycle to me and her dad. I am amazed at how much she has learned in the past couple of weeks! I'm a proud mommy :)

Quality Time

Quality time with my husband is watching DVD every night when Aly's asleep.
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Thanks to my brother Jof for buying Criminal Minds DVD's. Richard and I have been watching Seasons 1-3 everyday in the past couple of weeks. We are now halfway through Season 4, and we're thinking of what series to watch next. Any suggestions?

Roast Chicken Leftover

If all the chicken parts were to join a popularity contest, I think the first place will go either to the thighs, the wings or the drumstick. I know this for a fact because in my family, these three parts are always the first ones to go.
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When I made roast chicken on Monday, the breast was left untouched. Corny naman if you eat the chicken breast by itself. Parang ang dry. So I thought of turning the leftover chicken breasts into something more appealing. I made them into chicken wraps ala taco for dinner last night.
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I cut the chicken breasts into strips and seasoned them with black pepper and chili.
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aLots of black pepper and chili. No salt, since it has been marinated already. I popped the chicken in the oven just for a couple of minutes.
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aThe supporting cast: sour cream, salsa in a bottle (too lazy to make salsa from scratch!), grated cheese, oakleaf lettuce, limes (using my new lemon squeezer!), and flour tortillas. I'm not sure if these will all go well together. Bahala na!
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aJust put them all together, in no particular order, any which way you want...wrap with the tortilla and enjoy!
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It was yummy! I had two or three of these. Hehe! Success!! :)

Cheap Thrills at Daiso

Oh my gosh...I think I'm starting to get addicted to Daiso. Everything in the store sells for Thb60. How can you not fall for that?
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I paid them a visit yesterday. Here's my latest Daiso loot:
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A digital kitchen timer to replace the one that I got from Gourdo's. I only got to use it twice, then nasira sya when I turned the dial. The timer still works since it's not digital, but the bell won't ring anymore. Useless dba? I hope this one lasts longer.
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aI love this one because it can double as a ref magnet. Kewl!
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aInstructions at the back of the package. Buti na lang may English.
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aI don't really need this, pero ang cute kasi ng kulay kaya binili ko na.
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a"The handle with a spring makes squeezing job easy." This is true. Richard and I used it for dinner last night and he liked it. Perfect for dinner parties with pancit. Haha!
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aI love it when the directions are as clear and concise as this.
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aNow, squeezing lemons/limes can be mess-free.
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aDifferent colored threads for my sewing kit at home.
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Let me share with you the other Daiso items that I've accumulated so far:
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Bookends. A for Alyannah...
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a...and C for me (Christine). Wala kasing K.
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aI don't know what you call this, but I got it for Aly's closet.
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aI used 3M adhesive hooks to stick them on the door.
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aFor Aly's knick knacks.
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aMagtools.
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aBottle opener.
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I swear, I can spend hours in that tiny store! Mainly because it takes me a while to figure out the package instructions (all are in Japanese!). Heehee! Although I have to admit that most of the items in the store are just abubots, there are also some really goods finds in there. Case in point: I buy my coffee filter in Daiso because a pack of 80 pcs. costs only Thb60. The one found in the supermarket sell for Thb80 with only 40 pcs. San ka pa?

Roasted Potatoes

I'm on a roll here. More food posts coming your way :)
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I had a bunch of potatoes sitting in the ref. If I don't cook them right away, I won't be able to use them for anything at all. So I used half of them for the potato salad that Richard requested.
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aThe other half I just cut into thin slices (kicking myself here for not investing in a mandoline slicer; add to kitchen wishlist).
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aI seasoned the potato discs with salt and a generous amount of pepper, sprayed with Crisco, and placed in the oven until done.
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aGuilt-free munchies. Hehe! Compared to potato chips, that is. I loved the taste of freshly cracked pepper on this. It was yummy!
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This is not the first time I made roasted potatoes. One time, I also made a garlic dip to go with the roast potatoes. It was sinfully good but this time I want to be guilt-free so I ditched the dip. There was also a time when I coated the potatoes with my homemade pesto with garlic before baking. The smell that came from the oven was so wonderful, I was in heaven! I've been looking for fresh Italian basil in the supermarket but it wasn't available. I wonder if Thai basil would work just the same. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
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I love potatoes. Next, I'll try out Jamie Oliver's roast potato recipe. If it's a winner, I'll post it here.