Life of a Full-Time Working Mom Abroad

www.slate.com I think I had known for a few years but kept denying to myself because the person was someone very close... or maybe, I just tried so hard not to damage the relationship, shrugged everything off because I don't want to ruin something..   There had been so many red flags. There were times that I felt confused because this person has a lot of friends, seemed admired by a lot, so I felt that the mistake was on me. At the beginning I though this person was just plain nice to be helping me through a lot of things, maybe that was also one thing that kept me blinded...  utang na loob.  There will be moments and situations that will let you realize your being an empath to such vile person. Sooner or later you will know that you have already been giving too much and everytime you'd say no, that person would react negatively.  Once you have uncovered the mask,  you will learn that the help was given because they wanted you under their spel...

My eldest woke me up even before the alarm went off and I thought, he really is excited to go back to school. I got a bit worried about my youngest son though, since on his sleep, he was mumbling "Daddy, I don't want to go to school!". So I was surprised that he was energetic when his brother woke him up. It is the first day of school for my boys. My eldest, Gabriel is in Grade 7, so technically it is his first day in high school. My youngest, Miguel is in Grade 1.  I am so glad that there was no crying as we sent them to their car lift in the morning. Maybe because they were together so it was not so bad for my youngest. The husband took a week off from work to spend time with the boys on their first week going back to school and help them with the adjustments and all. He even cleaned their PE shoes since we did not buy new ones for them. I really appreciate these little gestures my husband does for the kids. And I can see that my kids enjoy spending the who...

This time, I am posting one of my eldest son's favorite dishes. INGREDIENTS: 1 kg. of beef cubes 2 cups of white button mushroom, quartered 1/2 stick of unsalted butter 3-4 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion, sliced 1 Nestle All-purpose cream 1/4 cup tomato paste 2 tsp. dried parsley 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 1-2 cups beef broth salt and pepper DIRECTIONS: 1. Pat dry the beef one by one and sprinkle with good amount of salt and pepper. 2. Melt the butter on a heated pan or skillet and cook the beef until all sides are brown. (Note: Do not crowd the beef) Set aside. 3. On the same pan, saute the garlic and onion. Add the mushroom and stir. 4. Put the beef back into the pan and saute. 5. Add-in the dried parsley, dried oregano, tomato paste and broth. Stir and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the beef is tender. Add more beef broth if necessary. 6. Add the cream and stir. Cook for 10 minutes more and adjust the taste to your liking. 7. Serve hot and enjoy...

I was craving for Igado for a few days already but the outside heat is unbearable so I had to cook it with whatever I have in the pantry. To my surprise, it turned out really good, so i thought of sharing it with you guys. You may also use pork tenderloin cut into strips as traditional Igado would have. INGREDIENTS: 1/2 kg. ground pork 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1 medium size onion, chopped 2 pcs. bay leaves 2 tbsp. of cooking oil 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup vinegar 1 can liver spread 2 cups of green peas (I used 1 big can) 1 big bell pepper, cut into strips 1 cup water salt & pepper to taste DIRECTIONS: 1. Heat the cooking oil in a pan and saute the garlic and onion until garlic is cooked but not burnt and the onion turns translucent. 2. Add in the ground pork and cook until it is light brown. 3. Add the bay leaves, soy sauce, a dash of salt and pepper and stir. 4. Add the vinegar (do not stir for a few minutes until the vinegar is well cooked). 5. Add ...

This has been one of my husband's favorite dishes that I cook for them. Everytime I would ask him what ulam does he want me to cook, he would always say Mechado. Most Beef Mechado recipes I found online include tomato sauce, but for this version (the version I grew up eating), I use fresh tomatoes.  It is also very simple to cook yet super yummy. It only takes time to tenderize the beef. Ingredients:  1 kg of beef, cut into big cubes (I prefer spare ribs) 1/4 cup of soy sauce 4-5 big tomatoes, cut into cubes 1 red onion, sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced salt & ground pepper 2 medium potatoes, cut into big cubes 1 medium carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 bell pepper, cut into big cubes (optional) or 2 pcs siling pansigang Directions: 1. In a pan, put the first 6 ingredients all together. Put water enough to cover the beef. Cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the beef is fork tender. Skim off as much scum as you can. Ch...

One of the challenges I face during school days is the kids'  baon. Specially with my five year old  picky eater Miguel. He would always end-up coming home na madaming tirang baon .  Sa 12 year old ko, wala akong problema. Nasa stage na sya na kinocontrol na rin ang food intake dahil masyado ng bumibilog ang katawan hehehe. As I was browsing the internet searching for ideas how I can convince my youngest child to finish his lunch at school, I came across a cute idea of doing it bento style.  I found a very cool product which is called Yumbox. It has a removable pre-portioned tray and is leakproof. Thanks to its silicone lid, I can include dips or sauces for his baon .  The cooler part is I found someone locally selling them and can also personalize it at an extra cost.  Since Spider-Man Homecoming just came out of the cinemas, my son has been raving about it everyday so I chose Spider-Man as a theme for his Yumbox.  He will be ...

As for our third day in Hong Kong (second day blog is  here ), we decided to visit the Giant Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha) in Lantau island.  But first, we had our breakfast at McDonalds which is just a few steps away lang din sa guesthouse.  Hot Chocolates Hash browns Big Breakfast Egg Fritter Muffin with Ham Sausage Mcmuffin with Egg Too bad that the cable cars were under maintenance when we were in Hong Kong so we opt to go by bus instead.  From the guesthouse, we hopped-on the MTR going to Tung Chung station, walked a few minutes to the bus terminal and took Bus 23 which goes directly to the gate of the Po Lin Monastery.  The ride was smooth pero medyo nkakahilo but in less than an hour, we arrived at our destination. It was cold and windy... the weather was a bit gloomy but nothing stopped us to enjoy the experience. Kailangan lang tumingin sa dadaanan at maka jackpot ka, because of the cows roaming around the area, syempre may mga poops sila...

We planned our trip to Disneyland on our second day in Hong Kong. I was worried that since it was a Saturday, baka sobrang haba ng pila sa mga rides. But keri lang... the excitement took over na rin. As I have mentioned in the first part of the Hong Kong family trip blog , the guesthouse where we stayed in offers discounted tickets to some attractions including Disneyland so we grabbed the opportunity. After we checked-in, we bought 3 adult tickets and 1 child ticket (since my eldest, Gabriel is already 12 so adult ticket na sya). Because of jet-lag and namamahay din (excited lang siguro hahaha), I wasn't able to get a straight sleep. I woke up at about 5AM, everyone else was still snoozing, I took a shower and woke the boys up. We started our day at Tsui Wah Restaurant which was just on the ground floor of the guesthouse we stayed in. Tsui Wah Restaurant is a well-known chain of Cha chaan Teng (which literally means "tea restaurant") in Hong Kong. We ordered t...