Alvin is feeling better now but still he asked me to cook arroz caldo and okoy… He’s starting to miss my arroz caldo.

Ingredients of My Arroz Caldo:

• 2 parts of chicken
• 1/2 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium sized onion
• crushed pepper
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 1/4 cup long grain rice + 1 Cup of water (allow the rice to sit overnight)
• 1 T cooking Oil
• fish sauce
• salt

1. Drain the water from the rice. Put the moist rice in the blender and process for one to two minutes.
2. Heat the cooking oil in a heavy casserole.
3. Saute the garlic, onion and ginger till fragrant.
4. Add the chicken and stir until golden brown.
5. Season with fish sauce, salt and pepper.   
6. Add the rice. Cook the rice in oil until the grains start to brown.
7. Pour some water while stirring.
8. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the rice grains start to crumble.
9. Adjust seasoning.

Before serving, sprinkle with toasted garlic and chopped onion leaves.

*** I’ll just post my Okoy Recipe next time.

We went to Parkway Parade this morning to buy some stuff… I directly headed to the grocery while Alvin looked for colored plastic films for his photography experiments. We also had our lunch at Siam Kitchen. We are actually planning to have lunch at Parkway Thai Restaurant but the store is under renovation! Balatino! I ordered shrimp rice while Alvin had their set lunch meal; green curry chicken and tom yum soup. We also had dessert, chendol with red bean. The green chicken curry is too oily and sweet while the tom yum soup is slightly sweet which is supposedly sour. What I also noticed with Siam Kitchen is that their food is not consistent in terms of taste… We still prefer Lerk Thai.

I love to shop! Shopping for me is a therapy, a past time and a reward for a long day of work… I love to shop for myself and for my husband. It really makes me happy!

For me, paying by credit cards and debit cards are more convenient than carrying cash.  Apart from that, credit card companies have ongoing promotions with some of the participating stores. It can be additional discounts, free items or a lucky draw plus reward points. It makes shopping more enjoyable and exciting! I am glad that most of the retail stores now have their own merchant accounts for credit cards processing. Merchant services are also available for retailers to increase their sales and expand their business. 

I remember when I was still young; my mom gave me a credit card extension so she doesn’t need to accompany me when shopping… During that time, only major establishments accept credit cards. One time, my mom asked me and my sister to buy some stuff in the new grocery in our area. I am so excited to use my credit card since I want to brag to her how my credit card works. Too bad, their credit card machines are all out of order (they only have two!). Fortunately, I have this Php 1,000 peso bill that I am keeping in my wallet. That Php 1,000 bill used to be a very big amount during that time and that was given to me by my Ninong!

We had check up today at Gleneagles Hospital… Alvin is ready to work on Monday! Our schedule supposedly was 3:00PM but the doctor advised him to have a blood test first. We have to wait for another 1-1/2 hour for the results…We were so hungry!

Our initial plan was to have an early dinner at Din Tai Fung either in Wisma Atria or Paragon but Alvin saw Rocky Master in Delfi Orchard. That was my first time at Rocky Master so he ordered for us… We had potato wedges with cheese dip, BBQ Chicken Pizza and Beef Stew Pasta. Really hungry, huh! Too bad, I wasn’t able to bring my camera or even my hand phone with me. The food was good especially their cheese dip, I even asked for an additional dip.

We have a studio type condo unit in Makati that is up for sale. We’ve been selling that condo for a long period of time but up to now no one can meet our asking price. I asked my husband’s permission if I can design the place… My idea is to style it with rugs to enhance the interior, add warmth, comfort and style to our humble home. Up to now, I am thinking about the look I want to create… One thing is for sure, I want to attain designer results! 

What I like about rugs is that you can make your room look elegant with cheap rugs that can stand over a long period of time. Since the area is small, area rugs will do the tricks. To make it more spacious, I should choose a light colored rug and furniture that will compliment my rug.

Hopefully after my design project, our condo unit will be sold at a very good price.

My dear Lolee will be in Liverpool for a couple of weeks… She was given the chance to attend trainings provided by one of their UK Offices. Their final stop before going to Liverpool was Amsterdam. I’m not sure if they they were able to find a good accommodation from the list of Amsterdam Hotels that her company gave them. I’m too happy for her; at least she can tour around UK even for a short period of time.

Being half introvert and half extrovert, she’s into nature and arts… I think she will enjoy Cannes; the crystal blue water and the city’s famous design. Hopefully next time her trainings will be near Cannes. I happen to watch a TV show that featured Cannes, what a beautiful place!. They also showed beautiful Cannes Hotels that offers great deals. I, on the other hand is dreaming of touring around Paris. A very romantic city with some of the world’s most famous attractions… My husband told me that touring around Paris will be very costly but I told him that there are cheap flights and Paris Hotels that will suit our budget. Oh, how I wish we’ll be able to pursue this plan just before I reach the age of 30!    

Yesterday, we celebrated 2 years and 7 months of our married life… We had dinner at AquaMarine, Marina Mandarin. It’s a buffet spread of seafood and international cuisines. As usual, Alvin liked the Indian food and the pork marinated in five spices. We both liked the crabs and the drunken prawns, it was so delicious! But their Sushi Corner is not so good… Still, AquaMarine Dinner buffet is worth giving a try. We’ll surely visit this place again… but for now, I think I’ll need to focus with my diet!

We want a MacBook Pro! It’s on top of our gadgets list… My dear Santa, can you hear me? Christmas is nearly approaching!

I got super excited when I came across this Apple Mac Games site. So many exciting and new games! I wish I’ll have my MacBook as soon as possible! I can even imagine playing Jewel Quest 3 for Mac, excellent! What I like best with Mac is that the graphics is very good and the colors are so vivid plus the fact that they are very slick and stylish.

Actually, we are still having second thoughts if we’ll settle for a MacBook or an iMac… I already started making a list of pros and cons of MacBook and iMac. This Mac blog  gave us so much help in our decision making process. As of now, I should give a clear hint to my dear Santa Claus!

Alvin and I had lunch at Sakae Sushi… I had Inari Cheese, Chicken Katsu and Fried Rice. Alvin had Tempura Moriawase and Salmon Asparagus. The food is good! We really missed Japanese Food… actually, I missed dining out and Alvin literally missed eating! For dessert, we had mango sorbet while waiting for a cab!

For so many weeks of house arrest, this was the first time that Alvin and I had the chance to dine outside… During those days, our routine: house->hospital->house! We made a promise that when he gets better we’ll spend more quality time together splurging and dining out! What a great way to enjoy life?! As a start, we had dinner at Lerk Thai Marina Square.  Yummy!!!