girl, spinning

14.5.15

24.1.14

"When you feel the need to splurge, buy knowledge and EXPERIENCES instead." - marcandangel.com

1.1.14

Hello, 2014!

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever. - Neil Gaiman

20.12.13

Nutella Cuppies

Baked these goodies for my niece's Christmas party in school. It's so easy to make, kids can bake this themselves.

Nutella Cuppies

1 cup (275g) Nutella
2 eggs
12 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

a pinch of salt

toppings (m&m's, nuts)

Dump everything in a bowl, mix until lumpless. (don't overmix)
Pour into a muffin tin

Top with candies or nuts

Bake at 180C for around 30 minutes

Happy baking!

*made 15 Nutella cuppies (mini muffin liners) for this batch

9.11.13

When I was younger, I used to help my Tita bake bake yellow (chiffon) cakes on special occasions. I would happily volunteer to help her measure and mix ingredients. Oh, I love the smell of the vanilla when she starts to pour it into the batter. I may be biased but she really bakes the best chiffon cake. :)

I've been itching to bake my own cake ever since the first time I helped my Tita bake her cakes. But I would forget about it because I'm not also sure if our rusty oven is even working. My mom assured me that our oven is working but it's just that she doesn't know how to operate it. But last week, I decided to take the challenge. Blame it on the food and travel channels I've been watching.

I bought some baking ingredients, prepared the baking tools and started searching online on how to operate the oven since I'm a first time user. My baking adventure began when the oven light would glow but would also flicker. Worst, the oven smelled gas. It was so scary I thought I'll set the house on fire. I waited few more minutes to let the smell subside and tried again. After 3 tries I was able to turn the igniter on and it worked ok. Yey! Major buwis buhay accomplishment.

And of course, niece was my assistant. Taught her to measure the ingredients accurately and let her mix the batter. The thing is, she was more interested on the batter. Picture below for your reference. :)

Check out niece's beard. Lol! How messy our table is?

Being a first time baker I was so surprised that I hit the spot. Niece and I were so proud of ourselves. Haha! I was so happy the cakes turned out yummy and tasty.

Peekaboo!

Tadaaah! Freshly baked cupcakes!

Buttermilk Choco Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Cream 1\2 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

3. Combine 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt.

4. Combine 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup water

5. Alternately add the dry and liquid ingredients to the cream mixture.

6. Fill paper lined muffin cups two thirds full.

7. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack to cool completely.

* Since this was just a "bake test" I didn't make frosting

Recipe from Taste of Home.

3.11.13

October Davao

I decided to fly to Davao to see my friend Peachy, who will be coming home from Canada for a vacation, and of course to see the rest of my barkada. I keep just a few circle of friends and most of them are in my hometown.

Hours before my early morning flight, I went to MOA to see my mom who's participating in the Rexona Run to your Beat 2013.

fangirls

I saw this book on brainpickings, read the sample on iBooks and found it very interesting. I looked for it in our local bookstores but it wasn't available so I asked Peachy if she can look for it in Canada and buy me a copy. Fortunately, she was able to find one (last copy in an Indigo store) and gave it to me as a pasalubong. Yey! Thanks, Peachypie!

With a cool bookmark. I so love it!!!

Got to visit my college friend Gracious, who I wasn't able to see since 2004. I wasn't able to attend her wedding last year so I was very glad to meet her husband and very cute baby girl. Aaaand... she's also 3 months pregnant. Yey! We got to bond and talk a lot of things like family life and college memories. I so miss this girl and I was so happy to see her again.

Lunch with the Mr. and Mrs.

Find the hidden dimples of baby Macie.

I also got to see another college friend, Chalen. This girl is one of my constant companions in my last few years in college. Whenever we're together there's no dull moment. We laugh a lot even at simple things. We also shared a secret back in college. "Crush" secret that is. Hahaha!

We met up for lunch and coffee and had non-stop talk about LOVE! Grabe. We have so much things in common when it comes to our lovelife... lovelives? What's funny is that we're both singles now. Hahaha! We also haven't seen each other after graduating college so we filled each other's timeline of what happened between 2004-2013 in more or less 4 hours. Sobrang bitin! Hope to see these 2 girlfriends of mine again soon.

And lastly, my friends since bulingit days.

These are people who I've known more than half my life. We didn't change actually. We're still silly and naughty but with a bit of wisdom now. Sabeeee?