My 2 weeks with Liam

My brother relayed this very happy news about Liam today: he was awarded an Academic Award during his Moving Up Day!  Congrats, dear Liam!

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Which reminds me, I wasn’t able to tell you much about their 2-weeks visit here (they spent the Holy Week with us).  I was amazed at how fast Liam has grown.  At his age (2 years old), he can put words together very well.  He also talks a lot.  And he runs a lot too.  As in!  He has  memorized all nooks at my parents’ home (where they stayed) so when you hide from him he’ll know where to find you.

I know he has lots of toys at my parents’ home already but I could not resist buying him some new ones (I justified these by calling them my “Welcome Back, Liam!” gifts).  One of my Instagram friends, Annie (look her up at @annieloveschi), sells really nice Ikea toys and I found 2 cute toys that are perfect for Liam.

Klappar Cirkus Finger Puppets.    Liam loves story telling activities and I thought that he’ll like to do a make-believe play or story about these circus characters.

klappar-cirkus-piece-fingerpuppets-w-accessories__0120556_PE277219_S4I also found this Duktig Toolbelt with Soft Toys cute and perfect for this little boy who likes tinkering with anything.

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Here’s an action picture of the toys on Liam:

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Fixing his Lolo’s lazy boy (he’s holding the screwdriver wrong hehe!).

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We also took him to Antipolo for our Station of the Cross reading.  The little boy must have missed rough playing so much he made himself comfortable in this cement floor at the Pasalubong Center where we bought cashew nuts from Menggay.  Ain’t the look on his face priceless?

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Then the week after that, I took some time off from work so we could take Liam to the arcades.  We brought him at Tom’s World and Timezone, both in SM Mall of Asia.

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Liam  loved the arcade driving machines best and you couldn’t part him with steering wheel.  But he eventually got “sawa” over those so  now I have these  unused tokens and Powercard load, enough for another round at the arcades (let’s go, AJ!).

But the moments I enjoyed most with Liam where those spent looking at the pictures in my phone.  He knows which are food and he even identifies them.   I had a good laugh when Liam saw this picture of Starbucks’ Strawberry Granola Yogurt Cheesecake and he said: “Ninang, Pizza!”  So cute hehe!

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It was a memorable 2 weeks with my nephew/godson who has since gone back to Cebu with his parents.  I won’t be seeing him again until Christmas, but I am praying that my work will take me to Cebu one of these days.

Miss you, Liam!

 

Menggay’s Kasoy (Cashew Nuts)

My family and I were at Antipolo City earlier for our annual Station of the Cross reading.  It has been a tradition of ours to visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage / Immaculate Concepcion Parish at Antipolo every Maundry Thursday, even if it means traveling 1.5 to 2-hours from our home in Makati.

After the reading and offering of prayers to Our Lady, we always pass by Menggay’s stall  to buy kasoy (cashew nuts), coconut jam, kalamay (sticky delicacy made of coconut) and suman sa ibos (sticky rice cakes wrapped in fronds of buri palm).     You will find her stall at the Pasalubong Center located just beside the Church.   There are lots of vendors there selling the same food stuff but we only buy at Menggay’s.   She knows us already so we always get discounts hehe!

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Plain Kasoy and Adobong  Kasoy with Garlic are our favorites.

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We always get a “free taste” of this freshly cooked plain kasoy and more “free taste” pa  if we buy plenty.

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Favorite pasalubong to friends:   Bandong’s Coco Jam.

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Generously spread this over hot pandesal or suman sa ibos, or eat it by itself.

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The kalamay are the dark brown delicacies you see below and are sometimes wrapped in banana leaves.  They are usually eaten alone or with margarine spread on top.

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Another popular delicacy from Antipolo:  Turones de Kasoy.

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Our travel back to Makati was so terrible (almost 2.5 hours before we got home!) but we forgot all that after having these sweet local delicacies as dessert later in the evening.

Before I end this post, look who had a great time at Menggay’s stall, playing on the (dirty!) cemented floor with his mom:

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Yep, that’s Liam.   He arrived from Cebu yesterday with his parents and nannies.  They will be staying with my parents for 2 weeks.

My adorable nephew, at 2 years old, can already identify the letters of the alphabet, count from 1 to 10,  identify different colors and shapes and loves story-telling!   I love conversing with him now because he never runs out of things to say!    Just earlier, I was watching a video of him (from his dad’s iPhone) going up a steel ladder while being assisted by his mom.  He took a look at the video I’m watching and said to me:  “Liam is up-ping the ladder.”   Haha!  So smart!

 

The Good Stuff

Just sharing with you some of my recent discoveries these past weeks…

Baker’s Twines from Paper Chic Studio.   I have been stalking Paper Chic Studio’s facebook page for a time, hoping to buy some of their baker’s twines and colorful loot bags but I could not make the order form work.    Then at the eve of the Chinese New Year, while waiting for the clock to strike 12, I chanced upon a limited sale event at their facebook page!   What more, the order form finally worked!  So  I bought these baker’s twines in happy colors of pink, green and blue.  What a lucky way to start the Chinese New Year!

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My sole purpose in buying these is to use them as packaging ribbons.   Check how I used it to tie up the gift card around this jar of candies (from Made in Candies) – which I gave to my officemate on her birthday:

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Cute, isn’t?  The gift card is from Paperio.

I plan to save more paper this year by minimizing the use of paper wrappers for gifts.    Let’s see how creative I can get with baker’s twine!

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The Gruffalo.   Liam has been wishing for this book so I got him one.   And since I was scheduled to attend a dialogue in Cebu last Monday, I advanced my trip and spent my weekend there so I can visit Liam (and of course my brother and sis-in-law, hehe).   We weren’t able to read this together but  I sure am surprised to hear him “comment” that the fox in his Pinocchio book looked far more like a fox than the one in the Gruffalo haha!

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Speculoos Cookie Butter.  A lot has been said about this one-of-a-kind peanut butter that is not made of peanuts but cookies!   I have placed countless orders of this from different sellers at Facebook and Multiply,  but all of  them put me the wait list!   Finally, somebody tipped me that they’re available at Milky Way in Makati.   The wait is over, at last!  Never mind the P525.00 price tag – it’s so worth it!

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The Cookie Butter is for Liam, while the Crunchy Cookie Butter is for AJ and me.

Liam and his mom (Juvvy) so loved it!    Look how  happy he was while eating this.

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Real Living and Yummy Magazines.   New and practical decorating ideas and yummy recipes fill the October 2012 issue of Real Living and Yummy magazines, which I bought at a bookstore this week.  I got them at  discounted prices because they’re back issues already.  I am patient enough to wait for back issues because they’re cheaper.     Can’t wait to try the new recipes and decorating ideas here!

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What about you?  Found some good stuff lately?   I’d love to know about them!

 

A Sumptuous Birthday!

I celebrated my _ _th birthday last week in a very quiet but food-filled way.    It fell on a weekday and I took the day off from work so I can relax, hear mass and spend a quiet dinner with my family (which turned out to be not-so-quiet!).    I chose the newly-opened Watami at Glorietta 5 for my birthday dinner because it’s new and  for a fully serviced Japanese restaurant, it’s not expensive.

That’s my parents at my right and AJ at my left.  Across us are my cousin Mae Anne (in red Japanese kimono blouse) and Ate Rowena (who’s not looking properly at the camera hehe):

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Me and AJ playing with the chopsticks:

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Wacky shot with my parents (my mom rocks!).

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We capped my birthday at home with a nice apple pie from Purple Oven (sorry, I forgot to take pictures!) and freshly brewed Batangas coffee.

Then last Saturday AJ and I met with Pia, my super-friend from college who’s here from Vietnam, at no less than the TWG Tea Salon and Boutique at Greenbelt 5.    The three of us sampled 5 different types of teas (that’s 5 pots!) and all flavors of their French Macarons!

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I had a grand time with the 2 wittiest persons I know (next to my mom!)

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Then Sunday (which marks the first day of the Chinese New Year), we were at Robinsons Magnolia for lunch at Ramen Bar with my another super-close  friend from college, Denise, and her family. You may remember Denise from our DIY tea party last year.

But this time, she was able to bring her youngest daughter, Raine, much to my delight.   Raine is such a doll and now that she’s a toddler, playing with her is such a delight.

Opps, the baby is practising to be a lady…

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While Raine is touching up on her lip balm, Maxine and I were busy poring over the science almanac books that I gave her as Christmas presents:

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My photo-op with Maxine and Raine:

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I love this shot of them (taken by AJ):

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Group picture at Delicakes by Joly, Robinson’s Magnolia where we had our after-lunch coffee and dessert :

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We all passed by National Bookstore after and look what I found on sale at 50% off!

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It was a fun-filled week with friends and my family over sumptuous food, lots of laugh and a  surprise bargain find!

Exactly the kind of birthday celebration that I want!

(Watch out for my food posts on TWG Tea Salon and Boutique, Watami and Delicakes by Joly.  I’m finding it difficult to choose the pictures to publish because they’re all making me hungry!  In the meantime, you may view some of the food pictures I took at my Instagram account @dbrightspot)

 

Liam’s Stressful Haircut

Who would’ve thought that a toddler’s haircut can be so stressful?

Liam, my adorable 2-year old nephew, was brought to Cuts 4 Tots Hair Salon in Glorietta last December for a much needed haircut.    My brother and sis-in-law tried to get him a haircut in Cebu many times already but all are in vain.  Liam just won’t have it.

AJ and I tagged along with Liam’s lolo and lola (my dad and mom), Ate Donna and Ate Lilia (Liam’s dependable Ates) on the trip to the hair salon.   Liam’s dad and mom (that’s my brother Dino, and sis-in-law Juvvy) stayed hidden the whole time so Liam wouldn’t be distracted with their presence.

Liam didn’t want to sit in the barber’s chair (in shape of a car) so Ate Donna has to hold him (until the hair cutting business was finished).   I actually preferred it that way so Liam will not shift too much, which will make it more difficult for the barber to cut his hair.

The first cut (or rather, the first shave) was smooth and uneventful.  The barber started at the back of his head so Liam didn’t feel irritated at all.     P1060593b

He was even playing with Ate Donna.    P1060598b

Then his face changed.  Like he was trying to understand what Kuya (the barber) is doing with his hair.   P1060596b

“My hair!”   Not only did Liam see the little hairs in his arm (we couldn’t make him wear the tunic), it also started to irritate him.       P1060599b

He then started to call for help.  Liam was able to free himself from Ate Donna and went to his lolo’s arms.  He probably thought they’re on the way out so he was pulling his body towards the door hehe.  P1060609b

All of us in the room were, at this point, trying to comfort him and distract him at the same time by showing videos from his iPad, clapping and blowing big, soapy bubbles (c/o Cuts 4 Tots).   P1060613b

It was successful – for a while.   Liam made his plea again and lola came to his rescue.   But still no escape from Kuya, the barber.    Lola was able to distract him a little with a kiddie movie being shown at the salon.  P1060618b

Liam also thought his Tito AJ can help him escape, but a half-finished haircut is not a haircut!    So poor little boy, he has to finish this ordeal.  P1060622b

Just a little more, Liam!    Liam even agreed to be carried by the lady staff at Cuts 4 Tot after realizing that all of us aren’t being helpful, anyway haha!        P1060607b

Finally, the haircut is done!  Liam was relieved that it was over!  Ate Donna (left) and Ate Lilia (right) helped him change into a new shirt.  P1060627b

Just as we are exiting the salon, his parents are already heading towards us.   The little boy was finally reunited with his parents, and it was only here that I started to breath normally.   P1060633b

Liam must have used up so much of his energy during the haircut, he slept like a log when they got home hehe!