FMSphotoaday (Day 1: Red)

Even Super Heroes Need to Visit Their Grandmothers

We visited my mother's grave a while back.  We had come from a super hero themed party nearby so Ava was decked out in her finest super hero costume.  Actually, the cape was one of the freebies from the party and she insisted on wearing it the entire day.

If my Mom were alive, I'm sure she would have gotten a kick out of her grand daughter running around and pretending to be a super hero. Well, to us, she really is a true life super hero.  

We try to visit Mom as often as we can.  It was great that the party that we went to was only a stone's throw away from the memorial park.  We'll be visiting again next week for All Souls Day.

Fly free little one.  Change the world in your own way, big or small, it doesn't matter.  You're Lola Nonie would want you to do that.

Pinterest Recipes: Good Morning Oatmeal

I'm not really a fan of oatmeal.  I just not a fan of its texture.  Plus, it can be so redundant.  Thank goodness I have been seeing so many recipes on Pinterest that jazzes up this boring dish.  The first one that I tried is from, Kath Eats Real Food's Latte Lovers Oatmeal.

 

I had to tweak the recipe a little bit I didn't have some of the ingredients that she used.

Good Morning Oatmeal

8 tbs. rolled oats

1 cup hot water

1 sachet Nescafe Decaf

1 tbsp. dessicated coconut

1 tbsp. peanut butter

1 tbsp. chocolate chips

1 tbsp. almond flakes

1. Mix the rolled oats and hot water and microwave on high for about 1 min.  Continue heating every 30 seconds if you want the oats to become softer.
2. Mix in the coffee, coconut and peanut butter
3. Top with chocolate chips and almond flakes

LoJo Cooks: Pan de Amerikana French Toast

Out of everyone in our small family, my Dad is hands down the best cook since he learned from one of the best, his mother, my grandmother. Until now, my Dad loves to cook. He'll just suddenly disappear and later resurface in the kitchen with the ingredients that he bought from the grocery or the palengke (wet market).

Since I am still learning how to cook, I thought of featuring some of the things that my Dad does. It's a bit difficult though to get him to give me the exact measurements and ingredients that he uses. When I ask him, "How much sugar did you use?" He'll just answer back with a shrug, "I don't know." Hmph, very helpful. Well, I'll still give it a shot.

I am first featuring my Dad's French Toast but since he used a humongous slab of Pan de Amerikana Wheat Loaf, I will call it the "Pan de Amerikana" French Toast ala LoJo.

Ingredients:

Slices of Pan de Amerikana Wheat Loaf
1/4 cup Evaporated Milk (we used Alpine Evaporated Milk)
1 Egg
Sprinkle of Nutmeg
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Butter
Pancake Syrup (we like Log Cabin)

1. Beat the milk, eggs, nutmeg and cinnamon together.
2. Dip each bread in the egg mixture. Let the bread soak up the mixture.
3. Melt butter in a skillet.
4. When hot, fry the bread until golden brown on each side.
5. Serve with butter and pancake syrup on top.

What I love about my Dad's French Toast is that the inside of the bread is soft and gooey while the outside is crunchy around the edges. Definitely a quick and delicious snack to make.

Enjoy!

Coffee Shop Thoughts

I'm sitting here at a coffee shop inside a bookstore, waiting for Ava to finish causing chaos around the store. She's with her Dad right now. Sitting here by myself brings back so many memories. 

Years ago, this was my life. Just sitting in coffee shops studying for tests, typing up tons of research for my school reports. The table would be littered with papers, books, pens and different laptops. That was my life then. I could just stay for hours without talking to anyone.

Now, the table is littered with children's books and milk bottles. I can hear Ava calling "MAMA" at the top of her lungs and the clumpty clump clump of her steps. I could barely finish my coffee and SOMEONE stole my cake.

This is my life now. If I think about it, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Pinterest Recipes: Hot Chocolate

I've been an active user of Pinterest for quite sometime now.  I have pinned so many photos hoping that I would able to use them in the near future.  Since the weather the past few days had our teeth and bones chattering, I was able to whip out some Pinterest recipes for hot chocolate.

It tried out two recipes during the week.  The first one is Nutella Hot Cocoa by Cookin' Cowgirl. Click on the link to check out her blog for the recipe.  

Prepping the ingredients

The recipe called for using just one teaspoon of cocoa.  At first I thought that there would be not much chocolate taste, but I was pleasantly surprised that the 3 tablespoons of Nutella compensated for that.  The drink was quite sweet and rich but it was comforting.

It was so rich, I had to share with my Dad

The next hot chocolate drink that I made was Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate by The Cooking Actress.  This was much smoother than I expected.  Normally, when I put in peanut butter on my drink, I would still feel the chunks of peanut butter that have not melted.  With this recipe, I just got the taste of peanut butter and not the feel of the chunks.

The smooth concoction of Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

My nights definitely became warmer with these two drinks on hand.  Might have to cut back though because of the calories but I'll let it slide for now.  

Watching Barney Live in Concert

Ava LOVES Barney the purple dinosaur. She has watched so many videos of Barney that she has memorized most of his songs. She even knows what episodes are featured just by looking at a photo. It has come to the point where even Alain and I will sing Barney songs even if Ava isn't around. It's scary actually. Of course, we just had to get tickets to watch Barney when we heard that the he was going to have a concert and a meet at greet here in the Philippines.