We Bake Our Bread, What's Wrong With That?

"We love our bread
 We love our butter
 But most of all
 We love each other..." Madeline

If you've tried baking your own bread at home with all the freshest ingredients to boot, you'll have a different perspective of how your breads should taste like. Thanks to my lil sister who has finally mastered the art and science of baking our home-made breads. She is so focused that she bakes even in her sleep. Being a nurse by profession, she loves baking because it is also a science with all the chemical reactions the dough mixture had to go through to become artisan bread. Her hard work paid off as it has raised the bar for our standard on home-baked breads. And would you believe that we've stopped buying our breads from our local bakeries like Pan de Manila? ( sorry, haha )

Nini's Words
"The rustic looking bread acquire its honest flavor while tucked away in the fridge, sitting quietly in its container, fermenting itself to arrive in its complex state of "breadness."

I used pre-fermented dough. The dough MUST sit for long hours/time even days undisturbed to create that complex flavor. Nutty, warm, and sour. The dough is then shaped into a boule (pronounced as bool). Few    shallow slashes made on top of the dough to let gas escape so it wont collapse during baking. It's called artisan because it is purely  and specially made by hand, shaped by hand keeping that rustic look...thus the name artisan...it's an art.

Anyone who's not really into sweet fancy cake house bread I think would like it... Relentless PATIENCE is the gem among the lowly ingredients such as flour, yeast, salt, and H2O.  Bare hands make this unpretentious bread all the more special. It's warm, nutty flavor leaves you severely anxious for another bite another slice."

And it would be so selfish of us if we don't provide you with the link where Nini has been gleaning lately. Here it is:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

But wait! There's more! Here are some more photos of Nini's home-made artisan breads.

Sprinkled with a good amount of fresh rosemary snipped from my container garden. 

This artisan bread is bejeweled with slivers of black olives. 

One Amazing Filtration System And The Red Ribbon Experience

Over brunch, it was always fun to hang out for a little longer at our family dining table and just let the dishes soak in soapy water in the kitchen sink. We were having family time and it was so precious that I didn't want to disrupt this magic moment. I had just prepared 2 cups of hot coffee for me and my hubby and the kids were goofing around with their Dad. But the idea was to always find out who among them was the best at anything. And our dessert fun-time activity was to find out who can exhale the longest. At the count of three, my three monkeyteers gasped for big breath and exhaled "aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" in unison.

My lil boy was the first one to run out of breath followed immediately by my disappointed girl. As was expected, Daddy was the last man left standing while my kids cheered and booed him at the same time. Daddy with his antics, the kids smothered him with kisses and hugs and sighs of disappointment. "That's so unfair!" Someone said. But Daddy bragged even more and gave out his devil laugh!

So, to appease my kids, I told them that Daddy won because obviously he has the biggest chest among the three of them. And since he has the biggest chest, he can store more oxygen in his lungs. I told them that our chest protects our lungs which store and filter the oxygen that we breathe. "And that was how God designed our body," Daddy added, "because we are fearfully and wonderfully made." My hubby sensed that he needed to elaborate more on the subject as we both noticed that our children's eyes were glued on him.

Dad.
"Do you know that God has the most hi-tech filtration system designed to filter the oxygen that we take in our body? And do you know that the air passes through a sort of coiled filtration system in our lungs the size of a tennis court or 40x the human skin area? Isn't it amazing to learn how our God cares for us? God wanted to make sure that each time we breathe in fresh air to our system, we take in the cleanest and purest air in the form of oxygen that will keep us healthy and alive. He is the best engineer in the whole universe for He created everything. And he designed everything for a purpose."

Kids.
"Cool." "Wow!"

Our kitchen was charged with fun and excitement. We were all stirred up at how our topic was developing.
My hubby and I exchanged meaningful glances as we took turns talking to our children. It's as if saying "are you thinking what I'm thinking? Our God is an awesome God, come on!"

Mom.
"Our God has one amazing filtration system built to make sure that we are kept pure from toxins! You know what? Since we're talking about filters, this reminds me of the verse from Psalm 12:6 that says, "The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times." Therefore, before our Lord uttered a word, He thought about it several times before saying them. That is why, His words written in the Bible are guaranteed pure and true, refined as gold. And we can count on His words because He thought well of them before uttering them."

Dad.
"What an example the Lord has set before us! Let it be a reminder to all of us, including me and Mom, to be careful with the words that come out of our lips and think first before we speak. Our Lord showed us how to honor Him by choosing our words carefully when we talk to others."

Spontaneity Is Priceless.
We are on our yearly school break but the learning we've had this late lunch was spontaneous. The words that we speak are so powerful that they can make or break someone if we don't choose our words wisely. And that makes all of us guilty one way or the other especially when we're the type who don't think before we speak. That is why it is very important to pay close attention to our thoughts because "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45) Another verse from Proverbs 18:21 says, "the tongue has the power of life and death..."

Once again, we were reminded of why we're homeschooling our children and why we've stayed in the program now running on our eighth year. It is the invaluable learning that we experience together as a family, not just for our children, but for us as parents as well. And we won't have it any other way. It is the opportunity as their parents to be able to directly influence our children to develop Godly character within the bounds of our own home.

The Red Ribbon Experience
I remember an incident a few years ago when we were at a favorite family restaurant called Red Ribbon. We just finished our merienda allowing for a few minutes to pass by, when an elderly lady approached us and greeted us with a big smile on her face. She looked very friendly and told us that she had been watching us from the corner of the restaurant and was so impressed at how our children behaved while we ate. My hubby and I felt a bit embarrassed  because we didn't know we were being watched. I chuckled as I smiled back at the lady and jokingly told her that she should see us how we all behaved at home. So we all gave a light laugh and felt the ice breaking.

The old lady said that she came up to us to tell us that watching  how our two kids behaved at the restaurant from the moment we got in pleased her. "Other kids these days are so boisterous and unruly in public places while their parents just sat around watching them. So, really, you parents have a big role in disciplining your children. I am so glad that your children are well-mannered. Where do they go to school?" We homeschool our children, so she was told, the rest was history.

That moment, I wanted to give the old lady a big big hug, just to thank her for the kind words she had for us. Then I thought, this precious lady, well advanced in years knew how to process her words carefully and knew her timing well. I mean, you don't bump in to a stranger everyday to praise you about your children's behavior or character. Our children are not angels, I know, but her words meant the whole world to us. We know that there's a long journey ahead of us as our kids are still young and WE all screw up on a daily basis. But we felt that day that God sent an angel to speak to us and encourage us to pursue teaching our kids about the ways of the Lord.

As we chatted, we learned that she was a retired chief nurse at one of our private hospitals in town. She sits on her favorite corner of the restaurant almost everyday and paints on her canvass for hours. It's what's keeping her busy as she is a retired senior citizen already. So, that explains why she took notice of us and perhaps the many families that walked in and out of Red Ribbon everyday.  We said our sincerest "thank you" to her as we parted ways but the big smile on our faces stayed longer as we drove back home.

OF CLAY POTS AND SLING SHOTS

Saturday eight o'clock in the morning, clear skies and a bit humid already. But here in the Philippines, this kind of weather had been God's answer to many Filipinos' desperate prayer for sunshine and dry ground as the country experienced almost two-weeks of non-stop rains. And although we are located in a city province which was not hardly hit by the monsoon rains, we felt for those Metro Manila residents whose homes and streets where inundated by tons and tons of garbage at the onslaught of this week's heavy downpour.

So, waking up this morning to see my daughter taking photos and videos of her latest Saturday fun-time activity had been a clear indication that we're expecting a fine sunny weekend. My daughter's contagious smile and the smell of freshly cooked rice greeted me as I stepped out of the veranda. So her headline goes that she was able to cook rice in her new set of miniature clay pots successfully and her matching earthen kalan worked just as good. "And Mom, I'm going to eat the rice for lunch! Finally, a rice that I was able to cook in a real palayok. And finally, I now know how rice tasted when cooked in a palayok, hah!"

My daughter was so inspired by the fact that at school we talked a lot about how our Filipino ancestors lived and managed their households during their time; what kinds of food they ate; where they get their food supplies; what kinds of kitchen implements they utilized or how they handled kitchen affairs. We discussed that food had always been a part of our culture, the way we prepared it, the way we cooked it, the way we served and ate it. In fact, our food defines our unique identity as Filipinos despite having been colonized by the Spaniards, the Americans, and the Japanese. "Do we still have our own identity as Filipinos after having been ruled by these countries for centuries?" "What can we do to preserve our Filipino culture at this modern Internet Age?" Rich discussions and questions such as these would arise as we tried unearthing our precious history, the connection we get was always priceless.

Driven by her curiosity to connect more with our own heritage, my daughter suggested that we buy the palayok and the kalan that I always referred to each time we talk about the old days. She wanted to learn for herself how to cook the old-fashioned way; the nitty gritty of charcoal and firewood cooking. And then I thought, where else do we buy these clay vessels but at the lumang palengke, our marketplace. I felt hesitant saying "yes" at first because I dreaded the traffic at our market place, I dreaded the parking spaces we have there, I dreaded the smoke pollution there, I also dreaded our security going there. I don't know what I was thinking that time, but it's an embarrassment to think that perhaps old age was the culprit for having my hesitations. Whatever happened to that girl a few decades ago that used to call the palengke her piece of paradise?

Prior to the construction of huge malls and supermarkets in our city province, the palengke used to be the only place where you go to shop for daily supplies, it was the only center of commerce for most Batanguenyos where the "rich" and the "poor" brushed shoulders with each other, a haven for shoppers of banig, kapeng barako, sitsirya, suka, komiks, vegetables, clothes. How I loved to go to the palengke with my Inay and get rewarded by the orange-colored butchi and the nilupak wrapped in banana leaf that we bought from the peddlers which lined the side walk. So that afternoon, not wanting to zap my children's enthusiasm, we braved going to the palengke.

Here are our precious finds.

A set of earthen cooking pot and tungko, PhP 50.00, a little over $1.00 dollar.

An oldschool slingshot we call tirador PhP 40.00, that's almost a dollar! 

A pair of Nora slippers at PhP 70.00 or US$ 1.60.

Incidentally, August is a month-long celebration of the Buwan ng Wika at our schools. It is a campaign to use the Filipino language as a medium of communication. Most schools would culminate in festive celebration by having their students wear the Filipino national costumes such as the barong tagalog for boys and the baro't saya or the patadyong for girls. As homeschoolers, our version of celebrating the Buwan ng Wika is slightly different from the mainstream. Going to the palengke alone that afternoon was enough to speak to us how we ourselves help preserve our unique identity even when it's not Buwan ng Wika. My girl found a clay cooking set and paid for it with her own allowance. It was the same kind of cooking pots that I used to play with as a girl. My boy for his part saw this green slingshot we call tirador which he immediately hung around his neck. While we were at the palengke, I took the opportunity to drop by at our favorite Chinese panciteria and ordered a take out, dinner was solved that day as it was getting dark already. We bought the palayok, my son wore the tirador around his neck,  we ordered the pancit wanam to-go, my daughter successfully cooked rice in the palayok in a charcoal-fueled tungko all by herself...now, were these Filipino enough?

It's a palayok, so lining it with a banana leaf  was just the natural thing to do. My daughter admitted that although she considers her first attempt at clay pot cooking a success, the rice was not that soft as compared to the ones that we cook in the electric cooker.

The Internet Age: 

I think that learning to cook the old-fashioned way which begins by starting a fire with charcoal and wood fuel are basic survival skills that the internet generation should learn. Whew! That's quite a challenge I abhorred when I was a kid myself. But at least Moms, we should show our kids an alternative source of energy for cooking besides the LPG or the electricity. And if  you're like me, who consequently did not learn this basic survival skill, our ever reliable house helpers are always around to pitch in for us.

LET'S BEGIN WITH RICE

A Little History

Pinoys have always been rice-eaters dating back to centuries ago long before the Spanish colonizers came to our shores. Early settlers from Taiwan migrated here and built the Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao Province, Cordillera Region. With impressive engineering plan, it was believed to be built with our ancestors' bare hands. Our Hagdan-hagdang Palayan is proof that rice had since been a major part of our daily commodities. To this day, it continues to supply our country with rice and other agricultural crops. UNESCO has named it the 8th Wonders of the World.

Have you heard about the “UNLIMITED RICE” promo being offered at our food chains lately? Our food business sector has been very clever in coming up with creative ideas bringing rice at the center of their neck to neck competition for sales. Now, these business establishments really work hard doing their assignment because they figured out a way to address the constant demand for rice, a demand that is ingrained in every Filipino’s system. 

We Can't Live On Bread Alone

I personally know of some people who would throw tantrums if they don’t get to eat rice at least once a day and worst, making them weak and unfit to work. Others would regard it as a form of punishment if you serve them with bread instead of rice. So, if the Parisians say that they get depressed without having bread for a day, we Filipinos have our own stand about such claim: that we cannot live on bread alone but by every scoop of rice which we consume 3X a day. And because rice is very flexible, we pair it with different kinds of dishes that we can think of. Rice and adobo, rice and bistek, rice and sinigang, rice and toyo (soy sauce), and these are just our starters!

The list goes on along with our cunning neologisms for easy recall of rice with ulam combinations. Tapsilog for tapa-sinangag-itlog; longsilog for longganisa-sinangag-itlog; bangsilog for bangus-sinangag-itlog; chicksilog for chicken-sinangag-itlog. Please take note, however, that the rice part - the sinangag - is always stuck in between two ulam combinations. Our love for rice, really, must be one indicator that we are a unique nation, it is our shared identity as Filipinos. It is our elixir in its purest form and solid state! Imagine our diet without the rice being served at the table. Our tablescape must look gloomy and cold.

Have You Ever Snacked on Tutong?

Rice comes in many different varieties. We have the very common milagrosa, pinaula, sinandomeng, dinorado, wagwag, kamuros, among others. We also have the malagkit or sticky rice, which is perfect for cooking kakanin like the old-time favorite biko or sinanglay. How about our childhood comfort food like arroz caldo and champorado that kept our bellies warm during the rainy days? And what about the reddish brown rice which supermarkets now label as organic rice? Back in the 1970’s, (perhaps earlier, forgive me, I'm a Martial Law baby,) eating brown rice was a commonplace in an ordinary Filipino home.  I remember we used to sprinkle it with brown sugar topping. It was more chewy as compared to the soft white rice that we now have at the market. More masticating was needed in order to benefit from its flavor. It was also gut-heavy.  Then there was the famous tutong, the left-over rice which was either mildly burned or charred to the bottom. Family members would come rushing to their batalan or tungko in order to bag the much coveted tutong. Anoint it with soy sauce and used cooking oil from lunch, or better yet, with molten pork fat that was stashed for snacking purposes.

A simple sinaing na kanin would be normally washed 2- 3 times with clean water and then cooked in an open fire, usually in wood-fuelled tungko, or kalan with uling. Fresh pandan leaves would be added to the pot of rice to complete the whole experience of stimulating the sense of smell and the sense of taste. Ahh, the fragrant smell of pandan leaves in boiling rice at the batalan would send signal to family members that it’s almost meal time.

Beyond Our Children's Christmas Wish-list

"He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?" Romans 8:32 Amplified Bible

This early, I have encouraged my children to start writing down their Christmas wish-lists already! Their beaming faces lit up our gloomy kitchen that rainy afternoon.

I was quick to reiterate though that it is just a wish-list and a wish-list is just a wish-list. But the thought of this stirs us up because we know that as a family it is something far more than just a list of things. The activity itself is an integral part of our exciting homeschool journey and our commitment as their parents to make God known to them and teach them about trusting Him.

Time seems to fly around here, this photo was taken 2 yrs ago. As I've always said, we encourage our kids to be inventive and creative with their toys. We love it when it's low maintenance. This big brown box served as Noah's lil toy boat-bed as his big sister Bethany pulled and pushed him around our house.  The red bracelet snuggled on my boy's right arm was also his own creation from a soap box packaging. You should see how he designed it as "weapon to beat the bad guys and aliens!"

As they prayerfully think and write down each item, they commit to constantly talk to the Lord on a very personal level, "come as you are," we'd say, "talk to Him as a friend, 'cause He's listening." We're very cautious though not to get caught up with the spirit that's in the air; Christmas consumerism and materialism as malls and the media feed our eyes with marvelous display of new gadgets, and the what have you's. We tell our kids to just keep it real and consider our financial capacity as well. We can't under-estimate our kids' ability to comprehend family financial matters when we're always sincere and honest in talking to them about it.

So, a wish-list is actually a prayer list of material things they wanted for themselves. We take this opportunity to show our kids that we have a God that encompasses all our needs and wants. And that He is faithful to provide for His children, He sees to it that we get provided for. My husband and I would constantly remind them that as their parents, we are not "magicians" that can bring them everything they want in an instant. And if they don't receive some items from their wish-list, not to fret, not to frown, not to feel disappointed. Be a sport and keep trusting the Lord for He knows what's best for them.

At church service for Christmas Eve 2011. They can't wait to get home
to open their presents at midnight.

It is also our way of showing them that Dad and Mom are not superheroes but they have a Super God to look up to for anything and everything under the sun! Dad and Mom also have their character flaws but they look up to the Father in heaven for guidance in raising up children of character.

This is the best time to teach them about the power of prayer and how God really answers our prayers according to His sovereign will. It's a "yes," it's a "no," and sometimes, "wait." We take this opportunity to teach them about the value of money, hard work, and how we ought to honor the Lord on how we spend our resources. We tell them that material things, no matter how valuable they may seem are only temporary. Someday, as the scripture has said, "ALL THINGS" will pass away but there's only one thing that will remain, the words of the Lord hidden in our hearts. ("Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."Matthew 24:35)  

.
Our children get ecstatic at receiving presents they have not prayed for. This is another ripe time to tell them about how God knows how to make us happy by surprising us. We tell them, YES, it is so possible to receive blessings which haven't even crossed our minds. YES, a lot of times, we receive blessings that we do not deserve. YES, we tell our children, our God is a God of surprises!

"He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?" 

Romans 8:32 Amplified Bible

This is also the best time teaching them about the generosity of our Father in heaven and how He gave without asking for something in return. We talk about the unconditional love of God by sending us His precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ so that by believing in Him we can have eternal life. Talk about the most wonderful gift which mankind has ever received from the Creator!

Maybe sooner in a year or two, we will teach them to write down their wish-list in two columns; left column for tangible things and right column for intangible things.

I think it's also time as early as now to start writing our grown-up Christmas wish-list. Funny-odd as it  may seem, but my husband and I are just as thrilled, only we can't be too showy around kids or must they think it's irreverent. Haha.

MY COCO JAM RANT

I had to tame myself at the sight of this package of pretzels neatly tucked in my pantry. It is salty, it is screaming with tons of calories! The label says, "CRISPS, thin, and crunchy...parmesan" to add to my agony. And it also tasted oh so good for the begging hormones. Well, a few nibbles won't hurt for a late afternoon snack.

"COCO JAM Made in Oriental Mindoro,Philippines," says the label in bold letters. With that on cue, I finally gave in and let inventiveness take its course in my journey to a fusion of afternoon delight. I'm calling it a marriage between the West and the East, my pretzel crisps dipped in silky-caramelized coco jam; something salty and something sweet, something so European and yet so Oriental. And I was all swept away in blissful wonder as the two contrasting flavors blended beautifully in my mouth.

Now, for my coco jam rant. How it's made the old-fashioned way.

Coconut is the main ingredient of this kind of jam. For the sweetness that would act as preservative, we didn't want to use the ordinary refined sugar. We preferred using the brown muscovado blocks as they were made from sugarcane molasses.

In the Philippines, we call it many names depending on what province you're from: sangkaka, matamis na bao, muskobadong bilog. My husband would recall that in the barangay where he grew up in, sangkaka and hot-steaming rice used to be a perfect meal combination to the local folk.

When I was a kid, coconuts were grated the old-fashioned way with a metal grater. Every Filipino home used to have this indispensable kitchen tool because most dishes were made with coconuts and its derivatives especially the coconut milk or what we call the gata. But the Filipino family has constantly evolved particularly on how we're handling our kitchen affairs. With everyone else's busy schedule, buying the ready-to-cook gata in powder or liquid form has been a welcome option as they are made accessible at supermarkets these days. With the attractive, hygienic packaging, and competitive prices, for busy moms, who can resist?

So many a times when I was a kid that I would accidentally scrape my own legs against this tool as it was always unscrupulously stored beside the tungko or kalan

 ( the old-fashioned Filipino wood-fueled oven ) for ease of access.

The old-school grater was a flat metal the size of a spoon having this ugly serrated edge around its head so as to flesh out the coconut meat as you manually scrape the cracked coconut against its teeth.

This serrated metal was attached to a scaled-down wooden chair that looked like a footstool, hence, one had to grate the coconuts while sitting down. 

But I've never tried using a kudkuran or kurkuran or stool grater before. Paggagata / naggagata- the process of manually expressing fresh coconut meat was always left for the bigger and older boys to do.  Wasn't it surprising to find out that my friendly neighbor still has this working at her kitchen? WOW. I thought that this stool would be museum worthy. So, I've asked her if she wouldn't mind bringing it over to my house for posterity's sake. Please note that this stool is sturdy built with coco lumbers. My second WOW.

The grated coconut meat would then undergo manual hand pressing by the batch of about a handful to render precious milk. The sangkaka would then be melted in water to caramelize in low flame. Once a gooey consistency had been achieved, the fresh coconut milk would then be added as it gets constant stirring. 

Now, therefore, coco jam my dears, is a product of patience, manual labor, and love.

I love storing coco jams, not in the fridge, but only in a dry pantry, lest we alter its perfect gooey consistency. I bought these jams from a souvenir-deli shop located inside the pier terminal during our recent trip to Calapan City, the capital of Oriental Mindoro.

Learning the BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK Math Concept ala Noah Isaiah

About.com defines tactile or kinesthetic learners as those who learn through experiencing or doing things. For this reason, tactile learners may become bored more quickly than other students while listening to a class lecture. My 6 year-old boy fits right in this learning style and it may sound a bit tangent but he is also a big fan of Angry Birds. 


More often, he finds it quite a challenge to sit down for longer periods of  time to accomplish a worksheet. Learning a new concept is another story. Take our Math lesson for one about ODD and EVEN numbers. What to do with this poor lil boy whose wired at learning outside the box, that is, outside your conventional tools for learning like textbooks, pencil, paper, chalkboard.


One morning, he came up with this brilliant idea of how to easily remember the odd and even numbers. Now, I'm pretty sure that most teaching Moms like me encounter the same predicament with their kids; making them remember their left and right hands, the letters b and d, and their odd and even numbers seamlessly. 


"Mom, let's just make EVEN numbers BEEE-OKKK and ODD numbers BOOOOLLL." 
"What's a BOOOOLLL and a BEEEOK, my son?" 
"BOOOOLLL-BEEE-OKKK, BOOOOLLL-BEEE-OKKK...that's what the Angry Birds would say every time they make a score in the game against those nasty pigs! . How about I say BOOOOLLL for odd numbers and BEEE-OKKK for even numbers! Odd and even are boring..." 


You know our children's simplistic way of thinking often makes a lot of sense in solving challenges like this one. Only we pay closer attention to what they're saying.

True enough, this lil boy learned his odd and even numbers in no time just by saying BOOOOLLL for odd numbers and BEEE-OKKK for even numbers. BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK, and each time he does it right, he would go bouncing like Tigger and cheer himself and laugh his heart out. We all had fun learning the BOOOOLLL and the BEEE-OKKK that day. It was indeed an engaging activity. BOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK...BOOOOLLL - BEEE-OKKK... One Math concept down, and that's without the tears!

BEEE-OKKK ARE NUMBERS THAT END WITH 0, 2, 4, 6, 8
BOOOLLL ARE NUMBERS THAT END WITH  1, 3, 5, 7, 9

We Are a SHRIMP Family!

This was one of those moments when I had to run at the feet of Jesus for words of comfort, soothing words for the tired soul. Homeschooling two young kids could at times take its toll on you. I mean, school is not what we do 8 hours a day, but it could get tough at times.  So, this was just one among those times when a little creativity, my love for photography and print would just jump off out of me, God's way of telling me that He is in control of everything. And my goal was to encourage and remind myself that, "hey, you're doing well, you're doing just fine, stop being anxious, God is in control."

"THRIVING NOT JUST SURVIVING," my daughter saw this printed on the cover of my personal ring-binder seating nicely on our family table over lunch time. This was a cover design I have just printed the night before, my girl remarked in a nonchalant manner, "Mommy, we are a shrimp family." I chuckled, I asked her to repeat what she said, although I heard her, but was not sure of what she meant. "Yes, that's right, we are a shrimp family. Shrimp are able to swim through the water and could swim against the current, and they can withstand all the pressures, toxins around them. Our family is like that. You always tell us that we don't always have to be like the rest of the world, we don't have to do what everyone else is doing all the time. And yet, we're thriving! " (With a little modification on wordings for blogging purposes.)


So, this young lady, whom I thank God is learning the art of critical-thinking, went back to eating her lunch and then said, "O, Mom! This shrimp "sinigang" is soooo yummy! Can I have more rice please?" Proud Mom obliged her girl's request  without hesitation.

WHAT'S IN THE POT: SHRIMP OF COURSE, FRESH TOMATOES, FRESH-SQUEEZED "KALAMANSI " JUICE, SILING HABA (LONG PEPPER/SPANISH PEPPER)

"Sinigang" is a favorite Filipino broth or soup dish that has a tangy-zesty taste in it. It is believed to be a dish that was brought by the Spanish colonizers to the Philippines from centuries ago. When the Spaniards left, "sinigang" left an indelible mark on Pinoy taste buds and became a regular family dish paired with boiled rice which is a staple at the table. "Sinigang" could be pork, chicken, or fish.

My common practice is to use the tamarind fruit and its young leaves to give out the tangy-zesty taste to the soup/broth. At times, powder soup-mixes come in handy when good quality tamarind fruits are hard to find. But for this day, I have tried using the Philippine lemon, or what we popularly call "kalamansi" to acidify my soupy dish. I was hoping to achieve not just the tangy-zesty "kick" but also I want a hint of "fruitiness" in it. Oh, I drool just by writing about it. 

THE GREEN CIRCLE LEAVES THAT YOU SEE ARE "MALUNGGAY" LEAVES.  THEY GROW IN ABUNDANCE IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY LIKE THE PHILIPPINES. AND MY GENEROUS NEIGHBOR HAS GIVEN MY FAMILY AN UNLIMITED "ACCESS" TO THEIR "MALUNGGAY" TREE ANYTIME WE WANT. GOOGLE SAYS "MALUNGGAY" HAS A SCIENTIFIC NAME: MORINGGA OLEIFERA. ON A SIDE NOTE-  I WAS SURPRISED AT MY DISCOVERY THE OTHER DAY THAT MORINGGA OLEIFERA CAN ALSO BE USED AS AN INGREDIENT FOR A PERFUME AT THE BODY SHOP DURING MY SHORT TRIP AT ONE OF OUR LOCAL MALLS. I'M LEFT WONDERING HOW IT SMELLED THOUGH, HUH...

Was my decision to drop by at "Monterey," the name of a local meat shop, while running errands to pay my bills earlier that morning worth it? I'd say it's a yes. Thank you "Monterey" that even if you are primarily a meat-shop, you have added "shrimp" to your regulars. Hailing from the island province of Oriental Mindoro where sea foods are always fresh and abundant, I have high standards for choosing what sea foods get cooked and served at our family table, and you won my approval: they are clean and fresh and reasonably priced. Forget that they're frozen, but they're frozen fresh.  

THE LABEL SAYS, "WHITE SHRIMP / SUAHE," THE LAST WORD I BELIEVE IS A CHINESE WORD FOR SHRIMP THAT HAS BEEN ADAPTED  AS TAGALOG WORD FOR THE SMALLER KIND OF SHRIMP LIKE THESE ONES. AND AGAIN, I SAY, THESE ARE FRESH SHRIMP WITH ITS SWEETNESS AND JUICINESS.

Quantum Leap Learning?

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to ignite." Plutarch

I was talking to my older brother about how surprised we were that my lil 5 y/o boy learned how to read on his own in three weeks' time with our erratic schedule at school. I remember spending barely 3 weeks with him, 30 minutes a day, just orally reciting the alphabets and their corresponding sounds and in no time he started reading phonetically and with good comprehension.
  
Happy for what he has heard, my brother said, "that's quantum leap learning..." What's that again? quantum leap learning? I kept repeating those words to myself a few more times. I was reminded of the 80's TV series that my siblings and I used to watch which starred Scott Bacula. But that's a totally different story.

I googled a bit about quantum leap learning and here's what the internet says it is:
"quantum leap, a noun, an abrupt change, sudden increase, or dramatic advance" Thanks! Merriam Webster!

My brother explains, "that should be quantum leap learning because he learned how to read in no time without having to go through the different stages or levels of reading." At that point, I tried enumerating what I thought we did as parents to prepare him for reading:

• two years ago, right after he turned 3 y/o, we purchased a pre-kinder reading curriculum that had a music CD of the alphabet in it, a few activity books and some alphabet flashcards

• we stuck all the alphabet flashcards on our kitchen wall and had lil boy sing-along with the music CD from time to time, we didn't care if it made our kitchen wall look ugly

• we'd let the alphabet music CD play the whole day while we go about our household chores

• a year later, lil boy decided he doesn't want to listen to this CD anymore, but instead, he would just sing it a capella whenever he's in the mood

•  plus there were books, a lot of books that we purchased from the thrift store, here in the Philippines, we call  it BOOKSALE, so, we were able to set up this mini library for our kids where they could just grab any book they want to read according to their many interests 

• we weren't subscribed to cable TV, so that their source of entertainment would be from watching "pre-approved by us" DVD's

• there would be a lot of animated reading time with Dad and Mom, at bedtime, at wake up time before we start our day; and because Mom had always been around with her two young learners, QUANTITY time has proven to be  an advantage over QUALITY time

• All these must have contributed to my lil boy's quantum leap learning. Or perhaps, for whatever my husband and I have unknowingly inputted at our lil boy's journey on learning how to read, we must have done the right thing. 

We're now very close to the end of another homeschool year. The next year of January 2012 marks our 7th year in the business of home-educating our own kids and counting. Thank God for this milestone that every member of this lil household is already reading and by His grace far from being ignoramus (smiles for over-reacting). 

Why I Should Consider Buying Rose Quilts?

Here are a  few good reasons:

• DURABILITY     The fabric materials that they use are sourced from the US, Japan, and the Philippines. A finished product underwent meticulous QC, it's a combination of machine and hand sewing, appliques, the works. Safe to say, they're HANDCRAFTED to perfection. A bed cover, queen or king with 2 pillow cases, would take 2-3 weeks to finish.

This is our Honeymoon Quilt of 12 years, a wedding gift made especially for us by one of my dearest friends, Rina. No repair has been made ever since we used it over a decade ago. Here, you see that Rina's creation is still in good shape.

Rina and I

I just thought that this wonderful work of art was worth the posting, tattered and all, LOL! The oldest in my collection, "she's" still a beauty at almost 15 y/o. It was a birthday gift to me by another dear friend of mine, Debbie, who's actually the one who influenced me into sewing quilts and of course, HOMESCHOOLING...I remember Debbie and I used tons of quilting pins to bind the ruffles that would go around the pocket for the pillow. I realized that placing the pins in the right order can make or break a lovely project. And boy, had I poked my fingers with pins many, many times!

I'd never forget the day Debbie showed me these fabulous collection of fabrics she had from the U.S. and asked me to choose the material I like as backing for a "Quillow" project she wanted to create with me. A QUILLOW is a word combination for QUILT and PILLOW in ONE. A simple quilted blankie that folds into a pillow; best for traveling, sleep-overs, camping...it is so flexible especially with kids, they can stick their cold feet in the pocket.

Debbie and I

My daughter and I so loved this quillow, very soft, very comfy.  I liked it that it was thoughtfully given to me as birthday present where I had to put effort in its creation. 

• AESTHETIC VALUE     No two Rose Quilts items are exactly the same, therefore they're all unique, the patterns, the stitches, etc. So, remember that when you purchase an item, you're the only person on earth who has that kind of design. IT'S LIKE OWNING A PAIR OF LEVI'S JEANS.

• REASONABLY PRICED     Let's compare the market price of  a basic quilted bed cover. I've asked around our local malls and learned that for a set of queen size bed cover with 2 standard size pillow cases prices are from: 
• MALL PRICE   PhP 8,000-10,000, roughly about $190-238 
• ROSE QUILTS PhP 4,000-6,000, roughly about $95-143  
• Note that  in the malls THERE ARE NO PATCHES, NO APPLIQUES, just quilted three layer fabrics. Rose Quilts are more  than that, they all come in colorful patches galore! Talk about value for your money.

• CREATING HEIRLOOMS    My sister who recently bought 2 sets of king-size bed covers happily shares feedback that she now owns heirloom pieces, very durable and yet, won't run out of style.

• CHANGING LIVES    Every time you buy any of Rose Quilts' beautiful pieces, bags, table runners, bed covers and pillow cases, please remember that you're helping some of the women of Baloc in San Pablo City, Laguna to have a decent and safer place to work where they can provide for their families, away  from the toxic and hazardous wastes found at the dump site. Here's a link to Philippine Frontline Ministries: http://www.thefrontline.asia/

• GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE    It's always so easy to engage in a meaningful conversation when you have a piece or two of these quilted patches. But, if  you're like me, my pieces are sporadically placed anywhere at my house like the large pillow case which suddenly became a table runner for one of my coffee tables. One baby quilt I have found its place on my center table where guests stare at and try not  to stain with coffee or tea. Below are some more of Rina's blocks that she gave me a couple of months ago. I told her she should stop spoiling me with her lovely quilts!!! But of course, if Rina were to "back mask" my words, it would be, "keep them coming, Rina!" Laugh out LOUD!

Patches Are Forever Part 2

Who's not loving quilts? 
A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. 

“Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties. In most cases, two fabric layers surround a middle layer of batting (cotton, polyester, silk, wool or combinations of fibers) which is a lighter, insulating layer.

Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeat patterns built up with different colored shapes. These shapes are carefully measured and cut, straight-sided, basic geometric shapes making them easy toe piece together.)                                                                                                Source: Wikipedia

Sadly though, real quilted patchwork had always been a rare find in the Philippines, not even in big malls in Manila. The only ones you can find in big malls are those that are simply machine-quilted three-layer fabrics that you won't be able to buy because of their exorbitant prices! I once saw a queen sized lovely quilt complete with intricate patchwork design during one of our short trips to Taal public market  in Batangas. But what more can you expect from it being the only piece of its kind in the entire country, I suppose? Apart from it being too pricey, the middle layer of batting felt like it was a polyurethane foam sheet that would break apart when washed...much to my dismay.

But God, through His wonderful ways, has answered my prayers, for lovely quilts to be made available for sale here in the Philippines. Yes, Lord! Quilted patches that I can afford, LOL! 

So here they are, being manufactured in the Philippines by no less than my good old friends  from Philippine Frontline Ministries based in San Pablo City, Laguna. But that's not all. Their quilts have stories to tell which I will write in a different blog entry soon. 

It's raining quilts, Hallelujah! It's raining quilts, amen!
Left to right: That's Moi - Gemma, Rhoda Lynn, Rhoda, Rolly, Rina, Noriel, and Rowena 

These are my friends from The Philippine Frontline based in San Pablo City. We've made a lot of wonderful memories together from 1994-1997 when I joined this anointed Team serving in the Lord's ministry, they're more like a family to me. It was through The Philippine Frontline that I was first introduced to homeschooling. And in fact, the lovely lady standing next to me, Rhoda Lynn Pessina Dayo, used to be one of the homeschooled kids that I taught there. Her Mom, in red shirt, is Rowena Pessina, my mentor in the faith, and the brainchild of this Quilt Project which aims to give livelihood to the less fortunate women living at the Baloc Dumpsite area in San Pablo City. So, when you buy a piece or two of their quality quilts, you know you've helped these women bring rice and food at their table.   Here are some more of our photos together. I'll be writing about their advocacy, or shall I say OUR advocacy  in a different post in the days to come. But first, please click this link to their website: 

http://www.thefrontline.asia/pfm-news/68-pfm-fmc/187-fwc-baloc.html

                                                                                        

 Meet GAB! the real Gab! She's so adorable and sweetest of them all...Rhoda Lynn's babe...and everyone else's for that matter...

Thank you so much that you've reached this far, scrolling all the way down here, LOL! So, this is where your blogger blogs, where there's peace and quiet. I must tell you that getting the right kind of quilt is critical in creating a post that will generate a traffic swarm from across the universe, LOL, again...

Find Patches Are Forever Part 1 Here