Category: Home and Living

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Weekend Guests

Since we only get to stay at our marital home in Bacoor during weekends (the perk of having parents living in Manila who let us sleep over their place during weekdays), it’s been sort of a normal thing for us to have weekend guests. I, however, only invite family members or close friends to join us for the weekend on occasions because I treasure our “couple time” so much. After all, we only get to play our respective roles as husband and wife freely and seriously at our marital home during weekends.

Last weekend, we had my parents as guests. Actually, the plan was to visit our family home in Naic for some general cleaning (my parents stay with my three unmarried siblings in Manila to take care of their household needs). The last time we were there to clean the house prior to this visit was around August so you could imagine how dusty and dirty it was when we arrived. After bringing back order and cleanliness there, we left immediately and headed to Bacoor to spend the rest of the weekend there.

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Cooking with Edel: Cheesy Corned Beef

Canned goods are my life saver. Whenever I’m not in the mood to do some serious cooking, like I was tonight, I turn to canned goods for immediate relief. One of my faves is Purefoods Corned Beef. Compared to other corned beef brands, it has chunkier meat and the quality is better.

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Normally, I just sauté corned beef with onions for some stir-fried goodness or add some potatoes and water for a saucy and filling corned beef dish. Earlier in the kitchen, though, instead of just sautéing it with onions, I added some syrup to help caramelize the onions (honey is better), some garlic, some fresh tomatoes and quickmelt cheese. It was based from a recipe featured in a blog post I saw somewhere (sorry, I can’t seem to locate the site now). I also added some black pepper and dried oregano, just before turning off the heat, for more flavor. No need to add salt anymore because the corned beef is already loaded with sodium and the cheese is already salty on its own.

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Baking with Edel: Homemade Chocolate Cake

I’ve learned and tried baking just recently. I remember my first finished product was a banana cake. It was followed by some brownies, then banana cake again. All had very satisfactory results. My husband loved it and so did the rest of our two families.

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Last week, while reading a blog, I chanced upon a link to a chocolate cake recipe. I thought it was an easy one because it doesn’t need a mixer and requires only a few ingredients. The use of mayonnaise in lieu of butter and eggs also appealed to me, so I said to myself I’ll do it. And I did last Sunday morning. I actually made the ganache frosting the night before so it’d be ready to apply to the cake once it has finished baking.

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Budget Shopping for Christmas

As much as I would like to indulge in shopping for those in my Christmas gift list, I can’t. I have a very limited budget because of some financial setbacks we encountered this year. But I promised myself I’ll make sure my gifts will be apt and meaningful.

I only have two places in mind for my Christmas shopping: Divisoria and Landmark. These two shopping places are tried and tested. I can’t wait to go to both. I’m actually reading shopping and lifestyle blogs to get more budget shopping ideas. I heard sterling silver jewelry is hot these days so I might get some for my two sisters. Good thing they don’t read my blog so they won’t know about this. Haha.

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Cool Weekend

Last weekend was cool and quiet. It was very restful for the hubby and me. We indulged ourselves in sleep and food and TV. We only got out of the house to go to the mall on Saturday. We paid some bills, got some supplies from the supermarket and had dinner at our fave fastfood. Oh, I also found a nice shirt dress and impulsively bought it to the hubby’s surprise. Haha.

When we got home, we hanged out in our living room. I read my magazines (where I found out about the wonders of restaurant pagers used in restaurants in the US and Europe) while he watched TV. We slept late that night and woke up late as well the next day.

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Ready for the Weekend

It’s Friday already and weekend is only several hours away. I can’t wait for the weekend to arrive. I can’t wait for the hubby and I to go home in Cavite. My SIL asked to go with us and we agreed to take her so I guess that’s another reason to be happy about. Having a guest at home is always fun as I get to cook more. You know how much I love experimenting in the kitchen. Haha.

Speaking of cooking, I just remembered my pantry already needs replenishment. Good thing my new fave supermarket, Rustan’s Fresh in Evia, Daang Hari is just a 30-minute car ride away. I so love the atmosphere there. Not only do they have a wide selection of fresh produce and dry goods, but they also have friendly staff and a spick-and-span place that makes grocery shopping more enjoyable. I’m telling you, I can stay there the whole day just comparing food labels. I know every Rustan’s supermarket is like that but this particular branch is the most charming for me. Oh well, that, or I’m just easy to please.

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