Spring living room and bedroom make-over

I know winter isn't completely over yet but I had to re-decorate my living room and bedroom. It needed to be un-winterized. I started with removing the basket of pine cones I had on top of the coffee table and placed my almost taken care of succulents and a candle. Other than that, everything is pretty much the same and I'm still completely in love with big blue couch. I am however unsatisfied with the fact that my son keeps destroying his part of the bookshelf and I didn't notice until I saw this picture.




I also removed the book wreath. As much as I love it, it's not exactly screaming SPRING so it has now been kicked-out. Really, it is kicked out. It's on the front door. Its future is still being debated. Instead I was reading the lettered cottage blog yesterday and saw a super adorable spring wreath, so I just had to make the same one today. I had almost all the yarn and buttons and just had to get a new wreath.

Since I redid the wreath, I had to redo the whole mantle. I'm still not completely happy with this whole living room fireplace. I feel like the wall is too long, but not high enough, or maybe the other way around. This was the biggest wreath I can find at Jo-an's but I'm super happy how it turned out even though wrapping yarn around a wreath drove me completely insane! I added a few spring additions like these robin and quail eggs (which are fake). I got them at Target for $3.99 and they even came with nests. I've placed them accordingly around the house and my husband has also braved me and gotten me an orchid plant. It's survived three good weeks--- so far. I hope they live for a long time. I really like having a plant to take care of.

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In addition to my living room re-do, I also did our bedroom. I wanted to do something fresh and braved for white linens. I went to marshall's two weeks ago to look for white linens. I got lucky with a Cynthia Rowley set ON SALE! It used to be $80 and I got it for $50 and probably a lot more expensive if I got it at the mall. I've also been scouring all over the internet land on how to make burlap pillows. Recent antique store trips have shown me that one pillow will blow a $20 hole in my pocket. $2.99 a yard was all it cost me, I got a couple, and I was able to give new life to two pillows I've been sick of. I'll also confess that I just glue gunned it shut. For 2 reasons; I'm lazy and my sewing skills are not exactly one to be proud of. They seem pretty sturdy, we'll see how things go in a few weeks. 

Here's a close-up of one of the pillows. I just think it's so stinkin' cute!! I wouldn't hug it though, it's so aesthetically pleasing to me and I adore the contrast it gives our room specially since it feels so empty.

I've also been dying to get a rug into our master since there's this gaping space on the floor. This 4.5x6.4 ft rug from Ikea was $20!! I was so excited when we saw it. I didn't even think twice and I jumped for joy to have it. My darling husband totted it around with us the whole time since the cart we had was only able to hold our re-usable bag containing the wine glasses we originally came there for. Oh Ikea, you got us again. 

We had to get rid of the love seat in our room to move the tv to the other side of the wall. I like where it is now since I don't have to bend my neck to the right to watch tv.

So now this is my next project. I need to fill up this space, unless you all think the lovely baby monitor is a fantastic decor addition.

Gateau

 gâteau by lesbrewskis

It's been years since Brian and I have written a song. Let's just say it's been as long as before Elliott was born, and we still lived in beautiful Monterey. I picked up the bass in 2006 but I've written poems and essays a lot years ago and have been forced to take piano lessons like any Filipino child. I tried the whole guitar thing, but my fingers, as my friend Lisa has described are "swan fingers" so it's only capable of bass playing.

A few weeks ago, we decided to go do some book hunting and maybe finally unpacking some boxes we've ignored to open and I found my said poems. Tons of them, and after reading them, I was in a writing mood again. Brian also has this ukulele he bought way back in 2004 on his trip to Kaui. He's hasn't really dabbled with it too much yet, but he came up with this amazing riff and we just went to town in writing. It feels good to be back on the music writing world. My friend Lizzie has also been an inspiration since she has been doing outstanding work in the music writing/playing scene.

Life has just been needing a lot more sass, and digging through that old box of stuff was like digging back into old hobbies. I even went back to reading. Reading nothing but facebook lately has been making me feel dumber and the need to go back to school or pick-up an old hobby seemed to be what I needed. I picked the latter because that school thing is pricey. I needed inspiration, and a change of pace. There was a deep craving for even more creativity. Maybe I'll even make another short movie, and there is a project I'm working on that I'm hoping to do before this year is done.

Thank you to my wonderful husband for the great ukulele riff and to my dear friend Lizzie for inspiring me to get back on the music train. <3

I hope you all enjoy the demo. I sure did as it made me want Hawaiian food today and caused me to make some.

When Saturday hits you like it's just another weekday

Well this post is probably going to be all over the place just like my day. I have been everywhere and back today and it's not even over yet. The only reason I'm able to blog right now is because both the boys are pre-occupied with their chosen mode of entertainment both courtesy of Sony. 

I tackled an obstacle today I always find very intimidating. I don't make much Filipino desserts mostly because they seem so daunting and overly in need of manual labor. I remember when my mother would have to squeeze the living daylights out of grated coconut meat just to get coconut cream and it's because almost every dessert requires coconut cream. Coconut cream is the first squeeze of matured coconut. It takes muscle and patience to get it out of the meat. You're also a sucker if you get meat dropped in the cream. Make sure you have cheese cloth and a strainer handy. Coconut milk is the second squeeze where water is included, the squeezing and attempt to suffocate the coconut like it's a person isn't as hard to do as with the first squeeze.

I made biko, my dad's favorite dessert. It was a payment for my dad for fixing my car (some critters decided to chew on my left turn signal wires) and also as a dessert to bring to my friend's super bowl party tomorrow. I've never made it but my cousin always does. They are to DIE for. I think I'm invincible so I tackled it. I also have leftover banana leaves I was giddy in need to use it like a girl getting her first designer jeans. All I can say is I can't post the recipe yet because it has some tweaking to be done, but I'm giving myself a pat on the shoulder here. It's freakin' sticky finger delicious.

See, I even included jack fruit. Well, also sweetened coconut meat but I didn't take a picture of it since it came out of a jar. I wasn't that patient to tackle everything coconut today. Squeezing one cup worth of coconut cream was enough.

On another note, my little boy is growing up. We realized today this is the first year we're spending a whole February in our house. Today was beautiful; 70 degrees in California. I was also reminded by one of my good friends about my blog I had when I was pregnant and the challenges I had giving birth. So worth it though, and I know I'm not the first mother to say it but darn kids have to slow down. Like HAVE TO, or HAFTA. Hafto? That last one just doesn't sound right.

Also, 2 years ago, my son didn't ignore me like this. I was the object of his affection. Oh those days when he had no clue who in the world Buzz Lightyear, Woody or Darth Vader were.

Homemade pop tarts

It occurred to me today that my son has never had a pop tart. I blame the fact that ever since the kid has been able to eat solids, all he wants is oatmeal. I came up with the idea out of sheer boredom and I went out of my way to make the sprinkles too. After I was done, I realized that in the  amount of time I made this, I could have went to the store and bought a box, but there's a difference in taste and it's worth a try.

Preheat oven to 350F

Crust

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsalted cold butter, cubed
4 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp white sugar
4-6 tbsp cold water

Egg wash
1 egg
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp water

In a food processor, cut together the flour, butter, baking powder, salt and sugar until it becomes a corn meal texture. Add the corn syrup until thoroughly combined then add the water 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Form into a flat circle, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes roll out, this dough will make 8-9 pop tarts. Measure 4.5 inches x 3 inches and 1/8 of an inch thin.

On one side of the rectangular dough, brush the edges with egg wash. Fill the middle with filling of choice. I made my own blueberry filling or you can use any jam you want. Just take 1/2 cup of jam + 1 tsp of water and 1 tsp of cornstarch. Put about 3 tsp of filling but don't overfill, make sure it's within the inside of the egg wash edge. Top with another rectangle and press the sides together making sure none of the filling is oozing out. Brush the top with the egg wash. Repeat the process until all crusts are filled.

Place in the oven for 14 minutes at 350F or until lightly brown on the top. Cool on the cooling rack and top with icing and sprinkles.

Blueberry filling:
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp cornstarch

Place all ingredients except for the cornstarch in a sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil or until the blueberries are soft. Using a blender or immersion blender, puree the mix then place back in the sauce pan. Take 1 tbsp of the puree out and add the cornstarch and mix until well blended. Add cornstarch mix back to the puree and let simmer for another minute or 2 in low heat or until it slightly boils. Let it cool completely in the fridge. It will thicken a bit almost jam like consistency.

Icing:

1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
3-5 tbsp heavy cream

Combine the lemon juice, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl and add 1 tbsp at a time heavy cream. The consistency of the icing should be the same texture as store bought frosting, not as thin as glue or royal icing consistency. Add food color of choice

Sprinkles

1 - 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt.
3 tsp of milk to thin out the frosting

Beat egg whites until frothy then add 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice, salt and 3 tsp of milk. If the mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar, if too thick, add more milk until it is royal icing consistency. It should flow like magma where when you lift up a spoon, the trail disappears in the icing again.

Divide into containers and use paste colors to dye into the colors you want. Place in piping bags and cut a very small slit at the tip of the piping bag.

Lay out wax or parchment paper and with a very steady hand, pipe very thin lines. Make sure no 2 lines touch each other. Leave alone for 16-24 hours. After letting it set, cut to size of jimmies of choice.

You can also just make small dots on the paper, let set for the same amount of time too. They're pretty easy to remove using an offset spatula or a knife.

Red Velvet Pancakes

I made this recipe for my son the other day after watching one of those food truck shows. I can't take full credit for it, the name of the food truck is Buttermilk and you can find them in LA. If you're like me that neither live in LA or would have patience to stand in line for some pancakes you can make yourself, come with me and make this. I've become a bigger pancake hero in my house now because of this, I of course would love for you to enjoy the same gratification.

Ingredients:
*1 1/2 cups flour
*2 tbsp butter, cold or shortening
*1 tbsp baking powder
*1/3 cup of sugar
*1 tsp salt
(Or if lazy, use 1 1/2 cup bisquick or pancake mix + 1/4 cup of sugar)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup or more of buttermilk or just whole milk (Don't you even dare use 2% milk, ok! Pretty please)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 bottle of a 2 oz red food color or 1 tsp red food coloring paste
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips, I use the ghirardelli brand ones. They make the best milk choco chips in my opinion.
extra butter or butter spray for pan or griddle
powdered sugar for garnish

*Pancake mix from scratch

Whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

*In a food processor, put flour, butter, baking powder, sugar, salt and cocoa powder together and pulse until combined. You want that cornmeal looking texture. Remove and transfer into a bowl.

If you're using pancake mix, just dump your mix in the bowl plus your cocoa powder, whisk all together.

Add you buttermilk, egg, vanilla and food color in the  pancake mix. In a small bowl combine your baking soda and vinegar then add to pancake mix batter. Once your batter is all combined, add the chocolate chips. If you feel your batter is too thick, add more buttermilk or milk.

Heat your griddle or pan and spray with butter spray or melt your butter. I used an ice cream scoop to measure the tiny pancakes or use whatever you would like to scoop your pancake. This doesn't get that bubbly pancake top like a regular pancake so just be careful to watch. I saw a minute or a minute and a half per side then flip it over.

Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with whipped cream.

To make the whipped cream, combine all the whipped cream ingredients and mix in low speed until soft peaks, then increase speed to high speed until medium stiff peaks form.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It was a hit last week we made it twice.

Beef with vegetables

I made this recipe because I really wanted to get chinese food but I wasn't in the mood to order just one thing.

I had all the ingredients at home, but if you're a fan of Asian food but don't know where to start with cooking it, this is a basic recipe that you can start with and work along with other meats. This dish is almost reminiscent of Mongolian beef, serve with rice please because it's the right thing to do. White rice if your dietery needs allow it.

Ingredients:

Meat and Marinade:

Skirt steak or tri tip steak sliced long and thin, about 1 lb

1/4 cup oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine or sherry wine

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tsp ground corriander

1/2 cup water

1 medium onion chopped to 1 inch pieces

1 green bell pepper sliced to 1 inch pieces

4 green onions, sliced abias to 2 inch slices

2 tsp minced onion

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1 can drained water chestnuts, sliced

1 cup broccoli florets

3-4 tbsp vegetable oil

Place the sliced beef in a bowl with all the wet ingredients except for water. Set the water aside for later. Let the meat marinade for 10-20 minutes.

Heat your wok or saute pan to high heat, place about 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Saute the onion, and bell peppers for about a minute, followed by the garlic, broccoli and green onions. After another minute, add the mung beat sprouts and water chestnuts. Once the water chestnuts have gotten a brown golden hue, remove vegetables from the wok or saute pan, set aside.

In the same wok put 1-2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Place the marinating meat and saute until the meat is browned a little but still a bit medium rare. Add the water and let the sauce simmer for a couple minutes until the sauce thickens. Taste the sauce, if it feels to need more sweetness add more sugar, if it needs to be saltier, add 1 tbsp at a time more of soy sauce and oyster sauce. Add the vegetables back and mix together with the sauce and meat. Heat for about another minute and then you're done. Tada!

Your Asian dish will be way done before your delivery girl can get there, at least before my delivery girl gets here. She's a nice lady and all but it's nice to get my food right away. And remember, serve with rice, or noodles, or alone. It's delicious!

A year in review

2010 was a fairly great year for us. Not really too many major challenges, not too big of hurdles, it was a pretty great year all in all. I loved it and hope for many years like it but now 2011 will bring many surprises and hopefully good changes. To recap, I'll be posting some of my favorite photos from the last year.

January:
We finally had time off for the first time just to enjoy our new house and as a new family before heading overseas. It was a pretty mild-mannered winter before we left so we got pretty lucky.

I took this picture just a little over 24 hours of arriving in the Philippines. It was Elliott's first time and my husband's 2nd time. E finally met my brother and his family. It was a much needed vacation.

February:

Town religious fiesta. My town celebrates it yearly the first 3 days of February. On the 2nd day, 25+ marching bands compete.

This is at my inherited coconut/coffee farm. I'm the 4th generation owner of these trees and sad to say this is the very last time they probably would have been photographed. Sad to say, they had to be cut down just weeks after we came back to the states.

March:

We played tourists in San Francisco--- a real rarity to locals like my husband, even to adopted natives like myself.

We learned to appreciate more the beauty that it is and got a bit homesick being away from it.

April:

Well, this is my little man's month. He turned 2 and my did those 2 years go by quick. Gone are the diapers and all the baby stuff. No more pacis or bottles and he's really starting to show who he is. 

May:

It was weird seeing our favorite pumpkin farm open in the spring sans pumpkins. It was a true test of motherhood that day and though my patience wore thin here and there, I was glad to witness true friendships.

Summer also decided to come extra early this year.

June:

Well, this is my fella's month. We've always had not just a birthday, but really, he gets the whole month. Instead of being cheated that father's day may sometimes fall on, before or after his birthday, we show him love the whole month.

Summer also officially made its known debut that weekend. It was a definite scorcher.

July:
Little did we know bowling will start to rule our lives. Don't be fooled by E's face. It's simply the look of impatience as to why I so demand to take a picture of him rather than bowling.

I also had personal accomplishments with making macarons. I cried and slaved and have actually made better looking macarons than these ones. Why I wanted to make nut-free ones is beyond me.

August:

It really was the summer I went a little too macaron crazy.

Also, since summer came early, it also left early. Lesson learned not to enroll in swim classes late in the summer. It was FREEZING! My baby did find love for swimming and we will do it again next year.

September:

We visited Monterey for our nephew's birthday, but it also doubled as bringing Elliott back to where we first got stationed, the place where we started our journey on our own feet. It's really odd knowing we can't claim it our residence anymore but it will always be home.

October:

Orange October 2010: The beginning of our son's love for the San Francisco Giants. Now he's one of us crazy folks that scream at the tv during the torture.

We visited family in LA and also stopped by the Elliott Smith wall. Elliott gave us this pose which will always be a great memory from this visit.

November:

Veteran's day: One thing I love about living up here is the community really makes us feel like we're doing something right. Makes the crazy schedules worth it.

I went to the treasure island music festival in October, and to the Yo Gabba Gabba live show in November. I think I can safely say that toddlers party a bit crazier, in a good way.

December:

Are we really already in the "my first bike" stage? 

And what really is December without a great Christmas. We had a great one this year and hope you did too. 

And there goes 2010 just like that. It's hard to believe it's already another year. I have my hands still clutching on tight to the past year. It was a fun one, but here we go 2011. I'm ready to tackle you and make the most out of it just like we did with the past year. May we be stronger and wiser with the coming adventures. Happy New Year everyone.