The Amateur Cook in Me.. Picadillo Filipino Style

This is my version of Picadillo.  I think this is called Picadillo in the Philippines, because from a Spanish perspective, picar/picada is ground meat.  The primar ingredient of this dish is ground meat. 

I am very fortunate that my son and husband are adventurous and not picky with food at all.  They enjoy the variety of Filipino and Asian dishes, as well as Continental food. 

This Picadillo dish is best served with hot, steamed white rice. 

Complexity:  Easy 
Preparation and Cooking time:  45 minutes 

Ingredients: 

1/4 ground meat (Good to serve a family of 3) 
1 cup of green peas 
1 medium sized potato, diced 
2 medium carrots, diced 
1 small onion, finely chopped 
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped 
tomato sauce 
1 teaspoon of sugar 
olive oil
1 small cupe water 
Salt (optional) - I do not usually include salt in my dishes.  

Procedure:

1.  Heat the pan and pour the olive oil. 
2.  Add the onion and the garlic.  
3.  Add the ground beef and let it turn brown, saute it with the garlic and onion. Add salt to tast, optional.  
4.  Add the veggies - potatoes, carrots and green peas. 
5.  Mix the tomato sauce and 1 small cup of water. Add the sugar to taste and to balance the acidity of the tomato sauce. 
6.  Let it simmer.  You will know that it is cooked when the veggies are in the right texture, ready for eating. 
7.  Serve with hot rice and it is so ready to go!! 

Enjoy.  Thank you.. 

Nurturing a Happy child..

As a mother, one of my greatest wishes and desires is to raise a happy, well balanced, kind hearted, love filled and secured child. Regardless of where I am, or who I am, or the circumstances surrounding me/us I believe that these aspirations are achievable as these are genuine desires of a mother. 

I am no perfect mother and I can honestly say that I will forever be a work in progress, as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, sister, friend, professional, person until my last breath.  But this strong desire to continuosly improve and aspire to be better, to upgrade as a person are the very same values that will equip me to raise a loving, happy, kind and secured child. 

This blogpost springs from my heart as a mother.  I can honestly say that I am raising a happy, love filled, confident and secured child by consistently doing the following: 

1.  Being a present parent:  My husband and I need to work to pay off our bills and to improve our quality of life, but work always comes secondary to the needs of our son.  We do our best to be present in all of the important school activities and in his life.  This includes:  being interested in what our son is imparting/communicating to us, doing routine activities together, paying attention and ensuring that his needs are on the top of our list.  We organize our schedules and our agenda to keep us on our toes on the needs of our son.  

2.  Making time for each other:  We eat together whenever we can.  We make it a point that part of our weekends aside from doing household chores is spent with our son - in the park, museum, library, riding the bicycle.. JUST BEING TOGETHER!!! 

3.  We do routine and new things together such as learning to concoct a new dish, going to the grocery, watching movies and tv programs together, dancing, singing, walking, going to the church and sometimes, just simply sitting on our sofa with our books. We provide mechanisms so that our son can learn new things and eventually build new skills such as cycling, swimming, judo, etc.  

4.  WE TALK A LOT AND LAUGH A LOT TOGETHER.

5.  My son is already 7 years old and I let him make decisions and i let him reason out.  We engage in healthy arguments and we try to persuade each other to "buy" our point of view.  This method increases my son´s self confidence and capability to believe in himself.  

6.  I GO BIGTIME, SHAMELESS hahahaha in expressing my love for him and in praising him for his good deeds.. This is tricky though.  Because in as much as he must believe in himself, he should not be arrogant and he should be respectful of others.  So I always stress the importance of being polite and respecting our individuality.  

7.  I organize playgroups and I get in touch with the parents of his classmates so my son will have a group with whom he can play with.  This boosts his social and interpersonal skills.  

8.  THERE IS NEVER A DAY, NOT A MOMENT THAT I DO NOT LET HIM KNOW THAT I LOVE HIM. BECAUSE I LOVE HIM WITH ALL OF ME.  

9.  I use the carrot and the stick when appropriate.  I reprimand in private and I tell him nicely when he has done something that has disappointed me.  

10.  School definitely is fundamental, primordial, but I do no want him to be grade conscious.  I stress the importance of obtaining a passing mark but more importantly, I focus on the learnings,the lectures the rationale of the subjects.  

Having said of all these, I believe that my son is a happy child and I continue to hope and pray that he will continue to remain a happy, secured, confident, loving and lovable child. :)  

Parenting is not at all a walk in the park. It is like a roller coaster ride with all its ups and downs.  But as the adults, we as parents should always practice patience and continue to demonstrate love and affection to our children in its highest form. 

I thank God for giving me this opportunity to become a mom to my son and I continue to hope and pray that I will do good as a mom. So help me God!! 

Thanks for reading!!! 

***not my photos lifted from the internet. 

Welcome July and thank you June...

Officially, the 1st semester of 2018 has culminated.  

Many many thanks June for everything that you made me experience.  It was a roller coaster ride as I continue to recover from my anxiety, as I am still on medical leave, as I spend more time on meditation, yoga, acupuncture, therapeutic massages and footing.  My son finished the school year with extremely flying colors!! The high grades are icing on the cake but what is important is the discipline and the habits that my son have developed. 

Welcome July 2018.  For this month, we will celebrate my younger brother´s birthday.. I will continue to have medical appointments as a In aspire and work hard to go back to my normal life the soonest possible time.  And we will continue to enjoy summer in Madrid. 

Let´s all have a great time.  Take care!!! 

 *** not my photo. lifted from the internet... 

Why I love Korean and Taiwanese dramas

My solid affilitation jajajaja with korean and taiwanese dramas date back as far as 2005.  In fact, korean and taiwanese dramas are part of my happy thoughts. They rekindle so many, but so many beautiful memories during my mid 20s, my life in the Philippines and the friendships that I built through these dramas.  

When I changed continents and zip code jajajaja, one of the things that I brought to Madrid are my F4, Taiwanese group CDs.  F4 was a famous Taiwanese pop idols.  They were the leads of Meteor Garden which was huge in the mid 2000s of the Asian entertainment pop culture.  Aside from F4, I also got hooked up in Korean dramas/series.  The plot and storyline is always predictable, but it is a breather, no brainer, just breezy to watch after a lond and hard day at work, during my Accenture days.  Jejejejeje 

It has been more than a decade since I first laid my eyes on Meteor Garden and Winter Sonata, a Korean Drama but I still get the feels jajajajaa.  But more than the teenager, goofy and giddy feelings that they bring, these korean and taiwanese dramas remind me of the following: 

1.  The friendships that I built through these Korean and Taiwanese dramas.  WWe may now live in different countries, different timezones but we still keep in touch.  These are friendships that started getting all goofy and giddy with these good looking actors but eventually, these friendships blossomed into real, authentic deep friendships, in good and bad times.  These are the friends who were with me when my heart was broken, when I went through some tough personal times, when I adjusted to my new life here in Spain.  Thank you to my closest girl friends (you know who you are!!) for all the love, support and friendship through the years! I love you!!! 

2.  The best years of my corporate life spent in Accenture Manila.  My career as an IT professional kicked off in Accenture even if my university degree was Boradcast Communications.  I am always grateful to my first ever Accenture lady boss, Maybelle Deza Limpingo, who believed in me and gave me the breaks that I needed.  I loved our team, we were a team of young, dedicated professionals.  We worked long hours, but there was a strong sense of trust.  

3.  Also, during that time, as part of our regular Accenture team building, company culture, there were regular social activities where the employees convene.  I was, at times, the host of those gatherings.  There was even a time that there was a contest to determine the best look alike of the lead actress in Meteor Garden.  I remember contacting my colleagues to vote for me even if I look so different from her.  I had big curly hair, I was very very plump, I am very morena hahahaha.. Thanks to the support of my colleagues.. I bagged the Look alike recognition! It was indeed very funny during the awarding because everyone was just laughing, at disbelief, that I won the prize. Hahahahahah

4.  My obsession with the Mandarin and Korean language to the point that I speak fake Mandarin and Korean. Hahahahaha I can fake the accent.  There was even a time that my Swedish colleague in Telefonica requested me to translate a text a in Mandarin. Jajajajajajaja  And of course, I admitted that all along, I was just speaking fake Mandarin. Jajajajaja. Badoink! moment for me. Jajajajaja.  

5.  All the commuting time that I spent in Manila, after a long day at work, just to reach the primetime block and watch these dramas.  It reminds me that at one point, traffic in Manila was bearable and not as horrendous as it is now.  I hope and pray that our infrastructure and traffic system in Manila will improve tremendously to assist the labor workforce and ease the commuting time.  

6.  How my family in Manila just laughed at me because of this silly obsession, how much they tolerated and accept this silly "vice". Thanks to Mom and all of my siblings for loving me as I am. :)  

Generally, these Korean and Taiwanese dramas bring out the teenage, the peter pan in me, they are not heavy at all. Plus the lead actors are always so pleasant to look at! They are just so clean looking, "poreless" people. Hahahahaha But on a more serious note, watching them relieve the special bond that I once shared with my closest girlfriends. And even if we are far now, I just remember the fun conversations and they never fail to paint a smile on my face.  

Thank you F4, thank you Korean dramas and thank you to my friends for sticking it with me through thick and thin.  Much love!! Mwuah!!!! 

 My F4 CDs

My F4 Poster :) 

all of these photos are taken from the net.  Thank you. 

 A scene in Meteor Garden

 My love from the star

 My love from the star

 Love Letter

 Lovers in Paris

 Winter Sonata 

Descedants of the Sun

Road to Wellness... Still on Medical leave.. now on my 1st month...

Today, 28th of June, I am officially on my 1st month of medical leave.  My medical leave is attributed to my anxiety attacks.  

I am grateful for this medical leave as I am able to do things at a slower and more tranquil pace, I am in close contact and coordination with my medical team (my general practitioner doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist and therapists).  

During this month, when I am on my medical leave, I dedicated my time, energy and efforts on the following: 

1.  Medical visits - necessary to keep in touch with my doctors and of course, taking my prescribed medicines and pills 
2.  Adapting to the medicines that I am taking - just last week, my doctor increased the dosage of one of my pills and I was sensitive the entire week, almost crying the entire week and was quite exhausted even if I was doing minimum activities 
3.  Maximizing my time with my son - I took him to his school and is taking him to his summer camp.  I always cook his food.  I spend time all the possible free time that  I have.  
4.  Yoga and meditation 
5.  Quiet solitude moments - I take the time to walk/do footing at my pace, connect with nature by being in parks, places with a lot of trees, I read books, watch tv/netflix at my pace 
6.  I connect to work.  I have my work laptop at home and connecting at work, doing some tasks is also relaxing for me and it makes me stay connected at work. :) 
7.  I regularly go to the Church.  After taking my son to his summer camp and completing my morning walk, I make it a point to go to the Church to pray, give my thanksgiving to our Lord, our Savior. 
8.  I get in touch with family and friends who are across the miles!!! 
9.  I spend time doing therapeutic massages and acupuncture.  Thanks to Pilar and Borja who have been very helpful and attentive to me.  
10.  I cook a lot.. I concoct special and easy dished but made with so much love!!! 

I am grateful for this medical leave and I trust and put all my faith that this too shall pass.  Everything will turn out well.  So help me God.  Thank you Lord Jesus!!! 

**** not my images.  taken from the web.  Thank you.