Christmas '17 Whereabouts

Before anything else let me just greet everyone a happy hohoho! I had a great Christmas because I got to spend it with the whole fambam. We  had dinner at around 8:00PM but stayed up until midnight to open presents then slept afterwards because of food coma lol. Prepping for Christmas dinner (Noche Buena) was a lot of work, from the table setting down to cooking but it was all worth it, 'tis the season to be merry e? 

Festive diy Noche Buena table
setting.

We had a little exchange gift thingy to cap off Christmas eve and we were all happy with what we got. As for myself, I received a kawaii notebook along with a pack of plastic containers for my baking supplies plus a cute cat mug I've been yearning to have from my sissies. But, what made me really ecstatic was how festive our dinner table and little buffet corner turned out. I made those little red Christmas tree food picks of each and every item on the menu just to give our buffet corner that Christmassy feel. I also printed out a menu card I placed on a photo clip holder to detail every food item just for kicks and it turned out pretty cool as well like a real buffet corner. I just love organizing and making things not just functional but aesthetically pleasing and quirky at the same time. My niece loved the whole ensemble and of course the food. We did not have that over the top quantity of food for Noche Buena because aside from that’s gluttony, we’re not big eaters anyways and it’s just the six of us so it was really a dinner set up for a small family. Staying up until midnight was quite a challenge though but for the spirit of Christmas, we endured sleepiness through hours of movie marathon! Trust me, I think we got all Christmas movies covered. Check out the video below for our DIY Christmas dinner table setting.👇🏼

What's bakin'?

A day before Christmas...

These sleepers are oh so

cute and comfy! Waiting for

midnight to open our prezzies.

My biggest present though was from my Dad because he bought a brand new electric oven a day before Christmas yay! Not that I asked for it, I never wanted one actually since I'm all set making my skillet cookies. Speaking of which, making skillet cookies was fun although extremely exhausting because you cannot leave them on the pan for too long or you’ll burn them as opposed to ovens, it’s timed so the risk of burning baked food is very minimal and is mostly human error because this rarely happens if you follow the recipe religiously. It was quite a challenge for me though as far as baking time and cookie recipes are concerned because the recipes I rummaged online are meant for skillet cooking and not oven baking so I had to recast the cooking time, temperature and everything else because I was looking at a very big picture skillet cookie recipes won’t work with electric ovens just to find myself wrong. After wasting tons of baking supplies, I realized one very important thing,  reducing the oven temperature by many degrees depending on the cookie recipe worked wonders and solved my baking dilemma, another eureka moment for me.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas 🎶

My best sellers: Matcha & Red Velvet 
holiday cookies.

I hated ovens because the La Germania gas range & oven my family had when I was in high school (ages ago) almost burnt majority of my eyebrows after I lit it with a candle for a stupid reason (that’s how old ovens work before), I turned the propane tank cylinder too high not wary about the might’ve been, yeah I was kid who just wanted to bake an orange chiffon cake lol. My eyebrows grew back of course although I came into a realizaton baking isn’t for me aside from the cost of baking supplies could already get you a decent box of cake. Anyways, about two years ago I rekindled my interest with baking out of boredom and thought what other creative ways to cook a batter of pancake. I started experimenting with crushed Oreo cookies, flour and whatevs in my attempt to come up with cookies n’ cream anything and it turned out into something pretty good, I made a cookies n’ cream rice cake from scratch! However, the move to our new house dissipated my interest in making no bake stuff again because I got sidetracked with DIY home decor projects in my resolve to beautify our new house. I focused on interior decorating for another year until boredom hits me again and to make this long story short, I decided to make cookies without the need to use an oven because I find the whole pre-baking process too tedious and ingredient measurement too technical aside from we no longer have an oven since the one we had before turned too old and rusty and collected dusts ’til it was no longer useful. Anyways, I’m now friends with the new electric oven because it has made my life a whole lot easier since It has cut down my working hours plus it helps a ton as far as my cookie biz is concerned. 

Curiosity can kill a cat...and

stubbornness. He was so 

famished and exhausted when

 he got home. Bad kitty.

Holiday season feels... 

I love my cat mug. And oh excuse

 Dielle the photo bomber doggie. 😆

Christmas Morning.
On the other hand, my sisters and I were worried sick a day before  Christmas because our cat sneaked outside (our Dad let him out actually) and failed to come home until Christmas morning. It was a first since he's technically an indoor cat and we seldom let him out unless he sneaks out so I spent almost the whole 24 hours worrying where he went and what happened to him until one of my sibs went out in the neighbourhood to walk one of our dogs and there she heard a cat crying somewhere and couldn't decipher where it's coming from but most likely it's our cat. I wandered into the backyard and heard a cat's wail about few meters yonder and that's when I decided to tag one of our dogs along to head me to right direction and there I found our cat trapped inside a neighbour's backyard surrounded by tall walls (and I mean 20-30 feet) and it's an abandoned house so no one is there to let the cat out unless he leaps 20 feet high. To sum it up, the rescue was a success when one of my Dad's friends scared off the cat, he jumped off and let himself out on his own unharmed, geez. And that's the reason why I never let the cat out because he's been into a lot of trouble. It's quite a challenge keeping him indoors because he used to be a stray cat we fortunately found but that's an entirely different story.

Moving on, I spearheaded we have another exchange gift come New Year’s Eve just for kicks again and also to keep us awake in welcoming the new year. But, this time around we must stick with the Php50-200 gift budget per head since it’s a last minute thing lol. And again, we’ll do the buffet scheme this coming NYE because Noche Buena turned out pretty well so why not do it again for Media Noche? As an end not, less is always more and I mean less food is more because this season is note just all about food and gifts, it’s all about togetherness. What best way to spend the holiday season than with the fambam yeah?

All Is Calm, All Is Bright.

diy Christmas dinner table setting

All is calm, all is bright....

It’s literally just 8 days to go before Christmas and I think my work is already done decking the house for the holidays. My sibs and I already bought stuff for our Christmas dinner table set up and I guess we’re all set. We bought a new Christmas wreath since our theme this year is gold and green and the old one we got isn’t very gold and isn’t very green neither. Ah, shopping for Christmas decors is quite stressful really because the cost for everything sky rockets when it’s last minute, business as usual.

Moving on, my skillet cookies are doing really well and I have been getting a lot of orders for the pack of 6s thus made me quite busy which I think is attributed to the fact that first, it is very affordable and second people nowadays would rather gift homemade stuff for Christmas than those readily available gift packs you can buy at the mall because it feels more personal and thoughtful that way plus anything homemade exudes that ‘labor of love’ vibe. I’ve been yearning to make one of those diy soaps and bath bombs for a long time now because I personally believe they are excellent gift ideas but finding the materials for them though is quite effortful so I’ll put that thought on hold for now, who knows it might take flight someday. 

the moon overhead...

Anyways, my sister and I are finally done with our a moon lamp which is our last DIY project for this year. I decided we come up with a little tutorial video as well (check out the video below). Since it’s a diy project we decided to make it as inexpensive as possible and as a result we bought a monochromatic blinking lights instead of the white LED lights as it’s quite pricey. The lights we used just cost less than P200 versus the white LED lights which roughly cost P500 and the rest of the materials such as the dishwashing sponge and card board cost nothing since we have them offhand. We pretty much just spent on string lights and cheap tissues & acrylic paints which only cost less than P40.00 a piece (or less than a dolllar). Overall, this project only costs us less than P300 (less than $6.00) which was really cheap and all worth it. The cost for a real moon lamp by the way is P700-2,000 ($14-40.00) depending on the size. I really love how this project turned out.

Please like and subscribe to my sissy's channel here.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It’s 14 days to go before Christmas and baby it sure is getting cold outside. 

Entrepreneur mode on.

As for me I have been pretty busy selling my skillet cookies and coined a term for them ’holiday skillet cookies’ which was obviously derived from the holiday season. I started selling them last week (red velvet and matcha flavor) in small quantities and so far the response was good that I have them now in strawberry and ube (purple yam).  I make cookies plus an online craft store on the side, how convenient is that? This is what I love about the holiday season, a great opportunity for small time/scale business which you can manage at your own time, convenience and does not require huge capital to begin with. Let me share that I do not have formal training as far as baking is concerned, I just had one baking class back in high school and that’s it, everything else I learned from my friends, Google, Pinterest and Youtube lol. I mean who doesn’t right? Everything that you want and need to know is pretty much on social media, you just have to be more creative in twitching them to make them your own. You also need to be passionate in every endeavor you put yourself into because the end result can be really amazing. 

This rainbow spaghetti is oh so perfect
this holiday season care of
@rock-a-bye-baby.

Nuninoo..

My sister and I re-arranged our room for the nth time and she’s looking to dispose our cloud lamp because it has already collected dust since it’s been around for over a year. She's looking to replace it with a ‘moon lamp’ which is now quite popular.

Salt Lamp..
I have been yearning to get myself a ‘salt lamp’ because of its

moon lamp photo: https://www.pinterest.com/nextdealshop/
salt lamp photo: https://www.pinterest.com/brit/

good benefits (may improve air quality by generating negative ions, hygroscopic quality as it removes mold from air as well etc.) however, the cost is pretty unreasonable for me that’s why I still haven’t got one yet. Seriously, I used to be an impulsive buyer but I guess turning stingy comes with age lol. Well, let’s just say you get wiser as you get older to simply put. Although I haven’t retired the idea of getting a salt lamp someday maybe after the holiday season or when the price of commodities starts to drop like hell (smirk). I hope this country will also have one of those ‘Black Friday' sale moments someday (except the part where buyers violently nudge each other just to get their hands on the most coveted stuff on sale whatever that is).

To wrap this up, I’m excited for Christmas and what the new year holds. I can’t believe it’s just three weeks before we bid 2017 adieu. I hope 2018 would be much more exciting. But, for the time being, let me savor 2017 first.  

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Welcome December. It’s 21 days to go before Christmas and time flew by so fast, another year is about to go by. I have already carefully wrapped and kept those Christmas presents somewhere safe to veer away from peeking eyes. This year, I’ll do it differently, I will be home for both Christmas and New Year’s Eve unlike the previous years. Time, you cannot enslave me anymore. Work, you cannot drag me anymore. I will be home for the holidays.

Seareniabay Café

Moving on, my sister and I’s quest in finding the best ‘hole in the wall’ cafés in town is still not over yet. Yesterday, we decided to check out this fairly new ‘mermaid themed’ café called Seareniabay located at the town's outskirts. The last café we went to was a ‘unicorn themed’ one and so far our niece is enjoying the whimsical gastronomic experience that's why we thought it’s time to discover another hidden gem in the city of pines. My sister was the one who learned about Seareniabay Café in search for quirky and eccentric places to dine and take instagram worthy pictures at the same time. Their business hours are from 11:00AM-8:00PM daily (except Tuesdays 9:00AM-8:00PM, Monday-CLOSED). As far as I know the café just opened last October and is the first mermaid themed café in town. The place was quite challenging to find because their signage isn’t that big to easily spot. We're on the verge of giving up and just call the whole thing off since the cabbie driver couldn’t locate it thank goodness my sister was able to at least take note of the landmark she rummaged online prior to our visit. Seareniabay Café is right across Palawan Pawnshop and once you see the pawnshop, just alight or park somewhere close.

Dine like a mermaid 🧜‍♀️

The ambiance inside is definitely very 'under the sea-ish' as expected, the huge and colorful mermaid artwork on the wall will draw you in perhaps out of curiosity. They also have mason jar decors on every table half filled with sea shells wrapped in jute twine macramé, colorful clam shell napkin holders and shimmery sequined throw pillows for that nautical vibe to complete the whole ensemble. You may also hold a little photo shoot in a corner decked in a mermaid tail blankie if you feel like it. If you may ask what about the food, we'll get there of course.

For starters we had their Nachos topped with corn kernels and other veggies (chilli con carne and sour cream dip), Cookies & Cream and Choco Strawberry shakes. The sour and cream dip was good but the chilli con carne was a little dry. The Nachos were really soft and breaks easily making it difficult to scoop up the chopped veggies which was a miss in my opinion. The chopped veggies were really fresh though, very crunchy. What I loved most though more than the food was the way they serve their beverages, they use these cute mermaid tail mugs and disco ball cups, how sleek is that?  For the main course we had their Ningyo's Chicken Teriyaki and Barnacle’s Peppered Beef. The Chicken Teriyaki was very salty instead of sweet which is typical of Teriyaki dishes. The serving was good enough to stuff you which was very affordable for Php99.00 (roughly $2) per bowl. I really love their food presentation, the garnish and all, very aesthetically pleasing. The iced tea was overwhelmingly sweet as well that’s why I had to wait for the ice cubes to melt first to enjoy my drink but nevertheless the customer service was excellent. The food landed our table after a reasonable wait time and the server was really courteous, he even provided the wifi password before we asked for it and also advised us onset that the mermaid tail blankets are free for use. 

If you’re going to ask me how much your budget should be I would say at least Php200 ($4.00) per person, you can already get yourself a good serving of rice bowl meal for Php99.00 (with iced tea) plus anything for less than hundred peso for dessert like a milk shake or a cup cake perhaps. Sadly though there weren’t that many cupcakes on display during our visit probably ‘cuz they do not anticipate an influx of customers since it was a Sunday (maybe) and most items on the menu weren’t available neither such as the waffles. One of the other setback though was the location because it’s really quite challenging to find (you may try using a GPS or Waze) plus the traffic flow. Last Sunday it was between moderate to heavy because of the ongoing road repairs. If you’re looking to come by on a week day be as early as 11:00AM to enjoy the place otherwise Sunday morning would be perfect if you want to avoid the crowd. We went there on a Sunday and we were the only customers the whole time. Overall, we had a great time at Seareniabay Café because of how quirky and cute the place was plus the food are very affordable and instagram worthy as well so be prepared to take a lot of pictures. To see more of Seareniabay Café please watch the video I made below. 👇🏼

hohoho! 🎅🏻

my sister's diy holiday
coffee table set-up
@rock-a-bye-baby

DIY Christmas Decor

Having an old pine tree in the backyard always has its perks. Others would pay for a  bunch of pine cones whilst I just collect them from our backyard because they fall from the tree anyways. I have already collected a bunch of them last year and turned them into little home decors. Pine cones really look good if you have wooden fixtures at home, they exude this rustic and shabby chic vibe. Few days ago I collected about four of them and only one pine cone was open so I had to dip them in equal parts of vinegar and hot water first to clean and at the same time force open them. However, the heat from the water and the sun was insufficient so I shoved them in the microwave oven and that eventually did the trick. It was also very satisfying to see the pine cones gradually open (it felt like watching a stop-motion film lol). Anyways, I just spray painted them and attached them to the twine using hot glue as soon as the paint was dry (pine cones are very absorbent by the way). I used an old Santa Claus head from a piece of headband my niece disemboweled by cutting off its hat, I’m sorry If I made that sound so gruesome lol. The Santa is made from felt materials so it was pretty easy to put together. Afterwards, I used a chalkboard marker and drew white lines on the edges of each of the pine cones to give them that snow effect since I don’t have any white acrylic paint readily available.

Materials: 

• pine tree twigs
• pine cones
• jute twine
• hot glue
• gold spray paint
• white chalkboard marker
• any old Christmas decor 

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