October 15, 2007 Puto, Prawns, Play (PPP!)

This blog is turning out to be a puto-blog! Hehe

We made another batch of puto yesterday. This time, we put in some hotdogs at my son’s request. It tasted good! We made enough for him to bring to school this week.

My sister-in-law is back from a two-week vacation at my in-law’s hometown. They have just harvested from the fish pond so we have a week’s supply of large tiger prawns and bangus. Yum! Yum! Note to self: get anti-allergies from the local pharmacy.

Vince is happy that his Tita is “home”. She’s been staying with us since we lost Vince’s yaya last June. She’s a real blessing as she’s been helping around the house and is taking the role of vince’s yaya. He’s been more behaved with his Tita around.

October 8, 2007 Update on the Puto

I actually went down to making the puto last Saturday night! Hurrah! It was a tremendous relief to be crossing it out from my to-do’s. I’ve been putting it off for over a year now.

My sister who was visiting for the weekend helped me decipher the recipe. We then divided the tasks among her househelp, my son’s yaya and my own househelp. My son would not be left out, he did the major task of pouring out ingredients from their respective containers. While, I, well, I ended up just giving out instructions. Hehe!

Amazingly, we did it right the first time! We were so happy with the result that we finished everything off in less than 24hours. My son, who is very picky when it comes to food, ate the most number because he must have been tickled with the idea that he played a part in making it.

Last night, we did another batch. We are looking at selling it and who knows we might just turn into future puto moguls. Hmn…why not?!!

Puto

As I write this, I am in the office, counting the hours until I can join my family who are enjoying their siesta at home. Work, as usual has been very demanding but the more I am loaded with tasks, the more I am tempted to do other things…like surfing the net, blog-hopping and yes, creating this site which could probably put me in trouble later. Ha! Ha!

There’s one cooking blog that I am frequenting and today, it inspired me to make Puto! I texted my sister to get me flour and baking powder from the city because unfortunately for me, that’s not available where I am living at the moment. Even if it is, the price would expectedly be as high as the elevation of our pretty little community. Hehe!

Last year, when we moved up here, I had so much spare time after I knock off from work at 4:30pm. There are no malls around here (yeah, there are still such rare places!) so I turned to gardening which is one of my passions. I toiled early mornings, afternoons, weekends planting around our home but rainy season came and I had to temporarily shelve my gardening sessions. Then summer came and everything dried up including my interest in plants. So I figured, why not go into business selling Putopao which my aunt taught me a few years back. Mama lent me her huge steamer and gave me colorful plastic containers to set me off. But by a sudden twist of fate, my boss passed away and I had to say goodbye to all that extra time at home.

Today, though, I decided I am going to finally make puto. I am making this happen! Wish me luck! Lots of it.

Hugs and Kisses

Lately, my son and I have been following a heartwarming morning ritual before I leave for the office.

From whatever corner he is in our home, he’d shout “kiss, kiss, hug, hug” when he’d notice that I am about to leave for work. He will then run to give me PLENTY of kisses all over my face and give me a dozen very tight hugs. Then he will demand that I give him the same. He calls it my “baon” to work, and I call it his “baon” to school.

It has been like this every morning except when I have to attend the 4am Monday operations meeting at the office. All hell breaks loose when he wakes up without me by his side. No amount of cajoling on the phone will appease him. It breaks my heart to hear him cry. And as soon as he sees me enter the door at lunchtime, he will demand an explanation why I left without giving him “baon”.

I live for these morning rituals. I am cherishing these precious moments for very soon, he will outgrow this. God only knows if he will still want us to kiss him when he turns a year older.

Letter to Vince

This is a letter I wrote to my son a few days ago. He just turned four and is still trying to learn his ABC’s…

Dear Vince,

A few days ago, Mama discovered two strands of white hair conspicuously sitting behind black hair. Uh-uh! This must be the result of too much stress at work. It’s been crazily busy at the office with the demise of our boss. On top of that, I have accepted a bookkeeping job to augment our income. I’ve been sleeping late, way beyond my sleeping time and you have been complaining already.

Two days ago, you said: “Mama, sige lang ka work, Sige lang, tagaan taka money ha? (Mama, you’re always working Don’t worry, I’ll give you money)” Then you gave me P3.00 from your pocket.

The next day, I gave you back the money but you said “imo naman na, hatag nako nimo.(That’s yours, I gave it to you.)”

When I said goodbye before going to the office you said “mama, ngano man ka mag-work nga gitagaan naman taka ug money? (Mama, why are you working? I gave you money already.)”

Mama replied “ Vince, even if we have money, mama still has to work. Pag-big na ka, magwork man pod ka. (When you’re bigger, you’ll be working, too)”

I wanted to cry but you hugged me and let out your usual hearty laugh. That must have been your way of assuring me that you understood.

Thank you, Lord for my precious little Vince.

Joining the blogosphere

Hello world! This will serve as a repository of my thoughts and inspirations as I try to maintain some semblance of balance among my roles as wife, mother, friend, sister, in-law and a responsible resident of our pretty little community. And oh, I also work for a living just like most everyone else.

So, anything goes from here…