Ginisang Labong at Saluyot

My husband's family has been in this neighborhood since the early 1980s. So they basically know each and everyone in the area. In fact, if you get lost coming here, ask for our surname and they will direct you to our house. Just don't do bad things to us; you won't like what can happen to you, haha. Anyway, my favorite benefit of living here is the good number of community vendors that often knock on our door, er, gate. One of them is Grace, an old woman who sells fresh produce from her own harvest. My pure Bicolana mother-in-law, Mama A, gets fresh gabi leaves from her that she cooks into laing. One day, Grace cheerfully arrived with fresh labong (bamboo shoots). I was so excited I bought it all! Then Mama A prepped it for cooking by boiling and extracting the not-so-pleasant taste of its liquid. Para daw "walang kati". The next day, she bought saluyot, tomatoes and ginger. I bought bangus. We were on a serious mission for some tasty dinengdeng! However, Mama A had allergies that day so I skipped using bagoong isda for this recipe, making it a simple guisado. 

You know what, okay lang naman 'cause I used fish sauce (patis) instead and the natural flavor of fried bangus made it more delish. To be honest, this was the first time that I cooked this! I was so happy it was a success and that my tweener foodie loved it so I'm sharing this with all of you.

Where We Ate in Baler

Food and travel go together well. As in, think of the late Anthony Bourdain. Not sure if he really was but I think he pioneered the will-travel-for-food-and-nothing-else attitude. I mean, please show me videos of him bungee jumping and rappelling. I might just have missed it. But him traveling to a place just to eat? He has lots of those! In fact, he made Jollibee famous in the side of his world. He may have sadly cut his life short for whatever reason he had but he surely touched a lot of lives through his love for food. Sigh. Anyway, this isn't about him naman. Cheer up na tayo. This post took more than a month to be posted 'cause I still can't find the right words to describe our foodie experience in Baler! The town doesn't really have specific delicacies aside from Nanay Pacing's Homemade Peanut Butter but we're so glad they have awesome restaurants that cater to their hungry tourists well.

We arrived in Baler a little before lunch time so after we toured a bit (saving that kwento for another post), we headed to Bayler Restaurant.

Ginisang Sayote at Carrots

Mashed sayote was Sophia's first food. Eversince, the unassuming and versatile veggie has been a mainstay in my grocery list. It's so easy to feed to kids! In fact, Samantha just had a mashed sayote with breastmilk today. Our baby bear loved it, too – no spills, no mess! So I'd like to share my recipe with you. 

No-brainer dish ito for someone who knows how to cook but I'm sure, a lot of you want to know a fail-proof base recipe of a guisadong gulay. This one can be altered by adding other veggies that match sayote. Serve it for lunch, dinner or for your families' baon along with fried meat. Ready to cook?

Pinangat na Hiwas

One rainy Tuesday morning, I woke up earlier than usual (and before my girls, which is very rare) so I made sure to use the extra minutes wisely. I went to the nearby talipapa to buy food to cook for lunch. I'm so happy to see some fresh fish other than the mainstay bangus and tilapia the vendor sells. I bought four pieces of Hiwas (Chabeta) for ₱95. Price is reasonable since it's fresh, there weren't too many fishbones and is definitely meaty. I knew I'd cook it pinangat style.

Pinangat is fish boiled in water; one version is sour and the other is cooked with coconut milk. We have kamias tree here at home so I did the sour version. I added tomatoes for a fruitier taste. Ayoko yung puro asim lang ang nalalasahan. I put pechay para more gulay. Also, the more color your food has nga daw, the healthier it is. My little foodie, Sophia liked it so much. It made my homecook heart so happy 'cause it wasn't just so easy to prepare, nagustuhan pa ng bagets. So if you like to try this at your home, too, here's my recipe –

Family of Four at Playa Azul Baler

Our family travels officially started when Sophia was 15 months old. It was a breezy December afternoon when we went to Cagwait, Surigao del Sur. It was our water baby's first time to step on the sand! And it was so funny I can still picture out her face until now. Definitely one of my most memorable moments as a mom. That's when I realized vacationing with a baby is more fun. Fast forward to now that my firstborn's a certified beach babe, we are on a mission to be in all accessible Luzon beaches. Our trip to Hundred Islands in Pangasinan will always remain a favorite. I hope to never repeat the experience we had in a not so beautiful resort in Bataan. Potipot and Magalawa Islands in Zambales are beaches to beat. Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte, which I need to write about soon, wasn't as exciting as I hoped it'd be. 

Well, we still have a lot of beaches to go to but I got pregnant last year so we only managed to go to Dingalan, Aurora for a much-needed vitamin sea for Sophia. Now that I have two mermaids (the smaller one showing signs of water lovin' when she's at her tub), I am more excited to vacay with my now family of four! So kilig to write four, hihi.

My Girls Are the Greatest Collaborators of This Blog

Have you already seen my girls in the video we made for BabyLove Diapers? I said we because all four of us are in this blogging thing together. Well, technically, this is my blog. But they fully support this online endeavor of mine that any partnership I get, my husband R and the girls are also involved. Say, I need my signature affixed in a pdf file but I only know editing MS word file (lol) so I'd send them over to my husband. After a few minutes, as if I can already afford a virtual assistant, it's done. But since this is a mommy blog, Sophia and Samantha are my real colleagues here. They are the greatest collaborators of this blog. In fact, one of our major projects was the BabyLove video. Ate Sophia may be its main artist but it wouldn't be as fun if Baby Samantha wasn't there. After all, she's the one who uses diapers.

I'll try to expound my girls' online exposure here and there but speaking of diapers, BabyLove Philippines is giving away Similac Gainschool sample and P500 voucher that you can use on your next transaction for any BabyLove product you purchase! Hurry mommies 'cause this is from May 27 to June 2 only. SHOP HERE! And like them on Facebook, too for promo updates and more details: Click, click!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabyLove but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shared the Importance of Tamang Nutrisyon at RiteMed’s Tamang Alaga Day: Para Kay Nanay

When I became a mom, my cooking skills were put to a test. There was a point when my firstborn, Sophia only ate chicken nuggets, adobo and anything fried, anything processed. So I knew I had to step up; making sure the dishes I cooked are delicious was no longer enough. It has to look happy and be healthy! I will never claim it was easy but let me just say it again in case I have mentioned it before in my previous posts that it's the parents' fault if kids don't eat healthily. Harsh but true. Sophia still doesn't eat ampalaya (just like I sometimes do) but I know that her early training to eat what's on the table is a story of success. And that is what I briefly shared with the mommies who were invited to attend RiteMED's Tamang Alaga Day: Para Kay Nanay last May 20th!

Photo courtesy of RiteMed 

My booth was called the Tamang Nutrisyon booth where I taught them to make Fruit Kebabs. It's an exciting and enticing way to serve fruits to our kids. They learned how to present the fruits nicely, making sure it's clean and still fresh. I also added helpful tips along the way as we went along with our short lecture.