Wais Wednesday #3: Adobo

Adobo is my ever reliable go-to "re-heat in case of emergency" food. Aside from the fact that adobo is known to be a food that does not spoil easily, just like wine, adobo tastes better with age.

Juggling between house and home, there are times that I have to drop some balls to take care of the more important ones. This does not mean that family is not important, but what I am saying is that there are household chores, for example cooking - with the convenience of canned foods, is one of those that can be easily dropped from the list.

Instead of opting for canned goods, it is a better choice to have a precooked adobo which you can just thaw or reheat come meal time. During weekends, I would prepare a kilo of CPA as we call it, which stands for Chicken Pork Adobo. I kept these in serving sized container which husband could just easily reheat if I will be late from work and no meal was prepared for them beforehand. My precooked adobo also comes handy when the entire family comes home on weekends during meal time and too late to prepare for meal.

Grungy Tags

These tags are going to be mailed this Friday for our local swap group. We have been swapping tags, ATCs, mini album pages, junk journal for the past months.

For June, our theme is Alice in Wonderland. I made a heart and crown tags based on the Queen of Hearts character. And of course a She Art version of Alice.

I love enjoyed working on these tags, trying out new mediums and incorporating new techniques. I like the way it progresses from conceptualization to execution. Putting medium on top of another to create layers. It is all messy but full of fun.

I used watercolor, acrylic paint, viva inka gold, liquitex modelling paste, craypas, tim holtz stamps, stampendous mica fragments.

Wais Wednesday #2: Hook and Eye

Most students are now back to school. Whereas some schools started only this week, my kids are now on their third week in school this week.

This year, I will try ready to wear uniforms for the boys. Pricewise, they are cheaper and I have the boys try on them to compare the quality. Of course nothing beats custom made in terms of fitting the boys' frame and figure.

Few things I considered in choosing the kids' uniform which I want to share:

Compare prices and quality. Consider the cloth and the quality of the stitches and take note of the price. Days before I made the trip to Divisoria, I scouted the malls for uniforms taking note of the price and the quality.

I found some really good deals in Divi however, the cloth won't last wear and tear since the boys usually would kneel and crawl at school, so I have to settle for a more expensive but with better quality. But then, mall prices still cannot beat Divi prices. I got the brand St. Marks both for polo and pants. I came across a really expensive brand, but there's a customer mom at the store who swears by the brand - Nelson. And truly, best quality I have seen in terms of cloth and stitching, which would probably last at least three years. I only got two pants and one polo to try out since budget will not allow me to buy all I need for this school year.

One thing I failed to consider is the pants closure which I only realized when my elder son complained on the first day of school when he cannot easily close his button. It was like a DING moment because for little boys like him who dress on his on, it is a very big deal aside from the fact the challenge of opening up when he urgently needs to pee.

So next time, when I have to buy something for my kids, I should put myself in their shoes so that I can consider all areas that matter to them.

Wais Wednesday #1: Supermarket vs. Palengke

Wais is a Filipino colloquial word from the word wise itself. Starting today and hopefully, every Wednesday will be series of blog posts of lessons learned in life particularly those that I personally encounter in my daily life. Snippets of wisdom that can also be helpful to others. Let me start by sharing my realization last Wednesday.

I pass by SM supermarket before going home to get some sili leaves for tinolang manok. The ones I bought during our weekend palengke has dried out and I have been wanting to eat tinola with sili leaves. I got the sili leaves at SM for PhP18.00 compared to PhP10.00 from palengke for the same quantity. I also bought a bundle of wansoy for PhP23.00, while I used to get it for PhP15.00 at Pasig Palengke in a bigger bundle. Before, I never really paid attention to the price difference because I thought it was not that big. Now, awareness is important since every peso saved matters.

In SM you are paying for the convenience and the service (though the lady at the counter that time was a little bit grumpy). It does not mean that I will have to stop buying from groceries or supermarket, since I can buy emergency supplies as late as they close.

But for regular or weekly marketing, your best bet is still in palengke since in case you are buying your food supply for the entire week, you'll get more value for your money.

Just like in my SM experience, Total savings is already at PhP15.00 for 2 kinds of veggies alone. And we are not only talking about vegetables here. Never mind the palengke smell that sticks with you. You can rinse it off when you bathe.

Aside from savings, we are also supporting the livelihood of our fellow brothers who have their stalls and businesses in palengke.