Wais Wednesday #18 - Saluyot

In our household, there is never a week that green leafy saluyot is not served over lunch or dinner.

Saluyot is one of the vegetables I grew up with as my favorite. As a growing child, I cannot deny that I have gone through the stage of being a picky eater and saluyot is one that satisfies my palate.

Saluyot is just so versatile that you can mix it with any other green and leafy vegetable - dahon ng malunggay, bulaklak ng kalabasa, talbos ampalaya (yes, this is good), talbos ng sitaw. In the same way, you can mix saluyot with puso ng saging, labong (most common), sitaw and sometimes with papaya. With those variations, you can almost have saluyot for your everday meal. Each meal will cost you below PhP50.00 in Metro Manila, and it can come free in the province since saluyot can grow almost anywhere.

Am glad that my husband also eats and loves saluyot because we share the same liking for this food.

Wais Wednesday #16 - DVD Collection

The husband's growing DVD collection is beginning to eat up space at home. Soon it's gonna clash with my scrap space. Good thing I found a site where we can register to download real and legal movies!. Just the right timing because the husband recently bought an external 1TB hard disk  Since we also have issues on DVDs scratches as soon as the kids get their hands on them, it would be easy for me to convince husband to join in and register.

Wais Wednesday #15: Coffee Love

I am a coffee drinker, brewed, black, with sugar and cream, 3-in-1, in whatever form. There are just days that feel so incomplete without a cup of coffee.

Recently, I came across people who bring with them as a "baon" wherever they go, which is so smart since 3-in-1 pack makes it all the more convenient. All you need is a cup and hot water.

Hmm, I told myself, why not? So this time around, one of the staples in my bag is a pack of 3-in-1 coffee, ready to go, just add hot water.

Wais Wednesday #14: Source of Wisdom

These wais tips are nothing compared with the wisdom that comes from the Lord. When Solomon became king, he did not pray fro riches, he did not pray for long life, but there is only one thing he asked from the Lord - wisdom. Wisdom to rule his people, so that he can address their concerns and resolve conflicts. The Lord was delighted in Solomon's desire that He did not only give him wisdom but He gave him riches and long life.

Our source of wisdom comes from the Lord and He even said in His word in James 1:5 - that if anyone of us lacks wisdom he should ask the Lord who gives generously without reproach. The Bible is our one-stop reference and full of guidance about how we should live our roles, as children, parents, husbads, wives, employees, businessman and so on. There is not any book published similar to the
Bible that is a catch-all guide. After all, all words in the Bible are breathe by God. So next time we have a question in life, let us go to the Bible, let us go to God.

Wais Wednesday #13: Double purpose shrimp

Today the kids' lunch is buttered shrimp. I usually include the entire shrimp, head and not deboned when I cook buttered shrimp but this time around I thought of removing the head and deboning the shrimp.

Later in the stay, I used mortar and pestle to pound the heads and extract shrimp juice which was used to enhance the flavor of our lomi for lunch.

Hmm, looks like I am gonna do this again. I just love the taste of shrimp!!! I might as well try adding the shrimp heads to the famous Ilocano dish - dinengdeng. Am excited to do this.

Wais Wednesday #12: Savings on ATM withdrawals

A trending topic in Facebook recently is about BDO imposing a PhP2.00 fee for every ATM withdrawal, even if withdrawal is made from a BDO ATM. That's too bad for those whose payroll are with BDO. A PhP 2.00 charge may even be more than what the payroll or savings account earns in terms of monthly interest. To make matters worst, most ATM machines dispense up to maximum of PhP 10,000.00 per transaction. So if you go beyond that amount, you will be charged more than PhP 2.00. Banks put up ATMs to discourage depositors from over the counter withdrawals and imposes higher fee in this case.

Thanks to Citibank, withdrawals are free, whichever ATM you make the withdrawal, and that also applies for withdrawals outside of the country of your branch.

Citi offers Citi at Work for payroll accounts, I think companies should now start considering moving their payroll accounts to Citi.

If you are a depositor, might as well move your accounts to Citi.

Wais Wednesday #11: Going Green

With the recent calamity and disaster brought about by flooding, won't we all consider about going green and seriously caring for our environment. We only have one earth to live in and the more we neglect or set aside our concern for the environment, the more damages we bring into our home.

Organic and natural products are not only safe to the environment but are also free from harmful chemicals that bring damage to our physical health.

We can start change in our own household and take initial step in loving our mother nature. We made the switch initially by using Human Nature body care products. Now, even all our household cleaning materials were replaced with Messy Bessy. These are locally made products so there's no additional carbon emissions just to bring the products in the Philippines.

Wais Wednesday #10: History Repeats Itself

It was only three years ago when Typhoon Ondoy (International name Ketsana) tragedy befell upon us in the Philippines. And now, history repeats itself when continous rain for the past two weeks. As of Tuesday, the accumulated rainfall is 472 mm surpassing the 455mm recorded during the Typhoon Ondoy. While sources said the Ondoy rain is considered to be more intense, having delivered 300mm of rainfall for 6 hours, the rainfall last Tuesday was spread out to 24 hours, the question is our preparedness.

For the past few days, alert levels were constantly announced and Metro Manila was put under a red warning signal due to heavy to intense rains. This could be the reason why reported number of fatalities is lower compared with Ondoy. But I believe we can do better. If there are fire and earthquake drills, there should also be flash flood rescue simulations.

I saw several posts in FB which are all about getting prepared in an emergency, however, we are now in a rescue and recovery mode and the rescue team are doing a great job and we even have more means today for rescue operations.  To my mind, any emergency tips could have been helpful prior to the actual calamity to minimize the effect on us.

So as the recent disaster becomes just another page in our history, let us keep ourselves on guard for any  incidents in the future. Having a background from a company who gives high importance to  business continuity, I believe it is about time I should be applying the same security and safety procedures to my family, such that as whenever an emergency, calamity or disaster strikes, our family is well prepared and our safety and security is not compromised.  Now it is time to come up with our family's version of a disaster preparedness and recovery program.

Wais Wednesday #9: Homemade Bonchon Fried Chicken

The first time I ate at BonChon, I thought it was a US fried chicken franchise. Not until recently when out family ate at BonChon Eastwood did I learn that it was originally from Korea.

So what I did is to research about Korean fried chicken in the internet. There are recipes though that would require me to go to a Korean store, so it went down to the bottom of my recipes to try list.

Not until recently that I saw in PureGold Taguig, McCormick Korean Fried Chicken mix complete with sauce. It comes in different flavors, soy garlic, kimchi and bulgogi. I have not seen other variant though. I bought the soy garlic and bulgogi. I cooked the Soy Garlic flavor in one of our Sunday night specials.

I did not follow the direction that comes in the pack. I followed the Korean style I saw in the internet. First is to rub the chicken with salt and pepper. Then, instead of mixing the batter with water, I used egg.  I also added several spoonfuls of cornstarch for the batter to make it thicker. Then instead of frying the chicken only once, I tried double frying. I do not know why, but it just makes a lot of difference on the crispyness of the chicken. You will be needing plenty of oil for frying. First you have to make sure that the oil is hot enough, heat it for around 7-8 minutes. Then fry the chicken for 10 minutes. Let it stand for around 2 minutes. Since I did my frying in batches, I had to complete the all the batches for first frying before I did the second round. For the second round of frying, you will see the transformation from being soggy to really crispy. After the second round of frying, using the sauce provided in the pack, I just tossed the chicken in a container and shook it with the sause.

So last Sunday, our family enjoyed a feast of simple yet very delicious fried chicken.

Wais Wednesday #8: Color Coding

This is not about the UVVRP (The Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program), but our self imposed color coding scheme for the two boys to distinguish their things in school. We bought their items using their respective favorite colors. This way, we can tell who left what just by simply looking at the color without the need to inspect the items inside. 


This has worked for us and one of the factors that help us get by even in the absence of helper at home. 

Wais Wednesday #7: Manuka Honey

I first learned about Manuka Honey from a friend who takes it for acid reflux. I had to take it then, instead of Nexium which was prescribed by my doctor for acid reflux. I always opt for home remedies than prescription or over the counter drugs.

I had this cough for the past two weeks. After first week of increased liquid intake, I decided to see our doctor at the office clinic. Cough has gone bad and so inconvenient at night, even my whole family is awake when I would cough so hard. As usual, doctor prescribed cough medicine and zithromax antibiotic. I had never taken zithromax before, but I heard it was very potent that you only have to take it for three days and happy days are back again.

I am having second thoughts if I would take the prescription or not, so days had passed before I really decided to buy meds. But before that, I first check what are the home remedies for cough and among the long list came honey. Instead of buying ordinary honey from the grocery, what came to mind is Manuka Honey because I remembered its antibacterial properties. And so finally, last Sunday, husband brought home a bottle of Manuka Honey from Healthy Options. It was pricey, but I guess, I would have spent the same amount buying antibiotics.

It was the first time in two weeks that I was able to sleep straight without any cough interruption. During the day, I also noticed reduced frequency of coughing and it was not as difficult compared to the past few days. I know I am on my way to recovery, at the same time, tummy won't be suffering from antibiotics which kills not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria. So the next time someone from family is going to have cough, a spoonful of honey will surely replace prescription drugs. Safe and effective.

Wais Wednesday #6: Kalakal

In our household, we practice waste segregation. We have at least three waste bins, one is for food scraps and anything biodegradable, second for the recyclables and lastly anything in between.

The food scraps are collected by the property management maintenance team two times a day, in the morning and in the afternoon, a little after lunch.

The recyclables or often referred to as "kalakal" by the maintenance team are collected and sold to a nearby junk shop or material recovery facility, and so the name "kalakal" which means trading. The money collected are pooled to fund their quarterly rice subsidy, of which they source from
Camaso Rice Dealer.

I just wish that every household will do waste segregation. Not only that we care about the environment but at the same time we help those who make our hallways, common areas, pool and other areas clean, just a way of thanking them for a job well done.

Wais Wednesday #5: School Reminders

I have two boys in grade school now so imagine how difficult it is to keep track of the homeworks, quizzes, schedules and things to bring.

I see to it that I check their assignmet notebooks as soon as I get home, and at the same time look at their respective notebooks, workbooks and books to ensure that they have done what is due for the following day.

However, there are just homeworks and notices that are given way ahead of time. This brings the challenge of tracking and monitoring. To avoid surprises, I have converted our big calendar, the give away calendars from rice mill, to a big bulletin board. Using post its, the kids will write down what is due on a particular day, be it homework, quiz or what have you, and stick it on the day it is due. Everyday, we can look at the calendar and have a snapshot of the two boys' class schedule.

Wais Wednesday #4: Class Schedule

I am now on the fourth week of Wais Wednesday. This is the first time I became consistent in posting a series here in my blog.

This week let me share you what I did on my kids subject plastic envelopes. In their school, they are required to have 6 plastic envelope. Each envelope will contain all the materials (notebook, book, workbook, folder and what have you) for a single subject. This way, the kids will just take out the envelope for a particular subject and all things are supposed to be inside this envelope.

Last year, everyday, for my older son, we have to look at his schedule to check if all his subject envelopes for the day are inside his bag. There are days that he forgets his subject envelope since the schedules are different everyday.

This year, since we have two kids in school, with no help to prepare breakfast and lunch in the morning, we cannot squeeze in the time to do the checking everymorning for the two boys. So what I did is I put a masking tape on the envelope and wrote down the schedule days for the particular subject. This way, a day before, they will be responsible in removing today's subject from their bags and put tomorrow's subject inside their bags. This also makes it easier for them to identify easily which subjects they need to focus on the following day.

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.

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.