My little Sanctuary...

My husband and I bought our first house back in 2003. It is a three-bedroom house with a study room and a front and rear garden. We bought the property from an elderly woman who, no doubt absolutely adored her garden. I had never done any gardening myself, but both my parents have green thumb, so I was confident enough that I would be able to handle this enormous task that the old woman left to me.

Since then, we have made two major transformations to the garden. In 2007, we removed a lot of bushy plants and big pine trees. Perhaps when the old woman planted all these she didn’t realize it would be overcrowded in a few years time. It was starting to look like a jungle and I was getting tired of pruning and trimming so we decided in the end to just pull them out. A big part of it then became bare so my cousin helped me add a few little plants that don’t really grow too big. We also planted a cherry blossom tree right in the middle of the garden.

Weeds kept on growing, overshadowing the little plants so it didn’t really work out and we had to move them to the front garden. We hired a gardener to lay down grass on the lawn instead (keeping the cherry blossom in the middle) and I think this works better.

I have planted different bulbs that come out different times of the year so the garden never runs out of flowers. It’s always a joy to see them come out so beautifully.

Now that we are moving to a different city, I’d say this is one of the things that I will miss most. I just hope the next person to look after this little oasis will have green thumbs as well...

Keepsakes...

My husband and I are in the process of moving to a different city. Moving house is a stressful business, for me anyway. But I suppose the good thing about it is you get to sort out a lot of your old stuff and it gives you chance to de-clutter (if you are not a hoarder!).

Between my husband and me, I am the hoarder. I keep a lot of souvenirs from places I've been. From bus/train tickets to maps and plastic bags! I am hopeless! I cannot keep on doing this as all these "collections" are taking so much space and not to mention gathering a lot of dust! So I said to myself, this time I will be ruthless. I will have to keep my souvenirs to an absolute minimum.

I started collecting stamps when I was in high school. Back in those days, posting personal, handwritten letters was still very much "in". Among my other collections are post cards, mostly places that I've visited. Sometimes I forget what the place or statue or palace is called, so it's always handy with the post card as it usually gives details in the card. I also like collecting coins. When my friends and I did a Europe Rail Tour in 2002 I was able to collect different coins because the "Euro" didn't exist back then.

I love keeping mementos as well. I have all the cards and letters my husband and I gave each other since we've met. It's just so sweet to read them over and over again. I still have a letter from my Dad (R.I.P.) when I moved to Europe in year 2000. Sadly he passed away in 2005, and it always brings tears to my eyes and at the same time a smile to my face whenever I read it. I have also kept a copy of a three-page letter my husband wrote to my parents when he first told them we were moving in together. He didn't know my native language back then, and my parents couldn't understand English so I translated his lettter, and he painstakingly wrote it back again in Tagalog.

All these keepsakes matter to me. Each little piece tells a story. Seeing or reading them again brings me back to some distant memories. And each time, it gives joy to my heart.

Now my job is done. All keepsakes are in one box. And no material things could ever be any more precious than what is in that box.

Time for a Treat!

One of the things I enjoy most is tea time with a little treat on the side. A good friend of ours brought us her homemade carrot cake one time and I fell in love with it. Most people I know are not fond of carrot cake, but this recipe (with a little twist of my own) always makes them cross to the other side! So I want to share it with you and I hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients for two loaves (can be halved to make just one loaf):

· 2 cups self-raising flour

· 1 cup self-raising wholemeal flour

· 1 tsp mixed spice

· ½ tsp salt

· 2 ½ cups caster sugar

· 2 ½ cups sunflower oil

· 4 eggs

· 1 tbsp vanilla extract

· 3 cups grated carrot

Procedures:

1. Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 3. Line two loaf tins with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift flour. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.

3. Divide into two loaf tins.

4. Bake for an hour.

Topping (Icing):

· 6 oz cream cheese

· 2 oz butter

· Juice of one lemon

· 12 oz icing sugar

Procedures:

1. Mix together.

2. Spoon on top of cooled carrot cake.

I know following recipes from cookbooks is never easy. Sometimes it leads to disaster and disappointment. Don’t lose heart when it doesn’t work the first time, practice makes perfect! Don’t be afraid to make some adjustments on the ingredients and procedures. I have written here some tips on how I make my carrot cake.

TIPS:

Sifting the flour is very important, I never take short-cuts with this, it makes the cake fluffier and lighter. When you sift wholemeal flour, it will leave some residue – don’t throw it, add it to the sifted flour. I always use my biggest bowl, this makes mixing easier (and I use a wooden spoon for mixing). You can add more of the mixed spice if you prefer a stronger taste, but I just want a hint of spice infused into the carrot cake. For the eggs, use large ones. I like using organic free range eggs, a little bit pricier but it gives a nicer colour to the cake (not pale compared to using battery eggs). Vanilla extract has a lovely flavour, I never use vanilla essence, it’s a poor imitation of the “real one”. When grating the carrots, use the finer side of the grater. I always line my tins with greaseproof paper. This prevents the cake from sticking into my Teflon tins (once you scratch your Teflon, sad to say it’s gone). I usually check the cake on the 50^th minute, if it’s nearly done (not wobbly and top is a little bit brownish), turn off the oven but leave the cake inside with the oven door closed. Then when the hour is completed, leave the door ajar (this will prevent the cake from collapsing). For the topping, let the butter soften before you mix it with the cream cheese. If it’s fresh from the fridge, microwave for about a minute on the lowest power, do not let the butter melt! If the butter is melted, it will result in a runny topping. You can add more or less of the icing sugar depending on your taste.

Now all you need to do is reward yourself with a big slice and have it with a nice cup of tea! Enjoy!

Evolution on my plate . . . .

I like hearing stories about my parent’s childhood. It allows me to have a glimpse of what life was like when they were younger. One thing that interests me was the way they ate, and the way that they prepared their food. Back then, as I was told, in the 1950’s, they didn’t have to buy their food. They gathered vegetables from the farm, meat from their own livestock, fish from the nearby river and rice from the fields that they tilled. They only had to go to the market twice a month to stock up on salt, bagoong (shrimp paste) and a few other necessities.

When I was growing up, in the 1970’s, my parents more or less still grew the food that we ate. Every single meal was prepared and cooked as we ate them. Chocolates were a rare treat, we were lucky if we had them once a year. My cousins and I would feast on the abundant fruit-bearing trees that grow around the farm. It was amazing, we just ate whatever was there and in season.

The first time I was away from home was when I went to University in Manila. I shared an apartment with my cousins and we would take turns cooking. We had adopted the way of our parents, there was no other way that we knew. We would go to the market and shop for our week’s supply of food and take turns cooking the same food that we were accustomed to.

When I settled in Ireland, in the year 2000, I was exposed to many different types of food and ways of preparing them. Most of the time there is hardly any preparation at all. Supermarkets and grocery stores are packed with ready-made food. Just stick it in the microwave for five minutes and presto, dinner is served! Another option is the popular and convenient take-away meals such as Chinese, Indian, Pizza, Fish and Chips which all seem to be around every corner. I thought at the beginning that these were brilliant, it saved me a lot of time and effort.



There was no more need for all the hassle of chopping and cooking and washing-up in the kitchen. But what I didn’t realize was that all this convenience was slowly but surely sucking me into a vortex of bad food habits! My clothes went up two sizes and from being 45 kilos in weight I maxed out at a whooping 60 kilos! And why is this? Because all of these “options” are full of saturated fats, salt, preservatives, and sugar which are not exactly good for your health.

Right there and then I knew I had to unlearn my bad food habits. I may not be able to go back to the time where my parents grew everything in their backyard but I can surely start with eating properly and cutting bad processed food. Since then I have gone back to my kitchen and prepared food in the traditional way. This presented me with the opportunity to rekindle my love for cooking. And now I am happy with my weight, and I feel a lot healthier and I feel good!