I cooked: Baked Eggs and Sardines

We wanted to make something special for Father's Day beeakfast. K suggested fried eggs, or roast beef, which obviously will not make the cut. I decided on baked eggs because the girls can help me with some of the steps in making it. I've been seeing this recipe in several magazines for some time, and have been meaning to try it. We found the link to a basic recipe online, and we started preparing. I usually don't follow ingredients down to the last step... I like to improvise along the way. 

First, we put some sardines in a clay baking dish. I used a Spanish style baking dish (similar to a paellera) that we got from Terry's a long time ago. This is the kind of dish that Casa Armas would use to serve their appetizers on. Then I let the girls sprinkle on some herbs and spices - we used turmeric, sage and some pepper. I then put this dish inside the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.

After five minutes, we mixed in 4 eggs into the mixture - and let it bake in the oven for another 7 more minutes. There's no need to "scramble" the eggs... Just crack 4 eggs into a bowl and pour the eggs on top of the sardines. I let K do this step. After 7 minutes, you can take out your dish from the oven and leave it to stand and cook a bit more on its own. 

Just before eating, we sprinkle some sea salt on it for seasoning... You can do this right after you pour in the eggs too. 

This was our inspiration. 

The man of the house is still asleep... Hope he likes it! Happy father's day to all of you who have been fathers or father figures!

DIY Keychain Name Tags

There are a lot of commercial places/websites today where you can order personalized bagtags and name plates for your children. I've ordered from these places myself - they have all sorts of designs and characters. I even some from Pin of I-Prints for the little guests at my second daughter's 1st birthday party, as a special personalized souvenir. They make lovely presents for classmates and teachers too! Recently though, being the last minute person that I am - with school fast approaching, I had to make some impromptu bag tags for my daughter. I was thinking of just printing her name off the printer and having them laminated at the nearest National Bookstore.

When I got to National Bookstore, these were hanging beside the cashier.

Lightbulb moment, bright idea. I could print the info on paper, decorate with a strip of washi tape, and voila, instant keychain or name tag. 


For my keychain, I wanted information on both sides of the keychain. I cut the info into small strips and attached them back to back with washi tape at the bottom and at the top. Just make sure you center the information, leaving just enough space for about half the width of the washi tape. Fold the washi tape over to the other side to decorate other side. If you don't have information on the other side, you can always decorate the entire back portion with washi tape too.

I think I will be making a lot more of these in the future. They are cheap and great looking too.

My washi tape were all bought from Paper Chic Studio, curated by my fellow SoMom, Cai.

I cooked: Creamy Sweet Potato and Corn Soup

In Osaka, we discovered Soup Stock. They sell different types of soup, ready to drink and frozen too. It was quite a good find as they offered some very rich soup like hokkaido pumpkin soup, which was good enough to serve as a meal for my toddler S. We also got to try their Sweet Potato and Corn soup when they gave us a free taste at the Takashimaya foodhall. I personally love sweet corn, so it was big hit for me. K, my picky eater, also loved the soup. We went back to buy full servings, but that flavor had run out! I then resolved to try to make it when we get back to Manila.

So, here's my own version of Creamy Sweet Potato and Corn soup. As I'm more of an "invent your way into it" type of cook - I only have estimated measurements. I hope that you will be inspired to use this as a base for your own version! 

You will need, 1 medium sized sweet potato (we always get the ones that are orange inside),1 can of whole kernel corn (though creamed corn sounds like a good thing too, right?), 1 white onion, a few stalks of celery (we had this in the pantry, so I threw it in, but it really is optional!), 3/4 liters of chicken stock, and a cup of milk.

Chop the peeled sweet potato, onion and celery into small sized cubes.  To soften the sweet potato, I personally like to roast them by sealing them into a packet of foil and popping them into the oven toaster for about 15-20 minutes. It is my belief that doing this seals in all the nice nutrients of the sweet potato. You can opt to steam or boil if you like. 

Now here come's the one pot part. Saute white onion in oil until they are semi transparent (or you can smell them, then throw in the celery (1). After about 1 minute, pour in your chopped sweet potatoes (2). Keep stirring then pour in the can of corn (3).

You can pour in the soup stock anytime after that, then slowly trickle in the cup of milk while stirring continuously (4). Leave the pot to boil for 15-20 more minutes to further soften the vegetables. Once the vegetables are soft, let the soup cool to room temperature, then blend into a soft, creamy consistency (5).

I was pleasantly surprised by the result, the vegetables made the soup thick and frothy. Put it in a small shooter cup and it can be one of those "cappucino" style soups served in French restaurants (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but it WAS good.)  Tip: if you are making this for a baby, run it through a strainer after blending to remove the stringy bits from the celery and the corn.

Hope this makes it to your dinner table soon, and do let me know if you liked it as much as we did!

Halloween Treat Packs!

It's K's second year in pre-school and also her second time to celebrate Halloween, in an organized way (thanks to toddler school!). This year, she wants to be Princess Aurora. Finally, that costume from Disney will be put to good use. How she will survive 3 hours in a skirt with wire hoops is another matter.

This year, I thought it would be nice to make small treat bags for her friends. My criteria for the treat bags are: materials should be readily available at home or from bookstores/supermarkets, creation should not require a lot of pattern tracing or paper folding (printables welcome), and K should be able to help me with the production. So i searched the internet - and found these four ideas for Halloween trick or treat bags. Click on the links for more detailed instructions or use your imagination and make your own just by looking at the pictures.

1. Halloween Crackers. These are reminiscent of British New Year poppers. Cardboard toilet paper cores, orange crepe paper, cutouts of halloween shapes, and some tape/glue should do the trick. If you are one to save those cardboard rolls - then you should be good to go.

from www.marthastewart.com;
hot glue a plastic spider on to the roll and make it a little more spooky.

2. Personalized Treat Bags. Download a halloween font, print out a ghoulish message "boo!" on black card stock (or oslo paper for old school speak). Attach label to a sandwich bag filled with treats. More points if you can cut out the label with "drip design" and if halloween wingdings can be added on to your printouts. These will definitely be a hit for busy corporate moms like me.

from www.marthastewart.com

3. Girly Skull Cups. This is my favorite among the four, and is fast becoming the winner for my choice of treat pack design this year. Get white paper cups. Pre-cut the eyes, heart shaped nose, barred teeth, and cross bones for the back, and of course, the ribbon! With some glue, your little one should be able to help you put together this girly rockin' skull. Better yet - put double sided tape on the backs of your cutouts - to make sticking them on easier. I'm thinking of getting caps for the cups so that the treats stay put.

from www.parents.com; hot pink cups would make these cups rocker chic!

4. Pumpkin Envelopes. Those brown envelopes that get sent around the office would be perfect for these; instead of throwing them out, recycle them. Line with 2-3 black lines. Precut the triangle eyes and goofy grin. Your toddler will definitely get a kick out of designing the toothy grins. The green node and vine on top would be an added bonus. Instead of candy - you can opt to put stickers/coloring pages and a few crayons into this treat bag, and save those kids one less trip to the dentist.

www.parents.com
Ask your kids to help you draw the toothy grin.

I have 11 days to create these in time for my daughter's school celebration. Good luck to me. Happy Halloween!