The past week, summarized:
I was just a little late. False alarm, folks.Day 116
I was just a little late. False alarm, folks.Author: hitormissus
Hi, I'm Carla. I'm a writer and a homeschooling mom to Hannah, 5, and Rafael, 2.
I was just a little late. False alarm, folks.Day 107
Random person: Hey, are you pregnant already?
Me: No, not yet.
This simple exchange is so ordinary that it should not merit a blog entry. Except that it has happened about 15 times this month alone. Random people — from clients to friends, have been asking if I am already with child. Some have even had the audacity to reach out and rub my belly.
At first, I thought it came with the package of being a newlywed. I was all smiles when I would reply in the negative followed promptly with an excited “soon”. Eventually, I realized that it’s because I”M FAT. I gained a monstrous amount of weight since getting married and it’s showing in the tightness of my clothes and the words that fly out of the mouths of people.
- me, after the marriage
12 lbs. may not seem a lot, but when you’re just barely above 5’1″, it really shows. And oh man, does it put on a show. My thighs have been belting out a full on performance.
I mean, come on. People have been asking, nay, accusing me of being pregnant.
So what to do? I shuffle over to my husband and whine about how fat I feel, in the hopes that he will be upset at the absurd suggestion that I gained weight. He then leans over and whispers reassuringly, “You’re not fat. You’re just a little chunkier.”
- *head explodes*
I obviously married an honest man.
Day 102
After a hiatus from blogging, I am back with a vengeance. Or at least, a good dinner idea.
Work and everyday existence is the ultimate energy-zapper. The past couple of weeks, I’ve been trudging around mechanically: answering emails-doing laundry-heading off to events-sleeping. On some nights, I barely had the energy toss my bag on the sofa. I sleep with my work clothes still on, teeth unbrushed, and shoes kicked off as my husband looks on, aghast. I guess it’s safe to say that the honeymoon haze has been lifted.
I would love to say that I’m a little peppy, beacon of sunshine but the truth is my personality has always been on the acerbic side. Especially when I’m sleepy. My husband affectionately calls me a grump. But, I am happy to say that I have redeemed myself a little bit with dinner the other night.
Porkchops with Caramelized Onions
What You Need
1/2 kilo porkchops
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbs. sugar
vinegar
salt
pepper
3 whole onions
olive oil
vegetable oil
Dissolve the sugar in soy sauce. Add vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. Marinade the pork chops for at least two hours. Fry in vegetable oil.
For the caramelized onions, add some olive oil to a pan under medium high heat. Add the onions. I used red onions but I think white or yellow ones would be better. Once the onions are translucent, bring down the heat to the lowest possible setting. Cook it down until it starts to look soft and caramelized. It usually takes about 30 minutes. It may seem like a long time spent to cook onions but they are the best, I swear.
Zucchini and cherry tomatoes
What you need:
Two whole zucchinis, diced
A package of cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt
Steam the zucchinis and tomatoes. It’s best when they are barely cooked. The center of the zucchini (don’t peel them!) should still be firm. It takes about five minutes. After, add some olive oil and season with a little bit of salt.
This is the simplest, most amazing side dish ever. The zucchinis are mildly sweet and then when you bite into a whole tomato, it pops in a burst of tangy goodness. So fun to eat.
Day 69
In our quest to become choose healthy when it comes to eating, we have welcomed bell pepper wraps into our rotation.
What you need:
4 pieces bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1/4 kilo ground beef
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
whole wheat tortillas
shredded lettuce
Onions
Procedure:
Cook the ground beef in a little bit of olive oil. Drain the excess fat and add the bell peppers. Add the oyster sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer a bit until the bell peppers are cooked. Heat up the tortillas and assemble. We topped ours with the shredded lettuce and caramelized onions.
Day 68
Work has been brutal — if not depressing — the past couple of weeks so this blog slid down into my list of priorities. The thing that snapped me out of my long discourse with my career to get online is strangely enough, baking soda. Otherwise known as white fluffs of laundry heaven.
To contextualize, laundry has been the bane of my existence ever since we got married. The washing machine never really worked properly, there was never any room to hang the clothes out to dry, and everyday stains would just appear, well, everyday.
I finally saw the light when I encountered an article* on how baking soda can be used to make whites appear whiter. I got around to trying it the other day and in a whoa moment. It actually works. Crazily so. I added about five tablespoons of baking soda in the amount of water it takes to cover the 10-piece load and let it soak for about 30 minutes. The whites really did look brighter, whiter, newer! For tougher stains, I made a paste out of baking soda and water and rubbed it directly onto the fabric. It was a Didi Seven** moment – the second the paste was swiped over the fabric, the stains magically disappeared.
I can’t even begin to say how excited I am with this new discovery and laundry trick. I can, however, tell you how strange it feels to be so excited over laundry matters.
* I can’t seem to find the original article I read that led me to such a wondrous tip. This pretty much says the same thing though.
** When I was a kid, Didi Seven was my favorite commercial on the Home Shopping Network.
Day 48
Dinner over the past two days has taken on some form of a theme. The other night, it was lemons. Last night, honey was the star at the dinner table.
I wanted to make beef pares ever since I encountered this article on Spot.ph. I’ve actually never had pares before, which is a sticky situation when you’re cooking something. I just followed the recipe here although I did substitute the beef with chicken (just because I wanted to finish up the chicken before buying any more meats) and the sugar with honey.
I suggest to skim the fat off while the chicken simmers so it would not be too oily. I also separated some of the broth before I thickened the sauce to make a soup. Paired with garlic rice topped with caramelized onions (makes a world of difference instead of just frying the onions with the rice and garlic), it seemed like a pretty decent interpretation of beef pares. I still have no idea what pares is supposed to taste like but dinner was pretty good.
I also wanted to make some kind of dessert. My sweet tooth has been neglected recently. I encountered a recipe for tapioca pudding on Heart of Light (I love you, Rachel!) and it looked amazing. It was perfect because it does not require the use of an oven, which I currently do not have and it lets me use up our overflow of tapioca (sago, for the rest of us).
I followed the recipe, with the addition of a little bit of chocolate powder and it turned out to be a huge, blobby mess. The tapioca disintegrated into mush. My theory is that the tapioca sold here does not require any soaking. After all, the instructions in the package said to just dump the contents in boiling water.
With the first version rejected, I made a second batch using honey as a flavoring. I tweaked an old custard recipe and it turned out to be just what my sweet tooth ordered.
Honey Tapioca Pudding (makes four servings — two, if you like sweets)
What you need:
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of tapioca
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1 egg yolk
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of butter
Procedure:
Cook the tapioca in boiling water until it becomes fully transparent. Stir it occasionally to prevent sticking. Drain the tapioca and let it cool once it is cooked. Dissolve the cornstarch in the milk and bring to a boil. Put in the honey — you can add more or less depending on how sweet you want it. When the mixture starts to thicken, add the beaten egg yolk. It helps to temper the egg by adding a little bit of the hot mixture into the egg before putting it back in. This prevents the egg from being scrambled. When the mixture starts to look like custard, take it off the heat and put the butter in. Fold in the tapioca and chill before serving.
If I had shot glasses, I would have served these up in them for better presentation. In this reality, I just ended up spooning the pudding in juice glasses.
Day 47
I’m a mixing flavors kind of girl. I love it when food offers a combination of flavors — sweet and salty. Salty and spicy. Sweet and sour. It is no surprise then that I love Chinese lemon chicken. Stick me in a Chinese restaurant and I will most likely emerge with my belly full of these little nuggets of heaven.
For dinner last night, I thought I should give it a go. I checked out the recipe here and here and it seemed simple enough. It turned out to be meh, although my husband loved it. I hate frying so there’s that. Also, there was a mildly bitter aftertaste with the sauce. I’m thinking I burned the cornstarch? Or maybe the white part of the lemon made it bitter? Perhaps using just the juice of the lemon and some zest would suffice.
Since I had some leftover lemons and the weather was crazy hot, it would be silly not to make some lemon iced tea.
Day 44
image from yahoo.com
Work has been particularly punishing the past couple of days and my health has not been cooperative. I encountered an interesting read on Yahoo the other day, regarding this particular book. It would have been a creative title, had the book been published before Freakonomics. Still, it is an interesting concept — the use of economics in marriage. One of the theories proffered is that couples should not divide chores equally. Instead, one has to do what one is good at: specialization to increase productivity.
In the case of this household, it’s more of I do the chores because I’m here. If no one is here, then the chores won’t get done. There is also the I hate frying so please fix dinner. There are a thousand ways to divide the tasks and we’re still getting the hang of it.
Of course, we can always rely on the invisible hand to wash the dishes. (patum-puh.)
Day 35
courtesy of my husband
image from myhphone.com
The dark cloud I have been under has been lifted. My husband generously gifted me with a new phone. He knows me too well — its nothing too techie that I would be disinterested in using it. Also, it’s encased in metal for those inevitable moments when clumsy me will drop it.
Day 33
So my rather large zit has become even bigger, if that’s possible. This is not a case of self-indulgent melodrama (or maybe it is). I just came from the dermatologist and she said it is severely infected with a very good chance of permanent scarring. I am now on loaded up on antibiotics.
It never ceases to amaze me how bad skin can ruin my day and mess up my disposition. In the grand scheme of things, it should not matter. But for someone who has had bad skin since adolescence saw the light of day, this is a big deal. I’m 28 years old. Shouldn’t I be past this?
Since bad skin, ill circumstances, and general feelings of insecurity cannot be avoided, it is best marry someone who will call you beautiful when you know for a fact that nothing can be farther from the truth.
(It also helps to marry someone who will tell you that infected pimples do not merit a trip to the emergency room.)
Hit or Missus 