kusina xprmnt: unmodified french toast

i remember the first time i've tried a french toast... i was in first year college and my boardmate just thought of making some for everyone in the boarding house... what i can remember is the soft creamy feel of the bread... which made me compare it to pancakes...but a whole lot better.... been wanting to try making it myself... and 14years after finally i get to... ha!

the first attempt was a bit of a failure... bread still tasted bread... the following day, i increased the milk so the bread can absorb some more.... it tasted better but something's still lacking... i guess it's butter, i skipped butter so my diabetic mom can have a few bites too... but i think the next batch would really need some butter.... and some maple syrup too!!! :-)

here's how i tried to copy some french toast recipe... i did not try to do anything unusual... just trying if i can pull this off... will be more daring in the next batches... :D

what you'll need:

4 eggs

4-5 tablespoon of condensed milk (or more if you want!!)

half a cup of evaporated milk

half a tablespoon of vanilla extract

6-8 slices of day old bread

a little olive oil (butter would be a yummier choice here)

the how:

1.) mix eggs and all the milk and vanilla in a bowl. ensure bowl is big enough to allow soaking of the bread later

2.) soak in the slices of bread in the mixture... let it absorb the liquid...

3.) heat the pan (non stick so you won't have a hard time doing this!) and add a little olive oil... (butter butter butter's better!)

4.) place the soaked bread and let it have some burned color before turning to the other side... careful not to overdo one side otherwise your french toast will just taste burned...

5.) serve it with anything you want... sausage or some fruit would be nice... :-)

back of Pulong Bato trek

here's a long overdue post... we did this trek back in March (2012 that is hehe) but didn't get to blog just because I was too OC to edit all photos first before picking some to post hehe... we were still very active in March so definitely a trek is part of our weekend to-do list... our target: the trail behind Mt. Pulong Bato!

i have tried to trek the back of Pulong Bato back in highschool (i don't have any camera back then so the memory of that trip was just all in my head)... i remember huge ferns, lush trees, very fresh forest that seems to only see people on very very rare instances... i wanted to go back... this time with camera in tow to make sure i get to put the images in my mind for others to see... but those huge ferns, lush trees and untouched forest seem to have disappeared... well probably because we went there when summer heat's starting to burn things around... there are more dried leaves along the trek and a few moss and ferns in some areas that remain moist and cool...the little community at the foot of the mountain that i remember from the long ago trek had become bigger this time...the river is a bit dry, no rains in our place for several days... but that cool-trees-and-mountain feel remains...

photo by Juvee

after a 15min walk from the jeepney stop, we paused for a quick shot of the back of Mt. Pulong Bato. The back looks very much like the side facing the city.

i love how rustic and quiet the whole place feels... dirt road + rockful of semi-dry river + hanging bridge + coconut and acacia trees = looooove!

we're running again!

after what feels like months of not running and binging, we were back on the tracks again... it seems like it's hard to push ourselves to start again, took a lot of will power to fight off laziness and the rain (yes rain...one of our excuse! so yey for itlog powers!)

run mode's back, appetite's finally controlled... we'll see if we'll get anywhere in a month... :-)

i hope this post will not jinx the momentum... :-)

unang paoweekend of June

one of those really great ordinary days! :-) 

more wrestling time...bird watching....butiki spotting... practice balance... hand clapping... wilkins bottle drummin'... kuna bumps... puppies play... kiliti giggles... solid food experiments... cawa-cawa crawl... morning walks... alien language conversations... 

...and some passenger seat wrestling too!!!

oh boys! i really believe now that baby boys are such bundles of energy!!!

now i have someway to put all my "hyperness" into! every weekend is such a treat... the little buddy always have something new for us. :-) 

sugpo skewers! perfect for picnics!

here's a very easy picnic grilled food recipe that will surely be a hit! :-) well for one because it's sugpo! (or let's call it prawns to make it a little susyal!)

Here's what you'll need:

1 kilo sugpo or prawns

1 big white onion cut into cubes

10 tomatoes cut into cubes

salt

pepper

dried basil leaves

2 lemon

barbecue sticks

how to raise a football player

actually, i don't have any idea.... the daddy's such a sports fan (basketball most specially) so he got the little boy these balls even when he was just 2months old i think... now that he's almost 8months and has mastered cruising around his crib (front or backways), the balls are finally useful! :-) 

last sunday (May27), i was cheering his cruising around the crib when he started kicking these balls... good thing mommy's camwhore skills' still good, was able to get the cam while he's still in the mood for kickballs! :-) those legs, oohhh they have real good grip im'ma tell you! they grab waaay better than his arms! so i wonder, will he really be playing football later? ha! stagemom mode! well, cliche as it may sound, whatever he wants... but mommy's surely gonna be around to play with him too! :-)

we've finally met McArthur! (Tacloban City)

...and finally, i will be able to continue my Tacloban series... hehe this was a trip I had with my GE buddy Ezra back in 2010 (before I got married and got myself a baby!)... i started the series but didn't get to finish, so here's another attempt to complete it, i'm just too OC to let go and leave it undone hehe :D

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when we travel we as much as possible try not to be too touristy... but Mr. McArthur seems to be too irresistible so we included him in our IT... The park is located in Palo, Leyte, some 5kilometers or so from Tacloban. The fun part here is more on figuring out how to get to the park, we opted to commute around Tacloban instead of hiring a ride so we spent some time trying to find the jeepney's terminal. 

here's a few facts i read about the creator of the Leyte Landing Memorial (from Ivy Eunice's blog): 

• the taller-than-life McArthur and gang was made by Anastacio Tanchangco Caedo (1907-1990) from Batangas. 
• He was mentored by Guillermo Tolentino (creator of the UP Oblation among others). He assisted Tolentino in most of his works. 
• Guillermo Tolentino actually modeled The UP Oblation through Anastacio Caedo's physique, not by the famous Fernando Poe Sr. 

Among McArthur's landing gang, this particular character had become my fave. Well, for the simple reason that he's the only one without anything on his head. :-) hehe

Read from this post that there were some historians who said that it actually took them 5hours and 3 takes to create that historic "I have returned" video of McArthur. Craziness! 

labor day at the pond

this year's labor day was one of the hottest day this summer... and since our side of the world was still infested with 6-8hrs of blackouts at that time we decided to head to the fishpond where fresh air is unlimited. 

the pao enjoyed himself soooo much with his bird watching... nothing gets his attention better than birds flying near or far... :-) he's in his best element when he doesn't have to sweat because we have a good supply of cool wind! more outdoor little trips for us sweetheart! :-)

aratiles hunt on Mothers' Day

we've spent mothers' day in my inlaws' farm... and while checking around i immediately spotted the 2 aratiles trees! we ransacked it for whatever little ripe aratiles it can give us... this picking of aratiles is definitely one of the fun memories i have from my childhood... i love the picking part more than eating the harvest! i enjoy spotting ripes and trying to get it, either we climb or jump for the fruit or even put our sungkit skills to test! :-) what made it more fun this time is because i have my little pao with us! he's loving the outdoors already... but i think he's not used to some fun riot yet because he cried when we were laughing and shouting over a datiles that's hard to reach...he had fun overall though, and so did all of us!


he got acquainted with cats and pigs and cows, just a few animals that doesn't exists in our place. :-) i love that he's not afraid to be brought near them, and even wants his feet touch and feel cats and cows and pigs hehehe


here's a little photodiary of that day!

chillax at the pink sand beach

this will be our only beach trip this summer... take note, just this summer... hehehe because there'll be more for the rest of the year, that's for sure! :-)

we've been to Sta Cruz Island several times, this is my 4th i think...so we were not that excited anymore, but still we wanted to feel summer and so off we go... the plan: just chill at the beach before we need to turn to our busy bees mode in the next days... 

a little dip before everybody else arrived in the island that day, a very sumptuous feast, lots of laughtrip and camwhoring galore... that's our little way to chillax. :-)