Ibyang
Ibyang

BananaQ “Me” Time

Because I had so many things to do today (even if I was on a day-off), I spent my “me” time during lunch over a cup of Camomile Tea and BananaQ.

I attended an appointment and some errands in the morning and as I was on my way home, I passed by the Filo resto and saw that they were selling BananaQs today. I bought two sticks (one for me and one for the Husby) and was surprised to know that it cost AUD$3.00 per stick–mahal!!!!! If I convert that to PHPeso, that’ll be approximately P120+. Mygulay! Magkano na ba ang BananaQ sa Pinas ngayon???? I seriously wanna know.

Oh well, I bought it anyway and savored it to the last bit while I drank a cup of Camomile Tea.

My “me” time today was very unusual as I spent it having lunch, watching “Ellen” and doing a batch of laundry. Usually, my “me” times are very sacred, as in no TV, no electronic machines buzzing on the background and most importantly, no household chores involved.

I had to bend the rule a bit and be more flexible today as I really have my hands full at the moment. October is just so so so busy for me and the Husband both at work and in the household.

I’ve been working on a big project at work as my team and I are about to launch a new training program next week (D day is 2nd November). I’m excited and I’m all wired up about it–some days I’m exhausted but I can’t sleep much because I can’t stop thinking about it. For the past week, I’ve been spending more time at the office or I bring home work with me just to beat deadlines–which is another rule I’m not following right now.

Husband, on the other hand, has been blessed with so much work as well. He has a project involving their company’s branch in the UK. The past weekend was crazy as he was on-call from Friday night until Sunday. Some days, he works on UK time too, hence, he sometimes finish work at home by 2AM and then he still has to attend work in Sydney. Crazzyyyy.

As for the household, we’ve been juggling managing the home and attending parties :). This month, our weekends were spent mostly partying with friends and relatives–we attended housewarming parties, birthday parties, a welcome party, a debut and a wedding. Quota na kami!!! hehe. We’re really grateful for the invites we received–for us, those were all blessings. We’re sorry for the ones we weren’t able to attend (yes, sa lagay na yan, hindi pa namin lahat napuntahan. Sorry talaga). And one more thing, we also hosted dinner for a friend who visited from Manila.

So there, a little update from our little world out here. That’s why I’m sometimes delayed with articles and photo uploads. I’m sorry if I haven’t been visiting blogs. I will surely bloghop as soon as things get back to normal.

Sending out positive vibes to you. Have a great and productive week! 

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Rey and Bhenie Wedding

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. 🙂

Today we celebrated Bhenie’s union with Rey.

Those were just a few snippets of this afternoon’s LOVEly celebration filled with happiness for the newlywed couple as they were surrounded by loved ones who congratulated and wished the best for them in their journey as Husband and Wife.

To our friends Rey and Bhenie, we wish you blissful days ahead as you face each day hand-in-hand TWOgether. God bless you always.

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Twogether in the Kitchen :)

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A few months ago, I checked my list of “Things I want to do this year” and one of them was “To bake (?)”. Yes, that’s exactly how I wrote it, with a question mark.

Why a question mark on my desire to bake? Here’s my reasons:
(1) I’m what you call a “cooking” person. Ask me to cook and I would gladly do it. Cooking excites me, de-stresses me and fulfills me. Baking, on the other hand, does not entice me. I can bake but I’m not passionate about it the way I am with cooking.

(2) I love cakes and some certain desserts once in a while but sweets are something I can do without for a long time. Hence, I feel no urge to bake…when I have cravings for cake, I just buy a slice thinking it is the most practical thing to do.

(3) Live simply, that’s what I say. When I want cake, I just buy it. No more fuss, no more dramas.

This year, our kitchen’s life turned upside down when suddenly, out of nowhere, the Husband expressed his desire to bake. I’m like” Wow, where did that come from???”. You see, the Husband seldom steps foot in the kitchen except to wash dishes or help me clean up. He may know how to cook the basic Filipino dishes, but I have always managed cooking on my own and only ask for help when things are hectic in the household.

One night he told me that he wanted to bake cupcakes. So one fine Saturday, we trooped down to the shops and bought baking equipments, (we never had baking equipments as I never really intended to bake at home) ingredients and lots of edible decors for cakes.

Our first baking project twogether were these vanilla cupcakes:

Since it was our first try at making cupcakes, the goal was just to learn and have fun and I’m glad that we were able to achieve both. 🙂 The big bonus was that the vanilla cupcakes turned out delicious and moist. On how we decorated our cupcakes, we just followed our creative instincts.

Husband was very pleased with his newfound hobby and it seems that he does have talent when it comes to baking. For one, he has a sweet tooth (can’t live without chocolates or desserts) and second, the designing part of cakes is an outlet of his creative talent (He’s a graphic artist).

The second time we made cupcakes, we tried making statement cupcakes. We have this concept of “I do…me too!” that we plan to make t-shirts and mugs for us (Chris being “I do”, me being “me too!”)…like marriage vows, only cooler and cuter haha. Since our plan hasn’t materialized yet, we wrote it in cupcakes in the meantime.

For more photos of our cupcake creations, please check them out here:

Cupcakes by Chris and Ibyang Part 1 and Part 2

Other than cupcakes, the Husband also bakes Friands (nut-based mini-cakes, see photos below) in different flavors (blueberry, apple, almonds, milk and white chocolate) now. And I’m proud to say that I can now leave him alone. I help him a bit but he can really bake on his own.

For his birthday party last month, we were equally pretty busy in the kitchen: me cooking and him baking (he baked Friands for our guests). For me, that was such a beautiful sight! Other than dreaming of learning how to bake this year, I also dreamed that one day my Husband and I would find ourselves twogether in the kitchen—I never thought it would happen so soon and I never thought that he would love doing it. At least now, we also have time spent bonding in the kitchen.

Soon, I will be sharing with you the recipes of my Husband’s sweet creations. In the meantime, I wish you a sweet and happy weekend!

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Celebrating Milestones at the Night Noodle Festival

Spent late Thursday afternoon at the Night Noodle Festival. Been going to this festival since 2006 and I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Very convenient as it goes on for two weeks and starts at 5:00pm. Perfect for people who just came out of the office.

It’s also but fitting to end my workweek by having dinner at the park and pre-celebrate with my Husband two happy milestones: my 4th anniversary here in the Land Down Under and our 1st anniversary in our first ever “munting tahanan” (yes, 1 year na kaming nagbabahay-bahayan!!!:)), both events incidentally happened on the 16th of October 🙂

On to the Night Noodle Festival, as soon as we got there, we lined up to get these free bags from The Sydney Morning Herald. Inside it were a couple of promo catalogues for Crave’s October Festivities and some pins. Nothing much really but the recycle bags are useful and pretty enough (the shade was Olive Green which I love).

Then we got a few free Ferrero Rondnoir chocolates, Ferrero’s newest chocolate. If you’re a fan of dark chocolates, this one is for you.

After that sugar rush, we lined up to get our real dinner. Off to the Dim Sum Station we go to have our Yum Cha fixes.

Fresh from the steamer Pork Buns and Pork Siomai and fried Vegetable Spring Rolls.

For our noodle craving, we had our last stop at Thai Express for some Pad Thai and Satay Chicken.

With dinner on our hands, we found our spot at Hyde Park and had a laid-back dinner as we wait for night time to appear. Thank God for the great weather. Still cold and windy but at least the sun shone that day and that really helped.

I loved our simple dinner immensely. We were in a festival and yet I felt so peaceful just sitting on the grass, surrounded by trees and a fountain, of happy people and of course in the great company that is my Husband. Our dinner was sort of a Thanksgiving for the four years that I’ve been in Sydney and for the 1st year of happy, peaceful living in our first home.

After dinner, we explored Art & About where you’ll see the finalists in Sydney Life, the much-loved exhibition of large scale photographs depicting Sydney.

This is my favorite photograph of all. This is a photograph of an old Filipino Couple who finally got married in church 75 years after their civil wedding ceremony. I like it because it was such a moving photograph, really speak volumes.

When you say large scale photographs, this was how big the photographs were.

The Husband took lots of photos that night…this was my favorite. Somehow describes a lot of things going on in my life on my 4th year here in Sydney: ever-changing, ever-vibrant, ever-challenging but always ever-fabulous.

For more photos, please click this: Night Noodle Festival and Art & About 2009.

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Litratong Pinoy: Maagap

Ito ang aking lahok para sa Litratong Pinoy ngayong Huwebes na may temang MAAGAP.

Ganitong oras ako gumigising tuwing ako’y may pasok sa opisina.

Kami ay may alarm clock, pero mas sanay na ako ngayon na gamitin ang alarm feature ng aking mobile phone

Pwede naman akong magpa-tanghali ng gising dahil flexible time kami sa opisina pero masasabi ko na ako ay isang “morning person”. Pag maaga akong dumarating sa opisina, mas productive ako at mas focused sa trabaho. At bilang isang wifey, mas gusto ko rin kasing nakakauwi nang mas maaga (alas-kwatro ng hapon) para mas maaga akong makapaghanda ng hapunan at mas maaga rin akong makapahinga sa bahay.

Pag nag-alarm na ang aking mobile phone, babatiin ka pa niya ng isang masayang umaga!

Kayo, anong oras kayo gumigising pag merong kayong pasok? Share naman dyan 😉

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