Ibyang
Ibyang

Tips

Affirmation: Value Quiet Moments

Affirmation:

I value my quiet moments
as much as I value
being with
those I love.

 
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Personal Reflection:

As a wife that juggles several roles (sometimes, even in just one day), life can be pretty overwhelming. It is of normal occurrence that a friend would tell me, “You are always on-the-go” or “Ang dami mong racket/gimik! (you have a busy social life)”. And I agree, I do have an active life. Other than being a wife, I manage a home, have a full-time job, I have relatives and friends that I regularly see and parties that I organize with them, I blog and maintain friendships online too, I read a book and watch TV everyday, my parents and I talk on the phone every weekend (one to two hours) and my husband and I have our projects (photography and graphic design) as well. I have a full life and I’m happy that everyday, I’m productive as I can be.

Do I get tired? Yes, once in a while I do get tired. But almost always, being with family and friends and doing things I love, never really exhaust me. They are actually the source of my joy and adrenalin.

However, I have one big secret that I will share with you—and that is how I’m able to manage my time well and not end up exhausted with all my activities.

On top of all the things I do on a daily and weekly basis, I’m able to allot time for myself (that’s why I sometimes blog about my “Me” time). Time for myself is a sacred, sacred, sacred thing. I have my daily quiet times and I have my weekly “Me” times.

A few years back, doing all the things I love made me feel very tired and sometimes I hated going to work. Then I learned about the value of having quiet moments and having “me” times. It did wonders to me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually when I started allotting time for myself on a daily and weekly basis. Nowadays, I rarely experience PMS or get depressed and I like going to work even on a Monday.

Here are some ways I’m able to have my quiet times in day:

1. I wake up a few minutes before the alarm and just stay in bed for awhile. Eyes still closed, I’d say my morning prayers and count my blessings.

2. In the afternoon, I’d sometimes have an extra 30-40 minutes of walking. I get to de-stress and exercise when I do that.

3. I go home early and have a quiet moment at home while cooking dinner and waiting for my Husband to come home from work. The first 15 minutes that I arrive home, I spend sitting down while I sip a glass of warm honey lemon juice or a glass of wine.

4. On Fridays when I’m off from work, I spend a few hours at a cafe, have a cup of coffee while I write on my journal.
Those are just a few usual things I do to achieve a more balanced and stable spirit. You can be more creative and adjust the activities so that it’ll suit you more.
 
The best thing I learned in having quiet moments is that I never run out of energy to fulfill my duties, I’m more at peace and I’m able to give more quality time for others.
Wishing you all a great week!

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Recipe: Bicol Express

9 April 2010 9 Comments Category: Recipes, Tips

I never cooked this dish when I was in the Phils because my Mom doesn’t like spicy foods. I usually order this whenever I’m at restaurants. 



  
Now that I live here in Sydney, I had to learn how to cook this because it’s rarely that I eat at Filipino Restaurants.

I only started cooking this dish early this year. I once brought this to a party and my friends loved it. This is a promised post to my friend Rachelle, who’s been waiting for me to share this–so here it is Rache, this recipe post is for you. 🙂

What you need:

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped up and smashed
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 small can of Coconut Cream (about 120-150 grams)
1/2 cup of water
200 grams green chillies (you can add more if you want your dish super spicy)
1/2 kilo Pork Rashers
2 teaspoons of Shrimp Paste or Bagoong
300 grams Baguio Beans
Salt, to taste

In preparing your chillies:

1. Remove the stems from the chillies.
2. Take the first half of the chillies, slice lengthwise and remove seeds and piths, then cut into small bits.
3. For the second half of the chillies, cut into small bits pieces with pith and seeds intact.
4. Wear gloves when slicing the chillies so that your fingers won’t burn.
5. If you don’t want your Bicol Express too spicy, remove ALL seeds and piths.

What you need to do:
1. Saute onion and garlic in oil.

2. Add coconut cream, water and pork. Let it simmer until pork is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Throw in the green chillies and Baguio beans. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes and wait for sauce to thicken.
4. Add the Shrimp paste (Bagoong) and let it sit for a minute or two.

Some tips:
1. You can also use Coconut Milk. I use Coconut Cream because I want my Bicol Express creamier.
2. Adding Baguio Beans are optional. I just like my dishes with vegetables in it.
3. I only use green chillies for Bicol Express because it is milder compared to the red chillies. I tend to be careful with how much chillies I put into this dish because not everyone has the same tolerance for spicy food.







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Recipe: Pasta in Creamy Tuna and Mushroom

25 March 2010 23 Comments Category: Food, Recipes, Tips

The following week I made my baked tuna pasta dish with red sauce, I had to make another tuna pasta dish, this time with white sauce because my Husband loves white sauce in pasta dishes.

My Husband and I are opposites when it comes to food (example: he likes dark chocolate while I like white chocolate; he likes white sauce in pasta, I like red sauce). It’s a good thing though, when we eat, there’s always a variety.

Pasta in white sauce is equally delicious. But I love pasta in tomato sauce or sauce-less pastas because it has less fat. Anyway, it’s not bad to have it once in a while, plus I get to make my Husband happier.


 
What you need:
200g cooked pasta (I used spaghetti noodles this time)
2 tbsp olive oil (or any cooking oil you choose)
I big can of Tuna
1 medium-sized onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
150g button mushrooms, sliced (or you can add more if you like)
1 medium-sized carrot, cut into small cubes
125g Fresh Cream
A dash of Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.
2. Stir in the fresh cream.
3. Add the tuna and mushroom and leave for 10 minutes.
4. Throw in carrot bits. Stir once every few minutes until sauce thickens.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add a dash of Basil.


Serve with Parmesan Cheese on top.

Tips:
a. Carrots are optional. I just add those in because I wanted to up the healthy factor of this dish and I like seeing color on the food I eat.

b. You can use bacon as an alternative to tuna. Trust me, it’s delicious.

Bon appetit!

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Saving the Environment One Plastic Bag at a Time

Finally received my package from buyinvite today.  They featured this from their site and gave members almost 50% discount.  So I had to buy, anyway, it’s for a good cause.

My Envirosax Flora Pouch.
 

Each pouch has 5 Envirosax reusable bags.

Lightweight polyester, portable, waterproof, and weighing just 1.4oz each, these groovy bags are available individually or as a series of 5 contained within a handy pouch. With reinforced seams, each surprisingly large bag can hold a weight the equivalent of two supermarket plastic bags.
 
Founded by Belinda and Mark David-Tooze in 2004, Envirosax� originates from Currumbin Valley in South East Queensland, Australia. The Envirosax team uses renewable and recyclable products where possible, and is committed to operating on ecologically sustainable principles. Read more about Envirosax here.

Why do I need 5 reusable bags? My plan is to put them in 5 different bags of mine so everytime I change bags, I would always have one wherever I go.


Australia is one country who is very concerned about the environment and it is here that I saw reusable bags being used in supermarkets. I remember my aunt from America buying tons of reusable bags whenever she visits Sydney before. My mom who vacationed here in 2004 brought home a couple of reusable bags with her and it was my first time to see such bags. I never really cared much about it at that time. I thought it was more of a marketing strategy of supermarkets in Australia. Until I migrated here, that’s when I learned more ways of helping save the environment, one of which is to bring reusable bags when you do your groceries instead of using plastic bags.

We all know the damage that plastic bag does to our environment (click click click if you don’t know!). I hope all of us do our share by minimizing the use of plastic bags and instead keep a reusable bag inside our bags wherever we go.

I always make it a point to have one reusable bag wherever I go and I somehow have a collection of them at home now. A couple of them I keep in the trunk of our car because I use them when we do our grocery and shopping. We still have a couple of plastic bags at home but we only use them for garbage. My goal is to minimize the use of plastic bags and avoid bringing home a lot of grocery bags whenever we do grocery and shopping. It took me awhile to make this a habit but nowadays, I consciously remind myself to ALWAYS bring at least one reusable bag. Sometimes, I’d forget to bring reusable bags to the grocery and I really get mad at myself whenever that happens. It may be just two or three plastic bags but still, I’m not proud of myself carrying home plastic bags nowadays.

Some other tips:
1. If you are only buying a few things and it can in fit your bag, please advice the checkout person that you don’t need your bought items to be put in a plastic bag. Just take the receipt and you will be good to go.

2. When paying for the items your chose to buy, immediately give the checkout person your reusable bag/s and tell him/her to put your paid stuff in it instead of putting it inside a plastic bag. In some countries, when you give your reusable bag/s to the checkout person, they know what it is for. If they don’t know, tell them, in that way you are also educating them.

3. If you have plastic bags at home, reuse them as many times before throwing them out.

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An Afternoon with John Fick

One fine afternoon, I was blessed to have been picked up by the Husband and our friend John after work. John brought his car to work and they were fortunate to leave the office early, and so we all went home together.

John Fick is a photographer based in Sydney. I’m a fan of his work–not because we are friends hehe, I actually saw his work first before meeting him–because he is a born artist. He is creative and prolific. Other than skills he has acquired through years of experience, he has style and technique that inspired me to do better in photography.
That one fine afternoon inside his car, I learned more about his work, his passion for photography and his love for learning. All the more made me admire him. I’m so blessed to have spent an hour and a half listening to his words of wisdom. As in nakaka-inspire talaga. If only I had a videocamera with me, I would have taped his “mini-lecture” (Maybe I really need to buy that Sony Bloggie after all?) so I can watch it again and again. So you know what I did? I typed in all the key words of our conversation on my mobile phone to at least help me remember later.

Some thoughts he shared with us touched on topics of Light, Location, Vision, Technique, Action-Reaction (how a photographer engages his/her subject).

He shared how important it is for one to just keep on learning (no matter how long one is in the business) and to be open to new ideas.

He gave us tips on covering weddings and talked of some of his memorable experiences while shooting a wedding.

And the best thing he said that afternoon was this:
“You know, a good and successful photographer always has a supportive wife.”

Siyempre, kinilig naman ako dun hehehe.

The biggest bonus of all was that he let me touched his Leica M8. Ohhhhh la la!

I’m still dreaming of owning my first Leica one day and John collects them. How cool is that? Before I took it out of the camera bag, Chris warned me, “Be careful, that’s worth half a million pesos.” Freaking crazy.

I arrived home smiling and very very inspired to move further with my passion for photography. Since I’ve started learning photography, I’ve been taking two steps back all the time wondering if I should continue this or not. After my great conversation with John, I realized that God is making a way for me to really learn because for years now, God makes sure that I am surrounded by talented and creative people.

If you want to be inspired as well, visit John Fick’s website at http://www.johnfick.com/

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