Mango Chicken with Asparagus and Spinach

Pardon me, I just feel so hungry and I'm just remembering what my mom's cook prepared for us the other day. I don't know how it was made, but it sure looks delicious. Sorry, I don't have a recipe for it, I'm just guessing it's chicken thighs topped with mangoes, asparagus, and spinach i think. Indeed, it was good. Different choice of ingredients for chicken toppings, but definitely good.

My mom tries to avoid eating pork and beef nowadays, she only eats chicken, fish plus fruits and vegetables. That's why her cook is constantly trying to rack her brains trying to find different ways of cooking and presenting chicken dishes. One other favorite of hers is the Chicken with Red Cranberry. It's baked chicken leg quarters topped with cranberry chunks and smothered with lots of cranberry sauce. I don't like that fruit much, but mixed with chicken, it's actually very good.

3 Blog Awards

Sasha awarded me not just one but THREE blog awards!

Thank you so much, Sasha! I really appreciate it. What a way to start the week!

I am passing these awards to Mommy Ruby, FitFabLife, Modern Mom, and A Life To Remember.

Kid's Kitchen Noodle Rings & Chicken

The other day I posted a review of snack made by Hormel. Here's another one, for kids this time, Noodle Rings & Chicken. Sad to say though, it's not as good as their Clam Chowder. My daughter did not like it, I had to be the one to finish it. It's not really bad, but it's not great either. The noodles kind of tasted like flour pasted together, unlike freshly made pasta, but what can you expect, it's been in the container for days I guess. There are plenty of small chicken chunks to be fair though. All in all, I vote so-so while my daughter votes not to eat it again.

Bayani Fernando for President?

The 2010 elections is near approaching and a couple of political figures have aired their pre-campaigns on national television. I'm afraid this is not going to sit well with Filipinos who know the real deal behind these friendly poker faces, trying in vain to convince the people of their important contribution to society, failing to realize that voters are now smarter and can see beyond their spiels and scripted acts.

Isn’t Bayani Fernando going to run in the 2010 elections? I kinda like him in a sense. I'm not into politics but I see what the norm sees. His ways may be sometimes weird like the pink fences, pink lanes, pink public urinals, pink everything but at least he’s getting something done. Sure beats the others who are just concerned with ousting the president and pointing fingers at corrupt officials instead of actually doing something productive and concrete for the betterment of our country. Some people may agree to this, others may not and may even cite several reasons of their own why BF is not suitable for the position. He may have his faults but his strengths in cleaning up the streets cannot be denied. Bottom line is, it’s just a matter of choosing the lesser of the evils, and I think he’s the next best shot we have for a positive change.

Halloween Costume Parade

My daughter had a halloween costume parade in school this morning. Instead of the usual gory stuff like witches, hags and vampires, or the usual fairytale stuff like the Disney princesses and fairies, or the usual cartoon and movie stuff like Wonder woman, Bat girl and Super girl, we chose a Chef costume, and indeed, she was the only one to wear that outfit among the kids. Her teachers and other mothers adored her costume, it was so cute and different, it definitely stood out from the halloween / fairyland crowd. She even had a kiddie wooden rolling pin plus a kiddie wooden spoon and fork nestled inside her pumpkin treat bag.

Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha

It's the Christmas season once again and one of my favorite parts is the availability of Peppermint Mocha in Starbucks. I absolutely love mints in chocolates, hence the favorable response to the holiday coffee flavor. I could taste the sweet beverage right now, mmm... Love it! I have a Paypal Donate button on my sidebar. For those who want to let me enjoy a cup or two, your spirit of giving is most welcome, any amount will do, thank you very much!

Need A Warm Delicious Snack?

I've just discovered a great snack to warm up my stomach when I'm in a hurry, which can also be a good companion for a cool late afternoon, curled up in an overstuffed couch. I really love England Clam Chowder and what a wonderful surprise to find it in a microwavable package, ready to serve in about a minute. Hormel's New England Clam Chowder does not taste like a can of instant soup, instead, it has a generous serving of clams and other ingredients, giving you a rich and aromatic snacking experience.

Apartments for Rent in Paranque

To all people interested in renting out apartments in the Paranaque area, the following are available:

Residential Units

• Mon-el Subdivision - 1 bedroom, 1 toilet & bath, monthly rental range P5,000-5,300
• San Antonio Valley I - 1 bedroom, 1 toilet & bath, monthly rental P6,000

Commercial Units

• San Antonio Valley I - 28-30 sqm, along San Antonio Ave. directly across Paranaque City Hall, monthly rental P15,000
• San Antonio Valley I - 28-30 sqm, along San Antonio Ave. 2 lots away from Paranaque City Hall, monthly rental P12,000

Commercial / Residential Units

• San Antonio Valley I - 2-storey unit with 2 bedrooms, 1 toilet & bath on the upper floor and 28-30 sqm commercial space on the ground floor, diagonally across San Antonio Parish Church, walking distance from Paranaque City Hall, walking distance from Sucat main road, monthly rental P15,000
  

Terms are 2 months deposit, 1 month advance in Cash, post dated checks to cover 1 year contract, and guarantor. For more inquiries, you may call 809-6883 or 0917-6282201.

Celebrate in CPK

Yesterday, we ate a late lunch in CPK together with my parents, to celebrate my daughter's birthday. We had just bought our own Sony Cybershot digicam the other day, and so I put it to the test by prohibiting anyone to grab the first bite of each dish before I can get to point and shoot. I am not digicam savvy and so I've yet to perfect each shot. My hubby keeps repeating that I go read the manual so I can maximize the potential use of the camera, and I keep telling him to read it himself and just show me what to do (please dear, spare me the boring details about the complicated settings, I'm perfectly fine with just clicking away).

And so I present my tweak-free, point and shoot, focus and click setting. Our first dish was the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli. It's Rosemary ravioli filled with Portobello mushrooms, herbs and cheese, topped with imported Italian tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic or garlic-Parmesan cream sauce. I had to restrain myself from eating the whole thing, reminding myself we all agreed to share every order.
Next up, we had the Fettuccine with Garlic Cream Sauce. It's Fettuccine in a garlic-Parmesan cream sauce with Italian parsley. We had them put extra chicken toppings. Too bad we only ordered the half plate, for the moment the waiter had set it on the table, I realized it would not fill me, much less all of us.
The last one to come was the White Pizza. It's a combination of Mozzarella, Fontina, Ricotta, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheeses with fresh sautéed spinach and garlic. We had them put the applewood smoked bacon to add a different flavor to the cheese overload. Everything was delicious, and when we asked for the bill, the waiter handed us a Chocolate Souffle Cake, a Belgian chocolate soufflé cake, served warm with CPK's triple-thick hot fudge on vanilla bean sauce, a complimentary gift for using a BDO credit card. In my delight at the surprise, I had forgotten to take a picture of it and broke my own rule of no eating before shooting...whoops!

My 100th Post Contest!!!

This is my 100th post!!! I'm grateful to be still blogging after five months, it's not really easy to attend to this with all the work and chores I have to do each day. Still, this has become sort of a stress release for me and so I go on. I'll be having a contest. I will be giving EC credits to the winner (as soon as I know how to do that :D - anybody who wants to teach me just how to is most welcome). The contest will end on November 30, 2008.

To join:

1. Add my link to your blogroll permanently.
   
2. Write about my contest in your blog and include a link to your favorite post among my first 100 blog posts. (ex. http://entrepgirl.blogspot.com/2008/10/YOUR_FAVORITE_POST.html)
3. Link your contest entry by leaving a comment here.

Prizes:

• 1st Prize - 1,500 EC credits
• 2nd Prize - 1,200 EC credits
• 3rd Prize - 1,000 EC credits

Note: Winners will be picked via the electronic online raffle in Random.Org. The entries are per blog site so a blog owner with several blogs can possibly win more than once if they've written about my contest and favorite post link in more than one blog.

Charming Blog Award

I feel happy that Modern Mom granted me an award.


“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

I feel honored. Thank you very much! And in turn, I present this award to Sasha, KCee, Shiela, Mira, Chinita, Hesitant Wife, D' Cooking Mudra, Ezrah.

Made in China Bar Code

I received an e-mail regarding the bar code number of products made in China. The e-mail reads as follows:

Dear friends,

The whole world is scared of China made products. Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China? Let me tell you...the first 3 digits of barcode 690, 691, 692 are MADE IN CHINA, 471 as in the sample below is Made in Taiwan.
It is our human right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "made in china", so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits are:
690-692 then it is made in China.

00 ~ 09 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 - JAPAN
50 - UK

In researching about the bar codes of products, I came across the website of GS1, which is a global organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions, and the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. It states that:

GS1 Prefixes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product. They simply provide number capacity to different countries for assignment from that location to companies who apply. Those companies in turn may manufacture products anywhere in the world.

The management of the GS1 System is carried out locally by GS1 Member Organisations established in over 100 countries. GS1 Member Organisations use their assigned prefix to allocate GS1 Company Prefixes to their member companies to enable them to create GS1 Identification Keys.

So there's really no way of knowing if the products are made in China or if there are raw ingredients used in the product that are made in China. I guess this bar code may help a little but does not eliminate all the possibilities and risks. I do hope they find a more accurate way of detecting product and raw ingredient origin. But I guess the main thing here is for China, being the top manufacturer of the world's products, to stop using harmful chemicals in the production of food and materials so that we can all avoid these toxic and sometimes fatal goods.

Thank You for the Site Stats

As a new blogger, being in the blogospohere for only 5 months, I have much to be thankful for. I thank that my Alexa ranking is now less than 600,000 when it was more than a million a couple of months ago. I thank that my Technorati Authority is now more than 100. I thank that my Project Wonderful 125x125 ad space has now its first advertiser after weeks of having none. I thank that that there are people who are subscribing to my blogfeed. I thank that my unique site visits is now nearing 5,000. And also, I thank that I am one of the first to run a campaign by one of Nuffnang Philippines' advertisers.

Though this may not mean much to other successful bloggers who have more and bigger stats, it does mean something to me. And I believe, more importantly, that it is indeed right to be thankful for every blessing you receive, big or small. So, to all other bloggers and visitors who have contributed for the growing stats of my blog, I thank you.

Book Launch: Lead, Don't Manage Your People

Learn to Lead

Powerbooks Hosts Jim Black Book Signing Session

Are your employees waiting for the next opportunity to jump ship? Is your organization in turmoil due to low morale?

Hear the answers to all these burning questions as Powerbooks Specialty Store hosts experienced leader Jim Black to Manila for a management talk and book signing session on October 18, 4PM at Powerbooks Greenbelt.

Author of Lead, Don't Manage Your People: 15 Principles for Leading Your People Effectively, Black gives a refreshing look at 15 fundamental leadership principles that every leader should master. Providing expert advice and tips for ineffective leadership and poorly trained heads, Lead, Don't Manage Your People is the ultimate guide to leading the top performers in your company, challenging the other employees, and creating a workplace everyone feels challenged, valued, and recognized.

For more details, please call Ms. Yolanda Domingo at 0916-7063163.

*Lead, Don't Manage your People(P480.00) by Jim Black is available at Powerbooks Greenbelt

Planning for A Party

I haven't been able to post recently for I've been busy preparing for my daughter's 5th birthday party. She's very excited for her birthday, she's constantly asking if it's already the big day. I let her have the reins, seeing that she's grown up to be very smart and opinionated. Her chosen theme is Barbie Fairytopia. She chose her cake, her decorations, her party giveaways, even to whom each book giveaway would be given. She chose the loot bag design, and the candies to put inside. It's funny how meticulous she is, pointing out where I would put her name in the giveaways, how big I would be writing her classmates and friends' names, how many candies to put in the bags. Plus, she acts like a calendar, reminding me to order and reserve her cake and doesn't let me forget the day I'm supposed to pick it up. It's a fun but tiring week. I hope everything goes well and that most important of all, my little girl would have fun at her party.

Non-Healthy Food Ban

Is it possible to ban non-healthy food from being sold in the market? I know of a relative of a relative, a 35 year old guy who had recently died of a heart attack and another relative of a relative, a 34 year old guy who's in a coma because of brain aneurysm. It's really scary when you think about the age, it's much too young for these people to suffer from these types of sickness.

Though many factors do contribute to these fatal attacks, a major possible cause is the nutrient intake or lack thereof. It seems that there must be something wrong with the food sources being made available these days for the younger generation to have an insufficient resistance to attacks whether through stress, weak organs, or nutrient deficiency.

I just got to thinking, would it be possible to take away food that are not healthy in groceries and restaurants? Would it be possible for BFAD to deny marketability for food that contribute to sickness and weakening of the body organs? I mean, admittedly, I do buy junk food as do everyone I know, but if we had nowhere to buy these, would that increase our chances for healthy living? If sodas, junk food, and instant food were to disappear from stores, would that decrease people's chances to experience ailments and diseases?

Treveia Eco Echoes

Eco Echoes

Heed nature’s call to have fun at Treveia!

Nature beckons you to discover a new and exciting place that works with and cares for its bounties – Treveia!

Go ahead and bring the whole family, invite friends to come over and have loads of fun with our line-up of eco-tastic activities!

• Grow a Grass Head!

Create a funky new friend that grows green hair!

• Race for your Prize!

Dare to race and reach for exciting prizes!

• Oh, Shoot!

It’s the trivia game with lots of hoops!

• EcoTales

Listen to and be a part of an exciting story about nature and Treveia for kids of all ages!

11 October 2008 10:00am – 9:00 pm

Activity Center , Alabang Town Center

RSVP: Clark Juvenic R. Ceniza
Mobile: 0917 805 6018
0922 328 8048

Personality Plus

Have you ever wondered how some people could be so different from you, more specifically a spouse or close relative? You wonder if there's something wrong with them more often than you think there's something wrong with you, not considering that they may as well be thinking the very same thing about you.

More than the differences between a man and a woman, as pointed out by Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, more than the differences brought about by the month or year we were born in as dictated by our Zodiac and animal signs, more than the differences brought about by our genes or family environment and upbringing, we have our own personalities also called temperaments that partially define who we are.

Florence Littauer, through her book Personality Plus, provides keys to understanding yourself and the people around you. It first presents you with a personality profile test that will help you learn and recognize how your unique blend of traits affects the different aspects of your life. There are four basic temperaments of people, Sanguine, Melancholy, Choleric and Phlegmatic.

The Popular Sanguine is the extrovert, the talker and the optimist. She is the life of the party, the story teller, enthusiastic and expressive, cheerful and bubbling over, has energy and enthusiasm, makes friends easily, charms others to work, thrives on compliments and likes spontaneous activities.

The Perfect Melancholy is the introvert, the thinker and the pessimist. He is deep, thoughtful and analytical, artistic and talented, schedule oriented, a perfectionist and has high standards, detail conscious, persistent and thorough, orderly and organized, needs to finish what he started, likes charts, graphs and lists, makes friends cautiously, and has a deep concern for others.

The Powerful Choleric is the extrovert, the doer and the optimist. She is the born leader, dynamic and active, has a compulsive need for change, strong willed and decisive, independent and self-sufficient, goal oriented, delegates work and insists on production, has little need for friends, thrives on opposition and excels in emergencies.

The Peaceful Phlegmatic is the introvert, the watcher and the pessimist. He is easygoing and relaxed, has a low-key personality, calm and patient, quiet but witty, mediates problems, finds the easy way, pleasant and enjoyable, easy to get along with, a good listener, doesn't get upset easily and avoids conflicts.

Though there are people who are a perfect match for each of these 4 personalities, most are a combination of two and sometimes more. Some people can be a combination of Sanguine/Choleric or Melancholy/Phlegmatic, also called the Natural Blends. Others can be Choleric/Melancholy or Sanguine/Phlegmatic, known as the Complementary Blends. Still there are those that are of the Opposites or the Sanguine/Melancholy and Choleric/Phlegmatic. These combinations are further explained and given examples in the book for the reader to better define the category that suits them most.

This defining of personality or temperament is not to label each one of us, but rather to help us better understand ourselves, why we do what we do, why act what we act and why we are what we are. Knowing our personality or blend helps us enhance our strengths as well as improve on our weaknesses. Acknowledging our personality type also help us understand other people, more importantly the people that surrounds us, better. Instead of trying to get them to be like us, we learn to empathize and accept that they have their own unique traits and characteristics.

This book is actually a fun way to discover yourself and others, and as I was reading it, I couldn't help but laugh at the actuality and truthfulness in its statements. You're sure to laugh too as you read about other people's stories and anecdotes and realizing it's your story too.

Word World: New Educational Cartoon

There's a new cartoon that's being shown on the Playhouse Disney Channel, it's called Word World. It's a very colorful show whose main cast consists of a group of wacky animal friends whose bodies are made up of the letters of their names. This show aims to foster a love for words and reading in kids through fun and interactive word play.

The magic is when the letters of the alphabet are used to build a word. When a group of letters are put together and are in the correct order, they form a word that then morphs into the thing that it is. It really is cute and fun to watch. Another funny episode is when the letter "S" is added to a word, let's say BALL, what happens is the "S" becomes part of the word, thus becoming BALLS, then all of a sudden several balls sprout out of the original ball, emphasizing to kids that the "s" makes the word plural or many.

It really is a new concept in educational cartoons and very entertaining for kids. My daughter loves each episode and she reads along with it, enforcing an awareness and love for words which will very much help her learn to read faster.

I Dread Friday Afternoons

Contrary to the popular saying, Thank God It's Friday, I do not share the same amount of excitement for the said day, more specifically Friday afternoons. This is when my assistant will send me the manual draft for the laborer's payroll and I have to check every detail, like validate if the time and hours they've input is correct, check their cash advances (it's really hard doing the accounting if you have a boss with a golden heart who heeds to the laborer's plea for bale and over which are not necessarily paid or deducted from their salary instantly).

On top of that, I have to check the petty cash expenses made by some of the employees and see if the receipts tally with the change they send back to my other assistant. The challenge with a small construction family business is that being small, you don't have room for a separate HR and Accounting department. Usually, we just cater to our own family projects so we don't see the need for expansion or growth. The challenge though, is that, we don't have a mid level management to deal with the administrative aspect of the business. This usually ends up in the lap of the bosses, and in my case, I have to make sure that the payroll and accounting computations made are accurate.

From past experiences, we've had our share of personnel who get too close to laborers, hence, the little tricks made with the labor hours in favor of the laborers. Add to that the difficulty of having the laborers hand in their time sheets before the deadline. We've thought of putting bundy clocks in every project site to monitor that laborers' hours but found it to be useless if the laborers would still be doing nothing or sleeping during any part of the day. We've had trustworthy foremen to watch over the workers, but we've also had our share of the not so honest ones. And we have only so much hours within the day, we cannot afford to go to all of our project sites every single day just to check on the workers. Good help is really, really hard to find.

And so, instead of a relaxing afternoon on the last day of the week, I'm stuck in front of the computer, double checking my assistant's work, finalizing everything and updating the weekly labor and expenses report, ready for submission to the big boss's table on Saturday.

Post Your Ads For Free This October

For the month of October, I'll be having a sticky post wherein I will feature widgets or images of bloggers and webmasters, for free. All you have to do is leave a comment together with the url of your .jpg 125x125 pixel image and the url of your site. I will be posting 12 images, the top left most being the latest commenter. I reserve the right to not post an image. I'll be starting with my top Entrecard droppers for September.