Quesadillas at Home

I have always wanted to make quesadillas at home since apart from burritos and nachos, quesdillas are right at the top of the list of favorite Mexican food that I have cravings for. It's a good thing that I found frozen tortillas at the frozen foods section of Lee Plaza, or my homemade quesadillas would never get done (for the life of me, I do not know how to make my own tortillas, even if I have a step-by-step recipe in front of me.) 

Making the quesadillas was a breeze. I just laid everything out, sauteed the vegetables and shredded the cheese so that everything will be ready for  assembly as soon as the tortillas were toasty. Everything was done in 20 minutes! Definitely making another batch again soon :) 

Sipalay Summerin' 2013

“This is my carefree, this is my freedom–this is MY HAPPY.” 

― Coco J. Ginger

Finally! After wondering if I'll ever be able to feel the sand between the toes before the summer was over, Sipalay happened. To be honest I was looking forward to this trip the entire week! I have not been to Sipalay so it was something new, and I do not regret going one bit! Although the trip took longer than expected (we had to go back after reaching the halfway point due to car trouble), the road was smooth, the view was great and I felt like this was the summer vacation that I desperately needed to recharge.

This was a reunion of sorts. My family had this pseudo-tradition of taking road trips, stopping along the way to eat, and discover new places together. We had not done trips like that in a long time, until now, so it was something that brought back a lot of great memories of  hour-long rides, rolling green hills, winding roads of smooth, black asphalt or hard, crunchy gravel, the smell of sugarcane, blue skies-- you get the picture.

Gorgeous view from Nataasan

Sipalay sunset--awesomness!

Sipalay is beautiful! The long and wide stretches of white sand beaches, the beautiful sunset, the smell of pork BBQ and fresh seafood roasting by the beach, everything just screams relaxation and good food! The best thing about it is that Sipalay, although a city, feels so much like a quiet small town, but with really nice resorts all within  minutes away from each other. How great would it be to live in a rural town with great resorts all within short driving distance whenever you want something nice to eat? That would definitely be AWESOME! Although it rained (a bit too heavily at times) we didn't let the rain deter us from visiting all the resorts within reach, where we saw other die-hard beachlovers catching the tail end of summer just like we were.

Dining room of the Sipalay Suites

Poolside at Nataasan

Poolside at Sipalay Suites

Early swim in the morning! Sweet!

Me! Finally! At the beach! Oh joy!Oh rapture! Couldn't pass this up so I took a photo of my not-so-pretty landflippers. 

Family :) 

Short stop at Punta Bulata

Two days is definitely too short a time to experience all the lovely beaches here. I swear on Pepito's fluffy fur that I'll go back next year!!!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama :)

My mom is one of the most amazing people I know, perhaps, the MOST amazing.Her faith, her ability to be kind in the face of situations that normal people use as an excuse to be unkind, and her unwavering reminder to me, my brother and my sister to pray and go to church every Sunday makes me wonder about how she does it. Perhaps it is because my mother is a praying woman, perhaps that's where all that strength comes from, and perhaps I should double up on my praying too. Mothers, too me, are amazing. They are counselors and doctors and drill sergeants and sisters and best friends. Perhaps you learn all these things when you have children, perhaps there is no other way than to be all these people rolled into one, but still, it is amazing how mothers face all these responsibilities head-on and still manage to smile and laugh and give wise advice when needed--- it simply boggles my mind. 

To my mother, who is both my confidant and the person who gives me a good whacking in the head when I need it, Happy Mother's Day :)

Tedious Tasks Are Not My Friends

“There is an ugliness in being paid for work one does not like.

Anaïs Nin

I was kind of hesitant about using this quote... I have been trying to remove even the slightest bit of negativity from my life, and that includes words that say 'no, don't, do not'... it may seem like overkill but I prefer it that way. I don't think we can ever have too much of positivity, and by that I mean the rational kind. Today is the day that I plan on hunching over my computer and finally starting the first 50% of my legal thesis. I have butterflies everytime I think about it. I want to get started on it, and I'm so lucky to be able to arrive at a topic that I am really passionate about, but the grueling technicalities of writing a paper, the formality of it all just makes me want to spend the day working.

Legal or scholarly papers have never been my thing. I have done two of them but still I would like to avoid them if I could. I prefer writing conversational pieces, which is why I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job. My clients often adamantly say that they want something to be 'conversational, please' and I would happily reply, 'With pleasure!' None of that friendliness in a legal paper, where formality and the use of pretentious legalese is often mistaken for good content (gaaaahhhh!!!) But still, I hope my paper will be able to contribute something. It deals with cyberlaw and child exploitation which are two areas where my interests meet, so I am part-excited at the thought of all the things I'm going to learn, part-dreading the tedious task of arranging the footnotes (I think I was born lazy and am still trying to overcome that habit as I approach my 30s). I really should start writing on my thesis instead of writing on this blog haha!  

Until the next post! 

Kiddie Portraits: {Arshad}

“When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.” 

― Mitch Albom,

For One More Day

One of my good friends is going abroad to find work and she messaged me one day and asked if I could take photos of her and her son before their trip. Of course I said yes. Arshad is one of the nicest little boys that I know. Shy and reserved when you meet him for the first time, he eventually warms up and becomes this talkative little boy who cannot get enough of his airplanes. He does have a new toy, his mom's iPad which she lets him believes is his (little boys and their moms!) and he was poking at it the whole time we were taking photos. Apparently, he likes the kiddie cooking apps, the ones that lets you bake brownies and cut them using digital brownie scissors (note to self: get one of those apps soon!) Although he wasn't in the best of moods during the short photo session, he eventually warmed up (after a little bit of coaxing) and we managed to get a few smiling shots of him and his mom.

Being a mother is hard. Being a single mother is no doubt a million times harder. This is the reason why I am amazed at how Darwiza does it. She must be doing a good job since Arshad is growing up to be a fine young man. I just hope these these two don't go jet-setting off to faraway places too often. Me and the rest of the girls will surely miss these two when they leave.