Insuring Enrique

Last night Enrique texted me and asked if I already received our health cards, as part of the benefit package given by his company. He told me he was tasked to make a report on the pros and cons of the health card, and what else he can suggest to be included in their existing benefits package. What's good about their health card is that maternity expenses are covered, even the expenses when the woman gives birth. This is not covered by my own health card, so it's nice that being a dependent of my dear husband, I will be having this benefit should I get pregnant again. A con however is that only 70% of all hospitalization expenses are covered. Nice, but it would be better if 100% will be covered. Another con is that when hospitalized, only a semi-private room is part of the package. Bummer right?

I told him to suggest though that being seafarers and thus exposed to life-threatening situations (hello, ship sinking!), it might be good that a term insurance will be given to them. That way at least other than compensation stated by their contract (and CBA), additional monetary benefits will be provided to the seafarers' families. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Not that I'm eager for this, but hey, we have to be practical right? I mean, I myself am insured, and so should Enrique.

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Eanna's 8th Month Celebration

We celebrated Eanna's 8 months last night, and where there full of surprises!

First of, MIL sent us a cake, which meant that I didn't have to buy the 8 munchkins I originally planned. It was really sweet of her to remember my angel's special day. The last time, if I remember correctly, she sent us a pack of disposable diapers. :P

Then, since it was all gloomy last night, we had to forego of having dinner in out clubhouse. Question is where do we grill our barbecue right? We pushed through with our grilling... right in our balcony. Ssssh! I don't know if that's allowed but it's really an open space out there. Hope we don''t receive a letter of warning from the Admin. Hehehe. We were very discreet though and it only took us around 10 minutes. Hehehe.

In the meantime, our little angel just kept on playing while waiting for the food. Hahaha, as if she would get to taste them!

Anyway, I planned to make pasta Alfredo right? The start was a disaster, as the cream curdled when I added the lemon juice. Gash. That's the first time that this happened to me. Lately though I' noticed my cooking skills were a bit off. Oh well, no problem with it, because I immediately thought of an alternative. Pasta with Spanish sardines.

I washed and dried my pan again, heated it then added olive oil. I sauteed my chopped garlic and chili flakes, then added my sardines (plus the oil). I tossed the pasta in, then sprinkled some chopped Italian parsley. Voila. We now have pasta. Hehehe.



By the way, the barbecue tasted really good! I'll just share the recipe, courtesy of Foodie Magazine.

For dessert, other than the cake, we had vanilla ice cream topped with sliced bananas and chocolate syrup. As usual, our bellies were stuffed. But it really was a very good celebration.

Happy Birthday my little Eanna!

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Eanna turns 8 months old!

My sweetie turns 8 months old today, and I am very excited for tonight's celebration. We will have a very simple "party" and I'm preparing for the following:

a) Barbecue - I will try the recipe from Foodie Magazine and will see if it's a goodie or an ew-ie. Hahaha.
b) Pasta Alfredo - I will draw inspiration from Giada's version and see if my own will be a goodie.
c) Banana Split - I'm craving for this, so it will be served. Hehehehe
d) 8 pieces of munchkins - to serve as Eanna's "cake" hehehehe
e) Party decor - oh I really hope I'd have time to do this. If not then maybe next time.

I'm planning to have the celebration in our clubhouse, by the pool. No swimming for my little angel though. May me, but we'll see. The pool area gets to be C-O-L-D at night.

Blog about it later! :P

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Reminiscing the India Experience

My first (and hopefully not the last) taste of India was when the President of my previous company asked me to be part of his team in coming up with a ship management book. I was really happy back then because I am going to a new country. Nevertheless, I was a bit nervous because I know the English is not really widely spoken, thus the need for someone to do Hindu translation.

Alas, when I went there, there was really no need for me to do some India translation since my Indian colleagues said that we are in the business capital of India, thus most, if not all, could speak English. Well, good for me right? So for a a week, we worked like crazy from morning till afternoon, then after office meant shopping time. I totally loved the trinkets sold there. I was even able to buy, oh my goodness, I forgot what it is called. The Indian sari if I am not mistaken? Plus I was able to buy the Indian shoes too (as usual, I forgot the name but back then these kinds of shoes were so in-fashion.

It's too bad though that my stay there was mostly for business, but I really would love to explore more of India and other bordering countries. Then again, the chances of me needing translators such as some who will do Arabic translation will even be greater. That or I should learn the language myself in order to help me in my future travels in this part of the world.

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The Hubby Tag

Karla tagged me... Here goes...

How long did you date? 1 1/2 years total, but only 5 months in person.

How old is he? 32 turning 33 this August

Who eats more? ME!!!

Who said “I love you” first? He did. :P

Who is taller? He is, by around 5 inches?

Who sings better? ME!!!

Who is smarter? Well, he says I am academically smarter but he's more street smart than me. Whatever.

Whose temper is worse? HIS! gash. I sometimes get so surprised how mild-looking he is but a dragon when mad.

Who does the laundry? We don't do our laundry. But if our housemate won't be around, both of us will have fun doing the laundry.

Who does the dishes? When we didn't have our housemate, I do the dishes, he cleans the pans, the stove, the oven. When I got pregnant though, he did the dishes too.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. But when he wakes up to attend to Eanna, I transfer to the left side. Then early in the morning he goes back to the left side. Hehehe.

Who pays the bills? He does. :P Whenever I do, I charge him afterwards. Nyahaha.

Who cooks dinner? ME!!!

Who drives when you are together? He does.

Who is more stubborn? I think I am more stubborn. The bull-headed earth Taurean that I am.

Who kissed who first? He did! But wait... I kissed him back, so is it a tie?

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Sadly... Me...

Whose parents do you see the most? Mine I guess, coz our family has a lot of get-togethers. But we make it a point that we visit my in-laws regularly too.

Who proposed? Hmm... Him? Hahaha. Yes, it was him.

Who is more sensitive? In what terms? If it means easily getting hurt and all, I guess it's me. Drama Queen, remember???

Who has more friends? Equal uumber I guess?

Who has more siblings? I do. I have 3 sibs, he has 2.

Who wears the pants in the family? I always say, feel, and believe he does. Well, whenever he's here. But when he's away, I'm the Queen. :P


Ok, so now I'm tagging Liv, Jen, Melissa, Che and Autumn.

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Muse!

I was really happy when one of our crew gave me this shirt...



Especially when at the back it showed what I am to their basketball team onboard their vessel...



I totally love it. Nice noh?

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Birthday Lunch

My birthday last Saturday was really a fun and meaningful day for me, and in fact for me it was the best birthday I had so far. Thanks to all the people who gave their love and greeted me!

Anyway, I celebrated my 30th birthday in a very simple way (click here for my story hehehe), and I would like to share the very simple recipe of what I had for lunch:


Grilled Kobe (or Wagyu) Beef with Egg Noodles
1/4 - 1/2 kilo Kobe beef, Yakiniku cut
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
a sprinkling of sesame seeds

For the noodles:
Egg Noodles
A dash of sesame oil
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
a sprinkling of chili flakes

Heat the grill. In a sauce pan, toast the sesame seeds (around 5 seconds?) then add the mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Grill the meat, around 30 seconds on each side (they cook really fast). If you want, baste the meat with the dipping sauce.

For the noodles, boil water in a deep pan, then add the noodles. When al dente, take out the noodles and put them in cold water (optional). Toss the noodles with the sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili flakes.

I had kimchi on hand so I served that too. Too bad I didn't have sake, else it would have been a really good treat. Sushi that I bought in Salcedo Market was also served (though not the in picture!).

Oh my goodness, the beef was spectacular. Though expensive, it was really worth the price. If you will get Kobe beef, look at the marbling of the meat. The more the marbling, the better the quality.


Things I bought in Salcedo Market: Herbs, Lavender pot, salmon fillet, cheese torte

Hope I don't develop a nasty habit of craving for this beef. Hehehehe. We'll see.

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Labor Day

As promised, here's a recap of what we did during Labor Day (not really Labor Day-related. Hahahaha!)

I went to the market first thing in the morning buy buy some produce needed to sustain us at least until this weekend. Last night, I thought of having a little crabfest, so that was my main concern. As I have blogged about earlier, I was appalled (arte!) by the prices of fish, pork, and vegetables. Oh well. Such is life.

Anyway, I was back in time for us to prepare our lunch... Salt and pepper crabs, with lato (seaweed) and chopped tomatoes, plus mangoes on the side. Yummy....



Here's my recipe:

SALT AND PEPPER CRABS
Ingredients:
2 Kilos crabs
Sprite
All Purpose Flour (1 cup)
Spanish Paprika (1/2 cup)
Salt (lots!)
Pepper (lots!)
Chili Flakes
Chopped Garlic
Cooking Oil (you need a lot for deep frying)

First, marinate the crabs in Sprite while bringing water in a deep pot to a boil. Then dunk in the crabs plus the sprite and cook till crabs turn red. Set aside to cool before chopping them

Tip: I saw this in Asian Food Channel... If you want to be more "humane," put the crabs into the freezer to put them to sleep before cooking them. Hehehehe.

Combine the flour, paprika, salt, pepperm and chili flakes. Cover the crabs with the mixture.

Heat the cooking oil, then add garlic till cooked. Take out the garlic. Deep fry the crabs.

Y-U-M-M-Y, promise! I ate probably a kilo, you know!

***

We rested for a while (Eanna slept) before heading down to the pool to take a short swim. Water was very cool and refreshing. I'm so happy Eanna's now used to swimming. Yipee!



We would've gone to Powerplant afterwards, but I suddenly had a cold and so we just stayed at home and rested.

Anyway, these were the highlights of our day together. More summer days like this but with Enrique, I hope!

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