A new driver on the road . . .

Yup . . . JP finally got his “learner’s permit” a couple of weeks ago.  Since he had no school last Friday, he had scheduled for one of those driving school  to come out and pick him up at the house where they drove for 2 hours.  I believe he said he has 2 more 2-hour sessions.  The hubs has been going with him to drive on the weekends early morning and some in the afternoon on the weekdays.  Yesterday was my first time I rode with JP behind the wheel.  I have to admit there were a couple of times I was ready to “pee in my pants” but most of the time I was “grinding my teeth.” 🙂  Actually, JP didn’t really do all that bad since it wasn’t his first time behind the wheel; however, it was his first time driving my car and it made JP really nervous.  Poor baby!  He’s gotten used to driving the Explorer ( the one that gave out on us on the freeway back in the summer) .  Bean had invited us to dinner yesterday afternoon so JP and I picked up Bruh (CE).  The hubs didn’t feel up to going to dinner so AC stayed with him to do her homework.  On our way to Bean’s house, we got caught up in traffic because the football game let out.  We were in bumper to bumper traffic and JP had to somehow maneuver his way by merging with the other cars.  I was a bit nervous at this point, but my baby boy did well!  We made it to Bean’s house a little after 5:30 p.m., and because we had turned the clocks back the night before, it was already dark!  Oh well, gotta get ready for work….

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Nanay and Me. . . circa 1962

As you can very well tell with this picture, it has seen better days.  I’ve kept this pix of Nanay and me tucked inside my wallet.  I’m planning to have it restored and “framed.”  This was my first passport picture but we didn’t use it because we didn’t leave the Philippines to go abroad until 3 years later.  If you notice my “hair-bow”….that’s made out of paper.  Nanay forgot to put a ribbon on my hair for the pix so she “improvised.”  Now I know where I get these “last minute ideas” from.  🙂

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The gurls . . .

After lunch at Empire Buffet (with VT & her familia), I took the gurls (AC, SC and LT) sans AB to get their HSPT Book.  I don’t know why Jack and I didn’t get the books yesterday since we were already at Bay Street yesterday…duh! 🙂  We had to go to two different Barnes & Nobel because both stores didn’t have four all together.  Our last stop was again at Bay Street.  AC even said that we’re always at Bay Street.  Aside from work and the grocery stores as our “second home”,  I think Bay Street should be added to this list.  I can’t imagine the gurls will be going to high-school next Fall.  It’s nice that all four gurls started kindergarten together and now they’ll be off to high-school.  SC and LT weren’t quite ready to go home just yet, so I took them to our house. . . right now they’re outside in the back-yard trying to collect “bumble-bees.”  Yes, “bumble-bees.”  It used to be rollie-pollies and lady bugs, but “bumble-bees?”  Oh well…I hear them giggling outside too!  They try to be “all-grown-up,” but yet there’s still that “childish/playful” side of them.  BTW. . .I just threw in my last load of whites in the wash . . . I’m off the to store to buy our weekly “nourishment” and afterwards will bring the gurls home….

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Yesterday and today . . .

I just finished replying to JG’s “comment” she made on my blog about the zucchini cake recipe….so here I am in front of the computer.  I can’t really say I’m “addicted” to the computer or “blogging” for that matter…or am I? Ha!  Actually, the hubs asked me if I was “blogging” just now.  🙂 It’s only past 8:30 p.m., and here I am already getting sleepy!  KV, the boyz and Amanda came over last night for dinner.  She brought over several pieces of fried talapias (and Magnolia’s “buko pandan” ice-cream)  while I baked some trout and this other fish . . . so it was definitely “fish fest” for us.  They didn’t leave the house until close to 1:30 a.m….I guess that’s why I’m so sleepy . . . besides,  it was unusally windy this morning so the “howling of the wind” woke me up early.  It was nice having them over and chatting about the “good old days.”  As KV and I were sitting in the living room, her youngest son came in the room, then her oldest one and JP came later.  It was then I realized that KV and I were around our sons’ age when we first started hanging around at school.  Little did we know 26 years later we’d come to be like “family.” JP was excited  he had passed his driver’s permit so we got into the subject of when I first learned how to drive.  It was right after I graduated from high-school, Nanay bought me a brand new 1979 Ford Mustang. (I was sooooo very happy!)  KV and I would just sit inside the car because it wasn’t until a month or two later I got my driver’s license.  Even when I got my driver’s license,  I was afraid to drive on the freeway so we always took the side streets instead of on the freeway.  It was my buddy Rina who “forced” me to get on the freeway…that was the beginning!  KV and I were talking about all the fun and crazy things we did that summer with my then brand new car…. we even named her “baby.”  The one thing we remembered was the gas shortage that summer.  People whose license plate number ended on an even number were allowed to get gas on the even days and of course the odd number meant odd number days.  Well,  after I got my “hard” plates, I still kept my “paper” plates.  I was able to get gas on either days because KV and I would change the plates to coincide with the date of the week.  Clever huh?  It was so nice to reminisce and to share our crazy doings with our boys….OK..that was yesterday…as for today, as always, I did my laundry here and there.  Later in the afternoon, Jack, the gurls,  and her nieces picked up AC and I.  Before going to the movies (the gurls), we ate at Fud’s.  Not all the gurls wanted to see the same movie so we had to drop AC, AB an Cyn to one theater, while JB and her cousin stayed behind to watch a movie at Bay Street. This gave Jack and I about 2 hours to walk and “chat”….before going back to Bay Street, we went to the public market  and bought gelato ice-cream at Figaro’s.  We got home around 8:00 p.m…. the hubs had gone out with his buddy earlier for dinner somewhere on Lakeshore.  At this moment, the hubs, AC, and the cat are with me downstairs.  AC is doing her homework, the hubs is flipping channels and the cat is content laying on AC’s lap.  JP will be home later as he is over his friend Ryan’s house.  Since I didn’t really do my weekend “domestic” chores today, I’ll probably do those tomorrow…. Arghhhhh!  Well, I want to chat (via e-mail)  with my cousin in the Philippines so this is it for now . . .  (That didn’t happen because I  realized I was too tired so I went to bed.)

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Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Yesterday at Trader Joe’s, I accidentally picked up a bottle of “pumpkin pie spice” instead of ground cinnamon.  It wasn’t until I got home I realized it.  Since Fall is among us, I know I would be using this spice for recipes such as this, but still I don’t have my cinnamon (for my zucchini cake that I’ve been baking at least every week..hmmm.)  Went on-line yesterday and ran across this recipe that calls for pumpkin pie spice.  I was going to bake it this morning, but darn – – – no cinnamon!  Besides, it’s too early to knock on my neighbors door to borrow a tsp. or two of it.

What better way to celebrate fall than with delicious muffins that combine the wonderful texture of apples with the warm taste of pumpkin. A simple streusel topping gives them a little something extra. Recipe and photo courtesy of “All Recipes.com”

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple

       Streusel

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

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Bread, Bread and more bread . . .

Our neighbor brought over a bagful of baguettes & rolls….some seeded, some plain…a whole bagful from the Bread Garden Bakery.   I didn’t know what to do with all of them so I called RS to come over.  I was at her house earlier to use her printer and she gave me another quick course on how to make the arroz-caldo.  BTW…I made the arroz-caldo and the hubs was quite pleased….just the right amount of “patis” (fish sauce)  and the rice was not hard nor soggy.  I think I’ve actually “mastered” it.  (Thanks RS!) RS laughed at the thighs that I had used because they were pretty “giganto.”  The hubs said I should make it for our annual family Christmas at Ate Eve’s house this year.  I might just do that because I’m confident enough.  Ha!  The kiddies were still full from eating at The Cheesecake Factory earlier this afternoon so only the hubs and I ate the arroz-caldo.  I brought over a bowl for our neighbor too.  When he came by to bring us the bread, I was at the stove stirring the pot.  He wondered what it was so I had to explain to him that it was like “porridge.” 

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It’s 4:22 p.m.

I’ve had problems trying to set the correct time on my blog.  My first blog this morning was posted at 8:11 a.m., but it read “6:11 a.m.”…hmm…two hours behind.  Well, we’ll see when I post this one.  It seems like I’m forever doing a load of laundry.  I’ve just threw in the whites so that’s all that’s left to do until next weekend again.  JP wanted to take AC with him to SF to pick up his very last paycheck.  They just called a few minutes ago and said they were with Babe Ruth over at The Cheesecake Factory.  After mass, the four of us had In & Out before we drove the kiddies to the Bart Station.  The hubs decided to take me to Trader’s and Safeway since we were already out and about.  I’ll be going over RS’s house in a few minutes to use her printer because our printer is acting retarded.  We had problems with it last week so one of my neighbor actually let us borrow her printer but she didn’t realize we need the CD to install the program…but she doesn’t know where the disk is…so much for that.  I would go to my other neighbors but I don’t think they’re home right now.  Today is a perfect afternoon to make arroz-caldo so when I do go to RS…I’ll have her teach me again while I take notes…even though I have the recipe posted on the blog already.  Come to think of it…it’s been at least a year when RS first taught me how to make the arroz-caldo.  I’m gonna go off on a tangent here….yesterday evening around 7’ish….I saw the strangest thing….on my way home from buying quick pick lotto, as I was turning the corner to my street, I saw this man (in a sarape) on a horse and pulling another horse.  He wasn’t going fast…just gallopping on the street.  I had to do a double take because I wasn’t sure what I saw the first time.  It was so weird seeing a man on a horse with another horse in tow, especially in the city.  I guess he must live somewhere up there??  BTW…yesterday I spent the whole day at home except when I went out and bought the lotto.  I love spending my weekends like that…just being simply lazy before another work week begins.  Arghh!

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I want . . .

I just threw another load of wash in so instead of getting breakfast ready, I decided to quickly surf…and this is what I found and I want it!  These are flip-flops from Crocs.  I’ve been meaning to buy those “Cayman” style Crocs about a year ago but never got around to it….maybe I really didn’t want them as much, but I do know that I want the flip-flop version.  The Cayman styles are rather “butt” ugly, but I like them and I was told by many “wearers” they are indeed very comfy!  The holes on the Cayman remind me of “Jason’s” mask in that movie Halloween or was it Friday, the 13th? I’m weird, huh? 🙂 I’m more into comfort these days; however, I’ll probably have to wait come Spring to buy the flip-flops.  Hmm… maybe I should order the butt ugly ones for the rain.  🙂  Oh well, better get breakfast ready…

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Why am I here today . . .

Why couldn’t it have been a holiday for us to?

I just got finished eating my sandwich that I brought from home.  I can’t believe the beautiful  weather we’ve been having for the past several days now.  I think were in the mid-to-high 70’s.  I was supposed to have gone with Bril “downtown” at noon time but changed my mind.  It would have been a nice walk . . . so instead of enjoying my lunch time outdoors here I am “blogging.”  I’m also really sleepy right now but I’m “fighting” it. 🙂 Lucky for the hubs, he  didn’t have work today and the kiddies had no school due Columbus Day.  Today is JP’s last day at work.  This past weekend was very busy for him because of Fleetweek.  Well, I think I’ll try to take a 6 minute snooze…I AM VERY SLEEPY!

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Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Right now I’m watching the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest on the Food Network channel.  They had talked about this one recipe that took second-place back in 1966 . .  but what I found interesting about this recipe was that this prize-winning cake started the “bundt pan” revolution.  The recipe below is not exactly the same as Ella Helfich’s because Pillsbury stopped making the double dutch fudge buttercream frosting that she used in the original; however the recipe according to Pillsbury “most closely identifies with the Bake-Off Contest” . . . and get this . . . a “tunnel of fudge” mysteriously appears in the finished cake.  They also note not to skimp on the nuts or else it won’t turn out.  I don’t know when I’ll bake it but I think I’d like to for our friend’s house-warming/blessing in two weeks.  I’ll let you know how it turns out! 🙂

 

Cake:

3 1/2 sticks butter or margarine, softened (1 3/4 cups), plus more for greasing pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring pan
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups chopped walnuts (8-ounces)

Glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons milk

Heat the oven to 350*F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan or 10-inch angel cake pan. Dust with flour and tap out the excess.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually add 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, beating until well-blended. By hand, stir in 21/4 cups flour, 3/4 cup cocoa and the nuts; mix until well-blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 58 to 62 minutes. (Because this cake has a soft tunnel of fudge, an ordinary doneness test cannot be used. Accurate oven temperature and baking time are critical.)

Let the cake cool upright in the pan on a rack for 1 hour, then invert onto a serving plate and let cool completely.

To make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa and 1 1/2 tablespoons milk. Mix until well blended, adding the remaining 1/2 tablespoon milk to make a spooning consistency.

Spoon the glaze over the top of the cooled cake, allowing some to run down sides. Store the cake tightly covered.   Makes 12 -14 servings.  Note:  Recipe & Photo courtesy of Pillsbury.

 

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