Heart Cake for your special loved one

Model Cakes for Valentine's day or engagement ...

or do you need an occasion to give one?

for engagement

Jan Schenker's Birthday

Clown Cake

I was pleased to make the birthday cake for Janet-Peter's son Jan Schenker who just turned 4 the other day. I also made some customized give-aways. It was fun making them and it was a team work between me and hubby.. I do the stuffs and hubby is the critic. I had fun during the party though I left early to attend to my princess.

Birthday give-aways

Melamine Tainted eggs! what's next?

The food supply is getting scary! First, hundreds of pets died because of tainted pet food products from China tainted with melamine two years ago. Secondly, last September, thousands of babies died because of tainted milk and dairy products from China tainted with excessive melamine. So come with cereals, noodles etc. And now, lately, tainted EGGS! As I watched CNN's news on the latest melamine scare I was wondering, what's next? Tainted Fish? Chicken? beef? How sure are we that what we put on the dinner table is safe? Then I console myself... if people will take it seriously then we don't eat anything! unless if you grow your own food! i.e. you have free-range chicken to lay eggs for you, you grow your cows, plant your vegetables! etc. This can't be serious!

Melamine tainted eggs are said to come from Chickens fed with melamine tainted feeds. Fish could possibly get melamine from the fish food or pillets to feed the fish. And so with cows, then we get melamine on our beef! How scary is that? So watch out for the eggs you buy. Check if they are from China.

Take me back HOME

Doll cakes for your girls!

Experimenting on doll cakes.. and I finally made it. I've been wanting to do this ages ago but didn't had a chance, until I saw some pics of my friend Joan , in Abu Dhabi, and finally I have made some. If you guys want to order this for a present, just give me a buzz ahead of time so I can make it for you.

Hometown is where my heart is

Dumaguete City is where my heart is. These are latest photos of the boulevard around six in the morning. I love to drive around, while the city streets are less chaotic, my morning routine is to pick up newspaper, fresh bread and cheese. A quick coffee in Why Not gets me going for the day ahead. The boulevard is still half asleep before rush hours and I enjoyed my cup of coffee with the scenery and reminiscing college days where boulevard is just a stone throw away from Silliman University. We used to hang out here after exams whether just to hang loose or have a drink or two in nearby pubs and restaurants that lined along the boulevard.

Quiet streets early morning before rush hour.


A ship came into view, about to dock in Dumaguete Port. I'm guessing its from Cagayan.



My frequent passenger every morning. Yeah, its my dog, sitting quietly while I'm having my coffee.
Although I have lived in big cities, I still long to be in my small home town from time to time. Every time the plane lands in Dumaguete airport, there's always a sigh of relief "whew I'm home!". Dumaguete City is known to be the city of gentle people and as a university town. The former is becoming unpopular these days with the consequences of a growing city, the crime rate had risen enormously like any other growing city.

Lunch date with Pinoy Expats in KL

Photo by Walter... eyyy, thanks for this one big happy family photo!

Finally we came to meet in a group with fellow pinoys and had a great Lunch at Steph's. Thanks Steph for hosting such an event. I look forward to meet you all guys again and maybe more peps could attend.. the more the merrier! The foods were great! For those who missed the fun, we had Pinakbet, fish relieno, adobo, spaghetti, roasters,minced meat, leche flan, custard cake, brazo de mercedez, chocolates, wine ,... what else? did I forget to mention something?? I can't remember everything as I had so much fun and so with my daughter playing with other kids. I Look forward to more get-together with everybody again.

Sea shell chocolates

Sea shell chocolates comes in a bar or in individual shell. I love how they came out! If I did made you salivate you can order here and I'll make it for you. Suit your taste from regular, semi-sweet, white and dark chocolates. These chocs are stuffed with almonds.

My Little Feet

Leila was deeply sleeping while I am busy with all-in-a-day's work and a pleasant view stopped me from my day errands and paused for a while, took my camera and enjoyed shooting her little feet that are peeking at me. Seven months ago, these feet are kicking inside me and oh how I loved that feeling since she first kicked. During the last trimester, she was kicking everytime DH (Dear Hubby) is around, every time he comes home from work and she hears his voice, she is greeting him with kicks. He then talked to her "where is my little foot?, How's my little foot?" Her right foot was just below my ribs and the form was very obvious. At times like this, makes me realize how fast she is growing. Now she loves biting her foot.

Now, I love smelling her tiny little feet.. Yeah, I'm enjoying it while I still can... before they get smelly! Lols.

Looking back.. here's a repost from multiply..

... ON BEING PREGGY ....

It has been an amazing journey for the last 8 months being preggy. It's a lifetime experience on all corners of my life and most of all being loaded with responsibilities laid ahead of me and the challenges of parenting. All these can wait until the time when I will be a mother, and this brings me back to being pregnant for the first time. As the old saying goes "You will never understand your mother unless you become one" the same thing goes with being pregnant. And I do agree, you will never understand a pregnant woman unless you become pregnant yourself.

Though I've never grown up in a normal life with a mother figure at home coz Mom died when I was five, I've had a lot of things in my mind like what should I be as a mother or what should I don't want to be. The society had been my laboratory. Observing how somebody's son or daughter end up with such a misery because of luck of parental guidance or how somebody's son/daughter could be successful even against all the odds financially, and loads of other examples that I can pick randomly around me. Having these things in mind, I can put aside the matter of parenting and focus on where I am now.

Firstly, I appreciate my hubby for all his support on this amazing 9-month journey, (1 month to go). I'm so thankful that he had been very supportive emotionally. I relied on him on all the anxieties I had during the first trimester, bearing with me with all the mood swings that goes up and down like a roller coaster ride.

Having the thought of this little creature inside me will change our lives forever had brought us closer than ever. So, I would say "we are pregnant" rather than saying "I am pregnant" as he had been an amazing father-to-be. We are enjoying being pregnant and now he is unbelievably close to baby. She recognizes his voice when he is talking to her, his massage and his body temperature when he touches or massages my belly, she seems to be excited, flickering, punching or kicking, or somersaulting inside me. I think it's because I've been playing his recorded voice message for baby when he is not around. Somehow, they bonded together.

Looking back on how it has been, I can't sum up everything but I'll try to enumerate what I've learned.

1. I learned to appreciate my body more and more with the growing bump. Looking at the mirror would tell me how much she had grown and I cant be prouder with a bigger belly each week.

2. My likings on food is not my priority anymore but I have to consider the health benefits as well as its dangers for the growing fetus. I am not eating smoked salmon (which is my favorite), Soft cheeses / smelly cheeses (another favorite), avoiding cakes which I crave from time to time.

3. I've never been swimming more often than before but now with with my big bump, I can do 8 laps and enjoyed swimming than ever before. I think its safer than walking in the streets, but I do walk a lot with extra care. For the sake of exercise.

4. I learned how to monitor my sugar level as I had developed gestational diabetes, which is common during pregnancy. So I have to dig in what is GD and found out that the pancreas is not secreting much insulin during pregnancy because of high level of hormone "relaxin" which relaxes or reduces the function of pancreas, and that there is less insulin causes diabetes coz its the one responsible for breaking up sugars that we take. Even if I didn't had much sugary foods, I have developed diabetes. Hence, I have to cut down my intake of sugar than my normal diet, which includes cutting on fruits. I thought fruits are good during pregnancy but too much of it could accumulate sugar badly. therefore, a slice of fruit, not 2, not 3, but just a slice is enough and should be taken with a meal. Before I was snacking on 2 bananas or 2 oranges when I'm hungry coz I thought I needed vitamin C. I have to admit, I was completely wrong about that! Okay, Now I know, and it's good to know!

4. The Aches!!!!! Headaches for the first trimester, my left wrist is aching occationally, backache when I'm not walking or swimming, so I have to exercise to minimize backaches and avoid long sitting, leg cramps during dawn, but I learned that putting a pillow inbetween my legs at night and taking calcium before sleeping reduces cramps, and it works well with me, thankfully, now I'm not having leg cramps anymore.

5. Varicose veins are becoming unbeareable, I can't stand that long in stationary and have to elevate my legs up whenvever possible.

6. Sleeping is becoming more and more difficult as baby is moving in the middle of the night waking me up. Even lying down on bed at night and getting up in the morning is not that easy anymore as my bump is quite heavy now. I have to move very slowly like a crawling worm. Sleeping on one side is more comfy than lying flat but I have to shift from one side to another.

By far, that's what I've been dealing with and as they say each woman has a unique pregnancy experience.



Looking on what I love the most, I have as much to say as well.
1. I love my bump! Love the flickering movement from the very first kick until now. We kept on guessing which one is the baby's bum or limbs or arms everytime my tummy waves with her movement. Which one is a kick, or a punch? or maybe she is just showing her bum!


2. I love hubby doing massage on my bump and as he talks to baby, its like this baby is driving us crazy!!! I love him kissing my tummy and loving him more each day.

3. I love it when almost everybody is saying to me "you take care" even a stranger would say such lovely words and offer some hefty help.

4. I love shopping for baby!!! Preparing for her arrival is such a thrill. I get tempted to grab some lovely pink clothes, her beddings, bottles, toys, etc.

5. The more I appreciate mothers that I see around carrying their babies.


6. I love day dreaming what she would look like, if she gets my eyes or hubby's, or I wished she will get dad's hair coz I dont like mine, or she might get my fingernails and go crazy with day dreaming on the looks, but most of all dreaming of raising her as a composed well rounded person, or she'll be as genius as her dad or would she speaks eloquently.



As far as knowledge on being pregnant is concern, we didnt had experience before so, we had pregnancy books to read and research on the net, but despite all these, we are still not confident of ourselfves, so we enrolled ourselves to "Parent Craft" classes, in which we were taught on some issues concerning pregnancy, what to expect during birth, breathing techniques and positioning for birth as well as breastfeeding. But we will keep on learning as we get there, atleast to have an idea on what to do wouln't leave us like idiots, but would diffinitely help us get there and coping with it makes easy.

Hand crafted chocolates

I, as a self proclaimed chocolate addict, am taking my addiction to a different level. I love coffee and nice and bitter chocolates, they are just a perfect match made in heaven for me. What kept me busy for the past few days is making my own chocolate. What??? Yeah, I am falling in love making chocolates. Designing and experimenting on flavor combinations gives me thrill. The pleasure of designing them is giving a different thrill handling paintbrush again is tickling my hands to do it.

It is such an expensive vise to indulge in but in order to finance my newly found passion, selling them would suffice my needs. They are home made chocolates ranging from regular, bitter-sweet, and unsweetened chocolates. These chocolates are readily available in our house for an affordable price. I would also be pleased to accept orders from you for your chocolate cravings or for party flavors. These chocolates can be customized for giveaways for weddings, birthdays, baptismal, personal gifts, etc. Designs for kids are bear lollipops and for everyone, there are floral designs as well. For real chocolate lovers (hardcore chocolate lovers) novelty designs will soon to come.





I'm still developing new flavors and a distinctive taste that I can call my own. Contrary to my Kitchen Journal, where I always share recipes but I will take the liberty to keep my chocolate recipes as they are highly confidential. It is only shared between me and my sister Delia who is a Nutritionist Dietecian. Thanks to her, she was the one who awakened my senses on chocolates and tickled my hands for painting again.

I'm back!

Whew! where have I been? feels like I've been disconnected for ages. We just went home to Phil for a week but it feels like months away from my blog, unsurprisingly time just slipped so quickly while at home.. Yeah, lots of goodness yet not enough time. It was stressful in a way specially for me as I am always the runner on the go whatever is lacking for our menu plus a little bit of pick up here and there; but I generally enjoyed my busy days there even if I cought flu now as a result. What have we done?? a lot of experimenting on french cooking with the brick oven that hubby made during our last visit last July. Whew.. A genocide of "baboy" he he... Yup, you know what I mean and I guess I gained weight for that quick trip at home... (dunno how much, dont want to know; I'll surely will feel guilty of those pleasures)..

Got so much to write about. Others are way back overdue.. but still have to organize my thoughts like how the brick oven was made.. Chocolate making at home.. etc. Will soon post them.