This would probably be my last entry for 2010. If I fail to greet you a Happy Christmas last week, which I am pretty sure you had a good one, I will not pass this day to greet you all an Advance Happy New Year!

So we decided to keep it low this New Year. Christmas has been a little extravagant because we had to spend it outside of our house, in a themepark, a dinner out and the some more splurging. DH and I decided that we are not going to spend a single cent for our New Year's celebration. We are going to cook whatever food is left in our fridge.

Here's the line up of our New Year's menu:

1. Roast Beef
2. Seafood Paella
3. Lasagna
4. Suman
5. Brazo De Mercedes
6. Broken Glass (a gelatin dessert)

That's it! Now, all I need is to look for an urban clothing to match our family's outfit this year. Have a good one everyone!

After almost 3 years of craving for lechon, I still could not have one on our Noche Buena, boo hoo. I should have used a spotting scope to find a supplier in our side of the woods because just when I saw one, they are not selling this time of the year due to lack of demand waaah! I guess, I'd just enjoy the crispy pata that my in-law is whipping tomorrow. Oh well.

*Cough, cough!
Ahm, I think I am getting the sniffles again. Blame on this recurring sore throat due to too much sweets this Holidays :P. Thanks to my friends who included chocolates and candies in the gift baskets they sent us :P. Now, if you think you ran out of sweet goodies to bake this Yuletide season, check out this Yema Balls recipe I got from Nell.

Mix 6 eggyolks, 1 can of condensed milk and 1 cup of sugar in a double-boiler until sticky enough to make balls then dip in caramelized sugar. In this photo, they dip it in the simple sugar.

Enjoy your dose of sugar yay!

Photo Credit: PurplePantry.com.

Ever since I got here, I have completely forgotten about my gold jewelries. I noticed people here are not so fan of the yellow gold jewelries. Most of them wear fancy accessories or silver. Maybe Asians do really have a thing for yellow gold. I used to really love yellow gold because of the orientation I got from my mom, but when I started buying my own jewelries, I developed a love affair on white gold.

Jewelries are really good investments, they never depreciate. Then came a friend who told me that you can also invest on gold coins! If you are interested on investing on gold bullion and where to buy gold bullion, check out USGoldBureau.com for more.

Got this from the salad caper.

1)What do you miss eating?
- Anything Pinoy (LECHON, SISIG etc...), most especially dishes whipped by my mom.

2) What do you want to receive on your birthday?
- I've already got my Birthday wish. How about, a term life insurance package :P.
.
3) Reach your hand out to the right. What do you touch?
- my clutter :)
.
4) What time did you sleep last night?
- almost 1am.

5) What’s the wallpaper on your computer?
- this computer I am using now has a default wallpaper I cannot change.

We experienced flurries for the past 2 days already but I really wish the snow would fall to lessen the wind chill. I picked up DS this afternoon in school, because I had to file undertime as I had a throbbing headache, must be because of the cold. Also, I must refrain from drinking water with ice as my throat's starting to hurt.

Speaking of ice cubes containers, check out this ICETRIS from Fred and Friends. Okay, off to do some green cleaning in our freezer. Happy Monday!

PC Games in your freezer!
Make ice cubes with Icetris!
Drop them into your glass and play tetris!

Everyday, I make it a point to tune it at a local TV News Channel and CNN to get updated with what is going on economically and politically. I used to be tuned in all day and all night to TFC but I realized I needed to get updates from where I am. Just as I thought the economic stature is getting right on track, I am wronged. I heard that Michigan's unemployment rate has risen up from 1% in May to 15%. Yay! Anyways, on the lighter side of things, banks have started to lend money again and this makes people realign their investments. Some would even invest on silver and gold coins. If you think, you need to educate yourself on this kind of investment, or you simply want to learn the ins and outs of investing in gold bullion, you can visit United States Gold Bureau for more information, who knows, maybe tomorrow, you'd be ready to buy gold coins and bullion.

Apologies for not being consistent with posting my weekly Recipe sharing entries :). To make up for that, I promise to post 3 recipes before this week ends. Let's begin with this Smokey Chili Pasta recipe. This is a healthy whip, you would not dread to visit the scales after eating this dish.

SMOKEY CHILI WITH PASTA

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups (about 6 ounces) rotelle or rotini pasta, cooked
1 Pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
2 cans (about 15 ounces each) red kidney beans
2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) condensed tomato soup
2 tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa
2 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Grated parmesan cheese (optiona)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2. Meanwhile, cook ground beef and onion until meat is throughly done and onion is tender. If necessary, drain fat.
3. Stir in undrained kidney beans, soup, cocoa, chili powder, pepper and salt. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Stir in hot pasta; heat throughly. Serve with Parmesa cheese, if desired.

***makes 8 serving.

When it comes to DS' lunchables, as much as possible I try to make everything from scratch. I find frozen foods filled with preservatives and my mom won't stop from reminding me about this, especially since my son is the one who will eat. So I make french fries, meatballs, fish sticks, chicken nuggets etc... from scratch.

So here's sharing my chicken popcorn from scratch before I head off and check this acne treatment.

***Debone your chicken then slice them like half of a fillet chicken.
Marinate with Patis (yes, I have been using patis since I've learned that is
Max's Chicken secret ingredient), pepper, chicken seasoning, garlic. When you
are ready to fry, dip in scrambled egg first then dip in flour mixture and
fry. You can also alternate scrambled egg with fresh milk to make it crispier.

I cannot believe that we only have barely 2 weeks before Christmas. I bet I am not the only one who gets busier each day. In fact, I was too busy and probably, stressed that a zit has grown on my forehead. I might need those reliable best natural acne treatment just to make sure that this zit would go away in time for our family reunion. I need to breathe and enjoy this relaxed Sunday for now and be fully energized when I come back to the grind on Monday.

Having a healthcare career is turning to be more than just an option these days. My friends who have shifted careers and are already registered nurses told me that more than just the lucrative pay, it is more of their passion that keeps them going. I think it is very important for people in this field to really love what they are doing because afterall, it's a tough job to be in.