Mom’s Recipe: Kare-Kare (Beef in peanut sauce)

Kare-Kare is our family’s specialty dish. If I’m not mistaken, this dish originated from my grandmother’s mother. The techniques, methods and secrets of this dish were passed to my mom and hopefully to us as well. There are different ways on how to cook this dish but I love the way my mom do it. Here’s the copy of her recipe.

Get you pan and stove ready cause we’re about to start cookin’..

We will need the following:

•1 Kilo Ox Tail or Beef Chunks
•Atsuete or annatto oil
•1 onion bulb
•1 glove of garlic
•1 pc knorr beef cube (use beef stock as alternative)
•Ground rice
•½ Kilo of ground peanut (don’t use peanut butter, it will change the taste and flavor of the dish)
•String beans
•Egg plant
•Banana blossom (puso ng saging)
•Salt and pepper to taste

For the shrimp paste (bagoong):
•Shrimp paste
•Onion and garlic

Here’s how it’s done:

•Stew the ox tail for 45 minutes (30 minutes if you’re using beef chunks) using a pressure cocker. Keep the stock since you’re still use that later on for the sauce.
•Dissolve the ground peanut in about 2 cups of water then set aside.
•In a separate pan or soup pan, pour in the stock and peanut mixture the let it simmer.
•Put in the onion, beef cube, atsuete oil and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
•For the veggies: boil it on a separate pan until cooked.
•Mix the all the ingredients together to blend all the flavors (meat and veggies)

•For the shrimp paste: sauté garlic and onion until the onion caramelizes the put in the shrimp paste and sauté for another 5 minutes

Getting Fit and Fab

Just today, I, Jaja and Ice have finally made a good decision on enrolling ourselves to the gym. It was our plan since the start of the year. If I recall it right, this is one of the major tasks that I’ve listed when I made my new years resolution. We feel like we are getting really bigger, like literally bigger as days passes by. We are planning to enroll at Gold’s Gym at Robinson’s Galleria since it is the closest to our work place plus it offers good package as well (we have a company discount you know, hehe). At Gold’s Gym they offer three months of work out plus two 45 minute free sessions to a trainer for only three thousand pesos (that’s like P1, 000.00 per month). Well, we find it good in a sense that the package itself is kinda affordable. I mean, for me I find it affordable. But there are lots of things to do for you to get enrolled with them. We have to coordinate and submit some requirements to our HR department (meaning you have to deal with SOL, the secretary who seemed to be not in the mood everyday) and some other stuff.

Today was unbelievable. Jaja, ice and I went to eat out for lunch at the Max’s restaurant in SM Mega Mall. Since we are all full, we decided to stroll along the paths of each floor in the mall. We talked about friends and things in the office and the usual stuff until we ended up talking about the Gym. Since we are in the topic already, we thought we might ask the package that Fitness First offers. And so we did. I ask the receptionist about their packages and things they can offer. The next thing we knew, we are inside their Gym, signing the enrollment form. Everything that happened was fast. We are still amazed on how quick our decision was.

Fitness First also offers good package. Our Initial payment was P4, 100.00. That includes the lifetime membership fee, 15 day work out, two 1 hour session with a personal trainer, diet assessment and other freebies like the Fitness First bag (with tumbler, towel, headset and manual), free massage, free drink and coffee and free use of the internet. They also have some classes for dance, aerobics, yoga and boxing which are also included in the membership. Payment will be on a monthly basis and that costs P3, 000.00 for early payment, P3, 200.00 for on time payment and P3, 400.00 for late payments. This may look like a lot and yes it is expensive (compared to Gold’s Gym) but I guess what matters is that we are now enrolled to the gym and we are happy with our decision.

Oh, by the way, Fitness First also gave us five coupon of FREE 3-day guest membership so we could bring along some friends to try their service.

Now, the chance of being fit and sexy will be on our hands. I know with great determination and hard work, we will achieve our dream body.

Reaching the TOP!

Just recently I was recognized as the top performing agent for the month of April. The management gave me a certificate of recognition signed by the Operations Managers and some snacks as token. The awarding per se is informal as our OM Melai gave the certificate at the production floor while I am on call. My cheeks suddenly became red when OM Melai announced it aloud that everybody can hear what she has to say. She read my performance last April then everybody clapped their hands. Pictures were also taken: me with the certificate and my supervisor.

The recognition somehow made me more motivated to work hard. It is not everyday that you receive this kind of recognition. Somehow, it made me feel that I am popular and everybody knows my name. I actually hate that feeling. I would always want to be low profiled. I don’t like lime lights. All I want is to pass my score cards every month.

Still I want to thank the people behind my success. You know who you are. I love you all!

To the woman of my life

To the woman who gave birth and took care of me, the woman who protected me from harm, the one who brings out the best in me, the girl who taught me everything I need to know about love and life, she made me feel like I’m special and perfect despite my imperfections, the woman who is always there to catch me when I fail, always lends her ear and listen to my stupid stories, a survivor, a friend, a perfect wife and a wonderful mother..

The woman of my life.. MA, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
I will always love you and take care of you mom..




this song is for you..



P.S
Happy Birthday Pops!! I love you too..

Appreciating My Supervisor

I am almost about to give up on my work when I saw an opening for a QSP (Quality Specialist)position. I thought I could give it a shot. Anyway it was my dream of moving up and not stays as an agent forever. Well, not really forever but I wouldn’t want to take in calls for so long. I’ve seen a lot of agents that grew tired of taking in calls and I don’t want to end up being one of them.

I refuse to inform my direct supervisor about my goals and plans. I guess I just never wanted to tell him about it or I don’t want him to know all about my ambition. I have my reasons not to do so. As I’ve written with my previous blogs, I am currently loosing my heart for my work and even to the company. I don’t want to blame it all on him but he plays a big part of all my bad experiences with the company.

Since there is nothing to lose, I told myself that I should give it a try and apply for the post. The problem is that I will need my supervisor’s help on this attempt. He may need to print out my performance for the last three months and also his recommendation.

I gather all the courage I have and composed a text message saying “TL, nakakahiya pero ask ko na din. Pwede ba akong magapply for QSP? Gusto ko lang sana i-try” and send it to him. I crossed my fingers and even my toes while waiting for his reply. I feel this uncertainty and foolishness on what I did. I feel like I made a wrong decision. When I checked my phone, I saw his message. It says “wag mahiya, we’ll talk about it tonight”. I don’t know if that would mean good to me or whatsoever. I can’t think of anything proper that time so I thought I should keep my mind from the idea of what will happen next and think of something else.

I feel uneasy that night. I thought we will immediately talk about it or we will discuss it during lunch time. I also thought that we’ll talk about it in front of my team mates. I don’t want anybody else know about my plan. Again as I have said I am bit introverted about the idea. I also thought that he already forgot my application since I never hear anything from him about it. When my shift is about to end, he asked me to go to his desk. And so I did. We immediately started talking about the said application.

He never thought that I am interested in moving up the ladder. He told me that if he knew about my plans then he would have given me more responsibilities that I can somehow use as an asset when applying. He also asked me questions as if we were in an interview, he being the interviewer and I am the interviewee. So I answered what I think is good and he gave his feedback then pointed out my strengths and areas for improvement. Actually I refused to answer some of his questions when I started to understand what he is doing. He is preparing me for the interview. He wanted all to go well the moment I started the application process. He is the only supervisor that gave me the feeling of security. I felt his full support on what my plans are. There was also a point when he enumerated all my excellent contributions to team. He pointed out all the help I’m doing for each of my team mates. He also stated all the things that I should be equipped with which are integral for the post. I guess I really need more responsibilities and exposures. That being said, I asked myself, am I really ready for the said position?

I told my supervisor that since I am lacking of experience then I guess I’ll just apply next time. I saw a look of dismay in his face. He said that I should sleep it over and think about my final decision. To be honest, I’m not really sure if I am ready for it or not yet. I am still yet to decide about that. All I know is that this incident lets me appreciate my supervisor. I never thought that our conversation will end up this way.

But what’s the real score? Are this all true? Is he wearing a mask?

I hope not…