Saturday, May 16, 2015

Hello Home Life!

OMG!! It's been two years since I updated this site. Haven't much time to visit here since I already created a personal site for my online journal. But I have several posts here that are worthy of anyone's time, there's even one section for health and wellness, so folks try to browse past contents here, this site is worth of your time.

My purpose of creating this blog is to create an online collection of house designs and ideas and all the homey stuff. I thought I could get married in less than two years after earning my master's degree so I prepared this site for a homely life hahaha! Crazy girl!! :-P

Anyway with or without marriage, the idea of this blog remains the same, to collect house designs especially the country living ideas. This site also features homemaking ideas for wifey and mothers, raising a family, nurturing kids and all the home life stuff.

As this is also a food site, I will be sharing recipes, cooking ideas and style and the food finds I got on the road while traveling. However, some of the contents will be duplicates in my official website ADRIFT WITH LIFE, so try checking the site too.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Let's DISH!!

Hi everyone!

Just want to share something about the blog I recently created, LET'S DISH FOOD AND COFFEE HAUS , it's a promotional site of one of the best food houses in the city.

I created the banner of the site through word paint, I am not into photoshop, still need further tutorials :-)
 The banner I created for Let's Dish site

Let's Dish is located along Jacinto Street, Davao City, just in front of Ateneo de Davao University. They have a wide selection of scrumptious menu from the main course to desserts and coolers. My favorites are Fettuccine Carbonara and Fresh Lumpia, so luscious!

The establishment is also offering catering services. The function room, which can accommodate up to 40 people, is used as a dance studio every weekend by the Alternative Groove, a dance group founded by one of Let's Dish owners, Engr. Cromwell Castillo. The function room is available for rent.

The third birthday party of my goddaughter, Brea Faustino, eldest child of Let's Dish business partners, Roumel and Bels Faustino, was held there last September and I was entranced with the very stylish and elegant room decorations, it was spruced up with so many balloons and other fantasy stuff. The room was instantly transformed into a fairytale landia!Kids really loved it and even adults were mesmerized with the arrangement.

For your catering and venue needs, don't look elsewhere, contact Let's DISH!

Fairytale Party Theme at Let's Dish function room!
Fairytale Party Theme at Let's Dish function room!
FETTUCCINE CARBONARA
Fresh Lumpia with Peanut filling
TABLE ARRANGEMENT AT THEIR FUNCTION ROOM


Visit Let's Dish Food Haus along Jacinto Street, fronting Ateneo de Davao University. For your inquiries, visit their website (CLICK HERE). Thank you!!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Scones and Fondant

Finally this weekend I'll try baking real SCONES hehehe!I asked my friends to let me borrow their oven for this baking adventure. I'm glad they agreed so I'll be at their home this Saturday night. 

The Scones I tasted at Euro Cafe

I'll try making rolled fondant too, it's a bit tedious because the process involved too many intricate steps and hard-to-understand ingredients but I'll try my best to create a home made fondant cupcake. 

Fondant is similar to icing but it's more creamy, refine, neat and soft. It's an art of decorating and sculpting pastries and it has been used recently for party cakes. It makes pastries look more attractive and lovely. Modern wedding cakes are usually decorated in fondant, but recently, cupcakes are following this trend too!

If you notice the modern wedding cakes, its appearance had never been so nicer with fondant decoration. It's more attractive and creamy and often serves as additional accent to the reception venue. It adds style and elegance!


Rolled fondant is made of fructose, powdered sugar, cream cheese, gelatine and food-grade glycerine and it is usually prepared ahead of time, normally two days in order to achieve its desired thickness. It should be kept refrigerated while not in used. Fondant can be recreated to different scrumptious designs like Disney characters and other figures. To create different colors, a food dye is added to its preparation.

And because I am stubborn enough to try experimenting difficult stuff even if it costs me a lot of money, time and effort, I will try creating my own style of fondant cupcake hehe!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Panini Whoopies


During my younger years, I used to watch my two grandmothers cooked native delicacies and other desserts and very fascinated with how they came up with scrumptious foods!

My maternal grandmother cooked almost all kinds of native foods with variations. While my paternal grandmother was very good at making bread and "pilipit" (somewhat a twisted soft bread). So I thought of imitating their legacy hehe! My sister loved to bake also and now, I want to try it too!

So excited with baking pastries and experimenting desserts!! It won't take an expert to create delectable dishes, anyway, it's just a matter of self-confidence and bravery hehehe! And patience!Lots of patience. All I need to do is a good amount of courage and determination.

So after studying all the aspects of baking one day, I was so thrilled to get on with it that I immediately planned to shop for ingredients even if I have no necessary kitchen equipment. I just want to discover stuff hehe!

The fluted cookie cutters I bought to create different forms
Cake writing gel, gosh so expensive!!!

Baking requires certain equipment and materials to make things right but I was too eager to get my hands on it. And since I had this sort of experiment-aficionado-complex stuck in my system :-) I did not wait another week to materialize my plan. One day, I went to the supermarket and shop for necessary ingredients :-D I thought that since I have no oven at the moment, I want to try another way of cooking which is -- frying haha!

The first thing that comes to my mind was to create SCONES! Oh yes, this very delicious Tea food popular in Britain is what I am longing to bake ever since. I imagined how this projects goes---buttery scones!

But, oh well, as fate would have it, things did not set well for my project because I have no oven, it turned very soft and became pancakes hahaha! But you know what's the best thing that happened after? I was able to create a new party food! This is the best part of being too experimental you will produce a new product, a new discovery, so this is some sort of serendipity :-)

I did not produce Scones but instead I was able to create a new party food recipe. Here's how I got the name of my precious project: Panini is a term referring to a grilled sandwich made of Italian bread while Whoopies is purely the product of my imagination haha! I thought it's a bit playful and magical to use for a party food, whoopies reflect surprises and fun.

Here's how I created this party food:

You Need:

1 cartoon of Whipping Cream
1 kilo of All Purpose Flour
1 small can of Evaporated Milk
3 cups of White Sugar
1 stick Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon Salt 
2 Eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 medium bag of Multicolored marshmallows
Cake writing gel


1. Mixed sugar, All purpose flour, Baking Powder and Unsalted Butter
2. In a separate bowl beat eggs, pour  the
All purpose cream, evaporated milk and vanilla, mixed thoroughly
3. Pour the Liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, make sure the liquid 
is just enough to produce a dough
4. Pour a little amount of flour to the wooden material 
or just a large plastic ware where you work on the dough
 Knead the dough thoroughly, wet your hands with water. 
Flatten the dough and cut into pieces using fluted cookie cutters.
  You may use assorted cutters to create several shapes
The two shapes I created: Star and Heart
5. Brush the top with butter. Heat the frying pan and put
small amount of Olive Oil then slowly put the shaped dough. Make sure to 
turn it from time to time to avoid being burned. Remove it from heat
and transfer to a bowl to cool. 
Drizzle the top with cake writing gel and put marshmallows.

As what I've said, the ingredients are intended for Scones but due to oven-less circumstances my experiment became Panini! Hahaha!

Well, there are times that misfortune turns to be blessings! Look at the lovely and attractive products I'd created. Surely, kids will love these foods!!

Panini Whoopies are ideal for a simple home party celebration with kids and adults! The beautiful presentation of marshmallows on top can add more fun and excitement to the party :-)
My Panini Whoopies creation!

So treat your kids with this delectable party food and decorate it based on your style and taste.

Kids, as well as adults, would surely love this food at the party because it is made from cream, milk and other soft ingredients like butter and eggs.

Try to create variations for this party food, you can explore your imagination and creativity in creating style and decoration.

 Yeah!It's party time!
Here are some party tips for you to consider:


For this creation, I used marshmallows in pastel tricolor to create a dainty presentation.

I had no specific party idea when I prepared this style, I just utilized whatever resources available when I shopped at the grocery :-)

The joy of creating a surprised party food relies in your unpreparedness hehe because you will tend to just grab whatever is there.
But as you can see, the lovely pastel marshmallows served as a beautiful topped decoration for my Panini Whoopies.

You may used the cake writing gel to create letters or words like "hello" and "happy birthdays".

I found out that the cake writing gel is so expensive! So try another writing gel that a lot cheaper. It's also messy to use hehe! Or maybe I am not yet an expert when it comes to using a cake writing gel.
This food preparation would not cost you a fortune, it's less expensive compared to other party foods but it offers the same level of fun and excitement when displayed at the food station.

Make use of your creativity when preparing party food to add some spikes of glamor, everyone would surely be delighted attending your home party celebration.

Don't forget to use various shapes of fluted cookie cutters to create lovely figures and shapes for everyone to enjoy.

Think of any placement decoration at home where you can position your lovely panini whoopies creation.

You may put it in a tray with scattered cake toppings, candies, ribbonettes and petals or put it in mismatched china wares with organza fabric for additional attraction.

There are several options of food toppings to go with Panini Whoopies. 

Fondant is another way. This is the modern trend of covering pastries and this can be applied to Whoopies.


Though a bit expensive and quite stressful to prepare, fondant is one of the best ways to create a very sophisticated and classy party food!

But be prepared for its tiring process, while marshmallows, rice sprinkles and cake writing gel can be added in instance and the job is finish, fondant takes several days to prepare before it can be decorated to pastries, so it's your choice.
The choice of decorations may varies depending the type of a celebration you are organizing. 

If it's just a home party with guests limited to close family members and friends, you may opt to choose marshmallows and sprinkles or slices of nuts and fruits.

If it's a large social gathering, you may choose fondant cut into animated patterns, you may use icing to be drizzled on top of each panini.
There you go...

Panini Whoopies provide enormous options to make your simple party celebration a truly memorable and entertaining gathering!

This party food tastes so good depending on the ingredients you prepared. You can substitute other ingredients I listed at the top of this post, example evaporated milk with condense milk and minimize sugar and you may add 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice and some food-grade coloring to create colorful Paninis.



Sunday, January 27, 2013

My Weekend Recipes

During weekdays, I cannot consistently cook food due to rush hour and beside I am living alone so there’s no need to force myself to wake up every early morning to prepare meals, but on weekends I always make it a point to cook my own food! 

My weekend meals normally consist of fish, vegetables, brown rice, fruits and sea foods. I never eat meat on weekends. I only eat meat twice a month and during weekdays only (because I have no choice hehehe). 

Whenever I go to a wet market, I normally buy danggit, my favorite fish, if danggit is not available, I go for salmon. I would cook it in two types only: Sinabaw (with malunggay, lemon grass, tomato and ginger) and Paksiw. 

For vegetables I prefer Broccoli, Asparagus, Tokwa, squash, carrots and okra. I would cook it in olive oil and lots of garlic and onions. Sometimes I would barter a little on seasonings because I used Oyster Sauce if I cooked Tokwa hehehe. I never use vetsin and other commercial seasoning, except Oyster Sauce, when cooking. Back home, my father prohibited us to use vetsin.

Here are my usual weekend recipes: 

 1. TOKWA AND BROCCOLI (sometimes ASPARAGUS) 

 For this recipe, I usually make two variations: Tokwa and Broccoli or Tokwa and Asparagus. 

You Need: 

2 regular pieces Tokwa 
1 piece Broccoli (or 1 small bundle of asparagus) 
1 piece Onion 
4 pieces Garlic 
2 teaspoon Olive Oil 
3 teaspoon Oyster Sauce 
½ cup water 
Let the Tokwa simmer for 20 minutes to make it very tender 
Tokwa and Broccoli, this time I mixed it with Garbanzos

Procedure: 

Slice Tokwa into cubes. In a saucepan, prepare three cups of water and bring to boil, add tokwa and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside. Heat the saucepan again, sautéed garlic and onion, then add the tokwa, stir it continuously and cover for a while, but make sure to check it more often so as not to burn the tokwa, uncover the saucepan and stir it again, repeat this step until the tokwa becomes tender, add the broccoli or asparagus and drizzle with oyster sauce, stir it occasionally to mix all the ingredients and to even out the taste. Add the water and let it simmer. Cover the saucepan. Check occasionally and stir. If you notice the broccoli becomes tender, remove the saucepan from the heat. Allow the food to cool before transferring it to a bowl. 

 2. SINABAW NA ISDA (danggit or salmon) 

While preparing your kettle or frying pan, clean the fish first by washing it with water, put it in a bowl with vinegar, lemon juice and salt to remove its bad smell. 

This is a very provincial recipe but I really love it and my week is incomplete without this in my meal!

One thing I detested eating sinabaw na isda in a carenderia or anywhere is the way it is cooked, it’s pretty obvious they did not clean it thoroughly with vinegar and salt because of the foul smell when served. Here I will be sharing to you my cooking style for a savory Sinabaw na Isda.

You Need: 

4 cups of water 
3 pieces of Danggit or salmon 
2 stems of Malunggay
1 stem of Lemon grass 
1 big slice of Ginger (crushed) 
1 bundle of Chinese Kangkong 
1 piece of Tomato 
1/2 tablespoon of salt

Procedure: 

Clean the fish with water and put it in a bowl with vinegar, salt and lemon juice to remove its bad smell. Set aside. Put the 4 cups of water in the kettle or frying pan (depends on what you are using) pour the salt and put the lemon grass and ginger. Bring to boil. Add tomato slices. Wash the fish with water again, add it to the kettle. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add the Kangkong and Malunggay. Let it simmer for another 3 minutes. Make sure the vegetables would not be overcooked. Transfer to a bowl and serve. 

3. BUTTERY PRAWNS 

Oh yes! I love prawns!!!I grew up in a province that is so blessed with crabs, prawns and lobsters and all kinds of seafoods! When I lived in the city, I rarely experienced eating these oh so delicious varieties because it’s too expensive, but sometimes I would set aside enough money on weekends to buy prawns and cook it according to my style hehe! 

So here, I will be sharing to you my yummy buttery prawns, hope you can try this at your home too! Don’t forget to wash the prawns before you cook it.

You need: 

¼ kilo Prawns 
1 stick unsalted butter 
1 regular bottle of sprite or mountain dew 
3 pieces of Garlic (crushed) 
1 piece of Onion 
1 small slice of Ginger (crushed) 
2 teaspoons of Soy sauce (depends on your taste) 
Pepper to taste
Oh so delicious Prawns cooked in butter!

Procedure: 

Washed the prawns and set aside. Heat the saucepan, add sprite or mountain dew and put the prawns on it. Bring to boil while stirring occasionally until the prawns turn red. Remove it from the liquid and set aside. Heat the saucepan again and melt the butter, add onion, garlic and ginger, add the prawns and stir. Add soy sauce. Stir it again. Add the pepper. Let it simmer. Remove from the heat and serve!

Those are my home cook recipes hope you are delighted! I’ll share more recipes next entries, please follow my site to receive updates of Home Life! Thank you readers.

Beautiful Home Landscape

A house with a beautiful landscape adds freshness and sophistication even to a small structure. It will help turn the atmosphere of the area more invigorating and relaxing. It reflects creativity too for the home owners!

A simple garden design of green plants along the pathways or beside the gate can turn a small house into an elegant home!The presence of nature in our surroundings, especially in our own home brings a different feeling of contentment and peace so why not integrate it in your design the moment you decide to build your own house?

Here are some of the great landscaping styles from the experts online.

Traditional Landscape design by New York Design-build Liquidscapes

Beautiful pathways!
Ideal landscaping style for a small space backyard
This is a simple landscaping design but still it adds beauty to the house

Cozy Living Room

I always wanted a living room that has a direct access to the garden or a beautiful landscape, because aside from the relaxing ambiance it provides, the fantastic blooms of flowers, the presence of green plants and the beauty of the surroundings add loveliness and elegance to the small structure of the house. It's very relaxing and peaceful!

It is being said that the structure, interior and furnishing of the house reflect the attitude and personality of the owner, so if you are a person who love the beauty of nature, who are quiet, peace-loving and minimalist, a living room with an airy walling that is directly facing the garden is what you must have. French doors/walling is the best for this idea.

I am easily attracted to a home with a beautiful landscape of plants and flowers, so naturally if I have my own house I would like it to be built with an open space directly facing the garden and the lovely plants along its pathways.

The backdrop of a beautiful garden adds freshness to a simple living room

An elegant design idea for a limited space living room

My idea of a living room is not really grand, I want to keep it simple as much as possible, some of my sketches include the open walling with sliding doors and screen covering it, other variations include French doors or French walling where the beauty of plants and flowers can be directly seen.

This is very ideal also especially if you are building a small house in a limited space. The French walling or French doors are perfect to compliment the space, this idea of a house structure gives illusion of a spacious interior space.

Very elegant and glamorous living room!
Another interior design idea for a spacious living room with a perfect view of the garden

Relaxing Bedroom

A bedroom is one area in the house where we could be on our own, rest after a hard day from work and spend a relaxing hourly sleep at night or just taking a quick nap during the day, so its environment must be invigorating and soothing to calm our senses.

My dream of a relaxing bedroom is something that has a large window or a glass wall where I could see the beautiful garden of green plants, sweet bloom of flowers and a bright sunshine. It should have at least a small bathroom adjacent to the closet.

Here are some of my favourite designs I got online:
A cozy bedroom with a direct access to the garden
Another simple bedroom design with a walk-in closet and bathroom
Ultra clean bedroom design with French windows
Another style of a bedroom with a large glass window
Bathroom design idea to compliment the small space of the bedroom
bathroom design idea for a small space bedroom

Having our own house really provides freedom and peace of mind because we can do whatever we want to do with the structure, we can decorate it according to our style, choose interior designs and furnishing and refurbish it based on our preferences. There's no other place like our own home, so they say!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Kitchen Style


I am very obsessed with having my own house someday! Dream...dream....dream!!!

It's so liberating to think that someday I'll be having all the freedom to  fix my own living room, do household chores, design the interior, buy home furniture, linens and kitchen utensils. It's a fantastic feeling having to think that I have my own place to return to after a busy day from work to comfort me and to enjoy my own space.

For now, I am just contented to collect designs online and do some sketches of my own. One of my favorite areas in the house is the kitchen because I love cooking!I want to cook as much as I can and I want to experiment recipes. I want a kitchen with a pantry on it to have a proper storing area of foods and utensils. 

Pantry is part of the old English tradition of an orderly home, I often read it in many royal books. The royal household and all of the Queen's residences have pantry areas managed by the butlers.

A beautiful kitchen with a relaxing ambiance
Everything is organized!

Designing a kitchen is one of my favorite past time lately hehehe!It makes me so happy and inspired to work harder to realize my plans as soon as possible. I want to organize stuff in the kitchen so I sketched pull organizers for utensils and plates. 

Another obsession is designing a kitchen organizer where I can "hide" things that are not in used. I want to have a pantry beside the kitchen, but an organizer is another thing, it will make the place very orderly and clean.
A beautiful organizer where washing machine can be kept when not in used
Amazing Pantry!
Kitchen design idea for a limited house lot space
Oh I love this pantry soooo much!!