TOPAZ HORIZON

Since we have no maids and nannies, I have to resort to food deliveries often. Sometimes, there are lots of leftovers when the kids decide they didn't want what they ordered after all. Now, you all know that eating leftover fast food is depressing. For example, leftover Jollibee Chicken Joy is no longer crispy. So what I do is turn them into something else!

I got this recipe from the package of rice we buy. This recipe is by Chef Laudico but I tweaked it so that it's now mine. It is super delicious!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp garlic, minced
4 tbsp onion, diced
2 tbsp carrots, diced (I used red bell pepper since I ran out of carrots.)
2 tbsp celery, diced
1 cup cabbage, shredded
1 cup chicken meat, cooked
2 cups rice, cooked
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk

Heat butter and sauté onions, garlic, celery and bell pepper. The recipe called for carrots but since I didn't have any, I used red bell peppers because they're just as crunchy and sweet. Plus, they add heat that carrots don't!

Add cabbage and when it's a bit limp, add the rice.

You can actually stop at this point and now you have fancy fried rice!

Add chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes. My chicken stock is just two Knorr chicken flavor cubes dissolved in hot water.

(If you have real chicken stock, much better! You'll just have to season the dish with 2 tbsp patis. Since I used flavor cubes, I didn't need seasoning.)

Add milk and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Add chicken meat.

Serve! This is sooo perfect for this rainy weather. Try it!

P.S. I hope you're all safe and warm and dry, dear readers.

Found this on the Internets today. That's what happens when you're stuck at home all day long.


Well, tell me something I don't know! I'm always in hot water.

I really am nonconformist. The most conformist thing I've done is get married and have kids but Vince and I are pretty unconventional (although we're happily conformist with the fidelity clause haha) and we raise our kids in a way that will make most of the perfect supermoms faint haha.

What's your number? Is it you? Find out here!

Yesterday, I had a meeting. I usually bring my baby Iñigo with me everywhere. Since we have no household help and nannies, Vince takes care of our three-year-old Vito while I care for Iñigo. It's not so hard toting Iñigo around (I have an adorable example here!) but since it was raining, Vince said I should leave the baby at home.

Good thing I did. I waited for a cab for 30 minutes to get to a place that was a mere 5 minutes away on wheels and 15 minutes away on foot. I'd have walked if it weren't for the wind and pouring rain. After my meeting, I lined up again at the taxi area but the line was 20 feet long and there was no taxi in sight so I decided to take the bus.

I haven't taken the bus in years. Well, I kinda don't count the buses in Bonifacio Global City since those are really nice and BGC is tiny and not stressful. I used to be on buses, trains and jeeps all the time. One, we were poor. Two, even when I married Vince, I still preferred commuting since it was waaaaaay faster than a car. But when the kids came and I bring them along everywhere, I take the car or a cab to move around the city.

This is me taking the kids to Active Fun. Vince wasn't feeling well that day so we took a cab.

Vito doesn't like public transport. Iñigo is fine with any moving vehicle. Except maybe a tricycle. He didn't like the noise. Here he is in a trike. He was frowning the whole time haha.

So back to yesterday. I took the bus. Okay, it's no big deal. I was just surprised at how I felt. I'd forgotten the rush and crush of people, the smell of the wet pavement and decaying garbage, the thick exhaust fumes, the deafening horns of the buses, the heat, the quick steps or else you get pushed aside, the asshole drivers, the asshole pedestrians. Although my instinct to hold my bag close to me and to be alert to fellow passengers rose up very quickly. That felt like a welcome friend.

This used to be my life. I used to do this every day. I lived near Masinag Market in Antipolo and back then, there was not enough public transportation. I used to stand under the sun for 2 hours, waiting for a jeep. I used to fight for seats sa jeep or sa FX. I used to run after buses. That was my life for so many years. Then my life improved recently and I forgot what it was like to be part of the masses.

With my friend Jennie when we were in our early 20s. I was so dark because I was under the sun commuting all the time!

Funny how memory is.

So maybe government officials should take the bus once a month. Maybe they shouldn't even be given cars. It's hard to understand what your constituents' life is like if you don't live it even for a few days every now and then. It's a good exercise.