A Sweet Dupe: Chicboy's Turones Caramel Sauce

You know what? Before Chicboy came up with this turones dip, we've loved a similar concoction from a man selling kutsinta at the Boni MRT. He smothers his kutsinta with a thicker version of this caramel and it was sooo delicious. Drew's mom asked him how he made the sauce and he said, he simply had to boil a can of condensed milk. I don't know if cans have BPA, but there must be something unhealthy about boiling something inside a can, don't you think?

I can't say my version is the easiest way to do it because I've wasted about 3 cans of condensed milk just to get the desired result. And oh, the agony of having to wait for the condensed milk to turn brown!!! Might as well get them from Chicboy (They sell turones for P35 with a small serving of sauce and you can always ask for extra!).

Anyway, this is how I did it:

Ingredients:

1 small can condensed milk

hot water

1. Place any kind of pan over low fire. Pour all the contents of condensed milk on it.

2. Heat the condensed milk while stirring constantly. If you feel that the sauce is getting too thick, pour around 1/4 cup of hot water on it. NOTE: Be sure that the water is really hot. I tried regular tap water and ended up getting hard caramel candy!

3. Continue with step 2 until you get the desired brown-ness of your caramel. After this, pour the last 1/4 cup of hot water, stir until somewhat saucy in consistency and turn off the heat on your stove.

4. Let it cool.

This is basically just burnt condensed milk, you know? So if you want the taste to be more milky, don't brown it too much. If you want more flavor, burn it some more. But more importantly, decide if you really want to make it, haha!

And for the presentation:

Will you marry me?

YOUR every woman,

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Crepe Out of Pancake Batter

Ella loves pancakes so much! I wanted to make her boring pancakes extra special by adding mangoes (her favorite fruit), whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. But then, I realized...these are the same ingredients of a crepe! I searched the Internet and found out that it is indeed possible to make crepe out of pancake batter! Here's how:

Ingredients for cream:

1 tetra pack of Nestle cream

1/2 of a small can of Alaska condensed milk

1. Mix and freeze.

Ingredients for crepe:

200g pancake mix (we use Maya)

egg

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup milk (can be powdered milk mixed with water)

2 tbsp cooking oil

1. Mix everything like you would to regular pancakes.

2. Heat a frying pan and add a drop of cooking oil.

3. Pour half a cup of the batter and flatten it circularly as it dries up into crepe. Cook it like regular pancakes but be extra careful because it's thinner. A non-stick frying pan would do best for this job, but we don't have one (*ehem* Christmas! *ehem*)

4. Keep repeating step 2 for succeeding crepes.

5. Refrigerate the crepes.

6. Once cold, layer one side with frozen cream, add mangoes, roll, and pour syrup over.

It's very easy! You should try it!

your every woman,

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Hair Happiness!!!

One of the best things about having a baby girl, is that she is sometimes the extension of a mother's happy childhood! Remember your favorite dolly? The one you love to dress up and style hair? It's like she has come to life... in your daughter!!!

When I was looking for sample hairstyles that I would do to Ella on my brother's wedding, I found out about princesshairstyles.com wherein a mommy posts hairstyles that she does on her daughter and how to do them. Since then, just about the same time that Ella started school, it has been my addiction to always make sure her hair is styled (that is...only when I'm around). Not only does it tame her curly baby hair, but it also adds a little glam to her everyday uniform. Here are a few photos of what we've done so far:

classes were suspended because of a storm...off to the mall!

ready for school!

home after school

I know it's not as beautiful and complicated as the one in Princess Hairstyles but they sure look pretty on Ella, don't you think so? I hope I could do this every single day... *sigh*

your every woman,

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Potty Training Part 3

Wow! It's been a while since I last posted something about this... Just a recap, Ella can do number 1 and number 2 already. However, she can't seem to keep the fluids in when she's asleep! ...Especially when it's cold!

Then a friend suggested that we schedule wake time for peeing at night. I thought it was a very good idea because almost all of Ella's training had something to do with schedule! We had to wait until Ella is old enough not to be cranky when we wake her up... which is now, when she's halfway past 3 years old.

I scheduled Ella's wake up time for 12am, 3am and 6am. I didn't wake her up like I wake adults though. At first, I'd have to carry her half asleep self, let her sit on the potty and support her while she's peeing. We've had accidents, yes! But a potty trained daughter is definitely worth a stinky bed!

Then just recently, I was surprised to hear Ella waking me up and asking me "Mommy, where's the potty?" (Looks like she didn't remember where it was on the times she was half asleep!) I showed her where the potty was, and just observed. She peed! But then she might have found the potty a little late.

Ella: Where's your phone mommy?

Me: I don't know... (still very sleepy)

Ella: My panty is wet, mommy... Where's your phone?

Me: (looking for the phone)

Dad: (awakened by all the fuss and feeling under the pillows) Andiyan o!

Drew handed me my phone and I gave it to Ella. Ella pressed a button, went to the other room where her closet was, and got a clean panty! In a house with no lights on! Hahaha! She used the phone as her flashlight, just like her daddy taught her to do! Way to go Ella!

your every woman,

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Squashtillas!

July is nutrition month. At Ella's school, parents were asked to present how to prepare any nutritious food in class yesterday. It was a good thing that the event fell on my rest day so I agreed.

Drew and I had chicken soup in mind. However, when I asked the teacher what the other mom is going to present, she said it was soup. I don't know what else to make that would have veggies in it but would still be a hit to 3-4 year olds. Big thanks to Jamie who suggested that we make pastillas out of squash!

Squash pastillas??? Well, here's how:

Ingredients:

2 rinds of squash, cut into squares

3 cups of evaporated milk (I used Carnation evap because it's thick)

2 cups brown sugar (wash)

2 cups powdered milk (I used Alaska powdered milk)

1. Steam the squash. It retains the nutrients better compared to when it's boiled. Another thing, it makes the squash soft with less water in it.

2. Completely mash the squash and place in the saucepan. Add evaporated milk and 1 3/4 cup of brown sugar.

3. Cook in low fire until mixture is pasty. Stir constantly. Be careful not to stop stirring because as the mixture boils and thickens, it can spatter so far that it can reach you. Believe me it reached and burnt my right eyelid. Let the paste cool.

4. When paste is cool, add 1 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Mix thoroughly.

5. Using 2 spoons, get bite size servings of the squash paste and roll in a mixture of 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup powdered milk. Cover with cellophane and store in the fridge or freezer.

Cool huh?! And the best part is, it's ACTUALLY delicious! The kids loved it so much that almost everyone asked for more after being given a piece. Moms should try this!

your every woman,

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Spreads, Dips and Sauces: Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread

I've tasted this concoction in a finger food at a bar on one of the RnR's of the company I work for. And because I love cheese so much, I just had to make it! Here's how:

Ingredients:

1 heaping tbsp of strawberry jam

2 heaping tablespoon of melted cream cheese

1. I used the strawberry jam from Good Shepherd's, the one we got from our recent Baguio trip. Just mix it with the cream cheese and enjoy! Perfect for toasts and crackers!

Oh, and by the way, you just have to multiply the ingredients to as much people as you'd like to serve it to because this recipe is single serve!

your every woman,

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Help!!! My Lips Are Not Ready for A Baguio Trip!!!

I have extremely dry skin. And if you are a reader of this blog, you probably have come across my battle over eczema. I say now that it's a battle and not a win because eczema apparently never heals. So by the time I stopped medication, it just returned after a while...and now both ankles have it! I can't continue using a strong steroid cream the whole year round!

So, the last thing I need is dry lips! Having to slather moisturizer on EVERY part of the body and reapplying at least twice EVERY single day is just terribly tedious... and now, lip balm?! Come on!!!

Anyway, here's a photo of how dry my lips are:

(notice dry patches of my face too?)

That and I'm in Manila! Imagine how sore and chapped my lips would be when we go up north and stay in Baguio for 5 days later this week?!

I've been using Burt's Bees Rejuvenating Lip Balm with Acai berry and even though it's a good lip balm, it doesn't really work for the kind of lips I have.

I'm torn between buying Carmex or Vaseline Lip Therapy...Your thoughts?

your every woman,

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Extend the Staying Power of Eyeliner - The Colorful Way!

There are a lot of tricks in the book as to how we can extend the staying power of eyeliner. The most common is the loose powder>liner>loose powder trick. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to apply eyeshadow primer prior to those 3 special steps (You'd understand that line if you have a kid whose addicted to Playhouse Disney!). Anyway, not only was I able to prove that it works, but I was also able to discover a cheap way of achieving several colors of dark eyeliner! Are you ready? Here's how:

Have a reliable black pencil eyeliner handy. I use Revlon's Luxurious Color Kohl Eyeliner in matte black. Line your eyes with it like you normally would. And don't fuss about not having a straight line, it should be corrected by this tip as well!

Prepare eyeshadow color you used on the darkest part of your eye make up. I used a dark violet shade from Dollface Cosmetics' 78 color palette, the color I used for the outer V.

Get a stiff eyeliner brush, dip it on the eyeshadow and use it to smudge your black eyeliner. I used the flat liner brush from Charm's travel pro set v2.

See how your black eyeliner seem like dark violet now?

The best thing about this is that, you can practically turn any color of eyeshadow into dark eyeliner with just one eyeliner color - Black!

Pretty neat huh?!

I don't know how original this trick is...All I can say is that it works for me! Let me know if it works for you too!

your every woman,

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Ella's First Trip to the Dentist

If you read parenting books and magazines from the US, most of them would suggest that babies should meet up with a dentist within 6 months of the first tooth eruption. I guess it's not a sort of protocol here in the Philippines...Ahh, I can still remember the look on the dentist's face when I brought 1 year old Ella for a check-up and said she doesn't have tooth problems!

Anyway, fast forward to last Tuesday. I brought Ella to the dentist again because there are white spots on her teeth. And my...she was sooo brave!

The dentist said they have become part of her tooth enamel and would lead to cavities if not taken care of. She said it could be caused by teeth being soaked in milk. When I researched further, the closest I can associate it to is dental caries. Fluoride something was applied to her teeth and the process is supposed to be repeated every 6 months to prevent tooth cavities. Drew forgot the name of the exact procedure, but it could be called Fluoride varnish based from the same link.

Have you brought your tots to the dentist? They might need this treatment too!

MG ORAL CARE DENTAL CLINC

5TH LEVEL SAHNGRI-LA MALL

MANDALUYONG M-F 11-5PM 6383131

your every woman,

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Pinay Barbie

Here's a shot at Barbie make up (Darn! I wish I have an eyeshadow primer again...)

...And here's what happens to Ella in the background!

Have a lovely family day!

your every woman,

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To The Man I Love!!!

Behind every successful man is a woman...in our case, it's the other way around.

His words will only either build you up or pull you down...it depends on how you interpret it. And for most of the ones who've left because of that, I wonder where you are now. But that helped me become a leader.

He speaks the truth that no one would like to hear... t'was a good thing I listened.

He displays a comedic disposition, but is actually sensitive.

He shows a stern father to her daughter, but is actually soft.

He can be seen as authoritative, but is actually submissive.

He can be cruel in an instance, but is actually kind.

He is addicted to online gaming, but it helped him become some sort of a tech whiz.

He looks innocent, but is very naughty.

He created one of the greatest deceipts its in my life and I love it.

It doesn't seem like a special day today, but this is the day he was born for me.

Happy Birthday my dear Bessy! We love you so much!!!

your every woman,

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