The Name Game

As of now we don’t have a name yet! Someone suggested that we should keep the name american friendly i.e. a name that won’t be mispronounced by the Americans. Like her son’s name is Joaquin but it is always pronounced as jo-kin which would add further confusion to the kid. I wouldn’t want that.

Also, I’m limiting his name to one or two syllables, his family name is quite short and I wouldn’t want him to be called “DA-RIA” like Yiek, just because its easier to pronounce and shorter to say than “Fre-de-rick”. In highschool I was called “Sint”, I’m okay with that as long as they won’t call me “Cha-vez”. I probably won’t respond to “Sint” today, its been more than 10 years since it was last used or it would take me a while to respond and I’d probably assume that the one calling me is one of my schoolmates from high school.

I’m having problems with my name here, they always confuse my family name as my name and it can be tedious to correct. So simple and easy to pronounce names for this guy.

I’ve enlisted the help of my Mom and Lola, who always think of really wierd names. My mother’s name is “O-vi-nia”, I am named “Sint-claire” and my brother is named “Al Cas-sey”. Really weird names right? I’m forcing my brother to help too who is inclined to Japanese names which I’m not having by the way. He has suggested Kriehg and Kaihl, we will see. Yiek wants to name him “Adrian” but I’m not supportive of that, I know a lot of Adrians so nope that name is scratched off my list. Aiden would have been better but I’m seeing a lot of that too. Funny thing too because when he tried calling him Adrian, baby kicked me hard. maybe as second name? Kreigh Adrian – not bad.

I’ve set a deadline for this task, end of Nov, we should have a name for our little one. I can’t wait to buy for his items! But we are doing that end of Dec to first week of Jan, clearance and sale time and well, maybe my friends would be generous to give me baby items *wink wink*. Don’t forget, I’m registered at Babies “R” Us. Hehe.

Also, I’m still quite torn whether we should go for 3D/4D ultrasound or not. It’s $99 + tax for one session which includes a a cd of all his pictures, 2 thermal pictures, gender determination (hey the he might be a she ya know so better be sure!) and of course the chance to so his facial features in 3D. $99 is quite steep and hey I can buy a crib for that!

Holiday Cheers

When the month ends with “ber, it usually means Holiday time! There is Halloween (I’m adamant to carve a pumpkin), Thanksgiving (can’t wait for the BIG sale!), Christmas (a time for gift giving) and New Year.

I have yet to buy gifts as I am a known procrastinator. As many of you know I am now addicted in collecting coupons. I even look forward to Sundays so I can scrounge for that day’s newspaper coupon loot. I also found a site for online shopping coupons. For one we are looking into buying a video cam for our little one’s coming at Best Buy. Of course we need to buy items for our little one so I’m hoping to get some discount at BabyCenter.

9 years and counting….

I’ve been a sourpuss these past few weeks, I mostly want to just go home and sleep! I’ve always wanted to tour Philadelphia but somehow I couldn’t find the energy to plan a trip. How about going to Princeton? nah! I’d rather sleep. I cursed Yiek when he dragged me on an 18 hour trip to Vermont just to take pictures of their foliage. Gaa! That was the longest ride ever and we spent 1 1/2 tank of gas on that day alone. I did have cute pictures but I haven’t yet secured a copy because Yiek is soo slow to ask for copies. Where is the adventurous side of me? Its somewhere there sleeping.

Last week he and his photographer friend went to Pennsylvania to do some photo ops and I opted to stay at home and watched a Korean Telenovela, Coffee Prince. It wasn’t bad, this was the first Korean series wherein all couples had a happy ending, it wasn’t conventional too since it tackled premarital sex and living together instead of marriage. You can watch it online here, it does take forever to download but you can open multiple tabs or window to download other episodes.

Last Sunday, we just went to the mall and I bought two pregnancy blouses while Yiek was scrounging for pants. This pesky husband is addicted in buying pants, every time we go to malls he goes directly to Dockers/Levis to look for his size. What’s irritating is he buys more stuff than I do and more expensive too! We also went to DSW, a shop which sells designer shoes at 30-40% their original price. I cheated on this one.. shhh! I received a coupon in the mail addressed to the previous tenant and well, since I don’t even know her, I used the coupon. I pretended that what I was DSW Member ###### and I got $10 off my bill. Shopping for shoes while pregnant is no fun! I just find shoes without heels boorriing! All those yummy boots, darn it! In the end I got a 1/2 inch heel pointed flats(it sorta look like this but more pointy and shimmery) from Guess for $30 and Yiek got himself Skechers for $50+, see how his is always more expensive. Tsk!

Tomorrow is Oct 27. This marks our 9th year of being together. Yiek said this date is irrelevant since Dec. 21 is our official wedding date but nonetheless I want to do a mini-celebration tomorrow. An eat-out to a Filipino restaurant would be nice and a visit to Ikea would even be nicer (ang weird anniversary tapos gusto mag furniture window shopping hehe). It would also be nice if I got flowers don’t you think? *hint hint*. Ahh! but I’m not expecting one since I never did receive gifts on anniversaries. Sabi pa nya, “Its difficult to buy gifts for you since we are always together”. Wala bang online? ha? ha? Anyways, here is to 9 years of being together, how the years went by but we are still acting the same as before, you always making kulit and me always being bitchy and controlling to you. Its works for us in a weird way.

The Arm of Mercedes

We were dining at a Filipino restaurant in Jersey City, when Yiek told me that he wanted to order Brazo de Mercedes and declared it his favorite cake, I know that it’s a very sweet cake and he’s not partial to overly sweet desserts so it took me by surprise that it was his favorite. Goes to prove that you’ll never know everything about your spouse (9 years of togetherness including time as GF/BF). I told him we can’t buy a whole cake, how will we ever finish the whole thing and I found it expensive at that time so I just told him that I’ll bake it sometime in the future.Well 4 months have passed and I still haven’t baked it, I did take a look at the recipe and found the ingredients to be too much (10 whole eggs!) and promised Yiek that we will just buy it from Red Ribbon.

As we haven’t gone back from Red Ribbon because its too far, 30-40 min drive from our place, Yiek haven’t had his fill of Brazo. Something changed, when I bought a cheesecake from our grocery store, he is now hankering for dessert every dinner time. So far we’ve only had cheesecake and pianono. I promised “again” that I’ll bake Brazo de Mercedes.

I’m working from home today, my task is all complete and I’m bored shitless so its a call for me to bake.I only did half the recipe though since this is just a trial run. I did half of the meringue and filling, come to think of it, I’m suppose to do half of the filling but I put in one whole can of condensed milk instead of 1/2. Ngeks! I’ve tasted the filling and it wasn’t too bad in fact I liked it so much that I kept on licking the ladle, I just hope Yiek does not find it too sweet. This is my first time to bake this dessert ya know, so cut me some slack, I don’t even have an idea what its suppose to taste like since my Mama don’t bake this at home.

My messy kitchen

The custard filling

The fat baker while waiting for the meringue
to cook (a.k.a. the baker who ate a soccer ball)

I murdered Mercedes’s arm! Quick call the police!!!!

Mercedes’s amputated arm, Mestiza sya ano?

I had a sneaking suspicion that its going to turn out like this. I was doubtful that I would be able to roll the cake, since its meringue, the texture would be different. I should have trusted my instinct to just bake it at a shorter time as I really had a hard time rolling the said meringue, it stuck to the pan and I had to use a lot of resources just to make it roll.

P.S.

Now, that I have a point and shoot camera, I can now fill my blog with pictures. Woot! woot! Expect pictures in my entries from now.

We’ve registered

I know, I know this is soo tacky but where else can I tell my beloved friends that we’ve registered our baby boy to a registry (this sentence sounds weird).

 Last Sunday, I dragged Yiek to Babies “R” Us and there we got dizzy over the many, many choices of baby products. They did give us a checklist but my golly there are so many types of strollers, bottles, cribs and many other stuff. There were really, really cute baby girl items and for a moment, I wished we were having a girl. By the time we were about to choose the baby clothes, layette, onesies, overalls (whadda heck? I can’t even tell the difference), we got really tired and promised to just update our registry online.

We also got freebies! Yipee!

Box of Freebies and our registry guide/articles/checklist

Coupons(not shown), Avent bottle, diaper, wipes, pacifier, free birth announcement card

 If you want to see what we’ve listed, please click here. We are listed as S-I-N-T-C-L-A-I-R-E D-A-R-I-A (main registrant) and F-R-E-D-E-R-I-C-K D-A-R-I-A (co-registrant). I think they can directly ship to our address hehehe. Sorry, kapal muks ako ngayon

Win a Free Raleigh, NC Getaway

Fall is officially here, leaves are changing its color and have started to fall too (they wouldn’t call it fall without something falling would they? LOL), the breeze is becoming colder and pretty soon I’ll be wearing my warmers and boots.

A friend of Yiek is moving this fall to North Carolina, I asked him “why North Carolina?”, he answered that houses are cheaper, taxes are lower and its more peaceful down there.

I searched the net on what North Carolina has to offer, specifically the capital of North Carolina which is Raleigh. Raleigh is well-known as the “City of Oaks” for its numerous oak trees. If you want the classic southern town then this town is for you.You can tour around around Olde Raleigh where you can find the City Market, stroll along Fayetteville Street, ogle at the displays at North Carolina Museum, and Museum of Natural Sciences. If you timed it right and you can go see NC Theatre’s production of Man of La Mancha, the Carolina Ballet’s Carmina Burana and the NC Shakespeare Festival. Right now they are having a state fair where you can see craft demonstrations, watch concerts, go on a ride and eat their delicious food. Great eh? I’m thinking this would be a great Fall Getaway.

Its not too far from here either (around 4 hours), right now they are having a promo, help spread the good word about this wonderful place and you can win a FREE Raleigh Getaway. You’ll win a night’s accomodation at Marriot courtyard, $25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro, free tickets to their theater and museums. Go now already!

Sale, Clearance and Freebies

*posting while trying not to nod off..forgive the grammatical errors*

I hate Mondays!!! I usually don’t get much sleep on sunday evenings so I would feel really groogy the next day. Ok enough grumbling.

I think I have another new addiction, coupons and discount, last night we went to Kohl’s to buy me some maternity clothes and guess what I ended up with not a single piece of clothing while Yiek ended up with two pairs of Levis Jeans, 6 pairs of Dockers socks and a polo shirt. I tell you everytime we go shopping he does not go home without something for himself and well, I’d always end up empty handed. He reasoned that he can finally have clothes that fit him to a “T”, with his height(6 Ft) it was always difficult for him to buy the right length back home but here, all brands have his size so lucky lucky him while I have the opposite of that here, I can’t seem to find the right size! It’s usually too big for me even though its the smallest size I can ever find. I’d usually shop at the teen section where they carry my sizes. I’d get all frustrated when shopping for clothes therefore I’d always end up empty handed.

Now, this isn’t my topic mind you, just some a pre-topic LOL! Well, those Levis pants did not come cheap so when the lady offered me a 30% discount just for signing up to their credit card, I took the offer right away. Luckily I got approved with good credit limit to boot and she told us that we can get any items at the store just that night for 30% off, any items even sale and clearance items. Hey! 30% is a good, good deal and they were having Columbus day sale on that day so we scrounge the store. I really, really wanted the vacuum cleaner which was on sale from 219 to 139 + 30% off, I can get it at 100 BUT Yiek was a spoil sport saying that he’s not sure of the brand and it might not be of good quality. Huhuhuhu! napapaginipan ko pa rin yung vacuum hanggang ngayon. Since I also wanted a blender we found a Hamilton blender and chopper initially at $50 – 30% = 35, but I was gritting my teeth at the unplanned purchase so I placed it back. Goodbye 30% discount. Ooohh, I surfed the net when we got home and it turned out the vacuum that I wanted was one of the best and well known brands. Waaah! I could have killed Yiek with my bare hands.

Now, I’m busy surfing the net for coupons and got amazed at how some people save 30% off their grocery purchases. I subscribed to our local newspaper where they said I can get coupons every Sunday and department store flyers too! Hopefully, I can save big bucks. This bitch is a sale and clearance addict, I don’t and will never buy items at regular price. Last year I got a bed-in-a-bag item for $30 bucks (around 1400 sa pinas) cheap eh, it comes with a comforter, 2 pillow cases, 2 shams, bed skirt, fitted sheet and bed sheet. Not bad at 200 thread count at that, all because it was on sale and I got a $10 coupon (a random kind lady gave it to me). This Saturday I’ll be going to babies ‘r us to register in their registry(how weird is this sentence) and I have a coupon for a free welcome gift. The welcome gift consists of an Avent feeding bottle, diapers, wipes and other items. I LOVE this country when it comes to sales, coupons and freebies. O.A. hehehe.

Now, I’m really really excited for Thanksgiving to come, a.k.a. Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving here is the biggest sale event! I got a mixer and coffeemaker for $3(140 petot) each last year. There were also digicams for sale at around 4,000 pesos each at 5MP its a very, very good deal. Hopefully this year, we can get dirt cheap items. I’m looking to purchasing a new videocam, portable dvd player, vacuum cleaner (grr! I still cannot forgive Yiek for not letting me buy the vacuum yesterday) and baby items. Warning though, for big ticket items like plasma screen, Playstations, Video cams, the line can get looonng. Stores start opening at 5:00 am and lines start at 12:00 am or earlier. Hopefully, those items that we really want will still be available. Last year we woke up at 4:30 am just to get the items that we wanted (way ligoay diretso shopping). Early birds get the worms.

Highschool Life

Got this from Ria who got this from Idel. hehe. I’m bored shitless so I’ll answer this meme.

Who was your best friend?
Do I have a bestfriend? Wala kasi ako lang maganda hehehe. Seriously, I didn’t have a bestfriend until I was in 3rd year. I was a loner, underachiever gal and for the life of me don’t know why I’m always sleeping! There was a group called Lunch Table girls, mostly from 9-Integrity. We were more than 10 in the group, even though we were from different sections, we’d get together come lunch time hence the name “Lunch Table” girls. LOL! George, di ko na matandaan pano tayo naging friends hehehe. Goergia was close to a certain Rachel (tama ba spelling) a rich plastic buutan wannabe, they were a having a spat , I was telling her how plastic R. is, called R. pretending to be a friend and listened to her bitch about Georgia while G. was on the other line. Oh, we are baaad! There started the be-yu-ti-ful friendship. Xmas gep ko ha!

What kind of car did you drive?
Sa pinas we graduate at 16 so no one can ever drive a car at that time. Legal issues. My papa would drive us to school with his HazelNut Mazda sedan. When I was still a freshman and a sophomore, mornings were heaven to me. Why? My long time neighbor crush would ride with us and I’d get all giggly, even though we didn’t utter a word to each other, I’d still get shivers.

It’s Friday night. Where were you?
I was a homebody and I’d stay at home (homebuddy nga kulit!). Fresh and innocent, I was never the type to go out partying.

Were you considered a flirt?
Me? A flirt harharhar!!!!! I was afraid of boys and I’d stutter endless.

Were you in the band, orchestra, or choir?
If you can hear me sing, you won’t ask me this question.

Were you a nerd?
Hmm…not really just your regular gal.

Who was your favorite teacher?
Wala akong favorite, recess kasi favorite ko para matulog ako! See how much I love to sleep!

What was your school mascot?
I don’t think we have a mascot.

Did you go to the Prom?
We didn’t have a prom, darn it!!!! Magastos daw, di daw afford ng iba. Hello???? We did have a boy and girl encounter with bosconians and our section was the most controversial one. Grade 10 Concern – nagpabuyag.

I met the first guy I had long chats over the phone, kahit na panget siya pinatulan ko eh maganda daw ako eh. But the guy went *poof* ewan san na siya ngayon.

MY long-time-neighbor crush invited me to his graduation ball, I was third year then so I’ll consider that as my prom. I wore the shortest dress and I was floating the whole night, e mag sweet dance ka ba naman sa crush mo tapos gwapo pa siya ‘dun ha! Truth is, I’d still get giggles when I see him now kasi weird eh after nung prom no talk na naman kami and we never got to get to know each other, so wala lang na reminisce ko Highschool feelings. Innocente kasi di pa ako marunong mag flirt noon, kung ngayon pa yun chhiicckkeen!

Did you have a job your senior year?
Nope. Must be 18 years old eh. I would have wanted to go on a summer job but I’m not yet 18.

Did you go to school with anyone who is now famous?
Can’t remember anyone. Me? LOL!

Did you go to a senior trip?
Nope, o.a. kasi school namin, magastos daw. So recollection lang.

Have you gone to a class reunion?
Never had a class reunion. Gaadd! Its been 11 years since then.

In love with cheesecake

I first had my taste of cheesecake when Mama brought some from her cooking class, with chiz whiz like taste conjuring up on my mind, I thought it would taste weird. Suprisingly, it tasted sweet and creamy and I really liked it. Mama’s version was a simple one, just mix cream cheese and condensed milk, create a crust from oreo cookies or graham and that’s it.

It was Georgia who introduced me to the “real” cheesecake when we ordered one from Old Spaghetti House, it was soo creamy that I ate it with orgasmic pleasure. Yiek, having a very sensitive throat and not so sweet tooth suprisingly liked it very much.

It was he who ordered a whole cheesecake from our local grocery store to serve as dessert every dinner time. Old Spaghetti House’s cheesecake was the most delish one I’ve tasted so far, on their menu it boasted of having come from “Cheesecake Factory U.S.A.”. I’ve been here for almost a year and I didn’t think of ever going to have my piece of cake cheesecake until Lizette reminded me that indeed the most delish cheesecake I’ve eaten is here in the U.S. of A.

So, I searched Mr. Google and found branches nearby when I had a very strong craving last month, unfortunely, Yiek was a spoil sport and chickened out when he saw the line on the store. Grrr!!!

Last Sunday, we were hankering for Saiko – a japanese fast food chain but our nearby mall was already close (They close at 6 PM!!!) so I suggested that we go to Willowbrook mall where I know the closing time is at 8:30 PM.

When we were about to go in, I heard a kid say “Mommy, I want to go to cheesecake factory”, my senses were suddenly up and told Yiek, I wouldn’t go home without a piece of cheesecake on my hand.

The line was long but I persisted, good thing too because the line was for dine-ins and there was no line at all for take-outs! We ogled at the variety of cheesecakes on display, there were about 12 -16 on display oh my!! How are we suppose to choose from all these flavors! These was Tres de Leches, Godiva, Kahlua to name a few. Yiek initially wanted to try 4 slices but I said no way! One slice for 6.50 is one whole cheesecake from our grocery store! It is that expensive. So we agreed to try Original, Tiramisu and Choco Oreo Mudslide flavors, each came with a dollop of whip cream.

Yiek didn’t like the Choco Oreo Mudslide, he said it was too sweet. I also didn’t initially like it a first, it was too chocolatey and sweet but scoop after scoop found me not wanting to stop, scooped with whip cream and nuts its like eating dark sweet chocolate.

I didn’t eat to much of the Tiramisu as heavenly as it was, I can certainly taste the strong coffee and we all know I’m not allowed to have too much caffeine and sweets to add, so its a deadly combination. Yiek also found it sweet but liked it nonetheless. He is reserving it, to eat on Saturday morning, to ensure that he won’t have insomia because of the caffeine and sugar content. Trust me, if I weren’t pregnant this would not have lasted a day.

We both agreed that the “original” flavor was the best of the bunch. We found out that we like our cheesecake as it is, no garnish, no flavors just the pure taste of the heavenly cheesecake. Its texture is smooth, ice cream like and upon the first touch of your tounge melts with abandon that you are left with no choice but to revel at how good it tastes. I’m not a good food critic so just trust me when I say its delish. Give me more please!

P.S.

I have tried baking cheesecakes but I still need a lot more practice! I still don’t know how to make my cheesecake not crack. Maybe let it stay in the oven for a few more minutes, without touching it??? Will try again soon!

Think of name

Think of a boy’s name. Not the usual please like Rob, Thomas, Ryan,Mike,Peter. Give me something unique, 4 more months to go and we haven’t thought and agreed on our baby’s name yet. So far these are what we’ve come up with:

Caleb,Kayleb
Ezra
Adrian (not my idea, I don’t like this name its too common)
Ezekiel (Ria’s suggestion)
Griffin (my officemate’s idea since he liked the kid from Family Guy)

Serious suggestions please and no combination of both our names, its too funky.