The Looks Of Summer

I'm not a fashionable mom. But being a stage mommy to a little girl pressured me to keep myself abreast with what's in and what's not in kiddie fashion. However, given my lack of enthusiasm for the fashion world I've always been left behind. These days I'm glad the little girl can finally pick her own clothes. I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble just to come up with what would be nice to wear (truth be told, the hubby usually ends up choosing the little girl's lakwatsa get-up).

So anyways, I was going through some photos and have come to realize how much photos I've accumulated in the past few weeks. And they all look very summery so let me just post them here, for posterity's sake.

Getting ready for the long trip to Angeles. Waiting for her ride -- the jeepney ride that is.

Leaving for ESS to enroll and finally graduate from being a toddler to a preschooler  

Shirt design c/o Tita Mao (my sister who is currently into tie-dye shirt making) 

Embracing Graffiti Art While Enjoying the Mid-day Sun  

As you will probably realize upon reaching this part of this post, I was actually just looking for an excuse to post photos of this pretty little miss that I surely miss while I'm here at work.

It's going to be mid-week soon and we'll be off to vacation in 5 days! Yahoo!

More Ice Candy Projects - Milo and Buco-Sago Flavors

I had a holiday off at work today and yesterday when I announced it to the little girl she immediately drafted a to-do plan for us. She declared that we shall be making this a day of ice candy projects. She planned to make buco ice candy, milo ice candy, another batch of mango ice candy (she just finished the last of the batch we made last week a few days ago) and even kamote (sweet potato) ice candy (I don't know where she got the idea that she can make ice candies out of these but I didn't remind her anymore about it when we were in the market this morning).

I don't think I will have the energy to make all of the flavors she suggested but I figured the buco and the Milo ice candy flavors would be interesting flavors for her to try so we set out to buy the ingredients this morning. First stop was the buco stand and she enjoyed watching the buco meat being scrapped off. Funny, I just realized it was her first time to see and feel a buco fruit (and we've been to Antique where coconuts abound many times already. Sheesh). Then we headed to the grocery to buy the other ingredients (milk, Milo) and lastly, the wet market for our 2-day supply of fish and meat. 

I really love bringing Maia to trips like this because I've been looking forward to it since she was a baby. I love to cook so naturally I imagined spending a lot of time doing market errands and grocery shopping with her. And days like this - turning a simple recipe into something edible - with her are days which I really relish. (Insert picture of my dream kitchen and with us busy in it. Sigh.)

So we first set out to make the buco flavored ice candy since I thought it would be best to make it while the buco meat is at its freshest. Mid-way through however she was already demanding we switch to making the Milo-flavored one. But I was able to coax her to finish the buco first and when it was already time for the Milo flavor, she just totally took control and pushed me out of the way. 

I posted the recipe for the buco-sago sticks here. The Milo-flavored ones are really the easiest to make. Mixing the chocolate milk powder with water, pouring them unto plastic wrappers and freezer would have been okay already but I wanted to make the mixture creamier and sweeter so I just added a cup of evap + condensed milk mixture to achieve my desired sweetness and creaminess.

To make about 12-15 sticks, I used:

1 cup of Milo (chocolate milk powder)

1 cup of warm water

1 cup of evap + condensed milk mixture

We just mixed it thoroughly and you'll see that the mixture is really more chocolate-y than the drink. I think kids will really feel like they're eating the frozen version of the ready-to-drink Milo (the ones sold in tetra packs) when they bite unto these.

we don't have a funnel so i improvised.
see how creative mommies can get?

We also made popsicle versions of the flavors we did today and we're just waiting for them to freeze so we can finally enjoy them. 

waiting, waiting, waiting