What I'm Missing on Weekdays

I've been stuck at home for two days now. Doctor's orders.

And these past two days are one of the most memorable days I've spent at home. For one, it was just me, Maia and Yaya. I felt like I was king and queen for two days. With no Tibs butting in to contradict my orders. Kidding.

What really made these two days memorable were these chance:

- to watch Maia go straight to the potty trainer after waking from a nap and successful empty her bladder with out our prodding. Added bonus was her cheering "YEY! GALING!" after rising from the potty seat.

- to learn that Maia loves to eat cheese. We used to think she only likes those ensaymada toppings that she likes to pick but I thought of handing her a few cheese slices and she devoured them instantly. There's even a matching, "yummmm sarap sarap!" when she finished the cheese off her plate. I don't know yet if the liking would take her as far as one week. But at least we have alternative calcium source for the next few days since we're really trying to wean her off the bottle.

- to listen to Maia respond to her dad's call. Usually, when I'm on the other line she'd just keep quiet and listen to me talk. But these past 2 days, she'd immediately say 'dad?dad?' when I hand over the phone to her. Now this somehow convinces me that this little girl is a Daddy's girl. *sob*sob

- be around when Maia's on her extra sensitive/attentive mood. Or maybe it's because yaya kept telling her Mom's sick so she has to behave. Entire Monday, she kept to herself. Played while I rested. And easily took a nap when we asked her she needed to. She demanded to be read a story only once in the afternoon. Today (Tuesday) was a bit different though. But she really only demanded for a few minutes of tickle, tickle with Mommy and a couple of hours of playtime. I felt better today anyways so I'm glad I had the energy to give in to her demands.

- to have the luxury to really pick a time to explain to Maia the reason why she can't do this or do that without going really negative on her. And I could see that she's also paying a lot more attention when I talk in a patiently manner (slowly probably and without raising my voice).

- to finally get to remember how wonderful it was to really nap luxuriously in the afternoon. I forgot that feeling a long time ago (I think I last had the same wonderful experience during sembreaks in college way back...hehe nevermind).

I'm going back to work a lot more energized tomorrow. Today I can say with conviction that everything do happen for a reason. Even if you're forced to miss work on closing week. Wehehehe.

Maia at the mall

We were waiting for Tibs to get back so we hanged out in our of the abubot shops in ATC. 

Maia wanted to touch each and every figurine in sight but I was still able to stop her from doing it. She found a couple of clips though and notepads with cute prints on them and picked up 2 of each. I asked her, "may pambayad ka?". Guess what she did, she handed all the goodies to me. Signalling me to pay for them. That really made me laugh hard. 

Chicken A la King

Description:
This is one of my comfort foods in college. In one of the office birthdays we used to celebrate at work, I was asked to bring in a different dish since everyone's already 'umay' with the usual menu of pancit and litson manok.I was missing UP then and I thought i'll try if I can whip out the same chicken ala king that I used to enjoy when I was still a student.

I got the original recipe from http://homecookingrocks.com/chicken-a-la-king/. I tweaked it a bit to include my fave sweet corn and carrots (because the one at JD had them). JD served it with toast but my family loves to partner it with a hot steaming bowl of rice.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. of butter
1 med white onion, chopped
2 to 3 pcs chicken breast, boiled and diced
1 can button mushrooms, diced (or fresh mushrooms if available about 200g)
2 medium bell peppers (red and green, preferably)
1 can sweetcorn kernel
1 med sized carrots, diced
1 small can pimientos (sweet bell peppers)
½ c. of all-purpose (single) cream
3 c. of chicken broth (from the boiled chicken) (or combination of chicken broth and liquid from canned mushrooms)
around 6 tbsps. of flour

salt and pepper, to adjust taste


Directions:
Boil chicken in approximately 3 ½ cups of water till tender. Add half of the chopped onion. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Save the broth for later.

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan. Cook all the vegetables in hot butter for about two minutes. Remove from the butter and set aside. If using fresh mushrooms, cook them in hot butter as well for about a minute, then remove and set aside.

Reheat the butter. Add the flour, stirring to prevent lumps from forming. Cook over medium heat for about a minute — DO NOT allow to brown. Pour in the chicken broth little by little, stirring as you pour (I use a wire whisk to prevent lumps). Add the cooked chicken and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour in the cream, stir and simmer for another minute.

Serve hot with rice or toasted bread. May also be served cold with buttered toast.