Caroleen’s Treasures

We all had a nice nap this afternoon and when I woke up I was craving for Sotanghon guisado so badly that I had it in mind that’s what I’m gonna cook for dinner and I expect no objection. I still have to do some writing about eczema before the cut-off but I was starving. At half past 5 in the afternoon, we went to Mintal to buy dinner. Donald had chicken liver in mind but I was good at convincing him that I really crave for Sotanghon guisado. So off we went to the market and on our way, we passed by a place where people had a bowl on the table. I told Donald they might be serving mami so we made a U-turn to check.

Guess what we discovered? They serve Sotanghon guisado!!!! Well it’s nothing grand about it but I can’t help but share because my frustration living in this part of Davao is the lack of resto’s where we can dine when we crave for dishes like Sotanghon guisado, Lomi and other Filipino snacks and dishes. They also serve “panwiches” much to Ella’s delight. She loves it so much and would consume a couple of it each time we go to SM. Her favorite is the tuna panwich. These are like sandwiches but instead of bread, they use buns.

I grew up in a small town in Cotabato province where resto’s line up the highway and the avenue. They serve sandwiches, spaghetti, fruit shakes and much more. When we moved to Trento, there is also a place where we go to each time we crave for pasta or rice noodles and we are not in the mood to cook. Now that we are here in the biggest city in the whole world, we have to go downtown to satisfy our cravings. Though there are a couple of small food business that delivers….I only buy from them not because I like their food but because I got no choice.

We are supposed to be going to Tatang and Inang’s place to get bamboos for the vegetable garden that we are planning to make in the backyard. But just after we had lunch at 1pm, rain started to pour so we ended up taking long nap.

A friend from Australia has sent me seeds that I am not sure if will thrive here in our province. Seeds of cabbage, brocolli, parsley, carrots, cauliflower, pepper, tomatoes, squash and peas. We also bought eggplant, string beans, tomato (we will be having three varities of tomatoes), pepper, chinese cabbage (pechay), cucumber, sponge gourd (patola), bitter gourd, bottle gourd (upo), bell pepper and okra. I don’t actually eat okra but I bought a few packs anyway. I am excited with the tomatoes since we will be harvesting three kinds (if the neighbor’s chicken decides not to go near the garden. This is why we need to put of fence….to keep the chicken (and let’s include the neighbors) off the garden. Ella has chicks but we are keeping it in a big native basket and when they are big enough, we will make a real cage for them. Hopefully we could add a dozen more. Ella then said we should have a cat. I hate to have a cat around the house! But she said cats are lovely and she will dress it up like her teddy and buy some stuff from a store which sells cat supplies. I just rolled my eyes and told her to study well and when she has a job she could buy all the cats she wanted. LOL

Last night while I am blogging, I asked Donald to review Ella in her English and Language subject. So he opened the book and scanned to the page where the teacher said the examination would begin. It was now in letter D. There were pictures of the objects beginning with letter D. The review began. Donald points to the objects and Ella answered pretty well (her school last year is more advance, they even have spelling of 3 to 8 letter words last year) but they had problem with the picture of a bird. Donald point to it and Ella answered EAGLE. Donald corrects her saying DOVE. After pointing to the other objects, Donald goes back to the bird and Ella says EAGLE again. Donald was was beginning to be impatient and told Ella that they are studying letter D so it is a DOVE. Ella then said “Eagle na lang kasi para hindi ako mahirapan.” (Just call it eagle so it won’t be hard for me) LOL

I could not blame her for being confused now because the book they are using is totally confusing! scanned the entire book and truly kids will get confused. On one page a picture of a round thing is called PLATE…but on the other page it is called a DISH. Then there is a picture of a flower which is called a FLOWER on one page and then was called DAISY on the other page. Here comes the bird! It is called a BIRD on the letter B, DOVE on the letter D. I bet they call it EAGLE on the E page and PARROT on letter P. I was ranting the whole night how come the school chose the author. HMP! It was supposed to be a Private School but it is like a very plain Public School. I hope the teacher won’t read this. GRINS

Anyway, I was over with it when I woke up. Prepared Ella to school and Donald walks her there. When she comes from school she is bringing a bag of Bihon guisado and two slices of jackfruit. Donald met her in the intersection a few yards from school. There was a birthday party in her class and her examination is moved tomorrow. Good! We still have enough time to review on DOVE.

Speaking of bihon guisado…I was craving for it since the other day. So last night I made sotanghon guisado (vermicelli) because I hate the texture of the local bean noodles. I am sharing the photo of it….my favorite dish.

I know Donald is praying that I won’t be making another batch today. He knew me very well that if I crave for something, I’d crave for the same dish for another 6 days even if I am not pregnant. Now his praying harder because I am pregnant and who knows when I will crave for it for the whole month? LOL