Breakfast for Dinner

I was running out of time and ideas for dinner.  Saw in the magazine chicken wrapped in bacon.  But since I had just cooked chicken the other night, I tweaked it a bit.  I decided to make bacon with corned beef.  Then I thought, why not add some egg and make it into a real breakfast meal…and so I did!

With only a few minutes left before the mister would get home, I had to cook something fast.

Got some bacon and cut them into smaller sizes.

Then opened up some purefoods chili corned beef and put it in the air fryer too.

After 20 minutes, it looked was cooked. Bacon looked so crispy already. I took the bacon out and cooked the corned beef for another 10min. We like corned beef really crunchy and a bit burnt.

Our breakfast for dinner!  Egg was cooked with no oil, just a bit of milk.  It’s my version of cooking these the health-IER way 🙂  (with all the fat in them, I can’t claim its a healthy meal! hahaha)

The mister came home with this.  He claims he was so hungry while waiting for the driver.  He said he didn’t know I was gonna cook, if he had, he wouldn’t have bought food….Din’t he really??? Hmmm….

But for someone who wasn’t a fan of the air fryer food before, he was surprised at how good and crispy the bacon turned out 🙂

Chicken BBQ ala Air fryer

I decided to make some “healthy” dinner one night and so I opened up my Yummy magazine.

This was my inspiration, only difference is I din’t grill it.  Instead I put it in the air fryer 🙂

 

Put some chicken in barbecue marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Then I prepared my Java rice. Got some ground pork, sautéed it in with atsuete oil and a little bit of garlic.

Then added white rice to it. Some salt and pepper to taste. And that’s it!  Then I just put the chicken in the air fryer for 30 minutes.

And there it was…just in time…ready for the husband the moment he got home from work.

Feeling such a housewife as I write this 🙂

 

 

 

A perfect slumber party

For those of you who know about the Disney Jr. show Sofia the first, you’ll surely be able to relate to this “perfect slumber party” theme for my not-so-little C.

She loves Sofia the first, and so we thought of getting inspiration from one of its episodes.  And yes, “A perfect slumber party” is one of her favorites.

To keep within the theme, we asked kids to come in their PJ’s, and turned the living room into a “bedroom” with a makeshift bed or sleeping area.   Brought down some of her toys and just tried to make it into a play room.

These pictures will explain the rest.

Gathered all tables & chairs we had and borrowed a couple as well.  It was easier to watch the kids here than in the bedroom.

As for the decor:  DIY pompoms, recycled happy birthday bunting, recycled stage from last year’s birthday, table covers and cloth I had lying around. I made use of what I already had, didn’t buy anything at all.  HAPPY! 🙂

Agenda so that everyone knew what to expect.

I also put a rack for the bags. In my experience, bags would normally be put on chairs or tables which occupies too much seating space. Given I had limited seats and tables, I wanted to ensure space was maximized.  We also had giveaway bedroom slippers for the little girls to wear as they came.  The bottom shelf served as a shoe rack to keep things in order.

Most of the kids who came had a nanny, so I lined up some not-so-bulky chairs so they could be close to their respective “alaga”.  I also put a sign on the wall for them to know 🙂

The agenda was posted in the middle of the room for everyone’s information.

The long table was covered with gina silk, as you all know, its the cheapest cloth you can find to cover tables.  Got it from Fabric Warehouse a year ago for another party.  It’s always good to do DIY’s compared to hiring a decorator coz you get to keep your stuff!!!  Anyway, I set up this long table for activities and eating. 1st activity was coloring Sofia the first pictures. This was going on while waiting for guests to arrive. Once they were done, they hung it with wooden clothes pin on a baker’s twine I had set up near the stage for everyone to see.

Artwork of all the kids for activity #1.   Arts and crafts settles everyone down or else all the girls would just be running around.  I love productivity and that’s one of the things I teach my kids 🙂

Once the girls were done with coloring, they moved on to pajama decorating, then to bracelet making.  I made sure all the activities we did, they could take home as part of their loot from the party.

I prepared some puff fabric paint for them. Once done decorating, we hung them to dry to be ready by the time  they went home.  BUT unlucky me, as I was fixing these, fabric paint from one of the pajamas touched my dress and just couldn’t be removed up to this day.  No amount of Grandma’s secret would do the trick 😦  Oh well, lesson learned, never go near paint if you’re wearing a dress you like! 😛

And these were the bracelets the girls made which they wore during the party.

Here they are in action decorating their pajamas.

In sticking with the theme, we had a movie time. I let them watch the Sofia the First, Slumber Party episode.  They had so much fun watching.  And for those who didn’t know Sofia, they started to like her as well!  It was so amazing how most of the girls knew all the songs.  Everyone was so interactive.  Of course there were some struggles along the way like one girl wanted a particular chair or wanted to sit beside this girl, etc etc.  Good thing my little C knew how to be a host and always gave hers to whoever was crying.  She’s maturing every single day!

Gathered all the small chairs in a room, turned off the lights, and its now a makeshift “MOVIE HOUSE” 🙂

 

Of course, the movie wouldn’t be complete without POPCORN!

While the kids were busy watching the “movie”, it was my chance to check on the food, refill them, and chit chat a bit with the other parents.

We just had simple snacks which were all favorites of the celebrant and most kids.

Packed them in these bowls with lids for easier serving and easier eating.  Just get one and throw it out.  No need to get a plate, a fork, go line up and get food.  We made sure everything was just ready for the taking!

Yummy sugar cookies from Classic Confections. These are so cute, colorful, and delish!

Kids L-O-V-E nuggets. I served the ones with cheese inside. It tasted really good. Even grown ups liked them 🙂 I cut paper straws and inserted it on the nuggets to make them into lollipops. No-mess eating.

 

Mini cupcakes from classic confections too.  I personally don’t like the full sized cupcakes as its always too much for me, can’t take the sweetness…so what more for the kids?  It normally goes to waste coz they don’t finish it.  So these mini cupcakes were perfect!  Kids were able to finish them and the icing wasn’t too messy to eat.  Then just a little gummy on the side.

Also had my ever dependable packed taho 🙂 as always, it was a WINNER!

After the movie, the kids came out to watch the celebrant perform two of the Sofia the first songs.

but half way into the first song, everyone got so excited, couldn’t help themselves, they stood up and sang along! You could just see how crazy they all got. I loved looking at how much fun they were having.

After burning energy singing and dancing, it was time to feed them and refuel them for the next activities. Kids had a packed snack. A little of everything for their tiny stomachs since they’ve been eating and drinking  the entire time already.

We had a “nap” portion to keep up with the “slumber party” theme.  It was also my way of keeping them from running around, calm, quiet, yet still enjoying.  Of course, the quiet never happened.  Putting 5 year olds in one room was like turning on the radio full blast!

Part of the giveaways were also tiny flash lights for them to play with during nap time. I remember how much fun it was for me when I was a kid.  So we turned off the lights, gave them flash lights while lying down and had them play tag on the ceiling using the lights.  But as expected, after a minute, one girl stood up and pointed the flash light everywhere, and all the others did the same.  So long for the calm, peaceful, nap time 🙂

I was just too exhausted hosting by this time and just let the kids be. Time for me to rest, drink, and snack a bit.

Last activity, birthday song!   Her birthday cake was Yulo’s Strawberry Shortcake.  Since they don’t do character cakes, I just printed out Sofia the First, and stuck it on the middle of the cake 🙂  I know, I know, such a cheapskate huh?  but we wanted that particular cake so I had no choice 😛  Besides, saving a few pennies here and there ain’t a bad thing!

This last part was a tough one. Picture taking! It took forever to get everyone together, looking at the camera and smiling.

We had a million of shots, but I guess you can never get a perfect one.  But I can say, for my little C, it was A PERFECT SLUMBER PARTY indeed!

It was fun at the same time tiring to prepare for a kiddie party more so host it!  But as I keep saying, it’s all for the love of my kids, I’d do anything  (I can) to make them happy 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not your traditional 1st birthday party

Gone are the stressful preparations of a noisy, too colorful, too much activities,  handful of performers, magicians, type of 1st birthday party.  I’ve done that before and probably won’t do it again.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, guests enjoyed it, but the celebrant, I can say, not too much.

So for A’s 1st birthday, I decided to have a simple lunch buffet at HEAT in Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.  I din’t have to worry about the food since there’s a wide variety and guests could just take their pick from the buffet.  The best part? no food getting cold!  No matter how late a guest would arrive, he would still be able to eat fresh, hot food.  As you all know, food is something that’s always remembered in a party.

Din’t have to worry about the rent of the place.

No fuss in decorating an entire plain boxy area.

No parking problem.

All I needed was a cake to blow, a gift table, and a little table decoration to make it a bit special.

Here are some personal touches I made.  Not extravagant.  Just right.

DIY pinwheel centerpieces.  Covered sola bottles with burlap and organza ribbon.

Table numbers so guests can easily be directed to their respective seats.

Table setting: personalized placemat with celebrant’s bits of info.  We also put name plates as an added personal touch.

ribbons on glasses to put some color in the area

 

decorated cake table a bit…cake is from Whipped by Diane and decor from Regalong Pambahay.

personalized m&m’s (which I ordered online) were in the martini glass and chocolates in the small bin.

gift table had a big letter “A” made of styro which was borrowed from a friend.

This was little A’s invitation.  Just had it printed at FANS, then laminated in National Bookstore.  Punched a hole and put ribbons on top.

I decided to make an invitation that doubles as a calendar for it to be useful.  They were also individually personalized with the guest’s name printed on top.

Our DIY photobooth frame

kids enjoyed picture taking

We got an area on the main floor good for 100pax since function rooms could only accommodate 30pax. 

The cake table was meant to be a place for picture taking.

Some just carried it around…

Our portable picture frame was a hit, so were the pinwheels 🙂 They were made to be brought home to the kiddies.  I just had some nephews and nieces go around with a camera, passing the frame to guests while they took pictures of them.  No need to wait in line in photo booths, we brought the photo booth to our guests 🙂

And there you have it. A simpler, stress free, first birthday party. And I could say, our celebrant had a wONEderful time!

Have you also veered away from the extravagant 1st birthday parties?  Please do share your ideas 🙂

 

 

 

Loving Shangri-La Hotel’s Moon Cake

I’ve tried quite a few moon cakes in the past and this is the first time I’ve tried the one of Shangri-La Hotel.  I’m not really fond of moon cakes but after tasting this, it was something I’d go back for more.

For those who don’t know what a moon cake is or what it looks like, here it is.

 

What’s nice about the moon cake from Shangri-La Hotel is that they come in pretty boxes.  Moon cakes are normally meant to be given as gifts, hence the pretty packaging.

They also have a variety of how many moon cakes  are in a box.

I’m just a sucker for pretty things that’s what made me buy and taste this. And I’m glad I did!

Here are their different prices according to flavor and size.

So for next year’s moon cake festival, you know where to get your moon cakes! 🙂