I’ve always loved eating beef nilaga, but can’t seem to cook it right. I’ve tried Filipino cookbooks, online recipes by Pinoy gourmands, friends’ recipes and all that but can’t seem to do the dish any justice. Let’s just say I just didn’t have the knack for it!

Surprisingly, I found the best recipe in a foreign site called Momsmenu.com!

I just altered the recipe a bit, but here it is for all of us to enjoy!

1kg Beef Short Ribs
1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
2 teaspoons Whole Pepper Corns
Potatoes
Cabbage
Green beans

1. Immerse beef bones in water and add fish sauce and peppercorns in a large saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil for 15 - 20 minutes, skimming the top of scum as it cooks.

3. Reduce to a simmer for a minimum of 2 hours (the longer the better!). Replace lost water from evaporation so that ingredients are immersed.

4. Taste stock occasionally adding fish sauce (instead of salt) & peppercorns to taste. For some zest add whole fresh chilies.

5. Add vegetables, potatoes first so that they have cooked when you are ready to serve.

Voila! An honest to goodness, beefy nilaga! It was soooo good, I ate like a kargador! Think 2 cups of rice swimming in the broth! No kidding!

Yet another sticker set to add to our virtual Hello Kitty sticker collection!

Makes me wonder, how is Gift Gate doing back home? When I was much younger, Gift Gate was the equivalent of Barneys today! Hahaha! Do they still have lots of Sanrio stuff from Japan? For a time I remember the quality of the Sanrio items in Gift Gate looked a bit shabby.

Start her young! Hehehe!

A couple of Sundays ago, I met a friend in SoHo at around 8 am. Sooo early I know! But we had a full day ahead of us and we had to start early! I just had to take a couple of photos of her neighborhood because it just looks like a ghost town! It’s never like this, especially when you come here any time between 9 am to 9 pm Monday to Sunday! This area is always so busy!

Here are my photos giving you a glimpse of SoHo in downtown Manhattan early in the morning. Still devoid of tourists and its residents, still sleeping soundly inside their lofts…

A usually busy street is so deserted, it’s almost surreal…

Manhole…

Lonely bicycle waiting for its owner…

I had to crouch down on the ground to get this shot! Impossible to do during regular hours!

Scrapbooking is one of those hobbies that can really consume you! With a ton of cute stuff to stick into your scrapbook, and the hours it takes to finish a project, I can just imagine how easy it would for one’s creative juices to stop flowing for a moment…or maybe that’s just me, haha!

Anyway, look at what I discovered!

It’s got a whole lot of stuff in it!

You like?

Now with this kit, you know for sure what theme you’d be going for!

Outside:

Inside:

Gorgeous poster I found in Target!!!

I want! I want! I want!

Birthday cards in itself would be more fun if it were more interactive right?

Well, how about a birthday card with tattoos for the celebrant?

Not real tattoos of course hahaha!

I don’t know if this be a chewy kind of lip balm (just like with Nerds candy) but I’m thinking this will be quite good huh?

For BubbleYum fanatics (like me! When I was in high school, I always had a pack in my bag, which I only ate after school hours of course, hehehe) this is the logical choice! The BubbleYum lip balm in Original flavor!

It also comes in other flavors like Cotton Candy!