Uncategorized – Page 30 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

8 years of Married life!

Hi Friends! Happy Wednesday! Yesterday, the Hubs and I celebrated 8 years of married life. Wow! It seems like it was just yesterday that we had our simple and intimate wedding at a Chapel in New York City (less than 25 family and friends were there). I’m so blessed to be married to a guy that I don’t just love but actually really like. I like spending time with my Hubs, and planning our future together. I just can’t imagine life without him. I’m so grateful to the Lord for the gift of a Christ centered marriage ( we strive to have this) and a loving husband, I don’t take this blessing for granted because I know not all marriages are like this. Successful marriages don’t just happen, it takes works! Thank you, God!

I told my Hubs,not to get me flowers because I’d rather have food. HA! He stopped at Costco to get us pizza and sundae that we shared during lunch. The Krispy kremes were a personal request from me! We didn’t do any grand celebration (just dinner at our fave place) but we plan to have a little road trip later this month to have a fun get away and “celebrate” the special occasion.

For dinner, we went to our local fave restaurant Flat Iron Grill. We really didn’t want to go to Bellevue or Seattle just for dinner. The traffic isn’t worth it. We like Flat Iron Grill because the food is great and the service is even better. It’s always a bonus when we can support our local businesses too.

Top sirloin steak with goat cheese polenta (pretty Good!)

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! Long time no hear from me (it’s been a busy March here). Anyways, Happy Easter! As a Christian, we celebrate today as resurrection Sunday. The day that Jesus rose from the grave. He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done for our sake, we are so unworthy yet you died for us all. The greatest love story that the whole world will ever know!

After our easter service, the Hubs and I together with our In laws had brunch at Embassy suites hotel (a Hilton affiliated hotel) we’ve been going to this brunch buffet for a couple of years now except last year (they had to renovate, so they closed the buffet section). The buffet had a decent selection but I was disappointed today because their meat (their beef, and lamb) was really dry. Their bread wasn’t very good too. Poor Hubs and Dad In law, they both love bread. The ambiance and the service was great though!

I hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend with your family and friends! I’m off to watch College basketball here. The Hubs is enjoying his Sunday nap, together with our fur baby, Riley! Have a great evening friends.

What’s for Dinner?

Hello friends! It’s Tuesday evening ( almost midnight) but I can’t sleep because it’s so windy and it’s freaking me out! I decided to just post our meals for the last couple of weeks in the month of February. Can you believe it’s already March? Where did the time go?! Anyways, back to our meals. I didn’t go to the grocery store in the last week of February but I got some Smith brothers delivered. I’m under budget this month (not by much though), so this made me happy. A little savings is always good!

We’ve already consumed the clam chowder and chocolate milk!

Crispy pata (deep fried pork hocks) a Filipino recipe

we did a couple nights of take out these last two weeks (especially Friday and Saturday nights). Chilling out with good food and watching some good T.V. / Netflix is one of our fave weekend things to do. We got a generous gift card from my In laws to one of our fave local sushi places so we used that. We also had Italian for dinner, courtesy of the In-laws. Thank you God for such a generous family!

Vitos in Seattle! My In laws treated us!

Weekend Fun!

Hi Friends! I hope you’re all having a great Saturday! It’s been a rainy weekend here in the PNW and we’ve stayed inside most of the time. I wanted to share some pictures of our weekend fun a couple of weeks ago. We watched the ballet version of Romeo and Juliet! It’s funny because this was our second time watching this ballet and I honestly don’t remember watching it the first time and neither did my husband. The show was good, but it was kinda slow for us. We will most likely not watch it again.

We had Mexican for dinner after the show! We really like our local Mexican place, authentic Mexican food and reasonable prices. They have the best Carne asada for me.

Today, I got up early and convinced the Hubs to get breakfast at Chick fil-A. If he had a choice he’d rather sleep in than eat! We almost didn’t make it before their breakfast hours ended. They were changing their menu when it was our time to order! I ordered their sausage burrito but they gave me a chicken burrito instead. Unfortunately we were already on the freeway when we realized the mistake. Oh Well! I didn’t like it:( No chicken burritos for me in the future for sure!

After breakfast my Dad In law dropped by to give us this maple tree (Hubs said it’s going to be pretty during the fall season.)

I’m kinda sad my favorite Filipino romcom show is over! “On the wings of love” is the only filipino show that I’ve watched from start to finish. They had a live viewing of the Finale and I was able to watch it live! I had to set the alarm for 5 am! HA! It was worth it though, I was so KILIG! Honestly, I don’t like most filipino drama/comedy shows personally. I subscribe to the Filipino Channel mainly because of the news, I still want to be updated in whats going on the Philippines.

Hubs and the puppy napping on this rainy Saturday afternoon!

Mexican dinner at La Casita (a new Mexican place for us)

Have a great evening friends! Off to watching the NBA game right now!

Valentine’s 2016!

Hi Friends! Happy Hearts day to you and I hope it’s one lovely day with the special people in your life. On Valentines evening, we had dinner with my In laws at SEASTAR restaurant and raw bar (Bellevue location). Originally we wanted to do the Canlis restaurant but it was fully booked (I guess you have to book months in advance for this kind of place). Seastar was also a good recommendation from my In law’s friends so we didn’t mind (especially since it is also owned by Chef John Howie). I was looking forward to this dinner because based from what I’ve read it’s one of the BEST restaurants in Bellevue. It was our first time, so I kinda had high expectations when it comes to a Chef John Howie restaurant. Anyways, the place was spacious, ambiance was great, our server was very knowledgeable she answered every question my DIL had. We enjoyed our appetizers, they were all amazing especially the deviled eggs. Our entrees were good (nice presentation too) but to be honest VERY pricey for the portion we got. I guess you have to bring LOTS of money dining here. We’ll be back again for sure.

Some pictorials while waiting for the In Laws!

OOTD action going on: Loft dress, F21 coat, kate spade bag, target booties

Deviled eggs:salmon gravlax,wasabi tobiko,tangerine,dill. We also got the ahi tartare,bacon, roasted onion,truffle oil.

Maytag blue cheese pear salad (this was good)

I ordered: Sesame-Peppercorn Crusted Ahi (jasmine rice cake,snow peas,ginger soy reduction,wasabi creme)

My DILs order: Cedar Plank roasted wild King Salmon (Chef Howie’s famous salmon rub,smoked broccoli,citrus rice with wheat berries

my MIL and SIL ordered the same thing: seared scallops with beet risotto

For Valentines day we had a casual and lazy time, watched Kdrama (thank you Netflix!), did some errands and had dinner at our fave local Italian place.

Normally we don’t give Vday gifts to each other but this year Hubs and I gave each other gifts. He got me a Henri Bendel bag (my fave bag brand!) and I gave him massage “coupons” worth 4 hours, which he already availed 1 hour of it (way before VDAY!!)..HA!!

Riley thought it was one busy VDAY weekend, and he needs his beauty sleep!

What’s for Dinner?!

Hi Friends! How’s your Friday night going? The Hubs and I are watching a Filipino show (On the Wings of Love), I’m so sad it’s going to end soon:(. We’re also watching some NBA games, and maybe Netflix later! We are staying home because the weather is crappy tonight. Windy and raining and Riley is not loving it.

Anyways, I wanted to share my groceries this week. I’m really trying to save in this area because food is getting expensive and if I don’t monitor this it’s so easy to blow the budget in this area. So far our January food expenses have been under budget. I want to continue this trend in February.

Our groceries this week! I also got some milk that I put in the fridge right away.

Tomato soup,grilled cheese and Pork belly with shrimp paste (Filipino dish)

Home made version of Chicken bowl burrito

Was out and about this week and I stopped at Ross and found these Skechers shoes. I have a similar slip on pair like this gifted by my sister and it’s really comfortable. Once I tried them on the shoes had to go home with me! I’ve been wearing them nonstop!

so comfy (it’s like you’re wearing flip flops made with a yoga mat!)

I got a new rug for our dining table from Overstock.com!

I’ve been watching the Gilmore Girls on Netflix this week. I’ve seen the first 2 seasons years ago (I was still in the Philippines). So far I’ve been enjoying it.

Have a great weekend friends! Happy Superbowl weekend too! The Seahawks are out so I will be rooting for the Denver Broncos.

What’s for Dinner?!

Hello Friends! Happy Sunday:) This is what we ate lately for dinners this last week. I hope you get to eat and cook dishes that you’ve been wanting to eat! Have a wonderful Sunday evening, I’m about to watch a Korean drama with the hubs (we are watching Beating Again). It’s been a while since we’ve watched a KDrama here! HA!

Spaghetti and meatballs (we also had a salad that I forgot to take a picture of)

meatballs in the crockpot! easy peasy dinner!

Chicken curry (I sort of followed Pioneer Woman’s recipe)

Left over kare-kare (cook once, eat twice, kind of dish!)

Taco Night! we also had sweet potato fries with garlic aioli (homemade! it was delish)

We also ate out a few times over the weekends!

Red Robin last night for a casual saturdate with Hubs! used a giftcard for this dinner!

Dinner at RAM (this place is just 4 minutes drive from our house!)

Friday Lunch date at chick fil-a! I LOVE their spicy chicken sandwich and iced coffee. The hubs likes their chicken nuggets and milkshakes! We’ve been there twice this last week!

Kare-Kare!

Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great weekend:) I wanted to share a Filipino dish that I cooked early this week, Kare-Kare. It’s an oxtail dish with a thick peanut sauce. Now a days, in Filipino restaurants and homes they use beef, seafood, and other kinds of meat instead of oxtail (I personally like Oxtail). I rarely make this at home (I think this is my second time to make Kare-Kare (but I always order this if we’re in a Filipino restaurant). It’s a comfort food for me! I watched a couple of youtube videos (just searched for Kare-Kare recipes) and checked some kare-kare recipes online too for inspiration. I used my crockpot to tenderize/cooked my oxtail meat (just to save gas, instead of the stove). It was cooking for 7 hours then I finished it in the stove to make the peanut sauce. Traditionally, you mix all the veggies in at the end together with the sauce but I decided to plate them separately this time. I sautéed the eggplant and steamed the green beans and bok choy. The Hubs and I prefer it this way. Last year, when we visited Manila, I remember we had Kare-kare and the restaurant presented it this way too.

This is my new crockpot and I’ve been using it a lot lately!

I sautéed some minced garlic(3 cloves) and chopped onions(1 medium), then added the cooked oxtails and broth (approximately 6 cups). You can add more broth for a thinner sauce;let it simmer. I added the peanut butter (1/2 a cup) and stirred until it dissolved. In a small bowl I added 1 teaspoon of achiote powder mixed with 1/2 cup broth,once the powder dissolved I added it to the sauce. The achiote is the ingredient that will give the dish that classic orange color. I then seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper. I didn’t use a lot of salt though because Kare-kare is always paired with shrimp paste when eaten.

My kare-Kare (sprinkled with chopped peanuts).

Happy Cooking and eating Friends!

What’s for Dinner?!

Hello friends! It’s been a while since I last posted here. Life got a little hectic. I’ve been wanting to share our dinners since last week but I wasn’t able to. Here’s our meals for the last 2 weeks or so. I’ve been cooking most nights but on the weekends we go out or have take out. I hope you’re all having a good week and happy cooking!

chicken wings adobo (my fave chicken part)

grilled pork chop,roasted sweet potatoes,roasted jalapeno poppers,avocado

take out food from our fave Indian resto

My husband had banana blossom for the first time when we visited the Philippines last year. He really liked it and he’s been NAGGING me to try cooking it for him. We got the blossom at the Asian market and I found the recipe on youtube (panlasang pinoy). He liked it and said I’ll have to make it again(we’ll see!).

daing na bangus(milkfish),banana blossoms in coconut milk

crispy potato with red bell pepper,onions,parmesan cheese

breakfast for dinner:scramble eggs,bacon,rice,coffee

our homemade version of “chipotle” steal bowl

we also had take outs and dine outs for the last couple of weeks:

Dinner at Big Fish (local resto) after watching Starwars

Brunch at Lot No. 3 in Bellevue after Church with Julia (SIL)

What’s for dinner?!

Hi Friends! Happy Monday:) One of our “goals” this year is to really be intentional with our family budget. I’m responsible for budgeting, paying bills, getting groceries, and making meals while the hubs earns the money! We’ve already talked/made plans this past weekend about our financial goals for the year so I’m glad that is taken care of. Anyways, I wanted to share our dinners last week (after Christmas) and our menu plans for this week. I did the grocery shopping this week and came under budget (YES!). We have well stocked refrigerators right now and I plan to use what we already have for the coming weeks. Here’s to saving money and cooking at home!

Beef caldereta ( filipino version of beef stew)

Bittermelon with eggs,grilled pork belly

Veggie fried rice,chicken shiomai,shrimp

Here’s our meal plans for the week:

M: Leftovers (we had beef caldereta; it’s a filipino version of beef stew)

T: Pasta with truffle butter (Ina Garten recipe),salads

w: Pork chop, rice, green beans

Th: Leftovers

F: Take out/Pizza

S: Chili

Sun: Salmon,veggies

*Our breakfast are usually :coffee and toast,yogurt,cereals,oatmeal then sandwiches and leftovers for lunch.

My groceries this week. The fridges are already stocked so I only bought produces that will be good this week, and I got some meat that was on sale that I can freeze for consumption in the coming weeks. Meat prices are getting ridiculous so I try to save money this way.