Uncategorized – Page 36 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Boodle Fight!

I prepared Boodle Fight dinner for my friend Faye and her Husband Roger when we had them last night. It’s been a while since we had them,and we always wanted to try a Boodle fight kind of dinner so last night it finally happened! Boodle fight is a military style of eating where long tables are prepared with food on top of banana leaves (urbandictionary.com). Although our dinner was not as “authentic” because we didn’t have any banana leaves, and we used plates and forks, the boodle fight idea was there. I prepared Pork Hock Humba, Chicken wings Inasal (grilled), Chopsuey (stir fry veggies), Shrimps, Grilled pork belly, grilled bangus (milkfish). We still have left overs but it’s not a lot because the portions were just enough. We had Ube (purple yam) ice cream for dessert that Faye bought. It was so much fun and the weather was great so we spent most of our time on our patio. I hope you had a great weekend friends!

"modeling" with our tomatoes! — “modeling” with our tomatoes!LOL

Gave these HUGE tomatoes to Faye,I hope she will like it and will enjoy it in her scrambled eggs!hehe — Gave these HUGE tomatoes to Faye,I hope she will like them and will enjoy it in her scrambled eggs!hehe

Till the next Boodle Fight Faye and family!

Butter Chicken!

I made this Indian dish last night because my Hubs has been requesting/challenging me to make this because it’s his favorite Indian dish. So I started watching “how to” cook videos on YouTube regarding Butter Chicken. This is the recipe/video that I followed youtube vid. I had to buy a couple of spices that she used because I don’t have it in my pantry (like Garam Marsala). I did adjusted and didn’t follow her measurements specifically, like I added more brown sugar,more cream, etc. In her video, she used chicken breast while I used thigh(it’s just our preference). My Hubs enjoyed it a lot, I think he said it’s OK with him if I’ll cook this once a week:) I’m glad that the dish turned out great,because this is my second time cooking Indian food (I cooked Tandoori Chicken before) and it’s kinda hard if you’re not familiar with some of the spices they use in their cooking. It encourages me to try other dishes when the recipe isn’t a disaster!

bad picture(i really need to practice taking pics)

i think she used cilantro for garnish,i used parsley (its what i have in the garden)

Grocery Hauls!

I went to 3 Grocery stores this week because QFC (I rarely shop there) had a pretty good deal on their “mix and match” promo. I’ve read in some couponers/bloggers that this is the time to visit the store because some of the products have “rock” bottom prices. I hardly use coupons now so I was interested to see if they still have cheap prices even without coupons. So after we had dinner at the Outback, I asked the Hubs to go check it out with me. We got a lot of his fave cereals. We stocked up actually because they were like $1.50 each (with coupons, it’s probably $1). He normally has cereal twice a week, so this will last him for a while.

I paid $44 and saved like $71 (i can't find the receipt),but Im sure I paid $44. — I paid $44 and saved like $71 (i can’t find the receipt),but Im sure I paid $44.

I had rewards points that will expire today,so I wanted to use them. I went to walgreens and wasn’t really planning on buying a specific product. I was planning to get coffee (they’re on sale) because we always drink coffee, or I can send it to the PI in my next balikbayan box. When I checked the clearance they had their detergent soap for very cheap prices,so I grabbed a few and decided to just forget the coffee! I got 4 cheap lipsticks too($2.50 each,on sale for 69 cents), and packing tape (for packing balikbayan boxes).

I paid $9.92 for all,the receipt says I saved $31.50/79% savings

After Wags,off I go to Fred Meyer (they’re just in the same area) to get some ingredients for butter chicken. My hubs requested it this week,and I’ve been looking at Youtubes videos on how to make it. It’s his favorite Indian cuisine and I really wanted to do something nice to him especially that he’s really busy at work and lots of meetings and decisions to make this week!

I paid $34, I did use store coupons and most of what I bought was on sale. — I paid $34. I did use store coupons and most of what I bought was on sale.

Happy Shopping and Savings Friends!

Weekend Fun!

This weekend was really hot so Hubs and I and Riley went to Rattlesnake Lake and enjoyed our afternoon there. We had iced coffee to cool us down and the afternoon was spent taking LOTS of pictures of Riley! It was like a Riley photo session. We couldn’t help it because he was such a good dog and seemed to be loving his day at the lake (he hardly barked at all!). Hubby watched the movie “The Giver” after that, while I opted to stay home and read Karen Kingsbury’s book “A Time To Dance”. I also finished the book “The Fault In Our Stars”, I liked the movie and the book, but I found the book too “highschooly” for me (if thats a word!). On Sunday, we went to the Asian Market because I wanted to eat Jollibee, while Hubs enjoyed a Famous Dave’s brisket sandwich and some ribs! We also watched The Bridge (tv series), and a movie from Netflix. Have a great Monday friends!

I took a pic of Hubs taking pic of Riley!

current book I'm reading — current book I’m reading

Our Labor Day Weekend!

We had a nice and quite labor day weekend at home. Hubby had to fix our powder room because of a leaking toilet! It’s all good now. I started reading the book “The Fault in our Stars” (I really enjoyed the movie), I’m almost done with the book and I’m really liking it too (sad ending though). Hubs and I started the t.v series “The Bridge”, so we have been enjoying that so far. Labor Day we had BBQ with my In Laws, we had short ribs, grilled veggies, and I made a filipino dish “sisig”. It’s a famous “pulutan”(appetizer) in the Philippines. I used pork belly and pigs ears. My hubs has been requesting it for a long time. He says it’s one of his favorite filipino foods!I was pleasantly surprised that my In Laws liked it too. You can’t really see the “pigs ears” when the whole dish is presented.

appetizers;our cherry tomatoes were a hit!

devil eggs by Sis In Law! — deviled eggs by Sis In Law!

I garnished the sisig with my own cayenne pepper from the garden!

Last Sunday after church Hubs and I tried Lil Jons of Bellevue and had brunch there, it was my first time to eat there and I liked their french toast (hubs recommendation) and we will definitely be back there, especially since it’s so close to our church!

Camping!

Couple of weeks ago, we had our first camping trip (the 3 of us) with our friends. The camping site is around Mount Rainier National Park. It was fun, tiring (in a good way), and just great time hanging out with our friends. Riley was so good 90% of the time, he didn’t like our sleeping bed so much. He had a hard time on it, after all he sleeps in a comfy california king bed with us (he’s so spoiled!). It’s my first camping experience here in the U.S (the Hubs had a lot of camping experiences), and I really like it. Being in nature, no computer / tv, and relaxing with my hubs and friends, eating “camp” food were my favorite parts. We also went to the Sunrise Visitor Center hoping to see and take some nice pictures of the mountain but it was totally blocked by clouds :(. It will definitely not be our last camping trip!

Riley can smell but he can't eat smores(dogs can't eat chocolate) — Riley can smell but he can’t eat smores(dogs can’t eat chocolate)

This is Riley's "I miss our comfy bed" look! — This is Riley’s “I miss our comfy bed” look!

family picture (too bad it was such a cloudy day)

Weekend Fun!

Happy Monday Friends! Hope you had a great and relaxing weekend. Ours was a fun and lazy one. We watched the movie “One hundred foot Journey” and had sushi after. I really liked the movie, though it has some slow parts, all in all it was a feel good movie, not to mention all the food they showed was mouth watering:) We also went to Gas Works Park in Seattle to take advantage of the nice weather (summer will be gone before we know it). I always love Seattle in the summer, it’s just so pretty and the view is always amazing. Hubs and I watched a marathon of the new series “The Last Ship” and we really enjoyed that series. We are still thinking of what TV series to watch next. So we’ll see!

LOL! he's so precious! — LOL! he’s so precious!

enjoying five guys burgers (closest thing to In n Out for us)

Rattlesnake Ledge Hike!

I’ve hiked Rattlesnake ledge with my Hubs before and as much as I loved the view I didn’t really plan to do it again, but my sister, Christine, really wanted to hike Rattlesnake when she was here so I did it again for her sake! It’s a 4 mile hike(total), but the uphill part is what i hate the most. I don’t mind going down, that’s the easy part! We got hungry after the hike so we decided to have dinner at our local burger and root beer place. Great place for burgers and milkshakes! My sister was shocked with the American servings, so huge compared to New Zealand where she has been living for the last 6 or 7 years! It was such a a great summer day.

I had to have my fave drink that time because it was National Root Beer day!

fave local resto!Triple XXX — fave local resto! Triple XXX

Playing Tourists!

We did the usual thing while my older sis visited, Pike Place Market (both of us really loved going to the Market),we checked out the Seattle Waterfront, and for the first time we rode the Seattle Great Wheel (it was scary at first but we got over it quickly and were totally blown away with the Seattle view!)I love Seattle during summer. The city is so pretty and it was so special to share these moments with my sis!

How cute is this store with all the hanged chilis? — How cute is this store with all of the hanging chiles?

why so expensive Morel? — why are the Morels so expensive?!

MIA!

Hello everyone! I’ve been MIA for the last 2 weeks because my older sister visited me here in Washington (State) and we just spent a lot of time doing fun things (shopping, dining, gardening, hiking, watching movies) the kind of fun things you do with your siblings! She’s already back in NYC (visiting my other sis), then off to Hawaii to yet again visit another sis! A lot of traveling for her but she loves to travel so she doesn’t mind. I’ll be posting about what we did while she was here because it such a great time and we miss her already. First weekend she was here, we went to see the Blue Angels (it was part of the SeaFair weekend). It was pretty cool to see them perform, it was kinda loud but I guess that’s part of the craziness! Hope you enjoy the pictures:)

Sis and I having a little picnic with friends while waiting for the Blue Angels!

After a fun long day we decided to have yummy seafood on the patio to enjoy the nice weather too! We had crabs and shrimps that we got from Costco! Seafood on a summer night…my kind of dinner!

Dungeness Crabs (my have) — Dungeness Crabs (my fave)