The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Hello friends! I hope you had a great Christmas time with your family and friends! My family had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus’s birthday (a little stressful here and there too!HA) but all in all it was fun. We attended our church’s candle light/christmas eve service and Hubs baked a swiss roll cake (two of my must haves for Christmas) so I’m thankful we got to do that. Although there are things we didn’t get to do like watch the Christmas parade at Bellevue and see Santa (due to the weather and we don’t want to risk the kids getting sick (we are still recovering from colds).

Christmas Eve, we went to church, and ordered Chinese food. I also made Roast pork belly and Pork Humba, my sis made Filipino style spaghetti and fruit salad. We ended the night reading about Jesus’s Birth and The night before Christmas.

Christmas Day! Thank You to our families for all the gifts the kids received this year. Hubs and I decided to go minimal when it comes to gifts this year because we are going to go somewhere this year (with my sisters), I also will get a new dining set) nothing grand, from Amazon!HA

After breakfast, we opened gifts and lounged most of the day. I made another pork belly roast for dinner. My Dad In law made lasagna (it was very tasty),we had crabs ( I cracked the day before),salads,garlic bread. Hubs Auntie and uncle stopped by to deliver more presents!

We watched Jack Ryan on Prime and some Kdrama (Reborn Rich) and relaxed the rest of the night.

Talk later friends! Have a restful week (Hubs is off this week). We are going to tackle our garage (it’s a mess) so YAY for us! Take care:)

Hi Friends! It’s very cold outside right now and we had freezing rain this morning so we are all staying inside and watching movies. I’m so glad that we went out yesterday to get some last minute Christmas shopping finished. We went to an Asian market/Filipino store to get some Pork belly (I think this Asian market has the best deals when it comes to Pork belly). I’m going to make Lechon Belly(Roast pork Belly) for Christmas Eve and Humba (Braised pork belly). We have everything I need to make these dishes. We stopped at Jollibee to get their filipino style spaghetti and famous chicken Joy!

Riley being cozy and using our old dock-a-tot! LOL

I still have some gifts to wrap and put under the tree. It’s hard to hide from the kids today, hopefully later tonight I’ll get this done!

I plan to do a little decluttering around the house too. I brought out some of my Christmas candles that I plan to finish this month so I can get rid of them.

I made Nilagang Pork (boiled pork ribs ) for lunch today and it was just perfect for the weather.

We’ve been enjoying lots of holiday treats too! We had Ensaymada (filipino sweet pastry dough we got from Red Ribbon Bakeshop) perfect with coffee this morning:)

Stay warm and take care friends!

Hello friends, can you believe we are just a week away from Christmas? We’ve had lots of activities these past couple of days and it was so much fun! We attended Hub’s work party (sis and I tagged along with him). Lots of fun and yummy food! Pretty Christmas decorations and lights around Bellevue where it was held. Traffic was horrible though!

We had a little party for Mia and her friends this weekend too. We had cookie and ornament decorating and lots of treats! We ordered pizza from our local favorite! Donuts and candies were flowing!LOL. It was such a fun afternoon and I’m so grateful that Mia has her special group of friends and that everybody had such a great time. Makes my heart happy. Hubs did a lot of baking (the sugar cookies) and it turned our perfect! The kids loved it:)

After eating too many treats, we had a little family walk!

We had Korean food for dinner! Rose Tteokbokki was YUM! We are loving Korean food lately, thanks to Korean drama shows for influencing us!HA.

I hope you had a great weekend friends and stay safe!

Hi Friends, How’s your weekend? I had a dental appointment last Friday and got to have a little me time after my visit. I had lunch at Panera bread, got to finish the book I’m reading, and shopped at Trader Joes and Target after. It was a great afternoon.

Mia was so excited her wiggly tooth was finally gone!HA. She got money from the tooth fairy this weekend.

We continue to declutter, off we go to the donation center this weekend too!

A little playdate with her BFF this weekend too!

Some of the meals we enjoyed these past couple of days! Filipino lumpia (spring rolls) veggies, kimchi fried rice and grilled pork belly, Tomahawk steak with beet salad, smashed potatoes.YUM!

A little coziness around the tree! Christmas is just two weeks away and I’m enjoying the season by being intentional with my time.

Have a great night friends! Take care:)

Hi Friends! We had a winter wonderland last week and enjoyed the snow (it’s gone now). I think there will be more snow in the near future! We’ve been enjoying hot chocolate, cookies, and donuts! HA. I’ve been cooking stews and soups for the family, it’s just perfect this time of year. I’m also done with our Christmas decorations. I kept it simple because as I minimize our house, most of my decorations are not bringing me joy and I will donate most of them. I just have our Tree and stockings, and it’s enough for now. I’m almost done with our Christmas gifts (most of the adults in the family decided not to exchange gifts this year and will do vacation together next year).

Nana and Papa stopped by to hangout with the kids!

I hope you are having a great December friends! Stay healthy and take care:)

Hi Friends! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends! Ours was great with my In laws and Hub’s Auntie/Uncle. We had traditional thanksgiving food, lots of appetizers and dips. Hubs made two dips (caramelized onion and cranberry whipped feta dip both recipes from delish.com). We had our usual charcuterie board, love a good charcuterie. I made green bean casserole and smoked gouda mashed potatoes. We ordered mac and cheese for the kids at our fave local bbq place. All of us really enjoyed the food!

Thanksgiving Eve Hubs baked us Chocolate swirl cake as part of our Thanksgiving dessert but it was so good that we end up eating half of it!HA

I wanted simple Thanksgiving decorations so I just bought a bouquet and center piece from our local florist. It’s cheaper to get flowers from Trader Joes or Costco but this holiday season,I really wanted to support some local businesses.

We are just relaxing at home today. Watching K-drama (flower of evil) and got take out from our favorite teriyaki place. Leftovers will be eaten tomorrow!HA. We are thinking of putting our Christmas decorations up this weekend. I plan to simplify our decorations this year. As I continue to declutter, I’m more into minimal decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving week friends! Have a great weekend. Stay safe!

Hi Friends! Last Wednesday I celebrated my birthday (Hello 41!). Hubs was going to Maryland for 4 days (for work), so we celebrated my birthday the night before he left. We had dinner at a local restaurant. I think it was the first time that he missed my actual birthday since we’ve been together. For my actual birthday, kids and I went to our favorite local pizza place for lunch and got coffee and cake pops at Starbucks! It was a nice lunch with my kids. My In laws stopped by to bring some cupcakes and their generous gift for me. It was a great surprise!HA. I didn’t really cook anything this week because my Dad In law got us Ribs from our fave BBQ place. I got sushi for my birthday dinner (kids had pizza). We had breakfast for dinner last Thursday (sausage,waffle,strawberries). Matthew was sick on Friday, so we stayed home and rested. My Dad In law (again!) stopped by and bought Pizza and brisket teriyaki for me! It was pizza week for the kids for sure!HA. Thanks so much to my In laws for taking care of us:)

Mia helped me bake Banana bread this week, both kids really like this bread.

My actual birthday, we had lunch and stopped at Starbucks for cake pops. I got to talk to my family before my In laws visited us for cupcakes and a birthday song!

Thank You family and friends for all your birthday wishes! Thank You Jesus for the gift of another year:)

After dropping Matthew from school, we stopped by Target and Trader Joes. Mia got some accessories for her American doll. She had too much fun at Target!

Hubs is home now, we are just relaxing at home. Watching Kdramas!HA. I hope you have a great weekend friends!

Hi Friends! November is already half over and Thanksgiving will be here next week. Are you all ready for the festivities? We will be hosting but it’s going to be a potluck style gathering so I don’t stress about the food part. Hubs and I are in charge of mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Anyways, I wanted to share what I’ve been cooking this month, and what I plan to cook the rest of November. November is a birthday month for me and Hubs so I anticipate that we will be eating out a couple of times for the rest of the month!

We shopped at Trader Joe’s for this weeks grocery. We didn’t get any meat there. We still have a lot from Costco and we also stopped at our local meat market. We paid $111 at Trader joes. We got our milk this week from our local dairy farm.

We have simple breakfasts like eggs/toasts/cereals/hash browns. Nothing complicated. Our lunches are usually left overs, sandwiches, cheese and crackers!

I plan to cook simple meals in the coming days because I really want to eat a lot of our freezer meals before Thanksgiving week and it’s our birthday month. We will probably have breakfast for dinner kind of nights and snacky food like sandwiches, charcuterie,etc.

Have a great Monday evening friends and Take care!

We spent our day inside because the kids are having coughs. The weather is getting cold (there was a possibility of snow, but nope). We did a little homeschool, watched a movie and read books (currently reading about Thanksgiving, Pilgrims). I’ve been doing a little holiday planning since this weekend. We host both Thanksgiving and Christmas but everybody shares responsibilities, and brings food to share! I want to enjoy my time with family, so a little planning goes a long way.

Hubs decluttered his clothes yesterday! I told him to just start with clothes that he knew he will never wear again. Our closet feels so light now!HA! I’ve decluttered the kids clothes and toys (I think 60% of the toys are gone now). I’m so glad that Hubs and Mia are on board when it comes to simplifying our home. It makes the process a little easier when everybody understands why we are doing this and wants to remove the excess.

We call this house Vans/Daga room!HA..Pre-kids this is where I “hangout” drink my coffee, read, etc. It looks like a mini playroom now for the kids! Mia and her little friends play here when they visits.

Hot cocoa kind of day! She looks so cozy and happy here:) HA

Have a good Monday night friends and stay warm!

Good Afternoon Friends! It’s going to be a lazy day for us here. It’s been a gloomy Saturday morning (Mia just got back from her gymnastics class). Flu, Covid, RSV is on the rise in our region so we are avoiding crowds as much as we can. Hubs and I are enjoying a Korean show (Love in Contract). So far it’s slow for me, but Hubs seems to be giggling (HA!). I did some housekeeping this morning like vacuum and laundry. I like my weekends to be both relaxing and productive:)

We had lunch yesterday with my DIL in a Mexican restaurant (it wasn’t crowded at all) and stopped at REI to get Hubs a new jacket. For the 17 years that we’ve been together, I’ve only seen him in two jackets!LOL. My In laws have been looking for a jacket that he likes for many years now and finally yesterday he found one that fits him! HALLELUJAH!

We wanted to avoid shopping this weekend, so we stopped at Costco to get some things for this month(after our Mexican lunch). They have things on sale for the holidays that we need, may as well get them now. We paid $364.

Have a good rest of your day friends! Take Care and stay warm:)