Buhay Bahay-Bahayan

It was late last year when we first heard the bad news. We all thought that we still had a lot of time together. But we don’t.

For about three weeks already, my wife and I have been dropping by my in-laws everyday.

Which explains why I cut short our holiday visit to my parents in the province.

Which explains why I spent Christmas and New Year in Manila.

Which explains the lack of posts and why I haven’t “visited”  (I promise to catch up soon).

We’re spending as much time with him as we can.

Yuan is leaving. In about three weeks, he and his dad will join his mom in New Zealand.

It will be hard letting him go knowing that it will be a very long time before we’ll see him again. He will surely be terribly missed!

Magandang Huwebes muli mga ka-litratista! Oras na naman para sa Litratong Pinoy.

Syempre, syempre, pagkatapos ng Almusal, ilang oras lang ay kasunod na niyon ang Tanghalian. Huwag na kayong magtaka at pagkain na naman ang tema ngayong linggo. Kung hindi nyo pa pansin eh pagkain ang tema sa buong buwan ng Agosto. Kay sarap! Ang mga lahok ko ngayong linggo ay kuha noong kaarawan ni Yuan, pamangkin ni misis, noong nakaraang buwan ng Hulyo.

Ang unang litrato ay karaniwang nakikita sa mga handaan: pritong lumpia. Pero kakaiba ito. Mas masarap at mahalimuyak. May halo kasing basil ang lumpia. Ang litrato naman sa ibaba ay calamares. Gawa naman yan ng pinsan ni misis. Present yan sa dalawang nakaraang handaan (praktis daw muna), at dahil patok rin naman, mukhang palagi nang magkakaroon nyan.

Ito naman ang pinakapaboritong chicken ng pamilya sa buong mundo. Lahat yata ng bahay dito sa Pinas eh may turbo, hindi ba? Kaya naman simula ng ginawa ng misis ko ang turbo chicken na yan mga tatlo o apat na taong nakaraan eh always present yan, mas orasyon man o wala. Peyborit! Patok na patok! Laging ubos! Agawan pa sa wings at balat yung ibang tao dyan! Ehem!

At itong huli syempre ang paborito ko sa lahat: hipon. Para sa akin, hindi kumpleto ang handaan kung wala nito. Kahit nga hipon lang ang handa masaya na ako.

Nakakabusog Nakakagutom, hindi ba? Ito ang aking mga lahok para sa linggong ito ng Litratong Pinoy na may tema na Tanghalian. Tayo na at tignan ang iba pang mga lahok ng mga partisipante dito.

Last Sunday afternoon, despite the heavy rains and the floods that inevitably follow a few minutes after, we went out to attend Vien’s first birthday party. If you can remember, my wife and her friend J. set up the event for Vien’s christening. In addition to decorating the place, she also made the cupcakes.

This time, though, she was just asked to make a whole cake made of fondant. Thank goodness! Making one cake proved to be quite a challenge. We stayed up until 4 AM. I was busy playing Warcraft in the bedroom, and she was making a mess in the kitchen! I did help cut out the stars though, which ate about 5 minutes of my game time. And from time to time, she would ask my opinion on something, so this is pretty much my thing too!

And what kind of good husband would I be if I wouldn’t feature her work here, right? So join me in gawking at these delicious cakes!

We brought Yuan with us. And he got to meet T2rad’s eight-month-old son Zach and of course the birthday boy, muscle-man Vien. As you can see, we weren’t able to get any decent picture of the boys together.

Trisha’s months old son Phoenix was there too. Michelin Man cute! What is with the babies these days? They’re so big!

Anyway, Yuan had fun, as most of the kids did I’m sure. And that’s all that matters. It was very, very tiring looking out for a kid who just learned how to walk. But he had such a great time. Braving that rain was all worth it!