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September Bentos

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We are on the last week of September. I can finally say that we are all getting back to our routine after two long months of vacation back home.

Honestly, mornings have been difficult this start of school month. I overslept and so did the boys, who needs to be out of the house by 6:30 am. I was grumpy most mornings – I had to prepare breakfast, school lunch and hush a LittleMiss who needs nanan because our loud voices woke her up.

Instead of sharing a weekly round-up, here’s our September bentos – well those that I’ve managed to snap photos of.

 

Back to school bento - grade two

LittleMan V now plans his school lunch with me. I suggested that since he’s turning 7 years old maybe he can start eating fresh/steamed vegetables, he agreed but requested that he get to choose which veggie. Read More

Themed Nights at Millennium Plaza Hotel + Giveaway

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Indian Themed Night Metro Cuisine

 

We were invited at the re-launch of Millennium Plaza Hotel’s Themed Nights in their Metro Cuisine Restaurant. Themed nights will feature array of food from Southeast Asia and Indian cuisines.

Although Indian cuisine is widely available in Dubai and one of my closest friends is from Kerala – we always stick to the familiar food when dining out. My idea of Indian food is limited to papadams, buttered chicken, naan, dosa and Kerala style veggie stew.

Appetizer

 

We were spoilt with choices from appetizers to desserts – the buffet had live pakora and chaat stations. We browsed through the food choices and to my surprise no sight of buttered chicken! I asked our pleasant waiter Shajeev if there was indeed no buttered chicken in the menu and he said there was none. He suggested that I try the lamb and chicken curry instead.

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Guest Post: Fluffy Puto Rice Recipe (Filipino Steamed Rice Cakes)

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I’m so excited to share my space with a good friend Maria who resides in Italy with her family.

A little background- My Mama is best friends with Maria’s Nanay Lyn but we didn’t get to spend time (Maria and I) together growing up in Davao. They move to Australia. I got to spend time with Nay’ Lyn’s family for a few days when they stop-over at Manila before heading to Davao for their vacation.

Maria and I both love baking and this topic started our friendship. We chatted about daily life and exchange tips and recipes on baking.

We are planning to open our own cafe – which will happen once we are on the same timezone and country.

Finally, after almost 2 years of convincing her to write a blog post here she is with her Puto Rice (Steamed Rice Cake) Recipe. 

 ***

Hi, I’m Maria, your guest writer for today. Like my friend Gail, I’m an expat, married and a mother of 2 – An energetic and headstrong girl, Aurora and a velcro baby boy Lorenzo.

MariaFamily

 

Now, living overseas is great! Wonderful especially if you end up in beautiful places like Australia and Italy, like I did.

But, you know, aside from being nostalgic of your family and friends… you can get food nostalgia too… It’s great being able to afford apples, grapes, McDonalds, potato chips, apple juice, meat etc….But there will come a point when you’ll miss all the food you’ve taken for granted. Like the puto and kutchinta that they peddle, the Bibingka, pan de sal and Ensaymada from the bakery next door… the hopia and sio pao when money’s not too tight.

There will be a day in your life overseas that you’ll be forced to pay 7 dollars for 10 crappy pieces of Pan de Sal, or Dry crumby Ensaimada. You’ll complain, of coirse, but only after you ate every crumb of it… swear you’ll never buy it again… then  the next month, you’ll be paying same ridiculous money and eating same ridiculously old bread…

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Fishing Village at Eden Nature Park

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Eden Nature Park Fishing Village

 

LittleMan V has been planning a fishing trip with his cousin Ate Sophia even before we left for our annual vacation.  His fascination with fishing began last year when his Lolo Nonong told him stories of them fishing in the sea when Lolo was still working overseas at Marshall Islands.

 

FirstFishingExperience

 

LittleMan V had his first fishing experience last year at Carmen, Davao del Norte. It took 45 minutes before he caught his first Tilapia and he was hooked to fishing. This activity was something that he can’t stop talking about and on the top of the list of things he must do back in the Philippines.

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Disney On Ice Dubai

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We went to Disneyland Hong Kong last year, sadly we didn’t get a chance to meet all the Princesses – a reason that we have to go back.

Dad and I had a long discussion on what show to watch that weekend (Hi-5 or Disney) – we finally decided on Disney on Ice. I watched Disney on Ice as a kid with my siblings and cousins in Manila way back 1990 at Araneta Coliseum – I’m asking Mama to look for photos.

We bought tickets for the kids and I to watch Disney on Ice Rockin Ever After. I also joined several giveaways to win tickets to both shows.

EtisalatWin

We won family tickets to watch Disney On Ice from Etisalat!

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Giveaway: Vaseline Cleansing Hampers

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Winners of Vaseline Cleansing Hampers:

Sheryl, Susan Turner, Sukaina, Sharmishta, and Hanan

Excited to be hosting my 2nd giveaway that the whole family can enjoy.

We have recently changed from using bar soap to body wash for LittleMan V, he developed allergy on his armpits when we use our regular bar. Since then I’ve been looking for a product that we can all use as it is more budget friendly compared to buying different brands for each member of the family.

Our family have been Vaseline users for a long time – Cocoa Glow body lotion is a family favorite and ever since the LittleOnes’ were babies the petroleum jelly is always present in our baby bag.

Vaseline BodyWash

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Healthy Frozen Dessert with Yonanas

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Very Strawberry Yonanas

 

Ice cream is one dessert that all of us love at home!  It’s a bit of a problem since we are trying to cut unhealthy sweets in our diet. I saw a Yonanas ad on YouTube back in March 2013 and I want to have one!

Just before we left for our summer vacation, we were invited by Dole for the media preview of Yonanas hosted by  Marina Mums at MAKE Business Hub Dubai.

 

Yonanas UAE Event

 

Yonanas promises to give you a healthy frozen dessert that is sugar-free and dairy free. A machine that uses a new technology to transform frozen bananas and other fruit into a dessert that looks and tastes like an indulgent soft-serve ice cream.  

Now, you might argue with me and say that – you can also use your good old blender to make one. I agree that you can make a healthy dessert with your blender, I tried but was never successful in achieving the creamy ice cream texture using one … and how many of us are comfortable having our little one’s (mine are ages 7 & 2) use a blender or food processor? I’m not.

 

LittleOnes

 

Yonanas’ grinding blades is enclosed in the machine and not open to your littleOnes’ curious fingers. All your kids need to do is place banana & fruits on the tube, turn on and push fruit using a plastic pusher – Done!

Here’s a short video of my LittleOnes’ making our “ice-cream” snack using Yonanas machine.

Trivia – Yonanas name is the blending of frozen yoghurt and bananas. The idea was to create a word that sounded like frozen yoghurt and highlights the main fruit used to make the healthy dessert which is the bananas.

Connect with  Dole Middle East in facebook and instagram &  Yonanas in facebook and pinterest.

Tarana of SandInMyToes wrote a review on Yonanas as well, read it here.

Yonannas retails for AED 299, and is available at leading hypermarkets, including Carrefour, Geant, Spinneys, Sharaf DG, Choitrams, Ansar Mall, and Al Meera outlets.
Linked to Let kids be kids.

Tasty Tuesdays on HonestMum.com

Disclaimer: I was provided with a Yonanas machine to review, all opinion are my own.

Back in Dubai. Back to School

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It’s been 10 day’s since we got back from our vacation and I’ve been busy unpacking and keeping the house back on track. Everything seem so new yet familiar (if that makes any sense). 

I hope to get back to blogging weekly and post a review on our new favorite product – Yonanas. 

Vacation is certainly over as it’s back to school for Kuya V this week. 

GradeTwoBento

He requested for our homemade healthy chicken nuggets for his back to school lunch. I’ve made a few changes on the recipe (added broccoli) and hope to post recipe soon. For now you can get recipe here or you can pick-up the September issue of Good Housekeeping. So happy that our very own chicken nuggets was selected as one of the suggested packed lunches along with other easy yummy recipes. 

Good HouseKeeping September 2014

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