This is the pinata I personally made during the 5th birthday of my only daughter. I simply used pink japaenese papers to wrap the pinata made from a milk box. I guess I just spend around Php30 for this. The hello kitty sticker was worth Php10 ( and I used 2 stickers) and the japanese paper was worth 10. It's amazing how I saved a lot of money for this pinata. Had I bought one from a party store, I surely had spent around P200 for this (without candies inside). I only spent around Php60 for the candies.

Practical Tips: Avoiding Pickpockets and Snatchers

A. When alighting or riding the bus, taxi or jeep: a. Embrace tightly your bag. b. Never open your bag. c. Never show your cellphone especially if it is an expensive one. d. Always have your fare ready in your hands to avoid opening your bag. e. Keep extra money in your pockets for emergencies. B. When shopping in a very crowded place outside the mall: a. Use a debit or credit card instead of cash. This will avoid you from bringing a big amount of money. b. If the plastic card is not available for use, never put your cash in one wallet. Separately put it in different pockets of your bag, pants, or jacket. c. It is favorable to wear jacket or extra shirt with inner pockets (this is the best place to put your money). d. Never shop alone at night. C. When walking on the street: a. Be aware of your surroundings. Look at the people ahead, beside and behind you. b. Hold tightly your bag. c. Avoid walking on dark places.

Pancit With Fish Balls

My creative and innovative "cooking instinct" was put to a test once again when my daughter told me that she wanted to eat pancit one Wednesday afternoon. I didn't have much stock of meat and vegetables in my refrigerator but, luckily, I had pancit. So I just made fish balls out of left over fried fish to give my pancit some garnishings and added scrambled eggs too. Whew, at least I was able to cook pancit for my daughter. she was able to consume a plateful.

How to make a fishball is so easy. Just take away the bones of the fish and shread the fish meat, add flour, pepper, salt, chopped onions and egg. Put a little water and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. orm into balls, then fry.

Choco Latte Rice

What do you do with your leftover rice? Do you give it to your pets? Do you throw them away? Never!

Before the leftover rice start to collect molds and get spoiled, do something about it to make it appetizing.

There are actually many ways to give your leftover rice a new taste. You can make garlic fried rice, mushroom rice, curry rice and a lot more. Now, I have made a ‘champorado” with a twist and called it choco-latte rice because it has chocolate, milk and coffee in it. The rice is soft and it’s a bit mushy yet yummy. It is a perfect food for breakfast and snack. Try it.

CHOCO-LATTE RICE Ingredients: 1 cup leftover rice ¼ cup sugar (2 pieces calamay) 1 sachet 3 n 1 coffee 1 tbsp. creamer 2 tbsp. chocolate powder (or tablea) ½ cup milk 3 cups water Directions: Put the water and leftover rice in a casserole. Let it boil for 2 minutes and keep until the rice become softer. Put sugar and continue boiling for another minute. Add coffee, milk and chocolate powder. Serve hot.

Use Softdrink Bottles as Plant Pots

Everything is getting expensive nowadays that sometimes we forego of the foods we are dying to eat and worse, let go of the food that our body needs to keep it healthy. We even spare ourselves from buying nutritious foods for our meals. Often it’s the vegetables that do not end up in the shopping basket or grocery bag. If the reason why you don’t plant vegetables- even if in your heart you love to plant – is because you don’t have enough land space or area to plant, then the solution there is to plant it pots. If, still, you find it expensive to buy plastic pots, why not instead use empty plastic softdrinks bottles. Do not dispose of those empty sofdrink bottles for they are good pot substitute. It’s more durable since this kind of plastic does not immediately wear out. How can we make pots using empty plastic softdrinks bottles? So simple. Just cut the side of the bottle (with a rectangular shape) and punch small holes on the other side of the bottle. Then fill it up with soil and alas, you can start putting your seeds.

KEEPING THE TOMATOES FRESH IN THE REFRIGERATOR

This is just a continuation of my previous post about keeping vegetables fresh inside the refrigerator. . . . . COLD TEMPERATURE DESTROYS TOMATO FLAVOR AND TEXTURE It’s true that the texture as well as the flavor of tomatoes when put inside the refrigerator is not as good as those which are left in open air. The refrigerator’s cold temperature destroys the smoothness of the skin of the tomato and its flavor is likewise affected by its unnatural coldness. It is often suggested by experts that tomatoes should be put out of the refrigerator to maintain its freshness. But I beg to disagree. It is not always practical to leave tomatoes in open air because of our weather – we live in a tropical country. The hot weather contributes the fast ripening of the tomatoes. There is one way to make the tomatoes fresh even if it is put inside the refrigerator and it has worked pretty well for me. Everytime I buy a kilo, or half, of tomatoes, I make sure that I fifty percent of which are green ones and the rest are a combination of greenish yellow, yellow and red. In other words, I don’t get all the ripe or unripe ones. WAYS TO KEEP TOMATOES FRESH Here’s how to make the tomatoes stay fresh even for two weeks: o Before keep the tomatoes inside the refrigerator, wash them and let it dry (remember not to wipe them with towel for doing so will affect the luster of the skin) o Separate the green ones from the red ones. Consume the red or ripe ones first. o Wrap separately the green and red tomatoes with a newspaper. o Store them in the bottom portion of the refrigerator, never in the freezer.

Keeping Vegetables Fresh

Did you know that newspaper can help keep the vegetables fresh. Simply wrap the vegetables with a newspaper before storing it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh for even for a week. I have tried it several times and it really works. You try it.