One Day At A Time

Saw this in ETSY last night.

My mantra for these past few months has been this. Monday is always exceptional heavy for me. If I can just lock myself at home for one more extra day I would. But no, I have to pull myself up. Face the day with conviction and all the positivity that I can muster.

Hang in there people! Before we know it, Friday's already around the corner.

Slowly Picking Up The Pieces

I have been away for sometime. I have been in and out of not so good times. But things are starting to be pieced together now. And I can only hope it's heading for the better now. What else is left for me to do anyways.

For the most part, I only held on to prayers. And of course, my family. 

Half of the year is almost gone. I hope that the remaining half of it is going to be all perky and bright in here. Gotta stay hopeful, gotta hold on to that tinge of positivity that's left in me. 

Ahhh always, always stormy days at this time of the year for me. Have to always remember, it only gets better from here.

On Making Choices

Just wanted to drop a quick hi! No i'm still not over my current predicaments but I do hope they will soon find their closures on their own. I sound really funny I know but when it's work issues I promised myself I will never, ever talk about them in detail here.

Apart from the eternal exhaustion, I do find silver linings on my daily struggles. I am learning a lot. And I really mean A LOT. That is enough for now. One day. My break will come. Note to self: Just sit tight. Be patient. Never forget.

Image Source

Optimism

My boss tells me I'm too optimistic.He wonders where I get it. When everything around me seems to be crumbling down.

He tells me that's good. But I should try to be cautiously optimistic.

I agree. But I don't have the slightest idea how to do that. Because I feel that the minute you start doubting your optimism (and creating plan B's, plan C's and D's) that's not being optimistic anymore.

So I would just rather remain as is right now. Cancer probably does that to you. Grows your faith. Keeps hope afloat on your side of the world.

Is being overly optimistic bad? They say anything in excess is always bad. Sigh.

AT this point though, I think staying a little more optimistic is the best thing for me to do. When I come to work, colleagues would ask where I get my energy or how do I keep my sanity intact despite every thing that's been happening around me lately. From my faith I guess. I learned how to surrender. And believe that every bad thing has an ending. And there is always a chance that tomorrow is going to be way better.

Right?

***all photos/quotes grabbed from Pinterest

Recipe: Very Dark Chocolate Cookies (Just The Way We Like It!)

Did I mention baking pastries scares me?

But like a true-blue masochist I never give up. Today I tried baking another pastry recipe. I had a big bottle of dark chocolate spread that nobody wants to eat and an upcoming playdate for the little miss. I thought what perfect excuse for me to try testing my luck at failures once again.

I scoured food blogs for a cookie recipe that's easy to follow and one that lists most of the ingredients I already have on hand. And this is the closest recipe I found. Except for the mixer, I have everything else on the list. So off I went to get my hands busy.

After about 12 minutes of baking, the cookies just came out perfect! Perfect even if just in my book.



Yields: 2 dozen 2 inch bite sized cookies
prep time: 1 hr and 30 (including freezing time)
baking time: 10-12 mins per batch

What You Will Need:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salter butter)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate spread (the recipe called for nutella but I only have Nusco dark chocolate spread on hand)
1/3 cup full cream milk
chocolate buttons for topping (I used Goya dark chocolate buttons)

How I did it:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit (about 200 degrees Celcius)

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.

3. Cream butter and sugar until smooth (on electric mix 2 mins medium speed). Add the extracts and beat for another 30 secs. Add chocolate spread until thoroughly mix and consistency is smooth.

4. Add half of dry ingredients and mix. Next add milk and mix. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix completely.

5. I took the mixture out of the bowl and shaped it into a log after. I covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it for about 20-30 minutes (You can also make this 2-3 days ahead and just store in the fridge)

6. When you are ready to bake, grease your baking pan or line it with baking sheet/parchment paper. Cut the cookie dough in your desired thickness and size (our was about half an inch thick and 2 inch wide, just bite size piece). Roll it into a ball and flatten with your palms. I pressed a piece of chocolate buttons in the center since I'm a real chocoholic but you can opt to add a piece of walnut (or pecans or marshmallow) as well if you would prefer to use other toppings.

7. Bake for about 10-12 mins. Take out of the oven and let cool for about 5 mins.

Enjoy with your favorite tea, coffee or ice cream!

Update: Herb Garden

We went up to Tagaytay around the 3rd weekend of January to finally pick up new plants for our herb garden. I had so much fun picking I almost forgot we will bring them home to Cavite via public transport. We ended up getting about 9 plants for just P560. Quite a steal, considering we went home with a fully mature and already heavily flowering pot of cherry tomatoes.



I just harvested a handful of ripened cherry tomatoes a couple of days ago. I couldn't help. I had to take a photo. And they were good. I immediately whipped out a breakfast of greens and finished them with a very, very slight drizzled of Japanese mayonnaise.

When I visit my thriving garden in the mornings, I can't help but think: Life is good.

Recipe: Newbie Baker's Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

I love dessert! In fact, I am proud to call myself a dessert monster.

But me and baking, no we don't get along well. It all started, this fear to bake, during my sophomore year in high school. We had a group baking project then at our home economics teacher's house and I can't remember exactly what I was designated to do then but I just ended up with burnt cookies. I thought then that me and the oven are never going to be good friends.

Baking is one of the skills I am dying to learn but am so scared to try. But just as the cliche goes: Face Your Fears. So that is exactly what I did.

Guess what? I faced my fears and defeated it!!!

Here are the ingredients (recipe adapted from allrecipes.com):

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
1 1/4 cup fine muscovado sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted at room temperature
2 eggs, whisked lightly
1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate chips or shavings
1 cup full cream milk

How I did it:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Sift together all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder). Mix with sugar.
3. In a separate bowl mix melted butter, eggs and milk. Mix till thoroughly combined.
4. Gently combine the wet and dry ingredients until mixed thoroughly.
5. Drop chocolate chips/shavings into the mixture.
5. Spoon the mixture slowly into small (I used 8x4), greased loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes until toothpick test comes out clean.

ENJOY!!!! (I'm now so excited to try other cake/pastry recipes. I'm hoping to try using flax seeds and oatmeal next time. Care to share your recipes?)

Yields: 1 8 lb loaf cake (about 10 half inch slices)