Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Atchara: Pickled Papaya

    Atchara is a famous side dish of Filipinos. Usually, it is served together with grilled, and fried dishes. It is very are affordable and has a long shelf-life. Every family has their own version of making atchara, and, today I am sharing mine. Although, walang sukat talaga yung pag-gawa ko, its up to your taste bud on how you want your atchara to taste.
     This recipe has been a money-making idea for me. Since it is very tedious to make, and that I have some allergy of sort in papaya's sap, I just make them every ber-months. 

You'll be needing:
- green papaya
- vinegar (anykind will do)
- water
- sugar
- salt
- pinapple tidbits
- pepper corn
- bell pepper
- carrots
- onions (optional)
- garlic  (opitonal)

     You need to peel, wash and grate (or slice thinly) the papaya. Put some salt, wash it again then remove the excess water. We usually put them in a clean cloth or katsa, then my husband and I would wring the papaya dry. Set them aside.

      In a pan, put some water, vinegar, salt, sugar and the rest of the ingredients except for the pineapple. Bring them to boil, but do not stir. When boiling, lower the heat, and taste your atchara solution. If it suits your taste, then its time the add the grated papaya. Turn off the stove. The heat from the solution will then cook the papaya (and it will cook easily since the papaya is already grated). Add the pineapple.

      Let it cool. When cooled, you can start bottling them. Bottles should be sterilized properly. 

Ready for bottling


   
Ready to be sold!



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Heartache

   Just got a fight with a family member. A little misunderstanding turned into a real, ugly fight. Now we're not talking to each other.

   It will  take too long before healing. I just know it. Ang mahirap, even my daughter is getting at my moods. At pati siya e nasisigawan ko na rin. Lalo kapag may failing grades siya sa mga quizzes nya. At kapag hindi nya masyado ma-gets yung mga review ko sa kanya.
 
    I hate myself right now. I just hope I'd feel better about things. Soon.

Sigh....

Friday, September 12, 2014

No More

Coffee is a big part of my mornings. Kung walang kape, feeling ko, hindi ako productive for that day. I feel something is just missing. 

I sooo love my coffee habit.

Pero something is not right with my body system. My blood pressure has always been 90/60. As in, always. When I got pregnant with my daughter, it slightly went up to 110/80. Fairly normal. But I'm not pregnant anymore.

My daughter is attending her big-school. I have to get up extra early to prepare her things. So everyday, is a  4:30am call time for me. Errands and chores means coffee break is at 7am and 4pm (if its too hot to have coffee in the afternoon, I'd usually have them in a smoothie form).

And all those caffeine is adding something to even lower my bp. And so is my lack of sleep.Which sucks, because I'd feel woozy more often than I like.

I guess its goodbye coffee? Goodbye Coke (my stress-buster)? And goodbye iced-tea?

I need to be healthy for my daughter because she needs me. I am not young anymore. I can't afford to be sick. 

(Sigh)   :(

Monday, September 8, 2014

Educational Field Trip

It is the Field Trip Season. Together with the -ber months, private schools usually have their annual field trips on these months. Months that are usually rainy. Months that indicates more expenditures.

My daughter's class is having their "educational field trip" on the 26th of this month. They are set to go to two locations: the first one, to a doll factory, and the next is to watch a theater show. Costing 1550 per head, accompanying her (although, it is okay not to accompany her, but she is much too young to be left on her own on such a long trip) would mean a tiny bit more than three grand. That's just the field trip fee. It does not yet include our food for the trip and some pocket money I may need to bring just in case my daughter would like to buy other stuff. For only a day, our trip would at least cost me  4,000 to 4,500.

I must say that's its a little bit too much for an average-earner such as myself. The good thing is that, its not mandatory (she just need to do a make-up project). And even if my daughter really wanted to go, I told her that we just can't afford that right now. But, supposing we can afford it, the news of different accidents happening on the field trips of other schools is just as disturbing and frightening for a mom like me. My husband is even the first to tell us that it'll be much too dangerous to go.

So we are definitely not joining this year (we join two-years in a row of the previous trips). But I did promise to bring her to a different "pasyalan". A visit to a park, to a museum or a movie even. My husband can also come with us, and I just know that it'll be fun and cost much less. 

I just hope that the "field trip" thing would be abolish someday. Not that its not educational but the students have seen it all, every museum, every zoo and animal sanctuary, every factories of bread, dolls, and other things that the metro and other provinces near the metro has to offer. If it can't be abolish, better make it every other year. That way , the excitement of traveling for the child would still be there.