Baking tips

1. Always pre-heat your oven. You can not let your pastry wait for your oven.

2. Buy the right ingredients. If you're a first-time baker, follow every ingredient down to the dot. If the recipe says butter, use butter and not margarine. If it says brown sugar, do not use white, powdered or caster sugar. If the recipe says use iodized salt, do not use sea salt or rock salt.

3. Measure all your ingredients properly. Use measuring cups for the dry ingredients and use liquid measuring cups for the liquid ingredients.

4. Use measuring spoons and cups. Measuring spoons are not the same as your table ware spoons.

5. After measuring all your ingredients, place them in separate mini bowls and make sure you have the complete ingredients before starting to mix.

6. If your recipe states you have to cream the butter, you have to use a hand-held mixer or a professional mixer (like Kitchen Aid) for that. If you are using a hand-held mixer, you have to use the wire attachment. If you’re using your Kitchen Aid, you have to use the paddle attachment.

Hand held mixer with wire attachment.

Kitchen Aid with paddle attachment.

7. Crack your eggs in a separate bowl before combining them to your mixture. Do not crack eggs directly unto your mixture because you're not sure if the eggs are rotten or not. If in case you cracked the eggs directly unto your mixture and it turns out to be rotten you have to discard the whole mixture and re-do the whole thing.

Happy baking mommies!

- Mommy Raquel

Ps: I will send more tips soon. If you have questions send them over and I will try my best to answer your cooking and baking problems.

Yummy recipe: cookies for babies

I know I have been MIA for awhile or for the longest time. I'm so sorry for that. I haven't been blogging because I find it hard to use this gadget. A gadget called the iPad. Hahaha! How stupid of me for abandoning my favored laptop for this fancy iPad that I can't seem to do the same functions. Hehehe.

Anyway, for some time now, I was having problems with my milk supply. Or so I think I was having problems with it. Hahaha. I wanted to pump more milk so I could store it. That was my goal: to store milk. It's not that I am going off to work or scared that my Saffron will starve. It's more for "just in case mommy and daddy need to go out on date nights." With some milk in the ref, I am assured that my Saffron will be ok. Hahaha. So one night, fearful that my supply is getting low, I texted mommy Smiley. (Mommy Smiley and I are our own breastfeeding support group. Just the two of us. Hahaha.) I asked if she could donate milk for my Saffron. Of course she said yes. Hahaha. Then she sent me this recipe for lactation cookies. 

After weeks of not baking, I got so eager to bake cookies again. This time, my drive was to make cookies so I could produce more milk for my Saffron. What other motivation do I need? Haha! 

Baking lactation cookies.

Wrapping the cookies individually so I can send them to my friends for a taste test. I sent mommy Smiley three dozens plus one pack for Caitlin.

The entrepreneur that I am, yes, I have turned this into a business. I am now selling lactation cookies. Hahaha! 

Each cookie recipe has flaxseed, fenugreek, and oatmeal. I don't like adding chocolates to lactation cookies because my breastfeeding teacher said that when you're breastfeeding, you should refrain from eating chocolates. So I didn't put it. Hehehe. 

Here's the recipe Mommy Smiley sent me. More than a lactation cookie, this is a healthy cookie recipe that you can make for everybody to eat. Flaxseed is high in omega 3.

Flaxseed cookies for mom, dad and kids

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter 

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp flaxseed 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cup flour 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oatmeal

Direction:

***pre-heat oven to 350 F.

1. In a small bowl, mix water and flaxseed. Leave it for three minutes.

2. In another dry bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and oatmeal. Set aside. 

3. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. 

4. Add eggs one at a time. Making sure to scrape all sides. 

5. Add in vanilla. 

6. Lower the speed of the mixer and add in the dry ingredients. 

7. Add in flaxseed mix. 

8. As soon as you see all the ingredients are well incorporated, STOP mixing.
9. Scoop in your cookie dough in a pan lined with GLAD baking paper. Make sure to give some space in between each cookies. Bake them for 10-12 mins. 

Baking is a perfect science. You need to follow the EXCACT measurements of all the ingredients and bake at the EXACT time. My oven has been with me for 20 years so I can guage the baking time. If you're new in baking, you may check your cookies after 10 minutes to see if they are done.  

Happy baking mommies!

- Mommy Raquel

Sleeping Caitlin 2

Remember how wonderful it is to put a child to sleep? Well, perhaps the many cute positions that she may make could top that feeling.

(see full image)

- Mommy Smiley

Just keep walking

Caitlin has discovered the joy of walking and hardly keeps to her stroller anymore. She now sees the world at a different angle and her eyes sparkle at the sight.  

(see full image)

- Mommy Smiley

Weekend getaway: Bag of Beans, Tagaytay City

One of our go-to places when we want to eat and lounge is Bag of Beans in Tagaytay City.

The long drive from Quezon City is in itself a wonderful and relaxing experience. But that's only half the story.

Bag of Beans offers cozy indoor and outdoor dining, good food, and pleasant service.

When it's not raining, dining al fresco is an easy choice. There's no need for any music playing relaxing tunes in the background. Hear for yourself the birds chirping and the bamboo leaves swaying in the soft, cool breeze. Some caged birds even greet customers - much to the delight of the young and old alike.

Probably the only drawback is the fact that smoking customers also obviously prefer the outdoors. But you can always choose to move.

The restaurant also has a souvenir shop that sells organic creams, scrubs, and ointments for skin rejuvenation or to treat persistent acnes. It has a lot of citronell-based products to repel mosquitoes and other insects.

You will not run out of cheerful waiters and waitresses at the Bag of Beans. At least one or two always seem to be on stand-by for all your dining needs. My husband even observed that most of the men have big, muscular physique. I didn't even notice, but he's that observant - my Jay. Perhaps it is because the job entails many lifting.

Breakfast here is heavenly. My husband and I usually come back for the country breakfast set, pancakes, shepherd's pie, and bacons. Ok - they are not that exceptionally magnificent. But since these comfort foods can still go wrong elsewhere then these are great and taste the same every time.

If you're a heavy eater, Bag of Beans offers breakfast buffet for Php380 and eat all you can lunch for less than Php500.

Due to its popularity, the restaurant has expanded and now offers more parking spaces. That's a huge deal, and worth mentioning. Aren't you just annoyed at establishments that don't offer ample parking spaces for their customers? They're burdensome not only on the customers, but to those affected by the traffic congestion that they bring. See, for example, the many establishments along Katipunan Road.

So when the helper is out - or not - take a trip down south to eat so you don't have to wash the dishes. And don't forget to bring home a box or two of buko (coconut) pie or tart to bring home a yummy piece of Tagaytay City with you.

Dining al fresco.

Children marvel at the birds.

Blueberry pancakes.

The souvenir shop.

Happy daddy and baby.

- Mommy Smiley

Caitlin's musical toy

My friend gifted Caitlin with a musical toy that plays a number of children's songs and lets you identify the sounds of a police car, ambulance, and fire truck, among others.


During playtime, as I let Caitlin pick her toys, I always get the musical toy for myself to play with. I would have easily chosen my phone, but she'll surely take it away from me. It doesn't bother her, however, when I play with her toys. I'd like to think that she loves sharing her stuff.

The musical toy comes with a built-in keyboard that lets you compose your own tune. And since we had this, I was able to play by ear Do Re Mi, Happy Birthday, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

My husband called me "addict" when I played for him the second song I learned. And now I know four! I can't blame him. It's habbit-forming, and it is a big deal for me.

I played piano as a child and my dad even hired a tutor for me, but after my first recital, I quit and resigned to the idea that I am tone deaf. Since I can't carry a tune, everybody seemed to think so, too.
But I surprised myself when I was able to play some children's songs by ear. And believe it or not, I practice several times in a day! That's how much playtime Caitlin also gets since she's still not allowed to watch the television until she's two years old and by that time, it will still be limited. But more on that later.

So my husband and I both realize that I am not tone deaf afterall. I just can't carry a tune!

- Mommy Smiley

Good read: On Children by Kahlil Gibran

At a recent wedding that I attended with my husband, the father of the bride, who serves as our godfather in our wedding, recited this poem and offered it to his daughter.

I'd like to share it to you also.

On Children
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

It's moving. It's poignant. It also sounds harsh to a parent like me, but it's the truth. And in as much as I sought out that same individuality from my parents, so will my child one day.

- Mommy Smiley 

Good read: The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer

The Wet Nurse's Tale is largely the story of the high-spirited Susan Rose whose life is rife with hardships. But by her will, wit, and at times questionable ways and means, she comes out of each struggle stronger, and happier.

The setting is the 1830s in England - a time when formula milk is unheard of and every child feeds from the breasts of his or her mother or a wet nurse in order to thrive.

Susan's mother - Mrs. Rose - is the original wet nurse, and this is also her tale as well as the many mothers or fathers who bring their little ones to her to nurse.

The book is littered with amusing accounts on pregnancy, motherhood and nursing and how each experience can go from a blessing to a burden, depending on how you look at it.

The reasons why mothers nurse or opt not to are never more truer then as they are now. For those who are healthy but chose not to breastfeed, they point to their busy work or social schedule. At least for one, she says: "But suckling a child causes a flaggy bosom which would never do."

Indeed, both a miracle and a burder is how Susan Rose herself sees her trade. But at the end of the day, it saves her, and even says that nursing is a "great tonic for a sad soul."

"Indeed, I thought to myself looking down at the little boy, they nursed me from my distress as I nursed them for their health, and I will always love them for it."

For the many other mothers in the story whose lives and that of their babies depend on a wet nurse, they share these -

"Women should not be afraid of it: it is, after all, best for babies to sup from the milk of their own mothers who carried them."

"My intention was to nurse Luke myself for a half-year and then to trade him with his brother's place, so that each might benefit from my own breast as is God's plan for us mothers, and that is what I did."

The story is gripping, and never boring. And for someone like me who doesn't want to end the page on a sad note, I turned and turned and rushed to the end.

The Wet Nurse's Tale also makes you want to count your blessings: I am filled with gratitude for being with Caitlin so that I can breastfeed her whenever and for as long as she needs.

Happy reading!

- Mommy Smiley

Accidents

Studies show that breastfed babies are more tolerant of pain compared to those who were formula fed. By observing babies' reactions to vaccine shots, it was concluded that breastfed babies can take in more pain, especially if administered during feeding.

So when my phone accidentally fell (twice, yikes!) on Caitlin's head as she was feeding from me, I comforted myself with that thought, and the fact that she hardly cried and continued to nurse.

But I believe I paid for it too when she bit me after feeding.

Quits na, anak? Peace. Mommy loves you!

- Mommy Smiley

Reading

Caitlin's looking so intense at reading a book... upside down!

- Mommy Smiley

Good read: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

The Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother tells the story of how deep a mom could love her children - by ridiculing them in public, by comparing them against each other, and by pushing them near exhaustion to practice their instruments everyday even while on vacation.

It's the Chinese way, writes Amy Chua, a mother to two girls of Chinese and Jewish origins but raised in liberal America.

It's not about respecting your children's individuality or giving them choices and letting them pursue their passions. Rather, it is "by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they're capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits, and inner confidence that no one can ever take away."

It's tough love.

It's not letting her second daughter Lulu give up on her violin because that's "the worst things you can do for your child's self-esteem."

According to Chua, "there's nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn't."

Your heart will feel for her eldest daughter Sophia when she snaps back at her mom - a taboo - and reminds her not to be selfish and to be grateful to her too for being good and obedient all this time.

Chua is not bothered one bit even if she gets the ire of her daughters in the process.

Whether Chinese parenting is more superior than in other cultures, Chua later doubts so. But she knows that when it does succeed, "there's nothing like it." She doesn't have to look far though to know that it does not always have a happy ending.

Whatever parenting style you employ, I believe you'll always be on the right tract when you recognize your child as a unique person with her own personality and character - though not very far from yours or her siblings at times - and that she has a mind of her own.

I find that I tend to read a lot while nursing.  

- Mommy Smiley