The Modern Mom

Hello mommies! Sorry I have been busy trying to balance spending quality time with my baby, the pastry shop @joaniescupcakes and our newly launched online store, Petit Bébé PH.  Check out our IG and FB pages if you have time, @petitbebeph. 😍 Anyway, a lot as been asking about the hospital lists that I made for my delivery so here they are! As some of you might know, I am quite OC about paperwork and I have no pain tolerance so I really wanted to make sure that my doctors did not miss anything about my medical history. I was also confined 3x during my pregnancy. This is why I wanted to make sure that my list is detailed so we could avoid mistakes. Information Sheet This is the information sheet that I made. I consulted my OB prior to my delivery about the things that will be asked during check in/ labor. The text is RED are things you need to fill out on the way to the hospital as you might not have enough time to print them when you start contracting. Birth Plan ...

I’m an OC person when it comes to packing. I love checklists! When I was at home on bedrest, I had plenty of time to get ready for the delivery. I didn’t want to go to the hospital with incomplete things so I started researching online and mommy blogs on what to pack when D-day comes. I made this list 3 months before my due date. I was paranoid because I had 3 hospital confinements during my pregnancy. I wanted to make sure that everything was ready.  When my OB told me that I was being induced on my 37th week, I made sure I ran through everything with my husband and our nanny. I have very low pain tolerance so I didn’t want them asking me where everything was when I was recovering! 😂 I divided the list into 3 categories: Mommy Daddy Baby I had to make sure my husband had an extra pillow and blanket so his back wouldn’t hurt from sleeping in the couch. I was expecting us to stay longer than normal as I was being induced. He needed to be in tiptop shape for our bab...

Reg and I have been trying to lose weight to better control our sugar intake. We ate out a lot when I was still pregnant so he gained "pregnancy pounds" as well. Haha! I have been going to the supermarket to buy 3 weeks worth of dinners the past 2 months and I have been making weekly menu plans to help us achieve our goal. Honestly, I have always felt lazy to do this menu because the meats available at the grocery varies every week. I tend to buy what looks good so I can't stick to 1 set of menu come marketing time. First, let's start with the supermarket. We are closer to Unimart Greenhills but I feel that prices there are higher and there are times when their stock delivery is delayed. I always end up not being able to buy everything that I need. In order for this menu planning to succeed, I now go to my trusty Landmark Supermarket in Trinoma. I used to shop there when I was still single but I stopped going when I moved after getting married because I hated the ...

So here's a very controversial topic about motherhood: BREASTFEEDING. The dreaded B word that makes new moms run to the hills! I have heard a lot of friends rehash their breastfeeding journeys, from the sleepless night, to the endless crying, to cracked nipples and to PPD! Having heard so many horror stories about it, I have decided early on that I will not pressure myself to breastfeed. If I am blessed with breastmilk as soon as my baby comes then that would be wonderful! Problem solved before it even begins, but if I don't then I wouldn't sweat about it. You see, my siblings and I were not breastfed and we all turned out fine. We all went to good universities and had our own "thing" that we were good at. My husband and I talked about it before I delivered and we both agreed that feeding our daughter well is better than forcing something that leaves her hungry and makes me depressed. We packed a small can of formula and feeding bottles in our hospital bag as ...

Of all the adventures and misadventures that I have had in my life, being a new mom takes the cake. It has only been two weeks and two days to be exact but I feel that my whole life has changed. Not to sound too dramatic but as confident as I am about my decisions about her, looking at this tiny baby girl makes me doubt everything. I just keep reminding myself that I'm doing the best that I can for her with the most of what I have and with the best of my abilities. I'd do another blog entry about this. My little E is not fussy. She's a good baby. She only cries when she's hungry. She doesn't even cry when she has poop in her nappy. Most of the time she's asleep so we're always excited when she's awake. The first four days at the hospital was a challenge. We were still adjusting with the change. The lack of sleep affected my blood pressure which gave me migraines in the day. When we were finally able to come home, I was determined to establish a rou...

There are things in life that makes you want to give up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not currently depressed. 😅 I was out with my mom the other day and chanced upon a dance store. For some reason, I always try to look for a white tutu even when I don't plan to buy one. You see, when I was in Prep-1, I joined a dance program in school. The teacher told us to bring white tutus and white ballet shoes. My parents and I scoured many SM Department Stores but all we could find were pink tutus and shoes. Remember that this was in the 90's so there were limited malls in Metro Manila. The usual next step is to go back to school and tell my teacher that it was impossible to find one, right? Well, that's what all of my classmates did. My parents? Impossible was (and still is) not in their vocabulary. My mom designed and sewed an all-white ballet ensemble just for me! I was the only one who came to class with what the teacher asked us to bring. Everyone else brought pink. And even ...

When I was in high school, I watched this movie entitled, “The Joy Luck Club”. I think I was with my mom and sisters when we watched it. The movie tells the story of four women who escaped their difficult lives in China, went to the US, had daughters who all seem to inherit their weaknesses and how they all were able to rise up to their shortcomings and get better. There was this part where everyone was having dinner and they were eating crab. June, who thinks her mom always compares her to the beautiful Waverly, got angry at the latter because she thinks that she is never good enough. Her mom told her that it’s not true and uses the sample of the crabs they had for dinner to emphasize. At the table, Waverly immediately gets the claw, which is the best part but June gets the smallest piece because she wants others to get the better ones. Her mom says that it’s because June has a good quality heart. It has been a running joke in our family that my eldest sister, Cla, is June because she...

In welcoming the new year, I try to clean the house and get rid of the junk I've accumulated throughout the past year.. and by get rid, I mean put them in boxes and store them. Hehe. In our household of two humans and two dogs, we hired a full-time helper (FH) to assist us in our daily chores. The dogs require constant care and since hubby and I both work, we decided this is the best way to keep our sanity. We also have a stay-out helper (SO) whose (real) primary job is to keep our helper company every other day. SO was our saviour when our string of helpers quit one after the other so when we were able to hire someone full-time, we continued her services, thanks to H. :) This has been our set-up for the past six months and it has been smooth sailing until the holidays. Because SO couldn't come, FH was left to clean the house for the past two weeks. Mind you, I do the cooking of main meals at home and I don't expect the house to be sparkly clean but she didn't even try....

We harvested okra today from our mini garden! I was so excited to see that they've grown so big over the past few weeks! While they are still fresh, I decided to hit two birds with one stone and empty out leftover vegetables from the crisper. This recipe can be adjusted based on what you have in your refrigerator. :) I chopped 1 small white onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 tomato and some leftover meatballs we had for dinner yesterday. I also diced 1 whole green bell pepper and included this leftover sweet corn kernels we used for pizza. I cut the okra into approximately 2-3" pcs. Procedures: 1. Sauté onions and garlic until translucent. 2. Add the bell peppers and stir. 3. After about a minute, add the meatballs. I added freshly ground pepper at this point. 4. Add the okra. Stir well to make sure there are no areas burning. 5. Add 1/4 cup water and cover. 6. Once the water has evaporated, check if the okra is cooked. If not, add another 2 tbsp. of water and cover. 7. Add the toma...

Of all the steak houses here in the Philippines, Cowrie Grill has always been my favorite. Aside from their tender, perfectly cooked steaks, they also have a great service. No request too big for their diners. My sister, Cla, and I had lunch there the day after my birthday because she was not able to attend my celebratory dinner the night before.  I developed an appreciation for cheese when I went to London for training last year so I decidedly to try their cheese platter. This was listed under their dessert menu but I think this is more than what anyone can finish after a full meal. The cheeses available were Goat, Brie, Roquefort, Oveja and Gruyere. It also has dried fruits - cranberries, raisins and apricots - cashew nuts and grape s! I loved the goat cheese and gruyere. Never really liked soft cheeses so Brie was meh. Cla asked for some honey and it brought everything to a whole new level. Someone looks happy! I was too! I was going to get my wisdom tooth extracted later that a...

When our helper left us last week, I discovered that we still had a lot of meat in the freezer! I hate seeing our freezer so full so I decided to cook them one day at a time. Today was pan-fried porkchops. I marinated the pork yesterday with soy sauce, calamansi, sugar and garlic. I didn't use any measuring tools so just eyeball it. Marinade should be a salty/sour with a touch of sweetness. Marinate meat for at least 1 hour. To cook, add some oil into the pan. Make sure it's hot before adding the porkchops. Cook each side for 5 minutes. Add the marinade and cook with the porkchop. Serve hot! This is a very easy recipe. Let me know how it goes!

Insomnia makes you want to be productive. When I can't sleep, I usually watch home improvement or cooking videos on Youtube and a vertical garden has always been on top of my list. Since Reg is out this Sunday, I decided to just go for it.  After having lunch with my family, Camille and I didn't have anywhere to go. I told her we can check out QC Circle because I've read somewhere that I can buy plants there at a low cost. I was also in search of the wire mesh which will hold all my planters. The one in Wilcon costs Php850+ for a single piece! I needed 4 pcs., so no thanks. Haha. Entrance to QC Circle is only Php15/car. There was only 1 store selling the wire mesh. Initially, she gave it to me for Php250/pc but I haggled until she gave it to me for Php150. I also bought my planters there for Php10/pc. The stall beside that was selling herbs for Php35/pc but I was able to ask for discount as well. I bought 2 pots of 6 different herbs! Total I paid is Php350 plus Php100 for 2...

My husband told me that their cook at home/ office is on vacation. Since only he and his mom eat lunch there, I decided to make his "baon" tomorrow vegetarian so they care share it. My mother-in-law is vegetarian, fyi. :) I have limited ingredients in my pantry because I have't been to the grocery yet. Good thing my mom gave me a big pack of beautiful dried mushrooms that I have yet to use and I stocked up on vegetarian sauces and condiments (in case my in-laws come by for a visit) during my last trip to Bee Tin in Chinatown. Looking at the mushrooms, an image of a delicious looking plate of braised mushrooms came to mind! Luckily also, I still have half a head of Taiwan pechay inside the refrigerator. It all seems meant to be! Haha. I have never been the kind of cook to measure ingredients so these are just estimates. :) Here's the recipe: 1. Wash the dried mushrooms, maybe around 10-15 large pcs. Soak in boiling water for 25 minutes. 2. When soft, cut the stems out....

When we went around the neighborhood, I also wanted to try cakes from this place. I was craving for old-fashioned chocolate cake so we went in to check if they had some. Fortunately, they did! Price per slice is Php75. A little too expensive for such a small slice but I was desperate! 😁  Surprisingly, I really really liked it. It wasn't too sweet. The cake was soft but needed more moisture. The frosting was delicious! It was the exact thing I was craving. Lucky me! We also got a slice of carrot cake. Haven't tried it yet but I will update you guys tomorrow. We're too full! I recommend this place for their cakes! Try it! :)

Reg and I still had after dinner munchies so we decided to explore the restaurants around the neighborhood. We've been eyeing Blake's for sometime now because wings + steaks = happy tummy! Haha. We called around 7:30PM to ask if they deliver but they said that they don't anymore. We decided to go there instead. We ordered 1/2 kg sweet and spicy chicken wings with bleu cheese dip and nachos. We waited 20 minutes as they cook everything upon order.  Walking home took only 5 minutes so the food were still hot when we ate them.  The nachos were disappointing. Although the serving was huge for the price, we didn't like it at all. The nacho chips were crunchy but they were "durog". I think they gave us the bottom pieces. They were very hard to eat because you need a full piece to transport the toppings to your mouth! #piggyproblems Lol. The toppings were generous. We would have liked the ground beef to be less salty though. Only half of the box was consumed!  The wi...

I went to Sonya's Garden last Sunday with my in-laws and bought some sweet purple yams for Php50/kg. The first time I had this was when I accompanied my mom and sister, Camille, to her school field trip. We trekked Mt. Pamulaklakin in Subic and had a delicious lunch prepared by the Natives. The dessert was boiled sweet purple yams and I really liked them. Anyway, since it's our 2nd Monthsary today as a married couple, I decided to give Reg a break from the his diet and air-fry some Bagnet from Ilocos.  He bought this from his recent trip. I air-fried a slab at 200C for 16 minutes. Make sure your knife is really sharp to get that clean cut. We watch Grimm every night so instead of the usual unhealthy chips, I steamed some of the yams and made the rest into fries. For the steamed yams, I just washed them really well and steamed them for 25 minutes using my Philips steamer. Check if they are tender with a fork. If they are, let them cool then peel them. You can eat them right away...

One of the things I miss in Singapore are the barley drinks sold in hawker shops. I love their sweet subtle taste. I always, always make sure I drink this when I visit SG. My mom has been cleaning up a storm in their house and has been giving me food that she bought from her travels. This was one of the things she gave me. Since Reg loves his juice and I want him to eat healthier, I decided to make some barley drink. 1. I filled a big pot with water and added 1/3 of the pack. I boiled it for 3 hours, adding water as I went along; making sure the water level is always the same as when I started.  2. After 3 hours, I tried some of the barley to test for softness. The texture should be like overcooked pasta - pasty and soft. 3. Add rock sugar or whatever sweetener you prefer. Make sure everything dissolves before turning off the heat. 4. Let it cool then refrigerate, covered.  Since there were only 2 of us drinking it, it lasted us 4 days. :) It's a very refreshing drink for the ...

A new Japanese restaurant opened late last year and we have been going there quite often. The restaurant's specialty is okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese pancake mixed with a variety of mixed meats and vegetables. The food is simple but delicious! Nate, my godbrother, and I went there yesterday for late lunch. We ordered their 4-cheese Pizza and Mixed Okonomiyaki. Nathan is usually very picky but HE ATE A LOT. As in A LOT. Haha! He had fun making his own pizza. The crust is like a pancake but after cooking it for 5 minutes, it becomes really crunchy. That smile says it all! You can cook the food yourself or you can ask the staff to do it for you.  Can I just say how happy I am that my favorite pink chef's jacket fits me again? :) Look at how full this little boy's plate is! Haha! He finished every single thing. He loved it! You can visit Dohtobori at 8 Missouri Building in Greenhills, in front of Gloria Maris Restaurant. They have a lot of different restaurants there that we...

I just got married!!!  Okay, not really "just" but I did, 2 months ago. I am now officially Mrs. Sy. Reg and I tied the knot last February 7. It was a beautiful and memorable wedding - which I will go to more detail in a different post. Now, I want to start blogging again about my kitchen and foodie escapades! Although busy at the shop, I make it a point to come home early everyday so I can prepare our dinner. Reg is trying to lose weight so we try to eat at home as much as possible. Yesterday, I forgot to ask our helper to defrost the chicken on time so I wasn't able to marinade this ahead. I had to make do with what I had so I decided to make sweet chili chicken wings! They were very easy to do.  Here's what I did - 1. Wash the wings and pat them dry with paper towels. Make sure to disinfect everything you use afterwards as chicken contains salmonella. 2. Combine Thai sweet chili sauce with light soy sauce. Pour over the wings and leave for 10 mins. 3. Arrange the w...