SQUASH it baby...

Look how plenty our squash are! That's only from one plant.I only have this one squash plant.It was growing so healthy,and was flowering abundantly for the past months,but not giving us fruit.I guess,it was the rain again. There are days that's so humid and i think that doesnt encourage pollination.BLAME it on the BEES! :) Maybe they are not out during those times.There are days that im so desperate,i would grab some leaves to touch the male flower and wipe it on the female flower.It did not work too,LOL.
These squash are organically grown and oh so yummy! They said its the "malabo" variety.All i know ,when i bake it,it's texture is like sweet potatos!I save some seeds,to share with those who wanted to plant squash. I just love eating them fresh out of the oven.I made squash soup, squash cheese cake,and just put it in my "law uy" (mixed veggies).Our favorite is squash with alogbate(picture below),kids just love that soup.I could cook and eat that 5x a week! ha ha ha. Its also yummy with saluyot(picture below).You could also just mash it,add some spices you like (nutmeg and cinnamon is my favorite)Add some cream ,salt and pepper,topped with cheese and bake!! That's one of my low carb meal.If you want it as dessert,just remove cheese and add sugar!! yummy!.I remember i used to love "yema de kalabasa" when i was a kid and been wanting to make one for so many years now.Maybe i should and will post it here.:)
our SALUYOT
They are old now and leaves were eaten by flea beetle.They made holes which is not so pleasing for the saluyot to be eaten, ha ha ha.I have saved some seeds and will be planting them soon.

our ALOGBATE
The trellis are just too low for this alogbate's in my garden.I will be making higher trellis the next time i plant more alogbate.

My BIG Grosse Lisse Tomatoes

I started planting my grosse lisse tomato last June, i put a lot of effort with this tomato,since im doing it Organic.I wasnt prepared that i could grow almost 30 plants.They have been attacked by flea bettle,leafminer,thrips , some died of "fusarium wilt",which they just die instantly.One plant wilted in the morning and just die in the afternoon! that plant has the first fruit ,and my excitement died together with the plant.I discovered that there was a mold on its crown.It happens when there's too much rain.August is the beginning of rainy season,i didnt know that it wasnt the right time to plant tomatoes!! ha ha ha.There are days when i just cried and tell my husband that maybe,i wont do "organic" all the way.LOL! what am i thinking! Learned a lot of lessons with these grosse lisse toms, A LOT!!!!! I did not know that i couldnt spray my organic pesticide when the sun still up, that was the time when i almost cried that all of them had "phytotoxicity" from spraying pesticide! Their leaves were burned!!! and some turned brown.. My heart was really broken,They are already 1.5-2ft tall at that time, and some were flowering.
Along the way, i had to pull out some plants that are sick,and unhealthy.
When some toms started bearing fruits, i was happy again.From there,maybe i could get some seedlings to be planted for the next season,and yes i did! and just planted some today.
HEIGHT:
Look how tall are my grosse lisse in this picture.Im 5'3" and some are taller than me.You could see there are cogon plants at my back, those are gone now.I wasnt able to maintain the cleanliness around my tomatoes because i dont have much time to do it lately.One of the reason too, that some pests are attacking my toms,they could be hiding under those weeds.I see a lot of caterpillars whenever i do the weeding and i just hate how fast they could eat the tomato leaves.

SIZE
These are my grosse lisse (big) and cherry tomato (small one) .I guess i could make my grosse lisse bigger next time.I hope i coud do it better when its tonato season.

COLOR
When its still green it already looks so yummy.When i was a kid, i used to looooove eating green tomatoes.Wheni go to the market (high school days) I really picked those green toms with some red in it.I love to just dice them and eat em with "bagoong" fish sauce.Yummmm!!! You notice the leaves,there are some spots and white that looks like a scribble,those are signs of thrips.They are envading and i couldnt control them.I am out of NEEM pesticide thats why i couldnt control them anymore.

CRACKING
There is this tomato fruit that i am expecting to have the crack.I couldnt do much about it since there are lesser leaves to protect the fruit.I blame it on thrips!!! They just brought tomato spotted wilt on my tomato plant and i have to de-leaf it! twice,while the fruit was there.

Low Carb Diet

Its been a month since hubby and I started doing the Atkins low carb diet.It was an exciting journey for us, especially me, who plans our meal and make them everyday.Now we are really losing weight.I lost 14 lbs in just a week, yes thats true.All i have to do is follow the Atkins diet.Eating more meat and fish and vegies is new to me, since i really love bread soooo much.Gosh! i could really say that i cant live without bread, but here i am, still doing the Atkins diet which means no bread for now.
The challenge is how can i resist all the yummy sweet treats i make for my kids? I really try not to eat them, i can smell them ,fresh out of the oven, but i cant eat it! I look at it and its like telling me "hey, im yummy,please eat me" Thats how every brownies,and cookies talk to me! LOL. Its fun how i manage not to eat them.
Last thursday,our Gabe turns 4 and baking and cooking gave me a lot of temptations! LOL. I made this recipe my cousin gave me for the first time, Its sweet,has sugar in it,and i really had to taste them! ha ha ha! Yes i had sugar! just a little and i guess it did not do anything bad at my cravings.

Snake skin shedding time

Yes it is snake skin shedding time again i guess,for the snakes around our house.I was doing the dishes when i found this snake skin on top of my chopping boards!! I was about to put one on its place when i saw these snakeskin!! my oh my! when will i ever stop seeing this! It was just last week when i saw one under the cabinet.Of course i am always scared,though they are just skins..they are still SCARY for me! LOL.I would always imagine that a snake was there.Hubby just keep telling me that it was just the wind that brought the snakeskin on top of my chopping boards! I guess he is right.

Im a CRAFT mom and i super LOVE crafts to the maximum level.I could do pretty much anything.Yes i know, i could be super creative,as long as i have free time.My sister in law in New Zealand is getting married and i made some necklaces for her bridesmaids and made of honor.They still have to choose which one they will like to wear on the wedding day..:) I have made some for them to choose.I really had fun making these accesories and looking forward to doing more again,maybe for friends,myself and maybe something to sell?? LOL.
Here are the pictures of the necklaces! Enjoy.
These are some green stones,wired using a copper wire and you can tie it around your neck with a soft green strap..


These are some gold and green swarovski crystals that are all tied together with a silver wire.It has gold strap that you can tie at the back.

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This one, i like.They are all tied with a gold wire and this looks cute for me.


This is surely they can use even after the wedding.Took me only 2 nights to make this one!

grass cutting day

My hubby and dad in law had a grass cutting day in our front yard and kids thought its really to seed the action..I was so happy to see some clean area the next day,especially my pathway going to my tomatoes.I was always afraid there would be snakes under those grasses! LOL.But today,i was checking my plants and my citronella's are gone!! My oh my, hubby must have thought of them as one of the weeds! its a grass,i know, but they are my citronella LOL.Four plants are gone! Here's hopingthey will still grow up!
Here's some pictures.




Not only my citronella.I also found out that half of the rosemary's branches are gone!!! Good thing i was able to look for them and they made it to our orange rosemary chicken! :)

My Molcajete

I got my molcajete from Amazon.Its Vasconia.machine made.Thank you Tita Cheng for sending it here.I really wanted the real one from Mexico,but.......he he he.Maybe someday.But i love it! so so so looove it!! Before i could use it i still need to season it. That's what i did today and i wanted to share how i did it. Its so tiring to keep on grinding the rice but its fun too! especially doing it with kids.

Here are the steps on how i did it:
1.Pound about 1/4 cup of wet rice (i just pour 1tablespoon of water in the rice) in my molcajete until its grayish and powdery.Repeat the process 5 times,or until the rice doesnt turn gray anymore.I did mine for about a week,I can only grind the rice when im free or whenever i remember.I started last week and finish it today.There are days when kids are helping me.Even my 1.4 yo Miko is doing it!! It looks fun for them.






2.Clean it up using a kitchen brush,or any brush you have in your kitchen.

3.Grind some garlic,some peppers and rock salt,until it becomes like a paste.








4.Wash it with water.Remove the paste using your kitchen brush.Do not use detergent,unless you want your guacamole to smell like "JOY dishwashing liquid" .lol


5.Dry it (air dry) under the sun is faster..:)

Now its ready to use.

Used it for pounding ginger today for my fish soup.