Saturday, June 22, 2013

How to keep the shape of your pandesal

Who wants to eat deformed pandesal?

You get them from the bakery (we go to Pan de Amerikano) in perfect shape – squarish with rounded corners, and an almost domed top. Then the panadero puts them in a brown paper bag, three in a row, a dozen all cramped inside. Soft, freshly-baked and highly pliant, the short drive home is enough to squish them into a shapeless, unappetizing mess.

There must be a better way.

And so one weekend, I scoured SM department store for the perfect container for my pandesal. I found one. Oh I mean two, because there was a Buy 1 Take 1 promo at P199. I used one for my gift-wrapping stuff – ribbons, gift bags, etc.

And the other one became my pandesal box.

14 pieces of soft, fluffy and perfectly-shaped pandesal can fit in my pandesal box.


I love it when other customers at the bakery smile at me as I place my order and put my box on the counter. "That's a great idea!", one woman said. Seriously, I want to suggest to the bakery management to have a promo and give something like this to loyal customers.

Look at my pandesal–they're as beautiful as the moment they came out of the oven!


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Lemon water

I've been seeing articles about the benefits of drinking lemon water but I never really read one seriously. 

One hot day last summer, I cut up a lemon,  sliced one half and squeezed the other half in a glass of cold water. I was hooked!


My water became doubly refreshing, its sourness making it seem fresher and healthier.

And that's how I began taking lemon water almost everyday. On cooler mornings,  I take it warm – refilling my small cup once or twice. Sometimes I add a little honey. And when it's time to leave for the office, I transfer the lemon slices to my tea tumbler and fill it up with warm water so I can continue to enjoy it on the road and at work.

The best thing about it? It can help speed up weight loss! According to fitday.com, "Drinking lemon water is regarded by many professional nutritionists as having real and palpable weight-loss powers. Far from a weight loss myth, but, rather, a weight loss reality, drinking lemon water helps to speed up weight loss. In addition to possessing properties that are favorable to weight loss, drinking lemon water also ensures that some of the toxins in your body are cleaned out, promotes quick bursts of energy and even cleans out some of your internal waste. If you drink lemon water in the morning especially, it will help to activate your body's detoxifying process and also its natural cleansing process. This principle works proportionally, so the more lemon water you drink, the more you ought to speed up weight loss."


When life gives you lemons... put them in your water!

PS. One lemon costs less that 20 pesos. You can use 1/2 or 1 whole lemon with every glass of water. Cheaper and most definitely healthier than a can of soda!

Fruity Sunday

A fruit (and lots of nutrients) to prep me up for every day of the week ahead: (clockwise from right)
• golden kiwi – vitamins C and E, potassium and fiber
• strawberries – folate and potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C and manganese
• pineapple –  dietary fiber, thiamin, vitamin B6 and copper, vitamin C and manganese
• banana – dietary fiber, vitamin C, potassium and manganese and vitamin B6.
• red dragon fruit – fiber, vitamin C, B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, iron,  
  phytoalbumins and lycopene.

So easy to put together! Would have been perfect with yoghurt or cottage cheese.


What's for breakfast?

As someone who hardly cooks, I just make sure the food looks good... well put together and well-plated. My few attempts to eat healthy become more exciting because I choose to I eat pretty.

Since I work all day, some nights and some weekends, I've decided to focus on two meals: breakfast and my packed lunch.

Let's talk about breakfast first. I don't get to do this everyday. Since the new school year began, I have to wake up at about six a.m., shower, dress up, nag the kids and make sure we're out the door by seven.

Weekends are a different story. I get to stay in bed a bit longer (everyone else wakes up much later) and spend some quiet time crafting a nice meal to start the day.


Yesterday's breakfast: three juicy strawberries, one large ripe banana and a slice of date/walnut bread – toasted and lightly buttered.

  

The strawberries were dipped in a small blob of Nutella, and so were the bananas. Fruity, nutty and chocolatey – a perfectly happy flavor combination to welcome a lovely weekend and a brand new blog :-)

What did you have for breakfast today?