MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan

On Peeing and Public Restrooms

July 1, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 18 Comments

I have a really long blog post queue. I also had a topic listed for today that I was supposed to write about. Today though, I really felt like doing absolutely nothing, so I had previously decided not to write. Then I thought, why not jump start my creative juices by trying out something different, something really random? So I Googled “Random Blog Topic Generator”, clicked this link, and got this topic:

Random Topic — My random blog topic: Using public restrooms

Alrightie then.

I never liked using public restrooms, unless of course I happen to be in some posh establishment where the toilets are clean and nice-smelling, and where there’s toilet paper for us to use. Unfortunately, after giving birth to Little MrC, my ability to hold in my pee for dangerously unhealthy amounts of time just vanished. Actually, my need to run straight to the nearest comfort room at the first sign (or sensation) of pee started when I was preggers. I’m sorry if this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, by the way, or if I’m sharing too much. You can always just stop reading. I won’t take it against you. 🙂

So, after I became a mommy, I’ve had to get myself used to using public restrooms. Thankfully, the malls in Alabang have fairly decent comfort rooms. When in Alabang Town Center, I actually use the one in Rustan’s hehe. It’s really when we’re on the road that it’s extra hard for me. I remember having to stop at several gas stations when we visited Baguio the other year. That. Was. A. Pretty. Gross. Experience.

The craziest place that I’ve ever had to stop and pee was probably on the Skyway. No, I didn’t pee on the actual Skyway. They have a (yucky) restroom in the office at the toll plaza. One rainy morning on our way to Makati, I asked MrC to stop the car because I really needed to pee. I was pushing my luck then because I wasn’t sure if there was a restroom there or not. Thank goodnessthey had one! Those were days of super horrible traffic because the Skyway wasn’t complete yet, several years ago when I still had a day job.

A few weeks after my Skyway toilet experience, while stuck in traffic again, I actually saw a lady get off a jeepney and use an umbrella to shield herself from view as she peed on the side of the road on the actual Skyway. Kawawa naman, right? If I had seen her early enough, I would have told her to hold it in for a few more minutes and pee at the toll plaza. Now that I think about it, they really should put a rest stop up there because traffic does get really bad, and people can get stuck there for a long time.

Okay, I think that’s enough pee talk for one day. Honestly, I’m happy that it’s peeing that I have a problem with and not #2! Right now, I’m setting myself up for the possibility that I may seriously need to diaper it when I’m older. Til then, I just have to endure public toilets and hope that people would actually make an effort to keep them clean.

I wanna ask you guys, where are the cleanest restrooms around your area, just in case I find myself lost in your neck of the woods?

Penmanship Problems + Baon Plan #2

June 27, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 8 Comments

It’s officially the end of our third week of school. Yay! I wish I could say that I look forward to sleeping in over the weekend, but soccer camp is back on and so Saturdays and Sundays find us on the field bright and early. I do have the luxury of afternoon naps, though, so it’s all good.

Tell me about your kids’ first few weeks of school

Did everything run as smoothly as you thought they would? Here at home, weekday afternoons are super busy, with homework and review time taking up a good chunk of what used to be free time for us. I keep reminding my son that the third grade is now part of the “Upper Grades” in school, which means that things are now pretty serious, academically.

One major challenge I’ve been having to deal with is my son’s note-taking. He’s been showing me a lot of incomplete and misspelled notes in his assignment notebook and in his subject notebooks, too. These are things he copies off the board, and that’s why I have a hard time understanding why there are so many errors. The bad thing is that his excuse is consistent, each and every time. He says he does it in a hurry because he runs out of time to copy his notes. When prodded, he admits that he wasted a lot of time talking before he actually started writing, and that’s why he was unable to copy properly. Every day. Every single day this week. I’m still figuring out how to deal with this.

There’s also been a bit of drama where the lunch box is concerned, because he recently discovered the joys of buying pizza at recess time, and not eating the food that mom prepared for him. No, he doesn’t have an allowance yet, just to be clear. He has some money saved up from random gift-giving sessions with aunts and grandparents, and that’s what he’s been using. Maybe this is a challenge for me to up my game where baon is concerned? Something to think about for sure. In the meantime, here are some photos of lunches from the last two weeks, as posted on Instagram.

Just a few lunch boxes from the last two weeks

Last Week’s Test Recipes

I was able to try two new recipes last week, a beef tapa one from Yummy and Once A Month Meals’ Cheesy Tuna Mac. MrC loved the tapa. It was garlicky and sweet and salty with a hint of sourness. It reminded me a lot of carinderia tapa, covered in a sticky sauce that nicely coated the meat while cooking. I still have one more container in the freezer, ready to be cooked for brunch one of these weekends. The Mac N Cheese was well-received by the little boy. In fact,of all the food I packed for him since school started, this was one of the few that he really finished. As in, no leftovers! I also froze some, and I think I’m gonna snack on one of the containers this weekend while watching the World Cup games.

This Week’s Featured Recipes and Baon Plan

I feel pressured to make sure that everything I prepare is extra yummy this week, because like I said earlier, I’m now competing with cafeteria pizza. Ugh. I have my sure-win Pinoy Spaghetti on there, and my Beef Salpicao, too. I’m also trying out this recipe for Parmesan Chicken Fingers, and this Honey Balsamic Glazed Pork one. Plus, for recess, I’m gonna be baking a batch of cheese cupcakes. If I never get around to baking, I know I can get good pastries from Le Coeur de France. Buy 1 take 1 on weekends and after 7pm on weekdays, yay! I really hope that the kiddo finishes his food from here on out. I’d like to think that the adjustment period is over already.

I’ll let you know how these new recipe experiments turn out. In the meantime, please download (and enjoy) my Baon Plan for June 30 to July 11! And make me kwento about your first few weeks of school, okay?

Oh Wow, Wooden Spoon

June 25, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 8 Comments

I don’t normally like to leave Alabang, but I consent with no complaints if it’s to go to Powerplant Mall. I love it there. It’s clean, it’s relatively quiet, and I get to buy yummier (albeit more expensive) Dunkin Donuts and The Cake Club’s Ube Ensaymada to take home afterwards. The boys and I have been visiting that mall a lot more than usual because we’ve been buying Anvil Oil for my mom-in-law from G Stuff.

We decided to stay for lunch during our latest visit a few weeks ago. I usually insist that we try a restaurant that we don’t have in the south when we go out because I like to make the most out of the opportunity. I had read good things online about Chef Sandy Daza’s Wooden Spoon restaurant, and since it’s hard to go wrong with Filipino food, we ended up there.

I thought that the wooden spoon chandelier was a nice touch

We were all really thirsty since we’d been walking around for a while, so we started by ordering drinks. MrC wanted some coffee but they didn’t have that on the menu yet. Our server was nice enough to offer to get a cup of coffee from the restaurant next door, and he even said that it was his job to provide us with what we wanted. Plus points right away!

Wooden spoon uses large sheets of blank white paper for place mats, and, as you can see, the little boy decided that he would doodle on his. He loves to draw, so he is easily entertained with just a pen and paper. His drawings look like a cross between stick figures and Minecraft characters.

Orange juice for the kiddo, iced tea for me and coffee for MrC

We had lunch pretty late that day, and so didn’t have to deal with the weekend lunch crowd. Our food was also served quickly, which was perfect because we were all pretty hungry. The kiddo really wanted fried chicken, so we ordered the Boneless Crispy Chicken for him. This dish is super kid-friendly!

**Boneless Crispy Chicken (PHP217.00)**
Fried chicken steak served with corn, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy

MrC asked the waiter for a recommendation on our main course. We were told that one of their best sellers is the Dinakdakan. It’s something that I’d never heard of before, so I was excited to give it a try. This is an Ilocano specialty, and I’m pretty sure my dad-in-law knows how to make it. MrC describes it as having a sort of cooked kinilaw taste. It’s definitely interesting, and I’m curious to try other restaurants’ version of this dish. Meron ba?

**Dinakdakan (PHP229.00)**
Broiled pork in a sour-spicy sauce with peppers and onions.

I was in the mood for veggies, so we ordered a bowl of Sitaw Sa Gata to go with our meaty meal. This was my favorite part of the meal. It had everything I loved – sitaw (string beans), kalabasa (squash) and gata, (coconut milk). Plus, instead of the usual chicharon (fried pork skin) on top for that added crunch, they put crispy dilis (teeny tiny fish). I would go back just for this.

Wooden Spoon 6 — **Sitaw sa Gata (PHP137.00)**
String beans and squash cooked in coconut milk and topped with crispy *dilis*

And finally, there must be rice. I have to say that this Tinapa Fried Rice is the reason why I started making mixed fried rice for breakfast on Fridays. It is just so good. I think that maybe it’s the crispy dilis of Wooden Spoon that’s really a hit for me, because my two favorites from that day have it. I was actually expecting the rice to be topped with flakes of bangus (milked fish), but noooo, it had dilis on top! Happiness!

I thought that he food that we ordered would be more than enough for the three of us, but with two hungry boys, I was wrong. Not saying that I didn’t have my fill of everything, too. Our orders were wiped out and we left stuffed and satisfied. I think that my in-laws would totally love the food here, and I really hope that the restaurant stays open for a long time so that we can get the chance to have them try it out.

Have you eaten at Wooden Spoon? What are your favorite dishes from this restaurant?

Wooden Spoon by Chef Sandy Daza
LG/F Powerplant Mall
Rockwell Center, Makati
Facebook: #/WoodenSpoonRestaurant
Twitter/Instagram: @woodenspoonPH

Quiet Time + What’s Blogging This Week

June 23, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 8 Comments

Yep, quiet time is exactly what I need right now. Last week was intensely busy. We started off with two days of pampering and R&R with a few bloggers from the south at Fringe Salon. Then I spent Wednesday at home so that I could write, but I also made sure to sneak in my last batch of school errands. On Thursday, I had the ever-so-enriching opportunity to sit down with a WAHM friend and start-up blogger for a quick chat. I love that I am now able to give advice and help people who want to start their own blogs or begin a work at home career.I fell that these little meetings allow me to give back for all the help that I received three years ago when I was the newbie.

Friday was the most relaxing day of last week, with only a few grocery errands and some writing on my list. I actually got to grab a yummy lunch at S&R with my mom. Saturday started mighty early with day one of the June-July Futbol Funatics camp at Cuenca. Then I went straight to Fringe afterwards for our last blogger event day. Sunday was an early football day as well, and then afterwards, the boys and I spent time with our relatives on the Cuyugan side. It was certainly a long, but super rewarding week.

Grabbed from my sis-in-law's IG — Grabbed from my sis-in-law’s IG

Today was mostly spent at home. I decided I would take it easy because I feel a cold coming on. True enough, I fell asleep on my mom’s couch, my favorite spot in her room. Guess my body really was asking me to slow down. Taking even one day to slow down for some quiet time can really make a huge difference in the ever so eventful life of a mom or dad. Do you guys agree? Now that I’ve taken my day off, I know that I’m ready to face the week. Of course, there’s gonna be writing involved. Lots of it, if I hope to really make a dent in my crazy backlog. Here’s what you can look forward to reading about on the blog in the next few days.

My new baon plan for the next two weeks
Our lunch experience at Wooden Spoon Restaurant
The amazing sweet treats of Pink Wasabi
My extremely overdue #BetterMe post. For real this time.

What do you guys do to get even a few minutes of quiet time in the middle of a busy day, week or month?

Crochet Projects For My New Giant Hooks

June 22, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 17 Comments

The boys and I received bags of treats from our family in the US today (yay, thank you, family). One of the things on my wishlist was a set of large crochet hooks. I am so lucky that there’s a Michael’s store near my in-laws’ place, and so my crafty wishes are usually granted. With this batch of pasalubongs came a set of Boye hooks, sized 8.0mm, 9.0mm, 10.0mm and 11.5mm. Happy dance.

Right after our lunch meetup with my sister-in-law at Buffalo’s Wings and Things / Chubby’s Rib Shack in Commercenter (which I will blog about soon, promise), I checked Ravelry for nice projects to make with my new hooks. I already had a certain project in mind, which was actually the reason why I had asked for the big hooks in the first place. I also knew that I wanted to make a rug.

After a couple of hours of browsing, I finally decided on these seven as my priority projects. I just need to figure out the right yarn weight for these, coz honestly I didn’t really read through the details all that thoroughly. Lol, yes, my excitement took over. So, if any of you guys know where I can get chunky chunky yarn in Manila (or cord that’s nice to crochet with, actually, or tshirt yarn), lemme know!

1. Hopeful Honey’s Basic Chunky Cowl

I think that I could probably get away with making this using several strands of worsted weight yarn. I don’t think I have that many skeins of the same color, so i just might multi-color it and see how things turn out. Check out the pattern for this cowl here.

2. Caron One Skein Summer Wrap

This was the pattern that made me want to have large crochet hooks. I actually tried making this with an 8.0mm hook, which I already had on hand. It obviously didn’t turn out as nice as it was supposed to, hence my big hook bilin. So now I’m really excited to get to work on this. I also received a nice light yellow skein of Caron One Pound, and that’s what I plan to use to make this wrap. Pattern here.

3. Lion Brand Simply Shrug

I know that it’s probably too hot to wear crocheted shrugs made out of thick yarn here in the Philippines, but I don’t care, I still want to make this. Good luck to me, though, if I can find yarn this thick. I wonder if there’s anywhere I can have some made? Pattern here.

4. Ireland’s Scarf from Crochet in Color

Honestly, I love the color that the pattern designer used for this scarf. So pink! Thing is, the listing on Ravelry says it needs a 10.0mm hook, but the pattern on the Crochet in Color site says I hook, which is only 5.5mm. Oh well, I will try to make this in worsted weight with one of the bigger hooks and see how it turns out. If I wanna be able to use it here, it has to be on the lace-y side anyway.

5. Ombre Basket from Crochet in Color

Yep, another pattern from the Crochet in Color site. I love the color used to achieve the ombre look here. I now want to lay out all of my yarns and see which would look nice together. I think maybe I’ll do that tomorrow while the boys are out hehe.

6. Round Carpet in 3 Strands by Drops Design

Here come the rugs! I love the idea of a giant coaster-looking rug in my bathroom. I really feel that it will make the space a whole lot prettier, and you know how I like pretty things. It looks like I will need to do some experimenting with this one, though,until I get the gauge right. Get the pattern here.

7. Rust Colored Carpet

This pattern uses the same type of yarn as #6, so at least I only need to do one round of gauge experimentation for both. You can only get this one via Ravelry, so if you don’t have an account there yet, go and get one. And don’t forget to add me as a friend! My username there is mrspcuyugan. Not surprising, no?

So there you go. I can’t wait to get to work on something new. How about you guys? What crafty things have you been working on lately?

I Choose Fringe Salon Alabang

June 20, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 29 Comments

As you can see, I haven’t blogged all week. It’s been crazy busy over here in Alabang, as my friend, Momma ‘N Manila Michelle and I have been doing back to back blogger events in partnership with Fringe Salon. Fringe is a fairly new salon in Commercenter (where Bridgestone and Army Navy are located), and is officially my hair’s new happy place.

The reception area at Fringe Salon Alabang

I had the opportunity to try the salon out before we started working with them. A few weekends ago, Lola Terry and I decided to go for a girly bonding session and give our dry frizzy hair the love and care that it needed. We chose to go early, right when the salon opened, and so we had the place all to ourselves. I’m sure you moms out there can imagine just how much I appreciated the momentary peace and quiet!

Classy, clean and calm

If I had to describe Fringe in three words, it would be these – classy, clean and calm. The moment you enter you will notice just how classy the place is. Everything from the chairs to the mirrors, the shampoo stations, even the super organized and properly labeled caddies for each stylist screams simple elegance. The stylists themselves are actually dressed in smart collared shirts in a muted shade of brown. Everything and everyone looks clean and crisp. And, in the waiting area, you will see the most beautiful Cobonpue chair. It looks like it was crocheted!!!

Not only is everything organized, it’s all clean and nice smelling, too. Even the comfort rooms! The owner, Evelyn R. Tagle, has paid immense attention to detail. She even has an extra roll of toilet paper in each restroom, and a can of Lysol. She has bottles of hand sanitizer on the counter and near her mini pantry/coffee preparation area. Her towels are lush, fluffy and not stained or ripped. Fringe is seriously an OC person’s dream salon.

By calm, I mean that the vibe at Fringe is not your usual noisy, chatty beauty parlor vibe. The stylists and nail techs are all very professional, and you certainly won’t hear gossip over your head while you are being worked on. The music they play ranges from upbeat to jazzy, and is kept at a low volume. You can actually talk to your companions here without you having to raise your voices just to understand each other. That is something major for me, as loud noises really irritate me. In fact, I don’t even make the volume on the TV that loud when I watch. Same goes for the car radio.

Great service at reasonable prices

Honestly, I thought that the prices at Fringe would be super high. While it does cost a bit more than what I would usually spend at other salons that I’ve been to, it’s not as costly as the other big-named salons in the area. For me, the pricing is just right, given that they do good work and provide excellent service in this really nice salon. You are also served coffee, hot tea or iced lemongrass tea (which the owner brews herself!) and cookies while you are undergoing your treatments. They also have chocolates and candies for little kids who come to visit. You really can’t ask for more.

If you want a sure indication of the quality that you get from Fringe, know that they only use MAC makeup when you have your face done here. The nail polish brands that they use are also premium – Cuccio, an organic brand, and Misa, a vegan brand that has made a commitment to never test their products on animals. Their stylists are all highly experienced, and they analyze your hair first before they start on any treatments. Coloring is done in stages, making sure that the end result is even all over. When they analyzed my mom’s hair before coloring, they discovered three different shades of brown in patches all over her mane. After our visit to Fringe, her hair was no longer multicolored.

I went for a hair spa treatment, and I really needed one because I never went for my follow up treatment after getting colored last December at another salon. My hair was dull, dry, brittle and breaking, shapeless (because I hadn’t had it cut in maybe a year and a half) and falling off in clumps. I am really happy with how my hair has been since our visit. I think my before and after photos say it all.

Before and after. Extra straight coz it’s blowdried, but also softer, shinier, and a lot less frizzy.

I don’t just choose Fringe, I recommend it

Mom and I will be back for sure for more hair treatments. She is really happy with her cut and color, and it looks like she plans to continue her hair maintenance at Fringe. I, on the other hand, am not sure what I want to do with my hair right now, but I know that whatever it is I end up doing, this is where I plan to go for it. The more time I spend at this salon, as our blogger events are completed, I see for myself just how good their services are. I’ll be sharing the posts of our invited bloggers here coz I really want you guys to see their before and after photos. These might just convince you, too, to choose Fringe Salon.

Read about Fringe from these amazing bloggers:

Fringe Salon is open from 10am to 7pm, Mondays to Saturdays. It is located at G/F Commercenter Building, Commerce Ave. cor. Filinvest Ave., Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa. For inquiries and reservations, contact +632 8080881, +63920 2193391 or +63927 7897559. Like Fringe Salon on Facebook (#/fringesalonph), Twitter and Instagram (@FringeSalonPH) for updates and information.

Where’s your hair’s happy place, aka your salon of choice?