A Very Christmas-y Hazelnut Latte

It's the season to be a little more festive in the home.  We have the usual few decors at home to brighten up the place a bit and to add more Christmas spirit in the home, we decided to buy some Starbucks Christmas cups.

The Husband chose this blue coffee mug with a snowflake on the side.

I chose this green one with a skate.

When we bought the coffee mugs, we got a free Starbucks espresso cup.

We bought a pack of Starbucks Christmas Blend and a bottle of Hazelnut syrup.  I've always been curious how their Christmas Blend tasted so finally I had a taste of it.

The Starbucks Christmas Blend is made from aged Sumatran beans roasted the way Starbucks does just once a year.  The spicy, cedary, deep and syrupy flavour of Sumatran beans are combined with the earthy beans from Asia/Pacific and lively coffees from Latin America. 

The lovely aroma filled our home on the first morning that we tried it.  The rich, earthy flavour filled us with warmth on a cool morning. 

To make the Christmas Blend coffee more special, I made a Hazelnut Latte out of it.  Two shots of espresso using the Christmas Blend, one to two tablespoons of Hazelnut syrup and hot milk and voila!  Homemade Hazelnut Latte! :)

I plan to buy one or two more packs of the Christmas Blend so my Husband and I will have Christmas-y mornings even on ordinary days.

Some Things I Finally Got Around To Doing

Do you sometimes have things you really need to do or buy but put them off just because you're busy?  Who doesn't, right?  If you are a wife that work and manage a home and at the same time have no household help, your lists of "to-do" get longer if when your schedule gets pretty hectic.

I'm grateful that for the past months, the Husband has been very supportive of my busy workload at the office.  Some weekends, he does the groceries alone so I can stay home and have more time to rest.  Sometimes he does all my errands just so I can have more time to finish my deadlines.

These past three weekends, I decided to allot time for some some serious shopping.  Although, I have started buying Christmas gifts since June, it's about time to finish up my list and start wrapping up presents as we will be attending parties soon.  Plus, there are stuff for the home that needed to be bought or replaced (thank goodness for the Husband that take note of things like these right now!).

Replace bottle stoppers.  We realized of late that our bottle stoppers are of unreliable quality so when we found these bottle stoppers on sale, we bought them.

Replace Tefal Non-Stick Pans.  We've used our Tefal Non-Stick Pans for two years and it's about time we buy new ones.  The non-stick coat of our old ones had already dissociate (not good to use anymore) so we had to replace them. 

Buy Pasta Bowls.  Finally!!!!  I've been meaning to buy pasta bowls for like forever, I finally remembered to buy a few pieces.  We always have pasta once or twice a week so for three weeks now, we are now eating pasta dishes in proper dining ware.

Cook Fettuccine Carbonara.  As a way of saying "thank you!" to my Husband's for being my angel during my rough and tough days, the first pasta I cooked for when we used our pasta bowls was his favorite.  I love pasta in red sauces but I try to have a balance between cooking pasta in red and white sauces.

Sort out our Winter and Summer clothes.   At the start of November, we allot an hour or two every weekend just to sort out our wardrobe.  This is also the time of the year when we give out clothes to charity so some clothes we choose are to be given away.  I've taken out some of our summer clothes and put away the winter clothes.  This takes time so I do it phase by phase, and we finish this task by the end of December (because some weeks in December we don't really have time to do it).

I still have a few more things to do but I sure feel real good when I have some things ticked off my list.  

What are some things you have got around to doing lately?

I Dream of Gardens and Coffee

There are three things I want for our dream house to have: (1) a large kitchen, (2) a garden with lots of commercial planters where I can have coffee with the Husband and (3) a red sofa where I can lie down and read my books.  I always mention those three things to my Husband and I know one day we will make our dream house come true.


I'm not sure if I have a green thumb, but I sure hope that with the help of outdoor commercial planters available these days, our dream garden will look amazing!

It would be lovely to have a commercial planter such as this...

Or maybe some large commercial planters such as these...

Nowadays, there's so much options on how to beautify the garden of our dreams.  With the right planning,  finding the right resources and of course, help from the Husband, one day soon we will have our dream garden where we can relax and have coffee.

No-Touch Hand Wash System

According to the commercial, this will stop the spread of germs.  Well, I say this home gadget is fun and cool! 

The moment we saw this No-Touch Hand Wash System in the supermarket, we took a second look and decided to buy it.  We got curious with how it works and at the same time, found the idea of a hand wash dispenser that automatically senses your hands and dispenses liquid for hand washing.

No more dirty dispenser pumps and no more accidental spills...nowadays, it's so fuss-free to wash our hands.

The machine is battery-operated and can be turned off.  Available in supermarkets.

The Only Christmasy Stuff I Bought This Year

This was the only Christmasy stuff I bought this year...a tea towel from holySheet!.

Last year, we bought a few Christmas decors since it was our first Christmas together at a place of our own. Husband and I had fun rummaging thru loads of Christmas decors at Myer, it brought out the kid in us.

This year, I told the Husband that we should give ourselves a break from buying Christmas stuff this year. He asked me if I wanted us to have a Christmas tree (the big green one) but I declined. The logical side of me doesn't want to engage in putting up a Christmas tree only to bring it down after four weeks. I'd rather we spend our money and time unto something more practical. Anyway, what's important is family togetherness in honor of the birth of Christ and thanksgiving for the year that happened than any trimmings one could find. Maybe some other time we would have a Christmas tree, but not this year.

For this year, I'm just going to bring out our year-old decors. I believe that is enough as the Christmas spirit is in our hearts anyway--sparkly, bright and very very festive.

Canon's All-in-One Printer

After 200 years, I finally, finally, finally had my fisheye lomo pics developed.

The first roll of film turned one year old this April hehehe---coz those were taken during our Singapore trip.

We dropped by Westpoint today and picked up my photos. Then I realized we don't have a scanner. And since I'm planning to build up my Lomography portfolio this year, I asked Husband if he could buy me a Canon All-in-One Printer.

He bought me the Canon MP240. It can print documents, photocopy, scan and print digital photographs.

We printed a couple of photos (it came with free photo paper) and it turned out great. Like it was printed from a photo printing center. Aliw!!!

KMart and McDo on a Friday Night

Friday after work, Chris was late for dinner at Bow's with the relatives and so when he got home, I told him I'd take him out to dinner. I had the longest week at work, stressed and tired, didn't have the energy to cook dinner for the Husband. Besides, I also didn't want to hang out at home after dinner. I wanted to unwind somewhere a bit.

First choice was to hang out at Starbucks but in the end, we decided to take my parents to KMart coz my Dad hasn't seen the place and we found out that they close late on weekends.

The place was nearly deserted when we arrived. Don't you just love it when it seemed you have the whole shop to yourself?

There was a lot of sale too. We were able to buy bathroom stuff at 25% off, Chris finally found bathroom carpets he liked. We also bought throw pillows for our bedroom at 40% off.

After a good hour of shopping, we finally took Chris to McDonald's for his dinner. While he had his Double Cheeseburger Meal, we had hot chocolate.

KMart on Fridays is Love.

24 hour McDonald's is Love.

For That Perfect Round Fried Eggs

For that perfect round sunny-side up fried eggs, we use Egg Rings at home. I'm not fussy when it comes to the shape of my fried eggs, however, my Husband is. He wants them perfectly round (like the ones he eats at Mc Donald's) so he bought me these Egg Rings as soon as we moved to our new place last year.

An egg ring is used to contain the egg in a perfectly round shape while it cooks. This tool is also useful when you want to cook more eggs in the pan at the same time as it keep the eggs from spreading in the pan. It is usually made of stainless steel and some have attached handles that allow the rings to be lifted easily from the pan.

Some tips on how to achieve a perfectly round fried egg:

1. Before placing the egg ring on the frying pan, lightly grease the inside of the egg rings with butter or oil to avoid cooked eggs to stick too much to your egg rings.

2. For eggs cooked sunny-side up and you are not confident with your egg-cracking ability, crack each egg on a small bowl first before placing the egg on their individual egg ring. For those who want to perfect cracking an egg, all you need is practice. For me, it's having a gentle but firm hand when cracking an egg.

3. Cooking eggs using Egg Rings usually take a longer time than the usual, about three to five minutes. Keep in mind that eggs are thicker when cooked in egg rings, so it requires more cooking time.

4. The longer the egg is cooked, the browner the bottom of the egg will become. I usually lower the heat so the bottom won't burn.

5. You can also use Egg Rings for scrambled eggs, perfect for a breakfast sandwich made with an English Muffin.

6. Remove Egg Rings before serving your fried eggs.

Transformation of Our Guest Room

For months since we moved in to our unit, the guest room had been the storage area of our place. Come February this year, it was time to transform it to its real designation, a Guest Room.

We did a lot of work on the Guest Room (as compared to the work done on the Master's Bedroom) as we didn't avail of any bedroom packages. We bought a bed and painted it to have a more earthy-color. Bought two matching bedside tables that didn't match the color of the bed (because we painted it) as we wanted a break from unified colors this time.

So this is how it looks now...not matching and yet there is harmony of colors.

Since in this room, we had a lighter shade of neutral colors, I decided to make the bedsheets red.

And since this is the guest room, we wanted our little furry friends from Australia to welcome our guests....

Our photographs in this room's theme is Travel, which shows the places we've been to. In this photo, you'll see (from top to bottom) Bohol (Chocolate Hills, Cebu (Magellan's Cross), Dubai (Burj Al Arab), Hongkong (IFC Building), Singapore (The Merlion), Melbourne (Yarra River) and Canberra (Parliament).

The Guest Room doesn't have a built-in closet but we didn't have to buy a cabinet for clothes. It so happened that the Husband's office moved to a new building so the company decided to give away some furnitures. So the Husband took home his big filing cabinet (which I transformed into a clothes cabinet) and mobile cabinet (which I transformed into a mini-bookshelf. Voila, instant home furnitures!

Since the cabinets are made of steel and gray in color, I bought some wooden placemats and used it as cover for the cabinets, to somehow in-synch them with the bed and bedside tables. I also used a Black vase and Brown-striped tealight candles as accents for the room.

I placed two more travel photos on top of the mini-bookshelf, this time, it's a photo of us in La Perouse (one of our favorite places in Sydney) and a sunset photo of Boracay taken during our honeymoon in 2007.

Transforming the Guest Room took six weeks to complete--we just finished last Sunday. It's all ready now.

Furnitures in our Balcony

We've always dreamed of owning funky furnitures when we have our own home, but we never thought we'd own an Ottoman furniture this soon...

...but due to some surprise blessing, we did!!!!

We never really planned to put any furniture in our balcony, but because of some happy surprise, the Husband brought home two Dice Ottoman sofa about two weeks ago. Went back to Ikea (for the second time in just three weeks) last Saturday and found this dark chocolate side table that we converted into a coffee table. Voila! We now have a mini-lounge in our balcony.

On Sunday morning, Husband and I had our very first morning coffee date in our balcony.

Heaven on 3rd floor.

Suction Basket for Dishwashing Sponges

I used to put my Scourer Sponge in a dishwashing container, but since it is a sponge, it absorbs the dishwashing liquid and I find that a waste. Plus, it didn't look neat to me.

Thank goodness, last Friday, I found this little wonder....

a suction basket for dishwashing sponges!!!!

No more wastage and looks very neat. I love it!

The Suction Basket is available at Big W for only AUD$2.76. Could be available at other department stores too.

Great Find: Sandwich Container

Last month, some bloggers and I were sharing tips on how to effectively wrap sandwiches (click here.)

Since I lived here in Australia, I learned to like wrapping our sandwiches in aluminum foil, it's easier to wrap sandwiches and it never makes it soggy. However, I also know that aluminum foil is not environment-friendly and can be costly.

During the Christmas Holidays, I finally found a solution to wrapping sandwiches...

...a Plastic Sandwich Container!!!!!!

I found this in the Chinese Store for only AUD$2.00. It's microwave safe and re-usable. What joy to find a cheap alternative to wrapping sandwiches.

This sandwich container can hold two sandwiches. Not bad huh?

I started using it last week and I'm happy to say that leaving my sandwiches inside the sandwich container does not leave it soggy and it prevents my sandwich from being squeezed in-between stuff inside my bag. And best part is, it lessens the use of aluminum foil in our home, so less costs for the household.

Fab Holiday Finds: Red Hot Accents

Red is the dominant color for accents inside the home nowadays. Not only because of the season but because I love red. And as far as the Husband is concerned, it is the only color for the home that we never argue about. Believe me, it's not easy deciding colors for the home when you have an artist for a husband.

Since it's Christmas time, our dining table looked like this on Christmas day:

The Husband and I conceptualized the centerpiece for the dining table. We decided that our Christmas colors would be red and silver. I initially bought the red christmas placemats (cost was AUD$5.00 each) around October.

For the centerpiece, it was made up of the following: red and silver square platter (AUD$20.00), red and silver balls (approximately AUD$2.00 each), silver candle (AUD5.00), silver candle holder (AUD$5.00), tall red candle (AUD$2.00) and red star-shaped trimmings (AUD$5.00).

Other red accents we found for the home:

Red throw pillows for our grey sofa. We found these during the year-end clearance sale, from AUD$40.00 it was reduced to AUD$25.00/each.

A red bean bag. This wasn't on sale but the beans for the bean bag was. The bean bag was about AUD$20.00, while the beans were AUD$11.00 per 500grams. Our bean bag contains 1,000 grams of beans.

This entry is for The Filipino Mom Blog's last week of Fab Holiday Finds.