Axelisms #1

Axel's favorite phase these days is "It's broken." But his usage is somewhat varied.

Example #1:
(when hearing music he finds too loud) Axel points to his ears and says "It's broken."

Example #2:
His eyes start tearing up after some allergy sneezes. He freaks out upon seeing his tears. He points to his eyes, and says "It's broken."

and finally in it's correct usage, Example #3
Upon hearing the car engine turn over after failing to start. "It's broken!"

Not to be confused with Winchester Cathedral...

I recall seeing the Winchester Mystery House featured on the TV show Ripley’s Believe it or way back when I was in high school. We finally got to see it for ourselves, driving to San Jose one rainy afternoon. The story goes that there was an eccentric millionairess Ms. Sarah Winchester who manically built rooms in her house, expending it from an 8 room house to a 100+ room mansion. The twist is that she built contraptions and secret passages to confuse the ghosts of those killed by the Winchester rifle, which her husband’s company manufactured. The under-the-floor contraptions turned out to be water saving devices. The secret doors led a commune-with-the-spirits room, where incidentally she could also eavesdrop on her household help. She was a weird woman, all 4'8" of her.

Actually visiting the place was creepy, sorta gave me an I’m-being-watched vibe and the entire house reeked of something old and dead. Being inside the house gave me no sense of location. After walking miles of stairwells that lead nowhere, winding corridors and passing through secret closet doors, I was exhausted. I wonder how dark and twisted Ms. Winchester’s mind was to design a monstronsity of a house.

Check out the official website of the Winchester Mystery House here.

Andrew

A recent pictorial with Andrew, who just turned one year old. Such a cutie pie.

Pass the gravy, please.

What started out as plans for a simple turkey breast dinner with gravy turned into a full blown traditional feast, taken straight off the suggested menu of Cooks Illustrated. It was my mother-in-law's idea who wanted to prepare a traditional dinner in celebration of our first Thanksgiving in the U.S. We all took part in the kitchen dutes: my MIL took care of the roast turkey, bacon and apple stuffing and gravy. Hubby took charge of the garlic mashed potatoes and I did the apple pie. Everything tasted great, mostly at least. The only thing I could care less for was the cranberry sauce, that goop is disgusting I swear.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pacquiao Knock-out!

My aunt isn't all much of a boxing fan but she certainly got a nice present with the knock-out win of Manny Pacuqiao in Las Vegas yesterday. Her birthday coincided with the big event and at risk of not having people (95% Pinoy) come, they decided to order the match on HBO pay per view and open their house and spanking new HDTV set. Here's the reaction of my (extended) family upon the Pacman giving the knock-out blow. Poor Morales, beaten to a pulp a third time. Pinoy Pride!

Baby Loves Disco

Whoever came up with the 'Baby Loves Disco' is a genius. Take a happening club downtown at an off-hour, say Saturday at 2pm, open it up to dance-loving parents and ask them to bring along their kids! And charge $10 a head. We had wanted to go to Baby Loves Disco since August but all the dates were sold out 2 months in advance. So we finally got tickets and had a blast! So much fun! Check out their official website here. The organizers were amazing. There were baby-changing tables, breastfeeding sofas and a healthy food buffet consisting of cheese, chips, hummus and loads of fresh fruit.

Love in the Time of Cholesterol

love for bacon...
love for cheeseburgers...
love for crispy pata...

Such a paradox when your only love stems from your only hate. Not to be melodramatic but today, I discovered my cholesterol levels have hit the roof. At 265, my cholesterol levels are now "flagged" for heart attack risk. So, after Thanksgiving, I am going on a diet. Yes, it's been said before (in this blog no less) but this time, it's my health at stake. From here on, I will exercise more and eat more healthy. And starting tomorrow, I will do my blog ala Bridget Jones.

3 Great Kids

I love shooting photos of children, especially kids as fun and free as the ones featured below. Emily, Bradley, and Zachary sure gave me an aerobic workout that day with their soccer playing, skateboard riding, pogo stick jumping and tree climbing. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, eh? To enjoy the show, just click on PLAY.

Check out my first slideshow!

Halloween Aftermath

Halloween was pretty low-key here in our neighborhood. In fact, it almost didn't happen for us but after a little coaxing, my son finally allowed us to dress him in an old "Steve" shirt from Blues Clues. So carrying his handy dandy notebook and his stuff toy Blue, we went door-to-door for trick-or-treating. In our immediate vicinity, we only went to around 7 houses successfully, the rest were either a) out partying at Castro b) ignoring their doorbell (HELLO! We can hear your TV on!) or c) as one old man put it, "...we ran out of candy already..." (yeahhh ssshure)

But still, we came home with a pail of loot, only about 3 pieces which my son ate before he decided he didn't like sugar. At our own house, we only got two trick-or-treaters. Weird. So the leftover candy will go to the hubby's candy foundation, which will sit on his work desk for weary office mates.

Afterward: We opened Pandora's box. Since Halloween, my son has totally got back into his Blues Clues mania. He's been insisting on wearing it EVERYDAY now, even at night, paired with his pajamas. I hope it's a phase.

Recipe: Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

...also known as Pepitas.

We tried this recipe and yielded some yummy results.