Sight Seeing With Grandma

We had a busy week sightseeing with Grandma Yuyu.  She’s back to the US tomorrow, but at least she got to see loads of Manila!

Adam showed Grandma his favourite museum- the Mind Museum.  dinosaurs, talking robots, huge planets hanging from the ceiling, there is just so much to love about this place!

Go ahead, dare me to stop pressing the button 🙂
 

We spent loads of time by the floating beach balls. Always a crowd pleaser.

Molecule Love

 
 
There were a group of young boys there on a field trip and they were the sweetest boys ever.  Whenever Adam came over they immediately shared whatever it was they were playing with.  They were totally selfless and shared everything with Adam before he even asked.  Adam was in heaven.  There is nothing Adam loves more than playing with boys who are older than him.

 
 
 
This took me a while to capture, but it is my favourite face that Adam makes.  It’s one he saves for older boys or girls who he has nothing but pure love and adoration for. It melts my heart every time.

 
Goodbye dinosaur, until next time.

 
 
We also took Grandma to see Intramuros.  
 
 
 
This is what pure Joy looks like.  This boy LOVES him some horses.
 

 

 
We’re going to miss showing Grandma Yuyu around Manila. 

Here are Grandma Yuyu’s top three favorites about Manila (besides Adam of course):

1)  The people, who are so nice (they really are so nice)
2)  The calm, relaxed atmosphere
3)  Our apartment, as soon as she arrived our beautiful apartment immediately put her at ease and
     gave her a great first impression of Manila.
 

Happy First Birthday Devon!

Adam got us all invited to his friend Devon’s first birthday party this weekend.  Devon’s mom is from Brooklyn and his dad is Filipino and they live in our apartment building.  As a side note, our apartment building where the embassy put us is really, really nice.  So the people that live here are on the fancy side.

When I saw the invitation I had a feeling this would be a party that we should attend.  I was right.  We pulled up and as a foretelling to how fancy this party would be there were giant wooden blocks spelling out Devon.  We entered and there were four people there to greet us, give us a map of the birthday activities and give us a ticket for our goodie bag. 

This was the most outrageous first birthday party I’ve even been too! All of us were a bit amazed.  

There was an activity room with a photo booth, four different arts and crafts station and Lion King movie playing in the background.  Adam was in heaven. 

The main room had a full bar, two long tables full of food, adult tables and little kid tables. 

There was even a balloon artist.  This was a big hit with Adam.  Everyone kept going back for balloons ‘for Adam’.  He ended up taking home a flower, a giraffe, a monkey on a tree and a fish on a pole.

The next room (yes there was a next room and a next room) had trees and fountains and ten different food stations.  Ice-cream, cotton candy, French fries.  I felt like we had entered Willy Wonka’s candy factory.

The next room was an adult lounge with a balcony overlooking the river and champagne flowing.
 
 
That’s as far as I made it. There was more after that but I never made it because the entertainment began.
 
There was a full animal show, with parrots, lizards, rabbits and even snakes.  Adam was enthralled and watched every second.
 
 
 
 
 
After the animal show there was a bubble show.  What is a bubble show, you ask?  It’s these three ladies dancing and performing with bubbles.  Everything a one year old dreams of.
 

 
The grand finale was the big bubble.  You stand in the middle and they lift a big bubble around you.
 
 
The only downfall to this was after Adam’s turn it was hard to explain that there was a long line of children waiting and he couldn’t go again and again.  Luckily there was a balloon artist, stuffed giraffes and a million other things to distract Adam.
 
We left shortly after the balloon performance.  I’m not sure what happened next, but I can only imagine- maybe a lion tamer, a hot air balloon,  the Knicks versus the Pacers live. 
 
As for us we picked up Adam’s gift bag and headed home.  What kind of gift bag could follow up this party, you ask? An adorable elephant back pack stuffed with goodies that has been keeping Adam busy all day!
 

 

 
Thanks Devon!  You are definitely invited to Adam’s second birthday party 🙂
 
 

 

Thank goodness for Moms and Wildflour

Adam woke up this morning at 7:15 and when Randy brought him to our bed for some morning snuggles he gave me no less than ten kisses. It’s like he knew it was mothers day. 

For mothers day, Randy and Adam took me and Grandma Yuyu to our favourite restaurant in Manila for brunch, Wildflour.  Wildflour makes me feel like I’m in Soho in NY with not a care in the world. Everything we’ve even eaten there has been amazing and I love everything about this restaurant.  I love the pictures on the wall, the amazing desserts they have displayed and all the waitresses that love playing with Adam.

I’m addicted to their Iced Cubano, an iced coffee with cinnamon.  I’m also addicted to their German Pancakes, French Toast, Eggs and Mushroom on Toast, Granola and anything else I’ve ever eaten there.  I try to stop by and pick up their freshly baked baguettes once a week.

 

Adam ordered his favorites, delicious French toast and a yummy fruit shake.  For Randy, delicious eggs and mushroom on toast.

Grandma Yuyu ordered German pancakes with mangos and I got a waffle.  We basically ordered every bread product on the menu and loved every minute of it 🙂

We finished the meal with some mothers day cuddles.  A pretty perfect morning.

 

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms and moms to be that I know! I am so lucky to have such amazing women in my life to ask for advice and to learn things from.  I went into this motherhood thing not knowing much and boy oh boy is it a steep learning curve that was made infinitely easier with all the help I got.  Love to you all!

 

Coconut Deliciousness

Whenever I bring dessert to someones house I have a go to decadent cake- Barefoot Contessa’s Coconut cake.  This cake is delicious.  With five sticks of butter and a pound of cream cheese this is definitely a once in a while, for a special occasion cake.  But boy is it worth it!!!  I made this to bring to a friend’s house this Friday and it was a big hit as always. 

Two things I’ve learned after making this cake about 10 times.  If you stick the cake and the frosting in the fridge before putting the icing on for an hour it becomes easier to ice.  My icing skills are next to nothing so this really helped.  Also this really is better at room temperature.

 
 

Ingredients

  • 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:

  • 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don’t be concerned.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until just smooth (don’t whip!).
To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides. To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature. 

My Little Purple Stroller

Adam has been so enthralled with pushing his own stroller, I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked when we headed to Toys R’ Us with Grandma Yuyu and all Adam wanted to do was play with this purple doll stroller.  I tried to explain that this stroller was for dolls and not for 17 month old behinds, but for some surprising reason this 17 month old ignored me and plopped his behind right in.

 
Adam spent a good twenty minutes pushing this stroller around Toys R Us, stopping only to glance at the talking, moving toy dogs.  I tried to get him to push the little grocery cart instead but this little boy knew exactly what he wanted.  He wanted this little purple stroller.  With Grandma Yuyu on my side, we decided to get Adam his little purple stroller.  Thanks Grandma for buying Adam his new favorite toy!  When we got home Adam spent hours pushing his stroller around, trying to fold the stroller like mommy does with his real stroller and insisting we push him around the house in his new little stroller.
 

 
Days later the stroller is still by far Adam’s favorite toy in the house.  Why should this little boy be denied this happiness because the stroller is purple?  Perhaps the fault is Toys R’ Us who assumes only purple strollers are wanted and not blue or black or cream strollers, or mine in that I hesitated to get Adam this stroller because I was worried what people would say.  Well, I’m not embarrassed anymore and if this stroller brings this sort of smile to Adam’s face it’s worth every penny. 
 

 

 

Market finds

I recently saw this shoe rack for 55 bucks at the monthly bazaar. 

Once I moved the baskets of mangos and saw that it was made by hand and in great condition,  I was sold.   There are so many great well priced hand made wooden pieces of furniture here.  I see some fun purchases in our future – not that a shoe rack isn’t super fun of course.

Batangas

Grandma Yuyu arrived to Manila on Wednesday!  She’s been soaking up Adam time for the past couple of days and this Saturday we decided to get out of Manila and show Grandma something more.  It was our first time driving outside of Manila.  We probably should have done a little research instead of just getting in the car and driving but even without having planned the day out it still ended up being a great day.
 
We drove to Batangas (and by we – I mean our driver Rico drove us).  Side note here, it was so amazing having someone else drive us.  The drive was 2 and a half hours each way.  We thought it would be two but with traffic it was closer to 3.  Without Rico, the driving would have fallen on Randy and the directing on me and I can assure you it would not have been as calm a drive and some marital strife probably would have ensued.
 
We stopped first at a Canyon Cove.  It was a litte crowded, but the beach was really nice, the water was warm and Adam loved it.   He was a little nervous about the sand at first but with Grandma’s help he soon ventured all the way down to the shore line and into the water.  We didn’t even have time to change him into his bathing suit.
 

 
Then it was all the way into the water with daddy and more playing in the sand.
 
 
 

 
 
We had heard about another beach, Pico de Loro in Hamilo coast and headed over there but it turned out to be a members only beach…so of course we did what any Staten Islander would do and pretended to be interested in joining so we could see the place.  It ended up resembling an old Hilton in Tampa (no offense Tampa).  So we’ll be saving our membership fees. 
 
After our tour we headed to Sonya’s Garden.  We’ve been hearing about this restaurant since we arrived in Philippines.  It’s an organic restaurant in the middle of a garden with fountains.  I’m sure everyone is surprised that a certain someone was OBSESSED with the fountains.
 
 
We were excited about lunch and we started off with one of the best salads I’ve ever had.  But that was defintiely the highlight of the meal.  Except for the chocolate cake…maybe we’ll go back for the chocolate cake and salad.
 
 
 
We stopped on our way home to get Starbucks.  Can you imagine sitting here, enjoying a coffee and reading a book with this view!
 
 
 
 
 

It was really nice to get out of Manila and see some more of Philippines.  I forgot how much longer the weekend feels when you do more.  Saying that it’s now Sunday afternoon ar 2:17 and we have yet to leave the house 🙂

 


The most enticing cabinet

How the mind of a 17 month old works.

Are you watching, I’m going to wait here until you watch because I want you to see this.

Ok, now that you’re watching I’m going to look as cute as possible. 

Then I’m going to show you how good of a listener I am and not climb into this cabinet that I know I’m not allowed to climb into.

Instead I’m going to close the door.
Oh wait, actually that’s not at all what I want to do AT ALL.  I’m going to open the cabinet and show you how I climb in.

Ok, mommy said no AGAIN. I’ll just touch the inside with my finger and wait until she’s not looking.

What, you’re still looking??

hmmm…ok if you won’t look away I’ll just put this milk carton in the drawer instead.

See what a good boy I am.

But why should the poor milk be alone mommy?! I should keep it company.

Ok forget it, I’ve already moved on.

A perfect rainy Saturday

Randy had an all day scuba class so it was just me and Adam this Saturday! What did we do you ask?  

 
Well I’m glad you asked.  We read. 

 

 

 
We made a yummy coconut cake,

And some spinach pies,

And eggplant parm!

*we had friends over for dinner, we didn’t eat all of this ourselves.

We rearranged the milk cupboard.

 
We looked at our new herb garden.

 
We played in all of the cupboards.

We cuddled and read Larry gets Lost in New York, our new favorite book (thanks Aunt Daf & Uncle Meej).  In case you’re wondering that’s page 14 in Adam’s hand.

 
We watched the rain fall.

 
All in all a pretty perfect day.