Frannywanny

"If there were no love, there's be no grief." - Zig Ziglar It just felt like a movie on repeat. The entire family inside a hospital room, quietly wiping away our tears, giving each other supportive hugs as we watch the numbers on the monitor slowly going down. One by one, we each walked closer to the hospital bed as we whispered I love yous, thank yous and basically our last messages. Four years ago, it was my beautiful Ama lying on the hospital bed. After a mad rush home from the Lion City followed by a stressful drive from the airport to the hospital, I made it in time to say my final goodbyes to the woman whom I proudly call my grandmother. Together with my parents and my sister, she and Kongkong were the center of my world for 30+ years. Her death brought about so much "what ifs", "if only" and painful acceptance that she's no longer physically here with us. Of course, the most painful of all was to see my dear Kongkong cope with the death of...

"I miss this." This was what Paul told me one afternoon as we were driving to an event without the kids. Recently, I learned something new about marriage. No matter how many kids you already have, never forget your role as a husband/wife to your other half. Since I gave birth to my twins, I guess it's pretty obvious that they became the center of our world. Day in and out, we have been so busy helping each other in taking care of them. Add to the fact that we have been quite unlucky in getting a reliable nanny till lately as we finally have Yaya M. Thankful also for my in laws who willingly help us watch the twins as we work and go about our day, Paul and I took a quick lunch date one day. I was also badly craving for sushi and I got to admit that it's hard to find a reasonably priced sushi that's of good quality too. Most of the reputable Japanese restaurants that we got in our area have menu items priced pretty steep. This made me recall one of the lunch dat...

So yesterday, I raved about my newest kitchen appliance -- the Instant Pot Duo 6QT  which I think is an answered prayer for all home cooks who are living in small spaces or are always on the go.  Of course, I wasted no time and started to put this baby on a road test. As soon as I got my Instant Pot , my mom told me that it's the perfect appliance to have given that I always make sure to have soup available for my kids in every meal. It's where we've made delicious beef soup, creamy pumpkin soup that L loves so much and a few months back, I discovered that you can also make pasta here without the use of multiple pots. It's truly your machine for those one-pot wonder dishes. Let me share with you one recipe that I've tried making using my Instant Pot and I was very pleased with the outcome. It's yummy, healthy and so easy to make. Instant Pot Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese  (source: here ) Here's what you'll need: - macaroni or any short pasta...

Finally, the long long long wait is over and this is one news that I've been soooo excited to share with you all. In fact, I had to keep it a secret for more than a year but now, the cat is out of the bag and here's the BIG news. The famous Instant Pot  is finally here in the Philippines and it's 220v ready!  Okay, perhaps not a lot of you are familiar with the Instant Pot  but let me tell you this, it's the newest innovation in home cooking where you can pressure cook, boil, steam, cook rice, make yogurt, saute and more. Back in the day when we would have the old school pressure cooker and my mom would warn us about getting close to it.  "I have a friend who's daughter opened the pressure cooker and sago shot up her nose and she needed to undergo surgery. So be very  careful, Frances."    I would still remember Mommy telling me this horrendous story and how that vision of mini sago (tapioca pearls) flying all around the room and one ...