"Life skills, Issa"

By the time my little adventure ends, my relationship with the kitchen may not be a disastrous one anymore. Cue in the fireworks and the confetti, I'm one happy camper.


The past week, in homemade nomz and munches:

1. Big brunch for our second day in Canandaigua: pancakes, eggs (scrambled or sunny-side up, how ever you want it), sausages, and ribs (not in photo).

2-3. Everyone in the house goes choco-loco for Ben & Jerry's and brownies!

4. Chocolate chip, cheese, and regular pancakes and bacon for our 4th of July brunch back in Maryland. Yummy in our tummy! Especially the bacon.

5. For dinner, we had seafood overload: crabs, mussels, and salmon. We cooked up a storm that night and even had some sweet white wine to counter the taste.

6. Finally got to try the apple pie we bought from Monica's Pies and it was divine! We heated it up and matched it with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

7. Burgers!!! Tito Chris and Tita Inday claimed that it was their first time to ever cook burgers despite living in the US for a long time now, and well, it was a huge success! We placed all the condiments and toppings on the kitchen counter so everyone had the chance to make their own burger. I placed cheese, mushrooms, tomato, ketchup, and mustard on mine.

8. When my aunt agreed that we're having beef salpicao within the week, I got super excited! It's one of my ultimate favorites and I have been craving for them since forever. She assigned me to look up the ingredients and how to prepare it. I was also by her side like a real assistant as she cooked it. The finished product was so good, we need not drive all the way to the Filipino store to buy an already-prepared meal anymore.

9. And last night we had shrimp scampi primavera, in which I prepared at least 80% of—the cooking of the pasta, the heating of the shrimp and vegetables, and the mixing!

Now if only we could get a working weighing scale soon...