Taco Friday Night?

I'm contemplating on having a taco night again tomorrow night. Stephen and I really enjoyed our taco night a few weeks ago. Although our helpers and kids preferred just having the taco beef with their rice and tomatoes, Stephen and I love preparing our own tacos. The best part about homemade tacos is we get to customize based on what ingredient you like best. My taco is overflowing with cheese you'll never know if there are other ingredients there :0

All it takes are :

1 box taco shells (corn or wheat tortilla)

1/2 k. ground beef (choose ground round)

1 cup grated cheese (we always have more of this :) )

3 tomatoes

1 shallot

1/2 head cabbage

3 tbsp. soy sauce

1.5 tbsp. catsup or tomato sauce

1 tsp. hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

optional: sour cream and cooked red beans

Sauté beef until partially cooked and oil comes out of it. Add soy sauce, catsup and hot sauce and cook some more until done and beef is well coated with the wet ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste (careful on the salt, please, because there's already soy sauce). This is my version of taco beef without the taco sauce (not particularly fan of it). 

Now, all you have to do next is dice the tomatoes (take out the seeds if you still have time), slice the shallots and cabbage thinly. The slicing and cutting part should be done at the last part to ensure ingredients are still fresh when served. Place each ingredient in separate bowls/plates. prepare an assembly line of taco shell, beef, vegetables, cheese and enjoy! Make your taco and eat it too :) 

    photo courtesy of:  http://www.webstockpro.com/Stock-Photos-tacos/

                           

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On a different note, I have been searching for months for Lee Kum Kee's Lemon Chicken sauce. Been to Cherry, Puregold, Landmark and SM North but it's always out of stock. I really love this because it's so convenient to have in your kitchen cabinet especially on days when you're sick and tired of old recipes. I'm not really a big fan of mixes and sauces in sachets but LKK's lemon Chicken is an exception. All you need is a chicken breast fillet, some cornstarch, egg, a little oil and this packet and you have a yummy lemon chicken dish. Unlike other sauces in sachets, this doesn't taste artificial at all. I hope I can find one in the grocery soon or else I'll have to buy a lemon juice and make my own...

What's Growing Nicely in My Garden 2

I'm reposting this photo because,finally, found out it's name! It's a Lantana Camara Lucky Pot of Gold and falls under the category of annuals. Now I know...that's why it's stubborn to grow flowers during summer season and I had to relocate it in shadier areas every now and then just so it won't wilt and die. A few weeks ago, I found a permanent place for it that's forever shady... under the papaya and malunggay tree :)

I just never thought gardening can be so addicting! Imagine, I searched on the web for almost an hour just to get the name of this flower. Good thing is, I found some other flowers that are easy to grow (and maintain) during my search. Just hope it's available in the local market. 

.......

Two weekends ago, Stephen and I bought additional ornaments for the front garden from our suking supplier slash future neighbor who has a Decostone shop in Regalado Ave. We added the gray slab of stone (P50 each and really really heavy!), medium white rocks (P20 per kilo) and the terracotta pots with ribbon designs (P25 each). Trimmed the shrubs, place the white santan on the new pots. Now it looks better, with a little depth and dimension :0 Stephen likes it so much that he's been coaxing me to go back to our supplier and buy more stuff. Anyway, last week, I let a Japanese wooded lantern (a surplus of our wedding giveaways) sit on the corner of the gray stone and it looks so much more like a mini Zen garden already. 

On the road again - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

On the road again - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Found this article from Lea Salonga on Inquirer.Net. Love the last part. Proud Pinoy :)

Sam is exactly one year, 5 months and 1 day today and he's been a really loving and sweet little boy with so many new words in his dictionary. Babies really have their own vocabulary and dictionary that most often only mommies can decipher. Here are some words he already knows:

Bam - that's daddy

broom broom - car

bam broom broom - daddy in the car

ati' - ate Sophie

mimi - mommy, sometimes he pronounces it as mommy :)

Barnei - Barney, his fave character

brutst - brush

bo - ball

bibi - baby

do - dog

mama - sama, as in bring me along please

brea - bread

bash - labas, ei. I want to go outside

damdam/papa - food - this is weird because he never watches cookie monster :0

mam - milk or water. you'll have to ask him if he wants milk or water, if it's the right drink he will give you a pa-cute laugh :)

pee - airplane

toto - his little pototoy

toto pupu- his little pototoy has poop!

Sam's monster face is also his pa-pogi face 

Sam during a haircut session at Cuts for Tots. He's oblivious of the cutter because Barney is on TV

At night, he loves being put to sleep with the I Love you Barney song. Mind you, you can't just hum the song because he will say 'Barney, Barney' which means sing it with the lyrics please.
He also loves the If You're happy and You know It song and when is comes to the shout hooray! part he will attempt to jump higher than two inches off the ground. He also loves the Elephant song in Barney, he would stomp his feet just like an elephant. Friends and neighbors are always telling me how sweet and charming Sam is. Well, compared to Sophie, he's more the people person. Always saying 'hi' and 'bye' to people he meets, even strangers. He's particularly fond of boys older than he is. He loves to hug and talk to them even if he just met them, which sometimes other kids find weird.
Sophie is a different personality, she's more aloof with strangers. She's quite feisty for her age, some say it's an advantage because she's a girl but sometimes I just worry especially when she starts to go to school. I may end up as a regular of the principal's office :( She's nice and sweet to his brother, though, on most times.