Homemaker – Page 9 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Our Garden lately!

Our Garden is doing really well lately, with the nice summer we are having here the plants and flowers are loving it. My favorite is my hydrangea plants. The white and purple are really blooming well and I’m really enjoying picking fresh flowers every week. Flowers are kinda expensive when I buy them in our local farmer’s market. I’ve been using my herbs in my cooking and eating the lettuces too,admittedly I’ve thrown some because it’s just too much and we can’t eat them all.I’m looking forward to harvesting our tomatoes in the coming weeks.

Green beans(we've already eaten them this week) — Green beans(we’ve already eaten them this week)

my own little farmer's market! — my own little farmer’s market!

Food we’ve been eating lately!

Hello everyone! It’s been a nice summer here in the PNW and we are spending more time outside (mostly in my garden and patio), soaking up the sunshine! Just wanted to share what we’ve been eating and cooking here!

Roast Chicken and green beans (with lots of cheese)

vegetable fried rice with siracha — vegetable fried rice with sriracha

takeout fave:crispy garlic chicken,pad thai

mexican takeout:beef taquitos and nachos

grilled calamari and sauteed calamari,roast beets

Happy Birthday Riley!

Riley our mini schnauzer turns 4 today! We had a simple celebration yesterday with my In Laws. We ate pizza and cupcakes. Riley loved all the attention and gifts he got from everybody. While writing this post,the birthday boy is just sun bathing in the yard. He really think he’s a little human being! The funniest and most adorable dog in the world!

Grocery Haul!

It’s been a while since I posted my grocery haul, with my sisters visit last week I didn’t shop at all because we ended up eating out most of the time. I also decided to join Smith Brother’s Farm Milk delivery (they’re a local company). I noticed a lot of our neighbors have this service so I wanted to check it out. This is our second week of delivery and though it’s pricey compared to our local grocery, I think it’s worth the price for me and the milk taste “fresher” in my opinion. So far I’m liking the idea of our milk delivered and I don’t have to get it from our grocery store and who knows how long it’s been in their refrigerator. I only shopped once this week because I still have a lot of meat in our freezer, so I bought mostly produce this time. Happy shopping and savings friends!

Smith Brother's milk delivery: $10.86 — Smith Brother’s milk delivery: $10.86

Our Garden!

It’s been a busy couple of days here because my sister and two of her friends visited us (sis joined the Rock and Roll Seattle marathon last Saturday) and we showed them around Seattle and we had a great time. I will post more of her visit this week. I wanted to show the new developments in my garden and goodness it’s thriving very well. I’ve been using a lot of my herbs in my cooking and I’m looking forward to eating a lot of salad this week too. My favorite harvest this morning was the strawberries, I plan to make the home made version of Starbuck’s strawberry creme drink. My hydrangea plant is growing like crazy too and I’ve been enjoying having fresh flowers all over the house. I love being in my yard this time of year:)

fresh flowers in our dining table — fresh flowers for our dining table

everyday dining table with fresh hydrangea

What we’ve been eating lately!

Hello all! I’ve been wanting to post some of the food we’ve been eating lately but I’m kinda lazy in the posting department:) We try to eat real food and less processed food in our house, but let’s be honest Hubs and I over indulge with treats and junk food (hello ice cream!) more than we should. As a homemaker, it’s my job to make sure we are eating healthy and well balanced meals. Happy cooking and eating friends!

after shopping at costco! the pulled pork is pretty decent:) — after shopping at costco! the brisket is pretty decent:)

super nachos from our fave mexican place

beef bulgogi from trader joe's — beef bulgogi from trader joe’s

Tinolang manok (Filipino version of Chicken soup)

spicy pork belly dish(takeout from a chinese restaurant)

Hubby had Jimmy John sandwich while I had the soup

Our Garden 2014

I’ve been enjoying planting and growing our garden since last month. I really do enjoy it and consider it one of my hobbies. But I’m not saying that I’m an expert because surely I’m not and I’ve killed a couple of veggies and flowers since I started gardening (through the years). Last month my Mom In-Law helped me pick flowers and we went to her favorite nursery where the plants are “nicer” compared to what I’ve seen in our local Home Depot and Lowes. I will plant more of the veggies I bought this week (green beans,pac choy, swiss chard). My herbs are also doing pretty well. The chives are out of control and we’ve been using them a lot. I’m so looking forward to “harvesting” tomatoes this summer, last year we were successful and grew lots of tomatoes and were able to share them with our family and friends. Here’s some of the pics:

I'm prepare to be disappointed in this because I started late.. — I’m prepared to be disappointed in this because I started late..

Hydrangeas galore! so looking forward to harvest this pretty flowers in the coming weeks.. — Hydrangeas galore! so looking forward to harvest these pretty flowers in the coming weeks..

I've been enjoying it inside the house! fresh flower from our yard.. — I’ve been enjoying them inside the house! fresh flowers from our yard..

forgot the name of this flower,but the color is pretty

Roast Duck!

We went to the Asian Market last Sunday after church and they had non-frozen ducks available. So Hubs and I decided we’d try preparing it this week. Growing up in the Philippines, I don’t think I ever had duck, but since living here in the States and being with my foodie husband I’ve had it a couple of times in restaurants but never at home. It’s just so intimidating and looks like such a difficult thing to prepare. But with the help of youtube and blogs, I’ve realized that it’s preparation is similar to that of a chicken! I’ve prepared roast chicken countless times already so I was thinking why not try duck. If it will not turn out good,there goes my $16 and I can try it again! We really enjoyed this and we will definitely be doing duck at least once a month! The recipe I followed: Duck Recipe.

roasting time:4 hours (next time i will cut it into 3 hours,some parts of the bird were dry) — roasting time:4 hours (next time i will cut it down to 3 hours,some parts of the bird were dry)

just resting while I'm making the glaze — Resting….while making my glaze.

we had baked potato and roast broccoli too

Spring is Here!

It’s been a nice couple of days here in the PNW, spring is finally here because the flowers are blooming and sun is out most of the time with rain showers in the afternoon. I’ve been walking Riley almost everyday and I can’t help but be so grateful that we live in such a beautiful and well maintained neighborhood (but then our home owner’s fee is really pricey!). So last Monday,I went to Homegoods because I really want to add a little spring feeling to our home, I got new placemats and found a Le creuset bowl (i don’t really need a new bowl but I can’t pass a good le creuset deal!).

Grocery Haul!

This was my grocery haul for the last 2 weeks but due to the Holy week I didn’t want to post any of my hauls. I shopped at 3 stores Walgreens, Fred Meyer, Grocery Outlet. The deals are over now except maybe for Grocery Outlet because they don’t have a weekly ad they’re more of like “while supplies last” kind of store. I really like shopping at Grocery Outlet because you never know what you’ll find in the store. Happy savings friends!

Fred Meyer: The Nestea drink was free (free friday deal). I stocked up on the butter too (after coupon i paid like 1.50$ each,normally its $4 each)I paid $11

Walgreens: Paid $16 (i wanted to stock up on vegetable oil), the cereals were $1 each after sales and coupon) I will be sending some of this to the PI. — Walgreens: Paid $16 (i wanted to stock up on vegetable oil), the cereals were $1 each after sales and coupon) I will be sending some of these to the PI.

My favorite shopping this week: Grocery outlet! I paid $55, it's a little high but I'm fine with it because I got some good deals on the organic olive oil. Originally they're $17 each but with GO it's $7 so I stocked up on that. — My favorite shopping this week: Grocery outlet! I paid $55, it’s a little high but I’m fine with it because I got some good deals on the organic olive oil. Originally they’re $17 each but with GO it’s $7 so I stocked up on that.