November 2015 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Black Friday Tradition!

Hi friends! How was your Thanksgiving? It’s Black Friday today and we went to Seattle (I’ve mentioned before it’s my In laws tradition) to walk around Seattle, be part of the festivities. We checked out shops, walked around Pike place, got coffee, sandwiches and hombow ( siopao in the Philippines); macaroons at Le Panier is one of my fave things to get this time of year?. My In laws also like to get Cashmere sweaters from Macys ( part of the Black Friday deal). We normally don’t participate in the shopping madness but this is the exception! They love their cashmere? (I didn’t buy this year because to be honest, I’m pretty happy with the amount of cashmere sweaters I have). Anyways, it was a nice sunny day to be out and about, but we were still freezing cold, especially Zach. Winter is just around the corner! Stay warm friends.

Parking lot pictorial with Julia!

Goofy DIL! He’s such a funny guy:)

I wanted to buy this for Riley but Zach was not convinced that this will help (Riley is anxious sometimes)

This rocking chair is ridiculous! $5500 for this (260,000 Philippine peso). What the Heck!

The crazy line at Piroshky…

Getting my siopao (Mee sum pastry)

stolen shot from Hubs! Walking around Pike place and happily eating my hombow (from Mee sum pastry)

With the In laws!

The best macarons in Seattle! Le Panier macarons:)

Thanksgiving 2015!

Hello Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that it was a wonderful time with family, friends, and people you hold dear in your life. We’ve been hosting Thanksgiving for the last 3 years now (my husband’s side of the family) it’s not as stressful because we do potluck style. My Inlaws are in charge of the turkey, stuffing and 3 other dishes, someone takes care of dessert, SIL for appetizers, we made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole! Our house is God’s blessings to us, so anytime we have the opportunity to host and practice hospitality we’re all for it! Thank you God for all of your blessings:) Anyways, we had a great time with our family, sharing stories(so fun to hear how Zach was like growing up based from his relative’s stories) and just spending time together with a yummy Thanksgiving spread. We are now relaxing, watching tv, and cuddling with my fur baby. My hubs ( the birthday boy) took some pictures today, enjoy!

Stuffing,carrots,brussels sprouts,yams

corn casserole

Turkey, sweet rolls, honey butter

Salad,green beans casserole,turkey

Gouda mashed potatoes, salad

Turkey coma! He ate too much tonight..

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Happy Birthday to us!

Hello friends! This weekend we had our birthday celebrations with my In laws. My bday was last nov. 16 and the hub’s is this coming nov. 26 (yup, Thanksgiving day). Ever since we got married we always just combined our birthday celebrations. I personally prefer it that way. No fuss and just a simple time with family is all that matters to me:) On my actual bday the hubs and I had a casual dinner at home, we had charcuterie (we got from Delaurentis at Pike Place), steak and green beans with blue cheese (Ree Dreemond/Pioneer womans recipe).

I told my husband not to give me flowers or a card, I prefer food! This is what he gave me when he got home from work! HA! Mcdonalds has the best fries for me.

Charcuterie plate with pate!

This Saturday, my In laws treated us for our bday dinner at Flat Iron Grill (local restaurant in Issaquah). We like this place because the food is good and prices are reasonable. I used my ipad for the pictures so I apologize for the poor quality.

After dinner,we went back to our house to have our bday cake (baked by my MIL, she’s the best) and opened gifts. We are so grateful for what the Lord has done in our lives over the last year. He is so good! The Best is yet to come:)

Having our Bday dance and song! It’s a family tradition:)

Thanks to my MIL for baking molten chocolate cake! She asked me what I wanted and baked me my fave (chocolate cake of course!).

Spoiled Riley licking the ice cream!

I’m so loving what my SIL gifted me!LOL

Gifts from my Hubs! I got some Lenox stuff I’ve been wanting to get this year. Thanks Hubs:)

Pike Place Market (again!)

Hello friends! Sorry I haven’t posted for the last couple of weeks. Life has been a little busy here, but rest assured we’re still having fun and eating yummy food. Last Saturday we went to Pike Place market in Seattle, it was so much fun as usual! We had Piroshky (if you visit the market, this place is a must). Don’t be too intimidated with the long lines because they are pretty quick in taking orders. We had some mini donuts too, it was a food trip basically. The day after Thanksgiving we will be back again in Seattle because it’s been a family tradition and Seattle is such a festive place to be especially as we welcome the Holiday season. Enjoy!

What We Ate Lately / Menu Planning

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a good Monday. I’ve been menu planning for the last couple of months now and it’s been a positive thing for me as a homemaker. No reason for me not to do this because I don’t work outside the home. Saves me time and money, that’s always a good thing right? Here’s my meal plan this week:

M: Left overs (Pizza, Filipino Chicken soup/tinola)

T: Tuna Steaks,veggies,rice

W: Chicken wings,salad

T: Frozen meal for me (maybe tomato soup); Zach will have a dinner at his Office

F: Mushroom Risotto;salad

S/S (weekends): Eat out/take out/left overs

I don’t include Breakfast/lunches in my menu planning because we always have the same thing most of the time. We typically have cereals, oatmeal,yogurt,eggs,toast,fruits,coffee:)

Here’s some of our dinners lately:

Grilled Hamachi Collar

Braised Pork shoulder

Sautéed baby squid

Potato hash with eggs/bacon

Sushi dinner when we visited my Sis In Law in her place!

Beef teriyaki (from my fave Vietnamese place)

Chinese take out from Safeway (Zach was out of town last week for 4 days; I wanted cheap chinese food:)

Stir fried beef and veggies while the Hubs was out of town!

Dried fish,eggs,rice (perfect brunch!)

Grilled Halibut,rice,veggies

A special treat! King crab legs and steak last Friday (when we had my In laws for dinner)

Saturday night: Pizza and salad

Sunday dinner: sushi from Uwajimaya

Happy cooking and eating friends!

Halloween Weekend!

Hello Friends! Yesterday was Halloween here in the states and this is the first time that we didn’t have that many trick or treaters. The weather was mainly to be blame because it was just so bad. Raining and windy is not an ideal time for cute kids to be out and about ( we had a blackout Saturday morning that lasted 2 hours). Kudos to the brave parents though because they were still out there last night! The Hubs and I don’t really do anything during this time of year. We make sure we have candies though because we live in a neighborhood with lots of kids:) We watched the world series (Go ROYALS!) and NBA games, football (me specially, the hubs is not that into watching sports). Friday evening my In laws had dinner with us because our local seafood market had fresh King crabs legs (FRESH, flown from Alaska Friday morning) so we took the opportunity to have some because it’s very rare to get fresh king crab. It was such a special treat. It was so GOOD! We also had steak to go with it. Have a great week friends!

How cute is my Mom In Law?hehe

Crabby fights!

So GOOD!

Beechers cheese bread!

Thank You Generator for the 2 hours of electricity!

Napping every weekend is his fave!