Spinach Dip

I always get excited whenever I chance upon a bag of spinach at the grocery. It's not often that I find spinach in this part of the globe so I don't get to make this dip as often as I wish. Whenever it's available though, I always get a bag (or 2)and make this Cibo dip knock off!


Ingredients:
1 cup cooked spinach, drained well and coarsely chopped
1 container plain yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
1 medium white onion, minced
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup Parmesan
pepper

Procedure:
pour lemon juice onto container with yogurt. add the rest of the ingredients together. sprinkle additional Parmesan, if preferred. place in a microwave for approximately 3 minutes or until mozzarella melts and mixture becomes "bubbly".

serve immediately with crostini

note: make sure to drain spinach very well. otherwise, your dip would turn out "runny". for a thicker consistency, you may opt to strain the yogurt through a piece of cheese cloth for an hour.

vampire egg



step 1:glue googly eyes onto paper mache egg 

step 2: draw mouth and fangs

step 3: cut and tape a piece of black paper to make a cloak

(you may also glue a little red trim)

step 3: cover sides and top of a small, empty tub of butter with paper to make a "coffin"  

note: do not expose to sunlight less you want your vampire egg to burst into flames

undersize me: miniature food part 3

my little toddler loves to snack on raisins. he eats it with or without cheerios (another favorite snack).  

a few days ago, we unexpectedly ran out of raisins and

so we had to make sudden stop to the grocery. 

well, guess what i found?

isn't this the cutest, tiniest raisin box?

i just had to get a pack of these over the regular sized boxes. i know, it would have turned out cheaper to get the bigger box but i couldn't resist.

it's so tiny that it could only fit a single

piece of prune inside!

egg mummy

here's a simple halloween craft you could do with a

paper mache egg.

step 1: attach googly eyes onto paper mache egg

step 2: wrap with strips of white paper twine

step 4: make about 1 dozen and place inside an

egg crate

step 3: watch hubby's face as he opens a crate full of

googly-eyed mummy eggs! 

egg paper mache

my very first paper mache craft was during grade school. 

i was asked to take part in an interpretative reading contest and needed to make a mask/head piece of a pig(!!!).

i didn't win the contest and i avowed that performing really isn't my thing.

well, i enjoyed making my costume more than actually performing! surprisingly, it's been a while since the last time i paper mache-d. i just never got around to do so.

anyway, i have several paper mache crafts in mind this halloween!   but first, here are the basic steps to paper mache-ing: 

step 1: cut strips of paper and soak in water

step 2: dab water all over the mold

you may use real, emptied egg shells (just poke a small hole at the bottom part) or plastic toy eggs.

personally, i prefer to use plastic ones than real eggs. i find it easier to detach the paper off the plastic egg molds rather the real eggs

step 3: lay first layer of paper strips over mold

step 4: apply a thin layer of glue over initial layer of paper

step 5: layer strips of paper over mold

step 6: repeat steps 4 and step until "egg" is thick enough

step 7: let dry over night 

    

step 8: with an exacto knife cut across "egg"

and detach from mold 

(you may make "jagged" cuts to give a "broken egg shell appearance")

step 9: to make "whole" eggs reattach egg shells and glue a thin layer of paper over it  

alonzo's 1st halloween costume

for last year's halloween, i dressed my little 8 month old

as a starbucks barista.

i initially planned to stencil the logo over the apron but after several attempts i realized that having it printed out for me at a local computer shop in BF was easier and less messy!

mama sewed the cap while i also made a "bucket" out of an old lamp shade and made it look like a starbucks cup with a "sleeve". 

now that's what i call a "trenta"! haha!

this costume won alonzo the most original costume award at the

sta. elena golf and country club trick or treat event. 

i was even told (by gippy tantoco at another time) that it even caught the attention of starbucks philippines CEO, eduardo lopez! 

hand embroidered pillow

This small pillow is free style, hand-embroidery project that I did more than ten years ago, to help me de-stress while reviewing for the dental board exam. It was something I did to help me take my mind off anything related to dentistry. My study routine started at exactly 7am and ended by 11pm (or until sawa), with only a 30 minute break for each meal plus a (liberal) rest period from 1-2 pm that I allowed myself either for a nap or to watch Oprah. Whenever Oprah would win over nap time I would also be working on this project. The entire pillow case (including the pillow), each stitch of the embroidery and the little pearl bead work was made during commercials breaks. 

  

I was really flattered when hubby's (then boyfriend) mom and sisters all thought that it was machine embroidered and even thought hubby was lying when he said that I sewed everything by hand.  

Forgive me if I sound self-glorious but I really am proud of this project and would consider this an heirloom piece. I'm not sure if I could make another project as intensive as this --- I hardly have the time not to mention the patience (I'd rather save both for my little toddler)!