New Skill Unlocked - BAKING

I have always loved watching people people cook and bake on TV and online but in reality, I'm scared of the kitchen. I can only do minimal cooking (that's why breakfast is my favorite meal) and honestly cannot imagine me baking.

So when the opportunity came for me to attend a day of baking lessons, I took a deep breath and said YES! I brought along my sister with me (who graduated food technology and knows how to bake) because I needed someone to rescue me just in case.

I was nervous and excited at the same time. I woke up early, 6:00 am, and prepared my bag. By 7:30 am I was already booking our ride. And much to our excitement there wasn't any traffic, we got to the Liberty Building in our Arnaiz St. at 8:00 am. Too early for class, so we grabbed a quick breakfast first in Greenbelt.

8:45 am we headed back to the building, then took the elevator to the 7th floor then walked a floor up where Maya Kitchen Culinary School is. After we registered we were given copies of the recipes, an apron and a toque.Our class is called Easy to Bake n' Sell: Bars and Cookies, the fee is P2,000.
 

 

Our instructor for the day was Teacher Heart. She gave us a brief background on baking, some tips and the measuring tools (baking is an exact science). After, she grouped the excited women of 12 into two. And we went inside the kitchen area. I also asked her a question, what is the most time consuming thing in baking? She said measuring.

 

All the ingredients already measured. For the four goodies that we will bake.

 

Everyone gets a hand at mixing the ingredients to get a feel of how it really is when yo start doing it on your own.

 My sister Ginia whom I am very happy to spend time with.

 

We used the ice cream scoop for the cookies and imagine them ending up like this.  

 

Helping out teacher Heart roll the ube crinkles in confectioner's sugar

 

More, more mallows please!

 

 

Some baked goods are out! We were trying to put cream cheese filling on the Ube crinkles.

 

 

Me and my group mates.  

 

Watching the demo on what's the best way to cut a cake.

  

The fun thing of being in a class is you get to ask questions and meet new friends. 

We get to bring home the goodies we baked so we decorated our own portion with hazelnut chocolate. 

 

Plating of the final products

 

What we learned to bake today! I am so happy! It is a new skill unlocked. They will have kiddie baking workshops and Mom and kids sessions too this coming summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

Our class picture! Thank you, Teacher Heart and Maya Kitchen! 

A special shout out to Monique and Miss Joy.

For other classes, they have cooking too! You can visit them here: 

https://www.facebook.com/Mayakitchen/ or here https://themayakitchen.com/

 

  

   

NanayDIY

Ten years ago, I made the invitation for my cousin Francis' wedding. It was very simple, the theme was blue green, and after that I made all the invitations for all these memorable moments in our lives. Birthdays, weddings, baptisms, I was the go to girl of the family, even for friends. And only now, I am following this passion. I want to create invitations. So here I am sharing this to the whole internet universe and I hope that people would entrust me to set the tone for their special lives too. Just drop me a note at http://www.facebook.com/nanaydiy 

If walls could talk

Just across the Planetarium is the walled  city, Intramuros. The once defensive walls during the 1500's, now houses, schools, offices and different commercial establishments. But despite the number of years that has passed, Intramuros remains to be charming, with the old houses and the walls that holds history.

 

We just kept on walking until we found a spot to have our mini picnic. This area is one of the many Baluarte's inside Intramuros. Our spot is in from of Mapua University.

 

 

After eating and people watching. We spotted a sorbetero outside Mapua and we couldn't resist.

 

 

We were on our way home when we spotted a garden.

 

 

My son enjoyed just sitting in this area and didn't want to leave.

 

Here's a panoramic view of the garden. 

And lastly, the guards also dress the part! And they gamely pose for a picture. Thank you, Kuya!

 

 

The Planetarium

My son is a big fan of the Solar System. He knows all the planets, their moons and the big stars of the universe. We have books, maps and even blankets of planets (we love to indulge in his geekiness).

So when the Planetarium opened a new exhibit recently, all my friends who knew my son immediately tagged me on facebook. I knew we should pay a visit.

A few blocks from Rizal Park (I still like calling it Luneta), we walked to The Planetarium. You can also take the jeep to Mabini and get down exactly right in front of this building.

 

Entrance is FREE where you can view the exhibits. You just have to register and leave your bags at their counter. You can only bring your wallet and phone at the exhibit area. 

I liked that the exhibition showed our ancestor's relationship with the universe. There's a story of how the stars were being used by our elders to time the planting their crops and more. There was also a portion on the different beliefs of each region (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) on how the Universe was born. 

 
My son immediately ran into this portion of the exhibit where all the big planets are, this is my favorite spot too.

 

 

You will only pay a fee when you'll watch the Planetarium Show. P30 for Students and Children, P40 for Senior Citizen and PWD and P50 for adults. The Full-Dome shows are Hayabusa, A Planet for Goldilocks and a Journey to a Billion Suns. They will also ask you to surrender your phone when you'll watch the show as photo taking is not allowed inside the tehater. 

We saw the show A Journey to a Billion Suns, which I think my son liked (there's very minimal showing of planets) but there was a lot of conversation I'm sure he did not understand (there were moments that I also didn't, it was very technical). It was about the supernovas and a quest to seek the distance of the stars. It was fascinating that my planet geek son who is also into stars saw giant stars like Rigel and Arcturus in the show.  A friend said that A Planet for Goldilocks might be more for kids. But never the less, it was a visual spectacle watching in that dome. 

They are closed on Monday and is open from Tuesday-Sunday (8:30 AM-4:30 PM). The first show starts around 10:00am.

 

Children's Playground

We've always wanted to visit the Planetarium since my son is a big fan of planets. Yesterday, we found time so after lunch, we got ready and rode the bus to Luneta. The bus fare was pretty cheap, P11/ person it was clean and the bus was air conditioned.

When we got the down the bus in Luneta (Rizal Park), we immediately saw the dinosaurs at the Children's Playground and decided to go inside.Our parents would also bring us here when we were kids and it was fun to share it with our little boy. Entrance is free, all you have to do is register. They won't allow you to go inside if you don't have kids with you.

 

The first structure you'll see is the giant boots, which brought me to an ultimate throwback, because it my vivid memory of the place. And when my son saw it, he immediately went inside too.

 

There was also a giant Hippo where you'll climb up the stairs to reach its mouth.

 

 

Children who love dinosaurs will love this place because there's a special corner filled with big dinosaurs, volcanoes and lizards. You can even ride on some of the dinos. 

 

 

 

The playground is big and there are a lot more slides and things that your child can enjoy and see. One of my favorites is the giant turtle slide.

 

 

Children's Playground is open from 8am until 5pm daily. Give your children some time off their gadgets, let them play and bask in the sun like when we were kids. Rizal Park is just on the side and you can take a stroll, and in front of the playground is the National Museum of Natural History, which is also worth a visit.   

Travel tips and a Day of firsts.

I know 2019 is a year of MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. It is a year of new beginnings and first time experiences. Late last year my sisters planned on a trip to Hong Kong. The first time my mom will go on a trip abroad (she's 68 years old), as well as my son Leon (5 years old) . Late did I realize that it was also my first time to travel after becoming a mother.

It was my two sisters, my mom, me and my son who went on the trip. Lucky enough we got two window seats, so it's the first timers who get these seats so they can look out the window and see the view. 

I really prepared for the trip because I wanted this to as smoothly as possible.

 I had a bag full of Leon's planet stickers, toy cars and snacks. I had a lot of extra clothes for Leon too since we knew that it will be cold, I wanted him to keep warm in the trip.

It was also a good decision to bring his planets blanket to just make him comfortable on the trip.

One of the best purchases for this trip is a stroller. I  knew there will be a lot of walking, and he would probably get bored when we go around to shop. I just an umbrella type stroller from Rustan's the brand is called Hauck, the price is around P2,500. The stroller was also a big help when my son wanted to nap. We just popped a travel pillow and he went to sleep as we went around.

Another tip for those who want to go amusement parks, buy your tickets in advance using apps like klook to avoid the lines.