for someone who loves cooking stew, preparing 3 dishes in an hour is a real challenge..

what was I thinking?

to say I’m nervous is an understatement. Seriously? 1 hour? 3 dishes? can I finish the challenge?

Find out if I my boy and this mommy can make it alive at Hunt’s Mother Child Cook off tomorrow at Yummy Eats 2012 

Aside from me and two other mommy bloggers (Jackie and Michelle) showing our cooking skills, other things you can expect at Yummy Eats 2012:

• food tasting
• meet food chefs and fellow foodies and the people behind Yummy
• learn new recipes from cooking demo

Admission fee for Yummy Eats 2012 is 150 PhP but pay only 100 PhP if you bring a copy of Yummy Magazine May 2012 issue.

We were just talking about pukpok the other day and my first born almost cried when he saw his dad sharpens a piece of guava trunk. Pukpok, to those who are not aware, is circumcision, traditional way. Here’s a definition from WikiPilipinas:

Pukpok is a crude method of circumcision practised in the Philippines. It is performed mostly in barrios (rural villages) by a local surgeon called manunuli. On the Holy Saturday of the Lenten Season, groups of uncircumcised boys traditionally go to the manunuli to take the rites of passage. After bathing in a river or a lake, the boys are asked to chew guava leaves. They are then asked to sit on a lukaw, a wooden tool with pointed ends carved from a branch of guava tree. While the boy is seated, one end of the lukaw is staked on the ground while his penis is set on the other end. A manunuli then uses a labaha (barber’s blade) to cut the foreskin off of the penis. The manunuli then instructs the boy to spit the chewed guava leaves directly on the wound to aid healing and to prevent infection. After the operation, a piece of cloth is wrapped around the wound to be changed daily. Although the traditional or pukpok type of circumcision has been chiefly replaced by the modern surgical method, some areas in the provinces still practice the old method.

Talking about Pukpok and circumcision, I was glad that I came across Mommy Mauie’s Preparing For Circumcision article. It gives me an idea on what is the right time for circumcision and how to properly prepare my boys when the right time comes. It was also mentioned that circumcision can help prevent UTI or urinary tract infection. That’s for our boys, but for us ladies, some of the best ways to prevent UTI is not to hold our pee, as mentioned in Mommy Sam’s How to Prevent Urinary Tract Infection:

UTI is also a number one problem for pregnant women..but if you’re not sure if you’re pregnant or not, take a peek on Mommy Jem’s Early Signs of Pregnancy and learn from someone who just found out she’s pregnant for her 2nd child (congrats Mommy Jem!)

And for those who’s having a second baby like Mommy Jem, you might want to read about siblings rivalry and handling tantrums just to be prepared, you know. And while you’re it, Mommy Levy’s What is Asperger Syndrome? article is a must read too. She talked about what difficulties a person with Asperger Syndrome had the face.

Every time I look at old photos of a place I once called home, there is a part of me that wants to cry.. that and the fact that I listen to Bob Marley whenever I do that.. You know that feeling? of wanting to go back, of wanting to remember? of wanting to, at least, once more, feel how it is to be free?

It makes me ache.. for the lost times, for the days that young, of days of freedom and idealism… of days of being not knowing what lies ahead..

And while looking at the photos, I was lost.. the aching, the longing.. it’s there.. but the place.. it’s not the same..and if ever I go back, it will never be the same..

It must be the reason why I never had plans to go back as I will ache more..

you know that feeling.. of the one who got away?

that kind of sadness?

It’s the same sadness..

I don’t know.. those were the days.. and it was so good that reminiscing becomes a heart ache.