Gifts to the Philippines

May 8, 2014 by feyma

Good deals I found in Davao!

A few weeks ago Bob mentioned to me a set of pots and pans that he saw at S & R. He was explaining to me about it and it really got me interested. But when he mentioned the amount it just turned me off. I will not spend that kind of money unless I really like the items.

He told me that next time I go to S & R to take a look at that pots and pans and let him know whats my take on it. He told me if it were not that expensive, he would have already bought it for me.

The Dutch Oven I got last year

So finally I went to S & R to go shopping. I saw the pots and pans that Bob was talking about. I checked it out and it is a good pan to cook with and it look durable. I liked it a lot. But I told him with the price tag, I’m not really interested. With the high price I would rather have a different set like the pan that he bought me last year and it worked out good for me. I really liked it a lot. Bob bought me a nice porcelain dutch oven cookware the round one ( I’m not that crazy with the red color, but it will do for me right now). It’s good to cook in stove and in the oven. Since I I had the round one, I saw on line that they have now a dutch oven oval shape and I want the bigger size than the round dutch oven that I had. You guys probably wonder why I liked the dutch oven, the one that Bob bought really is nice. It has a nice and thick insulation inside. So now I had my eyes on that. It’s not the Le Creuset brand, I’ve seen that brand here and it so darn expensive. I’m okay with the brand that Bob bought for me.

Anyway, back to that pan that I saw at S & R. Bob really wants to buy it for me. I didn’t know that he was really wanting to get it for me. So last week I went to S & R, then I was just passing by at the back section of the store and I saw the box of the pots and pans on their damaged goods and returns area. I was just curious how much was the price of the damaged goods. When I saw the price it’s around 60% off from the original price, I looked at the tag because it states there the reason for selling at a low price. It states on the outside box “factory defect”. So I just didn’t think about it. I just continued on shopping.

When I got home, I told Bob that they had one box of those pans that we liked there at S & R that’s defective and its 60% off. Bob immediately asked if I know whats the problem with it, I just told him that it says factory defect. He immediately told me to go there and see what’s the factory defect. So after eating our lunch, Aaron and I immediately went back to S & R again. Thankfully nobody got the box of that pan. So we loaded the box to our cart, as soon as I saw one of the sales person I asked him if he had an idea what’s wrong with the pan. He told me that we can open it up and see for ourselves. So we did.

When he opened it, we both inspected the items. To be honest we didn’t see any major problem. The only thing that we saw that’s wrong with it were the rim of the lid that wrapped the glass, the aluminum, the gap on the inseam it’s not totally closed enough (maybe like less than 1 mm gap). Hardly noticed it. The one on display gap of the seam its too close that its not really visible. Also the one that I bought had a small dent inside of one of the pan, that you can’t even see it unless you try to feel the inside of the pan with your hand. So all in all, the items don’t have major damage. So I bought the pots and pans for the 60% off price. The only thing I’m not totally into was the color of it. But hey with the big discount I can live with it.

New Pots and Pans set

Most stores in the Philippines don’t even take returns, so they have so deals like this where a minor factory defect will result in a huge discount! S & R is different, though. They seem to operate more along the American business practice.

Talking about discounts. A few months back I was buying a ceramic jar at one of the malls here. While shopping I saw some items that I liked, but when I talked to the sales lady she told me that I had to buy the whole set. So I said okay I want it. When she’s trying to checked all the items one of the piece the lid of it the screw was missing and its not easy to put it back. So I ask her if I buy the whole set would you give me any discount since one of the piece the screw is missing? She told me “Oh no Ma’am, you have to buy at the same price”. I just told her politely that I’m not interested to buy the items like that without any discount. She said okay. I could tell she wants to give discount. The problem is the sales person here don’t have the say to anything, only the high up people can decide.

It’s just nice to see a store that will give a good discount/deals here. It’s been a long time since I’ve encounter deals like that. It’s just good to know that some stores do care.

May 1, 2014 by feyma

Cooking style in the house:

Since living back here in the Philippines we pretty much change the way we cook our food. Of course we had to, when we arrived here a lot of the stuff that we are used to in the States before were so hard to find here. So I had to adjust the cooking on what’s available here. Sometimes I’m lucky to find the right substitute for the product that I want.

So when Bob was hospitalized a month or so ago, I had to be careful on what to serve him. Jean or Glenda my niece , or myself, one of us were the one to prepare Bob’s food. We are gearing towards the diet that’s good for his diabetics. We are eating fish and poultry more and more now. We mostly grilled or cook it low fat.

Bob will eat light dinner now. A bit heavier during lunch time. He is into sa

shimi (tuna or malasugui), salmon steak (I cooked in the pan with a small olive oil. Just make the pan smoking hot and just drop the salmon to seal the outside. Feel it that it won’t overcook), Salad, just simple salad with arugula, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, turkey ham or lechon manok or shrimp drizzled with a small amount of Italian dressing. I also make pomelo & shrimp salad (with that salad goes with spring onions, crushed peanuts, and vinegar mixed with a little bit of sugar or artificial sweetener). We are also making some soup and chili. We are into mussels & clams now too, cooked with pasta and a small amount of olive oil, butter and white whine. Sometimes we grilled the mussels & clams and put some barbecue. Yum.

For breakfast if you want cereals you can pretty much find different kinds of cereals in almost every grocery stores in the mall. Like SM, they also have an organic store there “The Healthy Option”. I mainly buy the whole wheat or whole grain pasta there and the barley at the healthy option. I also make banana muffins or strawberry muffins for breakfast I used the splenda or a small amount of brown sugar and the rest I used liquid sugar-free. It worked for us. I try to be creative on my cooking now. I try learning it by reading on the net and watching cooking shows on TV. I’m so amazed by the resources nowadays, almost anything is posted online. If you have some difficulty on any recipes try to Google it and you will find answers to your query.

Bob’s been doing good on his diet for his diabetics. He really strives hard to eat proper food. I’m so proud of him. He really surprised me now. When I first met him he would not eat salad and some seafood especially mussels and clams. I guess only clam chowder and clam strips. Now he likes to eat mussels and clams cooked differently – grilled or cooked with pasta. I’m still learning and reading more on good diabetic recipes for us to cook everyday.

To our readers that live here in the Philippines and have diabetics too, good luck to you guys on your diet. If you’re a fish and vegetables eater not a problem for you then. You can pretty much find fish in the market and also different kinds of veggies there too. Remember, though, there are more and more diabetic friendly foods available in the Philippines than there were even just a few years ago. Many more healthy choices for all of us to enjoy.

Its really more fun living in the Philippines!

April 24, 2014 by feyma

Good growing organic vegetables in Davao City!

Living here in the Philippines for 14 years, I’ve seen so many changes now compared to when we first arrived. At that time I hardly see different kinds of veggies that’s really good to make a salad. The only thing that’s good at that time I think here would be an iceberg lettuce. There could be some other kind but you had to fly to Manila & shop at the grocery stores there. Thank goodness for so many changes nowadays, living in the provinces of the Philippines gets way better now everyday.

I think early this year Bob mentioned to me that one of our foreigner friends told him about a nice and good organic garden that he knew that can be found here in Bajada, Davao City. When Bob said that I was thinking a big place for a garden in the middle of the city? So finally a couple of week or so ago Bob & I together with Jean went to the organic garden that a friend of ours mentioned to Bob. It’s quite a ways for us because we lived in the other side of city. But it’s worth going there. When we got there the garden was surprisingly small but it’s packed with the plants that the owner knows were good to grow in that environment and the land.

The owner his name is Rodelio. He is a doctor I think in profession. Studied here in the Philippines, but continued his college days in the States. Stayed there and worked hard, then came back here after his retirement. He loved the outdoors so much after coming back to the PI, he then decided to do farming especially planting different kinds of herbs.

I was so surprised seeing different kinds of good veggies for a good salad. He grows romaine lettuce, iceberg, purple lettuce, arugula, I think he had oak leaf lettuce, watercress, and other vegetable like eggplant (Japanese & local), carrots (regular & baby), cherry tomatoes and the big tomatoes, different kind of chili peppers (different variety), spinach, squash, radish, onions, cucumber (local & foreign kinds), I think he had asparagus there too and many others.

He also has different kinds of herb spices like basil (different kinds), cilantro, parsley, dill, sage, chives, mint (different kinds), lemon grass, oregano, turmeric, rosemary, thyme and many more. Rodelio also makes sun-dried tomato. Saying that you have to reserve because it will be gone in an instant. We will order that next time. We still have some sun-dried tomatoes, next time we’re out we’ll definitely order from there to try them out. They also made this coconut wine vinegar with turmeric, ginger, garlic and other herbs inside. I bought one bottle like a liter inside. We didn’t use it right away co’z I know that they just newly put the vinegar inside and the spices. When we get home I told Jean & my niece to try to put some small chili (siling labuyo) inside the bottle and let it close for a few days. I could just taste that it’s not that strong of the flavor yet. Now, the longer it stays in the cupboards not open for almost 2 weeks the taste gets better and stronger. We like the flavor of the vinegar now.

One thing also that’s good with the owner. If you happen to have a seedling that you bought from the States or any place abroad, he will try to plant the seeds for you. If the seeds grows good here, you will get to harvest with him too. We like onions, we are thinking of getting him a vidalia onion seeds or some other sweet onions. Thinking of some other seeds that we want that he didn’t have there yet. I forgot to mentioned above that he also owned a land in Cabantian area. He said its almost a hectare, he planted lots of veggies there and some sweet corn. Wednesdays & Saturdays are the harvest days both farms the one near Abreeza and in Cabantian. They will also bring the veggies that were harvested from the Cabantian farm to the one near Abreeza. You can also do the harvesting yourself of what veggies you want.

The name of his place is “Wynward Organic Vegetables & Bistro”. Located at Regina Dalisay Compound, Bajada, Davao City. Just at the back of Abreeza mall on the Obrero side. He also cooked food there if you want to eat there, just call him ahead of time. Maybe he can tell you what’s his special on that day. We didn’t try the bistro yet.

Try to see and visit the place and tell Rodel hello from us!

April 17, 2014 by feyma

A watcher in the hospital!

You guys probably wonder why do you need watcher at the hospital here since the nurse will be there anyway. Well let me tell you about being hospitalized here in the Philippines. You can have as many watchers as you want during day time as long as it doesn’t bother the patient, I think its allowed if you are only staying in the private rooms & suite rooms. I’m sure it’s different when staying at the ward room with 3 – 6 beds in one room. They limit the watcher there then for just one person during night time since they don’t have space to sleep for that many people. But I think you can accept few visitors during visiting hours.

Typical scene in Philippine Hospital where there are people watching over the patient

When Bob was hospitalized for 4 days. I was pretty much his watcher 24/7. I’m sure you guys were asking what’s my role as a watcher? Well for one, whenever the doctor prescribed medicine to Bob that’s needed, if the medicine prescribed were not available in the pharmacy downstairs, me being his watcher it’s my job to go out and buy necessary medicine at the drugstore outside the hospital building. The nurses are not allowed to go out and buy the medicine for the patients, so it is really needed to have a watcher for every patient here.

With Bob, I was pretty much his arms and hands. Why I said that, he can’t really move any of his arm and hand. It swelled so much that he can’t even get a grip of the glass or utensils using his hands. So basically, every time he needs to eat or drink I had to give it to him. Some medicine that he was taking orally I had to be the one putting on his mouth. He was immobile for a few weeks. Luckily the kids were the watchers during daytime at the hospital and the house.

Nurses are not the only helpers in Philippine Hospitals

Really the watcher has to communicate well with the nurses and the doctor. Basically the watcher will be the one who pays attention to what medicine needs to be taken care of and what time. The watcher is the one in-charge of everything down to making inside of the room clean. Whenever the patient needs assistance from the nurse or hospital staff, the watcher will be the person that would go to the nurse’s station and tell them what the patient needs. During night time the patient might need assistance in going to the bathroom, the patients wants to eat or something. So the watcher will always be ready to help out physically and emotionally to the patient. In short the watcher is the beck and call. LOL

The private room where Bob stayed had no button to push for calling the nurses station. So me being the watcher, I’m responsible for going to the nurses station whenever Bob had some emergency in our room. I am not sure if the suite rooms in that hospital has the automatic push button on the bed to call for the nurses station. If I remember when Bob was in Doctor’s hospital in Gensan before, I think their beds there at the private room had button to push in-case you need assistance from the nurses. Bob was at the ICU in Gensan for a week. Supposed to be no watcher was allowed inside, but they made an exception for me because Bob didn’t want to be inside that room if I’m not there inside the room with him. Really only the nurse was the watcher in the ICU. I saw the watchers at the ICU here in Davao at the Adventist hospital where Bob stayed. They had special rooms for the watchers.

I experienced being in the hospital in the States a few times. When I gave birth to my kids and I was once hospitalized due to I was contracted with a bad virus and being pregnant with my youngest it was difficult. When giving birth to my eldest, Bob was with me the whole time. I stayed in the hospital for a day and a half. When giving birth to our second son, Bob was my watcher there until our son was born, then later in the evening he had to get our eldest son who was staying with our best friend there. Bob was with our son that night, then the next day, early morning Bob dropped our eldest son again to our friend so that he would stay with me at the hospital until I was discharged later that day. When I was 6 months pregnant with our youngest I got a bad virus and it almost killed me and my unborn son. I was admitted in the hospital for almost a week. With that being said, Bob stayed with me during the day. So during night time I was alone in the hospital and crying. The thing on that virus it nearly collapsed both my lungs. Bob being my watcher during daytime he knew when to give my medicine for my breathing. He did keep tabs on that. Just like the way I kept tabs on his med now.

Patients in the Philippines are so spoiled of having family nearby to be the watcher. I guess thank God for the close family ties here. Praying for good health to everyone. God bless!!!

April 10, 2014 by feyma

Introducing our new baby “Blue”!

I think some of you here are aware already who our new baby is? If you happened to be the Facebook friend of Bob, you would know then. Bob posted on his wall a few days ago that we had a new baby here in the house. We named her Blue, because she has blue eyes. That obvious. LOL

Really it all started with our helper Joy, her daily routine sweeping the front yard and outside the gate of our front yard. So a few days ago while she was sweeping she could hear a meowing outside our gate. When she went and looked outside the gate she didn’t see anything but the voice of the kitty continued on. So she heads out and follow the sound, she could hear that the sound was under our pathway. well it’s really in the canal, on top of the rock inside the canal. So she ignored the kitty at first and continue on sweeping. A few minutes after sweeping she just could not bear letting the kitty meow, she got the dust pan inside and got the kitty and brought it inside near our turtle area. She then got our water hose and bathed the kitty. She washed it thoroughly with soap. She then showed it to me and the kids and told us she found the kitty outside. I can’t decide yet of what to do with the kitty because Bob was not home at the time when I saw the kitty. He has a meeting every Monday. So I told Joy and the kids to just wait when Dad comes home, then we will decide what to do. Then when Bob came home, I was out for a meeting. So same thing, Bob can’t decide either on what to do since I’m not home yet. So while waiting for me the kids and Bob were playing with kitty then. When I arrived we all decided to keep the kitty (Blue). Makes the kids happy and us adults too here in the house. … Ha ha ha…

Baby Blue, just a tiny baby!

Before Bob arrived, my thoughts right away, who do I know here in Davao that I could give the kitty to. We already had 3 cats in the house. I’m just so worried that these 3 cats would devour this kitty alive. I already saw before one of our cat almost rip open the tummy of the kitty that we had. so I just don’t want to see that happening again here in my house. Not a scene I want the my kids to see.

Funny thing is, when we let Blue play with the dogs my gosh she hissed them. We were all laughing because she’s so tiny compared to the dogs and she’s so brave and tough of hissing them. Our dogs can easily tear her apart. Our dogs I guess knew that were there watching, they just left her alone and went to the back of the house. Luckily I had lots of baby sitters here in the house that the kitty was pretty much safe while the other 3 cats were watching. We are slowly introducing them to the new kitty, same also with our other 2 dogs.

We brought her to the vet clinic and they gave her de-worming medicine and they gave her antibiotics since we just found her in the ditch. She also had new formula. She’s going to start the vaccination routine next time she visits the vet clinic again in 2 weeks time.

Anyway, its another baby here in our household. Jean is really wanting a puppy. Holy smoke our house might turn into a zoo pretty soon here. LOL

Have a great day everyone!

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