Carbonara

                 I invited people at a party in our house. They partake all the foods served. There were  kare-kare, birthday cake, mango float, spaghetti , carbonara, among others.  When we had a meeting at the chapel , the suggestion as to where the priest , his staff of choir and altar boy  would eat dinner  after the Holy Mass ,was made and it was suggested that the residence of the Barangay Captain will be the venue of the dinner. It was a common practice that the members of the community will share, prepare food  and delivered at the house of a member as suggested and agreed upon by the group.      
              Each member suggested his or her food to prepare and the house helper for the Barangay Captain looked at me and suggested that I cooked carbonara. At first she could not name the food but she remembered some of the ingredients and so came up with the exact name of the recipe. She said that she tasted it and found it tasty and delicious. She suggested that I cook it. So I said yes.
             Then another meeting came and the venue was the residence of my daughter whose house is just a stone throw away from our house.  I cooked their favorite carbonara which is my signature recipe for the group.
                 Here is the recipe:

                 1 kilo flat spaghetti noodles
                 2 carbonara mix
                 2 cream of mushroom soup
                 garlic
                 onion
                 salt to taste
                 slices of ham'
                 1/4 kilo strips of chicken ( previously boiled )
                 Cheese      
                 1 Nestle cream
                 1 big can of evaporated  milk
                 2 cooked egg ( optional)

                 Saute garlic, then add onion  and add cream of mushroom soup mixed in water.  Add cube slices of ham.Stir then add chicken, milk, and carbonara mix. Stir . Add the Nestle cream and season to taste. Pour the gravy to the previously cooked flat spaghetti . Spread cheese on top. Serve hot.

Note. Stir in one direction only when cooking food that make use of milk in their product.





            
              



        
    

Have problems?

       Problems make us weak and worry. What to do when worry comes. Praying to God is the first and foremost thing to do when worry sets in. Let us not pray just for lip service. As what I have said, God knows what is in our hearts. Pray to God with all our hearts. Pray with faith. God carries our burden and help us find solutions to the problem. He relaxes our minds and we always feel this after praying.  God created fruits for us to use in relaxing our minds.

        Banana contains certain amino acids which our body will turn it into some substance which will allow us to relax .  When I was operated on appendectomy way back in 1969, my body was weak. I could not even hold a ballpen for longer than  two minutes. I easily got tired. I ate bananas and I found out that I felt relaxed, free of stress from my worry about post operation. Unlike today, operation at those times take longer in healing. It took me a month to be certain that I was already capable of doing work. 

Kulugo ( wart or verucca )

             It was in 1972 when I noticed that a wart began to appear on my right thumb.   I scratched it because it was itchy and irritating. The following day, another wart appeared on my forefinger. These virus warts were live and watery, its thread-like matter when taken out can spread to other parts of my finger to form small warts that became bigger. It was painful and spread  to my middle finger. It left a mark on the registration form of the COMELEC. during my finger -printing . I could not hold the chalk well because, the more painful it was when I began writing on the chalkboard. The live wart spread on the other fingers. I was worried it might spread on my body.
            My mother saw my fingers and advised me to remove it. I must get some wilt banana leaf and stay outside during thunderstorm. I waited for bad weather everyday. Then one night, bad weather came. It rained so hard and there, the thunderstorm strike that it lightened the area. I remembered what my mother told me and I got the wilted banana leaf which I kept in one place.
             Although very much afraid, I stayed outside. The lightning did strike followed by a very loud sound of thunder. I brushed the banana leaf over the warts on my finger and threw the banana leaf at my back without looking at it. I did it three times at every sound of the thunder. At every brushing, I would utter, " Kulugo, go with the lightning. " Funny , right?    Then , I got inside.  The warts were still there. On the second day, I noticed that not a single wart was seen on my finger and I could no longer feel the pain. I showed my fingers to my mother and I thanked her for the advise .
             It may sound superstitious to anyone, but that was the treatment  which I passed on to my children in case of appearance of warts.

A friend's pride

              A friend had for a number of times showed off her bundles of money to me. She even offered the bundle to me, then put it back inside her big pocket. In my presence, counting 30 yens with a value of ten thousand each bill amounted to more than one hundred pesos .  Sometimes, when neighbors gathered, she would show her money to me and offered the bundle.  Think about it. Pride is in her heart. Her fingers showed off gold rings and gold necklace .
             God knows what is in a man's heart. My relatives and friend would somehow tell me to do the same to her by displaying big amount of money which my son-in-law gave to fully pay the house mortgage. I said no. God  will be angry at me. Time flies and this friend loses some wealth and no longer displays  gold rings on many of her fingers. I don't know what happened to these jewelries. Pawned or placed inside a jewelry box  remained a good guess.  It is a good sample of reflecting that wealth is lost when a person is greedy or boastful. God curses blessings when  He is not at the center of our hearts.

God knows what is in our hearts

               What is in our hearts, comes out through the mouth.  When man is angry, he can not voice out words of love through his mouth. He feels it in his heart, so the words coming out of his mouth are words of  anger, curse, etc. It is time to reflect. We commit sin in thought, in words, and in deed. If man does not kill a person using a weapon because he cannot afford to kill a person but his thought of wishing him to die is still a sin. 

                I  reflect on life after death. Thinking of hell and its eternal pain made me pray  to God that should I die, I want Jesus and Mama Mary to be at my side.  If we do not reflect on death , we will not be able to picture what would happen if we do not repent. We refuse to think of death, some knocking on wood thinking  it makes their life longer. Death knows no time. God knows when we die and what is in our hearts. 

Little Jamie did it again.

             Jamie  washed again the utensils. the simple training was effective. Now she talks about germs while washing. 

Jamie : "Mommy, there are still germs. "  She rub the plate again with the liquid detergent.  I did the rinsing of the

             utensils . 

After washing, she went to the other house to change her wet clothes. Jamie also  sprinkled water to the plants 

              this morning.

Our little girl Jamie

               Jamie will turn four on March 31.  This morning , Jamie assisted me in cooking. She peeled the plastic wrap of hotdogs . Then , I cooked fried rice. She helped me and used another ladle. With my assistance, we were able to cook it.  Standing on a chair, she began washing the utensils, used liquid soap detergent, then rinsed them with water. Glasses, spoons, fork, bowls, plates, ladles, platters were the items being washed. When she heard the sound of the motor, she called on her father to wait for her. I just told her to go , so I continued washing the remaining four items of dishes.

               With my guidance, I let her pray to God to save and help the people of Japan in Jesus name. That was in addition to her daily morning and evening prayer to greet the Holy Trinity. Jamie is very generous, sharing her food to her friends.