One Plane Ride Away

Hello dolls! Hello Los Angeles!! 🙂 I can’t believe it’s only been 19 hours since the last time I hugged my family 🙁 Fast forward to 2015, please? So A and I are waiting for our next flight, which is tomorrow at 6:50AM! It’s my first time to have a looooong layover and when I say long, I mean HALF A DAY….12 HOURS!!!! At first when we booked our tickets I was pretty excited about it, cause I was thinking maybe we can do something. But unfortunately,we are here in Starbucks waiting for time to pass.There aren’t a lot of restaurants before the security line and most of them are just too…blah.We were told that In-N-Out is a 15 minute walk away from our terminal,but I had to tell A to save it for next time (and before you hate me for declining……) I am still pretty sentimental about being away from my family again, and I never thought I would cry again after going here for the third time ( I should probably get used to our airport scenes but it’s sooooo haaaard ) Going to In-N-Out will just remind me of our family burger night at home,and I think it’s a pretty good reason to pass on In-N-Out for now and put it on my list of things to do with my piggies 😉

In the perfect world, the Universe will let me hop on the next flight home. Knowing that there’s a plane leaving for MNL is torture…. Take me to Baltimore or take me home.

Our little rooftop garden at home, wish I can be here now….

Rosemary ; Italian Parsley; and Basil

Thank you, Daddy!!! Hopefully next year when we go home I will see our herbs looking like this again 😉

As soon as my Dad had the herbs planted, I listed down recipes that I can do with them. One of which is Falafel.

 

I love falafel! I love the flavor of the herbs and chickpeas mixed together and the crispy texture that I get with every bite.

 

Fresh parsley from our little herb garden 😉

What makes me love falafel even more is the fact that it’s HEALTHY! And very easy to make.

Falafel is best eaten with yogurt sauce (one of my favorites in the world!)

I did not use Greek yogurt as it was not available in the supermarkets close to our home 😐

Falafel is usually served in pita. As a little twist, I used pandesal for ours (a Filipino bread)

My Mom liked it cause she loves having pandesal for her afternoon snack…with her coffee of course 😉

Remember my post about me cooking something everyday until my departure ( http://riannagalvez.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/food-for-the-parents/ )

All of the food in this entry were some of the dishes that I made during that time.

…and since I overindulged during my 3 week stay in MNL, I told myself that I will be kind to my body one I get back to Baltimore.

Meaning, back to my healthy fresh food diet and a trip to the gym once in a while.

To inspire me, I am posting 3 healthy dishes that I made for my parents and I.

 

Tapioca and coconut milk are one of the pairings that I love. ( I mean any dessert with coconut milk in it is to delish to me). We have a Filipino dessert called ginataan bilo bilo (sticky rice balls in coconut milk). So here’s a lighter and Americanized version of it. I used honey to sweeten it and skim milk to lighten the thickness of the coconut milk (it got waaay too thick after boiling it for a couple of minutes).

 

Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes

I like doing one-pot meals when I have a lot of errands to do. My Dad loves chorizo so I’ve decided to make something for him.

What I love about this recipe is the orange zest. Adding zest from a citrus fruit to chicken is a simple tip that can go a long way, Especially if you want a hint of freshness 😉

Put everything in a pot and cook until chicken is done 😉

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To end my post, here’s a very beautiful memory from 2 years ago. I finally decided to share this now cause there is a big event in our lives that is going to happen soon.

My sister’s 18th birthday 2 years ago. She deserves to be the star on this post cause I don’t know how I will be able to sleep tonight knowing that I won’t be seeing her sleeping face until the next 6 months :(((((((

My sister is all about pink! I was too, you know? But for special events like this I try to do something different and put pink on the back burner. But for Chella, PINK ALL THE WAY! hahaha

My piggies!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

 

My Mom and I are very hands on when it comes to special occasions like this. We like everything to have “our” touch and we take pride in saying we pulled off my sister’s debut without hiring a coordinator!

And can I tell you that my sister was no easy client?

One of the things that made the job easy was when we hired Shekinah Dishes to be the caterer. It put the planning at ease and we were able to focus on more pink slash girly stuff for my sister.

I remember not being able to hold back my tears when it was my time to say something for her. She’s my little sister and we’ve been through hell together. From pulling each other’s hair to not forgetting to buy something for each other when we go out (even if it’s just the tiniest and cheapest thing in the mall). She’s my little sister and even though it was very embarrassing to hear my voice crack and cry in front of 150 people, I was able to tell her how much she means to me (even more now).

It sucks that we have to be away from each other now, but this is only motivating me to work harder to make things happen for my piggies and I. Just like I was able to make the past 3 weeks happen.

Countdown to March 2015 begins now…and I can’t wait!!! <3