Pregnancy Update: My 20th Week

How time flies, I am already in my 20th week of pregnancy. Halfway there but to quote my officemates  - "you still have to battle Summer". Haaay, I hope its not as hot as the one before but judging how spring is becoming, I don't think I will be lucky. One thing for sure, our portable airconditioner will be maximized to its full capacity LOL.

My updates for the week:

• Felt my Baby moved!!! The feeling is unexplainable --- weird but overwhelming at the same time. I now look forward to feeling each movement happen everyday. =)
• Had my second hospital visit and was told I gained 1 kg since last month --- a very good weight gain, yahoo!
• Baby is reacting in my tummy everytime I play Celine Dion's Lullaby. Very funny!
• I am still in search for our Baby's name --- need to get a name that starts with A and G.

Also, Tanya finally announced to everyone that she is preggy  --- 14 weeks, hahaha. I have a feeling we'll give birth simultaneously. Can't wait to see hear and exchange our pregnancy stories.

I will close this post with my 20th week photo taken just this morning. Sideview para makita ang bump. =)

The most sinful chocolate cake

After going to the market today, I made sure to grab 2 bars of Nestle Dark Chocolate from the baking aisle because I really wanted to bake the most sinful chocolate cake by Casa Veneracion. This recipe is on top of my list despite me not really a chocolate person. I wanted to bake this for hubby and see if its really as simple as the recipe suggests.

For my version, I used one bar of Nestle Plaistowe 70% Dark Chocolate, just over 175g of unsalted butter (I am trying to lessen the butter content), 1 cup of sugar, 2 heaping spoon of flour (hubby wanted a bit more flour than the 1 tbs suggested in the recipe) and 4 eggs. After mixing the ingredients, I then put in on my preheated fan-forced oven at 175C for 30 mins, and left it there for 10 mins with the oven turned off. After cooling my cake, I turned it upside down and saw a burnt bottom of the cake, I scraped the bottom and the picture below is the finished product. My mistake for the burnt bottom was that I didn't reduce the temperature (fan forced oven should be set lower than normal ones!). But it didn't affect the taste of the at all.

 my cake after scraping the burnt part

 so moist and fudgy

really really sinful!

I shared this one slice of cake with hubby and it was really really good! I don'y have a sweet tooth but this one hit the mark ---not too sweet and not too bready either. And believe me, its really sinful --- think about the sugar and butter content and you will think twice of eating over a slice of this cake. And since its only me and hubby, I told him to bring the cake to the office tom and share it with his officemate who are all chocoholics. Hmmm, I think I'm gonna bake this cake more often but not for our own consumption. =)

Thanks PinoyCook for the inspiration! You made my weekend a very fruitful (and tummy-full) one.

Cake orders anyone?





Grilled Saturday

I was feeling hungry by this afternoon because hubby and I only had boiled corn for lunch. I was silently doing an inventory of food in our fridge and realized that I only had 2 pcs of chicken thigh in there and we are not going to the market until tommorrow. Then I remembered I had 4 pcs of small eggplants, a pizza base and some shredded cheese so the idea of having a grilled eggplant pizza came to mind.

I brought out my stove-top griller and put it on high heat while turning on the oven at the same time. I then salted the sliced eggplant to remove some of its moisture, then basted it with olive oil. When the pan was hot enough, I put on the sliced eggplant, turning it once for that char-grilled look.

The pizza was then prepped, with fresh basil from the garden, cheese, grilled eggplant, a bit of chili flakes and some pepper. I then put in on my Pizza Stone - something I bought a long time ago but only used today.

After 10 mins, the pizza is ready for eating. And its soooo delish!!! I will definitely make this more often, not as fattening as my meat-based pizza.



yummy grilled eggplant pizza cooked in my very own Pizza Stone

 nice grilled marks on my eggplant

Because my griller is still hot, I want to make full use of it. I checked my freezer and there's a Kransky (some kind of sausage which is really yummy!) inside. I defrosted it in the microwave for a minute, sliced and grilled it.

 yummy Kransky. I now have two tapas. =)

To make my grilling worthwhile, I took out the chicken thigh, defrosted it a bit, then rubbed dry spice (lemon pepper spice) and salt to it then off to the griller. The smell coming from the kitchen is so divine. I want to have dinner at 4pm! But because of the pizza we ate, we have to wait for 6pm to have my grilled dishes.

grilled chicken rubbed with dry spice.

All these cooking made me want to create a food blog, haaay... Last weekend, while homealone, I cooked these three dishes I got from my new fave food blog Casa Veneracion. Yum, yum, yum!!!

tuna spring roll.

 beef salpicao

creamy baked chicken and potatos with yogurt (instead of cream)

There are still a number of dishes from her site that I really want to try, I have a list and one day I can tick off everything from that list. =)

So, what's cooking in your kitchen this Saturday afternoon?



A letter to our little one

Dear Baby,

You are 19 weeks and 1 day (in gestational age) today. Your Dad and I were really happy to see you again this morning and couldn’t wait any longer for the 1st of March to come.

Seeing you today at the Sydney Ultrasound for Women was a breath of fresh air from our chaotic month end activities. I am thankful that I lived in this technological age where I can see you in 4D inside my tummy. You were so cute when you had your arms over your head, just like me when I am sleeping. We saw your limbs, your eyes and nose (and Daddy said you have a very ‘matangos’ nose just like Mommy hehehe). And when we wanted to check your gender, you crossed your legs, cheeky little baby. Though not 100% sure, the sonographer said that you are my little girl, my mini-me.

How time flies baby, we are halfway through this journey and you know what, my good friend is also pregnant although she didn’t know that she is 14 weeks on the way already. There are so many things she needs to do but I will be here to guide her, and when her baby will arrive, I’m sure she/he will be your best buddy as well. You two will look after each other Baby okay?


At this stage my Angel, I am not sure if what I am feeling was your kicking and jumping but I am sure I will fully feel your movements in the next few days. Seeing you earlier waving at us and kicking is such a joy. And the confirmation that all is well with you is indeed a blessing --- something we continue to thank and pray to God.

My pregnancy book is telling me that you can hear our voices already. I hope you like the music I am playing every night before we go to bed and you also enjoy our conversations together. I treasure these moments, our bond as mom and daughter just began. Sometimes, I think, you also look forward to hearing your Dad’s voice because I can feel the sudden pressure at my lower ribs when I am walking towards his office at 5:00 pm everyday last week! And he enjoys talking to you as much as I do.

 4D photo of you my little one.

Little girl, please continue to be brave inside Mum’s tummy okay? Remember, we love you so so much, we prayed for you, our family and friends prayed for you. You are surrounded with love from the moment you were conceived. A grand party is awaiting your arrival my Princess.




Hugs and kisses.

Mommy and Daddy

Well, hello there

I know, I know. Its been a month since my last update and I have a valid reason for not attending to this blog --- I was busy at work! Yes, busy. We just had a hectic year end with all management reports due two weeks after the 4th of September. But now, that is all over and the new financial year have started (I will worry about month end tom).

Today, I am 18 weeks and 4 days pregnant, almost halfway already. I will have my second ultrasound on Thursday and we can't wait to see the little one once again and to finally know his/her gender.

The second trimester is the 'most forgettable' according to the books I read --- no major dramas, morning sickness is gone and you are not that huge yet that you can still do whatever you like (or almost). And this is true in my case. I am just so happy that I'm over morning sickness because it not really funny! I am monitoring my weight now so I won't gain more than what is desirable for me and for the baby.

I haven't had a monthly photo to show off my tummy but on my 16th week, hubby took this photo of me when we went to Bobbin Head Park.

I am ending this entry with a photo of me and Rose, my highschool barkada who went to Vanuatu to educate the people there on how to do organic farming (and even grooming!). I am so proud of her coz she is doing what she loved to do --- be involved in her own NGO and help other people by imparting her (and her husbands) knowledge about farming. You are truly an Iskolar ng Bayan Rose --- you gave back to the people what your learned from UPLB, I salute you!



Till my next update.

Hope you are having a lovely day!