October 13, 2021

 Before the pandemic, I found menu planning difficult. I had to plan a breakfast and a dinner menu. I am the only one at home for lunch time. I mostly I enjoyed a bowl of savory oatmeal, a bowl of vegetable soup, sometimes served with rice or a serving mixed fresh salad with a side of fresh fruits.

Thankfully, my kids were flexible especially since I became a plant eater since 2015. 

The mister joined me a few years ago. So, meat now has an occasional appearance in my grocery list and on our table. I still sometimes buy it for the boy. 

But during this pandemic, I now have to plan 3 meals, plus snacks. I don't mind it. No, really. 

I love it and the ratings I get from my regular diners, the boy and the mister.

The past few days have been difficult with meal planning as I am extremely busy with work too in addition to fall gardening. 

The other day, I stopped by at the grocery. The post office and the office supply shops are in the same complex as the grocery store. Isn't that so convenient?

I bought sesame seed rolls, a pack of lettuce, plum tomatoes, a pack of mini cucumber, and a bottle of ranch dressing. I thought I'd just whip a roasted pepper sandwich for our late lunch.

I harvested basil leaves, and a huge green bell pepper in our garden, and roasted it to char greatness.

TADAH!

Roasted green bell pepper, Swiss cheese, basil leaves, lettuce, tomatoes, Kewpie mayonnaise on sesame seed roll, plus a side of mini cucumber and ranch dressing dip.

Yesterday, I ran out of ideas for dinner. Again. Ugh!

I was so busy shipping yesterday and organizing inventories, that I totally forgot I didn't have anything planned for dinner.

I asked the mister for suggestions, and he immediately said, "The sandwich we had for lunch yesterday. Let's have that?"

OMG! 

They loved that?! 

So, I harvested the last bell peppers from our garden before it got dark.

Instead of French fries, I served mini cucumbers again. 

But for dinner last night, I added an option-- toasted portabella mushroom in teriyaki sauce. 

Double OMG!

It was superb. 

October 12, 2020

After our morning coffee today while setting my space ready for work, I noticed Larry, my daughter's boyfriend, posted an Instagram story. 

My daughter, my son, and most of their friends are not active on social media, and that includes Larry.

His Instagram story said that he was on a Zoom call with Radiohead, the rock band. 

OMG! That is totally insane!

"Creep", the band's debut song in the early 90s is one of my favorites. In fact, it's on my Spotify playlist under Karaoke Battle. 

Hahahaha. 

I study songs, and I perform them in my garden. My plants are my big imaginary crowd. Our next door neighbor thought I sang in a band because he always hears me sing. 

Sometimes, I challenge my little sister for Karaoke Battle on Viber.

Twelve years ago, I begged my kids to sing it for me for my birthday. Of course, the lyrics were edited to be appropriate for children.

   

Among all the covers of Creep, excluding my kids',  I love Kelly Clarkson's.

 

She's so good!

Back to Larry's Zoom call, he said they're going to do an episode of Radiohead on their podcast. 

He's one of the producers of NPR's Throughline Podcast. If you love listening to podcasts about history, follow them on Spotify or on their website. 

I can't wait!

P.S. The post office today was mobbed, and I was only able to drop 1 package instead of 10 because I ran out of ink on my printer. Thankfully, I didn't have to travel far to buy ink because the office supply store is in the same shopping complex as the post office. 

Shipping packages to customers will, therefore, resume tomorrow. 

October 11, 2021

 I haven't done much today, but bake. 

I made eggplant parmesan and I'm not so impressed with this recipe. I should have followed my go-to recipe by Jamie Oliver. 

After that, I baked Leche Flan cake, which thankfully got a 10-star rating by the boy. He's not really generous with his ratings and usually the highest I get is an 8. This time, it's a 10.

There were 6 egg white discards from the cake, and I decided to utilize them for Meringue Cookies. I added a couple of drops of red food coloring to make them look pink. Not for Philippine political candidate inclination, but because I had only red food coloring in my stash. Besides that, pink is the official color for October's breast cancer awareness month. 

I wanted to plant more tulips and clean spent plants in the backyard, but couldn't find the time to squeeze that in. 

Tomorrow is shipping day for my online orders from last weekend and today. Usually, I ship on Mondays but today is a federal holiday. 

So, tomorrow is another busy day for me. Hopefully, I can do some gardening after my trip to the post office before it closes for the day.