I Blog, Therefore I Am.: January 2016

OUR WEDDING HIGHLIGHTS

It's my first day back at work as a new missus. I missed my wifely duties and housewife routine of the last two weeks while I was at work earlier. I am still on our wedding bubble and I want to extend for one more week our vacation BUT sadly off to work we go. Gotta save for that honeymoon trips!

One of the things that made me happy last night was our on-site photo slideshow by Nicolai Melicor. It was the same day edit of our photos that was featured in our wedding reception. We finally got our copy yesterday.

Nicolai Melicor is the best! She's one of the first suppliers we booked and met back in January 2015. There are so many good wedding photographers in the Philippines today but we chose Nicolai for her colorful and vivid style. We love the brightness and lifelike style of her photos and her team's. We are not really the dramatic, slow-shutter-low exposure, play of lights kind of couple so we opted for Nicolai and her playful saturation and natural light type of photography. More review on this soon!

For the meantime - here's our on-site wedding slideshow...

Music: Run Run by The Rival

We are very very happy how this turned-out. Nicolai and her team beautifully captured the happy, emotional, and candid moments that we had in our wedding. Wagas ang kaligayahan ko, diba?

Also - here is the list of awesome our suppliers whose works were featured in the video. I am hoping to write a review about each of them very soon. I just really need to sit down and find time to do it.

Chapel: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Montecito Nuvali
Reception: Pasa Tiempo, Montecito Nuvali
Wedding Preps: Seda Nuvali
Gown: Gretchen Pichay
Entourage's Gown: Paolo Blanco
Entourage's Suits: Gardini
Hair & Make-up: Eds Go
Flowers: Joel Faller
Pre-nup Photography: Caliber King, Team Pat Dy
Invitation Design: Ink Scribbler
Missalette Design & Other Prints: Blissful by MarKat
Wedding Coordinator: Events By Marge

Our wedding was truly a joyous and love-filled occasion for us and our families. A big thanks and shout-out to our family, relatives, friends, and colleagues who celebrated with us!

21Comments

, by Abbie

In Chicken Sopas, Food

KITCHEN EXPERIMENT: CHICKEN SOPAS

We've been married for two weeks now and living a very domesticated life. There are adjustments here and there but the biggest discovery I had is my hubby's hearty appetite. He has a very strict rule of eating 3x a day (on time and on the dot at that) whereas I only eat when I am hungry. This was initially a problem because I am not exactly Martha Stewart. I cook from time to time but I am not really the Filipina 'housewife cooking type'.

BUT I'm a very competitive person and I always aim to please thus I was able to cook a total of 4 lunch/dinner dishes (Sinigang, Afritada, Fried Chicken, Sopas), successfully marinated some chicken thighs and drumsticks, perfected an over easy egg, and mastered breakfast cooking in my 14 days as a married woman. Mean feat for someone who used to be clueless on the amount of cooking oil when stir-frying.

Last night, New Year's Eve, I decided to try one of my favorite dishes: Chicken Sopas. I got the recipe from Manila Spoon but I modified it a bit according to our preference, brands of the ingredients, and serving size. The hubby approved this but he wants it more 'salty'. You guys can also adjust the salt level through fish sauce or salt. Sharing the recipe below.

CHICKEN SOPAS

Ingredients
1 boneless chicken breasts, cooked then shredded
200 grams Del Monte Elbow Macaroni
3 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Knorr Chicken Broth Cubes
1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium carrots, cubes
3 celery stalks, sliced diagonally
8-10 cups chicken broth (I used the water where I boiled the chicken)
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste
Fish Sauce, 2-3 tablespoon or to taste (you can opt with 1 tablespoon depending on your preference)
1 can Carnation Evaporated Milk

Steps in Cooking

1. Boil the chicken breasts until tender and cooked. Shred it with a fork or just with your hands after it cooled down.

2. Set aside the water where you boiled your chicken breast. You will use this after for the broth.

3. Cook the Del Monte Elbow Macaroni al dente. I used an induction stove and boiled and timed it for 14 mins. Set aside after cooking. Prepare the vegetables while boiling the macaroni.

4. In a large pan, heat the oil. Saute the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots until the onions become translucent and the vegetables are tender for about 5 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper.

5. Add the shredded chicken. Add the boiled chicken water, add the Knorr Chicken Broth cubes, season with some fish sauce, salt, and pepper. Add fish sauce or salt to taste or depending on your preference. Bring to a boil.

6. Add the cooked Del Monte Elbow Macaroni and Carnation Evaporated Milk and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Serves 9 - 10
Cost: Php 250.00 (most of the ingredients are in the pantry so this could be lower)

Hope this helps! Enjoy!