This is Andre’s latest addition to his Lightning Macqueen and Disney Pixar Cars’ Collection. We have bought it from a Surplus Store near our place. They sell various second-hand items from Australia, which include various industrial products like pump, lawn mower, planer, ladder, and electric drills. They also have kitchen gadgets, televisions, toys, strollers, and bicycles.

We’re so happy to find this Inflatable Lightning Macqueen with interactive video for Andre because we only bought it for P1200. It’s cheap even if it has a slight damage on it! I checked its price in the internet and found out that it costs about P4000 if purchased on-line. Andre is so happy with his new toy and loves playing with it.

The BER months are coming! Time really flies so fast! In a few days, the last quarter of the year will begin. It only means, Christmas season is fast approaching and time for shopping. Need to start making a list for an early Christmas shopping. This sounds interesting…hmmm… We’re also planning to purchase an LCD TV because our television at the living room needs replacement na. We are also thinking of buying playstation 3 or PSP, but haven’t decided yet because Andre has the tendency to become addictive to computer games. Haay, I think we have to discipline him first before buying.

Eto ang aking lahok para sa tema ngayong linggong ito. Ang aking meryenda:

Palaman: Herbed Cream Cheese from Pan de Manila

Tinapay: Bagel from Country Style (Nabili ko lang ito ng mura, 20% off  )

Panulak: Brewed Coffee with cream

Haay, sarap talaga kumain!

With a mother who has a thyroid problem, we grew up eating seafoods, such as clams because they are a good source of iodine. My mom cooks them by sautéing them in oil, ginger, garlic, and onion. She lets the clams simmer in a few minutes until the shells are slightly opened to avoid over-cooking.

As promised, here’s the recipe for my previous entry,  a nutritious, simple, and budget-friendly dish.

Here’s my version of cooking clams: Clams with patola and miswa soup

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo of fresh clams
• A thumb-sized ginger, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 medium patola, chopped
• 2 cups water
• A bunch of miswa
• Salt and pepper

Procedure:

Sauté ginger, garlic, and onion in oil. Add in the clams and water. Let them simmer and add miswa. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off fire. Serve hot.

Cost: less than P100

This post is in relation to my previous post about the campaign for the passage of a law to ban asbestos. The purpose of this post is to increase the awareness of the health risks related to occupational asbestos exposure, e.g., asbestosis and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a signal tumor for asbestos exposure that occurs among workers’ family members from dust on the workers clothes and among neighbors of asbestos air pollution point sources. Based on some experimental animal studies, high inhalation exposures to all forms of asbestos for only hours can cause cancer.

Asbestos is found in construction materials like asbestos-cement (AC) flat and corrugated sheet, AC pipe, and AC water storage tanks. Other products still being manufactured with asbestos content include vehicle brake and clutch pads, roofing, and gaskets. Though today asbestos is hardly used in construction materials other than asbestos-containing products, it is still found in older buildings in the form of friable surfacing materials, thermal system insulation, non-friable flooring materials, and other applications. The removal and maintenance of these materials warrant special attention. One example is the Manila Thermal Power Plant (MTPP) that is now sold to Gagasan Steel Inc for $2.5 million. Under the terms of the sale, Gagasan Steel was given 270 days for the actual start of the project and mobilization and six months, subject to extension, to dismantle the plant building and equipment and clean up the site.

Here’s a link of video showing how disgusting the clean-up procedures conducted by Gagasan Steel at the MTTP.

Based from the video, they have committed various violations during clean-up, which include no sealed enclosure, no decontamination unit, no negative air unit, and asbestos is not being wet sufficiently. Worst, they are being swept, not vacuumed. See the dusts all over the place. It is really very hazardous to the workers and the community near the area. FYI, Manila Thermal Power Plant is very close to Adamson University, residential areas, and manufacturing plants UNILEVER).  Tsk tsk tsk!

For more information about banning asbestos in the Philippines, you may visit the website of the Trade Union Congress of Philippines.

Andre loves hotdogs as much as I do, and all kids do! I know that we should avoid kids eating processed foods like hotdogs, but it would be impossible because they are really delicious and parent like me also love them. Maybe we just have to limit them from eating them everyday. Twice a week will do.

I was thinking of a different way of cooking hotdogs. Normally, hotdogs are cooked by frying and grilling. This time, I am cooking hotdogs the different way. Since Andre loves hotdogs and catsup, I have come-up with a recipe using both. Here it goes:

I used 12 pcs of cocktail hotdogs and sliced them diagonally. I sautéed 1 medium chopped onion in 1 tsp cooking oil and 1 tbsp butter. Then I added the hotdogs and 2 tbsp of catsup. I let them cook for about 3 minutes and seasoned with salt and ground pepper.

Voila! A new hotdog recipe that kids will surely love. It is so easy diba!