Looking back on 2011

2011 has been a good year. I already wrote about some of the major changes in our life in a previous post so I thought I’d recap 2011 a little differently.

January

I planned to adopt my sister's cat but my mom decided to to adopt him instead. Unfortunately, Shadow passed away from anemia in October. He was a good cat.

February

Hosted our annual Super Bowl party. I used felt to create a table cloth that looked like a football field.

March

I visited London and Edinburgh. I spent time with one of my best friends and even met up with a classmate from Montessori school!

Kitchen Fail

I can’t cook Filipino food! I’ve tried three times now (with 2 different dishes) and all were major fails! I followed recipes and they still didn’t taste anywhere like how they did when I was growing up.

In analyzing my continued failure as a Filipino cook, I came up with three major factors that may contribute:

#1 We had a really good cook in the Philippines. Maybe the bar is set too high.

#2 I haven’t had these foods in more than 10 years. Maybe my recollection of how the dishes are supposed to taste is faulty.

#3 Nostalgia for my childhood. Everything seems better in the good ol’ days.

So until I can take some Filipino cooking lessons, I quit.

Cultural Lessons

As promised, pics of the contents of my Balikbayan Box.

The box is really heavy, which is a good sign. Heavy gifts are always better. I added some clothes to the box too, but those aren’t in the pictures.

Cultural Lessons

This week I introduced V to a Filipino tradition – the Balikbayan Box. A lot of Filipinos who immigrate to the US (or to other non-impoverished countries) still have family members in the Philippines. Immigrants often send Balikbayan Boxes back to the Philippines filled with food, clothes and other gifts.

Lesson One: What goes in the Balikbayan Box?
When selecting items for the box, you have to think of some things.

• Does the recipient have a refrigerator?
• Do they have a stove?
• Items must be in unbreakable containers.
• Package weight isn’t a factor. Cargo services have no weight limit as long as everything fits in the box.

Balikbayan Box staples include:

• canned meat (e.g. corned beef, Vienna sausages, tuna)
• beauty items (shampoo/conditioner, lotion)
• canned fruit (fruit cocktail for Filipino fruit salad!)
• pasta
• canned veggies (tomato paste/sauce)
• spreads (peanut butter, jam)
• powdered drinks (Tang, cocoa)
• chocolate, candy

Once I’m done buying all the items for this year’s box, I’ll post a pic.

*Opinions on Filipino governance purposely not expressed