Kate's Little Nook

I have read or heard somewhere (or maybe got influenced by social media) that generosity comes in three forms:      ✓ Being generous with your money and things;      ✓ Being generous with your time;      ✓ Being generous with your energy After a thorough assessment, I have concluded that I'm low on all three! I'm always out protecting my wallet, guarding my calendar and putting my social battery into power-saving mode. So yes! I'm selfish, alright 😝 But during today's homily, the priest said something that stuck with me: Generosity isn;t only about giving.  It's also about taking--but not taking more than you need.   Knowing enough is enough is also a form of generosity because it leaves enough for others. So...  Maybe, just maybe, there's a teeny, tiny, microscopic speck of generosity in me after all 😉 I'll take that as a win!  Although not excessively 👀 🩶 K8 (from Dreamtime.com)

Photo grabbed from her FB account.           I have been thinking a lot about you since the day I heard of your passing. I still cannot believe I will never see you again-- your positive disposition and your smiling face. As I pen this message to you, I repeatedly scrolled back our chat history and the pictures that we were in together to make sure I do not miss anything.      Thank you for the times you have opened your home to us. I remember the first time I took a trip alone to Manila ten years ago. My date of departure was nearing and I haven't found a place to stay yet. To make sure I will not be turned down when I approach you, I went to Auntie Tita first to ask if you were the type who does not mind accepting visitors. Truly the gracious host, you welcomed me and let me stay and even offered to send me to the airport upon my return to Cebu. I also had the chance to experience Baguio because of you and your family. Thanks a lot for let...

RIP March 23, 2018 " Si Wilson napusilan (Wilson was shot)," said my mother who just came out from the bathroom very uneasy and was in a haste.  This was what I woke up to in the morning of March 24, 2018.  At first thought, I pictured my cousin in a hospital bed safely recuperating and that he just got entangled with some drug-related altercation the night before.  And so I went on to attend my first Fairchild cooperative assembly that Saturday.  It was during the event that I finally understood the situation.  I saw his blooded corpse plastered all over Facebook.  Imagine how it felt like as a relative seeing the pictures?   As I Know Him... Everytime my family visited the ancestral home in Mandaue City, we used to play a lot.  Kuya Wilson grew up in that house.  I remember him pretty much the joker, with Kuya Owie and him ganging up on us girl cousins with their antics.  He loved dogs too.  By the time he pas...

No matter how many times I fail, cooking will always be something I will not be quitting from.  I rarely cook but I always give in to the urge when I am craving for something. What's so good about pork belly roasts?  It is very easy to prepare and yet you get a heavy meal you'd be leaving the table with your bellies so full. Sans the electric oven, I experimented on my roasted pork belly using the turbo broiler.  Yielded the same results: extra-yummy and extra juicy.  And while people rely on salt and pepper for its flavors, I relied on the brine so that the flavors seep in on the entire meat itself. Here's my recipe guide:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVsVg75Rjlg Brine Ingredients: Bay Leaf (optional, depends on your preference) Lemon Grass Salt Pepper Corns Garlic For The Belly Filling: Salt White Pepper Powder Garlic Shallots Lemon Grass Bay Leaf (again, depends on your preference) * I had the last 4 i...

The decision to leave Lexmark will remain to be a pivotal part of my working life.  Was I able to establish a career in there?  No.  Had I imagined myself establishing a career in there?  In one way or another, yes.  Lexmark has set the bar high so much that where ever I will go, it will serve as a benchmark on my future choice of companies.  Leaving the company was a suicidal decision because I was saying goodbye to a good employer with nowhere to go and no company to transfer to. What makes Lexmark stand out from the rest?  Here are my reasons: A Convenient Hiring and On-boarding Process.   Once you get identified for the position, a background investigation is conducted.  After passing such, the company makes the job offer and at the same time provide you a list of items required to prepare you for the on-boarding process.  My second on-boarding process took faster than the first.  I guess this depends on h...

Here’s a nifty habit I would want to share with you... I kind of inherited this from my mother actually... You see, when we visit food establishments and order our food, the service crews tend to give us more than enough tissues than we actually need.  So what I do is I set aside the extras, keep them in my purse (I purposely designated a purse for my collection) and save them incase I would need them for future use. This way, I do not have unnecessary wastage; I am able to save mother earth in my own little way (since at this point in time, I’m having a hard time ditching plastic straws); and I now seldom buy those tissue packs sold at Watson’s. P.S. Thanks to my friend, Nadine for the purse.  It was her pasalubong from Thailand. oo0 End of Post 0ooo

http://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/give_hand.html Ito ang ating dapat tandaan kung tayo ay nagnanais mangutang ng pera sa ating kapwa: 1. KAPALAN ANG MUKHA. Hindi lang naman pera ang pakay natin dito.  Kapag nangutang tayo ng pera, para na rin natin hinihingi ang tiwala ng pinag-uutangan natin.  Tiwala na sa ating pangungutang, magbabayad tayo. 2. MAGBIGAY NG ARAW KUNG KAILAN BABAYARAN ANG UTANG. Ang nangungutang lang kasi ang makapal ang mukha.  Karamihan sa atin na pinag-uutangan, nahihiyang maningil.  Kaya magbigay tayo ng petsa kung kailan natin ito mababayaran.  Para naman isahan lang ang paniningil ng ating mga inuutangan.  Isa rin itong patnubay na may intensyon tayong bayaran ang hiniram nating halaga. 3. TUMUGON SA PETSA NA IBINIGAY. Huwag na natin hintayin maningil ang taong pinag-uutangan natin.  Kung makakabayad tayo nang mas maaga, abay mas maganda!  Kung hindi naman, maniguradong makakabayad tayo sa petsa na pi...

http://www.amazon.com/16x20-Middle-Finger-Funny-Poster/dp/B008YJ26Y2 ... when you intend to keep a secret but everybody knows it already; ... when your favorite pastime is to back stab people without you knowing that everybody is already back stabbing you; ... when he who does the least work is the one who gets the most pay; ... when he who has so much to say doesn't have so much to show; ... when you forget that you are dispensable; ... when nobody really cares if you cannot make it to the party; ... when someone tells you something and you know they are lying; ... when you are too eager posting statuses in social media without you knowing you can be hit by it; ... when the real rumormongers are not the people at the bottom; ... when people sell fights that nobody wants to buy; ... when people have nothing left but their pride; ... when people do not walk their talk; ... when people do shit and expect others to fix it f...

Badian (Downstream) Canyoneering (October 10, 2015) I never knew how blessed Cebu is in terms of its natural resources until I came to experience canyoning in Badian.  For those people who has a great taste of adventure, this activity is a must-try. Badian is just 3 hours away from the city.  You can prepare around Php 100.00 for the bus trip commencing in the South Bus Terminal.  In our case, we had a car convoy.  You must depart early.  This activity can usually take 3 hours if you are doing it with a smaller group (3-4 people).  Ours took almost 7 hours because there were 12 of us. There are various start-off points, and our group started in Alegria as per the advise of our guide, Sir Kyno (0999 325 9621 / 0939 658 6473).  The entrance fee from the point of Alegria is only Php 20.00.  This is for the environmental and maintenance fees ( kuno ). After settling the entrance fee, you have to hire a habal-habal to take you off to the s...

My father is a number of unpleasant things.  But I have come to realize that lately in his life, the good has outweighed the bad.  And since this month is his birth month, I'd try to be the good daughter and drop my villain cape (he says I am his number one "kontrabida" ).  Allow me to highlight the best things in him: My daddy was orphaned by his mother at an early age.  He grew up without a mother figure by his side.  A lot of his childhood years were spent with his sisters and his father, who happened to remarry while he was still on his teenage years.  But despite growing up sans his mother, he has a soft feminine touch in him: HE LOVES TO COOK .  This, he gives credit to his mother.  I would have wanted to meet my Lola but as mentioned, she died young.  Auntie Tita (his eldest sister) happens to be a great cook too. Daddy makes a copy or a better version of the recipe that he likes from a restaurant.  He likes...

Today was another opportunity to cook something new. You see, I was never really at home most of the time for the past 3 weeks.   So this weekend, I decided to stay at home and think of something to do, and what better way to waste time than cook, right? The last 3 days, I thought of preparing something healthy. I've been doing a lot of meat dishes and boy this ain't good!  So I decided to make the green and healthy ones.  The only catch: I'd like a DIY-kind of dressing. I tried searching the internet for the ingredients but unfortunately, I found most of them are hard to find here in Cebu.   BFF to the rescue!   I asked Ann for a simple dressing with very easy-to-find ingredients. Having lived in the states for quite a time, I know she can give me one, with green salads being common dishes in the US. First, let me list down my salad mixture: Singakamas (Native Turnip) Green Bell Pepper Yellow Bell Pepper Carrots Cucum...

 Just behind Best Western Sand Bar Resort, Isla Romantica is a small chunk of Island, more or less around 100 sqm in land area, developed and managed by an old guy named Manong Ben. (Credits to Emil Mar for this video) How to get there: Take a multicab ride from the city proper of Lapu-lapu to Cordova.  The fare is Php 10.00 only.  You alight at the main town center of Cordova and arrange for a sikad to Alegria.  Fare is also at Php 10.00.  Tell the sikad driver to drop you off at the corner of Agila Resort and from there, you walk up unto the shoreline.  A small pump boat (pre-arranged) will wait for you.  Boat ride is Php 50.00 (round trip). By the way, you also have to inform Manong Ben that you would want to go there in this particular date and time. ISLA ROMANTICA CTO: Emil Mar How the name came about?  The island has no electricity hence making it a very attractive site for lovers to meet an...