Breakfast at Singapore

I usually just have coffee during mornings but when we were there, I got fond of eating breakfast. For reasons that I can't explain, (even after analyzing)... it was delicious and fun to eat. It was more like how they serve breakfast in hotels. And it gives a good and happy early-morning-start, during, and after eating.

Here are the ingredients:
1. A cup of coffee with sugar and fresh milk
2. A few slices of toasted wheat bread
3. Spreadable butter
4. Sugar-free strawberry jam
5. A sunny-side-up egg cooked the way I want it


And so I tried the same breakfast when we came back. I brought back the same (almost) strawberry jam. Bought the same ingredients, and even got the same bread toaster. But it didn't taste the same.


Then, I realized that there were more ingredients that I missed:
1. the adorable baby princess that crawls on the floors and gives you the cutest smiles.
2. the dad who works hard and even goes home for lunch to spend time with his girls.
3. the uncle who claims to just wash dishes and do the laundy, but never complains when asked to do anything.
4. the mama-ate and bestfriend who tirelessly takes the best care of the baby princess, almost leaving nothing for herself.

I missed and I am missing more. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring them back home with me.

The good thing, there is a new "baby" addition to the many reasons why I go to Singapore. The not so good thing, the same addition becomes a reason why it breaks my heart every time I leave.

At Last..

The dining room is the next one on the list.

The 22" wall mounted LCD TV is courtesy of Auntie Debot who we love very much. Denden and I were the ones who installed the TV mount, DVD player shelf and the home theater system. Of course, I am just an assistant. Now we can watch when eating, PLUS--swinging it a bit to the right, I could watch from the kitchen as well.





I think I've mentioned sometime ago that our dining set were custom made. We made our own designs, mostly "Ikea-inspired", gave them to Justin, then Justin gave them to his Uncle, Father Gil. Then Father Gil took them to the furniture maker. Note that this is in Vigan. And so, we just waited... and waited.. and waited.

And though there was a one month delay in the delivery, it was worth it!

We made some specifications on our drawing but most of it, was up to the furniture maker. The type of wood they used was Mahogany... The outcome-- was so much more than we expected.

Next In Line

So here are the series of pictures that will complete our house.
Next to the kitchen is the living room.

Due to the size of our living room, we were careful of picking the right furniture that won't take too much space, and yet, would receive and accomodate guests. After all, this is the receiving area, right? And so, we opted for a three-seater black leater sofa bed with two Ottoman and a three-layer (wood-glass-glass) center table.

The center table even has a story. We didn't realize that the top layer was too big so I took it to the glass cutters and had the four sides reduced.

The oversized mirror on one side did make the room bigger. And the lamp, bought even before we started building the house, was finally in place.

More than Meets the Eye

I have promised some people that I will show our kitchen and so this whole entry is about the “only-fully-finished-and-furnished” part of our house. Not to mention my most favorite, most expensive thus my most loved part. A combination of both our ideas, Denden would like to describe our kitchen to have three parts, from the left, middle to the right.

The first part on the left is the where you get the supplies. Thus, the refrigerator and a rather big pantry cabinet with a number of all-purpose stainless inserts that you could easily pull out, one-by-one after opening the glass, aluminum framed door.

On the middle part the washing area with a two-bowl sink with drain and a very special faucet. Ever since, I have wanted a faucet like that from Ikea. A day with George on the streets of Soler, we saw that faucet. I am advancing a thank you to George, not only for the day in Soler, but for all the things he has done for the house construction. There wouldn’t have been a kitchen without the house. And the house wouldn’t have been finished this way, if it weren’t for him. Going back to the faucet, it was not exactly the Ikea faucet, but better, because it is stainless. It has a main outlet and two other separate openings, for the normal faucet and another for the handspray that you could pull out. A little more expensive but I didn’t have second thoughts of buying.


Underneath the sink are the cabinets with inserts where the dishes, plates and glasses are placed. We especially have a drawer for the cutlery with stainless dividers inside. A particular insert that we had is the magic corner to maximize the spaces for the two corners; we placed food containers, mugs and glasses here. Above is the spice rack I once mentioned before that hid the electrical panel beneath.

The first time we saw the doors, we imagined right away that it was what he wanted for our kitchen. The piano-lacquer doors were ordered from Ariston Hardware. Also the custom made pantry door. Special thanks to Henry who had been very helpful and accommodating to us. All the drawers and most doors are soft-closed. It’s like it has brakes even if you slam them and they will close slowly. It took some time installing these cabinets because the doors are fixed and couldn’t be adjusted, and the inserts need to be fit and aligned properly. And so, my handyman installed the door handles himself because we didn't have a carpenter to finish it off.

A black and white kitchen, whose idea is that? Some might not notice but what makes the white cabinets stand out is the black countertop right in the middle. Right? It is not made of granite but of synthetic stone, a black Tiffany Marble countertop. These are cultured stones, measured, custom built and molded into one piece. From Stoneworks, thanks to Uncle/Sir Jes.

Lastly, the cooking area. Underneath the cook top are two big pull-out drawers for the pots and pans. And small pull-out condiments rack where we put oil and the liquid condiments. On top are open-shelf cabinets for other materials and utensils.

This is the reason why I look forward to going home after office to cook dinner, even for just two people. It is our dream kitchen, exactly what we want and where we want it. We're proud and happy that it turned out the way we drew the layout back in November. I said it this more than meets the eye because, it doesn’t only look good on the outside, but it is very functional on the inside. Papa mentioned the other day that we should have a dirty kitchen outside, so that we won’t have to use the kitchen. Denden and I looked at each other and we both agreed to disagree. This is not a show kitchen, but our dream kitchen: and we will use and enjoy every part of it, every day.

One-month anniversary

It has been a month since we moved in.
I could say we've settled already. We've cleaned the place and started doing our normal house chores. Cooking, this time, feels very different (I meant better different..) on my favorite place in the house.

Will post pictures soon, after the two items below have been delivered.
1. The furnitures.
2. Some appliances.

Ha! Patience is a virtue.

Dream Come True

You could call the house a dream come true, but I am not posting any pictures yet, and this isn't about the house.

More than I that, I am referring to our favorite couple with their very beautiful and lovable baby who spared a day and slept over our house. It has been years since we both slept on the same room, on the same bed... and this time, there are two men and a baby with us.

A lot has changed over the years. But I am definitely sure, there is one thing that won't.

Goodwill

After two years and four months, I said goodbye to another place, we considered home. The first year there was full of fun and happy memories with Kuting and friends: experimental cooking, countless of dinner nights, parties composed of 6-7 people and so much more. The wedding preparations all took place in Goodwill: painting of the souvenir pots, the making of the invitations with sisters… looking back, it makes me smile.

During the second year, it was just the two of us. Well, except for sleepover nights with Ikoy and my sisters. But more than that, we experienced living as husband and wife: going home, cooking dinner just for two people, doing house chores together, sleeping every night with the thought that it is just him and me.

This day, we packed our things and said goodbye to Goodwill. Always remembering that it has been a witness to an eventful chapter of my life.

I especially thank our landlord, who had been very good to us.