TOPAZ HORIZON

My publicist friend Marcie Linao (because she saw that I blogged about my Watsons shopping) asked me to tell you that the health and beauty shop is honoring some of the brands they carry. Behold! The winners of the Watsons Health Wellness Beauty Awards!

Basically, these are the brands that performed well in terms of sales, promos, customer service and (of course!) product excellence. The winners are:

• Maybelline for Mascara Brand of the Year
• ProActiv for Acne Care Brand of the Year
• Dove Hair Care for Shampoo Brand of the Year
• Kojie San for Bath Soap Brand of the Year
• Colgate for Oral Whitening Brand of the Year
• Ralph Lauren for Prestige Fragrance Brand of the Year
• Nivea Men for Men’s Grooming Brand of the Year
• Myra E for Adult Vitamin Brand of the Year
• Ceelin for Children’s Vitamin Brand of the Year
• Ascof for Cough Remedy Brand of the Year
• ATC Redoxfat for Slimming Brand of the Year
• Belo Glutathione for Whitening Brand of the Year

I agree with the Dove Hair Care, Colgate and Nivea Men. For vitamins, I highly recommend Sangobion, the organic iron supplement with vitamins and minerals! Anyway, that's just a few of the brands Watsons loves. For the complete list of the winners, visit www.facebook.com/WatsonsPH. 

I asked Vince over the weekend, "How much money do you think we need?"

He replied, "Just a little more. We're fine."

I know what he meant. He meant we're living a comfortable life but we need just a bit more so that the kids' education and our family's health requirements, should those arise, will be covered.

So I wondered how much would that cost. How much does a full education (grade school, high school and 4-year college course in a really good school) cost? How much will we need in case someone gets into an accident, gets cancer, gets some disease? My mind, not really sharp when it comes to money since I grew up without it, started going, "We'll need maybe 20 million pesos. We can live off the monthly interest. We can invest, too. Yes, just 20. That should do it. Wait, if I want to send the kids to IS or to the British School, we'll need a million or so a year. Twenty won't do!"

Then I started thinking, "Well, since we have boys, we really should get a house with a big garden. Definitely in a gated community for security. That house should start at 12 million. Then that will be enough. But we'll need to travel! Travel is the best education. We'll go around the world, experience all kinds of cultures. Yes, yes, and business class, of course, and nice hotels. Then that would be enough." Now, how much would all of that cost? Just thinking about it makes me tired. Vince and I will need to work hard and smart if we want to become mega-millionaires.

To be honest, I don't want to be that rich. Too much money is scary. Whenever I see in the news that someone won the lotto (last month's P178 million prize had just one winner), I always wonder what the winner would do with the money. And we've all heard about those stories that no matter how huge the prize is, all that money disappears in no time flat. (Plus, it attracts all sorts of negative energy.) Seems to me, once you have enough, you'll still want more.

image grabbed from Facebook (check out the Jeane Napoles's Rage Page)

I guess I'm thinking these things because I can't understand how someone gets greedy. The numbers that the Napoles and Co. (that company being the illustrious members of our Congress and Senate) have allegedly stolen from us is, well, I can't even imagine it. Seriously, my mind can't fathom billions of pesos. I tried thinking about it, "What if I were Napoles? Why would I think I need 28 houses in the Philippines? Why would I need 30 cars?"

I was told the government officials needed the money for the elections, which are very expensive. So I guess they really need it to stay in power. Not that I think that's an acceptable reason.

Okay, enough. I promised to keep things light and shallow here. But there... I just want to understand because I really can't understand how anyone can just keep wanting more and more and more.

Are you going?

Since we have no maids and nannies, I have to resort to food deliveries often. Sometimes, there are lots of leftovers when the kids decide they didn't want what they ordered after all. Now, you all know that eating leftover fast food is depressing. For example, leftover Jollibee Chicken Joy is no longer crispy. So what I do is turn them into something else!

I got this recipe from the package of rice we buy. This recipe is by Chef Laudico but I tweaked it so that it's now mine. It is super delicious!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp garlic, minced
4 tbsp onion, diced
2 tbsp carrots, diced (I used red bell pepper since I ran out of carrots.)
2 tbsp celery, diced
1 cup cabbage, shredded
1 cup chicken meat, cooked
2 cups rice, cooked
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk

Heat butter and sauté onions, garlic, celery and bell pepper. The recipe called for carrots but since I didn't have any, I used red bell peppers because they're just as crunchy and sweet. Plus, they add heat that carrots don't!

Add cabbage and when it's a bit limp, add the rice.

You can actually stop at this point and now you have fancy fried rice!

Add chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes. My chicken stock is just two Knorr chicken flavor cubes dissolved in hot water.

(If you have real chicken stock, much better! You'll just have to season the dish with 2 tbsp patis. Since I used flavor cubes, I didn't need seasoning.)

Add milk and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Add chicken meat.

Serve! This is sooo perfect for this rainy weather. Try it!

P.S. I hope you're all safe and warm and dry, dear readers.

Found this on the Internets today. That's what happens when you're stuck at home all day long.


Well, tell me something I don't know! I'm always in hot water.

I really am nonconformist. The most conformist thing I've done is get married and have kids but Vince and I are pretty unconventional (although we're happily conformist with the fidelity clause haha) and we raise our kids in a way that will make most of the perfect supermoms faint haha.

What's your number? Is it you? Find out here!

Yesterday, I had a meeting. I usually bring my baby Iñigo with me everywhere. Since we have no household help and nannies, Vince takes care of our three-year-old Vito while I care for Iñigo. It's not so hard toting Iñigo around (I have an adorable example here!) but since it was raining, Vince said I should leave the baby at home.

Good thing I did. I waited for a cab for 30 minutes to get to a place that was a mere 5 minutes away on wheels and 15 minutes away on foot. I'd have walked if it weren't for the wind and pouring rain. After my meeting, I lined up again at the taxi area but the line was 20 feet long and there was no taxi in sight so I decided to take the bus.

I haven't taken the bus in years. Well, I kinda don't count the buses in Bonifacio Global City since those are really nice and BGC is tiny and not stressful. I used to be on buses, trains and jeeps all the time. One, we were poor. Two, even when I married Vince, I still preferred commuting since it was waaaaaay faster than a car. But when the kids came and I bring them along everywhere, I take the car or a cab to move around the city.

This is me taking the kids to Active Fun. Vince wasn't feeling well that day so we took a cab.

Vito doesn't like public transport. Iñigo is fine with any moving vehicle. Except maybe a tricycle. He didn't like the noise. Here he is in a trike. He was frowning the whole time haha.

So back to yesterday. I took the bus. Okay, it's no big deal. I was just surprised at how I felt. I'd forgotten the rush and crush of people, the smell of the wet pavement and decaying garbage, the thick exhaust fumes, the deafening horns of the buses, the heat, the quick steps or else you get pushed aside, the asshole drivers, the asshole pedestrians. Although my instinct to hold my bag close to me and to be alert to fellow passengers rose up very quickly. That felt like a welcome friend.

This used to be my life. I used to do this every day. I lived near Masinag Market in Antipolo and back then, there was not enough public transportation. I used to stand under the sun for 2 hours, waiting for a jeep. I used to fight for seats sa jeep or sa FX. I used to run after buses. That was my life for so many years. Then my life improved recently and I forgot what it was like to be part of the masses.

With my friend Jennie when we were in our early 20s. I was so dark because I was under the sun commuting all the time!

Funny how memory is.

So maybe government officials should take the bus once a month. Maybe they shouldn't even be given cars. It's hard to understand what your constituents' life is like if you don't live it even for a few days every now and then. It's a good exercise.