October 31, 2015

Chocolate Truffles

Happy Halloween!

Are you already prepared for the trick or treats?

Before the event starts in your area or office, here is a simple yet irresistible sweets that kids will surely love - the Chocolate  Truffles. It is not only good for the Halloween but can be served for all occasions as dessert. 

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients can be easily found in groceries and supermarkets. Basic ingredients are M.Y. San Graham Crackers, cocoa powder, sugar, condensed milk, all-purpose cream, butter, and chocolate bar for coating.

Main ingredients for Chocolate Truffles
(M.Y. San Graham Crackers, cocoa powder, all-purpose cream and condensed milk, butter, sugar, and marshmallows)

To reduce the sweetness, I placed marshmallow as filling. And to give more surprise, fresh or dried fruits can be use as fillings. 

Chocolate Truffles

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Ingredients:
2 cups M.Y. San Graham Crackers, crushed
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp granulated sugar
¼ cup condensed milk
¼ cup all-purpose cream
½ tsp salt
Marshmallow for filling
Chocolate sprinkles for toppings

For the coating
½ cup butter
150 grams chocolate bar

Direction:
Combine cocoa powder, crushed M.Y. San Graham Crackers and butter. Mix well.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Coat the marshmallow with the Graham mixture and form a ball of about 1-1.5 inches in diameter.
Freeze for at least 15 minutes.

Prepare chocolate coating by melting butter and chocolate bar in a double boiler.

Coat the frozen chocolate balls and place in a paper cup.
Top with chocolate sprinkles.
Chill before serving.

Tip/s:
If you don’t have double boiler, place a mixing bowl over simmering water make sure the water will not touch the bottom of the bowl.
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October 26, 2015

MagnetStreet.com Christmas Card Guide


Oh my G! Christmas is here and we can't stop it from coming real soon. Do you already have your Christmas list? 

I plan to start shopping for gifts early. But if it won't push through due to time constraint, I am thinking of personalized Christmas greeting cards as giveaway. This will save me time for shopping and is very affordable too. And if you also like to give Christmas greeting cards, let MagnetStreet Christmas card guide help you decide.

Starting your own holiday tradition can begin with a beautiful, custom-designed holiday greeting from MagnetStreet. Connect with family and friends (colleagues, too) with a card that speaks to the season and is easy to personalize. Browse beautifully designed layouts and then change the colors to fit your style or theme (even custom colors). Your photos will print with crystal clarity and you can word your card—just the way you want!

ms1_145187_l.jpg

The perfect holiday greeting:  a unique photo and message keepsake plus, a blessing for the season. 

Two words: custom and quality. Your satisfaction is paramount at MagnetStreet — that’s why we offer a 100% quality guarantee.  Start your own tradition and keep more in your Christmas fund, too. They are offering discount too. Great right?

25% off all Christmas Cards! 
Code: LHOLIDAY25 | Exp. 11/20/15

Unique Keepsake.  Family and friends love this distinctive and long-lasting keepsake magnet. Your greetings stick on the fridge while your photo and sentiments remain in their hearts.
Classic Greetings. Enduring look with many templates to choose from! Custom-design from front to back, your photos will look amazing printed on any one of the 3 premium papers.
Contemporary Cheer. These classy cards are a terrific option for sharing a few of your favorite photo highlights from the year. Match the paper style to your festive design.

Disclosure: This post was provided by eAccountable and contains affiliate links that may yield commissions earned at no cost to you.
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October 24, 2015

Chocolate Roll


Last week, one of my colleagues brought chocolate cake during our weekly meeting. I get a slice and pair it with a cup of coffee. Parang nabitin ako and I decided to make chocolate roll at home over the weekend.

Chocolate Roll

I asked my Little Helper Matthew to assist me in putting the chocolate chip toppings and he enjoys a lot. He also made a shorter version of it as gift for Teacher's Day. Marunong ng sumisipsip. Hahaha

Chocolate Roll

CHOCOLATE ROLL

Ingredients:
For the cake:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

4 egg yolks
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cake flour

For the frosting/ganache
125 grams Dutché Premium Dark Chocolate bar, chopped
1 tetra pack Alaska Crema all purpose cream

For the toppings: Chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 150ºC.
Brush baking pan (around 1 inch high) with oil or butter then line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Sift cocoa powder, instant coffee and cake flour three time. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk egg yolks until frothy.
Add vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla extract and mix.
Add sifted mixture and mix until no more trace of lumps. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk in one direction egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks appears.
Gradually add powders sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks developed.

Transfer about 1/4 of the egg white mixture to the egg yolk mixture and mix.
Return the resulting mixture to the remaining egg white mixture and fold until no more traces of egg whites is visible.

Pour the resulting mixture into the baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
After baking, turn upside down into parchment paper and roll.
Keep it rolled and cool.

While cooling the cake, prepare the ganache.
In a double boiler, place the chopped chocolate bar and all-purpose cream until chocolate melts.

After cake has been cooled, remove the parchment paper.
Spread ganache on the surface and roll again.
Spread the remaining ganache on the exposed surface and comb using fork or icing comb.
Top with chocolate chips of grated chocolate bar and serve.

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October 22, 2015

Opiates: Signs of Addiction and Withdrawal


One of the most powerful painkillers is the morphine. This substance is naturally occurring and can be extracted from the opium poppy. In 19th century, this is widely used as painkillers by soldiers during the American Civil war.

Though this is the most potent, a patient taking painkillers derived from opium might get addicted without their knowledge. How can you spot if the patient is already having addiction or drug dependency with pain relievers? 

Here are the signs of opiate addiction.

Increasing dosage – during the time of medication, growing tolerance may be experienced by a patient which resulted to increase in dosage to get the same effect.

Personality shift – change in mood, energy and concentration can be observed.

Getting isolated – patients tend to withdraw from family and friends.

Continuous usage – Patients keeps asking medications even they have been already treated.

Trying to get more prescription – some approach different doctors to get access to the drug.

Physical change – changes in sleeping and eating habits, personal hygiene and having constant cough, running nose and red eyes are few of the physical changes.

Hallucinations – over-reacting to normal conditions like lights, sounds and emotions.

Memory gap – forgetting or total mental blackouts of the events and happenings.

Defensive – responding to defend and trying to hide their drug dependency

If a person possess some of these characteristics, he/she may be already in the state of addiction and needs to call medical attention and might undergo detoxification.

If the patient undergoes detoxification, more problem may be encountered. Discomforts like nausea, vomiting, restlessness, insomnia, body aches and chilling, diarrhea to name a few. This condition is know to be as opiate withdrawal.

Though this problems can be resolved by other medication, it may lead to another addiction. In order to avoid encountering another problem, Elimidrol was formed by Sunrise Nutraceuticals.


Elimidrol is known to be the #1 opiate withdrawal supplemnent that gives relief from the discomfort experienced during the detoxification process. This can be consumed by patients who wants to totally or gradually stop the use of opiate drugs.

Elimidrol is made of potent and effective ingredients, and comes in powder form. Thus, enhances the effectivity and fast acting relief. It has a day time and night time formula ensuring of getting relief 24 hours daily.

Each pack is made of 28 servings good for 4-week detoxification period. This is not limited to one time dosage per day. You can increase the intake especially during the more difficult periods.

Additional source: Foundation for a Drug Free World
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October 10, 2015

My Dragon Fruit has Ripen


After the Dragon Fruit fruit has been fully grown, all I need is to wait for it to ripe and have a taste.

One of my colleagues has ideas in growing pitaya or dragon fruit. So I asked when will it be okay to pick the fruit since early this week I started noticing some pink parts on the fruit already. According to him, thirty days after the flower has bloomed, the Dragon Fruit fruit will be ready for harvest.

Finally, I harvested the fruit and take my first bite on it last night and that is exactly 30 days nga.

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
Fresh Dragon Fruit for dessert

How did it look like before harvesting the Dragon Fruit fruit? Here it is:

On October 04, 2015, a very light pink streaks started to appear on the scales.

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
Dragon Fruit with light pink 
The development of the pink color is very fast that on the following day, the entire fruit is already turning pink.

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
October 05 - the entire fruit is getting pinkish

The next day, the the color of the Dragon Fruit is more intense and becomes darker on the next two days.

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
October 06 - the entire fruit is already pink

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
October 07 - the color intensifies

On October 08, 2015, exactly thirty days since the flower bloomed, I harvested and take the first bite of the fruit.

dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
Ready to harvest dragon fruit

By the way, here is the complete photos from bud to the ripe fruit.
dragon fruit, gardening, home, home and living, how to grow dragon fruit in pots, pitaya, tips on growing dragon fruit,
Though I harvested only one fruit it is worthy enough once I took the first bite. I will just wait and hope that next fruiting season, another fruit will be harvested from my Dragon Fruit.

Read also: My Dragon Fruit has BloomedMy Dragon Fruit Bears Fruit
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October 7, 2015

My 5-year old Can Text + History of Messaging


Yes, you read it right. My 5-year old boy can make and send text messages. I didn't know about it until I received a message like this from our cell phone at home.


Although he still didn't know how to use the space bar, his text message is readable. I was not so surprised because he can read already. But nevertheless, we didn't allow him to use the phone without adult supervision.

Then the other night, he asked me if he can send his grandmother (Daddy's Mama) a message. He wanted to thank her for his new bike. I said yes and helped him how to use the space bar.


I know soon he will master the use of cell phone but I will not give him his own phone until he's in high school, most probably. That's when he needs to travel from school to home. But I want him first to learn how to safely use a phone. 

It's no surprise that even children already know how to use a cell phone. Every household, even those at lower class, has a phone at home. When text messaging or what we call SMS (short message service) was introduced, it became a popular tool for Filipinos to keep in touch with their friends and relatives. SMS is a cheaper way to communicate with just 1 peso for every text or lower with the unlimited offer or plan of telecommunication companies in the Philippines.

According to statistics, early this year, the number of mobile telephone subscribers had grown to approximately 113 million. That's a huge number right? With that the Philippines is accounted for more than 10% of global SMS at one stage, at the same time. Because of that large amount of text messages being sent by Filipinos, the Philippines became known as the “text capital of the world.”

Communication among people has gone a long way. This is the product of continuous technology advancement. But have you wondered how people living in long distance communicate during the old times? Did you know that smoke signal is the oldest form of long distance communication? Smoke signals were used as a warning for enemy attacks in tribe or territory. Now, we can see smoke signals being used in Rome as a sign when there is a new Pope selected.

To know more about the history of messaging just click this link: https://simpletexting.com/history-of-messaging/. There you can see how messaging or communication evolved from smoke signals to text messaging. Very interesting right?
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October 5, 2015

Cupcake Omelet


Are you tired of thinking of what to prepare for breakfast? Here is another suggestion from Chemist Dad - Cupcake Omelet.

Cupcake Omelet
Though it take time to prepare, I bet they will enjoy this when served for breakfast.

Cupcake Omelet

Instead of the usual omelet cooked in pan, why not try baking using their favorite fillings.

Cupcake Omelet Fillings

Just put their favorite fillings in a well-greased cupcake pan, top with cheeses, pour in the egg-milk mixture and bake. After few minutes, a mouth-watering breakfast is on the go.

Cupcake Omelet
CUPCAKE OMELET
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
bell pepper, chopped
hotdogs, chopped
button mushroom, chopped
grated sheese

Direction:
Pre-heat oven to 150ºC.
Brush cupcake pan with oil.
Place the fillings - bell pepper, hotdogs, mushroom then top with grated cheese.
Set aside.

In a bowl, beat eggs.
Add evaporated milk.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the egg-milk mixture until the filling is submerged.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the cupcake pan and serve.
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October 2, 2015

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month


I know some people who died because of breast cancer. My Godmother was one who was single and in her late 40's that time. She never told anyone about what she's going through until one day when my mother hugged her and she complained of extreme pain. When she finally agreed to have a check-up, she was diagnosed to have a stage 4 breast cancer. She died just a year after...

Based on statistics, Philippines has the highest occurrence of breast cancer in Asia. It is estimated that 3 out of 100 Filipino women will contract breast cancer before the age of 75, and that 1 out 100 will die before that age (according to the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology in 2012).

It’s scary that aside from age, there increasing factors that causes or triggers breast cancer. Early detection is the key to combat the disease. Ways to prevent the advancement of the disease includes routine self-breast examinations, mammograms and awareness in any changes in the physical for of the breasts and nipples. Also, limiting alcohol intake, no smoking, proper food intake and diet, exercise and avoiding exposure to pollution and radioactive substances are other factors that can lower the risk of contracting the disease.

October marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month. This is an annual worldwide campaign that targets to increase awareness and knowledge of breast cancer. Everyone is encouraged to join by helping to raise funds, doing voluntary works to help cancer patients and spreading awareness on breast cancer prevention and treatment.

In line with this Breast Cancer Awareness month, Perfect Memorials, is having a month-long Cancer Awareness Sale this October. On sale items includes: jewelry, urns, comfort stones, memorial cards and photo frames.


Perfect Memorials is the primary online seller of high quality memorial products. This Awareness Sale is one way of showing that they are working very hard to be the leading online seller in the Memorials industry. 

This Pink Ribbon On My Heart Stainless Steel Cremation Jewelry is just one of specially selected Awareness Memorial products. You can view more here.


Another great news is on top of the Awareness Month on-sale items, another 5% coupon can be used as well. Just use the code RIBBON15 at check out. Please note that this coupon will expire on 11/1/15.

Again, always be reminded that the key to breast cancer prevention is early detection. Let's help spread this awareness to save lives.
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October 1, 2015

On Learning A New Craft


Since we have less crochet made to orders now, I take this chance as a break and make other craft projects like this,


and this one.


Aside from my craft projects for 2015, I am learning a new craft. I am starting to make grosgrain bows like this pinwheel bow that can be attached to a soft band, headband or clips.

A photo posted by Maye Domencil (@mommymaye) on

I also plan to work on felt cloth and in fact, I already made a Facebook page for it. I will share it soon once I have posts on it. For now, I am collecting ideas and will share tutorials real soon, which will be shared here. Just need to buy craft tools. I am so excited! Please do watch out for it.

Have a great day!
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