Most of us have what we call 'mentors' to follow. Just because they perfectly embody our ideals and visions. When it comes to motherhood, I have a person in mind: Celebrity mom Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan.
She's the perfect embodiment of a modern Filipina wife and mom who is both godly and practical. She hosts one of my favorite 'mommy' shows, Lifestyle Network's MomWorks. She's also a blogger, an article writer at Philstar. I marvel at her wisdom in dealing with different family issues. You can see from her articles how a modern mom balances her personal and motherly careers with ease. She's such an endearing mom and wife, a good writer and host, name it - she's almost got it all.

I like her. I wanna be like her.

Typhoons come and go in the Philippines from May to October. This year's typhoons have longer stay than usual. Argh! Too bad for our detailing business.

Add to the oddity is that, even when there's no typhoon, rain just pours and then the sun comes through, and then all of a sudden it rains again. Such a berserk weather! No wonder people especially kids have weaker immune system. Change of temperature and climate contributes to the weakening of immunity.

Two weeks ago my two boys had cough, colds and fever. I gave them added doses of Ceelin Plus - (generic: Ascorbic Acid + Zinc). I prefer this over the old plain Ceelin vitamin. It has Zinc. Zinc fires up the enzymes needed by the body in healing wounds. It's much needed in boosting the immune system, thus more helpful in treating common colds.

Had I not given them Ceelin Plus, their fever would have lasted long. To my delight, fever's gone in 24 hours. :)

Cooking is my waterloo! Much as I'm ashamed to admit it, it's true. It's very ironic since I'm a kapampangan (from pampanga) and Pampanga is just the Philippines' Culinary capital! Oh well, that adds to my list of eccentricities. haha.

Growing up in a family where mom seldom cooks (because she had to manage her shoe business), I had to just swallow whatever's on the plate. Yaya's cooking sucks most of the time. No wonder why I didn't take delight in eating, much less cooking.

And now being a wife and mom, I'm exposing myself to recipes and cooking shows - for my family's sake. Seeing how the seemingly 'talented' chefs do their craft delights me. Makes me so envious! I just wanna scan their brains so I could copy their descriminating palate and cooking abilities. Oh, if only I could only have a synchronized tongue-and-mind telling me what and how much of this and that should be in this kind of food!

Being a full time mom gives me the chance to learn more in this weakness of mine. Add to it, the time to expose my kids to cooking, which I never had as a child. My boys are so curious when it comes to cooking. Junior Master Chef Australia is one of their favorites. That's why I was delighted when I first heard that we have a pinoy version of the show.

Last August 20 and August 27, we watched the first and second episodes of Junior MasterChef Pinoy Edition. My boys were more excited than I was. The participants are amazing! Watching how those little kids could cook more dishes than I can, made me even envier. One of the secrets they revealed why kids their age can cook well is that they have moms who teach them. So Josiah told me "mommy teach me how to cook, ok?". When I heard him, I was like poured with cold water! Now my kid is asking me to teach him, when I could hardly make a gourmet dish.. argh! I really felt him! That's the same thing I hoped for as a kid. So I hugged him and said, "yeah I will teach you...". As I was hugging him, in my heart I had a prayer, "God, please help me in this area where I feel weakest. I'll start with the little that I have, please bless it".
It's my deepest desire to help my kids excel in what they desire to do- even if it entails more effort in doing so. :)


Here's the trailer of Junior MasterChef Pinoy Edition - The Appetizer (Aug 20, 2011)