Calligraphy A Day

I love beautiful handwriting! Smitten I was that I wanted to learn how to write pretty. Last year one of my goals is to learn basic calligraphy. Unfortunately, with so many sad happenings and tragedies last year it was put on hold. But last week , the desire to learn got me to start practicing. Using my 2014 Starbucks planner and Sheaffer pen I bought at National Bookstore I practice almost everyday. I was looking for a flexible nib but could not find one here in Cebu. Anyway, here's a few of my work. 

PS I will be posting my calligraphy a day here every week.

Spread Love This Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's day, give your besties, sister or yourself a Shop Mikaela's  Live Your Dream Bracelet. Individually wrapped bracelet and a valentines day tag/card.

Shop Now!

{Homecooking} The No Bake Eggplant Pizza

Over the weekend I found this recipe for an eggplant and I thought this is perfect since I'm not eating rice lately. It was good even though I opted not to put the cheese. 

I will be making this again when hubby gets home.

Eggplant Pizza (adapted from casaveneracion.com)

makes 2-4 servings

Ingredients

1 large fat eggplant

1/2 cup flour

1 egg,beaten

1 cup panko or japenese bread crumbs

salt and pepper

1 and 1/2 cup vegetable cooking oil

2-3 tomatoes

1 cup shredded cheese

chopped basil leaves

Directions

Place the flour,egg and panko in bowls. Stir 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper into each bowl.

Slice the eggplant about one-fourth thick. Dredge each eggplant slice in flour making making sure that both sides are coated. Then dip the floured eggplant slices in the beaten egg (make sure the surface is coated with egg.) Drop the eggplant slices in the bowl of panko, pressing as much bread crumbs.

Heat the cooking oil. Fry the eggplant slices, a few pieces at a time. Flip the eggplant slices after a minute or so to brown both sides well. Once cooked, scoop them out and drain on a stack of paper towels.

Slice the tomatoes(about one-fourth inch thick) and sprinkle with salt, pepper and chopped basil.

Place a slice of tomatoes on top of each fried eggplant slice. Smother with shredded cheese. Use a kitchen torch to melt the cheese or put it under a very hot broiler for 2minutes. Sprinkle with more basil. Serve and enjoy!

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Shop For A Good Cause..

It's been two months now after the typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. My parent's house is still roofless and is badly damaged. They lost so much in terms of material things and their small business,but I know we will be able to rebuild. So,I thought of selling again on my online shop so I can raised funds to give to my parents. When I started my online shop last 2011,every month 5% of our total sales goes to a charity. Mostly, we give our donations to UNICEF. This time it would be my parents I will be helping.
All prices does not include shipping. Here are a few items I'm selling. 

Lotus Biscoff Spread

Elegant watch.

Head over to ShopMikaela for more items.Thanks in advance!

{Dainty Wife Eats} Leona Cakes & Pastries

For 2014, I'm adding a new feature here " Dainty Wife Eats". I've been keeping tabs of the restaurants to try here in Cebu. I hope I can find a budget since we've saving up for something.

Last weekend, my husband and I went to the mall for a few errands, before heading home we went for a quick snack at Leona cakes & pastries. A little cafe filled with delicious treats. I had been here a couple of times and it never fails to satisfy my sweet cravings.

Chocolate Moist Cake

Brewed coffee. 

It was pretty busy.

Cakes

Breads

Leona Cakes & Pastries | North Wing, SM Cebu

Friendsgiving 2013

I'm thankful for my wonderful and true friends. This year, we decided to have a get-together. And I'm hoping this would become a tradition.We don't get to see each other more often because three of them are living in different parts of the Philippines.

It was a two day get-together. Nov.29 & Nov.30,Friday was Videoke Night and Saturday was spent at the beach.The original plan was one of us will host the small gathering but because they were busy with work and I myself was busy attending to my family since they are typhoon victims it was changed last minute.

We ate, we sung, we drank and we shared lots of laughs. I'm looking forward to our next friendsgiving.

Yolanda

Today is exactly one month after the super typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. My parents, brothers, sister, nephew were in Tacloban during the super typhoon. During that time, I was not worried because we get at least twenty typhoons every year and  somehow we know how to deal with typhoons. But when I saw the news reports, photos and videos in fb I started to panic and get  worried. It was the worst and strongest typhoon.My worries was tripled when I could not reach them through calls and texts. Nov. 8,my husband decided to go to Tacloban to check on them. Through the help of a Navy friend he was able to get a ride to Tacloban. I was not sleeping well I was so worried. Nov. 10, I received a text from my husband saying my family and relatives survived. Globe telecommunication was restored within the city proper only. Although our house was roofless and a few shattered windows still I am so grateful to hear that they are okay. It was decided to bring them here in Cebu and live with us temporarily for safety and health reasons. After 6 days, they finally arrived safely. Thank God! 
My husband who bravely went there experienced trauma,seeing dead bodies on the streets,the smell to the point that during his sleep he was dreaming of dead people he saw on the road and was screaming. Thankfully, after a few days he was back to normal.

When my family finally had a good rest, I asked mama what transpired on that fateful day. Mama said around 7am strong winds was felt. Rain was pouring also. Suddenly, our roof was flown away. Although, our house has an attic water was dripping everywhere. Windows were shattered. Our kitchen door was flown as well as the dinning table and chairs.Front door was about to give up too. The ground floor of our house was flooded. Trees was uprooted. Mama saw our neighbor's houses destroyed. They were all afraid. She feared that our house would collapse if the storm will not stop.Thankfully, the storm stop. Mama said they did not know that areas in downtown and San Jose was almost wiped out and that many died because of the storm surge. Until, they saw it on television. 

My heart breaks every now and then when I received news of someone we know did not survived. May their soul rest in peace.

Christmas is fast approaching already and I'm having a difficult time celebrating because of what happen. But I am forever grateful that I still have my family and I get to spend more time with them. 

I pray that God heal our land and give us the strength to overcome this tragedy. I also pray for those lives lost during the typhoon.

****If you want to see the catastrophic damage of Tacloban,here's a link of photos .Please click here. The person behind the photos lived in Tacloban and was there when typhoon  Yolanda made its landfall.