Day 3: Going Places, Meeting Friends

Today is Miss Apron's third day with me.

Because of the delay in the mail, the real Miss Apron still has to arrive in my home. But the neat thing about this adventure is that we can revise the rules of the game midstream... Even in her absence, a surrogate apron can take her place... "pinch hit" for her, so to speak... and the apron adventures continue.

For ten days or so, Miss Apron is my guest.

And I am just too happy to be her official hostess, caretaker, and tourist guide. All it requires of me is:

to take her along with me whenever I can,

show her around,

introduce her to my family and friends,

take a few photos,

write about the adventure on the sisterhood blog!


Miss Apron went to two events today: a wedding, and a birthday party given for me by my sister in law.

The photo above shows Miss Apron neatly folded, and sitting on the table in front of me, while I and the rest of the guests witnessed the wedding of our friend Jong and Niko.

Jong and Niko are high school sweethearts, but they decided a long time to decide to get married! They are both in their mid 30s, and are now residing in California, USA. They went back home to the Philippines to get married because Jong's parents are old, and can no longer travel to the US. It was her way of honoring her parents - by choosing to get married in their hometown. Next week, Jong and Niko will go back to America where both of them work as nurses.

Below is a phot0 of me with my two friends Miriam on my right, and Ruby on my left. We were seated at the same table and had a great time at the wedding. We all go to the same church, and our friendship with one another began more than twenty years ago! We have gone through many things together. They are two of my very close and dear friends.


After cocktails were served, Miriam and I had to leave, because the birthday party that my sister in law Sue was giving could only begin once I got there!

I quickly put Miss Apron back in my little black purse, then Miriam and I had to leave the wedding before dinner was served.

At my sister in law's house, all the guests were waiting, and as soon as I stepped into the lanai, everyone sang the Happy Birthday song for me.

It was actually a double occasion.

Sue was hiring a new chef for the university's HM course...now I really do not remember what HM stands for! It has something to do with teaching students how to become chefs... it is a course in culinary arts. The university's middle managers, vice presidents, and board of regents were all there, together with some of my friends.

My birthday happened to be only a good reason to try out the new chef's culinary skills.

The party was a sit down dinner, and the chef was going to serve us a five course meal!

It was all done so elegantly and beautifully.

Below is my sister in law, Leila. She is Ernie's youngest sister, a professional nurse who lived in the US for 25 years. In 2008, she and her husband Jay decided to come back to the Philippines to help Sue's family in the university.

The photo below shows Leila in the kitchen to prepare the plates for the five course meal. I asked her to put on Miss Apron and to have her picture taken.



While waiting for the dinner to be served, I took Miss Apron around and introduced her to my friends. In the picture below, Miss Apron is seen posing with my two friends - Neneng on the left, and Miriam (again), on the right. They found the idea of having an apron travel around the world such a brilliant idea! And they were only too happy to have their pictures taken with her!



Chef Jun prepared five interesting courses for all of us. The first was an appetizer called Vietnamese Lettuce Wrap, the second was a Thai soup called Thai Tom Yum Goong.

Shown below is the first main course, called French Steak Au Poivre which consisted of tenderloin fillet of steak ... bacon and cheese gateau potato ... a combination of garden vegetables served with creamy peppercorn sauce. Truly mouthwatering!



The second main course was called Italian stuffed chicken breast but by this time the guests were full, and opted not to have it.


We then had the dessert, pictured below. It was called Indonesian banana wrap which is actually just deep fried banana wrapped in rice paper, combined with cinnamon sugar sticks and melted chocolate, served with vanilla ice cream on the side.


It was a wonderful evening, and I am sure Miss Apron had a great time going places and meeting new friends!

Read more of My Apron Adventures:

Day 1 - Building Bridges
Day 2 - Welcome to My Kitchen!

My Computer Zone

This is it folks, this is where it all happens. This computer is in our living room and is shared mostly by my son, David, and myself. Dad usually uses his laptop. Sorry I haven't been posting as much, but I work for the government and blog sites are blocked! I usually don't feel like getting on the computer at night, since I sit at one all day.

I hope everyone is doing well. I have some more pictures to post. Deb and her family were vacationing at Myrtle Beach last week, and we went down to see them there. We had an awesome time together, but I'll make a separate post about that. Love you all!

Day 2: Welcome to my Kitchen!

Getting ready to cook lunch on my birthday.
I am wearing the apron and about to slice the chayote.

Hello again, dear apron and scarf sisters! Welcome to my kitchen.

For my birthday lunch yesterday I prepared a dish called Chayote-Squash Au Gratin. It's very easy to make, and quite nutritious.

Chayote is an edible plant which belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, as do melons, cucumbers, and squash. The root, stems, seed, and leaves of the plant are all edible. The fruit is bland and can be eaten raw, cooked, mashed, boiled, baked, fried, or even pickled. Chayote is rich in amino acids and Vitamin C. (info taken from here)

Squash is a viny, creeping and trailing crop producing fruits considered one of the most delicious vegetables. It is the most commonly and regularly grown among the Cucurbits because it is a rich source of Vitamin A, phosphorous, and calcium. The young and tender shoots make good vegetable salad.(info taken from here)

Ingredients:

3 cups chayote, peeled, and sliced thinly
3 cups squash, peeled, and sliced thinly
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup garlic, chopped
2 Knorr chicken or beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup all purpose cream
1 cup grated cheese or Alfredo sauce

Procedure:

Steam the chayote and squash for a few minutes. Do not overcook.
Brown the garlic and onions in butter. Add bouillon cubes.
Add the chayote and squash. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then add the cream.
Transfer to a Pyrex pan, and top with grated cheese or Alfredo sauce.
Bake at 250 degrees for five to seven minutes.

The ingredients

Sliced chayote

Sliced squash

Sun dried tomato Alfredo sauce

The chayote-squash and cream mixture.
Put the grated cheese or the Alfredo sauce on top just before baking.

The finished product. Very yummy!

My Apron Adventures: Day 1 - Building Bridges

Update On Dad Golden

very short update on dad golden...he was released from the hospital today but is very weak...he has to see a kidney doctor next week and a chest doctor...please continue to pray for him..thank you so much....i love you..love terry



dad golden wanted his picture taken last evening.
with all of the antibiotic medicine being streamed into his arm, the pneumonia that he so badly has is getting a little bit better.



but...the food is getting no better!
look at dad golden's face!



when mom golden and gracey and bernie and i visited him this afternoon, he just wasn't as well as we thought he was getting..but really it wasn't that..he just seemed so sad!
they are checking his kidneys for a couple of days.
betty says that they are just giving him a complete going over, to make sure that everything is all right before they send him home.
it is just as well he has to stay in though because the rain and and dampness would be really hard on his lungs.


here is that bernie standing at the end of the bed, giving dad golden a hard time!
yesterday dad golden gave the NURSE a bad time. "i HAVE to go home! i have to cook dinner for my family!"
oh boy!



i think that we finally had calmed him down and so we left him so he could have some sleep!

i was so happy this morning when dad golden managed to find the free phone in the hallway. and phoned me at 7 a.m. .i really have missed that call for the last two days!

thank you for all of your prayers dear sisters. the ear of the lord is not heavy..he is hearing them all and answering them!....love terry

For Terry, Bernie and the Golden Family

Precious friends we are praying for Dad Golden and all of you.

Day 1: Building Bridges

"No apron in sight!"

When all is said and done, simply let me be known as a bridge builder.

When Mrs. Mac and a few other "Scarf Sisters" first asked me to consider being one of the sisterhood, I asked myself a few questions.

One of these questions was:

Will joining the Scarf Sisters be something that will accomplish eternal value, or will I be only wasting precious time?

Well, after giving the matter serious thought and prayer, I have seen the benefits of saying "yes" to the invitation.

I understood that sending a scarf or an apron around the world is not really all about putting on a piece of clothing, having a picture taken, and posting a blog story about it.

It goes deeper...

The apron is all about building bridges.

This world is torn apart by so much disunity and hatred, and I see the apron as an ambassador to draw us into a circle of understanding, kindness, unity, commitment, peace, and love.


I have been waiting for more than six weeks for the famous apron to land in my mailbox. Of course, it is a long way to travel from West to East, and I patiently waited.

Now, I know many of you are asking, how come I knew ahead of time that Miss Apron was headed in this direction?

Well, as I understand it, Mrs. Mac just wanted to be sure that if they sent her this way, its arrival would fit into my time schedule...to be fair to everyone concerned. Given the nature of my commitments, I was always on the go, and "living out of a suitcase has become the norm for me," as I recently wrote in my blog.

I was scheduled to leave for Manila on the second week of March. That would have been ample time for the apron to arrive in Bacolod City, Philippines toward the end of February, allow me to write interesting stories about my own apron adventures, then send it off to the next sister before my planned trip out of the city.

When I left for Manila last March 11 Miss Apron was still nowhere in sight. After two weeks, I was back in my hometown, fully expecting the apron to be waiting for me when I arrived.

Well, she was nowhere to be found.

I was really looking forward to having Miss Apron as the guest of honor for my birthday, and for Easter as well!


Well, I know Mrs. Mac sent out a poll to get the consensus -- will we move on without the apron, or will be wait for her to show up?


One sister said, Let's move on! I think two sisters said, "Let's give it more time."

Mrs. Mac said it's up to me, being the next host of the Miss Traveling Apron.

Those are all mixed messages... and so what do I do?

It does seem that the ball, I mean, the apron, is in my court!

Except that there is no apron!

Well, apron or no apron, I looked back to the real intention of this sisterhood, in the first place, and that is to build bridges across cities, states, countries, continents!

So having said all that...here I am with my first blog post as the official host of the invisible apron.

I am hoping that she is just delayed and will eventually show up. But while we're all waiting, let me now move on to do the important work of connecting you all to this part of the world.

And, I hope you will not mind it very much that I have looked inside my kitchen drawers looking for an apron substitute that will at least look good enough to wear, and to take along with me, and to post pictures of in our sisterhood blog...


I found one, and only one, brand new apron that was given to me as a birthday gift many seasons ago.

And I did bring her along with me as my special guest at the special birthday dinner that my family had at the Sugarland Hotel earlier this evening.

So, without further ado, dear apron sisters...let me present to you Miss Apron alter ego...

She is not in any way replacing the original apron... I just feel that I need a tangible something to have an adventure with...unless we want to rename our blog The Emperor's New Apron!

Let the show go on while we all wait for the real apron to come out of hiding.

This is my daughter in law Chosen One and me,
with Miss Apron substitute,
who ended up being the special guest at my birthday dinner earlier tonight.

And here below is the rest of my family who really made my 57th birthday so very special! (For the story of my 57th birthday, please visit my blog).

Me, my daughter in law God-Given, my grandson Forerunner (Matthew), my son First Born, my second son Worshiper, and my daughter in law Chosen One

Dear sisters, do stay tuned for more apron adventures in the days to come!

My Apron Adventures: Day 2 - Welcome to My Kitchen!

Please Pray For Dad Golden

could you my dear sisters please pray for dad golden?
bernie and i took him to emergency six thirty this morning, he has been very ill the last two weeks but refused to go to the doctors, so when he wanted to go to emergency, i knew that he was really sick...he had a very high blood pressure and he even requested that we take him in by wheel chair when we got him to the door.
the good doctor who examined him sent him for chest xrays and found that he had dark shadows on his lungs and so then he sent him for a cat scan. dad was admitted into the hospital and tomorrow will have a heart test and an ultra sound.
i just could not believe what dignity and calmness dad golden had all day at that hospital. all of the other times that i have taken him, he was very bad and argumentative and gave the nurses and me quite a hard time...i am hoping that this event has made him think that with life being so short that he should really get ready for heaven....maybe, as my dear felisol thinks, dad golden could be saved already as he did tell his grandson, darrell one day that he had been saved as a child.
i pray that this is so and if not, i pray that he will accept the lord.
could you pray for him....thank you so much?...love terry

Happy Birthday To A Sweet Sister...march 27 2010

proverbs 31
25Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

Happy Birthday dear crown of beauty....love from all of your sisters..

Missing Miss Apron

I'm not sure what is going on with our apron.  But she seems to have skipped town, or country ... or on a slow boat to China, perhaps.  It's been AGES since anyone has been in contact with her.  Do we proceed without her and hope she catches up one of these days?  Let's take a vote.

My Cyber Space

In my dreams my blogging space

looks like this or this

even this

but here I am set up in

my living room on a small table.

I click away as Ma watches TV.

I can show her pictures and blogs

she likes to see

and talk to family

on Skype. I mainly bought a

laptop because I wanted Ma

to share my online experience.
A close up of my coffee table

with fresh Lillis and roses

and some Easter friends.

The chicken is from Russia

which I bought at a school sale.

I sit in a chair here and do my Quiet Time every morning
I shift my laptop to the bed room where its

cooler.

And this is my 7 year old desk top, a gift from my Dad.

A few months before he died he bought me a cell phone and computer.

I did my utmost to dissuade him from

buying me these things, telling

him they were expensive and

I do without them.

But he said ;No they will

make life easier for you.

I use to limp to a cyber cafe

twice a month to check and send emails

for half an hour.

At that time my arthritis was very severe and I could hardly walk.

So Papa bought me this computer .

I made him buy the cheapest one.

And although its sort of out dated

and very slow I cannot part with it.

Even my cell phone is a museum piece,

but I cannot put it away.
Happiness is a sunbeam...

When it strikes a kindred heart,

like the converged lights upon

a mirror, it reflects itself with

redoubled brightness.

It is not perfected

until it is shared. -

Jane Porter

PRAYER REQUEST

For those of you who read about my dear friend Elisabeth.
She is in need of massive prayer support these days.
Any word of prayer do help.
From Felisol

One Disorganised Computing Room

well with bernie's help, i thought it was high time that i show you our computing room.
and that is in the front room of our small bungalow.
here is the lap top where i do all of my writing.
the sweet doggie on my desktop is deb's little darling, bentley and ever since i first met him, i have loved him. he has been on my computer since last april...haha..almost a year, eh?


here is bernie's spot in the room, right beside me so i can keep an eye on him!


here is where we work together, making books for grampa yade and also making children story cds for him. he wrote a book called, "from grampa with love".
we encouraged him to read the whole book out loud and record it on cassettes.
bernie then turned those cassettes into cds which have travelled all over the world!
ha! from our messy front room!

here bernie puts together the pages , after which he will put them together to make a book.


oh yeh!
our computer room doubles as a medicine room!
look at all the vitamins that bernie has to dispense!
we were encouraged by felisol to take our vities!
but i think we are going over board if you ask me!


although the boy DOES look pretty healthy, doesn't he?

so there you have seen, my dear sisters, my disorganized computer room....alas!..i wish i was as neat and organized as the rest of you guys!.........love terry

My Little Corner of the World

Our computer sits in this little nook in the family room near the fireplace. From the window I can watch birds in the evergreens and hawthorne trees along that side of the house as I blog away.

Blog Spot - I Need an Intervention!!!

I'm posting these photos - reluctantly - but it is how it is....most of the time. Just call me clutter queen!

Here is where I do 99.9% of my blogging - on the recliner couch in the living room with my laptop on my lap. And often, Olivia is on the other end of the couch, with her side reclined - on her laptop. Yes, she has a laptop. Yes, I know she's only seven. She uses it quite a bit for school - going on sites like Study Island and First in Math, etc. PLUS...she has her own farm in Farmville on Facebook. ....my thoughts are that she's learning about agriculture....ahem....yeah...that's it! Today she is dressed in various shades of green...It's St. Patrick's Day, after all. In the center - today's mail, my purse, my cell phone, my journal, Olivia's diary and the checkbook.



And this second photo is our computer cabinet in the corner of the living room which looks really nice when it's all folded up and the doors are closed and the clutter just disappears! Trust me. Do we ever close those doors? Never. Well, they were closed when we hosted our family Christmas dinner two years ago... I know...I need an intervention. I am the QUEEN of clutter. But...I am getting better. Do you see that shelf on the top....two days ago it was full of papers and books and software and who knows what all...but I cleaned it out. Still haven't decided what I'll put in that spot. Those 'dust collectors' are just there now to make it look a little less bare there...but they'll be going soon and I'll decorate it for real!



I don't dare show you the computer in my studio space!!!! You'd all vote me out of the sisterhood, I'm sure!

THE BLOGGING SPOT

This is where I do most of my blogging.  After placing the computer in every room in the house, I finally decided that the kitchen was the best place.  Hal built this computer desk for me at one end of the kitchen and it works out really well.  This is a picture of my clutter...my organized clutter!

This is Hal's little red notebook I got him for Valentines Day.  It only weighs 2 pounds!  Now when I'm in the family room using my laptop, he's also on his.  We're just so techy aren't we?  NOT!  That's mine on the couch.

SEE YOU AFTER MIDNIGHT

In the heart of our home, just behind Gunnar's back, you can spot my silvery lap top.
Pictures are shot yesterday after midnight. My finest thinking hours.To your left the beautiful Mac-couple.
Do you see, Terry, there's still some dishes to be done.When I turn my back to them, I don't care. I have a room of my own downstairs, full of books, wool, fabrics,canvas, painting and recipes.
Here I have a glossary, some Bibles, a picture of my Dad, and powerful loudspeakers for my i-pod. Much quality time spent on my original turquoise kitchen chair from the fifties.
I guess I'm about the only person in Norway left with a dark oak kitchen. All I know of have trade theirs for shiny white ones. If we wait another decade, ours is bound to become modern again...I think.

Trish's Little Corner

This is my computer area...a little corner of the playroom where I can keep better track of the boys. My desk is in dire need of new paint, since Elek found a red permanent marker and left his decorating skills all over the front drawer. Not even a Mr. Clean Eraser could get it off! Until our Apron appears this is a good way of keeping in touch. Love you all!

Maria's blogging/working area

I took this photo yesterday because I was so happy about having cleaned my office, I bragged about it on my blog, and got asked for a picture as proof.