I Am A Crook...I Mean A Cook...

This year, I don’t even feel like baking anything. I used to enjoy baking Pistachio Cream Cheese Fingers, a recipe my friend had shared with me years ago. Two things hinder me: my family and I are trying to eat healthier and secondly, the time that I would spend baking, I would rather spend with my hubby and child or whoever will drop by for a visit. Christmas shouldn’t be a burden. It should be a meaningful celebration of remembering what our good God had done to restore our relationship with Him through Jesus. It should be about restoring wounded relationships, destroying walls and building bridges instead. It is not easy. Easier said than done. But when you believe in what He can do for you and I, then we can. Because of His grace.

Right now, I am enjoying the nice glow of sunrise, a welcoming break from all those rainy days. Though I’m thankful for the rain He gave! Sipping a cup of coffee, I think about you all in prayers. May you have a wonderful Christmas, returning to the Lord and then, sharing warm memories with your loved ones. May your new year be a complete start of having a closer walk with the Lord. I am not perfect myself. But I know that His faithful love and mercy always awaits for anyone’s return. Always welcomes anyone. Always accepts. Always forgives.

My hubby volunteered to cook stuffed bangus or milkfish. It is a kind of fish you can buy from Asian markets. We bought the boneless and he will mix the flesh with veggies like carrots, peas, garbanzo beans and seasonings and stuffed it right back. I had attempted to make some pickled green papaya few days ago and I thought this would go great with the stuffed milkfish. I had also put them in jars and gave them as gifts. He will also make some “menudo”made from diced beef with veggies and we’ll just eat them with either rice or bread. We opted for the bread so we passed by a nearby bakery and got some rolls.

For dinner, I thought of making some “pansit” well known Asian noodles. Opting for healthier version, I’ll just use chicken and will try to give some to one of my neighbors, whose wife has not been feeling well for quite some time now. 

I am a CROOK….I mean a COOK sometimes. So, if you’re willing to try this recipe, here it is…But I try to cut down on salty stuff so I use low sodium chicken broth. I also don’t like to use pork but it’s your preference, I’ll include it anyway. The rice vermicelli noodles, you can get them from Asian markets or Asian aisles from your grocery stores [I hope].

Photo Credit

Pancit Guisado [Sauteed Rice Noodle]:

14-16oz. rice vermicelli noodles

I cup boiled chicken breast, flaked

1 cup shrimp, shelled

1 cup boiled pork meat, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon vegetable oil [I use olive oil]

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sized onion, sliced

1-1/2 cup fresh green beans, sliced thin diagonally

1/3 of a whole cabbage, sliced thinly

2 carrots, thinly sliced into 2-inch strips

3 stalks celery, sliced thin diagonally

3-4 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Lemon slices

Soak the noodles in water until soft. Drain and set aside. In a non-stick pan over medium heat, sauté garlic in oil until lightly browned. Add onion. Stir for 1 minute. Add the chicken meat, shrimp, pork, green beans, cabbage, carrots, celery and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5-8 minutes until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add the chicken stock. I use a little bit of low sodium soy sauce [approximately 3-4 tablespoon or adjust to taste]. Let boil and add noodles. Simmer in medium heat until liquid is absorbed and noodles are cooked. Gently stir in 2/3 of the vegetable mixture taking care not to mash the noodles. Transfer  to a serving platter and top with the rest of the vegetable mixture. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To All of You! May God bless you and protect you and give your heart's desires according to His will. Love to all of you, my friends...Thank you for your friendships, love, sweet thoughts, prayers and encouragement. May we remain a blessing to each other, to help us all endure and finish this journey we are all in. Safely. Completely. 

Through Labor Pains He Will Come...Again...

“Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Some of you had been touched, sad about the mother I described who was in active labor from my last post. Sad because of the imminent loss of her child who was about to be born, as the mother had to stay in the jail after the child's birth. Would your perspective change if I tell you now, that her crime was torture? It wasn’t clear to me if she starved just one or 3 of the total number of her children, prior to this 4th child to be delivered.

After we cleaned up everything and she was sent to the hospital, my co-workers and I were trying to find some sense out of all of this pregnancy. We had a big question brought up.

“Why conceive and bring another child if she was not capable of loving her previous children?”

I was not sure if she had drug habits that would make her mental reasoning affected. Perhaps, she had an underlying mental illness, not diagnosed yet. There could be a lot of reasons. But the bottom line is….it was her children who suffered the most. They were born yet despised.

Love….the basis of life…Without it, life seems to have no meaning. Love…Which is the greatest attribute of our One and Only God. Love…came down from heaven…Born of a woman. Who lived among us and suffered the most. Jesus…Who suffered through his trials and tortures and died by crucifixion. He had a horrible physical suffering. And spiritual suffering. [2 Corinthians 5:21 ~ “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”] The torture Jesus had to endure just depicted how hateful and full of rage sinful men were toward a holy God.

Jesus was born yet some of us still don’t believe what he had done. Jesus came to tell us about a Father's love. Yet, he was despised by men. Because of our sins, we are not fully capable of loving and believing in the Creator Who came and gave Himself to pay the ultimate price for our sins. So we may live…

Romans 5:8 ~ “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

By birth he came and like a “thief in the night”, Jesus will come again. Destruction will come suddenly like the labor pains of a pregnant woman. [1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 ~ “for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.”]

We all adore that face on the manger. But there will come a time that there’s a side of Jesus that we will not like to see:

Active Labor

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel [meaning God is with us]." ~ Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14

I was starting to become short of breath after dashing right behind another nurse who was running a little faster than I could. Holding the big kit that had a big basin and other materials we possibly needed, our loud footsteps and the set of keys in my right pocket made noises that filled the entire long corridor, leading to one of the units for female inmates. We just received a call that a pregnant inmate was in pain and looked like she was in labor. The charge nurse already knew who it was even before they mentioned the name, as medical staff had been keeping track of those who were in their later term of pregnancy.

We saw her crying, forgetting to breathe at times as the deputy tried to console her and comfort her. We had her get up on our exam table in a small clinic and as the other nurse signaled that she felt the baby's head starting to come out, I immediately called for an ambulance over the radio to the charge nurse. Soon enough, the rest of nurses and other higher ranking custody staff came in and were standing by to help us out. The interventions were quick. The adrenaline was being felt all over that tiny room. As I started the paperworks, some of the nurses were encouraging her and helping her remember her breathing. The contractions seemed to be narrowing in between and the more tears she shed as they did.

There was something about delivering a baby that brought both excitement and joy. Despite the setting, we seemed to have forgotten the dark place and the vision of heavy metal bars beyond the glass window of the clinic. Everyone was excited, awaiting the birth of a special gift that was about to come. The ambulance arrived. More blood gushed out. But she was able to be transported to the nearest hospital. The baby did not arrive in the prison which in a way, everyone was thankful for. Because being born in the jail was not a desirable place at all.

But thousands of years ago, a unique birth happened in Bethlehem. It was already prophesied years before. Conceived by the Spirit. Born in an undesirable place: in a stable. Heaven's Greatest Gift to mankind: JESUS...Who came as a suffering servant but will come again as King and Judge. The true meaning of Christmas...

Do you see Jesus as a baby in the manger or is He the Lord of your life? Have you accepted heaven's gift of love into your heart?



Friends, Merry Christmas to all of you and may you be filled with His richest spiritual blessings come 2011...I'm on and off blogging. Thank you for your love, prayers and friendships. God bless.

Jehovah Jireh

2 Peter 3:18 ~ "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen." [emphasis is mine]


A coworker called me as soon as she got off work to tell me about some drastic changes with our schedule at work, including mine. I had been working part- time, not more than 8 hours per night for so many years now. I couldn't work more than 8 hours because of my neck injury in 1997 and that, I had been working weekend nights, to help out my husband and child during the weekdays that both of them are busy with work and school.

I was saddened to hear that the new acting supervisor had changed my schedule to work 12 hours some nights and 2 weekdays, he assigned me. I knew it would happen because our PM shift was really having trouble keeping a good number of nurses to work. Unfortunately, the night crew has to make changes. But I understood why he had to do that.

My initial reaction was feeling injustice for the night shift but when I started praying and giving it to the Lord, calm enveloped me. He reminded me that anything that happens has a purpose. My prayer for what I thought I needed changed to "what do you want for me to do Oh Lord?"

Friends, please pray for me. That even if I make my requests to only be able to work 8 hours to prevent my neck pain and blood pressure from going higher, and to be able to either keep my weekend nights or at least, be able to go home early on weekdays they assigned me to work, may it be the Lord's will to be done. Pray that He will give me discernment regarding this matter.

The rest of the day, nothing bothered me anymore. Because when I remind myself every time of His true promises, I know that nothing will go wrong. I know that He is truly in control. That if He is asking me to make changes, I don't want to miss doing something for Him, instead of what I want. The reason why....the thought of "if" Mary did not become obedient, I couldn't imagine the consequences of her actions. For she conceived the "Son of God", the "Savior of the world."

When plans go awry...sicknesses disrupt the health...finances on the verge of being empty...no matter what the cause, what's important is the truth that His faithful love abides. He makes His grace perfect through those weaknesses. Our Greatest Provider is all we need! Glory be to God forever!




Father God, I lift up all of your children. No matter how much we differ with our walks in this life's journey, this world will always challenge our faith in You. Help us to know more and more of Jesus so we can discern which are the things of the world and which are from You. Help us to draw nearer to You, Oh Lord. Thank You for Your grace, love,mercy and all of Your provisions. In Jesus' Name. Amen.