While mom was doing her hair and make-up for a wedding this morning, I heard dad say this to her…
“Darl, yung ibang mga babae nagpapa-parlor, pero ikaw hindi. Ang galing, galing mo. You can survive by doing it on your own and you always look very, very nice.” :)
I was in the other room when I heard what he said and it made me smile because I knew that dad wanted to sincerely appreciate mom by saying those words. Actually, they were running late for their 10 am wedding, but by God’s grace, instead of pressuring each other, I saw how dad and mom enjoyed their time together before they left the house.
“Raise your thoughts a little higher,
Use your words to inspire,
Joy will fall like rain,
When you speak life with the things you say.”
[TobyMac “Speak Life”]
What they say is true: What we, children, see and hear from our parents affect us greatly. When we see them encourage each other and those around them, we get encouraged too because it inspires us to love others in spite of our weaknesses and differences. In the same way, I know that parents deeply appreciate it too when children choose to respect, honor, and love them through their words, obedience, and the time spent with them.
But, what if we don’t always have encouraging parents? What if, sometimes, we ourselves don’t feel like encouraging them and others too? No worries! We just need to pray about it more, do our best to take one step at a time, and grow more in our walk with our only source of encouragement and joy — God. :)
By God’s grace, I pray that I can improve more in this aspect. Sometimes, I don’t intentionally appreciate the people around me. But because I am reminded of how much God loves me, I am motivated to love and encourage others too.
1 John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us.”
My eldest sister and I usually pass by the grocery after going to church on Sundays. But yesterday, we decided to go home instead. I actually wanted to go and buy new ingredients at the supermarket, but somehow, God encouraged me to save money by skipping the additional expense. I remember getting a bit disappointed because I wanted to cook something new for our merienda and I couldn’t then, because our ingredients at home weren’t “enough”.
Nonetheless, I went around our kitchen and looked for ingredients that I could possibly use. After a few minutes, I found a frozen chicken breast in our mini freezer, eggs, milk, cherry tomatoes, unsalted butter, and some leftovers (less than 1 ½ cups of flour, a few pieces of iceberg lettuce, and sliced mangoes). While I was looking at the ingredients, I suddenly thought of making waffles with chicken.
Actually, I’ve never made savory waffles before, but because I didn’t feel like having waffles for dessert yesterday, I said to myself “Why not? I’ll give it a try.”
While I was preparing the ingredients, I began to appreciate what I had. Although some of them were leftovers, they were still pretty good and useful. Moreover, by God’s grace, I was able to use some of our fragrant and fresh herbs (Basil and Oregano) in the veranda and a few cherry tomatoes which were recently harvested. In less than 30 minutes, I was able to prepare a new snack for me and my sister!
Fresh OreganoFresh Basil
God used that moment to humble me and encourage me to constantly have a grateful heart and a resourceful mind. Many times, I focus too much on “not having enough” of certain things (in and out of the kitchen) and because of this, I end up getting disappointed even more. I even remember the time when I was just thinking of starting a blog (about two years ago), I was discouraged to pursue it because I thought that if I didn’t have a DLSR camera, the photos in my blog wouldn’t look nice and it would affect the blog’s quality. But God gently rebuked me and encouraged me to focus my heart on Him and maximize the resources he has given me. I realized that I didn’t need that camera. I needed God.
I wrote this on my journal last February 29, 2012 while I was thinking about blogging: “But you spoke to me Lord and you reminded me to use what I have now (simple digital camera, old laptop, some kitchen tools and equipment…). Just like how you used the two fish and five loaves of bread and multiplied them to feed thousands, I know that you can use whatever I have right now to glorify you, if it’s your will.”
By God’s grace, He has been faithful in providing for my blogging needs since I started. :)
Hebrews 13:5 says: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
I really enjoyed making the savory waffles. God knew that I wanted to do something different this time and He allowed me to do so even with leftover ingredients! He also gave me a bonus by helping me save the money that I was supposed to spend at the grocery yesterday. Thank You, Lord, for this savory treat! :)
RECIPE (Good for 1-2)
Ingredients:
1-2 Chicken breasts
salt & pepper
unsalted or salted butter
Dried Spices: (1 tbsp) Chili powder, (1/2 tbsp) paprika, (1/2 tbsp.) cumin powder, fresh oregano and basil leaves
a few slices of ripe mangoes and cherry tomatoes
lettuce
Grated cheese
Waffle mix*
*Waffle mix:
3/4 cup flour + 2 tbsp. of flour
pinch of salt
1 tbsp. of sugar
3/4 cup milk + 2 tbsp. of milk
1/2 tbsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
Steps:
1. Pat dry the chicken breasts and rub the dried spices on them.
2. In a small bowl, mix the fresh herbs and butter until well combined. Rub on the spiced chicken breasts.
3. Fry the chicken and set aside.
4. Cook the waffles on a waffle maker.
5. Slice the cooked waffles into two.
6. Assemble the waffle sandwich by adding the chicken, tomatoes, mango, lettuce, and cheese on one side.
7. Cover the sandwich with the other half of the waffle. Serve and enjoy!
I miss the cold weather in Manila. I miss it terribly. Although we were already warned by many reports, it was still heartbreaking for me to experience the heat so soon, because I wanted the cold weather to last for a few more months. I was just getting used to wearing hoodies, not experiencing sweat that much and constantly feeling the cool breeze whenever I would take a quick walk outside. However, when I stay inside or go outside of our house nowadays, I’m not able to feel and appreciate the cold, fresh air anymore.
My first Broccoli. :)
Just last week, I got so affected by the sudden change in the weather because I noticed how both my Broccoli and Cherry Tomato plants were having a difficult time surviving each day. Before, watering the plants twice a day (morning and evening) was already sufficient. But because of the extreme heat recently, the plants and soil dried up immediately after they were watered.
Also, I noticed how weird my Broccoli eventually looked like. In my former posts, I showed photos of how the Broccoli plant was able to produce its first Broccoli, but when I had a closer look at it a few days ago, I saw little flower buds growing on it. The Broccoli certainly didn’t look like the ones being sold at the supermarket. It had puffy buds.
After doing more research online, I found out that the heat and lack of water caused the Broccoli to grow prematurely, thus, allowing the flower buds to grow. And when we allow the yellow Broccoli flowers to grow on its head more, it would eventually develop a bitter taste. So, I inspected the head and saw that some of the flower buds already started to open up a bit. At first, I didn’t want to remove it from its stem since it was still a small head. But then, I also knew that I needed to harvest it soon because if I didn’t, it would end up as a ball of yellow, inedible Broccoli flowers. I prayed about it and decided to harvest the head the next day.
Steamed Broccoli with Salt & Pepper. They were quite sweet! :)
When I was tempted to complain and grumble last week, God encouraged me to thank Him instead because He gave me the privilege of growing even just a small head of Broccoli. It reminded me of the verse in the Bible where it says:
“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food…
yet I will rejoice in the Lord…”
[Habakkuk 3:17-18]
Two days ago, I went online and browsed through one of my favorite gardening blogs, White On Rice Couple (http://whiteonricecouple.com/). To my surprise, the couple behind the blog shared about how they lost their 10-year old Blood Orange tree due to overwatering. Somehow, I sympathized with them because I felt like I lost my 9-month old Broccoli plant when it grew a head prematurely because of the heat and lack of water. But in their blog, they shared about how they decided to plant a new tree to replace the old one. And that simple act reminded me of hope. Hope not in ourselves or in the situations around us, but Hope that is found in God who causes things to grow.
When I first planted the Broccoli seed, I remember placing a sign in the pot to encourage me. It said “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” [1 Corinthians 3:7]
Thank You, Lord, for the past nine months of growing a Broccoli seed and learning more about You from it. Thank you for allowing it to grow. I look forward to growing more plants and trees with You in the near future. ‘Til our next harvest!
Last Friday night, my siblings and I watched Wicked at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It was AMAZING!!! It reminded me so much of my highschool days because when we were in our third year, my musically-inclined classmates introduced Wicked to me and I instantly fell in love with the songs. I remember listening to my Wicked playlist everyday and sometimes, I would even sing their songs with my friends during lunch breaks in school. Hahaha. It really was a memorable experience for me because the musical encouraged me to sing in front of and with others freely.
By God’s grace, He provided for our tickets and He made us all available for the show! Thank You so much, Lord! :)
With Jemma Rix (Elphaba) and Suzie Mathers (Glinda)
One of the things that I enjoyed about the untold story of the witches of Oz is how the main characters initiated in restoring and building their friendship with each other in spite of their differences. One of their songs “What is This Feeling” talked about how much they loathed each other when they first met. But as the story progresses, their hearts change and they naturally show humility, forgiveness and sacrificial love towards each other. In some scenes, they were even willing to die for the freedom of the other.
With Steve Danielsen (Fiyero)
It reminded me of John 15:12-14, where it says: “… love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Watching the scenes that showed sacrificial love brought tears to my eyes because I knew what it felt like to receive this kind of love. Many years ago, Jesus died to pay for the penalty of our sins and he took our place on the cross so we could spend eternity with Him.
“Tell me what kind of God would choose to save
The bruised, the broken, the sinners, the runaways
How do you ever try to comprehend this love that knows no limit
I could try but I could not explain
His kind of love is reckless for us
His kind of love is will never give up
‘Til the whole world knows how far He went to show His kind of love.”
[Group 1 Crew’s “His Kind of Love”]
With Nessawith Boq
After learning about the story behind the songs I’ve memorized before, I fell in love with the musical even more. It really was encouraging to be reminded of integrity, forgiveness, humility, and sacrificial love. I hope that more composers and scriptwriters can create beautiful masterpieces like Wicked. :)
From Google Images
In honor of Wicked, here are some of my favorite fruit shakes that somehow resemble their main characters, Elphaba and Glinda.
Elphaba and my Avocado Shake
Glinda and my Strawberry Shake
Feel free to try the recipes. I usually just estimate the ingredients and taste every now and then until I like it’s consistency and flavor. :)
AVOCADO SHAKE
2 medium ripe Avocados (or 5-6 sweet, ripe strawberries)
3 tablespoons of sugar/honey (More or less :P)
4 tablespoons of milk
10 ice cubes (size: 2 x 1)
STRAWBERRY SHAKE
5-6 sweet, ripe strawberries
3 tablespoons of sugar/honey
2 tablespoons of milk
8 ice cubes (size: 2 x 1)
My name is Nicole Obligacion and I started this blog because I was inspired by Hebrews 10:24 and Hebrews 3:13. I love to eat, cook, bake, read the Bible, and encourage. :)
