Ube-Coloured Pan de Sal

For some odd reason, ube pan de sal has become such a craze in Manila during this pandemic.    Naturally, I wanted to give it a go since MacGyver is such an ube fan.  

My first batch in May was pretty good.  I even packed two pieces to give to our GP (who is a Filipino) when I went in for a consult.  I handed them over to him in a ziploc bag with full disclosure that it didn't really taste like ube but it was a decent tasting pan de sal.

I had been thinking about making a second batch but hadn't gotten around to looking for the recipe. Then out of the blue, a friend sent me a link from pagkaingpinoy.com for the ube cheese pandesal recipe this morning.  I took it as a sign and started the breadmaking process before logging in for work thinking I could squeeze in the forming and baking during my lunch break. 

The dough rose beautifully.

Unfortunately, there was so much work to do that I did not get much of a lunchbreak and therefore  did not have time to work on the pan de sal.

I did manage to punch down the dough and divide them into 24 pieces this afternoon. I also cut 24 pieces of cheese to put inside the dough however, I wasn't able to form the pieces until after 5PM.

I was still busy working but I had already gotten this far and I there was no turning back.

I rolled the dough in breadcrumbs before attending a call.

Then baked them while I was in the middle of a meeting.

By the time my meeting ended, RD had already eaten two pieces.

(They still did not taste much like ube but they were still very yummy.) 

The Magic Number is 50

Pentecost brought a special blessing for us here.  The state declared that starting 31 May, churches would be allowed to have up to fifty people inside where previously only ten people were allowed.   

During the time that only ten people were allowed in the church, people had to sign up for the slots.  I didn't know where to find that sign up sheet and I didn't feel like slugging it out with the rest of the parish so I was happy to set my alarm to 6:55 AM and catch the 7 AM mass on Facebook.  I would visit the church once in while but not really aim to catch the mass.  However, when the government eased the restrictions and increased the number to fifty, I felt like I had a fighting chance of actually attending mass inside the church.

I decided MacGyver's birthday would be as good a day as any to wake up earlier and physically attend mass.  I set my alarm clock earlier because it is a good 20 minute walk to church and I had no idea how early one had to be to make it within the fifty limit.  I arrived at quarter to 7.  They had two bottles of hand sanitizer at the entrance and two sign up sheets.   I was number 47.

Over the course of the days, it was like a roll of the dice everyday.  Would I wake up in time? Would I be able to walk to the church fast enough?  Would I be within the allowed number to enter the church?

Today, I cut it really close.  I was number 50!

Room With a Zoom

We set an appointment to get together on Father's birthday in May.

Catching everyone at a reasonable time is always a challenge.  

Our two extremes are Arizona and Sydney but the real challenge is making sure that Mother was still awake considering that she wakes up at 3 AM and sleeps at 7PM.   

I was hoping for a 5 AM Arizona / 10PM Sydney schedule which seemed more reasonable for everyone however Mother requested 7PM Manila time because my suggested time translated to 8 PM Manila time which was already past what Mother called her "Shrek time."

Anyway, I sent off this screenshot a few days before our scheduled meeting but mentioned "just add 12 hours."  I usually know whether Sydney is two or three hours ahead of Manila.  At the moment, we are two hours ahead of Manila.

Before 9PM. we started the call using FB messenger.

I thought we were doing ok.  I took this photo and waited for Mother and Sister Deer to join.  

I went upstairs to enable the kids to greet their aunts and uncles but my connection got cut off.

While I was out, Mother and Sister Deer joined the call and I was left out in the cold.

Apparently, FB messenger only allowed eight (8) simultaneous connections.

(Yes, that was my ear in Slash-M's mobile.)

We learned our lesson and set another virtual family gathering for June.  We set it for the 2nd weekend in June.  This time, we would do it in Zoom.  Zoom allows more than eight simultaneous connections.  Perfect for large families such as ours. 

 

By the time June came around, the restrictions on the number of people visiting a household were revised.   Starting 01 June 2020, up to 20 visitors were allowed to visit a household.  That was a whole lot more people that could gather together in a long time. 

 

Family here decided we would get together for our previously regular Saturday dinner.  The last time we'd seen each other was in February.  However since there were more than 20 of us all together, it was arranged such that the adults would meet at one place and the "children" (young adults, really) would gather in another. 

 

So at the designated meeting time, I excused myself to joined the rest of my family for our Zoom call.

One of the major topics for this call was how to wear a surgical mask properly.  (Thank you, Eldest Sis for the online tutorial.)

For the moment, this is what our family picture look like.

It was good to see everyone!

Looking for Bird Seeds

The grocery stores have more items in stock now.  The panic buying has died down.

They still have social distancing stickers on the floor at the entrance of Coles for the peak hours when they need to moderate the number of people inside the store.

It is really nice to see things going back to normal.

 

Although this unusual visitor at Coles was not very normal, it was also interesting to see.

(There were actually two birds in the store.  Maybe they were tired of being outside.)

 

 

Christmas In May

We received this 1000 piece puzzle last Christmas.

At the start of the lockdown, I asked the kids if they wanted to work on a puzzle but they did not seem too enthusiastic.  After more than a month of staying at home, working on a puzzle suddenly did not seem like such a bad idea. 

 

I pulled the puzzle out of storage on Sunday and we brought back the other foldable table. 

(MacGyver had set up two foldable tables at the start of the lockdown -- one for me and another for GI to use as we worked from home.  When GI went back to his place, we packed up the 2nd table and put it back in the garage.)

 

 We started the puzzle after 9:30 PM right after I logged off from work.

(We had to do some testing and I had to log in.)

 

We completed the sides by 11:35PM.

 

 

We had most of the names of the games on the sides of the puzzle before midnight.

 

 

PogiPoints came over after lunch on Monday to help with the puzzle.

He and MyGirl worked on the puzzle together.

 

He proudly completed the corner with the backgammon board before 2:30PM.

 

  

By 3:30PM the puzzle looked like this.

 



 

 The kids and I resumed working on the puzzle after dinner.
 The two corners were completed by 8PM.

 

By 9PM we had three corners.

 

RD and MyGirl had a working arrangement of calling out descriptions and deciphering locations.

They called this piece Jose Rizal.

 

All four corners were done after 10PM.

 

Bits and pieces of the middle of the puzzle were taking shape.

This is where we were at 10:24PM

 

10:40 PM -- we are getting excited as the puzzle approaches completion.

 

 

 11:15 PM -- NO!!!!!  One piece is missing!

 

After 10 minutes of searching, we found the last piece inside the box.

We got MacGyver to put in the last piece of the puzzle.

 

 That was fun!

 

Stay Home

We have been on lock down since March.  The Australian border was closed on 20 March and social distancing rules were imposed.  Non-essential services were shut down.

At work, we had planned for split operations -- team A and team B --  alternating working from home and reporting to the office.  As a member of team A, I was scheduled to return to work on 30 March but by then we were all instructed to stay at home.

Many stores were closed.  RD and MyGirl were both studying/working from home. MacGyver still had to report to work and we could still hear the school bells of the nearby high school ringing. GI stayed with us during the first week of lockdown but after a week of sleeping on the sofa bed and doing work on his laptop, he opted to go back to his place.  

When the kids are in class or in a call, they hang up the equivalent of a DO NOT DISTURB sign on their doorknobs so we know not to open their doors or walk in on them.

 Many stores have closed.  Churches are closed.  There is hardly anybody in the malls but thank goodness the groceries are still open.

Not used to being cooped up at home and in an attempt to get some sort of exercise, I take walks around the block.  Even the signs along the road  that usually have traffic information are reminding people to stay home and stay safe.