Cole Tells Life

My kind of home gardening means a balcony garden.

You see, I live in a 14th-floor apartment somewhere in the United Arab Emirates and we have a deserty kind of climate.

However, being me who’s been brought up in a far-away countryside in the Philippines,  I never backed out in growing plants especially vegies. It is a kind of therapeutic in the sense that it calms me from either tending to it or just appreciating this piece of nature every morning after waking up.

This journey brought me searching for beneficial fungi and bacteria to liven up my soil, and I am just excited to share what I have found after searching for weeks. I found this product from desertcart.ae (an online marketplace based in UAE).

Mikrobs 226 grams packet

This product has 3 species of beneficial fungi Trichoderma, 4 species of Endomycorrhizae, and 4 species of Rhizobacteria. I bought this 226 grams packet for AED 131.00

As for application, I use a dilution ratio of 1/4 tsp Mikrobs in 1-liter water for drenching into each 5-gallon bucket planter, once a week during the vegetative stage of my bitter gourd plant… and once every 2 weeks during the fruiting stage.

bitter gourd male flowers

Mikrobs is OMRI-listed (Organic Materials Review Institute) of Oregon, United States of America so it is suitable for organic gardening/farming.

Sta. Isabelle variety bitter gourd

I am growing the Sta. Isabelle variety of bitter gourd, it is a Chinese strain and is a common type of bitter gourd grown in the Philippines. I attribute its success because of Mikrobs application that it was able to endure the non-forgiving heat in the Middle East, especially from my balcony not having heat protection from shade net.

Hello guys, this is Eisa. I want to wish you all “Eid Mubarak!”.

To commemorate the occasion, we did a little funshoot in our home with me wearing kandoora and shal headdress, the national clothing for males in United Arab Emirates, our host country.

Hello guys!

Mag seryoso din minsan

what ya looking

I was looking for props, grabbed this instead… my mom’s favourite ghee

Stay home. Stay safe.

Flex ko lang ang photo-op ko almost 6 years ago sometime in October 2014, with Itsoura.

October 2014

This was before I met my now ex-husband. Age: 32 years old.

I am so happy with these photos and how it turned out. Talagang request ko kay Josephus I want the photos to be as natural as possible, and he delivered!

This one below is my most favourite. Yung natural lighting effect ng sunshine striking my hair, I feel it’s magical. Echos haha.

On the other hand, I have no regrets with the decisions I made. I even wrote about our engagement in my old blog here.

It was tough but I made it through and I’m alive. I am grateful to God of gifting me a child and I named him Eisa. Ipinangako ko sa sarili ko na papalakihin ko siya ng maayos, he is loved, he belongs and I will aide him in building his character.

I remain me. I learned a lot about myself along the way.

I had to endure the mental stress as aftermath of the collapse of my marriage. I still feel the pain kahit 3 years na ang nakakaraan, so I can’t get myself to watch the latest Korean drama na “The World of the Married” tagos sa puso ko charing hehe.

Though I had come to a realization that each time I stumble into hurdles, I feel it’s a revelation of either the two: (1) a lesson to strengthen my character, or (2) learn in letting go and believe that there’s something else for me.

The first year was difficult, slowly medyo naging okay-okay na as time passes. I heard somewhere, time is the best medicine. I have learned that I don’t have to please everyone. I ate to my heart’s content. And I indulged myself in watching Korean and Chinese dramas for my entertainment in the evenings and weekends. I actually took a liking of learning Hangul and Mandarin in the near future.

Periodically, I pause and savor my present. Life is beautiful.

My next personal goal is to build my core strength and achieve a 24-inch waistline. But rather than being skinny, I desire to be strong. No crash dieting, only gradual change into my eating habits and re-introducing workout routines. And I love my waist trainers, and improving my digestive health.

I wish me a happy me and a happy you. 🙂

So I have been wanting to store homemade burger patty recipes for my Filipino palate, something economical, masarap at puedeng pang negosyo (in case lang I go that route later), na somehow though you can have a little mark-up ay affordable pa rin.

Homemade Beef Burger by yours truly 🙂

So base sa aking pagsasaliksik sa youtube ‘wink 😉 heto ang aking personal preference when it comes to my burger patty. Take note maraming available na iba-ibang ingredients from various resources… heto lang yung talagang pasok sa panlasa ko.

Because it’s a keeper for me and I want to share also to those who are interested that’s why I decided to post it here.

Give it a try and I hope you like it too.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Burger Patty Pinoy Style

Tasty burger patty pinoy style na pang ekonomiya puedeng pang negosyo

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Burger Patty Pinoy Style, Economical, Pangnegosyo

Servings: 20 patties

Equipment

• Round parchment paper liners 5"
• Freezer bags for storage

Ingredients

• ¾ kg beef or lamb 80% meat, 20% fat
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 pc red onion
• 1 pc large egg
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 whole head garlic
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup banana ketchup
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• ½ tsp cayenne chili powder
• 2 ½ tbsp mustard sauce
• 1 pc knorr beef cube

Instructions

• Soak Panko bread crumbs in milk for at least an hour
• Mix ingredients altogether along with the soaked bread crumbs
• Let rest in the fridge for at least an hour for the ingredients' flavours to come together
• Shape and place in a parchment paper to avoid patties sticking together
• Freeze for storage

Notes

I made about 20 patties of 70 grams each with this recipe. You can adjust according to personal preference of thickness. 

This post is in Taglish (mixed English and Tagalog) to express my overwhelming feelings, so I’m sorry to my non-Filipino readers.

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

No. of Episodes: 16

Lead Roles: Hyun Bin as Captain Ri Jeong-hyuk and Son Ye-jin as the heiress Yoon Se-ri

So this is the second time I have watched a drama starring Hyun Bin. I loved his character then, I loved his character here more.

The first time I have seen him in was the drama The Secret Garden. Second naman ay eto. OMG! I just cannot get over him talaga.

Personal rating: 10/10

After my father passed away, the thought of Mom being by herself most of the time made me think of a project that will allow me to do two things:

1. A project that will make Mom involved
2. A project that has a potential to bring us income enough to bring me back to Philippines

These thoughts led me to something very close to my heart and I am passionate about. FARMING. Modern farming.

Various searches result into permaculture, sloping agricultural land technology as well as crop rotation to maximize profitability.

The problem though is we don’t have a big land to farm. My paternal grandparents have already subdivided their lands to their eight (8) children.

So from August until November 2019, we have been looking around to find our perfect match to start with our farming journey.

In Camarines Sur province itself there is abundance of agricultural land. Mom, Uncle Henry, Auntie Epin and brother Edy went for many site viewings.

First property was 7.45 hectares, four towns away from our hometown. The price was too good to be true for that size, we then found out that it’s about 2 kms away from main road, has to cross a paddy field as well as water stream. I really felt for the oldies to have traveled that far and for them to have walked the almost forest area. So thumbs down.

Second property was five towns away, this time it’s 11.6 hectares. It is too big, but ideal because it’s along the road it comes with a price tag. Again thumbs down.

Third property is 6 hectares. This one is perfect. Price is perfect. Only 500 meters away from the barangay road. Unfortunately I didn’t get the loan money.

Then on 9th of November 2019, my folks visited a 3-hectare agricultural property only 1 town away from our hometown. This particular property is a bit on a hilly and sloping land topography. Instantly, I fell in love with it. It is in Barangay Baliuag Nuevo, Minalabac Municipality.

My now new farming place.

Farm site not too far from Ragay Gulf

I dream of Nigerian Dwarf goats, Dexter cattle, giant bamboos, timber and fruit trees on top of the hill. I dream of Mom busy with her days organizing produce. She will never feel alone and isolated. I dream of coming home to a fresh environment and with nature.

We then proceeded on scheduling a tree planting activity for commemoration to be held the same week of Dad’s first year death anniversary.

Digging holes for transplanting the saplings

This project still has a long way to go. I am just glad that we now have something to start with. I still need to collaborate with other land owners for a right of way to the main road which is about 500 meters away.

Vanessa holding a sapling for photo-op only

For now, my heart is content.

This little Bicolano boy farmer captured my heart the moment I came to know of his existence – I named him عيسى ‘Eisa’

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…

Happy happy birthday, Nay…

You have turned 59 years old today, and yet looking so young. Despite the odds, and many adversities in life you faced you have remained strong.

All six of us, love you.

I often get asked about social interaction opportunity for a homeschool child like mine. There’s a preconceived opinion that homeschool kids are stuck in their homes, which is actually opposite the fact.

Homeschool families generally have a regular schedule of field trips, typically involving the whole family, so it makes the experience more memorable and contributes in building a solid family foundation.

Here’s a bunch of photos during our latest field trip.

The Soriano family, a fellow homeschooling family have recently found a field trip location not too far from our residence. The kids have enjoyed the experience as evidenced in the following photo collection.

Eisa is currently in Pre-K level and has just turned 4 years old couple of weeks ago.

He played with this for more than half an hour.

The team.

Thank you guys for browsing through our pictures! We did have fun and hopefully you can also visit this nice place in Sharjah… entry tickets are not expensive. Promise!