Thanksgiving weekend is fast approaching. Everyone is busy for it is one of the busiest time of the year (crazy black friday and cyber monday sales). Evenwith all the buzz, we should remember what this Thanksgiving holiday represents.


Thanksgiving is a celebration of the things we are thankful for this year. In the Filipino culture, Thanksgiving is not widely practiced. I do believe that Thanksgiving is as important as the Christmas holiday. It is good to stop for a moment and reflect on the things we are grateful for.

In spite of tough times and crazy frenzy in these times, I'd like to share with you some of the things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for family.

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

They say that family is everything, and it is true. God have blessed me my own family, a loving husband and a wonderful son. Even with the imperfections we each have, I am happy to have them in my life. Also, my family circle have grown. I know that not all families are the same, mine is no different as well. We were able to work with the difficulties.

I am thankful for the time I get to spend with family. 

Photo by Natalya Zaritskaya on Unsplash

I am a stay-at-home wife and hands-on mom. I am grateful for my husband because I was able to be both. We both have worked out our situation into something great. Leaving a career (or your home country) is not easy. But now, I am happy to take care of them. I get to spend a lot of time with my son and also take care of  my husband. Seeing my son grow to be a happy person is priceless. It may look easy, but I tell you it is hardwork.

I am thankful we are in Singapore

Photo by Sven Scheuermeier on Unsplash

My husband was fortunate to land a good job here in Singapore. We are able to be together and live comfortably in Singapore. Growing up in a third world country, we were raised to be resilient despite the worsening condition of our country. But living in a first world country opened my eyes. There are more to life that we deserve, if we look (and work) really hard for it. A clean and safe environment for my family to thrive and live in. A place where you feel good being a dutiful citizen and paying taxes because of what you can enjoy with it (efficient transport system, clean and safe surroundings).

I am thankful for the comfortable lifestyle we have.

I know most of you know the horror stories of Filipinos working abroad. Most of them are working their asses off 6 days a week for 10-12 hours so they could send almost all of their earnings to their loved ones in the Philippines. Little do we know, the living expenses here in Singapore is high. Think of what they eat everyday here if almost all their salary goes to the Philippines? I assume none or not so healthy processed food.

It is the sad state that one cannot control. So I'm thankful that we are able to live an okay life here in one of the most expensive cities (with me not having to work yet). This is not to brag, but just to appreciate what we have been given.

I am thankful for a wonderful opportunity that came our way.

Experiencing the perks and opportunities the first world countries offer, I can't help but reach and dream higher. Singapore is a good place to raise a family, if you can get a permanent resident visa or even citizenship. As of the current statistics, it is near impossible for a foreign family like us to be granted permanent residency here. The cost of living here is way too expensive to sustain a growing family for a foreigner.

Photo by Joël de Vriend on Unsplash

So we are venturing other countries that are more open to us in terms of permanent residency. I am quite ambitious to say that I yearn for that dual citizenship status where I get to enjoy the benefits the first world people enjoys. Call me spoiled, but free health care and education for my son sounds like a good deal to me.

Photo by Ty Williams on Unsplash

Don't get me wrong, this post is not here for me to brag. This is to acknowledge the things that I am grateful this year. I am lucky that God has given me these things. I am trying to see the positive despite of all the noise and negative things in this world. If you personally know me, I am a big worrier and I get stressed easily by the little things. Having your own family makes you appreciate what you have instead of being stressed on the things that you don't have. Being grateful and positive is something that I've been working on this whole year.

What are you thankful for this year?

I wanted to share this easy nutella recipe for those who are vegan or people cutting/allergic to dairy. I found an easy recipe from Chocolate-Covered Katie which I followed regarding the measurement of ingredients, and adjusted it to my taste.


This Dairy-free Nutella is not the healthiest one because I adjusted the sugars according to my liking.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1,5 cups raw hazelnuts
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp coconut oil
1/4 cup honey (you can use whichever sweetener you like)
8 tbsp white sugar (I added this to adjust the sweetness to my liking)
pinch of pink himalayan salt
1/2 cup milk of choice (I used soy milk)
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions:

Roast raw hazelnuts for 10 mins at 200degC. (Note: I used a small convection oven)
Blend the roasted hazelnuts until you reach the butter consistency. This may take time depending on the type of blender/food processor you have. I used my baby's food processor which took quite a while. A high powered/heavy duty food processor will make the job easier.
Melt the chocolate chips with 1 tbsp of oil
Add the melted chocolate along with the other ingredients.
Blend until you've reached a nice buttery consistency.
I added 2 tbsp of cocoa powder because I wanted a pronounce chocolate flavor (and failed! Didin't add more as not to ruin the taste)
I also added a splash of soy milk to adjust the consistency for I find it to heavy to my liking.


And viola! Even my son with dairy allergy likes it. The spread has a pronounced nut taste because I went heavy on hazelnuts than on chocolate. (you may adjust nut-chocolate ratio for your desired taste) The recipe yielded two small jars (as seen in the picture)


Hope you liked this recipe!

If you did follow this one, let me know what you think.
I'm open to suggestions. :)


P.S
I am not vegan. I follow vegan recipes for my son who is allergic to dairy (includes any milk derivatives, eggs and chicken). Vegan recipes has been helpful to me since.

Hi Everyone!!!

Sooooo I finally was able to squeeze some time from motherhood to revamped my site. If you dropped by my blog in the past few weeks, you may have noticed that my site was wonky and out of control I was trying out some free blogger templates that had the "wordpress-minimalist-theme" feel.

I know what you'll think. I chickened out the last minute and backed out on migrating my whole site to wordpress. Also, my web developer (aka loving husband) got his hands full and I couldn't wait for his schedule to free up (I would most likely want him to play with his son than spend hours in front of the laptop trying to perfect my site in wordpress).

I did what I do best. I befriended google and searched for free templates and tweaked it out a bit to fit to my liking. It was really hard coz all the html codes are too foreign for me. Luckily, Google was able to find me a site who gave free templates and have an easy guide on how to install the template.

After a lot of trial and error, Here's my newly revamped site:

From the people who first brought the biggest inflatable playground in the country, they are back to bring additional joy this summer.

Hi everyone!

2018 is finally here and as everyone is probably doing, I'm trying to make my 2018 count by goal-setting. My main goal is to continue blogging while taking care of my son. 2018 will be different for Team Perez will have it in SINGAPORE!

Yep, you heard that right. The fam is now residing in Singapore. My husband and I have decided to stick together here in Singapore. I may be jobless but I know that I have more time in my hands to do what I love. I am officially a full time stay-at-home mom.


It is exciting for I have a lot of things i want to do. First on my list is to make sure I get my grove back, physically, mentally and emotionally. A lot is on my head, but of course first on my priority is my son.

My post will most probably be about our life in Singapore and SINGAPORE FOOD! I've been enjoying my stay here in Singapore because it is way too different from the Philippines. I'll do a separate post about my observation and comparison. For now, I am excited for 2018!

What are you looking forward this 2018? Share your thoughts in the comment box below! I have more time to read and interact with you guys!

 

My blog is not yet dead.. just hibernating as I try to re-assess how I should proceed.

You see, I started my blog because I wanted to share a piece of me in the blogosphere, in case there is someone out there who can relate. I firmly believe that there's no one left out in this world.

I gave birth to my first child last May 24, and everything is a whirlwind. I birthed a child into this world, left my job and my home country to start a new life in a new country. I am currently a stay at home mom, focused on taking care of my first child and husband as well.

First Family Picture.. ❤👶🏻🐥🍼👪 #TeamPerez #family #finallyout #babydax #babyboy #chinitobaby

A post shared by Carol (@carolranas) on May 24, 2017 at 8:07pm PDT

I did my research and reading to prepare, but nothing compares to the actual responsibilities of motherhood. Motherhood is one tough phase that you'll never outgrew. I used to say to myself "Give it more time and you'll have a system and everything will be place." Boy I was so wrong.