He cooked “Tinola” for me

For the past weeks, these are what I’ve been eating

Breakfast: Low fat milk and 3 tbsp of instant oatmeal
Lunch: less than a cup of rice, 1-2 slices of meat and 1 cup of whatever veggies
Dinner: Green Salad or All-Vegetable Sandwich

These meals are easy to prepare and are low in sugar and calories. It has helped me lose weight. But like any food, if you eat it every day you will surely grow tired of it. Butch has been in his paternity leave since Thursday and last night, he cooked “Tinola” for me. He thought of it because green papaya, one of its ingredients is said to encourage contractions on pregnant women. Tinola normally has chicken, malungay leaves and green papaya. But since we are after eating the green papaya, Butch didn’t put chicken just the malungay leaves and other spices.
I am happy that Butch is with me now. He said it was okay. He was not able to use up his leave credits last year and this is the perfect time to use it. Two days ago, he took me brisk walking in U.P. At noon time we went to Wildlife, a park/ zoo housing endemic animals here in the Philippines. We ate our lunch there and walked around seeing all sorts of animals (in cages of course)- different species of snakes, birds, fishes, mammals etc. I’ve been a resident of Quezon City for a long time but that was my first time in that park. I enjoyed very much. It’s unfortunate though he was not able to take pictures of the animals. His Nikon D40’s battery run out after we ate lunch.

Someday, we will take Nigel to this park to see the animals.

I wonder what will Butch cook for me tonight.

Wordless Wednesday: Walking, walking and more walking... to induce labor

*picture taken by Butch as I walked in U.P.

Kate Winslet Finally wins Best Actress

Kate Winslet won the best actress award during last Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards for her role opposite Leonardo Di Caprio in “Revolutionary Road”. She also won the best Supporting actress award for the movie “The Reader”. This is a long awaited win for the British actress who has been nominated 5 times for an Oscar but has never won. Like what she said in her acceptance speech for best supporting actress “I have a habit of not winning things…”Well, her luck seems to have changed. Will she finally win an Oscar too this year? The nominations are yet to be announced. But I am very sure Kate will be nominated for best actress as well.

It was pretty obvious she would win for best supporting actress category. Her contenders namely Amy Adams, Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, and Marissa Tomei are no match for the Kate’s caliber and experience as an actress in my opinion. She was very composed and prepared going up the stage as she held on to the list of the people she wanted to thank. But when she heard her name came up as best actress winner, Kate seemed stunned. Who wouldn’t be? Beating Ann Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep and Kristin Scott Thomas- all spectacular actresses is quite a feat. Here’s a video clip of her acceptance speech as best actress…



Congratulations Kate, you deserve it. Oh boy! This makes me want to watch Revolutionary Road even more but I don’t know when it is showing on this side of the globe.

The American Idol Season is upon us!

I was channel hoping yesterday and I saw that American Idol Season 8 will premiere this January 14 on Star World (Asian cable channel that carries it via satellite). This talent contest is by far the most entertaining there is for me. I’ve been a follower since Carrie Underwood’s season.

They say the ratings have been slipped though. I wonder what they will do to make the show more interesting. Around mid last year the producers announced that there will be another female judge for season 8. Joining the three will be songwriter Kara DioGuardi. This grammy- nominated composer has written songs for successful artists like Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Hillary Duff, Enrique Iglesias, Nick Lachey just to name a few. Will she be harsh unlike Paula? I really don’t mind if they add another judge as long as they don’t remove Simon Cowell. He may be really harsh, but his comments are quite entertaining. And his judgment is one of the reasons why the show is so successful.

Last season two males, David Archuleta and David Cook battled it out for the title. I was rooting for David Cook and I am glad he won. I wonder who will win this year. Will it be another male or a female singer? Though Cook got the title, Archuleta seems more popular; at least here in the Philippines. His song “Crush” was Song of the Year in RX 93.1’s year end count down. Though it was only released late this year, it still managed to be 2008’s number one hit! Cook’s “Leave the Light on” on the other hand was only number 16 or something.

Anyway, I am looking forward to an enjoyable show this year. I will be watching it with Nigel!

I’ll be asking for Pancakes with maple syrup

After I give birth, I will be finally off the “no-sweets” diet. I miss eating carbs. But right now I need to be focused to make sure Nigel comes out healthy. They say that once you get into labor you’re no longer allowed to eat till you give birth. I think it has something to do reflexes. Where in the world where will I get the energy and strength to push if I hadn’t eaten anything?! Labor could last for hours and hours. I guess one forgets the hunger when the labor pain is really bad.

I’ve already told this to Butch. I want pancakes with maple syrup to be my first meal when it’s all over. I have a sweet tooth, that’s a fact but I will still limit my carb intake even after I give birth. I want to eat more healthy stuff- fruits, veggies and fiber so that I can be healthy for Nigel and Butch.
My Ob-Gyn asked me to do a count of Nigel’s fetal kicks to make sure he’s healthy and there’s no problem. Starting tomorrow, I will take note of how many his kicks are within 1 hour after a meal. I’ll be recording it in the same small notebook I use to record my blood sugar.

I was hoping for a PR3, oh well…

As the New Year kicked in, Google also gave away new page ranks. I’ve been waiting for this especially for my blog, Nurturing Nigel. I’ve been posting regularly, exchanging links with the same niche, and making sure I had constant traffic. I was aiming for a PR 3 but I entered my domain’s URL in the pr checker site and www.nurturingnigel.com is only PR2. I know for a fact that Google updates page rank every three months. I guess I’ll just continue blogging and wait for the next update. I don’t want to think about PR too much or pressure myself about it. I’ll just enjoy writing and interacting with other bloggers. When From the eyes got its PR3 before, I didn’t know anything about blog rankings. I was just happily expressing my thoughts, sharing my life with other bloggers. I guess I’ll do the same with Nurturing Nigel. As Butch always told me, the unlimited internet access he pays for every month is for my enjoyment, so I’d be relaxed and stress-free (He knows for a fact that my atopic dermatitis and asthma flares up when I am stressed). He said the moment he sees that the internet causes anxiety on my part; he’s going to have our DSL cut-off! I don’t want that to happen, I love blogging- it keeps me grounded and sane but sometimes the money-making part is the one that gives any blogger pressure.

Anyway, just enjoy blogging, Wendy, just enjoy it!