Because perishable food don’t come with a term life insurance you have no choice but to eat them right away or freeze them if they are freezeable.  Otherwise, they will just go to waste and that’s something we don’t want.  I froze some fresh strawberries a couple of days ago and had bananas (again!) which were on the verge of over ripening.  I thought it’s about time I “recycled” them.

Strawberry banana smoothie would have been an easy option.  But I chose to take the route which will leave me with a lot to clean up…baking.  Since banana muffins make constant appearances in our kitchen, I thought it might be a good idea to give the bananas some company, the strawberries.  Strawberry banana muffins suddenly sounded like a good idea.

I used my usual Banana Muffin recipe and tweaked it a little by increasing the amount of milk to 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 plus the addition of 1 cup of sliced strawberries.  After sifting all the dry ingredients together, I dumped the strawberries in the flour mixture for coating.  I read that coating the strawberries (or other berries for that matter) in the flour mixture prevents them from sinking when poured into the muffin pans.

I used a ramekin for this giant muffin.

Because of the extra 1/4 cup of milk in the recipe and the semi-wet strawberries, I had batter enough for 14 muffins.  That’s two muffins more than the regular-sized 12-cup muffin pan.  So after filling all 12 cups of the muffin pan, I poured the rest of the batter in a ramekin for one ginormous muffin, which I sliced into four so that they resembled mini banana bread slices…

The muffins came out very moist, what with the extra milk. Next time, I will just stick to the 1/4 cup milk measure.  I really like the strawberry-banana combo.  It gave some kind of a new twist to an old favorite here at home.

Two weeks ago, I had another one of my lucky breaks at the Asian store and scored some green mangoes.  I meticulously picked 3 of the greenest, most unripe mangoes without any hint of yellow whatsoever.  And because my idea of perfect green mangoes (which are white when sliced and never never yellow!) are hard to chance upon, I always celebrate by making bagoong rice.  This time, I stored them in the fridge right away to prevent them from ripening!

This was how the mango strips in my previous bagoong rice looked like…

Such big difference between the mangoes!  You’d think I used ripe mangoes for the bagoong rice in the second photo when they were actually unripe.  Hee hee.  The mangoes I recently purchased were definitely winners.

I previously posted the bagoong rice recipe here.

I’ve got a present for all of you big fans of Urban Outfitters…Urban Outfitters promo codes!   Woot!  I can’t say I’m a diehard patron of the store.  To tell you honestly, I’m not really familiar with them.  That’s living under a rock for you.   But checking out their online store, I could very well understand why one could easily turn into a shrieking fan.  They have clothing, accessories, furniture, home decor, etc. What more could you possibly ask from a store? You just have to check out their Holiday 2008 catalog!

It’s no big secret that the economy is weak.  But one can’t possibly avoid spending when the holidays are slowly creeping up on us.  Fortunately, there are ways one can save and free discount coupons will be your round trip ticket to huge savings.  Thanks to Savings.com.  If you love shopping online, you’ll go crazy with the free coupons you can get to save on shopping and shipping.  Discounts of 10% go a long way, what more when you can get more.  Even free shipping takes a chunk off your online spending!

You can find coupons to your favorite merchants: Macy’s, Gap, the Apple Store, Dell, Amazon, Home Depot, Target, Nordstrom and a host of other stores.  So start clicking..it’s way better thank snipping from newspapers.

A box of goodies for our family arrived yesterday.  Woot!  *insert dance of joy* Thanks to our dearest Singapore-based friends, Jeric and Melisse for the early Christmas presents!  Or were they meant for Thanksgiving, meaning another box is coming for Christmas?  Kidding.

I have another (recipe) book to add to my ever growing collection…

I love it!  More than a recipe book, it lets the reader have a closer look into the Southeast Asian kitchen - the must have ingredients, the favorite methods of cooking, the signature dishes, etcetera.   Oh and the photographs!  I drooled on page after page of beautifully photographed dishes!  The book’s practically useless now.  Kidding again.  Hahaha!  Seriously, it was so tempting to just tear off the pages and munch on them.

I can’t wait to try the recipes.  Where should I start?  Indonesia?  Brunei?  Thailand?  Vietnam?  Philippines?  Malaysia? Can you name name the rest of the countries?  Hee hee.

I love surprises that come via courier.  :D  Can a KitchenAid mixer be too far behind?   Wishful thinking.  Hint! Hint!

Have you started your holiday shopping yet?  Well, I haven’t, primarily because the people I want to shop for are half-a-world away.  It’s not an excuse, I know.  I will get around to Christmas shopping, specially now that sales are practically lined up one after the other.  I’m slowly warming up to it like an athlete preparing for a big game.  *wink*

If I were home, I’ll be shopping for quite a lot of people: relatives, friends and godchildren.  Come to think of it, maybe being away is a good thing after all…not! :D  Hahaha!  But if everyone were here, oh boy, I’ll probably be taking advantage of the Kmart Layaway program.  It’s just too bad we don’t have KMart (but we have it’s sister company, Sears, which has a layaway program, too!).

But if you’re one of the lucky ones who have a Kmart in your area and you want to hold on to your hard earned cash a tad longer, then by all means, take advantage of the store’s layaway program!

For the avid gamer, new games are now available: Call of Duty and Gears of War for the 360, Endwar for the PS3 and Lego Batman for the Wii.  For the Disney fan, which most of us are, there are Disney jewelry, toys and games, clothing, bedding and baby items. If you need new window treatments and rugs, it’ll please you to know that they are all on sale!  The electronic freak will go wild with the black Friday prices on electronics, such as the Sylvania 32in class LCD HDTV and the Kodak M763 7.2MP digital camera.  And who wants to wear ratty old clothes for the holidays?  (Not me definitely!) You can save big on clothes, handbags and accessories.

Only a limited number of items can’t be put on layaway, but the ones that really really matter, like the ones I mentioned above, you very well can!

There, that ought to get you (and me!) into the spirit of shopping!

This is in connection with my earlier entry (just two entries ago) and another one of Abby’s bento lunches from October, thus, the witch hat pick.  The homemade skinless longanisa (Filipino-style sausage) I made for the first time was such a hit with Abby that the following day, three pieces made their way to her school lunch.

I love this stury food container.  Got it for $0.99 at Walmart.  It’s microwave and dishwasher safe.

I was afraid if I only packed plain rice in the food container, they would be left untouched.  So I sprinkled some ebi fumi furikake (Japanese rice seasoning with shrimp, sesame seed, potato starch, seaweed, sugar, salt and dried yolk powder.

It was the first time I ever sprinkled furikake on cooked rice.  I may have oversprinkled the rice with the seasoning.  Personally, I like it.  I can actually eat just rice and furikake.  Hee hee.  As for Abby, she ate only one out of the three molded rice.  I say one is better than none.  The rest, Abby devoured.

I’m guilty of loosely packing the food container.  My problem is that some of the better known bento lunch fillers (like cherry tomatoes), Abby isn’t too keen on eating.  But we’re working on that.  I know, reasons, reasons, reasons!

Heads up shopaholics and sale junkies!  On the 15th of November (yes, that’s this coming Saturday already!), Sears will be having a Big One Day sale.  Doorbuster deals are from 7 am to noon only!  I may have to get up really early on a weekend for this.  Just telling you about it makes me oh so excited.

To tell you honestly, I have my eyes set on only one thing, the KitchenAid 4.5 qt bowl lift stand mixer, which will be sold at the lowest price ever of $159.99!  The original price tag on this baby is $279.99 but it is being sold right now at Sears.com for $251.99.  Between you and me, I am now on my 3rd (cheapo) hand mixer.  The first one conked out right smack in the middle of my first brush with cheesecake.  The second one wouldn’t turn off unless I pull the plug.  The third is only a few weeks old and who knows how long it’s going to serve its purpose.  I’ve been fixated on a KitchenAid mixer for some time now and come Saturday, I may just find myself with my very own.  I am so hyperventilating at the thought!  That would be a wonderful early Christmas present! *sigh*

Come to think of it, I will probably have enough left for a Nextar 7inch digital photo frame, which has a price tag of $39.99 (currently being sold at Sears.com for $49.99).  I have tons of photos and unfortunately, I’ve been very delinquent in terms of printing.

So, see you at Sears?  Just keep your hands off my mixer! Hee hee.