Category: Food

How to Encourage Your Fussy Kids to Eat When Travelling the World

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Now that the big ticket items on our wish list had been ticked off (our dream beach wedding, making sure our businesses are now up and running smoothly — Mahal takes care of our little resort Oslob New Village and restaurant Lami-an while I take care of digital marketing for my clients via my new biz VirtuPro, — and overall management of our life here in our own version of paradise), we are now about to start our travel adventure outside of the country and one of the things I think about is how fussy our son is when it comes to eating. When traveling locally, Tuz already has a list of food he is willing to eat. But how about when we visit other cultures and places where the food is totally different from what he’s used to? Are you in the same situation? If you want to travel with your kids but feel as though it’s always an uphill battle to get them to eat, then you’re not alone. So many people are in the same position as you (as us), but there are things we can do to try and make things easier on ourselves. If you want to find out more then simply take a look below.

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Dumaguete Day Trip

Dumaguete Day Trip

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Dumaguete is just a 25-minute boat ride from Liloan Port in Santander which is about 30 minutes away from Oslob by car. So it’s faster to get here than to go all the way to Cebu City (which is 3-4 hours away from Oslob depending on traffic) for a little errand run and shopping. I just want to share here what usually happens whenever we go to Dumaguete from Oslob for a little day trip. Here’s my vlog:

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La Vie Parisienne… A Little Slice of Paris in Cebu City 

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In case you’re already looking for a place to have your perfect Valentine’s Date with your significant other, I thought of sharing here with you this instagrammable food place we’ve already visited twice in the past few months. It’s one of the top restaurants in Cebu City which will give you that Parisian vibe. Aptly called La Vie Parisienne along 371 Gorordo Ave., we indeed felt transported back in time to the famous French city. And since we can’t yet go visit Paris right now, we figured, going somewhere that would make us feel we’re in my dream city is the next best thing to do. 

Watch my vlog about it to find out more:

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Welcoming New Year

Welcoming 2021 – A Look Back

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Time flies so fast when you’re having fun! Can’t believe it’s Feb already — my birthday month!!! I was supposed to start a vlog about our new beach life right now but there were still a lot of videos I filmed last New Year’s. And because I’m OC (obsessive-compulsive), I can’t seem to make the new ones without putting a closure first to 2020. So here’s a little look back at how we celebrated the end of 2020  — the last celebration we did at Cagayan de Oro — before finally, FINALLY, settling down in Oslob, Cebu — the land of the whale sharks… one of my few favorite places in the Philippines (Boracay and Siargao are the other two) 😉 

It’s just a quick vlog full of laughter and cheer which made me realize that those good vibes we exuded as we bid our goodbyes to 2020 and welcomed 2021 with renewed spirit and vigor really helped us bring about the same kind of energy to this new year. As the life gurus keep saying — WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS. And every single day since we got here in Cebu last Jan. 7, I’ve been feeling so festive, as if it’s Christmas and New Year all over again every single day, and for that, I am truly thankful. Even on those days when I’m hormonal and I feel like crap, I just focus on our good life and things start looking brighter once again. What you really focus on expands! Try it!

For now, here’s a little look back last Dec. 29, 30, 31, Jan. 1. After this, I’ll be sharing with you my life stories about the brand new life we’re now living. 🙂

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New Year Charcuterie Boards

New Year’s DIY Charcuterie Table Design

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As I’ve mentioned on my Christmas blog post, we’ve always celebrated the holiday season at a nice hotel resort in the city. That’s where I would usually see wonderful buffet table settings including charcuterie board offerings. So I said to myself, why don’t I try to recreate that here at home and have that nice hotel resort buffet feel? Perhaps, I can already use some materials we already have here inside the house, and the rest, I can buy at the store? So that’s what I did! 

I just want to document here the layouts I’ve made. The idea came to me right after Christmas. I didn’t want to order any more food from Food Panda. We also didn’t want to cook. But I love to decorate and arrange things so having charcuterie boards on the table sounds perfect for what I didn’t want! Lol! So if you’ll check my Christmas blog post, there really is a huge difference in terms of the look of our buffet table. The two table settings we had last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nothing compared to how pretty our New Year’s Eve and New Year’s table settings were. I didn’t know I could do such an instagrammable and Pinterest-worthy charcuterie table decor. What do you think? Is it just me? Or aren’t these charcuterie table settings so pretty? 

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Christmas

Unexpected Christmas Wishes Coming True

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It’s true what they say… when you least expect it, that’s when the magic happens. For the most part of the year, and the last 3 years before that, I thought we will have the same Christmas as before — we used to live in a tiny pad, so decorating our home for Christmas was not an option then. Instead, we’d go to a hotel resort here in Cagayan de Oro City and spend an overnight stay for both Christmas and New Year. Although on our first Christmas here in 2017, we celebrated it at our farm with our people. I’ve still yet to blog and vlog about those amazing hotel resort stays we did but I really plan to (next year, hopefully, as throwback features). Oh wait, I did blog about our Seda Centrio New Year Stay.  

Well, this year, (in a way, thanks to this pandemic — we got to transfer to a cozy house — looking at the silver lining here), my long overdue wish of spending Christmas in a beautiful, cozy home I personally decorated, hosting a party if possible, and just chilling and pigging out over a simple Noche Buena feast in our pajamas — finally came true!!! I’m so happy, I really can’t stop expressing it! I’ve been saying it on my social media posts and even offline to Mahal. I’m just really so happy. Hallelujah! 

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Musiga Vlog Review

MUSIGA Featured On Jeanmay and Julianne’s Vlog!

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Mahal and I just saw the very entertaining and funny vlog of two of our customers where MUSIGA (Mushroom Sili Garlic paste), one of our Tuscany Highlands products, was featured on their Mukbang Youtube video. The beautiful, talented, and funny vloggers are Jeanmay and Julianne. They’re the two lovely daughters of Cherry Mae Roa, my former high school batchmate from Lourdes College High School here in Cagayan de Oro City, who recently bought 2 variants of our MUSIGA — mild spicy and sweet & spicy!

In their mukbang video, the two pretty ladies ate different kinds of food. They had Kimchi Rice, Kimbap, Kimchi, Cheese & Scrambled Eggs, Pancit Canton, Soju, and our MUSIGA. Out of all the food they had, we’re super glad they liked our Musiga too! According to them, it added the much-needed flavor to what they were eating. We’re so happy! Muuaaahhhh!!! (^_^)

I was really delighted when Cherry told me last week that her daughters are going to feature our MUSIGA product on their Youtube Channel! And now it’s here! Thank you so much my dears!!! Watch their vlog, like, and subscribe —>  Jeanmay and Julianne


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Christmas Giveaway

TUSCANY HIGHLANDS MUSIGA AND MUSHROOM POLVORON 2ND ANNIVERSARY and EARLY CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!!! 

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Hello September!

At last, the Ber months are here — my favorite last few months of the year because it means that Christmas is just around the corner, Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas in Our Hearts has started playing in the radio again, and of course, my most favorite holiday, Halloween, is happening before all the pre-Christmas and New Year hullabaloo! In short, I’m just in a very festive mood! Weeeee!!!

A huge part of this joy I’m feeling right now is the realization that I really am blessed despite all the seemingly stressful dramas I indulge myself in from time to time (lol). I am officially and legally single, I am loved, I have my babies with me, we are healthy, Mahal and I are growing our businesses and life together, and it’s all great!

And because of these blessings and the overwhelming gratitude I am feeling towards God and our life in general, I am also inspired to give back. We don’t have many material things as we have been living sort of a semi-minimalist lifestyle since I exchanged my big Alabang townhouse lifestyle to tiny pad living in Cagayan de Oro City, but we can definitely give some things to people, albeit strangers, we consider important to us, and these “some things” are no other than our farm products, for our precious target market, the very people we would like to keep serving through our organic mushroom food product offerings.

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mommy jen cooks

Mommy Jen Cooks Pasta: Beef Loaf-Mushroom-Veggie Pasta in Olive Oil

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It feels like ever since Friday, it has just been one looooong day of work with catnaps in between. If you’ve been reading me since I started blogging every day (again) or even if you’ve read me since way back 2016 when I started this MomTraNeur blog, or even way back in my numerous other blogger websites since 2010, being workaholic (and travelholic) is my middle name. Add motherhood to my journey, so I’m now a sleep-deprived workaholic mom! Lol!

Most of my clients are from the United States which means that before they head off to their summer break this month, they are handing me more tasks than usual which also means, work overload for me. And that’s okay. I appreciate all the work and the $$$ income it brings our family. I’m just at home anyway, I still am able to take care of Tuz and our tiny pad and one of my most favorite activity — I still get to cook my own dish inventions, especially when Mahal is not around to cook for us. #WAHM #WotkAtHomeMom #MommyCooksBest 

I’m not the typical mommy cook (if there is such a thing as “typical mommy cook”). I don’t follow any given recipes. I make my own based on the taste that I am looking for in a given day, and I get a little bit more creative than usual especially when our grocery supplies are about to run out.

And yes, our grocery supplies are about to run out as I write this. Because of the emergency farm run Mahal did last Friday, we weren’t able to do our groceries which usually happens every Saturday. But Tuz and I managed. We were able to stretch our food supplies at home and even as I write this, there are still some food in the fridge and the pantry. Mahal would be proud! I could even stretch them for a few days more… maybe even until Saturday. This makes me save a week’s worth of groceries. Yes! More money for our dream farm fund! #FarmGoals

Anyway, having said all that, let me share with you one pasta dish I like to cook every now and then. I’m such a pasta lover even when I know I should cut back on it because I am not getting any younger and losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight is getting harder and harder every day (especially with my kind of work where I just sit mostly all day in front of the computer when I’m at home). I’ve actually cut back on it. It’s been several months since I last cooked pasta. So now I’m really CRAAAAVING!!!

I posted this on my Facebook Page recently and I’d like to share it here with you. I think I’ll be sharing with you more of my dish inventions in the future. They will be the type of dishes I plan to incorporate in our cafe menu should our dream of setting up our own farm cafe becomes a reality in the future. They’re easy to do and usually with healthy ingredients from our farm and very yummy too!

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Seda Centrio

Seda Centrio Hotel in Cagayan de Oro – Misto Restaurant Food Offerings, Hotel Rooms, Promos, and More!

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It wasn’t a long time ago when I brought my family to Seda Centrio Hotel here in Cagayan de Oro City for an overnight stay and to celebrate the New Year. Has it been 4 months already since then? It felt like it was only yesterday. Where did the time go?  Time does quickly pass by when you are oh so busy and having fun!!!

And have I told you that the first few months of this year has been like a roller coaster of a ride for me which was why we jet-setted to Boracay for more than 2 weeks?!

Thank God, April has been a blessing and May looks very promising.

So this blog post will be all about Seda Centrio Hotel, my recent visit there for the CDO Blogger’s GTKY Event (which was sponsored by Seda Centrio), and my family’s overnight stay there last New Year’s (which was not sponsored by Seda Centrio).

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How to Rise Above a Negative Mental State – Here are 6 Steps Based on My Own Experience as of Late

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I don’t want to make any excuses for not being able to post here when I said I would. But what I will do instead is to tell you the truth.

I’ve been feeling OVERWHELMED… and BURNT OUT as of late… I was aware of this state I was in but I didn’t want to further magnify it by telling people how I just found myself crying out of the blue, how I suddenly just felt so depressed and ungrateful, how I’ve thought of leaving Mahal and Tuz… I didn’t mention anything about it on social media or as it was happening. But now that THAT PHASE is over, now that I think I have overcome those negative thoughts and feelings for the most part, perhaps it would be helpful for others in the same boat to let them know that they’re not alone and that no matter how bad those feelings can get, there is always a way (or ways) to overcome it and come out better than ever. Continue reading →