Breaking for Bread

My mom told me that my brother started making bread and had me thinking about trying it out. Now that I am older and can focus more, what better time than to be reintroduced to the Tassajara book. I do remember glancing at the book once or twice when I was younger but the directions alone can scare off anyone! Now that I am far less manic, I was interested for the first time to add bread making to my list of domestic duties.

My dad used to make bread that would fill our house with the aroma of a bakery. I never watched him make it although was the first to give a taste test. Years later he invested in a bread maker and readied the ingredients at least once a week. At the time one of our cats was especially fond or should I say addicted to the yeast. She somehow learned how to open the section where the yeast was placed and would lick every grain out.




To my surprise, Mom gave me the book for Christmas and a couple days later she showed me some of her own tricks and pointers on how to make bread. It is quite a workout but worth the labor intensive process. I immediately fell in love with the bread and we polished off one of the loaves in the first day. We even made miniature loaves for Noah and his cousin Adeline. If I could, I would bake my own bread over store bought anytime. We will see how possible it is with a feisty 2 year old running around the apartment.

Traditions and Family

Christmas with the Crowder/Pasquarellos!

Yes, I am the sentimental type and heavy on family traditions. Because my memory is not so great I always made a point to take pictures and thanks to the advanced technology in photography I won't miss those important moments!

If only I kept a list of gifts that I gave to my family....I am sure they would make me laugh hysterically.

Christmas at the Crowder's (and Pasquarellos) always starts with an early rise so we could tear into our stockings! We are flexible about the time of arrival now that we are older but still engage in paper shredding through our stockings.

There was one point when we had a membership to Price Club (warehouse) and our stockings were filled with 6 dozen pencils and other bulk items like post its and scotch tape! We still continue the tradition because it would not be Christmas without it!


The next phase was Christmas breakfast, which always includes grapefruit topped with meraschino cherries and the usual makings like scrambled eggs or pancakes and even buckwheat waffles....I suppose it was the preparation that made has made it memorable because there is something to say about too many cooks in the kitchen.....

This year we had a cranberry coffee cake and pomegranate with dill and pistachios. Delish!

Once our tummies were full we proceeded to the living room, exchange gifts and play with our new toys for the rest of the day.

Pinay Power Brunch


I hosted the December Holiday PPB at my apartment after a long hiatus of attending the brunches. The purpose of the brunch is to gather on a monthly basis and offer a comforting and supportive environment for young Filipina women in the NYC area. Most brunches have themes, ice breakers and other fun activities for the ladies to learn more about each other, discuss relevant newsworthy events, or talk about life.
For me it has been the outlet I have been seeking since becoming a mom and wanting to keep my connections with the Filipina community.

As the hostess of the holiday brunch my suggestion was to decorate cookies. The wanna-be chef side of me that wanted to exploring the art of cooking. What better project than to bake sugar cookies and decorate with icing, and sprinkles. Baking or cooking anything from scratch still is new to me so I researched recipies, stocked up on ingredients and made sure I had all the traditional cookie cutters.

I was in a baking frenzy before the guests arrived but I enjoyed the rush of having to methodically roll the dough, use the cookie cutters and keep a mental timer of the cookie readiness.

Of course, a couple batches of the cookies did not make it but over all I was very satisfied with the end products. Noah also took part desperately wanting to shake the sprinkles and dots all over people. His sneaky quickness did allow him to try the icing which instantly transformed him into a crazed sugar hyper kid.

Aside from the cookie making, we also had a wrapped book exchange. I was particularly entertained by my gift because it was a trashy novella that I got from the 7-11 while I was in the Philippines a few years back. I did use a bandana from the Philippines to cover the book since the book itself was not the most desirable to most.

We had a sharing of the significance of the holidays and our fondest memories. I talked about my first winter as a new arrival in the U.S. when I was five. I spent hours of delight in the snow, making my own fortress by the garage, eating snow dripped with maple syrup and the fascination that white stuff was falling from the sky!

Everyone went home with a handful of cookies. I hope if not at PPB I can host another cookie decorating party. Who says it only has to be during the Winter Holidays?! Maybe I will have a Valentine's Day cookie decorating party!