The Road to 40 Day 255/365: A New Look For Our Home

It was back to normal for us this Monday after a whirlwind weekend, or so we thought.

We came in late the night before because our flight was delayed by an hour, so we were trying to see if Vino could wake up early for school. Che was certainly not ready, and asked if I could prepare because she was very much open to having Vino sleep in.

As a housedad, I’ve understood that this job has no days off, so I already planned what I was going to cook before I slept, and I knew the time I needed to make it.

I wanted a quick fix, so instead of rice, I cooked pancit canton as carbs for Vino and got Spam and egg on the side. It would be his breakfast and lunch. After I prepared everything, I went to wake Vino up.

Che said she asked Vino if he could get up for school and he said he was too tired. So it was decided that we were all going to stay home for the day.

While waiting for both of them to wake up, I wrote the blog and watched the NFL playoffs on the side. It’s the playoffs, so the games matter more. As a performative NFL fan, I watch the games when there’s real stakes, so that I don’t look dumb when I’m watching the Superbowl live.

And yes, I usually watch the Superbowl live. It’s got this college basketball energy to it when I go to venues, so I enjoy it even if I’m not as passionate as all the other fans there.

Vino woke up and ate his breakfast. It’s been sitting there for a while already, so I told him to just eat what’s inside his lunchbox so that it’s still warm.

Che woke up a little later. She was not feeling well, so she decided to take the day off to try and sleep it off.

I feel helpless when she’s sick, because I don’t know what she would like or could eat. We still had some fish in the freezer, so I told her maybe we can do that for lunch.

In the afternoon, we watched Stranger Things before Vino decided to stay in the room for us to watch Taxi Driver Season 3. She started this when she went to Indonesia, and I’m only catching up.

So Che’s mind works weird sometimes in that she doesn’t really take days off as well. While we were lounging and resting, she decided to implement a thought she had gone by me previously – moving the sofa to open up a bit more space in the living room.

We went to make her vision into reality just so we could see how it looks. It was the first step in what would be a makeover of our current home as we know it, because we’re thinking of letting go of a lot of stuff we don’t need.

This July will be our second year in this house, and it looks like the owner has no plans to go back home yet. With the current market on houses, it looks like we’ll be renewing our contract unless something drastically changes over the next few months.

Since we don’t own this house, we can’t really renovate, but we can re-arrange things to get a fresh feeling when we renew our contract.

For dinner, I planned to do chicken pastil, which I asked Christian for the recipe. He cooked it before and I observed how he did it when we were together last Christmas. I thought it could be a good choice for Vino’s lunch, so I tried to follow his instructions.

After I cooked it, I plated it three different ways. It’s usually a rice topping, so I did that for Che and Vino. For myself, I got my furikake and gojuchang paste for a bibimbap-like experience.

Che liked it enough to get a second serving of rice. Vino also liked it, and I told him it’s going to be lunch tomorrow. We did feel that it was a bit dry, but that was on me. I thought it should be a bit toasty and crispy.

However, as I was cooking it, I feel like there was a time when it was crispy enough but still had some juicy parts. I think I’ll leave it at that stage next time I try this dish out. As per Christian’s instructions, I was supposed to let it cook for 5-7 minutes before mixing, but since I was cooking it in a cast iron pan, it cooked a bit quicker.

After dinner, I cleaned up and went to the room. We got Vino to sleep at a little past 10pm after all our nightly rituals. He tried to sleep in his own bed (which was right beside ours) tonight, so at least I could sleep beside Che for once.

We watched Taxi Driver until we fell asleep. I hope they both got enough rest today so they can be back fully ready for their own challenges tomorrow.