Sorry, my best friend doesn't want to be discovered had to put a disguised on her. 😉 My best friend Beth say’s when she talks to me like her tongue is twisted for me talking to her English and Tagalog into a sentence. She say's I talk too fast that she has a hard time picking up the story I am telling her. She gets lost and tells me to repeat myself. I have known Beth for a long time. We have known each other ever since I started living in the Philippines when I was still single. I met Beth when I decided to visit the Philippines with my mom. We had stayed with her best friend since grade school. My mom's best friend had children of her own. I began hanging out with her son Jim who was almost the same age as me. Jim had introduced to me his friends whom had a party at his friend's house. That time I brought my cousin Kate with me. She was visiting and she had stayed with me the whole time. Kate and Carmina At that time there we...

There may be more than one mom in your life other than the one who carried you in their tummy. I have so many moms in my life one who gives me advices when I need it. The mom who cares for you, support you in your decision in life, the one who financially helps you, a mom who cares for you when you need a help from them, a mom you just meet when you want to eat out and bond together. No matter what position your mom is at in your life. This is how many mom I have in my life: Mom who gave birth to me Step Mom Mother in-law Adopted Mom Why do I say adopted mom because I have friends who are my mom's friend who would love to adopt me for reason they feel I can become their daughter figure in their life. Sometimes other mom's want the same treatment they see from someone else. Or their daughter's lives far away from their home.  My mom use to complain to their friends how when we travel I would play tricks to my mom. I would take stolen pictures and videos ...

You wake up in the morning feeling there are so many things to do today. It is Christmas Eve and so many things to do. You came across going to the grocery store for last minute things to buy and come out with a line so long. You come back home and need to pick some food up for the celebration. Come home tired and no appetite to eat.  You decide cooking for the upcoming evening. You cook some chicken macaroni salad, spaghetti and feeling so drained out. You only have a short time to rest and end up working it off making some garden salad for the menu for tonight. By the time you eat at the dinner table you feel so sleepy and can’t seem to wake up being so tired. It is not even mid-night yet when you start exchanging Christmas gifts with your in-law. You still have three hours to kill and try to figure out how you can stay awake. You turn on your internet on your phone all the beeping comes to your phone so many friends have started greeting you ...

We use credit card when we purchase something, eat somewhere or purchase online. Do you know the benefit of an expired credit card or any type of card can be useful in your own home?  I feel like I am a robber when I do this but when your door from your home gets locked up for uncertain reason. I use a credit card where the door latch is located on the side of the main door. This way the credit card will be able to open your door at easy without any sharp objects. My in-law and staff always call me up to open their bedroom door just because they feel they don't understand how I was able to do it. Did you know you can also do it when your lock in your room as well? I just found out recently when my son broke our door knob without telling me anything about it has he had entered the room. It was time to celebrate Christmas as I was planning to leave my room my door wouldn't open. I thought maybe there was a problem from the outside portion of the door knob so I had called...

In our household we have a day when we serve just Japanese food instead of eating outside in a restaurant. We're a lot when you combine each family member together at the dinner table. Our menu is usually the lazy sushi, shrimp tempura, fresh tuna, salmon and sukiyaki. Note : You can get my recipe on the lazy sushi and shrimp tempura (shrimp tempura lazy sushi) in my recipes for your reference. Easy Sukiyaki Recipe : Ingredients : 1 Package Vermicelli Noodles 4 Pieces Dry Shiitake mushroom (sliced thinly) 1 Package tofu (slice in cubes) 1/2 Napa Cabbage 1/2 Kilo sirloin cut or tenderloin cut 1 Bottle Sukiyaki Broth Beef bones 1 Onion (slice in the middle) Green Onions Tip: You can buy sukiyaki broth it will look like this found in the Japanese grocery store or Asian Grocery near you Step 1 : In a medium pot place water half way and add beef bones Add slice onion Let it boil Step 2 : Soak dry shiitake mushroom in hot water in...

Now, that you have my lazy sushi recipe I will let you know which seaweed is best to eat with it. I have tried a lot of brands, flavors and different textures. The best of the seaweed is the Korean brand it adds more flavor compared to the plain Japanese roasted seaweed. It tends to change the moisture in your mouth and it is dry. The flavor doesn't last in your mouth. The Korean seaweed can be bought in any Asian Store, Korean Store, Costco (S&R for the Philippines) and online such as Amazon and Shopee. My favorite flavor is with Olive Oil, but there are some people who don't prefer it. Enjoy you seaweed and there are some people who prefer to eat it with just plain white rice or pork barbecue with kimchi. No matter how you eat your seaweed you get to enjoy your meal in all sorts of ways. NOT SPONSORED. Subscribe @ Carmina Lifestyle YouTube Channel  a place to look, discover and share. Thank you for your support.

I was looking at my blog to see if the Google Adsense was on my mobile phone when I was checking my site. I notice there was a problem and it wasn't showing only when I went to web full screen. The feeling came to me when I would scroll down the blog all my post for the entire day had no Google Adsense attached to my mobile. I decided to change the layout and theme. I didn't know once I would start changing how my site looks. I would also have to re-do and add the codes I have done the previous time. Oh my! At first I was thinking why I even bothered changing the way it had looked.  I had backed up my file. It said, most files will not be saved. I took the risk and worked on it. Now, I took notes that in case it does happen to me again. I know where I can fall back too. It took me the whole day to figure everything and make some big changes in how it looks. I feel it looks better, but my window and picture is no longer there. I am still tryi...

Believe it or not when you have aluminum foil rolled up inside a bottle filled with water it minimize the flies entering your home. You would think if you close your screen door it would limit the flies that enters your home. Sometimes they find ways and means to enter your own home. This has been proven to work and most of the flies will enter inside the bottle to float inside. We never like flies around our food when we're eating a meal. It distract us that it makes our surrounding dirty and we can't concentrate when we eat at the table. You are worried if the fly lands on your food. In my room I have an electric mosquito killer this attracts flies and mosquito's. I can highly recommend this preventing you getting bitten by mosquito's that love to bite you and follow you entering your room.

I was doing my normal general cleaning in my room when I decided to clear out my clutter in my room. I just recently came home from my vacation to visit my family.  I had opened my attic that is located in my dressing room on the upper closet door. I saw these bugs that looked unfamiliar to me. It ate the boxes in my attic and that is when I realized what kind of insect it was. I had called, up some employees to help me out. They had sprayed vinegar to let it all die out from the items that was already destroyed. I had to transfer to another bedroom next to me for two months. We had termite’s inspection in my room and found out the main bedroom also was infected termites. There was a termite house inside the wood located on top of my windows. They had sprayed the termites. The termite inspector showed me how they can detect whether there are termites or not. He said, if the wood is swollen there are termites inside. As he was inspecting I was able to find out he w...

I love eating Vietnamese dishes and come across cooking it at home. It is easy to make pho soup just like what you eat in any Vietnamese Restaurant. The best part in making the Vietnamese pho soup at home you can add anything your heart desire from the following: shrimp, chicken breast, beef top sirloin and pork. Broth : (8 Cups) Chicken  Beef Bone Pork Bone The main ingredient is the following : 1 Onion (cut in half) 5 Slices of Ginger 1 Tbs Salt 2 1/2 Tbs Fish Sauce 1 package of vermicelli sotanghon noodles 1 Lime (cut in 4 wedges) or Lemon 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts 1 Tbs green onion (chopped) 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped) Preparing the broth : Step 1 : Preparing the broth cook the choice of meat in a pot with 8 cups of water. Add slice of onion, ginger to add taste to your broth Let it boil until meat is fully cooked. Set aside and let it cool. Step 2 : Remove the meat from the broth and strain  Place in a Tupperware and place in th...

When in doubt you become a certain age and reach a different decade of life you want to celebrate a big party with your family and close friends. Often people in the Philippines like to have an elegant birthday celebration and they tend to make the atmosphere something you have never dream of by decorating a simple room to something very fancy. This time I had attended Uncle Oscar's 70th Birthday Celebration held at the Alessandra's Banquet Hall in Cabanatuan City, Philippines. The cake and desserts was made by Edna's Cakeland. NOT SPONSORED. Subscribe @ Carmina Lifestyle YouTube Channel  a place to look, discover and share. Thank you for your support.