9 January 2025
It has been a bittersweet 2024 for me with lots of ups and downs. There were wins and losses. Overcoming each year and adding years to my life is a lifetime achievement. It wasn't an easy journey for me to get to where I am, and it's mostly challenges that shaped me into who I am today.
I never had an easy life, and sometimes I wish I could take a break from daily hustle. I always wish to choose the path that I want to. But this has been my fate; I have to accept it. I live not just for myself, but for others.
This month, I turned 36. I can't help but feel blessed that I've reached this far. I am in the midway in life, and I wish to live longer for my family and goals. At my age, I haven't reached my main goal yet. So, here I am trying to keep my pace and deal with daily obstacles to keep going. It's exhausting sometimes, but there's not much to complain about when seeing all efforts are worthwhile.
If there's one thing I want to achieve this year, it is to get the financial stability I've been yearning for since then. It wouldn't be easy; I anticipate that, but I'll keep going and keep saving, especially since I spent a lot in the previous years since my father's death.
A budget-friendly birthday celebration
Meanwhile, I am lucky to be born a day after New Year's Eve. That means there will still be a lot of leftovers that I could repurpose for my birthday. A character I loved the most about us Filipinos is being resourceful. We don't like wasting leftovers because every single food we have on our table means a lot to us.
The New Year's feast was just for a night, so there are always a lot of leftovers. When I checked our fridge on the 2nd day of the month, it was still full, and some were still untouched. I told my mom I would prepare for everything and repurpose the leftovers.
I started with our coffee jelly, which seemed to be untouched since there were many options on the table on New Year's Eve.
After slicing them into small dices, I added some milk, cream, and diced mangoes, then chilled for a while.
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Next was the cake. Our DIY New Year cake became a DIY birthday cake, lol. I made sure it wouldn't be left out anymore.
During our New Year preparation, our electric mixer gave up in the middle, so we failed to make meringue. That was the main reason why our cakes became DIY, lol. It was a problem to me again. So, instead of making meringue for the cake coatings, I used chilled cream because I intentionally want to add ice cream flavor to the cake.
I coated the cake with chilled cream and used my Toblerone chocolate to decorate it. Even the candle was coated with chocolate flakes.
After chilling the cake, the result wasn't bad at all. I got myself a two-layered cake from the leftovers. That saved a lot.
Next were the viands.
Some of the raw leftover chicken was minced and mixed with a few ingredients. We then wrapped and rolled the mixture into chicken spring rolls. This is one of my favorite Filipino viands.
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I cooked the remaining raw chicken and made Hong Kong-style sweet and sour fried chicken chunks using the ingredients on hand.
We still had spaghetti and Biko or black sticky rice cooked in coconut milk. I requested to have a grilled milkfish on my birthday, which was granted.
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After combining all repurposed leftovers, we got foods to savor and share with. It didn't really matter what I had in my birthday; what mattered most was that my family was around.
Some of my nieces joined me this time. They seldom visit our house, so I was happy to have them around.
Life may be tough for me at times, but seeing my family around somehow eases the burden I am feeling.
We don't really need a grand birthday celebrations, we just need to be resourceful and creative in the kitchen.
Thanks for your time.
Jane is a Filipina wanderer in a foreign land who finds comfort in nature and freedom in writing. She loves watching raw picturesque landscapes, listening to the symphony of nature, breathing in drops of sunshine, walking through scenic trails and cityscapes, tasting new culinary flavors, capturing pretty little things, venturing into hidden gems, and dancing with the flow of life.
Her new experiences, adventures, challenges, lessons, small successes, and joys are colorful paints that fill up her canvas of life. She hopes to see it beautifully painted while she can.
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