Father's Day 2018 Feast

We celebrated Father's Day at home and my husband had a great time.  He  is a guy whose weakness is food so home cooked meals is always a  win for  him.   I   try my best to come up with  special dish during special occasion such as Father's Day.  

We started  our celebration last Saturday by making this salmon with brown butter tomato relish.  We ate it with brown rice.  This dish is very easy to make, all you need is salmon,  grape tomatoes, garlic, butter, parsley and seasoning.

My husband  is not very fond of seafood but if you cook it right, he would like it.  He liked this dish because of the flavorful garlic and tomato relish in it.  

I wish they would cook  during Mother's Day too s o we don't have to go out lol.  I hate going out during holiday because restaurants are always packed.   Anyway, yesterday, I finally able to use  the  content of Fuego Box.

 I mentioned that this box is part of the  gifts that we gave to my husband.  He was giggling when he opened it because  he doesn't cook  but I got him this.  He also knows that  these will be used  to make  tasty dishes sdo no complain there.  In reality, this  set is for me lol.

 The box  contained the  Hot Hive Spicy honey.  I used  two tablespoon of this for the BBQ sauce that  we made for the Pork BBQ we had  yesterday.

 This organic hot sauce, blend right in to the honey as part of the BBQ sauce.  My son said it's spicy but he doesn't like spicy food so I  I expected him to  say it.

 The jalapeño and garlic was a good marinating agent  together with crushed pineapple to the pork.  My marinade also include  the serrano sauce.  I was just testing what would taste good using these sauces and  seasoning.

 I also added  a tablespoon of this Fat Cat guajillo ghost sauce to the sauce.

 The result of this experiment using the Fuego box  sauce and seasoning was  awesome.  The meat was very tender and tasty.  The chard of the  grill on the meat  give it a  little crunch factor, it was really delicious!  Fuego Box offers monthly subscription for their products so if you are interested, you can just visit the link I  have provided above. 

Now, let's talk about  the vegetable that we prepared  with this dish. I always  try to incorporate  veggies in every meal that I cook at home so we could have a good balanced meal.   We used our new  stainless steel  vegetable grill basket from Cave Tools. 

You can find this  via  amazon and use VEGGIE15 coupon code for a 15% savings.  Here's what you can expect from this veggie grill basket.

• Grilled Veggie Flavor - Unlike aluminum foil, your vegetable basket lets in all the delicious bbq flavors
• Perfect Wok for Small Foods - Grilled Fruits, Vegetables, Shrimp, Meat, and any other food that would usually fall through the grill grates
• Sleek Curved Handle Design - Never Drop Your Finished Veggies on the Floor Again
• Convenient Side Dishes - No more pan frying your side dishes inside while cooking the entree out on the grill. With your new vegetable basket you can cook everything in one place

 I was gonna use it for the corn, remove it's skin and grill it but I remember that my husband doesn't like when corn is directly grilled because of the  burn marks.  I didn't want to boil the corn so I thought grilling it with skin on  would do the trick too and it did.  

 I grilled some broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots using the grill basket. 

 The BBQ on the stick  turn out so juicy and  delicious.

 The great thing about this grill basket is that you can even use it as a strainer for your   vegetable  or pasta so you can use it in multiple ways.

 I can't eat meat without rice so I also had  brown rice left over on my plate while they ate  BBQ and veggies.  We had this for  lunch after  the mass.

 I made this Greek Flatbread for dinner.  This Greek Flatbread was a  light dinner, perfect to have after a heavy lunch.  This has olives, feta cheese,  mozzarella,  pepper, and arugula.

 For dessert, we had mango and  strawberry cake.  They ate  cake, I ate mango lol.   The cake was store bought, I am not good in baking so I  rely  on commercially  made/baked dessert.

How about  you, where did you celebrate? 

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the complimentary product/s mentioned  for testing purposes and to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

4 Ways Parents Can Help their Kids through College Financially

Sending your kids through college isn’t cheap. Over 44 million Americans currently hold nearly $1.5 trillion in student debt, which means that roughly one in four adults in the United States are currently paying off student loans. That worked out at an average debt of $37,172 per student. Ouch.

As costs continue to rise, it is leading many parents to wonder how they can help their kids through college financially. There are several strategies for this depending on how involved you want to get, ranging from creating a college saving plan when they are still in diapers to using your own retirement funds to help ease the burden.

Here are four ways parents can help their kids through college financially.

Create a college saving plan

One of the easiest ways to help your kids pay for college is by setting up a saving plan early in their lives. You can do this through a 529 college saving plan, available in all 50 mainland states and the District of Columbia, or by simply putting away a certain amount of money per month into a separate account or trust fund. Even by putting as little away as $50 a month from when your kid turns two, you’ll have saved $9600 to help towards their college costs by the time they turn 18.

Apply for PLUS or private loans

Around 3.4 million Americans currently have Parent PLUS Loans which they use to help pay for college. These allow borrowers to loan an amount that is as high as the cost of tuition and are treated like basic federal loans, although they do have a higher interestrate of 7 percent. If you have a good credit rating, you can also apply for a private student loan from a private lender or bank which may have a lower interest rate.

Look at relevant grants and scholarships

Plenty of charities and foundations appreciate the financial burden of going to college and the way it can prove to be a barrier to those from less well-off families from entering further education. That’s why they offer bursaries and scholarships to ensure that gifted students from poorer backgrounds don’t miss out on college due to financial reasons. Look at the various scholarships and grants that could help your kids through college and encourage them to apply, such as the Shawn Carter Foundation which helps individuals facing socio-economic hardships further their education at post-secondary institutions.

Tap into your retirement plans

The average “gift” from a parent to their student when it comes to financing college studies is $10,147. A fair chunk of this comes from peoples tapping into their retirement plans in order to help their kids. For people under the age of 59, early withdrawal penalties don’t occur if you are using the money to help pay for college education although it is important to consider that you might then owe tax depending on whether it’s a traditional or Roth IRA and how much money you withdraw.

How to Paint your Nails at Home like a Pro

Before  sharing the tips on how to  paint your nails at home like a pro, let me share this cake from my birthday last year.  I'll be 45 in few days, time flies when you are having  fun!  Thanks for my husband for making my life  awesome  despite of being so far away from my family.

When it comes to having your nails done, some people just won’t even entertain the idea of doing them themselves. However, with the proper savoir-faire and equipment, anyone can get professional results from home. Here are some few tips on   how to paint your nails at home like a pro.

Use Fresh Polish

If you want to know how to do your nails like a pro, know that the process starts by using fresh nail polish. You can tell nail polish is fresh because it is thin and easy to spread. If the nail polish is gloopy, that will carry over to the polish on the nail, as well. You could try to add nail polish thinner to the nail polish, but that could create other problems. Don’t use a polish that is streaky, either. If the polish is thick and heavy, the surest bet is to throw it out.

Start with a Base Coat

While applying a base coat takes some extra time, it will give the colored polish something to stick to and helps it last longer. This layer will protect the nails underneath from staining, as well. If you’re going to apply neon nail polish, apply white or opaque polish that matches your skin tone to make the neon color pop. This also makes the sheer neon polish look thicker.

Don’t Lay It on Fast or Thick

You only need three strokes to paint your nails. Each layer of nail polish needs to be thin and spread out. This prevents both caking and smudging. Another thing to do is to take your time. Wait for the first coat to dry before you apply the second one. By waiting for the first coat to dry, the second one will dry faster and thus won’t smudge. If you apply one or two very thick layers, they’ll never dry.

Have Quick Dry Coat on the Ready

Quick dry coats are essentially an extra coat of polish you put over the manicure job. This top coat protects the polish and refreshes its shine. The “quick dry” type of polish is recommended since it will dry in a few minutes, letting you get back to work in a matter of minutes without the risk of smudging. However, you don’t want to use quick dry nail polish when you’re doing the initial manicure since this can dry out your nails.

Use Cuticle Oil

Cuticle oil hydrates your cuticles. One trick the pros recommend is to apply cuticle oil over the nails after they’ve dried. Then, if they hit something, they’re less likely to nick. Don’t cut your cuticles. The only exception is if you have a hangnail, though the odds of this happening are reduced if you’re using moisturizer.

Click off the Excess

After you’ve worn nail polish for a few days, clip off the excess. That excess is the thin white line that forms at the edge of the nail. By removing this, you eliminate the part of the nail most likely to chip or already have chipped. Top the nail off with a new fresh top coat to keep the manicure looking new. If you need to file the nails, stroke the file in one direction so you don’t tear off the tip of the nail.

Conclusion

You can do your nails at home and have them come out looking as good as if they were done by the pros. Just make sure you follow these simple tips and you should be able to achieve a professional look for a fraction of the price.

Chipotle Experience at Hershey, PA

It's been three years since we visited Hershey, PA.  It was a fun time  especially for our children.  Our daughter's birthday is  on summer break so we always go on a road trip to places we have never been to instead of having a party.  I think it's a great way to celebrate.  

 Anyway, while we were there, we  tried  eating at Chipotle  one night because we have never been to one.  We don't have a Chipotle in our small city so it was a  great opportunity to try them.  My husband's  co-workers always rave about how good their food  selections are.

 The  employee looked at us kind of weird because we really didn't know what to order.  She then asked us if  that was our first time and we said yes and she giggled.

 I dunno if I am very picky with food but  their food did not impress me at all.  Event the kids  did not  like the food they ordered.  

 The ambiance was nice but the food experience itself isn't.  I'll give it a 2 out of 5 if I have to  rate them.  It's disappointing when you first try a place and  it doesn't meet your expectations.  I always shy away from trying eating at places that disappoints me at the first try even if it is on a different branch.   

 For Chipotle fans, you might dislike me of what I have said about them but I am just  stating my own experience and opinion.  Everybody has its own preferences and Chipotle is definitely not a place I will  eat again.