Gifts from My Big Sis

my ever-generous sister and her thoughtful husband

I've got a really amazing, fantastic and generous sister.  And a loving brother-in-law too.  Well, I've got a really awesome family but I meant to write about my sister (and brother-in-law) only today.  I'm saving my other family members for future posts ;-)

You all know that as an early wedding gift, she and my brother-in-law decided they'll let me use their brand new white Toyota Fortuner as my bridal SUV.  Prior to their kind gesture, I was already thinking of renting out the blue Chrysler 300C from Fly to Manila (at 8k for 4 hours or 12k for 8 hours, all inclusive), or perhaps one of the more affordable Mercedes Benz from Don Robert's Bridal Cars (the cheapest model was at 4.5k already).  After scouring the net for potential rides for my big day, I seriously developed a headache.  Why does it cost too much to just take a ride from your hotel to your church, then from your church to your reception venue, then back to the hotel?  It's just one of those things I don't understand.  So having been given the pricing information I need, early on in the wedding preps I had to say good bye to dreams of riding in a Cadillac or Jaguar Mark as I knew that I'd be so regretful after paying a good one month's worth of apartment rental fee for a mere four hours use of these cars (insert an Ilocana's smile here).  :-p   One night after our engagement, my sister visited me at home and suggested we use her SUV for my bridal car.  Thanks, Ate!  That's an instant 8k savings for me and Mr. M :-)

Source:  La Germania

But, wait.  There's more.  More?

This afternoon, my sister called me up to say that she had just bought us a four-burner gas range with oven from La Germania (apparently, in an effort to get me more encouraged to pick up my cooking skills haha!).  Yehey!!!!!!  Thank you, Lord, we haven't even gotten married yet but our future home is starting to fill up with all the essential items!  My sister knows we're going to live in a small, one bedroom apartment for the meantime, but she said we can have items like this since it's going to be used for the long-term.  After all, we can still bring it to our new home when we transfer later.  Thank God for her wisdom, so now I can happily prepare spaghetti, sinigang na baka, and the like in true housewife style!  

Source:  Archi Expo

I'm the type of cook who is neither a beginner nor an intermediate.  I don't have original concoctions, unlike some people who even have food blogs of their own.  I follow recipe books to the letter, save for this one time when out of the blue I decided to turbo-broil a whole chicken.  So next to the gas range or stove, what is a woman's best friend in the kitchen?  You guessed it right, the refrigerator!  Well, to even add up to the "pressure" of learning more recipes and whipping out more delectable stuff, my sister (and brother-in-law) threw in a brand-new fridge on top of their other gifts!!!!!  I'm pretty sure that my fiancee would end up the happiest in this case, because he's the one at the receiving end of all my cooking efforts and adventures.  Hahaha!  :-D  I couldn't really thank God enough for all these blessings!

So this afternoon I visited blogs I frequent for food inspirations.  I knew just where I should go for some ideas on what to prepare ---- Enchie's From My Kitchen and Beyond and Mae's Newlyweds' Cravings.

Hhmm....With my spanking, brand-new gas range and ref, who knows?  I just might end up with a cooking blog!  :-D