I have decided to open a Ko-fi account. First off, I happen to be doing mostly unpaid, personal projects given my continuing learning journey and my desire to use this newfound skill in gift-giving. My desire to also use these drawing and painting skills to be able to give back to my community means I…
Author: Janeymack
Hi, there! I'm Jane. I garden, enjoy manual coffee brewing, and occasionally write. I am here primarily to enable myself to continue getting better at drawing and painting, a passion I discovered just last year (2021).
I taught myself watercolor painting at 40
starting painting when I did last September was unintentional, because I never had the inclination for it even as a child. Drawing or painting is not an old hobby that I just picked up again. I do not have 30+ years of cumulative hours doodling in my notebooks. After years of playing Pictionary or Draw Something I would probably have some clue that I could be good at drawing, but nobody ever guessed my awful drawings and I just plain believed I couldn’t draw or paint.
Adobo Lo Mai Gai using the Samsung Smart Oven
I signed up for the Mama Sita Foundation’s Mga Kwentong Pagkain Cook-Along hosted by Nastasha Alli. The first episode was held last July 24 on Rice and Filipino foodways, with champorado as the festured dish to prepare. After that, the attendees’ assignment was to make their jazzed up version of the adobo rice. I myself…
Barako, Liberica, and Excelsa coffee beans from Cuenca Batangas and my first home coffee cupping trial
Barako coffee is not a favorite. I associate it with sourness which I do not prefer in coffee. Hence, I have not tasted one in years. However, two weeks ago we went to Cuenca, Batangas at the invitation of my cousin. Whenever I would visit a town outside of Metro Manila I like to drop…
How to use the Samsung Smart Oven: Making popcorn and not burn them
Instructions: Measure desired amount of popcorn kernels and place inside microwave-safe popcorn maker. I usually make 60g but have recently increased to 100g because I’m upping my fiber intake. Put inside the Samsung Smart Oven. My popcorn maker does not need oil, so I simply measure the popcorn kernels, place in the bowl with the…
Trying out the Aeroprecipe app
So, one of the folks at Coffee Home Brewers shared this app called Aeroprecipe and I downloaded it. I looked it up – it is also a website collecting various ways to use the Aeropress!
No to plant parent-shaming
“I am such a bad plant parent!” “I kill all my plants!” “I have a black thumb.” These are common expressions of lament and defeat from people who have not grown plants successfully. I wonder if these become a self-fulfilling prophecy as well. I mean, could the act of saying “I don’t have a green…
I harvested my first ginger
When the ginger we bought from the market sprouted “eyes” before we were able to use them, I cut off about an inch of these and planted them. I am starting this blog in the midst of a garden reset. I have a abandoned most of the plants to let them die off. This ginger…
Casualty of lockdown: vocal muscle and jaw strength decline
Last week I had my oral prophylaxis. It was a routine dental cleaning, but I hadn’t gone in over 18 months because of the lockdown. Two reasons I am writing about it: The first question the dentist asked me: do you drink a lot of coffee? Ha ha! Yeah my teeth were stained because of…
Janeymack 