Twenty years ago I was teenager preoccupied with only three things : a sexual awakening I couldn’t fully comprehend, a strong desire to get away from the small island where I was growing up, and a wish that my mother would leave what I considered a messy marriage. I thought it was cool to have separated parents, cool to have sex and live in the city.

his post should be called #thekitchenthatbankruptme, a hashtag I’ve often used when we were renovating this space. For 10 months it was a source of frustration and only recently transformed into a space where my little family and I make delicious meals together.

ilaga, (approximately translated to boiled) is a simple way Filipinos cook food. It’s basically boiling food in water either fish or meat, together with onions and garlic, mixed with an array of vegetables. The vegetarian version of nilaga is called bulanglang, usually with squash, raw papaya and moringa leaves. There’s also tinola, chicken nilaga with lots of ginger and raw papayas. Mussels and clam fishes like vongole are also great for nilaga.

here was a time when I wouldn’t flinch buying a €400 designer bag on sale, however impractical , just because I liked the colour. I had no child, no mortgage, no debt, and lots of dispensable cash. And I didn’t stop at one bag.

s I write this, the husband is trying to get the kid to take an afternoon nap, it’s 30 degrees Celsius outside, the bed sheets are hanging on the line to dry, the whole country is perhaps sunbathing on the beach or in their gardens and I’m hiding from the sun in my study room writing a blog post. Bliss, pure bliss.