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Mikhail Revita, 29, a Computer Analyst dreams of giving back to his mother by treating her to her first out-of-the-country trip. Three years ago with passports in hand, Mikhail and his mom were ready to fulfill this dream only to come face to face with life’s twists and turns that led him to focus on other priorities, putting their mother-son vacation on hold.

Kick start your holiday season with a scrumptious meal that is perfectly prepared  and cooked. Bust food prep stress with these smart cooking tips.

What’s more exciting than gifts and Christmas carols during the holidays? The food and parties, of course! With Christmas just around the corner, the need to rev up our kitchens becomes even more necessary so we can catch up with holiday cooking demands. 

For homeowners, however, the holiday season can both be fun and challenging, especially when it comes to preparing for all those potlucks and family dinners. So how do we cope? In times like these, it is important to start by making tweaks on your overall process.

Read on below for some smart cooking that can make your life easier this season:

1. Keep water from boiling over the pot.

This nifty hack will save you watching over your pot like a hawk. The next time you need to boil water for your pasta, put a wooden spoon over the top of the pot to keep it from overflowing. The bubbles of the water will get in contact with the pot and keep it from spilling over. 

An induction cooker, which offers controlled and customizable cooking functions, can help make your life easier, too. Midea’s Induction cooker, for example, has eight cooking functions customized for different cooking needs. Use the hotpot feature the next time you need to boil water. If the water in the pot dries up or the temperature is abnormally high, the induction cooker automatically switches off or starts protection function.

2. Roast a whole chicken evenly. 

Roasts are big hits during the holidays, but they are admittedly a bit tasking to pull off. The next time you’re planning to roast a whole chicken, make sure to add ice cubes to it before popping it in the oven. 

Put the cubes on the breast part of the chicken, which is also the fastest part that gets cooked. Icing this portion will help cook the part slower to match the required cooking time of other chicken parts so you get a nice, even roast all over.

Roasting or baking goodies can be practical. Try Midea’s Gas Range, which is optimized for LPG savings in the kitchen. For only 4php per 30 minutes of baking, you wouldn’t have to worry about running out of Gas while preparing your holiday treat. This gas range also comes with a Fry feature, spending only 1php per 15 minutes of frying. It is perfect for the holiday season as it can accommodate the heavy duty cooking with its large oven capacity. The Midea gas range is the best kitchen partner for Filipino cooking, especially during the holidays.

3. Fry well. 

We’ve all had that desire to get our frying done by putting all of our meat pieces on our frying pans to save time. If you want tender, juicy meat, however, make sure to cook in batches with enough space between your meat. 

It’s important to watch the stove temperature closely too. If the pan turns too hot, it will make the food lose its moisture and even cause oil to pop. 

Midea’s induction cooker has a special fry function that can help guide you for starters, with customizable temperature if you want to adjust it. Moreover, you’ll never be afraid of frying anything again with its flameless feature that prevents common stovetop accidents like burns, fire, and gas leakages. 

4. Cook sides of food evenly without flipping. 

The next time you need to bake something, make your food cook evenly by popping your cooking sheet when you’re preheating your oven. This trick will heat up the surface of your cooking sheet, helping the food cook well without having to pull them out just to flip them. 

5. Get crispy, deep-fried food every time. 

For crispy, deep-fried treats, the trick is to make sure your oil is hot enough. You can determine this by dipping a chopstick into the oil—if there are bubbles around it, it is the right temperature. Make sure that the food is dry, too (pat it dry with a towel before frying) to keep oil from splattering once you dip into the pan.

Midea’s Induction Cooker makes sure you get an affordable frying experience with its energy feature. For only 1php for every four minutes of frying, you can enjoy deep fried food this season without worrying about your power bill. 

In addition to these tricks, you can improve your cooking experience with the right kitchen partners. Midea’s kitchen appliances are designed with the busy homemaker in mind, making them the perfect choice for the holidays.

About Midea

Midea, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of appliances, covers a complete range of products from electric kettles, washing machines, gas ranges, microwaves to large commercial air-conditioning systems. Thriving in over 150 countries, Midea has now arrived in the Philippines! Midea is also a part of Forbes Fortune 500 companies with a market cap of $31.5 Billion as of May 2017.

In partnership with Concepcion Industrial Corporation (CIC), Midea’s global strength in the appliance industry infused with CIC’s Integrity, Excellence and Total Customer Satisfaction give the world class brand a better understanding of the Filipino’s needs.

Team Kramer, apparently the most adorable family in the country, made waves in social media and television recently and is now utilizing their popularity to support children’s causes.

Team Kramer, in collaboration with Sterling Books, brings you Team Kramer Values and Healthy Habits, a series of children’s story books all written by Cheska Garcia-Kramer and edited by Cristelle Mariano. Proceeds of these books will go to Children’s Hour Philippines Foundation’s projects to help Filipino children in need, primarily by building libraries and reading corners in public schools nationwide.

Published by Sterling Paper, the six books contain lessons, values, and healthy habits taught by the Kramers to their own children at home. Cheska adds that these books are “written from the heart” and are culled from their personal experiences. It is also penned witth the help of her husband Doug and kids, Kendra, Scarlett, and Gavin.

Cheska has always loved writing poetry as a child. Coming from a broken family, she shared that it was her outlet when her parents were separating.  Now that she is a mother herself, she used her creative expression to help other parents introduce important values to their kids, and to teach children the importance of keeping proper hygiene. “Through my personal experience as a mother, I was inspired to write children’s books based on the things that my kids and I would go through in our daily lives,” she explained.

As Christmas quickly rolls in, the Kramers encourage parents, teachers, and guardians alike to make these books their meaningful Christmas gift to their children. As Brand Ambassadors of Children’s Hour, the Kramers highly advocate the value of education for every Filipino child, and that access to quality education is every Filipino child’s right.  They believe that education is an important aspect in creating better Filipino citizens and is an avenue where we can mold our children’s characters.

The Kramers have pledged that the proceeds of the books will be donated to Children’s Hour to support the foundation’s projects in education, health & nutrition, and child welfare and development. The proceeds will also support Children’s Hour’s initiatives in building libraries and reading corners in public schools nationwide.

“There is rampant need in providing Filipino children safe places where they can study and learn. In the Philippines, 85% of our public schools have no functioning libraries,” explains Ms. Ovy Javier, Assistant Executive Director of Children’s Hour. “Some children have not even experienced what it is like to have reading corners, or to be in a library–where they have access to as many books as they want to read, or to even have access to well-lit spaces where they can study,” she adds. “We are thankful to Team Kramer for championing our children’s causes and for helping us build more safe learning spaces for all the children that we serve.”

Everyone who gets a copy of the Team Kramer Values and Healthy Habits boks also contribute to Children’s Hour in reaching out to more Filipino children in need.

These books are now available in all National Book Store branches nationwide at very affordable prices.