Carrot and bran muffins. No flowers on Mother's Day

Perhaps you are not so much into celebrating Mother's Day, either your mum's or your own. You might think that Mother's day is everyday so there is no point in doing something special on that day for your mother or for you. It is just a nonsense marketing day focused on presents and expensive meals, like it was San Valentine's. Someone made those days up to make money.

But you misunderstand. Mother's day means a lot. To me, it is about being spoilt by my husband and kids, feeling like I am more important than usual to them; it breaks my daily routine and house chores -no cooking or washing the dishes - I can even sleep in without being worried about preparing early morning breakfast for three hungry children.

Above all of that, it means getting handcrafted cards made by Aurelia and Gabriel with printed little fingers. I keep them in a safe box, year after year, since I became a mum when my eldest daughter was born. She is turning seven in two weeks time.

If I was in Spain, I would have celebrated Mother's day last weekend, first Sunday of May. However, we live in the Philippines and yesterday it was Mother's Day, same in Australia, where Nick is from.

I woke up at 5.30am with Juanan, softly talking from his cot. His voice was like an alarm clock in my head, hard to switch off unless I got him up but Nick did it to let me sleep. What a treat, I thought, until Gabriel started to say loudly "awake!!! awake!!!" with his head in between the bars of his cot and then, Aurelia and her friend, who was spending the night with us, opened the bedroom door. So I went downstairs to the kitchen to see what was happening.

I  saw the girls drawing in the playroom, Gab in his car going up and down the dining room on top of his noisy plastic yellow horse that belonged to Aurelia when she was his age, and Juanan in his feeding chair eating Kellogs cereal - well, trying to catch one corn flake with his small fingers. I was happy and excited already about my day. I would say, more than if it was my birthday.

Nick handled me a strong cup of coffee and my running clothes. How nice, I said to myself. It was the beginning of my "free time".  I closed the door behind me, slowly, uncertain if it was the right thing to do: me running while poor Nick had to handle all the kids at the same time. I wasn't questioning his parenting. It was more whether it was fair or not to disappear from the house at this time. I put the music on my phone and run, disconnecting from the family.

The highlight of my day was the birthday party that my Filipina neighbour held later that morning for her one year old son in the hall of our village. I felt I had landed in France but without the jet-lag and a terrible international flight that I usually have. It was unbelievable the beautiful work she went through organising the party. My neighbour is an artist by profession and that explains everything.

The party had every detail to make you feel you were in Paris: colourful crunchy macaroons, different types of cheese, authentic baguettes, a chef making omelettes, two little carousels, an Eiffel Tower made of red, white and blue balloons, even a musician playing the accordion!  During the party, I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes and dreamed about being in a cafe in Paris, having a bowl of hot coffee and dipping a fresh croissant into it…hummm. When I finally opened my eyes I noticed that everybody, not only the children, was enjoying themselves.

After that fantastic party the rest of the day didn't go as well as I expected. It was not so special in the end.

Too full to have lunch, we didn't eat.  The two little boys went to bed. I was about to do the same but Aurelia asked me to watch Star Wars so I sat down on the sofa, next to her. Nick sneaked off and went to sleep. The boys woke up 1 minute after I heard Nick closing the bedroom's door. That was the end of my peaceful time.

I spent two hours changing nappies while Nick was resting, away from the chaos. I was sure it was not Father's Day in the calendar. I went to the kitchen to double check in the calendar of our fridge just in case I made a mistake with the dates.

It was 6pm. We were starving and I didn't prepare any dinner (because it was supposed to be cooked by someone else but me!). My passion for cooking was evaporated and the thousand cookbooks I had meant nothing that night.

Nick went with Aure to get gourmet pizzas from our favourite Italian restaurant, Caruso. Sunday pizza night has become a tradition in our family. At the same time Nick waits for the pizzas to be made, he always has a rusty nail cocktail. As you see, he gets excited about this tradition that I think he probably started as an excuse to have a break. It will continue until the day we leave Manila.

And yesterday, on Mother's Day, when I was stuck at home bathing, feeding Gabriel and Juanan and changing more nappies (I beat my previous record of changing nappies in one day…16 in total), it was not an exception: Nick also drank his usual rusty nail cocktail.

I was feeling like this by 7.30pm…arrrgggggg!

I was a bit upset, frustrated and very tired after a boring Mother's Day. It was not different from any other day. I didn't make a big fuss of my obvious disappointment - partly because by then I had filled up a tall glass with a Malbec red wine - when the cheerful Nick came home with the pizzas. Maybe the cocktail had that effect on him or maybe the fact that he had had a nice time with his daughter. But I was not in the mood. At least not until the wine started to weave its magic.

You were right, Mothers Day is everyday!

However, the story doesn't end here. Today my husband sent me a text apologising for not having prepared a special day for me yesterday. We know each other too well. He felt he had let me down. I told him it was not about me. These days (birthdays, Mother's day…) are important celebrations and I wanted my children to appreciate them, like my family did when I was a child. 

That is what Mother's day is all about:  a family celebration…which brings more sparkle to our lives!!!!

PS: Nick bought me these beautiful and thoughtful gifts to mend the messy day I had yesterday. 

This recipe is from Thomas Keller. I love it because it is simple and tasty, beside its nutritious value. My son Gabriel is a bit picky so I need to hide vegetables sometimes in the meals so he eats them without him being aware. These muffins did the trick!

Carrot and bran muffins

Start the recipe the night before. Makes 12 

• 1 1/4 cups and 2 teaspoons Plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 200g caster sugar
• 140g canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 210g grated carrots (smallest hole and squeeze the liquid)
• Oat topping:
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 100g wheat germ
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 113g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1. To make the topping: Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed to combine. Toss in the butter and mix for about 1 minute. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
2. Place the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. add the salt and whisk together.
3. Combine the sugar and oil in a food processor and mix for 1 minute. Add the vanilla. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure it is well mixed. 
4. Add the eggs, one by one, until incorporated.
5. Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions pressing the pulse button. Do not over mix. it is ok if there are parts still with flour.
6. Stir in the carrots. Transfer the batter to a covered container and refrigerate overnight. 
7. Preheat the oven to 425F. Line the muffin pan with the muffin papers and spray the papers with nonstick spray.
8. Spoon the batter evenly into the papers, just 3/4 of each. Sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons of the topping and press gently into the batter.
9. Place the pan in the oven and reduce the heat to 325F. Bake for 40 minutes until golden. They are better eaten the day are baked but you can refrigerate them if you wrap them individually in plastic wrap.