Life Gets Busy, So I Did This: A Gardening & Baking Vlog 🌿| Filipino Mama in Australia

Maybe forty isn’t too late. 🌷 This episode of Munimuni Days started out as a simple garden vlog — fighting an aphid invasion, harvesting vegetables and picking mandarins from the old fruit trees in our backyard. But somewhere between the garden, baking a mandarin cake, arranging flowers and finally unpacking my stained-glass studio, it became something much more personal. Now, at forty, I’m slowly allowing myself to create again. Not because I think I'll become amazing at filmmaking. Not because everything has to become a career. But because sometimes healing looks like giving yourself permission to enjoy the things you once dreamed about. Our life isn't particularly aesthetic. The garden gets messy. The house gets messy. I occasionally lose my baking pans. 😂 But these ordinary days are becoming some of my favourites. You are allowed to choose a life that feels like yours. === 🍊 Simple Mandarin Cake A lovely way to use fresh mandarins from the garden. Ingredients 125 g melted butter ¾ cup caster sugar 2-3 eggs 1½ cups self-raising flour Zest of 2 mandarins Approximately ⅓ cup fresh mandarin juice A splash of milk if the batter needs loosening Icing sugar for serving, optional Method Preheat the oven to 170°C fan-forced / 180°C conventional. Cream the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix through the mandarin zest and juice. Gently fold in the self-raising flour. Add a small splash of milk if the mixture feels too thick. Pour into a greased cake tin. Or, if you've somehow lost your cake tin like me… use an oven-safe saucepan. 😂 Bake for around 30–40 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool before serving and dust with icing sugar if you like. Fresh mandarins + homemade cake + coffee = one very happy afternoon. 🍊☕ Chapters 00:00 A very non-aesthetic mum vlog 00:45 The dream I didn't get to pursue 01:35 Fighting an aphid invasion naturally 🐛 03:25 Garden harvest & checking the vegetable beds 04:05 Picking mandarins from our old fruit trees 🍊 04:50 Making an easy mandarin cake 06:30 Turning 40, friendship & looking back 08:00 Finally unpacking my stained-glass studio 09:05 Why stained glass means so much to me 10:20 A childhood memory that stayed with me 11:45 Quiet family time 13:10 Bonfire & roasting marshmallows 14:10 Maybe forty isn't too late 🌷