thank you

this year has really been a good one, notwithstanding the occasional mishaps (funny or unfunny) that i've encountered. (ooh-kay, i'm not usually this dramatic, but just humor me for now. ;))

here are the things i'm thankful for:
- the opportunities to travel even if i'm on a budget(san narciso, zambales; us (CA, TX, FL); manila, roxas city, boracay, etc.)
- food trips with friends
- discovery of new sounds, tastes and places
- good relationship with family and friends
- cool surprises (like winning a contest)
- opportunities to meet cool new people (ya know who you are!)
- and yeah, even surviving in my job for another year! lol ;P
- and a whole lot more that's gonna fill this up

i'm kinda excited for the new year to come. there would be more new experiences for me to... experience.. ah basta, anything goes!

and to you me dear friends, i share with you this mango tart, a wonderful, heavenly, rich and creamy creation from conti's. have a slice, people! =)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! XOXOXO

ps.
btw, will be going to baguio later today for the new year. gotta remember to get me a pack of those cute and intriguing ube dimples from good shepherd!

tag-a-long twenty

was tagged once more by the pusang maganda. this one is a bit more personal but what the heck, it's fun! hehehe

Here's the rule: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged. Whoever does the tag will have blessings from all.

1. At what age do you wish to marry? when i was young i thought 25 was a good age to marry, but now i'm past 25, well... i dunno.

2. What color do you like most? red and black, blue and green, in that order and pair

3. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one? i don't know yet, it will come... if it will come!

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most? those wonderful, magical scandinavian countries and japan

5. Which part of you that you hate the most? don't really hate, but i wish they look better.. me eyebrows ;)

6. When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do? sound tripping or go to some place far away.. the problem is it's so far that i can't walk to it hahaha

7. What are you afraid to lose the most? my senses

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do? preserve an old building, like el hogar in binondo and/or travel around the world.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her? Or would you keep it to yourself and observe from afar? neither

10. What do you always bring with you when you travel? aside from the necessities, i bring a notebook and pen all the time.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half? physically: taller, nice eyebrows and nose.. personality: someone who can handle the likes of me ;p

12. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most? nothing

13. Which type of person do you hate the most? KSP (kulang sa pansin--attention-grabber..?)and maarte

14. What is your ambition? To be a nomad ;P

15. What is the thing that will make you think he/she is bad? i just sense it.

16. If you had one wish what would you wish for? erm, the ability to fly...?

17. What brand of toothbrush do you use? hapee

18. Name one of your body part your hubby or boyfriend tells you he adores. wait, i think i have to get a bf first lol

19. It would be 2008 in a few days, do you have a new year’s resolution? i don't make new year's resolutions

20. If your better half is cheating on you, will you forgive him or her? no.


so now, i'm a-tagging mimi, dhez, kyels, islander, snglguy, krisjasper, coldman and yatot =)

to me blogfriends and those who simply dropped by...

cooking for noche buena is going on full throttle, last minute shopping for presents and wrapping them (oh, panic!) and what-have-you, but just wanna wish y'all

MALIGAYANG PASKO AT MANIGONG BAGONG TAON!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

=)

secret wish

as i type this out, this secret wish won't be so secret anymore. ;-)

i've been to a lot of places already, but there is one where i secretly wish to travel to. unfortunately, it will never happen, not in this lifetime. i wish to travel back through time, may it be during the medieval times or world war ll. wherever it may be, it doesn't matter. which is probably the reason for my affinity for anything old--houses, the people, music, etc. simply by looking at old houses will make one think of the people who have lived there before and the events that happened in that era. same thing goes for music (at least, for me). who sang the song? what year did it first come out? are there other versions of this song? who's the original singer?

and the questions could go on, and on, and on...

so even though i can't literally travel back through time, i could by listening to old songs. one really old song that i recently rediscovered while surfing the net is called "if you were the only girl in the world." i first heard the song in the tv show charmed about seven years ago and i was easily... charmed by the way they were able to make the guy sound like he came from the 1920's (the episode's setting was in 1924). the song was actually released in 1916, music written by clifford gray and lyrics by nat d. ayer. it was used in the musical the bing boys are here and was sung by george robey and violet loraine. (from firstworldwar.com and wikipedia.org)

if you want to listen to the original song, click here. you have to click another link from the webpage to open it in windows media player.

there's also another version of this song (instrumental). havalisten, just press play!

lyrics:
If You Were the Only Girl in the World

Sometimes when I feel low
and things look blue
I wish a boy I had... say one like you.
Someone within my heart to build a throne
Someone who'd never part, to call my own

If you were the only girl in the world
and I were the only boy
Nothing else would matter in the world today
We could go on loving in the same old way

A garden of Eden just made for two
With nothing to mar our joy
I would say such wonderful things to you
There would be such wonderful things to do
If you were the only girl in the world
and I were the only boy.

all right, shall i call dr. emmett brown now? :D

food meme

interesting meme i got from ruy of a taste of (married) life. really says something about one's eating habits hehehe.

What were you cooking/baking 10 years ago?
rice, eggs, hotdogs, spam, instant noodles--pathetic ain't it? i didn't cook much then lol

What were you cooking/baking one year ago?
any kind of pasta alla carlotta and roast chicken

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) pizza
2) double cheeseburger!
3) potato chips bbq flavor any brand
4) shredded cod from aji ichiban or any other fish sticks in the grocery (forgot the name)
5) corn on the cob slathered with butter and a dash of cayenne pepper

Five recipes you know by heart:
1) pasta alla carlotta ;-)
2) roast chicken
3) roast beef
4) fish fillet alla carlotta
5) beef alla carlotta
("alla carlotta" -- recipes i invented. i know, how creative. üüü)

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:
1) steak
2) prawns
3) lobsters
4) pannacotta
5) rack of lamb

Five dishes you love to cook/bake:
1) brownies
2) chocolate chip cookies
3) banana bread
4) lasagna
5) other dishes alla carlotta

Five dishes you cannot/will not eat:
- cannot write anything here as i might change my mind after. =)

Five favorite culinary toys:
wire whisk
mortar and pestle (i pound the garlic to the beat of the music. try it, it's fun! ü)
chopping board
set of knives
electric chopper (only when i'm too lazy to chop onions and garlic, which is rare)

Five dishes for your "last meal" menu:
1) super supreme pizza with extra extra cheese
2) double bacon cheeseburger with all the trimmings
3) hot, steaming sinigang na baboy with rice
4) a big platter of sushi
5) joey's new york cheesecake

Five happy food memories:
1) eating dinner (which we bought the ingredients from the market and cooked the dishes ourselves) outdoors with friends on one holy week outing in san fabian, pangasinan. we ate in mismatched plates, lacked utensils so we ate with our hands. and yeah, got rice straight from the bamboo leaf. this is the best dinner i've had.
2) at cyma (greenbelt branch) where me and me friends heidz, lay and jeng ate the fastest dinner but not without savoring what we ate--swordfish kebab (really tender and juicy without the malansa taste), moussaka and roka salata... we were the last to get a table at the time and the first one to leave the restaurant--that's how hungry we were (and we forgot to take pics of the food!)
3) tapsilog at rodick's in UP then cheesecake at chocolate kiss after (if we still have dough). =)
4) baking fruit cake with my lola
5) spontaneous food trips with friends

binondo dreamin' pt. 2

shrine of sto. cristo de longos

the first two markers indicate the place where a deaf-mute chinese laborer found an effigy of the holy christ of longos in a well a little over 200 years ago. he was said to be miraculously healed from his affliction. the effigy is now in binondo church where more miracles are attributed to it.

nosebleed alert!

the description on this one is more concise.

the door where the second marker is placed (left side). behind it are stacks of crates, boxes and sacks. (smells musty, too.)

don't you just love old houses? i do. the older, the better. and in the san nicolas district of binondo, a lot of prewar houses have survived the test of time. but looking at them today, i don't think they will last any longer, with the wear and tear of the natural elements and of course, human neglect.

a bahay na bato that has seen better days :-(

another house that's crying out to be restored. i'm just glad my lola's house is well preserved, from the roof to the capiz windows to the very floor we walk on, unlike this one. :-( if i have a lot of money, i'll fund the restoration myself, house by house.

derelict house sandwich, anyone?

this marks the spot on san fernando st. where teodora alonzo, the mother of our national hero, jose rizal, once lived. i say spot because the house is gone and this is the only marker left to let the people know where famous people from the past lived. just like the door at sto. cristo de longos (3rd picture) behind the big green gate here is a vacant lot stocked with lots of crates and boxes and... a growling dog. come to think of it, juan juna's house, as well as the marker, are now nonexistent in another part of this district.

i know i should be proud of this place no matter what state it's in, but it makes me sad at the fact that it is slowly falling into more ruin, if not total oblivion. i mean, where's our sense of history? culture? nationality? i don't claim to be an expert on this, but then again, maybe even by just restoring some of the remaining old houses, we'd be able to recover a bit more of our national pride. (and tourists won't just go to vigan to see the wonderfully restored ancestral houses there when we have our own share of them right in our city.)

note: thanks to snglguy for the pics =)

binondo dreamin'

When you're alone
And life is making you lonely,
You can always go downtown

so goes the song "downtown" by petula clark. i am neither alone nor lonely, but i definitely wanted to go downtown, which in this case, is binondo. aaacckk, so corny, i know.

aaanyyywayyy, moving on...

this must be my nth post about binondo already, but the place is just chock-full of hypnotizing nooks and crannies that still need to be explored so i can't help but return there again and again.

last saturday proved to be a good time not just to tour binondo, but to meet up with blogfriends snglguy and beng as well. it's my first time to meet both of them. sngl, who grew up in the area, proved to be an engaging tour guide who led us through a merry walk through the narrow streets with eat-all-you-cans, sugarcane juice, black vietnamese porky pigs, old houses, and even hardware stores with questionable names (i mean, who would name their store king of screws? obviously, it's a store that sells mainly screws. oh well. ;P). as for beng, bless her heart, though she wasn't able to bake the brownies we were hoping she would bring, whipped up a batch of her equally super-duper-mega-ultra-melt-in-your-mouth chewy chocolate chip cookies. i do think in due time she'll be able to put up her own bakery. i'm also glad to have found a kindred spirit in her.

we ate lunch at emperor villa, which, for less than 300 pesos for their lunch buffet, was a real steal, but unfortunately, due to changes in their policy, they won't be refilling the trays after 1pm. suffice to say, we've had our fill well before the time. we (i, rather) even had some more room for dessert.

at the emperor villa

fueled with sugarcane juice at one of the stalls along ongpin, we went on to florentino torres street to los ambos mundos, the OLDEST RESTAURANT IN THE PHILIPPINES. it's been around since 1888. isn't that great? another novel thing about the restaurant is that the owners of the restaurant have four vietnamese potbellied pigs pampered to their heart's content. as for the food, we still have to try them sometime soon.

look at them piggies snooze in the sun! (the other one is in the background, not so visible)

it's tag time!

i now interrupt the regular programming with a couple of VITs--very important tags. ;-P really, it's fun to do tags from time to time.

handwritten post (from dhez):

1. sceneries: as in sunsets, cloudless skies, crystal blue waters, the wind, lush green mountains... ah, don't get me started. :)
2. music: gotta have earphones plugged to my ears especially when working.
3. world war 2: i've reveled in my aunts' stories of their lives during the war and even from the peacetime.
(i won't be tagging anyone in particular for this one, but consider yourself tagged if you've reached this part hahaha! ü)


i am beautiful (and sexy), no matter what they say...

from an equally beautiful and sexy blogfriend, pusa:

thank you, thank you! *sniffle*

i now pass on these awards to the following beautiful and sexy blogfriends like me ;-) -- verns, toe, kyels, rochelle, gypsy, beng, mimi and dhez. =)

Summer in November Pt. 8

random roxas city pics

note: this will be my last installment of my roxas city-boracay trip. hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i had posting. =)

cuzes, bro and moi on our first day in roxas. it drizzled again late in the afternoon so it's cloudy as you can see. this was where we heard those (drunk) guys singing/shouting at the nearby ktvs.

tu-KO! (gecko) this is a very big lizard we saw on the first night. it's as fat as my arm and about 7 inches long... and that's just the baby. eep!

roxas city coastline with an island at the backdrop. my tita has a beach house here where we ate lunch the day before we went home. there was a fishing boat on the shore then (not pictured), so it smelled a bit fishy. the fishermen were able to have a good catch that day.

enjoying the sun, sand and sky! (and the water, too! ü)

standing on fine black/gray sand at low tide. it may be of a dark color, but it's as fine as the sand on station 1 in boracay. (which means the sand in station two is a bit coarser. ü)

Summer in November Pt. 7

boracay epilogue (sunday, 4 november 2007)

my trip to boracay would have been totally perfect if not for one thing: i lost my glasses. so from sunday noon up until the end of our trip (6 nov.), i had to look at the world through hazy eyesight. stupid, stupid me! i won't go into the gory details anymore as i could not recall where and what time exactly i lost it, although i have my suspicions--might be when we took a last dip in the water. (to give you an idea how weak my eyes are, i'll give you an illustration: i'm practically kissing the computer/book to be able to read).

right after lunch, we did what other tourists would do: buy souvenirs. shirts, keychains, cell phone toppers that all scream, "I'VE BEEN TO BORACAY!!!" as usual i bought more than what i could give so there are still some more cell phone decorations/keychains (whatever you call them) stashed somewhere in my bag. want one? ;-P (available until supplies last hahaha)

on the pump boat ride back to caticlan, i surmised that once in a while, it would be nice to visit boracay no matter how commercialized it is. what really matters is the people you're with and how you enjoy the place for what it is. so yeah, i'll be going back to boracay, hopefully not 9 years after. there might be an sm or robinson's mall by then. ack!

that's our shadows on the white boracay sand. i'm the one on the left, fixing something in my bag. :-P

back to roxas

if the total travel time we've had last november 2 from roxas to boracay was 5 hours, we actually cut our travel time back to roxas by 2 hours. i noticed that on every trip i've done, the trip back home takes a shorter time. excluding rest and emergency stops, this really happens. what reason that is, it still evades me.

in our case though, one of the reasons would be because the daughter of cuz O's cousin (who told us to hitch a ride with them to and from bora) took a bug in boracay in which medical attention is needed (she's definitely better as of this writing). in just three hours we were at the emergency room in a hospital in roxas city, where our tito and tita (cuz O's parents) and nephew G picked us up.

fun with language barriers

back at our tito and tita's house, we had some time to rest before dinner. nephew G wandered into our room as me and cuzes M and E were lounging on our beds. now for G to even come near us is quite a feat, considering that he's really, really shy and doesn't talk to just anyone except his family. so we stared at G, and he in turn stared back until i said, "G, kiss your titas." so he went around the room to kiss us titas which broke the ice and we started to talk to him in tagalog. the problem is that he answered us back in ilonggo (pls. correct me if i'm wrong here), complete with the lilting sound of the dialect. we were like, oh man, what's he talking about? so for the next few minutes and up to the next day, our conversations generally went something like this:

moi, M or E: G, nasaan si elmo? (G, where is elmo?)
G (speaking in ilonggo): si elmo ara sa balay namon.

okay, this we could understand somehow. he's saying that elmo is in his house. but read on:

moi, M or E: ganun ba? sige, dalhin mo sya dito para paglaruan natin. (is that so? ok, bring him here so we can play with him.)
G: (now speaking in rapid ilonggo which we couldn't catch except for a few stray words)
moi: ha? M, anong sabi nya? (what? M, what did he say?)
M: malay ko! (i don't know!)
G: (speaking in more rapid ilonggo)
moi, M or E: huwaaaaaaaat???
G: (laughing at us coz we couldn't understand him. apparently, he understands tagalog but can't/doesn't want to speak it yet.)

and with this, our lifelong bond with G was sealed. (G is four years old, btw, and the first cousin of K and E.) that adorable little kid has a sister, I, who fortunately came to our rescue the next day as our translator since she knows how to speak in tagalog. at one time, she and G came into our room whispering in ilonggo. cuz E, who apparently just woke up from one of her countless naps (peace, cuz! ü), blurted out, "bakit pa kayo nagbubulungan hindi ko naman kayo maintindihan?!" (why are you whispering? i can't understand you anyway!)

G and sis I. see how comfy he is with us? hopefully he will remember us when he comes to manila this christmas with his family. ^^

Summer in November Pt. 6

food trip galore alla ms. lamon

we originally planned to eat at cyma for dinner on our first night in boracay, but the restaurant was already full by the time we went there (we made a reservation for the next night but still we didn't get to eat there but that's ok). so we went over to true food indian cuisine. since this is our first night, we were already tired by this time. the big fluffy cushions we sat on in true food just about made our stay there oh-so-fine. and the food? it's a bit pricey (about 200 pesos up) but if you're adventurous enough in trying out different types of cuisine, then you'll love this place. sorry there ain't enough pics for this as we were all too busy eating (did i say we were very hungry?) to take pictures.

sweetened lassie at true food indian cuisine. lassie is a really nice drink made from yogurt and can be drank plain, sweetened or even salted. they also offer variations with fruits, but i think if i ordered that it might taste like the commercial yogurt drink.

pat's creek. i was so sleepy by this time (about11pm) but since my bro and cousins were there already, i opted to go too. had only one piece each of the calamares and onion rings and a sip of san mig light from my bro's cup... then the singer's voice woke me up from my lethargic state.

this is rush, a huge lab-golden retriever mix in the restaurant we ate in at d' talipapa. of course we did NOT eat him. he is the pet of the owner according to my bro. isn't he cute? anyway, we bought fish, shrimp and chicken at the wet market and had them cooked over at this resto (just like dampa in parañaque and pasay)and i was more interested in looking at this dog. but hey, the food we had--sauteed ampalaya with egg, sinigang na talakitok, garlic and butter shrimp and adobong atay ng manok--yummeh!

jonah's fruitshake and restaurant. i've heard so many praises about this place so i just had to try it. yep, it's really nice to be sipping a big cold glass of thick, creamy milkshake while stretched out on the beach chairs and tune out the sounds except for the waves, night or day. the milkshakes cost from around 60 pesos up. i ordered banana choco peanut shake (P75)

mañana. this is where we ate on our second night in boracay. we ordered different items and had a taste of everything--nachos, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas and flautas. i love the side of mexican rice which is quite small, but it's good enough for moi. everything is soooo dee-lee-shus!

mañana restaurant in the daytime. what a happy, happy day, just look at that cloudless sky! me likey!

for our last meal in boracay, we ate in lemon cafe, a restaurant in d'mall where they serve mediterranean food. but since we had to leave early, we opted for brunch and ordered from their breakfast menu. cuz O and i had the big breakfast (which as a really big serving... duh!) which consists of potatoes, bacon, egg sunny side up, sausages and very yummy warm bread which i slathered in butter *drool, drool!* the rest ordered pinoy tapa. i must say, their tapa is one of the best i've tasted. not only has it a really big serving too, but also the meat is very juicy and tender, the flavor is salty-sweet and dip a piece of that in vinegar, ahh, heaven. :-) cuz M couldn't finish hers so i got the last piece and put it in the remaining roll from my breakfast, and had that as my baon on the way back to roxas. :-P

note: the restos mentioned here are all located on the beach front (except for d'talipapa), hence, they are quite pricey for a cheapskate like moi hehehe (think greenbelt, eastwood, and their ilk). but ya know what's the best thing about this food trip? having guy cuzes who get the bills! LOL

well of course not all of them bills but still...

thanks guys! =)

Summer in November Pt. 5

gal gone wild...?

well before you think of those raunchy videos of wild girls during spring break, think again. for someone whose social life is practically zero for most of her existence on earth, this is how wild she can get. (or maybe i unconsciously turned into an oldie... ah, heck). so i guess here is a more appropriate title:

a hairy tale

i've mentioned in my previous post that there are a lot of people offering hair braiding services in boracay. for 300 pesos, one can get a half or full head of cornrows, depending on the hair length. as you have probably seen already on my sidebar, my hair is short so i had no choice but to settle for a half-head of cornrows. nevertheless, i loved it even if people called me iverson or asked when my next basketball game is. ;-) i'll make sure my hair is long next time i go there so i can enjoy it fully.

thinking deeply kuno

look, ma, no dandruff! ;-P

yet in another angle. yeah, yeah, i'm so vain. ;-)

hennatattooballoo

my cornrow getup won't be complete without a henna tattoo. so for any tattoo like the one on my hand, it costs a hundred pesos. anything bigger would cost up to 300 pesos. the guy who did mine and cuz M's tattoos assured us that they would last for two weeks. well, in my case the first week hasn't even passed and it's practically disappeared. as of this writing, my hand is as clean as can be. either the henna wasn't totally that strong to last, or my skin's ph level is... ah, do i even care about my skin's ph level?!?!

scraping me bro's face off

at d'talipapa while waiting for our food to be cooked

triplets...?

related posts:
Summer in November 1
Summer in November 2
Summer in November 3
Summer in November 4
Just Breezing Through

Summer in November Part 4

it's been nine long years since i've been to boracay, and i couldn't remember much as we only stayed overnight and there were oldies around. not much fun, right? right?? come on, i know you agree. ;-P

anywho, what i do remember about that trip was that there weren't that many people around considering that it's summer, and there weren't a lot of shops except the ones for diving and some restaurants. we even got to eat halo-halo on the beachfront. aside from walking around, sleeping by 8PM and the pictures i took at the time, yeah, there wasn't much to remember. (i told you there were oldies with us, so me and my bro didn't get to enjoy the place as much as we wanted to.)

but now, nine years later, with only cousins my age and no oldies around, i am so set to conquer the island!!! ;-P erm, not. quite.

actually, i wondered what boracay looked like these days, and i was kinda surprised to see what's there now: stalls that offer henna tattoos and hair braiding services abound as well as hawkers of pearls, accessories, and even religious items. most surprising thing of all is that there were lots of resorts and restaurants on the beach front; at night it reminded me of baywalk and if it weren't for the sand and the sound of the waves on the shore, i would have thought that i'm in baywalk pre-mayor lim days. aside from that, it's a long weekend so there were so many people. it's good that i didn't expect to have any peace and quiet, boracay being popular a destination.

after a near-disaster at the resort we were supposed to stay in, we found another one that fits all seven of us at el centro resort, located in station 2. the room we got there has four queen sized beds, airconditioner, tv, refrigerator and a really nice and clean bathroom (one thing i expect of a resort is how clean their bathrooms are). they even offered us welcome drinks and free breakfast for the duration of our stay. now how cool is that? click here to check it out.

golden rays of sunshine reflected on the water

we're almost there... the boat ride takes about ten to fifteen minutes from the caticlan jetty port terminal. i have no idea how much the ride is as cuz O beat us all to it in paying for the fare. ;-P

still a nice sunset though the sun's covered by the clouds. nevertheless, it was a perfect day.

now that's peace and quiet--boracay at sunrise. i did NOT take this picture.

hel-lo, bora!

hahaha

thanks to cuz M for some of the pics :-)

Related posts:
Summer in November Part 1
Summer in November Part 2
Summer in November Part 3

Summer in November Part 3

november 2, 2007: road trip to boracay from roxas city!

the people in my father's side of the family are known to fall asleep anywhere... in family gatherings, in any moving vehicle (may it be a car, bus, boat)... anywhere. even i am not spared from that and usually my mum or brothers would tell me to just go back to sleep and wake up only once we arrive at our destination. hah. don't they know that the comforting rumble of the car/bus/boat is very relaxing? but anyway, back to the road trip. we were fortunate that the family of cousin O's cousin is also going to boracay, so we were able to hitch a ride instead of renting a van. i am proud to say that during the 4 1/2 hour travel from roxas city to caticlan, i slept only ONCE. hah-ha! ;-P

here are some pics from the road trip, taken from my brother's phone cam:

when we started on our trip, it was drizzling a bit but the weather has made a turn for the better as we went along.

we got delayed for a bit as one of the van's automatic windows got broken so we stopped to have it fixed. earlier, we had lunch at ramboy's in kalibo, aklan, where they claimed to serve the best liempo. yup, their liempo really tastes great. =)

i see fields of green... lots of green (somewhere in aklan)

whoop-de-doo, we're almost at boracay!

Related posts:
Summer in November Part 1
Summer in November Part 2

Summer in November Part 2

because all of us were tired from the trip from manila, we didn't get to go out until 5pm. cousin O drove us to the beach, which wasn't much as most of the establishments on the beachfront were closed. obviously, all the people were in the cemetery but it was good for us, at least there aren't that many people. the only establishments open were the open air KTVs where some drunk guys were already warbling their throats out. hah, it was funny to hear them sing (shout is more appropriate).

a some kinda panoramic shot of the beach taken with my bro's camera phone. it was drizzling hence the cloudy skies.

white castle... whisky? not!

on the way to the beach, there was this building so out of place in the fishing village where we passed. it was white, big and it looked like a castle. no, it was really a castle, because there's a sign in front of it: don's castle. not kidding! that strange, garish edifice had us laughing. check out this vid my bro took from his camera phone. it's not that good and the car was moving so just try to pause on the parts where the castle is visible:

food trip sa sementeryo (food trip at the cemetery)

this was my first time to go to the cemetery at night time. i never thought that there would be a lot of people by that time but yeah, there were. we visited the mausoleum of cousin O's family and met his relatives (the ones who are alive and kicking, not the dead ones) who immediately offered us different kinds of rice cakes, barbecue and inasal na tinapay. yep, you've heard me right. there's such a thing as inasal na tinapay. basically it's just pan de leche brushed with some barbecue marinade and skewered on a stick and grilled over hot coals. yum-yum! my brother had this when he went to roxas a couple of months ago and he warned me not to get my hopes up. but then again, i'm a bread person so i found this inasal na tinapay really good, especially when paired with pork barbecue.

barbecue and inasal na tinapay. yum-o!

as for the rice cakes, they're similar to palitaw, only smaller and stickier. they can be sprinkled with either linga (sugared sesame seeds) or coconut in syrup (something similar to bukayo, only thinner). if you eat it with linga, then you call that matsikoy and with the coconut, it's called inday-inday. sorry no pictures for this one. =)

read: Summer in November Part 1

Summer in November Part 1

i didn't have any plans of going to roxas city and boracay, but when my cousin M texted me if i want to come, i said sure, no problem. besides, our other cousins would go too, and this would be a good time to bond with them. it has also been a long time since we've visited our other relatives in roxas city so yeah, the timing was good.

to make sure we will get seats at the plane, my brother and i paid 50% of our trip passes. and so the days after passed oh, so slowly that i was raring to go. but of course, came november 1 did so... let's go!!!

my brother and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 3AM to get ready as our flight is at 520AM. really, i don't understand why this flight is so early but then, who am i to complain? we arrived at the airport at about 410 and let me tell you, checking in was a breeze. there was no line and what a relief to receive our boarding passes along with the passengers and not AFTER them.

rainbow in the sky

the flight to roxas was just 40 minutes so i was a bit disappointed that the plane ride had to end so soon. but then, there came the announcement that the weather in roxas was really bad, so we had to stay in the air for a few more minutes until the pilot made another attempt to land. two times this happened and after the second one, we were then informed by the pilot that our flight was to be diverted to iloilo. no problem at all, as long as we can arrive there in one piece.

so when the plane ascended again, we found ourselves in a turbulence. the rain was lashing on the windows and the wind buffeted our plane. it felt like we were on a rollercoaster without the rails. up and down, and left and right we went, i thought that we were going to crash on the water. yep, it was scary. it was the longest five minutes of my life and we were all relieved when the plane finally broke through the clouds. and that was when we saw the most beautiful rainbow. it wasn't curvy; it was more like a vertical rainbow. hmm, the whole situation reminded me of noah's ark.

iloilo adventure

once we landed at iloilo airport, we were then advised to stay on the plane until further notice. (the runway was short, btw). some people disembarked because their final destination was iloilo anyway. after about 15 minutes the captain then informed us that the weather was breaking in roxas city but the visibility is still low. then came the kicker: the pilot will make an attempt to land at roxas once more, but if that attempt is not successful, it will fly back to manila. all passengers, including us, decided to disembark and it was every passenger for himself once outside the airport.

fortunately the guy who sat beside us on the flight offered to come with us to roxas. turned out that he was from there too, so there was no problem. we took a taxi from iloilo airport to jaro where the van and bus stations are. the taxi ride actually cost us a whopping 300 pesos--the meter plus a hundred pesos more because a big part of the highway was flooded due to the river which overflowed (the water even seeped into the taxi after some time, but it wasn't that bad). at this point i didn't care as long as we get to roxas. i felt like i was on amazing race, only there's no race at all. besides, the weather in iloilo was perfect, and the airport certainly was nice as it was built recently. check the picture above. looks a bit like naia terminal 2, right?

when we arrived at the station we found out that the last van to roxas had already departed with only three passengers so we had no choice but to ride the bus, which, i must say, was filled with our co-passengers so we had to wait for another one. the bus to roxas from jaro cost 113 pesos. not bad at all for a two and a half hour trip. i'd like to describe the ride, but i was asleep most of the time. ;-) oh, and guess what? at 9AM my tito texted from roxas airport that the plane has landed, with only eight passengers on board. oh well. i didn't mind it. besides, my brother and i didn't want to gamble on the possibility of flying to roxas again because if the plane didn't land there, our vacation would have ended before it even started. we certainly didn't want that!

roxas city at last

my cousin picked me and my bro up from the bus station at roxas city by lunch time. save for my other cousins and their friends, our aunt and uncle weren't at the house as they were back at the airport to pick up our other cousins who came in via cebu pacific. i enjoyed my lunch of rice and crispy shrimp splashed with lots of vinegar immensely. afterwards, we finally crashed on the beds in the guest room and waited for our cousins to arrive.

tune in for part 2 =)

just breezing through

hi-hi, this is miss lamon reporting straight from the net cafe here in bow-racay!!! ;-P

this is the second day of my engrande bakasyon and i'm sooooo lovin' it. in my previous post, i have mentioned that i'm looking forward to seeing boracay at off-peak season. well, i haven't anticipated that it's a long weekend, so there are lots of people here at this time. but then again, i've been told that there are still less people this time than in summer.

my cousins and i arrived here in boracay at about 3.30 pm, and i think we used our first hour in looking for another (better) accommodations than the one we've already had reserved. well, no problem at all as long as we could get one, and get one we did. the room is bigger (we are 7 in all), the bathroom looks great and the people there even gave us welcome drinks. hmm!!!!!

we just finished our dinner at true food, this really great indian restaurant with really great ambience. instead of the regular tables and chairs, our table was a low one with oversized cushions for our seats... ack, i think i'll save the rest for later, i've too much to say. oh well 'til next time! =)

a disappointment and the delights of anticipation

disappointing:

club sandwich special: after being enticed by the picture on the menu, it didn't take me long to decide what to order. it didn't matter that it was almost 200 bucks as long as it's worth it. meaning, it should be very tasty and the serving size is up to par with my appetite. read: BIG serving. well, after the waiter brought my order to the table, all my high expectations went up a notch... at least at first. yup, the serving was really big that i didn't think i could finish it but no problem, one of my friends could help me. ;-P the only thing so far that disappointed me was the fries, which didn't look like the one on the picture. (ok, note to self: don't believe the pictures you see on the menu). when i took the first bite of the sandwich, suddenly all my high expectations fell flat on its face. i found out that it wasn't so special after all. the very thick slices of bread were quite dry that it didn't complement the light taste of the filling--grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, a slice of cheese and a dollop of mayo--they totally overpowered them. might as well eat sawdust. or better yet, just eat the filling and maybe a piece of bread just so not everything won't be wasted. this is the driest food i've ever eaten to date and it was really hard for me to plunk down 200-plus bucks (with tax already) for it. maybe i should have ordered a soup instead.

whew. just had to let that out.

anyway, on a lighter note, i have been seized with delightful visions of cloudless blue skies, cool breezes, sunny days, the vibrant green of coconut trees, the feel of the warm sand on my feet and the gentle crash of the waves on the shore for the past three weeks...

roxas city and boracay in november? the prospect of NOT seeing so many people at this time? i've always wondered how boracay is like during the off-peak season. i could totally do that! isang... tulog... na... lang... here i cooooooomme!!!!!!!

here's yet another playlist i've made especially for road trips. the fourth song is korean and it holds special memories from my cousin's wedding in ormoc. the beat also conjures up images of laughing friends in a convertible cruising on a highway. ahh, where did that come from? anyway, enjoy!

philippine airlines and me

heehee how unbelievably cheesy. anyway....

as we all know, Philippine Airlines or PAL is the flag carrier of the Philippines and is "fondly" called Plane Always Late because of delays. sure i've had my share of delayed flights but more often than not, the flight arrived on time. and delays or no delays, PAL for me still stands for Philippine Airlines. no more, no less. i may be biased here because i have been flying PAL since i was a kid... okay, okay, my father worked in PAL (for 38 years as a flight purser until he retired in 2004), hence the reason why i always travel free, but always with the fear of getting bumped off a flight. that's the downside of getting free travel passes so the best time for my family to travel would be during the off-peak season which of course, is impossible most of the time. you wouldn't believe the heart-thumping moments we've had when the flight was full but we were hoping to still get on it. usually we barely got on the flight. it's a good thing that i can now pay for my own discounted ticket that will give me the assurance that i'd be able to get on the flight. and oh, if you have flown with PAL, don't you think the planes' landings are always smooth? i remember passengers clapping once the plane touched down the runway. oh yes, the adventures i've had while flying. there are too many to mention so i won't add much for now except for this one...

my older bro sent me an email last month that contains a lot of links to classic Philippine tv commercials. one link stood out which is the 1987 tvc of Philippine Airlines--shining through. *dreamy sigh* watching the commercial invoked a lot of good memories and even hopes that someday the Philippines will be able to shed its not-so-nice image abroad. the chorus which goes "the beauty of the Philippines (shining through)..." at the part where a kid was pouring seawater from a seashell just about hits the sweet spot. yes, the Philippines is certainly beautiful. hopefully we get to let the world to see that our country is more than what reaches them. really, commercials like PAL's "shining through" are rare these days.

oh-kay, here is the video of the tvc for some nostalgia-tripping, dreamy-sighing and what-have-you. =) sappy person that i am, this had me teary-eyed. ;-P

who loves dessert?

stumbled upon a quiz on the internet called "Do you have the ultimate sweet tooth?" so i, who loves all things sweet, rich and creamy, and who could never resist a challenge, took it. got 7 items correctly out of 10. not bad at all, if i do say so myself. ok, ok, so i guessed a couple of answers. but still... ü

so now, let me ask you, do you have the ultimate sweet tooth? click here to take the quiz.

dessert junkies unite!

une mémoire

these songs remind me of lazy sunday afternoons in my lola's house with the whole family (on my father's side). after merienda cena, we would all go to the ballroom... nah, it's really just the living room hehe... and dance the afternoon away. my one of my titas even invited a DI (dance instructor) just so we could learn other ballroom/social dances besides the swing. but i like swing the best :)

how about you? what's your favorite ballroom dance?

une cool interruption

got tagged by snglguy for this one. it's a very simple procedure, so it was a success for me (yippee!), considering i see myself as technologically-challenged (wait, is there a term for this?! :D). anywho, you can read the instructions later on.

okie dokie, here's me office desktop for the world to see :-) after the nth reformatting of my computer, i decided not to change the desktop image anymore. i'm sure one of my anime freak officemates did this, but i'm not complaining. astig ng background ko, no? :-) if someone knows from which anime this guy came from, kindly tell me. =)

now that i'm done with that (thankfully, heehee), here are the instructions.

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.

You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

For MAC users: Press [ Apple] [ Ctrl ] [ Shift ] and [ 3 ]

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

oh, and i'm not tagging anyone for this at the moment, but if you are reading this part now, well, consider yourself tagged! hahaha!

LSS

for those who aren't familiar with this acronym, it stands for Last Song Syndrome. ^^

and the song that's been on my mind for the past few days is suicidal, err, beautiful girls by jojo. young as she is (i think she's 16 or 17), she has a mature voice which i prefer to the squeaky-girly teenybopper singing voices. the original version of beautiful girls is by sean kingston, this cool 17 year-old kid from the USA and Jamaica. i think i better check out more of this guy's music before i say more, but as of this time, i'm betting on his making it big in the music industry. same thing goes for jojo.

the very first time i heard beautiful girls i immediately thought that it's some imitation song to the beat of that 60's song stand by me so it didn't register at all. my officemates and even my brother sing it on some occasions and i was like,"how jologs naman this song," in my best kris aquino impersonation. and then it completely slipped my mind. so two saturdays ago when my brother made me listen to the song again (jojo's version), i totally forgot what i initially thought of it and said, "oh, this is nice. sounds like a song from the 60's." from then on, i got hooked... so now i'm also jologs. wait, i'm actually jologs since long ago lol ;-P but seriously, i find both versions nice. they make me dance. heheheh :-) and oh, look how many times they're played already.

i'm sure these songs are already overkill by this time but i don't care. here are both versions, for your listening pleasure.

beautiful girls (jojo)


beautiful girl (sean kingston)

wuzza

that's for a lack of ideas for a title. anyways...

i.am.so.pathetic.this.morning. it wasn't until i was in the office when i felt around in my pocket for my money and felt... nothing.

stupid me, i opted to wear capris instead of jeans where my money is. actually i intended to get the money but since i was already running late, it totally escaped my mind, so...

i frantically looked in my bag to see if there was any loose change and thank God, there is. 44 pesos and fifteen centavos, to be exact. good thing i didn't take that coin purse out of my bag.

but P44.15? how am i gonna survive with that? that isn't enough for a decent meal from 7-11 (hey, that's the only place where i can buy food at the moment), let alone my mrt and jeepney fare afterwards (unless i walk instead).

so what did i do?

i borrowed money from my officemate instead with the promise that i'll pay her back tomorrow and after making sure she still has money left over for her fare home :-)

my gahd, i hope i'll never do that again.

for the record? i don't use a wallet except when i travel. it's so much easier for me to cram my money in my pants pocket. it's easier for me and yes, some pickpocket or bag slasher would be disappointed. hah-ha!

el cheapo gimmicks 1

so you think you can't spend a hundred pesos or less on a gimmick? well, friday nights out need not be expensive! for those who are trying to save money (or are just real cheapskates ;P), here are some tips to have fun without worrying about the weight of your pocketbook.

1. eat in a fastfood resto. ooooh, yeah, that really came out great, didn't it? but hey, not all fast food restos need not be expensive like mcdonald's to have a full tummy. (sorry mcdo, i love you lots but my budget ain't enough for your mouthwatering double cheeseburger meal at the moment.) anyway, my friend lay was craving for chinese food that's affordable, so where do we go? chowking. yeah! ;-P as everybody probably knows, chowking offers a range of items below 70 pesos like their noodles, congee, dim sum, etc. no, this ain't a promotion.

here's what we ordered:
moi: meatballs congee P30
lay: beef wanton noodles classic P68
heidz: wanton noodles spicy P46
lei: beef wanton noodles spicy P68

can you guess who's the most kuripot of us all? ;-)

2. want to sing your hearts out at a ktv but can't coz of a tight budget? well, never fear, worlds of fun is here! *applause, applause* for only about P60 (sorry my memory fails me here but i'm sure it's about that price), you can get not just ten, but TWELVE tokens! the two extra tokens are actually free when you buy ten tokens, so how cool is that? and so, we got to sing twelve songs despite the fact that the ktv rules allows people to sing ten songs max only. i think the attendant was so entranced by our beauty that's why ok gag me now. and no, this is NOT a promotion.

let's say the bag of ten tokens is really 60 pesos, divided by 4, that's P15 each. add that to what we ate earlier, that still is below a hundred pesos. galing! üüü

so there you have it, folks. tune in next time for more el cheapo gimmicks. ;-)

usapang MRT

some blah entry that i found on my old friendster blog, posted on 3 august 2005. (original title: a funny thing happened on the way home)

well, at least for me it was funny. as usual, the people were packed in the mrt train like sardines. i felt sorry for my big box of cinnabon cinnamon rolls (six pieces, by the way) that's almost crushed by... well, the crush of people.

there was this girl who stood behind me while waiting for the train, and she also stood behind me in the train. and when the train made a lurch... she grabbed my shoulder for support or else she will tumble backwards. i found the situation so funny that i started to laugh. the girl apologized, and if i didn't feel awkward to say something, i would. but what would i say, anyway? "hey, ok lang yan. you can just hold on to my shoulder pag umandar o mag brake yung tren." HUH?! i also decided not to ask her what station she'll be getting off. here's one thing: she ruined my tough girl mode in that ride home.

so i suffered in silence punctuated with the silent shoulder shaking laugh whenever the train arrives and leaves a station. fortunately for me cubao station was only two stations away from ortigas, so you can just imagine my relief when the train arrived at cubao. *whew* i don't know how i would survive if i went a station or two further with the girl hanging on every time.

my cinnamon rolls survived, by the way. but i did not survive the sugar shock that followed right after i ate one.