lost in a wonderland

southern comfort: the viaje del sol experience

2011-12-31T00:14:00.004+08:00

this post kicks off the series of the awesome road trip down south.

whenever i think of laguna, the hot springs (los baños and pansol), jose rizal's house (calamba), uplb and mount makiling immediately come to mind. i've been to these places many times before, so i felt like there's nowhere else to visit in laguna that's exciting. i mean, yes, there's also paete, the lakes of san pablo, and liliw which i haven't visited yet, but aside from those... um, laguna? honestly i hardly consider going there an "official" out-of-town trip due to its very close proximity to metro manila, and the only thing there that gets me excited is a visit to the dairy at uplb where they sell carabao's milk (i LOVE the chocolate flavor) and kesong puti (fresh white cheese). hoh-kay, before throwing me in the boiling mud pits of mount makiling, please do read on. :)

that kind of ho-hum thinking changed drastically when some friends and i recently went on a road trip to san pablo city with side trips to liliw and tiaong, quezon. little did i know that it was going to be one big culture and food tour which i would be very proud to recommend to everyone. it is just the beginning of this series, but i'll say this right away: near, far, wherever you are... visit laguna!!!

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we arrived at san pablo city 4 1/2 hours earlier than the designated check-in time at our hotel (2pm) and hotel policy being hotel policy, we opted to visit liliw first, a 40-minute drive from san pablo. on the way to liliw though we passed by the underground cemetery in nagcarlan so a short visit there is in order.

the nagcarlan underground cemetery was built by franciscan missionaries in 1845, and in 1896 the rebels of the revolution against the spaniards used this for their meetings. in 1973 the underground cemetery was declared a historical landmark. burials in this cemetery continued up until 1981.

the gate to the underground cemetery. at the dead smack center of this photo is a small chapel where visitors sign their names on the logbook. the visitors are also given a short, interesting history lesson of the place.

down once more to the dungeon... err, i mean to the underground cemetery.

just some of the niches above ground. they're very similar to that of paco park in manila.

the underground cemetery is really quite a small place, so the visit was a short one. based on photos i've seen of friends who have been there before, i thought it was big. it turns out that thirty minutes is a long enough visit unless you decide to have lots of photo ops. by the way, this last photo shows just a very tiny sliver of the grounds, but i can assure you with conviction that the whole place is very well-kept. :D

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everyone knows that marikina equals good quality footwear. but in laguna there is a town that is also synonymous to shoes, and that is liliw. liliw is a quaint town that is a shoe maven's haven; it has a whole street dedicated to all kinds of footwear, and one will go gaga over the different designs and colors. yours truly didn't buy a pair though. too lazy. heheh.

just some of the numerous shoe stores.

shoes, sandals, espadrilles, etc, etc.

bags!!! and of course slippers and sandals.

it was a nice surprise to see that old houses still abound in liliw, which reminded me of taal town in batangas where a lot of the bahay-na-bato still stands proud and graceful. while some houses are solely for family use, a lot of the businesses in others are conducted on the ground floor of the house; the proprietors live on the second floor.

i call this the sans rival house. this is in front of arabela, the cafe where we had lunch.

a beautifully maintained house.

if only we had more time i would make all of us walk around town checking out more of the beautiful old houses. bwahahaha~!

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oh. here's a very useful tip when going on a road trip: if you are riding a car and you and your companions are not sure how to get to your destination, it is always best to ask the locals. don't be ~~too proud to ask for directions~~ shy. compared to most city folks, people in the provinces are generally friendlier and more helpful especially when giving directions to hapless travelers. amazingly, even if majority of the directions went like "derecho lang kayo" (just go straight) and "tapos kanan sa x na kanto" (then turn right at the x corner), we got to all our destinations with very little problem.

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thanks L for letting me use your photos (paco park-like niches, shoes and bags photos)

next up: our lodging, and a gastronomic tour of the south. what are they? stay tuned. ;)

cooking with la carlotta: stuffed chili lumpia

2011-10-16T16:01:00.005+08:00

with the valkyrie away for a couple of months, the reins of domestic diva-ing conveniently fell into my hands (in a manner of speaking. heheh.). of course the thing i enjoyed most was the cooking part because it gave me a chance to use my rusty skills in cooking as well as use up some of the creative juices that have been stored in hundreds of bottles already. :P

one of the dishes that i was able to cook so far was the stuffed chili lumpia. i picked it up from some friends who have made it and i tweaked the stuffing a bit using the ingredients that i have in the refrigerator. well, that's one fun thing about cooking, you can experiment with ingredients any way you like. for sure my ingredients for the stuffing will be different the next time i try this. here's my recipe:

ingredients:

20-30 pcs small lumpia wrapper

20-30 green chilis (the kind we use for sinigang)

stuffing:

1 medium onion, minced

1 head of garlic, minced

500g ground pork

1C grated carrots

250g grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste (i used about only 2tsp of salt here because the cheese already adds flavor to the mix)

procedure:

saute onion and garlic in a little oil, then add the ground pork. cook for about 20 minutes, then set aside to cool.

while the pork is cooking, wash the chilies and chop off the stems. then slit each chili lengthwise on one side and scrape off the seeds. you can actually leave the stems on though if you like something to hold on to, as this dish can also be a finger food.

add the carrots to the cooled minced pork

then add the cheese and mix thoroughly.

place one chili on a piece of lumpia wrapper, then stuff the chili with the ground pork mix. you can stuff the chilies with as much stuffing as you like, but not too much that the spring roll would be too fat and might even lessen the kick of the chili. brush all sides of the wrapper with egg whites as you roll each chili.

when wrapping a chili with the stem still on, leave it poking out of the wrapper. not only will there be something for you to hold on to while eating it, it also adds to its aesthetic appeal. :D but as for my version, i cut the stems off just because. haha.

fry in hot oil until golden brown, then let drain on paper towels.

serve and enjoy!!! :D

soundtripping: para sa tao (by humanfolk)

2011-09-09T01:02:00.005+08:00

beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.

- martin luther

the quote above by martin luther sums up my opinion of this wonderful piece by humanfolk. it is all i can say about this quality filipino music because up until now i am at a loss for words as to how i should describe how i very much appreciate this kind of music.

and so, just hit play and enjoy!

yea i know i haven't blogged for the longest time. it's because my blogging mojo has left me and i don't know when i'll be able to return to blogging full-time. this song however simply refused to leave me alone and why should it, it's one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard and i'd like to share it to everyone. :)

la carlotta's top trips for 2010

2011-01-04T22:09:00.013+08:00

2010 was a year that i've been blessed to go travelling once more. from day trips to overnighters to the leisurely ones as well as the flash trippings, each and every one of them definitely made my year memorable. as one can well see, majority of these trips are undocumented in this blog save for a couple. and so, here is the complete list of my trippings in and out of manila for 2010. :)

philippine national railway. the very first flash day trip of the year. because my friend f and i were already in the tutuban area, we thought of riding the new air-conditioned pnr train from tutuban main terminal to bicutan station, then from bicutan to pasay road station just for the heck of it. :) this huge engine in front of the tutuban terminal once rumbled through the manila-dagupan line, which was the first railway line opened by the pnr in 1892.

avenida rizal on a rare traffic-less day. this is a drive-by shoot from a taxi. this day is also made memorable after spending some time at the really old isetann carriedo. i wouldn't be surprised if the people there are wearing bell-bottom jeans and psychedelic tops. lol.

taal, batangas. in the photo is the st. martin de tours basilica or simply known as the taal basilica. it is the largest church in asia that was built in 1575, destroyed by the eruption of taal volcano in 1754 and was subsequently rebuilt in its present location in 1755. it was destroyed again in 1849 by an earthquake and it took another 9 years to reconstruct it (1856-1865). wow. i am glad that it still stands strong to this day. the architecture, the aisle, floor tiles, crypt, chandeliers, and even the ceiling are a sight to behold. (click here and here for more of my taal trippings)

munting buhangin, nasugbu, batangas. first beach tripping of the year. haven't suntanned as much as i wanted but what matters is that i was finally able to step on sand, sand, sand and hear the gentle crash of the waves, waves, waves. no matter that this was during holy week and the beach was crowded with city mice. :)

camaya resort, bataan (may). second beach trip of the year. not only did i get a nice tan, but had a really good time nature-tripping. and oh, it was my first time to ride a banana boat too. thanks to kaps for the invite :)

the trip to baguio was one of the overnight flash trips i took with friends. the first day was actually quite relaxing. we visited several wood carving shops along asin road, and further down the road we went on to bencab museum, where the photo above was taken. it was an honor to meet the painter bencab himself and even have a photo taken with him and his dog :) still further down we dropped by peter pinder's place. peter pinder is another artist whose specialty is fiberglass art. it was the second day that was very flashy made by the Amazing Two-Hour Baguio Tourist Rush that ended with a bang courtesy of the Great Twenty-Minute Baguio Palengke Dash. ;)

iba, zambales (june). tagged along with a friend to a pastor's seminar for two days. this was taken on the beach on our first day there and my friend and i were fortunate to chance upon the fishermen getting ready for the night's fishing. also, this trip was one full of blessings that made it really memorable. awesome views, great roads, and even something as simple as an instant one-on-one talk during a stormy night can do wonders to one's spirit.

goin' bananas! found this huge clump of bananas on the trail during a climb to peak 2 in mt. makiling last july. it was a day climb which took my friends and i a grand total of 13 hours to get to the peak and back to the station, what with the rain, the fallen tree trunks from a recent typhoon, and a couple of hysterical newbies paranoid of all the limatiks that abound in the mountain that time of year. guess who's one of those hysterical, paranoid newbies? ;p suffice to say, it was a very funny and memorable climb that, thank God, didn't scare me off mountains for life. hehehe.

coron, palawan! i was able to visit this amazing place once more literally after ten years. so much has changed in this corner of paradise, but it has still retained its natural beauty and charm which makes me want to return for yet another visit. i don't think i'll ever grow tired of palawan. (click here for the palawan entry)

and that's it for my top trips for 2010. here's to more travels for you and yours truly this 2011. cheers! :)

soundtripping: she & him

2010-12-07T23:40:00.006+08:00

it's been so long since i posted a soundtripping post. so folks, here's another really great indie band i've just stumbled upon today: she & him, consisting of zooey deschanel and m. ward.

if the name zooey deschanel rings a bell, it's because she's also an actress. she starred (and sang) in the movies elf and yes man. she and m. ward met on the set of the go-getter, where they sang a duet that was played at the end credits of the movie (zooey also acted in the said movie). afterwards zooey sent demos of her music to ward, who, after listening to them, contacted her and said that he wanted to record her songs properly. that's when the band she & him was formed. (source: wikipedia)

words just fail me in describing just how awesome she & him's music is, so i'll just let you hit the play button and hear for yourself. here are two of my favorites.

from the very moment i heard the first few notes of this song the first time, it immediately made me smile. :-)

this is the first song of she & him that i listened to. it has a 60's vibe to it, and the beat just makes you bop your head to the music.

there are lots more of their songs that i've already grown to love. well, what else can i say? this band just made it to my permanent playlist. :-)

fb friends, click here and here to watch the vids :)

then and now: a northern palawan travelogue

2010-09-12T22:56:00.011+08:00

ten years ago, i had the opportunity to visit the calamian group of islands with my family. it was a glorious one week trip that left me with memories that still linger in my mind up to now: north cay, calauit, culion and malcapuya islands, kayangan and barracuda lakes, coron town (in busuanga island; not to be confused with coron island), maquinit hot springs, and the countless snorkeling sites we visited, from coral reefs to japanese ship wrecks.

having the chance to visit the place once again just recently left me really amazed at what ten years can do to places. although i've had a shorter trip this time, it was enough for me to make some observations at the changes that happened during the last ten years to the places i've visited again this time around: coron town, kayangan lake, and culion. aside from that, i'll be including some differences in my activities on both trips for the benefit of my memory. ;p

here is the list. take note that for the "before" part, i am referring to my experience 10 years ago. :)

modes of transportation to palawan and back to manila

before: my family and i rode the superferry 5 to coron town in busuanga island. it was a 12-hour trip, from 7pm-7am. when we went back to manila, we had a one hour dusty jeepney ride to busuanga airport before boarding a 16-seater plane which thrilled all of us to no end.

view from the superferry @ sunrise

now: my friends and i bought round trip plane tickets. the jeepney ride is now an airconditioned van ride. the highway leading to coron town is now cemented, which cut the trip by almost half, depending on the speed of the van. and yes, the plane is now bigger (sits about 70 people), and both flights were definitely smooth.

one the propellers from the 70-seater plane. as you can see in the background, it's a clear day. it was a really smooth flight.

itinerary

before: the itinerary was prepared by my aunt and a distant uncle. it went like this:

superferry: anything goes. oldies slept early; cool people stayed up late in the ship's disco, just dancing.

north cay: 3 days 2 nights, including snorkelling around the island and a day trip to calauit island on our second day.
culion: officially 2 days, 2 nights, because we left early on the third day. sentimental journey on the first half of our second day (see account below), snorkelling around malcapuya island on the second half. we didn't go on the island.

kayangan and barracuda lakes: day trip, then go back to coron town. stayed at seadive resort. barracuda lake and surrounding coral reefs: second to the last day.

malcapuya island from the distance, year 2000

now: my friends and i got a tour package for 3 days, 2 nights. included in the package is a culion historic tour, and a buffet lunch at malcapuya island. click here for the website. anyhow, the whole itinerary went like this:

first day: banol beach, skeleton wrecks, twin lagoons, kayangan lake, siete pecados. snorkelling galore.

second day: culion historic tour-slash-sentimental journey (at least, for me), buffet lunch at malcapuya, siete pecados. come evening we had our own trip to maquinit hot springs which isn't included in our tour package. at any rate, soaking in the hot springs was a great help in eradicating my muscle pain altogether.

third day: early morning hike to mt. tapyas cross. it's a 719-step climb which took us 45 minutes. our descent however took us... tan-tananannnn... 13 minutes! ;p the rest of the morning we spent on breakfast and souvenir-hunting.

stepping on the powdery sands of malcapuya island, 2010. <3>

coron
before: the town's population was quite small. the area where seadive resort is had only a few structures on stilts. it seemed easier to move around town then.

now: coron town is a more bustling place ten years after. new houses, resorts, restaurants and shops have sprouted in the course of the past ten years. there is even a reclaimed area on the left side of the coron public market where there is a tourism center, a hotel and a park. i couldn't help but notice that the guards at the tourism center weren't able to answer our questions about good places to eat in though.

the reclaimed area.

sentimental journey

before: it was a sentimental trip we made in culion because it's where my lola on my father's side spent her childhood years when my great-grandfather was one of the physicians in the culion leprosarium in the 1920's. anyway, my aunt (pa's sister) was able to locate the sister of former classmate of my lola and was able to talk to her. then we took a walk around town to see where lola went to elementary school, where she lived (the house is still standing). of course we also went to the former leprosarium which was transformed into a museum. there's a list of everyone who worked in the leprosarium, from priests, nuns, physicians, dentists, etc. saw and took a picture of my great-grandfather's name under the list of physicians. extra un-sentimental thing: was able to watch charmed with my cousins wherein the episode was when phoebe travelled back in time to 1924.

photo taken from the last standing bastion at fort culion, 30 may 2000

now: only i among my family made another sentimental journey to culion. this time i was with my friends. we only went to the church and the culion sanitarium museum and archives. took my own photo of my great-grandfather's name on the list. the sister of my lola's classmate is still alive, but i wasn't able to talk to her. and now you know where 1924 came from. ;p

photo taken from the same spot. 11 september 2010

kayangan lake

below are the now photos of kayangan lake.

ten years ago, the wooden and bamboo walkways that line up one side of the lake were not there. i remember there was a huge fallen tree trunk which we used to put our things as well as our point of plunging in the lake. it's not there now.

we simply left our stuff on the rocks and on the protruding branches from the trees, and if we just want to lounge around, we used the rocks on the shallow part to sit on. now visitors can simply just dip their feet into the water when they don't feel like swimming, and their stuff can be left on the walkways.

cell phone signal

before: there was no signal anywhere among the islands. period. the only way to contact manila was though phone in the calling centers in coron and culion.

now: at this day and age, even a paradise like northern palawan now has cell phone signal. depending on your subscription, of course. ;p there are still some spots wherein the signal is weak, but for the most part one can text or call even while on a boat. heck, even update your facebook status. ;p and of course if there's signal, there should also be wifi. seadive and other lodgings and restaurants are wifi hotspots.

airport

before: the airport was then simply called busuanga airport. i really don't remember what the it exactly looked like ten years ago, but from what i can rake from memory, it was just a small one storey building with one check-in counter and a weighing scale for our bags and us. because the plane we rode was very small, it's important to get the weight of everything that boards the plane.

now: busuanga airport is now called the francisco b. reyes airport. it is now a more functional structure, still one storey, with definite areas for departure and arrival areas which are divided by glass walls. the check-in counters are more check-in-counter-looking, with the weighing scales beside each only for check-in luggages. the comfort rooms are clean and well-lit. there is also a cafe and a souvenir shop.

whether having stayed in palawan paradise for one week or 3 days, with family or with friends, the most important thing is that i have thoroughly enjoyed both trips. each has a unique experience which did not just make my journals, but in my heart as well.

i know i still have a pending post on taal but i'd like to put this one on palawan up first, especially since it's still fresh in my mind. (and yea, i know it's been a long time since my last post... i lost my mojo. snif, snif)

photo exhibit @ galleria taal

2010-05-04T01:46:00.006+08:00

if you're planning to go to taal, there's a photo exhibit over at galleria taal (ilagan-barrion residence on calle marcela agoncillo) up until may 31, 2010. old photos dating back from the late 1800's up to the 1980's as well as vintage cameras are showcased there.

eastman view camera no. 2-d (early 1900's)

the photo exhibit started last march 30. there's less than a month to go to see this awesome exhibit :D

taal trippin'

2010-04-19T20:39:00.008+08:00

ancestral houses, ancient churches and native foodtripping make up for an exciting cultural trip to taal town in batangas. so one long weekend found me and a group of friends driving over to taal just for that. but after filling up the car's gas tank over at petron slex, the car suddenly refused to start. a diagnosis by the mechanic revealed that there was a problem with the alternator. to cut the long story short, we got stuck at petron slex for three and a half hours, but not without enjoying the time at the customer's lounge (which is simply a small area with glass doors and walls, but airconditioned and equipped with a television set). there we watched several tv shows and eventually had our lunch there as well. i have to commend the guys at petron slex for being so nice and gracious to us, giving us extra seats (we were 7 in all and there were only two seats inside the lounge at first) and were even apologetic as it took them about an hour to get the necessary car part back in muntinlupa before finally fixing the car. cheers, guys!

we left the gas station at 1.30pm and on we drove to taal. thank goodness there wasn't any traffic at all, so we made it to taal by 3pm. although the ancestral houses that are open to the public are only open until 4pm, we were able to maximize our time in each. we even had enough time to explore the taal basilica, but i'm getting ahead of myself. i'll start with the first house we visited: the agoncillo residence.

the exterior of the agoncillo residence. this is the place where marcela mariño grew up. upon her marriage to don felipe agoncillo, she moved to manila.

ventana y ventanillas (ventana is spanish for window. a ventanilla is a smaller window below the larger one and is usually screened with balusters (like the one above) or wrought iron grills (like the ones in my lola's house). the ventanilla is an important feature of a bahay na bato as it helps with the house's ventilation especially on a hot day.

while the family was in exile in hong kong at the start of the revolution, marcela agoncillo sewed the first philippine flag upon the orders of general emilio aguinaldo. her oldest daughter lorenza and delfina herbosa natividad helped in making the flag. it was then personally delivered to gen. aguinaldo by don felipe in hong kong and on 12 june 1898, gen. aguinaldo proudly waved the flag at the declaration of philippine independence in kawit, cavite.

just a small part of the large sala (living room)

portraits of the agoncillo family. not one of don felipe and marcela's five daughters ever married as they chose their respective careers over marriage.

some of the books owned by the agoncillos

stained glass windows at the library

entryway to the house. (shot from the library)

the side of the house

statue of marcela m. agoncillo

historical sources here, here and here

architectural source here

coming soon: don leon apacible museum and galeria taal (dela rosa-ilagan residence)

In Christ Alone

2010-03-31T21:24:00.002+08:00

In Christ Alone (lyrics)

In Christ Alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

have a blessed holy week, everyone. :-)

gloomy sunday

2010-03-15T15:40:00.005+08:00

and that's because my cam phone was stolen. with 1,700+ photos stored. :'( man. and getting a new phone was one of my birthday wishes last year too. *sigh*

b&w photo taken last year, 22 july 2009 on one side of the pasig river, arroceros park (manila). it's been 2 months and 1 day since i went gaga with sepia. ;p

sige lang nang sige.

crush

2010-03-08T18:17:00.004+08:00

awww, isn't he sweet? LOL

i originally planned on keeping the twenty-peso bill, but then i discovered one day i had no more change for jeepney fare, so... boo!

btw. writing on money is against the law here.

manila sights in sepia

2010-02-13T01:15:00.003+08:00

the fotos featured in this video are the remaining photographs in my current sepia collection (all taken in one day). of course the number will grow should i take more fotos in sepia mode in the future. haha. but for now, i do hope you'll enjoy these. :)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

note: fotos are taken with my fone cam, an SEw810i. all are in raw form, including the ones i featured on my previous posts (beautiful mess 1 and 2). too lazy to tweak pics. hrhrhr.

foodtripping: eat fresh

2010-01-27T23:07:00.010+08:00

nestled in one of the buildings along masangkay st. in tondo, manila, is this small eatery called eat fresh. this place has been serving stir-fried noodles before all the other stir-fried noodle stalls sprouted all over the metro a few years back.

along with stir-fried noodles, eat fresh also offers noodle soups, dimsum, squid balls, kikiam and stuffed tofu (which i so, so love). also a must-try are their XL white and black gulaman for only P28 and their curry siomai at P12/3 pcs. (thanks P for the recommendation!)

a large serving of stir-fried noodles costs 38 pesos. here's the lady's hand in action, preparing my and a friend's stir-fried noodles with bean sprouts and green onions.

top: stuffed tofu (pork), P15 each. middle rack: dimsum, lumpiang shanghai, squid balls. bottom rack: more dimsum

lotsa bowls waiting to be filled with delicious stir-fried noodles

stuffed tofu frying

a selection of sauces: (l-r) oyster sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce, sweet chili, sweet and sour, peanut sauce, sweet sauce, hot sauce

in true miss lamon tradition (?), any food trip i go to would not be complete without a scrape or two. heheh. well, i just thought that i would like to have a bit of spice for my noodles so i also added chili sauce aside from the sweet one. little did i realize what effect 2 teaspoons of that chili would have.

l: stuffed tofu. r: stir-fried noodles. i declare temporary insanity when i took this pic. cos after taking one bite of my stir-fried noodles the heat seared through my throat down to my chest. man, was that spicy or spicy? only one remedy available at the moment: ice cream! :D

btw, eat fresh does not franchise so if you would like to try their yummy treats, go hie yourselves off to masagkay street :D

eat fresh food deli

1278 masangkay st., tondo, manila
in front of st. stephen's high school

pagmumuni-muni

2010-01-13T15:36:00.004+08:00

i wonder what he is thinking of at that moment.

* pagmumuni-muni means musing in english.

miss lamon's top food trips for 2009

2010-01-06T00:03:00.012+08:00

posts were very rare in this blog last year, except for some adventures and misadventures around metro manila and in a couple of provinces. food trips were not posted here for lack of time and brain cells (lol) but thank heavens the whirly-girdy of last year has subsided a bit. there are some restos i still intend to write an individual post on but for now, i present my top food trips and discoveries for 2009. listed in no particular order. :)

- creamy chicken crepe served with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, new horizon hotel. (29 juin 2009). this one is a winner. flavorful creamy chicken wrapped in a delicate crepe AND topped with more creamy sauce. (just the way uh-huh, uh-huh i like it!) the light flavors of the mashed potatoes and steamed veggies complement the dish. this is one of the full-course chef's specials in new horizon; it comes with the soup of the day, potato lyonnaise salad and dessert. all for P295. yeah! ♥ (thanks beng for suggesting the place!)

l-r: royce, calamansi dacquoise, strawberry chantilly. (patisserie caroline, 17 m. paterno st., san juan). these three are just some examples of patisserie caroline's selection of yummy cakes and pastries. they are not too rich and the sweetness is just right, which is why my cousin b and i keep coming back for more when we crave for sweets. patisserie caroline's mini cakes are good for 2 people and at P85 per cake (or higher depending on the type), it's already a steal. :)

fro-yo!!! (any frozen yogurt from californiaberry, white hat, red mango, etc.). whether eaten plain or with toppings, frozen yogurt never fails to delight my palate with its cool tangy-sweet flavor. this is something i treat myself to on rare occasions that i go to the mall.

the next three fotos are from jack's loft. (any branch around the metro: wilson st. greenhills, robinson's galleria, eastwood, tomas morato). known for its delightfully sinful desserts, jack's loft also offers a selection of sandwiches, pastas, entrees, smoothies, etc. twice i've eaten at jack's loft and twice i wasn't disappointed. large servings at affordable prices rank high on my priority list along with great taste, of course.

vegetarian panini. i am not a fan of veggies, but with this one i'll make an exception.

steak and mushroom gravy sandwich. i was quite apprehensive when i ordered it, as it might not meet my expectations. one boo-boo was enough. anyways, i so love this sandwich coz the steak slices that are slathered with rich mushroom gravy are tender and juicy and absolutely have no litid. the side of potato chips are sliced thinly, adding that crunch which complements the sandwich. each bite is relished up to the last.

next two fotos are from max's restaurant. for the longest time the only items i ate at max's were the chicken (of course), lumpiang shanghai and pansit canton. so these next two items are definitely new for my palate. many thanks to my friend M who introduced me to these.

veggie lumpia bites. light, crispy pillows of veggies with mayo mustard dip. again, no fan of veggies here but this dish sure is a fun way to eat my vegetables.

bangus spread with pita chips (31 mai 2009, dimanche). the pate has a nice smokey flavor that will make you come back for more. goes really well with the light, crisp pita chips. winner. winner. winner.

these next two behemoths were featured in my subic road trip post june of last year. both are served in xtremely xpresso which is located in sbma.

big ben pizza. a 22-inch thin crust pizza loaded with sausages, ham, olives, onions, green bell peppers, mushrooms, and cheese :)

ben's delight burger: one kilo of beef patty in a huge bun served simply with lettuce, tomatoes and bacon. for only P280, this burger is really easy on the pocket.

curry siomai, wai ying (benavidez st. binondo, manila). F introduced me to this intriguing combination of fried siomai semi-drowned in rich curry sauce. hmmm, i want some more.

sit-ka-long (sitaw, kalabasa, longganisa), 1521 restaurant (547 shaw boulevard, brgy. wack-wack, mandaluyong city). this is just one of 1521's delectable filipino dishes which are served with a twist. the longganisa which is fried to a crisp gives a new texture to the ginisang kalabasa at sitaw (sauteed squash and string beans). the sauce is thick and rich, with a touch of bagoong.

cheese steak sandwich from a sandwich vendo machine. no joke! it is such a unique way of getting a sandwich, my friends and i got a big kick out of this. imagine, one can now get a sandwich this way. just put in some money in the slots, press the button for the sandwich of your choice, wait for a few minutes, and voila! you got yourself a nice, hot sandwich. who knows, maybe next time there will be a vendo machine that sells sinigang in cups. hahaha.

yummy cake with strawberry and cream filling and buchi with sweet bean filling and topped with desiccated coconut from gduho bakeshop in manila. gduho is a new chinese bakery located in 1113 narra street, manila. just make sure you can speak chinese or you have a chinese speaking friend with you just in case your curiosity is piqued at the items.

soto ayam (makansutra asian food village at manila ocean park). nice refreshing and mildly spicy soup with thick noodles, bean sprouts, shredded chicken and fried potato. garnished with fried garlic, scallions and cilantro leaves. the soup was hot but it became cold quickly due to the noodles which weren't even warm. the flavors are meshed just right, though, and the bean sprouts give a nice crunch to the dish.

happy new year, people! :)

merry christmas!

2009-12-22T00:49:00.005+08:00

amidst the flurry of christmas shopping and gift-giving,
tear-your-hair-out traffic snarls 'round malls and
last-minute noche buena plannings,

let us not forget the reason for this season. :-)

from me and my blog to you, i wish all of you blogfriends a very merry and blessed christmas. :)

mt. pinatubo adventure pt. 2

2009-12-07T21:35:00.015+08:00

date: 21 novembre 2009
who: h peeps and friends (14 people grand total)
battle plan:
2am: meet @ mcdonald's el pueblo; wait for the van that will pick us up.
3am: leave for capas, tarlac
5.30am: arrive in capas.
7-ish: get on those 4x4s and start the ride!

...

i have already lost track of time from the time we all boarded those 4x4s until the end of the trip. ;-)

--------------

you must have watched the vids in my previous posts already, so here i introduce us four ladies making all that racket. ;-) the three guys up in front (driver, tour guide and another friend R) were silent for the most part. haha. and yes, we were fortunate enough to be in the lead 4x4 (there were three in all to accommodate 14 people) so dust wasn't really a problem for us. thanks to friend S who took this pic.

the ideal 4x4! we were sitting at first but i noticed the tarp can be moved, so we asked the driver if we could stop and take the tarp off so we could stand. so from that time on, the four of us were standing the whole time. :)

noisy girls at the back! quiet guys in front!

as i've mentioned in my previous post, our group chose the newer option of taking the skyway, which took us on a longer 4x4 ride to the jump-off point which is about an hour or so depending on how many stops we made for foto ops. here are some pics i took of the amazing views along the 4x4 route:

blue, blue sky. the perfect weather for travelling.

the two other 4x4s

amazing lahar walls carved by the elements.

the hills are aliiiiive... again! it's amazing to see that almost two decades after the devastation wrought by the mt. pinatubo eruption in 1991, lots and lots of green have sprouted again.

even the aetas have come back to the place they have called their home for years.

sulfur and shadow.

the trek to the crater took all of us roughly 30 minutes, what with more foto ops and all. for someone without exercise for the longest time, except in preparation for this trip, this crazy traveler made it to the crater on two somewhat unsteady legs instead of all fours as she thought. all wheeziness was gone, btw, as she took in the magnificent view after the trek.

igneous rocks of different shapes, colours and sizes

large volcanic rock

tranquilité

...dot.com. ;-)

during the trek, in my concentration to balance and not slip on the stones, i almost forgot to take a vid until the last part. good thing i remembered to take out my phone to take this last video amidst the hazy vision and lack of oxygen. hey, that's a joke, ha? haha.

all righty peeps, just hit play!

-------------------

the whole package cost us P2,250 which included a roundtrip van transfers, 4x4, a local tour guide, travel insurance, conservation and skyway toll fees, and even an id with a lanyard. we didn't get the snack option offered; instead, all of us feasted on M's scrumptious pork and chicken adobo with egg. yumyumyum! :D

another nice thing about this trip is the fact that it's during the off-peak season. the place is much calmer.

if you're planning to visit mt. pinatubo, swing by travel factor's website.

mt. pinatubo adventure pt. 1

2009-11-24T09:58:00.007+08:00

it's adventure time once again, folks. and this time, it's on to mt. pinatubo for yours truly along with a bunch of friends last 21 november.

let me set the mood for adventure with this couple of videos i took while on the 4x4 ride to the drop-off point. with all the excitement packed in these videos (which is prolly the understatement of the century), i'm sure you'll feel like you're with us. lol.

i'm not that much of a tour guide in the vids, so lemme share a few facts about this trip first. the 4x4 ride we had takes about one hour to the jump-off point via skyway. this is the new route which takes us on a longer ride on the 4x4 and cuts the trek to the crater by an hour and a half (30 minutes na lang), depending on the person's speed. but i'm getting ahead of myself. longer write-up on this coming soon. for now, just click play and enjoy!

word to the wise: better turn down the volume first. ;p

can you still handle it? then hit play! :D

coming soon: another vid and lotsa pics. ;-)

soundtripping: hare hare yukai

2009-11-20T22:09:00.000+08:00

here's something from the new millennium for a change. ;-)

hare hare yukai is the ending song of the anime suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu (the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya). i don't really know the story as i haven't watched the anime or even read the manga. just learned about the song from some friends who danced to the song one time. hehehe. ;p well, what can i say? the song is catchy, and yes, so is the dance. really cute.

my further knowledge of this song only goes as far as who the seiyuu (japanese voice actors) are in this song: hirano aya (as suzumiya haruhi), chihara minori (as nagato yuki) and goto yuko (asahina mikuru). the boys (kyon and koizumi itsuki), who are included in the dance but have no singing lines, are voiced by sugita tomokazu and ono daisuke, respectively.

i better read the manga. or better yet, watch the anime. hehe. but as of now, i'll just enjoy listening to hare hare yukai. and the rest of the anime's soundtrack. :-)

hit play! enjoy!

from the anime

here's the vid with the seiyuus singing. (full song with encore)

beautiful mess 2

2009-11-09T14:54:00.002+08:00

i remember being a ten year old back in 1934. one day after school, my mother brought me along to visit her sister in the office building where she worked. upon arriving, my aunt took us to the building's cafeteria. the song you're getting to be a habit with me from the movie 42nd street was playing on the phonograph as we entered. on one side of the cafeteria was this long counter with several stools lining it. my mother and aunt allowed me to sit on one of the stools to drink the chocolate malt shake my mother bought me while they had their chitchat on one of the tables. oh, i knew i had to sit still and behave, but those high stools were such a delight that i began spinning, spinning, spinning on it until i felt dizzy; my mother stared in dumb disbelief while my aunt just laughed at my childish antics and said that it's a miracle i didn't lose my malt shake in the process.

i have almost forgotten all about that certain visit until i saw the cafeteria again on my 85th birthday last may, when i decided to drop by this building after so many years.

note: oh-kay, i'm kidding about being 85 years old. but seeing this old cafeteria sure stirred up the imagination. :) btw, the first pic is the original; the second one was tweaked to look a bit older... err, does it?

again, the date is on the lower right corner of both fotos. i'm not kidding when i said that it was on my birthday when i went to this building. hehehe.

beautiful mess

2009-10-26T01:39:00.004+08:00

books and papers on the shelf and more of them are scattered on the floor--everything's peppered thickly with lots of dust... yes, the absolute mess in this room really caught my eye. and i love it. everything's just in place for one of the most wonderful spontaneous photo ops ever. :)

the first foto is the original shot, which i took with my fone cam.

some experimentations with brightness and contrast and whatever. if not for the graffiti on the right side, one might think this was taken in 1909 and not 2009. hehe.

travel Q and A

2009-10-21T21:38:00.003+08:00

copied this from a friend. you can do this too if you like. :)

1. would you rather travel by plane, bus, train, or boat? why? -i actually enjoy traveling by plane, bus, train and boat. =) any mode of transportation's fine with me as long as i get to my destination.

2. name the countries you've been to. which is your favorite and why? - us, australia, malaysia, thailand, france. i like all, but i wish i could have spent more time in france, which was all of 3 days. hrhrhr.

3. where in your country have you been? which place is your favorite and why? - aside from my beloved metro manila... batangas, cavite, laguna, quezon, legaspi, sorsogon, naga, baguio, banaue, cebu, leyte, northern palawan, pampanga, pangasinan, nueva ecija. my favorite would be palawan coz it was sort of like a pilgrimage to where my lola spent her childhood years (in culion island). went there with relatives and aside from exploring culion island, we went on an island safari, staying in one for 3 days 2 nights; island hopping around the calamian group of islands, and of course visiting calauit, coron and barracuda lakes and makinit hot springs. all these for one glorious week. :)

4. what do you do to kill time if you have a layover in the airport/terminal/pier? - if there's someone with me, then mega chika galore. if i'm traveling alone, i read and listen to music from my mp3. if i get bored from reading and listening to music, then i go people watching.

5. if you have a choice to go to either france or italy, where would you go and why? - there is no question. i will go to both countries. hah! ;-)

6. if you go to the beach what is the main thing that constantly bothers you? - as much as possible i don't allow anyone or anything to bother me while i'm at my most favorite spot in the world. (any beach, that is)

7. how long has it been since you last traveled? - 1 month

8. where did you go on your first airplane ride? - los angeles, ca

9. what three things do you always bring with you to your travels? - moleskine and pen (yeah, i'm old fashioned like that), and camera.

10. what is something you would definitely see in a highway? - aside from the usual vehicles, i expect to see fields... lots and lots of green fields!

11. do you over pack or under pack? - i guess overpack. i always say i have to travel light but i always end up with lotsa extras.

12. if you could visit a country for its cuisine only, which country will it be? - japan and greece

13. do you think flying first class is worth the money? - doesn't matter. i get upgraded anyway ;-) LOL

14. have you ever had to use a barf bag? - never

15. would you rather have an uninterrupted one-month (28 days) vacation in a year, or four seven-day vacations spread throughout the year? - the latter would be good. that way my vacay time won't be used up all at once, and i can choose different destinations.

16. would you go on a vacation alone? - someday.

17. if i cover all expenses for your vacation, where would you go? - norway

18. both pilots of the boeing 747 you are on have had a heart attack, the stewardess asks if anyone would be willing to try and land the plane with help from ground control. would you volunteer? - i just hope and pray that there is a pilot among the passengers. :D

19. what is one thing you find annoying that people do at the beach? - i only see myself when i'm at the beach. heheh.

20. would you rather take the scenic route or shortest route? - scenic!

21. when flying, do you prefer the window seat, middle seat, or aisle seat? any reason for it? - window seat, preferably sa may wings. very nice experience looking out the window while the plane is banking to the side where you are. it's like roller coaster in slow motion! and no rails! wahahaha

22. how well can you read a map? - haven't tried. i rely on memory.

23. what is the longest overland journey you have ever made? - from manila to bicol, and manila to banaue; new jersey to maryland, san francisco to los angeles

24. nasa is giving away free space travel packages. would you take one to travel to the outer space? - why not?

25. do you spend most of your time with other tourists when you are on vacation? - not really. might be different if i'm with a tour group tho.

26. are you a beach or mountain person?- beach, beach, beach

27. what's your biggest travel fear? what do you do to avoid this fear? - as much as possible i don't try to think of accidents. i just pray i'll arrive safely at my destination.

28. do you take your hotel's complimentary toiletries home with you? - of course. it's complimentary. :)

29. what activities do you enjoy doing when traveling? - walking, walking, walking... sightseeing, trying out delicacies, taking pictures, more walking.

30. what are the top ten places you would like to visit before you die? - all of scandinavia, japan, reunion island, uk, russia, germany, italy, andorra, spain, china

with some friends on a DIY tour of what else but manila, my manila. ;-P

honesty

2009-10-12T21:13:00.003+08:00

got tagged by gypsy.

Can you fill this out without lying (it's not hard)? You've been tagged, so now you need to answer all the questions HONESTLY. At the end, choose at least 8 people to be tagged. Don't forget to tag me!

To do this, copy this entire message, then go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, start a new note, paste these instructions in the body of the note, delete my answers, and type yours. Easy!

Next, tag people and list their namesat the bottom. Have fun! :)

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
rosquillos (finally, after so many years of not eating even one piece)

2. Where was your profile picture taken? market market (this profile pic on blogger)

3. Can you play the guitar?
Nope

4. Name someone who made you laugh today?
my bro.

5. How late did you stay up last night and why?
530am this morning. was finishing up a script

6. If you could move somewhere else, would you?
sure. depends on the place tho

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks?
no. hah. heheh.

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you on Facebook?
sherry, one of my best friends :)

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends?
maybe. i dunno.

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper?
like it when it's ice cold. mmmmm!!!!!!

11. When was the last time you cried?
i don't remember

12. Who took your profile picture
my friend D

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of?myself.
;-P

14. Was yesterday better than today?
About the same

15. Can you live a day without TV?
sure

16. Are you upset about anything?
can't think of anything to be upset about, i just have to do what i have to do. :D

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?
what kind?

18. Are you a bad influence?
get to know me and then you'll know. ;-)

19. Night out or night in?
night out. rarely do that now. woooo

20. What item(s) could you not go without during the day?
eyeglasses, radio, laptop

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say?
announcement for tomorrow's small group

23. How do you feel about your life right now?
all right

24. Do you hate anyone?
...

25. If we were to look in your Email inbox, what would we find most?
e-newsletters i rarely read, jobstreet announcements, fb notices. how sad. lol

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?\
yes

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
no.

28. What song is stuck in your head?
dreaming from the soundtrack of the movie coraline

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be?
my cousin whom i haven't seen for 17 years. thank God for ym and facebook. heheh.

30. Wanna have grandkids before you're 50?
no.

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow:
fix the house.

32. Do you think too much or too little?
oh, man. too much. lolol

33. Do you smile a lot?
maybe. i don't really think about it. :)

acey-chan, kuri, domjullian-----you're tagged! :D

----------------
ps. as much as i love blogging i really don't have the time to do it nowadays, except sporadically. i even thought i wasn't going on food trips that much this year when i realized that all my food trip fotos are posted in my fb. wahaha.

pasaway

2009-10-07T11:15:00.002+08:00

walking brings about so many surprises. just like this one while i was walking around the neighborhood one day.

sinabi nang wag pumarada, hala sige pa rin! tsk, tsk.

yeah baby, i'm on a signspotting roll. ;-)

a brewery stewery

2009-09-24T08:50:00.004+08:00

i saw this sign on a coffee dispenser in a convenience store somewhere in qc last july.

i guess at that time, the coffee is just warming up until someone buys a cup of it. ;-)

anyway, someone must have noticed, coz when i went back there just a couple of weeks ago, this is the sign taped on the dispenser:

now at least i know that i can get freshly brewed coffee! yey! haha :-)

"bawal umihi dito"

2009-07-23T22:26:00.010+08:00

roughly translated in english, it means "do not urinate here." one can see this sign mostly painted on fences or building walls, and is meant to discourage men to just "go" anywhere.

one certain building in manila caught my attention as it was painted on almost all its sides with the sign, plus some variations. good thing that the building is currently under renovation; these signs will be gone when it's time to give the building a new paint job.

hey... can u read dis? dis sign is talking 2 u. yes, u, man!

the guy who did this couldn't be more emphatic...

...in forbidding men to urinate on this particular doorway.

i wonder if the person who wrote this got one peso for every guy he catches urinating on this wall...

and the person who wrote this must be richer than the first one.

punishment awaits the unfortunate man who dares urinate here.

full frontal view of the sign (taken on another day)

:-)

postcards

2009-07-17T22:30:00.006+08:00

it is said that sending postcards is a dying art. living in the digital age, when people find sending e-mails more convenient than walking over to the nearest post office, i am inclined to agree. coz whenever i travel, my friends would receive long, and i mean looooooong emails from me telling them all about my latest escapades. and then when i started blogging, there was no looking back. those of you who have been following my blog would know how long some of my posts are. all that i've written would not fit one half of a postcard. but i also believe that sending postcards or letters by snail mail gives a more personal touch from the sender.

so call me old-fashioned, but even before i took writing emails and blogging seriously, i loved sending postcards to friends whenever i go out of town. when i was staying with my uncle and his family in new jersey seven years ago, i even went to new york city just to mail some friends new york postcards. this is so that they would have that "authentic feel" of new york city. ya know, with the new york stamp and all. i felt that if i mailed them from new jersey it would feel fake. hehe. but that's just me. btw, my uncle's family lived in that part of nj just across manhattan, so it was easy to get to nyc.

i also love receiving postcards and letters in the mail, so another time, i ordered... err, requested some friends to send me some snail mail when i was away for quite some time. considering the length of time mail goes out from the philippines, i made sure that they sent me the cards one month at most before i had to go back home. am i demanding or am i demanding? lol! but really, receiving something in the mail is such a nice suprise. that feeling of anticipation when i open the mailbox, and then i see something from a close friend with my name on it. now what a nice surprise that would be! however, love letters from companies that bill me so do NOT count. ;-P

a part of my postcard collection i unearthed one day while spring cleaning

one time i was thinking to myself that while my friends are receiving postcards from me, why not i, too? it would be something really different. so i made it a point from then on to send postcards to myself as well from my out of town trips instead of just buying them to send to friends or add to my collection. at present, i have a grand total of 3 postcards i sent to myself. heheh. here's one that i sent in 2007.

i'm just greeting myself here :D

now it may seem strange for someone to send postcards to oneself. i dunno, but personally aside from that exciting feeling of receiving something in the mail, it is also my way of getting a souvenir from my travels without having to collect tickets (bus, museum, plane, train), brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, etc. Not that i don't have those, i do, but they only accumulate a lot of dust and take up so much space. and i simply cannot find the time to do a scrapbook of my travels so i end up throwing them away (not without keeping them for years first). and so, collecting postcards is the way to go. getting the stamp with the postcard is an added bonus as well.

dyou have a postcard/snail mail story? feel free to share :)

happy weekend, everyone!

subic road trip pt. 2

2009-07-03T22:52:00.009+08:00

13 june 2009

the road trip back to manila was just as adventurous as it was the previous day. the only difference is that it didn't rain on our way back.

42 kms. more to... somewhere

so sunny!

as we drove along sctex once more, i could not help but notice that everything is greener than last january was. just compare the following photos i took last january and on june 13.

1 january 2009 (also posted in one of my january entries). look at that hill on the right.

13 june 2009. as you can see, the rice fields have been already harvested. this is also approximately the same spot i took a picture of last january judging from the trees.

same hill taken from another spot. that particular hill is more lush than it was 6 months ago.

so. what happened to our humongous pizza-and-burger dinner the night before?

they became breakfast, of course.

we headed back to manila at around 8am and stopped by the first pit stop after leaving sctex. there we had our pizza nuked in the microwave as the remaining slices could not fit into the store's lone oven toaster (the attendant was nice enough to microwave the pizza for us btw). as for the burger, it still tasted great even when cold.

9 remaining pizza slices for breakfast

one of the two remaining hamburger slices

i guess it's obvious by now that i love to shoot photos while on the road (refer to my roxas/boracay and first subic trips). and why would i not want to take pictures? everywhere i look, there is an interesting sight to be seen. cruisin' down nlex this time, it was all about trees, baby!

the lush trees on each side of the expressway remind me of a particular highway i passed which leads to upstate new york, coming from the jersey side of george washington bridge (turnpike, is it called?). there are also lots of trees on either side, almost exactly like nlex.

here

and here. certainly any passenger (and driver, i dare say) would be relaxed and refreshed just by looking at the sceneries around. great job, whatever company you are that's responsible for the expressway's renovation and maintenance. mntc, that's the company, right? oh yeah. i also hope that in ten years' time the expressway would have finally reached baguio, and in another five years the ilocos and cagayan regions. woot! lol :D

want weird? take a look this one:

what is wrong with this truck? and is this even allowed? with sights such as this, i promise never to sleep again while on the road. lol!

and oh. there was even a huling hirit (last hurrah) as we left nlex. all of us got distracted by this certain billboard with a dazzling model. is it aiko melendez? pia arcangel? ohh, no. when we realized that it was hilda koronel on the billboard modeling for some boutique (or is it for a make-up company? i forget.), we completely missed the off-ramp leading to edsa and had to go straight on to a. bonifacio avenue and into traffic. talaga nga naman si hilda koronel, o! hehe! but really, she's simply stunning in that billboard.

i must say that this trip is rated a million A's. what with the spontaneity of the moment, the series of adventures and misadventures that followed, and the most important of all---the fun, fun company. there wasn't any dull moment at all; us ladies seemed to laugh in every situation we found ourselves in, even when we were already getting tired--especially when we were looking for a place to stay. conversation never lagged, and we got to know just a little bit more about each other's lives. oh-kay i'm getting all sappy here, but hey, it's true. :)

oh, yes. this adventure of ours certainly made our bond stronger.

on to ze next adventure!

subic road trip

2009-06-19T17:05:00.000+08:00

i didn't expect to be back in subic after 6 months. if the last time was all about celebrating the new year with family, this time it was about four adventurous, (single) ladies (moi, l, mm, mj) out to have some crazy fun. ;-) and by crazy fun i mean spur of the moment, taking whatever comes our way and no-extra-clothes-except-for-the-ones-we're-wearing. (and risking the wrath of some people, which made it even more exciting lol)

when you're out on a road trip with friends, it seems like the world is opening up to you. the road stretches out, beckoning you to go on until you reach your destination. and wherever we looked as we drove along the highways (nlex and sctex), we were like, wow. everything. is. so. beautiful. our raucous conversations were peppered with moments of silence as we took in the sights.

we left manila at 3pm and arrived in subic at around 5.

driving along the nlex. as far as the eye can see

adventure...?

once we entered sbma we just followed the arrows to the different attractions (in the direction of ocean adventure). as zoobic and ocean adventure are situated at the far ends of the earth, we opted to go to treetop adventure instead. treetop adventure is located at the JEST area and has four kinds of attractions: tree top adventure, where one can enjoy trekking and taking a leisurely motorized cable ride among the highest branches (P350/person); forest trekking adventure (P100/person); superman ride (self-explanatory :-), P200/person); and tree drop adventure, where one can descend the 60-foot tree any way he/she likes: by rappelling, the lizard, or the australian style, in which you drop face first. sweet! (P150/person)

because the four of us are adventurous, we decided to try the superman ride. and because we arrived late in the afternoon, the ticket booth was already closed. end of supposedly first adventure in subic.

we contented ourselves with pictures :D

thataway!

food trip, as always.

well, we had another agenda on our list anyway. what adventure is complete without a food trip, right? so we headed out to xtremely xpresso, this ultra-cozy coffee shop that serves a wide range of items, from pizza, pasta, sandwiches, coffee and pastries. xtremely xpresso is also the home of the humongous big ben pizza (P699) and ben's delight burger (one kilo of beef patty! P280). eating at xtremely xpresso is one of my unfinished business from last december/january as i really wanted to try their ben's delight burger after being able to try the normal-sized burger with wasabi dressing (a juicy 1/3 pounder for only P80).

so yes. as we sat comfortably on the couches, we ordered the big ben pizza and ben's delight. it was funny to see the eyes of the other patrons follow the journey of the pizza and burger to our table, and seeing four ladies making a noble attempt in finishing off such large portions of humongous grub.

big ben pizza. 22 inch thin crust pizza loaded with lotsa toppings: sausages, ham, olives, onions, green bell peppers, mushrooms, and cheese!

ben's delight burger, before we had it sliced into 6. for a 1k of beef patty, it sure was juicy even after it was grilled. served simply with lettuce, tomato and bacon. are you up for the challenge?

almost homeless

we enjoyed our time at xtremely xpresso so much that we realized that it was kind of late to be heading back to manila. and because that day was a holiday (june 12, philippines' independence day), most of the lodgings around sbma are either fully booked or the room available does not fall within our budget. the four of us trudged along waterfront road trying to find a room to no avail. as we neared the lighthouse (the last inn along waterfront rd.), we again bumped into some friends from church (we saw each other in xtremely xpresso earlier) and we hung out together at the lighthouse for a while. we then went our separate ways but not without them promising to contact us if they found a place for us to stay.

the lighthouse. the topmost part changes colors.

friendships

when we were sure that we won't find any room to stay, we decided to head back to manila. we haven't gotten far when one of our friends called to say their group has found a place for us, a condo for rent at 2k per night. sweet.

the place is subic world plaza, a new korean-owned three-storey condominium near subic international hotel. 2k per night, P300 for an extra person. the room is quite large, with enough space for a kitchen and living room. it is airconditioned and it comes complete with 2 twin beds, tv, mini refrigerator. it also has a nice bathroom with hot and cold shower.

@ the 3rd floor front desk

everything was well and good, until i got into bed. for almost immediately, i started to sneeze and sniffle nonstop.

seems like the room wasn't occupied for quite some time, and the sheets remained unchanged until we got there and used them. when i woke up early the next day the sneezes started again. oh, glorious dust galore.

will be posting more pics soon :)

note: cheers to mm for the other pics :)

at el hogar filipino

2009-05-23T11:01:00.002+08:00

this is one of the things i did on my birthday... go to el hogar filipino building along juan luna st. in binondo. it is my most fave building there coz even though it's in a totally unkempt state (which is the understatement of the century, btw), i believe this place has a great potential. after all, countless commercials, music videos and tv shows have been filmed here. but strangely though, the building's beautiful mess makes it all the more enticing for me.

as you can see, the video is in sepia tone, which makes the place look really ancient. (i actually forgot to set it back to color, that's why. lolz) and if i were you, i guess i'd lower the volume. ;-)

birthday wish

2009-05-01T01:00:00.001+08:00

this one is a long overdue tag/post but i think it's just in time for my birthday, which will be sometime this month. ;-) got tagged by dodong flores to do this one.

here are the rules:
1.Make a list of what you want on your birthday.

2.The list should be 15 numbers

3.Post the image of this award in your posting

4.Give it to 10 friends of yours.

in random order:
1. be able to go to the beach.

2. or spend some time in binondo, which i haven't visited for a looooong time. maybe by my lonesome or with someone who wants to go with me. anyone wanna come with me? :)

3. sunny day! i know the month of may is the start of the rainy season, but i really hope it would be sunny on my birthday coz it always rains on that particular day every year. sooo gloomy.

4. a new cell phone wouldn't be so bad. ;-) am not looking for one with a camera and all those techie whoozies; as long as i'm able to text and call, it's fine. =)

5. if i won't be going to the beach or binondo, anyplace where i can spend time with some close friends would be great. especially with those i haven't seen for a long time.

6. sarah brightman's latest cd, symphony.

7. any cd of white shoes and the couples company.

8. a good mp3 player.

9. really good speakers for my laptop.

10. the latest cd of daishi dance, the green set. if not, the piano set is also good.

11. new moleskine notebook. the pages on my old one are running out :)

12. good health and safety for my loved ones.

13. blueberry cheesecake. no candles, please. lol

14. a nice lamp.

15. a dog. heehee.

so there you have it, folks. won't be tagging anyone for this but feel free to tag yourself if you like :D happy weekend!

wet sneakers

2009-04-27T22:20:00.006+08:00

i know i haven't blogged in here for quite some time; my brain is so fried and add to that, haven't gone food tripping nor had any misadventures in a while so no postable posts. (u blogfriends who are also my facebook friends know what's up tho) heheh. but i knew i had to post this one. it's been raining since the second week of april up until now, which is a very strange thing to happen as it's still supposed to be SUMMER. ok, i just can't accept the fact that the weather is like the rainy season, which is supposed to start by the last week of may. apparently the rainy season has made an early start. so much for my tan lines.

as it rained for the nth time this SUMMER, my beloved old, dilapidated travel buddy (aka chuck taylors) took in water once again while i was walking home from the office last monday. am just glad i didn't sink from all that rainwater. heheh. however, the squish-squish of my sneakers wasn't a fun feeling.

why do i insist on wearing my old pair of chucks when i already have a new pair to destroy, err, enjoy? well, the old ones feel the most comfy. yes, even when water seeps in.

the water seeped in more at the front than at the back. the watermarks are visible inside, on the side down to the heels. and oh, look how worn out the sneakers are. que horror!!! LOL

'til my next misadventure! ciao!

soundtripping: till

2009-04-03T20:10:00.002+08:00

i first heard this song in a radio drama i used to listen to, about 12 years ago already. it has such a sad melody (that's why it's used in the most dramatic moment of the radio soap opera), but i love it. the song is performed in 1957 by roger williams and percy faith (separately, as instrumentals). in 1961 the american girl group the angels had til as their first hit.

other artists who recorded this song are as follows: shirley bassey, tony bennett, maureen evans, the vogues, bobby vinton, dorothy squires, and tom jones. (source: wikipedia)

press play!

till - roger williams

lyrics: (Words and Music by Pierre Buisson (original french lyrics, Charles Sananes, and Carl Sigman, english lyrics)

Till the moon deserts the sky
Till the all the seas run dry
Till then I'll worship you

Till the tropic sun turns cold
Till this young world grows old
My darling, I'll adore you

You are my reason to live
All I own I would give
Just to have you adore me

Till the rivers flow upstream
Till lovers cease to dream
Till then I'm yours, be mine

sctex sights

2009-03-17T00:24:00.007+08:00

The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) is a 94-kilometer four-lane expressway north of Manila, in the Philippines. Its southern terminus is at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales, it passes through the interchange with the North Luzon Expressway near the Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City, and its northern terminus is at the Central Techno Park in Tarlac City, Tarlac.

Construction on the expressway began in April 2005, and opened to the public three years after. To date, it is the Philippines' longest toll expressway. (from wikipedia.org)

driving along sctex is such a breeze. no tricycles, speeding buses or lumbering trucks impede the progress of other vehicles, and definitely no bayans (something like city centers) to pass where traffic is denser. travel time to subic from manila is cut by about 30 minutes, depending on the speed of the car. as for the other exit ramps to the towns where sctex passes through, most are still under construction from the time we passed there.

for someone born and bred in the city like yours truly, sights such as in the pics below is a refreshing change of scenery. green fields and hills abound left and right; it seems like there's no end to them.

here are some shots that i took from the van.

rice fields. it's almost harvest time!

these particular hills can also be seen along olongapo-gapan road.

take a closer look

so many hills there are, that those who worked to construct this highway had to cut across some hills. reminds me of the freeways in california, only these are much greener.

more lush greenery

seemingly endless stretch of asphalt lined with green.

recycle, reuse and reduce

2009-03-06T20:59:00.006+08:00

the sign says it all. =)

note: this photo was taken in a school in antipolo. there are other signs like this around the campus, signifying that the students are being taught to save the environment at an early age. i hope that not only the students of that particular school will be active in saving the environment, but all of us, even in our own little ways. throwing a seemingly insignificant candy wrapper in the trash is a good start. =)

-------------------------

by the way, folks, a friend gave me a link to a really cool food website called food porn daily. notwithstanding its kinky name, it's looooove at first click, if not drool, i tell you!

want to see photos of luscious gooey double chocolate cheesecake swirl brownies and other drool-licious food? want to learn some new recipes?

then click here, people! =)

girls just wanna have fun...

2009-02-12T01:49:00.005+08:00

in salcedo village. hwehwehwe. ;-)

My friends F and T and I finally had our night out at Salcedo Village in Makati last 31 January after months of planning. As F is the one who is the most familiar with the area, she became our official tour guide. Battle plan, in this order: Hang out at Salcedo Park, dinner, and then have chocolate cake at Alexa’s Deli. But because Salcedo Park was still full of kids (we wanted the swings to ourselves. Hah.), we decided to have dinner first. Hungry as we were, we set our sights on the first restaurant we saw: (Aum) New Bombay Food Inc.

If I ever want good Indian food that’s within a reasonable budget, New Bombay’s it. New Bombay is located along H.V dela Costa St. in Salcedo Village. The place is quite small, with Indian carpets/rugs hung on the wall making up the ambience. Ambience notwithstanding, the food sure lived up to our expectations. (If you’re already hungry, the ambience doesn’t matter much anymore heheh.) Customers can choose to have their dishes mild or really spicy depending on their tastes. As for us, we had our Cheesy Chicken Masala and Shrimp Curry mild, while the potato and cauliflower dish was spicy. For our carbo, we had chapatti, which looks like a tortilla. For all our orders we paid P600. Not bad at all, and add to that the fact that we were full (but not too full for chocolate cake!).

before: chapatti, shrimp curry, potato and cauliflower dish (not pictured: cheesy chicken masala)

after!!! (the one in the foreground are the remains of the cheesy chicken masala. we were too hungry to remember to take a before pic of it lol)

T and I have heard so many praises from F about Alexa’s chocolate cake that this was the one we looked forward to the most. Unfortunately there wasn’t any chocolate cake left at Alexa’s that night, so we consoled ourselves that there would BE a next time. So instead, we bought vanilla cones from Mini Stop at P15 each.

we'll be back, alexa. :D

We went back to the park to see if the kids have already gone, but what do you know, there were more kids than ever. I mean, wasn’t it supposed to be their bedtime already? (it was around 8pm-ish.). We went on the swings for a bit, and then decided at the spur of the moment to go to Top Grill KTV along Jupiter St. At P75 per hour/head, it's already a steal. We sang to our hearts’ content for about two hours tops, and I think just a little bit more to the point where the attendant came for us about four times to tell us to get the heck out of the booth. Lol!

All in all we spent a little more than P400 for each of us for the resto and videoke combined. Just a regular spending for a regular Friday night out, I think.

Salcedo Park. 11-ish PM. Finally. Just a smattering of kids here and there. Yesz! We practically had the whole playground to ourselves. We even found a couple of kiddie playmates who showed T and me how to slide down the fireman’s pole. And just try swinging as high as you can, so high you could almost touch the sky. Ahh, yes. To feel young again. Fun, fun, fun! I’ll now indulge you to a vid of some pics we’ve taken at the park. :-)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

subic sights from the sights of ms. lamon

2009-01-23T01:03:00.010+08:00

i am more in love with the beach than the mountains (or hills, whatever's applicable). in subic, one can experience both worlds, may it be doing the jungle survival tour or scuba diving or what-have-you. when i was in subic, tho, i did neither. but i enjoyed the sights there a lot, more specifically the roads (again!) plus some. i dunno but there's something about mountain-y/hilly roads such as these that i find appealing. must be the fields of green surrounding the gray asphalt. no, seriously, i love nature. =)

all of the photos are taken from the car at different points in time.

taken along tipo road after entering sbma. this view somehow reminds me of that toyota commercial way back in 1996. the song there was i love you always forever by donna lewis.

the hills are aliiiiive with the sound of music...

guess who owns this villa? ;-) you can find this plush avian housing by the sbma entrance along tipo road.

argonaut highway. we were on our way to ocean adventure here, which is a good 20-minute drive from the main hub of sbma.

green...

and more green. as you can see, it is denser in this part of the highway. seems like there's no end in sight but we did get to ocean adventure.

another sight that you'll see while driving along the highways inside sbma are the wild monkeys such as these. too bad for me most of them started moving away before i even got to turn on the camera. well, better late than none at all. =)

people are advised not to feed the wild monkeys as the monkeys might become dependent on humans. but of course, some people still don't heed that and give the monkeys scraps of food.

one lost monkey

fisherman's grill, san fernando

2009-01-16T12:47:00.000+08:00

this is where we stopped over at san fernando for brunch.

fisherman's grill is located on lazatin road just after the flyover from san fernando exit in pampanga.

aside from the obvious fact that it's a seafood restaurant, fisherman's grill also offers a variety of dishes made from beef, pork, chicken and duck. (kaldereta, adobo, pinaupong manok, etc.) yummy, yummy, yummy food!

food selection. in true filipino style, we call it turo-turo, which means you point at the food you want and they serve it to you. then again, the resto also has menus if you're too lazy to come up to the counter. ;-) anyway they have other selections which are only found in the menu, just like this one ;-)

camaru!!! (native crickets) this is a delicacy found only in pampanga. too, too bad, i wasn't able to order camaru as i already got my order (crispy crablets) when i learned that the resto serves it.

crispy shrimp!!!

longganisa!!!

crispy crablets!!!

me and my family were probably the first customers there. even with dim lighting, the ambience of the resto is very homey. it looks old as well, which of course is a good thing.

the emerald hall. no, the wizard of oz ain't inside. just us family and the food attendants. hehehe:-) by the way, there are two other halls on either side of emerald hall.

chandelier. the only lighting here comes from the big window on the side.

there are two staircases in the restaurant; one from the outside as pictured here, and another inside. i just love staircases. and btw, those yellow, green and red tiles are similar to the ones in my lola's house, only much older.

goin' up...

and down. :D

the road to subic

2009-01-07T15:55:00.010+08:00

one fitting way to end the year is to go out of town. as you probably know by now, i didn't have the opportunity to go out of manila that much in 2008. so i was definitely thrilled when the fam went to subic to celebrate the new year.

we set out for subic in the morning of 31st december. one can now reach subic in two ways: via olongapo-gapan road, which is the old route; or the sctex (subic-clark-tarlac expressway) which opened a year ago. both have their own exits straight from nlex (north luzon expressway): san fernando (olongapo-gapan) and sctex exit (sctex). we took the olongapo-gapan road as we had brunch somewhere in san fernando.

after experiencing a bit of traffic in one of the towns in pampanga, it was decided that we would divert to the sctex when we get to dinalupihan, bataan. when we got to dinalupihan, lo and behold! there was no exit yet from olongapo-gapan road going to sctex. so we simply just passed under the new expressway and went on to our destination on the same route.

yours truly went gaga over the sights. amazed by the vast expanse of green after about a year of staying in the concrete jungle that is my beloved manila. here are some photos taken on olongapo-gapan road. (sctex pics to come soon)

the eruption of mt. pinatubo in 1991 left the provinces of zambales and especially pampanga practically a barren wasteland. almost 20 years after, both provinces have thankfully gotten back on track.

i see fields of green...

gray asphalt too...

...and i think to myself, what a wonderful world. ;-)

cheers!

2009-01-02T14:32:00.003+08:00

something fun to start off the new year. ;-)

new year greetings

2008-12-30T01:16:00.000+08:00

2008 is drawing to a close, 2009 is coming in.
haven't done much travelling this year, (as you might have noticed from the rarity of my posts :D)
but i must say that i was able to reach for something
that i've always wanted to do. ;-)

diyos ko, anong nangyayari sa iyo? gumising ka! gumising ka lando!!!!! *sobs*

when i was younger i used to have this teeny-tiny fear of the upcoming new year and the song auld lang syne. maybe it was the loud blasts of the firecrackers or this feeling of foreboding that something bad will happen. well, bad things have happened all throughout history but with God's grace we have survived somehow :-) and yes, God is so good, i have grown to love the song auld lang syne. ;-)

here's to a blessed 2009 for y'all! just hit play!

Auld Lang Syne - Pham Xuan Thang

happy christmas!

2008-12-24T01:13:00.003+08:00

hi all, it's that time of year when good friends are near, and everywhere there's an air of christmas joy (hoo-hoo-hoo) ;p

yeaaaaanywayz, lemme share with you a different kind of holiday music from the trans-siberian orchestra. nope, the band's not from siberia as the name implies, but from america. they specialize in holiday music (traditional christmas songs as well as their own compositions) that are done with a twist. a rock twist, that is. the band as a total of five albums to date. and yes, any of their albums has been on my wish list for 3 years running. lol. :D

the vid shows a christmas lights display synched to wizards in winter, one of the songs in the lost christmas eve, TSO's latest album. i hope the person who owns this vid doesn't mind me posting it in this blog :D

as ever, just hit play! enjoy!

happy christmas, everybody! =)

ode to my travel buddy

2008-12-13T15:09:00.003+08:00

this month my dusty, rusty, trusty pair of chuck taylors will turn three years old. i bought them as a christmas gift to myself after getting the bonus. :D

so anyway, i decided to make a video tribute to the most wonderful pair of travel buddies (and office buddies, for that matter) ever. heheh. might be retiring them soon, tho. three years of wearing them 99.9% of the time i go out wore them out. lol.

just hit play!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

to all the chocolate lovers

2008-12-02T17:16:00.003+08:00

i saw this sign at bubba gump in trinoma and nearly laughed out loud. anyway, i wholeheartedly agree with this statement. don't you? ;-)

soundtripping: white shoes and the couples company

2008-11-23T15:41:00.008+08:00

i've been meaning to write about this band for the longest time, but words aren't enough for me when it comes to describing their music. you know the feeling when you eat something really good and as you savor it, you forget everything around you, even your own name? all you think about is how good the food is. well, that's how i feel about white shoes and the couples company's music. i get lost within their music's spell and out i come with a big smile plastered on my face. ;p

white shoes and the couples company is an indie band from indonesia (no pun intended) and has been making waves around indonesia since 2002. this year, they were signed by mintyfresh records, an indie label based in chicago. since then, they have gone on tour in the US (san francisco, los angeles and new york). man, it'll be a dream come true if they could also come to manila.

anyhow, what got me hooked to the band's music is their 70's sounds with orchestral arrangements done in some of the songs. in fact, some of wsatcc's songs remind me of manila sound. when you watch their videos, you might think that they really come from the 70's coz of their style. but then, that's also part of their charm. and oh, lyrics are not a problem at all coz there's always the online translation dictionary. *wink* *wink*

btw, the song from my sidebar that i posted a couple of weeks ago is one of their songs, called senandung maaf. also, i also posted another song of theirs, roman ketiga (my current LSS ;p) about two months before. both songs are my faves. (might post something about roman ketiga next time)

you can check out the band's official website, just click on the link at my music webbies links on the sidebar. they also have a myspace page here.

i'll let the music speak for itself now. as ever, just hit play! enjoy! =)

senandung maaf

windu & defrina

tentang cita

roman ketiga
Roman Ketiga - White Shoes & the Couples Company

soan papdi

2008-11-19T10:38:00.003+08:00

yesterday at a meeting, a friend brought us some soan papdi, a yummy melt-in-your-mouth indian delicacy. it was love at first bite, or rather, first melt; it was like eating cotton candy-slash-ice cream. if there's ever such a thing called dry ice cream, this would be it. according to the label, soan papdi is made from pure ghee and blended with natural cardamom and topped with pistachio and almonds.

the soan papdi comes in a plastic box packaging as it's very delicate.

photo source

the pink sisterhood meme

2008-11-17T07:33:00.005+08:00

got tagged by gypsy for this one. it’s a meme highlighting the threat of breast cancer and how important it is to practice early detection procedures like self breast examination.

* One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

* Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

* Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

* Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.

* Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

* Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.

* Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival.

Facts taken from Women’s Health

And now here is the tag and the rules:

1. Put the logo in your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who shared it with you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Add your link to the list of participants below

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

1. Fara 2. Massy 3. N.O.Y. 4. Maruica 5. A Great Pleasure 6. Lady Java 7. Kim 8. Pink Thoughts 9. Turn-U-Off 10. Roxiticus 11. Stay At Home Mom 12. Fida Abott 13. 14. Janice Ng 15. Juliana 16. The Painted Veil 17. Heart of Rachel 18. Mga Muni Muni 19. Gypsy 20. carlotta 21. YOU

and so i tag thee:

1. pusa

2. acey

3. pearlyshells

4. kyels

5. manilenya

look-alike

2008-11-10T21:50:00.005+08:00

donita rose? audrey hepburn? nope. she's none other than shirley gorospe, a fil-am beauty queen-turned-actress during the late '50s up until the early '70s. her on-screen loveteam with zaldy zshornack eventually blossomed into marriage which lasted 44 years until zshornack's untimely demise. click here to read the article about ms. gorospe (by ricky lo).

note: pic was taken in mowelfund's paradise of the stars. if there's anyone who knows how to erase the line under the eye, please let me know.

update: many thanks to mimi for fixing the pic! :-D

dizziness

2008-10-23T15:28:00.003+08:00

somewhere in the garden at mowelfund. more to come soon ;-)

klong kruisin'

2008-10-16T16:24:00.016+08:00

a khlong or klong is the general name for a canal in the central plain of Thailand. These canals are spawned by the Chao Phraya, the Tha Chin, the Mae Klong Rivers and their tributaries. The Thai word khlong is not limited to artificial canals; also many smaller rivers are referred to as khlong followed by the name of the stream. (wikipedia)

as i've mentioned in my previous post, one of the side trips of our river cruise included traversing along the klongs. the klongs look exactly like the esteros right here in manila, only different. wayyyyy different. take a look. =)

along with the boatman and our tour guide, my friends and i have this boat ALL TO OURSELVES. =)

onward to the klongs!

gateway to a street. as you can see, even the gate has the ornate angkor design.

anywhere we would probably go, people will wave at us as long as we bring a camera. =)

my friends and i feeding the fishes that spawn ONLY at this particular part. the monks at the temple right on this spot (but not pictured) take care of the fishes, and they allow tourists to feed bread to the fish.

casa grande (above and below)

a watery street. most of the houses we passed have boats from the back entrance.

the lurking lizard

looks like any old estero here in manila, 'no? but no. the air is as fresh as could be, even in this part of the city.

waterworld!

more houses below.

i do believe we can also do something like this right in our own pasig river. =)

photo credits: C and C

cruisin' the chao phraya river

2008-10-08T20:24:00.005+08:00

a trip to bangkok would not be complete without going on a cruise along the chao phraya river. so that's exactly what my friends and i did on our last day. our day cruise included a stop over at the grand palace as well as a side trip along the klongs (canals or esteros), which i will be featuring in my next post. here are some pics of the views you can see along the river.

the millennium hotel

the grand palace

a chinese temple

the wat arum or the temple of the dawn (doesn't the temple of the dawn have a nice ring to it? :D)

take a look at the vastness of the river

the royal thai navy headquarters

photo credits: C and C

samutprakarn crocodile farm

2008-10-02T20:30:00.007+08:00

here are some pics i have unearthed from my trip to thailand with friends C and C (may 29-june 2, 2005). the first batch is taken from the samutprakarn crocodile farm and zoo. founded in 1950 by the crocodile king mr. utai youngprapakorn, the crocodile farm boasts of the distinction of being the biggest crocodile farm in the world. it houses over 60,000 crocodiles which includes different species from around the world as well as endagered ones. and aside from the numerous croc pens, the farm also has a zoo and a dinosaur museum. and oh, how could i forget the crocodile wrestling and amazing elephant shows? (although we were only able to watch the crocodile wrestling show. watching those guys do daredevil tricks like putting their hands inside the crocodiles' gaping mouths is an amazing, nail-biting and exciting experience.)

samutprakarn crocodile farm and zoo is located in samutprakarn, just 10 kms. from bangkok.

a brave, brave soul, i must say

half-submerged croc with a wide, gaping mouth. dyou know that crocodiles can just lounge around with their mouths wide open for hours? if they're not in the water, they look just like a fallen tree trunk or even a rock.

just one of the numerous croc pens in the farm

the bear necessities =)

note: photo credits go to my friends C and C =)

soundtripping: one day

2008-09-23T12:22:00.006+08:00

one day is a song i first heard as a theme song to a radio drama i was listening to a few months ago. since it's an old song, it took me quite some time to find out its title and singer until i heard it played over 774, an AM oldies radio station. the version they played was that of vilma valera, a filipino actress/singer during the 1960's.

one day was originally sung by sandie shaw. she's one of the most successful female british singers back in the 1960's and was noted for her singing barefoot onstage. (kinda like bamboo singing with his back to the audience when he was still with rivermaya.) the song was written by chris andrews, a singer-songwriter in the same decade who also wrote other hit songs for sandie shaw. it was released in 1965 in shaw's second album, me. (source: wikipedia)

one thing i could truly say about one day is that it's riveting. the haunting music and lyrics coupled with shaw's dusky-sweet vocals makes the song very heartfelt. (i dunno if it's just me, but i think we don't get a lot of songs like that nowadays.)

just hit play. enjoy! =)

note: in addition to food and travel, i'll make my posts on music a regular fixture in this here blog. =)

pasig river ferry sights

2008-09-16T23:11:00.014+08:00

previously, i've ridden the ferry at night time so there wasn't much to be seen, save from the well-lighted malacanang palace and the bridges (jones bridge, macarthur/sta.cruz bridge, quezon bridge, ayala bridge, etc.). as for the rest of the trip (from escolta to guadalupe)... it's dark save for the occasional twinkle of lights from factories and some shanties that dot both banks of the pasig river.

a few weeks ago though, i was able to ride the ferry again, this time during the day. this time around, i did not inconvenience myself. and i made sure i got off at the right station. lol.

here are some of the pics my bro took from a point-and-shoot camera (from inside the ferry).

quezon bridge

at some point during the ride (where there are shanties such as this one), we suddenly heard something hit the right-side window of the ferry hard. we looked back and saw a group of kids trying to throw rocks at the ferry. one got a direct hit, which resulted in a dent at the window. i kid you not. so if you see a dent in the right-side window towards the back of the ferry, then that's what i rode. seriously though, something has to be done in order to protect the ferries from being damaged.

i'm the king of the pasig river!!!

passengers alighting from an outrigger boat.

makati mahalin natin... atin ito!

old oil depot at rockwell

looks like people at first glance

so that's it for my first daytime pasig river ferry ride. though there isn't much to see, i kind of liked it. better during the day than at night, though riding at night does have its charms, especially when the bridges are lighted up. then again, more work needs to be done in cleaning up the river and its banks in order to prevent damages. if the person who threw the rock at the ferry was bigger and stronger, the rock might have cracked the window or worse, broke it.

pig face

2008-09-09T21:07:00.003+08:00

this cute pig-faced bun caught my attention while walking along ongpin street. it's sold on a stall outside MXT (maxim's tea house) for P23. as i'm a bread person, i bought one and wasn't disappointed. the bun is filled with yummy pork asado (with no taba, may i add), and the bun itself is a bit sweet and has a nice chewy-ooey bite to it as well. its eyes are raisins. isn't this pig face just cute? love, love, love it. =)

pardon the plastic lol. =)

paalam, tiya dely

2008-09-02T00:24:00.009+08:00

hindi ako makapaniwala. wala na si tiya dely magpayo.

si tiya dely ang isa sa mga idol ko sa radyo.

simula nung high school ako pinakikinggan ko na yung programa niya sa radyo na "ang mga liham kay tiya dely" at "ang tangi kong pag-ibig." walang humpay ang pakikinig ko sa mga programang iyon sa dzrh pwera lang kung may pasok ako noon. minsan pa nga naisip kong magpadala ng sulat sa kanya pero wala naman akong makukuwentong mabigat na problema o di kaya naman patungkol sa pag-ibig.

hindi ba't bagay na bagay ang pangalan niya sa kanyang ginagawa? kung napakinggan niyo yung "ang mga liham kay tiya dely," alam niyo kung paano magbigay ng payo si tiya dely sa mga letter sender niya---diretsahan at walang takot kahit ang ibig sabihin nun ay pagsasabihan niya yung letter sender. (yun ay kung walang sentido kumon yung tao lang naman). limampu't limang taon na ang programang ito at hanggang sa huli marami pa ring nakikinig at nagpapadala ng sulat.

sa halos pitumpung taon niya sa radyo, marami na siyang natanggap na mga gawad-parangal. ganoon siya kagaling.

dahil sa pakikinig ko sa mga programa ni tiya dely, lalo akong nahasa sa pananagalog ko. nakatulong rin ito nang malaki sa bago kong trabaho ngayon. nagkaroon ako ng pagkakataong mapakinggan ang mga awitin ng ilan sa mga pilipinong mang-aawit tulad nina ric manrique at sylvia la torre. (marami pang iba pero sa ngayon di ko maalala ang mga pangalan nila). at higit sa lahat, lalo ko ring napahalagahan ang ating kultura.

nakalulungkot mang isipin na wala na si tiya dely, siguradong maraming magagandang alaala siyang naiwan sa mga kasamahan niya sa radyo at lalo sa kanyang mga tagapakinig. isa na ako doon.

with apologies to my foreign blogfriends who might be reading this post. i felt i should write this post in filipino in respect to tiya dely magpayo, one of the most respected radio personalities here in the philippines who just passed away due to stroke. TT_TT she's one of the people in the industry i look up to and she has even made a difference in my life, tho she doesn't know it. you can read the news item about her passing here.

some intramuros views

2008-08-30T23:52:00.007+08:00

here are some pics i took while walking along the walls of intramuros. or at least, while walking along a part of it.

1861 or 1981?

smack at the center is the manila city hall and on your left is... sm manila. at the foreground is a part of the golf course just outside the walls of intramuros. it used to be a moat during the spanish colonial times, but when the americans came, they turned it into a golf course so that they could play golf all they want... not! lol seriously, the americans filled up the moat in order to curb the mosquito-borne diseases. but if you think about it, they're really hitting two birds with one stone--improving the health of the filipinos during that time and at the same time improving their golf scores. LOL

fill in the blank: manila city hall is _________ away from intramuros. (hehe. you'll know what i mean if you have also joined the old manila walking tours. :-D)

tunnel to puerta real, which is one of the entry gates to intramuros. at present, puerta real is one of the favorite places to hold weddings. in fact, one of my titos got married here. (in the garden, not in the tunnel. hehe.)

the inscription on the gate of puerta real.

ying ying tea house pt.2

2008-08-25T20:49:00.010+08:00

after what seemed like eons (about 6 months to be exact), i was able to go back to the places i love most in manila: binondo and intramuros. ;) it's also about the same length of time since i had an honest-to-goodness food trip. haha.

back in february, my friend h and i discovered ying ying tea house at the corner of dasmariñas and yuchengco (formerly nueva) streets in binondo. it was still on its soft opening at that time, and when my bro and i went back there today, the place was up and hopping with lots of customers. and yeah, if on my previous post on this resto didn't have any photos, well, i now dub this one---

a food trip with images. yay!

when it comes to eating in chinese restos, i usually order the same stuff: noodle soup and dimsum (usually siopao). so this day isn't so different except that for dimsum, i ordered something funky-sounding: ham soy kok, which is glutinous rice ball with pork filling. at P50 for 3 pieces, i can say that it was really filling, no pun intended.

funky-looking too, eh?

pork filling

the noodle soup i ordered this time around is exactly the same item i ordered the first time: wanton noodle soup. i noticed some changes though, like the won tons weren't that tightly packed like they were before, but still big just the same. still for P80, it was worth it.

wanton noodle soup

pictured here are: clockwise, l-r: wanton noodle soup, fried dumplings with sweet and sour dip, chicken feet and pork and century egg congee.

the fried dumplings cost P120 for 8 pieces. 8. large. packed. tasty. pieces. dip 'em in the sweet and sour sauce... heaven.

for P90, the pork and century egg congee was filled up to the bowl's brim. very, very filling, with lots of pork slices, century egg and garnishings.

chicken feet, chicken feet... as i'm not partial to this, i didn't even try it. but as with the other items we ordered, one order of chicken feet gives you 3 pieces at P55 per order.

and so, as it was when i first ate at ying ying tea house, every bit and morsel of what my bro and i savored today was very filling and satisfying. and yes, easy on the pocket. just make sure you order what you can finish, though. my bro and i were stuffed. thank goodness for the free house tea. even so, you can be sure i'll be back there for the third time. and the fourth. and the fifth...

walkable san francisco

2008-07-18T10:40:00.004+08:00

san francisco is no doubt one of the most walkable cities i've ever been to, and just about now i read a news article on yahoo saying that san francisco is the most walkable city in the US according to walkscore.com, garnering a score of 86 out of 100. new york city got second place with 83.

amazing. and they are both two of my most favorite cities in the world, right next to manila. =)

for my take on walking the streets of san francisco, click here. =)

saturday night dinner

2008-07-12T22:57:00.007+08:00

my cousin and his family went to our house for dinner tonight. it's been quite a while since we last saw them, so our creativity in the kitchen went on full blast. ;-)

menu:
pasta alla carlotta ;-)
roast chicken alla teresa
green salad alla josefina
pineapple butter cake (which i made from a wonderful mix; just added pineapple tidbits to it)
decadent cake (bought in a grocery store--yummy too!)

for pasta alla carlotta, what i did was to stew whole tomatoes then just sliced them to get the seeds out. unfortunately i overstewed them so the insides of the tomatoes became quite mushy. scraping the seeds out was quite a messy job, but scraped them off i (and my mum) did. then i minced two heads of garlic and browned them over a generous amount of olive oil, after which i added the stewed tomatoes, dried basil and salt. simmer for about 20 minutes. for the pasta i used angel hair, which only takes all of two minutes to cook. mix the sauce and pasta, sprinkle some parmesan cheese, and voila! a very delicious pasta, if i do say so myself. (despite the mushy tomatoes at the beginning--it wasn't obvious at the end result though) =)

the two roast chickens, (although the bigger of the two roasts was a wee bit undercooked the first time it was served) tasted good as well. my tita used fresh thyme and lemon wedges which she simply stuffed into the cavity of the chickens, added sliced carrots and potatoes into the pan, and roasted in the oven for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

the simplest recipe of all: salad alla josefina: just take some mixed salad greens and arrange them nicely in a big bowl. then just add some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and parmesan cheese to your liking.

needless to say, everyone had a great time together. =) i hope there'll be more times like this in the future.

picture, picture! (finally... hehe)

first plate

second plate (with the pineapple butter cake and decadent cake)

Old Manila

2008-07-01T13:19:00.004+08:00

have you ever wondered what old manila looked like before the war? below are two videos that show exactly just that. the first one is a collection of video clips around manila. one of the songs that accompany it is "maybe" by the ink spots (which i've featured in an earlier entry).

the second video is by andre de la varre, who created it in 1938 after he visited manila. it is entitled "manila, queen of the pacific."

many thanks to señor enrique for the heads-up on these vids. enjoy! =)

old manila

manila, queen of the pacific

just breezin' through

2008-04-25T09:07:00.002+08:00

allo,

i'll be posting again soon just dunno when. been going through a transition lately (a good one at that) so i won't be having that much time to blog. (awww shucks. have lots, btw.) anyways will still go bloghopping from time to time when i'll be able to go online.

see ya in yer blogs! :D

concert observations

2008-04-08T09:06:00.007+08:00

in my lifetime (as if it's been that long), i've been to a grand total of three concerts: mandy moore (at the araneta coliseum in 2003), sarah brightman (harem world tour at the philsports arena in 2004) and swing out sister (beautiful mess), which was just last night, april 7, 2008, also at the araneta. here are a few observations i've made in last night's concert:

1. it took an hour and a half for swing out sister to go onstage. they were on after half an hour faith cuneta opened the show but for the record, the long wait was SO WORTH IT. two hours of SOS's music and energy weren't enough; we all wanted more! still enjoying a hangover here. =)

2. the antsy audience didn't take kindly at first to the front act, who was faith cuneta. the audience was waiting for 30 minutes already after the supposed start of the show when she came onstage. but because she's a really good singer (and stayed cheerful all throughout despite some acerbic remarks from some people), she got a sincere round of applause and cheers.

3. as with other foreign acts, the audience totally ate up corinne drewery's and andy connell's efforts to speak in tagalog: "kamusta na kayo?", "ang init pala dito," "ayos kayong lahat," and "salamat," just to name a few. i must say i liked that myself. =)

4. because the concert featured more songs from SOS's new album, beautiful mess, most of the people in the audience simply sat and grooved on their seats. maybe because the songs are relatively new...? but when they played surrender, you on my mind, breakout, forever blue, am i the same girl, and a couple more of their hits, that's when the audience really partied. especially on you on my mind. (i just love that song.) needless to say, the songs from the new album exuded the same style SOS had in their songs from way back that had endeared them to their listeners--plus more.

5. oh yeah, corinne drewery's "barongette" (her feminine version of a barong) looked great on her. it's long that it looks like a gown with slits on each side. she pulled off that one very well.

i'm sure that even with the long wait, the people who watched the concert last night left araneta coliseum feeling very satisfied and happy. swing out sister's concert was definitely a big success. 21 years after the release of breakout, swing out sister's definitely still swinging out their groove. =)

photo source

update: here's a promotional video of something every day, the first track in their new album beautiful mess.

blast to the past

2008-04-07T07:41:00.004+08:00

i would just like to share a couple of songs that's been riding on my earwaves (yes, you read right hehehe ü) lately. these songs are by the ink spots circa 1930's. if i didn't care was written by jack lawrence and was released in 1939. it was also the ink spots' first big hit. i'm not sure though when maybe was released. anyways, i hope you enjoy these songs.

just hit play =)

barya

2008-03-26T08:31:00.002+08:00

*barya (Tagalog): loose change (coins); change; smaller bills

i was the third person in line at 7-11. for some reason the cashier was taking a bit too long in serving the customers and it became even longer when the first person in line gave the cashier P500.

cashier: miss, wala po ba kayong barya? (miss, don't you have a smaller bill?)

well, obviously the customer didn't have any so the cashier went over to the other counter to ask for smaller bills in order to give the customer her change.

the seconds ticked by oh, so, sloooooowly.

then--the next person. finally. he bought about ten bottles of water and when he gave the cashier P500--yep, you guessed it right: "wala po ba kayong barya?"

and so the rigodon has started again. i wasn't exactly in a hurry, but i couldn't help but wonder why the till doesn't have enough change. oh well. when the other counter became vacant once more i quickly transferred there. in less than 20 seconds i made my purchase and as i went out of the store...

cashier (to yet another customer): ma'am, baka may barya po kayo.

i kid you not.

happy list

2008-03-10T09:11:00.004+08:00

while i'm waiting for some pics for a food post (man, i really need to get me own cam... :P), here's a tag from beng:

The rules are easy. Just post 10 things that recently made you happy! Then tag 10 people and force them to post this meme on their blogs…

1. finally getting the daishi dance cd i asked my cousin to buy for me last year--and she bought the latest one--melodies (thanks cuz!!!!!)

2. hanging out with H and L again on friday night for much-needed girl talk hahaha :D

3. meeting a whole lotta cool new friends from the recently-concluded workshop i attended

4. nice weather

5. continuous music streaming while i work

6. finishing several crossword puzzles in the newspaper. yea! :D

7. new job/racket prospect

8. new eats--posts coming soon :)

9. sleep, glorious sleep... been so tired lately so the moment my head hits the pillow, it's heaven. :D

10. hanging out with cousins at amici and pier one last saturday

then again, i won't be tagging anyone for this :D

wednesday wramblings (conclusion)

2008-02-22T11:29:00.006+08:00

finally... haven't i told you wednesday was a loooooong day for me? well, it just got longer. if there is a misadventure to end all misadventures, this certainly takes the cake.

somwhere between PNU and binondo, h excitedly suggested we take the pasig river ferry going home. and since i like inconveniencing myself most of the time, i agreed. i mean, i could have gotten home the fast way (g. liner bus) or the faster way (lrt 2), right? but noooo siree. an opportunity to ride the pasig river is always considered a treat. and so the ferry wins hands down.

after buying some treats at eng bee tin over at ongpin, we walked back to escolta to the ferry station. the ferry was already there as we were buying our tickets for guadalupe so at least we didn't have to wait for it anymore. it was 7pm at the time already so there's no point in trying to take a look at the view. so h and i engaged in an intense girl talk all the way to guadalupe... or so we thought.

so deep in conversation were we that the announcement that we were in guadalupe just flew over our heads. the only thing that brought us back to earth--with a big bump, i may add-- was the rumbling of the engines, signalling that we were leaving guadalupe station. we were in utter and total shock that we actually couldn't speak for a few seconds. then...

"where are we going?"

unconsciously we were waiting for all the passengers to disembark as we fully understood that guadalupe was the last station. apparently our memory of the route was still stuck in last year's. so as the ferry rumbled on towards the next unknown destination, we sat there, quietly losing our minds and bashing ourselves in our minds for being so heedless. for what seemed like hours (which was actually just 10 or 15 minutes), we finally docked to the next station which is san joaquin (pasig). imagine our shock as we got out of the station and into a street basketball game in a quiet neighborhood (thank God for that).

well, needless to say, we got out of that scrape by asking the old man who sat a few rows in front of us in the ferry where to go and walking alongside the river until we got to the main road.

we had an uneventful taxi ride home.

so, okay! here's a list of the stations along the pasig river ferry route:

Plaza Mexico (operational)

Escolta (operational)

Quiapo/Quezon Bridge (operational)

PUP (operational)

Sta. Ana (operational)

Lambingan (operational)

Valenzuela

Hulo (operational)

Guadalupe (operational)

San Joaquin (operational)

Napindan

Marcos Bridge

Riverbanks Mall

Sta. Elena

ps. most probably napindan is operational as well as there were still passengers after we disembarked. i was still in a state of shock then so i didn't even remember to ask what the latest operational station is. if there's anyone here who knows, well, let me know. ^________^

wednesday wramblings part 2

2008-02-21T12:22:00.010+08:00

after heidz was done, we left PNU with growling stomachs. so where were we to go? if you have read our minds, you would know where we went: binondo. ;p

here's a little un-secret of mine. whenever i'm in someplace whether familiar or unfamiliar and i'm not... familiar with the how-to's to get to my destination by public transportation especially by jeepney, i walk. i don't care how long it will take me as long as i arrive at my destination provided i'm going at my own leisurely speed. more often than not i get to my desired destination albeit a bit walked-out and sorta smoked like an eagle with all those jeepney fumes everywhere. if someone's with me, it's important that he or she would not mind walking. another thing that i like about walking is that i get to experience new things, which, in this case, leads us now to--

a new food trip without images. bow.

we originally planned to try out polland bakery along escolta, but discovered to our dismay that there was no place to rest our weary feet. what else can we do but to leave and continue walking down nueva (now yuchengco) street. when we reached the corner of dasmarinas street a strange yet wonderful sight filled our eyes: dimsum containers are stacked by the dozen on a counter along the sidewalk of dasmarinas street, and beside the counter of dimsum containers sat a steamer. ladies and gentlemen, the newest food stop in binondo is called ying ying tea house, and it just opened last week, at the corner of dasmarinas and yuchengco streets. judging from the number of people eating there we decided to try it out as well. with all that walking, who wouldn't go hungry?

the interior of the tea house is cozy though it's a bit warm on the ground floor. fortunately it has three levels though i have reason to believe it goes up to the 4th floor of the building. the second level is simply a room for large private parties (it can sit up to 15 pax at most from what i saw, with a large round table and a lazy susan) while the third floor is more spacious with another area set off for large parties as well. we got a table on the third level where we were the only customers until it filled up after about an hour.

here's what we ordered:

moi: wanton noodle soup (P80) and shrimp cheong fan (P60, 3 pcs. per order)
heidz: lemon chicken with rice (P90)

let me start with the lemon chicken. presentation was so-so, with the breaded chicken placed beside the rather large cup of rice and watery lemon sauce that was obviously poured over the chicken just before serving. and because the sauce was a bit watery, most of it was soaked up by the rice. maybe it would look better if they mixed the sauce and chicken up a bit so the white bits of cornstarch wouldn't show, and it would look more glossy. the portion of rice and chicken were at par with each other though and it's filling. in addition, the taste makes up for the presentation.

the wanton noodle soup is a different story. the soup was steaming hot, which means it came from a continuously simmering pot because if it didn't, it would have turned cold much faster. the five pieces of wanton that top the soup were quite surprising as they were packed solid with meat which, for me, took two bites unlike other wanton which i could pop whole into my mouth and still manage not to look like a chipmunk. ;-) the kind of noodles they used is my favorite kind, the long, thin egg noodles same as what le ching in greenhills uses. don't be deceived by the medium-sized bowl. the serving might just look little but i tell you the noodle soup can be good for two--i was just halfway through the meal when i already felt full--and i haven't even started on my share of the cheong fan yet.

i first tried cheong fan in a dimsum resto in texas last year. it was so good that i was happy when i also found it on the menu of some chinese restos here, and i couldn't wait to try it. at ying ying tea house i chose the shrimp cheong fan. each cheong fan only has two shrimps apiece and i only tasted more of the semi-sweet (at least, to my taste) wrapper as it was kinda thick. to me it seemed like a salty-sweet kind of dessert.

the prices at ying ying tea house are very affordable, which ranges from P55 (mostly dimsum, dessert, drinks) to P400 (mostly for the short orders and takeout).

heidz and i were so full afterwards, we needed another round of walking. i will definitely come back to this resto to try more of their food.

stay tuned for part 3... :-)

wednesday wramblings part 1

2008-02-21T05:24:00.006+08:00

yesterday afternoon brought me once more to the manila area when my friend heidz texted me if i could come with her to Philippine Normal University (PNU) as she was planning to apply for their 18 unit teaching course. well, who am i to say no, especially when i've always wanted to go there? it was an uneventful bus ride to PNU from robinson's galleria which cost us P20.50. i don't know, but the prospect of going to PNU got me really excited. maybe because it was of the really old structures which i longingly stared at every time i pass it going to intramuros, maybe because of the fact that my lola studied there in the late 1930's, or maybe both. either way, i was like some giggly teenage girl silently freaking out (in a good way) when heidz and i entered the main building. and so while heidz was agonizing over the computations in her transcript, i amused myself by going around the campus--erm, i mean just around the main building, and just as far as the culture and arts building. going around wasn't any problem at all as i could easily pass for a student (naks!). from the looks of the campus grounds, there was a cultural festival courtesy of the PNU Lopez, Quezon campus although there's no program at the time except for a band practicing the philippine national anthem. inside the auditorium in the main building, however, a contest called battle of the chem masters was going on. chemistry. hrrmmph. aside from that, the whole atmosphere in the school was quite relaxing if you ask me.

PNU fast facts:

- it is the university that specializes in teacher education. it opened on september 1, 1901 as Philippine Normal School (PNS) by the americans.

- PNS was converted to Philippine Normal College (PNC) in 1949 and along with it came the introduction of new four-year courses such as bs elementary education, bse with specialization in elementary education and bse major in home economics.

- the graduate school was established in 1953.

- the school was elevated into university status on december 26, 1991, 90 years after it first opened.

- it celebrated its centennial year on september 1, 2001.

- there are four other PNU campuses around the country--in agusan, cadiz city, isabela and quezon.

(source: PNU website)

more ramblings to come later. it has been a loooong day yesterday... ;-)

love-hate relationships

2008-02-11T05:25:00.000+08:00

one of the tags-in-waiting by pusang maganda =)

I love to eat: double bacon cheeseburger, pizza, and any dessert that's very creamy =)
I hate to eat: innards at most, but i can still change me mind
I love to go: anywhere that's far from the madding crowd--like the beach--anywhere as long as it's quiet
I hate to go: to shopping malls
I love it when: something unexpected and exciting happens
I hate it when: i get rudely interrupted when i'm very busy doing something.
I love to see: new sceneries
I hate to see: tv commercials that pander to every woman's vanity ;p
I love to hear: wind, crash of waves on the shore; music as long as it ain't metal or hiphop.
I hate to hear: unearthly noises coming from the nearby police station--police singing on the videoke at night...!

=)

birthday dinner at choi garden

2008-01-24T05:17:00.000+08:00

note: sorry there ain't no pics yet but i'm posting this now before i forget what i want to write. =)

my family and i went to choi garden in annapolis, greenhills last night to celebrate my pa's birthday. by far, it was the best restaurant i've eaten in after cyma. notwithstanding my bros' allergies to seafood (my older bro being the more delicate one), all of us enjoyed our time together.

the restaurant occupies the same building where country waffles used to be. of course they had to change the structure to look more chinese than an american country house. the ground floor glowed red in all its glory from the outside, as all the interiors are in my fave colors--red and black.

upon entry, a short hallway reminiscent of a moon gate greets the guests. it's sort of like a tunnel to another dimension if you ask me. aside from the red and black interiors, another cool thing in the restaurant are the tanks of huge, live seafood imaginable: lobsters, crabs, prawns, etc. and along with the nice chinese music playing in the background, the reddish-black atmosphere of the whole restaurant looks something straight out of a gangster movie. trés cool.

judging from the number of people eating there, it seemed like we won't be getting a table for a while but fortunately a table was just vacated so we snapped that one up immediately. make sure you make a reservation first (especially if you're gonna eat at dinnertime) before winging it out or else you'd have to wait for quite some time like we almost did.

the food... it also took us time to get what we wanted. in the menu is basically your typical chinese fare: fried rice, roast fowl, noodle soups, dim sum, congee, sweet and sour pork, hot pot, the works. there are several items NOT on the menu, though, so ask your friendly waiter for the chef's specials. two such items not on the menu are the hot and sour soup and beef with broccoli in oyster sauce, which we ordered.

besides the hot and sour soup and beef with broccoli in oyster sauce, here are the other items we ordered: braised fish fillet with bean curd in pot, fried pork ribs with salt and pepper (that comes with seasoned vinegar), and birthday noodles, which is simply pancit canton with quail eggs.

because we were so intent on choosing the items carefully (like making sure there's neither shrimp nor crab in deference to me bros), we forgot one important thing: order the rice. the waiter had all but already gone to the kitchen with our order when we suddenly remembered we haven't ordered the freakin' rice. funny, eh? anyhow we got five nice, fragrant cups of steamed rice.

everything we've ordered really tasted great. the amount of salt on each dish is just right, the soup as well the sauces of the braised fish fillet and beef with broccoli are just about the right thickness; the fish fillets, bean curd and beef slices tender to the bite and thick enough for that "oomph" when biting into them; and the pork ribs are well cooked. the birthday noodles, however, just had a few veggies and seafood, not that it mattered to me as i like noodles better than veggies anyway. they don't use msg on their dishes, btw.

but what about the price? you may ask. well, all i can say is that my money was all worth it. the pricing starts at around 170PHP-up, small size. for medium and large, you just multiply the price by 2 and 3, respectively. don't be fooled by the small size as it's good for 3-4 people, 5 even. there were 5 of us and though all the dishes we ordered are small, the servings were generous. to say that we were full is an understatement--we're more like stuffed. and the grand total? P1,290 minus senior citizen (46.07) plus 12% vat = P1,243. that's about P250 per person rounded off. now if there is another resto that serves great food with generous servings at an affordable price like this, let me know.

a (re)new(ed) endeavor

2008-01-11T08:10:00.000+08:00

i just recently bought this lovely boxed set of larousse gastronomique (in three easy installments ;-p) from my cousin N, who is a certified foodie herself. from the moment i saw it on her multiply site, i knew i had to have it (talk about impulse buying). impulse buying or not, larousse gastronomique is considered to be the encyclopedia of gastronomy of professional chefs since its first publication in 1938. (now i ain't no professional chef but i can cook pretty well, if i do say so myself.)

this edition of larousse gastronomique is divided into four parts to make the recipes easy to follow: fish & seafood; vegetables & salad; meat, poultry & game; and desserts, cakes & pastries. each book has basic recipes for the sauces, pastries, garnishes, etc... another great thing about this is that it includes all the different measurements for wet and dry ingredients and even for the oven temperature. for someone who shudders at the very thought of conversion like yours truly, this is heaven-sent. basically, most of the recipes in larousse gastronomique are french (duh!) but over the years recipes from different cuisines have also been incorporated into it whilst retaining its very essence.

when there's the time and opportunity, i will post here the dishes that i'd have tried cooking already. to try and cook the recipes presents a challenge to me as i haven't cooked that much in a long time--except for my spontaneous cooking inventions and the obligatory holiday meals which are far and few in between. now the question is, do i have the guts to try and cook these wonderful recipes?

oh, yes. i do.

who knows, maybe this impulse will pay off.

wish me luck!

may-me time

2008-01-03T13:35:00.000+08:00

pardon the pun. i'm still waiting for the pictures from the family trip to baguio, so i'm starting of this new bloggin' year by doing a tag from kris jasper and mojo potato:

What to do:
1. Mention the person who tagged you and create a link back to them.
2. Copy-paste the traits for all the twelve months.
3. Pick your month of birth.
4. Highlight the traits that apply to you.
5. Tag 12 people and let them know by visiting their blogs and leaving a comment for them.
6. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve done it!

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people’s flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY: Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL: Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people’s problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE: Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER: Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people’s mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER: Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

ho-kay, so i highlighted the obvious aspects. as for the others, well, i dunno. some of them do apply to me but i just say i am a big bunch o' contradictions. ;-)

won't be tagging anyone for this but feel free to do this if you'd like. =)

thank you

2007-12-28T07:16:00.000+08:00

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

2007-12-27T07:19:00.000+08:00

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...

2007-12-24T08:06:00.000+08:00

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

2007-12-19T11:03:00.000+08:00

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

2007-12-17T08:52:00.000+08:00

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

2007-12-12T07:30:00.000+08:00

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'

2007-12-07T11:07:00.000+08:00

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!

2007-11-29T12:45:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-27T10:48:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-26T10:29:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-16T12:35:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-14T12:37:00.001+08:00

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...?