home

dec 16 - i went with wawin to visit our "home" in paranaque. it was a fun ride at the bus and jeep. more of pollution and dust and traffic frenzy. :p we got there eventually, and i was shocked.

the once cozy home is now rented out to bed spacers, 6 ladies (i think). they are occupying 3 of 4 bedrooms, plus access to the dining room, kitchen, and half of the living room.

the house is a mess. it wasn't a richy rich, martha stewart house before, but it's just in a complete disarray now. the floor is dirty, the sink is beyond words. there are plastic bags hooked everywhere. i don't know what's inside those bags.

i lived there for 27 years. i grew up and grew old in that house. that house was a silent witness to new life on 1980 when i was born, and again on 1986 when wawin was born. it was also a witness to sadness on the death of lola, papa, and lolo. the walls practically heard and absorbed all our laughters and tears. the house met a lot of characters from friendships and past relationships. it survived numerous attacks of earthquake, storm, flood. if it survived the mighty ones, then it's a mighty one!

i once believed that we had a big and pangmayamang house until i visited my HS classmates' houses :p it was a pangmahirap house pala mwehehe. still, it was our home!

i didn't try to take pictures. i didn't have the heart to have that remembrance.

the other half of the living room is now wawin's comp shop. pic below.

we also visited the Sto. Nino chapel. pic below. at least, it's still the same serene chapel :) still feels right. incidentally, it was the feast of Sto. Nino last sunday. mami was in pque for the fiesta. she said she felt sad when she heard mass, remembering times when we were still complete, hearing mass and spending time together at home.

memories!!!!

#foodtripmanila - sari-saring ulam at crazy appetite

still at wawin's place in makati, there's this eatery called crazy appetite. it's basically a clean turo-turo with nice tables, chairs, and lamps.

they showcase the dishes on nice serving platters too. on pic: corned beef, liver steak, and beef something. again, food is tasty, variety is good too, but i wish wawin would not eat here (read: out) on a daily basis.

#foodtripmanila - cheese burger pizza bar from mini stop

when i stayed at makati for 2 nights, wawin recommended this pizza bar from mini stop for breakfast. this is just one of the instant meals you could get from mini stop.

i say it's very tasty. wawin has become an expert of instant-meals-scouting. hmmm... that's not a good news, though.

i learned that there are also canned meals available in groceries, and by meals they mean rice and ulam - in a can! sounds like kaning-pig? hehe.

whatever happened to meals lovingly prepared by moms or lolas?

anyway, here's the wrapper. jejejeje.

#foodtripmanila - burger machine roast beef and sans rival

when we were kids, we would have BM for merienda. papa would always have roast beef and the kids would have bart burger.

i marvelled at how the BM lady would prepare (read: reheat) the roast beef in that tin container on the stove. it looked so yummy. i never asked papa if i could taste the roast beef because all the while, i thought that roast beef burgers are for papas, and not for kids.

i'm not saying that bart burgers are not yummy! in fact, it's a shame they stopped selling this burger! it was the 2nd thing i looked for when we were in that dimly lit BM stall last december. first choice was roast beef!

i heard that BM has just recently put back roast beef into their menu, and it's all good! it was juicy and beefy and delicious.

the sans rival, well, came from the ref. that ref that contains everything they need to operate a BM stall. so buttery, semi-crunchy, not too sweet, so good!

ps: i'm a lousy food critic because every stuff that's edible just tastes good to me. :)

#foodtripmanila

we were in manila for the december holidays. i took some shots of food that we missed and tagged them as #foodtripmanila in twitter. it was fun! i was never the artistic photographer type. the goal is just to document the yum and the gum (huh).

so here they are, in all their majesty. the following posts will document the food feast. :)

mainit ang dugo

ca. 1989, we were in baguio with some family friends - papa's friends and their kids. i think there were 4 kids: me, kuya, alvin, and mark.

the slumber during the first night was peaceful. when we woke up, i was covered with insect bites. from. head. to. toe.

alvin was the annoying type. he looked at me, laughed, and said, "yuck may bulutong!"

i remember the evil grin. i remember holding back the tears with all my might while picking up pine cones (that we wanted to bring home to manila. pine cones are cool!).

i don't know what i have in my blood that attracts mosquitoes and other insects that bite. sometimes i don't even see insects, and yet i get bites! why?

it would just be me. all the time. when we were in manila last christmas, it happened again. we slept in mike's room and i got these bites on my legs, tummy, neck. though it wasn't as bad as the bulutong incident, it was still bad and so itchy. plus it comes with the pesteng peklats.

my cousin says i have warm blood. fine. mosquitoes, come and get me!

year 1

a year has passed.

we have experienced a lot this year.

we are continuously learning each day.

we aim to continue to love, accept, and piss off each other :p

we are thankful for the bountiful meals that we have eah day.

we are thankful for the fruitful talks, and sometimes, the absence of it.

a lot of things are uncertain. unstable. one thing remains constant - we are here to stay, and, as mama says, to always have each other.

portraits and gifts :)

for these and more

- for the delicious pochero that filled my tummy tonight. the warm soup seemed to have the power to heal me from the inside. replenishing.

- for the steady job that provides for us. we may not have all the luxuries in the world, but in these trying times, as long as we do not get hungry, we are in a better state.

- for the little girl who drives us crazy. she may be learning new things each day, but it's more for my benefit when i watch her learn. for the priceless hugs and kisses that magically melt the worries away. so powerful.

- for the husband and wife that alternately become sponges. a sponge that absorbs tears, anger, frustrations, happiness, craziness, worries, fears, and everything else that's unimaginable. for us who vowed to make it through the good times and bad times.

- for my mother's loving voice. in life's most terrifying moments, all you really need is to hear that magical voice. it's like having warm milk.

- for the warm showers that don't make me jump, because i'm ginawin that way.

- for the tiptop health (so far). no medication, life support needed.

FOR THESE AND MORE, I THANK YOU, FATHER!

gardener

nakakaaliw ang panlasangpinoy.com. i'd spend saturday mornings just browsing through their youtube videos. parang ang dali dali lang magluto! i love how they demo even the most complicated recipes in less than 10 minutes. not a drag!

i saw this hardinera recipe and tried it out last, last week. it's something new. the name is catchy too :) it's like embutido / morcon / afritada in a lyanera... or in a garden jejeje.

the recipe calls for pork cubes. i used ground pork instead to lessen the cooking time. it also calls for a can of liver spread, but i used some ground fresh liver instead. we don't have the almighty reno in this corner of the universe, it's a luxury (aka bawal). i just popped a big capsicum in the oven as a substitue for canned roasted sweet peppers.



pics:

UL: assembling the sliced hard boiled eggs, capsicum, and raw eggs at the bottom of the lyanera.

UR: mixing the pre-cooked ground pork with all the other tidbits: raisins, bread crumbs, pineapple, hotdogs, cheese, pickles.

LL: dumping 'em all in the lyanera, then steam galore!

LR: as usual, no pic of the finished product. pwede na ang picture ng pangalan ng recipe :p

what didn't go too well:
* the absence of the liver spread. bitin sa linamnam.
* i may have used a bit too much bread crumbs. i could taste some bread in there!
* medyo bitin ata ang raw eggs ko as binder. it came out a bit loose when sliced.

but it's all good. kakaiba sa panlasa at pananaw :)

overheard

guy 1: you're rude!

guy 2: f#*@! you tell the truth and it's rude?!

muni-muni

- you can't go wrong with being too much appreciative.

- a little thanks will also do.

- no matter how angry you get, contain it. there are creative and unhurtful ways of releasing.

- yes, you can quit, and you can quit now.

- when you cough, it's great to have a hagod on your back.

- when there's an opportunity, grab it. you don't get it everyday.

- you are not building a sari-sari store. don't hoard.

- share.

- if it's for your own good, you can't be mad (sometimes).

- sometimes "don't settle" just won't work. you really have to settle, and it's just so sad.

- it's disgusting to dahak in public.

sweet treats

some 15 years ago, mami and i marvelled at watching heny sison bake on tv. she did it all in a breeze - mixing, folding, decorating, ikaw na ang magaling! :)) i just wanted to watch her then. i never thought that i would try baking!



last year, april convinced kuya that we need an oven and an electric mixer. april and i have had an on and off relationship with baking. sometimes tsamba, sometimes it's just a plain disaster. there was a meringue that looked like slime, there was a sponge cake that had lumps of uncooked flour even after baking, there was mamon that tasted like egg whites. so weird! :))



i learned that baked goodies are so bad for you - with all that eggs, flour, butter, sugar. sugar is crazy! sugar is bad, all those ingredients are bad. it would be good if there were healthier substitutes/options simply because i feel good doing it :)



i learned that it's very difficult to substitute ingredients because using the wrong ones will affect the outcome big time, and that's in a bad way. unlike with cooking, you could always use any handy ingredient in your cupboard in the absence of hard-to-find (read: expensive) ingredients.



i learned that it's hard to estimate when you are a newbie. when it calls for 1 cup, it can't be 1.20! and when it calls for sifting, it means YOU HAVE TO SIFT. hindi pwede ang pwede na! :)) hindi pwede ang tamad!



and i still stand by my belief that as long as you can read, you can cook, and you can even bake! it's fun! here are some of my attempts:







upper left: banana chocolate cupcakes, recipe taken from home cooking rocks. please excuse the holes on the cupcakes. i used, ehem, chopsticks instead of toothpicks. we don't keep toothpicks in the house :p



upper right: revel bars (but in cupcake form), recipe taken from somewhere in the internet (can't remember where). it was a wish from mike. he said his, ehem, ex made the best revel bars during HS. revel bars are made of oatmeal-soft-batch-cookie-like stuff. there's a chocolate coating on the top. i like that it's like an energy bar (with all that sugar, who won't be energized?)



lower right: basic vanilla cupcakes, recipe taken from "bake, sell, give" magazine. it tastes a bit like mamon :) kulang na lang ay frosting, which leads me to...



lower left: an imbento recipe for icing that looked like neon pink paint. so annoying! :)) it was sent staight to the bin. sayang!



looking forward to more sweetness in life. ang sweeeeeet namaaaaan!

wiwi

i had a dream last night... well, make that this early morning. papa and mami were there. we were taking mami to a job interview. somewhere along the way, we had a pit stop (read: wiwi stop) at a posh building. i saw a vacant cubicle, but there was a suspicious looking plastic bag on the floor. so i thought it wouldn't be safe to use this cubicle for wiwi purposes... but i really, really had to go...

then i woke up. poof! and felt the urgency to go to the toilet to wiwi. thank God! i could just imagine what could have happened if i didn't wake up and i made wiwi in my dreams. nasty!

it was 1987. i was in grade 1. my teacher was mrs. dela cruz. i don't know what issues she had back then. when you need to go to the toilet, you'd say, "ms, may i go out?" to which she'll reply with a stern face, "no."

the toilet was just adjacent to our classroom. it was old and smelly. it had 3 cubicles. i can't recall if there was flush but there certainly was running water on the faucet, which was a relief, but still it stunk big time. or was there just a big, blue drum of water that collected water and kiti-kiti? can't recall.

sometimes she'd say yes if you asked if you could go, but on that particular sunny day, she said no quite a lot... and i really, really had to go... and i had no choice but to go back to my seat and hold back like forever.

the unavoidable happened eventually. you see you could only hold back for so long :-S "pssssssssssss," so said my wiwi trickling through my chair and on the floor :-S it was 1987. i was in grade 1.

ang bigo at ang wagi

last night, mike requested for pancakes for saturday breakfast. "kaya lang wala na tayong pancake mix," he said.

i told him that my lola used to make pancakes from scratch, and that i can do it too! all i have to do is look for a recipe online. the internet will never fail you.

i found this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/detail.aspx

it looked promising and super easy. however, i thought it would be wise to use just half of the measurements since it's just for us 2. everything was doing fine with the half-half until i came to the egg. ok, no sweat, i'll try my best to divide a beaten egg into 2.

kwengkwengkweng... it was hard! i ended up using the whole egg. the pancakes somehow ended up looking like a crepe and tasting like a salty crepe. creep!

anyway, i think i could still pull this off. there are still 4 slices of ham and maybe it will taste pwede-na with the crepe a la pancake.

when i started frying the ham, it smelled panis! haha weird how ham could smell that way. ok, that's it. i told mike that we should go to mcdo for breakfast instead.

here's the bigo breakfast meal:



and here's the wagi breakfast meal:



what more could you ask for? :)

vetsin frenzy

it's a mike-and-me time for two weeks. kuya, april, keyla, and tita are in manila. the house seems so empty without the little girl laughing and shrieking and running around. we thought it would be super sad, but i think it's not that bad. we miss keyla terribly though.

well, it's always dinner for two! last night, we decided to go to chinatown for a dinner out. maiba lang :) we saw some hawker type stalls and we chose this stall that sold local delights. we got the seafood fried rice (that was good for around 4 people - geez), deep fried squid, baby kailan, and chicken/pork satay.



chicken/pork satay was good, it tasted a bit like our pork bbq, but with less flavor. what made it special was the peanut sauce. it's like peanut butter dip! delicious! there was also the rice-like-puto-like stuff that you eat with it. i'm not too fond of it.

the seafood fried rice was super yummy. however, we found a good dose of vetsin at the edge of the plate. it wasn't mixed too well. so that's why it tastes so good! kanin pa lang, ulam na :)

squid was also good! it's crispy and tasted like, well, squid!

the baby kailan also didn't fail. buttery and oyster-saucy and garlicy.

all good!



after dinner, we did a little stroll. i bought a skirt for 10sgd. it was a good date night :)

it's my birthday!

august 17, 2011 - i am 31.

what changed since my last birthday?

my pants don't fit me anymore

i am more health (and weight) conscious now

i am now married

i have graduated from the LDR sector

my teeth are becoming sungki - wisdom teeth extraction side-effects (yata)

wrinkles

home address

and what things were unchanged?

my height

oh, i still don't have white hair!

employer

my passport - which i should renew this year

my surname - which i should legally change soonish

there there! so the birthday started with the traditional midnight bulahaw cake. i knew there was a cake. i saw a red cake box in the ref haha! but who would mind being bombarded at midnight if the bombarders will bring something like this:



kuya, april, and keyla gave me a perfume! it's been ages since i last bought one. love it!



my mike gave me this wristlet. we gave the same but black color to tita during her birthday and i liked it then. "di mo na gagamitin yung luma at marumi mong purse" awww



that plus a lunch treat in our favorite chinese resto, din tai fung. you are looking at the yummiest food in the world!



jan and frank gave these dr. seuss books! i didn't know who dr. seuss was until i got these wonderful books:



then last thursday, i got this:



it contained this much messages from friends and family! so good to receive messages from people all over the world! hehehe. each card was intricately crafted by the loving hands of good friends (and a drunk man, apparently. hahaha) needless to say, naiyak ako.



too much love in the world! makes me thankful i'm alive!

dear Lord, thank you for another year. thank you for another day. thank you for the overflowing love. thank you for all the blessings.

ps:
mike and i believe in this song...
Even though we ain't got money
I'm so in love with ya honey

but not in this...
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

how? how? how?

happy birthday!!!

quasi tourists

for the 46th national day celebration, there's an electronics fair at suntec. we heard that 1) they are selling items for $46. items = washing machine, tv, camera, etc. 2) people started queueing since friday night for the opening at 11am on saturday. really, the things people do for a sale :) i would do the same if i had all the time in the world :)

so sunday, we decided to make uzi at the fair. some facts: 1) atm, we don't really need something electronic hehe. 2) no funds to buy something electronic hehe.

the day started bad like this:



because sundays are meant to be SUNdays and it made us really late for mass.

after lunch, the sun came out and we decided to go to the fair. just outside our block, a bird decided to poop on my arm. tita said it's malas. 3 friends said it's lucky. dun tayo maniwala sa majority at sa kaaya-aya :)) i changed clothes and we went to the fair after all.

as with all IT fairs, the crowd was incredible. as with all IT fairs, we go home empty-handed.

well, not really. we were able to watch a kung fu show. so cool! like i'm watching kung fu panda, only these are real people:



this is my favorite character. he seems so young! yet his bod's so developed, so are his skills! galing galing!



the kung fu show was the highlight of our date. we also bought goggles, swimming cap, combos, micro fiber towel. oh, and we got nice, free, sturdy plastic bags that could serve as trash bags. electronics fair ba yun?!

on our way home, we turned our tourist mode on and took pictures of these:

view from the memorial park:


the business district:


the suntec convention center:


i've always wantes to take pics of those. dyahe lang kasi ang daming tao lagi hekhekhek. happy birthday, singapore!

swim like a whale, eat like a whale

in an effort to trim down our tummies, we are on our 3rd week of jogging and we have been faithful to our program c/o the 5k runner app. highly recommended. not that our tummies have already toned down, but the app showcases interval training and kuya says it's an effective program. maganda raw na ginugulat ang bady mo at hindi yung consistent run lang. run-walk-run-walk ang drama. i also noticed that my knees hurt kung todo run lang. you know, old age.

we run 3x a week.
venue: there lang sa side side
time: after office hours

and we swim 2x a week.
venue: pasir ris sports and recreation center
time: after office hours

ang chochal ng new sports and recreation center at pasir ris. ong gondo!

there's a dipping pool, a kiddie pool, slides too! there's even a giant pail that spills when it's full. patok sa mga bata! apparently keyla didn't find it appealing. natakot daw. pero if i were a kid, i'll lavit!



an olympic sized pool. i love super! i'm not a fast swimmer. i feel nasusuya na nga ang mga lifeguard sa kabagalan kong lumangoy. hahaha! weh bakit? ehersisyo lang mga kuya!



nice ceiling lights. fancy them!



mistulang bromance. hehe joke lang powhz!



view from outside. there's a gym, tennis court, badminton court, at iba pang court na 'di ko na maalala.



and nice trees that i also fancy :)



yey! swim swim swim!

the problem with swimming is you get really hungry after a swim. then you tend to eat a lot, which kind of defeats the purpose of exercising (and dieting).

kebs. chos.

OLOPS

i like having vivid dreams. when i wake up, i'm reminded of good things. sometimes good, sometimes bad, but it's always good to be reminded. a few nights ago, i had a dream about this:



the dream was: i found my HS teacher praying the novena. it was very vivid - she was holding the blue novena booklet and i interrupted her prayer to discuss about the thesis.

and the memories that rushed through when i woke up were incredible...

my first commuting-all-by-myself experience was when mami asked me to meet her at the baclaran church so we could pray the novena on a wednesday. i was about 10. a jeepney ride from sto. nino to baclaran was a great milestone for me. it was also my first novena.

our novena attendance wasn't constant throughout the years but we tried to brave the crowds whenever we can. the feeling is different if you pray the novena alone and you pray it with thousands of devoted people. the latter gives you an unexplainable feeling of being closer to Mama Mary.

at the entrance of the church, there's a statue of Mama Mary that's enclosed in glass. the people knock at the glass, as if asking Mama Mary to give them just a tiny bit of attention and to listen to their prayers. they also wipe on the glass with small towels. so overwhelming.

people walk on a kneeling position from the entrance to the altar while praying the rosary. it's quite a long, difficult "walk". makes me think that whatever they are praying for is something grave. that, or they are simply devoted.

throughout the novena, your voice will drown in the voices of others. people are praying and singing at the top of their lungs. maybe, just maybe, they feel that there is a higher chance of God hearing their pleas if they pray louder. again, overwhelming devotion.

i remember seeing all sorts of people. you see a difference in the way people look - rich, poor, young, old, man, woman, burdened, contented, happy, sad. you could see a thousand varieties but there's no difference in the way they express their devotion.

there's a sermonette section where the priest will read a letter from someone whose wish has been granted - sort of a testimony. deliverance from sickness, poverty, finding a spouse... the stories are endless.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help has a special spot in my heart. the novena is also a bonding moment for mami and me. it made me feel that you will never be alone in the darker phases of life, that somebody saves, that something out of your comprehension will help you. put comprehension aside, belief is all that matters.

here in SG, she is known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

when we visited italy last 2008, we found ourselves in front of the original image of the Perpetual Help. it wasn't planned and we just found it by accident. we met one filipino redemptorist priest who was there for an event. i felt so blessed.

this is my favorite line from one of the songs... "when the voyage is o'er, o
stand on the shore, and show him at last to me"

a day at the park

we went to the pasir ris park today.

the plan:

stroll as one big happy family - kuya, april, keyla, tita, mike, me. naks!

keyla to play on the playground.

caths and mike to do 30 min walk/run.

pasir ris park is a hidden gem. it's not that crowded like east coast park is. the place is clean and big. children could play, the whole family or barkada could do ihaw ihaw. lovers could stroll. others even go fishing, camping, biking. the park is this big:



interesting finds:

fishing. at times you get the big ones, at times the tiny ones, at times nothing at all. life goes on anyway. try again another day.



lush. i wish mother earth will always be abundant like this... that she may last a million years... that my children's children's children will be nurtured the same way.



pathways. and sunsets. all sunsets are beautiful.



bridges and water and plants.



run. running used to be a burden for me. now i find it therapeutic, just like mopping floors and walking alone.



sturdy. my God is as sturdy as this tree is. rain, lightning, scorching sun? nothing will harm me as long as my God is here. i admit i am frightened at times, but my God sustains and protects! amen!



lovers. yihee. i wish everybody finds his/her soulmate!



friendship. you know you are friends if you could sit all day and talk about everything and anything - and you don't get bored!



family. so heartwarming to see a family gathered together. i always look forward to weekends with family!



silver lining. there will always be one! always!



and more beautiful sunsets.



simplicity. a child's life is so simple. sleep when tired, cry when hungry, play when awake. makes me want to go back to
childhood but that is not the proper order of life! :p



solitude. inner and outer.



and the opposite of solitude, chaos. the chaos that is my hair. and pimple outbreak. argh.



and love! heard at rx today: a vampire will never go into your house/life unless you invite him. maybe love is like a vampire. let's always welcome love then! it will never come uninvited :)



ps:
muntik na
kaming
masagasaan
ng motor
dahil
sa cheesy
pose na ito
bow