On Christmas, being healthy and FREE shoes

September is the first of the “BER” months and marks the start of the Christmas season in the Philippines. By this time, Christmas lists are already being prepared and Filipinos would already start buying gifts in order to avoid the Christmas rush. Another thing that will be very noticeable when the “BER” months start is the Christmas decorations being sold in shopping malls.

Sunday, Abhie was asked by her mom if she could assist her in setting up their shop at The Podium. The management of The Podium has again offered them a space to display and sell their Christmas decorations. Being the helpful boyfriend that I am, I picked up my bebee and along with Ate Rizza and Lola Aida we went to The Podium to meet up with her mom and to help set up their shop.


It's cheaper to be unhealthy

People are now becoming more health conscious, they go to the gym to exercise regularly, do sports and eat right. But why is being healthy becoming more expensive. Going to the gym for example, there is a sudden proliferation of franchise health clubs that charge its members with high monthly fees. It is not really necessary to enroll oneself in these foreign franchised health clubs because the result one is aiming for can be gained through other means of exercises or through small and non-franchised gyms. However, what really struck me most was the high expense of eating healthy.

Abhie asked me to go with her to buy cup of lemonade. Restaurants in The Podium however only offer iced tea. Went inside Sugarnot to ask if they have lemonade or dalandan juice, but they don’t. The waitress however told Abhie and me that there is a juice bar on the ground level. Jugo Juice was right beside the elevator in front of Deli France. Abhie ordered a big cup of fresh orange juice and it costs Php 240.00. I watched them prepare the juice and they used around 7 oranges to fill the cup; seven oranges for Php 240.00? I can buy twice as much orange, or more, for the same price. They may reason out the price because of their location or the fancy juicer that they use but it is still very expensive for seven oranges.



This made me ask myself why it is expensive to be healthy. Why is it that organic foods would always cost more? Why can’t there be more restaurants who can offer food that can compete with our ever reliable fast food chains that offer reasonable priced foods that can satisfy our stomachs? Oh well, maybe I am just having these thoughts because I am still a minimum wage earner. But still…. Enough! =p

Thank you Metrobank

Abhie got these funky new pair of Adidas shoes for FREE courtesy of Metrobank. Again, THANK YOU METROBANK!

cowboy dinner

My sister invited us to have dinner at Texas House Grill in Bonifacio High Street. She wants to check out the place prior to her meeting there on Thursday. As we were walking towards the restaurant I felt my finger twitch, wanting to press the shutter release of my handy camera.

Bonifacio High Street 09/14/08

Pampanga, Baguio and Pangasinan food odyssey

August 23-25, 2008, we went up to Baguio to make most out of this occasional long weekend. On our way up, Teejay suggested that we eat dinner at Aling Naty’s to have a taste of their famous Pampanga Sisig. The trip was almost like a food trip because most of our activities involved eating. Then on our way back to Manila, we decided to have dinner at Matutina’s, a seafood restaurant in Pangasinan frequented by Abhie’s papa as well as by the president GMA. This was the second time I went up to Baguio with Abhie. But, what I found most special about our last trip was that Abhie and I were traveling as a couple.

Aling Naty's sisig, Pampanga

En route to Camp John Hay, Baguio

Burnham Park, Baguio

Lion's Head, Baguio

Matutina's, Pangasinan

Table for two please...

A saturday afternoon seafood feast with my lovely Abhie. Spurred by a sudden craving for fresh shrimp and crabs we went to the dampa (a seafood market where you can have the seafoods you buy cooked on the adjacent restaurants) in Macapagal ave. Looking at the pictures makes me crave again for shrimps and crabs... drool.... yummy... i can't wait for the next time i'll eat the chilli buttered garlic crabs... oh my...

we were not able to finish them all (if that is what you would like to ask ;p)

chilli buttered garlic crabs... my favorite...


These were what feasted on: 1.5 kgs of fresh alimango (crab), 1 kilo of swahe (shrimps), lato (seaweed), a big bowl of yang chow fried rice and a big bowl of hot and sour soup (this bowl can serve 4-6 persons)

World Press Photo 2008

The World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organization, founded in the Netherlands in 1955. Its main aim is to internationally support and promote the work of professional press photographers. Over the years, World Press Photo has evolved into an independent platform for photojournalism and the free exchange of information

Each year, World Press Photo invites press photographers throughout the world to participate in the World Press Photo Contest, the premier annual international competition in press photography. In 2008 5,019 photographers from 125 countries entered a total number of 80,536 images. All photographs were judged in February 2008 in Amsterdam by an independent international jury composed of thirteen professionals recognized in the field of press photography. The exhibition is the presentation of 185 prizewinning pictures from the contest. It is shown in some 100 cities worldwide and seen by over two million people.

(Taken from the exhibit leaflet)

At present the WPP exhibit is at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) and it will be displayed there from August 8 to 13, 2008. Abhie and I went to MOA last Saturday to view the exhibit, it was her first time to see the exhibit, where as I first saw the exhibit last year during their 2007 show at the Podium.

Exhibit area

How to scare a fly (According to Abhie)

Journalism students


Abhie's past life

Among professional photographers I have the highest regard to photojournalists because most are constantly exposed to danger, they are very capable in adapting to situational changes, their profession is almost like a 24/7 job and yet they have minimal compensation; well that is for Filipino photojournalists. I actually considered being a photojournalist when I attended a talked facilitated by Mr. Gil Nartea and Luis Liwanag, who are two respected names in Philippine photojournalism. My wildest dream job was actually to become a National Geographic photographer. The constant travels, the different sights I would see, the different people I would meet and the different culture I would be exposed to excites me. But honestly, I hesitated to pursue the profession when Sir Gil and Luis mentioned that there are minimal financial rewards in photojournalism and that what drives photojournalists in their profession is their passion for it.

I believe that I have some passion for photojournalism but the dreams that I have and the lifestyle that I want to have and provide to the family I would have in the future would not be easily sustained by this profession. I know I can be wrong with this assumption but perhaps my hesitation suggests that I am still undecided on what I want there are too many things that I want to achieve. There is nothing wrong with that but I definitely need to develop focus. More importantly, I should realize these ambitions one-by-one and one step at a time. Otherwise, it would just make me confused making me accomplish nothing.

Our two day hopia quest

“Hopia is a popular Filipino bean filled pastry originally introduced by Fujianese immigrants in urban centres of the Philippines around the start of the American civil occupation. It is a widely-available inexpensive treat and a favoured gift for friends and relatives.” - Wikipedia

Monday, Abhie and I had a sudden craving for the diced hopia of Baker’s Fair, I cannot actually remember how and what triggered our sudden craving for the sweet filling and crunchy crust of the diced hopia from Baker’s Fair. All I remember is that we suddenly started talking about how good it was and how we want to eat it. Abhie want it hot and freshly cooked, and so do I, but I also want to eat it cold from the fridge because it becomes less sweet. On one sitting I can eat almost ten hopias so when I eat it hot, every additional piece I eat becomes sweeter than the last piece that I ate. This is the reason why I sometimes like it cold.

The only Baker’s Fair outlet I know is the one in Viramall in Greenhills. But it turns out that there is one near Abhie’s place. Instead of going to Greenhills, we decided to go to the Baker’s Fair in Puregold Tayuman. We were very excited when we left the office, our taste buds were likewise excited for the sweet hopia we were craving for the whole day. Finally, we arrived in Baker’s Fair, but to our disappointment there was only one piece of hopia left. One piece would not satisfy two people so we decided that we would just try on another day by going there earlier. Instead of going there empty handed, we just sought for alternatives, which were squid balls (Abhie calls them bola-bola), kikiam and gulaman.

Wednesday, the craving is still there. Now, we made sure to leave the office earlier. We left the office at 6:00 p.m. and arrived at Puregold an hour after. Finally! Freshly cooked hopia galore!

Abhie waiting for our hopia

She got shy when she saw the camera

Moulding the hopia into a dice shape

Packing our hopia

Hopia!

We bought one pack that contains 20 hopias for Php 75.00. At last, the craving for the sweet monggo filling and crunchy crust of the Baker’s Fair hopia has been satisfied.

Have gas, will travel: Laguna

This was the first "have gas, will travel" trip which I did March of this year. However, I was not able to post this before. Succeeding "have gas, will travel" trips were at Cebu and Bohol. I will post my adventures from these escapes when I get the time to leisurely write about them.

After watching the movie Elizabethtown, I decided to take the advice of Kirsten Dunst, to go on a road-trip alone. For my first “have gas, will travel” trip, I decided to go around Laguna since my family would be at Pansol, Laguna for the Holy Week and it would be a great take-off point for the towns in the circumference of Laguna de Bay. Supposedly, I’ll be taking the trip alone. But when my cousins learned of my plan, one-by-one, they decided to tag along. It then turned out that I’d become the tour guide for three couples who’ll go on a date around Laguna.

These were our stops: a.) Pila, Laguna, b.) Paete, Laguna, c.) Exotik Restaurant, d.) Japanese Garden, e.) Lake Caliraya, f.) Nagcarlan, Laguna.

Pila, Municipal Hall

Paete wood carvings

Adobong Sawa (python)

Japanese Garden

Lake Caliraya

Underground Cemetery

One thing I realized after this trip was that a road-trip would not be a road-trip until you get lost. =)

A Fat Michael's dinner

If there is a hobby that Abhie and I share, that would be eating. The other day, we were talking on what our plans for Saturday would be, we did not reach a decision, so I ended up saying, “if ever we don’t decide on what we would do, or where we would go to, I am definite that our Saturday would somehow involve eating”. We laughed and asked ourselves, were we really that fond of eating? Driven by my taste buds, I promised Abhie that I will bring her to restaurants that she have not yet been to. She has already introduced me to several restaurants in Malate and Binondo, so this is also a way for me to return the favor.

Tuesday night, I decided to surprise her by bringing her to Fat Michael’s. I gave her my car keys and told her to just drive following the directions I gave. She had no clue where we were going until we got lost. Apparently we just missed a turn; we should have turned right before the Makati View Apartelle and not to the street after. We both have not yet been to Fat Michael’s but I was familiar of the place because I have read it in Anton Diaz’s blog. Her brother has been to the place so Abhie was hearing me and her brother talking of the place.




We had the Fruit and Walnut salad for starters and their Seafood Paella, Beef Salpicao and Seared fish for our main course. After I have placed our order, Abhie asked the owner how long it would take for the food to be served. Hearing her ask the owner made me worry that she may already be hungry so I immediately apologized and asked her if she is hungry. Contrary to what I thought, Abhie asked how long it would take to cook the food because she saw on Fat Michael’s sign outside and at the back of the menu that says “we cook slow”. Just found her funny and cute when she asked the question. =)

Have gas, will travel: San Juan, Batangas

a spontaneous 'have gas, will travel' trip to the beach despite the threat of tropical depression gener. fortunately for us, it did not rain. though the waves were a bit rough when we swam at the beach. the morning drive to san juan could have been more relaxing if it was not for the mas que nada song that kept playing over and over; i really have to get a new radio for my car. we have nothing against bep but it came to a point that the song is already irritating.. haha. we arrived a few minutes before 11 a.m. and upon registering, one of the staff pointed to us where lunch would be served. i saw several people already in the eating area but i thought that they were probably just staying there to have a chat with their peers. we did not know that they were already being served lunch. tired from the drive, i took a nap first until i was woken up by one of the staff inviting us to eat lunch. since we were the last to have lunch, they have already separated food for us.

for lunch, they served us grilled fish, menudo, chopsuey and chicken. after our filling lunch they served sweetened bananas with sago for dessert






the staff were very accomodating and the reception to the place was very warm so i commend the service of la luz. overall, i had a fun relaxing time, even if it was just a day trip, and would definitely go back to this place.

Sunburnt and sunkissed anilao escape

saturday, started the weekend with a 3K fun “run” (partida pa kasi nagyoyosi si jm while doing the fun run), at mckinley hill. then headed to cash and carry to buy our food and alcohol supplies for the anilao trip in the afternoon. oh yes, the long awaited amd outing finally pushed through. these made the trip memorable: last minute confirmations, our lunch came after more than 3 hours the order was made, unsuccessful attempts to buy a pair of slippers for abhie, paghintay samin sa star tollway… mga santacruzan sa batangas that had traffic stopped along the national highway, tamarind beach’s steep driveway, white dog ni xtian at jammy, coleman full of ice cold beer, tequila and johnny mix ni sir jason, the koolaide traydor drink of sir alex, mr. notary public, pag ‘ba-baraha’ at pag gulong-gulong sa damo, designing the bauan church, and those that i can’t remember due to my alcohol intoxication. =p but in the end, it was sunshine and the beach that made my lovely weekend.

team megaworld








abhie showing her teeth =D


ending the day with a dinner overlooking the manila cityscape

Baguio Essentials 03/15/08

Here was the plan for the Baguio trip, there would be nine of us who will go, we would need two cars, we will stay at Petersville, we will go horse back riding, boating and biking on our first morning, and that we will drink and party on a local club.

However, out of these plans for Baguio, only one was materialized, that we would be staying at Petersville. The “trip to remember”, as my dear friend Yuts calls it, almost did not push through because five people backed-out. At first, the four of us who were left hesitated to push through with the trip, but we eventually decided to go because we did not want to spoil the excitement that we have been feeling several days before our departure. It turns out that we had made the right decision because the trip was a blast.

Here are some of the essentials that made our Baguio trip a “trip to remember”:

a.) Be with excellent company



b.) Make sure that the roads are safe for traveling



c.) Be well rested; use the long trip to gather energy



d.) Always have someone take your pictures



e.) Wear proper gears for biking and horseback riding



f.) Take time to appreciate the beauty of nature



g.) Try the local hot chocolate de batirol (w/ bibingka preferably)



h.) Connect with the past by visiting war relics



i.) Bring a good alcohol



j.) Eat street foods



k.) Keep distractions off your head



l.) Visit the market for souvenir items



m.) Stop by and have your photos taken at the Lion’s head