incessant rambling

kitty suggested we go for fely j's in greenbelt 5. i can't go wrong with filipino food and fely j's is supposed to be the flavor of the month for manila foodiphiles. a five minute walk from bsa suites and i was on my way to getting us a table. there was a lot of people dining inside but there was no line waiting to be served. my mistake, apparently, the people that i saw lounging in an open area a little down from fely j's are actually waiting to be seated. seven groups waiting for a table is not exactly my idea of filling in my tumtum. i made my way to greenbelt 3 where a group called duende cuatro was playing some latin jazz in an open area. a lot of expats with exotic accessories in tow were dining al fresco, chatting (actually shouting) despite the noisy din from the four dwarves. we skirted the crowd and made our way to the second level of greenbelt 3 and headed to Recipes by Metro Cafe. catfish mango salad - strips of sour green mango topped with tomatoes, onions,...

i have fond memories of the kitchen. a common filipino phrase sums up my love affair with food: "lumaki sa kusina". that literally translates to "growing up in the kitchen" but is more commonly used to refer to someone who is uh... portly. you see, "lumaki" can also mean "grow fat". that aside, i literally grew up in a cooking environment as my mom ran a carinderia / restaurant. we used to play out in the fields all day and would come running in the restaurant, grubby and smelling like the sun. my brother and i would jostle in front of the food counter and point to the dishes that appealed to our fancy. i remember the cook shooing us as we try to grab a little more than what we're supposed to have. Breadwinner, Kitchen - Greenbelt 4. Crostinni with a variety of sauces. my sisters took over the restaurant after college and when they left for the US, no one from the boys took over the business. by that time, all of us have been deported to baco...

macro shot of a cactus. i am not exactly sure what kind. all i know it's the thorny kind. - legaspi sunday market 22 March 2009

my old barkada in k2 used to go by the name lamonInc. everyone's out of the country except for me and kitty who still carry the lamonInc flag. every time i drop by in Manila we always end up in a food place. then again, food is simply an appetizer for the real main course, good talk and fabulous company. 22 March 2009 Legazpi Sunday Market

Greenbelt 5, the new chic place to be seen. and some people are literally there just to be seen. you see, unless yo have recession proof wallets, a shopping spree in this place can feed a small african nation. 21 March 2009

a pink mum. - legaspi sunday market 22 March 2009

green mum. and am not referring to hulk's mum. - legaspi sunday market 22 March 2009

macro shot of a red-orange mum. and i mean flower, not the overly exposed to the sun variety of mum. -legaspi sunday market 22 march 2009

it is an absolute obsession to be thin. if you're human. the irony of it all is that we want our food to be rich, fatty, succulent and greasy. if you've had foie gras you probably remember the flavor us buttery, delicate and rich. in addition, you probably know that it comes from goose or duck liver. what most people don’t know is that in france, the goose liver achieves its buttery consistency by a process called gavage which translates to force-feeding. gavage results in an overly enlarged fatty liver. that is why, foie gras literally translates to “fat liver”. if you’re a beef lover then you probably know that kobe beef is derived from a process of over-feeding cattle and caging them in small spaces to limit their movement. on the plus side, kobe cattle gets a daily massage from their handlers, the better to promote a generous marbling of fat and meat. end result? wagyu beef literally melts in your mouth. which brings me to my next point, i was going around the legaspi villa...

capiz shell chandelier. just make sure you don't position it near a window or a strong source of wind. untangling the mess can cause serious stress. they had to evacuate thousands of sea slugs to make one of these pretty balls. these aren't the same balls you hang on your christmas tree dearie. obviously, these people didn't get the memo: LEAVE THE SEA SHELLS IN THE SEA. just in case you're wondering what's with the title and you don't know nemo, you've already lost touch with the child in you and probably won't connect with this particular post. but, if you're the smart ass genius in class you'd probably say that nemo lives in sea anemones and not in shells. whatever. they're sea critters. (garnished with cheese, salt and pepper then grilled over an open flame - yuuuumy) One Visayas Crafts and Culture Display March 3, 2009

after watching watchmen and spending time in off roads, i dragged my best friend to the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue so we can check out the One Visayas Event. just in case you are not aware, the Philippines hold the record as the country with the most number of islands, a total of 7,107 (depending on the tide, it can actually increase or decrease by a few count) Of these islands, about 2,773 are named so there is still that chance i can buy one and name it Cacho. Only gorgeous and nice people can become citizens. The Visayas group of islands is right in the middle and is accessible via plane (and plane crashes) as well as local, international and pirate boats that ply the virgin (and sometimes oil spill tainted) coastlines. An event like One Visayas [click to search for One Visayas posts] is an event that has been waiting to happen, and finally they got to feature the various visayan regions in a week long display of arts, theater, film, culinary demonstrations, to...

unfortunately, if you're googling American Idol and landed on this page, you are not going to find that sort of talent that i'm looking for. you see, i delivered a talk about the Human Resource Agenda in the joint Philippine Society of IT Educators (PSITE) and Philippine Society of IT Students (PSITS) conference in Region 8. The message is the same, we are not developing the correct skills that the IT and BPO industry needs. the sad part is that the IT industry is claiming that only 20% of graduates are employable at the entry level. worse, the BPO industry is experiencing a 5% hire rate for maturing BPO cities. the alarming fact is that China is fast gaining on the BPO global share and is eating up the market that is traditionally reserved for the Philippines after India. Unless the academe addresses the quality of education, correct selection of platforms that closely mimic industry skill sets and shift from the theoretical approach of education, we are not going to fulfill t...

a famous belief is that all taxi drivers in manila are spawns of the devil. they practically cost you your soul when they ask for that "additional" charge. i am so tempted to pull out my tazer (electric shock device) for that extra charge. i usually tell them to stop the car and just move to another cab. with the crisis right now, taxis are literally lining up to get a passenger. heck, business is so bad they even try to ply you with chippy, chips and drinks that's conveniently hanging by the front seat head rest. beware of edibles though, you might end up waking in another part of the city, without your clothes and divested of your personal effects. and worse the taxi driver would have gotten his way with you (well, that's really not a bad prospect for some people i know) in any case, make sure to check out the dashboard and if you see the rosary hanging by the rear view mirror, you can safely assume they are less likely to ask for that additional cost of transportat...

A Bull, With Twisted Horns - Tacloban, Leyte March 03, 2009 Gives the term bull headed a totally different meaning. Which reminds me, my birth sign is Taurus. The symbol of the Bull and you can probably guess that I do have a twisted sense of humor. hmmm.

"Uh excuse me, can I transfer to that exit row seat?" - i was talking to the stewardess of a PAL Express flight to Tacloban. She pretended to ignore me and quickly took out the life vest from the overhead bin for her demonstration. fine, i've seen it a million times and unless they are going to add cartwheels as part of the routine i zoned out and looked out to the slowly lightening sky outside (flying at 6:00AM from Cebu to Tacloban) When we finally reached cruising height, I called her attention again and asked if I can transfer to the exit row. at 6 feet tall, my legs get really cramped in tight small spaces (the same thing happens when i wear my pants that fit me five years ago) she smiled uncertainly, unsure how she's going to answer my question. "uh sir, the lavatory is at the front..." "i don't want to go the bathroom, i asked if i can move to the exit row seat." "uh sir, you can't exit the plane now, we are landing soon......

i have long hair. very long hair. at one point, friends ask me how i sleep with long hair. simple, i close my eyes. seriously, i tie it loosely in a bun so i don't look like the reincarnated sadako in "the ring". so before getting up from bed i decided to take a pic of myself. notice the white hair starting to grow in my beard. as for the title of this entry, i want to ask anyone out there why "muta" (that crusty thing that form at the corner of one's eyes after a night's sleep) is called Morning Glory. There's nothing glorious about it. ugh.

one visayas, cicc, mandaue

frankly, hotel food sucks. sure, they prepare your dish like it's part of an art show but eating a van gogh is probably going to give you an indigestion. when you're hungry, the last thing on your mind is how nice your food looks like. if you have a huge appetite, hotels and fine dining restaurants shouldn't be your choice. portions are so micro-infitisimal (i made that word up) that you probably need toothpicks instead of chopsticks to pick up the food. and if you've imbibed the cebuano penchant for being stingy with money, you can grumble your way through dinner (this bite cost me fifty pesos, this sip of soda six...) so where do you go for food that's pretty, affordable and huge? grab a bite, no, make that a mouthful in bigbys. enjoy the pics (my personal choice is the rodeo porkchops)

getting together with old friends is always a bit uneasy. what if you realize that you've grown apart and have nothing much in common beside the fact that you were once together in some sort of activity or organization? roland, merci, jenna, me and floritz on the other hand, there are connections that are instantly renewed despite the distance and time spent apart. i miss my friends but at least i know that we still share the same things that made us click: food and laughter. roland, merci, floritz and jenna i just have to make sure that i don't wait another year for the next get together. :)