Posts

frozen delight

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Mango-Graham Crackers-Almonds combo, Yogu i've been eating so much frozen yoghurt that i probably don't need botox injections - my face is frozen. with that said, what is common among yummy yo, red mango, white hat, fruit farm, yogo boy, creamee d'lite and yogu? froyo places that sprouted across the metro in a frenzy fad to cater to the demand for a "healthier" option to ice cream. except that it is really not THAT healthy. but who cares? it's the illusion of eating healthy that has hundreds of people flocking to these places for their sugar fix. yes, froyo is saturated with sugar and the only difference between softserved ice cream and froyo is that it comes with agents that break down the lactose and gives it that "sour" taste. heck, with one serving i can actually pick up a six-pack of chamyto or yakult and have the equivalent of the entire human population in one sitting. yes, all seven billion of live bacteria shirota strain that helps ...

twinkle twinkle dancing star

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have you ever been that close to dancers that you can feel the whip of wind from flowing dresses? Entwined, so near yet so far Dreaming i paid two hundred pesos to get a photographers' pass that allowed me to sit in a cramped corner right beside the dancefloor as i observed the competitors of the 2010 IDSF World Dancesport sashay across the floor. Face Choreographed Disorder it was exhilarating to feel the energy from the competitors as they moved through a number of dances in as many categories. it was interesting to note that they have juvenile, adults and a special category called teacher and student category. Happy Feet except that it was pretty obvious that the "teacher and student" category is reserved for elderly matrons with their favorite dance instructors as partners. pretty tactful, you wouldn't want to call that category as "expired" or "aging". Love is Bloody Red Pretty In Pink seriously? they shoul...

a date with myself

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i have a friend who hates to be alone. not me. there are days when i just want to wander alone in the mall, visit my favorite coffee shop, grab a cup and read a book. today was different though. wished i had someone with me when i watched "red". that way i could have chuckled, laughed and chortled with someone else. laughing "alone" is a bit looney, even for me. eat love and pray was overrated. perhaps i expected too much from the movie, and yes it fell short of certain "expectations" although i did say i liked the general message. it was a very cerebral piece that probably didn't translate well into a movie. a writer with thoughts running through her head would have a book better express the nuances of the story. "eat love and pray" can't possibly translate all these via images. so why the digression? because RED is nothing cerebral. it was imagery at its best and it loves to make fun of itself. who would have thought that peop...

pinoy tapas

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i thought that spanish "tapas" meant an array of small bite sized appetizers that one consumes when drinking an alcoholic drink. very much the definition of "pulutan". my other thought is that "tapas" would be similar to chinese coldcuts, or starters. in the most technical of definition, my understanding is partially correct. "tapas" really is anything as long as it is small and served with your drink. interestingly, it doesn't even have to be spanish. more interesting is that our notion of "tapas" as main course is not entirely correct, the spanish refer to that as "tabla". eating "tapas" has a certain tradition attached to it, contrary to the thought that it is a starter or an appetizer, when one consumes "tapas" you continue until you are full. a night in town in spain "to go for tapas" mean going from one bar to another, order your drinks and eat "tapas" on the side. trad...

shake your bonbons!

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unfortunately, this is not an article regarding ricky martin. nor is it an attempt to revive his dead career. i'm talking about the new KFC shaker shots. it's actually just chicken popcorn that's placed in this nifty new container where a handprint is marked on the side. you grip it and give it a few shake then you have your flavored chicken popcorn. it comes in three flavors, barbecue, cheese and garlic parmesan. my fave? i'd say the barbecue flavor. now, if they come up with a gimik and have the restaurant staff do a jig when they shake the pops that would be an interesting sight. then again, haters would be quick to label it as sexist and demeaning, just like what happened to cebu pacific. then again, it's still a nice idea.

pink run

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i've never seen so many men wear pink. then again men would do anything for breasts, more like run for it. and that's exactly what men, women and children of all age and shape did - unite for a cause, the october pink fun run for breast cancer awareness. it was hard waking up at four am when i got to sleep at around 11pm the previous night. more so with the thought that i was going to hit the road for a fun run. sure, i've done longer runs but that's usually done around 7pm when it is generally cooler - never mind the smoke, cebu is still tolerable even late in the day. in fairness, the run is probably one of the "safest" i've attended - with a couple hundred doctors running as part of the event, they can collectively accomplish short of nothing but a miracle if something did happen. good thing nothing bad happened. just a lot of happy runners. though i have to say it was probably the longest 3 kilometers run that i did. all 38 minutes of it. i jog...

ginataang tinola

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if it ain't broke, don't fix it. then again, when people challenge commonly thought notions you have out of the box thinkers, people that pave the way for newer things to happen. admittedly, some end up as a horrible disaster but there is that one chance that something may just turn out right. ask anyone and the standard "tinolang manok" recipe would be a hearty soup of green papaya and malunggay mixed with chicken pieces and flavored with garlic, patis, salt, and pepper. A generous portion of ginger is used to infuse the clear broth with an aromatic fragrance. variations will use sayote, otherwise known as chayote squash instead of the green papaya and malunggay is replaced with chili leaves. to give the broth more of a lemon twist, people use tanglad (lemon grass) together with the ginger. apparently, kuls is taking the common chicken tinola to the next gustatory level by using kangkong instead of manlunggay. surprisingly, i found chunks of red bell pepper ...