F

He was always getting sick. When my son F was still a baby, he caught every kind of ailment that a young child could catch. He got amoebiasis, bronchitis, gastroenteritis, coughs, colds, and all sorts of viral infections. One particularly challenging episode had me, my mom, and my beloved Tito E taking care of him round the clock. You see, he's the kind of baby whose temperature shoots up whenever he gets sick.

F was the first boy in the family. All my siblings are girls and my eldest child is a girl, and so when F came into our fold, we were all a bit surprised. Unlike my daughter, who would just sit in the corner and quietly play with her toys when she was a toddler, F loved crawling, walking, and climbing all over the place. Needless to say that my parents were quite shocked.

When F became a grade schooler, he started getting chubby and chunky. I thought it was cute but his classmates didn't think so. He was teased incessantly and at some point, he became a cry baby. My heart broke but what to do? He loved food and loved eating, and in point of fact, he wanted to be a chef when he grew up.

Fortunately, time took care of everything. When he entered his teen years, he started growing tall--fast! He started losing his baby fat and started growing like a weed. Today, he is a fine-looking young man who stands as the man of the house. It is F who we run to when an electric fan breaks down or when some electronic device needs figuring out. It is F who locks up the house before he goes to sleep, and fortunately for me, it is also F who cooks our meals when I'm out working or when I'm too tired to whip up stuff in the kitchen. F also loves Baby S to pieces, and my sister B always teases him about being the stand-in daddy.

When I first cradled him in my arms, I never thought that this cute, little baby would one day be taking care of us in his own special way. I love you, F! Happy birthday! :)

P.S. Been busy with all the work and all the merry celebrations; April sure has been one fun ride! :)




F with Baby S on The Swing.





All dressed up for the prom :)





Smile!

Mom and Dad

Whenever I'm at my mom and dad's house, I kinda feel like a child again. It doesn't matter how old I get, they're still mom and dad. I find myself getting up later, relishing the thought that I don't have to think about what we're eating for breakfast or lunch. I know that dad would have prepared breakfast in the morning, usually he'll make some fried rice and heat some leftovers. In the afternoon, mom would have something delicious brewing in the kitchen. To this day, I still think that she makes the bestest spaghetti. She cooks it with lots of pickle relish and lets the sauce simmer until all the flavors of her ingredients have blended beautifully together. Dad cooks a delicious pot of pata beans; the pata all soft and tender with the fat clinging to the bones; the sauce so ultra-rich with slices of chorizo, spiked with cloves of garlic.

Last weekend, my mom and dad celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. Yes, 43 years, practically a lifetime. And you know what? They are still the same. Dad still makes the corny jokes. Mom still talks a mile a minute. And yes, they are still in love in the way that couples who've been married forever are.

Here's mom and dad trying to get a proper shot together :) but in the end, just goof off.

Lechon!

It was my parents' 43rd wedding anniversary, and the weekend turned out to be another eating festival. I am just organizing my thoughts and photographs but here's a peek at what we ended up eating the whole weekend; and what I still have in my refrigerator right now!!! Life is good! :)

Memorable Momo!

On this beautiful Saturday morning, thoughts of food fill my mind. We are visiting mom and dad later, and I am excited about what we'll be having on the table. For the past few weeks, we've been either too lazy or too preoccupied to put any real energy into cooking. My son F is busy with his games; I am busy with my writing and chains; and it is just way too hot! As I told G, it is so hot that you could actually get a tan just by staring on the ground!

Back to food: Just the other week, my girlfriends and I enjoyed a glorious feast at Momo.




We started off with strips of mozzarella wrapped like lumpia and fried crispy right. Slathered on top: chili beans. I love chili beans; one of my favorite super fast comfort food is the chili beans at Wendy's, so simple but so tasty. B and I were happy just munching on the cheese and the beans when G pointed out that it's best eaten with the side salad of onion, tomatoes, and purple cabbage. Sweet!





This simple salad is one of my favorites. It had a sweetish vinaigrette over greens, shiitake mushrooms, walnuts, eggs, and grapes. I try to get a bit of everything on every bite so that I taste the crunchiness of walnut and the fruity flavor of grapes.





Okay, whoever thought of this is a genius! Spam and bacon?! Hello! I could munch on this the whole day, every day.





This was obviously D's favorite. And D being an excellent cook, I could tell that she was sort of thinking how they cooked it while savoring every bite.





And yes, we still had pasta! In truth, I hardly got to taste this because I was super enjoying the spam and the beef and the salad.





This photograph does not do justice to this delicious dessert; it's a chocolate cupcake with mint. It wasn't too sweetish and it was just so refreshing.





Of course, a meal would not be complete without the company of dear friends...





... who always manage to bring a smile on your face (and lots of laughter too!)





In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarznegger, "I'll be back!" Now excuse me while I pack for my mom's, dad just called! Happy Saturday! :)

Feels Like Binondo

I made this slide show of Macau weeks and weeks ago. Going over it again, it feels so much like Binondo, where I went on a walking tour just days ago. I must make a slide show of Binondo as well. Enjoy Friday! :)

Body Double

I have identical twin sisters, B and M. When we were little, most people had a hard time telling them apart. Not having the luxury of seeing them every day, they would always say, Magkamukhang-magkamukha ("They look so much alike"). But of course, I can always tell the difference. B's face is a tad rounder than M's; M's cheekbones a bit gaunter. B's nose is just a wee bit bigger. And though their eyes can light up like saucers when they're excited, M's are shyer. If you didn't know her, you'd think she was mahinhin (timid). But really, M just doesn't care.

When they were little, our neighbors would always call them kambal, (twins) as if one name was enough for the two of them. True, they were the same in a lot of things (their hair, for instance, are both black and straight, although they became lighter in later years) but they were also different in many ways.

B was the more cheerful of the two, and her smiling ways earned her the monicker, gandabae (beautiful girl). We also called her kaliko, short for makalikot because she loved tinkering with things, and destroying them in the process. M had the darker personality but in truth, she is so much of an idealist. One time, she woke up from a bad dream. She was crying and crying and wouldn't stop saying these words, "Gusto kong maging direktor!" ("I want to be a director.") And know what? Years and years later, M did become a director... an art director. Meanwhile, kaliko B ended up tinkering with wires and semi-precious stones weaving them into beautiful pieces of jewelry. Funny how things always turn out the way they're supposed to.

I am remembering all this because I saw Leaves of Grass the other day, and in it, Edward Norton plays twin brothers. In one scene, the philosophy professor brother makes like he is the marijuana growing brother, so that the latter can do some dirty business. It is hilarious to me because my twin sisters once traded places with one another; M going to B's school and B attending M's classes. That was really funny!

I've always wondered what it would be like to have a twin, to share a bond with someone so unique. Well, if it's anything like my sisters', then it would have been absolutely awesome. Love you, guys! :)

I Scream for Ice Cream!!

Because it was so hot, and because I was still stewing over ridiculous power bills, and because when it is too hot I could not work, and because when it is too hot no other thought comes to my mind than sprawling myself in bed, we decided to haul ass and head to the mall.

In our case that would be Southmall, a small commercial center that has become some sort of town square in our part of the world for the simple reason that at one point or another, you would eventually see every person in your circle in that mall: your family, your friends, your children's friends, their teachers, their crushes, everyone.

Apart from doing our usual errands and taking advantage of the free air-conditioning, we got ourselves some ice cream. Now I've always been curious to see what this Bake and Churn was all about, and so we tried it, and it was good! It was cake and ice cream rolled into one. The ice cream doesn't melt right away because there are actual chunks of soft cake mixed into it. Delicious! The perfect treat to cool our heads on this super sunny day.

And because I am a proud lola (and my sons do not exactly like me posting their pictures on my blog), here is the littlest member of our family, proud to be moving about on her own two feet.




Baby S says hi!





The little pedestrian was just walking and walking and walking. She loved the big open space.





Because Baby S associates going out (or in her parlance going "bye-bye") with carrying a bag, her mom decided to get her a bag of her own. This she carries every time she wants to walk out the door.





Finally, ice cream! As always, I went for the chocolate and my daughter E went for the strawberry. We both had Baby S taste our cones, both insisting that ours was Baby S's favorite. The result: Baby S went on sugar overload and was just dancing and dancing on top of the table. Bad grandma!

Adding Insult to Injury (Ang Walang Katapusang Meralco Saga)

It's so typical. You go to the bank in the middle of the day and you are greeted by lines that snake all across the floor. You wait and wait and wait. And you wonder, if this scenario happens almost every day, why don't the bank managers do something about it? Why can't they deploy more people at peak hours of the day? Why can't they at least make their customers more comfortable by providing better seats, and more of them? After all, they are making money off of us?!

One day, I had enough. After waiting for some time, I walked up to the manager and complained. In a courteous manner, I told him that we deserve better service. He replied by saying that they are doing all they can and that they will look into the matter. Typical! When it was my turn with the teller, he murmured something about how we should just all get along and how they are doing their best. I wanted to scream. I wanted to say that if they were doing their best, why am I wasting so much time waiting?

I remember this now because I just got a letter from Meralco saying pretty much the same shit; that they are actually doing their best and that really, it's not their fault that I am going to pay almost 75 percent more for my electric bill, the highest I've ever paid in my entire life. If they were doing their best, then why am I paying this much shit for my electricity? If they were so efficient, why am I being charged for systems loss? If they were so good, why did they not anticipate this? Oh, the luxuries of a monopoly!




As if adding insult to injury, tucked between my bill and the crappy it's-not-my-fault-it's-their-fault letter is a flyer for a pre-Mother's Day appliance sale sponsored by Automatic Centre and Meralco with the oh-so-sweet tagline of "Getting life's comfort doesn't have to cost you much." Are you kidding me?!! You're charging me this fantastic amount and now you're asking me to buy even more appliances so that I can use even more electricity!! I could almost hear their marketing guys saying, "Really, we're not making a centavo out of this whole thing." It is absolutely disgusting!

Somebody organize a rally now or better yet, a riot! I am so there!

Quiz Miss

When T asked me to write quizzes for Cosmopolitan Philippines' Web site, I agreed almost immediately. True, I've never done quizzes in my life but I thought it would be a fun thing to do. Not only will I get to channel the Cosmo girl in me (yes, I maybe a mom but I am a woman first and foremost), I get to play around a bit; use words and write in a style that I can't do for, say, a parenting magazine or a business title.

Here, some of the stuff that I've been doing. I usually write these cute little thingies while watching movies, which accounts for all the movie references, and I do hope that the Cosmo girls had fun answering them as much as I did writing them.


What's the best vacay for you and your man?



Are you still on Catherine Zeta rebound mode?



Up for a fling?



Want to take a quiz? Hop on to the Cosmopolitan Philippines Web site.

Walking Binondo

I was to tag along Ivan Dy's walking-eating tour of Binondo but truth to tell, I was a little hesitant at first. No, it wasn't because of the tour. Since going to Quiapo a couple of weeks ago, I have been planning to go back to Manila for a more thorough walkabout. No, it was because of the weather. The past few weeks have been oppressively hot and I really didn't want to melt under the sun. And so I packed my bag with a bottle of water, an extra shirt, a fan, and a hankie, and prayed that the weather would be cool enough for a nice walk. I got lucky! Not only was it not too hot, it even drizzled a bit :)




This is the second time that I'm taking Ivan's tour and I must say that it was a bit different than the last. He pointed out, for example, that it was in Binondo Church where Andres Bonifacio married Gregoria de Jesus. I'm a big fan of Andres and so that little bit of factoid was kinda cute.





Monterey banderitas in Binondo Church? Why, oh why?





At the courtyard of this building is where you'll find the yummiest lumpia this part of town, just like my grandmother used to cook them. But I dare say that my lola's homemade wrapper was way better.





Found all sorts of treats at Carvajal like these guyabanos...





... and pot-bellied upos. I wanted to go shopping right then and there but I still had appointments to go to after.





I love the kuchay dumplings at this little place in Yuchengco Street. I am told that you can order them in bulk for when you have parties.





The N in this Ongpin street sign is painted backwards. Teehee!





And what is Manila without such signs?

Strike Anywhere

I've been catching up on my sleep for the last two days. You see, the past week has just been insanely hectic that I've been running on only four to five hours of shut-eye a night. This is unacceptable! I love my sleep. I love my bed. I would rather sleep than eat. But well, duty calls!

Last week had me bouncing all over the metropolis, going this way and that for all sorts of stuff. Here, some random photos :)




Interviewing I while meandering through the streets of Manila. At one point, I looked at me through the rear view mirror while answering my question, and I was like, "Don't look at me! Look at the road!" Insane!





I took this shot in the middle of a walking tour of Binondo. We were at a dimsum place where they had my favorite kuchay dumpling. I was just exhausted having had only four hours of sleep the night before because I had to attend this press conference. But the kuchay was delicious so I was happy.





The next day found me at the other side of town, at Momo in Eastwood City.





I met up with my friend G who ordered some of my chains. They really look good on her. And I was happy that she was happy. My daughter and I have been shooting my chains on either black or white but seeing the gold chains on G's yellow blouse had me thinking of bright colors. I made a bunch of new designs yesterday and I am just dying to shoot them!





Late last week had me hanging out at Pioneer Studio, my favorite these days. It's big and spacious and the vibe is just divine. Plus, they have the best tasting cookies!





The thing with going on shoots is that there's a lot of waiting. I try to make myself available on call time because for some celebrities, it's OK to be interviewed while their makeup is being done. Some don't like the interruption so I have to wait until everything is over before I can do my thing. That's why I always have my notebook with me so I can catch up with stuff while waiting....





... and waiting





... and waiting





... but scenes like these make it all worthwhile.

Commercial Muna!

At any given moment, there are usually three to four screens open at our home. F and I would be watching some movie on cable at our big-ass television set, which we inherited from my mother. Actually, it’s only F who’s watching. I just like to hang out in the living room while I’m writing a piece or transcribing an interview on my netbook. It’s a bad habit I know, but well, what can you do? S and K would be strategizing against the Egyptians while playing Rome on their PC. E would be at her room, answering queries about her kili-kili products or tracking shipments on her own PC.

Sometimes, the equations change. F would be playing Mortal Kombat Armageddon or some other Playstation game on the big-ass TV. I would be watching Survivor Heroes vs Villains on the smaller TV while making my chains. S and K, now that their PC has gone wireless, would be playing some online game while E would be playing some Facebook game.

How did we get here? When I was growing up, we only had one television set. We didn’t have computers. We didn’t have CDs. We didn’t have cell phones. But we entertained ourselves fine, making little doll houses of books.

It's ironic that sometimes, we may all be together in one room but we're not really together captivated as we are by the moving images on our respective screens. Fortunately, there are little breakthroughs, little commercial breaks as I'd like to call them. Someone would ask a question, make a comment, or remember something funny that would get everybody back in the room and start talking again. Or F, who's a bit of a klutz, would trip over the extension cord, or K and S would start quarrelling, or Baby S would start bugging everybody, asking for a kiss or a drink of water. Commercial muna! And we're back together!

P.S. I leave you now with a real commercial that always makes everybody in the house stop and stare and laugh every time it comes on. Really funny!

Another P.S. And yes, with all those screens on, I am dreading the day I get my Meralco bill. But till then, let's dance! Giling mo!

Eighties Night

But wait, my crazy day did not end with bebots and Eat Bulaga. The very same night, we celebrated the 40th birthday of our dearest friend D. I've known D for years. She's one of those people that I'd call right away when something awfully momentous happens. When I first found out that my daughter was pregnant, for example, I turned to D. I was screwed up out of my mind at the time but D calmed me down. She's great that way. I love you, D!




We're back to the eighties! Faces, Rumors, Isis, Stargazer, Louie Y's! Yes, yes, yes to disco! I love the feather boa covered disco ball centerpiece. I so wanted to take it home but it was too big to put in my purse.





D and her husband R dance to True of Spandau Ballet. Sweetness!



Why do I look so funny? D just made me gulp down a flaming shooter (D told me, "It's my birthday. Do it for me!"), and it was hot!! I got an instant buzz so, I hit the dance floor, worked up some sweat, and banged my head to Buttercup and My Sharona.





Okay, this may not be from the eighties but it brought a whole lot of fun! Printed photographs are actually such novelties these days what with everything now online. So of course, we all wanted one. But because the booth only printed out one copy of every set, we ended up doing pose after pose after pose just so everybody could take home a copy.





R and G, my best buds. Along with D, P, and J, we used to go out almost every weekend or so, laughing and talking, drinking and dancing. I shared many drunken memories with these girls; and I would have had another one if I didn't have to wake up early the next day for work (Yes, I had to work on a Sunday). Because here's one thing I've accepted: I can't get sloshed the night before and expect to be fine and alert the next day. It's part of growing up! Mwahahaha There will be another night, ladies!





The beautiful birthday girl; I was super touched that she chose to wear the necklace I made for her that night. Super mwah, D!





Happy birthday, D! I love you super much!