Wednesday, July 30, 2008

fruits



Last Sunday, MIL brought home these fruits for me :) The dalandan fruits are seedless and really sweet. We squeezed some for dalandan juice and added honey to make it taste better, so refreshing! The santol fruits are sweet and tasty too. I have a habit of eating santol with vinegar and rock salt. Sarappp!!! :D

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Happy happy birthday our dear papa. We miss you so much! It's definitely hard to be away from you. We hope that you feel in your heart how much we love you. We are so lucky for having a papa as responsible and understanding as you. Thank you so much for your unconditional love. We pray for your good health and safety always.


hugs & kisses,
Jc,Mico, Kevin & Mama / Jp, Tin & Kyle


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Weekend Cooking at home. Orange Grilled Chicken Breast paired with Pesto Rice. Ranch Salad on the side & a decadent chocolate cake that husband bought from Cake-to-Go. :)


We're having dinner with cousins next Saturday. Ria and ate Ina is in charge of the steak and i'll be preparing the seafood. Nina of course, is in charge of her dad's signature home made ceasar salad and drinks. Tito Mai's son, Martin and gf Laureen will join us for the first time. The family tree is getting bigger!!! Happier :)

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My husband's very good friend L. Martinez is part of this much-awaited play in Manila! We are so excited to see him. This is my first time to see him perform but i've heard so much from husband about how good he acts. He's a proud friend! :D Lea Salonga is playing princess in Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and i'm excited to watch her live for the first time too. :) My husband saw Miss Saigon few years back and he said Leah is indeed excellent!
I never learned about my husband's interest in theater/broadway earlier. I just had this false impression that he'd rather watch basketball games or play ps at home than watch musical shows. In fact, I did not even bothered to ask him to go with me when I saw Avenue Q with my highshool friends September last year. He could've enjoyed that awesome show too! Anyway, that was just one play that I missed to see with him. Now, we're both excited to see two fantastic plays this year. :)

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

cupcakes


I'm craving for this delicious looking cupcakes that I saw on-line :) Hmm, they have stores in qc malls and prices are definitely cheaper than Sonja's in Serendra. Gotta try 'em! :) I so want to try the Swiss Choco, Kahlua, Belgian Chocolate, Lemon Meringue & Smores Choco Caramel.



Monday, July 21, 2008

highschool musical ice tour


High School Musical is loved by our kiddos. We had the chance to watch the Ice Tour at the Big Dome last weekend. Kyle had so much fun. He enjoyed both the music and performance. I guess he's amazed how the artist danced, twisted, and rolled up & down in their ice skates. Truly amazing!
I remembered when my little boy was younger, we'd watch Disney on Ice on Decembers with my parents & siblings. We don't have so much money nor extra cash to splurge for the show so we'd end up getting upper box seats. The Disney characters were so so little from where we were seated. I would end up letting Kyle sit/ stand on my lap for him to be able to better view the show. I remembered saying " promise baby, next time will get the seat in front so you can see Mickey Mouse and kiss him".


I'm happy that I am able to bring Kyle to Araneta Coliseum these days, and watch amazing performances, from concerts, musicals to ice tours. This time, with better seats and with Daddy Jp with us. It may not be the front row seats yet but hopefully in the near future, we'd be able to kiss Mickey & Minnie and be able to watch him up close & personal :)

Kyle and his program souvenir

Late dinner at Pancake House after the show. with my mother in law.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Books & Sunday Cooking

Kyle loves Geronimo Stilton books. He always ask us to buy him one as a prize/gift whenever he gets good grades in school. I'm glad that my little boy's school encourages their students to read books too. The school usually have Book Fairs and Kyle's always excited about this :)


I am excited about this novel.I so want a copy of this book but it was out of stock in Powerbooks or Fully Booked most of the time. Husband bought me The Time Traveler's Wife book last Friday. Thanks! thanks! :) Oh, I learned that there's a movie coming out on December 2008. I'm excited! I hope I can start reading this weekend. :)

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Sunday cooking at home. Ilocano food is really good. I tried making my own version of "dinakdakan". A famous Ilocano dish. This is grilled pork meat marinated in mayo dressing and garnished with lotsa onions and chillies! Genuine Ilocanos usually use pig's brain for marinade but I don't think my husband can handle that. :D My papa taught me to substitute that ingredient with mayo. It tastes good too! Gerry's Grill I think included this in their menu recently.

All-time favorite Ilocano Pakbet. One of the few veggie dishes that my husband loves. It's been months since I last went home to Ilocos. If there's one thing that I miss about the place apart from my family & friends - is Ilocano Food. I miss Ilocos empanada ,bagnet and garlic longganisa from Batac. I miss adobo bagbagis from San Nicolas. I miss kaldo from Mg Opring's kubo beside our house. I miss Dawang's dinuguan and sarabasab. I miss native bibingka from Marsha's Vigan. I miss that special homemade tupig that my mom orders from an old lady in Currimao. I miss inartem. I miss that bbq and isaw that me & my brothers buy in Badoc town every afternoon.I miss our neighbor's kilawin. I miss my mama's igado and kaldereta. Oh food! Naimas latta! :P

Friday, July 11, 2008

Paradise in Palawan

"A tropical Shangri-la nestled upon a coral jewel set amidst Palawan’s sparkling turquoise waters. Comely and idyllic, this island resort is a perfect hideaway for those who seek both relaxation and discovery. Club Paradise is on Dimakya Island, Municipality of Coron. A part of the Calamian Group of Islands, it is situated at the Northern tip of Palawan, the Philippine’s last frontier. Where possibilities are blissful, endearing and endless." - Club Paradise

Our trip to Palawan was planned about 3/4 months ago.We gotta get a breather:D For "alone time", to relax, perhaps recharge and to have some time off from our work:) We invited my husband's cousin Bambi & girlfriend Ria to join us. We had the best time of our lives!
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Ricky, the resort coordinator at the Busuangga Airport. We loaded inside this big jeepney and off we went to a lake for our boat transfer to Dimakya island, where Club Paradise is located.
We arrived at the resort an hour and a half after. The resort employees were all waiting to greet & welcome us. They were so warm & pleasing. There were only about 20 guests in the resort including the four of us already. Talk about privacy and solitude. That was it :)

They served us refreshing drinks upon arrival. The PR officer had this quick orientation. We were accompanied to our rooms thereafter. Everything else is indeed beautiful. We were served buffet meals all the time at the Kamalig restaurant. A fusion of Filipino, Asian and International cuisines were served for lunches & dinners. Really, the food were very filling & satisfying.
After lunch that Saturday, we just lazed & grilled ourselves under the beautiful sun. The weather was perfect. The sun was up and it was windy at the same time. We were able to get that perfect afternoon siesta in a far far away private island :)

We went to an island tour to Calauit early morning of Sunday to check out the Philippines' prime Safari. We were back at the island around lunchtime. Husband and I tried the Detoxification Massage at the Island Spa late afternoon. It's a combination of of swedish & shiatsu massages. It says in the spa menu that this is equivalent to an hour of strenuous exercise. It stresses out elimination of body toxins. Rejuvenating and relaxing! Perfect! They say that a good massage makes you fall asleep. Oh, husband and I fell asleep during our treatment.

We had another perfect dinner on our last night at the island. We surprised Bambi with a birthday cake and the servers sang him a birthday song too!It's his birthday the following day!:) We shared the cake to all the other guests duing dinner time. Some of the resort staffs performed during the cultural show too. The foreign guests had so much fun watching them.

It was hard to leave the island. The island is entirely perfect.There's nothing bad to say. Something that we can really recommend for couples and families to try. We were able to save so much for planning this trip really early. Just so I can share some saving tips, our plane fare to Busuangga, Palawan costs only about php3,400/person. PAL Express had this Book & Buy promo last April so we grabbed that very good deal. We had about three months to plan & save for our resort. Euro Pacific Resorts (Club Paradise & El Rio Y Mar) had this "post-summer getaway promo" for June and July.It's somehow wise to wait for resort promos like this after the summer season. It's a gamble though because these are the typhoon/rainy months already but we figured, Php4,000/person discount is really a big amount that we can save. (Oh btw, the sun was shining so bright the whole time :)) Thanks for families & friends who prayed for good weather :) Our damage was about Php20k/couple and that's already inclusive of the roundtrip airfare, land and boat transfers to the the resort, 3days/2nights seaview room accommodation, full-board meals for the 3days stay, use of all resort facilities and... having the island to ourselves since we went on an off-peak season :)

More about Club Paradise here :)

Kyle will finally meet the mountain kisses & tarsiers on his birthday :)






Calauit Wildlife Safari Tour

We had the hardest time deciding if we should take the CORON TOUR or the CALAUIT SAFARI TOUR. Ria & I wanted to see the giraffes and zebras first hand so we were able to convince our spouse to take this trip instead. :) Our tour started 7am. We still had enough time to enjoy the sumptuous buffet breakfast at the resort. Calauit Island is an hour and fifteen minutes away from Dimakya Island by boat ride. Bambi & Ria slept during the cruise while husband killed time playing PSP. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the mountains and seas while listening to my Jamie Cullum & Maroon 5 favorites :) Ricky, our service coordinator was very pleasant and smart. He told us so many stories & information about the islands surrounding the resort. He was smiling the whole time when explaining this & that. I must say, he was that passionate and sincere about what's he's doing. Admirable. It was worth the experience :) Imagine being able to feed these animals up close & personal. Parang hindi totoo :D The giraffes were so tamed. Lemuel, one of the giraffes who fondly ate all the leaves that we brought for feeding is very very big. At first, he would get the leaves that we tried to feed him and leave. Later on, we saw him sharing the leaves to the other giraffes. Gestures that will really awe you. We had the chance to feed the bearcats & porcupines too. The Calamian deers (Philippine born & raised), zebras & giraffes were freely roaming and it looks so natural & delightful. You'll fall in love with nature :) Not every Filipino knows that this safari actually exists. This, according to Mg Jun (the tour coordinator) was a project of Marcos during his term in 1970's. It's disappointing to hear though that this habitat has not been developed since then. No funds nor attention from the government I guess. As Mg Jun says, he feels sad and worried because he knows sooner or later, it's possible that the country will have to kiss goodbye to this wildlife sanctuary. :( So many stories to tell and so many photos captured. Look at the first row photo of the giraffes above. The giraffes actually do a split when trying to get food from the grounds. Yeah, they have to- for being that tall. I've learned that these giraffes are very picky with what leaves to eat. The zebras, on the other hand, eat either fresh or dried leaves. That's why the zebras are heavier and more " mataba" :) The deer's horn falls off after mating season. And apparently, they use this horns to fight against fellow deers for a doe. They have a celebrity giraffe in the Safari named Athena but unfortunately, we didn't have the chance to see her. We saw this mommy giraffe who just gave birth to a baby giraffe two weeks ago, but look how big it is already? Half day safari tour to Calauit is Php2300/person. This is inclusive of of the safari guide, boat ride from Dimakya to Calauit, safari ride, snacks & drinks. You will leave the resort around 7am and you will be back around 12nn. Just in time for another great buffet meal at Club Paradise. You can make reservations at the resort front desk upon arrival.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

random weekend & monday night at home

Our friend Tricia is here so it's get together time for us girls. I wasn't that eager to go anywhere. Common it's Monday! told them to just come over at my house after dinner for dessert/ coffee. That way, I won't be guilty to leave Kyle alone on a schoolday.
Tricia brought cello's doughnuts , I have blushing cupcakes served that I bought over the weekend,Tositos & this superb cheese dip that my mom in law got from S&R. Naomi & tricia tried the leftover pasta from the boys' victory party last Sat :)
These are Naomi's pasalubong from Europe trip. She gave me 2 :) Luvet!


Friendly friends at home. It could've been a desperate housewives night at home if only everyone is married but since they're not, SATC nalang ata! :D it's so fun talking to the girls. stress free monday! we had good laughs till half past midnight. Kyle joined too but he went to bed earlier of course.

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My brother Jc gave me this for pasalubong last weekend. Ano ba? Implying something bro?! :p Sge, we'll see if this one works out. :)

About the book & author here.

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Husband & I watched Wanted with my brothers, Jc & Mico last Sunday.The film is so cool and angry! Angelina Jolie is such an idol!



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Congratulations to my husband and the team for winning 2nd place in this basketball league -that I wasn't able to support & watch religiously. Sorry babe! Kyle was there naman the whole time to cheer on my behalf :)
Saturday night at Bambi's garage! the boys' victory party :)