subtle Saturday

SATURDAY MORNING greeted us happily as we exited the doors of the office. The smell of smoked sausages fanned through the air and we wondered where it came from. A few meters from where I was standing was the longest sausage links that stretch from the Convention Center to as far as my eyes could see. Guarding the links were students from a neighboring university wearing chef uniforms and toques. Last week was the biggest pizza the city could make, this time the longest sausage link in the history of Baguio. It made our mouths water. What gives? It's the city's Centennial,so they're celebrating it in any way possible.The night before, our boss invited us for her party in Green Valley for that morning. One of our friends, Joyce brought her van to bring us there and the first time I saw the van, it looked so old I was just waiting for it to collapse in pieces with the wheels rolling to the streets something out of a funny car commercial. We were halfway there when the van acted out and broke down somewhere in a place we weren't familiar with and where taxis are hardly passing by. We were all pissed because not only did our boss not pick us (her guests) up, we walked up a hill, lost and so hungry. My legs were shaking from too much walking and then, just when we thought a mirage appeared, a real taxi answered our prayers!
We were only too happy to be squished like tomatoes inside the cab and the driver snorted but his mood did not put our happy moods down. So I remembered that it was my cheat day today, so I had to choose what food to reward myself with. Grilled? Baked? or.. I know! I let the taxi drop me off at Central Park, the chinese restaurant that nestled sweetly in Legarda road, far away from the busy streets of the Longganisa Festival. A waiter greeted me warmly and had me seated at one of the big tables. I ordered a regular iced soda, and lechon macau rice topping, then just when I was dreaming of the calorie fest I was going to have, a dimsum cart wheezed its way to my direction. Piles of little bamboo steamers boast itself of pretty,mouthwatering steamed meats! I wanted the japanese siomai bamboo steamer(ground pork meat with onions, water chestnuts, turnips wrapped in nori) but I settled for the house specialty Central Park siomai which consists of the same japanese siomai but with ham and oodles of sweet jellyfish wrapped around the meat. It tasted heavenly when dipped in chili oil, soy sauce and calamansi! A few minutes later my order arrived in large serving, the crispy crown roast pork piled in a beautiful plate with pickled papaya and rice and liver dip on the side. I devoured it slowly and chewed it enjoyably as the crunch and flavors exploded in my mouth wishing that this happy feeling stays with me for the rest of the day. The fat, delectably delicious, had been too much, so I shoved the rest of it aside as I sipped the remaining soda in my glass and sighed. My eyes were a little tired from last night's work but my mood that was nearly spoiled by a funny, unfortunate event did not hinder me from enjoying a sinful cheat day. As I cap the meal, I was craving for ice cream from Jollibee. I hailed a cab and requested him to pass by the drive-thru for just one order- Ube Cheesy Magic (crushed ice with milk and sweet yam sprinkled with cheese), it was delightful to just eat a spoonful at a time during traffic on the way home.
Saturday is an easy day to lose moods only to get lifted up by simple pleasures such as these. Have a great weekend.

what simple things bring..

PEOPLE WHO KNOW me know that I’m always in for cheap thrills. I am never one for expensive stuff and feel comfortable about it for a long time. Gadgets for one, don’t appeal to me as make-up do. Well, of course make-up and a few other things like facial cream, soaps and massage oils need a bang-in-the-buck to truly pamper the skin which goes a long, long way. Physical investment, I would call it.
Anyway, I had a few expensive things that went pfft on me, like my phone which I had spent so much, only to realize that I couldn’t send and receive messages after the memory card acted out on the software. Two weeks in the service center and a few thousand pesos later, my phone’s memory was freshly showered and I had no interest whatsoever in keeping it anymore since all the sentimental value of its pictures, videos and messages from friends had no trace of kilo, mega or gigabyte on it. So I rebelled and got myself the most low-end phone I could ever find, the one with yellow light on it? Yeah, that one. And then when I started to love it, it found its way to someone who needs it most a.k.a. stolen.
Tomorrow, I will shop for my phone that Ive been crushing on since the day I saw it. And I will be reconnected to all my friends again without logging on the net, I hate that I spend so much time virtually other than get in touch with people, seeing them smile, hearing them laugh and get a warm hug.

Here are my 30 cheap thrills that I love to share with you

1. hugging,kissing my baby nephew Theo
2. looking forward to everyday that I will see my baby in Bahrain by next year
3. tweeting and catching up with tweets
4. buying an affordable Nokia 7210 Supernova
5. my Harry Potter collection books, Friends
6. a sturdy glass bookcase with all my favorite authors, magazines, DVD collection, books and a real photo album of family events
7. sweet and thoughtful messages on my phone
8. mama’s warm hands
9. an occasional regular iced soda
10. looking at the mirror and amazed at how beautiful I can be despite of being tired, stressed and sad
11. lightly salted French fries and hot caramel sundae from McDonalds
12. listening to 60s music with a good book to read on a Sunday mornings
13. cooking and hosting dinners
14. digital scrapbooking
15. chicken turbo Tuesday nights with my brother W
16.f amily get-togethers over funny videos and midnight snacks
17.Pares with J and friends
18. sweets, definitely
19. someone saying “I love you” to me for no particular reason
20. Cadburry chocolates!
21. people who don’t know me personally get to know me through my blogs and Twitter
22. reading the Lucy Torres-Gomez articles every Sunday
23. losing pounds without lifting a finger (and yes that happens to me luckily)
24. the liberating feeling that you could talk to someone you used to love and not bother making him a part of your daily routine
25. my very own book launch someday
26. the pure, innocent smile of a child
27. the tranquil, peaceful solace of a beach
28. a kiss that makes me melt like butter on a hot toast
29. people saying that they are enjoying their lives just as it should be
30. family..

waving the Travellers' Flag..

LATELY, I GET FASCINATED WITH THE WORLD. The cultures, food and even the smallest trivia I could come across if it’s a different country. In my line of work, I talk to Americans every second for 11 hours straight in a day. Then when I get home, I talk to my special someone who’s from the Middle East, although he talks in broken English, it made me realize that our conversations need special care specially how I say it and when. Arabs, in my understanding are like Americans, always straight to the point, never sugarcoating whatever needs to be said. Sometimes, I get hurt with the things he say if I’m at fault. But I learned that I’m too sensitive. With the way I was taught, I always mind people’s feelings; it has rubbed off to my being with him. Whenever we would chat, I’d always correct him with how words are spelled.
I had a hard time understanding him if the phrases involve a lot of difficult words to correct. The other day, he said “I have a lixes,” and when he suddenly said “Car”, then I understood that it was a “Lexus” that he was referring to. What I like about him was he’ll admit when he is wrong and he’ll even say “Can you please correct me?” We always talk about the Gulf Coast and how I would love the food, beautiful people and the places of the Oil Country. I’d love to explore it with him, that’s what beauty of travels are for, a companion appreciating the sights and sounds through your eyes.
I have a dream of traveling to Vietnam. My dad grew up there and I want to visit the place he had so lovingly called home during his teenage years. If I have the luxury of time, I would love to get lost in Hanoi riding my bike in the lazy afternoon and eating rice papers with chicken in coconut milk or roast pork accompanied with lemon and dipped slightly in rock salt as the Vietnamese would.
A said that Egypt is beautiful and he would love to travel with me there for the second time trekking the pyramids in Giza.
What’s a party without a Mardi Gras in Rio? My wild side needs unleashing at a rave like this but that is just a thought bubble
And what would my life be without Viva Espana? Beaches in Mallorca and chasing bulls in Barcelona are the places I would love to visit, the food boasting of its rich history, and cute matadors. I would love to dress up, a red rose in my tightly bun hair dancing the flamenco with the Senoritas.
Finally, Coron,Palawan, my dream destination, the underground river, the hidden lakes, batcaves and beautiful, warm people. The journey would not be complete if not to explore it in your home country. With this, my destination will come full circle..

where was Peter Pan?

AT THIRTY, you would think I'd be married, settled and fulfilled with family life. Like most of my friends my age, they are nearly sending off their kids to kindergarten or gradeschool. Mine was sidetracked or at least I thought so.
Flashback, thirteen years ago when my dreams were still made of bubblegum,sephoras and college parties, all I wanted was to get married with my first boyfriend, but things happened along the way and growing up from the pain was necessary. I was forced to deal with what I had and let go of the future plans that I dreamed of sweetly for two plus years.
The second was dealing with my siblings to work far from home. Where we were all close knit,this had proven somewhat hard for all of us. One by one, I found myself watching TV in a big living room with only a pizza box and cried watching a happy Oprah giving awaythings for Thanksgiving.
And then it was my turn to brave Manila on my own,it was scary to find a job, struggling with things that other co-workers are struggling with. The comfort of knowing that there are people who are just like me, finding myself in this big world. Eventually, I made friends, coffee dates, pep talks, team meetings, outings, promotion, falling in love, falling out of, getting busy and sooner or later, I found myself really really growing up and accepting all the things good and bad in my life. The change looked good on me and my outlook in life. I wasn't stuck in one place anymore, all because I have accepted that I'm not a child and I had chosen to spread my wings.
Beyond the norms of having a family at this day and age, single women like me, are frowned upon because they thought we were just having too much time and this part right here, is thought to be a childish thing. But I chose to grow this way, love and family will come eventually and I'm not worried one slight bit about it. I'm not going to refuse to grow old and have laugh lines or worry that my face will turn into a wrinkled bread. Because those beautiful lines represent a history of what I have been, the struggles, pains and victories I have lovingly welcome in my life. Peter Pan can just go back to Neverland without me...