Foodie weekend: the BIG Binondo Food WOK!

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!

Grabbed the chance to go on Old Manila Walks' Chinese New Year edition of their famous Chinatown walking (and eating) tour. My mom and I were walking before the tour began, making our way from Recto LRT3 station to Binondo Church on foot. It took us half an hour because we made a wrong turn towards Divisoria. Although she's a real Manila girl (born in Tondo, schooled in Binondo), ma is human after all.

Looks familiar?

Follow the Chinoy with the flag

Streetwalker Ivan Man Dy (not a practitioner of the world's oldest profession) reminded me of Sandeman tour guides: makulit, irreverent and well-versed with the culture, history and gossip of the area.

It was great to meet like-minded people keen on discovering new things and eating good food, including bloggers Aian, Ivy, and Crystal, who has an excellent post on the tour. We had our share of uzis and freebie-hunting hangers-on. And like a reality show (without the pace), we were captured on video for ANC shows.


The climate, the pollution, and the lack of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. These factors make walking tours in the Philippines tricky, but the crop of walking tour guides that emerged in recent years seem to have worked around this quite well. In this case, we all left the "wok" with a better understanding of the Chinese settlers in the Philippines and best of all, very full stomachs.

Foodie weekend: Carinderia lunch, restaurant dinner

My brother treated me to real street food here. There's another eating area past the TV repair shop.

We had half orders of papaitan, ginisang monggo, dinuguan, and a sweet pork dish (all were decent but the last one was delicious). I had barbecue (very tasty); my brother had bilog. Plus two and half cups of rice, our bill amounted to P153, which made me laugh. Para sa taong kalye talaga.

That evening, ma and my tita tita had a joint birthday dinner for their siblings and Mommy Ted at Gloria Maris at The Podium. What a feast!

Or are my eyes are turning green?

euromaxx highlights (Deutsche Welle) is one of my favorite TV shows and I'm glad I can get it via iTunes. Presenter Karin Helmstaedt is on Babypausen, so Sandra Maria Meier is substituting for her. I thought it was interesting that she was dressed and made up the same way Helmstaedt was. Her voice and delivery need a bit of work, but she will improve in time. Maybe I'm just resisting the accent (Spanish?) because Robin Merrell's English is more "proper" than BBC English and Canadian-German Helmstaedt's pronunciation is impeccable.

Ekstra-ekstrahan + outtakes

Apologies for the vanity.

Unearthed some photos from work taken between 2005 and 2006. Hope the photogs don't mind me posting these. Click to read the credits.

I didn't get paid, but I had fun

And that's why magazine people have good pictures

The best thing about working with pros is developing an eye for good images. At least that's what I think. Plus, most of them are great people to work with.

A handful of rice

Work on your vocab, feed the hungry. It doesn't sound logical but that's what Free Rice is about. It will take some time to win enough rice for a family, and some of the words can be archaic, but do try. The rice you earn is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program to those who need it.

[via Gorgeous Traveller]

Kaleidoscopes 3

Postcard + CD

Wondering how to spend your date-less Valentine's?

Take your pick.

Hamlet
Repertory Philippines


Orosman at Zafira
Dulaang UP


Romeo and Juliet
Gantimpala


Skin-Deep
PETA

Hamlet and Skin-Deep have shows on the 15th, but not on the 14th.

More choices? How about Tanghalang Ateneo's Hakbang sa Hakbang (Measure for Measure)?

All photos by Jojit Lorenzo. Winner cast photos!

MA dissertation update #7

How I spent the weekdays of January:

• Nine hours (on average)- mentally wrestling with the dissertation, interspersed with listening to podcasts and watching video podcasts. I usually start at 10 or 11am, then finish between 6 and 8pm. If I write quickly, I'd churn out an advertorial. Ika nga ni Sr. Iris, "Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can; found seldom in a woman, never in a man..."
  
• Lunch and snack- toasted wheat bread with whatever filling I can find. Quick and easy, but nowhere near Pret. I also do a bit of reading during breaks.
  
• Nightcap - a movie, usually Korean. My impression of Korean cinema has been shattered by some terrible films. I skip this when I'm online late.

I'm keeping to this routine until 18th February, when the draft is due. Do I get bored? Of course I do. That's why we look forward to weekends, right?

The massage is the medium

My family picked up a habit while I was away: having a massage before taking a flight. But I didn't have to wait for trip to have one. An hour-long bed massage for the whole body is only P280 ( £2 ) at Vibes, Robinson Place Metro East. The price is ridiculously cheap by any standards, though I am told that there are people who offer home service at a cheaper rate.

The last time I had a massage was a couple of years ago in the office, a free 15-minute chair massage (seated, but with a masseur/masseuse, not the La-Z Boy variety). Before that, I had a half-hour massage in full view of the mall crowd years ago and interviewed the blind masseur about his job. Earlier than that, there were free chair massages in college. At least now there's more privacy. The blind masahistas are trained in Shiatsu, Swedish massage, reflexology and acupuncture, arguably a decent way to earn their keep. On weekdays, Vibes offers a 25% discount on one-hour massages from 10am to 1pm. Sounds like an idea for a relaxing lunch break.

Birthday feast

Sumo Sam, Shangri-La Plaza
Treated my mom to lunch. This is all I managed to shoot. It's the anchovies covered with something gooey and sweet (honey or caramelized sugar?). We had gyoza, and grilled chicken with linguine, the name of which escapes me.

Casa Armas, The Podium
Dinner at a Spanish restaurant is usually pricey, so we reserve it for special occasions. We had croquetas with jamon and croquetas with pollo (jamon is way better), paella and a seafood mix in red sauce. We stuffed ourselves with the complimentary bread that we could barely finish all the prawns.

I was disappointed that the in-house singer-guitarists didn't know how to sing Happy Birthday in Spanish but was surprised when they started singing in Chinese for the other tables.

Not in a blogging mood then because I was jotting down an idea for a story. I would have forgotten to bring out my camera if my brother did not shoot any pictures with his.

Malang at Eighty + The Forgotten Malang

[I just finished re-reading Art of the Western World, which breezes through Western art history in under 350 pages, using the minutes I would have unproductively spent waiting for the PC to start up. Sadly, my Philippine art history doesn't just need a brushing up--I need a complete life course in it. But at least I know that Malang is one of the living titans in Philippine art and his paintings of Filipino women are iconic.]

We happened to pass by the Malang at Eighty exhibit at Megamall Art Center and simply had to stop to take a closer look. The show reflects how prolific the artist is. There were dozens of pieces, not just because the space is huge, but also because the pieces are relatively small (some are postcard-size). Here is where my art history needs help. Does anyone know if it's always been that way?

Women vendors are still his main subjects, but my mom and I reached a consensus on what our favorite was: an abstract piece that was entirely expressionistic. Maybe I got tired of looking at moon-shaped faces, long black hair, skirts and shawls.

Right across the venue was The Forgotten Malang: A Career in Cartoons, at The Crucible gallery. I enjoyed this retrospective of his editorial cartoons and comic strips of Chain-Gang Charlie, Beelzebub and Kosme the Cop because they show a side of the artist that younger people do not know.

Funny interview with a gamer girl

[click for video]

...who turns 55 today and still manages to play online games of suicidal monkeys jumping off cliffs, and impatient models taking turns at hair, makeup and wardrobe. I edited out my favorite part: "Pakpakpakpakpak!!! Maniac yata ako." That's because we were guffawing uncontrollably. Happy birthday, ma!

You know you're reading too many blogs when...

Kaleidoscopes 2

More stuff from my room, including titles off the bookshelf, a couple of self-portraits, a rose patterned photo frame, cups and the bedsheet.

MA dissertation update #6: Demystifying data analysis

I happened to have enough colored paper, one shade for each participant. (I maintain that I'm not even OC at this rate!) After this shot, I got a pair of scissors and started cutting up the sheets. Manual coding, literally.

Auditions for Huling Pasada (Cinemalaya 2008 Full Length Category Official Entry)

Auditions for the Cinemalaya 2008 Independent Full Length HULING PASADA will be on Thursday (Jan.24) and Friday (Jan.25), 1pm to 6pm at the TINY DINOSAUR MEDIA Office, Unit 203-B Xanland Place Condominium, 323 Katipunan Ave, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.
* Male: 20ish for the role of Darla/Darwin
* Male: Late 20s to early 30s; tall and attractive with oozing sex appeal
* Female: Mid to Late 20s; attractive, "bargas", secretive, intense
* Girl: 5-10 years old; knows how to dance ballet, must be pretty, endearing and sensitive
* Boy: 8-14 years old; can pass off as a street child, gaunt with expressive eyes, intense

For further inquiries, please contact 0917 328 5167

Tsoko.Nut Batirol, SM Makati

I didn't know what to say about Tsoko.Nut Batirol's Tsokolate Ah. It wasn't as smooth as I hoped it would be. Taste-wise, I couldn't compare it with any hot chocolate I've had. It's just different. The ensaymada topped with queso de bola was something else. Tasty and light as a feather, it was gone in a minute.