eat, love, travel!

quote for the day

2010-08-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

I love quotations! Those one-liners that give you a boost, an inspiration, a smile. This one lifts me up instantly! Thanks La Dolce Vita http://paloma81.blogspot.com for sharing this in your blog.

do you journal?

2010-08-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

I wish I did!

Especially for the travels I made: the day trips, out-of-town trips, conventions, vacations. I can imagine how fun and heartwarming it would be to browse the journals and relive the moments. I've kept pictures and I will give it a try - to write about my past travels. Meanwhile, I will get the prettiest journal I can get.

RTW, soon!

2010-08-18T00:17:00.000-07:00

For the past three days, I've been reading about round the world travel experiences of fellow bloggers, and I must admit that I'm both jealous and inspired!

My heart is beating fast with the thought of it. I couldn't stop researching about fellow traveller's experience and slowly building up my knowledge and courage to do it sooner than soon.

I need to write this down so that I will be reminded that it's time to start acting on it! Tonite, I will share this dream with my family! I will definitely let them be my co-creator in this one exciting life experience! Round the world travel with my family! Let the game begin.

dream travels

2010-01-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

I am reviewing the law of attraction. The idea that what you think about you bring about is exciting! I have a confession to make: I've been thinking non-stop about travels! And I intend to jot down all those travel ideas I'll come across, and share it here, and put timeline.

I remember some years ago, I came across a picture of The Bund in Shanghai, clipped it, and stared at it for several times. Then I put it away somewhere. Fast forward to 2008. Guess what? I won a free trip for two to Shanghai and one of the highlights of the trip is visiting The Bund on a wonderful river cruise!

I will dig into my chest of "goal pictures" so I can show you the clipping of The Bund.

Meanwhile, here's a shot of The Bund!

travel souvenirs

2010-01-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

do you like collecting travel souvenirs? sometimes i do, sometimes i don't. photos still are my best travel mementos. I was reading Tony Wheeler's blog last nite about travel souvenirs and suddenly, a flash of pictures of my past travels came to mind. I suddenly recalled that I do love going to souvenir shops and the many choices of knick-knacs often leave me amused and confused as what to take home. In several ocassions, I found myself spending too much time looking at these cute little things and still undecided what will travel with me back home! Those cute little ref magnets are the easy ones. Ive collected some. I remember visiting a friend of a friend's office and seeing unique ref magnets to remember each and every place they've been to and I must say that the collection is one of a kind. It did inspire me to look for unique magnets too in my travels.

One unique travel souvenir I have is the circle of friend (or friendship?) which I bought in a flea market San Jose California. It was heavy! here's a picture of it.

david lee's top movies to get you travelling in 2010

2010-01-09T06:16:00.000-08:00

i will definitely watch these movies!

http://www.gobackpacking.com/Blog/2010/01/07/top-10-travel-movies-2010/

thai food hmm...

2010-01-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

My sister has been living in Virginia for over a year now, and am so sure she's missing home food and asian food. So when we met up in LA last october, she was so happy to find a simple thai restaurant near our hotel. The owner is Thai and so is the nice lady who served our food. She's in LA to study, and is missing the comforts of her home too, especially her car! We ordered shrimp fried rice and chicken curry plus my all-time favorite thai iced tea!

When we were taking pictures, our new friend from Thailand smiled and asked if she can check out my SLR camera. She enjoys photography, she tells us, and that she'd like to own a camera like mine. She gamely posed when I asked if I can take her picture. Here she is....

.....we were so amused with her spontaineity and her happy pose that we gamely posed too....

virtual home

2010-01-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

She lives up to her name - things that inspire. I'm referring to a lady blogger I've recently discovered.

I was indeed inspired to do my own virtual home! So if you may allow me please to borrow your blog title, I'd like to create my virtual home too. This idea isn't really that new to me. For many years now, we teach our new business partners to create a dreambook! I must admit though that it's challenging to gather pictures of things that represent our heart's desires. But with the pictures from the internet, creating an online (or virtual) dreambook is now easier!

I'll start off with this beautiful master bathroom. I remember when i started cutting away pictures of our dreambook, it always included a nice, white, airy bathroom!

I'll return to this post shortly and add more details to my virtual home...

sunny living room

2010-01-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks, I have been looking for different places we can go to for our wedding anniversary. That included Tagaytay, Batangas, Zambales, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, even Puerto Galera. It was fun as I've discovered several places or resorts I've never been to.

Come end December, when my husband arrived from a project abroad, I told him the options. He just told me, it's up to you, wherever you like, whatever would make you happy.

Then an idea hit me! I asked him - do you want to repaint our living room instead of going out of town? My husband readily said yes!

So we forego the trip and headed to the home store to buy gallons of paint and other painting materials. It was a family affair - the repainting! Ayel and Vince helped out and now we have a sunny living room! yey! almost! My husband has to do another coat of paint for the ceiling. Should be done by tomorrow.

Now I'm inspired to take on other renovation projects in our house! Next in line - the library dining area! I've gathered some pictures already and I can't wait to display my collection of books in our dining area.

So looking forward to it!

And sharing with you an inspiration for some shelves I want to install in our dining area. Pretty idea, don't you think so?

the law of least effort

2009-12-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

what are some of the things you really love? or activities that give you joy?

I can list a few - reading a book, visiting bookstores and visiting home stores. I'm writing this in between reading Deepak Chopra's book "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" and I quote one of the paragraphs: "The Law of Least Effort is based on the fact that nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease and abandoned carefreeness. This is the principle of harmony and love. Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love. When your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy. When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiples and accumulates - and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth. " Wow!

I continue to quote: "There are three components to the Law of Least Effort. First, is acceptance, which simply means that you make a commitment to accept people, situations, circumstances and events as they occur. You can wish for things in the future to be different, but in this moment you have to accept things as they are."

For me, this is simply gratitude.

Have you read that book yet? I encourage you do.

Check out Amazon.com. Saving tip: check out their slightly used books! You can have two for the price of one.

Happy reading!

corn muffin

2009-12-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

I love corn bread, corn muffin. Last October, we had buffet dinner at country home in san diego with my cousin-law jess and his two sons. I kept coming back for the corn bread! In manila, I enjoy kenny roger's corn muffins!

Yesterday, I was at the Shangrila Mall and walk past Le Coure De France and saw corn muffins! I haven't tried their version so I bought one just to taste. I still vote for Kenny Rogers as you can taste the corn, the sweetness is just right, and the price is unbeatable! Sorry but Le Coure's version didn't get my vote - too sweet.

How about you? what's favorite bread?

punta malabrigo beach lobo batangas

2009-12-12T23:49:00.001-08:00

Sharing with you some photos of a unique and quiet resort in lobo, batangas. Unique because of the flat rocks instead of sand. Clear water, hammocks everywhere, lots of sampaloc trees, simple and clean duplex accomodations.

Visit also the lighthouse and have an excellent view of the ocean. The owners of the resort are very nice, and the place is so private. For me, this is relaxation in its simplest form.

blue mango inn boracay

2009-12-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

We visited boracay couple of years ago and stayed in a homey resort at Station 3. The price was so reasonable, and the location was far from the noisy spots. Blue Mango Inn was just in front of the powdery white sand beach! I can still recall one of the most relaxing moments I had - sipping their fresh mango shake one late afternoon while reading my favorite books. The accomodation includes free breakfast for four - toasted bread with jam and butter and sunny side up egg.

One of the highlights of the trip was snorkeling near the crocodile island and feeding the fish! I

remember I was screaming the first time I held bread underneath the water and in a few minutes, a school of fish came rushing towards the bread! That was fun!

jatujak

2009-12-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Choy took a quick break from his project in Bacolod. So quick that he arrived in Manila past 12 noon, then left for singapore at about 430 pm on the same day! He then stayed in Singapore from thursday night til sunday. Then he stayed one day in Manila to be with us. I was planning to have a short out of town trip but Choy was too tired to do that so we just moved around Manila. Went to the parlor to have his haircut and haircolor (yes! to cover his gray hair) , then off to mega mall to buy stuff for kids.

We were all so hungry by the time we finished. Off to Jatujak for some thai food! The boys love the thai iced tea! We ordered thai mixed noodles, green chicken curry, beef with basil, and fried vegetable spring rolls. As always, we ask for extra wansoy. We just love wansoy!

Vincent was so funny; he kept drinking water. The food was a bit spicy for him.

nagsasa cove zambales

2009-12-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

this is a great option for december 26 to 28 or jan 2 to 3. not too far from manila.

http://www.pundaquit.com/attractions-in-pundaquit/nagsasa-cove-zambales.html

travel wish list

2009-12-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

revisit cebu.

batanes.

viaje del sol. experience staying in casa san pablo and staying overnite at the springs.

puerto princesa

coron. this time with choy and the kids.

boracay. this time with my parents.

My lolo's farm in bicol. With its nipa hut by the brook. It left such a great memory that I am craving now to spend a vacation in a place like that. There's a fresh pond, there's tall coconut trees and my Lolo will climb up to get some coconut for us! It was such a thrill! Even the very simple food he prepared - steaming white rice with boiled camote tops dipped in fish sauce was memorable. The water we drink comes from the brook and it tastes so sweet. That is really one of the most memorable vacations I have had. Simple but it was the love of my Lolo Miroy that made it wonderful. I now understand why I am so drawn to things made of native materials. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I love the hard wood floors of one of the houses in the farm and how we would make it shine by using banana leaves as floor scrub. How ingenious! Then at nite, we would use a gas lamp and watch the fireflies by the window. I wish my relatives didnt sell that property so we can go back to it. Or maybe I can buy it back. Why not? Now, Im longing to travel all the way to Tinambac Camarines Sur to see if that farm is the way it's used to be. I wish..I wish.

bottles

2009-12-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Lazy sunday today. Researching on travel blogs and being reminded of some of the things I love - old bottles - wine bottles, odd shaped bottles, even jars of tuyo. My children and I used to paint glass bottles. Too bad, National bookstore doesn't sell the glass paint anymore.

I remember one christmas, my mother-in-law bought several shot glasses and asked me to paint it so she can give it as gifts. It was such a hit. I think I painted some candle holders too and gave it away as gifts. One of my friends, Maria, really loved it!

There was one chiz whiz bottle that my son Ayel painted which I kept for a long time, but one day as I was decluttering, i was such in hurry to clean up, it went with the bottles that I wanted to throw away! Hay, until now, I regret it so much. It was such a sweet memory of those bonding moments. Anyway, I will go and find a store that sells those glass paints and create another painting session with my children. Now that puts a smile on my face again.

sugbutel - a modern hostel in cebu

2009-12-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of a trip to cebu. The last time I was in Cebu was probably 5 years ago. Maybe even more. My research leads me to different accomodations available, including this new hostel called Sugbutel. Catchy isn't it? I've tried a hostel in malaysia and it was ok. iId probably try this so i can write about it. Why not? The pictures in their website tells me this is worth checking out, especially by backpackers. Check out their website : http://www.sugbutel.com/.

lovely lunch at Old Vine, Eastwood

2009-12-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

Today is friendship day!

I had lunch with two of my best friends, Cielo and Louie at Old Vine in eastwood. The place is lovely with its high ceiling and walls adorned with beautiful paintings. The lunch is Louie's treat to celebrate his birthday, and this is day two of the celebration! Lucky me to be at both lunches!

For starters, we ordered pan seared tuna which was so delicious! It melts in your mouth. Then a big serving of the trio salad made of romaine lettuce, shrimp, shitake mushroom and escargot. The dressing was light. Cielo ordered the petite fillet mignon with baked potatoes and buttered veggies. Iouie got the peppered steak with mashed potatoes and side salad. I opted to just order the creamy vegetable soup instead of an entree. I still feel full from the lunch yesterday!

In between chews and bites, we shared endless stories, jumping from one topic to another. New stories, old stories. Every now and then I couldn't help but comment on how good Louie's skin has been lately!

When I'm with Cielo, I find myself always talking about Malaysia. I guess because that's where my friendship with Cielo really started to deepen.

I wish I finished my errands early in the morning so I didnt have to rush ending lunch. Good thing, the exchange of fun stories just started to heat up so to continue it, Cielo and Louie offered to bring me to makati, with a stop at ford's showroom. I cancelled the trip to makati because of traffic. Instead, the three of us headed to Cafe Mary grace at Serendra for hot chocolate, cheese roll, cheesecake and more stories!

Oh and during lunch time, we agreed to go out every 2nd friday of the month to do this all over again! can't wait for the next date with two my best buddies.

2009-09-09T00:54:00.000-07:00

After two nites of late chinese dinners, my stomach begged for a healthier feast. So last saturday, I decided to drink lots of fresh fruit juice and eat lots of veggies. For breakfast, i think i just had tea and banana, skipped lunch then went to the office. After meeting with my friend Robert , I headed to the caltex station at the corner of makati ave and buendia.

As i was walking, I was mentally examining the healthy choices available in pancake house and teriyaki boy. I found myself instead at dizon's fruit stand. I ordered fresh fruit juice, but they don't sell it on saturdays! ayayay! i bought atis and ate it right away! felt good instantly! I got some lettuce, avocado and green apple to make salad at home.

Still not satisfied with the atis i just had, I thought of having miso soup at teriyaki boy. Once I got inside the resto, I suddenly remembered that Corner Tree Cafe is just nearby. I've been planning to go there for a long time so I changed my mind; left Teriyaki boy and headed to CTC! Yey!

I snapped a few shots of the cafe's entrace and when I entered, I was pleased to see Chiqui, the owner. The cafe looks like a charming cottage inn, with its white walls and ceiling, and mismatched liberation chairs. Corner Tree Cafe offers healthy, vegetarian meals. I've tried their tofu walnut burger in the american women's bazaar and it was yummy!

Chiqui joined me right away in the table. I eagerly asked for the menu. First item that caught my eye: lemon grass tea! It was so refreshing, i finished half of it on my first sip! And then the organic salad. The dressing was light and tasted like the hummus dip. The tomyao sprout added a nice crunch and bite to the salad.

As I kept seeing the menu board, I wondered if i should try the spinach soup. Couldn't help it so i asked for a cup. I was glad I did. The spinach and pechay soup was light and the creaminess was just right.

My tummy was thankful for that early, healthy dinner. As I prepared to leave, Chiqui shared where she gets her bread. It's from Lartizan inside Mickey's Deli, a few steps away from the cafe. I'm a bread lover so I decided to check it out!

Lovely discovery - the almond cookies!!!

As I strolled along Jupiter street after i got my bread from Lartizan, I felt like I was in a different place other than Makati. Perhaps, Jupiter Street is not the usual crowded street on a fine saturday afternoon. I lazily strolled and headed back home.