i just finished bringing all my posts (since 2005) from my old blog to this site. i can't commit to writing regularly but i will try. i had my drive before but somewhere along the way, i lost it. perhaps i just got so busy.
anyhow, it was fun browsing through my old posts, and i am a bit happy that some of the photos i posted are still there. months after my MacBook crashed, i still have nightmares about it and i still get depressed and emotional about all the photos and articles i lost. i don't think i will ever move on. ever.
so there. my blogspot is here. now.
Monday, November 17, 2008
quickie
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
back, for now
i was kidnapped by aliens.
i had to fly to paris.
my hard drive fried. again.
i forgot my password.
i forgot to type.
i forgot i had a blog.
excuses, schmuses.
it's been awhile friends, and i apologize. you can't imagine how many emails i received asking me why i no longer blog (4! yes, four. seriously.) hence this post.
i've always been saying that i've been quite busy. that my schedule has been toxic. that i was running after deadlines. that i had so many things to do. all true.
i did not mention though that there were times when i wanted to blog but i did not know what to blog about. i did not want to blog just to blog, or write something just so i can update this. which is what i am doing now, i think.
i digress.
perhaps the most compelling reason why i have not blogged for so long is that i found another addiction. and no, it's not food. hah!
one word, or two words combined: facebook.
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Friday, July 11, 2008
i heart tilapia
and i used to consume tilapia by the freaking pound, specially when i used to live in hell-ey, where there are tons of fresh (and huuuge) tilapia sold for a dollar a pound. cheapo.
we used to go to the filipino market (or asian store if there are no filipino stores nearby) and buy pounds of tilapia, have them cleaned and deep-fried to crispy perfection. we would then buy salted eggs and some tomatoes. perfect. oh, how i miss those days.
some friends who are quite adventurous would buy tilapia, then cook them either as paksiw or sinigang or nilaga. i'm salivating as i type this post. seriously.
anyhow, i remembered when i was still in the philippines. i was assigned to cover mindanao intermittently between 1995-97 and i loved it. one time, we went to lake sebu where a restaurant served all-tilapia, all-the-time. imagine kinilaw na tilapia, adobong tilapia, paksiw na tilapia, pritong tilapia, nilagang tilapia...you get my point. i loved the place. it was tilapia heaven.
i haven't had tilapia in about a year. and i miss it.
then today, i read this. tilapia is worse than bacon, the report says.
i'm like, what the f? hahaha. doctors told us to consume fish, fish, fish. and now comes this report that this particular fish, of all fishes in the sea, is worse than bacon? what the hell? it could have been lapu-lapu or sea bass (on second thought, no) or mackerel...but tilapia? darn!
Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers say their research revealed that farm-raised tilapia, as well as farmed catfish, "have several fatty acid characteristics that would generally be considered by the scientific community as detrimental."
Tilapia has higher levels of potentially detrimental, long-chain, omega-6 fatty acids than 80-percent-lean hamburger, doughnuts and even pork bacon," write the Wake Forest researchers in an article published this month in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
nadal! nadal!
i know. delayed reaction. or delayed posting.
i have never been a fan of roger federer. i don't know why. he's good, alright but i am not a fan. i was a big pete sampras fanatic, that i can say. and when he retired, i shifted my adoration to rafa. and novak. and andy. yes, even james. but not roger. definitely not roger. and my friends know it.
i was very happy when novak won over him in montreal last year. and when rafa beat him last sunday, in what could be one of the best tennis matches in history, i was ecstatic. just to gloat, i called F, one of my friends who is a big roger fan.
he was not in a good mood. "masaya ka na?" (are you happy now?) he asked, without even saying hi first. then i laughed. more like guffawed. for about a minute. then we talked. he wanted to call me but he thought it would be better if i did the calling. haha. a few hours later, j, another friend who loves tennis, called me up. he just finished watching the match. like me, he did not like federer. so we were happy. haha.
indeed, it was history. and i am happy that it is rafa's history. he's the first man after bjorn borg (very 80s!) to win both the french open and the wimbledon in the same year. had federer won, it would have been his sixth straight. but that was not going to happen.
ali (federer) versus frazier (rafa). and guess who won.
Monday, July 07, 2008
viva la vida
coldplay's latest album has been playing like crazy on my ipod. the entire album is on repeat mode. what can i say? i'm a big coldplay fan.
last week, i saw the tail-end of the today summer concert series at the rockefeller. yep, the one where they sang violet hill, 42 and viva la vida. fun. in order for you to get a good spot, you need to be at the rockefeller plaza by 7 am. heard some were there as early as 6. i'm not a morning person so i got there around 8ish. and they were almost wrapping up. hahaha. no complaints.
earlier that week, they had a free concert at the madison square garden. now, msg is right across my office so i made uzi. i didn't know that they were having a free (FREE!) concert there. too bad, it was sold out. well, the tickets were given away weeks (probably months) in advance. the scalpers (why are most of the scalpers in new york black? just asking.) were selling tickets at $250. damn. i was not going to pay $250 for a free concert. i wanted to but the principle of me paying some guy $250 for a ticket he probably got free prevented me. in 2001, i paid the same amount for a good seat at the staples center concert of madonna. haha.
i like this new album. i like coldplay's albums. even if they do a b-sides album, i'd probably going to like it. that's how i am.
next up is alanis morrissette's new album, yes the album after ryan reynolds. some say the angst is back.
Type rest of the post here
can you really curve a bullet's trajectory?
that, and other questions pummeled my head as me and nine others trooped to the cinema last saturday to watch 'wanted'.
i became a james mcavoy fan after i saw him as tumnus on the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. then came atonement, and the miss piggy movie with reese witherspoon and christina ricci. i wanted to see wanted (hah!) to see if he can make his own franchise. and apparently he can.
the movie's kinda (kinda!?!) violent. okay, it is violent. the scenes were quite graphic. imagine heads being blown away like crazy. i had a headache when we got out of loews. since we were a big group, (we didn't realize that even if the movie is already on its second week, people are still going to watch it. and it was a saturday. and the fourth of july weekend.) it was quite impossible to get a row of 10 seats. so we ended up dispersed. as in dispersed.
angie was hot. hawt. remember, team jolie na ako di ba? hehehe. want some spoilers? she ****. hehehe. oh wait, i heard there's going to be a sequel. but how?
morgan freeman was enigmatic as sloan. yay! but really, james macavoy brought it home. he's the man. of the moment. hopes he gets more great projects.
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Wednesday, July 02, 2008
mig ayesa
i was in jersey city with some co-workers to attend a filipino-american event (it was the philippine-american friendship committee (PAFCOM) parade and festival). mig ayesa was one of the performers. unfortunately, he did not get to perform because of the heavy downpour (seriously!) and it was an outdoorsy event (with manhattan's skyline as the backdrop).
i talked to him and here's what made it to my camera.
Type rest of the post here
Thursday, June 26, 2008
inspiring
wala lang. i rarely post videos here but i had to post this one. i have no idea why this inspired me. maybe because i vicariously experienced his travels through this video.
Type rest of the post here
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
oh no he didn't
but he did. 'he' refers to the great american president george w. bush.
the event: meeting with yet another great president, gloria arroyo.
bush probably had nothing else in mind to say, so he started with small talk.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.
PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.
PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you.
no, you can't make this up. condescending and insulting much, mr. president? and PHILIPPINE-AMERICANS? are you f@cking kidding me?
hop on to the huffington post.
i feel sorry for every single soul who voted for him. five more months. five more months!
Monday, June 09, 2008
crashed, part deux.
okay. this is not good. once a month posting? unforgivable. sorry dear 4 readers about that.
i have been busy. yada yada yada. you know that by now, probably.
so what has happened during the past weeks?
i'm back in new york. and i'm happy. hehehe. i didn't realize i missed new york THAT much, until i got back. when i left, everything was brown and bleak and when i returned everything was back to green, supple green. central park is a heaven again. spring's nice. speaking of spring.
the past few days have been hot. spring scorcher, that's what they call it. heatwave, man. and it's not even summer yet. just how hot? the past 3 days have been quite unbearable. maybe it's because of global warming.
weather's in the high 90s, plus humidity and it feels like 105. warmest i felt like this was 2 summers ago in scottsdale, arizona. or every freaking sumer in las vegas. LA doesn't get as hot as this. oh well. two more days and the temps will slide back to the 70s. or 80s. i'll take 80s anytime of the day.
and oh yeah, sad to say, my computer crashed again.
went to the apple store in soho last week. the next available genius bar appointment was 730 pm, and it was only 1. goodness. took the subway to the other, more famous apple store. the one on fifth avenue. the one with the big, square, glass box. it's open 24 hours a day. beat that. and the next available appointment was for 1130 pm. no way jose. so i went back to soho. i love soho. hahaha.
went around my favorite stores first. i made a long walk to greenwich, around the village. this neighborhood's so cool. if i get rich, i'd live here. hahaha. wishful thinking. i can't even afford hell's kitchen!
so the apple guy, his name's cian, checks my hard drive. after a few tinkering, he declared, i think your computer crashed. well, i knew that already because the freaking folder with a question mark sign appeared one day. and the next day when it tried to turn it on, it booted. whatever happened to the folder with a "?"? who knows. anyhow, cian said he was going to fix it and they will just call me when everything's done.
felt bad. felt depressed for about half an hour. i had a few files already after the first crash, and of course, i haven't had a chance to back them up. damn. i really want an eeepc right now. oh well.
so the other day, i got my macbook back. it's like brand new. i missed it. i caught up on all my backlog. i have a thousand articles to finish. a hundred interviews to transcribe. how can i ever finish all my reports?
so there goes my story. and oh yeah, shout out to my great friend may8 (too lazy to link!) for the company and the second row ticket to James Blunt's concert at the Araneta Coliseum the Monday before I left. It was such a great show I was singing along. LIke E was during Josh Groban's concert, only his voice was louder than Groban's and he was being shushed by his fellow audience members. haha. I missed Blunt's show at the wiltern in LA and the roseland in NYC. but i caught him at freaking arameta! goodness. he's good. really good.
speaking of josh groban...
a day after i flew in from manila (in retrospect, i might post some stuff about this. might.) i flew the following day to las vegas to cover the presscon and attend the david foster concert at the event center of mandalay bay. it was as star-studded as star-studded was. i was quite star-struck. who wouldn't. these are my idols, inf ront of me during the presson and i was just in awe being in their presence. hahaha. babaw.
josh groban. michael buble. andrea bocelli. the listcan stop there and i'm okay. brian mcknight. katharine mcphee. peter cetera. okay, i am fine. thank you very much.
the four hour (almost!) show was probably the best i've seen in years. can't wait to see it on pbs this fall. sigh. and oh yeah, charice was there. back in manila, before her oprah guesting was aired, i interviewed charice and her mom. she's such a very nice kid and am so happy for her. i have no idea if she has realized how lucky she is. ellen? oprah? and now this? and all these she attained through youtube! god bless false voice, the guy who uploaded her videos.
sa sex and the city with friends last week. it was loooooong. some scenes deserved to be cut. i don't know if i liked it. that much. probably a 6 for me, in terms of liking it. there were so many loopholes i had a headache trying to figure out why it has come to this. the biggest one? how could big not find carrie when carrie moved to her old apartment? he found her in paris, for crying out loud! and he can't find her in new york? okay, queens and jackson heights, hell even brooklyn and the bronx are out of the question? how can you not find her, big? come on.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
crashed. crushed.
for the first time in 10 years that i have been using apple computers, i experienced a crash. at first, i didn't think that it was a crash. it's just my-macbook-doesn't-want-to-boot type. and there's a white screen no matter what i do.
i called the gurus and the apple support people. i was redirected to an indian-sounding guy since my call was made from the philippines. he told me, with utmost certainty that the problem was "99% about the hardware" and that he couldn't say a hundred percent because i didn't have my dvd boot with me. so much for utmost certainty.
he directed me to go to the authorized apple reseller and service center in makati. i left my precious macbook to them last week and i was told that i'll hear from them through email in a day or two.
the day or two passed by. day 3, 4, 5. i was beginning to get giddy. and excited. and worried. so i called them up. i was informed by the engineer that it was a hard drive problem. the hd won't mount so they need to replace it.
today, i got my macbook back. it's almost brand new. i read the service order that came with it, and in bold letters, it shouted "NO DATA RECOVERED".
part of me died.
thousands of memorable photos. thousands of songs. thousands of documents. thousands of articles. i feel like crying now. i'm still in a state of denial.
how can apple do this to one of their loyal followers? how can apple fail me colossally like this? my macbook is barely a year old, and this happens? my iBook lasted me 3 years before i upgraded to MacBook. my personal iMac is still working even if it's already six years old. and this MacBook dies on me just like that? it's unacceptable.
just thinking of the memories i lost. stuff i've written. photos i took. songs i sang. a few iMovies i was working on. all my work-related stuff. gone in a jiffy. just like that. no f*cking way. no f*cking way.
i'm a mess. if only apple didn't spoil me like that. when i was a pc user, i used to back up, back up, back up my stuff. never mind redundancy, i had back up. i tried doing that the first few years into my apple bliss. i realized i didn't need to back up because the mac never crashes. now that is one f*cking lie. sorry i'm so bitter right now.
i'm so full of hate now i pity the person who will irritate the hell out of me later.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
absentia
without much fanfare (as if), i arrived in manila a couple of weeks ago for yet another working assignment.
i've always been saying that my schedule's always hectoxic. i'm not lying.
my last post was more than a month ago. can you actually believe that?
i sincerely apologize to all my readers (yes, to all five of you!) i'm okay. still alive and kicking.
just what, in a nutshell, happened to me during the past 4 weeks or so?
so i flew from new york to los angeles after that fateful trip to south beach (where i am still mourning the loss of my blackberry). the following day, i flew to las vegas to attend a conference at the jw marriott in summerlin. it was sponsored by the 3af (that's the asian american advertising federation) and it's an annual thing they do. it's composed of asian am media, ad agencies, clients, ad professionals. it was like the ad congress, only 10 times smaller. yeah.
after four days, it was back to LA. in two days, went to SF to check out the office there, and see N, one of our employees who just arrived from manila. He's adjusting well, i think. which is good for him. spent about four days there as well. back to LA.
then manila.
last week, we went to cebu for some client calls. some things are changing and i am slowly adjusting into some new load and responsibility being given to me.
toto was here. duran duran was here. there was a 'lost in 80s' concert featuring when in rome (hahaha. one hit wonder. the promise. think grade school and high school. yeah, i'm old) and a flock of seagulls and another band. nice.
james blunt is having a show at the araneta on may 19. wth? his one-night show in manhattan was in a small club (so obviously it got sold out in a jiffy) and he's doing araneta in manila? unbelievable. a friend has tickets. i don't know if i'd still be here. i'm supposed to fly back soon. unless...
Monday, March 24, 2008
an ode to my blackberry
for the first time since i started owning cell phones (first one was a motorola circa 1993, the one that looks like an ice shaver number then was 0912-400-1434. service was provided by mobiline), i lost one less than two weeks ago during a trip to south beach.
my boss asked me on the third day that i had no phone how it felt like. i replied, "liberating". indeed it was. but only for a time.
then i realized how dependent i have become on my phone, my blackberry. it was my alarm clock, my watch, sometimes my camera. i had three email addresses diverted to this phone. i used it as a browser. i played games in it.
back in the day, i memorized numbers and i did them well. despite the numerous area codes to consider, i would memorize a lot of numbers - friends', families', restaurants !!!), moviehouse, coffeehouse. that was about a decade ago.
when my cell phone spoiled me by saving all my contact details in its neat address book, my brain cells decided to go on semi-retirement. that's why i could not call anyone when my cell was lost. there was only one number i memorized and know by heart: my office number. lesson learned: keep a back up address book. how? i want to know.
i'll get my new one within the week. in the meantime, let me enjoy my liberating moments.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
airports
friday, 14 march
flew from newark airport to fort lauderdale, florida. yup. bienvenido a miami three and a half hours later. stayed at this cool place in south beach. i love florida! more later.
saturday, 15 march
fort lauderdale back to newark. red-eye flight.
sunday, 16 march
new york jfk airport to burbank. late evening flight. atlanta's weird weather forced us to have a stop-over in salt lake city. flight took more than nine hours. longest ever in y experience travelling within the contoguous united states. well, including hawaii and canada. damn. it was a looooong flight. and jetblue's directv was busted throughout the trip. bummer.
monday, 17 march
burbank airport to las vegas. an almost three-day conference in summerlin (jw marriott), a very idyllic suburbia, minutes from the bright lights of the las vegas strip.
thursday, 20 march
drive back to los angeles. arrived a little past dinner.
friday, 21 march
good friday.
yeah, it has been one hell of a week. to top it all off, i lost my blackberry in south beach! this marks the first time ever that i lost a cellphone. i've been totally dependent on my crackberry (yes, it's that addicting) that i had withdrawal symptoms the first two days. the following two days were liberating. the fifth, unbearable.
i need a phone. asap. it was my watch, my alarm, my datebook, my camera, my everything. funny how this thing spoiled me. i used to memorize numbers easily but since everything was on my address book, i never bothered to remember ny of the numbers stored there. bad thing. also, i never bothered to back up. really bad thing.
once i had a chance to call through a landline phone, i froze. i could not, for the life of me, remember any of my friends'/relatives'/coworkers' numbers. not even significant other's. (sorry!!!) i'm in deep trouble.
Type rest of the post here
Saturday, March 08, 2008
of manila's 'high' society and other matters
it has been more than a week since my last post and it has been a terribly busy, toxic week. what happened?
had a lot of stuff to cover - from edith burgos' talk in queens to two multi-cultural and diversity fora to a hong kong tourism board luncheon to a rondalla show at the philippine consulate to a meeting at the city fund of new york. in between i got myself snowed in and rained on.
and i didn't get sick. until two days ago.
a friend says that i was just paying up. boo-hoo. the usual, cough, colds. thank god, no fever. nor flu. hence, i caught up on previous shows i missed and stuff.
first up, californication. this is david duchovny's new series. i caught the first few episodes last year and missed out on the rest. i finished the entire season already. nice premise. hank moody is a published author who has a daughter with this woman who is now engaged to a guy who has a 16-year-old daughter who went to bed with hank because hank did not know she was only 16 and that she's the daughter of his ex's present.
next was nip/tuck's season 5. i can't find the last 2 episodes but i have seen the first 12. mcnamara and troy have moved to los angeles and this season felt as if everything is caricatured: from hearts and scalpels (very "The Valley" from "The OC", yeah, a show within a show) to christian posing for playgirl and becoming a man-whore to sean becoming an actor to julia becoming a lesbian. and yes, carrying on with the californication theme, sean has an affair with a 16-year-old, who turns out to be the daughter of his ex's present. i need to check the closing credits and make sure that they did not hire the same writer. goodness.
and yes, website hopping. somewhere along the way, i got a link to this site, which got me quite hooked. yes, this was just yesterday and i stayed up late to read form the very beginning. this morning, i checked to see if there are updates, and yes, there are! my newest guilty pleasure.
in a nutshell, this is the scenario. an aussie guy and his filipino boyfriend and his gang of friends. the couple was supposed to open businesses in manila and boracay (a portuguese restaurant in greenbelt 5! would have been so fab! and a travel company in bora) until the oz got to his senses and began asking the bf about all the money he has sent (via western union? haha!). we're talking 70 to 80 thousand dollars. and more.
one thing led to another, push came to shove. oz guy didn't see his money and i doubt he'll see it again. hell hath no fury...
the thing is, the filipino bf and his friends are not your typical, ordinary pinoys. they're supposed to be in the high society. or 'high' society, with all the implied addiction they all have. we read about them in the society pages. they create manila's society pages. philippine star's mostly.
cast of characters: brian gorell as the oz guy, dj montano as the filipino boyfriend, celine lopez as the filipino boyfriend's best friend, marcel crespo (spawn of mark jimenez) as the filipino boyfriend's best friend's boyfriend and a cast of fantastic supporting character led by some more lifestyle writers, society pages regulars, stylists, whatevers.
the whole thing is unravelling. the oz guy had access to every single one of them during their great moments and now, because he was fleeced, he's out to get his money back. it's like a soap opera. it's scandalous.
this is nowhere near the edison chan scandal but it's scandal nonetheless. hahaha.
the link is here. make sure to read from the very beginning (the first post) to get the whole story. hurry before the powers that be succeed in shutting this site!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
starbucks closes...
i've been quite open with my opinion that i do not like starbucks. never mind if i started collecting their city mugs five years ago and stopped after collecting about six.
on tuesday afternoon, they closed their doors for about 3 hours or so. for what? to train their baristas, an AP news report explained today. or rather, retrain them.
here's an excerpt from newsday.
Starbucks wouldn't disclose how much revenue it stands to lose during the shutdown, but analysts say the financial impact will be negligible compared to charges the company will take as it closes about 100 poorly performing U.S. stores this year and pays severance to more than 200 corporate support staff it laid off last week.if this is not a sign of recession, then i don't know what is.
and also this:
A day after shutting down most of its U.S. shops for three hours to retrain baristas on espresso basics, Starbucks is welcoming customers back Wednesday with a new promise posted in stores: "Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we'll make it right."yeah, right.
more details here. photo from gothamist.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
cravings - filipino spaghetti
I don't know what it is about the winter that triggered my craving for one very particular thing: filipino-style spaghetti. Well, it's your regular spaghetti, but it's sweet and more, the way we Filipinos cook and eat this Italian dish.
I did not have all the ingredients so I improvised. This was my final product -
Filipino Spaghetti
2 Nathan’s hotdogs
1 jar Barilla Sweet Peppers sauce
6 cloves garlic
½ onion
1 pack Barilla Whole Grain Thin Spaghetti
1 lb ground beef
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp black pepper
½ cup tomato ketchup
3 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1. Cook spaghetti according to package instruction. Since I was using whole grain, I cooked it a bit longer. The package said around 5 to 6 minutes, I cooked them for 7. Hahaha. Big deal.
2. Heat olive oil on the sauce pan. Saute garlic until golden brown, then onions until transucent, then hot dogs, then the beef.
3. Open the jar. Haha! Put the contents into the pot. Put in the spices as you wish. I like mine with some dried basil, black and white pepper to make it a bit spicy and the sugar to make it sweet.
I called R, my expert friend at Pinoy spaghetti and he told me that I needed banana ketchup. I told him I have no banana ketchup and my craving for pinoy spag can’t wait. He said I can use any ketchup then, so I used what was in the pantry. I just tried and tried and tasted and tasted until I got the perfect balance between the sweet and the sour.
Verdict? Success. I satisfied my craving and I have about 3 to 4 servings that I am going to freeze for future emergencies. Hehe.
After cooking, I went online and searched "Filipino Spaghetti" and boy was I surprised to find out that Google generated a lot of pages about it. I found something funny from a guy who calls himself Komikero. After the link.
Friday, February 22, 2008
winter's last hurrah
it's going to be spring in about three weeks which means that winter is about to be officially over but there has not been a major snowstorm as of yet.
until today.
and no, i did not pray for it. i experience a mild snowstorm last week and i swore it was fun at first but at the end of the day, i was already channeling "bora! bora!" as i waded through snow and sleet, with tough rain to boot!
so today we woke up with about three inches of snow and there seems to be no let up.
checked the news, and it said:
Winter Storm Pummels Tri-State Areaoh well. what can i say. it's just another day.
Sleet, Freezing Rain Expected Friday Afternoon
NEW YORK (CBS) ― A winter storm will be impacting the tri-state area throughout Friday with snow, ice and rain. Snow will dominate the morning hours as temperatures will still be able to support the flakes.
Sleet and freezing rain will work its way in by the afternoon hours though as temperatures rise.
Type rest of the post here
Thursday, February 21, 2008
stumbled upon - a mighty good patisserie
one more great thing about new york city is that there are a lot of restaurants and cafes that dot the landscape. and we're just talking about manhattan here. i know for a fact that even if i eat at a different restaurant every single meal, every single day, i wouldn't still be able to cover all the city's great dining places.
aside from the fact that i can't probably afford it (major!), i have no plans of eating out most of the time, specially since i have been thinking about developing (revisiting?) my culinary skills. hahaha. that statement just made me laugh out loud.
it's a huge macaroon. twice the size of bizu's. take two pieces and slather a generous amount of coffee cream concoction and make a macaroonwich. this was what tisserie had. it's $2.75 each but worth every single penny. the cafe mocha was pleasantly good too. why go to starbucks (which incidentally is across the street. scratch that, it's on every freaking street here in manhattan. and i hate them for that!)okay. so let's get the pictures to tell the story.
the shelf of love. i can eat every single thing on this shelf, but i won't. because i can't afford it. haha. this is love at first sight. i can't wait to bring my friends here.
i didn't know if they allowed photography so i took these photos discreetly. but for people who know me, i am more discreet if i try not to. if you want a closer look, click on the photo. just don't blame me if you drool. or if you suddenly develop a craving. or if your sweet tooth aches.
ah. the mini-tarts. lovely to look at. as in parang ayaw mo nang kainin. i got full just by looking at these tiny works of art.
and my favorite: the macaroons. they have around eight flavors but because i am such a coffee addict, i ordered the coffee flavor. i'll try the other ones next time.
and what is a patisserie without the patis? hahaha. i meant the buttery croissants and danish pastries. the cafe also serves soups and quiches may plural ba ang quiche?) and sandwiches too.
that's how the 
if i had a cafe, this is how it would look like. hahaha. i swear. i'll copy tisserie's format from the interiors to the food. i won't probably serve quiche though because i'm not a big fan. but yeah, it would be nice if i owned a cafe like this.Tisserie
857 Broadway @17th St Union Sq
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 463-0850
857 Broadway @17th St Union Sq
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 463-0850
epilogue: this is by far the most photos i have uploaded in one single entry. that's how much i loved the place and the food that i want to share it. if ever you are in new york, make your way to this place. you'll love it.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
an attempt at pad kraprow
i miss sanamluang.
hah! sanam (shortcut!) is a hole-in-the-wall thai resto in hollywood, and is about 5-10 minutes away from where i used to live in silverlake. they serve delicious, satisfying and affordable thai dishes.
one of my favorites is pad kraprow, or thai basil chicken. for dinner, i decided to recreate this meal. this is how it looked like.
yummy! it looks pale, maybe it's because of the lighting. hehehe. (actually, i forgot to put soy sauce, because i used patis (fish sauce).the recipe requires "holy basil" which is different from the "italian basil" i used. i couldn't find holy basil in the grocery store and i did not want to use dry basil. and also, i can't for the life of me, distinguish among all the chilis in the market so i just asked roomie to buy some. turns out he bought the jalapeno kind, the one sprinkled over nachos. which means, walang ka anghang anghang. which is good, because we're not big fans of spicy food.
but to compensate (this was supposed to be a bit spicy), i put drops of garlic chili seasoning, two pinches of dried chili flakes and some black pepper. the recipe? swiped off the web.
Type rest of the post here
Friday, February 15, 2008
snow day!
while i was in manila last november/december/parts of january, i kept on calling my roomies to ask them if it has snowed. they told me it did, but it was not much. when i got back last month, there were a couple of instances where there were snow flurries. snow flakes, that's all. barely there to cover the ground.
then this week, the weather center said that there's going to be an inch of snow. i rejoiced. it's not that i have not seen snow, because i have. and it's also not because i haven't seen snow falling on cedars (that was a stretch...), because i have too.
what i have not seen was 10 to 12 hours of non-stop snow, with the flakes covering the ground slowly. after this, our courtyard was covered with about three inches of fresh, powdery and ultra-white snow.
i was ecstatic. then i remembered the email that circulated in the filipino community years ago, about this guy who was so happy to see snow for the very first time but after a week of shovelling and living with snow, he was screaming, "ibalik niyo ako sa pilipinas!" ("bring me back to the philippines!"). then i laughed. i was still ecstatic.
roomies are kinda weird. while it was snowing the entire day, we were indoors, watching the snow fall from the living room window. sometimes, we opened the veranda to feel the breeze. temperature was around 10 degrees F, but with the wind chill, it was more like -5. it was bitterly cold. perfect for a mug of hot chocolate! or tea! or cafe latte! all of which i had because it was just too cold outside.
me and the girls @ the courtyard of our apartment stepping on fresh snowbored out of our wits, someone suggested a movie. by around 8, we were in the car, braving the snow-covered road to go to the cineplex about a mile away. we watched "the eye" (review forthcoming. hehehe) and after the film, we went out and we saw our car covered in snow.
nice! we didn't have the necessary tools (scraper, among them; salt, shovel) so miko had to scrape the snow on the winsdhield with plastic fork from a chinese takeout. nice!drove back to the pad and had some white wine. it was a good day!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
v day
seen at the 42nd street-times square subway station last night: a not-so-subtle reminder that it was valentine's eve and that people should buy flowers for their loved ones. some enterprising guy put this up to sell flowers. not that flowers are that hard to find...but for those who are going straight home, then this was their best bet. i did not bother to ask how much his flowers were.
i did not realize that v-day's such a big deal here as well. even circuit city (!!) has its own v-day sale. (exilim cam for $139! save $40. hehehe). and last night, we went to path mark to do some grocery shopping and we were bombarded with anything and everything red. v-day this, v-day that. seriously, it was discombobulating. well, not really. i've always wanted to use that word. haha.
happy valentine's day people!
Monday, February 11, 2008
"there is a way to be good again"
not that i ever strayed to the other side. i'd like to think that i've always been good. generally speaking that is.
the statement above is one of the many memorable phrases/sentences i learned/picked up from this book called "the kite runner". i bought it around spring 07 and unfortunately, i did not find time to read it. i've been meaning to but my schedule during the past year has been erratic, to say the least.
i picked the book up from a stack of unread books just before i flew to manila last december. i thought i had time to read it. then on my way back last january, i saw it and it made me think: should i just leave it here? if i bring this back, will i be able to read it? i put it in my hand-carry, just in case i find time.
and i did. the book is a page-turner and i could not put it down. i finished about half and i feared that i won't be able to finish reading it. when i got back, i noticed that they were playing the film the kite runner (i did not even know that a film was in the works!) in the cineplex near the apartment. that pushed me to finish reading. i want to watch the film and see if it is at all comparable to the book.
i regret not reading the book earlier. it's one of the best stories i've read in a long time. it's raw, engaging, vivid, stirring, stunning, shocking - all rolled into one. it's also emotional. i found myself shedding tears while reading. not once, not twice. yes, the book is packed with an emotional wallop that hits you where it matters most.
khaled hosseini delivered a very good debut novel. i'm in awe.
next up is his second book - a thousand splendid suns - which i intend to start reading this week. a belated new year's resolution (i don't do resolutions!). i should read one book every two weeks. nope, i don't think that is doable. one book a month? that's more likely, given my tight working schedule.
12 books for 2008! hahaha. if i do more, then woohoo for me. if i do less, then boo!
mercury falling
winter has only a few weeks left and i still have to feel/see the new york winter i have always dreamed of. the past two weeks have been quite moderate (yes, considering it is winter) but last night, it was damn cold.
there were reported snow flurries somewhere. too bad we didn't get to see it. the temperature dipped to around 10 early this morning. it's around noon and it's only 16 degrees. factor in the wind chill and it feels like 5. degrees. fahrenheit.
it's good i don't have scheduled appointments today although i have one tomorrow and according to my widget, it's going to snow tomorrow. good luck to me. more postings coming up soon. lots to blog about.
Type rest of the post here
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
super tuesday
today, we will find if hillary is going to kick obama's butt or if obama will show hil who's the man. i don't care about who wins among the republicans. it could very well be huckabee.
then we also have the new york giants parade in manhattan. hehehe. it's time to celebrate. we'll be there for sure, so if you plan to be there, well, see you there. hahaha.
i'm quite swamped with work and i hope to finish some of the projects we have started. i also haven't found time to cover events and write about them. i kinda miss that.
aside from that, everything's been going quite well.
mamang's on her way to a great recovery. i've been calling her regularly since i got back and it's good to hear that she has been exerting extra effort to feel better and regain her lost energies. thank god for this, and thank you my friends for the prayers.
got news yesterday that one of my good friends is getting married this june. june bride talaga. i will be there! that's a promise.
one of my friends is pregnant and she's quite excited. she's giving birth in july.
hope to receive more great news in the future.
gotta run. don't forget to vote!
new addiction
i don't know if this product will click, but i am loving it. hehehe.
introducing, diet coke plus.
i am a diet coke addict and i find regular coke too sweet. this one is kinda sweet, maybe that's why it has vitaminerals. haha.
i'm not sure if this product is available all over. diet coke used to have one that's sweetened by splenda. they also had one that i truly loved: diet coke with lemon. i think they discontinued that. i don't like the diet coke with lime. it tastes blech.
sometimes i cross over back to my old-favorite, dr. pepper. at the grocery last week, i saw the newest dr. pepper: diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper. i was flummoxed. dr. pep in itself a mix of flavors. make it diet, add cherry and add vanilla and your tongue gets crazy. i've tasted it and i'm confused. i like my original.
sige pa dr. pepper. remember the dr. pepper berries & cream (diet and regular)? and yeah, for a limited time, there's also diet dr. pepper cherry chocolate. that, i need to try.
Monday, February 04, 2008
go giants!
and with that, the new york giants denied the new england patriots' quest for history.
hahaha. new york is abound with celebration as soon as the super bowl ended earlier. a friend asked if i watched and who i was cheering for. i retorted, "do you really need to ask?" of course i was rooting for the giants! never mind if i only watch football during the super bowl. make that my annual thing. hahaha.
it was too bad that two east coast teams travelled all the way to arizona to slug it out. it would have been nice if the patriots won, with their 19-0 record and all, and tom brady being so pa-cute and all, but alas, i was not bound to happen.
this was eli manning's super bowl glory. this was his time to finally come out of the shadow of his more famous brother peyton.
we're looking forward to the parade on tuesday! see you in manhattan!
Type rest of the post here
Thursday, January 31, 2008
democrats rock!
hahaha. yay! i am showing my political colors.
the california democratic debate is over. i'm giddy and a bit disappointed because had i been in LA, i would have been there watching. yes, inside the kodak theater! we got invited by the los angeles times. it's our new reporter who covered it. boo! i'm happy for you. not.
"it took a clinton to clean up after the first bush. it looks like it will take another one to clean up after the second." hahaha. go hillary!
both barack and hill were pandering, almost pleading, for john edwards' supporters. wow. that was almost blatant. edwards withdrew yesterday, so this debate was technically the first one-on-one between obama and clinton so everyone was expecting fireworks. like mccain-romney? no. the democrats decided to be a little bit congenial and friendly with each other. sparks didn't fly, but the snipes were there alright.
obama has an undeniable charisma. watching it on tv live, it felt as if he had more supporters inside kodak than clinton. or maybe his supporters were just a tad noisier.
clinton was just calm, collected and confident. she won this one, i think.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
good night heathcliff
i was shocked when one of my roomies texted me when i was on my way back home battling traffic at the lincoln tunnel. "heath ledger is dead." i texted back. "how". then i was told that it could be accidental overdose. ah, the life of the rich and the very rich.
i had an event near tribeca this afternoon and on my way back, i strolled along soho, stopping by lafayette. less than 10 blocks away from where i sipped my coffee to combat the biting cold, almost 300 people congregated at 421 broome street. on the 4th floor of that building, police found heath dead.
i don't know if this will have a rico yan effect, or even river phoenix. he's really not the matinee idol type. that's not to say that he is a bad actor. on the contrary, he is really good. i was looking forward to his take on Joker and I have placed Dark Knight on my to watch list.
this is too tragic. mostly for his young daughter matilda who will grow up not knowing who and what heath ledger was. depression is an illness and many of us are ignorant to what depression brings. if indeed, this is suicide, then it's an utter waste of precious life and talent.
it's crazy how us normal people think that they have everything - fame and money included, but yet these tragic stuff happen. how we wish we could experience they kind of life they live and not work 50 plus hours a week just to get by.
a few weeks back it was brad renfro. then heath. ahh, the price of fame and fortune.
new york times article here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
hiatus
after an almost two-month trip to manila, i am back. and boy it is cold. i was in LA for less than 24 hours (which was spent with friends having dinner at a thai-japanese place (it's confused!) in long beach and a cup of hot java at hot java also in long beach; then crashed at j's place, then ofc, then off to burbank for a flight to jfk).
the cold wintry breeze of new york greeted us at 5 am when we arrived. it was dark and it was still dark around 6ish. i missed the apartment, the subway, central park. hahaha. yeah, i missed nyu and the memories, too.
so i am almost nback from an almost hiatus. mom's better, she's in therapy. yes, she's still on prozac. anyone here who can hook me up with cheaper prozac? it's almost 150 pesos in manila (with the dollar @ 40, it's like almost $4 a pop. kinda expensive if you ask me). oh well.
i have been trying to readjust to my normal lifestyle here and it has been quite an effort. last saturday, we had an appointment in rego park at 1. it's a colleague's client and it's a chinese-japanese restaurant. yeah. so we got back around 4ish. i decided to sleep it out since i was too sleepy. i woke up 8 hours later. yes, shortly around midnight.
i forced myself not to sleep any further because it would definitely give me a headache. i tried to stay awake for about 3 hours, when i realized that if i didn't sleep, i'd end up sleeping the whole day sunday. which is not possible because i had appointments for sunday. damn jetlag.
so dunday, we were off to st. sebastian church in queens for the sto. nino feast. wow. ang daming tao! it's like they brought the sinulog to new york. earlier, we had lunch at thai chef, a french-thai resto. yeah, what's up with that? the food was great through, had green curry chicken which was very spicy and april had the sea bass, which was gloriously good. damn. it tasted like melting butter. it was that good.
so today, i am off to a meeting. i'm braving the 20 degree weather. forecasts of snow and rain today but so far, wala pa naman. i bought my second-ever scarf. which brings my scarves to around 3. allen and ana gave me a topshop scarf last christmas. salamat!
before, i found people wearing scarves around their neck maarte. hahaha. i'm from california (and before that manila) so you'd have to excuse me. i thought that scarves were nothing but accessories. i didn't realize they have their purpose. so now, i no longer find scarf-wearing people maarte. sorry about that.
i have to make a mental checklist of things i need to have before i leave the apartment. scarf, check. ear muffs, check. thick jacket, check. gloves, check. it's hard. sometimes i misplace my gloves, or one of them. or worse, my scarf. sigh. mental note: don't forget the necessities. it gets cold, really cold outside.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
new year
this is my belated new year post.
i didn't realize it has been days since 2008 arrived. my mom suffered a mild stroke and we rushed her to the heart center on new year's day itself. she's been staying there since then and i've been by her side every step of the way.
i was supposed to leave for los angeles on that evening but then this happened. at first they thought she had high blood right before they had media noche (i had to go to makati to fix all the stuff i was supposed to bring) so she took her meds. the following day, she felt weaker and her speech slurred a bit. that's when we realized that something was wrong.
except when she gave birth to us, my mom has never spent a day in the hospital. this is why she feels so helpless the past few days because she's just lying on her bed as we wait for her bp to stabilize. thank god, it did, eventually.
she's still in the hospital but today, she will start her therapy. the stroke rendered parts of her left arm and legs weak. hopefully, she'll be able to regain her strength soon. she's a strong woman, i know she will.
thank you to all my friends who prayed for my mom's speedy recovery. special thanks to friends who went out of their way to visit us at the heart center. you guys don't know how much that meant to us. salamat!
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