1. Uni sashimi- basically sea urchin that is raw, and served with good soy sauce and citrus (calamansi is my favorite). Smooth, melting in your mouth and basically tasting like the sea, this indulgent treat is a must for any sashimi lover. The best one I’ve ever tasted was from Hana in Little Tokyo, like buttah, but better. For the good stuff, you don’t need to dip it into anything, or do anything but take it out of the shell and eat it. For inexpensive uni by the bowl, try Tokyu in Pioneer or Panay Avenue, it’s a favorite place for fresh, good stuff.

2. Bone marrow- Whether eaten on its own, roasted in an oven, or like any normal Filipino, in a fresh bulalo (beef stew), bone marrow is sinfully delicious. It is high in cholesterol, delightfully addicting, and for me, best with bagoong balayan and calamansi. Bone marrow should be enjoyed while you can. Best place to get it? Behind the Mahogany market in Tagaytay, where it’s guaranteed fresh, and very simply prepared to show off its incredible flavor.

3. Vigan empanada- Dastardly deceptive, the orange crust on this Ilocano treat masks three simple ingredients. Shredded monggo sprouts or papaya, egg, and Vigan longganisa in a simple rice flour shell deep fried till golden, this is my Sunday treat. Why Sunday? Because the best I’ve tasted in the metro of this Ilocano merienda is at the Eton Sunday market, with real Vigan longganisa and the freshest eggs. Every other place I’ve tried this in the metro is a pale comparison, but okay to bridge that craving gap. Get it at Ilocos Empanada at Katipunan, or other Ilocos Emapanada branches at other locations.

4. Chicharon bituka- Crispy fried, cleaned out pork or chicken intestines make up this simple and sinful treat. Introduced to me by my dad one morning when going through Laloma to the province, I ate and fell in love. Dipped in spicy vinegar, the umay to this sinful treat is cut with a the acidity of the natural cane vinegar, while adding another layer of interesting flavor. Get it fresh and best at Laloma, where they fry the intestines from the lechon they just roasted (cleaned of course, i hope).

5. Isaw– Another way to eat animal guts, isaw is basically intestines cleaned out, looped on a barbecue stick, roasted on an open fire. One can usually find this treat in outdoor stalls in the afternoon. You can’t have just one, as these things are addictive, dipped in a spicy vinegar. I like the one from Mang Larry’s stall in UP, where it’s P2 a stick, plus P2 for spicy vinegar. I usually get fifteen sticks to justify the one hour usual wait from the time we park, to the time we settle to eat.

6. Lugaw– Whether with chicken (arroz caldo), or my favorite beef tripe (goto), lugaw is the perfect hangover cure. Hot, comforting, and simple, lugaw is a simple meal for anyone and everyone. The foamy stuff on top that accumulates as it cooks even serves as a milk alternative for when people cannot afford milk. I may be staunchly Filipino since I love lugaw more than its Chinese counterpart, congee.

7. Durian– Strange, smelly and absolutely polarizing people when served on the table, durian is a sweet, creamy fruit ensconced in a stinky, spiky outside. It’s quite expensive for fruit and is a bi+ch to open, but for us who love it, is worth all the trouble. The flesh melts in your mouth and offers layers of flavor you cannot find in any other fruit. Somehow it’s as creamy as frozen yogurt with a fruity layer. The best and worst part of it is that the stinkier it is, the sweeter the taste will be, so when you smell it from two aisles away from the supermarket, prepare yourself for the best (or worst) experience of your fruit consumption. For those who have never tried this because of the smell, I urge you to try it twice and see if it changes your mind. Most of us had adults give us a taste as a joke, but maybe you’ve grown to like it between the years.

8. Carabao milk– Full fat, creamy and best bought from your provincial market, carabao milk is a sin and a piece of heaven at the same time. The humble Philippine carabao, in my opinion just produces the best milk I’ve ever had (I had to drink goat milk as a child okay, and it still makes me gag). My aunt used to buy it at the market at 5 am for us to mix in with rice and eat with dried fish. My grandfather used to have bottles of it in the ref, and I would always beg for them when I went home to the province. Until now, the best carabao milk is the one from the neighborhood carabao lady at the palengke and not the one you can buy (so expensively) at the mall. Just remember and heat it up first to make sure it’s pasteurized, as most are sold untreated and straight from the teat. Also, if you’ve ever had pastillas from Bulacan, the creamy, pillowy treats, you just might be interested to know that those are traditionally made with carabao milk to achieve the creaminess from all its natural butterfat.

This is not my first food list, or my last. This is just what I can remember today. Count on a part 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the future.

Ever since I can remember, ice cream has been one of my favorite things to eat. For this girl growing up in a third world, tropical country when airconditioning was still a novel thing, ice cream was a liberator to sweltering days where it doesn’t matter how much fans were turned to you, you still felt like a sticky, sweaty mess.

It did help that I had a grandmother who sold it, from Magnolia in its heyday, to Nestle when it took over the national (well provincial) market. I remember being able to finish off a Twin Popsies before even a drop even melted, and a pint of Double Dutch in one sitting. One of my first memories is stirring at a cup of ube ice cream until it melted and drinking it like soup. I remember the most luxurious thing I had as a child was the Nestle Mega, which I now realize was their version of the Magnum, at P20 per stick, the most expensive thing on the menu (excluding pints and gallons). I literally ate away my grandma’s profits for the day, and it didn’t even matter (Sorry Lola) since I was hungry for sweets and a release from the sticky heat, compounded by blackouts in our provincial town.

It took years for my mom to allow us to eat street ice cream, not trusting the street vendors to be sanitary enough (to be fair we all had weird digestive systems). What she didn’t know was, every time we were somewhere for a school field trip that had no chaperone I had my wallet ready to buy an avocado, cheese, ube cone from Manong Sorbetero. Family occasions we bought a whole canful (almost as tall as me) from the neighborhood ice cream maker, and 2 grocery bags full of cones. I was always first to check what flavor was available. When we went to SM North Edsa, it was a huge treat to share a cone of Better Than Ice Cream, a frozen yogurt treat in such an exotic flavor, Mint Chocolate Chip. My dad, when he was having a great night, would bring home cans of Selecta (Oh don’t tell Lola) of Keso, his favorite flavor. When I was a little older and had a bit of control with my allowance, I spent it on Dippin’ Dots, these weirdly small globes of ice cream that just melts in your mouth.

As I grew up, my taste in ice cream evolved. I found Fruits in Ice Cream in UP Diliman and gorged on cones of Green Tea. I giggled at the thought of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough from Sebastian’s. The weirdest flavor I think I love is the Bleu Chese from Sebastian’s, with whole chunks of blue cheese topped with walnuts and Palawan Honey. I finally got to taste Cherry Garcia earlier this year, with it being my current favorite flavor.

Later on I came to realize what a relief these soft, sweet, cooling bites were. Until now, when I get annoyed, want to have dessert, am a little angry at the world, I still reach for the freezer. Especially now, with this unbelievable sticky heat, I am keeping my freezer well stocked.

What is your favorite food? Or summer food? Or comfort food?

If you have not been under a rock the past few months, you’ve surely heard of the Game of Thrones. This HBO series had a Sean Bean headed f (pun intended) first season of incest, betrayal and the lust for power in a glorious maze of characters. Several months late in reading the books (I read Jessica Zafra thought it slow moving, and I value that woman’s opinion ever so highly) I find myself excited for the hour when I get to curl up to this 800+ page tome, and the next few books after it. Truth be told, I did have the same reaction, the first several chapters progressed too slowly for my taste, and I was having trouble keeping track of the multitude of characters that reside in the Seven Kingdoms. However, as this book unfurled figuratively in my head, I grew more fond of each and every character I loved in the television series, and loathed the detestable, sick personalities I came to be more familiar with.

Truly, as other people will tell you about any book turned into a television series, the richness of the story, the full maze of events in the books will never be captured in celluloid, as your imagination will never be satisfied with what a director can weave with actual people and costumes. My most favored character of all, Tyrion Lannister, is much more witty and crafty in the book, and it seems, more flawed physically than the actor Peter Dinklage, cast in the HBO series as the Imp. The trials of Jon Snow at the wall more tense, the weakness of Robert Arryn more pronounced.

Truly, if you are a fan of the show, you must try and read these books to fully grasp the intricacies of the Seven Kingdoms. I have to admit I began to read it when the second season started and I could not begin to point out who was who from the new characters and the old. Or maybe just have someone who knows the books right next to you when you watch it.

And here I am hoping the cold described in these books would just creep into the weather, which is as sweltering as it looks from this photo of my nook. I just want to bathe in ice cream right now.

To have all these for not just a birthDAY but a birthweekend celebration. What started as a day I was dreading for 2 reasons:

1. I was moving into my LATE twenties.

2. It hit on a Friday, and let me tell you, the last two times my birthday hit a Friday, they sucked big time.

So I hoped for the best and expected the worst, not planning anything more than dinner with the family and a celebration with the boyf as well. Let me just say, all the things that I did not expect to fall into place did, by way of:

1. I was supposed to be off that day, but since my siblings’ schedules would not permit it, had my family birthday dinner moved to a belated lunch. So I told my supervisor I could work, and we met for a catch up meeting of sorts. This saved me from working the day after, and gave me a sort of 3 day weekend (since I finished my other tasks in advance.).

2. I would be able to see a few of my work friends, whom I always love seeing, and get me outta the house.

3. Since my sister wasn’t going to be around for dinner, she took me to breakfast instead, and took me to my work meeting in Makati (on a Friday what a godsend).

A few highlights of the weekend:

• Starting the day with an epic breakfast at Stacy’s, this Sonja’s looking place in Capitol Hills with all day breakfast, and they gave me a free cupcake.
• Getting the Bench coke shirts for presents (If you know me even a little, I have a Coke collection of sorts all from friends).
• Getting to work early and seeing friends, with one offering to bake me chocomint cupcakes (which imma claim soon, they’re tooooo delish to pass up).
• Eating at Som’s for lunch (I needed Thai food, okay).
• Getting to our futsal game on time.
• Having dinner at Bellini’s and getting my gnocchi and sweet wine fix at last.
• Getting the lappy bag I was ogling at Crumpler for a present.
• Finding this amazing chrysanthemum tea drink thing at the divisoria food court, and getting the squid thing for breakfast.
• Going to Dong Bei for the best dumplings ever for lunch.
• Getting two cakes, one from Estrel’s, the other from Xocolat from such epic people.
• Going to Poco Deli for dinner and having a round of Hoegaarden.
• Winning my first bet ever.
• Getting such fun birthday greetings from the most unexpected people.

Tell you the truth, this was one of the best birthdays ever, and I didn’t need to throw a party to enjoy myself. It just reminded me how lucky I am to be where I am today, and be with the people I’m with to enjoy it.

So how was your Friday the 13th?

1. It’s cheap. You’ll spend about 60% less on a trip to Puerto Princesa than when you go to its neighboring destinations (Coron and El Nido) to see (almost) the same beautiful islands, especially if you know the right people. I actually have a contact I always text or call when planning a trip to the area, and she always gives me the right prices. Right Ate Cha?

2. You’ll see the longest underground river in the world. True, it is a cave full of bats and birds, but it does induce a sort of calm and wonder when you go through the one hour tour. Just don’t look up with your mouth open (For reasons stated at the beginning).

3. The stopovers are amazing. At Sabang beach, the port before you end up at the Underground River, you will be served lunch with your tour. Heaps and heaps of grilled stuff at a lunch buffet that is perfect eaten from the beachfront huts they are served from. You can even buy the mangrove worms of Bizarre Foods fame from local vendors if you want to get a little adventurous.Expect the same treatment of food, beach and service at your island hopping tour as well!

4. The delicious drinks. At Sabang beach, we go to two beachfront resorts while our friends or family go visit the Underground River, the Daluyon Resort and the Sheridan. Both serve uber refreshing cocktails and delicious eats as you relax in your lounge chairs, and have impeccable service. Tip: Get the Cherry Bloom (or blossom i always forget) at Daluyon and find yourself waking addicted. At Ka Lui, one of the go-to restaurants in the city, get one of the vegetable/fruit shakes (I had the ginger calamansi shake, it was delicious) for a healthy, refreshing accompaniment to your meal. Last but not the least, when you go to Bona’s chaolong, order the Yakult shake (a steal at P25) with your vietnamese beef stew with noodles and find a sweet finish to a spicy bowl.

5. The people are nice. Granted, it’s a tourist town, but people seem extra nice at PP city. Most of them offer pleasant advice on where to eat when asked, give you good directions when you need it, and the restaurant staff at any establishment very accommodating. That is to say, there are still some abusive personalities who try to take advantage of foreign tourists and the like, but 90% of the time, you’ll wonder why this niceness can’t be found in the metro.

6. The food is delicious and affordable. Prepare to spend less than a P100 per person per meal at PP city for an everyday establishment, and less than P300 for one of the pricier ones. Good food is surprisingly cheap for its quality at any establishment, and there is a range of options for the hungry man or woman. Filipino, Japanese, American, fast food franchises and Vietnamese places abound at different price ranges for you. Just a bit of a warning, some places might need a reservation to get a table at busy nights. One place we know for sure to need a call beforehand, Ka Lui. That’s okay though, you can just ask your hotel to call ahead for you to reserve.

7. The carinderias are Vietnamese. Okay, this is more of a personal preference than anything, but I love that the carinderias of PP city are Vietnamese, brought abound by the Vietnamese asylum seekers who first moved to Palawan in 1979. A bowl of beef noodles will set you back about P40-P50 php, buy plain bread to go with it to dip for P8 to P12 pesos and have a cheap meal that will make your mouth feel like paradise.

8. You don’t feel the need to bikini up/dress up all the time. Since you’ll be based in the city and will have to commute to get around, teeny tiny bikinis with shorts and a tank top are not really the everyday garb for every tourist, saving the everyday girl who loves her carbs the stress she gets from bikini season. While you are free to bikini up (or down as the case may be) at the island hopping tours and beaches, it’s not really expected of most tourists so you won’t feel awkward in your semi-covered outfit if you’re not really feeling too confident about your shape. Bikini lovers, don’t worry, the locals don’t blink an eye at string bikinis if you want to strip down, foreign tourists are often found sunbathing topless (covered) on Sabang beach.

That is my appeal for you to go and visit Puerto Princesa for vacation this year. And please, take me with you. I miss the chaolong.

I’ve been trying my best to record dates, nights out with family or friends, and taking more snaps when going somewhere new and unfamiliar, however exciting or disappointing it might be. A couple of times I’ve been successful at this, taking decent photos at a family event, or finding myself remembering to take a photo of the food before I gobble it down, but mostly, I forget. I’ve forgotten to bring the flash for an evening event so that all the photos are harshly shot. I’ve forgotten to charge the battery to my camera. I’ve forgotten to bring memory cards to three out of town trips leaving my gear useless.

Then again, I never really was one for posing or going anywhere for the photographs. I had a few years of ducking away from photos, hating being included. Even now I have no “angles” or a pose that I automatically revert to. Even now, when people tell me to do a “wacky” pose, I usually end up looking pained, or gassy or nauseous. I’m not really one to run to the front when cameras are clicking, one of the first to volunteer to take the photo for everyone else.

On the other hand, I actually have an adage about trips, which is, if I can update my Facebook or Twitter feed when I’m there, I’m not having enough fun (except for places that are wifi ready everywhere, and I’m waiting for my food to arrive).

So what am I really trying to say? I guess it’s that I’m just a lucky sonofa to be having this much fun. I’m lucky to have the equipment to catch the moments I’m able to catch, and share with the world when I want to.

Do you think you catch enough of your life’s moments?

We got this pup a couple of months ago from our father’s cousin, a lab mix that is undoubtedly snooty askal. My dad didn’t initially want her in the house, but with all of us protesting and when she spent an hour in the cage outside crying her little head off, he finally gave in.

A thorough bathing and a new collar, leash, treats and dog food gave her a home, and what, with my room the one left with space, she moved right in. We sent her to the vet for shots, and had her checked out for things.

A dog is really an emotional and financial commitment, even one as lowbrow as this when you want to keep them inside your home. Cleanliness and training were at first a challenge but now go like clockwork as she goes out to do her business and gets baths from almost everyone in the house.

When she had broken out in hives the three of us ran to the 24 hour vet to get her a shot. Turns out, she tried eating oysters, but it really gave us a scare as she was going nuts trying to scratch her whole body.

She’s not the brightest dog, which we truly found out when she twisted her own ankle running to the door. We’ve tried teaching her to fetch but she still can’t grasp the concept of returning the thrown ball/ toy back. We tried offering her treats but she just brought it to the room and sat down to eat.

However she does have her crafty moments. When she was hurt, she milked it for all it was worth for a week. Limping when she passed by people, but running like mad when food was served. She has opened the screen door twice and escaped from her leash the same number of times to run around the yard. She is the only dog I know who ducks from stepping on her “accidents” even when running.

I love this dog. She snores. She crinkles her face so that she looks like she’s smiling. She snuggles up to you when she can.

So who has a mandog I can pair her up with?

I remember the first time I heard a song from the play “Wicked”. It was a slow week at work and I was browsing videos at Myspace (it was that long ago) looking for something new to listen to. I caught the song “I’m Not That Girl”, which was basically a song about a girl saying she was ordinary and not the kind of girl that a boy would choose to love.

I listened to that song everyday for hours that week on loop. I even looked for videos of that song being performed. However, I didn’t want to read the synopsis of the play, because I knew in my heart that when I watched it, I wanted to be surprised. I knew some of the songs of course, but the whole story I kept a mystery to myself so when I had an opportunity to watch it I would see it and feel every moment for the first time.

Of course a play like that didn’t stay under the radar for long. Filipinos do go around the world after all, and the lucky ones got to see it on Broadway or the West End stages. I never longed to go to the United States or London, but for this play, I felt a longing to go to places I’ve never been, and urged friends and family in the cities that it was to play in to go watch it. I never really got anyone to watch it of course, the main response I got was “Why would I go watch it without you?” I don’t know if I was happy about that. I did get promises that if I was to go to the United States, friends would take me, promises that filled me with hope that the one play I wanted to watch in my life, I would get to see someday, however faint that hope was. (Which, for the friends who are reading is, I’m still collecting on in the future)

Then came last weekend, when we were sitting down in my seat at the Marina Bay Sands theater looking at the stage set up for the musical I never thought I would watch for at least a decade. The first few notes had me tearing up, and I admit, many of the performances left me touching my handkerchief to my eyes. The Defying Gravity performance left me shaking in my seat. It was, a surreal experience that exceeded every expectation I had. Every note was sung perfectly, all the actors playing their parts to a T. I was surprised at every nuance, every joke, every twist. I was so glad I didn’t read the story and it gave me a better experience for it.

I felt truly touched by the experiences played out on the stage, and while I was never an outcast, I was never “The Girl” too. All my life I’ve been “Normal Girl” and while I know I’ve been lucky, I’ve watched people so much luckier throw their chances away.

And come on, who but 1% of the population can say that they’ve been “The Girl” or “The Boy” of the population’s dreams, and I think this is the appeal of the play. To give the other perspective of people who have been misunderstood, miscast by circumstances and experiences brought to them by a world who’s main objective is the pursuit of beauty. We’ve almost all felt so ugly and unhappy about what we see in the mirror and felt the sting of not being to conform to society’s standards that we felt a little green.

So I guess, all I’m saying is, Gregory Maguire, thank you for writing the book that this play was based on. Thank you Stephen Schwartz for writing music and lyrics that will forever haunt my life. Thank you for the voice that told me look for songs to fill my life that day, and thank you for the person that brought me to see it, even with all the hesitation and doubt of them not liking it.

So let me write about words. Their power to influence, to hurt, to span generations and still be as poignant 100 years later than when they were first put to paper. I guess for a writer in this surplus world of information, making something, anything that will last, even for a moment in someone else’s life is one thing we do want to accomplish at least once in our lives. To move an audience of as little as one  with a phrase, a paragraph, an essay. Of something you’re truly passionate about. Of what moved you today. Of what happened in that particular moment that you just had to record with your own thoughts and share with others. Because in this world, the idea of permanence is fleeting. Even books are becoming an antiquated idea, the printed world giving way to pixels that anyone can easily dismiss with a click.

Why? I can’t even begin to tell you how often I’ve come across something I read that I did want to share with the world. Even if the idea of quoting someone is beginning to be as passe as forwarding a chain letter in someone’s mailbox, the idea that a few words could make someone else feels as I felt when I read it makes it all worthwhile to share. Who knows the power your words hold over people? What would pull on someone randomly reading a piece you’ve penned and making it a point to make sure others read it. I do want to think that the words I experience everyday have made life richer. And if your words can do that to others, then do it.

However uhip or egoistic it is to want to make an impact in the world with what you write, I want to urge people reading this to keep doing it. You may not make money off of it, or be the next frost or yates, you never know. Maybe this piece you wrote today will give you something to look back on and see how your younger self liked to think, or show your children who you were before they were born. Maybe this’ll just be something others use against you when they want to kick you to the ground, using your own words to mock you. It doesn’t matter.

Just write.

If it moves just one person (even if that person is you) for a single moment, it is a mark you left on their being. Maybe it’ll make them change them change their perspective for a second, or maybe it’ll just be something a person laughs at because of its absurdity, but it is, in that moment, significant to themselves.

Write. Because you need to. Because the world needs you to.

I have been waking up insanely early hours for work, and have just only noticed that this sky is what awaits me in the wee hours of the morning. Thank you for reminding me of the beauty of the world in the midst of the madness of reality.