The One with the TV Addiction

As much as I would like to say that I live a full life, I really don't. In fact, if you can't fin me sampling something delicious off the streets of Makati, Ortigas or the greater QC area, I'm probably at home, escaping into my own little world of comedy, drama and yes, sometimes, action. 

Why yes, this is what I'm talking about. TV! 

I've always been a fan of television. Whether it's trash TV (think Jerry Springer), to animation (Family Guy, The Simpsons) to action (NCIS, Criminal Minds, White Collar) to offbeat comedy (How I Met Your Mother, King of Queens, Gary Unmarried), to reality TV shows (ANTM, American Idol) to biopics (History Channel, River Monsters from Nat Geo, BIO)... I am simply a TV addict. I am actually one of the few people that subscribed to Sky complete with a digibox (think digital receiver) and I was darned proud of it. Think of how amazing the pictures are courtesy of the digibox and as an additional bonus, I get to find out whether I need to stay up for another movie on HBO or maybe because I'm waiting for more shows to come to the boob tube. 

My favorite is this one show: 

It's called Chuck and I keep realizing how much I love it, watching every season of it. Guess why I love it? I love Chuck's all-natural innocence and the way he tries to charm his way out of terrorist situations with his geeky, funny and amazingly cute side-comments. You have to love yourself some Chuck. 

I figured it has something to do with the fact that Chuck is hard to find, or you may have found yourself a Chuck and let him go. Or in my subconscious, I'm prolly Chuck and I'm still waiting for my long-legged blonde bombshell to rescue me (go figure...). In any case, go catch yourself some Chuck, you'd thank me later. 

The One with Everybody's Fine

Robert De Niro is one of the most amazing actors to date. He can do a dramatic scene like no one I know, and can be funny as heck. (You must be living in a cave if you haven't seen Ben Stiller's Meet the Parents, which had sequels like "Meet the Fockers" and another one that I forgot about...). 

And just like any good actor, you can really count on him to bring you into a role so convincingly that you will find yourself drawn to the character and forget that he was ever Robert De Niro or that he played Ben Stiller's less than cooperative father-in-law. 

Everybody's Fine is exactly that. It gives you a superbly dramatic but simple look on how a father deals with his everyday life when his children have all grown up. Frank is a simple guy that worked on wiring telephone connections for decades to put his children through school. David (played by Austin Lysy), his eldest son whom he thinks is a well-known artist in New York, Amy (played by Kate Beckinsale), his Ad Agency daughter whom he thinks has the picture-perfect family life, Robert (played by Sam Rockwell), whom he thinks is a conductor in an orchestra, and his youngest daughter Rosie (played by Drew Barrymore) who is a dancer. 

As he struggles to find out the truth about his eldest son, David who hasn't returned his calls, he sets off to visit each one of them, revealing little details about their lives that never occurred to him thanks to his wife, and his children's strong need to cover-up for their short-comings. It is revealed in each visit that he has missed particular chances to show them how proud he is of them and how they only wished they'd measure up to his extremely high standards. 

So goes an amazing story of how life is affected by communication. At the end of the story, Frank heads back to New York to purchase all of David's work. The lady in the store then unearths a beautiful painting of David of telephone wires, wires that Frank has built and has connected him to his family for decades and for more years to come. 

The movie is shot frame per frame without effects, not much sets, not much costume changes either. There is very little to almost no glamor in the shots they had for the movie, but they acted so beautifully that you can't help but cry so hard at the thought of a father losing his most beloved son. 

It tanked in the US and wasn't given much appreciation but it's actually one movie that allows you to see past the usual drama of Hollywood romances and lets you in on how it is to be in a family, which I think media shows less of. My theory is that it's a box-office bomb cos it didn't even have one kissing scene. While most TV series center themselves around families (Check out Modern Family, Two and a Half Men and even Gary Unmarried), they don't carry the social stigma of how children tend to want to protect their own parents from their misgivings. They also look at family in a hilarious, offbeat kind of way that becomes endearing. Families are sometimes gritty and sad, and here's one look at that sad yet poignant tale of how children rear their parents when they grow up. 

The One with the Dezzato

I've never been a fan of desserts. I know, that's odd for a woman and for someone my age, but I'd really rather eat a meal than spend for pastries slathered in whipped cream and chocolate ganache. 

This picture doesn't do anything for me, while it probably produces that feeling of longing for a lot of you... 

I have never been a fan of sweets, nor chocolates. In fact, I'd rather have some fruits if I really want dessert. What? I'm half-Chinese, we eat a banana and that's dessert! It's amazing to me though how my friends actually leave room for dessert and it's a must for every meal! (And in some cases, for my friend Irish, it's a must with every wine or alcoholic beverage). 

Historically, only Westerners tend to eat desserts. The word "dessert" is actually coined from a French word meaning "to clear the table" and "to serve". Amazingly, it's something we Asians have come to adopt and love. I've gotten all kinds of excuses ranging from the scientific - "it kind of signals our brain to stop eating" or to the odd - "I'd rather have dessert than steak cos I'm on a diet" down to the bizarre - "I'm very addicted to this cake, I can't stop eating it". Sometimes, I wonder why it's a tendency for most women to love desserts more than an actual meal. While an actual meal is consist of protein and carbohydrates and other complex vitamins which the body can use for later, desserts just tend to make one crave for more sugar, and can actually infect your throat. 

We also like Japanese food. Tempura's Menu. 

We headed off to Tempura. Amazing Japanese food, but you're probably tired of shots of raw fish so I decided to take pics of the desserts we had. 

This is how sushi starts out, you guys. Sans the amazing cutlery-work of sushi chefs. 

While most Asian desserts tend to be gelatinous or squishy like red bean paste buchi or almond jelly, Tempura went all the way Western and we were given a choice of highly decorated cake slices from a tray or plate. Knowing the dessert fiend my friend is, we had to make room for dessert after tempura and some amazing Curry Omu Rice, which was sooo yummy! We ordered from their dessert plate. 

I had a fruit-filled cake. It was a layer of chiffon topped with some light cream and lots of fruits. 

That's another shot. Dezaato is the Japanese word for dessert. 

Chloe had the sexy chocolate cake from the dessert plate. 

One more shot - it's got heavy whipped cream atop while fudge drips off its sides. 

I never quite understood desserts, I doubt I ever will, completely. But I know one thing for sure, people love them, people will love them for more years to come and I have completed something off my bucket list - appreciate new kinds of food!  

Picture of the raw fish on ice - obtained legally from Stock Xchng. 

All pictures of the food have not been styled. You can check them out at your nearest Tempura Japanese Grill. 

All pictures were taken with a Sony DSC cam. 

The One with the New Year

I'm born and bred Filipino but my blood is still slightly of the Chinese descent. I would always tell people that I'm a non-practicing Chinese. But when the opportunity to visit Chinatown on Lunar New Year came to me, I grabbed it by its horns. 

No city trip is complete without sampling its church. I know for a fact that in art class, we were all asked to take a trip down old Manila and simply marvel at the architecture, the facade and the intricate art that the church has to offer. There's so much about a church that tells you about the community. 

San Lorenzo Ruiz Church in Downtown Binondo

A church shows solidarity. It links tradition to community and sets the tone for the community. And entering the church, it was airy and light. There were sculptures of saints and intricate columns everywhere but what I loved were the paintings on the wall and the archs of the dome. 

Nice art piece on the wall. Nope, I didn't lie down to take this shot. 

After which, we walked from street to street, admiring the view, the people and the customs. 

Balloons being sold by the side street, covering the huge banner that says "Happy New Year" in Chinese. 

Colored chicks sold by the side street of Ongpin. 

History is rich in this part of town. There's almost too much history that we don't really know where to start. What's amazing about it is there are tons of people walking around, doing as we did - soaking up the heritage and the culture that is Binondo, while everyone eyes the dragon dances. 

Kid in a Cheong Sam

Charms and Chinese amulets

More charms and Buddha figurines. 

Part of that rich heritage is people dressing in red every Lunar New Year. Amazingly, we saw families and even random by-passers in red. 

Red was the color of the day. 

Check it out, one whole family wearing red! Nice! 

So apart from this, we had dragons dancing everywhere! And if you don't believe me, check out the pictures! 

That's a golden dragon, dancing outside President Restaurant. 

Red dragon reaching for a firework atop the building ledge. 

Pink dragon walking along the Ongpin side streets.

A big yellow dragon follows the pink one. 

More of the golden dragon we saw from President. 

Yes, non-practicing Chinese but absolutely appreciating the heritage. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! 

All pics were taken with a Sony DSC Cam. 
No dragons were harmed during the making of this post. 

The One with the Portugese Restaurant

I originally started this blog to be a little bit more adventurous about food. I have been finicky and picky about food ever since I was a little girl. I would choose not to eat at certain places when I feel that it's too commercial (cos come on, who likes to eat fried breading when you're supposed to be eating chicken, right?). Amazingly, I found a restaurant right outside my office that offered great food. 

I'm someone that likes great experiences. I honestly don't mind spending for food if it means great company, amazing beverages and best of all, it's something I won't see off a 24-hour convenience store. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some entitled person that would only eat at the more expensive restos. I would gladly eat at a hole-in-the-wall place if it could offer me something good.  

Fast food burgers are fun only when you don't have time to enjoy yourself. 

I remember, while working for Merlin, I would eat burgers every single day. Why? Cos it's convenient. McDonald's was a 5-minute walk away. I would leave the burger joint with a whopping chicken sandwich (chicken fillet deep-fried to artery clogging goodness, dripping with mayo), large fries (dripping in bad cholesterol) and a huge Coke light (to which the lady in the counter would always give me Coke). It was almost too easy and too convenient to think of food as a way to get by the day and to give you a spurt of energy that you need to train someone, or to come up with a confounding 3-page report of which agent has taken what course or to compute for the ROI of getting people into some 100,000Php training in Ateneo. It's so easy to not think of yourself as a person when your work gets the better of you. Moreover, it's easy to always think you're invincible to artery-clogging elements in food when you're not really thinking of yourself to begin with. 

Now, I kind of know better. Working for StarTek, I'm glad I found people who appreciate good food like I do and tend to think that McDonald's and/or Jollibee would give us heart attack on a bun soon enough. I came in early to work one day and glad I asked a very hungry Belle to eat with me. 

The strip along Jupiter is peppered with date places. It's odd to ask a friend (or a couple of friends) to head into one of those restaurants and sample their best sellers, or to ask for wine and fish or steak. I have always had that mindset - that restaurants tend to be for couples and fast food is for singles. So, I'm pretty glad that people around me don't tend to be as narrow-minded as me. 

It's this nice place called O'sonho in Jupiter. It's got amazing food about and it's a Portugese fusion resto-bar that is open until 11PM (we know cos we stopped by at 10.30PM and it seems like they're about to close). The great thing I can tell you about it is the good service we got from the people. It seems almost too good to be true. 

O'sonho's Peppermint Fishbowl Iced Tea - great for sharing. That's Belle with the bowl. I was half-expecting fish, but hey... That would be a little bit freaky. 

Salmon croquettes as starters 

That's some dory fish fillet swimming in some great saffron sauce. Can someone say yum?! 

They have Peri Peri chicken which swims in some saffron sauce too, with some rosemary rice. I also got to sample some Spinach salad that was cooked to perfection.

It's easy to settle for everyday meals when you're single. I guess it's easy to settle for something when you're single, period. But sometimes, life has a way to let you experience the best in life, with or without anyone. So what are you waiting for? Drive your car to the nearest "date place" you can think of and sample a dish. Trust me, a love affair with yourself is better than no love affair at all.

All pictures of the food (and Belle) were taken with a NokiaE72. The only business phone which I will invest in. 
The burger picture was legally obtained from Stock Xchng. 
Belle is an LMS Administrator who has worked for StarTek for over a couple of years now. Belle has promised me that she will take me on more culinary adventures. 

The One with the Overrated Valentines

Ever wonder why every Valentine's Day is peppered with hearts and soft, sweet songs, with red petals everywhere and yup, cupids? 

Statue of cupid, thinking about who to shoot next. 

St. Valentine (yup, the guy that Valentines's Day was named after) was actually a Roman Priest. He's not some cupid with a bow, ready to shoot you at a chance. He's actually someone that performed weddings for Christians at the time that Claudius II (Claudius the Goth) was in power. Since aiding Christians were illegal and punishable by imprisonment, soldiers took Valentinus. He was asked to renounce his faith and he refused. He was beheaded for his faith and martyred in 262 AD. He became the Patron Saint of "affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people,so amazingly, even epileptics and gals with fainting spells ought to be celebrating.

Oh dear San Valentinus! 

The amazing thing about it is people are cashing in on it. Hallmark with the expensive eCards with customizable music, flower shops which send you dozens of emails days before the day itself, restaurants, heck even condom companies. Is it me or have we lost our feel for actually celebrating love and have settled with marketing schemes and an all-too-powerful media inception of what Valentine's should be?

Images like this make you think that it's the perfect Vday date - sunset, by the beach, walking hand-in-hand... 

Red roses - passion, desire, love - Uhm, not really. Just says your guy has the "affordances" to purchase an uber expensive bouquet. 

Amazingly, as someone who used to play for the other side (yes, I once celebrated media Vday too!), I always thought it was always on 'roids or something. I can't enter one store without seeing heart balloons or rose-candies and chocolates are at an all-time high! Scallops are at their most expensive and yes, even Rockafeller oysters (which I can eat everyday!) become exotic aphrodisiacs around February. TV commercials are sexier and people tend to wear more make-up around this month. I would roam around some clothing boutiques and red is back, while the LBD (little black dress) is glorified as the "ultimate date dress" by Cosmo, Preview and all those other magazines women like me tend to subscribe to. Now, it's just plain too much. 

Sexy black dress! Bam!

Not to mention that there are probably 20 or so people on my Facebook list that update their status almost hourly with how alone and how eff*d-up their Valentine's Day will, should or is. Did I mention 20? Let's go for 30. It seems like singledom is doomed whenever it's VDay, and I just want to remind everyone that it's not  about being with someone, it's about finding love. And no, love isn't simply what you do under the sheets with some guy (or gal), it's a feeling, a commitment. So you can love your family, your friends, your God, your iPod or what have you. 

Sometimes, love can be a vision of the future. It doesn't have to be with someone. 

There could be a million things that you can do for yourself, with or without anyone beside you. Sometimes, it's even easier to find things to "fall in love with" when you're not hung up on someone.

Also, think of Valentinus (I know, I know, I'm not Catholic and I shouldn't talk about Saints, but hey...), that saint was beatified (read: martyred) for one reason - he died for the belief that an afterlife is better than renouncing his faith. So in essence, he died for faith, not for love. And if you really think about it, VDay should be all about faith - faith in yourself, faith in mankind, faith that life only gets better (with or without anyone).

No photographers were harmed intellectually during the making of this post. All pictures were obtained legally from Stock Xchng. 

My acknowledgement to a good friend, who thinks Vday is overrated but doesn't bitch about it, runs marathons and likes hot chicks. (PM me if you're a lady and you're hot, I'll have him call you.) There's about 10 minutes left til VDay is over. Lolz!  

The One with the Anniversary

I took a quick hiatus from the world of online blogging the past few weeks to focus on something I needed to do for myself. In case you're wondering if it's part of my bucket list, I would say it's part of my happy list. While most people have been wondering about what to do for Valentine's Day and how to find the love they long to have, I have been busy finding time for all the crazy activities I wanted to have for this month.

I still have yet to read Outliers. I know I've had that since December and I still haven't managed to read it. I have been meaning to get a massage and I just choose to waste whatever free time I have on either TV or sleep. I have been wanting to try out several restaurants and yet all I actually do is settle with some fast food quick fix (and the McDonalds Twister Fries are AWESOME!!!) and finally, I have been wanting to do the "in" thing and run a marathon (hey, a fun run would do) and my treadmill hasn't seen the light of day. It's still occluded (read: buried) under my clothes.

So ever wonder why I'm always busy? I have this conference call, that issue to deal with, this director to please and this course to deploy. 

An email I sent out to my entire team. 

I turned one StarTek year old! 

I wanted to thank my team for making me feel like I'm home. I have set-out last year wanting so badly to belong (ergo, almost getting married) and now, I feel like I do. I have wonderful mentors, like my mean best friend James and my "Positive Polly" Candy and I have a corporate US boss that I love a lot. I have Ivan who doubles as my son and my best friend at work at the same time (primarily cos we work in partnership a lot with some admin tasks). I have great friends at work and a lot of perspective. My SMEs have been great. There's Dan, the director of Human Resources, whom I have come to love and enjoy the company of, cos he's just a lot of ideas in an hour's meeting. There's Kevin and Judy from Finance whom I think the world of. There's a lot of development going on and if I can ask for one thing, I'd ask for one thing only - a higher salary, lolz. 

The One with the Hiatus

Sometimes, when you share a lot of your life online, you tend to forget what that life is about. For someone as private as I am, sometimes, it's hard to find things that you can share.

In this digital age, you kind of need a few days to think through what you want to accomplish. Because there is so much happening in the world, you tend to think of the future casually and documentation becomes only a second priority in your life.

There's a stop sign somewhere when you need to breathe. 

That's what I realized while I was on blogging hiatus. I didn't really quite force myself. I did get busy for the last week, running errands, doing things that I wanted without thinking of how I am going to tell that story to people.

I was on sick leave last night too. I have been doing too much too soon and I just didn't realize how it would affect my daily cognitive functions - functions I value a lot in my work.

So yes, sometimes, believe it or not, it's okay to hit the stop button once in a while. Maybe when you hit start again, things will go faster, smoother and way, way more interesting.

Booting up in a couple of mins... System downloading... 

No photographers were harmed intellectually during the making of this post. All pictures were obtained legally and safely via Stock Xchng.