27 May 2010

party dance

we didn't only enjoy the food at the weekend's party, but we enjoyed also the dances performed by the kids. i captured some videos.


my friend asked me before if my son Jaki can participate at group dance. well, my son's a bit shy type. maybe some other time.

22 May 2010

Historical Inter FC !

before i went here in italy, i don't know anything about soccer. but, when you're here, you will know soccer! i don't consider myself as a so-called soccer fanatic. but, of course every now and then, i cheer for a team or so. the first team i knew here was Juventus (team from Turin) and i love alex del piero (Juventus' captain ball). he's good and handsome! =)

my hub, mom-in-law and the rest of the family were so loyal to Inter FC (Milan's team, aside from Milan AC). so when there's no Juventus around, i cheer a bit for inter.

after the Italian Cup (May 5) and Italian League (May 16), the Inter FC tonight (May 22) had won the European Champions League. what a grand slam! it changed the italian soccer history. first time grand slam for an italian team. and for more than 40 years of waiting, finally Inter FC have won again the champions league cup.

Milan is really roaring this evening while i am writing this.

Congratulations Inter FC!


this is the shirt my hub bought for me. it's for the champions league finals. we can't fly to madrid, spain for the finals,so a souvenir shirt will do.


my hub, beside my mom-in-law and friends, celebrating the Italian League championship at piazza duomo di milano, last May 16. it's the 18th time italian league championship of inter fc.


my hub in all white inter fc sweat shirt. posing behind a poster of inter player Sneijder.


my two kids wearing inter fc uniforms during champions league game this evening. will i have some soccer players one day?

20 May 2010

film shooting

my hometown lucban is not only famous for pahiyas festival, but for its beautiful location for film shootings of our local cinema such as: Bagets 2, Misteryo sa Tuwa, Katawan, etc. I personally watched shooting Bagets 2 and Haplos. it was fun giggling at the actors and actresses during my days. in person they look more handsome and beautiful. it's also fun watching how the shooting goes.

the latest lucban craze was the upcoming movie "I'll Be There" starring the father and daughter, Gabby and KC Concepcion. the movie is set to be shown on june for father's day. here are some shots during their filming. i grabbed these from one of my facebook friends who was there while shooting.


actor Gabby Concepcion. he's still good (and young) looking eventhough late 40's.



the pahiyas festival setting


actress KC Concepcion as the reina elena


gabby, kc, echo rosales and director maryo de los reyes



KC waving the crowd



here is the full trailer of the upcoming movie: I'll Be There

19 May 2010

scent of a woman

there's a familiar saying, "smelling good, is feeling good". scents have their own way of making a person in a good mood. i was looking for my Issey Miyake perfume inside my drawer, (not remembering that it's already finished) and i notice i still got some perfumes unused. i hardly buy perfumes too. lot of perfumes were given to me.

i'll be vain today. let's talk about my scents, hahaha!




(at the back)

Beautiful by estee lauder - i first had this perfume when i was in freshmen days in college. it's my mom's gift to me. up to now, it remains to be one of my fave scents. see? only 1/4 remaining now. i used this one everyday. it's my hub's christmas present last year. this is my 5th bottle so far.

Envy by gucc i- it smells sweet. i only use this on occasions. it's my mom-in-laws birthday gift to me.

5th Avenue by elizabeth arden - this is 3rd among my faves, the first is issey miyake. see? it's almost finished...only few sprays and it's bye-bye time. i used to alternate this one with beautiful for everyday use. well, it's another gift form my mom-in-law for christmas. this is my 3rd bottle.

Victoria Secrets' Pure Seduction - i love to wear this one after a night shower. my hub is drooling, hahaha. he loves that seductive smell! this came from my hub's cousin back in New Jersey. this is the 2nd bottle. the first one lasted for a month.

Flowers by kenzo - my hub gave this to me, without occasion at all. he just grabbed it from the store, thinking of me. it smells like a fresh flower. hence the name. smells sweet.

(front)

Sweet Sun by dior - my hub's birthday gift to me last year. the scent is very natural. feels so fresh especially on summer.

Obsession by calvin klein - my former employer used to have this scent, everytime she walks by, the scent remains. i bought this perfume the next day i asked her about the perfume's brand. smels good like peach mixed of jasmine and lemon. this is my 2nd bottle. it's new!

Tresor by lancome - it has gorgeous scent and a gorgeous bottle! it's suitable for day and night sprays. definitely lasting. my mom's christmas gift to me. this is my 4th bottle. i only used the 3, the other one i gave to my best friend back home.

next thing to shop - chanel n°5!

happy smelling! =)

16 May 2010

four years to wait

this is our house back home.


every year, the pahiyas festival in my hometown, lucban, quezon has different route. for 2010, it's our street's turn again after four years.



my sis-in-law bheng and my brother ron at the gates


up at the balcony, from L-R, my son CJ, my brother Tato, my nephew Igi and a guest


night shot. my sister made some "fake kipings" (made of scraps and spray paints). no one notices the difference when some were mixed with the real kipings.


one of the arangyas (kiping chandeliers)



i truly missed this event...


14 May 2010

TGIF #7: something colorful



It's time for Pahiyas Festival back in my hometown. The festival is celebrated in the town of Lucban, Quezon every 15th of May. This is done in honor of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of our town. This tradition started during the 16th century as a way of giving thanks for a good harvest to assure farmers of more bountiful harvests in forthcoming seasons.

For friday five, i want to share the top five colorful things during Pahiyas festival.


1.) KIPING

Kiping is a brightly-colored, leaf-shaped wafer made of rice paste and used as decoration. The preparation of kiping starts with the collection of mature leaves which will serve as molds. Leaves like kabal, kape, talisay (umbrella tree), kakaw (cocoa), antipolo and banana (saba). Mature leaves are used in order to be able to use them three times or more.
Laon rice is used in the production of kiping to prevent unnecessary cracking of the rice wafer. The rice is soaked for two hours, then ground with water until it turns pasty. For every ganta of rice, at least three packets of food coloring and about 1/2 teaspoon of rock salt is used.
The rice paste is spread on each leaf and steamed for at least 30 minutes. After steaming, each leaf is dried until ready for peeling. After peeling them off the leaves, the kipings are piled on top of each other and compressed by placing a weight on top for half a day.

I still remember when we were small, we had that "summer job": peeling off kiping for .05 cents a leaf. we were sitted in circles and making our best bets who's gonna have the most numbered of leaves peeled. it's not easy to perfectly peel the kiping. you have to peel off slowly and carefully, otherwise the kiping will be torn off and becomes useless.


After the festival, the kipings are processed to become chips, sometimes cooked grilled or fried. i prefer grilled though. traditionally, from the past, after the parade, kipings were given or thrown to groups of people as free treats. But, with this global crisis now, i guess the "free treats" are set aside. Kiping costs too much.



2.) ANOK

Anok is a term used in Lucban for miniature dummy, a mannequin that depicts a farmer. It is displayed during the Pahiyas, complete with a farmers outfit and complimented with farm tools such as bolo and salakot. The creativity of Lucbanins are evident with the way the anok is presented. Some are animated and in fact live persons act as anok to the delight and surprise of onlookers, as the anok moves.



3.) HIGANTE

During pahiyas, a lot of higante (giant mascots) roam thru the streets to make the parade alive. Small kids were their best "targets" because kids are often scared. higantes have their way of bowing in front of the kids and running after them. when we were young, we used to sing, "higanteng putol, nanghahabol..."




4.) FOODS

Longganisang Lucban - One of the delicacy of our town is Longganisang Lucban. It is a native sausage that tastes uniquely compared to other native sausages in other provinces.

here's the simple recipe:

Ingredients:
1 kg of cubed (as opposed to chopped or ground) pork with fat.
¼ cup of oregano extract (can be more or less depending on taste)
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of chopped garlic (acts as the preservative)
Sausage casing (pork intestines preferred)

Directions:
1. Get a pan place the sausages in it and add water till the sausages are half covered.
2. Boil the sausages and prick them so that the casings won’t explode.
3. Cook till the water is all evaporated and what remains is the oil from the sausage.


whenever i go home, it's always a must for me to bring longganisa back here in italy. smells and tastes good.


Pancit Habhab - This local delicacy of Lucban is sauteed miki noodles with pork meat, pork liver and shrimp. pechay and sayote is a must vegetable ingredient. what makes this dish unique is the way it is eaten. it is placed in a banana leaf and eaten straight to your mouth without using any utensil. pancit hab-hab is drizzled with vinegar to enhance its taste.


most of pancit vendors roam around the town during meryenda time in bicycles or rolling stores.


5.) PARADE

Cow parade is also the main feature in the pahiyas procession. cows having their shows (they can basically kneel down). it's always a wonder to see these carabaos dressed up and artfully decorated too, bagging the "best carabao" competition.

Beautiful lads and handsome lasses also put their best unique gowns and suits during the parade. the dresses were made from native products of lucban, like buli or buntal, to mention some. i give the designers two thumbs up. Bravi!


Other colorful sights were the beautiful buntal hats decorated and sold as souvenirs by the tourists.


..not to miss some t-shirts!

well, i sure miss again the hell of fun back home. i'm sighing here for 16 years! i always dream to be home for this event.


should i make a plan next year?

12 May 2010

wednesday thoughts



it's still cloudy outside. a bit of rain every now and then. it has been going on like that, for a week now. it's 15°C outside. cold and feels like we're in autumn season, yet it's the month of May. we're supposed to be in our shirts this time of the year. but we're not.

i got things rattling around my head now, couple of which are political 'coz it's election fever in the philippines. from time to time, i monitor the election results. the ballot counting isn't finished yet for the presidential and vice presidential bets. the election was held last May 10. i guess by May 13, they will finally post the final and official results. Noynoy Aquino (son of former Philippine president Cory Aquino) had no worries now for the presidential seat. he got over 13 million votes already, compared to the other contender, Joseph Estrada (former Phil. President) which has only more than 8 million votes. i like Noynoy anyway. i hope he'll clean the government, since he's into anti-corruption. that's his priority.

for the locals, my high school classmates, Sonny Venzuela won again as councilor back in my hometown (Lucban, Quezon) and Bong Talabong won as a board member in Quezon. good for both of them.





while i am writing this, my daughter zendra is busy watching her Elmo videos (her first obsession is teletubbies). i guess i have seen the elmo stuffs a thousand times. from my son Jaki's pre-school years up to now, i almost memorize the songs & dialogues (english & italian)

"la la la la, la la la la...elmo's world..
la la la la, la la la la, elmo's world
elmo loves his goldfish,
his crayon too...
that's elmo's world..

This is the song- la la la la-
Elmo's song.
La la la la la la la la
Elmo's song.
La la la...

He loves to sing- la la la la-
Elmo's song.
La la la la la la la la
Elmo's song.
He wrote the music;
he wrote the words.
That's Elmos's song.


my daughter's hopping on her bed!

when she's annoyed she points at my laptop and says "mo, mo". means, "ma, get out of there, it's my elmo pc time"....hahaha.

the picture up here is what my pc wallpaper looks like now. she giggled everytime i turn on my laptop and sees elmo.

my laundry bin is overflowing now. it's hard to dry clothes because of the rain. the wet clothes are hanged all over the house because i can't hang them out of the balcony. --sigh--sigh--
i can't even stroll around with zendra. it's cold and you have no idea what time the rain will pour. yesterday, it seems like a storm. my colleagues at work were soaked from the heavy rains: wet pants and shoes. i was glad i arrived earlier.

it's almost 12:30 pm. time for lunch. i'll just have some tuna and bread.

to the kitchen...!

10 May 2010

philippine election 2010

today is a big day in the philippines. it's election 2010.
there are 10 presidential and 8 vice-presidential candidates.
it's also the first time to use the automated election system.



whatever the results, i wish people will vote wisely, and i hope & pray for an honest and clean election.

09 May 2010

promises


i just finished half of the clothes to iron today. the monthly cycle made me lazy. anyway, it's Mother's day today! i guess i need to relax longer. =) my daughter also turned 16 months today.

i made a list of the things i need to do, starting tomorrow...

1.)
i have read this Short Book too many times and i still continue to laugh quietly. so, i promise i'm gonna blog this one next week. i want to share some funny anecdotes from the book. i can't promise the exact day though.


2.)
i promise to look and buy at the american bookstore, "The Apprentice" book by tess gerritsen. might be good and a thrilling one.


3.)

i promise to finish this italian version of 206 bones. i have started reading this since march 23 and i still need to finish the last 1/4 of the book. so thrilling. i listed a lot of italian words which are so new to me.



4.)
i promise to empty the ironing clothes bin by saturday! it's not easy to iron clothes when my daughter makes a "tarzan" act out of the flat iron cord. was that a justification for laziness? =)

5.)
i promise myself to have a real haircut! i asked my hub to cut 2 inches of my hair last week, just to shorten a bit. it's getting hot here. summer's almost at the door and i'm getting tired of braids, pony tails and clips. i want a new look! rah rah rah!

now, isn't it true that some promises are bound to be broken?

08 May 2010

mother-daughter tandem

the sun (shortly) shined last thursday, so we hurried in the park to have some fun. as usual, zendra and i were alone and i had that idea to set automatically the digicam on the stairs of the slide. good enough the park is not too wet from the rains.

zendra knew when the cam is blinking. see? she's ready! click!






yeah ok..i have to loose my weight. i tried to jump, but the cam didn't capture it well.

i love this sequence of me and zendra playing "plane"


a kiss from my daughter! mwah!


she loves the spinning. i got dizzy...=)

another shot.


A Mother's Love
There are times when only a Mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappoints
And calm all of our fears.
There are times when only a Mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.
There are times when only a Mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.
For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith
And a Mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the Angels
And sent from God above.