ramblings from a gypsy soulramblings from a gypsy soulRamblings froma girl in love with travel, food, books, photography and life in general. Articles
A new glossy and my first article!
2008-01-22 05:34:00 Last weekend was a special one. Not only did Joey and I successfully co-host a super enjoyable and delicious baby shower for one of my bestest friends in the world (yay, Jo! We make a great team if I may say so myself! :)), but it was also the weekend that the latest issue of Travelife (Jan-Feb) hit the stands. The issue that holds my first-ever published travelogue! :) It's a piece about my More About: Article , Glossy
Peking duck at the source
2008-01-20 18:21:00 Now what would a trip to Beijing be without a Peking duck experience? It's unthinkable. It's like being there and yet not climbing the Great Wall. There's something special about sampling your favorite food right in it's birthplace where we can safely assume that only local ingredients are used and that it is prepared in the traditional method. The fact that you are eating among locals and in an More About: Source , The Source , Duck
Breezing through the Summer Palace
2008-01-09 19:53:00 I don't know if my friends share the same sentiment but my visit to the beautiful Summer Palace in Beijing, however awe-inspiring, was one marred by frustration. You see, places like these deserve more than just a few hours of your time. It can only be truly appreciated when taken in slowly; with a leisurely stroll through its halls and into its temples and pavillions, up its towers, across it's
Happy new year, friends! :)
2007-12-27 04:00:00 Hi everyone! I know I said I'd try and finish my Beijing posts before the year ends but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen. I have about 3 more posts to go but I'll be away from the computer from today until the 30th. I'm leaving in a couple of hours for the city of Xiamen in China with a girl friend of mine. I'm really excited about this trip because we're venturing slightly off the beaten More About: New Year , Friends , Happy , Happy New Year , Year
Takin' it to the streets
2007-12-23 04:49:00 Prior to my trip to Beijing, I imagined the city to be somewhat small and more laid-back compared to the rapidly developing and booming Shanghai in the south. But while this may be an accurate comparison, I haven't been to Shanghai so I can't tell you for sure, there is nothing small about Beijing and it it not quite so laid-back. Like a dart board with the Forbidden city as bull's eye, Beijing More About: Streets , The Streets
A violent past and a eunuch culture
2007-12-20 18:38:00 Wow, I've had this post in draft for over a month! I can't believe how difficult it has been to squeeze in some blogging time lately. I also realized that since my trip to Beijing, I've gone on another trip (Dumaguete, which I'll be posting about later) and I'm getting ready for yet another next week, which will all add to my growing backlog of posts! Hayayay! So I have to work double time on More About: Culture , Past , Violent
WS #12: Martin's birthday cake
2007-11-26 09:56:00 Last Saturday, my friend celebrated her son's 1st birthday party with a barn theme. Pictured above are the adorable and delicious cake and mini cakes made by Marta, the super-talented and sweet woman behind Marta's Cake s. I have pictures of her other creations, but then I'd have to give my blog a R-rating if I post them here. ;) See this week's photos here and click on the WS logo above for More About: Birthday
The Great Wall of China: been there, got stung!
2007-11-24 16:35:00 "You are not a hero at all if you have not climbed the Great Wall ." - Mao ZedongIf you haven't already heard the story directly from me, then you must be wondering about the title of this post. But I will get to that later. First, let me give you a brief intro about The Great Wall of China . It is almost 4,000 miles long and like a giant dragon, it zigzags across North China from the eastern coast More About: Great Wall of China
Pastimes at the Temple of Heaven
2007-11-21 16:21:00 Barely three hours after touchdown and happily sated with our first taste of Chinese food in China (more on the food in future posts), my friends and I headed for the Temp le of Heaven . This temple complex, which is the largest in China, reflects the ancient Chinese belief that Heaven was an ominpresent god of nature that governed everything under the sky, hence it was the venue for many sacred More About: The Temple
Weekend Snapshot #11: Carabao milk products
2007-11-18 18:11:00 Ugh, it's been a week and I still haven't had a chance to continue posting about my Beijing trip. Anyways, it's weekend snapshot time once again and my entry this week is a picture of dairy products such as white cheese, pastillas de leche, plain and flavored yoghurt (blueberry, patchberry and mango), chocolate milk, and some cups of milk-o-jel (which I have yet to try), all made from fresh More About: Products , Milk , Weekend
Weekend Snapshot #10: Forbidden Panda
2007-11-12 08:45:00 I missed WS #9 because I was in Beijing so I thought it would be a good idea to enter a picture taken that weekend for WS #10 to keep to the theme of my current posts. This photo is of a stuffed Panda which a tour guide was using to lead his group inside The Forbidden City. I thought it was really cute and a nice change from the usual ordinary flag or umbrella other guides were using. The More About: Weekend
Foreign babes in Beijing
2007-11-08 18:25:00 Ni hao! :) I've just come back from a 6-day visit to Beijing where my girl friends and I had a great time. (To the ladies: if you have never travelled with your girl friends, do yourself this favor if you get the chance. It is an absolute ball! My recent trips to Hanoi and Bangkok are testaments to this.) It was a very educational and interesting trip for sure, but more importantly it was a week More About: Babes , Foreign
Weekend Snapshot #8: Lanzones
2007-10-29 09:07:00 My first entry for Weekend Snapshot is a photo of lanzones taken Sunday at my aunt's fruit farm in Laguna where we spent the long weekend. The lanzones is a fruit native to Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia (where it is known as 'doku'). The flesh underneath the thin skin is soft and translucent and surrounds a very bitter seed which you would want to avoid
Salchichon de Pili and some lessons from Pili101
2007-10-26 12:07:00 It has always fascinated me how certain food, its taste, smell and perhaps even just the sight of it, can trigger cherished (or not) memories and sometimes with stunning clarity. Of those particular foods, I could list many which I fondly associate with either one of my grandmothers. One such example is mazapan de pili or salchichon de pili which Mamaita, my paternal grandmother, used to make. More About: Lessons , Some , Chich
Reggie's phone book
2007-10-25 07:40:00 (Edited to include last of 3 installments) To celebrate National Thank You Day (Oct. 20), Reggie Aspiras shared the precious contents of her phone book with the readers of her column, Kitchen Rescue on PDI. The list includes contact details for food, cooking and entertaining needs from suppliers mostly within Metro Manila. It is a very extensive list which I will surely be referring to often. So More About: Phone , Book
Degustation Menu by Chefs Sunshine & Rob II
2007-10-01 02:26:00 Just three months after the first menu degustation hosted by Chefs Sunshine and Rob, I was back for another delicious adventure. This time I took my sister Ginny and treated her to the experience as an advanced birthday gift. She had never been to anything like this before so she was really excited when I picked her up for the dinner nearly two months after I made our reservations. We shared a More About: Menu , Degustation , Degu
Yahoo for Dumaguete!
2007-09-27 17:18:00 Wow, it seems like forever since my last post and since I've read any of my favorite blogs. No, I haven't forgotten nor abandoned any of you! How can I? I just haven't had as much extra online time as I used to since the other stuff that makes up my daily life slowly started to creep up on me threatening to bury me alive if I continued to neglect them. So lately I've been juggling my time More About: Yahoo , Yahoo!
Luxe is here!
2007-09-04 12:50:00 In previous posts, I gushed about these fab pocket city guides which I discovered during one of my trips last year. Disappointed though later to find out that they weren't sold in Manila. But now I'm so stoked and happy to announce that thanks to my good friend Kat who brings them in, the Luxe City Guides are now available in our city! Since the last time I wrote about it, they've published new
What country are you?
2007-09-03 05:33:00 Saw this over at Nina's site. I am Thailand. While I deny the whole bit about sexual promiscuity and disease, it's good to know that my guests cry not because my cooking is horrible. ;) Come on, let's have some fun. It's a super short quiz, so go ahead and take it then tell me what country you are. You're Thailand! Calmer and more staunchly independent than almost all those around you, you More About: Country
Something smells fishy
2007-08-30 07:35:00 (Cebu: last of 4 parts)Because we spent most of our time in Santa Fe, there were some places in Cebu city I didn't have the chance to visit such as the popular bagsakan (wholesale) center, the Carbon market . What I did make time for though is Tabo-an market, which is only about 10 minutes away from my brothers house. So while he settled in for a siesta, pooped after driving back from Bantayan, I More About: Some
Santa Fe snapshots
2007-08-28 06:14:00 (Cebu: Part 3 of 4) Sante Fe is a small fishing village located on the southeast coast of Bantayan island. It is a place time seemed to have momentarily forgotten. The beaches are beautiful and unspoilt, and perhaps because it was low season, the only other life on the shores were fisherfolk and stray dogs. The beach at dusk was almost surreal. Everything turned a deep blue and you could barely More About: Santa , Santa Fe
Do you know the way to Santa Fe?
2007-08-24 01:37:00 (Cebu: Part 2 of 4) "So, are you feeling adventurous?", Woody asked my friend and I during brunch at his apartment Saturday morning. "Yes!", I replied a little too loudly, almost spilling my tea in the process, "Why what's the plan?". "Let's go to Bantayan", he replied. Less than two hours later we were on the road heading towards the northern tip of Cebu island where we would take the last More About: Santa , Santa Fe
A city of firsts
2007-08-22 18:09:00 (Cebu: Part 1 of 4)Magellan's Cross My favorite brother, who just happens to be my only brother, moved to Cebu from Bacolod a few months ago. I had been meaning to visit him much earlier to help fix up his place but unfortunately never got around to it. I did finally manage to make it down to that Queen City of the South for the long weekend with a friend in tow. We almost didn't make it though.
When life hands you lemons...
2007-08-22 02:05:00 Pickled lemonsIt must have been around that time, about 11 years ago , when I lived in Vancouver for a few months with my sister and her family that I became hopelessly enamored with Middle Eastern food. I spent countless hours in awe watching her and her Lebanese husband make some of the most exotic food I had ever tasted, using ingredients I had never even heard of until then. Then I devoured More About: Life , Hands , Lemons , Mons
Vanilla - anything but ordinary
2007-08-15 17:52:00 vanilla adj.: Ordinary flavor, standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla extract! For example, `vanilla wonton soup' means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. - Dictionary.com The word vanilla has become synonymous with anything that's ordinary. But really, is that even fair? How can something so intensely aromatic and More About: Vanilla
Red curry crab
2007-08-13 16:16:00 Remember Edgar, the taho guy-turned-crab guy I was telling you about in this post? Well twice recently I managed to catch him while I was home during the weekend. One Saturday morning, we chatted under the shade of a large rainbow-striped umbrella fixed to his sidecar as he weighed live crabs for me. I peered into the pails at his bounty, seeing some great-looking squid, lapu-lapu and prawns More About: Curry , Crab
"If the Travel Channel and The Food Network had a baby..."
2007-08-10 04:39:00 I wasn't planning to put this up on the blog but then I decided it's about the blog so I should, right? It's kinda like an important milestone in your baby's life and not adding it to her baby book. Not that I would ever compare having a blog to having a baby, so you mothers out there can put that knife down and back away slowly. ;) So anyway, a few months ago, Alynda posted about her blog More About: Baby , Travel , Food , Network , Food Network
Chunky guacamole
2007-08-08 03:25:00 When I was younger, I only really knew avocados as a sweet treat, served with milk and sugar in a bowl or blended into thick green shakes. It was only later that I began to discover this fruit for it's more savory potential, where it lends creaminess to dishes such as sushi, salsas, salads, sandwiches and of course dips like guacamole. In Aztec Mexico, the avocado fruit was highly-regarded More About: Mole , Chun , Chunky
Mixed mushroom couscous
2007-08-07 02:00:00 Here's a little break from all the protein I've been featuring from my last trip. This is a recipe that was inspired by BBC's Good Food 101 Veggie Dishes. I needed something new for my office baon (packed lunch), a change from my usual. I was growing a bit tired of grilled chicken (served with our ever-growing collection of condiments in the office), my usual salad brought from home, or any one More About: Couscous , Mushroom , Mixed , Mush , Mixe
Drive-thru organic market
More articles from this author:2007-08-06 02:11:00 I love my weekends and I look forward to it with much anticipation during the week. And I've always felt they were too short and should be composed of three days instead of two. I think it's only fair to work 4 days in a week and rest for 3, don't you think? Anyhoo, for most of us these two days are precious! On weekends I find myself in a bit of a tizzy; I am torn between the very elusive More About: Market , Drive , Organic , Organ 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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