I’m stopping in Manila for an hour. It’s so short, but I know...

Taken from Real Coffee Cafe

Coming through Manila Airport. 

Stepping off the plane and entering the humidity. Walking across the dotted floors that make the luggage go KAKUNK KAKUNK KAKUNK! (His neighbors couldn’t stand it)

Lol. Seeing all the boards with the beautiful tourist spots. I like seeing those.

I like that for some reason. 

Just coming to Philippines is a good amazing feeling.

So much Filipino Youtube sensation awesomeness in one video!

Cannot handle it.

Ivan Henares' Dictionary of Philippine Street Food:

• Abnoy - unhatched incubated duck egg or bugok which is mixed with flour and water and cooked like pancakes
• Adidas - chicken feet, marinated and grilled or cooked adobo style
• Arroz caldo - rice porridge or congee cooked with chicken and kasubha; see also Lugaw
• Atay - grilled chicken liver
• Baga - pig’s or cow’s lungs grilled or deep-fried and served with barbeque condiments
• Balat ng manok - see Chicken skin and Chicharon manok
• Balun-balunan - grilled chicken gizzard
• Balut - hard-boiled duck egg with fetus
• Banana cue - deep-fried saba (banana) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Barbeque - marinated pork or chicken pieces grilled on skewers
• Batchoy - miki noodle soup garnished with pork innards (liver, kidney and heart), chicharon (pork skin cracklings), chicken breast, vegetables and topped with a raw egg; origin traced to La Paz, Iloilo
• Betamax - curdled chicken or pork blood, cubed and grilled
• Bibingka - glutinous rice flour pancakes grilled with charcoal above and below in a special clay pot
• Biko (also Bico) - glutinous rice cake with grated coconut topping
• Binatog - boiled white corn kernels, sugar, grated coconut and milk
• Bopis - minced pig’s heart and lungs sauteed with garlic and onion and seasoned with laurel, oregano, bell pepper and vinegar
• Botsi - chicken esophagus, deep-fried or grilled
• Calamares - deep-fried squid in batter
• Calamay(also Kalamay) - glutinous rice cakes; varieties all over the country
• Camote cue - deep-fried camote (sweet potato) covered with caramelized brown sugar
• Carioca(also Karyoka, Karioka) - deep-fried glutinous rice flour cakes served on skewers
• Cheese sticks - deep-fried cheese wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
• Chicharon baboy - pork skin cracklings, made from pork rind boiled and seasoned, sun-dried and deep-fried
• Chicharon bituka - pork or chicken intestine boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon bulaklak - pork omentum boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
• Chicharon manok - chicken skin cracklings
• Chicken balls - balls made with chicken meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Chicken skin - chicken skin battered and deep fried
• Cutchinta - see Kutsinta
• Day-old chicks - literally day-old chicks deep-fried to a crisp, served with sauce or vinegar
• Empanada (Batac) - pork longganiza, egg and grated green papaya in a rice flour shell, deep-fried and served with vinegar
• Fishballs - balls made with fish meat, most often from pollock, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Goto - rice porridge or congee cooked with beef tripe
• Halo-halo - translated as “a mix of many things” or “an assortment,” it is a dessert topped with shaved ice that may contain sweetened saba (banana), camote, macapuno (young coconut), kaong, nata de coco, pinipig (rice crispies), gulaman (agar), sago (tapioca balls), brown and white beans, garbanzos, ube (purple yam), and leche flan (creme brulee), with milk and sugar; Pampanga has three popular versions in Guagua, Arayat and Angeles which may include pastillas, crushed white beans and corn
• Helmet - grilled chicken head
• Hepalog(also Toknonong) - hard-boiled duck eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried
• Isaw - collective term for different types of grilled chicken and pork innards; varieties include isaw manok, isaw baboy, atay, goto, botsi, balun-balunan, and tenga ng baboy
• Isaw baboy - grilled or deep-fried pork intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Isaw manok(also IUD) - grilled or deep-fried chicken intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; also referred to as IUD because it resembles an intra-uterine device
• Iskrambol(also Scrambol) - frostees; shaved ice, diced gulaman, sago and condensed milk
• IUD - see Isaw manok
• Kakanin - collective term for snacks made with kanin (rice), particularly malagkit (glutinous) rice; varieties include puto, kutsinta, calamay, sapin-sapin, suman, palitaw, biko or sinukmani, and espasol among many others
• Kalamay - see Calamay
• Kamote cue - see Camote cue
• Kikiam - the special ones are made of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets, deep-fried and served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; those in the street are seafood-based, usually made of fish meat and cuttlefish
• Kudil - deep-fried pork skin
• Kutsinta - steamed bahaw (boiled rice) with lye and brown sugar; has a gelatinous consistency
• Kwek kwek - see Quek quek
• Lomi - noodle soup made with thick fresh egg noodles or lomi
• Longganiza - pork sausage grilled or fried on a skewer
• Lugaw - rice porridge or congee; varieties include arroz caldo (with chicken and kasubha) and goto (with beef tripe)
• Lumpia - spring rolls; varieties include lumpiang basa; lumpiang hubad - fresh spring rolls wothout the wrapper; lumpiang prito; lumpiang sariwa - fresh srping rolls; lumpiang shanghai; lumpiang ubod; and turo
• Mais - boiled sweet corn seasoned with salt, butter or margarine
• Mais con yelo - sweet corn, milk and sugar topped with shaved ice
• Mami - noodle soup
• Manggang hilaw - green mango served with bagoong (shrimp paste)
• Mani - peanuts either boiled, roasted or deep-fried and seasoned with garlic and salt
• Maruya - banana fritters
• Nilupak - mashed kamoteng kahoy (cassava) or kamote (sweet potato) with brown sugar and served with butter or margarine
• Palitaw - glutinous rice flour pancakes topped with grated young coconut, sugar and roasted sesame seeds
• Panara - deep-fried crab and grated green papaya empanda sold in Pampanga during Christmas season
• Pancit - noodles; varieties are batchoy (Iloilo) - see Batchoy; batil patung (Tuguegarao) - local noodles topped with hot dogs, chicharon, ground meat, fried egg, and vegetables; pancit bihon; pancit canton - a kind of pancit guisado flavored with ginger and soy sauce; pancit guisado, pancit habhab (Lucban) - sautéed miki noodles served on and eaten straight from banana leaf sans utensils; pancit lomi - see Lomi; pansit luglog (Pampanga and Tagalog Region) - it has a distinct orange shrimp-achuete sauce and is topped with chicharon, tinapa, wansoy and shrimp; pancit malabon (Malabon) - made with thick rice noodles tossed in shrimp-achuete oil topped with shelled oysters, squid rings, suaje or hipong puti and wansoy; pancit molo (Iloilo) - clear chicken broth with wonton, garlic and crushed chorizo; pancit palabok; pancit puti (Manila); and pancit sotanghon among many others
• Pandesal (also Pan de sal) - breakfast roll; rounded bread
• Pares - translated as “pair,” means the pairing of rice with beef; beef pares is characterized by very tender meat, usually with a lot of litid (ligaments)
• Penoy - hard-boiled duck egg without fetus
• Proven - hard portion of chicken entrails that is either marinated and grilled, battered and fried or cooked adobo style
• Pusit - squid grilled on skewer
• Puto - steamed rice cake
• Puto bumbong - purple glutinous rice snack cooked in a special steamer
• Quikiam - see Kikiam
• Quek quek(also Toknanay) - hard boiled chicken eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also used for quail eggs but some say the correct term for the quail egg version is tokneneng; the balut version is sometimes referred to as hepalog
• Sapin-sapin - layered glutinous rice and coconut milk cake usually topped with grated coconut and latik (residue from coconut oil extraction); different flavor per layer such as ube (purple yam), macapuno (young coconut), kutsinta and langka (jackfruit)
• Scrambol - see Iskrambol
• Sinukmani - see Biko
• Siomai - steamed pork dumplings
• Siopao - steamed pork buns
• Sisig - roasted pig’s head, chicken liver, onions and chili, chopped and flavored with calamansi served on a hot metal plate
• Sorbetes(also Dirty ice cream) - street ice cream made with local fruits and ingredients; common flavors include ube (purple yam), mango, avocado, queso (cheese), chocolate, langka (jackfruit), buko or macapuno (coconut); strawberry is common in Baguio City
• Squid balls - balls made with squid or cuttlefish meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
• Suman - glutinous rice snack steamed in banana or coconut leaves; varieties include binagol (Leyte) made with glutinous rice, gabi (taro), coconut milk and chocolate; budbod sa kabog (Tanjay, Negros Oriental) which uses millet instead of glutinous rice; Taho - bean curd snack topped with arnibal (liquefied raw sugar similar to molasses) and sago (tapioca balls)
• Tenga ng baboy (also Walkman) - marinated pig’s ears grilled on skewers; see also Kudil
• Toknanay - see Quek quek
• Tokneneng - hard boiled quail eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also called kwek kwek by others
• Toknonong - see Hepalog
• Tupig(also Itemtem) - glutinous rice, grated mature coconut, coconut milk and molasses rolled in banana leaves and grilled; varieties in Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte (Batac) and Isabela
• Turon - saba (banana) with with sugar and sometimes langka (jackfruit) wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and deep-fried
• Walkman - see Tenga ng Baboy

Riding a tricycle to get to school!

Sorbetes!

I’m stopping in Manila for an hour. It’s so short, but I know that it’ll feel great just to be back home, even though I’ll be stuck inside the airport and it’ll be just for an hour.

Lando - Gloc 9

WATCH OUR DANCE CONCERT :)

#waitingshed #igers #instagram #igersmanila #iphoneasia #iphoneography #makati #philippines (Taken with instagram)

Joseph Vincent is among the Fil-Am musicians who has YouTube to thank for his popularity. He was featured on Ellen twice.

UCI Anteaters FTW

It has a house of memories, my Grandmother, my Auntie Emie, my Grandfather’s resting place, most of my cousins and relatives, gigantic malls, jeepneys, Jollibee, and so many more. Meals I’ve had there taste so much better than here, even thought they’re the same things. Car rides there always make me happy. I feel so at home and comfortable there, even though I don’t speak much cause I’m embarrassed of my Tagalog accent. It’s my second home. I just can’t wait to go back there next summer. I miss the Philippines so much. 

Photo and caption by Ken Michael Jon Taarup

Boracay, Philippines

Inflatable Shark Discovered in Philippines

Life caught up with me in these past 2 months, and unfortunately I’ve neglected continuing with my Philippines recap.  Fear not though, as I’m back and ready with an update.  Today was an unusually humid day here in Seattle, and whenever I think humidity, I have to think about going back to The Philippines.

Recommended Listening in a New Tab: Happy Birthday by The Beatles

The humidity reminded me very much of the day we flew back from Boracay.  It was humid when we left the island, then just chokingly hot when we arrived in Cebu for our connecting flight, and upon reaching Manila, it was back to humid again.  Kuya Medic picked us up from the airport and we immediately drove out to Ayala Alabang to meet up with the family.  Ate Cathy’s daughter Rain was also celebrating her birthday, so we all met up at the mall with the rest of the big family, along with Ate Bebeth’s family.  A couple group shots:

After dinner, we went to Ate Cathy and Kuya Olan’s house and chilled for most of the night. Wence and Jo spent the night there, while Sasha and I spent the night over at Uncle Junior’s house about 10 minutes away. We’d only be spending one night here, since the next day we were up early and on the way up north to Jo’s home province of Pangasinan. Here, our chariot driven by Kuya Medic awaits outside Ate Cathy and Kuya Olan’s house:

It was going to be a 5-hour drive up to the Jo’s hometown of San Jacinto, but luckily we were able to meet up with RJ since he just happened to be in the country at the same time! We met up with him at an mall area known as The Fort. Check out the inside of this mall, which would be just the second of many malls we’d visit on our trip:

And here we are actually meeting up with RJ:

Don’t let the overcast skies fool you, it was both hot and humid, although not quite as unbearably hot as it was earlier in the trip. We went across the street from the big mall into a higher end shopping area and grabbed some lunch at a surprisingly decent italian chain restaurant. Check out how thrilled we are in this video that RJ took:

While we ate, we also found out that the Green Bay Packers had beaten the Pittsburgh STEALers in the Superbowl. Following lunch, we checked out a bookstore that had some crazy superhero memorabilia, until the security guard told us we weren’t supposed to take photos of it:

After clearing out of the bookstore, RJ took another video where Sasha proclaimed that he’d return, complete with Westsides from yours truly:

After saying farewell to RJ, we were off on our 5-hour road trip to Pangasinan! More to come soon…

Click here to see all of my photos from Manila, 2-6-11 to 2-7-11

These swell sharks, recently discovered in the Philippines, can make like giants by inflating their bellies with water.

The first ever @GUBLERNATION mark I ever made! This one’s during our trip to Palawan last November 2010, right after going to the Underground River. :)

The designs i post here are my original designs, unless i state...

Mum and dad in the Philippines, lol. :x

I saw this commercial last year while watching UCI Kababayan’s 31’st PCN. It was my favorite commercial of the night.

“If you ever need help just use the brown sauce. The amazing all-purpose Mang Tomas, boss.”

See you in a month Sydney.

Just saying. 

Honestly, they only came to us for resources.

2011.05.04  

Hemipteran

Parking lot near Palma Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman  

A friend says this is a seed bug. True?

A congressman was seated in first class next to a little girl on an airplane.   He turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk?   Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”
 
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the congressman. “How about global warming, universal health care or stimulus packages?” as he smiled smugly.
 
“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first.   A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass.  Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty but a horse produces clumps.  Why do you suppose that is?”
 
The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”
 
To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care or the economy when you don’t know crap?”
 
Then she went back to reading her book.

Relevant. Let’s try our current set of public officials, shall we?

The designs i post here are my original designs, unless i state otherwise. if you want to have a copy, please inform me or simply reblog. NO STEALING PLEASE!:)

The designs i post here are my original designs, unless i state otherwise. if you want to have a copy, please inform me or simply reblog. NO STEALING PLEASE!:)

i cant stop eating them. mom, finished half the bag, i’ma...

I can’t believe I’ve been waiting for this day for ages (in my world, it means months!),  tomorrow morning or in a few hours, me and my family (mum dad and 2 sisters) will be going back to Davao City, Philippines for a holiday!

We’ll be going for 3 weeks~ that’s not long enough but that’s the maximum my work will ever grant me! Booo! This holiday will also be when my mum and dad will celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary, they will be renewing their vows on 30th June, and all of my scattered family members will be flying in for the event! 

For the past few months, I’ve literally been the wedding planner for the wedding, I’ve picked out the wedding souvenirs, made the gift tags, made the invitations, made the table labels and whatnot! It was actually fun but very stressful, can you imagine if it was a full-blown wedding? 

I’ve bought my dress for the event, I will be posting some pictures of the night~ but I reckon I won’t have a lot of time. 

I suppose a lot of people do this but I keep checking and re-checking everything, passport,insurance, dress, shoes, bag, booze, swimwear, it must have took me a few weeks to plan my outfits and get stuff sorted, I only finished packing 2 hours ago! 

I’m very very excited~ although I hear that there’s a lot of torrential rain in Manila at the moment, I suppose it is monsoon season, but from what I could remember as a child living in Davao, Davao City always had good weather all year long, you get the occassional storm and rain but not hurricanes! Thank god for Mount Apo!

I may not be able to go back on tumblr until I land either in Manila or Davao on Monday evening but I will try my luck for wifi in Abu Dhabi airport!

I love you guys! xxx 

Watching the Rain

Photo taken in San Pedro, San Pablo City, Philippines

Remember that little Asian girl from the Missy Elliott videos from the early 00’s? That girl was Monica Parales. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s had a pretty impressive resume under her 18 year old belt. She appeared in a number of Missy Elliott videos, was in Eminem’s “Just Lose It” video, appeared in a number of commercials, TV shows and is a member of Nick Cannon-mentored girl group the “School Gyrls”. In addition, she was a member of Team Millenia Juniors, a competitive hip hop dance team based in Fullerton, CA.

Of course, Philippines is not a CUNTry. It’s a country.

Tiyanak is a creature which, in Philippine mythology, imitates the form of a child. It usually takes the form of a newborn baby and cries like one in the jungle to attract unwary travelers. Once it is picked up by the victim, it reverts to its true form and attacks the victim. Theories claim that the Tianak is the spirit of a child whose mother died before giving birth. This caused it to be “born in the ground”, thus gaining its current state.

My nephew. How much i miss him. 

Inside Quiapo Church

A  look inside Quiapo church also known as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene. Apparently photography was not allowed so I was unable to get more shots.

Photo taken in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines.

i cant stop eating them. mom, finished half the bag, i’ma finish the rest LOL

Photo

icaughtyourredattention

Just thinking deeply the whereabouts of these people….Baguio 2005

Actress T.V. Carpio appeared in 2008’s Across the Universe and sang one of the most memorable covers in the movie of the Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” Although the Beatles version was upbeat and poppy, Carpio’s version is a lot more heartfelt and soulful.

Currently, T.V. appears as Arachne on Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

Do I be able to meet these people that I were with back then?

Community service that we did in Baguio for the destitute kids.

Read this article: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/4795/us-ready-to-arm-philippines

I do not have the right to speak about this topic because quite honestly, I do not know anything about it. However when I read this article- it scared the crap out of me. Although I believe this is a terrible idea, I still believe that the Philippines or Vietnam deserves the Spratly Islands. Since China and the United States are -as of right now- the major global power, I fear that this might result in a huge conflict, a war-and possibly- a deliberate nuclear attack. Maybe I’m a tad bit overreacting, however, it’s possible. China had already warned the United States to not get involved with this issue. Yes, having the United States on our side is a good thing for the Philippines- or is it?

There are probably reasons why the United States wants to help us obtain the Spratly Islands.

Maybe the United States wants our resources. Since we will have an “utang na loob” to the United States we will sell them resources for less- if we won the battle over the Spratly’s. The Philippines has a lot of resources that will help the United States economy to increase including fish, rice, oil, coal & cheap labor. The US knows how desperate we are to obtain these islands because of our economy, and maybe they are taking advantage of that.

In 1994, there was a genocide in Rwanda (a small country in Africa), the United States did not intervene with the Rwandan genocide. However, they participated in the Bosnian genocide (a small country in Europe) in 1992-95. Why did the United States not intervene with Rwanda but did in Bosnia? We were talking about this in World Cultures class, and all I could think about is that… Bosnia is rich in minerals & natural resources- they have aluminum, iron, zinc, etc. Rwanda, does not have any of those resources. The United States is currently on a war in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq & Libya- why? Because these are Middle Eastern countries with a lot of supply of oil.

We, the Filipinos, have the right to claim the islands. However, if it will cause the lives of our citizens or cause a possible war, I don’t think it’s worth it. I do not think that sending our biggest and only warship to protect the Spratly is a good idea. I do not think that the US should intervene or even help “arm” our country. It scares me to death that when China got pissed off, they will attack us.

Just a thought. 

-Richelle Manuel

 

David Choi fans in the Philippines, give him your love and support! Enjoy the show! Thanks Christine!

PI Bound. Prayers would be lovely. Soli Deo Gloria! 

“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” -Mark 16:15

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” -Romans 1:16