Zapata's

It started out with my craving for some chicken quesadilla. Christine suggested we buy some pita bread and ingredients from the supermarket and prepare it ourselves but by the time we got off from work, it was already past 7pm. I was too hungry by then and suggested we go to this Mexican restaurant instead which I first read about from Kris Aquino's twitter account. Luckily, Sir Mark heard our conversation and immediately became interested in joining. The restaurant was just a few blocks away from the Korean town which was also just a few blocks away from our village so there was no problem finding it. Gladys, despite not feeling well that night, joined us also. What was supposed to be a dinner date between two friends became a dinner night out with all of us! Biglaang lakads are so much fun!


I was quite satisfied with their chicken quesadilla, by the way. The cheddar cheese they use i thought was delicious. Ate Elsa, who is the real foodie from the group, thought their ensalada could use a little bit of a certain ingredient the name of which I forgot but keep associating with Via Mare's bagnet ensalada. She says that she prefers the ensalada from El Pollo Loco which I remember to have that taste she was looking for. If I can just remember the name of that ingredient, this will be so much easier!

Anyway, everything that night to me seemed good. The place looks fun, the food tastes good. Perhaps an improvement can be made with presentation. I would have preferred separate plates for our soft taco and enchilada. No complains about the taste, as I have said, but it seems a little difficult for me to appreciate food when you see that the sauce for one is starting to slither into the other.

I don't know. I'm just being weird I guess :)

Top 10 Things to Do in Nagsasa (Part 2)

Ang unang parte ng post na ito ay matatagpuan dito.

6. Magkulitan.

...picture-an ang mga tutulog-tulog...


...umakyat sa puno (kung feel mo lang naman)...

7. Mag-explore. Puntahan ang Nagsasa Falls at maligo sa batis.

...tahakin ang tamang daan patungo sa Nagsasa falls...


..magpakuha sa ibabaw ng mga bato na parang mga astig...


...ngumiti sa kamera kahit nilalamig...

8. Gumawa ng bonfire at mag-bonding.

...bawal talaga maglaro ng apoy pero pwede na rin siguro paminsan-minsan...

9. Bisitahin ang Capones Island at akyatin ang lighthouse.

...go ate elsa! (photo taken by sir mark)...


...para sa kin, makapigil-hininga ang view mula tuktok ng lighthouse...



...pawisan at hinihingal man, carry pa rin mag-project sa camera para sa souvenir...

10. Masdan ang kagandahan ng kapaligiran.

...bato na lang siguro ang hindi makaka-appreciate sa ganda ng kalikasan...

Bisperas

 ...decided to spend the eve of my birthday among friends from Wallem...

Top 10 Things To Do in Nagsasa (Part 1)

1. Magtayo ng tent kasama ang mga friends. Mahirap magtayo nyan nang mag-isa.

...mga bagong tent, excited gamitin...

2. Magpahinga. Um-order ng halo-halo at magpalamig.

...halo-halo delight...

3. Maghanda ng tanghalian. Mag-ihaw-ihaw, magsaing.

...pwede rin magpa-cute habang nagsasaing...

....go Sir Mark!...

4. Tsumibog. Magkamay para mas masaya.

 ...si gladys, gram at rhandell, galit sa mga hipon...

5. Mag-picture picture. Gumamit ng tripod para kasama ang photographer.

...hello and peace! from nagsasa...

at the B1G Retreat

Date: November 28, 2009
Venue: Chateau Royale, Nasugbu Batangas
Description: familia zaragoza

WIS 10th Anniversary

Date: November 12, 2009

Venue: Holiday Inn, Clark, Pampanga

Description: party people in da house

at the thunderbird resort in poro point

went to thunderbird resort in la union with my friends to hopefully take contest-worthy photos and get the chance to win cash prizes. from the main town of san fernando, we took a tricycle and a jeepney ride going there and was dropped-off at the main gate. the journey from the town took 20 minutes, but in order to get to the hotel we had to walk another 15 or so minutes. it was tiring, but the view was truly breath-taking. immediately i thought, it was a good decision to include this visit to thunderbird resort in our short itinerary.

situated in a scenic cliff at poro point, the resort is quite huge and is the only one in the province that offers 5-star accomodation to its guests, including a mediterranean-inspired hotel, a golf course and a casino. the beach however, did not seem bum-worthy nor surf-worthy. yes, it had waves but the shore seemed too rocky for you to even walk on easily.

upon getting to the resort, the first thing we did was look for a place to somewhat "disappear" into. there were already too many photographers in the pool area and in the lobby and we didnt want to further contribute to the chaos. we left our baggages at the reception and walked a little further to the where the golf course was (which was prohibited to photographers, by the way). a few minutes later on, we found ourselves walking an unusual path. after crossing a concrete road and climbing slightly upwards we arrived by the side of a huge rock, on top of a small cliff and we're all standing a few feet away from the edge! looking down i can see the waves angrily crashing onto the rocky foot of the cliff. i had to ask myself this: what have we gotten ourselves into?

knowing that i was at a restricted area, i felt quite embarassed and quickly prompted my companions (mavic and skip) to hurriedly take photos and go back to where we're not unallowed. i dont remember bringing out my camera to shoot. i was too afraid to fall off or get caught so i held on tightly to the rocks and made sure my feet are on stable ground.

half-excited, half-anxious... the edge seemed too close for comfort!

so having walked all the way to the cliff and back, i was quite exhausted and decided to stay by the hotel cafe, order some ice cream and watch the sun go down. from where i was, its easy to see the other photographers do their thing. some brought their own models, others strobes and light stands and there's this one who brought a ladder, the necessity for which i could not fathom, since the photographer was really just shooting at the sunset... a tripod would have made more sense, perhaps?

skip, mavic, yeye and me at the thunderbird resort in poro point, la union

anyway, as you can infer, i was not able to take any photocontest-worthy photos but i did have an awesome time at thunderbird. no thousands of pesos won for me, but at least i get to enjoy my ice cream, the lovely sunset and what seems to be quite rare these days: good times with good friends :)

inviting you all to checkout thunderbird's website for more information. it maybe too pricey for you to stay overnight, but a visit to the resort is definitely worthwhile.

two halo-halos, one gulaman and a despedida

...plus a birthday, actually.

here are photos from last november, a few days before katrin celebrated her 30th birthday and rhea along with her husband and kid mio, left for australia. rhea now joins the other members of the lamoninc (pelpel, eden and janet) down under while katz and i will have to continue our now "not-so-perfect" journey here in the country.

here's us having some local desserts at cafe via mare in serendra. life's little pleasures which we think rhea would miss when she goes to australia. we headed to aldo afterwards to buy sunglasses for her, discount coupons courtesy of katz. we could not help but take photos, of course, knowing that it would be years before the three of us would all be together again.

God bless, rhea! may you and your family find true happiness and perfection in Australia.

the one with the dearly departed

so i just want to say... today, im no longer gloomy. not quite the same as i was in my last post. to those who replied with their own thoughts about being gloomy, thank you very much. appreciated it with all my heart. but im not about to write anything cheerful either. not today.

today, nothing terrible happened... nothing humiliating or disappointing or discouraging took place. not at home nor at work nor in my private thoughts.

today, i am neither lost nor delirious, but i am obviously not bright nor shiny nor bubbly nor smiling either.

today, i am tired. from work and thinking and also from lack of sleep.

today, i am also sad. not the troublesome and blurry kind of sad. but a better kind of sad. last night i learned about someone's death. so i am sad for the loss of the family. they were close to me and i would spend days and nights at their home when i was younger, sharing family dinners with them and watching movies with them... sad because it's really hard to imagine their life without their loving father and dear husband and friend... my prayers go with them and also to the departed, my Tito Tony, who was genuinely kind to me and cheerful and warm from the moment i met him until the last day i saw him almost two years ago -- may his soul, through God's mercy and loving grace, rest in eternal peace.

today, i am also amazed. to witness what real friendships can turn into even after so many years of silence. to see what genuine love can do or undo and to see what it can become.

today, i am assured. that i was and always will, as do the dearly departed, remain beloved. and today, that is more than enough to bring tears of joy in my heart.

promises worth keeping

this was shared to me by a friend from college who became a wife, a mother and a widower before she would reach age 25. she encourages me by her life, her friendship and her many inspirational emails such as this one :) these are promises worth keeping not just this new year but in each year and each day that we are, and each day that we have.

PROMISE YOURSELF:
To dream more and not to hesitate.
To believe in yourself more.
To appreciate your family and friends for all the wonderful ways they make your life better.
To make each day special.
To become more independent and more willing to change.
To fill your life with special times and never lose sight of your dreams.

And when life seems overwhelming and you can't seem to get everything done... when there isn't enough time to relax and enjoy... when there are little rewards and you wonder if it's all worth it...

Never forget that there are... people who love you and care about you, people who want to help and support you, people who think you're very special and care a lot about you.

Remember HOPE is not closing your eyes to the difficulty, the risk, or the failure.
It is trusting that if you fail, you shall not fail forever.
And if you're hurt, you shall heal.

It is realizing that life is good, love is powerful and the future is full of promise.

Source: http://www.olamadsen.com

exactly 3 years ago in my history

these are photos from emie's wedding from three years ago. some photos were taken before the ceremony as we waited for our turn to be prettied-up while some were taken long after the marriage vows have been exchanged. these are my friends from college and we've lived together for almost 18 months under the same roof, at mabait corner mahinhin street in UP Teacher's Village. Because we were sharing the same residential address (and for some, even bedroom), we tried to get through everything together semester after semester... we budgeted our allowances together, bought groceries together, ate breakfast or dinner together, reviewed for exams together, finish our thesis together.... exchanged school, life and love notes together. sometimes we even fought and cried together.

from three years ago, from the day these photos were taken, most of us have love lives to talk about and boyfriends to introduce to the group, but now for some odd reasons, except for emie here, who has been married for exactly 3 years now, most of us are single again. i wonder why... from the photos above, we look normal naman, haha!

oh well... i hope everyone's doing great wherever they are (one is in china, the other one in korea, and yet the other one, in baguio). sana we can all spend time together this christmas... kahit over dinner lang din just like before elena left for korea. kaka-miss lang talaga :)

the one with the long weekend

last night i met up with friends who just got back from their two-week long vacation. while most of us had to deal with deadlines and work issues or the manila peninsula mutiny, my friends went back-packing around visayas and had the chance to visit and take roughly 900+ photos of exotic places and pristine beaches in cebu, boracay, bohol to name a few. ive missed my friends while they were gone and im glad to see them back in manila, safe and just a little bit harmed :) they brought not just stories and photos with them back from their trip -- they also have pasalubong for me :) from "yaya lorie" i got a pair of earrings and from "manang mavic", a cellphone charm made from sand art. both from boracay, a place i've never been to by the way.

upon seeing me both of them asked how i have been and at first, i can only say that ive been okay... i was trying to think of something more exquisite than that but nothing came to mind... i guess i was hesitant to say anything because surely, none of what i have accomplished or done lately can compare to their amazing trip. eventually, i finally came up with a few. so lately, these were the highlights of my life most of which happened during the 3-day weekend:

1. with my friend kitkat, i was able to take a two-hour tour around the marikina shoe expo and found interesting thrift and antique shops, quaint accessories and clothing boutiques selling mostly hand-made accessories and retro outfits, bookstores and art/coffee galleries show-casing local works such as lomo photos. there was even a bazaar going on that day and several artists from the group "ang ilustrador ng mga kabataan" were there selling their artworks drawn or painted or printed in practical items such as shirts, wall clocks, notepads, bookmars, pins at a somewhat fair enough artsy price. my friend bought me bookmark :)
2. i was able to visit trinoma for the first time (yay) and had so much fun. the mall has really well thought of landscapes (complete with fountains and wooden bridges and ponds and cooling mists) and very spacious interior... the activity center is much like the glorietta mall and at some point you can't help but feel a bit of dejavu. there's a huge landmark store at one side of the mall that makes shopping even more convenient. lots of restaurants to dine in and dessert/coffee places to try afterwards. my friend and i loved the "bananalicious" dessert from conti's. parking can be a little difficult, but that's something you have to deal with sometimes almost anywhere else right? in summary, trinoma is definitely a cool place to hangout with friends or family especially this christmas. im hoping to bring my parents here sometime soon especially at the fourth level where they held free shows every saturday night. not to mention fireworks too :)
3. had a little bit of gastronomic adventure too. at marina, i tried steamed oysters with hot sauce. at dr. pepper steak, well i tried beef pepper steak with lots of pepper on the rice. pepper steak i like. steamed oysters, not so much. in any case, im glad to have friends who are adventuruous with food. i realize im not much like them and the only time i am able to try new things is when im with them (or during team-buildings). i usually just order what i already know i like. you know, like sinigang :)
4. i was able to watch a disney movie wherein the lead character had a name the same as mine. "enchanted" was really fun. watch it if you haven't.
5. was able to help my dad with removing virus from our PC. there were 33 viruses and one trojan. tsk tsk. no wonder the browser would hang after opening just around two sites returned by search engines.
6. i was able to teach my dad how to use Yahoo! Messenger, Chikka Messenger (PC to Mobile Phone), compose an email as well as reply to an email. this is supposed to be something big for my parents who had spent years being afraid of the computer and moreso the internet. really huge step.
7. i had a guest who watched 'under the tuscan sun' with me and who volunteered to wash dishes for me later on. sweet :)
8. maybe last but not the least, we had a reflexologist (a really good one) come over our house for a massage. my mom was having sinus and throat problems lately and did not want to take medication until she's tried other organic, natural way of healing such as reflexology. the massage was very relaxing and helpful. ate gildred has been doing reflexology massages since the '70s and have doctors as her patients as well. i was diagnosed as having UTI and high sugar level in the blood (must be all those iced tea and the bananalicious thing), then was advised to eat at the right time and not skip meals, to drink two glasses of warm water each morning and to wait for 15 minutes before drinking liquid after each meal. that last item should help me digest food properly. of course, lessen intake of sweets.

so that's it. story of my life while my friends were gone. not bad, huh? i had planned to do a few things more during my long weekend but that did not push through... i guess we can all agree if i say that, truly, long weekends are never long enough :) but still worth looking forward to each time :)

why penguins & turtles are no longer best of friends

For a long time Turtle and Penguin were really good friends. They played different sorts of games, went to different places together and ate and shared food with each other. In these games, Penguin would normally always win being the more intelligent of the two. Turtle was the silly one but loved Penguin very much. At some point Turtle thought they were the best of friends.

One seemingly normal early morning, Turtle and Penguin decided to take a walk along the shoreline. Turtle while looking down, noticed Penguin’s two feet. As you probably already know, a penguin's feet are very different from that of a turtle.

Turtle blurted out to his friend, quite happily, “I love your feet.” This is something he had known long ago and something he had already told Penguin even before that morning.

Penguin didn’t say anything and continued to walk. He seemed to smile a bit.

Turtle repeated himself. Did you hear what I said? I said I love your feet. The turtle was happy to say that to his friend.

Penguin said thank you and continued walking as turtle follows closely behind.

Then, without really thinking all that much, Turtle asked his friend, “Is there anything about me that you love?” He was a little surprised himself to be asking that question…

“Is that a trick question?”, inquired the Penguin. He is usually very careful in answering questions.

Turtle simply replied, thinking that he had irritated his friend and hoping to avoid doing anything to ruin the morning, “It was not a trick question. It was just a question….You can say ‘None’ you know…” He tried to smile while saying this.

After a brief pause, Penguin said, “There is no answer…”

Turtle could only say “Oh…” at that point he walked a little slower… and didn't know what to say anymore. He fell a little bit further behind and then started to put his arms and legs back inside his shell. He wondered what will happen next that morning…

Penguin kept going and we’re not sure if he even looked back...

Later that day, Turtle found himself swimming on the ocean to go on about his day… he found comfort in knowing that in the ocean no one would notice the tears in his face.

teriyaki girl

last night, i was supposed to meet a friend who said he wanted to meet me before he leaves for a 3-month assignment to malaysia. minutes before our scheduled meeting time, he called me up and told me he needs to stay overtime and finish some work due the following day. so, upon learning about our canceled date, i immediately IM-ed one of my APC friends and invited her to go malling with me instead. she had a better idea and immediately called up a mutual friend and asked her if she could join us. what turned out to be a dinner date for two became an instant barkada gimik on a thursday night! im not sure who suggested it, pero we decided to have dinner at teriyaki boy in glorietta. i excitedly said yes sure because i not only love japanese food but i have very fond memories about my dining experiences at the said restaurant -- sarap kasi talaga ng food nila and not too pricey. definitely much better than tokyo, tokyo (although i love tokyo tokyo's pork tonkatsu and tonkatsu sauce). at teriyaki boy, kanin pa lang masarap na talaga! i particularly like their gyoza and syempre, their various teriyaki dishes. the best talaga! and what's even better, i get to have dinner with two of my good friends at APC that night :)

-ooo-

weeks before that thursday, i attended a Japanese cooking class offered free by the company. in that class, i learned how to cook and prepare tempura and tempura sauce as well as kani salad. they're really easy to make, once you have all the ingredients you need. i can't wait to try them out on my own.

we came, we saw, we isaw-ed

One Sunday afternoon last month, my friends and I decided to go on an "Isaw Trip" to UP. Being members of the same photography club, I thought we were also going to take photos around the campus after eating. To my surprise, I was the only one who brought an SLR -- they were also surprised to see me armored with my camera. Anyway, I ended up not taking any photos that day because I was more interested in eating than anything else :)

one fine isaw day

For those of you who may be too sosy to be aware, isaw is grilled chicken intestines that you normally eat on a stick with vinegar to complement its bitter taste which by the way according to this food article is "fecal matter" or in other words, chicken jebs, hehe! yummy? :)

anyway, if interested in trying isaw or any other street food for that matter (including betamax), go to UP Diliman and ask to be dropped off near the Coop and the post-office. It's usually available at around 4PM. It's good with a diet coke :)

bubble gang -- apc chapter

-the one where everybody fits-

thanks mareng lorie, ate mavic, momon and joon for the birthday surprise! somehow i knew pero still sobrang surprised pa rin ako. salamat for making my birthday special! :)

-this is us, goofing around at starbucks-

in this picture above, reflector daw yung takip ng cake to remove shadows around the chin area. haha, ang technical di ba! nakakatawa yung mga kuha namin that night. all of us have DSLRs, pero kahit isa walang may dala. nagtiyaga na lang tuloy kami sa camera phone ni lorie, hehe. more photos at lorie lakwatsera's site. when you go there, you will know how old i am :)