Gosh. I miss writing here.

I miss writing here. I have been more active updating my business blog, but I feel that I have neglected much the things that used to make me, me. Or rather, what I thought makes me, me (geez, what is this crap I'm writing down?! Serves me right for not using my brain these past few months).

Will get back to you later.

There are veritable
familiar surprises
in every
nook
and cranny
of this
everlasting
and
mysterious
city -

steamed dimsum
horse-drawn carriages
ambulant peddlers
sampaguita girls.

There are
good memories
to bring
home
from
esteros
(of all places!)

and
old restaurants
guarded by
wild pigs
(not for dinner!)

There is

family
kindred
self

in
Manila’s
every
corner.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas desserts at the ILUSTRADO, Intramuros
Photos by D. Gozum (c. 2008)

ROMULO RESTAURANT

Was invited to dine at this newly opened restaurant along Scout Dr. Lazcano in Timog. Currently on its soft opening (it opened only last October 5, 2009), it easily beguiles the senses with its clean lines and whimsical touches here and there. I just came from touring two German visitors all over Manila (a ferry ride down Pasig River, a walking tour of the Walled City, late lunch at Ilustrado and souvenir shopping at Silahis) and you can say that we were exhausted to the core from all the walking. A wonderful dinner would be a nice way to end the day.

You know me too well when I say that I love dining out. Be it high-end or a hole in the wall (more of the latter, of course), I take eating out as a celebration of life, love and living. Suffice to say that I totally love my Philippine history, too, so imagine my surprise when the car dropped us off here. Wow, what a brilliant idea by the grandchildren to honor the memory of such a great Filipino! To this end, I would love to try out The General's Chicken (P470) on my next visit if only to imagine how he liked his chicken.

I loved the fact that ROMULO employed yards of this lovely fabric to cover their walls instead of the usual paint. I loved the painted bricks, too, over which they placed white-framed black & white photos. I was told the private rooms upstairs were all covered in fabric (same design, different colors) so I think that's overdoing it a bit (how can these words be in the same sentence?!).

Of course you'd want to brush up on your WWII history (and the ensuing peace time) when dining here to spare yourself the embarrassment of inquiring who Romulo is (if you are below 30 years old, you can be forgiven). Oh, I love that area where the tables are on the grass but it's not nice when it rains.

You can opt to stay inside where it's comfortable or enjoy the balmy outdoors (and the sound of passing vehicles) - take your pick.

And pick we did. For this evening, we started with yummy Molo Soup (P51) and chose Chicken with Tamarind (P220) and Baby Pusit (P200) for our main dishes. I totally enjoyed the latter ("pleasant" comes to mind) but the former was nothing to get crazy over. The chicken was good, but the tamarind dip didn't make it any better.

Sigarillas in Coconut Milk with Tuyo (P150) is a delightful alternative to the usual laing, but I didn't taste the tuyo. It would have been very interesing. The Liempo in Kangkong (P100) is okay. Tasted something better somewhere else. There's so much more to try, you know, but one can only eat so much in a day! *chortle* The most expensive item on the menu is Boneless Crispy Pata (P625) while the cheapest is chicharon (P45). Did the General enjoy chicharon, too? One can only wonder.

We didn't attempt to have dessert for fear of bursting on the spot (think Orlistat moment), but would love to try their coffee next time (if they serve it). Aside from the chatty waitress who brazenly offered to sell me alkaline water when she found out I had gout (I refused to order the Monggo Soup she offered earlier), the experience was rather great. I would love to come back and explore more of this wonderful new place. Thumbs up to the owners for this brilliant idea. :-)


ROMULO
32 Scout Tuason corner Dr. Lazcano
Tomas Morato, Quezon City
Telephone: +632 332-7275
Reservations Necessary

*HYPERVENTILATES*

From Miramax Pictures. Please remind me to read the book first.

DROOL, DROOL

Kindly pass the Kleenex.

CURRENTLY READING

This accompanied me to my recent trip to Cagayan de Oro. Somehow, reading it for the second time, I don't recall having read it at all.

HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE!

I know that I haven't written much - nay, anything! - for so long that it's already depressing for the lack of some sort of creative output. I have forgotten to paint, draw, take photos, write. I miss my old self.

I may not have told you but I have enrolled in the gym. I did it last July (by sheer boredom, I realized I was having my precious card swiped within 10 minutes of the marketing spiel) but I think it has been one of the most important life decisions I've made lately. You know too well how long I've suffered from gout. Almost what, 8 years or so? I have decided that I will walk - and will want to continue walking - in my old age if and when I get to that point. For now, I just really want to be healthier.

Since my operation last March of 2004, I have ballooned to 220 lbs, then lost 10lbs during a recent bout with the unknown (some bloody viral infection that went away after it got a whiff of Boracay air) and then swinging back to where it was before - oh, plus interest.

Last time i weighed in at the gym, I lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks (and after 4 trainer sessions) so if my mathematics is right, there should be some form of exponential loss of 10 lbs a month if i continue to be serious.

It can get lonely just being there all by your lonesome with no rah-rah crowd so if you care to, please send me some form of encouragement. A month's supply of low-fat yogurt, perhaps? LOL.

Meet TANGY, my new Mr. P desk lamp at the office. Yes, by the looks of him, he's going to get more fondling than I do.

This is just to inform my readers that I am taking a sabbatical from blogging to focus on work and living. Thanks so much for visiting and hope to hear from you again. :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR INDEED!

This was the event that "killed" me last December. Good Lord, am I glad it's over! (I'm still reeling from it though).

KOMIKERA, 5th Edition

Some photos from the KOMIKERA exhibit at the UP Film Center. The whole coverage in Superpasyal.

MI BLOGSPOT ES SU BLOGSPOT!

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Please make yourself at home.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jesus is the reason for the Season.

IT'S WAR! AAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEE!

Noche Buena is just a few days from now and the ham war has began:

MAJESTIC? ADELINA'S? EXCELENTE?

KLAATU BARADA NIKTO!

Is nothing sacred anymore? How many remakes by Hollywood can actually stand up to the originals and proudly say that they were just as amazing and as brilliant? Very few. I am not fond of remakes. Methinks this is scraping the bottom of the creativity barrel, so I had second thoughts about watching the 2008 version of a 1950s classic (and Golden Globe winner for Best Film), The Day The Earth Stood Still.

In fact, I only discovered that Keanu Reeves was playing the role of Klaatu when I was lining up to buy a ticket. Suddenly, the bad taste left in the mouth by the disaster called Johnny Mnemonic (ugh, too university days!) came back like some ghost of bad movies past.

On the hindsight, the new version is visually appealing - effects and all. Honestly, I think dying by having a billion shards of metal insects fly through you is just too weird (that's it? Nothing - apocalyptical?). I like the idea of having orbs collecting several species of Earth life. There is none of this in the original, of course. What the original lacked in effects however, it made up with its brilliance.

I loved how the original Klaatu immersed himself in the human experience - renting a room and actually spending time with a family, befriending a boy, watching movies and eating ice cream. All throughout the new film, bits and pieces of the original kept creeping in every scene I got too distracted. I am really sorry I watched the new version. I shouldn't have in the same way that I skipped Wicker Park because deep in my heart I know it will never hold up against the lovely L'Appartement (1966). I mean, with Monica Belluci and all, how can the original go wrong? Right, I am biased. I lurve Belluci.

Anyhow, if you have the chance to find a copy of the 1951 version, please watch it. Let me know what you think.

ATENEO DE MANILA TURNS 149

In celebration of the University’s second Sesquicentennial theme, Deepening Spirituality, the Ateneo community is warmly invited to TAKE AND RECEIVE: THE FIRST FESTIVAL OF ATENEO MUSIC

Sunday, 7 December 2008, 6:30PM
Church of the Gesù

FEATURING:

Ateneo Boys Choir (Daisy Marasigan, Conductor)
Ateneo Chamber Singers (Jonathan Velasco, Conductor)
Ateneo College Glee Club (Ma. Lourdes Hermo, Conductor)
Ateneo High School Glee Club (Jose Emmanuel Aquino, Conductor)
Dulaang Sibol (Dr. Onofre Pagsanghan, Managing Director)
Jesuit Music Ministry (Fr. JBoy Gonzales, SJ, Director): Blue Symphony, Bukas
Palad, Himig Heswita & Musica Chiesa

AND

the premiere "Take and Receive” medley arrangement of RYAN CAYABYAB

**
Take and Receive: The First Festival of Ateneo Music
Ateneo choirs to stage free thanksgiving concert for the community

On Sunday, 7 December 2008, 6:30PM, Ateneo’s singing groups will treat the community to an evening of sacred, liturgical, and inspirational music through the concert, Take and Receive: The First Festival of Ateneo Music, at the Church of the Gesù, Ateneo Loyola Heights campus.

The concert gathers Ateneo’s home grown and award-winning groups, the Ateneo Boys Choir, Ateneo High School Glee Club, Dulaang Sibol, Ateneo College Glee Club, and Ateneo Chamber Singers. They will perform with the Jesuit Music Ministry artists, Blue Symphony, Bukas Palad, Himig Heswita and Musica Chiesa.

Distinguished Filipino musician and composer Ryan Cayabyab’s medley arrangement of the different “Take and Receive” compositions by the Filipino Jesuits will be one of the highlights of the concert.

Fans and supporters of these Ateneo singing groups can expect to be regaled by the songs that have made these groups both distinct and popular,resonating Ateneo’s fine musical legacy and the unique spirituality that inspires its music.

Dulaang Sibol is the Ateneo High School theater club founded and directed by Onofre Pagsanghan. Bukas Palad, meanwhile, was co-founded by Fr. Manoling Francisco,SJ 20 years ago. The Ateneo College Glee Club, the oldest university chorale in the country and winner in the 2006 Miltenberg (Germany) Choral Competition and Ateneo Chamber Singers, winner in the 2006 Tolosa (Spain) Choral Contest,will showcase their world-class talent in polyphony and classical music.

Another highlight of the concert is a tribute by the Jesuit Music Ministry artists to Fr. Eddie Hontiveros, SJ, or “Fr. Honti,” the acknowledged Father of Philippine Liturgical Music, who passed away in January 2008. The Mass hymns that Fr. Honti composed in the 1970s, after the Second Vatican Council called for inculturation of the liturgy, continue to be sung in every parish to this day, an enduring testament to the intimacy of his music with the heart of the Filipino and the message of Jesus Christ.

Take and Receive: The First Festival of Ateneo Music marks the Ateneo’s 149th anniversary, the year of “Deepening Spirituality,” the second theme of a three-year
countdown to Ateneo’s 150th anniversary, or sesquicentennial. Ateneo de Manila
University will celebrate its sesquicentennial on December 10, 2009 with the theme “Building the Nation."

--
Mimi D. Agbay
Project Coordinator - Ateneo Sesquicentennial
Phone No.: +632 426.6001 loc. 4083
Mobile No.: +63 917.8933379
http://150.ateneo.edu/

CURRENTLY READING

I have just most recently discovered Günter Grass. The Tin Drum is his first book, printed in 1959. Only last week, I found a flaky copy in a book fair in UP Diliman - for only P100! A 1963 edition. Be still, my beating heart.

JOY LUCK CLICKS

How have you guys been? I haven't written anything of import lately, save perhaps for a short story I'm working on. Yes, I'm writing again! (Thank goodness.) Although a rather sad event jumpstarted this writing spree, it still matters to me that I'm doing it because the art of the short story had been very elusive for the longest time. At least to me. I am not one of those gifted with the skill to tell a story (which makes me a very bad liar) and most of the stories I have are all percolating in my mind. I must write them all down very soon before they turn stale. It does help that I'm surrounded by writers lately. I hope their talents rub off on me. :-)

So, how's life with you? I hope all is well. My new life here at the Farm is neither routine nor that exciting. It's a mix of really, really slow versus really, really stressful days. Yeah, too extreme for comfort. Oh, here's a photo of the freshly mowed avenue fronting the office. Don't you just lurve the smell of newly cut grass?

Oh, where will it end? Will it ever?

Up here, we have a love-hate relationship with the weather. In summer, we pray for rain. During rainy season when most of the weddings happen, we pray for sun. Tsk, tsk. The heavens must be so confused by now.

By late December or early January, spraying of the over 100 mango trees will commence. Flowers will start coming out by February and fruits form by March. Do visit us in April when we harvest!

The coconut trees are infested by some kind of bug which eats the leaves in a rather straight pattern. This is akin to obsessive-compulsive behaviour, methinks. WOW, O-C ang bug na ito!

When there's nothing else, there's always the wild kangkong. This grows all over the marsh area. Perfect when steamed and served with ginisang bagoong. Relish now, worry about the gouty arthritis later.

I rarely arrive at work two hours before the time but look at the benefits of doing so. A sun beam here...

a carpet of light here...

and a lovely shadowy number on the front door. *sigh*

Oh yes, even on my memorandum board. :-)

When I get tired of being in the office, all I need to do is open the door and see this...

and this...

and this. :-)

Meanwhile, thanks to friends who've taken the time to drop by, enjoy the WiFi and coffee and the 1G-worth of music I've collected for the soon-to-open coffee shop called Cafe Monogamy. That's Macel of Residencia Boracay with my dog, Turnip. The fat guy in green carrying him is a complete stranger. No idea what's he's doing in this photo or in my office. Shoo! Go away!

Currently Playing: Someone Else's Story (from CHESS); Photos taken with JOY LUCK, a Kodak Z650 Easy Share