The Sowsi Way of Eating Barbecue

Is there even such a thing?

I guess the proper way of eating barbecue is by taking the meat off the stick using a fork. My mom taught me the art of using a fork to:

(1) eat a banana (the human way she says);

(2) peel off the shell of a shrimp ; and

(3) take off the meat from the barbecue stick.

But I think the best way to eat barbecue is to chomp on it the barbarian way. Gooey sauce on the cheek and all, that's still the yummiest way to finish off a stick (and don't forget the cardio delight at the end).

My favorite barbecue places include:

(1) our backyard - Dad's special recipe
(2) Tita Olive's barbecue at Villa Merced Resort, Camangui, Pasacao, Camarines Sur, Bicol (she's my Tita!)

(3) Manang's special barbecue at the eskinita in Sun Valley Drive (and it's cheap too!)
(4) Aling Nene's - I just sometimes find it a bit too big though
(5) Cafe Nemoto, Better Living, Paranaque; a new find with pals

Thanks to Jayvee and

Sasha for the photo.

On Being an Entrepreneur

I grew up learning how to be an entrepreneur. When I was a kid my Mom and I started out the first ukay-ukay in our Parish. We'd sell old clothes once a year during our Parish Fiesta. We'd wake up really early in the morning and set-up in the park. By mid-morning we'd be sitting under one of the big acacia trees in the park eating some yummy brownies Tita Cuc baked and sipping Hi-C. No need to pack up coz all the clothes would've been sold.

During that time there were lots of weddings in my family and we'd be busy doing giveaways on weekends. Weddings were a family thing. Everybody helped out. I most certainly enjoyed tying up ribbons and wrapping gifts and listening to the elders plan the wedding. My mom, my Ate and I planned on establishing a wedding coordination business, but they wanted to wait for me to grow up a bit (I was only about 8 years old then). The plan didn't flourish coz my Ate moved to the US, but I eventually got to experience being a wedding coordinator. I've done weddings worth 70K to 1.5M. Will I do it again? Naaah, not for the meantime (but I'm doing one for May!). (That's me in pink playing a J.Lo as wedding coordinator).

Crafting was a big part of my life. My summers were spent learning how to sew, crochet, paint boxes, put things together and eventually I learned how to bead on my own coz the bracelets I'd buy would always fall off. A few years back me and my best friend got into manufacturing and selling bead stuff. Our best seller was our "beaded bra straps". (And the story about the bra straps? I thought clear plastic straps were boring.) Anyway, we had so much fun manufacturing and making new designs, but hated doing the books. As MBA graduates, we knew we had to track our expenses. Accounting stuff was what made us cry in the evenings. Haha.

It was also one problem I had when my Mom and I tried our hand at exporting. The admin side, accounting, staffing, paying off salaries was what bogged us down. Instead of marketing and selling our products, I'd end up spending a lot of time in the bank, checking up on attendance, doing bookkeeping. It was really so not exciting (now you know why I'm in marketing and business development).

Looking back, I guess we could've just assigned these stuff to a Business Process Outsourcing Service provider. I guess I got too busy with the day-to-day. Oh well, at least now I know better.

Tayo na sa Puerto Galera!

I was chatting one lonesome evening with Jayvee and I found out that he hasn't been to Puerto Galera. I love going to the beach, so then and there we planned on rounding up some friends, bloggers and whoever to go visit Puerto Galera. I'm taking the initiative to blog about it coz I don't want Jayvee to use the blog title he proposed.

When
March 3-4, 2007, Saturday and Sunday

How to Get There
If you're bringing car, just drive up to Batangas Pier and park your car there. I think overnight parking is around PhP200.

If you're commuting, take the bus to Batangas Pier at Alabang. Better yet let's all meet up at Jollibee (beside the bus/FX/jeep terminal) in Alabang at 5:30 a.m. and go together.

At the Batangas Pier take the ferry to White Beach. That takes about an hour.

Then, you're there!

Accommodations

We're planning to make some sort of reservation depending on how many are coming. Four to six people can sleep comfortably in the barkada rooms.

Recommended Itinerary

March 3, 2007
5:30 a.m. Meet up at Jollibee Alabang
5:45 a.m. Board bus to Batangas Pier
7:45ish a.m. Arrive at Batangas Pier
8:30ish a.m. Board ferry to White Beach
9:30ish a.m. Arrive at White Beach (buy your ferry tickets upon disembarking)
10 a.m. Hit the beach
12 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Henna tattoo
2:00 p.m. Siesta
3:00 p.m. Massage by the seashore/swimming/banana boat etc.
6:30 p.m. Prepare for dinner/watch TV/get some rest
8:00 p.m. Dinner/Gimmick
to sawa

March 4, 2007

7:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:00 a.m. Beach!
12 p.m. Lunch
1 p.m. Head home

How Much it Costs

This is what I spent the last time I went (March 2006), so it might've gone up 10 to 20%:

Taxi to bus - 100 (from Paranaque)
Bus to Pier - 120
Fastcraft to White Beach - 180
Terminal Fee - 10
Room - 500 (PhP1,500 total; I had 2 friends with me but 5 people would fit in the room)
Food - 150 per meal (You'll survive with spending PhP50 to 80, but I eat a lot eh)
Massage - 150 or 200 (don't really remember)
Pasalubong - 100 per t-shirt, 5 per bracelet
Fastcraft to Batangas - 180
Bus to Manila - 120
Taxi to home - 100

That's approximately PhP2k per person with 3 to 4 people in a room.

Please confirm if you wanna join by leaving a comment here or in Jayvee's blog.

Looking for a Mate? You Won't Find it in Hongkong

Yup, that's what our tour guide, Henry, said. Funny, I was SMSing with Jomar and talking about whether there were any prospects in Hongkong when Henry announced that teenie bit over the bus' PA system. Henry said that their government even has a special program encouraging couples to get married and have children in Hongkong. I guess coz the cost of living is really high there and people just have to get by with their salaries. Oh well, living in the Philippines is still the best.

So last weekend, after ten years of planning, me and my amigas from high school (Mercy and Chare) and Miggy went to see the sights in Hongkong.

Day 1

Hongkong Day 1

• Late lunch at McDonald's
• Chinese lauriat dinner - not that good, locally cooked Chinese food's better (especially at Good Earth!)
• Victoria Peak - enjoyed the 45 degress tram ride up the mountain tremendously
• Wax Museum - photos, photos and photos with fave movie stars, sports celebrities and politicians
• Night Market - found it a bit expensive, got some pajamas and pasalubongs, Divisoria is still the best shopping place!

Day 2

Hongkong Day 2

• Harbour View - never let your tour guide take your photo! We were all surprised when the tour guide sold to us plated photos at HK$150 each! We found out a day after it only cost HK$75! Argh!
• Shopping at TSL Jewelry and a pasalubong shop - the stuff at TSL Jewelry were really nice and very, very expensive. The three of us got pendants (to match our pajamas haha).
• Hongkong Disneyland - seeing Mickey surfing with open arms brought back childhood memories. I've been to Disneyworld in the US twice and Disneyland in Japan and that's why I saved up to bring Miggy there while he's still a kid. My amigas and I felt like kids again and even shared a huge cotton candy while walking through Fantasyland to Tomorrowland. Bring at least US$100 to buy a shirt and some stuff at Disney.

Day 3

Hongkong Day 3

• Kowloon Park - too bad the aviary and bird lake were closed coz they had a bird flu scare a few weeks ago. We still enjoyed the park though and were surprised there were many Pinoy groups meeting up in the area. The maze was fascinating and the old women doing dance exercises were cool.
• Hongkong Space Museum - we wanted to go to the Science Museum but the entrance fee cost 150% more, since we were kinda broke we settled for the Space Museum haha. It was interesting, but nothing compares to the museums in Washington, DC.
• Harbour View and Avenue of Stars - we walked and walked and walked and walked and recognized a handful of "stars" in the walk.
• Toys R Us - the mall was just really too big. Unfortunately we didn't find it.

Do's and Don'ts

1. Don't believe everything your tour guide tells you. We were happy until he started selling us those souvenir items in the bus. I think they took advantage of our "yes to everything" nature (hey it's our culture!). One family who had 17 members joining the tour spent a lot of money for the plates.

2. Do buy at the Night Market. The tour guide kept saying that their store sold cheaper pasalubongs. It wasn't.

3. Don't buy where your tour guide tells you to buy. The tour guide said their store sold cheaper Disney items. Definitely not!

4. Do understand that it's their culture to be a bit masungit. They're not naturally malambing like us Pinoys.

5. Do follow your friends advise. When they say it's cold, it's really cold.

My friend Mercy has been handling all my travel arrangements for years already. She also does it for my other friends and my Mom's friends. If you're going to travel, call Mercy.

Globalpinoy

I've been meeting a lot of people lately and Cecille Pascual invited me to visit their office. I was privileged to meet Rob Chien, their consultant (popularly known as the husband of Ms. Lea Salonga - and I'm definitely a fan! Actually since the day I saw her play Annie when I was a kid), last week. I had a grand time with them and wouldn't forget the yummy pasta and salad merienda we all had at their office. They did a little feature about me (quite overwhelming really...). (Yup, starstruck again...).

A Valentine Story

I have no valentine story. Not my own. It's been quite a while since I had a valentine and I've been searching for a nice, little romantic, nakakakilig story from my past, but I just couldn't remember any.

One of the best love stories I've heard is that of my Mom and Dad's. Aside from all the romantic stuff my Dad did to win my Mom's heart more than 50 years ago, I could say it's the best love story there ever was. Why? Because it is a success story of what love truly should be.

I cannot simply tell the story here. I don't think I'd manage to string up the words to relate it to you. So, here's a journal entry my Dad wrote about Mom over 50 years ago:

How I Met and Fell In Love with Her
August 1955

I met her once one moonlight night
down at the kiosk in front (of) our place;
and from that time I saw her sight
I always want to look back and retrace.

But then quite suddenly she's lost
not knowing where or when she went;
Quite suddenly I too felt most
unhappy, restless, wishing to find where she went.

Eventless, long did summer pass
And there she was back at that place
Gathering my courage in a mass
I told her of my love and how she gazed!

I thought it was a hopeless case
Because I felt unworthy of
Her love, her beauty, and her grace;
But I just went on hoping for thereof.

Then on September twently one
my hope, my dream, my joy, my all
Did answer "yes" and said there's none
She cares for more "darling" did she call.

The happiest man I thought I was
At last my dreams was all so true
She's mine, She's mine! That blissful lass
Gone were my heartaches and awful rue.

All `round me looked bright, beautiful
So sweetly seemed the breeze to sing
My life became `ol wonderful
All round me looked bright, beautiful
So sweetly seemed the breeze to sing
My life became `ol wonderful
Joy and hap'ness to me my love did bring.

I kissed her once, she kissed me too.
To seal our love, our hope, our joy,
And happy were those days did go.
As if time without an end to enjoy.
The `twas summer season again...

Grabe I'm soooo kilig... My parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary three years from now. I never knew that their "anniversary" was September 21! And all along I thought they just remembered Martial Law. Sigh...

What about you? If you were to

share your valentine story, how would it go?

Interview with Bo Sanchez

It's been uploaded! Check it out at http://www.preacherinbluejeans.com
My interview is somewhere in the middle. Woohooo!
(I'll try to embed the video here... abangan).

You can also watch it at Jomar's blog.