Call for donations

Received the following text message from my friend Jonathan Peñaloza, owner of Two Seasons Resort in Boracay:

Hi Friends,

We have a truck scheduled to leave for Caticlan this Tuesday carrying relief goods for the typhoon victims in Kalibo, Aklan. If you wish to help, pls. send used clothes, food, bottled water, etc. to the Two Seasons office – 132-A. Bayani St. cor. Araneta Ave., Quezon City. (We'll be open this Sunday for this purpose.)

Pls. pass. Thanks.

Notes on the EJAP 'Olympics'

I JUST got back from Boracay where it drizzled due to the typhoon which I heard was ravaging Mindanao. So the island and its revelers, like the usually hard-working members of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) who were there for its annual sportsfest, cooled down a bit.

For those who don't know, EJAP is the one of the oldest journalism groups in the country with its members mostly reporters and editors who give you your daily dose of stock market reports, telecoms innovations, rice crisis updates, peso-dollar rates, and investments/trade outlook from the major broadsheets, wire agencies and TV networks. I have been a member since as far back as I can remember (I joined the business media in 1987--oof! did I just date myself?) and have, on occasion, participated in its events like its awards for the best business reports, Christmas parties, and forums.

Unfortunately, I have never participated in any of its sportsfests, a recent creation, as the event usually falls on a Saturday when I would be editing my paper's business section. But I've often heard of the revelry that goes on during these games, the petty arguments that sometimes ensue from the heated competition, and eventually, the sportsmanship that the members practice. After all, these games are all done in the spirit of fun.

This year, with Donnabelle Gatdula of the Philippine Star as its president, the EJAP sportsfest was kicked a notch higher by being held outside Manila for the first time, at the Two Seasons Resort in Boracay.

Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils., now back in the fold of the Atlanta-based parent The Coca-Cola Co., sponsored the event as part of its commitment to health and wellness. So the EJAP members were continuously pumped with Coke Zero the entire duration of their stay in Boracay from May 9-11. (As a healthy lifestyle choice, I stopped drinking softdrinks years ago, but I had to make an exception this time because it was just sizzling hot in Boracay during the day and that Coke Zero really helped quench my thirst...without the fear of added calories and pounds to my otherwise svelte,ahem, frame.)

It was by far the most fun I've experienced as an EJAP member (although technically I didn't join the games...unfortunately, there is no Business/Lifestyle category, hehe), watching the various teams battle it out in the zaniest games, e.g. downing a mouthful of soda crackers then trying to whistle, or how about shuffling backward ala Michael Jackson with a colored plastic ball squeezed between your thighs and dropping it in a small plastic basket? But I clicked, clicked away and will soon post some of the photos of the action here.

While all the players gave their all in the games, there can only be one winner. The top prize went to the Banking team, whose members exhibited the most ingenious moves to win most of the games. In the game where they had to fold and unfold a streamer, the male players carried the female players on their backs, so the members' feet would not go beyond the boundaries of the streamer! Aba, aba, aba, ang gagaling talaga! Gov. Say Tetangco of the Bangko Sentral must be extremely proud of this extremely talented and united bunch.

The team also took the Early Bird prize for being first to assemble the hellish hour of 6:30 am on the day of the sports fest, and for Best Attire, sporting their blue Speedo swimsuits and matching aqua Nike skorts for the women, athletic shirts and shorts for the men.

While the awards and festivities went on throughout the night, I, on the other hand, took my leave and went up to my room for a much-needed massage from Manang Flor, my suki on the island. It was the end of a humongously entertaining day which I think, will be hard to beat in the years to come. I can only take my hat off to Donna and her tireless fellow officers and board members Lenie Lectura, Alena Mae Flores, Darwin Amojelar, Paul Isla, and Mitch Remo, and the rest, for making sure everyone had a great time. And to all the participants, cheers to a job well done!

Talagang masarap!

(Family suite at Two Seasons. The extra room is to the left. It even has its own dining table and chairs inside. Photo from Two Seasons)

SO I went off to Boracay during my birthday weekend last month and stayed at Two Seasons Resort on Station 1 again. This time, Francine came along with us...how brave of her to leave little Matthew behind. I know how mothers can hardly tear themselves away from their babies so I knew she was making such a big sacrifice to be with us for for 5 days and four nights! Hay naku, I so love my sis! (And of course, I so love my Pangs also for making all of this happen! Great buddies these two.)

We stayed at one of the family rooms in the resort and it was so huge! Great place to stay if you have family or a gaggle of friends with you. Aside from the two king-sized beds, there's a separate room with its own king-sized bed as well, and its own TV, DVD player, and Ipod stereo deck (aside from the ones in the main room). And of course, I just love, love, love the big banyo! Hay, I wish all resorts give some thought on making their bathrooms big and comfortable like what we have at home.

(Crispy rack of pork with char shiu rice, photo courtesy Two Seasons)

It was super cold though when we went there so I really wasn't able to take a dip. And so guess what we ended up doing? Eat of course!

The first time the gang and I stayed at Two Seasons, we were mightily impressed with the food at barLO Resto Lounge. So some of us thought, maybe it was just a fluke. We were just lucky 'cos the resort had just opened so of course, everything was special.

But four months after, when we returned, the food was still superb. I was pretty amazed and I hardly rave over food unless I think it's really good. (Yup, many restaurants now know I don't do favorable reviews if I don't like their food, unlike other food writers who get off from being fed for free.)

Everyday, a new dish ordered on the menu didn’t fail to disappoint — each had the ability to please all senses with its superior taste, aroma, color and presentation. Our favorites include the Home-made Nachos with ground beef, jalapeños, tomato salsa, and cheese; Three Mushroom and Truffle Cream Soup; the exciting and playful salads; the Crispy Rack of Pork with Char Shiu Rice; and the Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce and Raspberry Compote, and Pineapple Ice Cream on the side.


(Prawns Marikudo and Spaghetti al Nero)

We were also happy that the restaurant had vegetarian selections such as Spaghetti with Grilled Fresh White Cheese, Garlic, Olives & Sauce Pomodoro. All dishes may be shared and extremely reasonably-priced, which is another surprise for guests. It's just unfortunate that the kitchen closes at 11 pm so if you want to stay in and watch a movie on your DVD player, you gotta order those perfectly crispy Nachos (and beers!) early on.

While part of the fun of vacationing in Boracay is to sample the dishes at various restaurants on the island, I would be very happy and content just eating in at Two Seasons.

When you're past your 40th birthday

IT had been a most unusual day.

I woke up rather early, at 5 am, and couldn’t go back to sleep. I watched Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age while waiting for Sis to wake up so we could have breakfast. Usually, it is she who wakes up early and eats breakfast while she leaves me alone lolling in Dreamland.

We were in Boracay with Pangs for my birthday last weekend and even before we arrived, the island had been suffering from a spot of unusual weather, battered as we were by strong gusty winds and intermittent rainshowers. Phooey!

There were hardly any people awake as we went down to the resort’s restaurant for our morning meal. We plunked down in an empty cabana, and I stared at the breakfast menu for the first time in three days since we arrived.

After giving out our food orders, we stared at the dark heavy clouds and shuddered in the cold winds. I wondered when I would ever get to swim in the beach and if the sun would ever sneak a peek from behind those billows in the sky. Then the faint strains of some groovy ’70s Motown music started wafting through the restaurant speakers, feel-good doo-wops that my older siblings were singing and dancing to back when I still toddled behind them. Sis and I were like, “Wowwww!” Suddenly the gray morning didn’t look so bad anymore.

As The Moments’ “Love on a Two-way Street” played away, we heartily dug into our bangus belly à la pobre and beef lugao. We swayed and sung along as we laughed and exchanged stories. We were amused at how these songs from our childhood, tunes from Pangs’s CD as we later found out, just put us in a freakishly good mood. They just made us feel that everything was perfect and all right in the world. Stories of Benjamin Abalos and his $130-million cut, the raging controversy on the ZTE-NBN deal, just seemed so far away. It was as if these songs held a promise of better things to come.

We were not disappointed. As soon as we were done with our meal and finished with our coffee, the pillow-like gray clouds began to part, and the sun’s rays finally broke through. Yay! The powdery white sand was finally dotted with shadows from the beach umbrellas, the tables and chairs, and the people walking. Salamat, Lord!

Still, the waters were just much too cold for swimming. I froze my hefty buns off as soon as I set them down on the water, which made me instantly leap up and run back to shore. Brrrr!

But when you get to be my age -- for the record, it is 23 forever -- you learn to appreciate the small stuff. At least the sun was out, and although shaded by a huge beach umbrella as I lounged on the beach bed, I was enjoying a mild dose of vitamin D. I read my magazine, spied on the young gorgeous European hunks nearby playing volleyball, and sipped on my cool mango shake...what more could I ask for?

I take my birthdays very seriously. It is usually a time for me to offer up my thanks to the Great Almighty above for all the blessings in the past year, as I look forward to another one full of exciting possibilities. It’s just like celebrating the New Year, as my reflections take on a more individual, closer-to-the-soul note.

Unfortunately, there are certain realities one cannot escape as one rushes past 40.

Like, no matter how my brain thinks I’m still in my 20s or 30s, there are just some days I wake up in the morning with the wind whistling through my bones. I am creaky all over and feel too tired to get up. Of course, my age is also an advantage, because this is probably the only time in my life when I can actually declare that, fudge all that! I shall stay in bed the entire day! If I were in my 20s and 30s, I’d still get up, despite a hangover or a fluish condition, and haul my carcass to the office.

I can’t hold my liquor as long as I used to. Time was when I could start drinking from 6 pm until 4 am the next morning, and still go to work the next morning. These days, three glasses of red wine is cutting it too close and the sulfites in my drink will deaden my brain right up to next day. (Again, staying in bed is usually the solution.)

My forehead has two fine horizontal lines and I have dark spots on my cheek that refuse to go away. No matter how many anti-aging creams I slather on my face, they just sit there staring back at me from the mirror. Unfortunately, my unpredictable cash flow won’t pay for any Botox injections. Besides, I’m a coward when it comes to needles and even if I had more financial resources, I will probably spend the money on traveling and good food rather than on my face.

I am now prone to allergies. For some strange reason, some food or beverages which I had no problem ingesting only a few years ago, now give me a rash or a headache. Take cheese, for example: I used to eat all my favorite nutty and intense varieties at any time and any day. But now, I noticed that as my period approaches (excuse me, gentlemen), eating cheese gives me a migraine. Added to that, the migraines sneak up on me more often than they used to.

And as I mentioned in this space two weeks ago, I am now on maintenance pills to restrain my hypertension, a legacy from both sides of my parents’ families. Thanks to mom and dad, I have to watch what I eat, making sure I stay away from Aling Mila’s lechon and Two Seasons Resort’s sinfully good Crispy Rack of Pork and Char Shiu Rice forever. I cannot afford to miss a single class of yoga, otherwise my blood pressure may start hiking up a treacherous path.

(UPDATE: Three days ago, my doc took me off the anti-hypertension meds, pronouncing me in the pink of health...well, almost. Just need to exercise more. But at least, this is one reason to feel good on this birthday.)

To top it all, I hate exercising, and any effort spent on a treadmill or stationary bike makes me feel cheap. I love my body and I’m happy with it, but somehow I still feel I need to conform to society’s standards of beauty and wellness.

I don’t have the patience to read books anymore. A bookworm since I knew how to read, I now can’t sit still through three pages of any novel, no matter how high up it was on the New York Times bestseller list, without my mind wandering off somewhere. I think of my schedule for the entire week, the recipe I’ll be using at dinner, or what I’ll wear to an interview I’m conducting the next day. Maybe it’s because I already do a lot of reading on the Internet that having pages of printed words on paper just doesn’t hold my attention anymore as staring at my computer. If I do read a book, it is usually a biography or a collection of short stories. My favorite reading materials now are magazines -- Vanity Fair, Gourmet, Travel + Leisure, Interiors.

Finally, I want someone to come home to other than the mother and the maid. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a pet. There are just days when you want to cuddle with someone because you are feeling awful and need to feel secure or comforted. Or just do the nasty with every night. Because Johnny Depp is already hitched to that beyootch Vanessa Paradis, I might have to get a cat instead.

But in all things, I take the bad with the good. You can’t have a happy sunny morning without going through some voluminous rainclouds first. So, thank you, Lord! Thanks for another fabulous birthday in Boracay with my best buddies. Thanks for those relaxing massages I got. Thanks for that gorgeous birthday spread and for all the lovely meals we enjoyed. To all those who remembered my birthday and took the time to greet me, Bless you all! It feels great to be alive and well, the sometimes creaky bones notwithstanding.

The ultimate reality bite: It’s the little things in life that count the most and make me happy.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photo from BusinessMirror.)

To a Yummier New Year

In this second installment of my three-part series on restaurants to visit and revisit in the new year, I dish on even more yummy things.

barLO Resto Lounge, Two Seasons Beach Resort, Station 1, Boracay Island, Aklan

barLO offers an exciting blend of European and Asian flavors created by the father-and-son team of Gene and Gino Gonzalez. Frankly speaking, I didn’t have high hopes about the cuisine, considering that the last time I ate at Café Ysabel in San Juan, I came away very disappointed with what I had eaten. (True, this was many years ago, but it was so bad I vowed never to set foot in the place again.)

My sad experience with Café Ysabel, however, was completely blown away when I got a taste of some of the items on barLO’s menu. The Crispy Pork with Char Siu Rice alone is to die for. While I usually abhor eating pork dishes when I’m on a beach vacation, this dish was simply too delectable to resist. Crispy and crunchy, with the flavor of the pork fat just kicked up a notch when dipped in the raspberry sauce on the side. No greasy taste at all...just nice and neat.

Another fabulous find was the Chef’s Angus Beef Burger, which was supertender and juicy and cooked just right. Consider this the king of all Boracay burgers.

For dessert, you can’t go wrong with the Molten Chocolate Cake dusted with some caster sugar, and served with pine-vanilla ice cream. The cake isn’t too sweet and the ice cream and raspberry compote just gives the dish that extra kick to make this chocolate dessert totally exciting.

And I am happy to note that barLo is so the only restaurant this side of Boracay which serves crispy fried danggit for breakfast. It serves comfort food with a twist. And who can go wrong with that?

CYMA, TriNoma, Quezon City

WHILE Cyma has been around for awhile, this is Chef Robbie Goco’s first outlet in Quezon City. Cyma’s fans are flocking to this new location and packing it in especially during the evenings and weekends. (We’re told that many of the TriNoma patrons have been regular diners at the restaurant’s Shangri-La Mall outlet like myself.)

But we also noticed new diners, mostly Filipino-Chinese families, trying to get a feel of the Greek selections and, sadly, they sometimes stick to the familiar, like pasta, pizza and osso buco — basically Italian fare — which are also available on the menu.

We hope they try our favorites, such as the Roka Salata (P245 for the solo size but still enough to share with two other people), a typical Greek salad with a delectable blend of arugula, Romaine lettuce, candied walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese, kalamata olives tossed in lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil. Sweet. Crunchy. Refreshing.

There’s also the really hefty Moussaka (P235), made from Japanese eggplant. Truthfully, I don’t like eggplants because of its mushy taste, but I make an exception when eating moussaka — Greece’s national dish — and just think of it as lasagna (which I love!) with layers of ground beef, tomato sauce and loads of mozzarella cheese with béchamel sauce (minus the noodles, of course).

(Sweet but healthy Roka salata. Photo from Our Awesome Planet)

The lamb gyros (no snickering about Greek shepherd boys now) is also a must-try. It is marinated lamb sliced into bite-sized pieces, with tomatoes, red onion, tzatziki and wrapped in a pita bread. Tzatziki is a classic Greek dip made of cucumber, garlic and yogurt which gives the lamb gyros a light cool taste and feeling despite the sizable amount of meat. Only P150 and filling enough for a quick lunch.

“Always leave room for dessert,” is my favorite motto. What’s a meal without a sweet treat? You should not miss the Skolatina, the most evil! dessert ever created on this good earth! It’s that sinfully good! It is a chocolate cake that just oozes with warm chocolate syrup when you spoon into it, and which you have to eat with the warm chestnut syrup and vanilla ice cream served on the side. What a pleasure it is to savor that warm chocolatey goodness and chilled creamy vanilla ice cream playing on your taste buds. It is like the best orgasm you’ve experienced in your entire life! Mmmm....

A piece of advice, though: if you are going to order the Skolatina, do so as soon as you sit down and order your appetizers and main entrées, as it takes about 30 minutes to bake. Also, for the good of your hips and blood sugar, do share it with someone. Unfortunately, Cyma doesn’t serve coffee, which would really make the perfect ending to the dining pleasures offered in this place.

We conclude this delectable journey next week....

A family affair

It’s a family thing. The Peñalozas having fun in their own corner of the island paradise: (clockwise, from left) Jonathan with wife Jenny; Jocelyn with husband Alfrancis Chua; and Jason (shirtless) with the rest of the revelers, including the author. (Photos by TEDDY MONTELIBANO)

Something Like Life
Nov. 23, 2007

RETURNING from a four-day vacation in Boracay, where I had a fabulous stay at the newly-built resort Two Seasons (more on that in a future travel story), I find that things haven’t changed much in Metro Manila.

There was still much discussion on who was behind the explosion at the Batasan despite the arrests of suspects, denials on corruption as the root of a World Bank loan cancellation, and the Senate investigating yet another case of political impropriety regarding the cash handouts in Malacañang (this, even if they had yet to wrap things up on the ZTE-NBN deal).

These same-old, same-old issues are the reasons why I enjoy traveling and covering lifestyle stories. Who can stand all that muck-raking and the endless news of government stealing day in and day out when there’s so much more going on in other parts of the country? Everyone needs a break, and I always thank the Big Guy upstairs for allowing me to cover functions that some may find a bit escapist and unreal—amid all the blood, sweat and gore of everyday hard news—but nevertheless are still about honest people just trying to make an honest living. I think happy occasions are still worth covering, right?

Thankfully, such events, like the blessing of Two Seasons last weekend, also allowed me to make new friends, get up close to families like the Peñalozas, the resort’s owners, who are warm sincere people trying to make a difference in their lives and their businesses.

My travel buddies and I were touched that such a family, with a long tradition of Filipino-Chinese values, could be so warm and open to “outsiders” like us. We always perceive Chinoy families to be closed and extremely protective of one another, unable to genuinely relate to people without such privileged DNA. (Well, I do have some Chinese blood, which accounts for my fair complexion and slightly chinita eyes, but this has long been diluted by the murky brown indio marriages of my forefathers hehehe.) Happily, the Peñalozas were all warm chocolatey goodness. And having been a journalist for so long, I guess I know when someone is sincere or just BS’ing me.

My travel buddies and I were especially there to interview Jonathan, the “numbah wan sun” who runs Two Seasons. Heir to the ball bearings business his grandparents started, he disarmed us by his quiet charm and willingness to share with us his internal “processes” in eventually taking over the company from his father, Victor, and wishing to strike out on his own in an entirely different direction, by going into the resort/hospitality service industry. It was evident, however, that his dad and the family matriarch, amah, were all thumbs-up for the splendid new resort after seeing how Jonathan parlayed his keen sense for aesthetics and design into another possibly profitable business. All the other uncles, aunts and cousins, including family friends, were out in full force in Boracay to lend their support to the happy occasion.

(It was also so cute to see the very chica-looking amah, all of 92 years, smiling at everyone, while sitting in a wheelchair especially designed for the beach. I was told that she still gets up every day to go to work...what a tremendous spirit, that woman.)

And thank goodness for Jonathan’s lovely wife Jenny, who has been “conscripted” into the family business. No screaming and being dragged by her hands and feet, though. Jenny told us that she is happy to help out in the family business, training the staff from all over the country. Having her join the business allowed Jonathan to remain focused on the construction and design of the resort. How she also found the time to take care of her equally wonderful kids is a feat in itself and worthy of any working mom award.

Then, there’s the pert and pretty Jocelyn, who jokingly proclaimed herself to be the “youngest” among the siblings. She immediately warmed up to us and started telling us about her business and the most important relationship she’s had. She owns a store called French Dolls at the TriNoma—and, no, it doesn’t sell dolls but clothes from Bangkok, my favorite shopping destination. Of course, the trendy clothes won’t fit large-sized me, but they’d be in my closet if I were a size 6. (Still, I couldn’t help but kid Jocelyn: “Galit ka sa matataba, ano?”)

She is also married to Alfrancis Chua, whom everybody calls “Coach,” having been the Sta. Lucia Realtors’ coach for the longest time. Now conducting basketball clinics for kids aside from other businesses, Coach—or “Chua-lai,” as sports journalists apparently call him—just made us sick to our stomachs from all the laughing we did over his hilarious stories. Yet it moved me for someone big and tough like the Coach to confess that Jocelyn was the only woman who could make him settle down after all the girls he’s had in his life (and you’d be surprised at all the celebrity babes who’ve been linked to him). The clincher of the story is that Al and Jocelyn were high school sweethearts and were oceans apart for quite a long time before finding each other again. It’s a love story that immediately elicits an “Awwww” from anyone who hears it.”

The youngest—for real—among the five siblings (sorry Jocelyn!) is crazy Jason. Having just returned from the US, where he had a swell career photographing for The Gap and Guess, Jason has come home to set up himself here in Manila and have a go at the local commercial photography business. In the short time that he’s been here, he’s snagged major covers for a lot of the country’s glossy magazines. And yet he’s such a regular guy, despite his youth. I have never been so entertained by such a sweet funny person. Still he admitted being torn between his artistic spirit and his familial obligations. It is a conflict I can only pray he would resolve to everyone’s satisfaction, especially his own.

We weren’t able to sit down and talk with the other Peñaloza siblings but from the ones we met, I have no doubt that they are equally pleasant and amiable.

Spending a short time with a close and gregarious family like the Peñalozas was a real treat for hard newshounds like me. It reminds me of what really matters in this complex and often dog-eat-dog world we live in.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. )

Do you friendster or facebook? (and the phrase of the day)

OKAY, so I was sitting just sitting here transferring photos from my camera phone into my computer but I realized I couldn't upload them into another photo set on Flickr because I'm a free account user. So not wanting to spend $25 a year just to get a Pro unlimited account, I searched through the site to find out if I could delete a set of photos without erasing them completely from my photostream. Of course, there was nothing on the FAQs page nor anything in the forums advising users of solutions or alternatives to this dilemma. (Of course if you've been a long-time Mac user like me, you know that anything owned by Yahoo as well as Yahoo itself sucks.)

Fortunately, some of the guys in the forum mentioned Facebook, the social networking site, which they said allowed unlimited photo posts. Hmmm...I thought that sounded cool, although I was still wary of the social networking phenomenon which had begun with the establishment of Friendster. I've been invited a lot of times by Friendster users to join the site, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how you could call someone a "friend" without actually meeting them face to face! I've read in some newspaper stories that some users had thousands and thousands of "friends!" Then one annoying guy I don't even know just kept on emailing me to view his profile, which I found creepy. So I didn't want to join that.

(Partying at the Two Seasons resort blessing, Nov. 17, 2007. From left: Teddy, Raoul, moi, and Jenny Peñaloza. More photos at Stella in Facebook.)

Anyway, to make the long story short, I joined Facebook. It seemed a better alternative as it seemed the entire world had already joined Friendster. I felt Facebook was "cozier", if that term even applies in the cyberworld.

So this is part real, part social experiment. I want to see how many of my real friends, contacts, and regular acquaintances would join Facebook and be my "friend." I found out that among my email contacts (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail), there were a few who were already Facebook members. I restricted the invites to only people who were my actual friends, travel buddies, and fellow foodies, as well as a few people I was interested in knowing more after the initial contact in the real world. As of today, I have 10 Facebook friends from the Philippines, Bangkok, Northern Marianas, and the U.S.... not bad considering I just joined two days ago.

But as I plodded through the list of friends of my Facebook friends who had added me to their network, I've concluded that Filipinos are still a conservative lot. Most of the friends on their own lists were people they've worked with, people who they grew up with, or went to school with, or even current companions and colleagues at work. There were only few who appeared to have "friends" the Friendster-type. I don't know if it's because I belong to a more mature generation (my youngest Facebook friend is 25 I think) who are more protective of their privacy. Only one of them had about 125 Facebook friends on the list and I knew most of these people even vicariously. His friends were surely not from Timbuktu. (Of course the downside to this is I realized creepy Friendster guy is also a member of Facebook and is one of my Facebook friend's "friend." Kainis!)

Anyway, check out my photos from my vacation last weekend at Stella in Facebook. This is my first photo album and I'm still trying to get the hang of posting, poking, writing on walls and such. It's definitely a different experience worth exploring. Enjoy!

(P.S. A lot of my earlier photos are still posted on Flickr. You can check them out at Stella at Flickr.)

* * * *

RIDICULOUS HEADLINE OF THE DAY:

I just couldn't help but howl in laughter over this continuing saga between Manny Paquiao and Ara Mina. Hay naku, read on and forget the problems of this country for a minute!

Pacquiao tells Ara Mina: Ignore rumors about us.

* * * *

PHRASE OF THE DAY: Panty-quivering. To describe how a really hot guy makes a woman deliciously shiver down there just by his looks alone. Ex. Tony Leung, and that real yummy guy I met in Boracay. Oof! I invented this term and am patenting it starting today. So there.