I just tasted something so exquisite that it made my taste buds tingle and head spin. The velvety flavor of butter just exploded with every bite I took. The tangy zest of honeyed salt followed the initial explosion. Then came the aftershocks of a deeper darker wall-nutty taste (definitely no weight loss products). The cause of all this hoopla?

Popcorn.

And yep, you’ve guessed it. It’s Chef Tony’s!

Yummy popcorn!

I’ve been a fan of Chef Tony’s ever since my former boss at the hospital offered me some last year. Of course, being waaay down south, I don’t get to have much of it. Only when I get to visit her in Manila do I get to munch on Chef Tony’s uber good popcorn. And then only when I actually remember to buy some (I usually have so much fun being with her that I forget to get the food that crave when I’m over here).

So last week, I was fortunate enough to go get me a tub. And boy, is it worth every peso. :)

PSI officially love the Belgian Butter with Honey Roasted Wallnut Flava.

I guess there’s a point to doing all those yoga stuff when you’re pregnant. You don’t want a fat baby.

Why? Because fat baby = no insurance!

Alex Lange (not the one pictured) is a 4 month old baby weighing 8.7-kilograms (19.2-pounds). He was born in a hospital in Kisaran, North Sumatra, Indonesia to American parents. And no matter how healthy he is, due to his weight, insurance won’t give him the time of day!

Alex isn’t being overnurtured, or being fed chips and sodas. In fact, he is being raised on purely breastmilk. But his parents have to be get him on a diet if they want to give him insurance.

Good news, though. After all the negative attention that was brought to the Colorado insurance company (Rocky Mountain Health Plans), the company decided to cover not-so-little Alex’s health plan. They committed to change its policy in favor of babies that are healthy but fat. (Aren’t all babies supposed to be like that?!?)

All’s well that ends well then! :)

I’ve been bitching about having tons and tons of work to do lately and about being so darn stressed that in the midst of it all, I just took off and went on a vacay (I just wish it were at Toronto hotels)!

OK, so I didn’t just “take off”. No, I’m too responsible for that-Erhm. I really did have official business in the Big City. I had to conduct chemical analysis of well water. But towards the end of the week, I found some time on my hands so I agreed to let her take me to Baguio. And boy, was it F-U-N!

It was my first time there and the probinsyano showed by the way I ooohed and ahhhed at the fog that surrounded our bus as it made its way up the mountains of the Cordillera.

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and even then it was cold! It was as if I were in an airconditioned room even though the sun was shining brightly.  It was also the first time that I saw people bundled up in coats and jackets- in the Philippines! It felt so weird yet so cool at the same time.

We stayed for three short but enjoyable days. Have a look at these pics. :)

Strawberries! I can't believe they sold these at market

Breathtaking view from the Mines

Flisha's Mansion

Best Kare-Kare evah! (it's from Barrio Fiesta)

Flisha, bawal daw umihi o!

Ninoy and Me

Chillin' with berries and chocolates after an afternoon spent touring the city

Here’s hoping I could go back- soon. :)

I’m now officially a fan of Green Day!

It all started out when she made me listen to a song her office mates sang during one of their group activities (maybe they did that at the pre-employment screening).The song didn’t sound that good in the recording- too much outside noise. But she swears by the tempo and tune so I looked it up. And I loved it.

The song? 21 Guns.

I know, Green Day has been around since the mid-90′s. Why the late conversion? Simply put, I was singing and liking songs that I didn’t know were done by Green Day. Songs like Wake Me Up When September Ends and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. It appeals to my inner rock-star.

Me n da crew, in a parallel dimension

What’s that,you say? Me, a rockstar? C’mon, admit it. We all sometimes dream of being the star. On stage in front of millions of people. That’s why everybody loves American Idol. It’s the show that turns ordinary people with real stories into stars.

Now that gave me an idea. Perhaps I’d try auditioning. Hey, maybe it’s not too late to take up voice lessons.

I know I said that I have to finish a paper tonight, but talking about that vacay I took made me remember a really funny in-an-annoying-sort-of-way thing that happened when I got back two days ago (wonder if this story could be hosted in an extenze?).

For about a month now, our island of Mindanaw has been experiencing power interruptions and failures due to the El Nino phenomenon. How so? Our island is very much dependent on hydroelectricity with the Maria Cristina falls in Central Mindanao providing a huge chunk of that power. Now that the El Nino is here, the streams and rivers have all but dried up greatly decreasing the power generated by our natural water reservoirs.

In order to cope with the demands for power, our local electric company has been implementing rotational power outages (or black-outs as we like to call them). So on the day I arrived, our city was once again experiencing a black-out. After de-planing, we proceeded to the conveyor belt to wait for our baggage to arrive. It turns out that our airport doesn’t have any power generators in cases of a power shortage so the conveyor belt wasn’t working.

What airport authorities did still leaves me chuckling in a shocked-head-shaking kind of way.

What did they do?

They told all us passengers to proceed to the tarmac and pick our luggage straight from the baggage cab. Pandemonium then ensued as passengers shoved and pushed one another to get at their baggage.

Looking back, I couldn’t help but wonder what those two westerners who were on the same flight with me thought of our city.

Welcome to Zamboanga.

I’ve been having a rough week lately. All those back-logged work is taking its toll on me. For the past two nights, I’ve been getting only 3-4 hours sleep! I’ve got bags underneath my eyes, stubble on my chin and a zit on my jaw (anybody know any best acne cleansers?).

This is me right about now...

I’ve got a paper to write, a Powerpoint presentation to do, a report to finish, exams to make and grades to record. Whoa. I’ll be glad once next week is through. I’m really thankful I took that vacay last week. It was such fun!

We went up north to Baguio and mostly spent our time food-tripping, hopping from one resto to the next. Of course we did get to catch the views. They were really spectacular! I’ll be posting pics real soon. I just have to get through the conclusion part of my paper. I’ll be sure to update as soon as I finish. :)

So there you are, brand new laptop open on the table (probably even a Macbook), typing merrily away. With those phentermines everyday, you could enjoy almost anything you want. So now you have a steaming mug of hot chocolate on the table, and you take leisurely sips as you enjoy your new lappy.

All that drink and leisure makes your body tingle and so you go answer nature’s call. You’ll be back in a jiff, so the thought of safeguarding your new lappy never crossed your mind. When you come back- lo and behold! What do you see?

...when you find your pooch peeing on your laptop!

I hope he never, ever, dumps me in a shelter...

Another feel-good-heart-warming pic. I wonder what this dog is really praying for. Or does he even understand what he’s doing? Perhaps he’s wishing for a Christian Louboutin pair of shoes. Or perhaps a nice, thick steak. Or perhaps he’s wishing that his master never grow old and leave him alone. I think that’s it! I think that deep down in that doggy heart of his, he’s wishing that his master never tire of him and will always be there for him.

Or at least that’s what I like to think. :)

Poor, poor guy in the middle. You have no idea...

So we’re still on kyut-pics-on-Facebook week, and guess what, here’s one that made me stop, stare and guffaw (There’s a good bet that the guy in the middle is suffering from adult acne and will soon suffer from a broken heart). This pic just took the word back-stab to a whole new level.

As that guy in the Greenwich commercial says “Nag-level up ka na!” :)

...of the shadow of death. Oh, you've gotta be shitting me!

This pic is just totally hilarious!But kyut at the same time. I sure hope this cat’s got some colon cleanser handy. It really might need it as it’s quite obvious it’s scared shitless. I wonder what’s going through puss’ head right about now. Here’s hoping those dogs didn’t tear it up in pieces.

Again another one of those pics floating around on FB. Hope it made you smile. :)