When I am in Zamboanga I always wish I’d remembered to bring sunglasses (or sun readers if I could). I forget how sunny a day can get especially when you’re driving around in a motorcycle.

On sunny days, Gim and I always go out for joyrides and eats. Lately I’ve been picking up a hobby. Like taking pictures of Gim with his hands like this.

Doesn’t he look sheepish? Haha. I’ve been getting Gim to show me some hearts everywhere we go. LOL. I can’t resist and he can’t resist ME!

Cute! ♥

I love the contemporary furniture the fast foods are sporting nowadays. I noticed when I went back home to Zamboanga last month that Jollibee/Greenwich/Chowking/etc were newly renovated or undergoing renovation. Greenwich is now full of sofas instead of hard chairs! Love! ♥

Check it out – Max’s Restaurant is already in Zamboanga! Yay! It’s about time we got some new family-friendly restaurants in town. Would you categorize Max’s as a fast food restaurant? I think for Zamboanga it would already be considered upscale, since we seriously lack good restaurants back home.

Like, if you were to celebrate the graduation of a family member, where would you go? Off the top of my head I would say Palmeras, Greenfields or Alavar’s. A good place to eat is Aristocrat, however I think the service/ambiance is a bit lousy (same goes for former Sunburst, renamed Zacky’s Chicken, where I prefer take-out). Lantaka is a hit-or-miss (do NOT try their steak!) and the service is really bad. There are many other restaurants in Zamboanga, but I’ve dismissed most of them since I don’t think their food is up to par, or they don’t have enough space to host a big group. Well – correct me if I am wrong, since I haven’t spent that much time home in the last few years already. For example, I heard that Country Chicken has a new owner and already upgraded their menu, but I didn’t know that so I wasn’t able to eat there before I left (next time!). And how about Hai San (not sure if I’m correct), the last time I ate there the food was really good, but I didn’t like the ambiance – too many old men.

Anyway, the point is, Max’s is a welcome and much-awaited addition to Zamboanga! Everytime we passed by there was always a line! The first few days of opening, the line was so long. And it seemed everyone I knew was there. One time, I told Gim we should go somewhere else because I didn’t want to talk to a certain acquaintance, haha. The next time, there was again another acquaintance I didn’t want to chitchat with, but I stayed and bore it because I really wanted to eat at Max’s already! Haha. For such a big city, we have such a small town… it’s next to impossible to not bump into someone you know when you’re out and about. One time I had dessert with friends in Catribo, it seemed my entire high school showed up. Haha!

Ah, but I miss Zamboanga. ♥

How to treat acne fast? I don’t know, umm, why not live in Manila?!

Gim always tells me, whenever I leave him to go back to Makati, that he’s sending me over to “prettify”. Yeah, those are his words. :D

Why? Because ever since I came to live in Manila, my skin has gotten a lot fairer and I don’t break out into pimples so much. I attribute that to the chlorine in the water. I can literally feel the chlorine bleaching me everytime I take a bath. How can I tell? It’s the feel of the water, it’s kind of hard. Whereas when I bathe at home in Zamboanga, the water is really soft and just feels a lot less processed.

I don’t mind the chlorine, I just don’t like that I can’t drink from the tap here. I spend so much money on drinking water, it’s crazy!

Speaking of showers, I found a really big one and it’s in Fort Bonifacio! See!!! I want to shower under there! Hahaha! :)

Isn’t Gim cute? :)

I spent Christmas in Zamboanga, as I always do, because that’s my hometown. ♥

On one of those days I had a dinner with my old debate friends Jeff and Ruth. I wish Chu and Jen were there so it would be complete, but Chu is in Australia and Jen was too effin’ busy (hmp!) so it was just the four of us including Gim of course (whom I met through debate! Double ♥).

We had a nice dinner in Lantaka Hotel, then went to look at the lights in City Hall and then had smoothies in Catribo. Zamboanga is so small, we kept bumping into old friends. We saw Julius, Joey, King, Raul, my old students and so many others. December is truly homecoming month. :)

I love this picture. :)

It was taken by Jeff, haha. We had a hard time getting a pic because all the waiters seemed so harried, running from one table to the other. We could hardly keep their attention for more than a minute, and almost all the waiter’s photos were a blurry fail. LOL. So. Sariling sikap, yo! Hahaha.

Here is a photo taken by Ruth of my favorite Lantaka dish. It’s pasta marisco – fettucini swimming in seafood sauce and yummy clams and squid. Mmmm!!! I miss!!!

Here is me and Gim, ooh, parang we just had a dinner date, hahahah!

Here is our fully lighted City Hall. Amazing, yeah? It was even more lighted up than last year, if you can believe that!!

And here are our other pictures, just browse through them all. :)

I had some saging rebosao for my late night dessert tonight. It wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be. I thought you needed to put the bananas under hand dryers for the sugar to crystallize or something. My mom’s made them for years but I never really bothered to look at how she cooked them, I just ate them, hahaha!

But tonight when I got my craving, my boyfriend offered to cook them for me, and I watched while he cooked so I would know how to make them. Theoretically.

Saging rebosao, or saging rebosado as some people also call them, is caramelized bananas. Super easy to make. Just buy some unripe bananas (if you buy the soft ones they’ll be overly tender and sometimes fall apart during cooking) and peel them. Slice in half vertically. Deep-fry them in hot oil for about 5 minutes, just enough until they’re golden. Take them out and clean the pan. Put a cup of water, and about a cup of sugar too. Stir continuously until the concoction is thick, sticky and syrupy (definitely don’t stop cooking if still watery). Like if you took a spoonful of the mixture, and dropped it back onto the pot, it would fall slowly. If syrupy already, drop the fried bananas into the mix and turn off the fire. Coat the bananas in the mixture repeatedly. Since the syrup will make them stick together, ensure to unstick them with a fork and keep mixing. Until you see the sugar start to crystallize, and when all the sugars are crystallized, you can stop mixing, and start serving! :)

They’re super yummy, and you can find this delicious dessert only in Zamboanga. I kept looking in Manila, and never saw anything like it. :( So I’m loading up on them while I’m still home. :)

Unfortunately I ate them all already, and I forgot to take a picture. :( Next time, I will surely upload some. :)

Well, he’s my brother. And since his birthday is coming up, his girl friend asked me to write a brief message about my bro to post on a multimedia she’s working on. I obliged, and well, I thought I’d share here.

You want to know who Ikee (or Gerardo Luis Condalor Dimaguila) is? Well, a quick Google search will show you that Ikee is a devastating iPhone virus. What the Ikee virus does, is it changes your iPhone’s wall paper image to something else- last I heard, it was of a pop icon in the 1980′s (and messing with your GPS leaving you in dire need of roadside assistance). The real Ikee (who coincidentally, is my brother) is also a virus of sorts. But the similarities end there.

Unlike the software ‘Ikee’ virus (which is very malicious and could steal sensitive info), the real ‘Ikee’ herein referred to as ‘Iks’, is the exact opposite- he changes you in a very good way. His charisma and leadership spreads with the ease of any virus (even your typical Flu variety) but unlike the software virus or the Flu, the ‘Ikee- the person’ or ‘Iks’ bug can leave you feeling inspired and motivated.

I for one, truly admire his love for service and leadership. Although I am older than Ikee by a full six years, he has unknowingly taught me a lot about service. And I am confident that he has consciously or unconsciously, inspired a lot of people too. He has a heart and passion for what he does, and that I think is the most important thing- doing what you love, and the hell with the rest.

So I’ll end this piece with a wish that Ikee (the person) will keep on doing what he’s doing and continue to be an inspiration for a lot of people- In Lucem!. Have a Happy Birthday, Bro!

I’ve been visiting my Flishi a lot this year, courtesy of super cheap airfares. It seems that our country’s two major airlines are vying for each other in a sort of price war ever since Cebu Pacific, the major competitor of once dominant Philippine Airlines (PAL) targeted the masses and made airfare soo very affordable. In response, PAL started out Air Phil Express- its cheaper alternative with ticket prices almost matching Cebu Pacific’s (making it all the more easier to travel and find jobs).

Anyways, earlier last month, I took a trip to visit Flisha and since Cebu was all sold out, I took Air Phil. It was the first time I flew on that airline and the first thing I noticed when I climbed aboard was the newness of the aircraft. It was an Airbus A320- a plane I was familiar with as almost all trips to Manila from Zamboanga used the same model. It was sooo new that the seats still had plastic wrapped over them.

However, the pleasant experience ended there. Air Phil, it seems has a snotty crew. This is a far cry from Cebu’s always smiling and pleasant crew. Maybe they had a bad day, I don’t know but the stewardesses on that flight wore stiff smiles and appeared frazzled. They were not helpful in the very least. I found my seat (I always ask for a seat either in front or at least until the emergency exits, the back seats make me uncomf), and settled in for the flight.

As usual, the stewardess in charge of our row came up and advised us passengers seated on the emergency exits if we were willing to assist in case of an emergency. I smiled and mumbled my ok. Then, as she was leaving she suddenly turned to me and told me with a haughty smile;

“Sir, please do not open the emergency door when we land, OK? Those are to be used only in case of an emergency. We have exits at the front and back.” all the while nodding her head as though I were a little child.

This should only be done in an emergency, OK? E-M-E-R-G-E-N-C-Y, wait, I forgot do you even know how to spell?

I was so taken aback that I just blankly stared at her. What did she think I was, a freakin idiot? Of course it’s supposed to be used only in an emergency, that’s why they call it an EMERGENCY exit, right? The nerve!

In retrospect though, it got me thinking, perhaps some passenger misunderstood the stewardesses’ instructions and  *did* try to open the emergency exit when the plane landed. :/

Chocolate + Peppermint + me = HAPPYNESS!

I have always loved chocopeppermint ever since I once bit into a Lindt chocolate with peppermint filling back when I was in the third grade. Since then, I’ve been getting chocopeppermint flavors every chance I get (if you’re conscious about your weight, there are sugar-free varieties that go well with that weight loss program).

I just recently learned though that It’s a pretty popular flavor- especially in ice cream. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, chocopeppermint is the 10th most popular ice cream flavor in the world!

Choco Minty Goodness!

Unfortunately, it seems a lot of my countrymen do not appreciate the wonder that is chocolate and peppermint. You would be hard-pressed to find chocopeppermint flavors here in the Philippines- let alone my tiny, tiny backyard of Zamboanga. I think the common reason why a lot of people I know do not like the flavor is that they associate it with brushing their teeth- which based on their reactions, is such a distasteful chore (on the contrary, I love brushing my teeth! makes me feel clean and refreshed).

So far, I’ve only seen chocopeppermint in Gelatissimo (a gelato shop at Greenbelt 4) and as a Premium flavor for FIC or Fruits in Ice Cream, which has immediately become my fave brand thanks to their chocoppermint flavor (I wonder if I could persuade Fli to bring me home a pint of FIC?). I cannot wait to get me a pint!

In the meantime, I found out that eating dark chocolate AFTER brushing my teeth simulates the taste. :)

I’ve never tried authentic Japanese cuisine. Living in Zamboanga, you really don’t have a choice when it comes to finding real cultural cooking. The only ‘authentic’ Japanese restos in Zamboanga are Hanazono and that place in Skypark Hotel; and they aren’t real Japanese cooking in the sense that most of what they serve are ‘Filipinized’ versions of the real deal (Living in Zamboanga is like living in a mattress, really comfy but it gets a little too boring after a while).

So it was a real treat when Fli and I popped into Little Tokyo for a taste of genuine Japanese cooking (Little Tokyo is a tiny strip of Japanese restos along Pasong Tamo Ave., Makati). The place we went to (I forgot the name- eeps!) is owned by a Japanese couple. The ambiance is very homey- with a warm kitchen-ey feel to it, and the staff are very polite and friendly.

And the food! God, it was delish! We ordered Shoyu Ramen (Japanese noodles), Gyoza (steamed dumplings), California maki (rice dumplings with mango, raw fish, and seaweed strips), and Katsudon (fried pork cutlet with eggs). For me, the maki was the best. I even got Fli to finish half of the plate! Unfortch, we didn’t bring a camera so I don’t have any pics to show! Well, maybe next time- ’cause there’s definitely going to be one. ;)

While we’re on the topic of what Zamboanga needs, I’d also like to point out that Zamboanga needs new restos too! Although there are a few exceptions (Mr. Bean’s at the Catribbo Complex, Patio Palmeras along Pasonanca road), most of the restos in the city are old, dilapidated, and with the worst service imaginable (with food spots like these, there’d be no need to browse through that diet pill review).

Again, take for instance Mang Inasal’s, where we had lunch yesterday (see previous post). OK, fine, it’s not actually a resto, more of a fastfood joint, but still- fastfoods are meant to be just that; fast and efficient at feeding hungry people impatient for food. Sadly, the reverse was true yesterday.

Mang Inasal’s was slow, with waiters deliberately ignoring their customers. There was a lack of everything- from water, to utensils and even paper napkins. Paper napkins! Every decent food joint should have at least a pile on each table! And pox on that unlimited rice promo! It is sooo freaking hard to get a refill and when we finally did, the rice was of poor quality- grainy with bits of pebbles and with the distinct smell of molds. What kind of service is that?

The Mang Inasal's here does NOT look like this

Needless to say, I’m not going back there ever again. And I’m sure to spread the word to other poor souls who may be fooled into thinking otherwise.