Breakfast

There's nothing better than eating breakfast that comes with a side of shock and indignation. This is what happens when you haven't been inside a Starbucks for more than 10 months, and the baristas are all over you being absent for such a long time.

It was a crummy morning: gray, rainy and cold. I wanted to stay under the warm blankets, but we had to go out for an early appointment. When I got back near our place at around 9am, I drove to the nearest Starbucks for a quick breakfast and something to warm me up. When I got there, I got caught up with the baristas whom I used to see daily, and they wanted to catch up. So my order of bagels and coffee flew out of my mouth. I handed over my payment distractedly. It wasn't until I got in the car, and I saw the sales tape, that my jaw dropped at the exorbitant price I paid for my breakfast.

Tall, Decaf, Non-fat Praline Mocha with My Bagel Sandwich

I ordered a tall, decaf, non-fat praline mocha--whopping Php150!!! Plus a mozzarella, tomato and basil multi-bagel sandwich--Php90, pretty reasonable given the size and the "healthy" side of the sandwich. But the coffee! Holy cow! I remembered the last time I had coffee at Starbucks it was less than Php90!

When I got home, I moodily sipped my coffee and munched on my scrumptious and filling sandwich. The side of shock and indignation left a bitter aftertaste, and I wouldn't recommend that you take it with any meal.

Mozzarella, Basil and Tomato on a Multi-grain Bagel

Photos by Aggie

Akyat Bahay Huling Huli!

How to Break Into A House:

1. Go out with all your roommates.
2. Make sure you lock the front door and each of you conveniently forget to bring a house key.
3. Party all night (Or maybe work all night).
4. Go home past four in the morning.
5. Talk and laugh loud enough for the entire building to hear you.
6. Realize no one has a key to the front door.
7. Start making enough racket to wake all the neighbors.
8. Drag step ladder near your front door, while irritable neighbors watch surreptitiously from their windows.
9. Elect the girl, with the shortest shorts, and skankiest top to scale ladder, rip open the screen from the second floor window. (Landlord will have a fit!) While neighbors, laughing their assess off, watch.
   
10. Watch, heckle and take photos of her, while she struggles and eventually gets stuck in the window. Again, with irritable-neighbors-who-are-gleefully-watching-the-noisy-and-inconsiderate-girls-next-door take photos as well.
11. Elect a second girl to push the first girl's legs in the window. Laugh harder and louder. Wake up more neighbors if possible.
    
12. Finally, first girl, unlocks the front door, and everyone gets in.
13. Slam the door that can be heard all the way to EDSA.
    
14. Leave step ladder in the hallway to cause accidents to other residents.

*click on photos for larger image

Edna Mode in Person

When I saw this photograph at Trash the Dress! on their Trick or Treat Contest Finalist post, I was laughing uproariously. Cindy Cheng is brilliant!

I can almost hear her say, "Edna Mode. And Guest."

Crazy Thursday

I woke up to colds yesterday. The kind that makes your nose stuffy and your throat painful. But I got up, still in my pj's, turned on my laptop and started to work. I was also fixing my schedule for this weekend, because I've got some cookie orders, the new cookie recipe I wanted to try, plus the photos I wanted to submit to this contest, the thing with my parents, and the photo shoot with Men's Health. And in between hitting the space bar and jotting notes on my notebook, I was sneezing and blowing my nose.

Then my sister (who was on her way to a weekend at the beach to set turtles free) called.

"Ate, your classmate did it again!"
"Classmate?" Sneeze. "Are you talking about Sonny?"
"Yes!!"
"He's not my classmate." Sneeze. Sniff. Sniff.
"He's not? Oh! he's my classmate."
"Right."
"He was your student once."
"Uh-huh." Sneeze.
"Oh never mind! He did it again! An Oakwood thingee!"
"WHAAATTT!?!?!?"

These are the times when I sorely wish I had a TV reception even if it's just the local channels. (I won't elaborate on what happened, but for full story just search for it on any local broadsheet website.) I listened to the AM radio over the internet, while I got ready to run errands for the day. I wanted to stay in bed, my colds were demanding that I do, but I had to buy ingredients, and get meds and fruits. So after lunch, I left, the radio tuned to DZRH, and started on my list of errands.

I got back home at 5:30PM. I immediately put on a heavy sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants, and crawled under the covers. I drank my meds and plenty of water, and tried to sleep. But my phone kept ringing: my Dad asking about my essay, a friend who wanted to inform me of his new number and email, and my Dad again asking where the hell I was because there was a curfew.

That woke me up instantly. Curfew? Apparently to quell anymore "disturbances to the peace," everyone is expected to be indoors between 12MN and 5AM.

My alertness was quickly replaced by sleepiness. I didn't really care at that point. I just wanted to succumb to the meds, and sleep. I'm not the alleged corrupt one who was so panicked over a closed-door meeting with twenty armed soldiers in attendance that emptied an entire five-star hotel (okay, so it qualifies as holding it hostage); and who over-reacted by sending tankers and battalions of soldiers to break up so-called "meeting." It's actually flattering to have all these attention given to this so-called "meeting." Who holds that kind of a meeting anyway?!? Normal people sit around a table, talk, sip coffee, munch on pastries and don't require every other guests to leave, having your armed friends escort them out of the building every ten minutes.

Don't mind me, my head is still swimming with cold and flu medicine.

ROCK THE RILES 2007

The 3rd Rock the Riles is on! An annual gathering of artists to uphold Human Rights! Abangan! Salihan! Ipamalita.

Imbitado ka na naman.


RtR Icon design by: Acky Ferreria. copyright2007 (PLS NOTE: this poster is still undergoing revisions for the add'l participants in Riles. Buendia has rakista.com bands, Quezon Av has the photographers of LomoManila, North Edsa has the M4 collective and a DJ set up, etc etc etc)

Text by Gang Badoy

I Shouldn't Have Gone Out Today

8:30AM. Woke up. Stretched.

8:35AM. Reached for my phone to check messages that were sent while I was sleeping. Foremost was Beng asking if we were still going to the Neil Gaiman event at Fully Booked. Texted back, yes.

8:40AM. Stretched some more.

9:00AM. Went downstairs, turned on the computer.

9:03AM. Closed the Word document (that I'm supposed to be working on because laziness took over).

9:04AM. Clicked on Sally's Salon.

11:10AM. Roomate woke up and found me still playing Sally's Salon.

11:30AM. Started researching again for wedding photography.

11:43AM. I stumbled on a goth-obsessed wedding photographer. Photos very ordinary and we didn't like her lay outs. (In Nards' words: PANGIT!!)

11:50AM. Started to outline our rates for our wedding photography business, and other people we can tap to provide supplementary services (layouts, videos)

12:00NN. Beng called, confirming our Neil Gaiman thingee. (Yes, for the hundredth time, partnered with eyes rolling)

12:03PM. Still surfing.

1:05PM. Beng sent a text message saying she was five minutes away.

1:06PM. Panic!

1:09PM. Showering frantically.

1:10PM. Beng knocks on the door.

1:12PM. Showered and dressed.

1:17PM. Frantic again. Shutting down the computers and unplugging ALL the electricals. (Global warming!!)

1:20PM. Driving on EDSA.

2:00PM. Arrived in Bonifacio High Street.

2:08PM. Browsing (and hating Fully Booked)

2:45PM. Standing at the left side of stage where Neil Gaiman will speak.

3:00PM. No sign of Neil Gaiman.

3:02PM. Started taking photos of Beng and Nards, the audience, the stage, anything and anyone to alleviate boredom.

3:15PM. Still no sign of Neil Gaiman. But I see two men tuning a guitar on the stage. (What are they doing there? Is Neil going to do a song and dance number?)

3:18PM. People in Wushu costume carrying long drumsticks sneak "backstage." (Backstage is a flimsy tent.)

3:23PM. Still no sign of Neil Gaiman.

3:30PM. Consensus of the group: Leave. No patience to sit through a front act. (Especially when all we want to hear was Neil! Neil! Neil!! Haay.)

3:33PM. Pulling out of the parking lot.

3:35PM. Made a left turn on 32nd St from 9th Avenue.

3:37PM. Got flagged down by traffic enforcer for making an illegal left turn.

3:38PM. Doing my I-shouldn't-have-gone-out-today mantra.

3:50PM. Got off with a warning.

4:00PM. Went to S&R to buy board shorts for Beng. They were out, so we bought shirts instead.

4:17PM. High tailed it out of The Fort and went to meet Maan to buy a camera flash.

4:40PM. Got the flash. Tempted to do an impromptu photoshoot, but opted to go home instead.

5:30PM. Had an early dinner.

6:20PM. Home.

Free Turtles!

Punta kayong Morong beach stretch. Pawikan Conservation Center.



Great day trip.

Sunrise of Nov 30 -- assist these baby pawikans to the shore.



Sunset of Nov 30 -- groove to the music of CHILLITEES and SOUND together with the artists of Locked Down Productions. (event powered by Rock Ed Philippines -Environment Project Group)



Acknowledgments: Province of Bataan, Center for Environmental Awareness and Education and the musicians of Rock Ed Philippines who like turtles.

--Text by Gang Badoy

The Most Complicated Oatmeal Raisin Cookie in the Wurld

Exactly what ingredients does one expect when one bites into an oatmeal cookie? I would say, the usual: butter, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, sugar, eggs, vanilla, oats and raisins; maybe even walnuts or almonds.



My Mum, however, saw this recipe in her new cookbook. And like title of this post says, it's the most complicated oatmeal raisin cookie in the wurld. Here are some of the ingredients:

Sifted dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon

Lemon zest

Molasses

Molasses with the creamed butter, muscovado sugar and lemon zest

Dry ingredients mixed with the dark (thanks to the molasses) wet ingredients

Rolled oats

Raisins

Walnuts

Before it went into the oven

After it was taken out of the oven

I may not be baking these cookies again, but I certainly enjoyed baking with my Mum. :)





Photos by Aggie

In Memoriam

Maan Gale Bustali�o.

Died in the Bomb Blast in Batasan.
Classmate, Friend, Public Servant and a true Filipina.

"Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you there." ~ Isla Paschal Richardson

Filipino Sunday Silence

11-11-07. 164 private citizens of the Philippines watched the sunset in silence. All wearing a shade of blue. No placards, no megaphones, no poetry, no songs.

Whatever it is you think we're protesting about, you're probably right.

www.rockedphilippines.org
www.dakila.org.ph