Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Game of Thrones

Ever since I watched the first episode of Game of Thrones I got hooked!


I am so engrossed with the story of each episode. Five characters caught my attention: Bran Stark, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Jaqen H'gar, and Daenerys Targaryen. Here is the Targaryen sigil. 

I have seen glimpses only of season 3 and now I'm like a child who can't wait to see the first 4 episodes!

The mother of dragons, a screen shot from episode 4(3?) of season 3.
If you want more of GOT click http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html or

Horses at Greenbelt

I like to pass by Greenbelt (in Makati, me iba pa ba? heheee) in the morning not because of the high end shops(mga sarado pa at tingin lang naman! window shopping is free! heheee). I like to at least pass by the chapel and the park. I have included here some shots I took this morning. Great no? The well-maintained gardens look as if they belong to a weathy family's backyard. Well, in a way it is! The Ayala's own this place.

These pictures were taken at the back of Greenbelt (G) 5, before one goes down the stairs to the chapel.

A koi pond delights shoppers and strollers and office workers who likes to spend their lunch break in this small oasis.



 beyond the pond are a row of high end restaurants, and an awesomely delightful sculpture exhibit by Ann Pamintuan can be seen there

This horse sculpture looks better pag nakita mo sa garden mismo

The exhibit is by Anna Tiukinhoy Pamintuan

 I have never appreciated metal sculptures until I saw these horses! If only I have the money AND of course the garden to display. Maybe a big garden like where they are exhibited! :) wish! wish!






 And yep! I was too engrossed with those horses! I lost track of time and I got late again! :)


Monday, April 22, 2013

the rice cake and the rice cake lady

This is the third time that I get to see this old lady cooking and selling her rice cakes by the road. Her spot is a stone's throw from the town market. Her rice cakes are unique to me. I was born and raised in Ilocos Norte and my grandmother prepares puto differently or should I say the more known way of preparing and cooking rice cakes or puto.

In that steel basin are roughly milled rice which she strains before she puts some on an empty coconut shell. Then she adds some bukayo or young coconut meat caramelized with muscovado sugar or brown sugar. Then she strains over it some more of the rice flour.

Then she presses the whole thing a bit into the shell to form those round shaped buns. Then she puts them on top of an improvised steamer and covers it for some time until the rice cakes are cooked.

 Then they're good to go!

My husband bought some for me. The texture is a bit rough to the tongue, unlike the puto I am accustomed to eating. Pero siyempre I love to experiment and taste "new" food!

It tastes good! It tastes so good I ate three of it. I love the bukayo in the center. Here in the puto it looks like siopao no?! :)

a day at the fish farm

Here's some  more of the pictures that was taken while we were at SIL's fish farm in Macalelon, Quezon.

That's JB walking around the place. It was noon so you can just imagine the heat! It's a good thing the river nearby made the breeze cool enough so he walked around as much as he liked.

Clear skies. The clouds disappeared after noon.

That is where the water from the river gets into the fish farm. An that's where the amount of water that gets in is controlled.

Still cloudy 

I was able to take a picture of a motorized banca passing by.

 The banca and its rider has passed the hut by the river. . .

 The banca is now a lot farther. Maybe the rider is off to the sea.

The scenery somehow makes you feel lonely. You can sense that the place is not visited often, it is so far from the town.

 That's the hut by the river bank where we took the pictures. The photos were not clear enough, some shots even look as if the day was cloudy and was about to rain. :)

JB was wary with the bamboo bridge. It quakes and creaks so he's a bit scared to cross, though he didn't admit it. :) He said he was not afraid to cross it.

Here's the bamboo bridge. :) 

Nice hut isn't it? I t would be nice to eat lunch there. 

I too would like to have a hut built on a river bank. It is so nice to just sit and look around while letting the time pass there.

My son who loves to stroll and look around. :)

 And around and around, and the heat did not faze him.

 a neighboring fish farm, that we passed by on the way home

glimpses of the river


the river

a fish farm, on our way home

the exposure or the light, whatever is hard to control. meaning di marunong kumuha ng picture ang blogger! hehehee!

same place, different shots and exposure! hay

 another shot

I realized when we were there at the farm how hard it must be for the owners and the helpers to maintain the farms. Theres a lot of hard work involved lalo at they don't have the proper equipments. You can see from the pictures alone that they do most of the work manually. That should explain why buyers should not haggle so much for low prices when it comes to fresh produce. :)

Friday, April 19, 2013

trekking to a fish farm in Macalelon, Quezon

While we were in my husband's hometown there's not much to do so he thought of bringing us to her sister's fish farm. The kids were excited to go, it was their first time to see a fish farm where milkfish or bangus and big crabs and prawns are grown. Sister-in-law's(SIL) news though dampened their excitements a bit when she said they've harvested the last batch of bangus a month ago. And that SIL's husband has kept the farm's water level so low for the algae to grow (this means no riding on a raft or boat for them). The algae will serve as food for the next batch of bangus.

But we were told that the beach is just a walking distance away so the kids were glad. At least they can hop to the beach. Or so we thought :(

The way to the farm was beyond the town's arc, then we walked up a hill where private lots are used to groom fighting cocks. Beyond  the hill is a 15-minutes walk to the farm.


The steep path downhill to the fishfarm made my son hesitate to go down. The red shirt of one of his cousins can be seen at the foot of the hill, almost hidden by banana leaves.

He tried to hang on to the banana trunk for support :)

 But still the path is too steep for him so I told him to walk at the other side of the bananas then he can slide himself down. :)

 And there he is down the path! He suffered some scratches and a broken nail though. :(

That girl in pink shirt and leggings is my daughter. She's more athletic than her kuya (big brother).

We passed a lot of coconut trees and there was a hut I think for the kopra process.

lots of coconut trees

a bit tired but loves the adventure! it's all new to him and his sister! he posted some pictures in Instagram, tumblr, and Twitter!

Daughter loves the trek! She kept on running and jumping with her cousins. And no she is not a bit tired (she said when I asked )!

The open space makes her happy and excited. My bunso, running after her cousins who walked ahead (they walked and ran and hopped fast!) here and were partially hidden by a coconut trunk.

Next are a lot more pictures!




At last! Almost there!

mangrove seedlings by the river bank where we passed 

My son was intrigued by the fresh mounds of mud. I told him they were made by freshwater crabs that burrow into the mud. The crabs are edible and even sold at the market.

this sight is also new to my kids, they liked it

A  portion of  the big fish farm

The kids played on a balsa (raft made of bamboos)





That was where the fresh water from the river enters the fish farm.

My son loved to walk around even if it was so hot. He loved it! He kept on taking pictures. We stayed by that small hut and ate our lunch there.



I will post some more of  the pictures we took on my next post! Have a happy weekend!

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