February 27, 2011

“Langhap sarap” is  one of the most popular and very easily recognizable  advertising tag lines in the Philippines.  It belongs to Jollibee.  Langhap means “to smell” while sarap means “delicious/yummy”.  When we were in the Philippines, we had the chance to eat at or buy to-go from Jollibee.  The first one was for “breakfast-on-the- go” and the second one was for lunch.  The third time was for a quick dinner.  It’s hard to miss Jollibee in the Philippines.  Almost every street corner has a Jollibee outlet. If blac label clothing would heed Jollibee’s formula for advertising genius, it should become a household name in no time.

I was happy to see this young trees at the University of Santo Tomas “greenbelt”.  The narra tree is the Philippines’ national tree.  It is a hardwood and a much-coveted material for furniture making and house building many years ago.  It is now illegal to cut-down and truck the narra tree as the Philippines no longer enjoy a plentiful supply of the tree, no thanks to illegal logging.  It’s almost as rare as a  Black Diamond Engagement Ring…but I could be wrong.

One of the highlights of our vacation in the Philippines was a short but nevertheless sweet visit to hubby’s and my alma mater…The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas (UST), which turned 400 years old this year. We took as many photos as we possibly can in the two hours that we were on campus grounds.  Two hours proved to be too short though.  Still, those two hours brought back happy memories of the years we spent in the University.  I still need acne scar treatment for all the sleepless nights during my college days! Hee hee.  Hubby and I sure are glad to have been home in the year our alma mater celebrated a milestone birthday. What great blessing!

 

February 26, 2011

At my age, I still very very much love birthdays, specially kids’ birthdays.  Younger kids are so carefree and just happy to be living in the moment and very much detached from the woes of the world.  Happy times! *sigh*

The photo above is the cake on top of a cake/cupcake tower that I was asked to make very recently.  The birthday mom wanted butterflies so I thought of making a butterfly garden sort of themed for the 8-inch round cake.  I like how everything came together, from the colors of the whole ensemble to the butterflies and flowers and leaves on the bottom border of the cake.  This was for a 7th birthday.  Not the age to be worrying about blackheads on noses.  Eeek!  Kids should realize how blessed they are.

A must try food when in Ilocos Norte, we were told, is the Pinakbet Pizza.  After a night time visit at the very stunning Paoay Church, we made sure we made time for Pinakbet Pizza. Pinakbet is a vegetable dish which has eggplants, okra, bitter gourd some pork pieces (they use bagnet in Ilocos!) and a bit of shrimp paste.  The pizza version complete with mozzarella cheese was surprisingly good.  It might take some getting used to for most people but I’d say I’ll have it again…sans the bitter gourd perhaps?  It does taste “healthy” what with all the vegetables on it.  You won’t be thinking about taking adapexin-p while enjoying this pizza. I can almost promise you that.

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