Trip or Treats: Goodie Giveaway Cinque: Arya's Persian Persuasion!

Trip or Treats: Goodie Giveaway Cinque: Arya's Persian Persuasion!

I just had to join this contest by ToT (a blog I visit everyday for feel-good moments :D). Since my barkada and I are always on the prowl for good food finds in the Metro, here's a perfect treat! :D

If you want to join ToT's contest just click on the link above and simply follow her instructions. Easy as 1-2-3. :)

GO FOR IT GUYS!! :D

I Write Like...

I am an avid fan of Chico Garcia's blog Strange Fruit. I check it out every single day. But his latest blog entry is this - I Write Like. It intrigued me mainly because I love to write. I love it so much it is now my bread and butter (despite it not being able to sustain my needs and, maybe, whims!), and to add to that, I have this blog despite having only 3 followers (hahaha!).

So I took the test out of sheer boredom. And to my surprise this was the result:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Cool yeah? I write like Stephen King! Hahaha, so am I entitled to do my own creepy novels to make the faint-hearted unable to sleep for a month? This is so cool! I know it's just some pathetic test like those in Facebook or something, but to get this result sorta flatters me! :p

I've read some Stephen King novels, and he amazes me. His imagination is beyond belief. His scare tactics, the best! He is just too good, that movie producers have made his novels into movies. And just like his novels, the movies were box office hits!

So if y'all wanna find out who among the superb writers in our lifetime you could compare your writing to, click on I Write Like to find out now! :)

Solid Friendship in Toy Stoy 3

Disney Pixar has once again amazed kids and kids at heart with its third and final Toy Story. The franchise, over the years, has had so many followers, and it has never failed to make people laugh so damn hard with witty comments from Woody and Buzz. And despite it being on its third film, the plot of the story is so well thought of and very fluid.

And another thing that makes Pixar amazing is that they have deep story lines. It's not just a cartoon to please the kids, but it's also made for us adults to make us contemplate on our own lives. It's like they made it in into a cartoon just to make it enticing, but in reality they just want to make a point about life.

I remember UP, and how cute that little, fat boy was and the old man with the balloons. But it was all about letting go of the past and allowing the present to heal you. The old man was so stuck in his past (his wife and her dream) that he couldn't even move forward and appreciate the here and now. That's when the boy stepped in and helped him move on. It was so subtle how the creators mixed it in the story, but still it was not hard to miss.

And Toy Story 3 was no different. And just like the franchise's past story lines, being mean or evil (and not just to toys) does not go unpunished. Like in their first story, we have Sid (the boy who was cruel to toys) whom Woody "punished" with his own Exorcist rendition. In the 2nd film, we have Stinky Pete who was given to the girl who drew silly stuff on her toys. And now on the 3rd, we have the bear who smells of strawberries, Lotso, who was tied up in the front of a GARBAGE TRUCK. See, the irony in that! He smelled of strawberries, and now, he had to smell of trash because he treated toys in Sunnyside like trash!

I don't want to see it as karma, because the REAL karma is supposed to be good. Do something good, and you'll get something good in return. But it seems that the golden rule is working here. Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you. Plain and simple. Huwag gawin sa iba ang ayaw mong gawin sa iyo.

Trency and I also had other theories about the movie. Trency said it was about mortality, and how you can just lose things, and how nothing lasts forever. For me it was not taking things for granted. Andy was about to go to college, and for the longest time he hid the toys in a chest. I found it so touching how Woody and the gang attempted, several times, for Andy to notice them. How they stole his cellphone, put it inside the chest with them, and dialed his number.

Andy admitted in the end, how special the gang was, especially Woody. He was supposed to go to college with him, but Woody chose to stay with all of them, with Bonnie, their new Andy. I was so touched when Andy whispered "Thanks guys!" before driving off to his new life.

But still, what makes Toy Story endearing, is the test of friendship. How sticking together can help solve everything. I love how Woody decided to go back to Sunnyside to help rescue Jesse, Bull's Eye, Buzz, Hamm, Slinky, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, despite the dangers of being caught by Big Baby and Lotso. Woody was free to go back to Andy, but he chose to save them. For me, that's true friendship. Through thick or through thin, you should all stick together. It was all about sacrifice, and how you can get by when you're with your friends and family. Woody and the gang don't just consider themselves are friends, they're a family.

It may be too good to be true, but if Woody were a true person, he'd be a hero. Woody is such an extraordinary character, far more THE HERO than Buzz Lightyear. He may not be able to fly or have a laser thing attached to his toy parts, but he has done more things. As a friend and as a daughter, I'd like to have Woody's guts. The guts to step up and help friends and family. Somewhere in me, I'd like to be the Woody for my friends and my family. It takes so much strength to be like that, and admittedly, I'd want to have that Woody in me.

And if you are a true friend, you might just land yourself true friends as well. When the toys were in the incinerator, I really thought that it would be the end. I almost shed a tear there. Trency was right, after all their adventures together, it was such a sad way to end the toys' lives. But I loved how they held hands and accepted their fate. At least, until the end they were still together, the gang all together. And that with friends and family, everything will be much better no matter how nasty the situation is.

And the last thing I realized in the movie is how things can turn around for the better. All the toys, especially the ever cynical Hamm and Mr. Potato Head, were succumbing to the thought of being locked up in the attic for good, or Andy seeing them as junk. But Woody writes Andy a note and tells him to bring them to Bonnie. It was such a great way to end the franchise. They've had their best times with Andy, but it was about to end with Andy growing up. They were forgotten, but they were given to someone who would love them as much as Andy did.

Bonnie might be the end, but it was a new beginning and a fresh start for the toys. It may not have been shown in the movie, or I guess it will never be shown, but it was clear that the gang would be well taken care of by Bonnie. And just like us, we can have our very own Bonnie, our fresh new start. It's just how we grab that fresh start that can make the utmost difference in our lives.

I am sad that the toy Story franchise has come to an end. I have followed it, and made it a point to watch it in the cinemas, and watch it all over again when it's showing on the Disney Channel. There's so much things to learn from it. When I'm all grown up, I'm going to make sure my kid will get to watch this film. It's a gem of a movie from Pixar, and I hope it will never be forgotten.

To John Lasseter and Pete Doctor, thanks for giving us this great movie. I will hang on to the film, the characters (most especially Woody), and the lessons I have learned TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! :)

Tuesday Group Raids Shabu-Shabu

I got a call last Tuesday, a usual call from the girl friends, to have dinner and have a drink. It was supposed to be at LU, unfortunately they were packed that night and we were forced to spontaneously think of a new place to eat in. Then came the idea of going to a shabu-shabu. It wasn't my first time to try shabu-shabu, I remember eating in a similar place in Glorietta eons ago. I wasn't a big fan of it though, so I begrudgingly got in my car and drove to Tong Yang in Jupiter.

Like I said, I'm on a constant diet, but forget it when you're in Tong Yang! Seriously, the damned place is an endless purveyor of anything edible! Definitely a place for one with a bottomless pit of a stomach.

The funny thing was none of us really knew how to cook. Trency, doesn't cook. Amanda pretends to know how, and well Mike, I don't know! But me, I DON'T COOK! So when we started rummaging around the stove and grill, we didn't even know if our food was cooked. In the beginning, it was either we ate it semi-raw or super cooked to uber blackness and hardness. We even forgot to spread butter on the grill so the meat wouldn't stick.

But hey! We got the hang of it after several failed attempts of eating sashimi instead of grilled meat.


This would be our gigantic cauldron of chicken soup, noodles, and other meaty stuff. I remember eating fish and squid balls from this hot pot. The noodles, I wasn't a big fan of. It tasted like plastic, so I stopped eating it after the first serving. But the chicken broth was good! And the other meaty goodness they decided to cook in there was better!

Anybody who would come to Tong Yang must have incisors as big as a T-Rex's. This was meat heaven! Trency, loves her meat, and that night she just couldn't get enough of the thin slices of meat. We were all done, but she still stood up and got a heap more of it. We even had to take a breather and get some of the food down by going outside and have a date with the cowboy dudes in Marlboro country. Amazingly, Trency still had space to wolf down another batch from the meat section (seen below)!

Sky's the limit in this resto I tell yah! They also had a dessert station and dimsum station (picture below). The drinks are refillable, and you can have as many drinks as you can - from juice, to iced tea, hot tea, and beer. Too bad they only served draft beer, so I wasn't able to dink! :( After eating tons and tons of meat, we feasted on ice cream to rejuvenate our nerves which I believe were about to bug down from the oil and cholesterol.

If you guys decide on eating at Tong Yang, I say go for the meal with the grill. It's P580 with the grill, and P565 without the grill. So for a P15 difference, I totally recommend going for the grill and have as much meat as your bodies could take. It's not as expensive as you think, because there are other things you could try in the place.

Try Tong Yang and you will not be sorry. It's actually cool to cook your own meal. Since I don't cook, it was a joy to be Martha Stewart-ish even just for a night. :) Although I have to admit I didn't really feel well the next day. Must be the hardened oil in my system haha! But whatever, I'd do Tong Yang again if I have to! :D

Tong Yang has several branches - Megamall, Pan Pacific, and Quezon Avenue. But we ate at the Jupiter branch, here's the address and phone number.
Tong Yang Jupiter
34, Jupiter cor. Planet St. (near EDSA), Bel-Air, Makati City
For reservations call: 899-3388


P.S.
Oh and this just has to be said that this adventure would have been great HAD it been chosen for the reason that we would enjoy it as a group and nothing else. It was just sad that this place was picked because it was the favorite place of the boyfriend. Although admittedly we had fun in this place, when we found out the motive behind the sudden shabu shabu decision, it sucked completely! I only found out about it last night, so it's too late for anything. But still, I'd put it in the blog. Oh well!

Back Track: A Fresh Face of Puerto Galera

Just veering away from food talk, and going back to my travel writing/photography days. :)

Puerto Galera in Mindoro is synonymous to the seedy side of Makati Avenue and Malate. Internationally, it's like Pattaya in Thailand. Galera is known not only for scuba diving, but also for prostitution and drugs. It's one of the nearest, most accessible beaches in the Metro, being just off Batangas. I have been to Puerto Galera around 4 times, and I've seen the same beaches, eaten the same food, drank the usual drinks, and heard the usual disco music.

But not until I found myself going to another side of Puerto Galera, did I realize that one place could be multi-faceted. Where we went to, was like the hidden gem of Galera. I have never enjoyed Galera as much as I did when I was in this resort. Also, neither have I enjoyed a trip as much as this one as a travel writer. Yes, I enjoyed Puerto Galera MORE than Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

Friends, I am talking about the oh-so-fabulous Coco Beach Island Resort. When in this resort, you'll absolutely forget you're just in Puerto Galera.

I came here with my fellow officemates, Ninya, Jenny, and Chuchie. It was a treat for us because we weren't always allowed to travel in huge groups, let alone allowing all writers be gone from the office for a long time. So us being together in a trip, we made sure that we made the best of it.

The first part of the blog on Coco Beach would be to showcase the hotel itself. We were so (100%) pampered on this trip that we almost did everything, ate anything FOR FREE! Yes folks, FOR FREE!! Just when I thought nothing was free in this world, there was Coco Beach Resort to change all that! :)

Anyway, our room (Tagbanua) and the entire row of other rooms on our side was the newest. So it was brand spanking new and we were the first to use it! It was a cozy, spacious room that could fit a family of 6-8. I just don't have a picture of it, but there's a loft which has 2 more beds.


Our room was the most accessible to the beach, pool, activity area, and the big restaurant up front. It also had fresh tap water unlike the other rooms on the upper part of the resort which used salt water.

The resort island is also a huge hill. So most of the other rooms are on the upper part of the hill. It's so Robinson Crusoe-ish, with the huge coconut trees covering the entire resort. Here are some of the rooms on the upper part. These rooms offer a beautiful view of the ocean and parts of Batangas. It would have been a very lovely experience staying in these huge rooms, but the only downside to this is since it's kinda high up already, pipelines for fresh water can't reach the areas anymore. So they make do with salt water, which still leaves you uncomfortable. But it's super beautiful and cool. The air here is fresh, and the area really quiet.



If you're just plain lazy to walk all the way up to your rooms on the upper part of the resort, they have this electric cable jeepney to take you up there. It was sooo cool. Although a bit slow, it gets the job done. We enjoyed every trip on this thing!


Since we were pampered like royalty during our 3-day stay in Coco Beach, we had the opportunity to try their all their restaurants. With the up and down walk, and the swimming, we were hungry most of the time. In the morning, we usually had our breakfast and lunch at the Carabao Restaurant, which is the big one near the beach.

For our first dinner we were asked to go to the top most part of the island resort to get to the Touch of Asia restaurant. This resto basically serves food from the different parts of Asia. I remember enjoying long conversations with the girls here. Perfect place for a romantic dinner with your loved one. And the food was really good. We particularly loved picking on the bread with butter. :)

On our last night, we were given the chance to eat in the ONLY REVOLVING restaurant in Puerto Galera. It's name is Dona Liña Restaurant. Again, this island resort is filled with surprises. It does revolve, but it's kinda creepy. We asked them to turn the revolving thing on, but since it's too slow it kinda made us even more dizzy so we asked them to stop. We didn't enjoy the 5-course meal here because they mostly served us vegetables. All four of us are carnivores, so we really didn't like munching on the greens. But we loved the dessert! But then again, if you're with your loved one, this is also a perfect date spot. Intimate and really quiet.


Next stop, are the bars. Since it's a huge place, there are also several bars located in several places in the resort. The biggest, most alcohol-laden bar, is the bar found right beside the Carabao Restaurant. This is where most of the guests stay. And this is the bar with the most activities. I'll be posting more info on that on the next blog. :)

The other bar is the Anito Bar, found at the Silent Pool at the upper part of the resort. We weren't able to try drinking here, but I remember they bought beer here for the beer tanning. :D I didn't get a shot of the bar, but in this pic, you see the Silent Pool and the bar.

And that night, we made use of the family area on the 2nd floor of the Carabao Restaurant. We watched a movie in the family room, and watched the people play darts. Drinks were taken from the Barracuda Bar. They also had very comfortable chairs, and even had a lazy boy in the movie/family room.




Puerto Galera is also known for it's beaches and some scuba diving spots. Coco Beach has a nice beach with clean waters. They have powdery sands where they also put up tables for people to eat breakfast in. And most of the guests who come to the resort all come for scuba diving. Coco Beach has a dive shop, with a very friendly German as head diver.



Coco Beach also has two pools. I already showed the Silent Pool, but this pool is situated at the front, near the dive shop and the restaurant.


Last but not the least, Coco Beach also has a very simple but according to Chuchie and Jenny, cool and relaxing spa. Named the Jewel of Mindoro, they have the usual massages and other spa services.




Our stay at Coco Beach Island Resort was truly the best! Ms. Lyzzelle was super accommodating. She's the manager, but she assisted us on our tour, and made sure we were a-ok!


It was the most relaxing vacation EVER! Up to now, I still have fond memories in thi place. It was so far away from the real world, that our cellphones couldn't even get signal. Thank God there was wi-fi. :)

And what's cool about Coco Beach is their use of service families. At first we didn't understand this. But every spot in the resort has their own service family. They are the ones who attend to your needs 24/7. According to one service family we interviewed, they really set up their home in the resort. Most of them also met in the resort. Some of them have kids who already graduated because of their job as service people in the resort. The kids also inherit the job, so they're assured of having a job after graduation. It was a really smart move, and very unique to Puerto Galera. And these service families are TOTALLY accommodating. They treat every guest as part of their family.

If you want to stay in Coco Beach, check out their website. It's truly a fun experience. And you need not worry about transportation, in their office in Malate, they have a van that will take you to the Batangas Pier. From there, they also have their own boat that will take you directly to Coco Beach. Hassle free!! :)

Rafael Nadal: World No.1 and Wimbledon Champ

When you say tennis, people usually think automatically of ROGER FEDERER. But me, I say, "PUH-LEEZ! It's Rafael Nadal!"

Move over Roger Federer, cos you have found your match in this 24 year old Spaniard.

My ultimate dream right now is to meet this guy. World No.1 and 2010 French Open and Wimbledon Champion. Just to get an autograph from him is enough, if there's a chance to have a picture taken with him..I'll take it whole-heartedly! :)

Watching him play last night against No. 12 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, I just said to myself that this is Rafa's best tennis EVER! After being forced out of the game last year due to his knee injuries, Rafa is back with a vengeance. I've never seen him serve so well.

Excited to see him play at the US Open this September. VAMOS RAFA! I AM CHEERING MY HEART OUT FOR YOU!!!! :D

Fan of Rafa? Click tennis sensation.

Para Kay Pangulong Benigno Simeon Aquino III

Sabi ko may tamang hinala ako sayo. Sana mabago mo ang pananaw kong ito sa iyo. Nung sumumpa ka kahapon sa harap naming mga Pilipino at mga dayuhan mong panauhin, sana ay tuparin mo ang iyong mga pangako na ipinahayag mo sa iyong kauna-unahang talumpati.

Kung kami ang boss mo, sana nga ay sundin mo kami, pakinggan ang aming mga hiling at isinisigaw. Isang madilim na 9 na taon ang aming naranasan sa natapos na administrasyon, sana nga ikaw ang magdadala sa amin sa liwanag at sa bagong Pilipinas. Alam kong hindi ka Diyos, at maaaring hindi mo magawa lahat ng iyong nasabi. Ngunit sana marami kang mabago sa ating bansa.

Sa totoo lang, hindi ang bilog na hugis itlog na katabi ng iyong pangalan ang aking minarkahan noong nakaraang halalan. Sana ay mapaniwala mo rin ako sa iyong kakayahan. Sana nga ang iyong pagiging Aquino ay may kabuluhan.

Sa susunod na 6 na taon, ika'y aking mamatiyagan ng maigi. Sana nga mabago mo ang PIlipinas. Sana nga maiahon mo sa kahirapan ang ating naghihikahos na bansa.