Roselle and Naomi in the chrorus of "Bituin Sa Langit"

My niece Roselle and Naomi had roles in a church play. This is the black light scene where the kids were singing "Bituin Sa Langit." Si Naomi yung malikot ang kamay. And yes, the scene is dark because they used black light. hehehe

--andoy
28 December 2007

Kasoy

There are now a lot of street vendors who ride the buses selling various snacks and I've often wondered about them.  Normally, the items would be cheap ones and easy to sell, like peanuts, quail eggs, bottled water, boiled banana native sweets or candies.  Even chicharon bulaklak in some areas.  But there've been a lot of vendors lately who've been selling a relatively expensive item, the shelled cashew nut. 

 

The cashew nut the bus vendors sell has been shelled and roasted and sold for either 10 or 20 pesos per small container, either a shot glass or a small water glass.  I doubt if you can have 5 whole nuts in the shot glass, or even 10 nuts in the larger container.  Even considering that the nuts sold are not even whole anymore. 

 

This is not sour graping, because I really miss snacking on kasoy.  Not the commercially packaged items, but roasted in the shell, with dark burns, whole or not, strong aroma, type of kasoy.  And usually with my fingers dark from soot and with some acid burns from splitting the cashew shell.  In our province, and until now whenever we get the chance, we roast the kasuy in the shell, using a can with holes in the bottom.  While roasting the shell catches fire and the acid inside the shell burns with a pungent odor.  The acid practically explodes while burning.  The roasting aims to burn off the acid, and to cook the nut flesh.  And when all the kasoy are burning, we tip the can, let out the contents, and put out the fire with loose earth.  If done correctly, the flesh is a nice golden brown color, otherwise, it looks singed or plain burned.  Most of the time the shells are crisply burned to the flesh.  And the fingers as well.

 

The difference in taste is due to the processing.  The commercially available kasoy is split first before roasting.  The shell contains an acid which usually seeps into the kasuy nut's flesh. This results in the slight acidic taste (closest I can describe it is "tanning") and slightly soft flesh of the kasoy, with less of an aroma.  To me, it smells uncooked.  The kasoy we roast, toast or burn in the shell, has a strong aroma, crunchy flesh and strong flavor.  Definitely not finger-licking good, but eating the crumbs still gives you a sense of achievement.

--andoy

27 December 2007

The Short Work Week (this is not a rant)

This week is a short work week.  The Barangay and SK elections (a national holiday) were held yesterday (29 October) and we have two more holidays All Souls Day and All Saints Day on Thursday and Friday respectively.  And all we have left is today and tomorrow for work.  I am not complaining and this is not a rant.  In fact, I am perfectly happy that we have this short work week.  In principle, at least.

 

However, things at work have come to head because of this.  I was given two projects to manage and for turnover from the current Coordinator, and her last day of work is tomorrow.  Normally this would have been just a matter of paperwork but one of the projects have some updates needed on a daily basis -- at nine o'clock in the evening.  Additionally, some data clean up is needed before the update.  With only five branches, the data clean up could be done easy.  But once this is rolled out, the data clean up has to be automated. Less user intervention, less data errors and all that entails.

 

This will be a hectic two days.

 

And a dentist check up at the end of the week.

--andoy

30 October 2007

Naomi Singing "Dancing Queen"

Naomi singing "Dancing Queen."

--andoy
22 October 2007

Naneng, Darwi, Roselle and Naomi singing and dancing to FOOTLOOSE

Naneng was singing and dancing, with Darwi, Roselle and Naomi doing backup singer/dancer roles.

--andoy
22 October 2007

Naomi sings "Beauty and the Beast"

On the weekend before Bert left for the Middle East, we had a small get-together and Naomi sang "Beauty and the Beast." At her age, she's still pretending to read from the TV screen.


--andoy
22 October 2007

Saucony Shoes

The new shoes, the white ones are Kenneth's and the blues are mine. Courtesy of Albert. Thanks Bert!

--andoy

Saucony Shoes

Kenneth's first pair of Sauconys.

Saucony Shoes

New Saucony shoes

Mama's Birthday Weekend

Goofing off outside Gerry's Grill while waiting for a table.

Mama's Birthday Weekend

Roselle, Darwi and Naomi

And then they came for Mama's birthday

Over the weekend was my Mom's birthday.  And my sister Irene and brother Bert had to surprise her.  Irene arrived in the afternoon from Singapore.  And then Bert arrive around 9:00pm.  They just arrived without informing Mama beforehand.  That was fun.  We had dinner at Max's the following day.  Sunday afternoon, we had spaghetti in the afternoon merienda before going to Gerry"s Grill for dinner. 

 

Irene went back to Singapore Monday morning.  A quick stop, really.  And Bert will be going back to Qatar in another two weeks.  He's been abroad for more than three years.

-- andoy

20 September 2007

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea."  - R. Heinlein

Pictures from Mama's Birthday weekend

Irene, Mama and Darwi

Pictures from Mama's Birthday Weekend

Adora, Irene, Darwi, Roselle, me, Mama and Bert the night Bert arrived.

From MSN: 'Unchained Melody' Writer Hy Zaret Dies

I first heard this song from my Dad. Whenever he was driving he kept singing this song. But I guess he only sang this song when he wanted to keep awake while driving. Truth is, I'm not sure he even sings this song when there are more people in the car.

Back to the song... There was a Harry Belafonte version with a different stanza: "Lonely mountains soar..." I can't remember that one but I've been trying to find THAT particular version for a long time now. Elvis Presley sang it in one of his concerts, and U2 as well.

And even though the most popular version is by the Righteous Brothers, which version was included in the movie GHOST, I like the more sedate version of a straight ballad.

So now I know who wrote the song and when. Thank you, Mr. Zaret.

--andoy
4 July 2007

And in my head I am dancing...

Listening to CRASH INTO ME. Standing immobile with headset on
listening to nothing. With the music in the background. And in my
head I am dancing.

-- andoy
26 May 2007

LSS out of nowhere: Your Love by Alamid

Your Love

Artist - Alamid
Lyrics - Your Love

verse:
you're the one that never lets me sleep
to my mind, down to my soul you touch my lips
you're the one that i can't wait to see
with you here by my side i'm in ecstasy

pre-chorus:
i am all alone without you
my days are dark without a glimpse of you
but now that you came into my life
i feel complete
the flowers bloom, my morning shines
and i can see

chorus:
your love is like the sun
that lights up my whole world
i feel the warmth inside
your love is like the river
that flows down through my veins
i feel the chill inside

verse:
every time i hear our music play
reminds me of the things that we've been through
in my mind i can't believe it's true
but in my heart the reality is you

repeat pre-chorus and chorus

-=0=-

A slow day and you find people singing this song from out of the blue.
Even my kids sing this song. Maybe I really am getting old.

--andoy
25 May 2007

Dragonfly

Dragonfly
(Magne Furuholmen)

I will never let you down
I will always be around
In the time we are here
We'll see love disappear
Don't ask how
Don't ask why
Just fly, dragonfly
Just fly, dragonfly

I will never bring you down
I will always stick around
I will heat you when you're cold
In the time we have left
We'll raise eyes to the sky
Don't ask how
Don't ask why
Just fly, dragonfly
Just fly, dragonfly

Don't ask how
Don't ask why
Just fly, dragonfly
Just fly, fly, fly dragonfly

-=0=-

Another LSS.

--andoy
3 May 2007

I have nothing against Manny

During the weekend and on till Monday, the news was all about Manny
Pacquiao. (Well, there was this little piece about the First
Gentleman Mike Arroyo, but the only way he would have grabbed the
headline would have been if he had died. Which I don't believe would
happen anytime soon. Not in the next twenty or thirty years, in
fact.) But sorry to say, I have not watched any of his matches. I
have never wanted to watch any of his matches as a matter of fact.

Frankly, he may be good and worth his weight in gold, but the only
reason I am writing about him now is that he is falling into a
classical trap where people (specifically politicians) are fawning and
falling all around him and he is beginning to believe his own
propaganda. The worst that can happen to him and to his province is
if he wins the election as a congressman.

Imagine a guy with the potential to earn upwards of 100 million pesos
a year net, for the next six years, going into politics and be used by
countless politicians (including Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Chavit
Singson and Lito Atienza). He may be rich but the riches he has
earned and the "good" name (naive and innocent in politics) might not
be worth it. I think Gabriel "Flash" Elorde made the right decision,
he stayed away from politics and just lived quietly with his own
boxing gym.

Which reminds me of what Dolphy keeps saying whenever he is asked if
he will ever run for office. He always answers "eh kung manalo?" To
which a Marxist answer would be something of the sort: "but we've
already booked the Quirino Stadium for the victory celebration."
Paraphrasing Groucho Marx, that is.

Oh well. If we have senators like actors Ramon Revilla and his son
Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy Estrada, Lito
Lapid, and Tito Sotto as well as basketball players Freddie Webb and
Robert Jaworski, and now we have Cesar Montano and Richard Gomez
running for the post, maybe we do deserve Manny Pacquiao in Congress.
I have no idea what he'll do there, but I do know he's going to be in
a better position as a boxer rather than as a lawmaker.

--andoy
19 April 2007

New things; old things

There've been a lot of things happening. Some odd and unexpected. Others are just plain weird but should have been happening for a long, long time.

I was riding a jeep home one day, when I saw this guy, a vagrant, a "taong grasa", walking the empty street going to the Marikina Engineering offices. He was practically naked, except for his briefs. He may have been dirty all around, but his briefs was not as dirty. It was not brown or gray. It was pink.

As the jeep passed him (and he was going in the same direction as the jeep) I didn't have the sense to look back. I guess it was shock. More of a shock because of the pink briefs.

And during that same week, as I was walking around the mall, and into a Watson's store, there was this "matrona" who was walking around talking on the phone. It looked like a regular desktop phone. Except that she was walking around lugging around the phone. I didn't really pay much attention to it at the time. It could have been a Bayantel or Globe wireless phone. What grabbed me was that after the phone call, and not being able to stow the phone in her bag, her cell phone rang.

I just had to ask myself, up to what extent people want to be in touch with other people. I've seen a woman on the commute to work sending text messages, on two phones, at the same time. One cell phone in each hand. I didn't care if these were the same message or not.

And before the cell phone text explosion came along, I saw a guy on the corner of Ayala and Paseo de Roxas, talking over two phones. He had another cell phone on his belt as well as a pager. I did say it was way, way too long ago.

Again , I wonder up to what extent people would want to get in touch with other people. I have no idea about that answer.

--andoy
16 April 2007