when it rains, it pours

This photo was taken on a January morning in Cebu City.

This sudden heavy load of precipitation happened on a gloomy morning in January in Cebu City.  I love rains but this one was so heavy it was more scary than enjoyable.  The sound of those giant drops of rain on the roof of the car and the windshield was deafening.  Even the sound of the windshield wipers were hurried and scaarrry.  I couldnt think of singing in the rain.

Sometimes rains like these are nice and it's good because it kinda washes away the dirt from the road, the garbage in the rivers are pushed further down into the system.. sort of like flushed down the big toilet that is the sea.  In Cebu City, I noticed during this 10 to 15 minutes downpour, the waters have started to pool on the roads especially filling up the craters and uneven areas of the road.  The canals or sewers were filled up with the waters from the sky and all sorts of garbage floated up and out into the streets.  Of course traffic jams are common on a rainy day like this.  Then there are those nasty vehicles that speed past people not caring if they splash flood waters on their faces.  I was still on the road when the rain stopped and the first thought that came to my mind was how muddy the road where I live would be.  It's dusty on a sunny day, muddy on a rainy day..either way is not nice.

I hope the government will be able to do something about this.  I am afraid that if rains like these would happen more than twice a month, the city would suffer greatly.  I am afraid that if the rivers won't be cleared of the garbage piled up there by people, we will have the same tragedy as in Manila.  I hope that people will stop throwing their trash wherever they want.  There's a little invention called a trash can for God's sake or if not you can use your pockets or your hands until you see a proper place to throw your trash in.  This is a small but very effective way to help prevent floods and tragedies like the Ondoy flooding in Manila aside from cleaning up the rivers and the sewers of garbage.

Hopefully the Holy Child Jesus will continue to protect the Cebuanos while they are still thinking about changing their ways.

ginger chicken

This chicken recipe is really just made up of sauteed onions, ginger and garlic and green chili pepper to make it hot.  a little bit of salt and vinegar.  and of course the chicken.

easy home made pizza

 

This homemade pizza can be made however you want to.  You can add as many or as little toppings as you want.  Here I have an arabic bread instead of a pizza dough.  Then I put the pizza sauce on top of the bread, added the sliced tomatoes and pepper.  I dont like onions for this cos i dont want my breath to stink later.  Then some slices of a sausage i found somewhere.  and then the mozzarella cheese.  Now the cheese isnt a lot.  also because i used the cheese block and i was lazy at the time to grate the cheese and also i dont have a cheese grater. So just put that in the oven and when you see the cheese melting, then that's done.  should be around 10 minutes. 

what you need:

arabic bread or any flat bread

pizza sauce

toppings:

sausages

bell peppers

onions

tomatoes

mushrooms

ground meat

cheese

really anything you want.

assemble everything and pop in oven.  Take out of oven after 10 minutes or when cheese has melted.  Enjoy!

betty crocker cake

Well this is really quick and simple.  Just open the package and follow the instructions :)

Just make sure you get the measurements right.

pinakbet

 

 Pinakbet is one of my favorite dishes.  

I have tried to cook this before but only now did I get it right.  :)  Here I will share what you need and how to cook this.

Ingredients:

bits of pork or any meat (sometimes i dont even add meat)

ampalaya or bitter gourd

eggplant

squash

tomato

okra if you want

string beans

shrimp paste

garlic 

onion

salt and pepper if desired

chop up all of the vegetables to desired shape, i just chop them into bite sized pieces.

It's so easy to do:

1.  Sautee garlic and onions on a medium wok or frying pan if you want, i like the wok better.  then add the tomatoes, add the shrimp paste.

2.  Let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the ampalaya, squash, okra, eggplant and string beans.  cover the wok and just let the steam cook the vegetables.  you may add salt and pepper at this point. easy on the salt because the shrimp paste is already salty.  sometimes i dont even add salt anymore.

3.  After about 7-8 minutes, stir the vegetables in and then cover again for about 3 minues.

4.  Check if the vegetables are cooked and voila, you have pinakbet.  Best served hot!

coron

amazing coron!

i finally was able to go to the place dubbed as the philippine's last frontier palawan. my boyfriend and myself went to the town of coron and toured the island of coron and were overwhelmed by its seemingly untouched beauty and aura of innocence. we almost lost our 3 days 2 nights vacation, admittedly my fault, because i had mistakenly thought that our plane departs at 12:30..when in fact, it was supposed to leave at 11:30. so i had planned to leave the house at 9:30am, which we did. and blimey! when i looked at the ticket again i found that the plane is leaving at 11:30am. 

 we were in the taxi already by this time and asked the taxi driver to speed up. we arrived at the airport and ran towards the check in counter. but unfortunately they had closed the counter for coron. i begged and begged the attendant to let us in..we were only less than 10 minutes late before the 45 minute rule they have n closing counters..but still he wouldnt let us in. i told him that i had booked the hotel, i paid the tickets already and i have spent money on this vacation that i wont be able to get back if he wont let us in. and he just dismissed me just like that, not even offering to give me options on what to do. 

 i know it was my fault for not checking the ticket twice but they couldve been more considerate and at least offered me options on what to do next to save this vacation. my boyfriend and i stood at the airport for a few seconds and decided that we would go with our vacation. so i thought of getting the next flight to manila and then fly to coron from there. this whole scheme costed us 15,000 pesos at least. we took the same airline (cebu pacific) because they were the ones who have the soonest flight to manila. and what happened was that..they didnt even start boarding yet, 10 minutes before the flying time. check in was still going on at this time also. they were so strict about not letting us into the plane after check in counters for coron closed. they are not sorry when they get delayed and cause inconvenience to the passengers and make them wait unnecessarily. and they are also not sorry for a vacation that might have been lost and all the money you spent on that. again, i know it was my fault but some consideration would have been liked and just the fact that he dismissed me just like that without giving me choices on what other flights i could take. 

 anyway, coron was all worth it. the water is as clear as can be. the corals and life under the sea were amazing. i just dont think that the corals are colorful enough but then i havent really snorkeled in many places so im not really sure what corals are supposed to look like. i was quite proud with what i have done in this vacation. i bought a hotel called busuanga island paradise though agoda.com. they offered a great rate, breakfast included. for the airport transfer you need to pay 150 per person per way. you get a free transport from the hotel to the town proper and then back. i liked the filipino breakfast that they offered. my western boyfriend didnt like it as he feels he has had enough rice to last him his whole life. the hotel staff were very quick to attend to your needs however the rooms dont have a phone so youll need to walk to the reception or the restaurant to call some staff for whatever you need. they have a small sized pool that was alright and a bar by it. the rooms were nice and comfortable however the problem that we have is that the curtains are too thin, so that when you have a light on inside, whoever is looking from outside will definitely see you. there's a lack of privacy somehow. 

 the next day, we went island hopping around the island of coron. we went to the town proper to this shop called corongaleri. i found them by searching on google and the website name is corongaleri.com. we paid 650 per person for an island hopping trip with other tourists on the boat. you dont get an exclusive boat but you will share it with other tourists, which was great. i mean, it would be quite boring if you would go island hopping with just you and your boyfriend and the boatman. the tour is called the ultimate coron tour and included the entrance fees to the places we were going, the boat, and the lunch which was prepared by the boatmen. they rent out equipment like snorkeling gears and fins for 100 pesos. we spent the whole day in the sea and finally came back to the pier at around 4 or 5pm. the tour started at 9am i believe. i would love to go back there again with my family. 

 we didnt go to mt tapyas like we wanted as we were too tired and just reserved that for the next time we go again. on this trip was he night when my boyfriend proposed to me and showed me a ring that was actually too big for me so we had to get it resized when we came back to cebu. i like coron. i hope that this beauty will remain as wonderful as it is now or will only change for the better. as for those who plan on going there, please help keep the place as you have seen it. as what they say, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints and kill nothing but time.