Mónica

Come Fly with Meeee…

I have been in London for almost 2 years now and I still haven’t seen a musical or anything theatrical.  How sad is that!  But really, I don’t know which one I would like to see.  I don’t wanna spend £40 and end up falling asleep haha! 

I have been seeing Ol Blue Eyes in Argyll St which is near my classes and I must admit, I am quite tempted.  Not because I am a Sinatra fan.  God knows I was tormented as a child with my dad over playing his music! haha!  But perhaps that is why I want to see it, cause its close to home.  

I think I am going to have to tempt my dad to come down to London so I have an excuse to go see it haha!

It’s up to youuuuuuuuuuu *kicks leg up in the air*
New york
Neeewww yooooorrrkkk *frantically waves hands in the air*

Marathon Day!

Last Sunday was not only the London Marathon but a tour guide marathon for me! I had a friend from College visit London.  It was a mad rush from Green Park station making sure we got on time for the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Lunch (of course!) and Buckingham Palace.

Never doing the tourist guide thing again! LOL!  

Bon Voyage Mon Ami Erin Benvie!

Erin, my favorite Kiwi chick (infact the only Kiwi I know) is leaving for good on Saturday, so a much needed last supper was called for.  I gave her a choice of Wagamama, Itsu, or her very last Ed’s… the evidence shows which she picked - her with her very last bite of Ed’s Burger.  Hahah! For those who haven’t heard about Ed’s, its a Diner with Jukeboxes and best of all - THE BEST milkshakes ever! The burgers are pretty good too but the atomic fries are a must.

A bit of a background — She was a former colleague @ my last job *blerch* haha!  Needless to say, the fact we hated the same people and the job made us friends.  The forces of evil unite!  In which we created our Fat Friday, which were those lunches where you are not suppose to eat those oh so tempting bad foods. hahaha!  And Orange Wednesdays - 2 movie tickets for the price of one. She introduced us to the wonderful world of Possum.  From her possum gloves to adult gear - so we decided to start calling her Possum.  Who in their right mind finds Possums cute! hahaha!  I’d rather see it as road kill!

Anyway, back to the real Possum at hand - Erin.  Yesterday was a sad day in London.  Erin, Martian (Marvin) and I meet up and headed for Ed’s.  Most of the evening was spent catching up.  When it was finally time to put her in her train and say good bye, it was rather sad to see her go.  Possum will surely be missed BUT im sure we will see her again. 

Easter Cooking spreeee

Post-dated entry

Even from coming back from the Phils, my sister and I still had our cravings for certain Philippine dishes.  So I went to the Philippine Supermarket in Earls Court so that we could experiment making these dishes.  Funny thing is that most of the locals never really cook any of these things from scratch, but hey if you are desperate its worth going through the hassle.  It can I just say it came out pretty darn good!

Dish #1 - Arroz Caldo (translated literally in Spanish Hot Rice, but actually Rice Broth)
aka Chicken Congee. Rice cooked with ginger, saffron, chicken. Easiest amongst everything to make.  Mainly because it was Arroz Caldo in a packet! LOL!
Pour it in a pot of boiling water and presto! Lunch!

 
L-R: Before & After

Dish #2 - Ginataan Fruit soup cooked in coconut Milk. Best thing on a rainy day…. Come home from school and chow down on a hot bowl of this *drroool*.  This came out exceptionally good considering my sister made it for the very first time.

L-R: Ingredients, Uncooked Sago (tapioca pearls) & Malagkit (Balls made from Glutinous Flour), Cooked Sago, Cut fruits, Gabi & Kamote (sweet potato), and Tadaaa - Ginataan! 

Happy Easter!

Every country seems to have different ways of celebrating Easter.  In the Phils, I remember it being THE most boring time of the year.  Everything on TV would be about the passion of Christ or the TV stations would be off the air.  It would always be the hottest time of the year.  So days would be spent cooped up in the air-con room or in the rare occassion, the neighbors pool.  But even so, it was a no no to swim during easter.  Never got that when IM NOT CATHOLIC!

Anyway in London, it seems to be the time people go away on long weekend get away to somewhere in Europe.  That or a long ass D.I.Y weekend.  Most of the adverts advertising specials for that D.I.Y weekend.  In other countries, I suppose they would spend Easter painting easter eggs.

In Croatia, they spend easter painting something other than easter eggs.  Haha!  In my visit to Zagreb last October, my brother’s girlfriend Iva had pointed out this naked guy who had his balls painted.  Hahaha! She explained to me that every easter they would paint it a different colour.  On the phone with my brother yesterday (who is in Croatia), and I reminded him of this tradition that is done over there.

To Manila, Zagreb, and Stockholm Happy Easter from the crazy woman in London

An Apple a day…

Ever since the iPod has come out there have been several iPod Silhouette ads out. Out of all of them, this blue series is the only one I thought that was really fantastic.  Apart from the fact that the dude in the advert looks really cool - very John Legend-ish dont you think? haha!  I remember it first caught my eye when I was walking along the underground of Bond Street station.  This dude and another one of a woman wearing a frilled type top and a skirt (very 50’s Jazz look).  I loved the fact that apart from the background being blue, bits of their clothes are blue as well. Really cool effect, so cool that it inspired me. 

So which iPod am I?

Let me introduce my own version of the iPod silhouette (and perhaps a new addition to the apple family one day… )

me & coy (my brother’s bestfriend)
HAHAHAHA!!

In The HeART of the City

One of the many thing I always loved about Europe which the Philippines always seemed to lacked was the importance of a home for ART.  In London you have the National Gallery, British Museum, Victoria & Albert, The Tate Modern to name a few.  The Louvre and Rodin in Paris. The Rijks and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - and so on and so on.  All of these places to feed into your art cravings.

Growing up, I only knew of one museum.  That was Ayala Museum in the Philippines.  I always loved doing the artsy stuff as a kid and for some reason always wanted to believe I would grow up be a famous artist.  Hence why I begged my mom to allow me to go to Art Classes when I was younger.  She wasn’t too keen on this as she thought I had raw talent and didn’t want me try paint and draw like someone else.  So after much convincing, she enrolled me in the art classes in Ayala Museum.  It was fun as to have something to do for the summer.  But my mom was right, those classes didn’t enhance my creative skills, they only taught me techniques artists should know.  I personally don’t believe that there is a wrong or right way of painting.  To me art is about producing a piece of work that can express your feelings at that moment and have someone appreciate that piece of work.  And if you are lucky enough, exude those emotions in your paintings like Frida Kahlo did in hers.  But anyway, at the end of those art classes I did in Ayala Museum we had an exhibit of the art works we produced in our classes.  I always thought that that museum hardly had any art works.  So when we had that exhibit, I felt just like any child would, that my painting was the best painting in there.  hahaha!  It didn’t help that someone offered to buy one of the paintings I had done.  But I couldn’t part with it.  So instead it hangs where it belongs - in my parent’s home.

After a few years Ayala Museum closed down and moved to a smaller space in one of the malls. I found it quite frustrating that Makati didn’t have a proper Museum for tourists or even locals to visit.  But in my recent visit back to Manila I was happy to see that some good came into the colonial mentality of the locals.  Recently rebuilt in the heart of Makati is a newly improved and even modern Ayala Museum.  Resembling a museum in Europe with a Museum Cafe & a Museum Shop.  Maybe next time I am in Manila, I will be able to check out the exhibits.

Postcard from Heaven

At last!  My first post in this new blog of mine.  Like mana from heaven I was finally able to get this going!  I guess if you ever stumble upon this blog you will get to know the crazy person behind this blog.  So for now, I leave you with something my sister and I stumbled upon on our visit back to Manila…

Only in the Philippines - Jesus on the computer and of course, texting.