Coffee, Tea or Juice?

September 25, 2008
15:45 hrs,
Makati City, Philippines

As I was blearily contemplating mixing either a cup of Maxell's or SanMig's 3-in-1 instant coffee or just brewing myself a pot of either Chai or some good 'ole oolong ginseng I stopped to ponder if I should distrust tea leaves from China.....the news station was again running the Sanlu milk scandal and all the affected products from it...

It is dark and dreary in the middle of the afternoon...thanks to the weather we have been having, and with another typhoon on the way...well, I was feeling out of sorts. I needed to sip something bracing and hot while doing my work and going through hundreds of emails....and...as I reached out for the coffee sachet, the tv station I was tuned into suddenly blared out about a Filipino artist doing her works in instant coffee.

Wow!!

Although the colors are in the sometimes somewhat drab (for me at least) realm of brown, they were beautiful! They were eye-catching!  The Filipino artist is Sunshine Plata...and I am really proud of the creativity that is inherently built into the Filipino gene. *puffs like a puffin*

Not to mention, it is a cheap medium too 


One of her works, which is a favorite of other people, entitled "Fairy of Sorrows".

Do check out some of the links I found while googling her name:

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSP17573720080826?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10003

http://misteryosa.com/blog/sunshine-plata-coffee-painter/

http://thismakesmyday.blogspot.com/2008/08/sunshine-plata-coffee-painter.html

Hmm...I wonder what would be next, orange juice? milk? squid ink? avocado seed?....

- Sep 25, '08 4:43 PM

Travel Thoughts, Travel Books

Thinking Travel

Sep 18, '08 4:42 PM
for everyone

17 Sept  2008,  National Bookstore, Greenbelt 1 -  I'm just happy. As simple as that. I've added to my ever-towering, ever-leaning-precariously-like-Pisa pile of books (some of which I've not read completely).
I was in the vicinity of the bookstore to have a special order made for a book on trading, when I noticed they were on sale.  All books with white dots were marked 20% off...and even if my penchant for travel books leaves my wallet groaning, I still could not resist.

I grabbed the books I wanted, but realized I had to leave at least half of them behind as I was already juggling other bags and I still had to go to the grocery to get my prosciutto and salami milano, and whatever fruit I could find to pair with them. The ones I picked were all thick and heavy tomes, save for one.

So I only got four, because I'm thinking I may be traveling again next year or this December, and what could be better than to be a girl scout and be prepared. Goodbye books on Italy, France and Greece!

1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List by Patricia Schultz

Although there aren't very many pictures, and whatever there were scattered between the book's covers, were all in black and white, it may be nice to have a checklist of where to go. It is at least 2 inches thick though...sheesh! some checklist eh?

Under the Philippines, they placed Banaue Rice Terraces (no check), Taal Volcano (check) and Amanpulo (super no check).

Lonely Planet's Tokyo: City Guide by Andrew Bender and Wendy Yanagihara

I'm planning a collection of city guides...and even if I have been to Tokyo, I felt I had only scratched the surface. One never knows, I may visit Tokyo again before I reach the golden age of 50 :-)

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: China by Staff of DK Publishing Inc.

I dithered between Frommer's China and this book. The lovely photographs won out in the end. I resolved to come back later for Frommer's version.

Some people may prefer Lonely Planet, but I liked my experience with Frommer's details on how to get from one place to another, but it doesn't have the beautiful photographs (which can serve as one's album too) which I see in DK.

Frommer's Southeast Asia 5th edition by Jason Armbrecht, Brian Calvert, Jennifer Eveland and Jen Lin-Liu

Hmm...I was expecting it to have an entry on the Philippines....but it did not.  Why? Bakit? Ngano? Porque?

Isn't my country in SE Asia? Was there a mistake? Maybe its classified somewhere else? Grrrr....

Oh well, if my trip to Vietnam pushes through before the end of the year, this will be handy.

Hankering for Congee

That is what got me out of my home one Sunday afternoon.

Passed by David's...nah! Passed by Chowking....nah!

I finally settled in at Via Mare, Greenbelt 1.
Rap-sa..with hot salabat pa!


I ate here a few times before when I was still a student at AIM...the last one which I remember very well was a treat by Sir B and Ms G coz I think it was somebody's birthday..and Bong was there...*sigh* my happy memories seem to be always connected with food :-)

- Dec 5, '08 2:29 AM