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Party time

Yesterday, my cousin asked me if I remembered any of my birthday parties when I was younger. I told him I couldn't recall the event itself but remembered a few tiny details - like how I realized that the staple Justice League superheroes that were always on top of the heavily white frosted mocha chiffon cake were not made out of candy, as previously thought. How did I find out? I tried biting off the head of one of the characters and my taste buds weren't greeted by the sweet satisfaction of sugar. So much for that. Aside from the cake, there were also lots of balloons tied to those not-so-stable wooden chairs with plastic weave and lots of children's party spaghetti. And depending on who your mother was, your party could be themed. For my cousin Gabby's birthday (was it your birthday, Gabs?), it was a costume party. I came as an astronaut. I still remember the smell of that stupid plastic visor. The plastic wasn't exactly crystal clear enough so I always had to look up so I wouldn't bump anything or anyone. Anyway, my nephew celebrated his first birthday party at The Conservatory at the Manila Pen and it was different compared to the children's parties of yore. In true classic Steph style, she had the entire place dressed up for her only son's special day. She also had hosts for the kids (who were really cheerful) who played games with them and got Gymboree, too. Kids went home with Animaland plush toys which they personally chose. They even had a ritual on how to insert the "heart" of their new friend. You wish, turn around, jump, and kiss (and do all sorts of things). Matthew's cake didn't have any ceramic figurines on top but it was several cakes that looked like wooden blocks of letters.

Globetrotter

Around the world in 4 costume changes - Uvatar me!

Paris

Russia

London

New York

Spectacled

So this is how I look like if I wear glasses. Whatchuthink?

Finding flicks

There are some things in life that I'll never understand - why people would rather queue for a really long time than invest on an e-pass tag, why I'm the only one who was bothered all week with the stench of a dead rat underneath the escalator at the Paseo-Ayala underpass, and why I really like this movie.

"This film version of the Isabel Allende novel, features a cast that includes Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, and Glenn Close. The story is a sweeping and brooding melodrama, spanning generations and filled with violence, revenge, and telekinesis. The tale begins in South America in 1926, when a young man, Esteban, falls in love with the daughter of a rich man, Rosa Del Valle. He vows to become rich enough to make her his wife and spends months of toil in the gold fields to earn enough money to do just that. Before the two marry, however, Rosa is killed by poison meant for her father. After the tragedy, Esteban moves to Trés Marias, an abandoned ranch, and spends 20 years of his life turning the ranch into a thriving estate, exploiting the labor of the poor who live off the land. When he returns to the city, he comes across Rosa's younger sister Clara, now a woman with telekinetic abilities. Clara took a vow of silence years before, but upon the arrival of Esteban, she speaks for the first time in years -- "You have come to propose marriage to me," she says. Esteban and Clara marry, and Esteban takes her back to the ranch, where they have a daughter, Blanca (Winona Ryder). Their daughter falls in love with the son of one of Esteban's foremen, a hot-headed revolutionary named Pedro (Antonio Banderas). Now, the country is in the throes of revolution. Esteban banishes his sister Ferula (Glenn Close) from the ranch, beats his wife, and rapes a peasant woman. The product of Esteban's rape grows into an angry young man who convinces Esteban to send him away to military school. When there is a military coup, the illegitimate son returns to Trés Marias with revenge and torture on his mind."

I've tried looking for the DVD of this everywhere - from HMV in Hong Kong, every video store I saw in London and Paris, Sanity in Melbourne, in Music 1 Greenbelt 3, and even in Ruins! It's as hard to find as Sesame Street's Follow that Bird, which by the way, I'd love to get a copy of. This movie is about Big Bird who ran away because nobody in Sesame Street was paying attention to him so he thought he wasn't needed, packed up, and left. I know it's very juvenile but the film is actually entertaining, especially when you get to see The Count drive his car and Ernie and Bert's legs!

LSS

Sometimes when you feel like your entire week is like a really long Monday, all you really need is some music to help keep your sanity in check. Listening to Kylie makes me want to fly back with my sister tomorrow to Melbourne, where its the dead of winter. Don't you think there's something wrong with her nose? Anyway, my other LSS for the week was Jennifer Hudson's Spotlight. I don't remember where I heard it. Maybe on the radio, the few times that I actually tune in to it.

The Love Guru

When the trailer is even better than the movie itself.

Cooking

This is for Joanna who added lemon and capers with her tuyo. For variety, you can also attempt to do this: Pasta With Tuyo (dried herring) Ingredients: pasta onions garlic tuyo tomatoes olive oil (you can use plain olive oil or the oil in the jar of tuyo) salt and pepper How to cook it: Cook the pasta according to package directions. Don't forget to add oil and salt when you boil the pasta. Drain and keep warm. While the pasta cooks, chop the onions, dice the tomatoes, peel and finely chop the garlic. Flake the tuyo or chop them if you want them to be almost invisible. Heat the oil in a sauce pan. Add the onions. Once you think they're turning translucent, toss in the garlic followed by the tomatoes. Then, add the tuyo. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for a few minutes or just until the vegetables start to soften. Throw in the pasta into the pan and mix, mix, mix. Eat. You can also forget about the tomatoes and use olives instead. or capers. or whatever you have in your fridge. Or you can also try doing what Anna does. She boils pasta, drains it, drizzles olive oil and adds cubes of cheese. If you have more time but want to keep it simple, you could also do what I do. Boil tomatoes (usually while boiling the pasta so I won't have to wash too many pans) in a pot. Once they're starting to resemble raisins, take it out, skin 'em, and take out the seeds. Drain the pasta and set aside. On a sauce pan, saute garlic. Once it starts to turn golden brown, add the tomatoes. Then the pasta. Season with salt and pepper.

What I hate with bookstores

Can they stick the price somewhere else and not on the book itself? After all, they do have those security thingamajigs by the entrance and exit anyway.

Bookworming

Books for me are like Café Bola’s Caramelized Spam, Pepsi, Holy Kettle Corn popcorn, and Chowking’s Chicharap – I can’t have enough of them. Whenever I chance upon a bookstore, I tend to get sucked into it and emerge a while after carrying a bag full of new books I know I will end up on my books-to-read pile. In the last five months, I’ve bought fifteen books that span different genres such as travel, non fiction, fiction, biography, children’s, and business. Given my lust for books, I have and will read just about anything, from the Classics, Oprah’s Book Club selections, bestsellers, to Pulitzers. Last weekend, I found myself in Rockwell and gravitated towards Fully Booked where I ended up buying 3 more books that will end up in that never dwindling pile. Ever since I read Da Vinci Code, I've had this preference for non-fiction books - if there's something factual and interesting about it, I'll buy it. Lately, I've been drawn to travel-themed books like those of Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson. Reading them is like traveling for free and all you need is a good imagination to be able to enjoy the trip. That's why when I saw this book on the shelf, I immediately got it.

"This is the concept behind a recent BBC TV series hosted by architect Cruickshank, who is also the guide in this companion book. He visits, in rapid-fire fashion, fantastic, if not entirely unexpected, places (Egypt's pyramids, the ruins of Peru, the Parthenon), documenting each with sometimes transcendent pictures, but much of the narration is bogged down by Cruickshank's complaints about speeding through the ruins and getting up for early flights to dash from one continent to the next."

For the inner comic book geek in me, I got Xmen: Phoenix Warsong. It's the last book of the Dark Phoenix Saga. They didn't have the prequel, Endsong. It's a 5-part comic that is about the Phoenix force. Read more about it here. I don't want to get too geeky but it's a really interesting comic book and the artwork is impressive. I used to collect all sorts of Marvel comic books and trading cards when I was much younger until I realized it wasn't too practical. The other book was about "one grump's search for the happiest places in the world."

"Weiner set out on a yearlong quest to find the world's unheralded happy places. Having worked for years as an NPR foreign correspondent, he'd gone to many obscure spots, but usually to report bad news or terrible tragedies. Now he'd travel to countries like Iceland, Bhutan, Qatar, Holland, Switzerland, Thailand and India to try to figure out why residents tell positive psychology researchers that they're actually quite happy."