Red

I usually munch on something when deep in school or office work. I veered away from junk foods and started on munching on fruits and vegetables. Red apple is a favorite. Take a bite. :)



Check other REDs here. :)

Hot Cruise

I'd take this week's photo hunt literally. What's hotter than the sun, tell me? :) These were taken during our Sunset Cruise at Subic going to Grande Island. It was a great show of nature.









To see what else is hot, please click here. Happy photo hunting! :)

Overlooking

These pictures were taken at Mines View Park, Baguio City on a Saturday more than a month ago. I took fancy capturing the view of the mountains with the young couple having some sweet moments together.




This was also the day where I did some panic buying of vegetables since they are cheaper and fresher in Baguio. There were some excess broccoli and cauli flowers but they were put into good use before getting stale. I shared about it in a post on Pancit Bato.

You may visit other Weekend Snapshots participants here.

Flexible

I was thinking of what to share for this week's Photo Hunt. It has to be flexible. I thought of rubber bands, my daughter's ballet shoes...I thought of posting spaghetti noodles. My husband recommended his map light in his car, it has a flexible body. Hmm, it doesn't sound interesting to me, haha.

I settled to our hot air balloon pictures no matter how much my hubby talked me out of it. He said these balloons expand but they are not flexible. :D It used to be that it's only me and my daughter decide what pictures to share. Now it has become a family affair. :D






These pictures were taken at the 11th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta early this year, held at Clark, Pampanga. Suddenly a song enters my mind as I post about this..."up, up and away, in my beautiful, beautiful balloon...". Was this from the Bridgette Jones's Diary soundtrack? Anyway, there's another balloon song when I was in college, 99 Luftballoons by Nena. I love this song back then.

One has to get out of his comfort zone and be flexible and try more adventurous undertakings like riding a hot air balloon. Now that strengthens these hot air balloons' connection with Flexible. :)

Check out other Photo Hunt Flexible participants here. I'll be going around PH participants later, Mommy duties beckon at this time. :)

Plated

There are two picture memes today. One's for Weekend Snapshots and one's for the monthly Pinoy Moms Network sharing of family pictures based on a theme. I wouldn't pass up any of these two so here goes.

See the picture below? Can you tell what it is? It's one of the street foods famous in the Philippines. Street foods are those peddled by ambulant vendors or from an improvised stall along the street but of course. The reputation is not so good in terms of cleanliness in preparation and merchandising but there are some who just cannot resist having a bite. Better to prepare it on your own.



This is "tukneneng" (hard boiled egg with orange batter coating). The coating includes flour and chicken cubes. I didn't know chicken cubes are also used for this tukneneng food. According to the neighbor at least that's what she does to make it more palatable.

Over the weekend, my husband ordered this from a neighbor who distributes different kinds of "street foods" to different office canteens in different business districts. Definitely the preparation and handling are HACCAP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points) compliant. :)

**********
What's plated in the house? Lots. But this one's from a lunch-out with hubby and daughter at Teriyaki Boy a few weeks ago. Teriyaki Boy is one of the fast-casual restaurants that offer really good service and good food.

My favorite dish here is Gyu-Saikoro steak (diced-cut beef in teriyaki sauce and bean sprouts). Now you see it....


Now you don't...


Here are the mommies with their Plated entries:
Pinayhekmi: Scrambled eggs
Ruth: Filipino breakfast
Lynn: Tukneneng
Mommy Chi: Fried rice and beef stew
Ajay: Because pancit is my favorite dish
Julie: PinoyMomsNetwork Fam Pics 3: Plated (On a Plate)
Connie: Chopsticks on a plate
Cookie: PMN Fampics Series 3 : Plated
KK: Eclectic taste
Feng: Plated on a operating table
Raqgold: Schlachtplatte
Vicky: What's for tea?-Lean Pork N Cabbage on Stripey Plate
Rach: My plated collage

The Brat Pack

This is all about movies. We had lunch today at Bubba Gump, the restaurant Forrest Gump inspired. As expected, the movie Forrest Gump is being played on a loop. Hubby was telling the gist of the story to my daughter. I said it's a long movie, about 3 hours. I don't watch a movie for the second time unless I like the actors and the story. Those are my criteria.

Segue to what is my most watched movie. It's one from the 80s. And then my mind started reminiscing the movies which made it big during the 80s and the 90s.


<


Pretty in Pink. This is my most watched movie from the 80s. I love the soundtrack - OMD, Howard Jones, Suzanne Vega, Psychedellic Furs, INXS, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Smiths. I have memorized them all.

I love the story. I was in my teens then, can't help but fall for rich-boy-poor-girl-with-a-weird-bestfriend kind of movie. Andi, Duckie and Blaine. Only Duckie (Jon Cryer) is visible nowadays. He has a sitcom with Charlie Sheen called Two and A Half Men.

The Karate Kid. Who didn't fall for the lanky Danile Larusso played by Ralph Macchio and the lovable Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). What kid in the 80s does not know "wax on, wax off". But whatever happened to Ralph Macchio?

Sixteen Candles. Another John Hughes and Molly Ringwald movie. I am not a fan of Molly but it happened that her movies were the movies of my generation. Sixteen Candles tells of what preoccupies a typical teenager, at least back in the 80s - unrequited crush and her 16th birthday which her family almost forgot. Great plot, huh.

St. Elmos' Fire. I am wondering now why I liked the theme song. If you don't know the theme song, better that way. :) Coming of age movie, a welcome-to-the-real-world-after-college-graduation kind of movie. Think F.R.I.E.N.D.S., only this batch take themselves so seriously.

This stars the 80s Brat Pack - Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Alley
Sheedy, Rob Lowe, the pretty face Andrew McCarthy. Demi Moore seems to be the last woman standing in this pack.

The Breakfast Club. Another brat pack movie and the story happened in one day in a detention center.

The Outsiders. The movie which started it all - the young guns of the 80s - Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez. And yes, someone from the 70s, Leif Garrett. The Outsiders is reminescent of West Side Story, a gang war from different socio-economic class.

Risky Business. This is the first movie of Tom Cruise which I have watched. I liked him instantly. Major reason for watching this I guess was Tom Cruise singing in his underwear. Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger? That's what I remember.

That particular scene was spoofed several times, even ALF (remember the Alien Life Form sitcom?) spoofed him.

Top Gun. What can I say? This movie catapulted Tom Cruise's career to superstardom. Killer grin, that's the main reason.

Singles. Early 90s, just when grunge is starting. I love the soundtrack too - Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. One of my favorite books, The Fountainhead, was part of the movie's poster. Stars Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick and Eric Stoltz.

Reality Bites. Best movie about Generation X I have ever watched. A Ben Stiller movie which stars Ben Stiller, Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo. From the plot summary of IMDB, this best summarizes the movie, "materialism or philosophical musings"? Gen X angst, you know.

I love the soundtrack of this movie - Stay by Lisa Loeb, U2's All I want is You, School's Out by Alice Cooper, a few songs from Crowded House, Salt-N-Peppa. My Sharona by The Knack was used in this movie.

There are a lot of movies then and now that I love. These ten are not the best and they aren't exactly my favorites. But they were top of mind when I was thinking of retro movies. They were some of the movies which dominated the era, some will just make you cringe. :)

Photo Hunt 39: Classic

I'm sharing a classic Filipino decoration. Even in another country, it has been said that you will know Filipinos are living in the house if you can see giant wooden spoon and fork somewhere in the kitchen or dining area. This shows the Filipinos' strong food culture. In some homes where residents are Catholics, it is normally side by side with a picture of The Last Supper.



Interior decoration has evolved now, especially condo living is very popular among young couples, hence lesser space and more modern decorations donning the place. I don't see much of these wooden spoons and forks anymore.



A tourist destination in the Philippines is Honda Bay. Northeast of Puerto Princesa, Palawan is one the favorite vacation spots here, Dos Palmas Island Resort and Spa. The picture above shows a classic sunset view from the bay cottages of the resort. A magnificent view.

**********
Mood: Calm.
Music: Umbrella, Rihanna

A Tag - Why Do I Blog?

A tag from Trinity a few days ago.

I started blogging fifteen months ago. The first few months are sporadic blogging as I only blog when there is spare time. Now, blogging (or peeking in my blog and my usual visits) is included in my "to do list" even for just a few hours a week. It's like caffeine, it's addicting.

I love to write my thoughts, my interests since high school. I had my first diary when I was thirteen and from then on, I kept a daily journal. I turned to blogging because it is the most logical thing to do for me since computers are very much accessible. Also I find some blogs really interesting which encouraged me further to make my own. I write mostly about my daughter, my interests - food, places, books, movies. I also love putting up the pictures I took and what are the stories behind them. I love taking an understanding of other countries' cultures straight from the sharing of bloggers.

Blogging is a very good way to relate with people from all over the world which share the same interests, and surprisingly, even those which have different interests as I do. I enjoy going around blogs which are full of positive vibes, beautiful pictures, blogs which seem to be unedited in terms of pouring out their rants and raves, blogs which tells of the bloggers' daily lives and thoughts on even the simplest of things. These are the blogs that I am naturally inclined to read and one way or another, I get bits and pieces of inspiration from them. If there are wandering souls who happen to drop by my site and liked it, that's a bonus. I appreciate it very much.

Thank God for blogging. :)

**********
I would like to tag some recent visitors here. If you have time and haven't done this yet, it will be a pleasure to read why you blog - Fortuitous Faery, Amy, Connie, Andree, Sandy.

Here are the guidelines from Monday Morning Power.
**Start Copy Here**

We have a voice;
We must be heard;
Therefore we blog;
Now spread the word!

This directory is based on a recent post that was conducted asking the question “Why do you Blog?” and the rewrite “Why do you Blog? - Reworked.” The purpose of this directory is to tell our tales by spreading the reasons that we blog to as many sites as possible. We get to explain ourselves, direct traffic to our site and highlight our most important, most representative or most relevant post in an SEO favorable format. This will be a positive experience for everyone who wants to get involved. This will enable you to create a short advertisement for your site that will be spread across the blogesphere; a growing directory of blogs.

This is an open directory. You do not have to be tagged to join in. All you have to do is follow the rules.

Please let me know when you have added your site by leaving a comment on “Master List” with a link to your post. This will insure an up-to-date list, giving you even greater distribution. You then need to copy the growing list back to your site on a regular bases.

Rules:

1. Copy this post from the very beginning through **End List Directory** and place it in your archives (back date it so that it does not appear on your front page. This list is too long for your front page.) Title this post "Spread The Word" Directory
2. Copy from "**Start Copy Here**" through "**End Copy Here**"
3. Paste into a new post
4. Create an inventive post title
5. Write a brief introduction to the post.
6. Before “**End copy here**”, please add your name, site name (with link), a very brief description (2-3 sentences) of why you blog, and your most important, most representative, or most relevant post (with link.)
7. Create a link from the end of your new post to your archived Directory (Ex. "Click here for complete directory")
8. Tag others to participate. This is a request, not a requirement.
9. Leave a comment and a link to your post on “Master List.” That way I can grab your addition and add it to this growing list.
10. Schedule regular visits to the "Master List" so you can copy/paste into your archive, keeping your list current.

**End Copy Here**

Check out the directory of the listed participants here.

For the Master List introduction:

I'm Lynn and I blog at Everything and then Some. I blog because I like to share ideas and experiences with bloggers around the world. It's like virtual traveling. I am interested in other countries' culture. Blogs about food, books, movies, day to day experiences and everything about being a mom get my attention. I would like to share this link to one of my posts, Avocado which tells of the story behind my blog name.

**********
It's halloween, I got this sweet badge from Trinity and Mayi. Thank you for passing this on to me. :) This badge originated from Hootin' Anni.