Living with A Food Blogger

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If you’re a blogger, you probably have your own typical blogger Conversation within your family.

What if you have a food blogger in the family?

You know how it is. I post food photos in my Pinoy Food Photo Blog to complement my entry. Naturally, when my family eats out, I snap away at the food we order. So here was a typical scene when I first started my food blog in July 2006.

Husband: Don’t eat that yet. Your Mom hasn’t taken shots of that dish.

M: (irritated) Have you taken a shot of this? Can I eat now?

L: (pouting) Hurry. I’m hungry. I wish cameras are banned in restaurants.

I bet they got tired of waiting so…

This is my family two years after.

 

Lauren learned to take shots of her food (at Pepper Lunch) so she can eat it as soon as the dish arrives.

And M too!

If you can’t beat your mom the food blogger, join her. or else, starve.

What is a typical scene with your family or friends? especially non-blogging friends and family?

In other New Media Events

1. I love Ethan Allen furniture designs that a few of my furniture was heavily inspired by it.

ethan allen

Here is a video I took of the showroom,

2. HTC Touch Diamond in the Philippines Mid-July

Imagine having broadband-like Internet with HSDPA 7.2 mbps wireless connectivity right in the palm of your hands?

HTC touch Diamond

3. Join the Buhay Coke Contest and get a chance to win a Phillips LCD TV, an Apple iPhone, a Sony Cybershot 7.2 MP Digital Camera, and an iPod Nano .

coke contest

JURIS Project: Promote Alternative Dispute Resolution in Philippine Court Cases

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When I received the invite for the Justice Reform Initiatives Support (JURIS) project press briefing, I raised my eyebrows upon seeing the venue was at the Mandarin Hotel. Hmm, so the Supreme Court has money to splurge on projects? That alone piqued my curiosity. I discovered that JURIS was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency at Cdn $6.5 million since it’s inception in 2003 where the implementing agencies are the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Alternative Law Groups, Inc, Office of the Court Administrator and the Philippines Judicial Academy.


Left to Right: Hector Soliman (Local Project Director), Brian W. Lennox (Executive Director, National Judicial Institute), Marlon Manuel (Alternative Law Groups Inc.), Eduardo D. De Los Angeles (Philippine Judicial Academy), Alfredo F. Tadiar (Philippine Judicial Academy), Imelda Tuazon (IBP Pampanga)

JURIS has three project components such as the Alternative Dispute Resolution , Judicial Education and Reform Advocacy Support. I won’t bore you with all the facts so just download and read more on the JURIS project and JURIS Fact Sheet.

What struck me on a personal level are two things:

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QTV Sweet Life on A Child’s Grief

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I declined to appear in the Sweet Life Episode on “Comforting the Bereaved” for Lorna Tolentino’s friends. My last TV appearances left me disillusioned with anything showbiz in it. Despite the tragic elements in my life, I cannot stand embellishments injected into my life story. The segment producer tapped me to be the resource person for “A Child’s Grief” and I hemmed and hawed. I then remembered that grief education is part of my mission in life so I agreed in the end.

The guests were two young women, widowed in their mid-twenties. The focus of the segment was comforting their bereaved children. I discussed some creative projects and self-care. Every now and then I had to butt in and correct some misconceptions on Grief Recovery. Lucy Torres is quite smart but I don’t know what to make of Wilma Doesnt, her co-host. At the end of the show, I handed my calling card to the two widows. Wilma looked at me backing off as if I had some communicable disease don’t give me a calling card in half-joking/serious tone. Well, I told her I didn’t plan on giving you anyway but she kept repeating it. What the??

Apparently, she found the show’s theme so heavy and depressing that she kept whining about it. To think I was there to educate them about Child’s grief.

Since my portion covered less than 6 minutes (they practically cut half of that segment and concentrated more on Lorna Tolentino’s grief), I want to add more details that were not really discussed and which parents and guardians of a bereaved child might find useful.

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The Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz Fight in Youtube Video

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UPDATE (December 7, 2008) Youtube Video of Manny Pacquiao versus Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya

I did not watch the Pacquaio-Diaz fight. I couldn’t bear to watch either one get hurt. In fact, I’ve never watched a single boxing match in full. I cringe every time a jab is aimed at either one of the boxers. For me a boxing fight is like watching a horror show. You know the kind where I cover my eyes fearing a bloody mess will unfold before me.

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Typhoon Frank Victims: Children of San Fernando, Sibuyan Island

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Greed led the owner of the MV Princess of the Stars to allow it to proceed on its final journey despite Typhoon Frank warnings. This is the same corporation which owned the even more ill-fated Dona Paz, a ship whose loss on December 20, 1987 killed nearly three times as many as the famous Titanic.

The manner by which Sulpicio Lines handled the terrible tragedy is most deplorable. However, there is yet another tragedy that has not been written about much, which has befallen the town of San Fernando in Sibuyan Island. San Fernando is the town closest to where the sunken ship lies.

This quaint fishing town of some 22,000 residents is also struggling against an equally daunting devastation away from media glare that is focused on the capsized MV Princess of the Stars just a few kilometers from the shore. Majority of the families have lost their homes and been displaced. There is hardly food and shelter available. The children are in dire straits. They have lost all their books, toys, clothing and are very much in need of basic necessities. Government agencies, owing to a lack of resources, just cannot be depended on to address all the tragedy surrounding us today. In today’s Philippine Inquirer report, Dr. Ted Esguerra of the Philippine Coast Guard mentioned that attention should be given to the children of this island.

As private citizens, and as human beings, we can do our part. My friend, Cathy Babao-Guballa is initiating a campaign to help the Children of San Fernando, Sibuyan Island.

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Children in Philippine Jail

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Lauren dragged me to watch a special viewing of Bunso (The Youngest) last saturday. Bunso is a poignant documentary film by Filmmakers Ditsi Carolino and Nana Buxani about three boys – Tony, 13, Diosel and Bunso, 11 – struggling to survive in a crowded Cebu jail alongside adult rapists and murderers. The two streetsmart boys paint us a picture into the surreal world of children caught between extreme poverty and the law.

These boys talked about their hunger and how they resorted to stealing just to survive. One boy stole from a sari-sari store because he could not bear the hunger pangs any longer. The owner did not press charges but the father wanted to teach his son a lesson by sending him to jail.

The boys are in prison for petty theft and robbery. Anthony claimed that he stole huge amounts of money to feed his family when his mother neglected his siblings. Bunso was on the streets because his mother did not “send him to school or care for him”. He resorted to begging for money at first, but when he couldn’t get any money, he stole. Then he started sniffing glue and needed more money to fund his addiction.

“I’d sniff first then eat,” he said in the film.

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Singing a Lullaby at Red Box Trinoma

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It’s not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It’s just the nearness of you

It isn’t your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
It’s just the nearness of you

When you’re in my arms and I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams came true

I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you’ll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you

The “Nearness of You” is 1940’s song probably meant to be a love song but I chose it as a lullaby for my 2 girls from the time they were babies till around 4 years old. Instead of singing the usual baby songs, I chose a slow and soul-soothing song as my way to calm my fussy babies. My pitchy song helped lull them to sleep and surprisingly calmned me at the same time. There is just no substitute for these quiet moments of connection — time spent nurturing my little loves.

Last night, I sang this song upon the request of my husband to tease the girls. When they were much older (6 years old), they used to sob when I sang this song. Perhaps they became nostalgic?. After sobbing, they slept soundly. I never had sleeping problems with any of my children because of this lullaby.

Right after my tone-deaf rendition of the song, Butch asked the girls “Are you crying now?

lullaby

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Typhoon Frank Aftermath Photos in Metro Manila

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It was 5:00 AM when Lauren knocked on our room . The loud noise outside her window woke her up almost the same time as the brownout hit our home. “Don’t worry the MERALCO wires have a ground wire now” I told her to sleep with us if she was still scared with the noise. Thinking it was just the rattling roof in our neighbor’s house, I didn’t think much of it. It was still too dark to investigate.

At around 9:00 AM, we discovered the remnants of a roof lying a few meters away from our house , narrowly missing my daughters’  bedroom window. The roof came from the fourth floor of this ongoing construction across our home then , probably flew off and landed right smack along some cables and electric wires in the house beside us. No wonder we have no Globelines broadband and Skycable connection.

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Tenor Radio Frequency, RevaleSkin and Other Beauty Secrets

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Blogging made me vain. Not directly though. With a blog that focused on an advocacy, it caught the fancy of a few TV shows and magazines. Before I emerged out of my 5 year recluse, I avoided cameras and people like a plague. I didn’t like how I looked. When I saw myself for the first time on TV, I was appalled to see myself 10 pounds heavier.

Please continue reading at beautyoverfifty.net