The goose has a slight temperature

Not sure what's causing the slight temperature but Katharine had a slight temp and was feeling melancholy for the last two days. Mom and my sister Eline (Tita Honey) were took over motherly duties from me and took care of her by giving her medicine, bringing food to the bedroom, and even helping her take a shower.

Today was a holiday to commemorate the passing of former president Cory Aquino. She was responsible for 'People Power' and eventually toppled the Marcos dictatorship. All businesses and schools were closed today.

We took this opportunity to take the kids ice skating.

Food: Desserts, Fruits I've missed...

'Taho' is a soy-based dessert. It has the consistency of yogurt; served with gulaman pearls and vanilla syrup. (I have a vendor who comes to the house to deliver this daily.)

'Halo-halo' is a dessert where several pieces of fruits are served over crushed ice, a scoop of ice cream or flan on top and evaporated milk.


'Palitaw' is a rice-based dessert molded as a paste at first and cooked in boiling water. The term palitaw means 'to float'. During cooking, the dessert is at the bottom of the pan and floats to the top when cooked. It is served with coconut flakes and sprinkled with brown sugar. (The green leaves you see here are banana leaves that are used to separate each piece.)

Severe thunderstorms slow us down!!

It has been raining off and on for the last 3 days now but today has been the worst of all 3. As I type this, it is raining cats and dogs out there steadily for the last hour. Yesterday, the internet was down and the service we use informed us that they were experiencing a nationwide problem. It had taken about 30 hours to restore.


Eline and Uli (with kids) took us to lunch yesterday and I asked if we could visit our grandparents graves. I was too young to remember my grandfather but experience my grandmother till I left home back in '86. One of my regrets in life was that I never got to say goodbye to her. I had the opportunity back in '91 but decided not to wake her up the day I was leaving because it was 4am. A year later, she died and I immediately felt the pain and sorrow of missing her. All these years I've prepared myself for the day I visit her grave and apologize to her. What I could not prepare for was the flood of emotion as I stood infront of her grave. I miss her so much!


Would you like to know what driving is like this part of the world? Check these videos out. Tricycles, jeepneys, pedestrians: all own the road. One more thing, when you drive.. you always seem to have the right of way!











Hey N, you'll never guess what my mom does during her spare time...

Malls: again

Lunch at Fish and Co., mom and dad went to Italliano where the most expensive cup of coffee can be enjoyed (hey, the place was air-conditioned so I wasn't complaining) then off for window shopping. Picked up some 'pasalubongs' (gifts) and more snacks. I always seem to be eating...

Wii is a hit!

Ah, the joy of laughter..

Outing: Taal Volcano

Taal Lake and Taal Volcano



Mom, Dad and the grandkids.

















It took us about an hour to get here and guess where all the kids went to after lunch..



















I'm instructed to make sure that Katharine take it easy when trying out food(s) while we're here because (as my wife puts it) her stomach is not steel-lined as mine. Today she tried a dessert called 'ginubis'. She's been a picky eater; currently its been 1:7. Check out this video..

Rainy day? Best for swimming...

The kids had a ball when we took them swimming at The Bellevue, an upscale hotel in Alabang, Metro Manila. The place reminded me of The Highlands Inn in Carmel, CA where stone fixtures were abundant.

Our day trip to Tagaytay (sample picture in this blog's heading) had to be rescheduled for tomorrow due to a scheduling conflict because of a 4pm church service and my half brother and sisters arriving for early dinner shortly thereafter.





Yesterday was Kelly's birthday and we celebrated it with a cake. Our family's tradition is to wake up the celebrant singing 'happy birthday' regardless which side of the globe they live in. Since Kelly remained in Texas, we called her at around 8pm which would be 7am her time. Making the initial call proved to be a challenge since we were experiencing a thunderstorm and the magic jack was having fits. Eventually the connection was made. The cake was a mocha chiffon with hershey kisses.