Boodle Fight @ home

     For somebody whose been working in some other country far from ours, being away means missing a lot of things about home, i think almost everything about home. It starts with not being with your family for some time, and with friends too, one usually suffer from homesickness, and of course what more could someone be missing about home...food, good pinoy food. 

     My hubby arrived two days ago, he's on a few days vacation from a year of work abroad. From where he came Pork is absolutely not in their daily menu, which makes him even more tulo laway with the thought of eating pork meat for over a year now. The following day we decided to prepare what he misses the most, food. It was lunch time, and to make it a little different from the usual, we thought it would be nice to have a boodle fight for the whole family. Everything was prepared and placed on  a table with a size good enough for all of us. Banana leaves were placed on top of the table. We have prepared Nilagang Talong at Okra, Kamatis, Bagoong, Inihaw na Bangus, Adobong Manok at Baboy and of course rice to complete the menu. After everything was put in place, everyone begin to dig out on the food. Even my little kiddo and his cousins Angel, Buboy, and Alex excitedly squeezed into the crowd and dig out the food, and just like everybody else they ate with their bare hands.

     It was nothing fancy though, simple feast, ordinary food, and our family having a not the usual lunch outdoor(kasi sa labas ng house hehe!) of some sort. It was a treat for all of us, for the whole family. We've even made the little ones experienced whats it's like to be in a boodle fight and i believe they all enjoyed it, we all did. 

Telephone Cover by Maria Aragon

     I've watched her do Lady Gaga's Born This Way and i'd say that she really has it, but just this morning after I've seen her again in YouTube with her own video version of Telephone also by Lady Gaga, with her ability and talent to do vocal alterations, grabe she's so amazing. No wonder she caught Lady Gaga's attention and gain an instant international fame. Now I know why she became not just a YouTube sensation, but an instant international singing sensation as well. So cute!

Nursery no more

Photo op during and after Li'l Man's graduation...

Gradweyt na po si kulit

Sa wakas, nakatapos na sa pinakaunang yugto ng kanyang pag-aaral ang batang makulit na si ushua. Kanina lang, umakyat sya sa stage ng kanilang paaralan at tumanggap ng diploma/certificate of completion para sa pagtatapos nya sa Nursery Class. At kahit na ubod sya ng kulit at uber hyper, nakatanggap sya ng medal bilang panglima sa klase (5th Honor) at Most Neat and Tidy. Love you ushua! :D

Session RED BOX

   Of all the events held in PSG that civilian employees have attended, parties, gatherings, summer outings to name a few, there's this one that I will never forget, the time when we went out on a night gimmick.

     It was early last year, March 19 when me and my fellow civilian employees planned, decided, and eventually fulfilled what all of us have been wanting to do...a videoke session. The idea of wanting to go to a videoke bar was from a former fellow civilian Ms. Marjorie Gavan who was eager to go to some place and enjoy karaoke. It was then collaborated by our Chief Civilian Ma'am Ariel who had been to a videoke session at this place called RED BOX.
     
     I gathered some info from their site to give you a little background about the place. Red Box is a videoke bar, a complete recreation lounge that elevates and redefines the traditional dining, drinking, and of course your karaoke experience in just one setting. Its entertainment concept originated in Hongkong and later on has successfully expanded in Malaysia and finally here in the Philippines some time in December 2003. Red Box aims to provide customers with safe and comfortable yet modern environment perfect for karaoke enjoyment. Each room is uniquely designed with creative and contemporary interiors, made to put you in the mood for singing. But take note, the place offers not just the usual karaoke experience but dining as well, with easy on the budget menus, varied lunch sets, dinner buffets, and  ala carte selection. They also have daily promos that will suit everyones budget. 

     Getting back to my story, before we head off to Red Box that day, we all decided to have dinner first at Kenny Rogers. Well, we needed energy in order to endure the challenge of belting our lungs later on. After a few chat together and after we're all done with our dinner, we head straight to the 4th level of Trinoma and finally entered Red Box. 

     We we're all kinda excited since it was our first ever gimmick together which became a some sort of bonding moment for us civilian employees. At first some of us were a little bit shy to hold the microphone and hesitated to sing, but after Marj set off the first song everyone followed. We sang different songs, danced to different beats, laughed the whole session and found ourselves enjoying the night. Our differences were set aside during that time, and as i quote Marj, for a few hours we were all the same people, just out there having fun; with our inhibition's crippled and our laughter unrestrained.
     
     Red Box has its branches at the 3rd level Greenbelt 3 in Makati, 4th level Eastwood Mall and at the 4th level Trinoma Mall, both located in Quezon City. They are open from lunch time to the wee hours of the morning. For more details and info about Red Box, you could visit their site at www.redbox.com.ph or their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/redboxkaraoke. 

Giving in to Temptation

     A few days ago I found myself almost drooling over the thought of Krispy Kreme's doughnuts, particularly with glazed chocolate cake and glazed cruller, In short I've been craving for these soft perfectly baked, heavenly tasting, uberly sweet confections. Before heading off home yesterday, I've convinced my sister to come with me and go to KK so I could finally deal with my days of cravings. My little boy and I together with my sister went to KK at SM Fairview and grab a few of their best selling doughnuts.

     When we arrived at SM we went straight to the counter and ordered what i was craving for days. But sadly glazed cruller and glazed chocolate cake was not available that day so i ordered another variant instead. For myself i had  Chocolate Kreme Cake with Oreo, a moist  chocolate KK cake topped with vanilla cream and sprinkled with crumbled Oreo cookies. It was way too sweet that I wasn't able to finish the whole piece but still i find it yummy because it was softly made and because it has Oreos in it, my all time favorite cookie. I also tried KK's latest product, the Mango Kreme Chiller. A thirst quencher mango shake with whipped cream on top. My sister had KK's hot brewed coffee and Chocolate Iced Custard Filled, a shell doughnut filled with rich custard and hand-dipped in chocolate icing while my son wanted to try the KK Mini's but they don't sell it by piece so he settled for Chocolate Iced with sprinkles.

    
      Even if I wasn't able to enjoy glazed cruller and glazed chocolate cake, still KK completed my day and satisfied my sweet tooth. My little boy enjoyed his complimentary paper beret that he never took off his head until we got home that day.


     For me Krispy Kreme is a sure place to enjoy and experience a heavenly taste of sweet confections. 

Boodle Fight

Troops lined in front of the 
long table.

     I'm sure lahat tayo nasubukan nang kumain sa dahon ng saging, nang naka-kamay. But have you ever tried doing it ng nakapila, sa isang mahabang lamesa where food is served and all piled up in one line tulad ng kanin, pansit, adobo, nilagang okra at talong, sardinas, bagoong at kung anu-ano pa ng naka-kamay? sa isang Boodle Fight? For those who have no idea what it is, a boodle fight is a symbol of brotherhood, a tradition for military men where they line up in a long table, food is dumped in a pile on top of banana leaves and then everybody eats as fast as they can using bare hands. It's like everyone has to finish everything up on the table as fast as they can. Having been employed in a military camp for almost eight years now at sa makailang ulit nang nagkaroon ng boodle fight sa PSG, sad to say that I have only experienced it once. But a few days ago, March 1 to be exact,  I have participated a boodle fight for the second time.  

     

Let the boodle fight begin...

     Just right after PSG celebrated it's 25th Founding Anniversary at the Grandstand of Malacañang Park, a boodle fight was then held in front of PSG Training School lead by PSG Group Commander Col. Ramon Mateo Dizon. Long tables were prepared. Served on top of banana leaves were Rice, pancit bihon, adobo, hipon, nilagang talong, bagoong, and of course it won't be complete without the sardines. Jugs of water and bottled soda were on the side. As we lined up in front of the table, me and my co-civilian employees were kind of excited as we patiently wait for it to start. After a few traditional ceremony the countdown begins, and finally after the signal was given we all started to feast on the food. With just  bare hands everyone ate up to their limits. It was no fancy  sumptuous food, just the ordinary Filipino food but it seems like it was the most filling meal for everyone. All of us had a smile on our faces as we dig out the food on the table, tummies were filled with everything that was there on the table and just after a few minutes everything on it were wiped out, well that was the aim in the first place. 

PSG Civilian Employees with Defense Secretary Voltaire T Gazmin.

      Aside from the military officers, enlisted personnel and civilian employees of PSG, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former PSG officers and civilian employees who served President Cory Aquino's regime have also participated in the said event. For me and for the rest of the my co-civilian employees who don't usually have the chance to join a boodle fight, it was an experience to remember, a fun free day indeed which makes us look forward to another boodle fight. 

My Little Man's Treasures

     It all started with buying VCD's for our little boy. I remember the very first VCD we bought for him was Barney, a couple of it when he was one year old. He enjoys every episode of it, and was able to memorize every song Barney sang, even some lines from the show.  We also bought several Disney Movies, to name a few were A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, Toy Story, and Cars. Then came Dora, Diego, Spongebob, Backyardigans, and a lot lot more. Of course we also introduced him educational VCD's for kids his age where he later learned his ABC's and Numbers. But with all of the cartoon tv series, disney movies, and children's show that he has seen there is one character that caught his interest, it was Thomas the Tank Engine, the blue painted fictional steam locomotive with his running number 1 printed on his side. Of course every kid knows who Thomas is, all kids from different part of the world surely go locko with him, with the television series and  with the range of toys and railway characters they have in store. Parent's like me and my husband begin to like and enjoy Thomas since we know that Thomas cartoons is not just the usual cartoon series on tv, it does teach kids values and will never be showing violence and disturbing influence on kids.

     Thomas then became one of his favorite character of all the engines, he became a huge fan. Even me and my husband became a fan too. He has seen the Thomas series in VCD's so many times, watched it over and over again without even getting tired. At times i would ask him "anak di ka ba nagsasawa paulit ulit na lang yan?" he would answer me "hindi po. mama pagpunta natin sa sm bili mo'ko ng Thomas ha."  One time we went to the mall and bought him his very first Thomas train.

Joshua with his pullback engine's

James, Percy, and Thomas.

     Thomas pullback engine was his very first Thomas toy. A speedy little engine that you can pull backwards and watch them go. There were two other pullback engine, Percy and James. I guess the cheapest Thomas in store which only sells for 249 pesos if i remember it right. Well, we we're quite low on the budget that time so we weren't able to purchase the three, we only bought him the Thomas pullback so just to make him happy i guess. Later on when we had the money we then bought the other two that completed his adorable pullback engines, which of course made him a lot happier. 

     The next Thomas he had was a bigger Thomas, i don't exactly remember the name but it was a battery operated Thomas accompanied by a silly truck. The silly truck had four mini disc's containing eight musical tracks from Thomas cartoon series which u can play on Thomas since the engine was a mini cd player of some sort. 

     A few months before our son's second birthday, my husband and I planned to buy him another Thomas present. To lessen the guilt of buying a quite expensive toy for a 2 year old kid and since it was out of the budget we decided and initiated a piggy bank savings. We started saving every 5 and 10 peso coin we have everyday. Surprisingly after a couple of months we have already saved a thousand pesos, and just before his birthday we were able to buy him the Thomas Starter Set. The starter set includes of course the little blue tank engine Thomas with his two faithful coaches Annie and Clarabel whom Thomas loves dearly. The two coaches carry passengers for Thomas. The set also comes with a miniature tree, a miniature sign post or whatever they call it, and several pieces of blue track of varying shapes.

Joshua with his big engine 
Gordon.

     Another Thomas present came on his third birthday. Actually it was a money present from her Ninang Dang which was deposited in my bank account. Since it was a birthday present for my son and because a three year old kid won't have any idea what to do with a 500 peso bill, well then I decided to use it to buy him a Thomas toy. We went to a toy store at SM City Fairview and found one of the most popular characters in the railway series, locomotive number 4, the big engine Gordon. 
    

     After the pullback engines, the mini disc player Thomas, and the big engine Gordon, we've added a few more character engines from the Railway Series. He has James the number 5 Red Engine, Percy the number 6 Small engine, steam engine Donald, crane engine Harvey, diesel engines like Mavis and Salty, and super cute and adorable Bertie the bus. He also has the Talk 'N' Action Magic Rail Set which consists of 26 pieces of blue tracks, 6 magic interactive green track pieces, an easy to assemble tunnel, a battery operated Thomas with his faithful carriages Annie and Clarabel, a station house and 5 trees. I had to buy him a long rectangular plastic caboodle to store his Thomas toys. 

     Each Thomas became an addition to his toys to play with. But for our little boy, it's not just toys to play with but it became his little treasures. It was a little expensive yes, but  buying it doesn't mean that we intend to spoil our son with toys, definitely not. It's not like we purchase one every time we wan't to, we can't afford to buy that often. We only purchase when we have extra savings from our budget which only happen once in a blue moon i think. But all in all, what's important to us is not the idea of making it a some sort of collection, but to make our little boy happy having a variety of Thomas toys to play with.