I have not shared a sunset photo for some time now. The last I shared here was probably taken months ago before one of my evening classes. I glimpsed the sunset as I turned towards our village and decided to drive towards the nearest place where the view is still unimpeded. Here's the photo I was able to capture last week:
 |
| Sunset over Metro Manila |
-
I just want to share here the photos I took of the newly renovated spaces at NAIA Terminal 3. These include the eating/dining areas where one can also use as a waiting area prior to boarding their planes. There are more spaces now where you can squeeze in some work or perhaps chill while waiting for your flight. I took these months ago so now I assume there would be more eating options aside from what you will see in the photos.
-
I learned this morning that Ma Mon Luk, the old restaurant along Quezon Avenue that was famous (or to some, infamous) for their noodles. Mami as we commonly call the noodles with the soup is somewhat a comfort food to many people especially during the cold or wet seasons. "Masarap humigop ng sabaw at kumain ng mami pag tag-ulan." Sanitation and conditions of the interiors of the restaurant were cited in the various reports and write-ups circulating on the internet especially social media. There was even mention about the smell at the place.
I wrote about Ma Mon Luk a while back after we had lunch there one time we were in the area. I shared photos and mentioned how dated the place looked like. I, the wife and my daughter certainly didn't notice anything pungent or repulsing about the place. Was it perhaps partly because in our travels, we've tried similar restos or eateries in other countries? The only comment by our daughter was that it wasn't airconditioned. She certainly enjoyed her food and we went home with full stomachs. We didn't get sick though we shared the tales about their food to our amused daughter.
Did they offend someone? Was there a case of food poisoning? Were some entitled person, some self styled influencer decide to throw their weight around? Hopefully, this is indeed a temporary closure and the owners treats this as a challenge to upgrade and make their restaurant better in terms of their interiors and even service. As for the food? I think it should stay the way it is and how people remember it to be. It certainly is not your regular noodle house like the ramen shops that now dot the city. You go there for sentimental if not heritage reasons. You go there for the regular food that the place transforms into something remarkable.
-
"Monay" is a popular bread in the country. It has several if not so many variants including the size of the monay. It can be a small piece or a whole loaf that can be sliced like the regular bread used for sandwiches. You can buy the large monay loaves (usually sliced) in supermarkets, groceries or bakeries. The bread can be soft on the sweet side or it can be hard/firm and on the neutral side as breads go. I tried the monay to make a tuna melt sandwich for my daughter and the result was good.
 |
| Monay slices in the toaster oven with the usual tuna flakes and cheese slice. One slice has butter on it. |
 |
| The slices out of the oven and before I bring them together. |
 |
| Tuna melt sandwich for breakfast and baon. |
I got the monay loaf from a bakery near the site of a project we are working on somewhere in Balintawak. I like checking out the local tinapayan (bakery) wherever I go; when it is possible.
-
I previously posted about my tennis rackets - a Wilson Pro Staff and a Wilson Sledge Hammer. This time I thought I will write about my badminton rackets. I've been into racket sports since the late 1980s. I learned to play badminton, the street variety that had no nets before I learned to play tennis. I learned to play tennis before I pingpong despite a close buddy who played good pingpong when we were in high school. Tennis I learned from my father and his friends and as one of my PE's at university. But badminton was easy to learn as a recreational sport you played in the streets of our village in the 1980s. One of my cousins taught me to hit the shuttlecock then but it was later in the early 2000's when I started playing more seriously but more for health and wellness than to compete. Here are my badminton rackets that I still use from time to time though not as frequent as before.
 |
| My two remaining rackets - a Yonex Muscle Power 80 and a Wilson Hyper Carbon 4.0 |
 |
| Yonex Muscle Power 80 |
 |
| Wilson Hyper Carbon 4.0 |
I used to have a third racket, a Prince, but that has been lost many years ago. It already had a damaged frame owing to a collision of rackets in one doubles match we were playing. It finally broke and I disposed of the racket.
-
We used to play a lot of table tennis many years back. I have two table tennis rackets or paddles - one I used when playing and another on reserve that I got as an alternate but never got to play with. The one I used when playing, which is at my office, is a Friendship paddle. The reserve is from DHS or Double Happiness. I was introduced to these brands even before I got the pingpong bug during my grad school days. That was in high school when a close friend of mine was a table tennis varsity player for our school and showed me his preferred rubbers for his customized paddles.
 |
| Mint Double Happiness paddle inside the box and still sealed. I bought this from Chris Sports many years ago. Check out the price tag! |
 |
| Back of the box describing the paddle specs. I think this is somewhere in the middle in as far as specs go. |
 |
| Still sealed and good as new! |
-
Our daughter has taken to having sandwiches for breakfast or lunch. It's a good way for her to have a full meal (with juice or milk) before going to school or while at school. It's not messy and doesn't need utensils for eating. S
 |
| While it would be nice to have some multigrain bread, I often use the milk bread from Fuwa fuwa. I also use pandesal for these sandwiches. I also usually use cheddar slides you can easily get from the supermarket. You can use two slices for each piece of bread or perhaps use other cheese for a more tasteful sandwich. |
 |
| Open a can of tuna. I use flakes in oil or flakes in olive oil but you can also use the ones in brine or water. Just make sure they are in flakes form. I use salted butter but you can also use unsalted butter. I have never used margarine. |
 |
| Spread the butter on one slice. You can be generous with the butter so it will have an impact on the taste of the sandwich. It blends well with the tuna and cheese. |
 |
| Put the tuna flakes on top of the cheese. You can be generous with the tuna if you have enough. I am usually generous with the tuna for daughter's or my sandwiches. Another option is to cook the tuna a little before putting it on the bread. |
 |
| I use an oven toaster though you can use a sandwich maker if you have one. I usually pre-heat the oven toaster so its already hot inside when I place the slices. |
 |
| Set the oven toaster to medium so the toasting will be more gradual. That's so you don't burn the bread. My daughter likes it that way but if it were just me I permit some more brown especially on white bread. |
 |
| Toast until the bread is a little crispy. Don't let them be burned. By the time, the tuna would be cooked enough. The butter and cheese would have melted before this. |
 |
| Just flip them over and slice into two before serving. Our daughter likes it sliced into two triangles. |
-
One of the things I did while I was in Japan was cook or prepare food. Breakfasts are usually oatmeal or a "silog" meal that consists of fried egg, rice and whatever I can substitute for tapa, hotdog or longganisa. Fortunately, there are many sausages and other cuts I could get from the local deli or the supermarket near my place. Sometimes, I am able to get some hotdogs from shops selling Filipino goods in Tokyo (Ueno/Okachimachi area) or Yokohama. Or hotdogs from a store selling imported goods in Yokohama. Once a year though, I could get hotdogs from the church bazaar as the Americans in our congregation are able to procure hotdogs and burgers from the commissary the US Naval Base in Yokosuka.
We usually grilled or fried hotdogs. I actually prefer the grilled ones and our American friends at the church bazaar in Yamate had this huge set-up for the burgers and hotdogs that were very popular then. A Japanese friend taught me an alternative way of cooking hotdogs. You first boil the hotdogs. Once practically cooked, you can put them in the oven toaster for the final touches including having the skin crispy as if it were fried.
 |
| After boiling the hotdogs, place them inside the over toaster |
 |
| Here's the final product |
-
We currently have three big dogs after our golden Mocha passed away almost two years ago and another a few months back. Two were Mocha's pups - Hiccup and Snowy. Snowy (born 2020) is a year older than Hiccup (born 2021). With the recent rainy days, we welcomed the break in the wet weather and took advantage by doing the laundry and also bathing our dogs.
 |
| Hiccup taking his bath quite seriously. He doesn't struggle and just stands as we shampoo, rinse and dry him. |
 |
| Hiccup is usually very malikot but when you give him a bath, he is relaxed. Still, we usually use a leash because if he thinks he's done, he will run away and then roll over the floor or the garden. |
 |
| Snowy doesn't require a leash as he is usually chill before, during and after his bath. He will patiently stand while being toweled to dry. |
 |
| After being towel-dried, we usually let our dogs enjoy the sun before letting them back in the house. |
-
A couple of weeks ago, a friend who was home for a break from his studies abroad passed by my office and gifted me with some of the most delicious pastries I've tasted. These were from Ijo Bakery, which is in Lipa City, Batangas. My friend is from that province and certainly knows my favorites. My only regret was we couldn't have at least some coffee or have a chat while he was here.
Here are some photos of the goodies we enjoyed:
You can Google Ijo Bakery to find out what these are specifically. I read that they opened their first Metro Manila branch but its in Alabang.
-
