uGoGirlFriday

I quoted the title from Marcella Hazan. I agree. As Julia Child put it, “Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music.” The best part about cooking, unlike other type of arts, is that you get to eat it!

I have talked to several chefs and experienced cooks. And whenever I ask them what their secret is, they usually say, “Make sure that when you cook, you do it wholeheartedly. Because how you’re feeling while you’re preparing the food often reflects in your cooked dish.” Well, that, and Laiko Bahrs, “When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste.”

Also, it’s always a plus to have a great cooking instructor and to enroll in a culinary school like http://www.wci.edu/.

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It’s almost the Holy Week. I don’t know how most of you spend your Holy Week, but for me, Holy Week generally means hiatus from everything and anything (clear your mind, pamper yourself, meditate, etc.).

For this year though, I might go with my brother and his girlfriend (I know, I’m the third wheel, so might as well invite more friends) on one of those luxury vacations being advertised online. Or perhaps we can go on a five day cruise. Who knows? We just need some time off. That’s it.

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I love Sex and the City. It’s about four chic female New Yorkers who gossip about their sex-lives (or lack thereof) and find new ways to deal with being a woman in the 90′’s. Though I’ve missed a few episodes, I made sure I’ve watched all the best ones. What I love best about this TV-Series is the way it featured New York. In fact, it made New York so alluring that I simply just have to personally check out the 50 most memorable locations visited by Carrie and her friends. Since I’ve never been there, I decided to browse the net for a sightseeing tour. I like the packages being offered in New York City Tours. Especially since they do not only provide tours in motorcoaches and new double-decker buses, they also offer NY harbor cruises and helicopter rides around Manhattan. Imagine that!

To cap it off, they actually have a “Sex & The City Hot Spots” Tour! I almost fainted when I saw this.

The tour, which only costs 38 USD, includes over 40 locations. Also, you get to sit on Carrie’s apartment stoop, shop at The Pleasure Chest, go on location to the gallery in SoHo where Charlotte worked, and probably even visit Prada and Manolo Blahnik! Hmmm… I wonder if the tour also includes places like Madison Square, Staten Island Ferry, Boathouse Central Park, Fountain at Columbus Circle, Chelsea Piers, Church of the Holy Trinity and Nell’s? I’ll give them a ring later. Oh, in case you’re interested, online customers receive $5 off per ticket. 0;)

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Since I graduated college, I have been planning on taking up a graduate course. At first, I thought of taking International Studies so I can become an ambassador. I get to travel (pursue my passion), represent my country, and help people all at the same time. How cool can a job get?

Then again, I’m not a people-person. So I opted for Law. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough savings to afford being a full-time student – this is highly recommended for students taking up law. So I postponed it.

Then I came across some colleges’ online portfolio like Gibbsri.com wherein students can utilize financial aids… It triggered me to another alternative. Why not apply online for a scholarship abroad? That way, I get to travel and meet new people while enhancing and updating my knowledge! Yep, I definitely ought to start applying.

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Taking advantage of the remnants of summer days, my friends – Joedel, Dulce, Jef – and I decided to go to an impromptu overnight in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines last June 9. It was really a dubious last minute decision because we were supposed to go on a road trip to Subic. But due to a series of unfortunate events (e.g. the car we’re supposed to bring wasn’t in A1 condition, the hotel we’re supposed to stay in Subic was overpriced, etc.) Joedel and I resorted to browsing the net for decent beach resorts. We ended up hesitantly choosing Punta Riviera Resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan. All four of us have never been to Bolinao. And it took us one non-air conditioned bus from Tarlac to Alaminos, a mini non-air conditioned bumpy bus ride from Alaminos to Bolinao, and a long tricycle ride from Bolinao bus station (totaling to around 5 hours) just to reach our final destination - Punta Riviera. The car not being in A1 condition was a blessing, really. It would have cost us a lot of stress and miscalculated turns, and made us cough up a lot of gasoline money to go there. Upon arrival at the resort, our jaws went hanging open in awe. It was paradise.

What made it even more enchanting is that we were the only customers at that time (It was a Friday and we were on leave so as to avoid the three-day weekend crowd – Monday was declared a holiday). It’s as if there was this mystical Hand that had the entire resort reserved just for us. We were treated like royalty.

We had all the staff at our beck and call – literally.

We checked in at Cabana 10, had lunch, rested for a bit, and then dived into the wondrous dam-like structured pool. Yep, we preferred the pool to the beach. For some reason, the beach was not that captivating. Nevertheless, the pool and the resort’s serenely carefree ambiance more than made up for it. We planned to go island-hopping. After all, the Hundred Islands IS in Pangasinan. But because it will take too much time to go to the port and we only had several hours to spend on the resort, we decided to take a different tour package – the cave and lighthouse tour. We went to the Enchanted Cave, Wonderful Cave, Cindy’s Cave, Cape Bolinao Lighthouse (built by US, 1903), and Boracay of the North Patar White Sands Beach.Similar to Punta Riviera, we had each tourist spot all to ourselves. We took several pictures in each of the four latter destinations and savored the picturesque view of our last destination – a glorious sunset in Boracay of the North Patar White Sands Beach. The sand-grain was really white and it felt gratifying to walk barefoot on it. After several poses – from candid to seductive, we reluctantly headed back to the resort. We rested for a while, had dinner, then languorously swam in the pool while sharing nonchalant stories and enjoying the evening beach view. We had a round of drinks before exhaustion fully took over and made us retreat to our cabana. Next stop… Subic! ^_^

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A friend of mine told me the story of her cousin who seems to like traveling. Her cousin named Victor would spend each day walking and roaming the streets of each and every town in their small municipality. It is not known if it was because of personal preference or just out of habit, but it did start in a rather unexpected way.

You see, Jose was a drug addict. But before that, he was at the top of his class. He was a valedictorian since grade one, a student leader, and belonged to a family of achievers. It was said that when he was in college, he was unknowingly and consistently drugged by one of his fellow students. He got addicted without meaning to. His family brought him to various drug treatment centers, to no avail. Now all he does is walk, walk and walk.

Maybe he enjoys traveling. I sure hope so.

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I went to Bulacan last March 4 to get away from my usual house-office routine. I spent two nights and two days at my friend’s house – specifically, in a small, comfortable, modern hut in their garden – to experience a relaxing provincial life. We went swimming, hiking, trekking, biking, duck egg-gathering, and pond-fishing. It was my first time to go fishing. And I was really proud to have caught two Tilapia. I had an easy time catching the first one – I chalked it up as beginner’s luck. The second one was the tough one. It took me around 20 to 30 minutes (considering that it IS just a pond) just to catch it. The second fish I caught was what I deemed as my prized Tilapia because it was a painstaking effort for me to wait for it to bite off my poor, helpless worm-bait. My prized Tilapia was also the one that reminded me of the importance of patience and the priceless reward/s you get out of practicing it. During the 20 to 30-minute wait, I had several attacks of what-the-hell-am-I-stupidly-waiting-for-when-I-can-easily-buy-a-bigger-one-in-the-market. It was a tough battle I almost lost.

“The one great ingredient in successful fly-fishing is patience. The man whose fly is always on the water has the best chance. There is always a chance of a fish or two, no matter how hopeless it looks. You never know what may happen in fly-fishing.”

- Francis Francis

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Whenever I have free time, one of the things I love doing is watching the television. Since childhood, I have learned the fact that this activity can be quite productive (contrary to what a small percentage of the population think). It is possible to learn a lot from just sitting or lying down and staring at the television.

For example, today I learned how interesting it is to have a Miami wedding in a beach. I was watching this show called “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway”, in Entertainment Channel (I think). They featured this couple who particularly wanted a wedding on a beach in Miami. So they hired a wedding coordinator, who first asked them if they have a particular beach in mind. This was a hard question because there really are a lot of beautiful beaches in Miami, and they had shared beautiful memories in most of them. I pondered on that question so much that I decide to do a research on “Miami Weddings”. One neat website I found was http://miami.1weddingsource.com. They even have articles on wedding ceremony locations, which included contact information so you can ask around for the best offer there is. This, I learned as very important to consider in planning a wedding.

At the end of the show, the couple had their dream wedding (so they say), and I learned more about weddings…and all because I watched TV!

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