The Ones Among My Children's Book Idols

This is why I missed last night's company Christmas party...

Award-winning children's book illustrator Hubert Fucio (Si Pagong at si Matsing, Hinlalaki) and multi-awarded children's book author and TV writer Augie Rivera (Alamat ng Ampalaya, Magnificent Benito and His Two Front Teeth, Xilef, Batibot, Art Angel) came by in my MA class to talk about their work and the children's book industry.

I brought my own copies of their books to have them signed.

The first Augie Rivera book I ever read was Xilef and I was blown away by how dyslexia was shown in a children's book.  The most recent books I read that were authored by him were Alamat ng Ampalaya and Lihim ni Lea, an incredibly brave account of incest.  I particularly enjoyed listening to his stories on working in children's TV shows like the original Batibot under the Rene Villanueva.

 Hubert Fucio brought the original illustrations of Si Pagong at Si Matsing and I was struck by his attention to detail.

 

Weee!  Sooo happy! :)

 

Weekend Tidbits II

The recent weekend saw us spending a lovely staycation in the Makati area.  Some of the weekend's highlights included gorging on our favorite Greek gyro and mashed feta dip and witnessing the light and music show at the Ayala Triangle Garden.

I hope your weekend went just as lovely.  Here's to wonderful week ahead! :)

The One About My Craft Loot

Last week, I found some pocket of time to visit my favorite craft supply store downtown.  I was just about to go crazy with all the lovely supplies and the craft ideas that were starting to form in my mind when I told myself to practice some restraint and just buy the essentials.

Clockwise from left:  1. I just mentioned buying the essentials and now I'm starting with an impulse buy!  Haha!  I spotted this big paper crimper and I just couldn't resist!  No more folding paper just so it'll fit in my small crimper!  2.  Watching all those Martha Stewart shows have made me long for an X-Acto knife.  Glad to have found it finally!  3.  This has been another quest for me.  I have been searching through sewing suppliers for a rotary cutter that cuts through fabric in vain.  Now I can cut straight and non-straight lines with (almost) 100% precision!  4.  Now, I just realized I didn't find this in my downtown craft store.  I stumbled upon this set of Crayola Fabric Crayons when I went to Bulacan for work last week.  5.  Now back to my downtown craft store.  I got a set of fabric markers in basic colors.  If I had enough moolah, I would have bought all the shades!

I can't think of a way to insert this in this post but...

...I wanted to show how small my old paper crimper was so you can understand (and also so I can justify impulsively buying it!) how ecstatic I am now that I have a biggie!  You may remember that I used my baby crimper here.

I can't wait to start using them!  Till next time, lovelies!  

Weekend Tidbits

Happy midweek, lovelies!  Here's a (late) post on how my weekend was.  Hon-some and I, along with my parents, drove all the way to the PICC Forum for the 45th International Bazaar 2011.  My mom and I literally went through all the stalls!  Here are some of the stuff I got:

I didn't get to find this dried cuttlefish on our trip to Hong Kong last August.  I was delighted to find it in the bazaar.  The small pack contains some barbecued chicken patties which I got at the Singapore booth.  Perfect as Hon-some's baon to the office.  Too yucky to take pictures of because I had already placed them in the freezer, I also bought packs of Hungarian and Kielbasa sausages.  I'm thinking penne pasta right now...

I also got this four-pack of Bundaberg Lemon Ale.  I had my first bottle at Marcia Adams.

  

I got this soothing pack from a stall which was incidentally owned by a parent from my former workplace, The Learning Connection.  I have yet to try it but it appears to be great.  You microwave it for 2-3 minutes and it just soothes your sore muscles and aching shoulders.  It can also be frozen to be used for fever and burns.

I looked at all my purchases and I thought, "Loads of food stuff and a soothing pack?!?!"  No clothes, no pairs of shoes, no bags.  I'm such a wife...

After the bazaar, we went to Kanin Club for dinner.  We totally heart the Seafood Kare-Kare there so much that it's a staple every time we order.  In fact, it's become like a utensil.  We have our spoon, our fork, our knife, and our Seafood Kare-Kare.  :)

 

We also had to try their Crispy Pata.  The prawn crackers reminded me of Kuya Germs (teehee!).

I hope your weekend was just as fun.  Enjoy the rest of the week, lovelies! :)

The One That Was the Weekend

How was your long weekend, lovelies?  Ours was very laidback but eventful just the same.  On one of those days, Hon-some wanted to avoid going to the malls and suggested we go to this secondhand goods store (ukay-ukay) nearby.  He and I have been wanting to go there for the longest time especially every time we pass by the store and all of the parking slots are filled up no matter what time of day it is.  Well, we found our chance (and a good parking slot) last weekend and all I could think of was, "Why did we wait this long before going here?"

You see, the place isn't your typical ukay-ukay.  Sure, it has clothes, shoes, and bags but it has also got cool toys and boardgames, Little Tikes play equipment, fishing rods, dinnerware, kitchen appliances, home decors -- all sourced from the USA.  You will unearth some good finds, believe me.  Take a look...

 

 

 

I was browsing through their book collection without really meaning to buy anything.  You see, I'm on a book-buying ban.  I've been buying books left and right for some time now and my "To Read" list is really piling up.  But when I saw this book, I just couldn't resist.  For starters, I don't come across a lot of really good teacher resource books on mathematics plus...

 

 

 

 

...when I saw these at the back of the book, I knew I had to get it.  And at PhP80 (about $1.80), I just couldn't let it go.

 

 

I also found this Picture Lotto game for the same price.  The store had this entire wall of board games.

When I opened the box, I noticed there were only three lotto cards but all six double-sided boards were complete.  I figured I'd just scan the boards, cut the pictures up, use Mod Podge to stick them onto tagboards and then I've got lotto cards!

But these...these are the best finds I got....

 

 

 

SEWING PATTERNS!!!!!

 

 

 

I just couldn't believe my luck!  I've been lusting over these for years now because they aren't available where I live and I just found a box full of these patterns at only PhP50 ($1.16) each!  I got patterns for baby clothes.

Women's clothes patterns

I don't really make plush toys but these are just too cute to pass up!

Up to this day, I still look at my sewing patterns lovingly.  Hahaha!  Anyway, Hon-some and I knew that for most people, long weekends are equal to out-of-town escapades.  But we're trendy (haha!) so we do staycations.  Still feeling thrift-store high, we went to Binondo (Chinatown) that night for dinner.  Travel and parking were heavensent!!!  We ate at this place we have been missing for so long...

Looks familiar, TLC peeps?

Unbelievably tasty porkchops (and noodles) at Tasty Dumplings!!!  Hon-some and I couldn't stop saying "Na-miss ko 'to" as we wolfed down our meal.  The porkchops still does cartwheels in our dreams. :)

It's my mom's birthday today so, as an early birthday gift, I treated her and the rest of my family to dinner at Pino along Maginhawa Street in UP Village.  We ordered the pica-pica platter which had wasabi onion rings, tofu balls with cream cheese filling, lemongrass skewers, fries, calamari, and longganiza-topped nachos.  We also ordered this tasty green salad (I forget the name), Kare-Kareng Bagnet (whose bagoong just melted beautifully into the peanut sauce) and Red Wine Adobong Tadyang.  Everything tasted great...so great that I forgot to take pictures!  Hahaha!

Anyhoo, to end this post, my long weekend ended with my brother giving me my holiday gift early...

 

 

 

Here's to an even longer reading list!!!

Enjoy the rest of the week, lovelies!

The One About the Halloween Broomsticks Loot

You cannot imagine how long I have waited to post "got crafty" on my Facebook wall on which this post is linked from!  As I have mentioned several blog posts ago, life got in the way of crafting.  Right now I'm tickled pink that I'm starting to find my crafty groove back!

My craft comeback post begins with the Halloween Trick-Or-Treat that took place just last Saturday in our village.  Children from the village dressed up in their Halloween garb and went trick-or-treating from one house to another.  Here are Hon-some's niece and nephews:

  

Off they go!

 

Trick-or-treaters come by...

Meanwhile, I got busy making loot bags for Hon-some's niece and nephews.  Got the idea from Mareng Martha.  I made broomsticks loot bags!

 

I placed candies and treats in a plastic bag and put the whole thing in a paper bag.

Then I got another paper bag and cut all four sides into strips.  I left the base intact and placed the candy-filled paper bag on it.

 

Another angle

 

I placed a branch inside the paper bag then gathered up all the strips.  I tied all the strips together using a black ribbon.

Then I cut out pumpkin-shaped tags from orange tagboard.

Not bad, huh?  It was Hon-some's first time to actually see me crafting (he just used to see all the finished crafts) and he was wowed!  Hahaha!  Happy halloween!!!

The One Who's Big on Buffets

I remember going to Yakimix with my family some months ago.  We were invited by my Tita Edna and we were really a large group...of eaters!  Anyway, the following photos are what I devoured.  I guess by now you know how I can really rock buffets. :)

  

 Hot and sour soup

Fruits

Japanese sushi and sashimi

Got these from the grill selections...

...and grilled away!

Hot selections

Got these from the dessert selections.  Not really a big fan of sweets but I know bad dessert when I taste one.  Blech!

Tuesday is moving too slow, if I may say so myself.  Still, I hope yours is going remarkably well, lovelies.

The One About Food and More Food

I'm still alive!  It's been almost a month since my last post.  I was preparing for my final thesis defense in my MA program and had to eliminate as much other activities as I could.  Sadly, that included blogging and crafting (but not Facebook-ing!!!  Hahaha!). Now that it's all over (I passed!) - well, not entirely as I still have revisions to worry about - life seems to be settling into the same old tune it used to sing.  Yes, I'm about to start crafting again.  I've been hoarding craft stuff all this time, counting the days when I can finally get my hands dirty, burnt, and scathed once again.

Until I finish my craft projects, I shall be bombarding this blog with several overdue food posts.  I may not have had as much time for crafts but when nourishment (and an overload of it) comes a-calling, I'm so there.

Some months ago, Hon-some and I and my in-laws went to Chelsea Market at Serendra.  The food was hefty, great-tasting, and just superb.  Some morsels of the pasta have settled into my waistline -- even to this day.

Complimentary foccacia with Italian bread dip

I forget the name of the dish.  It's tempura-ish.  There's asparagus, capers, and lemon slices.

That was one mean meatball on top of that mound of pasta!

Burger with blue cheese and bacon with a side of potato wedges. (Don't worry, Burger Project, you're still my favorite!)

Again, I forget the name of the dish but this tasted like chicken.  (Hehehe...)

It feels great to be blogging again!  Till next time! :)

The One About Jazzy and TLC

About nine years ago when I decided to enter the job force in ballet flats, toilet-train tots instead of training corporate urbanites, build a playlist of nursery rhymes, and think of 101 ways to teach the letter "S," I found myself ringing the doorbell of a newly-built preschool, calming my nerves for my first-ever teaching demo.


I had prepared a lesson on "Circles" as was discussed previously with the school program coordinators.  I had never taught preschool and was still a bit shaky when I introduced myself to a bunch of three-year-olds.  Their animated responses put my nervous soul into a relaxed state, only to be revived again when I saw the program coordinator grinning at the back of the class and saying, "Oops, the theme is about 'Circus,' not 'Circles!'"  Hahaha!  I didn't even realize it even as the teacher was reading a story on clowns.  I remember thinking, "Well, clowns have circles on them so my lesson is still on the mark!"  Thankfully, I got accepted in spite of that booboo and that anecdote remains to be one of my favorites to tell after all these years.


That began my four-year love affair with The Learning Connection (TLC) Preschool.  As much as I had learned so many things from the other schools I taught in after leaving TLC, I always say I had the most fun there.  The school espouses the progressive approach to teaching so the students there are generally engaged, active, and happy.  One of whom is Jazzy...

 

TLC has just begun to celebrate their graduates.  Click on Jazzy to see how much she has grown and how TLC has been of great help in her development.  Every tab of her profile shows just how much TLC has helped her grow in an environment where "learning and fun become one!"

The Learning Connection Preschool is located at 182 Pilar Street, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines.  You can reach them at 7252300 or 7252400.  I'm linking their sites here and here.

Picture-Perfect Thursday: Quotes that Get You Going

As the week winds down to a close, here are some inspirational nuggets to keep our spirits going...

 

(Oooohhh, I want this for a nursery!)

Have a good one, lovelies. :)

All images from Pinterest