Eat.Pray.Love.

Nope, I haven’t really read the book yet. So this is not a review. It’s more of a “I-kinda-watched-the-movie-last-night-and-caught-a-portion-of-it-when-I-was-awake-and-I’d-like-to-say-something-about-it” kind of post.

Truth to tell, I was on-again-off-again asleep-awake throughout the entire movie. One part did catch my attention. It was when Delia brought Liz to the airport (this was when Liz was leaving for her Italy-India-Bali year long journey. I tried to look online for the exact words of Delia, but I couldn’t find the final screenplay.

This was their dialogue:

Liz:  You know what’s funny? This is the first time in my life there’s no one waiting at home for me. I don’t even have a home to come back to.


Delia: Oh, God. You’ll make friends. You’ll make friends with a backpack, of course. It’d be great to get away. Andy and I were talking about getting a little villa in Florence for a month, some time. you know, and in 10 years, when Jack is older…


Liz: What?


Delia: You know why i was giving you such a hard time? I love my job, my guy and my kid, but I wish I could go!

As women, there is so much expected of us! To cook (only when I get my kitchen will I cook.), to have children, to take care and raise them well, to love our partners, to keep the house and home, to, perhaps, augment the family income,  are only a few of the things that we women need to be doing.

As I’ve said before, you kinda put your life on hold when you become a mother (at least for me). Some moms choose to be SAHMs, some working moms choose their assignments (try to avoid trips that take them away from baby), some even choose to take less hours at work than a full day.

That line of Delia above struck me. Because my guy let me go on a major “alone” time last summer. He let me go off to visit my BFF in Vancouver, and I was away for nearly two and a half weeks! Bliss, I tell you! I missed them a lot, I wished that they could have seen what I had seen. But always, the break was a wonderful time to recharge.

And I totally love S for letting me do this. He understands that for me to grow, he has to let go a bit, and that with trust and faith, I will, without a doubt, return. He’s a wonderful guy, S is. Thank you, honey, for letting me grow with you. I love you!

The Best Meal we had in that part of 中国

…was along this night market street.

Of course, before everything else, we *had* to have 奶茶, which is certainly creamier than what we get in Manila!

We joined the (seemingly) millions of Chinese (well, maybe a few hundreds only. It just felt like there were so many of them! Imagine Megamall on a Sunday!) shopping and eating. Here were our finds.
We stopped at this shawarma place (of course, I realize now that the shawarma can’t be seen. Olats.) which had chicken shawarma, Chinese style. The roll had cabbage, and the wrap was different…not as thick and it went around several times.

This is what was left of it because I forgot to take a picture. We were starving.

Right beside that, there was a lady who made noodles (we skipped her) and one who grilled veggies and meat. AMAZING!

We got eggplant (I’m tempted to say aubergines because they look sooooo good!), fresh shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, chicken, mutton. Ay, ang sarap.
Here are the happy campers.

Somewhere along the way, we found this scallion pancake. There are no words to describe how good!! This picture does no justice.

There were candied fruits too, but we didn’t try them. They looked so pretty so I had to take a picture!

Certainly one night to remember!!

Beijing Part 2: Inside the Forbidden City

After walking what felt like hours in this place, I know now why it’s called the Forbidden City. It was so huge, it forbids people to from wanting to walk to see the emperor. LOL!

I actually forgot to put sunscreen on the neck so I had a huge ring around my chest, where my shirt’s collar was. Hahaha!

Beijing (Part 1) Subtitled: Exploring the Land of My Forefathers

I am Filipino by birth and Chinese by heritage. When a Singaporean friend ask me several years back what I would say if someone asked me if I were Chinese or Filipino, what would I say? I automatically said, “Filipino”. She said that she would, in the same vein, say “Singaporean”. (She’s Chinese by heritage as well.)

On the one hand, we, who are “not exactly” Pinoy and “not exactly” Chinese, have been blessed to have both worlds. On the other hand, it is also difficult because I have personally experienced being called “different” by other Pinoys.

10th year symbol is aluminum

Everyone knows HK is both a food and a shopping haven.  So everytime we go (sounds like a lot, but it’s not, really), S makes a list of “must buy” items.  (Yes, between the both of us, he’s the shopper.  Mana sa nanay.)

This trip, his (practically) only “must buy” item was a laptop.  And after the first day, it was a toss up between a Sony Vaio and a MacBook (the newer one, of course, the one that’s made of aluminum).

Guess who…

…sneaked off last weekend??