All posts in category Home

About my mama, daddy and the nutty bunch aka my barkada.

Holiday Break 2011

This is my first post for the year and I’d like to talk about the last week of 2011.

I’m still hungover from my loooong vacation in Bataan. I spent 9 days with my family and that length is already a huge deal for me because I don’t get to be home every month.

My Christmas break was spent eating (a lot), sleeping (a lot), joking with my parents, visiting the beach with my cousins, reading The Power by Rhonda Byrne, and thanking God for the numerous blessings He has been showering me and my loved ones.

Here are some of the pictures from my simple yet meaningful stay in Morong from December 24 to January 2.

The Nuestra Señora del Pilar church of Poblacion, Morong, Bataan. This is where we went for mass on Christmas Eve and New Year’s morn.

Elmer, Ate Bel, Therese and I in front of the belen. Yes, eh baket? sa gusto naming mag-pose sa harap. 😛

With Father Gerry Jorge, parish priest. He spearheaded the Angel Tree Project with the goal of giving gift baskets to the 100 less fortunate families of our town.

With my goddaughter/niece Reese and her brother Sean. They visited me Christmas morning. The traditional “pangluluhod” aka aguinaldo time.

My cousin Gerald celebrated his 19th birthday the day before Christmas. I loved the pansit bihon and barbecue. I also got one of the flowers from the cake. Hehehe.

After eating, we watched Praybeyt Benjamin. Naglabas ng projector at screen si Gerald. Ayos, di’ba? :p

Daddy celebrated his 62nd birthday on the 29th. Thank you God for giving me a pogi, loving and superkind Daddy.

After lunch, we watched Enteng ng Ina Mo because it’s our yearly tradition to watch at least one MMFF entry. Then we went to the newly opened SM Olongapo and the jampacked Royal Duty Free.

Media Noche consisted of spicy tuna pasta, 14 fruits, red wine, ham, special macaroni soup, veggie stirfry, rice, lotus cream buchi, sapin-sapin, suman and bread with balsamic vinegar. And also our new favorite dulce de leche ice cream. Busog!!!

I went back to Manila carrying lots of pictures and happy memories from my Christmas vacation. =)

Happy New Year! I wish all your prayers get answered this year!

—–

listening to: Rock Sugar – Shook Me Like a Prayer

5 Comments
by Iya Santos on January 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Events, Home, Travel
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on January 6, 2012

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/holiday_break_2011/

Last Post for 2011

Been busy having a buhay-baboy time here in Bataan. :p My Christmas was simple and happy. I hope yours was also filled with joy. We celebrated Daddy’s 62nd birthday the other day and I just feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Actually, I’m just taking a break from preparing media noche to update this blog. So, okay. I have to go back to cooking my veggie stirfry.

Happy 2012! Cheers to a more fantastic year!

Will post holiday pics mid next week. 🙂

*We exceeded 12 fruits this time, hahaha and we also have torotot! Mwehehe!

—–

listening to: The Jose and Wally Show Starring Vic Sotto

2 Comments
by Iya Santos on December 31, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Events, Home
Tagged ,

Posted by Iya Santos on December 31, 2011

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/last-2011-post/

Happy First Weekend of October 2011

Last weekend was one of the best times I’ve ever spent home. =)

—–

These are 3 of my most favorite things. These kept me company in the almost 5-hour trip to Bataan.

The Ilocos Chichacorn is not so salty and popped just right. To all my friends vacationing in Ilocos, yes, this is the pasalubong I expect you to buy for me. Damihan niyo ha.

Three Musketeers is my all time favorite chocolate. I know it’s very sweet, but I rarely get to eat it so I dismiss its sugar and calorie content each time I gobble it up.

Sweet Valley High is my uber-fantasy of choice. I know some of you are puking right now, but i’m just gonna shrug it off. I love the predictable couple Todd and Elizabeth. And in my head, Liz did not end up with Bruce and Todd with Jessica.

—–

I love Sunday comics. Mama loves fruits. She bought a copy of Philippine Star and I bought her favorites lanzones and grapes.

Dennis the Menace is the cutest! I also like the grumpy Mr. Wilson. Mama can finish a kilo of lanzones and half a kilo of grapes in one sitting. I managed to eat 3 of the former and 5 of the latter. I’m not a fan of these fruits but I like it each time my Mama smiles when she sees me pop these healthy treats. :p

—–

I was very hungry and I told my mom I wanted breakfast. I was surprised to see my Daddy in the kitchen cooking. Seryosong-seryoso ang expression, parang nasa Iron Chef. I went to the living room to watch the morning news and after 5 minutes, he presented this plate for me– his baby girl!

My very own breakfast HAPPY MEAL! I love my Dada! 🙂

—–

I’m a very blessed girl. I may not be rich in the material sense but my life is overflowing with love, given and received. 🙂

—–

listening to: Bruno mars – Just The Way You Are (Actually, si Billy. Nagvivideoke hehehe)

5 Comments
by Iya Santos on October 7, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in All About Me, Books, Food and Drinks, Home

Posted by Iya Santos on October 7, 2011

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/happy_firstweek_oct_2011/

Belated Happy Easter!

I went home to Bataan for the Holy Week break. The night before I did, the s.o. of one of my colleagues gave us a basketful of Easter treats.

Thanks Tim for the chocolate eggs, jelly beans and mallow chicks!

It’s true. There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.

—–

Good Friday was just spent at home. I finished reading American Gods and started with My Daily Bread. I also stuffed my face with home cooked food and sari-sari store-bought junk.

We grilled some eggplant, fish, squid and porkchop. We also had some burong mangga and freshly picked indian mangoes.

Peanuts, candied beans, chocnut and ube-langka candies for merienda.

I have no right to get pissed for gaining 3lbs over the break.

—–

Went to Mafi’s afternoon of Black Saturday. I will always be thankful that we live so close to the beach.

Despite the sad things going through my mind, I was happy and carefree that moment. Obvious naman sa picture, di’ba? Hehehe.

Eto pa. vanity shot naman.

—–

Had to go back to Manila right after Easter mass and lunch.

My bunnykids (Joko and Kwe) and I changed our profile pics in fb to our Happy Bunny pic of choice.

This is what I chose:

This was in line with my week-long LSS of Daft Punk’s Digital Love.

—–

But wait, there’s more! (lol how unoriginal) I found out from our parish priest that Pope John Paul II held mass at the Vietnamese refugee camp in our town 30 years ago. How cool is that? 🙂

A shrine for him will be inaugurated on May 2 at the former Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) – now Bataan Technology Park, Inc. (BTPI).

And with that, let me end my Easter 2011 post with a quote from the soon to be beatified Pope.

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”
~ Pope John Paul II

BELATED HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

—–

listening to: The National – So far Around the Bend

6 Comments
by Iya Santos on April 25, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Home, Places, Travel
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on April 25, 2011

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/easter2011/

Greetings from Bataan

I haven’t been blogging ‘coz I’ve been busy spending time with my family. So far, this is the longest vacay (9 days!!!)  I’ve had and the most fun, too. 🙂

What have I been doing? Of course, what an ordinary vacationing hardworking girl does! Eat, hang, sleep, repeat! :p

Here are some pics from my Bataan vacay.

after the Christmas Eve mass with my cousins

after Noche Buena with cousins, tito and tita and lola

with my favorite cousins Ate Bel and Mafi =)

with my inaanak/pamangkin Breng

Christmas afternoon! Beach with my little cousins! Yipee!

an Absolut cheers to an awesome Christmas

Bataan Christmas sunset

dramang Tabing Ilog sa may Canauan

Fun times!!!

hanging at the hanging bridge

Daddy’s 61st birthday lunch @ Max’s

 

Daddy and Mama doing the wacky :p

That’s it. Lunch is ready. Nag-ihaw ng fishy and porky sila Mama. Back to vacay mode. 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

—–

listening to: kids playing

5 Comments
by Iya Santos on December 31, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Home, Places
Tagged , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on December 31, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/holidays2010/

The Giving (Christmas) Tree

Christmas trees are in season again. Why? Seriously, self explanatory na dapat, di’ba? Hehe.

3 Comments
by Iya Santos on December 3, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in All About Me, Home
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on December 3, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/christmastreememories/

I don’t make friends. I make social investments.

One of my college bestfriends has a recurring problem- her friends keep on disappointing her to a point that she doubts there was even a friendship that ever took place. I totally get her. It’s disappointing to know that we are already in our late 20’s and we still haven’t mastered the art of choosing people to let in our intimate circle. I think, sometimes, one has the desire to always see the innate goodness of someone even if one’s intuition screams BEWARE! In the end, some of the people we labeled as friends prove that they are just leeches feeding off our time, resources and energy. Disappointing does not even begin to cover the feeling one gets from this emotional treachery.

Lucky for me I have not experienced this heartache for a long time now. I am content with the number of friends I have. I have around 15 and I think that’s plenty! Thank you, God! It will not kill me if the number does not increase. It won’t kill me either if it decreases, but it will surely make me sad. I am working very hard to maintain the relationship I have with my friends. So far, so good.

I told Jap that maybe it would help if she makes an inventory of her existing true friends (hopefully, I’m on top of her list, hehehe) and just think of the next person she meets as a social investment. Someone to be with during ciggy breaks, someone to use a model for photoshoots, someone to RT your tweets… Networking is good. If that someone starts exhibiting parasitic behavior, then all she has to do is delete the asswipe from her contacts list.

If time permits that the people in her network stays with her during the happy times and more so, in times of despair then great! One more friend to add to her list. One more person she can share her cat stories and coffee recipes with. =)

—–

listening to: Destiny’s Child – Soldier

4 Comments
by Iya Santos on October 13, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in All About Me, Friends, Home
Tagged ,

Posted by Iya Santos on October 13, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/i-dont-make-friends-i-make-social-investments/

Simple Things I Love About Home

After almost 2 months of not seeing my parents, I got to file for VL and I went home to Bataan 2 weekends ago. I realized that things are very different now compared to what we had when we still lived in BF. There are a few things, however, that remain constant and I am very grateful to these things…

Mama never fails to forget the food I would like to eat whenever I’d go home.

She cooked pork sinigang with gabi and halabos na hipon for me. Daddy would always joke that he gets to eat a lot whenever I am there. Nagpapakitang gilas. :p We also opted to “eat out” literally. As in sa may gilid ng dirty kitchen namin. Katabi ng mga puno like buko, mangga, saging, suha, etc. Al fresco kung al fresco. Presko talaga ang hangin sa probinsya.

They also had special suman sa lihiya made for me. This is the only suman I enjoy eating. Childhood favorite ko ito.

I always go to Mafi’s house when I’m in Morong. My cousin’s house is nearer the beach and that’s where my closest cousins and I prefer to drink or pig out.

I wasn’t in the mood to drink because our poison that night was Zinfandel and Blackberry Merlot. For some reason, I wanted Red Horse or The Bar, but I was too lazy to get beer from the sari-sari store, but I was not too lazy to eat Tita Linda’s luto.

Chicken adobo, adobong pusit, hotdogs, garlic mushrooms and Coke! Walang diet-diet ‘pag nasa probinsya!

My niece/goddaughter Reese always tags along. I have been teaching her how to eat barbecue sa kalye. So far, so good. She’s becoming matakaw like her Tita Ninang Iya Ganda. (Sampalin ko ang kokontra sa tawag niya sa akin.)

I make it a point to not go back to Manila without eating Pho (25php) and Ban Mhi (30php). Hello? Magkano sa Wabi-Sabi ‘yan, diba?

Another must when I’m home is attending mass. Look how sweet my mama and daddy are. HHSSWW!!! Holding hands, may pa-swing-swing pa while walking!!!

Ma and Dad made sure that I wouldn’t go back to Manila without eating my other favorites. For brekky, we had tuyo, sinangag with lots of garlic, fried egg and coffee with lots of Coffee Mate and muscovado sugar. Just the way I likey. Mama also cooked tapa but I didn’t have any.

For lunch, more hipon, kilawing labong (bamboo shoots cooked in vinegar) and fried tanigue.

I miss the life we had in BF, but I’m glad we brought the excellent food and massive love in Bataan.

I can’t wait to go home again! Mama said she’ll make lumpiang hubad, adobong spareribs and garlic alimasag for me!

—–

listening to: Tavares – Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel

3 Comments
by Iya Santos on September 27, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Food and Drinks, Home, Places
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on September 27, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/septemberbataan/

The Superfriends @ The Collective

Because Eunice went to Vietnam without us, I brought them to Wabi-Sabi so we can pretend that we went to Saigon together. Haha. No, I just really wanted to eat their veggie pao. :p They loved the pot stickers and ban mhi. And in the battle for noodle supremacy, ramen murdered pho.


Besty Janice aka Jap and Besty Eunice aka Yo

After his meeting with Ford, Donnie followed. We made use of the presence of the colorful walls of the Collective. Kudos to the artists!


Artsy Donnie, in Tagalog… Maarteng Donnie


my default pose– pamewang!


I ❤ Jap and Eunice’s sense of style.


Jap outside the charming shop selling organic products, Ritual…


inside the shop, because Jap wanted a cup of robusta (adik!)


Too bad Colleen and Joko couldn’t join us! 😦

But it’s ok. The Collective is not going anywhere. Next Superfriends’ Makati dinner and drinks, we’re checking out all the shops!

—–

listening to: the bosses talking about CebuPac seat sale

1 Comment
by Iya Santos on July 30, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Food and Drinks, Home, Places
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by Iya Santos on July 30, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/the-collective-with-the-superfriends/

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »
%d bloggers like this: