All posts tagged Morong

Morong Weekend – June 2012

Spent last weekend with my parents and Ambo, the country’s first weather disturbance this 2012. Not fond of a dripping sky but because I was feeling lethargic since Friday, the heavy rain and chilling winds made my stay at home much nicer. The couch and I were almost inseparable. What’s good about lying down on that sofa is that it’s right beside the window where I can smell the fragrant suha (pomelo) blossoms from the frontyard. Look at these pretty flowers!

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Before I proceed to food and chismis, lemme just share this cute convo I had with my Dad the morning before I left Manila for Bataan.

Daddy: Anak, manonood ka ba ng BSB concert? Peyborits mo sila di’ba?
Me: Hindi. Uuwi ako d’yan ngayon eh.
Daddy: ‘Di bale. Kakantahan ka na lang namin ni Mama mo.
❤

They didn’t get to sing Quit Playing Games With My Heart for me and it was more than okay because well… my parents can’t sing for shit. Hindi ko ‘yan namana sa kanila because I have a wonderful singing voice. *kidlat kulog* Hihihi. :p We watched dvds (Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows and Joyful Noise) and snacked on indian mangoes from our backyard. We read books– Neil Gaiman for me, Bo Sanchez for Mama, and Rick Warren for Daddy. We cooked tortang talong, embutido, and my favorite poor man’s nilaga. I call it poor man’s nilaga because instead of using beef shanks/celery/cabbage/corn, we use pork ribs/pechay/potato/camote. I like it because the camote makes the broth thick and sweet! At natawa ako kay Mama na obvious na matagal nang hindi nakapagluto nito…

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Mama: Gaano kadaming saging at gabi ang isasama natin dito?
Me: Saging at gabi? Ginatan ba ang lulutuin naten?!?!
Daddy: May binili pa nga ‘yang labanos eh!
Mama: Akala ko kasi sinigang ang irerequest nitong anak mong matakaw!!!

Ang ending, minatamis na lang ni Mama ang gabi, saging at yung ibang camote. Btw, there was no available yellow camote. We had the violet variety, it’s not the ube that is used for halaya. It’s not as sweet as the yellow. Had I known, I would have let her put banana in the nilaga. Anyway, the nilaga still turned out to be delicious. Kasarap with sawsawan na patis na pinigaan ng calamansi at tinirisan ng sili! Over lunch, my parents asked about my friends and I told them about Jap’s bday and our plan to go out of town or out of the country. Chinismis Chinika ko na rin yung iba pang mga exciting na mga ganap sa buhay nila. And then Daddy asked about *insert my exboyfriend’s name here*

Daddy: Kumusta na si _______?
Mama: Naku naman, Dad! Hindi na sila nag-uusap ng anak mo!
Me: Oo nga, Daddy. Huli ka na sa balita.
Daddy: Isali niyo kasi ako ‘pag nagchichismisan kayo!!!
LOL

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Moments with my parents are golden! I wasn’t blessed to have siblings but it’s okay because God gave me super loving and super awesome parents. 🙂 I am very very grateful. I know I’ve said this several times here in my blog. This isn’t also the first time that I posted a picture of them holding hands, while walking to the church. The only time I left the house was when we went to Our Lady of The Pillar Church. It was a rainy Sunday morning. I was busy texting so they walked ahead of me. Thus, I had another chance to take a picture of them and get all kilig.

After mass, Daddy went to Pangasinan for Lola Meling’s 40 Days, and when he came back last night, he had a bagful of shrimps (suahe) for us. Yummy! Fave namin ‘yon ni Mama. After dinner, we looked at old pictures. They laughed at me for looking like a boy when I was just a few months old. Harharhar.

It’s always good to be home. 🙂

—–

listening to: Paul McCartney – Maybe I’m Amazed

3 Comments
by Iya Santos on June 5, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Food and Drinks, Home, Travel
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Posted by Iya Santos on June 5, 2012

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/morong-weekend-june-2012/

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

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by Iya Santos on January 6, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Iya Santos on January 6, 2012

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

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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.

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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
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Posted by Iya Santos on April 25, 2011

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

Happy 2011!

Here are some pictures of my blissful 1st day of the new year:

Nothing to say, except I really enjoyed because of my 3 favorites: my family, the beach and well… vanity. *sings* Bagong taon ay magcamwhoring na nang lumigaya ang ating bayan! LOL

Hahaha!

Happy 2011, everyone! Enjoy!

—–

listening to: stories about sink holes

6 Comments
by Iya Santos on January 5, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in All About Me, Places
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Posted by Iya Santos on January 5, 2011

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/happy-2011/

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
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Posted by Iya Santos on September 27, 2010

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

Bataan for Holy Week

Today is my 2nd day here in Bataan. Hence, day 2 of family, good food, and introspection.

May the holy week be as positively eventful to you as it is to me. 🙂

—–

listening to: crashing waves

4 Comments
by Iya Santos on April 2, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Home, Places
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Posted by Iya Santos on April 2, 2010

https://psychosomaticaddictinsane.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/bataan-for-holy-week/

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