halo-halo special

summer is near...
weather so hot...
can't sleep well at night (except of course if you have aircon)

swim wears are now beautifully displayed at the mall...
trying to remind us our next summer escapade - Boracay, Puerto Galera, Cebu, etc.
air fares are now up... no more seat sales...

malls are now loaded with shoppers, trying to spend the very hot day inside the airconditioned mall...

and of course, streets are now loaded with entreprenuers selling pinoy favorite snacks during this season - HALO HALO ...

According to Wikipedia...

Halo-halo (from Tagalog word halo, "mix") is a popular Pinoy dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served cold in a tall glass or bowl.

There is no specific recipe for this dessert, and a wide variety of ingredients are used. The order in which the ingredients are added varies widely. Primary ingredients generally include boiled red mung beans, kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar. Other components may include jackfruit (langka), star apple, tapioca or sago, nata de coco, purple yam (ube) or sweet potato (kamote), sweetened corn kernels or pounded crushed young rice (pinipig), leche flan or custard, ice cream and gelatin. Other fruits, such as papayas, avocados, kiwifruit, bananas or cherries, may also be added. Some preparations also include ice cream on top of the halo-halo.

Generally, condensed milk or evaporated milk is used instead of fresh milk, due to the tropical climate of the Philippines.

In terms of arrangement, most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, ube halaya, or ice cream. Condensed milk is poured into the mixture upon serving.

What are you waiting for? Go to your neighborhood and find for yourself a very good halo-halo for you and be sure its extra special with two scoops of ice cream on top! Enjoy eating!

CRY OUT LOUD

your name is so sweet... your face is so angelic... you speak like an innocent... but how could you react so rudely... how could you so loud to me... i didn't like what you have done to me... you've insulted me at the peek of my career! you've created a very deep wound in me... but after what you have said and done... after all the pains you've created... i am letting you go out of my head... and won't let you enter my heart nor my soul! physical pain i can sustain, yes! but not the pain you've done at my ego... i don't know how long this will leave me... i don't know how long you will linger in my mind... i am crying out loud - to stop this from happening!

101 THINGS I LOVE

I’ve been in this world for the past 31 years. Those years were basically ordinary – grew up in a very simple family, with simple needs and wants, studied at a very plain school, made friends with average people, loved a normal person, married a typical man, everything in me is common.

The past 31 years was natural as I have imagined but not until I was able to come up with the things I love to do, to have, to cherish and maybe to become. I never thought that I have enjoyed and loved much with my life in the very extra ordinary way (the way I see it).

I’ve been struggling identifying what I love; I don’t know what I want. Well, with the list below I just realize that I love so much that I was able to write down some of it… and embracing every moment I had with it…

Please join me as I share to you the ddiscoveries of the things I cherish most!

1. I love shoes – it reminds me how I have earned enough to have another pair.
2. I love underwear.
3. I love bags.
4. I love perfumes.
5. I love “post-its” – influenced by my mentor.
6. I love pens – because I love to write.
7. I love yellows – it’s good at my skin.
8. I love pinks (sometimes) – it makes me feel so lady.
9. I love long sleeve blouses.
10. I love stripes.
11. I love people with braces (on their teeth) - I find it cute and sexy.
12. I love to shop (window shopping though--- hehehe).
13. I love to dwell on the past (not healthy sometimes).
14. I love to dream – most of my dreams come true.
15. I love to speak out my dreams – most effective way of reaching it (as I have proven it).
16. I love to read.
17. I love to listen to all kind of stories.
18. I love to know love story of every couple I met.
19. I love “sinigang”.
20. I love “adobo” cooked by my father.
21. I love spaghetti with red sauce cooked by my mother.
22. I love to have an original designer’s bag.
23. I love to see other side of the world.
24. I love to travel.
25. I love to lie in bed during my time off from work.
26. I love to sleep.
27. I love to seek the Lord – just can’t handle it now.
28. I love to eat while walking.
29. I love to go out during lunch breaks – to ease my stressed out!
30. I love the small and sweet talks with my husband.
31. I love to create something from nothing.
32. I love to cry whenever I deal with my pains.
33. I love my current job.
34. I love dealing with Fil-Estate employees (it’s hard sometimes).
35. I love talking to children below seven (7) years old.
36. I love to make friends with old people (40+).
37. I love to treasure the things I’ve learned from my mentor – NEPO.
38. I love seeing a child chuckles while playing with his/her father.
39. I love to hear what’s happening in the world.
40. I love to go to the USA for vacation.
41. I love Mickey Mouse.
42. I love red nail polish.
43. I love Girlie who has been doing my nail polish – she feeds me with so much interesting stories.
44. I love the late night talks with my husband while in bed – until we realize we cannot open our mouths & eyes because of dizziness - then realizing it’s already dawn.
45. I love to hear stories from my husband – his childhood memories.
46. I love to share my childhood memories with my husband – how we played street games.
47. I love to give – and I give often.
48. I love to think a lot – it relaxes me…. Hahaha weird!
49. I love MON IAN BELEN BENITEZ – my husband!
50. I love my mother – learned many things from her (it’s only now I have come to realize).
51. I love my father – he has been our very good provider, super kind father!
52. I love JOELYNNA – my niece!
53. I love to have chit-chats with my niece! – can’t believe how she grows so fast!
54. I love to argue with my husband on health issues – this drives him crazy hehehe!
55. I love receiving text messages from my friends.
56. I love seeing my high school friends.
57. I love interpreting my dreams – I actually have a book on dream interpretation.
58. I love to have a car – and will call her my Hefty (hefty b’coz it will be my thickest expense ever).
59. I love looking at plate number of a vehicle and summing up its numbers.
60. I love to play with numbers – trying all its possible combinations.
61. I love to play Sudoku – I can actually solve one puzzle in one minute!
62. I love Edward of Twilight – though fiction, his love for Bella was so tender and so inspiring.
63. I love Paulo Coelho’s books – it inspires me.
64. I love seeing my husband laughing on me on things I never thought laughable.
65. I love to watch movies all by myself – but I love it more whenever I am with my husband.
66. I love to observe others how they react on things.
67. I love to monitor gasoline prices.
68. I love to ride to an airplane – but not enjoying much the landing especially at Caticlan airport.
69. I love to put-on cosmetics.
70. I love red lipsticks.
71. I love to hear my parents and other relatives call me “Allen” – it reminds me how my mother exerted her effort to introduce me to my older brother.
72. I love to challenge myself in whatever way – beating my own deadline.
73. I love to play The SIMS – that drives crazy… the only game which can let me stay up until 3AM.
74. I love talking with Judy – my office friend. She just kindles my imagination with the words she uses!
75. I love to hear Jona’s stories – my colleague. Her “jologs” stories really lighten my mood. Example: walking at EDSA barefooted with her office uniform on!
76. I love seeing photo of Vien – Gigi’s daughter. Can’t help but to imagine how pretty, sexy little bold star she can be with her pose! Bwahahaha!
77. I love green mangoes dipped in a mixture of ‘patis’, ‘asukal’ and ‘siling labuyo’.
78. I love ‘santol’ dipped in ‘suka’ with ‘patis’.
79. I love baked ziti at Sbarro topped with meat sauce; extra white sauce on the side.
80. I love Choco Loco Super of Quickly.
81. I love spicy squid of Manhann dipped in ‘bagoong isda’ – “you’re right Engel, it really tastes good!”
82. I love chicken at KFC – two-piece chicken meal, one original, one hot & crispy, thigh part with side order of large coleslaw.
83. I love going to National Bookstore staring at those lovely “post-its”. – Can’t wait to buy another one.
84. I love watching my husband playing his favorite game at PSP.
85. I love seeing a full moon and then observing my mood – trying to prove the theory on people born on February has unexplainable mood swings especially during full moons.
86. I love people who are born in January – the Aquarians – they just surprise me much!
87. I love to inspire others with my college day’s experiences.
88. I love to share my first love story – it maybe so elementary yet inspiring.
89. I love BIBIMBOP – Korean food – rice topped with so many other foods… hehehe!
90. I love people who are very opinionated.
91. I love rushing on things – not healthy sometimes.
92. I love asking my husband’s opinion on my everyday outfit.
93. I love asking my husband to gently scratch my back as I go to sleep.
94. I love kissing my husband on his neck.
95. I love going to Baler (my husband’s hometown) – it reminds me how simple life can be.
96. I love hearing Baler accent – it excites me of knowing how destiny leads me and my husband together.
97. I love to hear King & Queen of Hearts song by David Pomeranz – my first ever sweet dance.
98. I love to crack jokes – influenced by my husband.
99. I love to solve issues as fast as I can.
100.I love to hear audio messages of my husband – saying how he thinks about me almost every moment of his life --- that he loves me much!
101.I love to love my husband the way he loves me!

WRONG TURN

For a moment I thought I could forget you!

For a moment I thought your memories can no longer haunt me nor hurt me...

But how wrong I was... because no matter how I tried to forget you...

No matter how I tried to move on...
Your memories still haunt me and hurt me...

How could I treasure you this much?

How could I believe with this unbelievable thing calle "P-U-R-E love"?

It's been ages that you left me, been ages that I actually tried to move away from you...
I thought you will hold me back... I thought that move will only define the treasure we have been holding... I thought it was the best thing for us...



It was a wrong turn!



I messed up my values, my career, my spirituality - basically MY ENTIRE LIFE has been messed up after sharing the most wonderful time of my life with you.

Why did you not held me that way I did?

Why can't you treasure me the way I did?

Has it been really P-U-R-E L-O-V-E?

But no matter how painful those years were...

No matter how my heart cried and longed for you for the past years...

I can no longer make it right, I can no longer turn back times... it has been a WRONG TURN!

Nevertheless, my heart still cries for you because I LOVE YOU still!