Travel Update
Posted on 12 March 2012 | No responses | 209 views
A month ago, I embarked on this epic yet crazy adventure to go on a backpacking trip in Southeast Asia. With only $450 in my pocket and 120 baht from last year’s trip, I braved travelling to Bangkok, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.
A month after, I present to you my budget sheet… I still got 853.50 baht left and $83.82 which I intend to use till the end of March. So basically, if all goes as planned, I’ll be able to survive living in Thailand and Bangkok for 2 months with only $450 and 120 baht in my pocket.
My Wishlist
Posted on 12 March 2012 | No responses | 196 views
It’s funny how long I’ve neglected this blog. Such a looooong time!
When checking the sidebars, I found some that are no longer applicable to me and started cleaning up. And then I saw the wishlist part that I probably created a year ago.
I hurriedly updated the list in my Widget editor bar and got rid of what I no longer need. Since I’m now backpacking in SEA, am definitely not gonna need a 23″ Samsung monitor. That one was supposed to be for my monitor back at home. I also don’t need a backpack anymore since I decided I’d stick with my 26L TNF Amira backpack. Upgraded some items I listed down and basically trimmed everything to the essential things I’d like to have for now.
Am not too sure though when I’d acquire these items. For now, all will remain to be items I wish to acquire. I hope I do get to own one of those things I listed on top. Donations are highly appreciated and encouraged! ;-)
happy happy happy day ^_^
Posted on 3 March 2012 | No responses | 232 views
am sooooo happy! finally! on my 4th visit here in bkk, i get to ride the city’s canal boat, got splashed with canal water from time to time but still had a great time enjoying the canal ride. ^_^
i didn’t pay for the fare going to i dunno where. thought i could get away with it on my way back. LOL. wasn’t able to control my excitement as my field trip ended and shouted out “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” because of my happiness. mababaw lang kaligayahan ko. sensya 
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thought i visited Wat Arun today but found out it was Wat Saket or the Golden Mount. even so, i was happy i visited the place. the view from the top was a breather for me despite inhaling the city’s (polluted???) air. sad that i couldn’t see its beauty at night but still happy knowing that place existed. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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i thought the boat was doing an unscheduled stop to pick up a passenger but it wasn’t. the canal boat stopped to get a ball that got tossed over the river by some teenagers who were probably playing i dunno what. that crew of the canal boat’s gesture of kindness towards those teenagers despite running a public transportation in the busy canals of bangkok was very uplifting. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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saw this Mango Sensation at Swensen’s for 69 baht and thought i’d reward myself with that yummy desert after my field trip. yummy treat! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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i decided not to take the BTS since i spent too much on food today. LOL. but the bus never came so off to BTS i went. then decided to ride the bus again but rode the wrong one. toinks! good thing the bus conductor didn’t demand payment for the bus fare and this uber helpful lolo helped translate the instructions on where i should get off and what bus number i should ride. if i can only hug him, i would but i dunno if their culture allows it. LOL. he even wrote the bus numbers i should ride just in case. and what’s great is that i ended up riding one of their free buses! i thought i would leave bangkok not riding one but am glad i did get to ride one! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
photo credit: to their respective owners linked on this post
Cooking Chicken Curry
Posted on 9 October 2011 | 4 responses | 999 views
My mom’s version of the Chicken Curry dish is one of my favorites and until today, I never bothered learning how to cook this dish since I thought it was very difficult. But since my mom’s sick, I had to stop whatever it is that kept me busy online to report for duty in our kitchen.
P.S. I rarely interfere with our kitchen affairs but it doesn’t mean I don’t know my way in there 
So for today’s lunch, I saw a bag of fresh ground coconut (“kinudkud nga lubi”) and a whole chiken being defrosted in our kitchen sink. My mom summoned me and told me to prepare the ingredients for the chicken curry. It was my first time to extract juice from the coconut to be used for dish. The last thing I remembered, I was using that coconut’s milk eons ago as hair treatment. ahahaha. So I had to ask my mom for instructions since I was lost.
Extracting the Coconut Milk as per my mom’s instructions:
1. Remove the coconut from the plastic bag and transfer it in a bowl.
2. Add 2 glasses of water
3. Start squeezing the coconut to extract its juice (considering you already washed your hands, k?)
4. When the color of the extract turns to white after a couple of squeezes here and there, you can stop now and strain the milk to get rid of the coconut pulp.
5. Set it aside since this will be your broth for the chicken curry.
It was almost 12noon and my mom tried to ask me to hand her the whole chicken so that she could slice it but I simply denied her request and told her I know how to cut the chicken and that she should just rest or take her lunch (since she’s not gonna eat this dish anyway – she’s allergic to chicken).
So I grabbed the whole chicken and started cutting it in half. We’re not gonna cook all the chicken since we’re only 4 in our household. I placed the other half inside the fridge and started slicing the other half. I was able to slice the chicken into 7 parts. I washed them with water and then added some salt to marinate them. After this, I resumed straining the pulp out of the coconut milk and then crushed 3 cloves of garlic and sliced 1 whole onion. And then I started cooking…
Cooking the Chicken Curry
1. Heated the pan and added oil.
2. Sauteed the garlic and onion until golden brown
3. Dropped the marinated and sliced chicken in the pan
4. Added ground pepper
5. Sauteed them altogether till the outer portion of the chicken gets cooked
6. Just before the sauteed chicken ran out its own juice, pour in the coconut milk
7. Drop 2 pieces of finger chilies (siling espada)
8. Let everything boil
9. When you see it boiling, add curry powder. The amount? enough for you to see the entire broth turn yellowish
10. Let it boil some more till the chicken is cooked and the broth evaporates? hahaha (sorry. no idea what the term is)
11. Just before it rans out of water, turn the stove off and voila! you have your chicken curry!
And here’s my own version of the dish they call Chicken Curry. Mind you, this isn’t spicy since my pop is not allowed to eat spicy foods. But if you want to try cooking this dish, you can modify the steps and perhaps even slit the siling labuyo to release the spice in it.
I was happy that I was able to cook this dish. And to think I thought it was so difficult to cook this! Well, extracting the coconut milk could be tedious but that wasn’t difficult. To me, difficult would be making tocino, chorizo, embutido, kare-kare, dinuguan, laing and rellenong pusit! All of which are my mom’s specialty. Hmmmmm…made me think I need to ask her to teach me how to prepare those dishes too!
Now mentally adding Chicken Curry to the few dishes I know how to cook!
Discovering Sperry Top-Sider
Posted on 28 September 2011 | 3 responses | 2,692 views
Complex Lifestyle Store launched a new line of shoes just recently and I was happy that I got the chance to be there to witness the unveiling of an American Original. And that’s when I got introduced to Sperry Top-Sider. I guess Sperry is a regular household brand when shoes are concerned back in the US and I never really realized how big this brand is until I saw their line of shoes and I saw my friend’s reaction upon the mention of the shoe brand.
Prior to the launch, I mentioned to my friend Ed that Sperry was the brand name that will be launched in the Complex Lifestyle Store and I could almost see through our chat conversation the excitement that was building up on my friend’s face which was why he didn’t hesitate to ask if it’s still possible for him to join the event.
I am guilty of not knowing anything about Sperry. And even a couple of days after the event, I told an officemate about Sperry and asked him if he knows the brand. I guess he was restraining from rolling his eyes over when he replied with a big “Yes”. Raffy is a top-sider fanatic too and he had to inform me how he’s been dying to get a Sperry but couldn’t as it was too expensive. I reassured him that it’s not that expensive but he told me that the Sperry design he was eyeing in Rustans costs around 9k. I simply told him that the stocks sold in Complex Lifestyle Store are half that price or even lower. I also told him that this was the 1st time that Sperry Top-Sider brought their brand to the Philippines so my guess was the expensive shoes displayed in Rustans is priced as such since there was no competition around. But with Complex stocking every Sperry design you’d imagine, there’s no reason why every top-sider fanatic like my friend Raffy couldn’t afford to buy one.
Sperry Top-Sider has been an American favorite since 1935 when Paul Sperry, inspired by his dog Prince’s ability to run nimbly over ice and snow, used a pen knife to cut siping into the outsole of a rubber snearker. This ingenuity, along with the iconic inspiration of other design details launched an American Original. Our mission is to share this unique story with a new generation that will embrace our brand because of its heritage, authenticity and optimistic personality.
A BRAND BORN AT SEA
As Paul Sperry watched his cocker spaniel, Prince, run across the ice on a winter’s day in Connecticut, he noticed his dog’s amazing ability to maintain traction on the slippery surface. Turning over Prince’s paw, he observed hundreds of tiny cracks and cuts going in all directions. These wave-like grooves became the inspiration for Mr. Sperry’s latest patent, called Razor-Siping™, and were instrumental in maximizing the traction and performance of the Authentic Original Sperry Top-Sider first introduced in 1935. Since inventing the first boat shoe, our brand continues to share our “Passion for the Sea” with those who enjoy the good life in, on and around the ocean.
I too am a fan of top-sider shoes, though you’d rarely see me wearing one. But upon seeing the different designs available at the Complex Lifestyle Store, I couldn’t help admire them all. They were sooo pretty! I love!
A Sperry Top-Sider for Her
When I tried checking out the soles of the Top Sider, I couldn’t help but admire the Non-Skid Sole feature of their shoes. What I saw was a flat sole with those zigzaggy lines all over its back. When I tried to fold the shoes, I discovered that those lines were actually slits – a truly remarkable design!
Just recently, Sperry Top-sider celebrated their 75 years as America’s favorite nautical footwear. This brand as been awarded the 2010 Plus Award for Design Excellence in the Men’s Street category. Because of Sperry Top-Sider, a love affair with “boat shoes” back in 1935 was launched and continuously charms every person on the go.
my barrel tassel knot
Another cool thing about each Sperry Top-Sider shoes is the barrel lace on their authentic leather shoelaces. We even got the chance to try doing a barrel tassel knot and the fastest to make 5 rows of knots get to take home a Sperry! Too bad I didn’t win. lol
If you’ve got time, check out the Sperry Top-Sider shoes available at the Complex Lifestyle Store at Ayala Center Cebu or at Eastwood Mall. Just remember, if you don’t see the logo name +Top-Sider, then it’s not Sperry.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please visit http://www.sperrytopsider.com/
Please check out the Sperry Philippines Facebook site:
https://www.facebook.com/SperryTopSiderPH
Complex Lifestyle Store Stocks Sperry Top-Sider
Always stocking the freshest merchandise, Complex Lifestyle Store is now offering respected American heritage brand Sperry Top-Sider. On display is a well selected assembly of the iconic boat shoe in canvas, suede, metallic and the classic leather as it was invented by Paul Sperry in 1935. Expect to see more of Sperry Top-Sider very soon!
At Complex Lifestyle Store, our aim is to curate the best merchandise and ideas from a wide array of brands from footwear and apparel to accessories and integrate them into a single unique experience. We believe in redefining the boundaries of popular fashion and culture to deliver progressive solutions demanded by today’s modern lifestyle.
Herea are a few of the brands Complex Lifestyle Store stocks:
Creative Recreation, Ecko Unltd., Zoo York , Pony, Sperry, Keds, Energie, Havaianas, Heima*, Ray Ban, G-shock and Nooka*
*not available in Ayala Center Cebu
Catch the latest Sperry Top-Sider designs from Complex Lifestyle Stores located at Eastwood Mall and Ayala Center Cebu.
Eastwood Mall
E. Rodriguez, Jr. Avenue
Quezon City
+632 709 2183
Ayala Center Cebu
Cebu Business Park
Cebu City, Cebu
+6332 412 6827
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/complexlifestyle
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/complexstore
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