Foot and Fire

Cheese stick variety... Can also be called cheese dynamites... I have posted an entry on cheese sticks before at http://beforesixdiet.blogspot.com/2013/03/cheese-sticks-and-suggested-variety.html Here, i just added the chili to add some jolt!  Enjoy

25 pcs banana, saba variety, cut half lengthwise 50 pcs lumpia wrapper Mascuvado sugar Canola oil for deep fry In flat dish, put mascuvado sugar and roll a slice of saba banana.  Place one rolled slice in lumpia wrapper and wrap.  Repeat procedure until all bananas are wrapped. In a deep pan, add oil.  Deep fry each rolled piece until golden brown. About a minute on each side. Drain remaining oil in paper towel or tissue paper. Serve hot and crispy.

This is one of the many photos I got with karsts on it.  The pristine beach, the fine white sand and the smiles of the tour guides  will always be the feature of this tour. This is from EL NIDO, Palawan, Philippines! *** This is one of the many karsts I photographed in Halong Bay, North of Vietnam.  The monstrosity and the number of karts will amaze any traveller. ** I decided that my El Nido Trip vs Halong Bay Cruise are two different experiences. I encourage all Filipinos to take the El Nido trip as one can really appreciate the truest sense of the word archipelago when one gets to see the beaches and karsts there; it also made me prouder of our natural riches. Friend Doc Judy Ann, a certified traveller and top-notch photographer, says, "One should see El Nido in his lifetime... Truly a wonder of nature... God's gift to mankind... I would want to visit El Nido again and again..." Meanwhile, my multi-awarded photographer friend Bernadet

Please like this Facebook page of SAPA BACKPACKERS . We met Peter Thuong in SaPa valley, north of vietnam last year in his SaPa Coffee Corner, a non-profit org dedicated to teach English to street children in Sapa Valley, where one source of livelihood there is tourism. They now have Sapa Backpackers and Peters Coffee Corner, a Non-Profit Organisation supporting Minority Kids with Food, Shelter and free English-Classes where children can now sleep and learn. Also they can accommodate (Page says at 3$ a night) tourists as well as volunteers. If you happen to go to Hanoi this year, make it a point to go to Sapa too! *** Here are some of our photos when we passed by Peter Coffee Corner in SaPa when we had our vacation last July 2012. We stopped by and were offered the Vietnamese Mountain Tea which is bitter but has a surprising nice taste. My friend Bernadette sitting beside Peter. This makeshift coffee corner is facing the small classroom where minority children wer

TWO DAYS IN PUERTO PRINCESA We had a City Tour in Puerto Princesa and experienced the Firefly watching in Iwahig to cap the day. We started the tour in the Japanese-donated Crocodile Farming Institute, then headed to Rancho Zipline Adventure to inhale some farm air and have some pastoral view. From there, we headed to the Baker's Hill, a bakeshop popular for its Hopia. After grabbing some pasalubong, we had a quick round of the garden and had a good time there. After Baker's Hill, we went to two pasalubong centers. From there, we went to Plaza Cuartel located just across the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and had the chance to get inside despite it was dark already. Thanks to the kind caretaker who also explained the marker to us. Plaza Cuartel is the site where American prisoners-of-war during WWII was burned by the Japanese. One survivor, made a sculpture immortalizing the pain and sorrow of the war experience. After Plaza Cuartel, we went to

By GERLIE M. UY 2 T olive oil 12 garlic cloves, chopped 1 big onion, chopped 1 thumb (or more) ginger, chopped 1/2 kilo chicken, cubed 1/2 kilo malagkit rice water 2 chicken cube soy sauce turmeric powder (kalawag) salt and pepper Toasted garlic for garnish. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil. Add ginger. Add chicken cube and stir fry for a while and add the washed malagkit rice. Stir again for about 3 minutes. Add water. Let boil until rice pops open. Add chicken cubes, soy sauce, turmeric powder, salt and pepper. Let the flavor sink in and the soup is ready to be served hot. Garnish with toasted garlic.

TWO DAYS IN EL NIDO El Nido beachfront is inviting especially that we reached the place just before sunset. We swam just a little after sunset which starved us and sent us searching for a good dinner thereafter. We want to have dinner in the beachfront but it is full house and for a company of nine, we have to be waitlisted. We found a Thai-inspired resto that we chose because they can accomodate us right away and we seem to like the reggae band on the resto next door. The discomfort of town's regular brown-out from 6 am to 2 pm and limited water supply which we woke up to in El Nido kicked our patience out. But once we started the tour and as we approached the karsts and the same got clearer and clearer, our memory of the discomfort also got blurry. We started the day with Tour A. We rented the boat for P2,500 for the whole day, mask and snorkel (P75 each) and two kayaks (P700 each). We started the day with the secret lagoon, then the small and big lagoon which

Plaza Cuartel. Sa pook na ito na dating tanggulang militar noong ikalawang digmaang pandaigdig naganap ang pagsunong ng mga sundalong Hapon sa humigit kumulang 150 amerikanong bihag ng digma noong 14 Disyembre 1944. Ilang nakaligtas ay lumangoy sa dagat patungong Iwahig. Ang mga labi ng mga nasawi ay dinala at inilibing sa St Louis County sa isang pangkalahatang libingan sa Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri, Estados Unidos, 1952. ***  Plaza Cuartel. *** Plaza Cuartel. *** The commemorative marker with the sculpture of Don Schloat, an American veteran  and was once a POW in Palawan.  More story here.  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/Dec/13/veteran-wont-let-massacre-be-forgotten/ *** Valley Center artist Don Schloat is a World War II veteran who recently dedicated a memorial in the Philippines to 139 American POWs massacred by their Japanese captors Dec. 14, 1944. Prisoners at the camp, on the island of Palawan,

     After my Palawan vacation together with my parents, cousin and friends, I decided that it is indeed the ultimate destination that represents our archipelagic riches, with her string of islands, fine white sand stretches of beaches, giant karsts, cool caves, different corals, colorful fishes, lush mangroves, and infinite series of blue waters. Added to that riches is our signature Filipino smile which can easily be found everywhere in Palawan, from the tour guides, the boatmen and often, the Visayan-speaking pedestrians. Our day started with a meeting at the airport. My cousin Cooky with her two friends Sharon and Marissa emerged in the airport fresh from their respective hectic nursing duty at St. Luke's Medical Center, and two more friends of hers, Jo and Jess, a mother and daughter tandem, came from Iloilo City while I and my parents and family friend Nida, came in the airport in travel lite mode. And the fun began! TWO DAYS IN CORON TOWN AND CORON ISLAN

An old photo of the mansion-in-the-making. The ruins of the mansion of Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson was built in loving memory of his deceased wife Maria Braga after her death in 1911. The mansion of Italianate architecture was designed to be a monument of their enduring love affair. In the eve of WW II in 1942, the mansion was torched by the guerilla fighters and was burning for 3 days, leaving behind reminders of a glorious past. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** The couple, Don Mariano Lacson and Maria Braga. ***