Foot and Fire

  Here are the videos and representative photos of the two university friends whom I thought rared to taste my cooking last December 2018 that they traveled from faraway but only to end up cooking heavily FOR ME, making 2018 as my year with the longest running birthday celebration. Ohlalalala! Thank you my friends. The Gal came all the way from Malaysia while The Guy came from China. All had their interests set on the table. The Tapalan (Chopping Board) Wars began. The Tasters are my mom, two university friends and my sister plus my two Demi-Korean friends in the evening. Dreams do come true for us for being able to convene and cook and heartily eat!!!

  In memory of the lost bracelets along the way and  in honor of these surviving ones, I have to write a story for you my dear readers about these finds I got from my travels outside the country. While trinkets abound, one has to look closely and feel affinity with the item before buying the same. Sometimes choices are overwhelming that one ends up not buying anything. It can be a visual overload actually at the flea market aside from the noise of haggling. So here is my stories... These bracelets are made of candle wicks. I can feel the candle texture on each strand actually. I lost one of this, the one with blue-green, green and blue color combination. One can buy stones of value but I found some art and soul in these candle wicker bracelets. It spoke to me like the wind, inaudible yet felt. I bought this in the night market of Siem Reap, Cambodia which is located just a walking distance from where we stayed, a hotel called, No Problem Hotel. From that hotel we woul...

While we were treading the subway heading to the train stations, my friend bought me an English-language newspaper called China Daily which he wanted me to pose with while riding the train. I was just able to read it lately and this February 15, 2012 issue of the paper somehow introduced me to China. *** Obviously (What we have an idea of) 1. It is obvious in the headline that day that China is an economic giant : BEIJING LENDS A HAND TO EUROPE  (Premier offers help but says only eurozone can solve its debt crisis). 2. China is eager to take the lead by giving importance to international relations. 3. Learning foreign languages is a serious business for people in China and its leaders as well. 4. Death penalty for drug makers/traffickers (there is a chinese businesswoman in the news penalized with it) 5.No facebook in China, we know that. Another disappointing news for foreigners already using this service: Sina Weibo which is a twitter-like service required Chine...

By GERLIE M. UY With tea set from Xi'an and dried fruits and some teas and herbal infusion from the supermaket in Beijing as well as Pu erh Tea and Ginseng-oolong tea from a teahouse and a store-bought green tea, our tea bonding party everynight here is fun!!! Cheers... Fresh from Xi'an chrysanthemum.. Dried dates??? must be dried crab apple??? mixed fruits while having the tea toast Pu erh tea, the older, the better... like wine and no expiry. Good for lowering cholesterol and high blood pressure. dried rose... Fruit and rose herbal infusion can be taken as tea, a herbal tea infusion...

These are the interesting everyday but interesting stuffs I took photos of when I was roaming in Beijing, Xi'an and Tianjin, China...Hope you will be as amused and delighted as i was when I took them...Let me tell you why... Jar handles like door knobs in China are never simple; always with interesting images... Lanterns lining the trees which line the street... This Lantern is only in China and symbolizes China... This is called "illegal taxi" as this was originally used privately by handicapped Chinese but then enterprising  Chinese now use it to ferry passenger with lots of groceries with them; useful in short-distance travel. Caramelized Fresh fruits. Loved the idea. I can't help it... The trip never ended without me tasting it.. Public Telephone... I like taking photos of public telephones... See some more below... Another kind of transportation in China... Above photo and this one are pieces of sticks and cemented pl...