Miriel's posts with tag: photos
|  | “It's spring fever.... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” --Mark Twain
Some photos taken at Tagaytay. Most were taken at Sonya's Garden, the rest from an organic garden with great green papaya dressing.
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| | While I was not quite as "templed out" as I was in Ankor, my short stint at Japan lead me to 5 temples.
In Tokyo:
Meiji Temple; near Harajuku. Though I heard traditional wedding ceremonies are regularly performed here, I didn't get to see one.
Sensoji Temple; in Asakusa. Probably the one place in Tokyo that feels traditional. The only place I saw women in traditional kimonos.
Zojoji Temple, in Kanto area, at the base of Tokyo Tower. A large temple in the middle of a business district. The contradictions in Tokyo :)
In Kamakura:
Great Buddha, Daibutsu. Uh, really really large Buddha with really large slippers too.
Hasedera Temple. Known for holding the largest gilded wooden statue of Kannon and having a wonderful view of the seaside village of Kamakura. |
| | An old skool kiddie party with pabitin, hit the pot, burger (lamb --yum!) and perfectly gooey icing. |
| | A rather late post. Here are pics of a New Year's family get together with Vietnamese food --all home cooked!! Yum! Yum! Well, except for the balut :-p
Merienda-sena courtesy of the Francisco clan, V Luna branch. |
| | 9 Februrary 2008, at Hardin de Miramar in Antipolo
a beautiful and rather crazy night filled with photos and good dessert
photos are more or less in chronological order; art shots moved to the end |
| | Again I had the chance to visit this lovely and quaint bed and breakfast in San Pablo, Laguna. Though this time it was only for lunch. Still the charm of the place won me over, reminding me that there is life (which I am obviously missing out on) outside of the city. |
| | Some people can get away with being very sexy to men and not looking like a complete cow, but I didn't think I was in a position where people knew me well enough.
--Sophie Ellis Bextor |
| | Dinner at Lola Tita's for the three December celebrants --Marty, Lolo Jun and Lolo Fred. As with any Francisco party, we had too much to eat. To ennumerate the food:
Pancit Malabon
Garlic Shrimp
Halabos na Hipn
Crab (in Garlic & another with Gata)
Caldereta
Crispy Pata
Mangga't Bagoong
Some Shellfish Soup :)
For dessert: Leche Flan, Almond Jelly with Lychee & Conti's Chocolate Cake.
So full! |
| | More food finds at Bubble Tea (another offspring of Pearl Shakes, or better yet the local Sago't Gulaman) and Xocolat.
I wasn't impressed with Bubble Tea. The food was good but not great. Nothing to get all excited about. Food is probably what you'd call a fusion of east and west (kani meet sandwich, ebi meet sesame bun). The chips were quite spicy --wasabi flavored. As for the bubble tea, the "bubbles" or sago as we call them locally are noticeable softer and the tea seems authentic.
Xocolat is a favorite. While I love chocolate, I find rich chocolate drinks a tad too heavy for my taste. Which is why I love xocolat chai --mint tea with chocolate. It's lighter with the tea concotion but the chocolate taste still dominates. Plus the mint gives the drink a little kick. The dishes I've tried were relatively good, again, nothing exciting. Though I did find the crispy dilis as a side to be quite good, giving the rather continental food a bit of Pinoy flavor. Added bonus: not quite as crowded as your local Starbucks. |
| | Armed with a semi-decent camera on my phone, I'm now able to indulge my food photographer desires. Now only if I could just always remember to take pictures of food before eating it!
This is a hodgepodge of food photos, nothing spectacular really, but to better define them I guess I'll give a bullet rundown...
Breakfast of bacon and eggs at 10pm at Heaven 'n Eggs at Trinoma
My lola's homemade fried rice
Cibo's Lemon Torte/a
Crinkles ala Mode --hot chocolate crinkles topped with ice cream... wonderful!
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Saint Gabbie's Revel Bar (true to their tag line: sinfully delightful)
Breakfast at Wheatberry --again, another batch of bacon, sausages and eggs
Cafe Breton's classic ---butter and sugar crepe
Sugarhouse's Chinese Chicken Salad
Chocolate Fondue at Annabel Lee
UFO (donut with ice cream) and Ice Cream Blueberry cheesecake from Five Cows at Trinoma |
| | Went on a chopper and balloon ride to see Ankor from a different perspective |
| | Now this is really, really delayed.
The first half of the pictures are from Ankor Thom (Tom), which by far is the biggest complex among the Ankor Temples. The most "enigmatic" of this complex would be the faces, literally by the way, of Bayon. There are about 200 faces and at any part of the temple, you're bound to find at least one face "watching" you. While a bit eerie at first, the serene expression of the faces (of Lokesvara, the Buddist god "who looks down") will soon stifle that creepy feeling. Though still, personally, the reasons for building that seem more on the threatening side, or condescending at the very least.
Another striking feature of Ankor Thom is the Elephant Terrace, which is the grand entrance to the city. The sheer length is amazing and add the intricate carvings, it's mind-blowing. As I was walking on the terrace (at high noon, mind you), I could visualize the king and his court watching elephant fights or a victory parade entering the city gates (the visions were probably due to the intense heat).
The second half of this series were taken while we were waiting for the sunset. With all the clouds, we prepared ourselves to be disappointed, but our patience was rewarded by a beautiful red fire ball, setting down amidst of ancient wonder. Breathtaking, indeed. |
| | Second installment of the Ankor Temple Series. A bit delayed, to say the least. Enjoy the photos! |
| | It seems that I went on a bit of a photo binge while in Ankor. It was hard to keep myself from taking photos since I was almost constantly amazed at how such an ancient civilization was able to build such grand and intricate buildings. Most of what are left seem to be just skeletons of these amazing temples. Yet just with these, we can imagine how glorious this era was in Asian history.
The photos here are from a several different temples. The most prominent of which would be Ta Phrom, the forest temple, which can be easily market with the huge trees growing on its walls. Only a few photos of Ankor Wat are in this series (the first few pictures). I'll be posting more and updating this site once I'm able to note the exact temples. |
| | Had a chance to tinker with my camera again --something I haven't done lately since I've been too busy with work and am usually cooped up in places not to worthy of taking photos. Don't get me wrong. I know that great photos can be inspired by the most mundane objects. Maybe I just need to be inspired. |
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