In the Public Eye

Two of my sisters can put 'commercial model' in their resumes. But I doubt if they ever will. I suppose it doesn't really matter if the rest of humanity cannot recall where they came out, suffice it to say that WE remember.

My second sister, let's call her London Eye, tried her hand (literally) at becoming a model. She was on the box of the White King brownie mix in the 70's. Well, it wasn't her face that was shown, it was her HAND.

I was elated to find a picture of the box with HER in a framed work of art that used to hang in our dad's office. Since Father has already retired, the artwork now hangs in the house. Notice that SHE is the ONLY live model in all of the White King mix box covers.


My other sister, we'll call her Mindy, was the real commercial model. She came out in the Swift hotdog commercial with young Tonton Gutierrez. I recall her telling us of her experience of the taping which was held in Baguio. She told us they had to do the takes over and over again, and that she had bitten into so MANY half-cooked hotdogs that weekend. She and Mother spent the whole day at Baguio for the taping which resulted in a commercial which lasted less than three minutes.

Nonetheless, we were always excited when HER ad came out in the middle of our TV shows. Those were the times when the channel didn't get changed during commercial breaks. We had a copy of the commercial back then. Too bad it was in betamax format and we were unable to convert it as the media standards changed.

I can only speak for myself when I say that there is a certain joy in seeing people I know in the papers, in a magazine or on TV. I'm posting these pictures knowing that someone out shares this joy with me.

Phineas and Ferb

Do you know who Phineas and Ferb are?

You don't?

Well, neither do I. At least not yet.


I DO know now that there are a hundred and four days of summer vacation (in the United States). At least that is what the song (which keeps playing in my head) says.

And WHY, pray tell, is this song playing in my head?

Because ... RD enjoys watching this Disney Channel show and for the past few weeks, whenever he has gotten a chance to sit in front of the computer, he has watched at least one episode of the show on YouTube. THEN, after he watches the show, one of his siblings would sit down on the PC and watch the same episode. And it is kind of hard to tune out the introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrFAVwZbzVQ&feature=related

There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation,
And school comes along just to end it.
So the annual problem for our generation,
Is finding a good way to spend it.
--LIKE - MAYBE --
Building a rocket,
Or fighting a mummy,
Or climbing up the Eiffel Tower,
Discovering something that doesn't exist,
(Phineas: Hey!)
Or giving a monkey a shower.

Surfing tidal waves,
Creating NanoBots,
Or locating Frankenstein's brain,
(Phineas: It's over here!)
Finding a dodo bird,
Painting a continent,
Or driving your sister insane!
(Candace: Phineas!)
As you can see, there's a whole lot of stuff to do
Before school starts this Fall,
(Phineas: Come on, Perry!)
So stick with us, cuz Phineas and Ferb are gonna do it all! (x 2)
(Candace: MOM! Phineas and Ferb are making a Title Sequence!)

So now that we've got the introduction out of the way, let's go to the interesting part, the meat of this message.

Last week was Holy Week, so we spent most of the weekend at Cebu Avenue. This enabled the kids to watch cable TV and access the internet longer. Yes, naturally more Phineas and Ferb for them.

RD knew that the Disney Channel was having a contest called What Ya Doin' Contest -- Watch n Win related to the show. The contest was ending on 28 March 2008, Friday. This meant that last week was the last weekend of the contest. He asked his dad for permission to join the contest, to which he was told that as long as he didn't purchase anything online, it was ok.


GI was skeptical. He told his brother, "RD, it's IMPOSSIBLE to win in those things."

But that didn't stop my little boy from trying. Join he did. RD sent in exactly 48 entries. We even said a little prayer, upon his request, for him to win. MyGirl was especially excited because her brother had agreed to share his prize with her if he won.

When we arrived at Cebu Avenue this weekend, RD and MyGirl awaited the contest winners for last week. They were jumping up and down when they found out that RD won.


When they told me about it, RD started out with, "I have good news and bad news. Do you know Phineas and Ferb? Do you remember that I asked you for our zip code last week?"

Oh, my! That got me worried. Were we in trouble or something? I had divulged our zip code. Now our address has been compromised.

Eventually RD spilled the beans. The good news was that he had won the contest (he and MyGirl had seen his name flash on TV); the bad news was that he didn't know how many prizes he'd won.

I was relieved to find out that all his hard work had paid off.

Now, we have only one thing to say to his brother -- Impossible, my foot! Eat your words, big brother!

Pizza Hut Style Crust

It was Easter and with all that talk of RISING, I figured let's make some pizza.


This is one of our most commonly used recipes for pizza crust. We usually double this recipe and end up greasing the pan since cornmeal is not one of those things we normally have on hand.

Last Sunday, I decided to pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes before putting the sauce, cheese and toppings. After which, I returned the pizza in the oven for another 10 minutes. This seemed to work better than our usual 20 minutes straight baking time.


Pizza Hut Style Crust

3/4 c warm water (105 - 115 deg)
1 1/4 t yeast
1 T sugar
2 1/4 c bread flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 T olive oil

Combine water, sugar and yeast in small bowl.
Stir until yeast and sugar have dissolved.
Let sit for about 5 mins until foamy.
In large bowl, sift together flour and salt.
Make a well and pour in yeast mixture.
Add the oil.
Use a fork to draw in flour a little at a time.
Combine until you form a ball.


Knead on lightly floured surface (approx 10 mins).
Rub a light coating of oil and let rise in covered container until double (approx 2 hours).





Punch down.
Put in covered bowl in ref overnight.
When ready for use, bring to room temp (approx 1 hr).
Preheat oven to 500 deg F (425 deg ok).
Roll 18" across.
Put on greased pizza pan or pan with cornmeal.
Score pizza dough with fork to prevent bubbles.
Top with sauce, cheese and choice of toppings.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Puzzled -- Part 2

Puzzled -- Part 2

The Colors of Easter

Happy Easter!

I remember having Easter Egg Hunts when we were young. Relatives would come to visit and the adults would hide the eggs. My siblings and I would join our cousins in the search for eggs all over the house and in the garden. Favorite hiding places included the White King cookie jar, behind throw pillows, inside flower pots, at the base of bushes, and inside the sand box.

Yes, there were a lot of eggs eaten on Easter, and on the days that followed. Cholesterol was not a major concern back then. Most of the eggs ended up with that ugly mixed-up color one gets when primary and secondary colors combine. That didn't matter to us, of course. What was important was that there were eggs to be found and baskets to be filled.

As the years passed, less relatives came over on Easter, but the activity of painting eggs and searching for them continued. Ten was more than enough manpower to paint eggs and look for them afterwards.

For this year, Mother boiled some eggs for the children to paint. I made a mixture of Spearmint and Orange Sunset in separate bowls using the instructions below. Plus I mixed up some other colors in a palette for painting so that the eggs would have an added variety of color.

MyGirl didn't seem interested in using the colors I mixed up so she just placed a couple of drops of blue in another bowl that had water and vinegar. She and RD were in charge of coloring the eggs. They were happy to do so.

This year's eggs ended up much better than any of the Easter Eggs we used to color when we were younger. None of those blackish-grey hues today. The Easter Bunny would have been proud.



Later in the afternoon, Auntie Z hid the eggs for RD and MyGirl to find. It was a hot day so she decided to limit the hunting ground to the study room upstairs. As you can imagine, GI was not the least bit interested in all this egg painting and egg hunting business. He was in front of the PC the whole time his siblings were looking for eggs.

After over half an hour of hunting, RD found most of the eggs and MyGirl found the rest. Except for one, that is.

Z said, "I bet your mother will find it if I give her the clues I gave you."

"How many kisses do I get if I find the last egg," I asked the two.

"Five kisses each," declared MyGirl.

"OK," I agreed. How could I lose if I had clues to work with, right?

Off I went to search for the egg. Z showed me the general vicinity where the last egg could be found. It was by the hallway where the mirror was hanging. This was a small fraction of the study room area, and the only piece of furniture found there was the old spice rack which had been converted to pigeon holes for our mail. This was going to be an easy ten kisses, I thought, as I knelt down to check the corner slot.

I immediately found the last egg. I don't know how the kids could have missed it. That would have been the first place I would look during an egg hunt. Oh, that WAS the first place I looked.


Anyway, much to the amazement of the two, I was in and out of the study room in less than a minute, raring to claim my kisses.

Thanks to Mother and Auntie Z, the two had an enjoyable Easter egg hunt. And thanks to MyGirl, we had egg salad at the dinner table that evening.


McCormick's Easter Egg Color Combination



1. Combine 1/2 c boiling water, 1 t vinegar and specified number of food color drops

Lime -- Y-24 -- G-4
Purple -- B-15 -- R-5
Cantaloupe -- Y-24 --R-2
Jade -- B-3 -- G-17
Plum -- B-4 -- R-10
Raspberry -- B-6 -- R-14
Watermelon -- B-2 -- R-25
Teal -- B-5 -- G-15
Fuchsia -- B-2 -- R-18
Spearmint -- B-2 -- Y-6 -- G-12
Maize -- Y-24 -- R-10
Grape -- B-17 -- R-1
Orange Sunset -- Y-17 -- R-3
Jungle Green -- Y-6 -- G-14

2. Dip hard cooked eggs in dye for about 5 minutes or until desired color. For variety, dip top half in one color and bottom half in another, or leave the egg in the dye for different lengths of time to create different shades of the color.

3. Use a slotted spoon or tongs to add or remove eggs from dye. Allow eggs to dry.

Early Swim

Early Swim -- 22 March 2008

When MyGirl woke up this morning, I asked her whether she wanted to go swimming before breakfast. Her face lit up and she quickly agreed. I instructed her to put her bathing suit on and get ready to swim.

She was back in a jiffy, all suited up. She had with her a box which I had forgotten about. It was a pair of water wings we had gotten her for Christmas.


I put my swim suit on and we headed towards the pool.

Once inside, she tried out her new water wings. True to their name, the water wings set her free. She was moving around the pool without a care. As far as she was concerned, she could float. She swam the length of the pool several times. This was a different experience for her because she normally used a kickboard to get around, so only her legs were propelling her in the past.

During one of her swim breaks, she told me, "This is the first time I've gone swimming before breakfast."

I smiled and told her that when we were young, we would jump into the pool wearing our nightgowns. We would make lots of tiny bubbles by catching pockets of air with our clothes then we would squeeze the air out under the water.

We had lots of fun in the swimming pool when we were kids. I am hoping that as time goes by, the three children will likewise have good memories of our time spent together in the pool.

The Way

Without Good Friday, there can be no Easter Sunday.

First Station : Jesus is Condemned to Death

Second Station : Jesus Receives the Cross

Third Station : Jesus Falls the First Time

Fourth Station : Jesus Meets His Blessed Mother

Fifth Station : Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry His Cross

Sixth Station : Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

Seventh Station : Jesus Falls the Second Time

Eighth Station : Jesus Consoles the Women of Jerusalem

Ninth Station : Jesus Falls the Third Time

Tenth Station : Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

Eleventh Station : Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Twelfth Station : Jesus Dies on the Cross

Thirteenth Station : Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross

Fourteenth Station : Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

Fifteenth Station : Jesus is Risen

Murals by Vicente S. Manansala, 1956.

Puzzled -- Part 1

Shells are fascinating.
This one hangs in our room at Cebu Avenue.

This one hangs in SisterDeer's room.
If I remember correctly, we got her this puzzle for Christmas.

This puzzle was completed in the girls' room over the Christmas vacation. There were so many BLUE pieces that we ended up sorting the pieces by shape and literally piecing them together.

Here is one of the easier puzzles we solved.
I'm glad we worked on this one because the colors are wonderful.

Special thanks to Mother for letting us have puzzle pieces all over the floor during our summer and/or Christmas breaks, and of course for having all our masterpieces framed.

Coffee, Coffee

Coffee, Coffee -- 18 March 2008

I have drank more cups of coffee in the past few months than I have in all the past years combined. The truth is I have never really been an avid coffee drinker. Though I have always loved the smell of coffee, I have never really craved for it. I have not yet reached that stage of coffee addiction. I can't imagine myself getting there. You would not see me lining up at Starbucks trying to get enough stickers to claim next year's planner. Nope, not me.

I was not a coffee drinker as a student. I managed to stay up late without the need for caffeine. When I started working, I guess I was too busy for coffee breaks. Then when I got married, I was either pregnant or breastfeeding, so coffee didn't have any place in my try-to-be-healthy life.

So why have I started drinking coffee this late in the game?

I honestly don't know. Perhaps it is my way of celebrating the fact that I am neither pregnant nor am I breastfeeding. Or maybe it is just another excuse to spend time with people I like. Or better yet, an excuse to spend time with people I like and eat something I really, really like.

There has always been coffee at Cebu Avenue. You see, Father is a classic coffee addict. He just HAS to have his cup of coffee in the morning or else his day is ruined. He doesn't like those instant three-in-one coffee things. No way! He buys different varieties of coffee beans and mixes them up. The beans are ground in the morning so that his morning coffee is brewed fresh everyday.



When I was still living at Cebu Avenue, I would hitch a ride to Makati with Father. He would drop me off at work on his way to office. We would usually leave at about 7:30 am. That would give us ample time to go through the traffic at EDSA and neither of us would be late for work. One morning, I was surprised to find Father all dressed up and ready to leave for work at about 6:30 am. He would have left me behind if I had not caught up with him. I rushed to dress up and joined him towards Makati. When I asked why we were rushing that morning, his answer was simple, "There is no electricity in the house, I have to go to the office to drink my coffee."

That was over fifteen years ago.

Last Christmas, I decided to get Father a stovetop coffee maker, one which would not require electricity. I thought it would be the perfect gift for Father. I don't mind if he never gets to use it. As long as it is available whenever he needs it.



Father likes his coffee black. Yikes! I like my coffee the way my Lola Lil made it for us when we were kids -- with lots of milk and lots of sugar. (Silly me, I should have known that my grandmother wasn't really giving us coffee.)

At the dinner table this evening, GI was still finishing his meal when Dad decided he wanted to have some coffee after dinner. Though we have a perculator, Dad opted to go for instant coffee. As he placed water in the kettle, he asked if I wanted to join him for some coffee. I said yes, so he added extra water in the kettle and got an extra mug for me.

He placed some coffee, milk and sugar in his mug while waiting for the water to boil. He was about to do the same for my mug when he remembered I had a different concept of what coffee was supposed to taste like. He passed on the container with the coffee, milk and sugar so that I could prepare my own brew. If I were to label my coffee mug with the ingredient found inside, it would read : MILK, SUGAR, COFFEE.


When the hot water arrived, I poured some in my mug, stirred it up then proceeded to sip my coffee. I was practically gulping down my coffee because it was getting late. The other kids were waiting for me. GI noticed this and commented, "Relax, Mom. Enjoy your coffee."

Dad couldn't resist teasing me. He said, "Mom is not drinking coffee, she's drinking coffee."

Lucky Stars

Lucky Stars -- 11 March 2008

The weather has been bad lately and the kids have been sick. The other week, both RD and MyGirl were down with colds on Thursday. We let them stay home. When Friday arrived, we decided to let RD stay home, but MyGirl was well enough to go to school.

On our way to school, she reminded us that her dismissal was to be at 3pm, instead of the usual 12 noon. When we arrived at school, MyGirl suddenly remembered that she had forgotten her P.E. T-shirt and shorts. She was at the point of tears but we calmed her down and promised to have the T-shirt and shorts delivered during her lunch break.

As luck would have it, when we brought her the T-shirt and shorts at lunchtime, she was all set to go home. Apparently, they had announced on Thursday that the Friday dismissal time would be 12:00 nn due to the scheduled rally at Makati that evening.

Imagine, if she hadn't forgotten her T-shirt and shorts, there would have been no reason to see her at lunchtime and she wouldn't have gotten picked up in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The assignment for Tuesday was sand. RD reminded us over the weekend that he needed SAND for Tuesday.

"Where do we find sand?" I asked Dad as we headed home on Monday evening.

He suggested that we go through the streets of our village where there was likely to be some construction work going on. We had gone through two parallel streets and we approached the third, I sought St. Anthony's assistance. "St. Anthony, please help us find sand."

All the while I was thinking of where we could possibly BUY sand. The craft store or the bookstore, maybe. There might be materials for sand art there. Bio-Research, I thought. They sell sand for aquariums and stuff. We had reached the middle of the third street when I verbalized my thoughts. I told Dad where I thought we could find sand and asked, "Where is there a Bio-Research around here?"

"Makati Square," he said. "Should we go there?"

"I think we should. You know how tense RD gets when he doesn't have his materials for school."

So instead of going through the length of that street, Dad took a right on the perpendicular street to head back towards the Makati Commercial District.

Lo and behold, we were on that street for less than a minute when we chanced upon a construction site with sand overflowing on the sidewalk.

After getting permission to get some sand, we headed home with our container full of sand.

Mission accomplished ... with a little help from above.

Thank you, St. Anthony. We appreciate the assistance.

Barber Blues

Barber Blues -- 06 March 2008

Long hair was a signature of the DL sisters during our younger days at school. We all had long brown hair. As we grew older, some opted for short hair but most kept the long locks. Father used to cut our hair when we were very young. Eventually, we (the girls) cut each other's hair. It wasn't that difficult, really. The only skill required was to be able to cut in a straight line. Eldest Sis would sit down and say, "Two inches." I would place the scissors below the estimated two inches then snip away. She would part her hair on the other side and I would trim away the long edges. She would then part her hair in the middle and I would dutifully snip off any hair that wasn't in line. Just to make sure everything was perfect, she would part it one last time, back where she normally has her line, and I would give the haircut a final check.



When I was done cutting her hair, we would either swap places and she would trim my hair, or someone else would sit on the chair and ask for a haircut.

The boys always went to the barber, mind you. Us girls had an occasional beauty parlor trip, but by and large, we just sat in the kitchen and got our hair trimmed.

I do recall one time Eldest Sis asked for her hair to be trimmed two inches and I felt that I had cut something more like three. I apologized to her for that and she was not upset at all, but I suppose my subconscious was not as forgiving. That evening, I dreamt that her boyfriend got mad at me for having cut her hair so short.

When youngest siblings J and Z were in college, sister Z decided she'd give up her long hair in favor of a bob cut. Off went her hair and Father felt as if he had gained a son. It was then that we realized that J and Z looked alike. At that time, I would never have imagined that I'd have my hair cut that short. I liked my long hair.

Well, the years passed and sisters left the nest. I eventually mustered up the courage to go out of my comfort zone. I had my hair cut to shoulder length. However, I suppose the discipline of going for a regular haircut never quite kicked in, so the shoulder length hair would become longer and longer. At times it'd merit a trip to the parlor for a professional haircut, but often it would be a trip to the kitchen for a quick trim, and at times, one to the bathroom where I would cut my own hair.

When GI was born, he was practically bald. He had such short, fine brown hair. We didn't have to really cut his hair until he was almost two, I think. On the other hand, RD was quite the opposite. His hair would grow so fast and so thick. I would cut their hair with a pair of Solingen scissors. They were perfectly happy with their haircut, probably because they didn't know any better. They must've thought that all mothers cut the hair of their children.

As the boys got older, I got bolder. My sister got a Wahl clipper set for me. There was an instructional VHS that came with it, but it got lost among the piles of VHS in the living room at Cebu Avenue. (I'm sure I could find it if I tried but I can't be sure to find a working VHS to watch it in.) The first time I tried to cut GI's hair, I only got halfway through the haircut. Dad had to take GI to the barber to finish my work. Who could blame me? I had never step foot in a barber shop, and had never held a buzz shaver before that day.



GI looked fine in his crew cut after that fateful trip to the barber. It was a good thing it was summer. By the time classes resumed, his hair was back to normal.

You might know that I hate pieces of equipment lying around unused in the house. So as expected, one day, I get the unsuspecting RD to sit on a chair for a buzz shave to get rid of some of his thick hair. He looked FINE and best of all, he was happy with his new haircut. I was pleased. I even managed to get GI to trust me to cut his hair again. What can I say? Time helps people forget.


I was able to keep this up until GI started getting conscious of his haircut. Dad would bring GI to the barber. There were times that RD got a barber cut as well but more often than not, RD would get his buzz shaves in the kitchen.

I knew this wouldn't last too long though. RD had a style he wanted to achieve with his hair. A style which I couldn't quite figure out. He wanted the front part of his hair a bit long but the back and sides short. I tried. I really did.

One day, after RD's barber cut had grown to a length which would not be tolerated at school, I told RD that I'd cut his hair. I cut it based on his instructions. I left the front portion long but the cut the back and the sides short.

I thought I did a pretty good job. He looked nice and handsome to me. It must have been an illusion because Dad brought RD to the barber a couple of days later. And apparently, the barber took one look at RD and said, "Pinag-praktisan*?"

So ended my career as a barber.



* Roughly translated, the barber had asked if someone had practiced haircutting on him?

Isn't She Lovely

When We Were Young

When We Were Young -- 09 March 2008