When you reach the Philippines in the airport people would greet you saying," Mabuhay" to the foreigners as they have enter the Philippines. That means welcome in English. They will ask you, "Kamusta". They are asking, how are you? This is what you need to learn once you enter they don't use restroom. In the Philippines they call it C. R which stands for Comfort Room. Other people call it W.C which stands for Wash Room. Take note some public restrooms don't provide toilet paper and soap. You will need to bring your own when you feel you are in emergency crisis. There are paid Comfort Rooms that give you a little amount of tissue to use. You will be charge PHP 20.00 ($0.39) When you are a female the lines are usually long during peak hours when it is time to eat their meals. If, you are a senior citizen Comfort Rooms are usually free in most places depending on your location. You may have to inquire first before you enter. There is also separat...

In any breakfast there are people eating dried fish from variety of selections. Every time I am in town in Balanga, Bataan. I would stop by Balanga Public Market Bargain. I have a regular seller where in Tagalog they call it, "suki". Someone that sells something is what we call it and we always buy them in order to get a good discount or deal. I have been going to this person for a very long time. I visit them twice a year. The name of the supplier is Boots. Contact: Boots: 09999984868 Len: 09994832299 I was able to take a picture with my suki when I was there so I would remember how they look like. This is Ma Caramela who is selling it. Smoke Tinapa Bangus (Milk Fish) Dried Tuyo not salty Smoke Tinapa They also have dried pusit (squid), dried daing (boneless bangus milk fish) and many more. Some people ask me why I would travel two hours just to buy dried fish first of all the dried fish are really fresh and it is inexpensive. Not on...

Most grocery store in the Philippines carry boneless daing (boneless milk fish) that are pre-marinated. Some time it can be too sour in our stomach when they use too much vinegar. Our cook has her own recipe and was able to catch her marinating a new batch for our home. Filipino Marinated Daing Recipe : Ingredient : 2 kilo Boneless Daing (Bangus) Fresh Fish (Boneless Milk Fish) wash and clean fish with water  Every kilo half cup of White Vinegar Every kilo 2 Tbs Minced Garlic Every kilo 1 Tsp Salt Every kilo  2 Tsp Black Pepper Step 1 : Place all ingredients in a or palangana (washing bowl) or casserole Seasoning of the marinated Boneless Daing (Milk Fish) Step 2 : Fish has been cleaned and place in colander Step 3 : Each boneless takes five minutes. Step 4 : Place on a plate once marinated Step 5 : Place in Tupperware and kept sealed with lid. Leave in the freezer until you want to fry. There is no expiration date whe...

Wine is like human being when it stays in the shelf life over the years it starts to aged. There are a lot of people who fear getting one year older when they reach 45. They feel unsatisfied when they haven't reach the goal they want to achieve to make their life better and complete. The other day I was telling my friend turning 45 years old is nothing compared when you reach another decade in your life. When you reach half of one hundred people fear it more. My friend said, I was mean. I was just giving my friend the facts that being 45 is nothing at all. Why worry so much. To me being 45 is still a young age. You are still young and still do things if you are active in your daily life. If, you choose not to be active you will have a hard time as your body start to function differently. During that age you have changed your diet the way you eat. You start to have other feelings inside your body. Your life style start to change how you normally live when you we're ...

I feel like I am old when I talk about the different type of music players we had when I was growing up.  Record Player -  I remember when I was in grade school my dad would play music every weekend in the family room. He would turn his music really loud in order for us to wake up.           2. Boom Box and Walkman Cassette Player came out in the year 1980's when I was in my teenage years.               3.  Disc man came out year 2000 when I was in college. Our technology kept changing, but our music stayed the same has we grew older. I was always into dance remix.  I listen to variety of music from English, Tagalog and Spanish. When we get older some people prefer the slow song music from the generation our parents. I remember I use to complain to my parents of their music they played when I was young. I said, it makes me sleepy. I have friends who are mu...

When you live in the Philippines you end up missing food you are use to eating in California. What I have notice once a franchise comes to the Philippines the taste is not exactly the same how it is from back home. There seem to have a Filipino taste to adapt the Filipino's taste buds. I have been looking for Authentic Mexican food. I have tried Hermanio's Taco Shop. They had great burritos, but when they had moved their branch. Their food began to change may be because their rent is more expensive. Or the cook has been changed. They don't serve enchilada like in La Casita Mexican Restaurant in Fremont Blvd. Where I use to eat when I was young. In high school I had a friend who we're Mexican and every lunch we would go out. My friend Marcy would invite me over with her cousin Marina and Edna to eat at her parent's family restaurant.  I didn't mind having a big meal every lunch. to eat her parent's chicken or beef enchilada with rice. We would ride i...

What happens when you just start a long distance relationship? Being in a long distance relationship is really difficult. In two worlds you don't know what they are doing. In all relationship trust is apart of your commitment with one another. If, you cannot trust a person your mind will start playing mind games on you. You will lack sleep and appetite. You become reckless and your mind starts to drift to the unknown world of what if. You won't be able to solve all those what if in your brain until you ask the person who your with those questions that keeps floating in your brain. How does someone cope with the insecurity feelings that comes in their mind? You start thinking is this person even worth it or is your relationship worth to hold on? I was telling my friend you are testing the water if your relationship is worth it or not. I think love is like when you gamble. You need to hold on to your cards or decide when you will withdraw one card at a time. Love is li...

I miss eating artichoke and you cannot find the fresh one in the Philippines. Every time I travel back home to California I always make sure I get the chance to eat my cook artichoke dipped in mayo and melted butter. My dad always buys them in Costco bagged up in the fridge area. It comes with four huge size artichokes. I was able to bring it home to the Philippines. It was able to last for 14 hours flight home in my luggage. I had shared it with my father in-law who also eats it. It is available in S&R which is like a Costco in the States. This is the brand available there. The price is expensive since it is imported goods. This is the other brands I was able to find online at Shopee. I have tried each brand to see what is really the difference from each one. The texture of the artichoke taste different and the sauce it has been marinated in it. Luckily, from my searching I was able to find seeds of purple artichoke online at Shopee. It is n...

Every time a new model of a phone comes out we tend to over excess ourselves in buying so many phone cases that comes in style. I remember when I use to live in California and the phone that was in the market was the Nokia 3310 and 3330. I had visited the Philippines and I brought my phone with me. My sister in-law had the same model phone like mine. She had told me that I can change the housing and the keypad. At first I didn't know what she was talking about. She had showed me what collection of cartoon character she had and other designs. She also told me you can change the color scheme of your keypad. I wasn't aware of anything she had informed me. During my time I was just excited having a phone. I realized during my trip people in the Philippines over exceed themselves in buying housing and keypad to make their phone unique as possible from other people. You live in California we careless of doing those things we are more practical and use th...