2012 Golden Globe Red Carpet Arrivals

It's awards season once again and of course all eyes are on the gowns and jewels and fashion faux pas of the Hollywood stars. It seems like the stars all channeled the ethereal look (except of course the ones who still opted to wear the colorful ones). Here are a few pictures from the red carpet arrivals: SOURCE

Elle McPherson

Jessica Chastain

Julie Bowen

Sarah Paulson

Shalaine Woodley

Charlize Theron (She looks a little washed out but I think this ensemble worked for her.)

Watch out for more arrival pictures as the awards night progresses...

UNFURGIVABLE by Strip Manila for PETA Grand Launch

Strip Ministry of Waxing Manila PETA will have a grand launch of a campaign for (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The campaign is aptly called UNFURGIVABLE. There will be a photo exhibit by Miguel Miranda and a fashion show by Wanderlust.

Some of the models of the shoot are Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Isabel Roces, Phoemela Barranda, Ornusa Cadness, Laureen Uy, the DJs of Boys Night Out and many others, stripped down to nothing but their favorite designer accessories. The event will be on January 12, 2012 at Prive Luxury Club, The Fort Strip, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

PETA X STRIP TEASER: UNFURGIVABLE from Ynigo Santos on Vimeo.

The event goes out as part of PETA's ongoing efforts to end animal cruelty and put a stop to illegal fur farming.

Spread the word... :-)

It's 2012

Happy New Year!!!

I met with my cousins around 5PM and had coffee at Starbucks because I am feeling a little sleepy (see I still had to work last night and I only had a couple of hours sleep this morning). I woke up around noon and I couldn't go back to sleep anymore. After coffee, we decided to walk around Greenbelt but most of the boutiques were closed as early as 7PM so we decided to have dinner instead. I will talk about the dinner in another post.

For now, let me share to you the pictures I took from the Makati City New Year Countdown.

The Makati City 2012 ball was some sort of a ball drop, only it was on a zip line form and not a drop exactly for the countdown. We were actually joking that the city mayor will be on the line with the ball but he wasn't. Instead, he was made to appear on the stage by the magician who performed a show.

The Binay Family with their friends from China and Australia who opted to celebrate the New Year in the Philippines. The hosts gave the Vice President the microphone for a speech or something but the VP gave it to his son, the City Mayor. He clearly did not want to steal the thunder from the current Mayor. Note that before VP Binay was elected to office as such he was the Mayor of Makati. 

The dropball passed by where I am standing and it scared me to bits. Thoughts about it malfunctioning along its course made me think of it falling and hurting people. Good thing, the drop (or in this case, zip) made it more interesting. 

The countdown was well-attended by Makati City local residents and expatriates. The street party event was a tie-up with the newest television station, TV5. The whole stretch of Ayala and portions of Makati Avenue were closed to vehicular traffic. The program hosts were Iza Calzado and a few other TV5 stars.

I was not able to find the perfect setting for my camera and I did not bring a tripod too so please excuse the crappy pictures... I will be buying an advanced camera this year so hopefully next new year I will be able to capture better fireworks shots. 

The ‘Magical, Musical Makati 2012’ countdown party featured the magic tricks of Jeffrey Tam and entertainers led by The Dawn, The Company, Antimano Band, Bloom Brothers and Silk Band. There were also mimes and clowns on stilt. The atmosphere at the venue was really very festive and fun.

The street party hosts with Makati City Jun Jun Binay who said that it took them six (6) months to plan this event. 

The famous crooners of The Company, serenading the party goers with songs from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and some other Top 40 songs. They were wonderful and a joy to watch. 

The Dawn entertained the crowd as well with their music. 

Jett Pangan, vocalist of The Dawn, rocked the stage...

The grand event was capped by a 15-minute spectacular pyro-musical show to usher in the New Year. There was another band who played for the party-goers after the fireworks but the crowd slowly dispersed. Me and my cousins were among the first ones to leave and we walked around Greenbelt for a bit to take some more pictures.

LMK, JS, and Jaycar

On the other hand, here are some snapshots from around the world: 

Singapore Fireworks Display (Source)

Sydney, Australia Fireworks Display (Source)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Fireworks Display (Source)

Hong Kong Fireworks Display (Source)

How did you celebrate your New Year's Eve?

2011 Year-Ender Report

This is my 281st and the last post in this blog for this year. It's 27 posts shy of 2010 but if we include my other posts here, here and here and another in an undisclosed kind of private blog, I could say that I have been quite on a roll this year. Before I jot down the highlights and low lights of this blog, allow me to thank you all my dear readers for constantly visiting and reading my posts. Thank you to those who have subscribed and to those who have left thoughtful comments. I will not be motivated to write as regularly as possible if not because of all of you. I hope that this coming year you would still be there to accompany me in my journey, my life.

I started the year all too positive of what 2011 would bring to me. I changed the layout of my blog and I roamed Manila with my friend, Eddene. We were fixtures of Saturday and Sunday markets in the metro and malls and parks too. We were just so full of energy. February rolled in but it wasn't as eventful as I had expected it to be. I felt like I was in a one-sided relationship at that time and I just had to learn how to let go. This wasn't a painful thing to go through though because I kinda knew that it would end this way. Maybe it was all wrong at the very start and to forget about the sinking feeling, I just burrowed myself in doing the best I can at work. Oh yes, 8-hour shifts stretched to 10 until I reached even 12-hour workday sometimes. It was a little toxic but I managed to carry on like that for months.

March was when my parents and my sister visited me here in Manila. I was not able to blog any of our activities here but I sure did enjoy our time spent as a family. The last time I saw them was October of last year. What I liked most was my mom cooked some meals in my apartment. It was also the time when I bought a new fridge because the old one has been wonky and so small for my groceries. April came and went like a blur and all I could remember were attending the Samsung TV launch and the days when my BB conked out on me. The last one was the most memorable as I was told by Globe that they have to send my BB to Singapore for repair and it would take at most 2 months for it to get repaired. I was beyond disbelief (If you are a BB user and your phone will be taken away from you for that long is unimaginable). Yes, I am exaggerating a bit but that is exactly how I felt. Worst is Globe did not have a loaner phone that I can use. I had no other choice but to apply for another plan with that thought of giving the phone and line to my sister when I finally get my BB back.

My Boracay trip did not push through in May so all the planning I did just went to waste. It's okay though because the money I saved went to the out of the country trips that I had later in the year. June came and I was a little disappointed because I had to work on my birthday. Everything was quelled when I was given a surprise party by my coworkers led by the supervisors that reported to me. I got teary-eyed. I felt loved. Hehe! I also came out with my 30 before 30 list. I only have more than 5 months left and I am not even half-way through my list but of course I still have time, 5 months is still 150 days. I am crossing my fingers now that I won't be as busy and devote some of my time to my list. Wish me loads of luck!

I was only able to travel out of Manila in July. That was when I decided that I should smell the roses and leave work behind for a little bit. I travelled to Coron with some officemates and a friend from Denmark. It was all our first time to visit the island in Palawan and everyone had an awesome time. I did develop a little rash from the hiking and swimming and rubbing against the life vest on my arm but it went away after a couple of days. There's nothing a rash cream and powder can't heal. August was spent planning my first trip to Hong Kong and Macau with Olive. I was still kind of scared that time because of the hostage crisis that happened to Hong Kong nationals here in the Philippines but we braved it. I have written quite a few articles about the trip which took place in September.

I went home to see my family and help out for the last minute preparations for my sister's wedding in October. She married her long-time boyfriend and it was a lovely wedding attended by their friends from work, church and school as well as families of both parties. I was the maid-of-honor of course. At first, I was hesitant to attend because I had foreseen that I will be the subject of interrogation as to why I am not married yet and all that. Then again I still attended and told myself that it's better that I am still single because if I am already married then I will be called matron-of-honor. That is worse I think. I'm too young to be a matron. Haha!

Kidding aside, November saw me and Olive in Malaysia and Singapore. We had loads of fun as usual except for some setback with the hotel that we booked online but nevertheless we made the most out of our opportunity to travel. I also quit my job and reported to a new office the week after I got back from my vacation. I haven't written that much articles about this trip because I took too many pictures and I was just too lazy to watermark them. I have posted a couple but I still have lots of articles waiting in my drafts folder. I will try to find time to publish these travel stories this month (hopefully before I fly back to Singapore next month). I was also able to meet Mika Hakkinen on the first week of November (loads of thanks to Johnnie Walker's Step Into The Circuit campaign).

Last month, I thought will just be spent adjusting to my new work environment. Then Nuffnang gave me the opportunity to travel back to Malaysia (all expenses paid including the travel tax and terminal fees, airfare of course and accommodation at Marriott Putrajaya) to meet 500 other bloggers from all over the Asia Pacific and Australia for the 2nd Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards. It was an awesome chance I consider it the cherry on top to my awesome 2011. The experience gave me a chance to get to know other bloggers, be on a tour bus with them and motivated me to be more diligent in blogging and keeping you all posted.

The past year came by and almost went unnoticed. I am grateful to have started this blog as I had a way to document the things that happened in my life. I thank you all for visiting my blog even when I talk about nonsense things sometimes. Let's all hope for a better 2012 and exert every effort we can to learn from the previous year's mistakes and misses.

Food Find: Chee Cheong Fun

I almost always blog about food that I really love. When I was in a hawker center in Singapore (Pek Kio Market/Hawker Center along Owen Road), I bought an interesting food that I really liked. I found the Chee Cheong Fun interesting because it was made on the spot and you see how your food is made.

Chee Cheong Fun is a type of rice noodles roll or steamed rice roll. It is commonly rolled in round shape but some are cut in very thin square pieces. There are two types of Chee Cheong Fun; one is the local (Malaysia/Singapore) kind which is served with tim cheong (sweet bean sauce) and another one which is the Hong Kong style served at dim sum places with fillings like shrimps, roast pork or minced meat in it. The one I tried at the Pek Kio Hawker Center is the Hong Kong style.

How it is made is by mixing flour, starch and corn flour and then water is added to the mix and stirred continuously to avoid any lumps. The consistency should be light so that the texture is maintained smooth. Salt and oil is also added to the batter. The mixture is then poured to a steamer. A thin layer is what you need for the steaming. While in the process of steaming, sprinkle thinly sliced herbs (to your liking0 as well as any filling you wish to eat. Once the mixture becomes opaque, scrape and fold and slice. You may opt to garnish with sesame seeds and pour sesame oil on top for added flavor. You can use any light soy sauce or hoisin sauce for dipping.

This delicacy is not easy to like especially if you are a sensitive and/or picky eater. It looks like pig intestines (thus the name chee cheong). Regardless of how it looks, I can tell you that it is so yummy and it's worth a try.