Best Pig Ever

I don't eat pork (I haven't in almost 15 years) but it's funny that the first thing on my pasalubong list during my recent trip to Cebu was Lechon. They say that Cebu Lechon is the best so I decided that I should bring some home for my siblings to try. And since I have been a long time fan of Marketman's blog, I thought that if I was going to bring home Lechon it had to be Zubuchon :) Anthony Bourdain even said during his visit here that it was the best pig ever! Wow, exciting! Too bad I don't eat pork. haha!

You might be wondering what exactly is Zubuchon and how is it different from the other brands? Here is Marketman's description:

"We do not use MSG. We do not use mixes of any sort such as sinigang mix, ginisa mix, etc. We do not use paintbrushes to paint the skin with soy sauce, and we do not use blowtorches to even out the caramelization of lechon skin. We do not use very large pigs for sale by the kilo (these pigs at 45+ kilos live weight tend to have more fat content). We do not extract any of the prime meat inside the pig before cooking (some folks remove the tenderloins). We do not have a smooth shell-lacqued skin. ZUBUCHON is about doing things the old fashioned way. We carefully select our pigs from folks who generally raise them in their back yards, not from large commercial piggeries. As such, we feel we pay a fair price with little intermediation to the individuals who actually raise the pigs, even if we must drive an hour away to obtain them. We often “fatten up” our pigs for several days or weeks before they are slaughtered. We use only the freshest and often home grown organic lemongrass, green onions, siling labuyo or peppers, local sea salt, and other herbs and spices. We use good olive oil. And we prepare, accupuncture and cook the pig by hand, with no mechanized systems at all. We cook the pigs on natural bamboo poles over charcoal purchased from small scale manufacturers in the highland towns of the province." more on this here: Marketman.com

Zubuchon is available in Banilad Town Center but thankfully they also have a mini outlet at the domestic airport :) The Lechon is nicely packed and is priced at p490 a kilo (1 styro is 1kg). They also sell frozen paksiw and sisig!

For oders you can call:
032-2365264 and 0917-6274761
032-5835699 Banilad Town Center

Mini Christmas Village

I love seeing Christmas decors! I particularly like snow covered houses with lights because we used to have a couple when I was young. Anyway, I was really in awe when I saw Marco Polo hotel's Christmas display this year. They have a very lovely Christmas village... or should i say, town set up in their lobby right now. I love it! I hope the town will still be up when I go back to Cebu for the Sinulog so I can stare at it some more (hehe)

The town is huge! There is also a train that goes around the town :) The display is called "Train of Hope" since it is actually a fund raiser for children with cancer in Cebu :) I hope they raise a lot!There is a pizza place! The name on the side signifies the donor's name. Taco stand!  Looking for a small department store.  I wonder if the tiny people will shop at the christmasplace department 56 north pole?My fave! The post office :)Huge firemen with mini trucks!There are a few boats too!Cheers to all :) Hope 2010 will be a great year for all of us!

Merry Christmas

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas :) Here are a few pics and a short video of the wonderful Giant (each is about 20 ft high!) Lanterns in Pampanga. I'm very thankful that I was able to see them live this year. I'll be writing about the experience more in the next posts but here are the pics in the meantime. Merry Christmas again to all!

Love, Kate and Nugget :)

Each lantern looks like a giant kaleidoscope!A collage of the lanterns :)

Merry Christmas to the cats at PAWS

We dropped by the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) the other day to share Christmas treats for the shelter cats.Please take me!I knew there were a lot of cats but I guess I did not expect this many! I really wish that I had more food to give.The cat enclosure is pretty cool. There is a bridge connecting the 2 big cages! Some of the cats like lounging on the bridge :)All warm and cozy!I wish I can take you home!Please adopt a pet :) Btw, Paws accepts both cash and in kind donations.

Paws is at Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Valley,
Loyola Heights Q.C.
Telefax: 4751688

10AM to 5PM / Mon. to Sat.
Closed on Sundays & Holidays

Let's exchange gifts!

My friend said I was suicidal when I told her that I was going to Divisoria today. She explained that with only 9 days to go before Christmas the place will surely be packed! I also read recently that an estimated 1 million people flock to Divisoria everyday during December. But despite knowing all of these facts I still decided to go so I could buy my little sister's presents for her classmates. Surprisingly, our shopping experience was really pleasant! We were able to find a good parking spot and it was not as crowded as we expected. Anyway, here are a few of the things that we were able to buy :)

lots of cute food shaped erasers at p20 ($0.43) each! I think I saw this at the mall and it is selling at p88 ($1.90)!look at that super cute biscuit!the steak comes with beans, carrots and corn!cute soft toys for your cellphone P30 ($ 0.65) and Doraemon nail cutters P35 ($0.76)
and lastly, the best thing that I bought today is this solar Maneki Neko at P200 ($4.33)
this is for me though and not for Jamila's classmates :D
look at those bobbing heads :D so adorable! I hope they bring me more good luck this coming 2010!

Tiki Cat Wild Salmon

Thanks to our dear friend Oreo for sending over a yummy can of wild salmon for my "birthday". I've never had Tiki cat before so I was really excited when I saw Kate holding the can instead of the kibble box before feeding me :)

sniff! I want to eat it now!Meow!!!

"Tiki Cat Hanalei Luau Wild Salmon In Salmon Consomme Canned Cat Food is manufactured in a human-grade factory and are truly human-grade quality. All products are made with whole meat from preferred, premium portions of seafood that are left whole and intact verses traditional meatloaf or other mystery meat pates. All meat ingredients are called out in the primary flavor names without mystery or unnamed "ocean fish", chicken and other inferior filler meat sources." - product info taken from animal world network site

Let's share our blessings with the animals at PAWS

Reposting this message I got from my e-mail :) Let's all make those lovable kitties and doggies happy this Christmas! btw, photo of orange kitten on the side was taken by me in Divisoria :( I really hope that more homeless cats and dogs get adopted into loving homes this coming year.

* * *
Dear friends,

Our shelter cats are in need of old newspapers and cat food - both canned and dry. Please do donate in kind to the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center (www.paws.org.ph)

Daisy, our three-legged cat is still at PARC, waiting to be adopted. She is joined by three other cats in need of special care.

1. Snowy - a completely blind cat brought in by a student from Ateneo
2. Dolores- a tri-colored cat who was hacked by a knife or bolo and was found in UP.
3. Matthew - who was brought into our shelter with an infected eye and broken jaw. He can only eat soft /wet cat food.

Please do take time to visit to drop off whatever cat food you can spare and give our shelter cats some badly needed Christmas cheer. They promise to reward you with generous purrs.

Thank you.

-PAWS

Weekend Lunch

I love the weekends because during the weekends we have family time. And family time means food! We usually eat out or take time to prepare a nice meal at home. I prefer the latter because nothing beats a nice home cooked meal :) Sadly, we have been either eating out or having food delivered for almost 2 weeks now since our kitchen is being renovated. Hopefully things will be okay soon especially that Christmas is just around the corner. I can't wait so we can cook these again!

Veggie kare-kare, chicken adobo, lumpiang shanghai and green mango saladpork bbq and yummy crabs!cheesy spaghetti and mutigrain loaf. I did not bake this loaf, but hopefully I can bake something like this soon :)

Old buildings in Divisoria

I love looking at this old building in Divisoria. I wonder what it was and when it was built.It must have been really nice when it was built. The details are amazing. I hope I can find more information on this building. I also hope that they don't tear it down completely :(

The Remnants Center is also as interesting. I am actually amazed that it is still occupied! There are a lot of stores on the ground floor and I think people live on the second and third floors.The name suits the building well now but I wonder why it was named "The Remnants Center" to begin with. 

Early Christmas at Malaban East Elementary

We were initially worried when we received another urgent plea for help right after our relief operation at Malaban Elementary School. We were not sure if we had enough resources for 722 kids! Amazingly though, we were able to raise enough. Thank you once more to all who contributed to this project and helped make a lot of kids happy :)

boxes and boxes of goodies!

excited kids waiting by the door

yummy cookies

Cookie Team!

Anamaine and Marco from Perth-Manila Book Project and some of the school staff helping repack all those yummy cookies for easy distribution

Pencils, pens and sharpeners

and erasers! I had no idea that Kangaroos look like dinosaurs :P heheEach kid got an eco bag containing the following items: 3 notebooks, 1 pad paper
1 pencil case, 2 pencils, 1 ballpen, 1 eraser, 1 sharpener, 1 bath soap, 1 toothbrush
3 sachets of toothpaste, 1 banana, 1 bag of cookies and a choco drink!

Aside from the school supplies, each kid was able to pick 1 item from our assorted goods room!Aside from canned goods and personal hygiene products we also had a lot of cool toys and booksZOMG! someone even donated the whole 30 years of kitty collection!!!cute cat coin purse

What do i pick? Must have been hard to choose from so many nice things :)I want that!yay!books for the library!
volunteer Fer and Principal Rowena Ramos pose for a picture