Former President Cory Aquino Died Already

TGIF! I am happy that I could finally sit down relax and watch my favorite TFC channel. After watching Wowowee a recorded coverage flash on the screen that shocked me, to see when the son of the former President Corazon Cory Aquino faced the media announcing his mother's death.

According to him, his mother the former President Corazon Aquino, an icon of people power in the Philippines and around the world, passed away at 3:18 a.m. Philippine time,Saturday, August 1, 2009. Her son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, said in his official statement that,

“Our mother peacefully passed away, of cardio-respiratory arrest,”

“She would have wanted us to thank each and everyone of you for all the prayers and your continued love and support,” he added. “It was her wish for all of us to pray for one another and for our country.”

The 76-year-old Aquino was diagnosed with with colon cancer in March of last year and was treated with chemotherapy. Last May, she underwent surgery to remove parts of her colon and was brought to the hospital in June due to loss of appetite.

If I recall the former President’s contribution to the Philippine democracy. She is dressed in her signature yellow, Mrs. Aquino rallied the middle class in a series of protests culminating in the 1986 people power revolt that toppled the 20-year regime of strongman Ferdinand Marcos and swept her to the presidency.

She blamed the Marcos government for the assassination of her husband, opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., who was gunned down at the Manila airport upon returning from exile in 1983.

The former housewife reluctantly took over as Marcos’ main challenger, becoming an international icon of democracy after her victory sparked a wave of pro-democracy movements around the world. Time Magazine named Mrs. Aquino its Woman of the Year in 1986.

To the family of President Cory, our prayers and Condolences. Thank you for giving back the democracy to the Filipino people and serving us(the Filipinos) with sincerity and dedication. We will never forget you. May you rest in Peace with our Lord, Madam!

Barbeque Chicken In Oyster Sauce

One of my favorite chicken recipe is barbeque. I've tried using many kinds of barbeque with different kinds of spices on it like using ketchup, marinated in soy sauce & vinegar, soy sauce with kalamansi or soy sauce kalamansi with sprite. Now I tried this new one in oyster sauce. It come out good. So I am sharing the recipe with you.



Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken thighs
Marinade:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 tbsp ginger strips
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil

Procedure:

1. Marinate chicken thighs in the remaining ingredients for about 4 hours.
2. Grill in charcoal or on an electric grill. Brush chicken with marinade every once in a while to prevent drying. Serve with favorite pickle and hot rice.

Meeting New Friends

I forgot to post my blog about last Sunday when hubby invited new friends living at the 2^nd floor of his workplace. Since the pictures are not downloaded yet at my computer. I just save the post in my documents. Anyway they are Filipinos renting at his boss building. They’ve been planning to meet me several times but their schedules are preventing then to do so. At last both were able to get a time to visit us bringing another friend. I prepare some Filipino food for us to eat. The pictures are just the left over which I put on the container after we eat and ready to go to the refrigerator. We are so much delighted that we forgot to take pictures while doing the table settings. When they arrive we eat at once because food is ready and having chit chat while eating.Telling where they came from and me where I came from. Where we live. Although we came from one country we live in different places in the Philippines.I made the famous Filipino dish named Escabeche- I fry a medium size snapper and set aside. In another fan I heat oil, then add pounded garlic and sliced onions, stir fry. When the onion has become transparent and the garlic pieces become brown, add the strips of ginger and the green and red peppers. Stir fry.Add sugar and add vinegar with little water and salt . The taste is sweet and sour.
this was a famous dish too, sinigang na baboy (sour pork soup) here bring the pork to boil so it become tender then when its meat is tender already I put fresh tomatoes, onions, green bell pepper, ginger, potatoes, and my vegetable is spinach then I put sinigang mix. I simmer it for 10 minutes.
pancit(rice noodles) this is easy: you just have to heat oil then add pounded garlic, sliced onions, shredded chicken breast, shrimps, chinese longaniza, sliced carrots, cabbage and add water and soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste then simmer it. Add the rice noodles and cook it for 5 minutes. this one is Shanghai rolls.In making this stuff. You just have to prepare ground pork, finely chopped onions, carrots, garlic, and shrimps. Mixed all together. Add salt and peppers taste and egg. At one end of lumpia wrapper, spoon about 2 tablespoonsful of the pork mixture and roll tightly. Brush one end of wrapper with water to seal. Deep fry until golden brown.Cut roll into 2 pieces. Serve with hot sweet and sour sauce.
baked yummy empanadas

the favorite biko which is made with glutinous rice. Filipinos love this stuff. Also easy to make you just cook 3 cups of glutinous rice. Set aside then heat 2 cans of coconut milk put half brown kilo sugar let it boil with constant stirring until sticky then add the rice mixed altogether. Let it stand for 5 mins and stir again, then turn off the fire. Good dessert.

My favorite Filipino dessert called Yema here I had condensed milk, ground peanut and jackfruit then I mix everything in a sauce pan. Cook mixture under medium heat. Stir until the mixture coagulates. Let it cool. Shape into desired shape (usually pyramids) and wrap in cellophane. Since I couldn't find the colored cellophane I just use the wax paper by cutting it into square.
and the fruit cake that our friends bring. After our delicious meal we eat this dessert together with my glutinous rice over a cup of coffee.

After the meal we sat at our living room to take some pics as our souviner from our get together

The male friend is a physical therapist and the other one is a nanny. Both are working so hard to give their relatives and siblings in the Philippines a good life, seldom meet each other. Life here is boring because you’ve been busy working all day and in the evening when you get home you’ll just throw you bag on the couch, put shoes under your bed, change your clothes, hurry to eat because all you want is put yourself on the bed. Tired already, gush poor guys.

PUTO WITH CHEESE

I learned how to cook puto from my Tita when I was in the high school We uses glutinous rice and the ordinary rice soaked in water until soft. Then we will grind it in the old puto grinder. Since then I have been making puto for my friends and whenever there are parties in the Philippines. When I am busy at work and don’t have time to prepare all I had to do is order it. That’s easy and hassle free. Not time consuming and ready to put on the table once the visitors are there. But now that I am here in a far away land whenever I miss the food I make it and some part I would give to friends for them to taste it. It's easy to make and anybody can do it. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
sliced cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all the ingredients except the cheese and beat it well. Grease a small muffin pan and pour the mixture up to 3/4 full. Steam it for about 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted on it will come out clean. Put the sliced cheese 30 seconds before it's done. This recipe will yield 2 dozen puto using small muffin pans.

An American Black singing a Filipino Song

Come wedding day one of my plan is to show a video of me and my hubby. So I gathered both of our memorable pictures since childhood ‘til the day that we first meet and up to our civil wedding. After the photo selection and putting some captions on the picture, my next step is to find the song that would serve as a background of the pictures while it is sliding one by one on the screen. So I go to you tube and watch some songs on the video, while I was searching for a good English and Filipino song particularly the new one sang by Willie Revillame with the title Ikaw na Nga. I did not see his picture on the video but instead I saw this man named Isaak Holiday Jr. from Texas. If you see his picture he is obviously an American black but I was amazed when he sings the new released song of Willie Revillame – Ikaw na Nga. The pronunciations of the Tagalog words are good as if he is really born and raised in the Philippines.

Yesterday while I was watching the TFC channel the host of the show Wowowee Willie Revillame called him and introduce him to the people inside the studio while the Wowowee show is going on and ask him few him few questions like why did he sings Filipino songs. Where did he learn the language, if one of his parents is Filipino or if he is married to a Filipina? He said he was invited to sing at the Filipino community a long time ago, his parents are not Filipinos and never married to a Filipina but he has good hearted Filipino friends which he said he considered his family that teaches him to proper pronunciation of the Tagalog words. And apart from that he listens to them when they say it properly. I can feel goosebumps when I heard some Filipino songs that he sings. His rendition of the song is much better than the singer itself. No offense with Willie. He really has a good singing voice.

Just knowing that he feel in love with the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) songs and interested with the Filipino culture is a big pride for us Filipinos. There is a slight accent with words that he pronounced but that can be polished. I’ll share with you some of the songs that he sings courtesy of richieartwork.

Filipino Ka Ituro Mo Part II

• Tulong - help
• Ganda/maganda - beautiful
• Pangit-ugly
• Doon - there
• Dito - here
• Masikip - tight
• Maluwag - loose
• Makati - itchy
• Mabait -friendly
• Matulis - pointed
• Matalas - sharp
• Mabilis -fast
• Mabagal - slow
• Mababaw - shallow
• Malalim - deep
• Saan-where
• Ano-what
• Kailan-when
• Bakit-why
• Paano-how
• Mapayapa -peaceful
• Madami - plenty
• Regalo - gift
• Kaibigan – friend
• Dasal –prayer
• Maalinsangan- humid
• Makulay-colorful
• Bulaklak-flower
• Dahon-leaf

Messages I got from my e-mails

I got this greetings from my e-mails and friendster comments. I am truly blessed having friends around that care for. My heart feels good that even on short messages they sent it to me letting me feel that they are just there whenever I need them. Sometimes I feel alone, lonely and depressed friends is really a great help to move on. My special thanks to the following for sending me this beautiful messages.


Ivy- she is my sweet cousin. She is working at the DSWD, Cebu, amidst her hectic schedule she always finds time to e-mail me sending me jokes, forward e-mails that thru powerpoint and/or sending me religious qoute/verses that would help me in my daily living.

Lindy- a special children's teacher that always says how she misses our hang-outs in Manila. She is my high school classmate. Really a dear friend. Miss you too, Ga. That's how we call each other.

Mario- my cyberfriend from India who is now working in Dammam, Saudi. We've know each other since 2005 and until now we still e-mail each other, chat and he sometimes sends me this messages. Thank you friend for being so nice that even if we just meet on the internet you still value the friendship. We may not be chatting often but you are still there for me.

Sarah- she lives in Sweden. I met her in the friendster world. Although we are miles apart she still manage to send me tags and comments at my friendster. Never fail to send me informative messages at my e-mails.
Gina- my ever Kumare! whenever she is free from work and on the computer she would send me a bunch of comments and how are you mare! Musta na buhay sa States(how is life in the USA) As if she is not near to me, he he he. Heller! she just live in Yukon,Canada a boundary of USA and Canada. Anyways, she need to show her passport and tourist visa to visit me. Why not just call me mare, if you really need to hear my voice.
Yusuf- Turkey is a far country from the Philippines but this friend did not hesitate his eagerness to make friends with a poor girl like me. Even if he belongs to the elite group in the society he still manage to vow his head down and reach a person like me who belongs to the lower class. It means to say that being in the higher class in society is not a hindrance when friendship is the topic.

Hubby- He is one of a kind. A wonderful friend/hubby. He is one of my unknown fan in this blog. My number one critic. Lovely-you have to be careful in writing because your number one critic will read your post aha ha ha.

Steve- my ever loving friend who never fails to sent me e-mail everyday. I got 2 or 3 e-mails from him. He is never tired sending even if I fail replying his e-mails, he will still send a bunch of greetings, pictures and kept on sending me tags at my tagged page.

Gary - I met him by a friend. He lives in Utah. Every now and then he sent me a message at my YM asking how are you, miss chatting with you. And on e-mails he also sent this friendship message. His eyes always twinkle when I open my cam for him to see me when we chat. And he always show pictures of the beautiful places in Utah. I just hope that one day I could go there and see the beautiful sceneries that he shared with in the pictures.


To all my friends, thank you for the never ending support, loved, and care. I may not be rich in money but I am truly blessed with friends like you who is always there whenever I need you. I want you to know your friendship is really appreciated. I really treasure and value it.

Filipino Ka Ituro Mo (You're a Filipino Teach them)

Since I am a Filipino blogger I think I need to post this so others would know the meaning of some of our Filipino words. I write this first in English then I translate it into Tagalog or Filipino which is our national language. My hubby who is an American ask me to teach him the language so that when he mingles with my relatives and siblings he will know what they are saying. I pity him sometimes when we are conversing in Tagalog because you could see in his forehead the wrinkles trying to figure out what we are saying. Even if he could not understand he tries his best to know what's the meaning.If he could not catch up and he saw that we are laughing he then would just laugh pretending he knows. Poor guy. Here are some words that I know useful to those who want to learn. I know their are lots to be learned of but I posted a few just to start. I will post it little by little so you together with my husband will learn more. He is one of my fan in my this blog.... HHHmmnn don't ague he love me!!!!!

Hello? ---- Kumusta?

Goodbye ---- Paalam

Thank You -----Salamat

You’re Welcome -----Walang Anuman

Yes ----Oo

No ---- Hindi

How much? ----Magkano?

Sorry ----Paumanhin po

Good Morning -----Magandang Umaga

Good afternoon ---- Magandang tanghali

Good evening ---- Magandang gabi

Hot ----Mainit

Cold --- Malamig

Rain --- Ulan

Sun --- Araw

Breakfast ----Almusal

Lunch ----Tanghalian

Dinner ----Hapunan

Bread ----Tinapay

Cheese ---- Keso

Chicken -----Manok

Meat -----Karne

Egg -----Itlog

Fish ---- Isda

Fruit ---Prutas

Pork ----Baboy

Ice Cream ---- Sorbetes

Rice ----Kanin

Water ----Tubig

Vegetable ----Gulay