Alona Beach and Dumaluan Beach, Bohol

Alona Tropical's nipa hut-styled roof

I've been to Panglao's Alona Beach before and I loved how it's less crowded than Boracay, though Lonely Planet calls it a "congested strip of resorts".

Back in Bohol

I arrived on a cloudy day and I have not adjusted the photos so that you can see what Bohol looks like in the off -peak season

I love Bohol and if ever there is one place in the country I'd love to go back to, it would be this province. It has the everything I want in a vacation: nice beaches, plenty of activities to do, and a vibrant culture!

Holy meal! Ristorante delle Mitre

or Possibly the closest thing to heaven on earth in Intramuros, Manila.

So we went to the San Agustin museum in Intramuros Manila last week but what really got us excited was where we would eat. I've eaten at Ilustrado but while the food was excellent, the prices were too steep. I thought we could try out Barbara's , which is also a well- known establishment which had friendlier prices. 

New discovery: Recipes by Cafe Metro

I've always been wary of Shangri-La in Mandaluyong because it looks so chi-chi and expensive. Luckily, my friend Mara treated us to lunch there and took us to Recipes.

Namnam: Filipino food with a twist

 For Jon's birthday, we just had to try someplace new. We'd had food from most of the restaurants in the Ayala Triangle so my curiosity was aroused by an internet post about the best new Pinoy restaurants in the city. While most of them were in Quezon City, I read about one that was in Greenbelt 2. I was a bit wary because most of the restos along that lane like Italianni's and Cyma are on the expensive side but a few clicks on google revealed a menu with reasonable prices!

Best and worst of 2013

It's been a year of ups and downs and while I don't believe the numbers have anything to do with it, 2013 brought death, a super typhoon and a traffic accident but it also brought hope, new friendships and my comic strip going mainstream.
But enough of that, let's do a throwback to 2013's Best and Worst of the Year! This is, of course, a personal list with input from my friends so don't feel bad if you don't agree with me

Film

Best: Sana Dati

There were lots of contenders foreign and local like On the Job and Gravity , and Frozen (which I loved) but the one that hit me like an an arrow through the heart was Jerrold Tarog's Sana Dati. I was unprepared for it because the story was really not that original and it didn't tackle any big socio-political malaise but it resonated with me in a way a good movie should. One moment I was laughing at the wedding host's booboos, the next moment I didn't realize I had tears streaming down my face. Jerrold Tarog is fantastic when left to make the movies he wants to make like his first movie "Confessional."(Watch it!!!) 

While his mainstream works like that "Punerarya" episode of "Shake, Rattle and Roll 12" showed flashes of brilliance, it's really in his own movies that you see him shine.

Throwback artwork

 I've been swamped with work the past few days with my simple series of comic strips to benefit the survivors of typhoon Yolanda here

And while I was searching for some reference works, I chanced upon other works I've done like this recent poster  above for Miriam grade school for a co-worker.

I thought this was cute. this was the last year of the contest.

 And some of the artworks I sent to Japan for their now defunct Yumiori Shimbun cartoon contest.

This was my take on gift-giving for monsters

We had to spend some money to have this delivered to Japan. We didn't win but we're glad we joined.

In case it wasn't clear, the lion was bored of putting on a show for the zoo visitors so he just has a hand puppet ready 

Mini food reviews:Omakase and Tokyo tokyo

 

For Mama's delayed birthday celebration, we wanted to go to dampa, but the car still had to be fixed so we went back to Omakase in Ayala Triangle. We weren't very satisfied when we first went here but we decided to give it another chance.

Malacanan Palace

We visited Malacañan Palace after lunch at Casa Roces. We had to give our full name and complete date of birth to the coordinator  10 days before our trip so that the government could check out our backgrounds, I guess. Also, there is a dress code. No slippers, mini skirts or sleevelss tops. We also had to go through 2 sets of checkpoints  before we could get to the entrance of Kalayaan Hall, above.

It looks very elegant and ornate, befitting a president's residence/office.

Casa Roces Manila

 Last Tuesday we went to Malacanang for an educational tour of Manila. I had never been to Malacanan Palace so I was quite excited.
First, we went to Casa Roces, which is just across the Palace, for lunch. They also arranged our trip to the Malacanang museum.
Casa Roces used to be the home of Chino Roces, publisher of The Manila Times. Their logo was a newsboy selling the paper and a statue of that newsboy welcomed us at Casa Roces.