my top films of 2008

A little late and definitely not academy awards material, just my own personal favorite movies or ,ehem, dvds from the past year

Favorite family movie: Mamma Mia! I watched this on dvd with my family and I now regret that I didn't let my ma and pa watch this on the big screen...just pure unadulterated fun all the way. I had the songs playing in my head for a month!

Favorite comic bookmovie: Iron Man. Sorry Batman, I hate dark, depressing movies and while everyone hailed it as the best comic book movie ever, I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr.'s playboy millionaire more. Favorite animated movie: Kung Fu Panda. Again maybe it was because of all the hype, but Wall-E just didn't affect me as much as the other Pixar films like Nemo or The incredibles...Po and the gang took themselves less seriously and the result is genuine mirth and movie magic.Favorite comedy : Tropic Thunder. Robert Downey again saves the day as 'that dude playing anothuh dude' and true to his word, he's still in character in the audio commentary! Plus, my family could not believe that was Tom Cruise!

Favorite Filipino film: Endo

What? Nope, it's not a Star Cinema rom-com. It's a small indie film that very few people outside of Cinemanila saw...which is a pity because this charming tale of contractual ('end of contract') employees who fall in love sans the histrionics or 'acting' moments one usually sees in Filipino movies is poignant and so moving in its simplicity. Too bad it's still not available on DVD.

Honorable mention: Hellboy 2 for its arresting visuals like this. Those are eyes on her wings! The dvd I got is chock-full of special features detailing the creative process behind this movie.Wow! Wonder what del Toro's dreams look like.

I still don't have any picks for Drama. I've seen Slumdog millionaire, Benjamin Button,etc. on the bangketa but I'll wait for the true dvd copy. Any suggestions or know any other films I might have missed?

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edited to add:

Favorite Horror/Thriller movie: The Orphanage

Spanish language film that provided the thrills and chills without big budget special effects. Hello, Shake rattle and roll franchise of Mother Lily, it can be done! I never thought a game of "uno,dos, tres, toca la pared"(Spanish version of pepsi/7-up) could be so hair-raising!

more pix of 2009

I miss Christmas...Papa has taken down the tree and lights but the nights are still very cold by Manila standards (18 degrees celsius). We close our windows and wrap our blankets tightly and have to heat water for our bath. So while we can, we buy some bibingka and puto bumbong ...mmmm...
Here's a pic of Jon's birthday lunch at Conti's. We also bought some 3 stars and sun shirts for Kuya Gary et al. Note: BF Ruins stalls open at 2PM.
Pic of me and Ma in front of the sign, something new from 2008.

New year 2009 pix

pix from New Year's eve...

ewwww! I filled up the chicken butt with mushroom following wowa's directions. hope it turns out ok for tomorrow's family reunion!

Twinx sewing up the chicken butt

that's our yellow lab, sasha. i covered her ears to protect from the noise of fireworks outside. poor sasha!
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new year's day:

rodel and his kid, alexa

ate cecille and ate conching

it's a new year's miracle! the boys are washing the dishes for a change!

pandayan kitchen crew ready for action!

happy 2009!!!

I won! I won! again

We bought a new LCD computer monitor after our old crt conked out and I saw an ad in the paper that if you register your purchase online, you can win samsung products. I was praying to win a 32" LCD tv...I got a call one day informing me I won a printer! Wow! Cool, i thought...so I got it at Greenhills last week and it was a monochrome laser printer.

So...does anyone want to buy a brand new black ink only printer? :)

bye wowa!

wowa left to go back to the states this morning! bye! we'll miss you! we're luck she was here to attend dana's debut and nico's first communion.

Chrismas memories

it's that time of the year again but due to lots of busy times at home and at work, I haven't bought any gifts yet! I ususally buy stuff for my godchildren early october. but my wowa's arrival, editing dana's debut and covering nico's 1st communion has got me swamped! not that i'm complaining...

but i do wish i could get some really good gifts for my inaanaks this year. problem is, i don't know what's the hot gift for kids nowadays...i'm probably the worst gift-giver in their eyes coz i always give cutely-illustrated filipino storybooks. ugh! they'd probabaly cry: it's like getting homework for christmas!!!

i was shopping for a gift for my cousin nico at SM last week and my head hurt just looking at all the stuff on sale at such exorbitant prices! i felt sorry ,too coz i looked at the new transformers toys and they were made of cheap-looking plastic and priced at almost a thousand pesos! poor kids. my 1st transformer was red alert and he looked awesome!

i remember counting the days before christmas break and spending all day watching christmas cartoon specials on TV. when i'd go to my dad's office, i'd look inside his metal file cabinet and touch the he-man "dragon walker" toy he had hidden for my christmas gift. hehehe! i don't know if i remembered to act surprised when i finally got it on christmas morning.

all these memories came flooding back when i saw some GI joe toys on display! My cousins and i knew we couldn't possibly collect all of them so we just updated each other on what we had so we wouldn't be buying duplicates. i almost squealed when i saw my old toys "duke", "flint", "barbecue", "scarlet", "snake eyes"!!! most of them got destroyed while playing slide down the clothesline...and these new editions were P349 each! man, i would buy mine at cartimar for only P89! and i still think they look better than these new ones. but i really almost bought them to give to some of my inaanaks hoping they wouldn't like them so that i could have them all to myself! bwahahaha!!! god, i really should grow up!

all saints' day

We don't typically celebrate Halloween here, though we used to rush home every Saturday to watch the spooky special on Magandang Gabi Bayan, where now Vice president Noil de Castro would showcase scary stories and places they covered with matching godawful special effects supposed to scare but turn out really funny, instead.

Every year on the 1st of November, Filipino families troop to the cemetery to visit their departed loved ones. As with all family gatherings in our country, this becomes a fiesta. There's food and drinks and stories are shared not about the dead but about each other. Fortunately, loud music has been banned so there is still some solemnity mixed with bouts of laughter. my nephew Sherwin hams it up for the camera.

When we were kids, we would play with the candle drippings and form all sorts of toys with it. I resisted the urge to make a rose like I used to make and just watched the kids make a ball of candle wax and had to smile at the sense of wonder and the pride they got from watching their ball of wax grow larger. If my aunt Diche /Fernanda were still alive she would tell us playing with candles will make you wet your bed! :) I forgot to tell Bien that his dad used to gather the wax and sell them for a small sum to people who would turn them into candles again. Since they paid so little, some kids would cheat by covering a heavy stone with wax to get more cash. Don't know if the buyers were ever fooled, though.

turbo boost chicken

nah, it's really turbo -brolied chicken, made by my lola.

first, marinate the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic overnight.

then, mix 1 can of mushroom soup with 1 can of sliced mushrooms. stuff chicken with the mixture and sew the chicken butt shut so the mixture won't spill out.

place the chicken in the turbo broiler or oven. grease sides with butter.zap for 25 minutes at 400(?) degrees celsius. turn over and cook till it is evenly brown.

serve. i tried this last new year but i thought i needed special cooking thread to close the chicken butt, so i used tootpicks instead. not recommended. the mixture oozed out.

How I cook caldereta

Pa casually mentioned that he set aside some beef if I wanted to make caldereta, which I took to mean "cook some caldereta"

So I drizzled the beef with some salt, pepper, garlic and about half a cup of vinegar before reaching for our dog-eared and stained copy of "Filipino cooking here and abroad". Hmmmm, this recipe is probably from the original Spanish version which called for stuffed olives and boiled eggs so I overruled that .

The book said the beef had to marinate for at least an hour or 2 so I went window-shopping at the appliance center, video shop and bookstore before I headed for SM supermarket to buy:

2 carrots

2 small bags of baby potatoes

1 big green bell pepper

500g pack of tomato sauce

1 can of liver spread

a bag of popcorn (for snacking, not for the recipe)

When I got home, the beef had turned pale from the vinegar. I then browned the beef in olive oil before I added some sauted onions and tomato sauce, water, potatos, bay leaf and carrots. I then plopped in front of the TV to watch Project Runway Phils., where my friend Apples is a judge. I would stir the pot occasionally during commercial breaks.

After the hour-long show was over, the beef was still tough so I put on a DVD of Family Guy and snacked on my popcorn.

2 hilarious episode later, I stirred in the liver spread, bell pepper and some leftover packets of pizza hot sauce. After the 3rd episode, the beef had become deliciously tender so I turned off the heat and closed the lid to let the flavors blend into each other.

The carrots and potatoes are part of the Pinoy version, which not only add color to the dish, it makes it healthier, too. Caldereta is really easy to make just as long as you have the ingredients and a little patience.

new shirt paintings

New stuff I did over the past 2 weeks

Another monk painting for my uncle. He wanted my original one but it was a size medium and he's not. This is XL, the only other size my mom bought. I have learned that I hate repeating myself that's why I made slight changes like the beard, the different colored frapuccino...

This is called "Maingay ba ?" If you look closely,you can still see parts of the original sketch.

This is inspired by one of Malang's cartoons. I call this "kusinera" especially made for my mom's birthday.

This is the cake we bought for her, Red Ribbon's Dulce de leche.And this is my sister absolutely loving her new magicsing.