Calvin and Hobbes 100531

Calvin and Hobbes 100526

Hi, Ronj! :)

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Rachelle's pineapple project

My officemate Rachelle is growing (of all things!) a pineapple in the office. It looks like it's growing beautifully naman. Seems like the cool, air-conditioned environment in our work area is conducive to pineapple growth. :)

Rachelle's pineapple (foreground) & Sir Rico's pineapple

The seedling/leaves/stem/whateveryoucallit is from a pineapple which she and her family grows in their weekend farm in Cavite. Composting soil was used for this, and so there are other greens/weed-like growths beside the pineapple.

Nainggit yung isang officemate, si Sir Rico, kaya nagtanim din siya ng sarili niyang pineapple. His pineapple's growth is stunted though (bonsai pineapple!) kasi the 'pot' he's using is really shallow. Kawawa naman yung roots, hindi maka-stretch.

Sir Rico's pineapple

Will update you on the pineapples' progress in the following weeks. Stay tuned!

Mutts 100501

Mutts' Earth Days

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KUNG MAY _ _ _ _ MAY GINHAWA

Seen in a tricycle. By transposing just 1 letter, the ingenious tricycle drivers were able to make a catch-phrase which made made more sense.

Happy Mother's Day!

To mommy, Mama Noy, and Tita Moje-

Thank you :)

the roses Tito Renie and family gave Mama Noy

another new thing

Dahil na-inspire ako kay Ronjie, I made him teach me how to steam-cook food. :) It's very, very easy! Another skill added to my only other cooking skill... frying. :D I put some salt, crushed peppercorns, rosemary, and lemon juice on the chicken breast fillets before I steamed them. Wala pa ring lasa nung naluto na, though I was able to taste some of the rosemary. :) Soy sauce with lemon juice as sawsawan. :D

new things this week :)

I found this moisturizer sachet and tried it. My regular brand is Myra E's facial moisturizer (because it's the cheapest! :D); I found this Seaweed Day Cream of Body Shop good, it felt better than Myra E's. I wonder how much it retails for though.

Japanese junkfood! From one of the bosses in the office - pasalubong galing Japan. I liked the bits which were wrapped in nori. Cute! They all tasted the same naman, parang rice crackers.

nori-wrapped junkfood bit, up-close

Healthy living! Papaya for dessert. :) Everyday diet is normally protein and carbohydrates (rice + pork/beef/chicken ulam), so the vitamins, minerals, and fiber from papaya were a welcome addition to my system.

sweet papaya :)

Finished the last couple of sets of Hiragana characters in class earlier today:

ma-mi-mu-me-mo

ya-yu-yo

ra-ri-ru-re-ro

wa-wo

n

I now know how to write my name in Hiragana! (I'm not sure though if I'll be using my nickname in Japan; it apparently is slang for *toot!* Interesting. Naaaliw ako whenever I find out that Mara means something negative in other languages/cultures, i.e. Buddhism. I like that my nickname has character. Dito sa Pinas, the word 'Mara' is most known as just the name of main character in that long-running, Judy Ann Santos-starring soap Mara Clara.)

quoting Lao Tzu

"To lead people, walk with them."

Labor Day lunch

No class today! :) And I had something new for lunch. Parang danggit. :D

Rocky (and Erica) brought this home from either Pangasinan or Ilocos. Masarap siya, especially with vinegar and tomatoes. :)

espada?