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?