I bought that hat (sombrero) for only P150 (<$4) at the OTOP (One Town, One Product wherein that town has the raw material in abundance and will produce it by themselves) Luzon Fair at Megamall.  It was not your usual girlie sombrero as the shade is only cut to cover your face while the back can be adjusted to your head’s diameter.  I got mine with maong (jeans) piping to give dark contrast accent to my hat and me.  There are other cloth and more hat designs to choose from that I had to think twice what to buy.  They even have colorful bags, table mats and rugs that might catch your roving eye!

Aurora Hats and Crafts - Analisa Tangson

02.642.957; 0928.210.7583

ahc_craftsbiz@yahoo.com.ph

Another thing that caught my eye was the snakeskin wallets/bags/pencil case/ cellphone holders (many mroe!) because of the shade of colors — brown, beige, metallic gold, etc.  They were wonderfully made and soft to touch.  Cost from P200 to P2500 ($4 to $55).  I’d buy those if I was still using wallets but I’m not ever since I discovered the metal container that you use for cigarettes.  It is nore convenient for me than having bulky wallets because when you have kids, your bag is their bag too!  So, I’m lucky if I get to use my bag often whenever I’m with them.  (Sorry, I wasn’t able to get the contacts.)

So do dropby at SM MegaTrade Hall B to check out more Luzon products there!  They will only be there till Sunday, 13 July 2008.  Entrance is FREE.

I will post our OTOP food trip on my next entry!  :)  Good thing, HB was patiently waiting for me while I browse some of the non-food stuff at the fair.

Back to my hat…now, where will I use it?….

I was quite excited to watch the Journey to the Center of the Earth because we will be watching it at the D-Cinema (the FIRST!) and it is located at The Block of SM North Edsa (my FIRST time to be at The Block!).  How is it be different from the regular showing of your favorite movie or even with the IMAX theater?  By the way, D stands for Digital so does it speak for itself?

Anyhoo, here’s information that I gathered about D-Cinema:

1.  D-Cinema shows high-quality 3D or 2D films in a regular cinema.

- IMAX boast of their most advanced cinematic 3D with crystal clear images, not to mention their 20m x 33m 8 stories high wide screen, Asia’s largest screen!  D-Cinema has the regular movie screen.

2.  Every film would be guaranteed to look amazing and experience unparalleled clarity.

- Since this is in TRUE Digital format, it will look the same no matter how many times it will be viewed to moviegoers.  The sound will also be exactly the same every time you listen to it.  One thing that set apart D-Cinema from IMAX theather is the former is already stored in a hard disk while the latter still makes use of a projector with a 70 mm film frame, 10 times larger than the conventional 35mm film frame used in regular cinemas.  IMAX uses state-of-the-art digital surround sound system with 44 speakers that produce 14,000 watts of power.

3.  D-Cinema is easy to operate — Movies are installed, replaced and screened with just ONE press of a button.

- Regular cinemas and IMAX are still in film print

You can watch Journey to the Center of the Earth in digital 3D at D-Cinema only.  The movie was intended to be shown on 3D so you’ll scream (with surprise!) like a kid again while you watch this movie.

Other Hollywood movies already lined-up are: The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 2D (July), Starwars: The Clone Wars 2D (August), Hellboy 2: The Golden Army 2D (Sept.), Eagle Eye 2D (Sept.), High School Musical: Senior Year 2D (Oct.), and James Bond: Quantum of Solace 2D (Nov.).

For inquiries and ticket reservations, please call D-Cinema at 02.929.5452 or email dcinema@smsupermalls.com

I’m still hesitant to join this leadership success seminar but HB kept on encouraging me to be part of People Synergistically Involved (PSI). He kept on ranting how he feels great and through this, we would be able to understand each other. Paying ***pesos is such a small amount for what it gives you — peace of mind and a change of thinking that would change your lifestyle. Still, I am not THAT convinced to enroll. HB invited me to his graduation tonight and the facilitator, Kokoy Reonisto, had to sell PSI to the guests who the graduates brought along. Plus, graduates share their experience just barely 3 days after. Effect is that fast? Would it last long?

Here are some of my shallow thoughts:

1. Why pay ****pesos to attend such seminar? Can’t I get it from a retreat? Why price is steep? (Always theprice…)
2. I do not want to leave my kids so long. (They might not recognize me anymore hehehe)
3. I’ll get tired because of the long hours for four days straight. The seminar would have a hard time finding its way through my brain.

But here are what interests me:

1. There was a change in HB. He was more appreciative of me. He obligingly followed my directions to him. I could go on and on but for now, I wish it would last long and it would stick to him.
2. What makes PSI tick?
3. What do they get out of this especially to those who are recruiting? Commission based?

So there…I do hope I find the answers when I attend this next August.

Here are a shot of them having F-U-N.

Would I be included in the Batch 223, which coincidentally celebrates their 22nd year since it started August 1986?

Well, stay tuned and let’s see how it would change me?

What about you?  Have you heard about the PSI?   Attended the seminar? Can you share what had happened to you?

Congratulations to Ms. Sheryl Guisihan!

You just won 2 tickets to “Journey to the Center of the Earth“.

To all those who left comments on this post, Thank you very much for participating in this raffle. More to come so watch out for it!

Once tasted, always wanted.

I’ve been to Tacloban years ago because of work (again!  Like the pastillas i had). When I read Raissa’s comment on HB’s post on searching for more information about Tacloban, my eyes sparkled when it reached the word pastillas from Carigara. Oh yeah, how could I forget that one (again!)! And so, I was excited to get my hands on that pastillas! Yeehee!

This one is smaller in size than the one from Tuguegarao but it has the same texture and boy, it melts in your mouth!  Made from carabao’s milk and lotsa lotsa sugar!  It is best for sharing so they can also have a share of the calories! hehehe

What’s the best pastillas for you?

That is AD’s welcoming remarks to his Poppa

Aren’t you glad that my HB is my HB? When he goes out of town, I wonder what his take home treat would be? And so far, I have not yet been disappointed.

This time, he went to the Pintados Kasadyaan Celebration in Tacloban for six-(6) days to participate in their Fiesta. He has soooo many stories to tell us but the bottom line — he enjoyed his stay there!

He was fascinated with San Juanico Bridge that he even boasted that it was former President Marcos gave the bridge to Imelda Romualdez.

You know what went through my crazy head? Ferdinand had to do something extraordinaire for Imelda to forgive him. Hmmm….

This one is called Binagol coined from the name of Bagol which means coconut shell, the packageof the Binagol. Ingredients of this kakanin (rice delicacy) are pure talyan, coconut milk, peanut, margarine, sugar, milk, vanilla,sticky rice and eggs. Yes, they are cooked in banana leaves. While searching for more information on Binagol, I noticed that it included chocolate but when I tasted it, there was no hint of chocolate so maybe there is another variant of it. And there was also no indication on the label that it was with chocolate. You have to eat it with the middle part because that is where the sweet filling is. If you prefer your binagol to be not too sweet, the outer part of the binagol is also good. Yummy!

AD calls this chocolate suman. It is actually called, Moron (Not you! hehehe). Made of ground rice cooked in coconut milk with cocoa. AD loved it because it was with “chocolate“. I, too, loved this one because it was not too sweet compared to Binagol. AD even told me that he wanted this to be his school snack. AD, like me, loves rice delicacies. Amazing kid!

These two are Leyte’s delicacies which Filipinos bring home to their families and that’s why HB brought it to us (Actually, all these are for AD because he just lurvs pasalubong!).

Have you tried these? Or what are your favorite pasalubong? Can you share it with us?