This is long overdue. Let me put aside the usual mommyhood and food blog posts to write about something that is just as close to my heart. For Earth Day!
(To understand the issue better, I recommend that you click through the links in this post. The links lead to articles, Facebook pages and posts about the SM Baguio issue.)
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I feel strongly about the issue of cutting/earth-balling trees by SM Baguio on Luneta Hill. Baguio blood runs in my veins. Baguio is my home. My Lolo was a tree lover and I guess he passed that on to me.
Lolo’s Legacy
Lolo, Dad’s dad, was an agriculturist and forester. After World War 2, Lolo worked for the regional office of the Bureau of Forestry and was responsible for reforesting parts of Northern Luzon. I remember, though vaguely, stories he told me of his adventures, mostly about planting thousands of trees all over the mountains – the stretch of the Mountain Trail (now Halsema Highway), the hillsides of Baguio. He brought with him a number of people whose primary job was to plant trees. They travelled in caravans across Benguet, and the Mountain Province.
Lolo also created a beautiful forest haven in his home in Baguio. It was near downtown but it looked like nothing you would expect in a home just 10 minutes from Session Road. We had bamboo groves, coffee trees, guava trees, a langka tree, a couple of avocado trees, many other smaller trees and shrubs, more bamboo, and more coffee trees! (We had so much coffee trees that we made our own coffee.) I have a lot of fond memories growing up in our mini-forest. My sisters, cousins and I – we were children of the earth. Literal earth. 
Sadly, it isn’t how it used to be anymore – there and most everywhere else in Baguio.
SM cuts it all for you
Now SM wants to cut/earth-ball/transfer 182 – scratch that, 133 – there are just 133 trees now (49 trees were cut/earth-balled/left for dead during SM’s defiance of the TEPO, according to this open letter from the lead attorney of Project Save 182.)
SM wants to earth-ball/transfer (read: kill) the trees on Luneta Hill so that it can build an expansion that will house a parking/shopping complex. Of course they justify this with green-washing – such as a “lushly landscaped Roof Garden with delightful water features”, and that the building is supposedly needed to prevent soil erosion. (I was taught in elementary school that trees, not concrete buildings and most definitely not cutting the trees, prevent soil erosion.)
The protests began late last year, but have recently escalated due to SM’s defiance of a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) issued by the court. The anger, not only among Baguio locals but of others in Metro Manila as well, grew even more when SM went ahead and cut/earth-balled the trees anyway.
Photo courtesy of Karlo Marko Altomonte, one of the leaders of Project Save 182, the group that spearheads the protests.
(View more photos of the earth-balled trees on Luneta Hill here -taken during the site inspection by media and Baguio environmentalists.)
(View video of a tree falling to its death in the middle of the night of April 10. How come DENR and SM deny that any trees were cut? This video does not lie.)
The surviving trees are safe for now, under an extended TEPO that was issued by a Baguio court. But who knows what SM can do, especially with government defending it?
The trees are Baguio’s heritage
Tags: Baguio City, Earth-balling, Pine Trees of Luneta Hill, Save the trees, SM Baguio, SM Baguio Pine Trees
The idea came from this conversation while we were looking at some photos of art cakes that my sister Sherry made.
V: Aww, I wish you could bake like tita Sherry.
Me: Hmmm. I never bake. It’s very hard to bake. You have to measure everything exactly. It’s messy. We have no pans, no tools… (voice trails off with more excuses)
V: Hmm… Can I try baking?
Me: SURE! (thought bubble: whew, please don’t try to talk me into it!)
V: Really? Yay!
The other two – Patch and Nate – were excited with the new project too so off we went to the supermarket to buy their materials.
We have a kiddie cookbook at home called The Witchkins (by Mel Martinez-Francisco) that I got from the ladies of Tomatis Philippines when I attended an event at their Rockwell center. It’s got some really easy recipes for all occasions and I brought it out so the kids can look for something that they can handle for their first baking project.
We all agreed to make the Secret Kisses for Santa recipe because it’s primarily egg-free (Nate is allergic to eggs). We are going to buy some white chocolate to substitute the Kisses in some pieces too. So even if it isn’t Christmas, and Santa is most probably enjoying himself in some sunny getaway, we decided on doing this one.
Ingredients: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: baked goodies, baking for kids, Christmas cookie recipe, cookie recipe for kids, Food and Recipes, Mel Martinez Francisco, recipe for kids, summer activities, summer activities for kids, The Witchkins Cookbook
One of the chores that I recently took up is — tada! — going to the palengke (fresh market). I know, I know… I am not very domesticated.
In the past, it was husband who went to the market to buy our weekly supply of fresh meat, fish and veggies. (I’d occasionally tag along.) Then he became too busy with work and too tired to wake up early every Sunday just to do the palengke rounds. So, I pretty much didn’t have any choice. Unless we buy all meat and fish from the supermarket, which if you’re used to palengke-quality fish (most esp.), just don’t measure up.
But yes, I find my new hobby enjoyable, actually. I have my suki fish, chicken and meat stalls. Of course, I buy from the vegetable stall owned by my fellow highlanders. (I’ll remember to take photos with them next time!) Incidentally, I go to Suki Market along Mayon Street in Quezon City. It is a very long drive from where we live, but always worth the trip.
And this is what I found last week at my suki vegetable stall -
Fresh pako (edible fern / fiddlehead fern), Php30 for a small bunch
It was the first time I chanced upon pako. And even if I have never tried them before, I quickly grabbed one of the two remaining bunches as they were going very fast (panic!). Never mind if I didn’t know what to do with them. There’s always Google. And Facebook.
As soon as I got home, I asked on Facebook what to do with them. There were lots of suggestions from friends, so I decided to do the simplest: Pako Salad!
All you need are: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: ensaladang pako recipe, fern salad, fiddlefern, Filipino food, fresh fern, Pako, pako salad, Suki Market, Weekend Cook
Wow! It’s still Christmas here??! 
I can’t believe how this year’s first quarter just zoomed by! And how I have totally neglected this blog.
Work is what got in the way.
Work-from-home perks: working in pajamas and in the company of Parker
I am thankful, though, for being blessed with a home-based job. In the past 5 months, I realized how lucky stay-at-home moms are today, because they have opportunities that were not available 10 years ago. I’m talking about online jobs that run the gamut from writing, blogging, managing social networks, customer service, and virtual assistants. Home-based jobs are ideal for moms like me who have kids and a home to take care of, but still want to keep a job. I will blog (fingers crossed!) about this on another day.
Anyway, I’m so back. I wanted to renew my commitment to blogging because it’s this blog, after all, that has led to a lot of opportunities for me. And I miss blogging! I miss sharing with you my inanities and randomness. I miss going to events! Hopefully I’d be able to manage my time better and update this blog at least once a week.
I want to send a special shout-out to those who have been visiting and leaving comments despite the obvious inactivity around here. Thank you! 
Tags: blogging, online jobs, work-at-home mom, working from home
Sure, I like Christmas.
But this year, I think the Christmas spirit possessed me. Actually, I found lots of inspiration from my job. And so I decided to decorate a little bit more than usual. First things first – our 13-year-old tree looked so tired so I decided to retire it and got an 8-foot replacement.
Yep, our home has never been so Christmassy.
Daughter Patch revamped the old wreath – she took out everything and glued red paper roses (from Dapitan Christmas Market) instead. She finished off with a nice golden sinamay bow.
Tags: Christmas, Christmas decor, Christmas decorating ideas, Christmas DIY projects, Christmas wreath, Dapitan, Dapitan Christmas bazaar
It’s a chilly December morning in Metro Manila, and I am loving every moment of it… Oh yeah, I have a blog! Lemme check on it…
For the __nth time, I’ve totally neglected my blog. Boohoo.
So I am finding this time to do a quickie. (Hmm, not my favorite term, by the way. Do a quick search and you will find only one other post with “quickie” in it hehe.)
I honestly have not even visited my own blog in weeks! I was expecting it to be dead in terms of traffic. But wow, thank you, readers for keeping my blog traffic alive!
There aren’t new blog posts, but if you could click on the “Archives” and “Categories” here to the right —->, you’ll find that there are over 5 years’ worth – 5 years! – of blog entries. Well, yeah, some are just nonsense stories about my kids, others are recipes and food places you might find interesting.
So what’s been keeping me so busy? Yes, I am still tsupernanay (translation: chauffeur extraordinaire) to my kids. On top of that, I’ve taken on a really nice work-from-home job that I enjoy so much. Suffice it to say that I Tweet and Facebook (v.) for a living. Hmmm, not actually for my whole family’s “living” (that is husband’s job), but I get decent pay and love, love, love, love what I do!
Okay, I’ll end this post before it gets any more random.
And in case I disappear again into my work cave and forget to greet you, let me be the first to say:
Merry Christmas! Fill your hearts with love, joy and positivity. Enough with the hate and biatching- there’s too much of that already.
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ~Marianne Williamson
(I hope to be back though – I haven’t posted my wishlist yet!)
Do you often find yourself mulling over a business idea, but not knowing how to get started?
Are you employed, but now want to spend more time with your family while still being productive?
Are you one of those who believe that entrepreneurship is the way to a “better life”?
Before my husband became a businessman, he worked several years as an employee. Like most entrepreneurs-at-heart, however, he started feeling discontented and wanted to be his “own boss.”
And so he ventured out on his own.
He had several business ventures; most were initially successful. But somehow, something always turned bad and the businesses became unsustainable. In short, lugi. In fact, it was lugi x 4.
Four businesses – all flops.
But he never gave up. He firmly believed that when you are down – deep, deep, deep, deep, deeeeeeep down (no, I’m not exaggerating, we got that low) - there is no other way but up.
With this mantra, he persisted and kept looking for business opportunities.
Our business today has to do with the construction industry. It is doing fairly good now, though it wasn’t like this when we started 4 years ago. The first 4 years were bumpy and full of challenges – not encouraging at all. But my hub, he just kept on.
Aside from his indomitable spirit, hub would not have made it this far if not for help from financial institutions, business partners and friends who supported him.
And that is what I am writing about today: help for start-ups and small enterprises.
SERDEF: Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation
Businessmen who are just beginning need all the help they can get. Likewise, SMEs (small/medium enterprises) constantly need assistance in financing, training manpower, improving technologies – essentially, at getting better in what they do.
That is why there is SERDEF. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: business, business ideas, business opportunities, business talk, entrepreneurship, how to start a business, resource for entrepreneurs, SERDEF, small-medium enterprises, SME, UP ISSI
In this blog, there’s a category I dedicated to V called “V Quips”. It’s all about her witty and funny remarks.
Well, she doesn’t stand alone now in the funnies category. Nate’s vocabulary and speech talents have grown in the recent months by leaps and bounds.
Here’s a couple of the duo’s recent riot lines.
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V, memorizing a Bible verse for Christian Education test. She quotes a verse in Isaiah, with feelings and actions: “All the grasses may wither and the flowers may fall, but your word shall remain forever.” (imagine her dramatic way of talking and acting.)
She pauses, with an discontented look. “Hmmmm, you know, Mom, it should be: All the grasses may wither and the flowers may fall, but your word shall remain for all. That sounds better, right? It should rhyme…”
~~~
(I posted this on my Facebook profile, but I wanted to share it here.)
I hear Nate getting back from his afternoon walk with the neighborhood kids. He races up the stairs and into our bedroom where I was napping. With twinkling eyes and that adorable smile (this little boy will break a lot of hearts), he gives me two gumamela flowers:
Nate to me: “For you! Put it on your ears… I know you love pink… Don’t let it die!”
And the punchline, with a half-wink (he still can’t do a full wink): “Papa never give(s) you flowers…”
All together now: *aawwwwww*
Enter, Miss V to burst the bubble… ”You know, sioti (little brother), Mom’s favorite color is blue. She hates pink.”
Tags: funnies, gift ideas, Magnate, my kids, Red Envelope gifts, V Quips
- Do you have trouble controlling internet usage in your home (whether your own internet time or your kids’)?
- Do you sometimes/often/always catch your kids playing online games on their devices instead of studying?
- Are you concerned over porn and potentially harmful sites such as Omegle and Chat Roulette that your kids might be exposed to while browsing the Net?
- Do you want to block certain sites, but it seems like the process will cost a gallon of your blood (because of nosebleed)?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, read on! And make sure you read through to the end, because you could win a Linksys Cisco E4200 Wi-fi Router – from the high-end range of the Linksys E Series.
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As a mom of three, including a full-blown teenager and a ready-to-blow pre-teener, I have good reason to control internet use at home. Aside from being in that curious stage, they are also innately wired. They, like most modern kids, have a knack for technology. No need for manuals or step-by-step guides – they just know how to go about something techie.
That’s not always a bad thing. But if their computer use is not reined in, it’s dangerous. There’s even a debate now on whether internet addiction should be considered a mental disease. So yes, I think we agree that too much internet use is not good, most especially for kids who are in the stage of forming life habits.
Not so long ago, I installed Chrome Nanny, an application that enables me to block websites and set timed access, on my laptop.
However, Chrome Nanny has its limitations -mainly that I could not install it on my daughter’s mobile device from which she primarily accesses the internet. That leads to another limitation of browser-based parental controls: one can always launch another browser that doesn’t have any control app installed.
Enter, wi-fi routers with parental controls
Cisco Philippines, through Mommy Mundo, recently gave me the chance to experience and review the Linksys E1000 Wireless-N Router. It’s not just a wi-fi router; it also has parental control that can limit access time and block sites for specific users.
Like most wireless routers, the Linksys E1000 is easy to install. Just insert CD-ROM into your computer and follow onscreen instructions.
However, my internet connection at home is Sun Broadband that uses the Huawei B200 Modem/Router that was provided by Sun. Being a wi-fi router also, the existing modem conflicted with the E1000. “IP address conflict” is what Salvador (from Cisco) called it. I risked losing some blood (as above) if I attempted to figure out a work-around. So I waited for Cisco’s technical assistance.
Fortunately, Salvador made this for-dummies installation guide. It’s easy to resolve the IP address conflict, after all. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Cisco, how to block Omegle, how to block websites, how to limit internet access, How to set parental controls, internet safety, Linksys E Series, Linksys E1000, Linksys E4200, Linksys routers, parental control routers, wifi routers, wireless routers
So I went along again with Hub on his latest China business trip. Our hosts, who have been our export agents for over 10 years, so graciously entertained us. Because it was a strictly business trip, dinners and massages were our pinaka-leisure time. (Oh, the massages are for another blog post!)
The humble, unassuming shao bing (read “shao ping” without the air sound on “p”… If you studied Han Yu Pinyin, you know what I’m talking about. )
On our last eve, our hosts brought us to a restaurant that still cooks shao bing the traditional way: on the inside-side of a barrel oven (<– my own term, I do not know what they call it). They said it was one of the local special delicacies.
Shao bing is a common Chinese bread or biscuit that is filled with something either savory or sweet. The shao bing of Zhejiang province (where we went) is usually savory, stuffed with ground pork and leeks and wonderful spices. I remember now that on my first trip here, I had another version of shao bing for breakfast. That one seemed fried as it was quite greasy.
This shao bing had thin dough and wasn’t greasy.
There doesn’t seem anything out of the ordinary when I saw the shao bing. It tasted yummy, of course. But the way it’s made piqued my curiosity. I wanted to see that barrel oven! So they asked the head waitress to bring me and hub to the kitchen to see how the shao bing is made.
We were led to the kitchen downstairs where a fresh batch of shao bing was being prepared. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: China travels, Chinese food, Chinese snacks
