Rehearsals with the Stars for Philippine Independence Day Celebration in Singapore

Rochelle Panganiban is rehearsing with the back-up dancers. Together in the backstage room are other stars of Kapuso Station like Jennylyn Mercado and Marvin Agustin and of course the star of them all, "Ako!!!!". hahaha!!!!

Philippines Independence Day Celebration '09 with the stars

June 7, 2009, First part of Philippine Independence Day 2009 Celebration held at Clark Quay, Singapore . Lucky to be part of the team assigned as escorts/security of the big stars in the Philippines. Leemar with S.A.A.S (Skeptron Alumni Association in Singapore) escorted Edu Manzano, Mark Bautista, Diether Ocampo, Jennilyn Mercado, Marvin Agustin and more.

Sweet and Sour Fish with pineapples

Ingredients:
firmed-flesh fish sliced in cubes,
salt and pepper,
onions, (diced)
garlic ,(minced)
pineapple chunks,
pineapple syrup,
sugar,
green/red bell pepper, (sliced in cubes or strips)
4-5 tbsp tomato ketchup, (I prefer Del Monte)
1/2 cup water mixed with 1/2 tbsp cornstarch/flour


To Prepare
Sprinkle salt and pepper to fish and rub onto the fish slices. Coat seasoned fish slices with cornstarch and deep fry in oil until golden brown. Remove and drain the fish.

For the sauce
Saute garlic, onions and green bell pepper. Add the tomato ketchup and pineapple syrup from canned pineapple chunks . Then add water and cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce. Add pineapple chunks and fish into the sauce. Add more tomato ketchup or pineapple syrup or sprinkle a little sugar according to desired sweet and sour blend. Turn off heat and serve hot.

Humba with pineapple

Again, another successful and tasteful recipe experiment of mine. It's almost weekend, so we're almost out of stock, no potatoes, no vegies, and we still haven't bought our groceries. What's left in the fridge is just one pack of pork meat. Luckily, I also have left over a little pineapple chunks from cooking another meal with pineapples the other day. As I was already hungry and very lazy to cook, I thought of how to cook what i have available, the quick and easy way.

Here's how:
Boil the sliced pork in 1 cup water, 4tbsp kikkoman soy sauce, 5 tbsp vinegar with 2 cloves crushed garlic. Add pineapple chunks when meat is tender. Add also 1/4 cup pineapple juice mixed with 1/4 tsp flour or cornstarch and simmer for a minute and it's already done. Quick, easy and yummy.

Beef strips with carrots and cabbage

I cooked something new yesterday for dinner. Just experimented with what I have in my fridge and just being creative. I only have basic ingredients at home though, but still managed to make my husband a nutritious and tasty meal and didn't even follow any recipes.

Recipe serves 2-3 persons.
To prepare:
beef, cut in strips
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 small ginger, crushed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small size onion, sliced
1 medium size carrots, diced
juice from 4 pcs calamansi
2 tbsp oil
1-2 cups water

Marinate beef strips for 30 mins to 1 hour in soy sauce and calamansi juice, sprinkling in salt and pepper. Add the crushed garlic and ginger into the marinade.
After marinating, saute garlic and onion in oil. Add beef including the marinade. Add 1 cup water and allow to boil. Add water until beef is tender. Add carrots and the cabbage. Allow to boil for another minute.

Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia Get-Away!

What to do and where to go when you only have two days in KL, Malaysia?

For me, there's really nothing much in KL so I just decided to spend 2 days there. Just exactly as I thought, most part of the trip is just shop and eat.

Day 1
Lunch @ Nando's. The grilled chicken is a must try. I ate a lot that I totally forgot that I'm allergic to chicken.
Strolling around Bintang Walk, Kuala Lumpur's premier shopping district. There's quite a number of shopping malls to choose from that would cater to your budget, cheap or expensive.
Shopping @ Pavilion. Most of the time spent in KL was really on shopping. Thank God there's Pavilion mall which has a wide range of international retail brands like Prada, Chanel, Juicy Couture, Coach, Burberry, Versace, Bvlgari and more plus it's just a 3 minute walk from Dorsett Regency Hotel where we're staying.
Dinner. Still @ Pavillion in a Thai restaurant.
Have Great Pics @ Petronas Twin tower. It's the tallest twin building in the world and it's much nicer at night because of the lights which highlights it's structural top.


Day 2
Breakfast @ the hotel.
Strolling around Merdeka Square. Took great pics of the Selangor Club and the colonial-era buildings surrounding Merdeka Square like Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Being there feels like I'm in Europe.
Shopping again at Pavilion. Mom and I just can't take our eyes off on lovely and classy bags which are on sale. We then had lunch at Pancake House and had Dunkin Donuts for dessert. We're just so happy to find a filipino restaurant there. We miss it so much as we can't find them here in SG.
Took a teksi(this is how it is spelled in malaysia for taxi) to Swiss Hotel, where our coach picked us up and back to SG we go. Just a warning to those planning to go there, drivers will not use their taxi meters especially if you're a foreigner and will charge you double or even triple of the taxi fare even for a 7-15 minutes ride.

Jurong Bird Park Escapade in Singapore

It was truly a worthwhile experience with the birds at Jurong Bird Park Singapore. I really had a great time. We started at the Penguin Expedition, since we arrived at around 10:30am. Luckily, we were able to witness the feeding of the penguins as soon as we got there. We walked a few minutes towards the Pools Amphitheatre for the Birds and Buddies Show at 11:00 am and saw along the way, the different kinds of talking birds, the flamingo pool and also the different owl species in the World of Darkness.

After our lunch at Bongo, we headed to African Wetlands to see the different African birds; however I wasn't able to see some in their exhibit as found in their website like the Shoebill and the African Crown Crane. Probably, they could be somewhere, freely frolicking at the open space.We then took the panorail ride at the main station and alighted at the Lory Station. Just across the Lory station is the Lory Loft where I had my first bird encounter. For 3S$, you get to have a cup of bird feed so you can stroll around the loft and have a lot of lorries fly and gather towards you and be able to feed them by hand. It was such an amazing experience when two Lorries flew towards my arm and another one on my cup of bird feed. We then went to see the feeding of the ostrich at 1:40, feeding of the pelicans at 2:00 and the bee-eaters and starlings at 2:30.

The second stop of the panorail is the African waterfall aviary, which is said to be the world's largest walk-in aviary. We arrived there by foot and have not used our panorail tickets already so we were able to get great pictures of the african inspired theme welcome sign with life sized african tribe. We then walked down to see the last show called Birds of Prey at 4:00 pm where hawks just freely and swiftly fly above your head.

All these for 18S$. The panorail ride is an additional 8S$ for one round covering the three stations; Lory Station, Waterfall Station and the Main Station. But for me strolling by foot is much enjoyable, so you will be able to see everything in the park including the hornbills and toucans, birds of paradise, crowned pigeons, the large exhibit of parrots and swans gliding at the lake as well as the landscaped gardens.