Who would think that there would be a movie where bloggers would really relate to? This is actually the first movie that is based on a blog. Julie & Julia is a story of a blogger, Julie Powell, who aimed to cook 536 recipes in 365 days which was intertwined with Julia Child’s story when she started her cooking profession.

Amy Adams portrayed the role of Julie Powell while Meryl Streep portrayed the role of Julia Child. Hearing Meryl Streep laugh in the movie would instantly remind you of Julia Child.

I like how the movie showed the actual screenshot of Julie Powell’s blog. I tried reading the first blog post that she wrote was not edited too from what I remember in the film. The last blog post she made there was when Julia Child died.

I find the movie inspiring and entertaining at the same time. I find it inspiring because of she was able to meet the goals she set and entertaining because of how the way Meryl Streep portrayed Julia Child. I find the movie appetizing as well that we decided to eat after watching it.

It has been a week since Lola Pining passed away. I remember when we were still kids, Lola was our guardian every time Dad went out of town for work. It has been always like that until we became older. Lola would usually pour her cup of coffee on her rice during breakfast which I think some may find weird like when I dipped pandesal into my glass of Coca-Cola.

I also did remember the times when Lola takes out her dentures, the times we spent with Lola every 24th of December, the last one was in the hospital. Anyway, during Lola’s 88th birthday celebration, I discovered that Punzi‘s mom is a friend of Lola. I remember posting on Twitter about Lola so when they came to the funeral parlor, they said that they got the information from the Internet. So, when I got back to the funeral parlor (I was not able to catch up with Punzi), my cousins told me that someone was looking for me and they told me that they found out about it in the internet. So, I had to explain to them the 6-degrees of separation and such.

Anyway, going back, I learned about Lola’s time when the helper of Tita Jean called. It was around 6am and I had to call Dad to inform him about it. I could not find the right words to say. I was thinking of a proper term to use but I just blurted out “wala na si lola”. I can feel that Dad was totally shocked about the news. I sent an SMS to my siblings after the call. I haven’t had so much sleep, I decided to sleep again and prepare myself to go to the wake.

It hadn’t sunk into me during the first four days. It sunk into me when Lola was about to be buried at the family mausoleum.

I went to Macau last November 21 with my Dad, Kuya Jay and Claudia. It was the first time for us to be together to travel to an international destination. We went there to celebrate Dad’s birthday. Upon arrival at the hotel, we had dinner at some Chinese restaurant which is around 2 blocks away from Casa Real (the hotel where we stayed at).

We went to Macau Fisherman’s Wharf wherein we reached there by walking. It’s about 0.5km away from the hotel. Most of the stores are already closed but there are some restaurants and bars that were still open.

The Venetian

The next day, we went to the Macau Ferry Terminal where our tour guide picked us up. We headed to Taipa Island to pick up other Filipino tourists at the airport and toured around. We passed by The Venetian which is one of the well-known hotels and casinos in Macau. Our first stop is a shop where we bought some almond cookies and nougat.

Then, we had a buffet lunch at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf at Miami Foodcourt which is located beside Babylon and Miami Fashion. The good thing is that we were able to go here since we didn’t get the chance to reach there at our evening stroll there since it was getting really late already.

View from Macau Tower

Skywalk

We went to the Macau Tower. There’s an entrance fee for both adults and children to be able to reach the 61st and 58th floors. It’s around 85 MOP for adults and 55 MOP for children. The entrance fee is not inclusive of other activities at Macau Tower like Bungy Jumping, and Skywalk. In addition, the Macau Food Festival was being held just in front of Macau Tower where we weren’t able to go because the tour guide discouraged us and kept on saying that it’s expensive there. I guess she doesn’t have a commission there.

A-ma Temple

We headed to A-ma Temple. The temple is dedicated to the Goddess of the fisherman (A-ma). Its original construction was from the period just before the arrival of the Portuguese. Then, we headed to another store that sells clothes for bargain. Well, yes some are on sale but most are not. Then, we headed towards another souvenir shop which is Filipino-owned and operated. I bought there a couple of magnets for pasalubong.

Macau Souvenir Shop

Ruins of St. Paul

Then, we walked towards the Ruins of St. Paul which is walking distance from the souvenir shop. It was originally the Cathedral of Saint Paul where the only remaining part is its facade. The cathedral was built by the Jesuits. During the time after it was built(c. 1602), it was the largest Catholic Church in Asia.

McDonald’s at Senado Square

Then, we left the Ruins of St. Paul and headed for shopping. I was not really able to buy so much there except for a couple of shirts and a pork chop burger. Dad treated us over at Starbucks where we took a rest after a long walk.

Grand Lisboa at day time

Grand Lisboa at Night

After a bit of resting, we walked again towards Grand Lisboa. It has a unique architecture because of its shape. It’s nice to look at it both day time and at night. During day time, you got to love the reflection of the sun because of its color. I guess the best time to take a photo of it at day time is between 4 to 5pm. At night, you’ll see the dome changing its colors from time to time and the chasing lights on top outlining its shape.

Sands Casino

Afterwards, we had dinner in another Chinese restaurant and headed back to the hotel to rest. We then went to Sands Casino (just me and my brother) since Dad and Claudia does not have the energy to walk towards there. We went there to try out the slot machine but it did not push through because of the minimum charge of 100 HKD which we find impractical since it’s just the two of us who will be playing.

The Venetian

The food court at The Venetian

The next day, we took the free shuttle ride to The Venetian from the Macau Ferry Terminal. It’s a humongous hotel and casino with stores, a food court, Duty Free and even a Starbucks Coffee inside. The food court at The Venetian is impressive because of the variety of food selections and also because of its interior design.

Gondola at The Venetian

A gondola ride could have completed ones experience at The Venetian but hearing the driver of the gondola sing is already enough.

MGM Grand

We went to the MGM Grand Hotel via a free shuttle bus ride at the Macau Ferry Terminal where we had photo ops. The casino inside MGM Grand is not as many like that of Sands Casino and The Venetian.

The show at Wynn Hotel

We walked towards the Wynn Hotel and Casino at Macau which is just a walking distance from MGM Grand. We were able to catch a show there. We were impressed with the show. I took a video of it and I’ll upload it via YouTube soon.

They’re now officially 8 years old. My nephews are growing up so fast. They are PSP and Wii gamers but are also inclined to sports. They say they wanted something ‘basketball’ for their birthday but I’m sure that it’s not a ball since they already have one.

Lance and Justin, then

For this year, I guess there will be no party. There will be a dinner but I can’t join them since my brother is planning it to be held on a Sunday and I’ll be out of town by Saturday. Oh well.

We had a late lunch with Mom at John and Yoko. Anyway, I was not 100 percent happy with the restaurant but I’d commend the hard work they’ve put in making the dish to look yummy. It was pricey there. I was even more happy with my Ma Mon Luk experience last Saturday.

We had dinner with Mom at Cyma Estiatorio at Greenbelt 2 to celebrate this special day with her. Well, for me, any day with Mom is a special day. Special days such as Mother’s day and the like are always being commercialized that establishments would either have a sale or a promo.

I just feel like it’s being a compulsory to go out on those “special days”.

Anyway, the food at Cyma Estiatorio is of good quality. It was my first time to eat there and I’m impressed.

The table beside us ordered a flaming cheese and I would love to order one but we’ve had enough already. I’ll try it next time.

So we had our traditional picture taking at our home in Siniloan, Laguna after Noche Buena. As always, my brother always does something funny in the picture. Here, you’ll see three consecutive photographs that seemed to look like an animation of sorts.

My nephews, Justin and Lance, celebrated their 7th birthday party just this afternoon at Shakey’s in Magallanes. Their actual birthdate is November 7. Of course, it is better to celebrate it on a weekend.

It’s good to see that almost all of the kids there participated in the games. One of which is the longest line where Justin took off his shirt just to make sure that their team will win the game.

Aside from the games, they were all excited for the appearance of Captain Shakey’s. The kids were all hugging Captain Shakey’s and one of the crew their told the kids to be gentle with the mascot. But the kids cannot help but play with Captain Shakey’s. Of course I was also excited to have a picture taken with the mascot. Besides, I am the photographer there.

Our Uncle (Tito Gil or Toits for short) is part of the batch of a certain culinary school that organized a buffet at a function room at Cafe Ysabel. Cafe Ysabel is located at San Juan.

I’m impressed with their Pritong Litson, Roasted Lamb, Lengua and Chocolate Turtle Cake. Mango Sansrival tastes good however, there’s too much cream. It would have been better though if the nuts were chopped and if the proportion of crust to the cream is greater.

The gravy for the roasted lamb tastes okay but its quite oily. In addition, I am impressed the way the buffet table is arranged and as well as the presentation of the food.

My nephews won in the week 3 of National Geographic’s in the Womb Twins Contest. The photo above was the one submitted by their Mom. I was in Autodesk Solutions day when I became aware of the voting and I was not able to vote for them due to the lack of internet access there.

Here’s the story submitted:

I breast-fed my twins when they were still babies. Twin A was on the left and Twin B on the right. Then one day when it was time to breast feed them, they were crying and looked uncomfortable. I tried supporting them with pillows but it did not work. I was really having a hard time. When I noticed that Twin A was on my right and Twin B on the left. Out of curiosity, I tried switching them back to their original position, which is Twin A on the left and Twin B on the right. To my surprise, they nursed. It was remarkable knowing that they have their own preference on which side to nurse.