Sleeping Under The Stars

A couple of nights ago before going to sleep, I opt to step out of my balcony so as to decide whether to shut my windows close and turn on the AC or leave the balcony door and windows open since its tranquil and nippy.

And while gazing at the night sky I was thrilled to see multiple stars in the heavens.

too sad my camera couldn’t capture it

It dawned in me that it has been more than a year that I haven’t seen those stars hanging from the sky.  It was beautiful.  Seeing stars in the metro sky has been so rare.  It has gone so infrequent that metropolitan folks have started to link seeing night time stars as positive signs from the heavens that their longings will soon be granted.  No thanks to the smog and pollution of the concrete jungle.

I decided not to link seeing stars to the multiple wishes that I have.  I simply smiled and enjoyed the site.  And while stepping inside, I opted to keep the balcony door and windows open.  When I closed my eyes, I realized that sleeping under the stars is a perfect way to end the night.

I Missed My Locale

This morning while the tropical sun is still mild, I dragged myself out of bed and decided to step out to give myself some pretty good cardio drill.  And while taking a break to catch my breath every so often (no thanks to the pandemic) only then did I realize that it has been a year that I have gone outside within the local vicinity where I live.

So in between the fast walks and jogs, I would stop and take a number of photos of the area.  It was the morning that I got to appreciate the aesthetic attractiveness of the spots and places where I live.  It felt like I missed my locale!

manila morning

fresh!

quiet…

i love this minute jungle in this part of the city

In the past, I have always been the kind of person who would rather chuckle and laugh at strangers (visitors and tourists alike) who would marvel, appreciate and take photos of the areas near my place.  I have been so used to how my nearby vicinity looks like that I find it weird for strangers to admire and gape at the charm and appeal of the area.

a cool morning in manila

And when the morning started to get too hot and while I walked my way back to my unit, I realized that people need to leave in order to miss their place and had to travel so as to realize how precious and beloved one’s starting point was.

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Smells Like Grandma!

Have you ever wondered what you actually smell like? Do you know what object when smelt will be reminded of you?

During college, I learned through lectures, readings and studies (Psychology was my major), that olfaction or the sense of smell can harness evocative power towards a person’s emotion.  I personally believe that people can fall in love towards a food, a location, an animal or even a person because of the odorant organic molecules that these objects of affection diffuses.

Just imagine the aromatic smell of coffee that relaxes you in the morning or the joy you feel when you smell freshly baked bagels?  Have you ever wondered why some stunningly beautiful and well-mannered lady can be so head over heels towards a rude dude who only takes a shower once a week? It must be the odor!  Furthermore, multiple journals in Psychology asserts that memories and recollections as evoked by smell are usually localized to the childhood period.

this reminds me of lola teray… ow i wish you can smell this.

All these stance and viewpoints about olfaction were further reinforced when I and my younger sister bought a buy-1-take-1 Japanese-made charcoal soap from a grocery store!  I of course paid for the “buy one” and she took the “take 1”.  Hahaha!

On my initial use and as soon as I lathered it on my hands, a vivid childhood recollection was evoked by the subtle fragrance of the soap!  The scent clearly reminds me of how my Lola Teray (my mom’s mom) smelled like.  On an impulse, my brain suddenly replayed some of the beautiful childhood memories I had when my adorable Lola Teray was still alive.

my lola teray… she smells so good…

lola teray’s photo when she was a chosen subject for a photography session

My family lost my Lola Teray more than 30 years ago, and I could not imagine how an object now can actually trigger and remind me of my long-forgotten scent of my grandmother!  How amazing is that?!  And as soon as I finished my shower, I messaged my younger sister telling her that the scent of the soap reminded me of our sweet and gentle grandmother, Lola Teray.  She agreed!

Now, I wonder how I smell and what odorant chemical compounds that I diffuse?  I wonder what crazy object do I smell like? Hahaha!

Orange Race

One way to identify a human race is in terms of skin color.  There is white, black, brown, red and yellow.  I for one is classified under the Brown Race.  But yesterday during sunset here in Manila, I turned so orange.  Actually, everything became and looked so orange for a few minutes I started to wondered if I have turned into an Orange Race.

Reason for my turning to a different skin color and be of a rare human race was because of this stunning phenomenon!

no filter! my sunset balcony view of manila bay…

Sunset here in Manila is truly captivating!

A Beautiful Place in that Side of the Planet

Di ba nakakatakot? A question if translated in English would be “Isn’t it scary?”  This is the very question I often hear and receive from people and friends who found out that I have recently been to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Well, my usual answer would be… “It is a beautiful place in that side of the planet.”

who wouldn’t want to smile with such a blessing?

Here’s a glimpse of my Day 2 at St. Petersburg.

I am @keto_sa_kanto

Reason behind my not being too active in this blog is because I recently launched a new Instagram account. Since it is basically been a challenge on keeping in ketosis and determining what acceptable meal to eat is such a chore and undertaking, I decided to stylize, beautify and might as well take photos of these eats and post it on Instagram.

Let me then reveal that I am @keto_sa_kanto!

keto_sa_kanto if translated in english is “keto at the corner”

my recent instagram post!

What is so amazing about this new Instagram account is that it is slowly gaining popularity.  My 7-year old personal Instagram account that chronicles a cornucopia of stuffs, from travels, to food to friends and other highlights of my being a being, has only so far garnered 301 followers.  But my 1-week old @keto_sa_kanto account has already 125 followers as of this writing!

give me flowers! cauliflowers!!!

Follow me at @keto_sa_kanto and see what I have been eating!

Cloying Made Me Do An Exciting Keto Meal

Cloying is a word.  The arrogant in me thinks that only few Filipinos know this word.  If translated in Filipino it is “nauuta”.  It is the sickening feeling you have when you already consumed large doses of super rich eats (like belly fat meats, heavy cake icings or crazy butter-laced sweets).   It is so nauseating, you feel like your head is growing and it will just burst anytime!

At this stage of my being on ketogenic diet, I think I am in the cloying period.  I am starting to get so gutted out by the limited food selections that I have to make.  But the irony and dilemma is that I don’t want to be kicked out of ketosis.   

Espousing on the basic thought of finding a silver lining in the midst of a difficulty, I decided to make my keto meal today a very exciting one!  I instead took time to stylize its plating and took tons of photos of it.

Let me start with my lunch today.  It’s my recipe but it’s Nengkoy who did the heavenly-delicious pickled shallots…

Grilled Rosemary-Marinated Pork with Spicy Mustard, Fresh Cucumber Slices and Nengkoy’s Pickled Shallots

My afternoon snack (and my final meal today) is even more exciting.  Thanks to Joe Duff, the Diet Chef for the Choco-Coffee Mud Cake recipe…

yum!

Choco-Coffee Mud Cake topped with Choco-Peanut Butter and Sweet Fresh Strawberries (Who doesn’t love the mix of strawberries & chocolate inside the mouth? huh!)

I totally enjoyed stylizing these! If not for my crazy cloying, I would have not done this.  Expect more of stylized keto meals in the future…

‘Yan ang mga nagagawa ng mga taong, NAUUTA!

Flat Iron Soul and My Nutty Imagination

I purposely went to the Flat Iron when I revisited NYC.  Luckily, the hotel I stayed at after my Washington DC adventure was within the Union Square area which was a short walk to the Flat Iron.  While walking my way there, I promised and have set my loony mind that I will write an inspiring blog post about how I felt and how I experienced seeing the iconic building.

But upon reaching the area and seeing again the celebrated building after 4 years, I could not think of something awesome to say about how I was feeling.  Maybe it was because I was too overwhelmed that I start imagining things.  One thing that I stupidly expected while gazing into the beauty of the superstar structure was the sudden appearance of Spider-Man at the side of the building sprouting out his web and would sway out to a nearby building.

can’t believe i shot this!

emote…

love this shot!

Since I could not seem to shift my brain to such a silly thinking, I instead took photos of the Flat Iron and just simply promised myself that I will post my photos in black and white.  Now, I am doing that, I am expecting to somehow unleash the deep character of the building.  

Besides, most people now take photos in color to show the beauty and aesthetics of their subject, but few would photograph their subject in black and white so as to show and feature how the soul and spirit of their subject would look like.   I hope I achieved that though these photos.

posing with the plantsa! 🙂

Akalain mo, may kaluluwa pala ang plantsa!

Took 2 Days to Cross the Brooklyn Bridge

I wonder if all people who crossed the iconic Brooklyn Bridge timed on how long it took them to do it.  Did they took them only a couple of minutes because they were riding a bicycle or was too anxious and scared about the old bridge’s integrity and wooden floor planks  above the roaring traffic below that they walked and crossed it too fast? Or did it took them an hour or more because they want to relish and savor the moment and took so much photos of the star structure that connects Brooklyn and Manhattan?

My crossing the bridge actually took me two days!  It is so weird because I was never lost and went adrift when I was in more complicated routes around the world like the El-fna medina in Marrakesh, the Old City of Jerusalem and even going around the Uchisar settlements in Cappadocia.  But identifying where the entrance and starting point of the Brooklyn Bridge promenade strangely became a frustrating challenge and struggle. 

It is so exasperating because I basically went around the whole Brooklyn downtown area the whole morning from Brooklyn Heights Promenade in the south to walking the whole stretch of Furman Street in the east to reaching Dumbo area in the north and walking again the whole stretch of Jay Street in the west.  Yet, still the starting point of the promenade seem to conceal itself or veiled its appearance for me not to uncover.  It felt like I walked all throughout the whole Brooklyn yet the promenade entrance was no where to be found.  I actually started wondering if the entrance has already transferred to faraway Queens! And by late lunch time, feeling so hungry, so tired and frustrated, I saw York Street Subway station and decided to go down it and head back to my hotel located at the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  It was in other words a failed attempt.

But on the second day of my bid, I carried with me an enough amount of fortitude and determination and left behind in my hotel tons of stupidity which I seem to have brought so much during my first and initial attempt.  And to quote the great Margaret Thatcher, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it”, I spotted with so much ease the entry point of the Brooklyn Bridge promenade on my second venture!

And since it took me more than the usual to step into and walk across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, I spent the whole morning there doing nothing but taking photos of the bridge, the people and the nearby sites while savoring the little success and victory that I just had!  And because of such an experience, Brooklyn Bridge for me is more beautiful as compared to how others would see and perceive it.

Iniiwan talaga dapat ang ka-shungahan sa bahay!

An NYC Revisit

I don’t know, but having to travel out of my country makes me feel like I won a prize.  Do you? And one of the best prizes a traveler could get is a trip to vibrant New York.  This is my second time in this city.  Yet, the feeling of exuberance, enthusiasm and delight is so the same.

And though I have been to numerous spots of NYC during my first stay, I again revisited these hip and beautiful sites!  I return because it would feel like you would not completely gone to NY without revisiting these spots again. 

And from my not-so-humble assessment, these sites remained to absolutely be so fascinating.  The thing I felt when I returned did not changed when I compare it during the first time I visited.  It is still absorbing, enthralling and appealing.  My return reaffirmed and reinforced the feeling I had during the first time I visited.  Thus, those feelings were never a fluke and were simply validated. 

Now I wonder how New Yorkers feel when they go out of their city and visit a different spot on the planet.  New York is so vibrant and beautiful, it raises a question in me if they can feel the same way I am feeling when they go out of their city?

Are they already so hard to please? Or since the threshold of their feelings of awesomeness is already so high, do they always feel bland, shortchanged and blunt about the boredom they bear towards a different place they visit?  Or do they have to go out of Earth and visit a different planet for them to feel what I am feeling?

While contemplating on these puzzling questions, here are a couple of photos I took during my revisit to these amazing NY spots…

inside the federal hall

rockefeller center

ny stock exchange

charging bull

central park…

the grand… grand central

me and the flatiron

Ang pagbabalik!