Graves

 First we went to Manila Memorial Park to my grandparents' graves (technically a mausoleum - a lot of people build little houses to house the bodies. Some even have air conditioning and plumbing). I remember coming here with all my relatives once when I was young, and we spent all day burning incense.




The Aquinos (famous politicians in the Philippines) are three mausoleums away from us, just around the corner. Theirs was simple and classy.

The American Cemetery was next. More than 53 000 Americans and Filipinos who were killed in Manila and the surrounding areas during World War II are interned/memorialized in this cemetery. Crosses upon crosses (and the occasional star of David) line the hills surrounding the buildings, symbolizing those who had died.

I didn't even know this place existed until my sister's fiance, who is travelling with us, told us that it is the number one tourist attraction on trip advisor!

Bridesmaids

My sister and I were bridesmaids at my cousin's wedding at San Agustin, which is Manila's oldest church. It's wedding season, and weddings are booked at one an hour, so we were rushed out of there and had to take photos in the parking lot instead because there was another wedding right after us.

Fort Santiago

Tagaytay

Tagaytay is about a 1.5 hour drive from Manila and has much nicer scenery because it is located up in the mountains. It's supposed to have a cooler climate, but I would still describe it as being hot (but at least it's not sweltering!). The city overlooks Taal Lake, which holds Taal Volcano, which itself has a lake inside it.

On the Street

Intramuros

When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines, they built a walled city called Intramuros within Manila to keep the Filipino locals out. Unfortunately, most of Intramuros was bombed and destroyed during World War II, but the church of San Agustin was kept intact (the bell tower was a part of the Red Cross).

Seaside Fish Market

My cousin took us out to the fish market where we bought some fish/squid/prawns, took them to a restaurant across the street, and had them cook our seafood for us. Guaranteed freshness.

Christmas cards

Can be so clever sometimes!

(from my S3)

Snow day!

As always, Vancouver was unprepared for the first significant snowfall of the year. It was a mess outside, and traffic was at a standstill. Luckily I had the day off and got to enjoy the snow from indoors. I would've played in the snow if I had a friend nearby, and I even asked one of the pharmacy students who lives in the area if he would be able to, but alas he was back home in White Rock with his parents and couldn't come out to play. I decided instead to go out for what Google said should've been a 20 minute walk, but it ended up being 40 minutes because of all the obstacles on the curbs/sidewalks/streets!

(from my S3)

Holiday Salad

Baby arugula with pomegranate, gorgonzola, and pecans. So festive!

Rae's Christmas Dinner

Such a wonderful dinner party hosted by Rae. It has inspired me to host my own dinner party in the new year, complete with candles, wine, party favours (she gave everyone a hot chocolate stick to put in mugs of hot milk to make hot chocolate), name cards, and napkins (not the cheap non-absorbent paper towels that I currently use). In other words, a grow up dinner party!

(from my S3)

Zangief

This is the secret santa gift I received ... a Street Fighter collectible doll! I didn't have a place to put him at home, so he now lives in the pharmacy beside the iron tablets, and he watches everyone who goes to use the corner computer. Notice how hairy he is!

(from my S3)

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea at La Petite Cuillere for Anna's birthday with the ladies. It was lovely and I was so stuffed from all the pastries and creamy Earl Grey tea (yum!).

A Crowded Twister

After the rx Christmas dinner, we went back to my place and had some more fun with Twister...

The two champions duke it out.

Bacon Overload

Rae had left some anchovies in the fridge from my dinner party, and I wanted to use them up. I flipped through my new Jamie Oliver cookbook and found this: Asparagus bundled with rosemary and anchovies, wrapped with bacon.

Then we thought it would be a good idea to find another recipe that would use up the bacon, so we found this one: Salmon with bacon, raddichio, basil, and pine nuts.

Needless to say, it was a very heavy meal with a ton of bacon. But reasonably easy to make!