'The Mommy Journals' archive

My photography assistant

When people ask how I am able to take step-by-step photos for the recipe entries in my food blog like this and this, I tell them, in all honesty, “With difficulty.” It means mounting the camera on the tripod, stopping after every step of the cooking procedure to take photos and, more often than not, [...]

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Homework, “pusong mamon” and other Filipino colloquialisms

AS far as I know, pusong mamon literally translates to soft-hearted. Puso is heart and mamon is a small chiffon cake roughly the size of a human heart so for those who don’t speak Filipino, you get the idea. Am I writing about colloquialism or baking? Bear with me. This piece is the result of [...]

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The anatomy of a rumor

After writing a few articles about my firstborn who is now a college freshman, an obviously curious reader e-mailed me asking why my daughter was taking up a vocational course. I said she wasn’t and explained that A.B. Photography is a regular college course. But there’s no such thing, she said. Yes, there is, I [...]

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What does your doctor say?

UPDATE on June 24, 2009 @ 9.50 p.m. For those who have been asking about coffee alamid, please read My Civet Coffee Experience. And here’s a photo of the palm civet (alamid).
Last week, over cups of coffee alamid, a lawyer friend, Eric Santos, and I were discussing a syllabus for the Internet and Law subject [...]

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The bookstore that loves me back

There are three bookstores we go to regularly — Powerbooks, Fully Booked and A Different Bookstore. What about National Bookstore? Oh, we go there for school, office and art supplies but when we want books, we go to real bookstores. Rarely do we go to Eastwood City without passing by A Different Bookstore although Sam [...]

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Footwear is a serious issue, I tell you

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a lump on my right ankle and Speedy brought me to the doctor a few days later. An x-ray was taken and, pending a reading of the x-ray, on Facebook I was joking that I had developed an Achilles heel from watching Troy too often. If you’re a [...]

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No storks, just babies

If having a baby were as easy as having a stork deliver a healthy, kicking and howling child at your doorstep, there wouldn’t be any occasion for pregnancy-related stress. But the stork is a myth and every mother knows that pregnancy and giving birth are no walk in the park. “Behind every baby is an [...]

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A taste of the empty nest syndrome

[Republished from yesterday's op-ed column]
Early in February, on the way to a UP College of Law reunion, my friend, fellow law alumnus and fellow Antipolo resident Eric Santos and I drove through Global City. I told him how much I liked the way the community was planned and laid out. I wouldn’t mind living there, [...]

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Speedy’s new toolbox

One of the secrets to keeping a well-organized home is to have everything in its proper place, right? No stray object and no accumulated junk. I’m not much of a housekeeper but I know enough to realize that the slow accumulation of junk is the fastest way to put your house in a topsy-turvy situation. [...]

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Manila by night

There are lots of reasons why I wanted to post this photo. First, I waited more than two weeks to take it. I stayed with Sam on her first night at the condo and when I saw the view from the balcony, I swore that I’d bring a camera next time and have a ball capturing the city lights of Manila by night.

Second, I stayed in that condo for an entire day while Sam was at school and the experience was both surprising and unsettling.

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