Hello and welcome!
I’m Connie Veneracion, retired lawyer and newspaper columnist, blogging since 2003, mother to two grown daughters, wife to a man with a curious nickname, and abuela to two four-legged creatures, Penny and Chicken Joy, who are both a delight and a nightmare.
If you’re a long time reader and you reached this page because you were redirected from one of my food blogs, yes, it’s really me. No copycat here using my name. I still live in a house on a hill in a suburb of Metro Manila.
No, reviving this long-dormant domain does not mean I’m giving up my recipe blog. I just wanted space where I can write about (mostly) anything except recipes. Daily conversations, ordinary things in the house, casual observations of people and events, and random photos are all writing prompts.
I keep writing for two reasons:
- The thought of developing dementia in my twilight years creeps me out, so I write to keep a stimulated mind.
- I’m frantically contributing to the effort to resuscitate the fast fading art of real writing by a real human with no AI contribution.
Kitchen talks and moonlit walks in Philippine suburbia
That’s House on a hill’s current description (tagline).
The first part says “kitchen talks” but there won’t be recipes?
That’s right. Recipes belong in my recipe blog. I want this blog to have a different take on food writing. If you’re wondering how and what about, you’ll be surprised at how much more there is to food, cooking and dining without ever going into recipes. For starters:
What does “moonlit walks” mean?
It encapsulates our life since we moved to the burbs 25 years ago. The variety of food available for delivery may be redundant and boring, the noise coming from private resorts shatter the peace and quiet in residential villages, and there are no decent hospitals, but we get to enjoy — for free — things that city folk can only dream of. The cooler and still sweet-smelling air, the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze, the occasional fog during the cooler months, the laid back life.
And, yes, we walk at night for our daily exercise. And Penny’s. I wish we can take Chicken Joy along but he’s different. He’s a COVID baby and he spent the first four years of his life with only brief and rare glimpses of the world outside the walls of our house. He barks at everything that moves (including falling leaves), and he barks so loudly that I’m afraid the HOA will slap us with a fine every time we take him for a walk.
As to why we prefer walks under the moonlight rather than under the blazing tropical sun, go read Walking the dog (and cleaning up after her).
Which Philippine suburbia?
Antipolo in the province of Rizal which is just outside Metro Manila. It’s on the slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range with an elevation of about 200 meters.
So, what is this blog about?
If you still need to ask, you didn’t read all of the above carefully enough. Scroll up to the third paragraph. Or start reading my stories.
