Bel Air Apartments - Roxas Boulevard, Manila Bel Air Apartments is another surviving Art Deco creation of the National Artist Pablo Antonio. The usual assets of streamlining is here. Vertical parapets decorate the middle of the facade with horizontal bands making streamlined corners at the ends of the facade.The building survived the war, and even the neglect of Manila’s remaining prewar buildings.
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Bel Air Apartments - Roxas Boulevard, Manila

Bel Air Apartments is another surviving Art Deco creation of the National Artist Pablo Antonio. The usual assets of streamlining is here. Vertical parapets decorate the middle of the facade with horizontal bands making streamlined corners at the ends of the facade.The building survived the war, and even the neglect of Manila’s remaining prewar buildings.

lemontonic replied to your photoset: Not quite Tupig… I made some bitin moments a week…
tinubung! this is also a xmas tradition in cagayan. :) kaya lang, konti a lang gumagawa nyan these past years, kasi mahal (ang kawayan) at naha-hassle na mga tao :/

Not for us, Vigan is a short trip away, and yes, the popularity of Vigan helped keep the dish alive through all these years, and the recipes have passed on from generations to generations now. Also, we have a relative who knows where are the forests full of bolo, the bamboo type used for this dish.

The dish takes a long long time to prepare.

Not quite Tupig…

I made some bitin moments a week ago but using the same batter mixture plus cheese and using a special bamboo type that the locals call bolo. We have the special rice dessert of my dad’s hometown, Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. They call it tinubong. Its usually cooked during the Christmas Season here just like Puto Bumbong in Manila. All special rice desserts are usually cooked around the Christmas Season. But due to the tourist popularity of Vigan, it could be bought now all year round.

The bamboo container of the dessert is hard. So how to take the food out of the bamboo? Quite easy. Think of something annoying, and like a baseball bat, strike the closed end part of the bamboo to any hard surface, maybe your head or the head of anyone, but concrete or stone surfaces are highly recommended surfaces to break this open. Best served when served hot, but you could also enjoy it lukewarm. Thanks to the microwave, you could enjoy this a bit more frequent.

jaywalkersph: JaywalkersPH presents WATER SNAKE: CHINESE NEW YEAR PHOTOWALK  Join the Jaywalkers in yet another adventure in the streets of Manila this coming February 10, 2013 as we celebrate the arrival of the year of the Water Snake! Let’s all meet at 10:30 AM in Plaza San Lorenzo (in front of Binondo Church). Don’t forget to bring your gear, extra shirts, lunch/snack money and some passion to shoot. See you! Signup here: http://bit.ly/WaterSnakeSignup For more inquiries, contact us at jaywalkersph.tumblr.com/ask. Xie xie! Credits: Poster by Ian Calimbahin | Photos by Alexis Lim
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jaywalkersph:

JaywalkersPH presents

WATER SNAKE: CHINESE NEW YEAR PHOTOWALK 

Join the Jaywalkers in yet another adventure in the streets of Manila this coming February 10, 2013 as we celebrate the arrival of the year of the Water Snake! Let’s all meet at 10:30 AM in Plaza San Lorenzo (in front of Binondo Church). Don’t forget to bring your gear, extra shirts, lunch/snack money and some passion to shoot. See you!

Signup here: http://bit.ly/WaterSnakeSignup

For more inquiries, contact us at jaywalkersph.tumblr.com/ask. Xie xie!

Credits: Poster by Ian Calimbahin | Photos by Alexis Lim

Even heroes have the right to dream*: A Review of A Question of Heroes by Nick Joaquin The problem with our usual academic history books is that our heroes stand in a pedestral, made of stone and inhuman. Nick Joaquin, in his book A Question of Heroes, uprooted them out of their pedestals, and presented their lives and their controversial and not-so-controversial involvements in the lives of their contemporaries, and how their personal convictions and decisions altered the fate of this archipelago. Nevertheless, Nick Joaquin traced the development of the Philippine Nation from its nascent phase in the generation of Conde Filipino Luis Varela and Padre Pedro Pelaez, to the generation of Padre Jose Burgos, a disciple of Pedro Pelaez to the generation of Paciano and Jose Rizal, with the start at the 1896 Revolution with Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo taking the limelight until the entrance of the Americans and the Japanese culminating in the final granting of independence of the Philippines as a full sovereign nation. Nick Joaquin did not trace Filipino Nationalism from 1896 onwards but the preceding generations. 1896 is the culmnination of the ideas and efforts built up generations by generations until 1896. Written without the historian’s rigid training (which seasoned Historian Teodoro Agoncillo dissed about Nick), Nick Joaquin successfully crafted a book about our National Heroes with emotions, in their human perspectives and with the human sensibility of their personalilties. We always see them as heroes worthy of metal statues in History books, the difference of this book is they Nick successfully made them human with their flaws and they could also err. So before someone could plan another bioepic film of another Filipino Hero for Metro Manila Film Festival this 2013, be sure to have read this book already! *Title inspired from the Five for Fighting book.
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Even heroes have the right to dream*: A Review of A Question of Heroes by Nick Joaquin

The problem with our usual academic history books is that our heroes stand in a pedestral, made of stone and inhuman. Nick Joaquin, in his book A Question of Heroes, uprooted them out of their pedestals, and presented their lives and their controversial and not-so-controversial involvements in the lives of their contemporaries, and how their personal convictions and decisions altered the fate of this archipelago.

Nevertheless, Nick Joaquin traced the development of the Philippine Nation from its nascent phase in the generation of Conde Filipino Luis Varela and Padre Pedro Pelaez, to the generation of Padre Jose Burgos, a disciple of Pedro Pelaez to the generation of Paciano and Jose Rizal, with the start at the 1896 Revolution with Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo taking the limelight until the entrance of the Americans and the Japanese culminating in the final granting of independence of the Philippines as a full sovereign nation. Nick Joaquin did not trace Filipino Nationalism from 1896 onwards but the preceding generations. 1896 is the culmnination of the ideas and efforts built up generations by generations until 1896.

Written without the historian’s rigid training (which seasoned Historian Teodoro Agoncillo dissed about Nick), Nick Joaquin successfully crafted a book about our National Heroes with emotions, in their human perspectives and with the human sensibility of their personalilties. We always see them as heroes worthy of metal statues in History books, the difference of this book is they Nick successfully made them human with their flaws and they could also err.

So before someone could plan another bioepic film of another Filipino Hero for Metro Manila Film Festival this 2013, be sure to have read this book already!

*Title inspired from the Five for Fighting book.

Cordillera Skyline Part 1

What separates The Ilocos from the Cagayan Region is a series of Mountain Range we call the Cordillera Mountain Range. Traveling through the Maharlika Highway, you’ll see the Mountain Range when you look towards the east. Seeing it from here, the rugged and very rough topography of the terrain enabled the settlements in the mountains to be free of Spanish Control for more than 200 years until the conquest of La Trinidad in Benguet in the 1820s. The Americans will succeed in taking the people of these mountains under their control (to an extent). The Mountain Range, taking note of the terrain description is an excellent battlefield for guerilla warfare. And taking the Revolutionary Army to battle the Americans in the Cordilleras during the Philippine American War is one items of dispute between Antonio Luna and Emilio Aguinaldo.

I’ll bet the settlements above it is part of Abra Province.

On the side toward Bagumbayan Drive (Bonifacio Drive), is a compass, rope and laurel-wreath, and the words “URDANETA. MDLXVIII”.

Facing the city (Intramuros) are the arms of Spain with the national motto “Ne Plus Ultra” (L. Further Beyond).

Facing the wharves (Port) is the word LEGASPI with the date MDLXXII, with a crown and a helmet, with oak and palm leaves.

Facing the Cavite Boulevard (Roxas Boulevard) with the figure of a woman, laurel-crowned and wearing a medallion with a cross at her breast, pointing upward, and the words XXIV Junio, MDLXXI, the date of the foundation of the Spanish City of Manila.

The said statue is situated outside Intramuros near the Luneta.

Tupig #1

Rice is an important crop in the Philippine (and also in the Asian) cuisine. There are many variants of rice, and each has a name. There are also many terms for different rice conditions for every Philippine Language I know. For example in tagalog there is tutong (burnt rice), bahaw (cold rice), lugaw (porridge or wet rice) and different names for every kakanin (rice desserts) that has been cooked. There are many many rice dishes in the Philippines that I could complete Food Fridays with all of the rice based dishes, I bet. But I won’t do that, mauumay kayo. I’ll just discuss some, or maybe the more peculiar ones.

Tupig is a rice based dish composed of a batter of malagkit rice flour, with margarine, lye and some buko shreds wrapped in banana leaves and baked in open heat, charcoals or firewood. You’ll see these treats cooked and sold instantly at the Highways in the Ilocos Region since this is the most popular and the easiest to eat along travel at long distances.

This is the first version I know. There is another Tupig that I know. It uses the same batter mix but… I’ll reserve the difference next Friday.

Commuting to the Chinese New Year Photowalk but unfamiliar with the terrain and you fear that you might get lost along the way? Here’s a big help for you! We have traced the usual bus and train routes going to Manila at Google Maps and we have placed some commuting helps for you in the map application. How to use? Just trace the route you usually go to and memorize where to board off the bus (signified by placemarkers in the map) or train then walk to go to the assembly place (Binondo Church/Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz). Here is the link interactive map that you could zoom further to street levels. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=214756421900100126993.0004d2c6b188319c6d6b0&msa=0&ll=14.597787,120.983462&spn=0.022551,0.042272 PS: If commuting via Philippine National Railways, the trains leave at a longer headways than MRT/LRT, please be aware of their Sunday Train schedules.
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Commuting to the Chinese New Year Photowalk but unfamiliar with the terrain and you fear that you might get lost along the way?

Here’s a big help for you! We have traced the usual bus and train routes going to Manila at Google Maps and we have placed some commuting helps for you in the map application.

How to use? Just trace the route you usually go to and memorize where to board off the bus (signified by placemarkers in the map) or train then walk to go to the assembly place (Binondo Church/Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz).

Here is the link interactive map that you could zoom further to street levels. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=214756421900100126993.0004d2c6b188319c6d6b0&msa=0&ll=14.597787,120.983462&spn=0.022551,0.042272

PS: If commuting via Philippine National Railways, the trains leave at a longer headways than MRT/LRT, please be aware of their Sunday Train schedules.