Michael's First Trick or Treating

     Saint Paul Child Development Center, Michael's school, held their first Halloween party last October 27 in Mayfair Plaza. The students came dressed in their favorite fantasy or superhero costume.

    Michael wore a pirate costume that mom an I made from an old brown bathrobe, light yellow blouse and multicolored pants.  It took us  over a week to finish his costume. I got the design from one of the pirate pictures I saw on the internet. The costume turned out cute and our baby looked like an adorable little pirate.

     They play games like give-me-what-i-want, garter relay and number hunt. The clown showed some magic tricks that the kids enjoyed watching as well as the adults. Then the kids ate and shared the foods that they brought.

     After the exchanged of gifts, we all went home. All the kids went home with lots of treats they received from the party but Michael went home with an extra prize for winning forth place for the best in costume.

My First Cupcakeperience

     Our baby Michael will be having their first Halloween party in school. Aside from wearing a fantasy-inspired costume, they were supposed to bing something to eat as well. I have been experimenting on baking. Experimenting on the sense that I don't have any formal lessons on baking. I get the recipes and watched videos on  how to make them on the internet.
     We decided to make cupcakes since it's easier to make and the thought of decorating it would be fun.  I used the recipe of my chocolate cake for the cupcake. Like my regular cake its soft, moist and not too sweet. I can give you the recipe if you want to, just leave me a comment.
     I used boiled icing, marshmallows, coated chocolate candies and melted chocolates to decorate them.
One problem I've encountered is that my icing became soggy and the colors sank to the bottom. The culprit was the liquid food coloring that I used. So so not recommended for this kind of frosting. We'll theres first time for everything and I'm sure I'm going to do it right on my next cupcake adventure.
  

Batchoy Afternoon at Bar 21

     Last week my friend AudreyRose of Lagawan.info invited me for an afternoon snack. She was craving for some hot and tasty Batchoy so we headed off to Bar 21 where you can find the best batchoy in town. In line with the Masskara celebration they have their All You Can Eat batchoy promo for only Php80.
     Their batchoy is made of miki noodles, pork meat, sprinkled with spring onions, plenty of chicharon (deep fried pig skin) and steamy hot pork broth. Unlike the common batchoy that we knew, this one doesn't have pig internal organs on it like liver and small intestines.
     While waiting for Grace and Eric, we took some pictures of the place. If you have watched the Ilonggo indie film Namets this is where they shoot some of the scene.
     It was almost 7:00 pm but Grace and Eric didn't showed up, good thing Ruel was there so we decided to order something to eat. We tried their batchoy, clubhouse sandwich, soda, buko and buko lychee shake. We ended up eating one bowl of batchoy because the serving was so big that I was not able to eat all of it.
     Even though there were only three of us we talked over of planning where and when to have another get together and hoping Grace and Eric would be able to join us next time.
  

Enjoying our buko lychee shake 

Chinese Cuisine with a Negrense Taste

     I've always love Chinese foods because of the taste. Maybe because the different spices that are incorporated well on the dish that makes it mouthwatering. And in Bacolod only one restaurant comes on my mind if I wanted to eat Chinese food, that would be L'Sea Dimsum and Noodle House. The dishes here tweak so as it would approved the Bacoleno tastebud.

    After a long walk on the street of Lacson during the Electric Masskara night, my brother invited us to have dinner with them. They were planning to eat outside when it began to drizzle so they decided to eat at L'Sea instead. The restaurant is open from lunch to 10:00pm. The place is easy to find cause its situated beside the L' Fisher hotel in Lacson St.

     We ordered large yang chow rice, half soyed chicken, 2 shrimp balls (my favourite), siomai and shrimp dumplings. Too many for five people to eat eh. But because we were so hungry, finishing the foods is not a problem. After the dinner, we all went home with a full stomach and a happy soul.



Soyed chicken, sweet



Fried shrimp balls. A sweet dip goes together with it.

 

Siomai - rice or no rice its always perfect







Ruel already ate one shrimp dumpling when I remember to take a photo of it =(



More photos from the Masskara 2010 Dance Parade

     Too bad the parade had already started when I arrived so I was not able to get picture from all 20 competing groups. One thing is for sure, I'll be back next year on the street of Araneta.

Masskara Dance Parade 2010

     Since it began on 1980s, the street of Araneta in Bacolod City never fails to draw a large amount of crowd watching the street dance parade-the highlight of the Masskara Festival celebration.
     I have been on this street a lot of times since I was a kid and I can say it had gone a long long way from its humble beginning to being a world class tourist attraction. Today, not only locals from the other provinces in the Philippines flock to Bacolod but as well as from the other countries to witness the colorful merrymaking celebration of the City of Smile.
     I have been off the street for quite a long time. Instead of being on the street, I settled on watching the dance parade on the television. But this year is different, if it hadnt been for Ruel, I wouldnt be out on the street of Araneta again (it was his first time to watch the dance parade). October 17, 2010  four o'clock in the afternoon, I grab my camera and joined Ruel with the rest of the crowd to experience one more time Bacolod's very own mardi gras the Masskara Dance Parade.

click here for more photos...

Masskara Village 2010: The Negrense Ingenuity

      It's October once again. The most anticipated time of the year for the Bacolenos. Once again the City of Smiles will come to life as it celebrates the Masskara festival. The Philippines very own mardi gras celebration. 

        One of the activities is the mask making competition. Ruel and I trooped to the 2nd level of Robinsons Place to check out this year's entries. Every year, it never fails to amazed me. There were 60 entries this year. The masks were even more colorful and elaborate. Different media was used; indigenous materials, plastics, fiberglass, fabric, glass and even recycled stuffs. It showcases the Negrense's artistry and ingenuity in making masks. Mask entries are then displayed at the Masskara Village. These masks are truly a world class and distinctively Ilonggo. Something that I can boast to the world. =)

I've posted some of my personal favorites. Which one is yours?