Happy Birthday

This is late in coming as it took so long to upload the photo. Wonder why?

My point being, happy happy birthday to Carlos (November 10) and Bogart too!

Good Food, Good News

Carlos and had a meeting in Quezon City the other day and since it was to be held in a restaurant I hadn't heard of before, I decided to tag along. Now, QC is always a trek for me but I'm glad I did as the place was a lovely restaurant called Adarna. It serves Filipino food BUT as the chef is a vegetarian, most dishes come with not only a vegetarian option, but vegan as well. Wow, right?

Below are some images of the place. This one is of a vinyl collection by one of the walls.

Below is their coffee service. They use these lovely floral ones for female diners, Carlos got a nice blue and white for his.

One wall has a collection of carnival queen photos.

Another wall has photos such like the one below. No need to comment except, where is Didith Reyes now?

Below is the service setting as we sat to lunch.

There's Carlos preparing for the meeting.

Views of the place below.

Bar side.

Entrance.

Click here for a guide to the place. On their card card, Giney Villar is the chef, Adarna decribes itself as, "Adarna Food and Culture is a restaurant that celebrates Filipino culture by showcasing historical, regional, and heirloom cuisine. It is also the perfect setting for functions and intimate occasions for up to 200 people."

Adarna is on 119 Kalayaan Avenue, Diliman, Q.C., telefax (+632) 926.8712, mobile (+63917) 9618113, email adarnafoodandculture@yahoo.com.

Adarna is open from Monday-Saturday, lunch from 11.30-2 pm, merienda from 2-6 pm, dinner from 6-10.30 pm.

Enjoy!

Turkish Delights

Not only does Turkey delight you with its baklava, halva, and of course, the famous Turkish delights, but also with its palaces. For the duration of our trip, we visited three, Topkapi, Beylerbeyi, and Dolmabahce.

Below is a roof detail of Topkapi. It is the biggest site to visit as it holds collections of porcelain, armor, murals, treasury, and jewelry. Sadly, no photos allowed inside.

Some lovely marble ruins displayed outside, below.

The harem. Pictures allowed here.

Greenery at the palace grounds.

Okay, my sequence is shot as been moving photos around, and I'm confusing myself. Below are shots of Beylerbeyri and Dolmabahce.

I particularly like this one below, Beylerberi entrance.

Below is a ceiling detail of the harem's personal hamam.

Below is the entrance to Dolmabahce.

Below is Beylerbeyri.

Dolmabahce exterior below.

Next stop, mosques.

Hamam's the Word

The trip to Istanbul was quite the experience (yes, it has become one of my favorite cities), therefore, let me give it to you post by post. First, a Turkish bath experience. In the Lonely Planet's Istanbul Encounter guidebook, the entry on hamams opens like this:

"We run the risk of sounding like you mum here but, frankly, we just don't think its advisable for you to leave Istanbul without having a bath. A Turkish bath that is (Campbell, 2007, page 132)."

There are a variety of hamams from which to choose from the traditional, to the touristy, to the ultra luxe that includes spa services. As a newbie, guidebooks refer two, Cemberlitas and Cagaloglu. I chose Cagaloglu as it is listed in 1,000 Places To See Before You Die. 

The entrance is a walk down from the street where you're greeted by lovely marble and stained glass. After deciding what service you want (they range from just a bath with a self scrub to a full service bath with an oil massage, I opted for a full service bath minus the oil massage), you are led to the camekan (dressing room). Circling the main camekan are smaller ones with a small bed and dresser where you are to undress, and put on the pestemal (cloth). Below is an image of the main camekan, the wooden glass doors are the smaller changing rooms.

While in my small dressing room, a knock sounded and opening the door, I was greeted by al elderly lady who put wooden clogs on my feet. She took me by the hand, much like a mother to daughter, and walked me through sogukluk (cold room, but it wasn't cold) and to the sicaklik (steam room, but there was no steam). Instead, it was just the main room where it was warm enough to perspire as the marble was hot. 

My attendant told me to sit, removed my pestemal, turned on two taps, one hot and one cold) and said, "water, water, water, then I come back." Fifteen minutes later, my attendant returns in a one-piece bathing suit, leads my by the hand once again and tells me to lie down on the raised center marble slab where she proceeds to douse me with water, and scrubs me with a kese (coarse cloth mitten). After, I am lathered and massaged, rinsed off, and then shampooed. My attendant then said, "service finished," and then kissed me on both cheeks.

Above is me after my bath, after so much dirt was sloughed of my skin. Slough is a good word, sluff, grate, even grind, yes, the scrub wasn't gentle (and it goes to all your in between places, not privates though), but it was nicely bearable. When my attendant tapped me to open my eyes and look at my skin, I was in a bit of a shock to see how much dead skin (and black at that! yuck) I had.

As the main room is hot and wet (and I am no Kate Moss), I didn't bring my camera inside. Therefore, I was happy to find out (from a clipping the hamam posted, image below) that Kate Moss was shot for W in Cagaloglu.

Below are some shots from W. The first below shows the raised marble slab where one is scrubbed and lathered. And yes, those tin bowls are used to douse water.

Below is not only a gorgeous shot, but more importantly, shows architectural details of the interior bath.

More architectural detail in the shot below.

And last, below are the taps beside which one sits to perspire and "water, water, water."

Coincidences

A dear friend gave me "Flapper," (image below). "For no occasion really, it just reminded me of you," was her answer when asked the reason for such a gift. I didn't pick it up until my recent trip to the holy lands. Started a bit slow as was getting used to the tone, later on, it kept me in good company, especially during the 29-hour journey back home.

As everybody is keeping track of the U.S Presidential race (and economic crisis), so was I, especially as was traveling through lands that usually make the news. It is probably no coincidence that I was reading the book, for it contained this:

"The simple truth was that America's most prosperous decade had been built on a deck of cards. There was a price to pay for so lopsided a concentration of the nation's riches. Good times relied on good sales, after all. The same farmers and workers who fueled the economic growth early in the decade by purchasing shiny new cars and electric washing machines had reached their limit. By the lat twenties, when advertisers told them that cars and washing machines were outdated and needed to be replaced, the working class simply couldn't afford to but new ones. Unbought goods languished on the shelves. Factories cut their production. Workers were laid off by the millions. With consumer demand hitting new lows, America's economy simply stopped functioning (Zeitz, 2006, page 277)."

Hmmm, it reads familiar. The same book also contained this:

"In 1939, the House of Chanel turned out an evening dress in ivory cotton organdy, with red, white, and blue embriodery--partof her "tricolor" collection celebrating French nationalism. The piece was uncharacteristically mawkish, but with Western Europe besieged by the Axis threat, the times seemed to call for such a design (Zeitz 2006, page 284)."

Was it another coincidence that the Elle Decor magazine (October 2008), bought from Cairo airport to while away the time, reported the same Chanel dress in their "What's Hot" page (image above)?

Probably not.

Egypt 2008

Here are some images of Egypt. Above is a groovy building right by the Nile. Below is a Club Car of the sleeper train to Cairo.

Below is a close up of some hieroglyphics.

A shot of a very proper afternoon tea served on the cruise. No scones though.

An image from a temple. I do like this one.

My favorite meal so far, Nubian fare made in a Tagine oven. And I really enjoyed Fayrouz!

And here is where they brew their coffee with spices. No milk in coffee allowed! Anyhoo, the spices are the same as chai, they just use coffee.

The full moon in Luxor.

Two men praying (I think) or reading scripture in a small side road by the bazaar.

Below are bazaar snapshots. MUCH has to be said about Egyptian shopping!

Chachka anyone?!

An entry way into an Egyptian home.

Need I say anything else about below?

Egypt from the air.

Our quaint Nile cruise boat, and yes, I did feel like I stepped out of Death on the Nile.

My everyday buffet fare (of course minus the ham in the foreground), although they did have a la carte evenings where, one night, I was served a lovely eggplant lasagna.

Oh more lovely ruins.

West Side Story-I Feel Pretty

Today isn't really a good morning as I woke up tired. I blame it on the traffic jams around the city last night AND the Manila production of West Side Story.

Although this production wasn't the worst I've seen, it wasn't the best. 

I left the Meralco theatre tired as the production was looooong, the micing was bad (volume would swell, sometimes we couldn't hear, or we could hear the backstage), the actors playing Maria and Tony hit the wrong notes, and some scenes fell flat (especially the opening one).

As I felt the I Feel Pretty scene was another flat one, here's a clip from YouTube for you to enjoy.

On the upside, the actor playing Anita was really good., what a voice!

My attention was kept more by the beauty of the Meralco theatre, the zigzag patterns on the ceiling, the hard wood carved panelling on the walls, some carpeted as well.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the lighting of the show EXCEPT the dream sequence with the clouds behind (with weird white outfits that didn't go with the costume theme at all).

Again, having said that, this is MY opinion so please no violent reactions. There are many positive reviews to read here .

Could be also that it was just my luck to watch on an off night, as it is Mercury in Retrograde.

But then again, shows shouldn't have off nights.