It was getting late. We were tired from two hours of badminton. Needless to say, we were also hungry. My friend then took me to Paris Delice, a comfy nook in the busy streets of Makati.

I was surprised to see more food and less pretense inside Paris Delice. Paris Delice reminded me of coffee shops that I always frequented, but Paris Delice was better because it reminded me a little bit of home. They had free WiFi, and outlets for laptops as well – which I made a mental note of.  

I ordered Paris Delice’s green salad with eggs, croutons, cherry tomatoes, and chicken, tossed in balsamic vinaigrette. My friend Karen ordered a strawberry tart. We then decided to split Paris Delice’s special spinach quiche.

Green Salad with eggs, cherry tomatoes, and chicken

Paris Delice Spinach Quiche

Strawberry Tart

The salad was my favorite. The serving was huge, surprisingly satisfying for a salad. The quiche was not bad, but I do need a little more flavor in my quiche. The strawberry tart wasn’t too sweet – it had just enough flavor to keep you craving for another bite.

If you’re tired of going to Starbucks, perhaps you’d love the coziness of Paris Delice. Bring your friends – it’s the perfect excuse to order more than you can finish. :)

Hello, everyone! I’m looking for travel blogs and sites with a PageRank of 2 to 4. If interested, please fill this form and I will get back to you. The usual requirements apply, such as the following:

• NO spam/ duplicate posts on your blog;
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Thanks and good luck! If you have more than one travel blog or travel website, you can submit all of them separately. I’m looking for just 5 travel blogs for now, so good luck to everyone!

And out of trash comes something I can blog about. Here are two excerpts from stuff that I wrote years ago. I found them on pieces of paper, stashed away, not knowing what to do with them.

Excerpt One

This is the first thing I salvaged, a short narrative that I can barely remember. I don’t know why, but there’s something sweetly juvenile about it:

We talked about that night. He was teasing me about John, about how I kept staring at him. He said it was funny how he was staring at me, then I was staring at John. Back then, he didn’t know how to get my attention, how he could ask to carry my stuff for me without looking like an idiot.

It was funny, our little chat. But you had to be there. Actually, even if you were there, you wouldn’t laugh because it wasn’t supposed to be funny haha; he was just telling me how it all happened from his point of view.

Then he laughed, saying it was weird, because he kinda found the whole thing funny.

Excerpt Two

So. This is how it feels to wake up in the morning and the first person you see is the one person you have learned to like so much.

And then, absolute panic. Suddenly, I realized I’ve been with this person for two straight days and it felt… overwhelming. All rational thought went out the window and I started to panic. All of a sudden, I wanted to just leave. It wouldn’t have mattered that all my stuff was still there, that I’d be gone without a trace and without any explanation.

But I didn’t leave. I stayed. I probably tore out half the hair on my scalp, but I stayed.

Escape. I think that is essentially what my unconscious mind believes is my most urgent need. I have to learn to curb it or I just might keep running for the rest of my life. I am at a turning point, but I don’t know how to signal and make the goddamned turn, for crying out loud.

God, give me the wisdom to know what’s right, and the strength to act upon it. Keep me from running away when later, I shall be participating in this weird ritual called “getting to know each other even more.” May the Force be with me. Amen.

I hope God is listening with His hearing aid on.

Salvaged Stuff

How about you, do you like writing stuff and then you just stow them away and totally forget about them? Have you found anything in your stash, any diamonds in the rough? Do share them and I would love to read them.

I was a kid before I was ever anything. I wanted to have fun, to play. I loved the outdoors, I loved junk food, I loved stuffed toys, I loved dogs. And even as I grew older, that kid in me never really disappeared.

 

 

I remember how I loved crayons when I was a little kid. I would doodle and draw the whole day, trying to use colors to share my dreams and daydreams. It’s like showing the world how you see everything: what’s real, what’s imagined, what’s beautiful, what’s ugly.

 

And no matter what nonsense I have created, I felt wonderful because I knew that whatever I did would remain that way, at least until time touched it up or weather tore it down. I knew back then that I shared a little bit of myself in everything I created.

And so, Wisdom is what I have salvaged from the calamity named Experience.

Perhaps being a kid gave me more wisdom than I would have realized. I kinda like that.

Stanley Chi’s Suplado Comedy Night started with a lot of pictures. Yes, documentation is important! As to why, don’t get me started.

 

 

The night was unmistakably one of the significant milestones of Stanley Chi’s career. No, having published three books and becoming a TV host were not enough. He simply had to perform onstage, too, like the fine comic he has turned out to be.

 

Soon enough, it was time for Stanley Chi to spice it up – and he did. In real life and onstage, Stanley sure has many faces:

 

Way to go, Stan! You did it! Okay, now that you have enough laurels, will you stop already? But I already know his answer: “Why stop when you’re on a roll? With my charm, with, and tons of s3x appeal, I owe it to my fans to keep going.” (Don’t worry, he only boasts like that when he knows nobody’s listening.)

 

 

This blog post will not be complete without this announcement: Stanley Chi is about to launch his fourth book, SUPLADO TIPS, in a few weeks. With sarcastic witticisms such as “Kung ayaw mong mabasted, huwag kang manligaw!”, I’m sure the book will be another hit. Book launch – be there. Okay?

 

If I knew I would be laughing so hard, I shouldn’t have eaten too much. But the bloated feeling was worth it. At least I know I wasn’t the only one:

 

 

It’s a wrap! Stanley’s special night eventaully had to come to an end. Stan and Ony gamely posed as the Suplados that they arguably were. Did you notice how Sampaguita was posing, too? Boy, Stanley’s supladoness has left quite a wake!

 

 

I’ve been taking all the pictures, yet I had very few taken of myself! Such was the bane of being the designated photographer. When I told Stanley I would take his pictures in exchange for dough, I didn’t mean fried siopao and hopia. Grrr…

 

 

Kidding aside, kudos to Stanley for pulling it off. He has gone a long way, from being an art director to being an established cartoonist, TV host, producer, author, and standup comic. Does he also sell hardware at Tutuban? He’s been doing so much lately, so you can’t really blame me for asking.

 

I hate the limelight. Performing shall never be one of the things I will strive to do - I don’t have enough adrenaline to keep me going. And so I take my hats off to Stanley Chi, not only for standing in the limelight, but for basking in it like he was born to take it.

 

And if you don’t know why I’m posing with a koala stuffed toy,

then you haven’t read it all.

Read the rest of the

Suplado Comedy Night story.

 

“Suplado is the new Sexy.”

 

– Stanley Chi

Not very many people can pull of being funny – and sexy – like Stanley Chi. Okay, maybe that’s subject to argument. But hey, it’s his night, and he’s holding the microphone, so let’s all sit down and listen.

Suplado Comedy Night was Stanley’s first ever headlined standup stint. He has been doing standup for about six years, so it’s about time he took the reins and showed us more of his suplado stuff. And yeah, while he’s at it, he should also strut his sexy stuff, yeah?

Stanley Chi’s Suplado Comedy Night took place last March 4, 2011 at The Grillery, located at a comfy nook in Guijo Street, Makati. Food (which would have been enough to get me to dress up and leave) kept coming, and I feared for my waistline.

 

Yummy potatoes at The Grillery

 

And what’s a night of fun and food without friends? I asked Karen to come join us. Like a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed somethin’-somethin’, she came with trinkets for me from Australia.

 

Introductions, chit-chat, and everything pleasant. No, there was not an iota of supladoness in the room – at least not the kind that makes you go “whatever.” But Stanley’s willing and well-respected minions for the night (TJ and Ony) willingly donned his notorious Suplado t-shirts. And yes, they pulled it off. I guess Suplado is the new Sexy, yes?

Mr. Ony Carcamo, the puppet master, literally

 

TJ, hosting the night

 

Then TJ, the night’s host, started it off with a pop. Mr. Ony Carcamo, the one man who has the right to let his puppets speak for him, shared the stage with his favorite piggy, Sampaguita, and his wayward student, Nonoy. Honestly, that puppet scared the bejesus out of me. But Mr. Carcamo managed to make him funny, even to a little-miss-scaredy-cat such as myself.

 

Ony and Sampaguita

 

The stage has been set. The suplado vibes have been duly spread. It was finally Stanley’s turn to whip up a storm.

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