Notes from the Road
The thing I have always hated most about traveling is the traveling itself. I hate being confined to a tiny space for almost 12 hours. I have never mastered the art of getting any kind of sleep so that I am wide awake the whole length of my flight from the continental US to a topover in Japan to Manila. Understandably by the time I get home, I am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
I started to read Daniel Silva's 'The English Assassin" while waiting for my connecting flight from Detroit. I had not put it down and was done by the time we were taking off out of Osaka enroute to Manila. I just adore Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series. So far I have read five of his books including The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna and his more recent, The Messenger. I'd recommend the spy series to anyone who enjoys suspense, drama and just a hint of romance (not too mushy).
Arriving in Manila, as usual, my itinerary doesn't have much in terms of content but time with family. I always say that this is the reason I go home and I try my best to enjoy the limited time I have to catch up on stories with my parents and bond with my fast growing niece Gabrielle and nephew Liam. Part of the loving, as typical of Filipino families, involves food. We always say that we share our love through food and my parents are definitely the most loving of all I know. With an agreement that I will binge only ont he first week and then try to shave off the pounds by the last weeks, day one at home was about a kilo of lechon cooked to perfection to paksiw for lunch and then dinuguan and puto for merienda. And then there was the giant prawns (sugpo) cooked in butter, the kare-kare with bagoong, kilawin na bopis (which is regular bopis but mixed with grated green papaya). My dad brings me back turon na saging (banana and a slice of jackfruit cooked in a thin tortilla shell) when he comes home from his tennis games and then Francis and Laila takes home for dinner menudencia con casuy and crispy pata.
Sisig 
Camaron Rebusado and Kinilaw na Tanguingue
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GREEN MANGO JUICE : Every time I go home I often have a favorite flavor for the moment. It could either be puto bumbong, dalandan (the local lime) juice and sago gulaman. On this visit it had been the return of the green mango juice. I just loved the sweet tarty flavor of the thick juice that is served everywhere from the small restaurants to the most expensive restaurants in Makati.
It is the tropical fruits that I miss most, however. Regardless that you can literally get everything in New York, nothing is the same as the mangoes of the Philippines (the pico or the carabao) which I can devour either green (with bagoong) or manibalang (semi-ripe) eaten with rock salt and sugar or ripe 
eaten straight from the seed, which was exactly what I did soon as I walked in to my parent's house from the airport since I couldn't wait for a knife to slice it bonnet-style. And shall I even mention the lanzones which I ws told was now available year-round (same as mangoes) and the mangoesteen. I miss the duhat and singuelas, though since they are only available during the summer season; and the atis, the guavas and santol.
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On my first weekend, I got together with Ana and her kids at the Island Cove in Cavite. The girls have grown since the last time I saw them over a year ago. Her eldest, Alex is a precocious young lady who knows how to play for the camera. I took a lot of pictures of her and when she got home told her father that she 'modeled' for me.
Ana and Kids
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MALLING: Considering I go home as often as every 10 months or sometimes less, I am still stupefied by the speed of development in the Philippines. The malls get bigger everytime and new stores open to test the Filipino market and lure its shopaholics. The local Zara, Mango and Marks and Spencer stores had become my favorite during my last visit. This time I found myself indulging the once shunned and rated pang-masa goods of Shoemart. I realized that the stuff I found there I would wear in New York where it would be 'unique' or 'one-of-a-kind'. Of course, I never bought those goods before because I'd die if I rossed paths with someone wearing the same outfit as mine (yeah, maarte and mababaw ako - hehehe). I bought a handful of hairclips to tame my growing mane with each costing less than $1 and a nice leather belt for about $6.
Makati City Skyline
The newest hot spot seems to be the gigantic Mall of Asia in Pasay City, along the fringes of the Manila Bay. Its open spaces between the buildings seem to make the most of the location, trying to incorporate the beach scene into the mall area. Quite amazingly, the mall also houses the biggest indoor ice-skating rink in Asia. Yes, an ice-skating rink inside a mall in a very tropical country - the third, as a matter of fact and why the Philippines have become a contender and many times a winner in many figure skating comptetions.
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MINNEAPOLIS: My port of entry on my return trip to the US was St. Paul. After the tedious routine of going through immigration and customs (and feeling absolutely violated with the intensifying checks and rechecks), I decided not to take the tram to my connecting flight gate but walk. En route between Concourse G and F is a newly installed vending machine - an Ipod dispenser. How cool is that?
