It will be happier...

Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering 'it will be happier'...
~ Alfred Tennyson

Wishing you a joyful, prosperous and hopeful New Year!

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Salmon Cakes

  A low-salt dish at Pancake House---Salmon cakes topped with alfalfa sprouts and brown rice tabbouleh.

 

Linking to Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Abstract 2/NF Abstract

The soul wanders in the dark, until it finds love.  And so, wherever our love goes, there we find our soul.

Linking to NF Abstract

Christmas Lights-and-Sound show @ Ayala Triangle

The lights-and-sound show at the Ayala Triangle Gardens is one of the must-see events during the Christmas season.  It's a 30-minute spectacular display of dancing lights, accompanied by Christmas songs.  The tree branches were decked with LED lights in jewel colors, and has a meteor shower effect.

Since its opening on November 16th, people come to the park every night to be dazzled by this Christmas rainbow.    The show runs from 6 pm to 9 pm,  until December 30th.

The multicolored LED balls fall from the branches like heavenly bodies.  

It felt like I was under the Tree of Souls in the fictional universe of Avatar.:p

The Ayala Triangle Gardens is a 20,000-square meter park in the middle of three major streets in the Makati Central Business District.  It's an oasis populated by trees, lush greenery and public art pieces from some of the country's famed artists.

Looking towards Ayala Avenue from the lobby of Tower One & Exchange Plaza.

Wishing you all the Joy, Hope and Wonder of Christmas!

Linking to Our World-Tuesday

Watery World-Wednesday

Sundown/SWF

"We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful... and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things."  ~ Desmond Tutu

Linking to Sky-Watch Friday

Rolled Parma Ham with cheese

 Here's something you can do even in your sleep---rolled Parma ham with Emmental cheese.    An improvised appetizer I made the other night paired with a full-bodied white wine a friend brought over for our small get-together dinner.  Not very creative---but this was delicious!

 

 

Linking to Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Abstract 1/NF Abstract

 My first attempt at deliberately creating something abstract from a photograph---what do you see?:p

 

Linking to NF Abstract

Rocky/Watery World Wednesday

“Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Linking to Watery World Wednesday

Strange fruit/Mandarin Orange Monday

I noticed this plant in my aunt's garden that I thought was an eggplant or a cultivar of Atis (sugar-apple).  The plant is about 3 feet tall.  My aunt told me what this plant/fruit is called but the name escapes me right now.

I did some editing and came up with something orange.:p

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Mount Arayat: Breaking dawn/SWF

A drive-by shot of Mount Arayat from NLEx while dawn was breaking at the horizon, lavender and faintly gold.

Mount Arayat is an extinct stratovolcano located in a flat agricultural region of Pampanga, rising to a height of 1,026 meters.   Ten miles to the west is Angeles City and the former Clark Air Base.  Mount Pinatubo is located 10 miles further west.  Locals consider Mount Arayat as a mystical mountain, and said to be the home of the god/sorcerer "Sinukuan" or a fairy (diwata) known as "Mariang Sinukuan".  Sinukuan is said to live at the White Rock, a lava dome possibly formed by the last eruption, where its glimmering properties were most likely to have inspired the legend.

A silhouette of Mount Arayat from Clark Field around 7 a.m.

Linking to Skywatch-Friday

Fish diet

Almost two weeks to go before Christmas and here I am with a slightly elevated cholesterol level.  BMI is still within the normal range (thanks to my mother's good genes!) but I have been slowly switching to a fish diet.  I had fried tanigue (mackerel) for dinner...tanigue is a tasty fish but truth be told, I wanted to drown it in tartar sauce.  Fortunately, there was pako (fiddlehead fern) salad to appease my taste buds.

My brother cooked maya-maya (red snapper) for lunch the next day, and threw in camote tops, sigarilyas (winged bean), and red bell pepper for good measure.  I have started to like sigarilyas.:p

Looks like I'll be stocking on canned tuna and frozen cream dory in case I get too lazy to go the market.

 

 Linking to Food Friday

Food Trip Friday

Blue serenity/Watery World Wednesday

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity. ~ Joseph Addison

Linking to Watery World-Wednesday

Heart-shaped/Mandarin Orange Monday

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

~ Robert Frost

Linking to Mandarin Orange-Monday

Glow/Sky-Watch

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

Linking to Sky-Watch Friday

Panzerotti

My snack at Piadina-Glorietta---Panzerotti, an Italian style empanada with insalata, and a bit of Zee's pasta.:p

 

Linking to Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Stars @ BHS/Watery World-Wednesday

 Dazzling stars installed around Bonifacio High Street and in the fountain area.  

These brilliant lights add to the festive mood at this al fresco-styled mall.

 Christmas songs filled the air---although the wind was warm and humidity high.

We lingered at the fountain area to catch some cool night breezes and was captivated by these glittering stars like they were real heavenly bodies.

Linking to Watery World-Wednesday

Kalachuchi/Mellow Yellow Monday

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

— Pablo Neruda

 

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday