finebyme

I would like to share about the most popular dessert in the Philippines called Halo-Halo, which is either a food or a drink. How it does it look like? This dessert is served in a large glass or on a medium-sized bowl, with a mix of fruits like banana and sweet potato (in bite sized pieces cooked in water with sugar) found at the bottom. Other fruits are added raw like shreds of jackfruit, melon or ripe mango. Sago, which are boiled round starchy edibles in different colors usually providing the festive touch to the dessert, are also added. The sago resembles the jelly only that the former is more chewy and are round. Cooked red legumes that are also cooked in water and sugar are further mixed in. One can also find in there popped rice also known as pinipig - this provides the crunch. To complete the dessert, a cup of shredded ice goes in, after which a generous amount of evaporated milk is poured. To add to the sweetness and presentation, a spoon or two of milk custard (leche flan), or purple yam ube (pureed and cooked in coconut extract and milk) or ice cream is smeared on the ice. It's eaten with a spoon. It is ready for gulping once the ice has all melted up. I warn you about the brain freeze though.

I can not stand cockroaches that begin to fly confusedly from nowhere after spraying a bottle of insect killer much more stuff these inside my mouth, chew and swallow them either dead or alive. And they bite, right? The bit marks become red and swollen and prove to be a real discomfort. They smell, too, like mud water stored for days.

they have this "lose thirty pounds in thirty days" gimmick with acai berries. smoker, did you, by any chance, lose any weight when you ate a lot of acai berries?

If acai berries belong to the same family as grapes, then it might also contain resveratrol, which I just found out is a component of diet drugs distributed commercially.

From the photo sent by wannago, I thing acai berries resemble our duhat here in the Philippines. It is green when still raw, turns red and then finally becomes black when already ripe. It stains both hands and clothes. But it is delicious just like strawberry only that inside is a medium sized seed .

In the Philippines halloween is observed in many different ways depending on the age group. To kids, halloween is observed in its most traditional sense (patterned from the west) where the kids go trick or treating,and do most of the costume partying. Teenagers on the other hand do the same things on a whole new level, usually with parties held in appropriately themed venues with rock and roll bands, and enjoy the scare and dare. These venues for heaven's sake, most of the time are in cemeteries. For yuppies, it's like any night out after work with their own groupies and dates in bars and clubs overflowing with beer and cocktails. For the elderly? They are better off spend the eve at home preparing for the festive events in the days that follow. Filipinos have November 1 and 2, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day respectively, for their "Piyesta ng Patay" or Feast of the Dead, and it is during this occasion that our families go out to the cemeteries and visit our beloved dead. Food like rice cakes and rice puddings or anything made of sticky rice, and of course some picnic food and intoxicating drinks, are served and eaten atop the blanket covered niches of the dead where family members are sat around as if to share in the great banquet of life. The dead are sat too where they are not seen.

In the Philippines, we greet Americans using "Hey, Joe" or "Hey, man". We refer to them as "kano", which is taken from the word Amerikano. We have this thing of being overly excited about foreigners. We would even dare converse with them using our crooked version of the English language, and not ashamed of it.

I think it is human nature to rise up after every fall, to show a smile in order to conceal the bitterness. It's just that we Asians are living proof of this nature. It is truly what sets us apart from our non-Asian counterpart, but it is not too late to remind them to not forget to smile.

While Thai girls are feminine and submissive, I think some Asians like Filipino women are the opposite. The latter are generally domineering, loud, strong willed, sporty, wild (in a mild kind of way), aggressive. I can attest to it. However for sure there are a lot of other traits and ways that make them sexy and desirable.

Well, I guess Thai women and how they got their style is purely Thai. It is not an Asian thing.

Plastic surgery in the Phils. are mostly availed of by showbiz personalities who then endorse the clinic that stitched them up. It's them and only a few of the non-celebrity class that can really afford get into the fad of taking up such physical enhancement procedures like boob enlargement. The rest? All they can do is stare.

Well, I think keeping our real identity to ourselves is quite a smart idea because you may not see the persons posting away at the other end of the monitor but the connection is so strong that they are being felt. Nice.

In that case have fun recalling me from memory. I am changing my pic.

Thai chicken soup with coconut milk is almost curried chicken without curry. Is it? I think I will enjoy it as much I do with the curried version. As long as it's freshly cooked and aromatic, and there's fish sauce in a dipping bowl with lime juice and chili pepper, and a lot of rice. That'll do it.

This is great! Keep them coming Thaimo. Your recipes bring smile to my face. I collect recipes although I always change some of the ingredients. With this recipe I could come up with a mango pie. Thanks.

What can I substitute for the rye flour and caraway seeds. I think I can bake breads, not just eat them. just love 'em.

What else can you bake Thaimo?

wow lvdkeyes that's a generous recipe sharing for paella. I can't wait to try them out, it's just that I have to substitute some of the ingredients with the ones that are homegrown. I hope there is no big difference in taste. Thanks.

What about words applied to a song like "all the single ladies, all the single ladies (put your hands up)", "i want nobody, nobody but you (clap 4x)), I want nobody, nobody but you (clap 4X)", "you can stand under my umbrella, you can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, ella, yeah, yeah, yeah,..."

What a joy.

The tourist scene in Thailand with boys geared in orange robes and shaved heads is totally out of this world if your world happens to be the Philippines. What we have here especially in Manila are boys and girls all soiled up, loitering and asking for alms from passersby and motorists. While Thai boys whose understanding of life deepens with their being taught Buddhism tenets grow up to be able minded persons, growth for our Pinoy children is cast up in a haze. This is a belief that does not present the truth however. I would never talk about our Pinoy children in this manner just to gather pity for them. The truth is that life is also offering these children the same chances to a good life given to others. And these children would shake off anything that holds them up from getting the chance to smell the flowers. While it is true that they are being taught early on some tenets defined by the streets (making their spirits unbreakable), they are on the other hand learning the ropes to mold the sturdy hand to their future, just as good as their counterparts do there in Thailand.

I am sorry I wasn't able to catch up with the conversation here because I thought there was only one page. I was excited about sharing my love for curried food, which was the topic on first page, when you have gone all the way talking about western fastfood stores, using chopsticks, etc. in the last 3 pages. Pls bear with the newbie

Thanks for the updates Wino and Beer Chang. I'll ask around what applies for someone like me who is not American. For sure there are entities in my place which offer services like those of Ameritrade's or Fidelity's. I am a first time - traveler who's overly excited about stuff like this. Thank you for your support.

Happy endings are unknown to me that's why I googled it, and I wish I didn't because I had to read on more than I need to learn (oh no!) The website article highlighted on female happy endings. Anyway, happy endings are indeed popular not just in Thailand but also in my country. Spa massages are legal, but are they still legal with the happy ending? I think so for as long as it stands by its name to make one happy. I am sure the law guarantees the right of a person to be happy.

What are the other ways of accumulating FF miles without flying aside from signing up with a credit card company?

Hi I am from the Philippines, never been out of the country. I have plans to go to Thailand only that I still do not know when, what is for sure is that I am a big fan of your country. In the meantime I am a happy sightseer with the help of the world wide web, allowing me to feel about being almost in Thailand.

I would love to go to Thailand and meet the people. I will be in one of those festivals where to satiate myself with Thai food, which I will never get enough of, bike on the streets, walk dreamily along the beach, paint the sights in my mind, respond graciously to all the smiles, dream under the Thai moon, and become an entirely new Filipino person enriched the Thai way.

I had my experience of spanking from my parents especially from my father. There were good reasons for it and hate to tell how I deserved the heavy whipping of wood that caused red burning marks on my arm. Bad behavior do precede spanking, although it can't apply now that I am bigger and older. But that doesn't mean to say I am still into bad behavior. I am meek as an angel.

My people even if down with calamity after calamity would still care to smile and laugh about all of it, with every uproarious laugh shaking off the tear in their eyes. It was contained in a survey a long time ago that pinoys belong to the top ten happiest people in the world despite the odds. In that case, Pinoys would mingle well with Thais who are all smiles.

One must respect another's religion no matter what kind it is. It enriches the soul, helps define the thoughts and actions of a man that makes him human, the most spiritual of his ways and words. The choice to belong to a particular religion, and the manner he practices it accordingly should be left to that person alone, it is his right anyway. It is one's absolute right to believe in God - and it is an absolute wrong to show no respect.