I Enjoyed My Century Bangus Fillet at Sitio Daang Bakal, Antipolo City

Mountain hiking is one of my favorite pastimes. It is a hobby that keeps me active and healthy. I would walk for miles to enjoy the lush scenery, take nice photos, and rediscover nature. For me, Antipolo City is a good place for mountain hikes.

Antipolo City is an 1 hour and half drive away from Manila. It is quite accessible and not as far as compared to traveling other mountainous regions in Luzon. The city proper has gotten more urbanized through the years, but the barangays here still have that barrio feel. I go up there at times for rest and recreation. The cool mountain breeze soothes the body and mind from the daily stress of office life.

Traveling in the wilds can help you rediscover nature...

Here are some of my nature and travel photos I took along the way...

I took a photo of a makeshift wooden bridge across a stream.


Antipolo has an abundant natural water source springing from the mountain side.


I happened to take a photo of colorful dragonflies along the way...


Mushroom sprouts across a tree trunk.

Some preparation is needed in order to enjoy the hiking experience. One of them is bringing some food and water in case we go hungry or thirsty along the way. You'll never know when you will need it! That's specially true if you plan to wander around the unknown wilderness for hours.

Sometimes, you would have to climb steep slopes to move forward...

When it comes to food, it is best to bring something that is quite filling, and has easy-to-open packaging. Luckily, in one trip to my local supermarket, I was able to discover the new Century Bangus Fillet! I discovered two delicious flavors. Spanish Style and With Tausi.

I brought along Century Bangus Fillet for my hiking trip...

Century Bangus Fillet comes with an easy-to-open handle for convenience...

In my recent hiking trip to Antipolo, Rizal, I was able to pass by a small eatery by chance. At that time, I was so hungry, I decided to eat my 'baon' there.



Here is a video of my 'anytime, anywhere adventure'. If there are problems viewing the video, please click here... (Shown here is how I discovered getting to a local eatery via the scenic route...)

I met Mr. Jaime, Cui, a resident of that area, on that same eatery. We exchanged stories, and shared some of my Century Bangus Fillet with him. Interestingly, I found out he was cast as an extra for an old noontime soap opera, 'Valiente'. Also, I found out that some of the scenes of that soap opera were taken here for that Hacienda look.

Luckily, he was cast on the show when they needed extras shot on this location. He narrated how some of his other friends were not accepted as extras because they were not able to follow acting instructions well.

I am really thankful and glad he was game enough to be a cast on my video for this blog. It was a very simple video actually, but it was so much fun to do!

Mr. Cui agreed to be part my video for Century Bangus Fillet!

Century Bangus Fillet! It's the perfect food to share and meet new and interesting people!

After the delicious meal, and meeting up with an interesting person, eventually we would have to part ways. It was really fun getting to know and share a meal to someone you have never met before. You get to learn a lot of things and insights from them. For me, that was the real discovery.

Every journey has its end, so they say.
And we have to move on, be on our way.
After the long hike, and meeting someone new,
we all have to say our 'nice meeting you'.
This journey now ends, a new one begins each day
so make it worthwhile with Century Bangus Fillet!

P.S. I would like to thank the residents of Sitio Daang Bakal for their hospitality, specially Mr. Jaime Cui and Ms. Samantha Berroya for their active role in the video.

Soundtrack of the video was borrowed from www.partnersinrhyme.com, (for royalty free soundtracks).

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Tipid Squad Revelation and Contest

Tipid Squad, a newly created site is holding an SEO contest. Joining this is simple! All you need to do is...

1. Create a post about the contest AND/OR our site’s theme (personal finance/budgetting)

2. Optimize the keywords Tipid Dauqs Budget Tips

3. Your entry must be created between November 20, 2009 and December 18, 2009

4. Link back to our site (http://tipidsquad.com) with title Budget Tips (e.g. Budget Tips) or simply copy this code and include to your post: Budget Tips

5. submit your entry on or before December 18, 2009 by leaving your name, e-mail address, and link of your entry in the comment box below.

6. Multiple entries are okay.

This contest is open to anyone living in the Philippines. Top 3 entries (which will be checked via google.com) by December 25, 2009, 11:59 PM will be declared winners. Winners will be announced by 12MN.

Prizes:

1st: P700
2nd: P500
3rd: P300

PLUS!!!!

Leave a separate comment in this post to guess the names of the squad’s members! The person who can give us the most number of names, if not a complete list of the squad gets a free .com or .net domain from us. First Name + Last Name or Nickname + Last Name will do. In case of tie, the first one who sent us the FIRST, most complete entry will win.

Every week, we will give updates and more clues to help you with your guessing so keep visiting the site or subscribe via your reader.

You can also add us up and follow us on plurk and twitter:

plurk.com/tipidsquad

twitter.com/tipidsquad

To know more about the contest, click here...

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Papemelroti Negosyo Book and Notebook promo

Papemelroti is giving away a Go Negosyo book for their contest for those who are interested in putting up a successful business.

All you have to do is post a message on their site giving a link to your blog entry. Make sure your link can be viewed publicly. And on your blog entry, just place a link to their contest page.

Joining is that easy!

Deadline is on September 15, 2009 10:30 am.

Don't miss this chance to own that Go Negosyo Book for free!

Good luck to everyone!

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KFC Bucket of Fries - Contest Entry

Me and my friends just joined the KFC Mini Bucket of Fries Photo Contest! I hope my entry is good enough to win this contest. Judging of the photos are as follows...

• Creativity of the photograph and the use of jargons = 30%
• Relevance of the KFC Mini Bucket of Fries in the photograph = 30%
• Number of views, votes, and comments = 20%
• Overall impact = 20%

KFC - Keeps Friends Close !

Click here to view our entry and vote!

In order to vote, you must first register with the KFC Mini Bucket of Fries website. You may also want to join the contest by uploading your own photos.

To register with the KFC site, click here.
To view the gallery, click here.
To vote for our entry, click here.


Prizes at stake:

• Grand Prize

A Year’s Supply of KFC
- 365 pieces of KFC Gift Certificates for 2-Piece Chicken (valid for one year from the date of issuance)

• Consolation Prizes

5 units of Samsung C3053
- Full Featured Stylish Slider Phone
- VGA Camera with Digital Zoom
- Simplified User Interface
- MP3 Player and FM Radio
- Video Recording and Playback
- Expandable Memory via MicroSD

So vote or join now! The deadline for this contest is until August 21, 2009 only!

:-)

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Cadbury Pure Happiness Festival - Contest Entry

This is my entry to the Cadbury Pure Happiness Festival contest.

side view with festival mural

top portion

The contest is sponsored by Cadbury Philippines.

I would like to invite everyone out there to vote for my entry for this year's contest. My entry number is No. 8. (Swerte daw ang 8 sa Chinese numerology, hehe). It just so happens that I was the 8th contestant to submit an entry. This year only 19 entries registered.

Criteria for this contest is as follows:

40 % - use of Cadbury Wrappers

30 % - adherence to theme

20 % - creativity

10 % - audience vote

I greatly appreciate it if you could vote for my entry. Audience vote is 10 % of the contest criteria. If my entry wins and if you voted for my entry, you get a chance to win cash prizes too!

Where to vote?

Voting will be done in two venues on a Saturday and Sunday of the week from July 19, 2009 until August 2, 2009:

1) Robinson's Galleria last July 19

2) SM Manila on July 25 and 26
exhibit location: Upper Ground floor, event center near Kenny Roger's

3) SM Megamall on August 1 and 2
exhibit location: Bldg A, Upper Ground floor

In order to vote, you must go to the Cadbury booth inside the designated mall exhibit area and buy Cadbury products. For every 100 pesos worth of Cadbury products, you are entitled to one vote stub. (200 pesos worth entitles you to two vote stubs, etc...) Fill up the vote stub and drop it at the drop box of an entry you want to vote for.

If an entry wins (1st, 2nd or 3rd), the voters who voted for that entry will be raffled off. One lucky winner will receive a cash prize of 10,000 pesos!!!

My Entry dimensions:

Height: 97 cm

Length: 76 cm

Width: 76 cm

The maximum dimensions set by Cadbury Philippines for this year's contest is limited to 1 meter (100 cm) for each dimension. Exceeding it would mean disqualification.

Here some photos of my entry...

Portions of the mural

Festivals Depicted...

Santacruzan

Panagbenga festival

Ati-atihan festival

Maskara festival

Higantes festival - with a giant Manny Pacquiao!

Additional Elements...

travelling family together!

marching band

Cadbury Wrappers Used:

Just like last year's, I used a wide range of Cadbury wrappers (like almost every Cadbury product available in the Philippines).

1) Cadbury Dairy Milk and its variants

- Golden Crisp (yellow)

- Roast Almond (orange)

- Hazel Nut (brown)

- Fruit and Nut (red)

- Black Forest (reddish pink)

- Mixed Nuts (yellow orange)

2) Time Out (blue)

- bite size

- chocettes w/ time out

3) Zip

- fruity crunch (green)

4) Milk Tray

- dairy milk

- strawberry yogurt flavor (pink)

5) Picnic (red and yellow)

6) Cadbury Ecclairs (yellow)

7) Dark Noir (dark chocolate) - bite size (red)

8) Cadbury Moments

- Hazel Nut (yellow)

- Almonds (blue)

9) Old Gold (yellow and black)

It has taken me a lot of time and effort to complete. This entry, like last year's, is a collective effort of me, my family, and my girlfriend. But unlike last year's where I have done majority of the work, this year they played a more active role.

Thanks to them, my entry would not have been possible.

Thanks to mama who did the miniature people, the sun backdrop, the Manny Pacquiao giant design, and more...

Thanks to papa who helped me construct the lighting circuitry, and the base structure, and more...

Thanks to Ariane who did a lot of detailing, for the background, the marching band, the details on the miniature family and jeep, and a whole lot more...

Without them, my entry would be nothing but wrappers!

Once more, I invite everyone to vote for my entry, entry Number 8 - The Pinoy theme, with the sun and family background. Thanks again and good luck in the draw should my entry win!

Additional Info: My entry to last year's Cadbury's Art of Happiness art contest won 1st place. In my opinion, my entry for this year has a good chance of winning, all the more if you could give your support through your votes. Many thanks in advance should you decide to support my entry.

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You're the 1, Goldilocks!

I loved joining contests. Joining them was a way for me to express myself and refine my skills. For me, being a contestant was a way of life.

I would join any kind of contest. Writing contests, photography contests, design contests. I even dreamed of joining song writing and music composition contests! Although I haven't gone that far yet. I have won some and lost countless times. Still I continued joining them.

However, it seems joining too many contests got the best of me. I abruptly stopped around 2004 and discontinued ever since. Maybe I just lost the interest and motivation altogether.

Then one day in September 2006, I met her...

We shared a lot of things in common. We loved anime, play video games, eat delicous Pinoy treats at Goldilocks... Simply being with her made me feel special.

After a few weeks of dating, she finally became my girlfreind.

Alright, enough of the appetizer, time to move on to the main course.

Here is is my Goldilocks experience I would like to share.

One cloudy day in June, as we were about to go home from work, we passed by a Goldilocks bake shop in Ayala, Makati. We were not in a hurry and we noticed an interesting poster on the store's glass window. It read: Join the Goldilocks"Cookie House" contest and get a chance to win prizes!

I really didn't know what came over me, but I felt the urge of joining this one. I have not joined design contests for awhile but this one sparked my interest. And so I read about the contest details.

She asked if I was interested in joining.

"I wish so..." I replied.

"Then why not join? No harm in trying..."


The "Cookie House contest" was a family oriented contest. "Too bad..." I thought. No one in my family knows how to bake or decorate food.

Then again, I reeeeaaaally wanted to try. I wanted to do something new.

"I could probably do it..." I said, "...but who's gonna help me out? I don't know how to build a Cookie House."

"I can!" She answered. I never thought she was interested too.

And so I finally decided to buy their Cookie House kit. Before we started, we checked to see what kind of goodies were included in the list.

There were...

- Candies and marshmallows for the decor
- Cookies for the four sides of the house
- Cookie sticks for the sides of the house
- confectionery sugar
- A plastic pastry bag
- a Cardboard box shaped like a house, which holds the 'cookie house' together

After seeing its contents, we decided on a design which we hoped will be unique. We entitled it 'Tahanang Pinoy'. Although the concept was not that original, it really was a challenge to make our entry look that way.

In order to build it like a tahanang pinoy, we decided to buy more cookies and sweets. Some include pretzels, graham crackers, and animal shaped biscuits.

After acquiring all the materials needed, came the hard part.

At first I thought it was that easy to 'build' the cookie house. The idea was to use the confectionery sugar to glue the cookie house together. Sounds fairly easy, until I tried it first hand!

At first, the walls stuck easily, but alas, after an hour or so, our cookie house, starting with the sides fell apart.

Arrrgh! What did I do wrong... I was so sure I did the right thing attaching the sides. But then I realized that I'm working on something I never tried before. Confectionery sugar after awhile hardens and becomes brittle. A little movement can cause the attachments to be unglued.

Although the cookie house literally crumbled apart, she never felt frustrated...

Thus, we attached the cookie house all over again.

After hours of pasting the house together, finally we got it completed. It was a tedious process, but we finally managed to complete it.

Completing the cookie house is a joy in itself...

The final part of the contest requirement was taking a picture of it. At the bottom is the picture of our creation..

Our Goldilocks Cookie House Contest Entry

After entering this contest, I learned a lot about my special someone.

- She knows how to cook and bake.
- She is very patient with meticulous work.
- She has a creative side as well.
- She loves new challenges.
- She is a lot like me in some ways.


You're the one Goldilocks because you've given me an opportunity to share treasured moments with my number one, most special friend. Even though we aren't family (yet), you made us feel that we belong to each other.

It was a very memorable experience, one I can truly cherish. And even if we did not win, the passion and joy we shared in creating our 'cookie house' was strong, and my feelings for her as well.

Thank you once again for that challenging yet worthwhile Goldilocks experience.

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Top 50 Finalists for the MOA Flores de Mayo Photo Contest Released

The top 50 finalists of the Mall of Asia Flores de Mayo Photography Contest has been released. This contest was sponsored by Unilever Philippines. Below is my submission for the said contest held last May 24, 2009 around 4 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia, Metro Manila, Philippines.


Camera model used: Olympus 1030SW
ISO Setting: 100
Aperture: f / 5
Shutter: 1 / 500

Check out their multiply site to see the top 50 entries and check if ever you made it as finalist (if ever you participated in the contest).

Congratulations to the finalists.

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Follow-up Article on LG Cookie Promo

Technograph Philippines recently published an article regarding the winners of the LG Cookie Promo sponsored by them and LG Philippines.

I was one of the lucky winners of the promo. The prize, an LG Cookie Phone - the KP500.

I admit going to the venue was a little difficult for me because I had to travel far to claim the prize at LG Philippines in Baybunga Pasig. I am not quite familiar with the location. Still, I was able to arrive on time.

When I arrived at LG around 5:45 pm , the representative who attended to me was Mr. Al Dimapilis (corporate PR officer). He was even kind enough to give me a free meal before the awarding. Thanks sir, for the meal!

Before we were finally awarded the prize, I was able to have a light conversation with fellow winner Kristine Tupaz.

In the photo, I am with fellow winner Kristine at right. Also in the photo are the executives from LG. From the left is Mr. Andrew Song (VP for product marketing of mobile communications), Mr. Raymond Hernandez (corporate marketing head) and on the far right is Mr. Arnold Manabat (mobile communications product marketing officer). Mr. Al Dimapilis was the one who took the photo.

It was fun being able to have an opportunity to join an online contest and win the prize!

Once again, thank you LG Philippines and Technograph!

P.S. Special thanks to Boy Kuripot for the information regarding this contest.

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