today, if you live in Metro Manila...
at $1 = Php46.00
- petrol costs about Php40 a liter (about 90cents)
- a can of coke will set you back Php20
- the minimum fare of PHp7.00 (on a jeepney) or Php10.00 (on an airconditioned bus) will only take you as far as 4km
- the flag-down rate for a taxi cab is Php30.00
- you can buy three pieces of hard candy or mentos for Php2.00 ($0.04)
- a regular-sized bar of hershey's chocolate is about Php30 ($0.65)
- from end to end of the MRT-3 along EDSA, a commuter pays Php15, but the government pays Php65 in subsidies per commuter trip, no matter the distance (there are 400,000 trips daily... 365 days in a year... you do the math.)
- if you earn $1000 per month and you're single, then life is sweet. some get by with a minimum wage of $6 per day, about $132 a month or even less
- typical condo unit in the central business district can set you back on rent fees by at least $260 per month and that's without A/C
- in a fastfood joint, a value meal of 1 beef patty with gravy, 1 cup of rice, and 8 oz. softdrink will set you back $1.00. a cup of mango caramel sundae (vanilla ice cream, mango bits in syrup, and caramel swirl) costs Php28.
- a kilo of mangoes is about Php26, but we get this for free because we have a mango tree in our backyard. :-)
- a 500ml bottle of distilled water is Php15 or $0.30
- a 330ml (350?) bottle of beer averages Php30 in a bar during happy hours, but goes up to about Php85-150 at regular rates
- on the same stretch of road, from work to home (one-way), if i took the bus, its Php15.75; on an AUV (typically Tamaraw FX) mega taxi its Php25 or Php30; on a taxi cab, its Php85-100; if i took our own van, its Php100 worth of petrol (one-way) and parking fee of at least Php40 (whole-day open space parking). so yeah, i commute to work.
- btw, our a/c city buses have t.v. on them, they usually play dvd movies or tuned in to any of the local channels
- a hair cut in the village shops, ranges from Php50-100. the same hair cut done by a senior stylist in essensuals toni & guy costs Php700 excluding tips.
- whole body massage costs anywhere from Php250 to Php2,000
- on average, an hour's rent of a badminton court with rubber mat (taraflex) costs Php300
how's life on your side of the world?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Filipino comfort food
The main course of any Filipino meal is incomplete without boiled or fried rice and ulam. My all-time favorite ulam (or viand) dishes are shrimp sinigang (similar to tom yum soup in Thailand), pork adobo, beef caldereta, beef steak, chicken tinola, pinakbet, rellenong pusit, and rellenong bangus.
Adobo is one of the first dishes I learned to cook. Marinate pork and or chicken cubes with soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, a couple of dried basil leaves, some black pepper and some water. Let it boil over medium flame until meat is tender and you don't smell the vinegar. You can stir the adobo only after the vinegar odor is gone, otherwise, you'll spoil the flavor. :-)
Rellenong pusit (squid) or bangus (milkfish) is basically grilled and stuffed squid or milkfish (stuffing includes minced tomatoes, onions, green mangoes, and ginger). We usually serve grilled meat or seafood with a soy sauce-based or vinegar-based dip. The soy sauce mix contains calamansi juice, and some red hot chilli peppers; while the vinegar dip has minced garlic, salt and pepper.
For dessert, I'd go for saba con yelo (boiled sweetened saba bananas with milk and crushed ice), or the halo-halo - a mix of sweetened fruit chunks (banana, jack fruit, macapuno, beans, chickpeas), jello, nata de coco, served with milk and crushed ice topped with leche flan (a variation of creme brulee), ube halaya (purple yam pudding) and ice cream. Yum!
Other traditional sweets that I find myself craving every so often are bibingka (rice cakes), ube halaya (purple yam pudding), pastillas de leche (milk candies), and yema (caramelized milk balls).
For those over 21, booze nights are usually accompanied by pulutan (from the Filipino word "pulot" or "to pick"). The amber juice is usually San Miguel Beer (SMB) Light or Red Horse beer. What we would order in bars as pulutan are sizzling sisig (minced pork skin in soy sauce and calamansi juice) and barbequed pork or chicken. Some prefer to chug their beer with chicharon (fried cracklings made of pork skin and fat) or balut (boiled duck embryos with a sprinkle of salt). An all-nighter ends with a serving of beef bulalo soup (beef chunks with bone marrow boiled with garlic, salt and pepper) or arroz caldo (rice porridge with chicken).
What did you have for supper?
Adobo is one of the first dishes I learned to cook. Marinate pork and or chicken cubes with soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, a couple of dried basil leaves, some black pepper and some water. Let it boil over medium flame until meat is tender and you don't smell the vinegar. You can stir the adobo only after the vinegar odor is gone, otherwise, you'll spoil the flavor. :-)
Rellenong pusit (squid) or bangus (milkfish) is basically grilled and stuffed squid or milkfish (stuffing includes minced tomatoes, onions, green mangoes, and ginger). We usually serve grilled meat or seafood with a soy sauce-based or vinegar-based dip. The soy sauce mix contains calamansi juice, and some red hot chilli peppers; while the vinegar dip has minced garlic, salt and pepper.
For dessert, I'd go for saba con yelo (boiled sweetened saba bananas with milk and crushed ice), or the halo-halo - a mix of sweetened fruit chunks (banana, jack fruit, macapuno, beans, chickpeas), jello, nata de coco, served with milk and crushed ice topped with leche flan (a variation of creme brulee), ube halaya (purple yam pudding) and ice cream. Yum!
Other traditional sweets that I find myself craving every so often are bibingka (rice cakes), ube halaya (purple yam pudding), pastillas de leche (milk candies), and yema (caramelized milk balls).
For those over 21, booze nights are usually accompanied by pulutan (from the Filipino word "pulot" or "to pick"). The amber juice is usually San Miguel Beer (SMB) Light or Red Horse beer. What we would order in bars as pulutan are sizzling sisig (minced pork skin in soy sauce and calamansi juice) and barbequed pork or chicken. Some prefer to chug their beer with chicharon (fried cracklings made of pork skin and fat) or balut (boiled duck embryos with a sprinkle of salt). An all-nighter ends with a serving of beef bulalo soup (beef chunks with bone marrow boiled with garlic, salt and pepper) or arroz caldo (rice porridge with chicken).
What did you have for supper?
Monday, April 30, 2007
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