Category Archives: philippines

Pepperoni Crunch and Sunshine Corazon

Posted on by
Reply

We miss the most random things about Manila. I was shocked to find out when I returned to the US after twenty-seven years that Shakey’s could only be found in the Philippines. Or so I thought. While researching for this blog entry, guess what I found out after being back in the states for three years. SHAKEY’S. The sad reality though is that we’re in the wrong zip code!

Food franchises often adapt their menus to their locale, so in Manila, you can get rice and gravy to go with your fried chicken. (Not a fan of rice with gravy myself though, but, whatever floats your boat!) One of our huge Shakey’s favorites in Manila is their Pepperoni Crunch Pizza. Before you retch and hurl in disgust, listen to what it is: a pepperoni pizza sprinkled with shoestring potato chips! Still feel like hurling? Your loss.

I regaled my colleagues recently on the wonders of this particular flavor and in a room full of ten people, two actually nodded in “that sounds good!” agreement!

Continue reading →

Welcoming the millennium in NYE glasses

Posted on by
1

Me and Kyera, originally uploaded by thelmabowlen.

There’s a trending topic on Twitter today with the hashtag #10yearsago. I shared this picture. It’s the two of us outside our apartment in Marikina where we lived one door away from my best friends, Ron and Joyce, their children, Wolfie and Diandra, and extended family of animals — a dog, a couple of cats, hamsters, and a turtle.

It was one of our favorite places not just because we were right next to friends who were like family, but because it was our first two-level apartment.

This was also the time we discovered The Adventures of Pete and Pete on Nickelodeon. Every morning, we’d have to wake at 4:45 to be at the station for my morning show. (Yes, we. Kyera would have to come with because we didn’t have a live-in helper at the time so I had no choice but to bring her to work with me.) Pete and Pete would be on and it was a good way to wake up watching them learn about life.

After my show, she’d stay at the station while I ran around to studios if I had freelance voicing gigs lined up; if I didn’t, we went home.

This apartment also brings back memories of my season in theater. I would drive home in rush hour traffic listening to rehearsal tapes of music from Once Upon a Mattress. I ended up quitting. I just could not juggle being in a current production — Our Town, I believe it was — doing a daily morning show, and juggling a freelance voicing schedule.

It was a busy, stressful time of life that now feels like a lifetime and a country away.

It is.

So how did we ring in the new millennium other than with these “2000″ glasses? Next door at Ron and Joyce’s, talking, eating, and laughing until 4AM; Kyera, Wolfie, and Diandra, upstairs doing the same.

It was a good time.