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2012 in Instagram

I don’t know if I’ll still be using Instagram in 2013, but I sure used the heck out of it in 2012! Here’s a look back at the year that was via the 10 most liked photos on .

I don’t blog as much about daily life in Amsterdam as I should. I think that means I’ve finally started to settle in and take the ordinary things as, well, ordinary (as opposed to when I first moved here and everything was new). But I do post glimpses of everyday life in the ‘Dam on Instagram.

This year, 4 out of my 10 most liked photos were of Amsterdam–one for each of the four seasons, actually!

Spring: Blue skies over canal houses

Summer: Villas beside Vondelpark

Fall: Our soon-to-be street

Winter: Early sunset on the canals

Instagram was also where I chronicled my wanderlust. These on-the-fly snapshots of some of the places I’ve been this year got quite a few likes.

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Posted on December 31, 2012
Category: Life in Amsterdam, Pregnancy, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,

Let’s Do Brunch in… Berlin

Our last brunch date for 2012 is in a vibrant, creative city that I’ve been to twice, but only really fell in love with this year. And that is Berlin!

One of my regrets from last spring’s “working” visit to Berlin is that I didn’t get to try any of the many breakfast places I saw or read about. My impression was that Berlin seems to be wild about breakfast—an impression confirmed by enthusiastic Berliner Lena from Mina Moka. Lena is a self-confessed brunch addict and big city lover, which makes her the perfect person to be our Berlin brunch guide.

Happy brunching, and here’s to more delicious brunches in 2013!

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Posted on December 30, 2012
Category: Let's Do Brunch · Labels: , , , , , ,

Five years

Has it really been five years?

I sometimes joke that we haven’t “achieved” anything in five years, when many of our peers already have families, businesses, cars, homes. But the life we’ve lived together for the last five years is a life that we wanted—one of our own choosing and making.

We’re figuring things out as we go along, and that flexibility is one of the things I love most about our marriage. We are not perfect by a long shot, but we are perfect for each other. And we are happy.

On December 29, five years ago, I hadn’t the vaguest idea how to be a wife. Five years later I’m still stumbling and learning. I am so blessed to have a husband who loves me and accepts me for the wife I am. It gives me the confidence to face becoming a mother, yet another thing I’m going into without having a clue.

Happy anniversary, my love. We’ve had five wonderful years of “just the two of us.” The best is yet to come.

Wedding photos by Mango Red. 

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Posted on December 29, 2012
Category: House & Spouse · Labels: ,

Quiet time in the city

Too many years of pre-Christmas chaos led me to expect that Manila would be crazy, jam-packed and debilitated by traffic. But I was pleasantly surprised. It seems we arrived home at just the right time, or maybe everyone did their shopping early this year. Maybe it was because Christmas was on a Tuesday, giving everyone a much-needed weekend to get things done.

Whatever the reason, I found the Makati commercial/business district surprisingly quiet on the Sunday before Christmas. And that was actually nice.

After living in a city where very few buildings are over 4 stories, Makati’s towering, densely packed skyscrapers are almost a strange sight. I’m not used to them anymore.

Neither am I used to such insistent brightness, or spending so much time in malls…

… or being confronted with such urban density. For example, Makati’s population of approximately 530,000 (about 2/3 of Amsterdam’s population) is squeezed into a city roughly 10% the size of Amsterdam. This is why people who whine about how crowded Amsterdam is always get a blank look from me.

But hey, I’m not complaining. I’m not used to swimming outdoors at 6pm on a December evening, either. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t relish it.

And when the city rolled out its one of its famous sunsets, this slice of quiet time became even more precious. This, I miss.

Did you manage to find a pocket of quiet time this holiday season? It feels wonderful, doesn’t it?

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Posted on December 28, 2012
Category: Manila Girl at Heart · Labels: , ,

Filipino favorites at Sentro 1771

When Marlon and I first started dating, we were 22 year-olds whose typical date was a movie and dinner at Greenbelt 3, then newly renovated and thus the trendy place to be. One of our dinner favorites was Sentro 1771, which we revisited last week after catching The Hobbit at Greenbelt.

I *love* Sentro. I can’t believe it’s now going on 10 years old!

After almost two years of living in Amsterdam, it now strikes me as a bit strange to find an excellent restaurant in a mall. You’d be hard-pressed to find a mall in Europe, much less a decent restaurant inside one; it seems the rule of thumb is, the further away from a commercial establishment, the better the chance of a good meal. But Pinoy culture is different: the mall is the place to be. Thus some of the best, most loved restaurants are in malls.

Like Sentro. I’m pleased to find that the food—classic Filipino favorites with a modern twist—is still as good as it was when it first opened 10 years ago. That deserves major props!

I think it’s hard to make Filipino food (which is generally brown and messy) look pretty, but Sentro did a great job with these Smoked Fish Spring Rolls, a nice spin on the usual fresh rice paper spring roll.

Our favorite dish, Corned Beef Sinigang (beef short ribs in tamarind broth), is still as good as ever. And they still bring a small tasting cup of broth to your table, so you can adjust the sourness and spice to your preference. I’ve always thought it’s a great way to bring the feel of a home-cooked meal to a restaurant setting—after all, everyone makes their sinigang (and similar traditional dishes) just a little bit differently from everyone else.

Sentro’s coffee pie is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and a real must-have. This tiny slice combines a rich, dense coffee mousse with a moist but crunchy chocolate-cashew crust.

Sentro is really generous with the brewed coffee! Marlon couldn’t finish his mug (and what a lovely mug it is, too). I love that coffee is served with muscovado sugar.

For a restaurant that’s been around for 10 years, Sentro is doing spectacularly. It still has that modern Filipino look (love these lamps and all the warm wood), and more importantly, food that’s consistently delicious. So glad I got to revisit this Filipino fave!

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Posted on December 27, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Manila Girl at Heart · Labels: , ,

My Ateneo Christmas

How was your Christmas? I hope it was filled with lots of good food and great presents! (And not so many nosy relatives.) I enjoyed a nice, low-key Christmas with my family at my sister’s house in Laguna, with our usual holiday traditions: carving up the Majestic ham with the wrong knife, fruits and queso de bola at the Noche Buena table, and guessing what each present is before opening it (something my mom is really good at).

Aside from these holiday rituals, there’s one Christmas tradition I truly treasure… but it’s not one that I share with my family. And that’s celebrating Christmas at my university, the Ateneo de Manila.

For me, Christmas isn’t complete until I do what I’ve been doing for nearly 10 years, which is sing at the last Simbang Gabi mass before Christmas, on the evening of December 23rd. As part of the Ateneo Chamber Singers (which always sings at the same mass every year), I did this all the way until I moved to Singapore. Even when I wasn’t in the choir anymore, I’d still fly home, make the trip to the university, and sing at mass with my friends.

My Ateneo Christmas always makes me feel that I’ve come home. In fact, my Ateneo Christmas has a home: the university church, the Church of the Gesu. I think it’s one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Manila, but I may be biased.

It’s illuminated by garlands upon garlands of Christmas lights, strung from the massive trees lining Bellarmine Field in front of the church.

It’s warmed (and fed!) by freshly cooked bibingka—rice cakes with hot butter, salted egg and grated coconut, for my non-Pinoy friends—and light, crisp churros con chocolate.

It’s made beautiful by the gentle faces of the Nativity by the altar, and by the decorations hanging from the highest point of the Gesu’s peaked ceiling. They’re different every year, but they’re almost always in the school colors of blue and white.

And my Ateneo Christmas is filled with music—with songs that I’ve known by heart for years, sung by the beautiful voices of people I love and miss. Their voices really are beautiful, and this time I’m not biased!

It always makes me a bit sad to just be a member of the audience—instead of singing with them for the mini-concert before the mass—and realize that there are songs I don’t know anymore. But I’m just too happy to be surrounded by this music, to really dwell on what I’m missing. And when I do get to add my voice to theirs for the mass, it’s the happiest feeling. It’s Christmas, and I’m home!

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Posted on December 26, 2012
Category: Manila Girl at Heart · Labels: , ,

Merry Christmas!

I found this funny little snapshot in my mom’s stash of old photos. This holiday greeting goes out from the little girl in me, to the child in each and every one of you.

Wishing you joy, laughter, peace, and all good things. Have a very merry Christmas!

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Posted on December 24, 2012
Category: Uncategorized · Labels:

Singapore eats

I apologize for the blog silence these past few days. I was completely consumed by the following tasks:

A) slogging through sauna-level humidity, from one air-conditioned sanctuary to another,

B) systematically emptying our bank account (a.k.a. shopping), and

C) eating my way through Singapore.

The eating was almost a full-time job. We must have eaten a week’s worth of food in just three days!

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Posted on December 21, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, The Singapore Years · Labels: , ,

Maternity style: Welcome to the third trimester

What better way to start one’s third trimester with a 12-hour transcontinental flight? That’s what I always say.

Thankfully, the flight from Amsterdam to Singapore was surprisingly comfortable, for someone in her 28th week of pregnancy. Booking Singapore Airlines and having a prenatal shiatsu massage the night before (my neighbors are yoga and shiatsu therapists) definitely made a difference. I also walked around, did a lot of hip circles in the toilet, and packed a Ziploc bag with chocolate chip cookies and bananas, and checked my ankles every five minutes to see if they were still there (I’ve heard one too many cankles horror stories from pregnant flyers).

I’m happy to report that I made it to Singapore in one piece, with minimum discomfort and intact ankles. Hurray!

Asymmetrical dress by from Uniqlo’s Designers Invitation Project: Costello Tagliapetra, H&M copper headband, Ona leather camera satchel, Vincci patent leather wedges, and five-spike necklace from WeAreLabels.  

Heavy, clinging humidity swallowed me up the moment I stepped out of Changi Airport (a forceful reminder of why mentholated facial wash was created), but right now I’m happy to be dressing like myself again, minus all the winter layers. I’m glad to still be wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes, too. And sandals, oh sandals… what a glorious feeling.

I give myself two days before I start complaining about curly bangs and oily skin, and generally cursing this climate. But for now, the tropical heat and I are cool—no pun intended.

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Posted on December 17, 2012
Category: Personal Style, Pregnancy · Labels: , ,

Revisiting Singapore

After almost two years away, we find ourselves back in Singapore this week.

This is just a stopover en route to Manila, where Marlon and I will spend Christmas, but it’s also a chance to catch up with good friends and indulge in a few things we miss about this city.

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Posted on December 16, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Shopping & Finds, Wanderlust · Labels: , , ,