Month: September 2015

Osmena Blvd. Morning Walk

I wonder what is really the official name of this area. Is this Osmena Blvd., Jones Ave., or Fuente?

I formed a habit of morning walk for our length of our stay here in VCMC. I usually receive the med orders for my nanay from the hospital staff by 5am. That’s when I leave the hospital room and walk to get the meds at VSMMC Pharmacy. 

Unlike in the middle of the day, the Osmena Blvd is quiet and cool during this time of the day. It makes the walk from one hospital to another one a pleasant experience. 

Seeing the warm gentle of the morning sun can make one pensive. 

If this was the Cebu Ctiy Marathon, this area is the last 4-5km stretch of the race route. That’s when it feels so near, yet so far. It’s when it’s a mix of emotion of feeling the sweet victory and berating yourself of why did you voluntarily punish yourself for some i-dunno reason.
Marathon. “Death is not a sprint; it’s a marathon,” which I read somewhere. For me, this death from cancer can even feel like ultra trail marathon. At 5km, i already want to declare DNF (did not finish) / quit. But then in this kind of race, you really have no option. You did not opt to be in it, and you have no option to quit from it.
If you come to think of, death and life is similar in that you just cannot quit from it.
Which led me to think is there an easier way of dying? Is there a better sickness that would give me a less-suffering journey to death?
Then Seeing a soon-to-open Chow King resto along the way, I remember Kris Aquino and her mom, Cory Aquino. If Cory Aquino was able to get to the other life through her cancer, and Kris Aquino was able to pull it through her mom’s ordeal, we definitely can do this.
My morning walk, it may start with confusing / emotionally debilitating thoughts but somehow, I always come home with a better feeling. Maybe it’s because of the warm gentle sunshine, the P40 McDo coffee, the cheaper meds, or all of the above.
Or maybe it’s because I feel I share something common with Kris Aquino – my claim to fame.  

Not a food blog: pro-tip in medicine shopping in Cebu

Being in hospitals for a few times now, here’s a great tip I picked along the way: For overly expensive medicines, you can go to VSMMC pharmacy (they also call it DOH pharmacy). You can get it at almost 70% lesser price rates from the drugstores. 

I first heard this from a “neighboring” room patient’s caregiver I had a chitchat with. I did not seriously take it because the prices she mentioned were just unbelievably very low compared to the the regular pharmacies’. But then our doctor also gave me this advise. I still have doubts but when you’re given a prescription of antibiotics in vial which means at least 1K-a-pop, I start praying that this VSMMC pharmacy must be true!!!
And, indeed it’s true. The usually 1K plus vial of antibiotic at regular drugstores is just P250/vial at VSMMC pharmacy. It’s located at the very entrance of Vicente Sotto hospital (also there’s another one at the very entrance of the hospital). And, it’s a breeze to buy there as there is no long queue. 🙂 
But I think you need a doctor’s prescription to be able to buy from them. I’m not sure if they’re accepting Senior ID for discounts.
If only I believed about it the first time, I wonder how much savings I would get from the 30K medicine bill I got from Perpetual. 

Mae Krua Thai: yet another pad thai in cebu

Yesterday was such a downer. And super thankful that I was able to bounce back today so I celebrated it with pad thai and milk tea at a nearby Thai resto, Mae Krua Thai.

The pad thai they served me had lots of shrimps.
I learned that Mae Krua Thai, Royal Krua Thai (BTC) are of the same owner, and they also have another one in SM Cebu. 
My effortless beauty selfie, walang ka effort2x maligo. My hair could be dyed to orange, and i’d look like a “kurtina.” 🙂

Guilty with Murder

“Are you just going to watch her die?!?”

Apparently, it looks like it. It was a friend’s first reaction when I told him that we’re no longer having treatment for my mother’s cancer.
Just like we wait and watch getting pregnant and deliver a life, I guess that’s how we do it also with death. I just take comfort in it that we’re waiting for it like we wait for pregnancies. On the hindsight, life’s kind of like that: we work and wait to see things happen except for death maybe.
Anyhow, For a change, it’s not the usual “how are you?” questions I got. For those who messaged me with “how are you’s?”, I greatly truly appreciate the thought. But I’m sorry for not replying because I do not know what answer to give you.
As the Magalona sisters said, “Cancer is something you do not wish on any one even at your worst enemy.” 
Not that i have enemies. But the point is cancer can be that overwhelming. Either you go for treatment or none, i feel like it needs a new level of “strong” to get thru it.
I’m grateful for my mother for somehow making it easier to all of us. 
Meanwhile, in this “overwhelming” situation, all I can muster to do is create dish scrubbies. It makes me look innocent. 🙂 

Welcome to our Crib

Mati: I want a comfy chair like this. Ngano tanan other humans house naay comfy chair except us? 

(Migi is underneath Mati.)

Way before these 3 kids were born, we always have “lantay” (that bamboo type) until now. We once thought of upgrading it to a comfy couch, those we see on magazines, but we kind of rationalized that the hard “lantay” makes sitting less appealing. The lantay can then somehow motivates us not to always sit. On the downside, my kids are kind of “ignorante” with couches.
So whenever we’d go to others’ homes, my kids will surely get attracted to their soft fluffy couches – jumping up and down on them like monkeys on the loose.
(Selfie with a couch because this is a rare opportunity.)

So Finally, after xx years of family-ness, we kind of have a couch, though not officially.

We rented the house across us, which we can move in for some space. Original plan was for when we “upgrade” our doll house. But then with my nanay’s health situation, it’s going to be some sort of a “nursing home” for her for now. 🙂 So she can have a quieter space.
This house has been empty for 5-6 years? A lovely family once lived here. Their kids are quite adorable. The younger kid was same age with Migi. 
(Their family portrait i found in one of their cabinets when cleaning up.)
Anyhow, I got this for a discount so in return we take care of cleaning it up. 6 years of having no occupants but with all its appliances and furnitures still intact – it was quite a lot of dusting up.
Before
After 
Thanks to my home “deprovement” skills, nothing much change except that I “uprooted” all the plastic flowers/plants.
Bye!

Kudos to the owner, we kinda have a house now lifted from a lifestyle magazine compared to our “server room” looking home.
(This is not a storage room. This is our home. It’s not at all fluffy and comfy.)

Wok’d: The Search for the Best Pad Thai in Cebu

I once asked a friend, who expat-ed in Thailand for a few years, on which Thai resto in Cebu serves authentic Thailand Pad Thai. She said that she has not found one yet.

So it has been one of my missions to find that good Pad Thai locally, which brought me to the Wok’d, located in Streetscape / near Maria Luisa Village entrance, when I read in newspaper that the chefs are Thais.
Indeed the chefs are Thai. One of them was serving the dishes from time to time.
We ordered these sampler plate of appetizers (I think that’s how you call them.). I found it too oily, as if I don’t gorge on turon and pinaypay. 🙂
Then, the Pad Thai. It’s probably the best looking pad thai I came across in Cebu.

I think it was owkei. I maybe need to go to Thailand, and taste one to become a legit judge. 🙂 But for now, I’m happy to be mystified from the real taste.

Rainbow Cake for the Birthday Boss

I was planning for that always-available cake from the big-chain bakeshop for Meg’s birthday. But she demanded a “rainbow cake” from Angelica’s which would involved “heavy traffic” when getting it.

But Meg is the daughter that you cannot easily bargain with. If she’s 18 years old now, I’d call her b!t(h. But she’s only 10 years old, so i call her BOSSY.”
She has this way of twisting (annoyingly) your fingers to get what she wants. 
So spell horror: She’s the mini-me of the MIL. 🙂 
As always thank you to the enighborhood  kids for joining Meg in her 10th birthday celebratio .
The littlest boss from Brunei, Lia 🙂