You now know how weight has been my biggest problem since I could remember, and even if I have acknowledge that reality even at a young age, it was actually only in 2007 when I started facing it. In case you didn't know what happened why, let me share it again.

My dad, whom I consider a very fit man suddenly died because of a heart attack (he was diagnosed with blocked artery a month before, but he was showing signs of recovery). The family accepted it, but one time in July (four months after dad's death), my mom hosted a prayer meeting here in our house, and when the guests left nearly midnight, my siblings and I still devoured on the pancit bihon mom served that night. It was so delicious, but I admit there was a "hidden heart attack" in that pancit - mainly because we bought some pork bones (with marrow) at the market, made some stock out of it, and we also pounded shrimp heads to add more flavor to the stock. It was a very delicious dish, and I got to eat a lot that time.

Bad move though, I hit the bed just 15 minutes after eating. I couldn't sleep that night, I started perspiring cold, and I felt my chest contracting. I thought I'd have a heart attack that instant. I managed to get myself to sleep and I did wake up okay, but my paranoia started. I was so paranoid that I would take the stethoscope and listen to my own heart beat and my own breathing. I never consulted anyone in the family, though they were surprised that I was eating little (I was afraid to eat then).

A busted computer monitor prompted me to talk to our next door neighbor to ask if I could use their computer for a while. Charmy told me they had a spare monitor, which they were willing to give me, and while waiting for his boyfriend to get it from the storage room, I told her my concern. Back then, her mom was still working as a teacher and Charmy had this idea of walking from our place to the school, just to help me jumpstart my fitness routine.




We were doing the morning walks for a few days already, when Charmy decided to bring their camera because she told me there was an abandoned resort somewhere. These pictures were taken by her then boyfriend Jay (they are now married). As you can see, Charmy is one petite and very slim woman, but she was very enthusiastic to help me. Our morning walks was our way to bond and talk about many things about our life - something we weren't able to do despite being neighbors since we moved here in 1985.

Unfortunately, the morning walks only lasted a month. When she got sick, we stopped walking until we weren't able to get back at it anymore.



I created this scrapbook page in 2007 using materials sent to me by an ex-bf. True, it all begins with the first step, and while I am scolding myself for being a weakling - giving up way too easily, this year I am hoping I'd be victorious.

Well, I know I will be...
...and I am now claiming my victory.


PS - My weight loss journey blog will open this Sunday. :)

I am supposed to sleep now (as I am going to jog early tomorrow), but I still have some battery juice left, so let me answer this before I call it a night.

A. Age:
> 31.

B. Bed size:
> Single.

C. Chore that you hate:
> Taking the clothes from the clothesline... folding the newly washed clothes.

D. Dogs:

> We have none... but if you can consider Snoopy a dog dog... then we have countless.

E. Essential start to your day:

> Two cups of water.

F. Favorite color: 
> A tie between pink and lavender.

G. Gold or Silver: 
> As jewelry, I go for silver

H. Height: 
> 5'4".

I. Instruments you play: 
> I can play the guitar.

J. Job title: 
> Princess. (major lols)

K. Kids: 
> None.

L. Live: 
> I am from the Philippines.

M. Mother's name: 
> Mina

N. Nicknames: 
> Jenn, Jayne, Nene

O. Overnight hospital stays: 
> In 1992, I spent countless overnights at the hospital because my cousins and I would take turns watching over our sick grandfather, and in 2007, I spent one night at the hospital watching over my sick father. I still haven't experienced being hospitalized.

P. Pet peeve: 
> One random pet peeve: People going to the beach, but would scramble to find a shade because they don't want to get dark.

Q. Quote from a movie: 
> Another random one... "Maybe my life hasn't been so chaotic. It's just the world that is and the only real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation." That's from the movie, "Eat, Pray, Love."

R. Right or left handed: 
> Right.

S. Siblings: 
> Two - one older brother, and one younger sister.

T. Time you wake up:
> My cell phone's alarm goes off at 5:30am.

U. Underwear: 
> Currently, am wearing a very simple bra - no underwire, no foamy padding ... and a pair of demi-panties.

V. Vegetable you hate: 
> Okra.

W. What makes you run late: 
> Traffic jam.

X. X-Rays you've had:
> Just chest X-Rays.

Y. Yummy food that you make:
> Far too many to mention, please go check my blog, Tara, Let's Eat! for the dishes I whipped up in my kitchen.

Z. Zoo animal:
> My favorite is the peacock.

I already talked about mom's birthday celebration, but there was an event in my life happened days before that, and since this week has been a great week for me, I decided to compile all related stories into one post.

I opened my food blog Tara, Let's Eat! in 2008. I decided to open a separate food blog because back then, I found myself eating out as my way of traveling. At first I blogged using the Friendster Blogs, until I switched to Blogger in October that same year (using the blog title, "I Live to Eat!"). However, in 2010 I suddenly stopped updating the blog, until one person followed it. When he told me about it, I was given renewed energy to update it again, and I could say now that I owe that person a lot, because his belief in me was the missing link. If not for his gesture, I am not the food blogger I am now.

Since I re-opened the blog, I started receiving a lot of foodie blessings - be it a family food trip, new recipes tried, or food events attended. The blessings kept pouring the following year, and I could only thank God for every blessing that came my way.


06 September 2011

I received an invitation if I would still be willing to cover another round of cooking marathon for the SM Hypermarket Master Chefs at the mall near our place. The mall is just 4 or 5 kilometers away from our place, so I accepted the invitation right away, as I also saw it as a way of learning something new. Aside from that, I also got to meet a new blogger.


17 September 2011

This day I attended the very first Blogapalooza. I honestly never heard of this event, and thankful for that one great soul (who I think I will leave nameless) who e-mailed me and told me to sign up for it, I quickly signed up as I didn't want this event to slip through my fingers. :) Indeed, it was one heck of an event, it was like attending Oprah's Favorite Things... receiving a gift from each of the companies part of the event. I recently just read a blog post about "What's inside the loot bag," itemizing every single gift the attendees received. All the gifts summed up to 12 thousand pesos, if converted to cash. Actually, my bag didn't have everything (some items were not in it), but I am still thankful for the items in my bag. Apart from that, seeing so many bloggers - some of which I only get to see through their blogs - sharing one great afternoon of freebies and stuff was just overwhelming!

With me in the picture is DJ Vince (he's a radio jock), the man behind this big event.


Last Monday, I received this invitation. This wowed me because of that word "top," as I honestly don't consider myself one (well, my blog is at #34 in the Top Blogs rankings) and that there are way more popular food blog than mine, but they chose me to send this invitation. It took me a day to finally send them my answer, and I am now excited of what's about to come. More excited I am when I received a message from a food blogger friend hoping I'd attend. Yipee, we will be classmates!


The following day, I received another invitation. This was the second time I received an invitation from this company, and because I sooo loved the first event I attended through them, I said accepted this invitation because this will make me learn more for sure.


Just this afternoon, I received this. Actually, I first received an invitation from them for a "big" meet up and tea party, but for some reasons, they decided to not push through with the party and just ask the bloggers for their mailing address so they could just send the gift certificate, so we (the bloggers) can just try their product on our own time. I am thankful for this because I nearly declined the invitation for the party (as the venue was way too far from our place), but because they opted to send the GCs and they have a branch slightly near our place, I could just visit the other branch next time.

I blurred out some details about it as the events are still about to happen. With some "gossips" about some bloggers gate-crashing events (though I don't personally know about these gossips, all I know is that there is something like that), I'd rather keep some important details a secret for now.

I am really blessed. I am really thankful that one person decided to follow my blog, because if not for his belief in me, I wouldn't know if I'd still update the blog. I guess it's true that things happen for a reason. I will be forever grateful for that person who gave me renewed enthusiasm to re-open the food blog. Of all the blogs I maintain, it's actually the one that had the most visitors.

My promise to my readers and followers - more food adventures! :)

Oh my gosh, I so miss joining Tuesday Couch Potatoes! It's been weeks since I last posted for this meme, but I do hope I am still welcome to the club. :)

This week is about dancing, and my choice is....


Center Stage (2000). Center Stage is a 2000 American drama film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, about a group of young dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City. The film explores the issues and difficulties in the world of professional dance, and how each individual copes with the stresses. (Source: Wikipedia)

- * - * - * -

I never heard of this movie, until my sister brought home a borrowed VCD copy for her college project. Back then, I still wasn't fond of musicals, but this movie quickly captured my heart because I somehow could relate to it - well not the ballet part (as I didn't study dance), but the personal side of the movie - trying to fit in, trying to reach your dreams, trying to please family so they won't be disappointed. While my situation wasn't as deep as theirs, I guess parts of what the characters are going through was something all of us can relate to.

By the way, I do love this final performance. I am not that knowledgeable about the technical aspect of ballet (some critics called it a bit flat and two-dimensional), but for a viewer who "normally" sees classical music being used in a routine, hearing pop music was something new.

13 September 2011

Sister hoped for the family to celebrate mom's birthday at a restaurant not located in SM City Fairview (the mall closest to our place), but because mom already used up all her work leave credits (normally, employees have their "birthday leave," but mom already took it in advance when we went on an out of town trip), we just decided to meet her after work in SM, so we could have a simple celebration.

Thankfully, Papa John's (a pizza chain from the US) just opened at this very same mall. Since the family hoped to try "all" of the restaurants at this mall, we figured this would be a great time to taste what Papa John's had to offer.


Long noodles/pasta has to be present whenever one is celebrating his/her birthday, but because we were hoping to taste two different pasta flavors, we just went for one serving of Seafood Marinara Spaghetti that all four of us shared. As for the pizza, we went for the 9-inch size pizza in Grilled Chicken (pictured above) and Super Papa flavors. We also went for two small bowls of their soup (Cream of Mushroom and Chicken & Corn), and I also ordered a bowl of their Garden Fresh salad.

We asked them to cut the pizza into 4 slices (9-inch pizza is typically divided into six slices) so we can have 1 slice each. Because I ate my salad alone (nobody wanted to share with me), I only got to eat one pizza slice, my share of the Grilled Chicken pizza I took home, which I ate for snacks the following day.

It was just a very simple celebration, yes, but we surely enjoyed it.

Happy birthday, momskie. We love you so much.

...oh, you read it right when I titled this "Mom's 26th Birthday." I was teasing mom about it; she's actually 62 years now.