Friday mixed feelings

Fridays always make me have mixed feelings.

Fridays oftentimes make me happy: Its the end of the week and the next day means longer sleeping time. It means no ringing telephone, no emails to answer, no analysis to make, no rushing to the office, etc.; in short, a day without corporate obligations. The next day’s free to myself. I can go home to my loved ones in the province. My motherly officemate aptly describe me as someone who regains sanity at home in the province. Whatever that means, hahaha. I may have acted like a virago at times when the work days are at their demanding peak and the numbers getting out are not as good. Anyway, I always welcome Fridays for very simple reason: The next day is “rest day”! Hmmm… don’t get me wrong, I love what I am doing at work no matter how people seems to hate and fear the number crunching involved. I find satisfaction when at the end of the day, I can say, I had been productive.

Fridays sometime make me sad: Sad when I think of home but I can’t travel there because I also need some housekeeping to the place that keeps me safe in the City. Admittedly, commuting more than 200KM to and from pangasinan is not always welcome especially when pure exhaustion and physical condition are not up to more than four hours of travelling. Thing is, the fresh air, the food and the loving that you get in return more than compensates.

My theme song on Fridays is “Home” by Chris Daughtry.

The Lyrics below i got from this site and need I paste them again here.

 

I’m staring out into the night,

Trying to hide the pain.

I’m going to the place where love

And feeling good don’t ever cost a thing.

And the pain you feel’s a different kind of pain.

I’m going home,

Back to the place where I belong,

And where your love has always been enough for me.

I’m not running from.

No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don’t regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old

So I’m going home.

Well I’m going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,

The closer I get to you.

I’ve not always been the best man or friend for you.

But your love, remains true.

And I don’t know why.

You always seem to give me another try.

So I’m going home,

Back to the place where I belong,

And where your love has always been enough for me.

I’m not running from.

No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don’t regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old.

Be careful what you wish for,

‘Cause you just might get it all.

You just might get it all,

And then some you don’t want.

Be careful what you wish for,

‘Cause you just might get it all.

You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I’m going home,

Back to the place where I belong,

And where your love has always been enough for me.

I’m not running from.

No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don’t regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old.

I said these places and these faces are getting old.

So I’m going home.

I’m going home.

 

Organic Market at Salcedo Village Park

I have long been meaning to write about the organic market in Salcedo Park, Makati City.  Every Saturday morning until two o’clock in the afternoon, the old silent park is now busy with people taking advantage of all the organic foods and fresh produce from the different parts of the country or even outside the country.  

The place is a flurry of activities on Saturdays. It not only attracts local people but also a lot of nationals living in the nearby condominiums. Even foreigners are engaging in the enterprise. I remember hearing a Frenchman repeatedly bellowing, “Nice French foods from La Cuisine”. He keeps saying it over and over again; it stuck to my mind and until now, my head is still ringing with those words like a mantra.  

The cornucopia of vivid and rich colors of fresh fruits, vegetables and plants engage one to roam the place so as not to miss anything. Bagnit and Longganisa from Ilocos, lechon, grilled tilapia and bangus, and barbecue. Fresh fish, lobster and prawns are also available. Local delicacies and foreign cuisines (e.g. French, Japanese, Korean, Italian) are enough to make one even on a diet eat with gusto.   

Below are some images that I have taken when I visited last Saturday. In the past, I just enjoyed buying and eating. This time I brought my old but still reliable point-and-shoot camera.

Fruits

 

Avocadoes, strawberries, mangosteen, mangoes, papaya, pineapples, pomelos, durian, star apples, bananas, grapes and apples and others. I’ll bet some of these fruits came from Baguio (Strawberries), Pangasinan (Magoes), Batangas/Cavite (Pineapples), Davao (Pomelos and Durian) if not from China or Thailand.

Vegetables

Salad greens, carrots, succhini, squash, and other leafy greens I only see in the province are surprisingly there.  

Plants

Azanthus, bromeliads, petunias, orchids, birds of paradise and other ornamentals

Crafts

Wooden crafts from northern philippines (probably Baguio or Ifugao) and weavings from the Visayas (Samar or Leyte) by the looks of them.

Native Sweets, Delicacies and other products

 The tarpauline banners of the stalls and even the uniform of the stall watchers if they are evident of their products, are from all over the place.  One shirt says, “Wen Manong!” and the wearer is selling bagnit, Ilocos Longganiza and that heady smell of cane vinegar. Pamangan, Bud-bud kabog (Visayan Suman), Mekeni Abe, Nanung buri mo?, Chicken Inasal, Kalinga Blended Mountain Rice are mixture of native dialects are just samples of what one will see written on the banners.

Water products

Variety of fresh fish, prawns and lobster on sale

And the frenchman from La Cuisine

 Now, if you are curious on what does a dulong, pritson, binurong belong, nilupak, sinumani, bagnit, and other native sounding delicacies this might be a good place for you. Taste them all in just a day. If you get fond of them, you can always go back.

originality, etc.

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”  

I got this line from my sister’s email. She quotes it under her signature. I know this is not an original from her and so I had to research to know who exactly blurted those words. The words according to a source were from Walter Bagehot.  

Tsk, tsk, tsk! I know a lot of people say things as if the words originally came from them. I am guilty of that sometimes but if I remember who said a thing, then out of respect and honor/dishonor to the person I acknowledge him/her. 

Anyway, for so many reasons, I like Benjamin Franklin especially when he said: “Originality is the art of concealing your sources”. hmmm… I wonder how many percent of bloggers really write their stuff. No CTRL-Cs and No CTRL-Vs but a lot of CTRL-Zs and backspaces just to get the right words when they are not in their writing elements like myself this moment.

hmmm… its Friday today and I am not going home to the province. Tomorrow, I will go to Mall of Asia and heed the advice of my officemate. She said there are a lot of beautiful and durable kites for sale out there. Mind you, the sellers she said are not inside the mall but they are near the bay where the winds are strong and ideal for kiting. I am not going kiting there of course. I am going to buy several and then bring them home to the province when I go home next week. It is summer time and the kids are out of school. Yahoo!

’til next time…