One of the things that we want to do when we do family trips is to eat the food. There’s so much to learn about the culture of the people living in a place when you eat their food. Food can sometimes be identified with people. For instance, we all know that Bicolanos love spicy ginataan (coconut cream) dishes, Bulalo is a popular dish in Tagaytay and Batanggas, Laguna is known for their buco pies, and Chicken Inasal is best served in Bacolod. And we all know, Ilocos is known for many traditional dishes that grace our tables often. (READ: […]
The Historical Churches and Bell Towers of Ilocos
Our Ilocos trip included visits to a handful of historical churches and bell towers, such as The Paoay Church, the Bantay Bell Tower, Bacarra church, the Sinking Bell Tower, and the St. Paul Cathedral. There really must be something about growing up because I never used to see how beautiful these old structures were until only recently when I’ve learned their stories. And they’re pretty interesting stories, too! For example, they said that looking out a window of the Bantay Bell Tower, they used to see the favorite ”tagpuan” (date) place of Philippine revolutionists, Diego and Gabriela Silang. (READ: The […]
Getting to know Ilocos in 3 Days
Three years ago, Jay and I took the kids on a long trip for the first time. It was a successful trip for us and our children, so since then, we’ve made it a goal to take the kids on an out-of-town trip around New Year’s Eve. If it were possible, Jay and I would have planned month-long family trips like a family we know, but well, a week is good, five days is not bad, three days — well, it turns out, three days can be fun and memorable, too, as we have experienced in our recent trip to […]
An Unhurried Christmas
My husband, Jay, and I have always wanted to have a more relaxed, unhurried Christmas celebration with our kids, and this year, we decided to do just that. To be able to accomplish this, we kept our list of extracurricular activities to a bare minimum, which was the practical thing to do, considering that my work break started only on the 20th and Jay’s, on the 23rd. The kids also had their Ballet Recital last December 15, and the weekends leading to it were quite hectic. Our Christmas Traditions as a family will have to start after the kids’ show, […]
Traditional Filipino Parol (Christmas Lanterns)
One of my fondest memories of Christmas when I was a child was my mom playing the Christmas album that featured traditional Christmas songs on the cassette player and seeing my brothers make the traditional Filipino parols (Filipino Christmas Lanterns) in Decembers I’m not sure if my parents commissioned my brothers to make these parols, but they used to make them every year, until they didn’t. My mom said they stopped making them when my brother almost accidentally burned our house one New Year’s Eve. In the Philippines, we don’t take down the Christmas decors until January. Some even celebrate […]