November 29, 2018 at 5:05 pm (destinations, Food and Drink, Lists, Places, Surprises, Traveling)
Tags: desserts, discoveries, Durham, England, humor
Today, self:
- Nearly got hit by a red car in front of Hotel Indigo
- Had a chocolate cookie with a marshmallow garnish in the Cathedral’s Undercroft Cafe
- Saw the Durham Cathedral in LEGOs (It’s near the Gift Shop)
- Saw a Pieta made of wood — amazing
- Saw Hugh Easton’s RAF Memorial Window in the Durham Cathedral
- Saw the Marks & Spencer Window at the Cathedral, which is in fact right next to the RAF Memorial Window, but did not cause her to say “Wowie”
- Saw the relics of St. Cuthbert, including: his “pectoral cross” which was surprisingly small and delicate, a thing of amazing beauty (to imagine a 10th century man having a thing like that on his person, in the northern wilds, is pretty mind-blowing. It was gold and originally held a small ruby. And at the time St. Cuthbert was carrying that around, England was wild, and it was cold and dark, and there was no cathedral. Self is pretty sure he kept that cross well hidden) and the comb the monks used to brush St. Cuthbert’s hair and beard
- Learned the name of the River which encircles Durham: the River Wear
- Saw the grave of The Venerable Bede
- Saw the Hellmouth (Sanctuary Ring) at Durham Cathedral: Anyone who grabbed onto that ring was guaranteed sanctuary for 37 days. Don’t ask self why 37.
- Wondered why the Ladies’ Chapel, all the way at the back of the cathedral (almost a mile away from the pulpit, lol, wonder if they could even hear anything) was so cold. Much colder than any other part of the church (the parts with the men). Was it because proper ladies were expected to cover up in layers of material ???!!!
No pictures allowed inside the Cathedral.
Self did take a picture of her cookie.
The Undercroft Café, Durham Cathedral: Thursday, 29 November 2018
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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July 29, 2018 at 4:46 pm (Food and Drink, Links, Niece, Places, Relatives)
Tags: Cee Neuner, desserts, San Francisco, Saturday, weekends
Another Cee Neuner Fun Foto Challenge! For the next few weeks, Cee asks us to take inspiration from a photograph. Here is the photograph for Week 3.
Self got to spend time in the City yesterday. She was with her niece Angela, who introduced self to the wonder of Tea Bear Café, whose walls were either real or synthetic wood. And self has no idea what the dice were meant to represent:
Saturday, 28 July 2018: Tea Bear Café, San Francisco Chinatown
And there’s an adorable picture of the bear in Tea Bear!
The Bear Has Its Close-up
And here’s the view just outside the café: Washington Park, where a Chinese dance performance was happening.
Washington Square, Chinatown, San Francisco
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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July 19, 2018 at 6:22 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Family, Food and Drink, Lists, Places, Recommended)
Tags: art, desserts, exhibits, happiness, museums, praise, restaurants, San Francisco
Self has seen it three times.
The Magritte-themed food in the fifth floor café is so much fun:
In the adjoining sculpture garden, you can pose in front of this sign and you will look fabulous and so ‘San Francisco’:
Andrew and Jennie, 14 July 2018
There is a great, really great interactive portion at the end: Raise your arms, and YOU’RE the Magritte!
More later. Stay tuned!
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June 8, 2018 at 8:03 pm (Artists and Writers, Dearest Mum, Family, Food and Drink, Lists, Places, Surprises, Traveling)
Tags: Anthony Bourdain, desserts, farmers markets, Filipino food, grief, indulgences, Manila, memories, news, sadness, summer, The Philippines
Not real. Not real. Not real.
In celebration of food, community, and life, all the food pictures self can pull from her archives in 15 minutes:
Sunday, 8 April 2018: Haven’t been to the Palo Alto Farmers Market in at least a year. It was a great day for it.
Home-Cooked Food, with Lots of Fried Garlic
BATCHOY: Super Special Bowl of Heaven
- Cherries, Belmont Farmers Market, May 2018
- Leeks, Palo Alto Farmers Market, April 2018
- Giant Tomato, Mendocino Art Center, March 2018
- Buko Pie, Philippine Airlines, January 2018
- Dearest Mum’s Lunch, Manila, January 2018
- UP Town Center, Diliman, Quezon City, January 2018
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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October 31, 2017 at 11:27 am (Artists and Writers, destinations, Food and Drink, Plays, postaday, Recommended, Traveling)
Tags: art, British Museum, desserts, England, exhibits, indulgences, London, museums, performances, postaday, postaweek, praise, restaurants, Wordpress
So many grrreat examples of ROUNDED, everywhere self looks.
First, this from the Scythian Exhibit at the British Museum (The special exhibit is 16.50 GBP, but the rest of the museum is free. This beauty is just standing in the lobby, next to a concession stand):
The Scythians, self learned from the exhibit, were nomads who roamed the wild Russian steppes. Everything of value to them was either made of fur or minted of gold. There are the most intricate golden belt buckles, as well as gold appliqués on thick fur coats.
Moving on:
Last night, self watched a play at The Gielgud: The Ferryman. The play was three hours and 15 minutes, one proper intermission, and a three-minute break to allow the audience to get up and stretch. During the first intermission, they sold Haagen Dasz caramel salt ice cream bars in the stalls (3 GBP)
Searing. The women actors were amazing. As was a live baby, who got onstage to get a diaper change and whose part was very nicely done (Baby never cried)
Display Window, Caffé Concerto, Across from the Gielgud on Shaftesbury Ave.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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August 12, 2017 at 2:13 am (Food and Drink, Links, Places, postaday, Surprises, Traveling)
Tags: California, desserts, discoveries, indulgences, postaday, postaweek, restaurants, Wordpress
This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is ELEMENTAL. Erica V. on The Daily Post describes her response to experiencing the American Southwest for the first time: “I was both confused and in awe of this extreme landscape.”
Last month, self was in Pasadena. Her first visit south in three years. She Airbnb’ed in the Pasadena hills. The house was at the very top of a winding driveway. Behind it was nothing but steep, scrubby hillside.
Just inside the front door was a rock, a very heavy rock. Self should have asked her host about it, but she never did:
There was a chameleon that kept trying to get into self’s unit. It was a beautiful thing. Every time self left the apartment, the chameleon would be clinging to the screen door. One day, self decided to photograph it:
Finally, a slice of green matcha tiramisu from Urth Caffé, in downtown Pasadena, a block from legendary bookstore Vroman’s. It looks for all the world like moss!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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June 24, 2017 at 1:25 am (Artists and Writers, Food and Drink)
Tags: desserts, Fridays, indulgences, poetry, summer, The New Yorker
Here’s an excerpt from a poem she encountered today in The New Yorker, one in a huge pile that gathered dust while she was on her latest trip:
we turned to Chinese poetry and Kenneth Rexroth’s
“Hundred Poems” and ended up
talking about the Bollingen and Pound’s
stupid admiration of Mussolini
and how our main poets were on the right
politically — most of them — unlike the European
and South American, and we climbed some steps
into a restaurant I knew to buy gelato
and since we were poets we went by the names,
instead of the tastes and colors — and I stopped talking
and froze beside a small tree since I was
older than Pound was when he went silent
and kissed Ginsberg, a cousin to the Rothschilds,
who had the key to the ghetto in his pocket,
one box over and two rows up, he told me.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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June 9, 2017 at 2:33 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, Filipino Writers, Food and Drink, Links, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, artists residency, breakfast, California, coffee, desserts, Fridays, Ireland, memories, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, websites, writing process
Self originally posted a different photo for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, but that was because she hadn’t read the prompt, only looked at the title, boo.
The prompt is supposed to be about finding Photo Ops In Your Own House.
Since self hasn’t been in her own house in years, here are the closest things to it:
- Her writing table at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, with her cup of coffee next to her MacBook Air. She always starts the day with a pot of coffee.
- A friend’s house in San Gabriel, CA
Crushing the Writing: Thursday, 2 July
Having breakfast outside with Connie Ignacio Genato, friends since grade school in Manila
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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January 9, 2017 at 10:56 pm (Books, Food and Drink, Links, Personal Bookshelf, Places, postaday)
Tags: desserts, indulgences, Mondays, postaday, postaweek, reading lists, San Francisco, Wordpress
Self’s second post on this week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge: NAMES
Dragon Papa: Grant St., San Francisco
What Self Read, Summer 2016
Iconic Chinatown: San Francisco, Fall 2016
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January 6, 2017 at 7:15 pm (Books, destinations, Food and Drink, postaday, Recommended, Traveling)
Tags: Cork, desserts, discoveries, Fridays, indulgences, Ireland, postaday, postaweek, San Francisco, Wordpress
- Humans love naming things — look around you, and I bet you’ll see dozens of names. This week, take a photo of one!
— Michelle W., The Daily Post
Well, this is an interesting prompt.
Last Thanksgiving, self was in Capitola. There’s a small ice cream parlor selling local ice cream, Marianne’s, which just so happens to be self’s name:
Ice Cream, Locally Made, in Capitola
The lines in front of this bubble tea place in Stockton are ridiculous:
There are two Boba Guys in the City. Self took the picture from the Stockton site.
And here’s the name of a beautiful bookstore in Cork:
One Other Reason to Love the City of Cork in Ireland
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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