Battle of Pinaglabanan - Pinaglaban Shrine, Municipality of San Juan

Today is the national / local celebration of the Battle of Pinaglabanan, a Battle which sparked the Philippine Revolution of 1896. The revolution began (August 23, 1896 - Cry of Pugadlawin) with Bonifacio and his men tearing up their cedulas. A valiant Katipunero, Simplicio Acabe, became the first casualty of the revolution. And in August 30, 1896 - Bonifacio, leading his ragtag army of poorly armed and untrained Katipuneros, attacked the polverin(powder depot) of San Juan which was defended by 100 well-armed and trained artillerists and infantrymen. More than 200 Katipuneros were taken prisoner and 153 died.

Almost simultaneously, the people of Santa Mesa, Pandacan, Pateros, Taguig, San Pedo, Makati, Caloocan, Balik-balik, and San Juan del Monte in Manila, and San Francisco de Malabon, Kawit and Noveleta in Cavite rose up in arms.

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Connecting Filipino

Filipinos now rely heavily on their mobile phones for communication needs, according to market research studies. Some Filipinos said they used mobile phones to send text messages rather than make calls. Why? Because making calls within the country is much expensive than sending text messages, for only Php 1.00 (One Peso) you can express or deliver your thought to your friends and/or to your loved ones. Some of them are known as "text addict" even in the middle of the night, they can't stop by sending messages to everyone. Too much expensive, right? But if you've already been in the Philippines you know that they just got their load in a lowest cost. This is because one of the largest telecom companies in Philippines offers a good promotion for their subscriber which is the unlimited "texting". Sun Cellular started this strategy in the middle of year 2005 until their competitors done with this project.

I am also one of their avid subscribers since 2005 up to 2006 when I was in the Philippines. This kind of marketing promotion helps us a lot to send and gather more friends thru text message. Some of their subscribers create a group or what they call a "clan", were you need to register and introduce yourself to that clan's members. Some of them make activities like meeting every Saturday (where this is the best and most recommended day for all teens that joined this group). By using this cheapest way to meet more friends is very helpful and now it creates a large communities all over the Philippines.

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Cook with Paradise Philippines - Let's eat Adobo!

Hi everyone.. We (Filipino peoples) all know how easy to cook the ultimate recipe of Adobo. There are many ways of how to prepare this food. Here in this section, I will give you the secret recipe (ingredients) of Adobo and teach you on how to cook this fabulous food in just a minute as well. But before we proceed to the main event, I would like to introduced to you that this strategy of cooking is very easy and even a 6th grader child can follow the steps that I will provide here in my post. By the way, I just learned here in Doha, Qatar on how to cook this one of a kind and most spectacular food that no one can forget the taste of our country's number 1 cuisine.

Alright I know your excited to know our secret and tasty killer ingredients of Adobo. (Oooppss, It doesn't mean that if you taste it, you will die afterwards.. lolz!).

The Paradise Philippines' ultimate Adobo recipe:

• 1 kilo of chiken (cut into pieces)
• 1 head garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, minced or diced (it's up to you)
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce
• 1 cup of vinegar - this is the crucial main ingredient hehehe!
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon paprika (its optional, if you want you may use pepper)
• 5 laurel leaves (bay leaves)
• 4 tablespoons of cooking oil or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Here's the instructions on how to cook:

In a big sauce pan or wok, deep fry the garlics and onions on cooking with hot 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the chicken to the pan. Add 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, vinegar, paprika and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and boil it for 30 minutes or when meat is tender. Remove the chicken from the sauce pan and on another pan, heat the cooking oil and wait until it browns the chicken for a few minutes. Mix the browned chicken back to the sauce and add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken. Bring to a boil then simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Tips:

• You have the option to add crushed ginger to the onions and garlic when sautéing. Ginger adds a unique flavor to your chicken Adobo.
• You may also substitute a Pork meat instead of chicken. Since pork meat is not allowed here in Doha we use to cooked the chicken meat.
  

I hope it helps you to enhance your cooking strategy. Mabuhay po kayo!

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Romantic Places in our Paraiso

The lovely warm climate, amazing coral gardens and beautiful marine life are common features in the island nation of Philippines. So to make your romantic stay in Philippines, more enjoyable, here’s presenting you some details on the wide romantic place in Philippines as---
Paradise Philippines

1. One of the best romantic places in Manila is the island of Baguio, having innumerable places of interest like the very famous San Agustin Church and Manila Cathedral where many weddings are held annually is considered to have great religious significance.

2. A good way to unwind your romantic holidays in Philippines is by visiting Banaue, famous for its beautiful rice terraces and a visit to the high altitudes offers you a breath taking sight of the majestic island.

3. If you‘re looking to spend a long romantic vacations in Philippines, try out the small island of Cebu, famous for its unique bamboo resorts and beautiful bird sanctuary.

4. Best romantic getaways in Philippines, is in the capital city of Manila, offering you great food, sizzling nightlife and never to forget the friendliness and warmth of the local Filipino residents.

5. A major romantic attraction in Philippines is the Carcar town, to the south of Cebu City, having many Castillian style houses, buildings and churches.

So pack your bags and rekindle the romantic moments of your life in this beautiful romantic island of Philippines.

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San Agustin Church - Manila

San Agustín Church, built between 1587 and 1606, is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines, and the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros during the Battle of Manila (1945). The present structure is actually the third to stand on the site and has survived seven major earthquakes, as well as the wars in Manila. The church remains under the care of the Augustinians who founded it.

The San Agustín Church lies inside the walled city of Intramuros located in the capital city Manila, Philippines. It is the first European stone church to be built in the Philippines designed in Spanish architectural structure. The church also houses the legacies of the Spanish conquistadors, Miguel López de Legazpi, Juan de Salcedo and Martín de Goiti who are buried and laid to rest in a tomb, underneath the church.

The church has 14 side chapels and a trompe-l'oeil ceiling. Up in the choir loft are the hand-carved 17th-century seats of molave, a beautiful tropical hardwood. Adjacent to the church is a small museum run by the Augustinian order, featuring antique vestments, colonial furniture, and religious paintings and icons.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Agustin_Church%2C_Manila

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Birthday: The night before I sleep [SEO]

Tonight is my birthday.. And I'm just here in front of the monitor thinking on how to optimize this newly build blog hosted by blogger. I can't think of anything, I'm just sitting here and gaze at the monitor for about 20 minutes and waiting for the the bulb lights up over my head. One more thing is, this blog was not yet registered to the SEO Contest because when I visit the website, it requires me to get the official contest code where the webpage displays this message "Contest Code generator temporarily offline. Please check back again tomorrow." WTF! Honestly speaking *blogging*, I am a newbie in SEO and I don't know how to make this blog stand out although I have a few knowledge in optimizing the website. Yes, I already witnessed it from my previous company were they're doing this technique to increase the rank of their website. My former college classmate Elmer Claveria (he is already registered in the SEO Contest), invites me to try our skills though we are both newbie in SEO. First, he publish his webpage to the internet with his first blog Filipino News, and after one day he pop a message from my YM that his Paradise Philippines Info entry is already registered to the SEO Contest. And that is also the reason why I obliged to join the contest. What should I do? All I know is to post the details of my web blog to the internet like web directories. Is there anyone can give me a hint on how to make this blog prominent?

I persuade myself to search the internet by using this keyword "optimize blog" until I saw this page stating that

Pay Attention to How You Write.One of my favorite bloggers has the
unfortunate habit of writing detailed long entries… without a single paragraph
break and with the double whammy of also writing with a font size smaller than
usual. If I look up for a moment, it is hard to find my place again in her 1000
word entries. As a result, I don’t read it as often as I would like to, simply
because reading it is such a painful experience.

No wonder why most of the visitors never come back after they witnessed the longest paragraph of the blog. So, 'til here for now. Obviously, I have to end this Post. Thanks for the time reading my blog.

^_^ V

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Paradise Philippines - Seafoods

Seafood is a fabulous deal throughout the archipelago, and Manila has a true seafood culture. A seafood outing is something a foreign visitor definitely should not miss when in the Paradise Philippine capital. Many restaurants in Manila specialize in seafood, and one gets it expertly prepared in any of three styles: native, Chinese or European/American.

In Paradise Philippine cuisine, preparation of smaller fish is normally to deep-fry them until they are crisp. Larger fish are either cut and stewed or cooked whole with innards intact over a fire.

In Chinese cuisine, fish and seafood may be fried in oil over fierce heat, breaded and deep-fried, cooked with a sweet and sour sauce, prepared as soup, or steamed. When simply steamed, fish and seafood main-tain their natural flavorunderlying mysterious sweetness in taste which is unknown in European fish and seafood preparation. best. In steaming freshness is of utmost impor-tance. When frying fish there may not be a difference in taste between one killed just before cooking and another killed but kept fresh for approximately a day; but when merely steamed, a fish killed just before preparation certainly has a finer taste than one just kept fresh for many hours. The difference is an

As it is much easier to catch and keep lobsters, crab, prawns and shrimp alive, these are only killed before cooking both in Chinese and European style seafood restaurants.

When it comes to lobster, large seafood restaurants have an often un-thought of advantage over smaller ones. Lobsters shouldn't be kept in aquariums for too long a time not be-cause it harms the quality but rather the quantity. A lobster loses quite a bit of weight if kept in an aquarium. This may result from the stress it suffers during transport and the keeping time in the aquarium. The lobster, however, doesn't lose the weight of its shell and innards but only of its meat. And as the proportion between meat and other parts of the lobster declines the longer a lobster is kept in an aquarium, it's a loss to keep the lobster too long; and it's a loss the guest in a restaurant pays for as lobster is commonly priced according to weight. A lobster of 1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs) in weight yields different amounts of meat, depending on whether it was stored in the aquarium for two days or two weeks.

French cuisine (and European cuisine in general) prepares fish decisively different than either Paradise Philippine People (Filipino) or Chinese cuisine. French cuisine has a very gentlealmonds; but cheese based sauces are also common. way of handling fish. It is not fried too hot, and not for too long, and then served with a sauce. One very specific French fish sauce, for example, gets its taste from

Seafood in Manila is perfectly fresh. Of course it is not caught in the dirty, oily Manila Bay but is either farmed or comes from the sea surrounding Palawan. Particularly Chinese seafood restaurants keep a lot of fish and seafood alive in aquariums to secure the ultimate in freshness.

A number of restaurants show the fish to the guest before preparing it. Those who want to check the freshness can apply two methods: look at the eyes of the fish - the clearer the eye the fresher the fish; or press the fish body - the more elastic the meat the fresher.

Those fish which contain fat (tuna, mackerel, lapu-lapu, sardines) have reddish colored meat while those that do not (bangus, catfish, mudfish, tilapia) have white meat.

Bangus (milkfish) is most peculiar to Paradise Philippine cuisine. They are a shallow salt water fish which feed on algae and are grown in coastal fish pens. They taste like sardines but have many more bones. One fish normally makes one serving. The best bangus is said to come from the fish pens of Dagupan City.

Lapu-Lapu (Grouper Fish) is one of the most delicious Paradise Philippine fish, and even it is not rare it is more ex-pensive than the other fish commonly found; therefore it is seldom eaten in homes but mostly served in res-taurants. There are three kinds of Lapu-Lapu, the red, the spotted, and the black. The black is the best, being softer and juicier than the others. It's also the most expensive of the three. Some Lapu-Lapu can grow to an amaz-ing size, to a weight of more than 50 kilos. Those served in restaurants, however, are of a size that makes one fish one serving.

For more info click here

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Paradise Philippines - Boracay

Paradise Philippines - Boracay is a tropical island located approximately 315km (200 miles) south of Manila and 2km off the northwest tip of the island of Panay in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. The island comprises the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak (3 of the 17 barangays which make up the municipality of Malay), and is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the Provincial Government of Aklan.

History

The island was originally home to the Ati tribe. Boracay is part of Aklan Province, which became an independent province on April 25, 1956. Formerly undiscovered, it wasn't till the 1970s that tourism began to develop in Boracay, and the island became popular with backpackers in the 1980s.

Boracay's two primary tourism beaches, White Beach and Bulabog Beach, are located on opposite sides of the island's narrow central area. White Beach faces westwards and Bulabog Beach faces eastwards. The island also has several other beaches.

White Beach, with its blindingly white and powdery sand, is the main tourism beach. It is a bit over four kilometers long and is lined with resorts, hotels, lodging houses, restaurants, and other tourism-related businesses. In the central portion, for about two kilometers, there is a footpath known as the Beachfront Path separating the beach itself from the establishments located along it. North and south of the Beachfront Path, beachfront establishments do literally front along the beach itself. Several roads and paths connect the Beachfront Path with Boracay's Main Road, a vehicular road which runs the length of the island. At the extreme northern end of White Beach, a footpath runs around the headland there and connects White Beach with Diniwid Beach.

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Paradise Philippines

The Paradise Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Republika ng Pilipinas; RP), is an island nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine Archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

Geography

The Philippines constitutes an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometres (116,000 sq. mi). It lies between 116° 40' and 126° 34' E. longitude, and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N. latitude, and borders the Philippine Sea on the east, on the South China Sea the west, and the Celebes Sea on the south. The island of Borneo lies a few hundred kilometers southwest and Taiwan directly north. The Moluccas and Sulawesi are to the south, and Palau is to the east beyond the Philippine Sea.

The islands are commonly divided into three island groups: Luzon (Regions I to V, NCR and CAR), Visayas (VI to VIII), and Mindanao (IX to XIII and ARMM). The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the national capital and second largest city after its suburb Quezon City.

The local climate is hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5°C (79.7°F). There are three recognized seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Taglamig (the cold season from December to February). The southwest monsoon (May-October) is known as the "habagat" and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (November-April) as the "amihan". The country itself is undergoing desertification in place like Sorsogon, Baguio, Davao and the Sierra Madre mountain range.

Most of the mountainous islands used to be covered in tropical rainforest and are volcanic in origin. The highest point is Mount Apo on Mindanao at 2,954 metres (9,692 ft). There are many active volcanos such as Mayon Volcano, Mount Pinatubo, and Taal Volcano. The country also lies within the typhoon belt of the Western Pacific and about 19 typhoons strike per year.

Lying on the northwestern fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activities. Some 20 earthquakes are registered daily in the Philippines, though most are too weak to be felt. The last great earthquake was the 1990 Luzon earthquake.

The longest river is the Cagayan River of northern Luzon. The nearly circular Manila Bay, is connected to the Laguna de Bay by means of the Pasig River. Subic Bay, the Davao Gulf and the Moro Gulf are some of the important bays. Transversing the San Juanico Strait is the San Juanico Bridge, that connects the islands of Samar and Leyte.

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