All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day, a solemnity celebrated on 1 November in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honor of all the saints, known and unknown.


The next day, ALL SOUL'S DAY, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven. It's also the day to pay respect and remembers the souls of all friends and loved ones who have died and gone to heaven.

All Soul's Day is more than the floral offerings, lighting of candles, praying or visiting the graveyard of our dearly departed. Perhaps, the celebration of the All Soul's Day is also an opportune time for living ones to ponder on to their life's mission while they are still on earth. Though i'm far away from the grave of my departed parents, love ones and friends, i'll always pray for the internal repose of their souls.

Van's Birthday

Van, the 11-year old son of Gwen celebrated his birthday yesterday. It was just an intimate party attended by close friends and their kids. Let the pictures speak for itself.



Gwen prepared delicious ginisang munggo, afritada, escabeche, french fries and fried chicken for the kids.


Gwen's german friend Barbara also came to show and sell her latest jewelry collections to the girls. She didn't left emptyhanded, at least some girls bought a necklace and jewelry set.

The miracle baby at her young age already fond of colorful necklace

Jasmine and her mom Mary

BFF Mary and Gwen

Dinner with the Kriz

Yesterday, though its foggy, we did drive to Thomas and Mabel's house in Lahr to have dinner with them. Also present were the parents of Thomas. How time really flies fast, Their love story which we orchestrated started in Boracay and now they have two wonderful kids.

Thomas is a very good cook, he can passed for a chef in any restaurant hotel. He is the man in the kitchen. For our dinner, he prepared königsbergerklopse, a specific meatballs with white sauce and kapern, boiled potatoes and vegetable salad. For our dessert, apple cake and vanille star ice cream.

The Kriz kids are sooo cute, Annika loves to read and play, while Alexis is a behaved baby. The grandparents are happy with the new addition to their family.



Annika in her tantrum mode

Because of "You"...

I'm really very proud of you, because....

I gain lot of web friends, real and reel ones
I was able to share all my thoughts and feelings
I reflect on life and works of arts
You changed my life's perspective
I used to ignore things, now big and small matters
I was able to communicate and share informations
I have now a bit knowledge about photography
Now i talk less because they know already my everyday life
My love ones and friends knows photo first before eating
you're my stress reliever
You cured my homesickness and boring moments
We were able to help and raise funds for typhoon victims
You create awareness
you're a silent witness to all my mood swings
I was able to explore and share the east and west culture
You travel with me and you become my travel guide
And the most important You connect me to the world
All in the name of BLOG

And also because of you...

I sometimes lose my patience and sanity
I already lose two cameras, it slipped on my hand, kaputt....
I infected two of my computers, also kaputt.....
I lost two umbrellas, i forgot because of picture taking
I lose some of my cooking pans, forgot my cooking
All because of BLOGGING


(Below) Dirk trying to save a cooking pan

Lunch at Carmen's Place

I just came back from a spontaneous lunch invitation of Carmen who just returned from her 3-week vacation in Bantayan Island, Cebu. I already cooked our lunch but i cannot say no to a very good friend and besides she just live nearby.

Carmen is from Cebu so expect the bulad to be on the center of the table matched by Ginisang Munggo. Since we came from different parts of the Philippines, each have their own version of cooking pinoy dishes. She cooked the ginisang munggo with coconut milk and some of my friends cooked it with pumpkin, potatoes, eggplant, etc. I remember my mother cooking it with malunggay or ampalaya leaves, she also put some sotanghon on it.


Our dessert is the leftover one and only ripe mango which is soooo sweet, the three of us shared it. Our snack is a cebu delicacy which i forgot the name but i remember carmen bought it at Titay's. We also have our take home danggit, dried squid and dilis.

My New Ebay Star

I just recently reached 100 positive evaluation from the German Ebay.de. This means that my new star is turkish blue in color. For 10 positive evaluation, i got yellow, 50 blue and 100 turkish blue. I'm looking forward to the next star.


PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO, here is the link

Missing Colleague

One of our colleague in the hotel where we work is missing since October 6, 2009. She is very friendly and love to travel. She was last seen driving her car to wander in Austria. On most of her trips, she will always send postcard, but this time there's none and she's missing. Her family is very much worried about her whereabouts. She is 32 years old, very slim, with pink hair and piercing on her lower lip.


Her car was found in the parking area of St. Anton am Arlberg in Austria. All her belongings were intact in the car trunk including her gadgets and jackets. But she is nowhere to be found. The worried family set up a website for her www.waleah.de for any information available.

Friday Dinner

We have dinner at Joy's place last friday. Lalaine is in Karlsruhe so Michael came with his daughter Michelle. This time Joy prepared vegetable salad, Gulasch and noodles. Joy's husband left early to attend to his music club and we also didn't stay long because i'm not feeling well that time.

Joy and me feasted on Dinuguan and Ginisang Munggo which i cooked. I also prepared Leche Plan and Ginataang Bilo-bilo for our dessert.

Lunch with Friends

The best thing in life are free. That is true because our lunch today is free courtesy of a good friend Melds who invited us to have lunch at their place. She cooked corned beef omelet, ginisang sitaw and of course the girls' favorite crispy danggit.

Herbst Decoration

The weather is really freaking cold especially at night. It's supposed to be autumn but what we feel is winter coldness, blame it on climate change. Though we have a freezing temperature, decorations in houses, streets and shopping centers are for autumn season.

Take a look of our bank here with nice Fall decorations.


Though the weather is cold, that didn't stop me from eating waffel with vanilla ice cream.

Our Bühlertal Trip

Maureen and Peter, a wonderful couple and a family friend invited us to visit their new place in Bühlertal. They live before in Urloffen which is just 10 minutes drive from our place. Because of new work assignment for Peter, they decided to rent a house near his place of work.

Going to their new place is just like going to Baguio. We got lost because of the road construction near their place, somehow the navigator got confused. We finally found their place and we were surprised that it is somewhere near the mountain and a good place for skiing during winter.

We're really very happy to see them once again. Maureen prepared a combination of Filipino and Thai foods which she learned from her training in a thai restaurant. They seemed to enjoy their newfound haven and new acquaintances.

The foods was delicious, it's very cold up there but their warm welcome and smile is enough, there's really no dull moment with them.

Germany in Autumn

It's supposed to be falling of leaves season here but due to climate change, the weather suddenly shifted to winter. For the past days, its very cold and windy. There's already snow in the mountain and in some areas in Germany.

Around our house, there are already tons of dried leaves waiting to be collected and to be disposed. But it's very cold, staying too long outside is not good for the health. We already adopted some of the leaves of the neighbors and our dried leaves also decided to leave us without asking permission, but its okey, they are free to go wherever they want. I would like it more if they're all gone. Enough of the leaves tale for now, just wanted to show you my picture, who said that only celebrities can walk in the red carpet? here in our city, you can walk, pose and shop while in the red carpet.

The Weekly Get-Together

It's our turn yesterday evening to host dinner for our family friends. We started this weekly get together last month to strengthen the friendship between the three families. Besides our partners in life had one thing in common, they're all golf players. It is during these dinners that they talked about mostly golf and family matters.

I cooked ginisang munggo, adobo and tortang talong for us pinay girls. For our german partners, I prepared vegetable salad and Joy baked turkey breast with mushroom and noodles. For our dessert, i prepared turon and leche plan.

My sister who live in Köln also dropped by for a short visit before driving to Freiburg to visit her sons and our relatives.

My Mother's Bestfriend

Manang Angelina, as we fondly called her is a retired principal in a Philippine public school. She was my mother's bestfriend when she was still alive for they have one thing in common, they both love to dance.

I always saw Manang Angelina perform folk dances in different occasions. I love her gracefulness and the way she project herself when dancing. Parties became lively because of her jokes. Today, i saw her to condole and grieve with her. Her husband of 14 years passed away at the age of 78. I can feel the sadness and pain in her heart.

After the 1 pm mass today, her husband Eric was laid to rest. May his soul rest in peace.

LP- Maagap

LP day na naman mga kasapi at ang ating tema para sa araw na ito ay MAAGAP or very prompt sa english. May kasabihan tayong mga pinoy na 'daig ng maagap, ang masipag.'Sa araw araw nating pamumuhay, bukod sa sipag, kailangan rin nating maging maagap o gawin kaagad ang nararapat at hindi na ipagliliban pa sa ibang araw. Huwag rin po nating kalimutang silipin ang lahok ng ibang miyembro ng Litratong Pinoy.

Dito sa Germany, sa pagsagip ng buhay, maagap din ang mga ambulansya sa pagtugon ng mga tumatawag sa kanila upang mabigyan ng mabilisang medical attention ang nangangailangan.
Sa ating bansa, mas mabuting ang kaanak na lamang ang magdala sa ospital kesa maghintay ng ambulansya o tulong, siguradong bago dumating ang tinawag, malamang ay matraffic, masiraan sa daan dahil sa lubak lubak na kalsada at marami pang dahilan.


Kapag may nasira sa kalye, agad din nilang nirerepair ito upang hindi lumala at makaperhuwisyo sa tao.
May pag asa pa kaya ang ating bansa? Saan napupunta ang mga buwis na binabayad ng mga empleyado? Saan napupunta ang budget para sa repair ng mga kalsada? Napakaraming katanungan pero alam nating lahat ang kasagutan.


Karamihan sa mga Aleman ay masisipag kaya naman ang kanilang bansa ay maunlad. Sila rin ay maagap na kagaya ng nasa larawan, pagtapos ang winefestival ay kanila rin agad na niligpit ang kanilang mga gamit.
Sa ating bayang magiliw, karamihan sa basurang iniwan ng bagyong Ondoy, hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa nahahakot lahat kaya naman ang mga tao ay may bagong pangamba, ang magkasakit. Napakasakit talaga Kuya Eddie ang nangyayari sa ating bansa sa kasalukuyan, sino kaya ang dapat sisihin, ang mother nature? climate change? ang pamahalaan? ang mga public official? ang mga taong abuso sa kapaligiran? Walang mangyayari sa a blame game, atin na lamang isipin na ang lahat ng ito ay wake-up call para sa lahat.