Cat's Walks

A glimpse of Athens

2010-06-30T17:48:00.001+02:00

Here are some pictures of the Acropolis from my recent Athens trip. I was a little bit disappointed at how broken it is. The Greek ruins in Paestum near Naples, Italy are much more preserved. Embarrassingly, I was so unprepared for my trip to Greece that I even forgot to take a good camera! I did not see much of Athens because I was busy working. Well, I was there for work and not tourism. All these pictures are taken using my iphone.

The picture below is the view of Athens from the Acropolis. I was quite surprised how big it is.

This one is a view of the Acropolis from Athens.

Unfortunately, I think what they say is true, Athens is not a very charming city. I liked it personally because it felt real and not like "Disneyland".

I like: Itrip

2010-06-13T20:36:00.001+02:00

You might laugh but one of my main problems in life since getting my iphone is how to play the iphone in the car. The problem is we have one of those cars without an aux plug.Anyway, while whining about this problem to a friend she told us about the itrip. This device have existed for a long time and nobody I have ever whined this particular problem have proposed it to me as a solution. Well, I am happy to have it now!

The itrip works by converting the sound from your MP3 player, iphone, or ipod to radio signals so all you have to do is tune your car radio to the frequency you set on your itrip then you can magically listen to your ipod in the car.

The sound quality is perfect (we got the Belkin universal one)! I can't see the difference between the itrip and the CD player in the car. Great device! Wish I'd known about it sooner.

I like: Logitech Squeezebox

2010-05-27T17:46:00.002+02:00

If you also have all your music in your computer and you want to listen to it in another part of your house without turning the volume so loud that your neighbors would start to complain then like me you need a Squeezebox. This device is so cool because it allows you to listen to your music away from your computer wireless. I hate wires! This is the perfect solution for me. I am actually thinking of buying 3--one for the bathroom, living room and the bedroom. If you have high performance speakers already, there is also a model that you can just hook up to it. Funny, I did not even know Squeezebox existed until recently only to find out that 70% of people I know have it! Better late than never!

Squeezebox wireless music listen to music wireless wireless speakers

Iphone blogging

2010-05-26T23:32:00.001+02:00

Just trying to attach a photo....

Iphone blogging

2010-05-26T23:17:00.002+02:00

Just trying out blogging using my iphone. Seems to work. Hmmm, the possibilities! I hate the keyboard though. It's taking me forever to write a paragraph. Attaching photos does not seem to work. Not cool! Another annoying thing about BlogWriter app is I had to choose only 1 blog. I still did not figure out how to update another blog using the same app.

Picture tour of Genoa

2010-05-16T14:07:00.000+02:00

Genoa is a very important city port in Northern Italy in the region of Liguria. If you have never heard about it before then maybe you will be more familiar with Pesto Genovese. It is here where this style of making pesto originated. Aside from it's popular cuisine, we wanted to visit Genoa for its history. In the middle-ages and renaissance it was a main rival of the maritime kingdom of Venice. Any rival of Venice is worth at least a weekend in my travel agenda. Christopher Colombus (you know that guy who sailed to India but arrived in the Americas) is also a native of Genoa.

One weekend in Genoa is of course too short to internalize the city so I prefer to show you my not so deep impressions of Genoa through pictures:

Genoa felt more like a little Napoli than a rival of Venice. It's "carugio" really reminded me of Napoli. In the picture above, I really did not understand why they would construct an overpass between the old city and the sea, blocking the view.

It is very charming. There is one street just full of abandoned broken-down palaces. (below). It is really not so difficult to imagine how beautiful they used to be.

Of course, ensuring my return to this region is the cuisine. The picture below is a pasta dish with walnut sauce which is one of the dishes we tried at Restaurant Da Gaia (Vico dell'Argento,Genoa).I highly recommend this restaurant if you want to sample typical Ligurian cuisine.Yummy!

How could you?

2010-05-14T16:27:00.000+02:00

Photo from abs-cbnnews.com

At least 9,000,000 Filipinos voted for Joseph Estrada again....If one is capable of thought, one couldn't, wouldn't vote for Erap, di ba? Don't you think one should pass an IQ test first before one is allowed to vote?
Tanong lang po.

Cat Walks Fantasia

2010-05-14T16:13:00.000+02:00

Given my fascination with the urban fantasy genre, I decided to write a dedicated Urban Fantasy blog reviewing (mostly) urban fantasy books. I do not want to pollute Cat's Walks with vampire and werewolf books. Anyway, please visit Cat walks fantasia if you are also a fan of the urban fantasy genre.

I have always enjoyed urban fantasy. I enjoy reading about make believe monsters. Funny that I find make believe monsters more interesting than the real monsters amongst us pretending to be human. Make believe monsters are deeper and more 3 dimensional. Bad people, whether real or fictional, are sometimes just simply, plainly, predictably and 1 dimensionally "bad".

Wirtschaft zum Wiesengrund

2010-04-28T17:26:00.001+02:00

I did not think I will dine at "Wirtschaft zum Wiesengrund" Saturday night because we had reservations for Petermann's Kunstuben. I had been at Petermann's once previously and enjoyed it tremendously so we were happy return to celebrate the addition of "Dr." to my husband's name. Unfortunately, upon arrival at the restaurant, we were told that our table was given to other people. I was really disappointed. Somehow it is not acceptable that a place with 2 Michelin Stars and 19 Gault Millau points would mess up a reservation. Anyway, Frau Petermann nicely offered us free champagne for the big oversight and to book us that evening at Wirtschaft zum Wiesengrund. Not wanting to destroy our evening we accepted and off we went to Uetikon.

We dine at Michelin starred places 4 times a year maximum. For me, it is an anticipated event. We like to keep special places for special occasions otherwise it won't be special anymore.Well, ahem, it is also a little bit expensive to do frequently (maybe if I win the lotto). At this point, because of the reservation mix-up, my mood has turned for the worse. Anyway, I was telling myself, Wirtschaft zum Wiesengrund have 2 Michelin Stars and 18 Gault Millau so it should not be so bad. I did not wear a little black dress and super high heels to eat at Burger King.

The great service at Wiesengrund managed to uplift my mood. I was positively impressed by the hostess and her team who catered to our every need. The food was great too. The combination of flavors that the chef created were subtle but it didn't fail in teasing the taste buds. Each plate has a theme so one can explore the different possibilities a certain ingredient can be molded into. At the end, I have to admit, what captured my heart was the crispy pork skin of the main course. Again, this is a testament to the great service team. At the beginning of the service I mentioned in passing to the hostess that I like my crispy pork skin and then tahdah that was exactly what I got (the chef mentioned at the end of the service that he did that specially because I said I like it).

I am happy to have found (unexpectedly) a great dining address in Zurich.

and it's mine....

2010-04-19T16:36:00.001+02:00

Some dreams come true...

Paris

2010-04-13T12:40:00.001+02:00

Probably I'm insane. I didn't fall in love with Paris at all. I even could say that I didn't like it. Yes, it's grand but there was that undefinable extra something missing. No, I didn't fall in love with Paris. Maybe I have to go back in summer when it is warm and one can sit outside a cafe watching people walk by which of course is part of the city's legendary charm.

The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world. It houses more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art from Egyptian antiquities to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. I did not enjoy the Louvre. When we visited there were so many people. I really couldn't see anything because the place was packed with people. The Mona Lisa you can forget because there was a big hysterical crowd gathered just in front of it. It is not a very big painting and there is a protective glass in front of it so basically it was impossible to see much less appreciate. So, we gave up. The whole place was packed with people and crying children. In the circumstances in which we visited, it was not possible to appreciate anything. I was sad because there were so many things I wanted to see.

The Palace of Versaille was the worst. It was packed. It was not possible to stop and look at anything because of the crowd which was elbow to elbow and sometimes cheek to cheek. I basically just got dragged through the whole palace.

Dragged through Versaille.

The city itself is not the cleanest. It is a big city so basically one spends half the holiday inside the metro. The metro in Paris was efficient but it is not the most charming place on earth. The city can clean it a little bit sometimes. Paris also has a dog shit problem which is quite obvious even in the most expensive shopping streets. Probably, I have lived in Zürich for too long.

I will probably give Paris a second chance but for now I will say that I didn't fall in love with it at all.

Paris Louvre France

Blogs of Note: The Island Explorer

2010-04-09T13:50:00.006+02:00

Today while surfing the web for information about my next trip to the Philippines, I came across "The Island Explorer". RJ Samson through his blog confirms my belief that there are definitely still more beautiful beaches to explore in the Philippines other than the usual suspects. Come on, the Philippines is the second largest archipelago in the world, we should have more dream islands more than any other country except Indonesia. Unfortunately (or fortunately), we still have have a lot to discover about the Philippines and I thank RJ for tickling my imagination with pictures of unspoiled little paradises.

I particularly like the series of posts on Pangasinan and the post on Calagua Island in Camarines Norte. Great to know that there are Boracay-like beaches near Manila.

Photo of Calagua Island from The Island Explorer

So, if you are tired of going to Boracay, visit "The Island Explorer" for new travel ideas.

PS
More information about Calaguas Island can be found at "The Gridcrosser Files". It also contains contact numbers of people who can help plan your camping trip.

I like: Maarten van Severen LCP Lounge Chair

2010-04-08T12:46:00.003+02:00

I am severely lusting for Maarten van Severen's LCP Lounge Chair which is manufactured by Kartell. These chairs are crazy expensive. According to www.stardust.com from where I took the photos, these chairs retail for about 2000USD (on sale)! Hayyy. I want one!!!!

According to the Kartell website "The LCP is a lounge chair is formed from a single mould of clear acrylic plastic which folds back on itself in a spiral to create a radically innovative lounge chair. Only exclusive technology has allowed such flexibility, thus preserving the purity of the article’s shape. LCP is elastic, soft and resistant even if it exudes an intangible and evanescent quality."

Maybe one day....

Adam Carolla

2010-04-06T12:08:00.000+02:00

Quotes from Adam Carolla, red italics are my comments:

“Here's how you know your country doesn’t have a lot going for it—when everything is about Manny Pacquiao,” he went on. “Get a f****n’ life as a country, all you’ve f****n’ got is this illiterate guy who won't give up blood who happens to smash other guys in the head better than other people, that's all you have as the Philippines?”

I agree. Sad but true.

“Really, you want some guy with brain damage running your country? Why don't you get your sh*t together?”

In fairness, he lost last elections. Maybe we are getting starting to get our sh*t together.

“They got this and sex tours, that's all they have over there. Get your sh*t together Philippines. Jesus Christ. I mean, again, it's fine to be proud of your countrymen. But that's it? That's all you got?”

No comment.

Poem Time: There is a rhythm in my head

2010-01-29T14:08:00.000+01:00

There is a rhythm in my head

There is a rhythm in my head that makes me want to dance;
Sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it’s fast;
But always fills me with the energy to face life.

There is a rhythm in my head that makes me happy;
Sometimes I smile, sometimes I laugh;
But always cheers me up even when I want to cry.

There is a rhythm in my head that makes me move;
Sometimes I walk, sometimes I run;
But always makes a hop that makes a walk a strut.

Some say I’m cheery, some say I am crazy;
But really, it is the rhythm in my head.

by Cathy

Filipino Inmates Dances to Michael Jackson Again

2010-01-26T16:03:00.007+01:00

This time they did it with a big bang with Michael Jackson's choreographer Travis Payne.

Oh my! They are really famous now!

Quotable quotes

2010-01-22T15:20:00.003+01:00

Funny, we were just talking about how crazy I am at lunch. This quote is so true.

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up." --Hunter S. Thompson

Now, I just have to find a way to get paid for my craziness because I am starting to scare the people at work.

Anita Blake

2010-01-22T13:20:00.015+01:00

I started the Anita Blake series because it was always coming up in my recommendations in Amazon. Their software thought that since I have read and liked Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse novels, I would also like Anita Blake. So, did I like it? Yes, I liked it but it didn't release inside myself the same amount of passion the Sookie Stackhouse series did. I don't dream about it at night. I don't think about it all day. I prefer Eric to Jean-Claude. Jean Claude's ass always needs to be saved by Anita (Eric's ass is another story...hmmm). He is supposedly a strong and powerful vampire but he just sits and waits for Anita to save him. At least Sookie and Eric save each other alternately. Anita has a very strong character which is almost irritating. She just needs to be right all the time (she reminds me of myself =)). I find a lot of characters irritating. Richard, ex fiance of Anita, whines too much for me. He is too conflicted. It drags on and on and on. There are times when I am tempted put the book down because he irritated me too much. I hate whiners both in books and in real life.

Will I continue reading the Anita Blake series? Maybe. Let's see. The last books got a little bit too weird for my tastes. I like the first 7 books then it went downhill from there.

All in all, I think Anita Blake is an okay series to read to pass the time in between the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Update- January 26, 2009

I can't continue reading this series. I am irritated with it. The last book I read was Book 7: Burnt Offerings and I can't continue reading Blue Moon. I can't stand Anita and Richard. I want to throw the book out. I have the rest of the books (I bought it in advance) but I can't continue. I read the synopsis for the rest of the books in wikipedia and I don't think I can go on reading. I don't like the way the story developed. Oh! why did Laurell Hamilton destroy the story of such a promising series?

Can't bake for Noche Buena? Try the Malakov Cake

2009-12-23T23:50:00.007+01:00

I made this cake. I didn't have to bake it. Guys and girls, meet Malakov Cake

I tried it at one of the christmas dinners we attended this year. I loved it so much that I tried to make it myself. It is a Czech cake with a Russian name and of course, now, I made it Filipino.

Here is the recipe:

1 pack broas (lady fingers)
500 ml whipping cream
1 cup crushed cashew nuts
3/4 cup sugar
250 g mascarpone cheese
1 can peaches

1. Whip the whipping cream.
2. Add mascarpone cheese, sugar and nuts
3. Layer broas in a baking pan.
4. Put a layer of cream mixture on top of the broas layer.
5.Continue until layering the broas and cream until pan is filled ending with a cream layer.
6. Decorate with peaches

I made the cake pictured above with a pan that you can detach the sides from the bottom. I think it is called a spring form baking pan. I did what I described above then just slid the sides of the pan out from the cake.
Isn't this the perfect solution if you don't know how to bake and the stores ran out of graham crackers (Like it always does in the Philippines during Christmas)?

Iphone, the coolest thing ever!

2009-12-06T10:01:00.004+01:00

I got an iphone yesterday and I'm seriously blown away by how cool it is. After only less than 24 hours with my iphone, I began to wonder how I have lived without it for so long! =) When Steve Jobs introduced the iphone in 2007 he said that it is "like having your life in your pocket". Well, it's true. I don't know what that says about my life in general, oh well. The apps! The apps are awesome. Certainly, there is an app for everyone and everything. I bought the TomTom and it's great. Imagine having a navi in your phone. Awesome.

The iphone is so intuitive. It is so easy to use. This is coming from a girl who dislikes Macs. Okay, maybe there are 2 things that I don't like about the iphone. First, the touchscreen keyboard is difficult to use. It needs time to get used to. Second, the camera could be better. Certainly they could have placed a better camera in such a great machine (the picture above is taken with my iphone camera).

Anyway, all in all it's great. I am still searching for cool free apps. I will post my favorites later for sure!

Maguindanao Massacre

2009-11-27T13:40:00.004+01:00

Okay, that shocked me. I thought that nothing about the Philippines can shock me anymore but that's too much. It's quite monstrous. Who does that? It's just beyond gruesome.

The death toll has reached 57.

View Larger Map

Maguindanao is a remote (and probably forgotten) province south of the Philippines. Its remoteness may have a hand in making politicians in this province think that they are the law. I can't truthfully say that I know how life is like in Maguindanao because I've always lived near Manila but what happened on Nov. 23 can't be normal for anyone living in any part of the world.

You know what else is shocking about this story? It is crazy that somehow they expected something like this to happen. That is the reason why Esmael Mangudadatu sent the women in his family together with journalists to file his certificate of candidacy. Women and non-family members are exempt from violence in the unofficial rules of rido (clan wars common in Muslim Mindanao). Obviously they overestimated the value that their enemy gives to honor. It's so barbaric the concept of rido. It's so middle-age. True, I have heard people in Luzon threathening their enemies to "ubusan ng lahi" (loosely translated to killing off the genes) but I have never heard about anyone making good on these threats.

I can't get my head around how people can participate in killing 57 people coldblood.

Amazon Kindle

2009-11-15T23:55:00.001+01:00

I was a good girl today. I woke up early, cleaned the house, jogged, and then phoned home (ET, phone home...) . What I find very depressing, living in Zürich, is that all the shops are closed on Sundays. The only thing to do is to watch TV or to read a book. The problem is that I already wiped out all the books I bought recently, and there is nothing really interesting on TV. I am stuck. Hopefully, I recently discovered Amazon's Kindle. It's really cool. You can buy a book in digital format and you can get it in 30 seconds! No shipping costs! The only downside is that since I have no Kindle reader, I have to read the book from my computer (now, they have Kindle for PC). Well, anyway, I have a very close relationship with my computer so I guess we can get even closer. Me and my computer, we are together a lot. Thinking about it, it's funny that I think of my computer as a "he". I should try to name him. Enough blabbing. Anyway, so I am in a mood for a romantic kind of book and since I am still dreaming of a certain viking vampire (see previous post), I decided to search for "viking romance" in Amazon. I found one that I fancied. I see now, after internalizing the very cheesy cover of the book I just bought, another advantage of Kindle is that I can hide this book in my computer. No one will know that I bought this book because I don't have to keep it in the bookshelves in the study. Of course, I consider the contents of my library a reflection of my intellect. Owning a book with a really hot viking on the cover is a very big giveaway.

amazon kindle download book

Books: Goodbye Twilight, hello Sookie

2009-11-12T17:18:00.006+01:00

I am so over Twilight and Edward! I am now so addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse Novels and of course Eric Northman!
I got interested in the Sookie Stackhouse novels or the Southern Vampire Mysteries because of the HBO series "True Blood". I did not like "True Blood". I found it boring even though they made it very gore. The novels are a big revelation! The writing is sharp, funny, and witty and the stories are fast paced and action packed. Charlaine Harris' characters are interesting and endearing. The novels are truly addictive!

I am now one of a few million people people wanting to know what will happen to Sookie and Eric. Obviously, I am an Eric fan! The talent of Ms Harris lies in making readers curious, she is a mystery writer after all. Not that she is not a good romance writer, when you think about it, the Sookie and Eric thing is just a side dish in the novels' plot lines but I don't think anyone who have read this series could take it for granted or forget about the shower scene in "Dead to the World "(book 4, hayyyyyy) and the witty exchanges between Sookie and Eric. Priceless! The fact is, after reading 9 books, I am still on pins and needles about book 10! I just can't wait to sink my fangs into it!

My only fear about this series is that Charlaine Harris will drag the series on until it gets boring. She will release book 10 in May and apparently there will be 3 more after that. Seriously, I don't know if I can wait that long to find out if Sookie and Eric will be together or if I can handle it if they don't get together! The problem is with 14 books to follow (released every year, so 14 years!), there's a lot of time and emotional involvement on the readers part not to get a satisfying ending. Unfortunately for me, there is only 1 way to satisfy me.

Eric Northman Sookie Stackhouse Charlaine Harris True blood

Filipino scholars’ abroad urged to return to RP

2009-10-21T16:21:00.005+02:00

I read in the Inquirer that Sen. Edgardo Angara is urging Filipino scholars to return home to the Philippines. The article mentioned that he is concerned that Filipinos do not return home after they have completed their studies abroad. I think he failed to ask himself the million dollar question: "What will Filipino scholars having completed their graduate degrees in engineering, science etc. do in the Philippines?" Sell banana-que?

I know a lot of Filipinos who finished their graduate degrees abroad. They do want to go home. The main problem is that there are no positions available for them at home. They tried applying in universities or research institutions in the Philippines but nobody wants to hire them. Unfortunately, it is not always the best people who gets hired. Imagine you are a dean of a university and you finished your PhD (if you have one) at the University of Lulubalu. One day a guy who just finished a PhD at MIT applied for a teaching position. You will never hire the MIT guy because for certain, in a few months, he will have your job. So poor Filipino scholar who spent 4 years slaving for his PhD at MIT, his only option is to sell banana-que. So, off he goes back to the US.

We don't have enough high caliber and well funded research institutions to lure people back. To lure people back we should follow the example of Singapore. The National University of Singapore lures a lot of great scientists from all over the world because they have infrastructure and funding to get good people.

It's just so wrong to make a press statement about urging scholars to come home because it sounds as if they don't want to. Sen. Angara can fund more scholars to go to Japan as much as he wants but they won't come home to the Philippines after they finish their degrees either if there are no jobs for them.

In the Philippines there are limited positions available for highly trained people. The right press statement should have been "Philippine government establishing international caliber research facilities to lure Filipino scholars home".

Herculaneum

2009-10-17T23:26:00.012+02:00

I am a history buff. If you are a real lover of history, Herculaneum is just the thing that will make you pee in your pants.In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius erupted. As most of you know, it buried Pompeii but it also buried Herculaneum. Although the buried city of Herculaneum was rediscovered first in 1738, it was largely abandoned when Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748. Archeologist preferred Pompeii because it was easier to excavate. Excavation restarted in Herculaneum only in the 20th century. This was really good (at least for you and me) because Herculaneum is a sight to behold! The excavated part is smaller than Pompeii but its preservation is exquisite. Under the modern town of Erculano, the ancient city of Herculaneum remains buried.
The picture above is a terracotta jar shop. It is so well preserved. Even the wood beams holding the jars on display are original. They found it like that. It was so exciting.
This next picture is of a house. Look at the how the wall paintings and the marble decorations are preserved. They have such grand tastes. Most of the walls are red.
This impressed me a lot. 2000 years ago, the Romans already have monuments like we have today.When they excavated Herculanum, archeologist found it strange that there were no dead people (unlike in Pompeii). The city was deserted. They assumed that the population managed to escape. This was until archeologists excavated the docks. There they found a lot of dead bodies. Most of the dead are localized in one room. The people of Herculanum were trying to escape by boat. Some did not make it.

View Larger Map

Herculaneum Herculanum Pompeii Pompei Erculano Mt Vesuvius Campania