Come join us in our nesting place.

Party hats. Party bags.  And other party stuff for the games. These were goodies on Matt’s 2nd Birthday party last year.

As part of their marketing strategy, some companies include freebies to their product. For instance, milk companies. But I am the last one to complain with this strategy. Why would I? I’m such a sucker for freebies.

But really, the best things in life are given for free, so they say. And I so believe. Air. Water. Love.

Now, speaking of love, the Love Is contest poll is already up over at WriteFromKaren. I’ve joined this contest and you can see my entry photo down below. Can you spare Mama Meji a little love, a little time - all for free? Please vote for me by clicking here. Please, pretty please.

If you need someone to move your furniture, just give me a buzz. I know someone who thinks moving heavy things is fun, fun, fun!

Narrow and dark. Looks like something for Halloween, right? :-) But since I didn’t find anything narrow from my files so, I’ve resigned myself to this Halloween-ish pic.

But seriously, this is the entrance of Baclayon Church, which is considered the oldest stone church in the country and built by the Jesuits in 1595. Part of the building is an old museum (and I really mean old - imagine wooden slats for a floor) where, as far as I can recall, there was also a narrow hall leading to the displays. I have no picture of this since camera/picture-taking is strictly prohibited in the museum.

Often called in the country as Kamias (Averrhoa bilimbi). These sour fruits have medicinal value to some.

But to my family, these kamias are used as food flavoring, especially to add zing in soups we referred as sinigang. Despite the availability of instant mixes these days, my mother loves to prepare meals the old-fashioned way. And I just love to eat meals prepared her way.

Traditional sinigang may also be flavored using young tamarind fruit (unripened pods), but since we have kamias tree at home, we use these instead. For more of kamias, read here or here.