Bluegreen Butterfly » arts and culture

A village woman

bluegreen butterfly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:09:33 +0000

This is one of my favorite photos that I shot during my tour in the subcontinent: an Indian woman of strong personality in her traditional Indian clothing ‘sari’, wearing an expression on her face, worry, concern and curiosity over something she was looking at. We were in a ‘forest park’ this time. I like photos like this, one depicting how the people live in their everyday lives in some part of the world foreign to us. It’s beautiful, and colorful, for me it is priceless.

Asia’s best pig ever: Philippines’s Lechon

bluegreen butterfly — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:55:16 +0000

With the sincerity of cooking it, slowly roasting it over fire for several hours, basting and supervising it until it is perfectly tender, succulent, moist and so crisp, made the Philippines’s Lechon or roasted pig the Best Pig in Asia (psstt, for me ‘best in the world’ too), according to the latest issue of Time Magazine, in its Best in Asia 2009’s Pork Art by Lara Day from the TV Chef Anthony Bourdain’s review. Pig roast is the Philippines most beloved dish staple lovingly presented on its own lechon tray during fiestas, thanksgivings, parties and any celebration. You can buy it anywhere, or have your pig ordered for roasting by a team of people roasting pigs for business for so exquisite a dish stuffed with lemongrass, tamarind, and select spices served with different gravy or sauce and or ketchup for dipping.

Playing piano to the next level

bluegreen butterfly — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:10:06 +0000

One of my presents when I went home for a vacation was a hymnal for my sister, so she can have more new pieces to practice and learn to play with her piano. She is very talented in music and since I am too far from learning to play the instrument, I am all out support for her. But I was surprised when I came home because all my siblings, especially my youngest brother now play piano beautifully. My young teenage brother is tech savvy and that was how he learned to play guitar fast and advance, online. And I am so glad because I just found out today a way to take his playing piano to the next level, through yokewong.net. It has complete resources and online piano courses, piano lessons, tips and tricks and techniques, sheet music, and tutorial DVDs and videos that I found very helpful and useful. You can sign up now.

Beautiful day

bluegreen butterfly — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:13:34 +0000

We had a wonderful day today and in my summer attire, me, and my mother-in-law went to town for an appointment with the doctor. Indeed it is summer already and so hot outside it was exhausting. We stop by the post office for something she mailed and I just stayed outside in the shade where I could enjoy some wind to blow the heat off. It was a pretty sight outside the post office so I decided to take a snapshot of this view from Nokia Tube camera. I have no complaints about the image quality and size for it fact it is high. It is worth it, in my opinion. So this is just a picture to show we have a beautiful and happy day today, at least for me, despite. Seeing beautiful and refreshing things always help to brighten all our days too. Try it.

Public terminal

bluegreen butterfly — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:21:33 +0000

Hey guys how have you been doing? It has been a long time since. I have been back ‘early’ from my 4-month long vacation where a lot of memorable and important things happened, and some I missed. But I came back different because of the life changing experiences I had. Life indeed is very beautiful and full of excitement and inspiration I could only sigh. It feels so great to have wonderful people to spend our happy memories with; I will be forever grateful.

It was a Saturday and we had a plan but one member got sick so it was canceled so I ended up going to my aunt’s for her birthday party, which I was glad I had. They are living in a secluded and far place and we had to go to the terminal to meet up with other friends. While waiting for others, I was just sitting on one of the neat benches in Tagum public terminal absorbing the everyday scene as I knew I would miss it one day. There was a little girl who passed by me, I smiled to her, she smiled and went back her way and from what I saw in the distance, she was telling her playmates something about me. I was amused because I know why and what was it about. Secret.. I think it was cute, they came to me and well, I had my camera so I took their photo. What a joy they had when they saw their pictures. It was a beautiful day spent for a while with the hard-working funny little girls in the public market. I wish they will grow successful and happy in life, and you who is reading this.

Hash marihuana and hemp museum

bluegreen butterfly — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:27:13 +0000

There are so many things to see and to know about the Netherlands, especially its capital, Amsterdam. It has several important historic places to visit and a must-see. I also wanted to to see the Anne Frank museum. On the streets of Amsterdam, amidst the coffeshoppes, stores and the night life houses and businesses famous there, there is also a museum that is as intriguing, the hash marihuana and hemp museum in Amsterdam.

The museum offers visitors extensive documentation and a wealth of historical facts on today’s use of the cannabis plant, as well as information on its medicinal, religious and cultural applications.

Attention is also given to the importance of cannabis to the environment, agriculture and industry. The museum shows that hemp has evolved to reclaim its place as one of Man’s most valuable raw materials.

We knew that taking this soft drug is legal in Netherlands. We also know that this plant can also be used as medicine and cure certain diseases and conditions by the appropriate manner of application. In some countries there are groups that do smokey religious ceremony with taking the cannabis. Different peoples and different countries have different cultural practices. There is beauty in diversity in knowing them and understanding the peoples. It is what we know or perceive that is wholesome and right that we practice and live by that really matters, for in the end, it is a personal thing, everything that we do to our bodies has equal and opposite reaction, good or bad, sooner or in our later years.

Music festival in Tagum

bluegreen butterfly — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:59:36 +0000

These lights that are formed into a huge musical sign depicts the feast theme of my hometown on its “Musikahan sa Tagum”, or Music Festival in Tagum. It is also for the effort it to be the music capital in the Philippines. The festival run for several days, featuring students all over the city that are all musically talented, and the nationally award-winning musicians. It’s all about music, baby.

Lechon tray

bluegreen butterfly — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:00:35 +0000

Roasted pig is a staple food in the Philippines. It is our “party food” as crawfish boil is for Louisiana. But I love roasted pig so much as do hubby. When I visited my paternal side relatives we brought a roasted pig with us to party about on our reunion. Since it is our specialty, of course we have something specially made for roasted pig, a lechon (roasted pig) tray to lay the crispy yummy roasted pig on. We were not expecting though that these kids would be carrying it from an aunt’s house two hundred meters away down the road. The tray has a special handle and of course, it is formed like a pig.

Buying advantage

bluegreen butterfly — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:05:54 +0000

A way to jive or go with the flow of the global crisis situation is to fine ways on buying things where we can save a lot. Just like buying house wares, it is of great advantage when we buy wholesale housewares. Nowadays, to combat with the predicament is to be wise in not only on financial matters but also we need to be resourceful and make use of the things that can still be used.

Red hot chili peppers

bluegreen butterfly — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:37:00 +0000

This is a bush of what we locally call “sili” or hot pepper. They are relatively small in size but they are much stronger than the bigger ones. Used in the Philippines as spice and or added in a ‘sawsawan’ or a sauce for an extra hot taste, sili is also used to make a baby who does not follow simple instructions to stop sucking its fingers when its about time by dubbing an amount to its thumb . You will never hear of it again.