Hello World,
It has been a while since I blogged. It has been crazy busy sometimes life goes by so fast and writing about it is the last thing on my mind. But here I am, I will try to post more often.
Since it’s been a few months, here’s what’s new with me:
1) I am learning how to speak French! – It’s a lot of fun and keeps my mind active and distracted with things other than work. One should never, ever stop learning.
2) I am trying to lose weight. I guess this is not so new. The diets are new! hehe.
3) I have been property hunting. I’m dreaming about buying a condominium unit in Rockwell or maybe a nice apartment in Makati that I can rent out and make some money. My budget is very small so I have not been successful. The apartments in Rockwell are upwards of 8M and well beyond my budget.. I keep looking anyway. As my mom says, looking is free.
4) I am going to Iceland in September! I am going with some old friends and I am very excited! I will post pics about that trip. I promise.
5) I’m busy thinking of different businesses or ways to make money. Passive income is now my new thing, see #3.
6) I am trying to sleep earlier. I am a night owl so my regular bedtime is 1-2am. Trying to change that and sleep around midnight.
I miss writing, I will really try to blog more.
xoxo
Julienne
We met Nanay Elsie while grabbing a late dinner at Oishinbo, in Little Tokyo. She approached our table and offered Chicharon from Bulacan. There was just something about her that gave me warm fuzzy feelings so I struck up a conversation.
Nay Elsie communicates mostly by smiling a shy toothless grin. When she does speak, it is very soft, reserving her loudest voice to speak only about the chicharon she sells. Every day she travels to Makati to sell chicharon to the patrons of Little Tokyo from 8pm onwards. She goes home at 5am. Walang tulugan nga po, she says. True enough, while waiting for customers, she takes small cat naps and once nearly fell out of the chair she was sitting in. She woke up with a smile.
She’s 73 years old. We were amazed at her strength and cheerfulness. If you’re in the area and you see her, make sure you buy chicharon from her. We did, it’s actually really good!
As you already probably know, I’m a diet food junkie. I like trying new healthy food trends like diet delivery and juicing. So when I got a 1-Week plan to try Fit Food Manila, I got super excited. I’m a veteran to these things and it would take a lot to impress me.
What is Fit Food Manila?
They, are a food delivery service that provides 3 meals and 2 snacks a day for five days. This meal plan is 1,200 calories and will cost you a total of Php 1,850 + Shipping. Not bad, I thought. Though honestly, when it comes to these things, we can talk about price and quantity all we want but the proof is really in the taste.
The Taste
This is not diet food pretending to be real food. This is real, honest-to-goodness, delicious food, with balanced ingredients and in controlled portions. I’m not kidding. I’m blown away by how their food tastes, it does not feel like I’m on a diet. Other delivery places will put sad-looking, tasteless pieces of food and pass it off as a meal. (I don’t blog about those places because I wouldn’t have much to say)
What did it do for me?
Portion Control, stabilized my metabolism and stifled my cravings. The food is not bland and has healthy doses of sweet treats (fruit or fake pannacotta) which satisfied my sweet tooth.
The Meals
Here are the photos of my daily meals. They don’t look that good but after a quick pop into the microwave, they’re good to go.
Notes:
– The rice (black, red or brown) is the only one that does not heat up well in the microwave. I haven’t yet figured out how to heat it up yet maintain a semblance of softness because otherwise it just tastes like cardboard.
– The snacks do not always have a sweet (as in a dessert-ish snack) and I wish they would.
– The portion sizes sometimes threw me off. The breakfast pizzas for example were tiny compared to breakfast spaghetti. That threw me off a little bit.
– Lastly (and most importantly) – These meals have some “guilty ingredients” such as cheese, cream dips, regular pasta (instead of whole wheat), . There’s not a lot of veggies. This made me question how healthy the meals are because I guess in my mind diet food is all veggies, whole wheat, no creams, no cheese, etc. BUT moderation and balance is key in losing weight. Deprivation is the worst so I guess these “guilty ingredients” aren’t too bad since they’re so miniscule in portion anyway.
Full Menu (taken from Fit Food’s Website)
Pictures are shown Breakfast (top), Lunch (middle) and Dinner (Bottom). Both snacks are on the side.
Day 1 – Jan 12
Meal Favorite: The Roast Chicken Goat Cheese Wrap
Day 2 – Jan 13
Meal Favorite – Kani Nori Pizza (although so tiny!)
Day 3 – Jan 14
Meal Favorite: Panna Cotta Snack
Day 4 – Jan 15
Meal Favorite: Fish Pasta So yunmy
Day 5 – Jan 16
Meal Favorite – Vegetable Corn Chowder. I can have this all day.
This day was a little weird because they had the lugaw for breakfast and the soup for dinner. All liquids. Strange.
We’ve had Jazzy since I was 18 years old. She was actually my brother’s dog first, purchased from the pet store in Robinson’s Galleria. I came home one Christmas from the States and there she was, alongside our other puppy, Lilo. (Lilo passed away two years ago due to old age.) Jazzy was and always will be an interesting dog. Unlike her “sister” Lilo, she wasn’t very friendly. For a shih-tzu, she was wary of strangers, very fierce, protective and very calculating. She was a smart dog, not in the bomb-sniffing or show tricks way. But she was a thinking dog. She always had a look that told you she had something else going on in her mind other than food. She was always looking at you, looking at me, trying to figure me out, trying to talk to me.
Over the years, especially when I came home, we bonded immensely. We would cuddle, take walks without leashes (because she knew to follow me through crowds) and go on little adventures. As she aged, she stayed more at home and slept most of the day, which was okay. Admittedly, I was busy with my life too so we didn’t hang out as often. Though one thing always stayed the same, she knew that if she barks, I come running. Up until her passing, she would still call me late at night for food. She would start with these small barks (knowing that I disliked loud barking) and then it would gradually get louder if I took longer to arrive. I spoiled her with little tidbits of food that made all my other dogs hate her. She was a picky eater so I always bought her special food. Whether it was microwaved leftovers, a freshly opened can of vienna sausage or unwanted sirloin trimmings from an event, she would always get the best. She was my favorite. She was my baby.
She had her own challenges also. She nearly died after puppy birth but managed to pull through. She also got very sick with ehrlichiosis yet survived. A few years ago, she lost her uterus because it got infected and had to undergo surgery. She managed through that also. Also she got into a fight with one of our other dogs (who was jealous of the attention Jazzy got) and unfortunately, Jazzy lost her eye but she lived. I never knew there could be so much fight in a little dog. With God’s grace, good doctors and lots of love, she powered through.We never gave up on her and she never gave up on us.
Today one of our security guys attempted to learn how to drive using our car. I was getting ready for the gym, around 8am, when I heard the most ominous, scary crash. It shook our house. I ran downstairs to our garage and saw our very large SUV slammed into a glass shelf. Behind the glass shelf was a smaller vehicle which, due to the force of the bigger car was pushed against the wall and squished on all four sides. There was glass everywhere and blood. In my panic, I started looking for her, it was the only thought in my mind.
It was utter chaos. I kept saying over and over, “where’s Jazzy, where’s Jazzy” then, as my dad arrived on the scene, he confirmed the worst. She was caught under one of the tires of the vehicle. My poor baby. I absolutely lost it. I don’t even remember half of what happened, it is all a blur of tears and yelling. She wasn’t even supposed to be in the way of the vehicle. That’s not her area. She has her own spot in the garage and that was not it. I have no idea what she was doing there. My dad believes that she took the hit for us. It could have very well been me. I’m usually in the garage when they move the cars around and I could have been standing there. Maybe she took the hit for me. She’s a survivor, my dog. She’s survived for 11 years. But she couldn’t survive this and it breaks my heart that this is the way she had to go.
Jazzy wasn’t just a dog, she was both family and friend. As dog people, we’ve had many that came in and out of our lives. But Jazzy was unique. She was an fighting spirit and old soul in the form of a dog. We loved her dearly. I find solace now knowing that all dogs do go to heaven. May she rest in peace.
Melchor Flores and the Strange Phonecalls
Hello Everyone,
If you are reading this then no doubt you received a phone call from the above person. To be honest, I haven’t received a call. However, many of my readers have and you can read that post (and their experiences) here – https://iamjulienne.com/blog/2014/08/newspaper-blackmail-scam/
My unprofessional opinion is that, these calls can be from:
1) Scammers – trying to scare you into paying money
2) Debt Collection Agencies – trying to scare you into paying your debt BUT if you don’t have any debt (and don’t know what they are talking about) then it’s most likely #1 – Scammers.
What to do when you receive a call:
1) DON’T PANIC – Really. Try to remain calm. It is not as bad as you think.
2) WRITE DOWN as many details as you can remember (names, designations, companies, addresses, phone numbers)
3) FACT-CHECK – meaning, using the details you have from step #2 and run a background check on who they say they are. Google them, google their company, find out if they are real. Get as much information as you can.
4) VERIFY – Guaranteed, they will give you a telephone number to call. The phone number will supposedly belong to X company where you can make “pakiusap” your situation. This is the part where they try to extort money from you. So.. This is what you do, find out if that company really exists. If it does, call the number in the yellow pages or official website. I repeat, call the number that you FIND.. not the number that they give you. When you call the number that you find, ask them if there is a person named ______ working there. Give them the name of the person who called you. Talk to the person at the end of the line, confirm with them the story. “hello, I received a call from Mr. Juan Dela Cruz, he said that I should call and find out regarding my situation. I just want to inquire, is Mr. Juan DelaCruz working there? Is there someone else I can talk to about his call? etc etc.”
5) ANALYZE – Try to see if the info matches the information you have from the scamming call. For example, if the phone number that caller gives you DOES NOT MATCH the company number, then you already know you have a problem. If the company says that there is no Juan DelaCruz working there then you already know you have a scammer on your hands. Is Mr. Juan DelaCruz really the CEO of “the Company”? Think about the content of their message. Is it true that you did not pay your credit card? Is it true that you borrowed money and did not pay it back? What is true? What is not true? Analyze.
6) RESIST THE URGE TO CALL – DO NOT call the numbers they give you. Why? Because it’s a modus operandi. The people at the other end of the numbers are also involved in their scheme. Of course they will say the same story as the original caller to make them seem legit. Again, CALL THE NUMBERS YOU FIND.
7) ASK QUESTIONS – There is a big chance they might try to call you again to scare you. They might even give you a deadline to “fix the problem” when they call, ask as many questions as you can and go back to step #2. Write all that info down.
Some examples of questions —
– Where did you get my number?
– Where do you work again?
– Where is your office?
– What is the charge against me?
– What credit card are you referring to?
– Who did you you say you are connected to?
– (if newspaper) – What issue? When will it be published?
If you still don’t get answers – then consult a professional lawyer. Again, this is a lawyer that YOU KNOW. And NOT a lawyer that they tell you to talk to.
If this is happening to you now – please leave a comment and share your experience so that others may benefit from the knowledge. Awareness is key.
BE SMART EVERYONE.