The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
When we were living in the city next to my grandmother’s house, Sam and Alex spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s garden. Alex was very young then, just learning to talk. Sam was already the most talkative toddler ever and she liked to christen the plants and flowers. Because it was the Disney ... (more)
I remember how, back in grade school, whenever there was an occasion (Christmas, Valentine’s Day or whatever), we would sometimes have class “visitors” who would be selling bowls of chocolate for PHP1.00. Yes, you got that right. PHP1.00 for a white plastic bowl about four inches in diameter filled with chocolate candies wrapped in brightly-colored ... (more)
The time we bought fruit trees to plant in the garden, Speedy bought a talumpunay (sometimes spelled talampunay) tree. He planted it in a far corner of the garden near the gazebo that we converted into an outdoor kitchen. It’s grown big, it’s thriving and it’s flowering. The scientific name is Datura metel, there are ... (more)
I don’t normally get up before nine o’clock in the morning but Speedy came into the room with a breakfast tray and I didn’t want the coffee to get cold. So, I sat up and ate the bowl of cereals with sliced fresh strawberries. There was juice to go with it. Afterwards, while sipping the ... (more)
Too excited to sleep. Too worked up to rest. No, not caffeine. The last cup of coffee I had was more than seven hours ago. It’s not alcohol either because alcohol makes me chatty but not necessarily hyper. It’s something else. But I can’t tell you yet. Suffice to say it’s something major and it ... (more)
Over a year ago, I posted photos of empty planters on top of two posts on the garden fence and another on the corner of the second floor balcony. You can see them here. I had forgotten about them, lost in the frantic pace of our day-to-day lives. Then, a month or so ago, I ... (more)
We were at Balay Indang during the Pacquiao-Hatton weekend and, on the way home, because the way home is through Tagaytay City, we passed by Mahogany Market as has been our habit whenever we’re in the area. Like I mentioned in an earlier entry, at the back of the Mahogany Market, you’ll now find a ... (more)
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com … »»
Black and white photography has never really interested me. I’ve heard and read all the arguments in its favor from the dramatic effect to the play on lights and shadows but I still don’t see why anyone would want to miss all the color.
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