Thrilled to be with Michael at Madame Tussaud's

Michael Jackson's music was very much a part of my youth and waking up to news from Pinky, my sister, that Michael Jackson passed away due to cardiac arrest left me in a daze. He provided the background music to our teenage milestones!

A friend, Kamla, wrote on Facebook: I
wanted to "Rock with You" sssooooo "Bad".....it doesn't matter if
you're "Black or White", clearly it's just "Human Nature"....you drove
me "Off the Wall" coz you are just one heck of a "Thriller"..........I
will miss you and your music Micheal Jackson....R.I.P

Ah what memories. When I hear his songs, I relive those memories - as if they just happened yesterday. Didn't we all enjoy his dance songs at those weekend parties? Rock with You has been and still is my favorite song. I was just listening to it over and over just a few days ago while doing chores. 

When it comes to grooming, landscaping is all about beautifying that little patch in between our legs. Salons not only take care of your hair up there. Talk about head to toe pampering! Well, Marie Calica tells us more about it.

Fully Landscaped. I just learned this term today as I was flipping through The Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets by Kym Douglas and Cindy Pearlman. “Used to describe someone who doesn’t have hair in places where she doen’t want hair,” say the authors, who have another book called The Black Book of Hollywood Diet Secrets. Who knew that such a light read could inspire me to come up with my top 3 Fully Landscaped Finds. They are, in no particular order:

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• Fashion

TODAY'S TIDBIT: “…to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” – Joshua 22:5

I have to admit I’m a whiner and complainer. In my squeaky wheel mind, most jobs that will take a modicum of effort and not in line with my passion go in tandem with all the complaints I can think of.

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• Reflections & Prayer Board

My friend Letty and I stood outside the backstage door waiting for Cezarah Campos-Bonner, a pinay who is playing the role of one of the wives of the king, to give us our tickets for the open dress rehearsal of this show.  Standing a few feet away from me was an oriental looking guy also waiting for his friends to show up and claim their free tickets. A lady with her son asked him if they could have their photo taken with him and that's when I realised he must be quite well known in the theatre circuit. (Further research, as in googling,  shows that he has been on Broadway and West End productions i.e. Miss Saigon and We Will Rock You, he is also in the new  movie Naked Boys Singing!) I only later found out that he is playing one of the lead roles. 

My obsession with seaweed ccontinues. Thanks to Carol, a Ka-Pinay who lives in Amsterdam, I found dried wakame! This simple recipe is deceptively filling - well for me anyway. I had this for dinner, and without the normal two servings of rice (woops, too much information).

Here's what you need:

This wakame soup recipe is easy to prepare. If I can do it, so can you!

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs (fish or prawns are good, too)
1 clove crushed garlic
half an onion (but I used a whole onion)
pinch of sea salt (wakame is slightly salty)
1 cube chicken broth
shiitake mushrooms
some ginger (I didn't have any when I took the pictures)

What to do:

If your father is the founder of Gawad Kalinga (GK), an organization that has successfully improved the lives of poor Filipinos in over 1700 communities, you are introduced as the daughter of Tony Meloto. If you captured the heart of a Briton who at 23 was the 9th richest man in England and who sold his BMW to fund houses for your dad’s project, you are known as the wife of Dylan Wilk. But Anna Meloto-Wilk is not just a famous man’s daughter and another accomplished man’s wife.

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• Super Pinays

It may be cliché, but to us women, hair IS our crowning glory.  And to get those perfect tresses, we shampoo & condition, get a flattering cut, dye, highlight, henna, rebond. We gel and mousse and spray and wax. We iron curly locks and crimp straight ones. We invest hours and money to make sure bad hair days never show up in our calendar.
All the primping and the products with chemicals can be harmful to our hair and scalp. One big concern is falling hair. How can we swish and twirl our hair alluringly when there’s very little of it?

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• Beauty

I got a phone call last week from a friend inviting me to watch the musical "Wicked" in London.  Although it wasn't in my budget, I grabbed the opportunity and brought my son along as well.  Half price tickets and the chance to meet the lead star back stage, Alexia Khadime, who is a friend of my friend,  you really can't blame me, can you?

My family and I don't visit London regularly, I don't like travelling in the "tube" especially during rush hours... jostling and pushing, armpits next to your face and a mob of tired city workers/commuters mostly clad in black.  I don't know why but these city workers almost always wear black coats and suits and the women in black trousers, skirts, etc.  That's why I always make it a point not to wear black when going to London.  When we travel in the tube, it's become a habit to lookout for suspicious looking individuals carrying backpacks (I blame this on the 7/7 London bombing a couple of years ago).  There was a man who sat in front of us with a backpack with his eyes closed and praying... alarm bells in my head started to ring but then I saw his hand clutching rosary beads, I breathed a sigh of relief!

Another pinay wins a talent  competition, this time she is the youngest at only 7 years old.  She hails  from  the city of  Vaux-sur-Sein, France.

Last April 25, Françoise sang "Call Me" with such gusto. See her winning piece here:

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• Super Pinays

Rice is present at almost every Filipino family's dining table whether in the Philippines or living abroad. My family, although not 100% Filipino, enjoys rice several times a week. My sons like their rice prepared simply, such as just plain white rice or something fancy such as nasi goreng. Sushi rice? Eeeuw, it's the seaweed they don't like.

So, when I was with my good friend, Isa, she showed me how to prepare this irresistible rice dish. It was so good, I forgot the name of the dish. I's so happy to report I had the presence of mind to take simple shots with my iPhone (what would I do without it?). Here it is: