Thu 26 May 2005

the first cherries of the season
Sometimes I like to indulge myself in a “fancy” way, like having a blissful one-and-a-half hour aromatherapy body massage at a good spa, or spending half a day shopping for shoes at my favorite Bass outlet store (where I find wonderful shoes at prices even the most astute Greenhills Manila shopper would approve of).
There are times though, and these outnumber those “fancy” moments, when I indulge myself in something quite simple yet just as enjoyable.
One of these moments was yesterday morning, when I opened the first bag of cherries I found in the grocery store this season. After washing the cherries, I carried the bowl of fruit and a plate of salt for dipping (a very Filipino thing to do, I’m made to understand) to the coffee table in our dining room. I poured myself a tall glass of ice-cold water, then snuggled into the depths of our comfy recliner with a copy of Isabel Allende’s Stories of Eva Luna.
Reaching out to my treasure-bowl I picked a deep-red cherry, dipped it in the salt, and popped it in my mouth. That first juicy, luscious, sweet taste laced with a hint of salt made my entire day.
Posted under Navel-Gazing , Photography

May 26th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
…a delicious bowl of cherries, a perfect cup of coffee, a joke or funny incident that markie and i laugh about for hours, snail mail from family and friends…
these are some simple pleasures that i truly enjoy and savor. for me, they turn an otherwise ordinary day into something special.
what are YOUR simple pleasures? do share!
May 26th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
He he. I just got a pound of bing cherries over the weekend. I eat them like “duhat”, with salt. Yummy!
May 27th, 2005 at 9:41 am
seeing something new from an old familiar place, sharing a smile back and a hi to strangers, opening the elevator for a slow-paced grandma, the smell of newly opened paperback, music from the ipod, bird chirping while working…clover chips, holding hands with mitzi and yes, vacuum cleaning.
May 27th, 2005 at 10:00 am
lovely cherries!tsalap kagatin tulad kow (ahem!)hehe
have a nice weekend my dear!
May 28th, 2005 at 1:28 am
john: pareho pala tayo.
even blueberries and strawberries minsan i dip in salt too. for lack of calamansi in these parts, i cut up lemon or lime into wedges and dip them in salt as a tart fruit snack. ditto with oranges and pomelo. pwera na lang apples, i draw the line, hehe.
musta trip out west? hope you had a great time!
May 28th, 2005 at 1:36 am
junnie: i love the fresh, clean, slightly sharp smell of new books! para akong nata-transport back to younger and more innocent days, when the whole world seemed to hold the promise of great and wonderful things to come.
May 28th, 2005 at 1:37 am
cheh: hehe, pilya gyud ka!
have a fun weekend too, dearie!
May 28th, 2005 at 2:21 am
Petite - with all the talk about fruits, bigla ko na miss mga prutas sa pinas. Sampalok, atis, lansones…..
Kasalanan mo pag mapauwi ako ng wala sa schedule nyan ah. He he he.
May 28th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
john: hehe, really? well, if you do, don’t forget to bring us back some spicy lapid’s chicharon, k?
May 29th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
the first time I ever ate cherries, I felt drunk. Dami kasi! haha
May 29th, 2005 at 10:46 pm
bass… my favorite store. do they still have the buy the second pair and get it for 50% off deal?
May 30th, 2005 at 5:09 am
ang mahal ng cherries dito! checked them out sa shang supermarket, almost one thousand pesos per kilo
life’s simple pleasures? hmm… let me think of a few….seeing a bright, star-filled sky, sharing a garlic and cheese thin crust shakey’s pizza with wowell (hehe), our cute little isaw or Rodic’s dates in UP (hehe ulit)… and Lapid’s din (with laman! or more accurately, with malutong na taba!) until last week when I saw an Oprah feature showing an autopsy of a fat-infested human cadaver. Unbelievably gross!
May 30th, 2005 at 11:59 pm
AnP: you know, the same thing happens to me when i eat too many grapes or drink too much grape juice, hehe.
Ankle B: yes, they still have that kind of sale from time to time. sobrang sulit! one time, when three of my friends and i went shopping, they had a “buy 3, get the 4th free” sale. the shoes we bought were already marked down significantly to begin with…we got 4 pairs, paid for 3, divided the cost all around, and we ended up paying about $11.25 each (excluding tax) for shoes that retailed at around $40. i love that store…winner talaga!
allkaput: yiiikes, ang mahal naman! over here, it’s the mangoes that are expensive…we bought some at the local filipino store for about a dollar apiece…sakit ng loob ko!
but they were quite good, so sige na lang.
yah, i remember that you’re very fond of isaw.
ey, i miss our eating gimiks at mang jimmy’s and gorging on squid balls after playing paintball in the u.p. sunken garden! those were the days…*sigh* i miss you guys!
May 31st, 2005 at 11:32 pm
Mang Jimmy’s? Mga taga UP kayo? Yep, excellent tapa, sisig, unlimited rice. Yummy.
Speaking of mahal. Have you guys seen the prices of oyster around here lately? $1 a piece. Anak ng …..
June 2nd, 2005 at 3:38 am
john, unfortunately hindi na unlimited rice, may bayad na…signs of the times
petite, pagbalik mo dito kelangan may kainang malupit ulit tayo, yun yata madalas na bonding moments natin noon e
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:53 am
Mmm… yes! The smell of new books! Though also the sight of books old and new that I’ve yet to see and browse is sheer heaven for me. That, plus coffee and cigarettes all by myself.
Not much, I know.
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:08 am
am back too tired from all the trips… over 1000klm not counting the ferries and trains and the HIKES
SIMPLE PLEASURES.. reading ALLENDE BOOKS have them all Paula made me cry…. have you read Daughter of Fortune?
Cherry time just had a bowl. LAMI LAMI wala ko mahubog no?
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:13 am
petite have you read Louis Bernerie books? If you like Allende, Marquez you will like his books too.. not the one based here in Greece and Turkey he has books with Latin American stories
June 3rd, 2005 at 11:57 am
Hmmm…I keep forgetting to buy cherries. I like to get the yellow and pink kind. But I’ve never heard of eating them with salt! I’ll have to try that. My hubby taught me how to eat green apples with salt and that’s really yummy.
June 4th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Phisch, the pinoy way of eating cherries is that you put them in a container, throw in some salt, close the lid, and shake it. Mmmm Mmmm Good.
June 6th, 2005 at 8:27 am
john: hahaha, you’re such a riot! we used to do a similar thing with lomboy (i don’t know the western equivalent of this fruit) when we were younger. i’ve never done it with cherries, although now you’ve given me an idea.
btw, re your earlier question: i think in the group only allkaput’s fiance was “officially” taga-U.P… the rest of us were “feeling taga-U.P.” (for example, me) or “nakatira malapit sa U.P.”, hehe. we loved hanging out in U.P. and surrounding areas though. …oysters over here cost $0.42/piece. but i eat them only when we go to the “all you can eat” chinese buffet…they serve it baked with cream cheese…sarap!
allkaput: yes to kainang malupit!
yah…we usually bonded during eating gimiks…or is it that we always ended up eating a lot during our gimiks? 
June 6th, 2005 at 8:46 am
banzai cat:i can totally relate…mark and i could lose ourselves inside libraries and bookstores/used book shops for hours on end. if only we could spend all day just reading books and drinking coffee (di lang ako smoker so di maka-relate in that instance), that would be a blissful corner of the world right there…*sigh*
sha: musta na inyong laag? did you lose weight from all that hiking? hehe! “daughter of fortune” is what i’m going to read next, as soon as i’m done with the one i’m currently reading (a non-fiction book i’ll talk about in my next post). i haven’t read “paula” either, but i’m adding that to my list. i haven’t read any of louis de bernieres’ work, although i know gabriel garcia marquez is one of his influences. what do you recommend?
phisch: i’ve never tried yellow or pink cherries, just the really dark red ones. are they as sweet? btw, i’ve been telling my hubby all week last week that i’m going to try to make some lemon bread according to your recipe. will finally try it tonight or tomorrow. i’ll let you know how it comes out.
June 7th, 2005 at 3:10 am
hey petite, this must be your longest thread! 23 posts and still going…
by the way, do you have soft copies of your wedding pics? I just realized that I still don’t have you in my wedding flowers portfolio. Pa-send please….?
June 8th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
bernieres …
WAR OF DON EMMANUEL NETHER PARTS
SENOR VIVO AND THE COCA LORD
THE TROUBLE SOME OFF SPRING OF CARDINAL GUZMAN
June 8th, 2005 at 6:09 pm
bernieres …
WAR OF DON EMMANUEL NETHER PARTS
SENOR VIVO AND THE COCA LORD
THE TROUBLE SOME OFF SPRING OF CARDINAL GUZMAN
June 30th, 2005 at 3:22 pm
cherries…. i’ve been waiting for this season since i’ve been here. dipping in salt is a filipino thing?! haven’t figured that out yet ^_^
i saw your comment on stella’s blog and surprised to see you there…. i knew you did’t have a friendster account. anyway, if i have a chance i’ll read some of your thoughts from your blog, during my breaks from studying…
i hope to see you soon… we’re so close, yet so far…. i’m sure we’ll figure out something someday
take care petite and i hope everything’s doing well with you and mark.
July 5th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
ruth: musta na school? are you back at your cousins’ place now? i hope all is well with your schooling. malapit ka na matapos, ah. what are your plans after school? kwento mo when you have time, k?
cherry season is in full gear! i just finished a whole bag (about 2 pounds) of cherries last week. i’m getting some more this week.