Summertime

Just wishing you all lovely people a wonderful summer. I wish I had been in Sydney.

With all my love from the Philippines,

Ryc

Tongue Thaied!

University has got me tied down, 100%. I seriously cannot wait to be on holidays - a friend and I are spending 6 days up in Brisbane! In other news, I've only been up to eating lately as compensation for not going out and such. Two weeks ago (?) we went to Marrickville to watch my cousin's band play at The Factory Theatre. We got there considerably early (& hungry) so we walked around to find food. My (good) eye saw this tiny place called Tongue Thaied. It was a little humble restaurant, and their little staff of two welcomed us well. I must say, I did not expect it to have great, or even good food, to say the least. I don't know why, but it just gave me that vibe (or maybe, I'm just highly biased cos I'm a huge fan of Deli's Thai in Glebe). The name was absolutely smart though, short, easy to remember and best of all, funny.

I decided to get out of my comfort zone and tried their Pad Kee Mao. It took me by surprise. It was a faaaaaaantastic dish, that's spicy and nutty and just bursting with flavour. I loved the flat rice noodles; they were cooked al dente. The basil and the chili really locked it all in.

I actually Googled Pad Kee Mao and in English it means Drunken noodles! The name makes it all the more awesome.

We also ordered a plate of money bags, which is our staple starter whenever we have thai.

Meanwhile my aunt got a plate of Pad Thai, which she thought was a safe choice, but turned out to be quite disappointing. I had half of it and I thought it was an all right dish, however, it was too sweet and I just didn't get the usual flavours I'd expect from a Pad Thai maybe because the sweetness overpowered it.

See the excitement on her face before she tasted it? Lol...

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5/5 for great taste, good price (it's about $15/dish) and good serving size. Maybe if I had other dishes to taste I would've been able to say something more, but, I'll leave that up to the next time that I come and get my Toungue Thaied ;-)

HELLO AUSTRALIA

Metro Manila is in ruins, so let's pool together donations for the Storm Ondoy victims. We're accepting donations to be sent straight to organizations in Manila ASAP. For questions, inquiries, pledges, etc call Mio Paredes at 0424338472 or 98363494 or me at 0425218416 or 98328862. Thank you :-)

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Hello everyone,

As you may know/have heard, the Philippines has just experienced a great natural disaster. There have been deaths, and a lot of damages that need rehabilitation. My parents have been directly affected in our Manila home. Some friends have lost their properties. All I ask is for all of you to please pray for their safety. Please pray that courage fill their hearts to know that we will all pull through this.

However, the Filipino masses are needing assistance, and sadly, it has been reported that the president has used up the emergency fund of PhP800,000,000 for her foreign trips (read all about it here: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=496123). The damage has been done, and this is what Manila looks like today:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ondoy

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090927-227074/Too-much-rain-too-soon

Any help that could be forwarded would be deeply appreciated. Listed below are the drop off areas for donations in Manila.

Xavier School, Greenhills -

You may donate food (canned goods etc), bottled water, etc to the Xavier School Multi-Purpose Centre. Those who wish to volunteer, do come over and help collect and sort the goods. See you there. Please pass.

La Salle Greenhills -

Relief Operations Drop-Off Center has been set-up beginning 9am, Sunday, September 27, those who are living in the nearby areas may bring their donations to Gate 2 of La Salle Greenhills, along Ortigas avenue, Mandaluyong. Those interested may contact Louie Aguinaldo at 0917-5295706 or 216-8505.

De La Salle Health Sciences Institute -

For those in the Cavite area: De La Salle Health Sciences Institute (DLSHSI) is launching a relief drive, please drop off donations of food (ready to eat) canned goods, clothes, blankets at the lobby of the University Medical Center starting today.

Ateneo de Manila University -

Accepting donations preferably cooked/ready-to-eat food, clothes, medicine, blankets & water. Donations may be dropped off at MVP, University Dorm or Cervini Lobbies. Also in need of volunteers for relief operations today. Please bring boots, shovels, large vehicles/small watercraft. For donations & enquiries please contact 09088877166. Pls pass

Help through SMS donations (Philippines only) -

1.6 million Philippine Facebook users. Donate 100 pesos each and we'll raise 160 million for Red Cross rescue and relief. Red Cross donation through SMS: text RED to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart). Spread the word and help.

Mean Streets Manila blog -

The rest of the information for all other local & international methods to send help can be found here http://meanstreetsmanila.wordpress.com/

A million thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement. Please forward this e-mail to get the help all around as soon as possible. God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Ryc Aquino

ryc.aquino@gmail.com

16602902@student.uws.edu.au

+61425218416

LIFE ON MARS

23. September, 2009.

Australia has officially been relocated to Mars. F yeah, cool beans.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

I've finally found the time to go out! Last week my aunt and I went for a stroll along Circular Quay and when I saw the Museum of Contemporary Art, I realised I haven't been there ever, having lived in Australia for 8 months already!

So I told her that we should come and have a look since she's only been there once since she moved to Australia 21 years ago. I was pretty excited. It's free entry so there's nothing to worry about in terms of cost, but really, you have to use your eyes sharply as photos aren't allowed. I obviously took some photos because I didn't know about the rule until one of the MCA people stopped me. Sad that photos aren't allowed, really. I believe art should be shared. Hmm.

The photos I'm putting up here are the pieces that I found intriguing. There were heaps more of them but yeah since I got stopped I obviously have no record whatsoever of what they are.

Okay, first up. A helicopter made of crab shells. How novel is that idea? I would never have thought of it in this lifetime. How awesome! I reckon it should be his signature material/style. Way beyond cool.

Made by a Filipino artist named Alwin Reamillo, who works in Western Australia and in the Philippines. This installation is part of the Making it New: Focus on Contemporary Australian Artists exhibition. Article on his helicopter project here.

Details of how the project was made

(must've been real hard work! See all those helping hands? :D)

My favourite bit, which was probably ignored. A crab shell stuck on one of the walls with the Opera House painted on it! Cool beans.

A family looking at on of the installations, part of the Making it New: Focus on Contemporary Australian Artists exhibition. Some words say: England, Australia, Arvo (Aussie slang for afternoon), Kebabs (a personal fave, teehee), et cetera

Now, this one's one of my absolute favourites. It's such a simple concept. Pie is by spat+loogie with Willoh S Weiland and is part of the Primavera 2009 exhibit.

I'm actually planning to take another day trip out to when they have a performance at the museum where you get to interact with them, eat pie, or physically throw pie at them. I reckon it would be fun. :-) There are 3 more of the said events, 1 in October and 2 in November.

Certainly one of the more intriguing pieces in the Primavera 2009 exhibit,

Christine Eid's Your Place.

There you have it, some of what I've picked up from my short afternoon trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's such a wonderful place to be in! Oh and the museum shop definitely boasts of a lot of interesting finds as well ;-) I'm obviously going back within the next couple of weeks!