Lenten Season: San Augustin Church

 In commemoration of the Lenten Season this week, I would like to share my visit to the San Augustin Church in Intramuros, Manila in the Philippines last October. The San Augustin Church was built in 1589 and administered by the Order of St. Augustine Friars for over 440 years. This Church is the oldest stone church in the Philippines and decorated in the Baroque Style. The Church has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993 and a National Historical Landmark since 1976. San Augustin Church has stood the test of time throughout Philippines history from the Spanish times to the present. The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish for over 300 years and is the only Roman Catholic Country in Asia. This Lenten Season is a time to reflect, to say a prayer and to remember the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, it is nice to go back in time and visit historical places to admire the architecture, history and to reflect by being thankful to the past, to obtain courage to face the present and pray for a better future. 

 Visitors to the Church are welcomed through this ornate wood carving door featuring the symbols of the Order of St. Augustine Friars. 

 

 Inside is a Baroque and very Spanish interior. The Walls and ceilings were decorated with trompe l'oeil murals.

Below the left side of the Church is the Crypt where wealthy and prominent Spanish families were buried including my Spanish Ancestors from the Roxas Family.

 

 An ornate pulpit decorated in Gold where the Priest usually delivers his Sermon during Mass.

Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation and Chapel of Santo Nino which is the image of Jesus when he was a boy.

Our Lady of Consolation dressed elaborately in robes made from golden threads. 

 In the Main Altar is the religious image of St.Augustine. The whole main altar is in red and gold.

Adjacent to the Church is the Augustian Monastery.

You enter the home of God every time you pray. 
- Bo Sanchez 

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Riding High In The New Year!

January 31st was the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Wood Horse. The Chinese New Year is usually represented by an animal and one of the five elements of metal,water, wood, fire and earth. The Wood Horse symbolises loyalty, independence, determination and unexpected adventures. This New Year celebration will be full of parades, eating and fireworks. Many will be celebrating the arrival of the New Year with a huge and delicious feast of Chinese food with family and friends then end with a fantastic fireworks. 

Holt Renfrew's tribute to the Horse with style. 

Hermès has a long tradition with designing with horses. 

 When we were in Manila last October, we dined at the Summer Palace  Chinese Restaurant at the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel. The Chinese consider red and anything circular as lucky and prosperous.

This is called the Birthday Noodle Dish. It is an egg noodle with a variety of seafood and vegetables. For the Chinese, Seafood plays a large role in festive celebrations. For instance, shrimps represent liveliness, happiness and well-being. Abalone represents abundance and good fortune, scallops represents a new start or the opening of new horizons and fish represents both wish and abundance. The noodle dish also have some Chicken which is considered healthy and symbolises prosperity and completeness. The noodles and green leafy vegetables represent a long life.(Source: Mandarin Oriental Manila Chinese New Year)

This was our meal with my friends at Modern Shanghai, Makati, Philippines. The restaurant's speciality is the Xiao Long Bao which is the round dimsum  in the basket as shown above filled with ground beef and soup inside. Eating anything rounded in shape symbolises money, profit and good fortune. Lastly, rice is served at the end of the meal to signify fertility, luck and abundance in wealth. Anything golden in colour like the fried rice we had above represents abundance in wealth. (Source: Mandarin Oriental Manila Chinese New Year) 

With the symbolism of the Chinese Feast above, I wish you all a blessing in abundance, prosperity, health, happiness and for sure a delicious feast with family and friends.

The Chinese Zodiac is different from the Western Horoscope. The Chinese Zodiac uses different Animal Signs. Your animal sign is determined by the Year of your birth. Discover your good fortune and predictions for the 2014 Year Of The Wood Horse.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Happy Chinese New Year!

Check out Mary Jo's designs of Bags and accessories sale at her Shop.

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Christmas At Rustan's

Welcome to the Christmas Shop at Rustan's Department Store located at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall in Manila, Philippines. Rustan's is the high end luxury Department Store in the Philippines that sell all of the International luxury designer brands for Men's, Women's and Children's, also have a Food Supermarket, Cosmetics, Housewares and their Silver Vault known for all of the high end jewelries. They also have the Rustan's Flower Shop which sell these wonderful and extravagant fresh and artificial floral arrangements. They even offer the service of designing your Christmas Tree for your house. I hope you have started decorating your Christmas tree and your home for this Christmas Season. Come and join me to be inspired with Christmas at Rustan's.

Have you told Santa Claus your Christmas wish?  There is still time...

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Adventure In The Seafood Market

After many years apart, my High School friends and I had a reunion lunch by visiting a Fresh Seafood Market in the reclaimed area of Manila before exploring the Mall. This part of Manila is known as reclaimed area because this was all water before, part of Manila Bay then the Government dumped massive earth here to expand the City. The Government built the Cultural Centre of the Philippines and currently the SM Mall of Asia, which is among the biggest Mall in Asia after the Mall in Dubai. This adventure is a fun way for my friends and I to bond again after being apart for many years. We shopped for our food, had it cooked in the restaurant nearby and we chatted for hours while eating these delicious and fresh seafood from the market. 

Fresh Manila clams and scallops. 

Wow, what an adventure for me. It was my first time to visit a wet Seafood market full of clams, scallops, crabs, seaweeds, prawns, lobsters and different kinds of fish. Everything in this Seafood Market is fresh. We purchased from the market what we would like to eat for lunch then transferred to one of the nearby restaurants for them to cook our seafood according to our preferences. The Philippines is surrounded by water from all sides so there is always an abundance of all kinds of Seafood. If you ask me what is the best food to eat in the Philippines? I would say, don't miss the Seafood!

This market is full of Dealers from Crab dealers, Sea Shells Dealer to Fish dealers. The general public are welcome here to shop and also cater to Chefs and other Restaurants around the City for their fresh source of Seafood. 

Mussels and fresh oysters.

Here we had some education about choosing fresh crabs in a Seafood Market. Anna here explained to us how to choose those big and fatty King Crabs. See how big the crabs are in Manila?

Oh prawns, I love prawns. Only in the Philippines that we can eat those big and fatty prawns.

Fresh squids.

There are plenty more fish in the sea.

So beautifully arranged and so fresh.

More lobsters and crabs.

We bought some Seaweeds for our salad, baked oysters, Chili King Crabs and boiled prawns. My favourite are those little green lime called calamansi. We drizzle the calamansi (Filipino version to lemon or lime) to soy sauce as our sauce for the prawns. 

After our delicious Seafood lunch, we headed over to the SM Mall of Asia which has become one of the Tourist Attractions in the City. It is large for sure with parking for over 8,000 vehicles, 407,000 square feet shopping area with over 2 million cement bags and 44,000 gallons of  paint used to build it.

View of Manila Bay from the SM Mall of Asia.


Have a fantastic weekend everyone! 

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