beautiful day

Yesterday, we attended the christening of our friends' bouncing baby boy, Aidan. After the church ceremony, we were whisked off to a secret hideaway on the "other side" of Boracay.

Our group was composed of Boracay locals, foreigners who have been residing on the island for many years now, and some guests from Manila. This is one of the things that makes our island very special: A happy mix.

hurts so good

You know how you get a scratch on your leg and it bleeds a bit? You wash it and put some ointment on it and after a while, the wound starts to heal with a little scab. And then you pick at it and pick at it until it bleeds again. Then more scabbing. Then more picking and bleeding. And from the initial pain, somehow it begins to feel good, and you just can't help yourself.

Reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is just like that.

It has taken me months to finish this book. It's only 351 pages, but they're the most painful 351 pages I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

book four

Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. The best memoir by a chef ever? Really?

Tony, Tony, Tony... don't you know by now that yours is the best memoir by a chef ever?

OK, enough of that.

sunday morning

French toast and bacon. Just because it's Sunday.

A truly happy meal.

Here's a foolproof French toast recipe from Alton Brown.

how to sink a plane, part 2

We were told to assemble at Aqualife Divers Academy on 1 March 2012 at 830AM.

The briefing.

All aboard.

We were the last team to arrive at the site, but technically we weren't late. The others were just early. In any case, our president was calm and relaxed. "They won't start without me," he said.

The Boracay diving community waits for Gov.

Our plane!

what's so funny?

Sorry, I just had to steal this picture from Mail Online. It's by photographer Tin Man Lee.

Read the full article here.