Ketchup Food Community

Here in Baguio, it's not so often that you see new food places. Somehow, the city would still prefer what has been tried and tested. Top three I can think of that residents of Baguio really like and are always full on Sundays are Rosebowl, Mario's, and O Mai Khan.

 For lunch, Kiko and I went to Ketchup Food Community. From the road you would see the white "Ketchup" sign right away against bamboo walls. It looked like a wide area from afar. You could only guess because of the bamboo surrounding the whole area. I wasn't able to get good photos as I didn't really bring a camera, but I'll surely come back to take better pictures cause the place is nice and different. By the name and the wideness of the place, you would know that there wasn't only one restaurant. I'm not so sure if there were 4 or 5 restaurants. We were pretty pressed for time so we weren't able to really look around and check out each of the restaurants menus. Also, it was quite warm (Baguio's bipolar weather).

We ended up eating at the first restaurant we saw, which was Canto.

The ambiance was nice. They had these photos and the right background music for the place. Isn't it a turn-off when the place is so pretty and relaxing and all of a sudden you hear some ads or like the radio DJs talking. Too bad we could still get a whiff of the horses on the other side (Wright Park is just a cross away.).

We ordered ribs.  I was surprised how big they were when they were served. Kiko and I ordered the same thing. Kiko got the part with more bones and I got the part with more meat. Initially, I thought they were good. The sauce was good and the meat tender. That's all you can ask for in ribs. But as I went on with my meal the meat got tougher and I got full. Sad to say, I wasn't able to finish everything. The ribs were accompanied by a certain salad (I wasn't able to get the name) and mashed potatoes, which I liked.

 To accompany our meal, we ordered their almond lychee gulaman. I didn't expect it to turn out lavender in color but it was. Cool. LOL. It was good. Refreshing and not that bad for 20 pesos. Meanwhile, the ribs (half slab, which was already big, at least for us it was) was 175 pesos. Not bad either. I could imagine the place to have an intimate vibe by night. We'll try next time. We haven't tried the rest anyway. :)

My Two Cents on Photo Hosting Sites

Ever since the internet came to existence, a bunch of photo hosting sites have been readily available for free use.  Its been about 2 years now that I've really been taking pictures.  Recently, my Flickr account put up a notice that I'm about to reach my 200 photo limit and that I'll only be able to view my 200 most recent photos and that I have to upgrade to a Pro account if I want all my pictures to still be visible.  That it why I kinda searched my way to my next photo hosting site, although I'm quite 70-30 on upgrading my account. Its about a thousand plus in Philippine pesos for a year.

Let me tell you about my Flickr experience. LOL.  I think its the best one for me to date.  It's simple and fast.  And probably the main reason why I joined in is because I've had a ton of favorite pictures and photographers already, and it took me just a few visits.  

Although it doesn't give you an option to personalize/customize your photostream, I don't really mind. I kinda just care about the picture and the simple way of putting a title, caption, organizing sets.

A feature that I love is the improved "From your Contacts" page.  It looks like a collage of awesome pictures.  Your "Favorites" page has the same format.  I love going back to my favorites page.  Its mostly portraits of girls.  Flickr's really where I get most of my inspiration in my photos.  Also, when you hit "L" on the keyboard it makes the photo big and puts it in a black background.

Now, lets go to 365project.org.  This site has a particular purpose - to post a photo a day.  Thus, 365.  Most people start with this project January 1 and end December 31.  Some just start whenever they want.  I did attempt this year, but to my dismay I failed on the second month. LOL. Things just got so crazy at work and it was a hassle to bring the camera every day.  

You could definitely cheat on the date, unlike Blipfoto (which we'll get to later), but I'm not the cheating type. I just stopped posting and I don't know what to do with it now. It definitely is a challenge. Now I understand why it'd feel good to complete it.  Well, one day I will.  What I enjoyed though during my brief usage of the site is that I kinda got more comments than in Flickr.

Then there's Blipfoto, which is a sleek, daily photo journal.  

It looked pretty intimidating at first because of the monochromatic design, but once you drag your pointer over to the pictures they show their "true colors" (wordplay, LOL).  I was hesitant to join because of the one photo a day policy but I disregarded that cause I only post a photo a day anyway, even in Flickr.  In Flickr, if I had another picture I'd like to post, I posted it the next day.  For Blipfoto, they won't allow you to post a picture that's been taken on another day, as I've observed.  Please correct me if I'm wrong though.  Meanwhile, your page would look pretty simple too.  Classy, but really more simple. The gray background is kinda easy on the eye.  It won't give you that contrast that black gives and won't tire and wake your eyes like white.  Though, it would sometimes makes me feel like I'm on Photoshop, editing.  

Anyway, those are the 3 recent photo hosting sites I've been using.  I hope this was informative enough. 

P.S. I've added a signature to formally end the post. =)

Shoot!

Mavis

It was last February when I was first paid to shoot for a couple of girls.  I shoot for my friend's online shop.  To my luck, somebody took notice.  My clientele mostly has been girls.  I haven't given a particular theme per shoot, but usually my friend Krizia, who happens to be my make-up artist and art director, and I tend to give the girls a girly, fun, sometimes bohemian, outdoorsy kind of feel to their photos.  So far, I've shot a couple of people now.  I only do it during my free time so I don't really put myself out there and advertise.  Each shoot is different and I always have favorites.

Alan

Allaine, my first client! =)

Wina

Cassie

Karla

April's Pre-debut shoot.

Mother - daughter shoot with Allaine again. =)

I have more favorites, but I don't want to drag this entry any longer.  They're probably gonna pop up now and then on my blog.  You can check the others here for the meantime.  Lucky for me, Baguio is such a picturesque place.  We don't sweat and all, too.

I'm hoping for more shoots to come.  Krizia and I also want to be the ones in front of the camera for a change, but that'd have to wait. hehe. 

 

Favorite Photos

Hi!  I've finally joined the blogging world (as if I haven't signed up for numerous online accounts already, haha)! Mainly, this blog will probably showcase photos I take, but will also include random posts like my thoughts on some restaurants and their food, events, clothes, makeup, and whatnot.

For my first post, I'd like to show you some of my favorite photos from years 2010 and 2011.  I randomly chose these photos cause they were the first ones that popped in mind when I was trying to recall favorites.  They may not be perfect, but they do seem special enough for me.

And that's all for now. =)