As you already know (or not), I am addicted to BravoTV's Top Chef, now on its 5th season. As usual, I am on a Filipino watch - meaning, trying to appropriate anyone on the show who has some connection, no matter how tenuous it is, to being Filipino...

Rice Cake Vendors, originally uploaded by Flipped Out. Competitors ... but all are in good spirits.

The island province of Guimaras is just an hour or so away by pump boat from Iloilo City. In 2006, on a lark, we drove from Aklan to Iloilo City and when we were there decided to go to Guimaras for a short visit. We were actually there only for about...

Here are my top droppers for November ... thank you so much! (1) Scandinavian Ways - Winesworlds blog (2) WindMill on the Hill (3) Faith and Facts (4) Empty Streets (5) My Daily Discourse (6) Uncommon Photographers (7) Reveries of simplyJACY (8)...

It's so nasty out there right now - here how it looked a few minutes ago outside my window: It's windy and snowing ... the temperature is 36 degrees F (about 2.2 degrees C) with windchill, it's at 28 degrees F (-2 degrees C). It's during these...