clark Archives - Between Bites - Bites of Food, Travel and Lifestyle

7107 International Music Festival, Spectacular Now

February 26, 2014 by Janey

We missed Dau by a split hesitation whether to take it or not. He knew he read it in the driving directions and location map in the Survival Guide but asked the sleepless lady on the passenger seat to verify with a nod, but received head-shaking instead and a know-it-all answer that SCTEX will somehow lead to Clark. Of course, she is wrong since there were no rice fields and a small bridge. We took the next one, Mabalacat, and finally found our way to Global Logistics City in Clark Pampanga without any hitches.

Arrived 430ish at the venue just in time to catch a little bit of Up Dharma Down, who closed their set with Tadhana. Found a sweet spot with the rest of his crew and pitched our humble camp. The cool weather was just perfect, like everything about this music fest was aligned with the stars, a light breeze and the sun setting slowly.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus opened with Face Down and I wanted to run away to the middle of the moving crowd and just get lost –“get pushed around, fall to the ground.” “Well, I tell you my friend one day this world is gonna end…” I squeezed in and jumped in between mats like a little mousy to make my way to the front-mid part but the big man trailed behind and before we could make our way to the crowd, the song ended. Retreated back to camp.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Kendrick Lamar and Empire of the Sun got the massive crowd’s energy going all the way until the stage was set for Red Hot Chili Peppers. RHCP unlocked their set list with Can’t Stop.

“The world I love

The tears I drop

To be part of

The wave can’t stop

Ever wonder if it’s all for you

The world I love

The trains I hop

To be part of

The wave can’t stop

Come and tell me when it’s time to”

CCF Step Up Singles Conference 2013

May 2, 2013 by Janey

Last weekend, CCF held their annual singles conference at Hotel Stotensberg in Clark, Pampanga. From April 26 to 28, singles from different parts of the Philippines, albeit mostly Manila, gathered in one location for the CCF retreat dubbed “Step Up.”

Praise and Worship opened each session and the messages by the different Pastors and the testimonies by the speakers were truly blessings – food for my soul. I’ve heard the message of the Cross before but I still felt so blessed after listening to Pastor Peter Tan Chi’s message regarding the Significance of the Cross.

Photo Source: CCF Page

The Significance of the Cross begins with God’s love, our Heavenly Father’s love. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life.” In this, we can see that God’s love was demonstrated. It wasn’t only spoken but it was shown. Action does speak louder than words. Faith is never a vacuum. Faith is DEMONSTRATED.

When we talk about our spiritual life, what moves us? Some say, you are a body with a spirit. But we are all actually spirits inside / contained in human bodies. Someday, the body will perish but our spirit lives on. Will our spirit live an eternal life with God or damnation for the sinful choices we’ve made? What moves you? The spirit or the flesh?

How do we begin to understand what The Cross is about? Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

Until we understand and acknowledge our own sinfulness, we will not understand the Cross. Until we have truly humbled ourselves and acknowledged each and every sin we’ve committed, even the shameful ones we are too prideful to even admit to ourselves, we will not be able to grasp the MAGNITUDE of what Jesus has done for us in the Cross.

1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God.”

If we were sinners and have come to know and accept Christ and the Significance of the Cross, we have been reborn. We are gifted with a new life. Would we loosely guard this new life and still keep doing the same sins Jesus died for in order to bridge us to the Father? When we ignore the call of the Holy Spirit and to live in His righteousness, don’t we undervalue what Jesus’ life was for?

Doesn’t this movie reminds us of how awful sin is? How ugly and hurtful it is?

Do you wonder if He still feels the nails every time you fail? Do we continue to crucify Jesus because of the sins we cannot let go?

What do people do to deal with the guilt of their sins? Many different things: lie, cover up, deny, do good deeds… but even with numerous good works, God looks at the heart. God hears our thoughts as much as He hears our prayers. That includes your dirty thoughts. He hears the whispers of our deceitful heart. He knows if we are doing something out of love or out of selfish desires… if we are moving by the flesh or moving by the Spirit.

Sometimes in order to be oblivious to sin or disregard it casually, we tend to JUSTIFY. Be alert, every time you start to justify, it’s already an admission to sin. If you find the need to justify and explain, you already know that something doesn’t feel right.

Pastor Peter Tan Chi came back for a joint session and talked about “God’s Hand in Your Life.” This message was also brimming with blessings and at least one revelation for me… It was more a confirmation of what has been revealed to me weeks prior.

Saturday late evening, we listened to Edric Mendoza and his wife, Joy Tan Chi (daughter of Pastor Peter) as they spoke about the roles men and women play – specifically, husbands and wives. In this case since everyone in the retreat is single, they applied it to what to look out for in a husband and who I am to be as a wife… and vice versa.

Edric on the mic and Joy looking lovingly at Edric

At the time of writing this, I googled Edric and Joy in the search engine and found this article regarding their love story.

Love Story of Edric and Joy Mendoza

I was blessed by their separate messages and answers to our questions during the forum on love, relationships and marriage that night, but I also feel blessed after reading their story (purposeful breakup, struggles with purity in the relationship, obeying the will of God and setting the limits of intimacy in a relationship). Their relationship had a happy ending or more appropriately, a happy new beginning… but sometimes, our happy ending is only with God. Or make that happy new beginning with God.

It’s amazing how simply we can be blessed by testimonies of God’s love and faithfulness and just by listening to God’s words. My brother-slash-Twin also says that with obedience come blessings too, as long as you set your heart to obey and not for the blessings. Thank you brother for blessing me with this CCF Retreat.

I was just too happy (and amused) to see my brother dance. I needed to get it on video.

Allow me to share more of the CCF Retreat in the coming days (my struggle during the first night, Friday). There were a lot of good talks and I just feel so blessed with all the sessions and activities, leading me to self-realizations and eventually revelations.

Vietnam and Cambodia Bound

March 31, 2009 by Janey

It’s been YEARS since I wanted to go to Cambodia. Angkor Wat is one destination I’ve been dreaming of going. Finally, that dream is within reach next week. Flying to Vietnam via PAL on April 6 to touch down in Ho Chi Minh City. Tuesday starts the trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

We’ve just been to Bangkok 3 weeks ago and I haven’t even posted an entry about that trip or even our trip to Macau, which was in August of 2008. Too many travel backlogs on my back. And I told myself that I would finish those entries first before planning another one.

It’s been 2 years that I’ve spent Holy Week in Manila. One of my goals this year is to spend Holy Week anywhere BUT Manila. I’ve seen Manila at its peace long enough without the usual traffic and crowd ruckus. It’s about time to miss Manila during Holy Week. After all the emails, asking friends, forums, and research, I finally finished the itinerary last week (Thanks so much to Garry Garcia for all the info! Sorry I was such a bug-a-boo with all the email exchanges 🙂 ). It was supposed to be only until Friday but we had to rebook our return flight to Saturday to be able to enjoy Cambodia for an extra day.

I’m really uber excited!!! Let’s walk the world.

How are you spending Holy Week?

Related Post:

The Year That Was

Malaysia Truly Asia

Hong Kong Day 1

Hong Kong Day 2 Ocean Park

Reminiscent: Sisters in Hong Kong 2005

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Walk the World: A BITE of Travel Tagged With: 2008, 2009, Air Asia, Airport, Angkor Wat, Asia tour, backlog, Bangkok, Cambodia, Cebu Pacific, clark, Filipina, finest beaches in Asia, flight, Ho Chi Minh City, Holy Week, kota kinabalu, list, malaysia, Manila, PAL, Siem Reap, Taste Manila, tourist, travel, travelblog, traveling, travelogue, Vietnam

Zapata’s, Pampanga

January 23, 2009 by Janey

People, friends and strangers alike, always tend to ask me this one difficult question, “What is your favorite food?” This is a question I am yet to answer myself since I do not have a single answer. It will definitely be a multiple answer like combine or complex sentences we learn in primary school. My answer would come in different shapes and sizes –even different cultural heritage. Their follow-up is always, “what type of cuisine,” I still find some difficulty answering this because I love food in general. I’m passionate about food –I’m passionate about eating. But when they keep nudging for an answer, my heart calls me to say, Mexican.

Mexican. Mexican. Mexican. I love Mexican because their food is as multihued as their culture –vibrant and colorful. They’d smile as they hear me say this. Finally there’s something to garble on. Sometimes I hesitate to answer because the next question I know I wouldn’t have a definite. “What is the best Mexican restaurant?” TOUGH. Whenever I need a Mexican fix, I get it from Mexicali, Tia Maria’s, et al. But I can’t utter a name that does not bring out the fervor I have for Mexican food… not until I encountered Zapata’s.

Emiliano Zapata as a president of village council, he campaigned for village lands confiscated by Hacendados. His slogan was “Tierray Libertad,” which probably meant free land advocating that lands should not be foreign-owned.

Good reviews about Zapata’s are abound and that’s one of the reasons why it was on top of mind when we were in Pampanga for a food trip. We tried Everybody’s Café (San Fernando) for lunch and traveled to Angeles Pampanga to have dinner at this Mexican restaurant. From San Fernando, it took us 1 hour to get to Zapata since we got a little bit lost. At around 8pm, we reach the place.

As you enter the heavy mahogany-type wooden door, you would see the fully stocked bar on the left and the main dining area on the right. The 50-seater capacity has two dining rooms separated by a green abaca (?) woven partition garlanded with little sombreros, garlic bulbs, guitar and chilies. The color scheme of green and red reveals its Mexican heritage from the chairs to the Caramba sauces, placemat, sombrero display, and chilies. The wall is also bedecked with lizards, sombreros, sun, corn, and onion bulbs. Looking south, black outline conscripts the boxed floor.

Details are evident in the design of this space. The swinging entrance door operates by weights. Another swinging door leads to the kitchen. Bricks outline the bottom of the walls. Framed photos of Emiliano Zapata decorate the walls and counter tops. The bar has a display of Mexican drinks, mostly variety of tequila and there’s a lone parrot with Corona. Washrooms are tagged as Señorita/Damas and Señor/Caballero. Corona Extra Nightlight gives a Saloon vibe. Plastic cacti livens the area while a Mexico flag by the ceiling and vintage cash register seal the deal.

Perusing the menu, we’re glad to see that price was affordable. We placed our food order and satisfied to see that following the ambience, the presentation and taste were also as appetizing.

On the Table

Tortilla Soup PHP 80

Delicious combination of chicken broth, vegetables, spices ladled over tortilla strips. It was the ideal soup to warm our appetites. The warm broth silenced my hunger pangs while its flat taste slow-tuned the burst of flavors we’re about to sample.

Quesadilla PHP 130

Lightly grilled flour tortillas filled with imported cheese, onions and jalapenos. For Bubba, it was the Quesadilla that started the pact. It had the right proportion of cheese, onion and jalapeno to enjoy every bite.

Chili Con Carne PHP 95

Originally a Texan dish, which has become a “Border favorite,” served with diced onions and shredded cheese. The tortilla was served on an enclosed shallow clay pot container. It had more beans than the beef but it was delish nevertheless. I think Chili con Carne is better with tortilla than cornbread.

Fajitas PHP 290

Grilled strips of marinated beef brought sizzling to your plate with Mexican refried rice and grilled peppers. Served with tortillas, salsa, and sour cream. Their sizzling plate was served on a larger than usual wood plank that saves my hand/arm from getting scalded. The beef was well marinated and grilled to perfection –it was really soft and juicy. The fun part was filling our tortilla sheets with beef, refried rice, grilled peppers, sour cream, salsa the way we individually liked it.

Strawberry Margarita PHP 150

Beer PHP

I told Bubba that he’d heighten his adoration for Mexican food with a cold bottle of beer. Beer complements the cuisine.

The medley of different flavors represents Mexico’s lively multicolored chow culture.

Zapata’s irrevocably gave me a definite answer to Q3. After several years in the business, Zapata’s still has a comfortable and pleasing ambience. The servers are professional, knowledgeable and courteous… and the food, clearly outstanding.