The Digital Light Scribe » Photography

The End of My Photography…

Russel CPatalinghog — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:29:52 +0000

…blog.

Yes, after a lot of time deliberating on that decision, I have decided to let go of my photography blog, www.beginnersphotographyguide.info.

There were a lot of factors surrounding that decision but it’s all for the best.

From now on, I will only create my photography-related posts in www.russelcp.com.

Thank you to those that visited the site. And as always, if you have questions about photography that you think I can help with, don’t hesitate to email me at russel@russelcp.com.

Cheers!

PWD. .PWeDE! Helping Persons with Disabilities Bloggers night

Russel CPatalinghog — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:37:33 +0000

When I said I WANT to help the Philippines, my first goal was to find worthy advocacy to support. When my friend and fellow blogger Arpee Lazaro asked me to join the PWD. .PWeDE! Helping Persons with Disabilities Bloggers night and the launch of www.alfredvargas.net, I got interested. First, I’ve always wanted to help out in advocacies, and second, helping out PWDs comes easy for my family.

It was a very informative event for me and it made me realize that this advocacy is for me. Expect more news on this topic from my blog. For the meantime, here are the photos from the event. Enjoy!

[Show as slideshow]

Orchard Road’s Newest Play Area and Kiddie Meals

Russel CPatalinghog — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:58:51 +0000

Last Sept. 14, My wife and I got invited again to an event in Orchard Road Restaurant in Megamall. This time they are launching a new play area in their store to cater to the kids (of all ages). I thought that the play area would be just the normal playsets with slides or toys. I was wrong again.

The new play area was a state-of-the-art interactive setup where human motion is captured to interact with a projected display on the ground. The setup offers several games that you can play using hand and feet gestures. It was a collaboration of Ochard Road and Playpoint Philippines (http://www.playpoint.asia/). The setup is called EyePlay, an interactive playground system, combining intuitive human motion with interactive floor or wall projections.

The event was attended by the representatives and executives from Playpoint and Orchard Road and several bloggers. Ms Vivienne Tan graced the event and even joined us as we played the game samplings from EyePlay.

As an additional treat to us, Orchard Road also did a soft launch of their kiddie meals. Fortunately, we were early and got to take pictures of and taste the meals (lucky us).

All in all, the kid in me had a great time during the event. My wife and I enjoyed playing on the new play area, plus we had a great dinner of our favorite Singaporean food again.

So next time you and your kids are in SM Megamall and you have the urge try some Singaporean treats, visit Orchard Road and the new Playpoint Eyeclick play area.

Here are the photos from the event:

[Show as slideshow]

Chicken Rice and the Singapore Food Festival in Orchard Road (Mega Mall)

Russel CPatalinghog — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:29:06 +0000

Note: Much of what I’ll be doing in this post is share some trivia on Singapore food and culture. Why do I do know all these information? Well, I spent almost three (3) years there as a foreign worker. That experience has given me enough credibility on the subject, especially on the food. Read on…

Ok, the title may be confusing, but read on: There’s a Singapore Food Festival in Orchard Road, SM Mega Mall.

To remove some of the confusion, the original Orchard Road is in Singapore. The Road is a kilometer strip of shopping malls and is filled with shoppers, both foreign and locals. The Orchard Road I’m writing about is a restaurant on the second floor of SM Mega Mall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines. The owners of that restaurant built it to serve hawker-centre-type food. Again, for those that don’t know what a hawker center is, a hawker center is, wait… I’ll just list the three most common food places in Singapore so you understand better:

Hawker Centre – an organized area of stalls selling all types of local and western food. It is usually near a market, and is a covered structure that has no air-conditioning.
Coffee Shop - an area usually under an HDB block (the government built housing building similar to the BLISS projects here in the Philippines but definitely better and more expensive) that offers the same food in hawker centers. It’s composed of several stalls that, again, sell local and western food.
Food Court - an area for dining in malls, or commercial or business buildings that is usually air-conditioned. The food served here is almost the same as in the hawker centers but pricier.

These food places usually offer the same thing, but what makes them different is their location.

Back to Orchard Road, the restaurant. So, ok, the main idea for this restaurant is to offer the same food as those served in hawker centers, they even built the glass walled kitchen area for cooking, much like in the hawker centers, food courts and coffee shop of Singapore. Now, to commemorate the Singapore National Day last August 9, they launched the Singapore Food Festival with the Dining Pass promotion. I won’t go into the details of that because my good friend Josephine Bonsol of Cogito Ergo Sum blog already wrote about it at http://www.jobonsol.com/2011/08/event-orchard-road-launches-dining-pass.html. So guys, if you like to know about it, go to her blog.

What I’m writing about is more on the food and the experience from that restaurant compared to the real thing. And, then I begin…

During the event, I honestly didn’t try all the food they offered. I only tried my two favorite Singaporean dishes: Prata with curry dip and chicken rice. One thing I found interesting is that they call it Hainanese Chicken Rice. Interesting because, in Singapore, they just call it chicken rice. The first dish that got to my table was the Prata with curry dip. I ate the whole serving under 5 minutes. Then I had another plate of prata. What can I say about the taste compare to the ones in Singapore? Almost the same flavor and taste except for the curry that wasn’t that hot or spicy. For me that was a good thing, since I have hyperacidity and a splitting headache at that time. But for those looking for the burning sensation of the chili curry, you won’t find it in that dip. The taste was flavorful yet mild.

After I’ve had two plates of prata, I tried their chicken rice. First thing that struck me was the amount of chicken that was actually served with the rice: It was a real handful. It’s not the same 4 small slices you usually get in hawker centers and coffee shops. I think it was almost a quarter-chicken in that plate.

The taste? It’s what I’d expect from a hawker center. It’s not overly flavorful, but the sweetness is there. The rice was also just right, not bland and not to gingery, but flavorful. I usually have a second serving of chicken rice to fill me up, but because of the amount of chicken they served, and the rice that came with it, I ended my feast early and capped it off with Kope-C and Kopi Tarik. These two drinks were spot on Hawker center tasting.

I wish I had more time to taste the other dishes, but since I came in late, I only have the consolation that I can go back another day.

Would I recommend Orchard Road to my friends? To my friends that have stayed and worked in Singapore for more than a year, I would. To my friends who just spent a week or so there and claims to know Singaporean food, probably not. To those who haven’t tasted Singaporean food at all, sure I will.

To have an idea of the experience I had on that day, here are some photos:

[Show as slideshow]