Last Sunday heralded the conclusion of the highly successful Fete de Wasak, a two week festival dedicated to the art and pleasure of sound. The event was graced by different noise artists from various countries. One of them was Paris-based Tujiko Noriko, whose ethereal voice, coupled with her dissonant instrumentation, made for a fitting opening to the festival. Often cited as Japan’s answer to Bjork, Nuriko’s music jumps from lulling to jarring, what you get if you had an angel sing lead for a band of demons heavily into new age. Also included in the opening were performances by Kate Torralba and Malek Lopez, the latter collaborating with Chef Nino Logarta to create a symphony of cooking sound.

I got the opportunity to sit down with Nuriko, who was gracious enough to share a few things about her art, her music and her life:

How have you been?

I’ve bee good. But physically, I’ve been feeling like I’m 200 years old because I’ve been traveling a lot recently and I keep buying cheap tickets and the transit can be horrible. But I’m happy. I’m happy.

Where has work brought you?

I was in Seoul for work, I went to Shanghai, then I went to Taipei, then I went back to Paris, then I went to Belgium for work. Before that I was in Bali, then I was in Switzerland too. I left two days ago to Rome for transit, then I went to Tokyo just for transit but waiting seven hours in the airport, then I went to Taipei because of this cheap ticket that I bought, then I had to sleep in Taipei, then I came to Manila. Bravo! But I could sleep in Taipei last night so that was nice.

Is it your first time in Manila?

Yes. It’s really nice. A bit messy, which I like. It was my first time in Seoul too. It was really organized and clean. I wouldn’t say it’s a boring town but I like something with movement, though I think Manila has too many cars. And they are big, big cars.

Do the places you go to inspire your music?

I think maybe after a while because at that moment, I (tend to absorb) the places and people around me. I have to be really angsty to get really inspired, but everything that happens can be a source of inspiration.

What inspires you?

I think lights have something, (especially) when I’m in vehicle like a train or bus because the light is moving. The view is moving as well so there is a lot of visual stimulation and I also can be a bit angsty because I’m alone.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a musician?

A friend and I were making music for a major label. They told us that our music was ‘too dark.’ They said nobody would buy it. I thought ‘I can make music on my own. I don’t care about all this.’ I was about 23. I was living with my boyfriend then. He had a synthesizer in the house, which I started to use to make music.

Did you have a hard time getting people to understand your music?

I still do. My mother told me, ‘Noriko, why do you make such boring music? You make me fall asleep.’ She also said ‘Maybe you should dance during your concert.’ I completely understand all those ideas but I don’t want to do that.

What kind of music do you listen to?

(Before I got into noise music), I used to listen to Japanese folk songs because that’s what my older sister listened to. I really loved it. I wasn’t very much into American or English music.

You have a lot of fans who don’t speak Japanese.

(Language) is not necessarily a big element of my music. It’s a big motivation for me to make music but it doesn’t need to be something heavy for the listener. But it’s true, when I make music, words are important for me because I sing and that’s something really personal and something emotional.

What do you do for fun?

I don’t understand the concept of vaca[y]. French people, they are crazy about having vaca[y] -- vacation -- and this I don’t really understand.

If I go to the seaside, after a day, I start to become a bit (listless) or something.

What do you want to do that you haven’t done yet in your music?

In my music, I want to rap because it sounds so cool.

What are you working on now?

I just finished a collaboration a month ago. I think I’m coming out with a solo album next year. At the moment, I’m writing a script for my new movie, and it’s taking a long time.

It’s my third movie. It’s going to be about a silent musical. Three orphans make a film and one of them loses her voice in the middle of it all.

What do you want people who listen to your music to experience?

If they can discover something, it would be nice.

For some reason, the internet brings out the ugly in a lot of people. The anonymity of being a computer screen seems to turn perfectly normal people into comment machines that think anonymity gives them the license to say anything, no matter how hurtful or insane or off topic. Comments from people like that become noise on the internet. Unwanted, not useful, taking up space. And since more rational people have more things to do than pay attention to these blatant attention seekers, the uncouth are left to think that their behavior is okay; and they prosper.

Now, in a feeble attempt to link icky internet noise with the joyful, glorious, celebratory notion of celebrating, reveling in actual sound, I would like to invite you to check out Fete dela Wsk!, a two-week sound festival dedicated to contemporary electronic, digital, and experimental sonic art.

From November 19 to 21 and November 24 to 28, this two-weekend event, which will take place in nine diverse venues in Manila like B-Side and The Collective, Parallax Studio, North Syquia Apt., and even Victoria Court, showcasing the gritty, unencumbered side of the city’s underbelly.

Presented by the SABAW Media Art Kitchen, a not-for-profit organization committed to curatorial and research-based production of new media art, Fete dela WSK! will display the works and performances by local and international artists—from France to Thailand to Taiwan to Singapore, Slovenia, and Japan. The festival will have over 50 participants from far-flung destinations in Asia and Europe. The event will serve as a hub for those passionate about the progression of sonic art, music, moving images, and experimentation in the cultural landscape of digital art and media.

Participating artists include acclaimed Japanese avant-pop, experimental musician Tujiko Noriko; Tad Ermitano, who experiments with the principle of transduction as a field of sonic exploration; Kawayan de Guia’s musicmachine boxes; as well as the esteemed and multiawarded French duo HeHe (Helen Evans, Heiko Hansen) whose work uses cutting-edge tech to critique systems of control by creating a personal counter surveillance software that monitors police activity.

But beyond the kick-ass musical and visual lineup, Fete dela WSK! is all about how performers from different cultures and backgroundsea learn from one another, thanks to the vast and varied technological interconnections that take place every day.

The event kicked off with a live performance by Paris-based Japanese singer Tujiko Noriko last November 19 at Parallax Studio and will close on November 28 with a special performance by the experimental theater troupe Sipat Lawin and a site-specific video installation by Slovenian artist Martin Baraga Bricelj at Victoria Court.

I'll be posting an interview with Tujiko Noriko within the week.

Check out http://www.wskfete.com/ for more details.

Last Sunday, a crowd gathered outside a building along emerald Avenue in Ortigas to witness the last hours of NU 107. For 23 years, NU 107.5 has been the bastion of the kind of music that other radio stations did not dare play, or at the very least, was the first to play music that would later become mainstream hits, before the mainstream paid them any attention (They were the first to play Hanson, for example, if you can believe it). And on November 7, 2010, it would cease to exist, as it would be reformatted into another soul-sucking generic radio station.

NU was also the gateway for many bands who needed an audience, bands who were starting out, as well as for bands whose unique brand of music left them out of other station’s playlists. Everyone has an NU story, about how the station changed their lives, gave the local rock scene hope, helped them get through trying times in their lives. Here is mine.

I first discovered NU in my freshman year of college. I remember the moment clearly because of the enormity of the way it hit me then, and the way it affects me until now. I was sitting on the AS steps in UP Diliman, waiting for my dad. The sun had just set, the campus newly coated in darkness. I was fiddling with my walkman, bored with the stations I normally listened to, annoyed at how all the songs seemed to sound the same, seemed to blend into each other. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I only knew that I was restless, and that I wasn’t content.

A little background, which I assure you is essential to my story. Growing up, I have always, always been ridiculed for my choice of music. When I listened to boy bands, my cousin laughed because I didn’t listen to Bread. My high school classmates didn’t understand why I preferred grunge to sappy love songs. My parents thought that everything I listened to was noise. In short, I grew up thinking I was a music freak, and that I would never find anyone who understood me (hey, it was the 90’s, everyone was angsty then).

Now back to the younger me sitting on the As steps in UP, aimlessly rolling the walkman radio dial back and forth under my thumb, searching for something that wasn’t banal pop. I slid the dial to the very end of the bandwith, and that’s when I heard it. A dark beat, followed by voices both ethereal and damned. I had found myself listening to Veruca Salt’s “Shutterbug,” the first song I had ever heard on NU, a fitting introduction to an awesome station that would be instrumental in my music education.

It was the only radio station I knew of that would play songs by The Pixies, Tori Amos, Suede. It introduced me to one of my favorite bands, Placebo, as well as to many local bands like Fatal Posporos, Greyhounds and Cheese. I remember tuning in to one of their talk shows because the guests were local comic book creators Alamat. I liked Zach and Joey in the Morning so much I convinced my groupmates to interview them as part of a project. At a time in any person’s life when acceptance is a big deal, just knowing that there was an entity out there that felt the same way was comfort enough.

As I grew older, my radio-listening habit petered out, then died altogether. Strangely enough, my ties with NU didn’t. I’ve guested on RockEd Radio to talk about horror, been a judge for the 2009 Rock Awards and (probably the moment I’m giddiest about) been greeted on air on Let’s Fun (because who doesn’t get giddy when greeted on air?).

My story is not special. There are many stories like it, how NU has touched a life, introduced new music, made the world a little less lonely, and the evidence of this was standing outside, lighting candles, cheering as the NU rock jocks said their last goodbyes, played their last songs, all of which had to do with endings, and how they needn’t be so.

The crowd grew thick and as the clock neared midnight, the first strains of the Eraserhead’s “Ang Huling El Bimbo” blared out over the speakers, stunning the crowd into momentary silence that gave way to a cheer, then to singing as the crowd sang along to the last song that NU 107 would ever play, a goodbye to a station that changed the lives of so many. After that came NU’s final sign-off announcement, followed by the National Anthem. People sang along to that too, especially during the last part, the part that goes “ang mamatay ng dahil sa ‘yo.”

A fitting end to a radio station that was in a class of its own, a station that served its purpose, now laid to rest.

Goodbye, NU. You were my gateway to good music. I truly do not know what I would be now without you.

Leaving your comfort zone really does produce the most interesting results.

In my case, what started out as a trip to watch a great film ended in a fun dinner with the most random of people.

I had been sick (as in really really sick, as in it-might-be dengue sick) for a few days when Erwin Romulo of the Philippine Star told me that I should watch Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jo, 1957), which was showing at the CCP as part of the Kurosawa Retrospective sponsored by the Japan Foundation in celebration of the celebrated director’s 100th birth anniversary. Since I like Kurosawa and was sick of staying in bed, I thought “why not?”

So after an incredibly draining magazine shoot (another story in itself), I made my way to the Cultural Center of the Philippines with the straightforward plan of watching pictures get flashed onscreen in a darkened room, then heading home to work and rest.

Thankfully, the universe had other ideas.

Throne of Blood is basically Akira Kurosawa’s interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but with samurai. The film was in black and white, and shown in 35mm reels that have made the rounds of different countries from Japan to the US to France. It was an enthralling experience. Instead of three witches and a cauldron, there was a forest spirit with a spinning wheel. The only annoying thing about the whole experience were the girls behind me who kept talking throughout the film and squealing that Lady Washizu (Lady Macbeth) looked like the ghost Lotus Feet from Feng Shui. Thankfully, Kurosawa’s genius transcends blabbing girls who should know better than to talk during a screening.

After the movie, I bumped into director Marie Jamora (who later told me that I had missed National Artist Eddie Romero at the screening), who left right away; Erwin, news anchor Shawn Yao, who in a poll was named 2nd hottest newscaster in the Philippines (the first one being Pinky Webb), UP College of Fine Arts professor Cesar Hernando and Pupil frontman and ex-Eraserhead Ely Buendia. After standing around for a bit, I made to say goodbye when Erwin asked “Don’t you want to have dinner?”

Twenty minutes later, we found ourselves in Suzhou, a 24 hour Chinese restaurant in Malate, ordering up a ton of stuff that ranged from mustasa rice to vegetables in oyster sauce to siomai to xiao long bao (siomai-like things with soup inside that the restaurant is known for) and talking about everything from the UP Film Department to Eddie Romero’s B movies to what exactly mustasa was to where to find the best xiao long bao in Manila (Shawn and I are of two minds over this). Except for the motley assortment of people at the table, the dinner was quite normal. In any case, it was fun. And judging by how we decimated everything on the table, it showed us how hungry we were as well.

Afterwards, it was time to go home. After dropping off Ely and Prof. Hernando, Erwin, Shawn and I got to talking about the film and dinner. “That was an interesting bunch,” Shawn said, “Someone should have taken a picture.”

“You should blog about it,” Erwin said. Which, I think, was the next best thing.

The point of this entry isn’t that we had dinner with people who almost couldn’t get out of the CCP for the people asking to have their pictures taken with them. The point of this entry is that when you leave what you’re used to, when you try something new, sometimes, the results are pleasant and surprising and show you that there’s a big world out there with possibilities you could never have expected. Like dinner with old friends and new acquaintances.

As we rode home, talk turned, as it is wont to because it is September, to Alexis Tioseco, who was murdered with his girlfriend Nika Bohinc on the first day of this month last year and whose case many seemed to have forgotten about, but which Erwin and a few other people continually strive for people to remember. I later got a text from Erwin that pertained to blogging about the evening, but for prose purposes, I would have liked to imagined that it was something that he said on the drive home.

He said: “Kurosawa to dinner to whatever. Write it all down now. Write for all of us and perhaps for Alexis. He would have been with us.”

I imagined that he would.

So thank you, Kurosawa San, for creating great films, for bringing people together to see them, and for enabling a delicious dinner.

By the way, the Akira Kurosawa Film Festival is still ongoing, this time in the UP Theartre in Diliman. Check out http://www.jfmo.org.ph/articles_arts-and-culture/film_festivals/arts_and_culture_film_festival-kurosawa.php for schedules and details. Admission is free.

Remember, remember, the first of September.

Exactly one year ago on this day, two lives, young, in love, still in the middle of making a difference, were snuffed out, taken away abruptly, without warning, leaving a scar in the worldspace they were meant to occupy.

Alexis Tioseco, film critic and founder and editor-in-chief of Criticine, an online journal devoted to the intelligent discussion of Southeast Asian cinema, and his girlfriend Nika Bohinc, also an established film journalist, were gunned down in Tioseco’s house. He was 28. She was 30.

A year later, that scar is still open, ragged, raw, unhealing.

And if his friends and family have anything to say, it will stay that way until justice has been served.

You see, just like the majority of crimes, of murder cases in the Philippines, nothing has happened, the bureaucracy moving like oil on seawater, coating everything it touches until it drowns, is forgotten.

Gunpowder, murder and plot

Since the case made the news when it happened, and since the people involved were authorities in their fields and not quite Filipino (Tioseco was Fil-Canadian, Bohinc was Slovenian), the police seemed eager to cooperate. A botched robbery, they said. An inside job, accomplices of Criselda Dayag, a maid Tioseco had hired a month before. Criselda had let the men in. The men had tied and blindfolded Manang, Tioseco’s older helper, and lain in wait for Tioseco himself.

Later, they shifted the blame onto Danilo Jomoc, an employee of Tioseco’s family business, a man who had known Alexis since childhood, a man whose son Alexis was helping send to school. Jomoc was thrown in jail and ironically, it was Alexis’ friends and family who rallied to get him out. The police were incensed, upset that the case could not be closed so easily. “Aren’t you happy that someone is in jail?” they implied.

Not if it’s the wrong guy.

I see no reason why murder should be forgotten

This year, on what would have been his 29th birthday, Alexis’ friends and family staged a screening of select films curated by Alexis himself for a festival. I remember asking his brother Chris how the case was progressing. His response was hopeful, even optimistic, amounting to “We’ll have them soon.”

It has been seven months since that screening. Nothing has happened. Alexis and Nika’s murders remain unsolved.

Tonight at 8pm, friends and family will once again gather at the Tioseco home at 39 Times St., Quezon City at 8pm. A candle and prayer ceremony will be held, and according to RockEd’s Gang Badoy’s Twitter feed, the Tioseco family will give a statement to mark the first year after the murders. Afterwards, a film screening of Mike de Leon’s Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising will be projected against the gate.

The event is open to the public. Called Babang Luksa, it is the Tagalog term for when a group of people gather together to make the end of the time of mourning for a loved one, usually held either 49 days or a year after a death.

Just because the mourning has officially stopped, however, does not mean that everything is fine, that people can forget this ever happened.

A year gone by without results isn’t going to make people move on. It’s going to make them angry. And at this point, anger is what we need. Because the guilty have to know that they haven’t been forgotten. And like Chris Tioseco said on his brother’s birthday seven months ago, “We’ll have them soon.”

In my earlier post, I talked about hard work and getting along with others as part of a recipe for success in an office environment and a lot of people - me included, and within the post, too - brought up the question of where the line between being nice and helpful ends and being a brown noser (sipsip) begins.

We've all encountered the sipsip - the person who seems to be on the boss' good side all the time without having to do a shred of work. All the sipsip's time is taken up complimenting the boss and spreading gossip about everyone else, to put it simplistically. If your boss is smart, he or she knows what's going on and won't let the person's brown nosing color how that person does his job. Unfortunately, quite a number of bosses would rather be flattered than be discerning.

Being sipsip is different from being the boss' favorite, though they tend to overlap sometimes.

The boss' favorite is the golden child, the employee who can do no wrong. Sometimes, this is merited, like if you a have a super smart, super efficient officemate who constantly rallies his team to produce better and better results. Such a person deserves more than to be a favorite, such a person probably deserves a promotion.

There are times though that a completely incompetent or power hungry person will somehow be the boss' favorite. This person could screw up monumentally or mistreat her co-workers or subordinates and will not get so much as a reprimand for it. I have horror stories from my past jobs about people like this and I'm sure you're wondering if I have some magic formula to make pests - I mean - people like this go away.

The sad truth is, I don't.

Whenever I've encountered a job that involves a person like this, I always leave because if I don't, I know I'll go nuts.

Eventually, I got so tired of dealing with boss' favorites, and of office politics in general, that I quit my last job and decided to go freelance. So far, I've been lucky, but only because even though I keep my own hours, I still treat it like a job. But more on that later.

I know that most people don't have the luxury of quitting their jobs just because they don't like the way things are run. I'm not saying that quitting is something that you should do, only that it's what I tended to do. To the millions of people who have to go to work every day and deal with brown nosers and blatant favorites, I admire you. You are way stronger than I will ever be. And it is to you that I direct this question:

How do you deal with sipsips and/or favorites?

I sincerely would like to know.

Part Three of what I learned in Dr. John Maxwell's "Leadership in Challenging Times" seminar:

Dr. Maxwell gives three foolproof pieces of advice for getting ahead in your career. Warning: Will contain hard work.

1. Do a bit more than the average person

Dr. Maxwell advocates getting to work early, having a 30 minute lunch and staying a bit late.

"I'm amazed at how many people are in love with the average," he says.

Average is what you do not want to be.

Jeffrey Fox, another author, actually has an equation for this.

He says to come in 45 minutes early to do prep work and leave 15 minutes late to finish up.

Not only does this create a good impression, doing prep and cleaning up actually prepares you for a productive work day.

Industriousness, coupled with strategic thinking, makes for an excellent employee, and excellent employees are oftentimes acknowledged.

2. Everyday, do something for your coworkers that is not expected of you

"Instead of trying to compete with others, complete others."

That piece of advice will probably go against every bone in your body, even the funny ones.

After all, isn't everyone supposed to pale in comparison to your glowing record of good conduct?

No. First of all, that's succumbing to the crab mentality.

Second, you're just going to make everyone hate you.

Everyone, except those with the blackest of hearts, wants the good guy to succeed.

Besides, if you get promoted, you want everyone on your side.

They're going to be the, forgive my quote, "wind beneath your wings."

Being nice is not something you can force though.

People can smell "plastic" a mile away and being known as a plastic person is worse than being known as a mean one.

3. Ask for a 10 minute appointment with the owner of the company

This is a tricky one.

I myself don't know if there's wisdom in doing this (lest you be accused of brown-nosing, among others) but Dr. Maxwell claims that the people who've done it have had excellent results.

The meeting should be short, because your boss is busy and you don't want to take up his time.

You introduce yourself, thank him or her for giving you the opportunity to work in the company, give him or her your cellphone number and tell him that if s/he needs anything business-related done, s/he can call you anytime. Then leave.

Your boss may never call you to do anything, but you will certainly have left an impression.

Again, I'm not sure how the third item will work in the Philippine setting, but just doing the first and second ones will help you get ahead in work.

At the very least, it will make you a better person.

I've been craving Pad Thai for weeks now, going around the metro trying whatever Pad Thai I can get my hands on, all of them being failures (The high-end, mid-end, and low-end versions I’ve tried turned out to be all crappy).

I usually head to Soms or Chariya when I want a Thai fix but they're both out of my way, which is why my friends have had to put up with my Pad Thai yearnings on all my social message updates.

To stop me from talking about Pad Thai already, folks have been suggesting places where I can satisfy my craving. The one most mentioned that fits my criteria of conveniently located and affordable was Jatujak.

So when I found myself in Megamall one day, I seized the opportunity to see if I could fulfill my Pad Thai craving.

I don't know why I've never eaten here. Probably because Thai food is something that has to be shared to be enjoyed, and I'm either usually alone or with folks who aren't too keen on the cuisine.

The trip was unplanned, so I don't have photos.

Since I was alone, I only got to order two things: Pad Thai (Php185 for shrimp, Php175 for chicken)and Thai Iced Tea (Php78).

The Thai Iced Tea came in a glass so tall its straw was forever threatening to Fall in. A good problem to have, I think.

The drink was served cold (dapat lang!) and was refreshing, though the milk seemed already blended in instead of poured separately.

The mix might be a bit too milky for some (I could taste a hint of evaporated milk) but since I'm quite fond of milk, I didn't mind it too much.

Then came the Pad Thai. First of all, it was served hot. As in I could still see some steam rising. A good sign.

Also, I could smell it as the waiter put it on my table. A wonderful aroma.

Of all the conveniently located Pad Thai I have tried, this one came the closest to satisfying my craving. Sweet, with a sour undertone, a mix of textures; crunchy, meaty and full.

It wasn't as flavorful as I would have wanted but that was easily solved by the addition of more Pad Thai sauce (I'm probably being a barbarian about it. Oh well.).

The staff, by the way, was extremely helpful and courteous.

I was there during off hours and everyone was on their toes, smiling, attending to the needs of the customers who dropped by, whether they were ordering one dish or five.

I plan to go back, by the way.

I still have the rest of the menu to explore, and the Thai Iced Coffee to try.

This is a continuation of the stuff I learned at Dr. John Maxwell's "Leadership in Challenging Times" seminar last year.

According to Dr. Maxwell, you only need to do five things to reach your goal.

What those five things are will be up to you, and will depend on your goal.

This is what he calls "The Rule of Five."

For example, Dr. Maxwell wanted to become an in-demand writer and motivational speaker.

His five things to do were:

1. read

2. file

3. think

4. ask questions

5. write

Now here's the hard part: you have to do those five things EVERY DAY. No excuses.

You want to write a novel? Write every day. You want to be a pop star? Sing every day.

Make sure that every day moves you towards your goal, be it winning a Nobel Prize or world domination (okay, maybe not the last one).

As Dr. Maxwell says that "your success is determined by your daily agenda."

And as you can see, he achieved his dream by doing his five things every day.

Now he has written many books and is a highly sought-after motivational speaker.

He wasn't born rich. He didn't attend a prestigious school or grow up with children of people in power. He got to where he is by doing.

He worked intelligently (everything must lead you to your goal).

Still, Dr. Maxwell cautions that it shouldn't be all about achieving your dream. That would just make you a mercenary, and an unlikable one at that.

He says, "If you pursue your dream, keep your feet on the ground. Be grateful, be humble and understand that this could be taken away at any moment."

Don't neglect the human factor. Don't forget the people around you, don't forget that they have their own sets of dreams.

If you help them achieve theirs, chances are, they'll only be too happy to help you achieve yours.

So. Five things a day, everyday. That's all it takes to fulfill your dream.

Pia y Damaso in Greenbelt 5 may look slightly intimidating, but once inside, you'll find a few dishes that will take you back to the era of Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

This is because a lot of the dishes are taken directly from the books – remember the tinola scene? And the Tsokolate Eh? – or inspired by Noli and Fili characters. The dishes are a delicious mix of Filipino with accents from overseas.

The house drink is the Tubig ni Maria Clara (Php300), a pitcher of water flavored with cucumber, ginger, and citrus fruits. The drink is sweet, with a hint of cucumber coolness and the kick of ginger. It's refreshing and slightly peppery.

The Kua Pao Pan de Sal (Php225) is a marriage of the Chinese Kua Pao and the Filipino Pan de Sal.

Two big pieces of roasted pan de sal filled with braised pork belly in sweet sauce, roasted peanuts, sweet mustard confit, and fresh cilantro leaves.

The Pan de Sal is soft, the pork a nice mix of fat and meat.

The sandwich is savory and strangely lumpia-like (the fresh kind, probably because of the wansoy, which keeps flavor from getting redundant), with the peanuts adding punch.

The Black Olive, Cerveza Negra and Tuyo Pasta (Php275) is an oil-based pasta with a subtle but deep flavor that's slightly salty, slightly smokey. The tuyo bits give the dish extra flavor.

The Nga Nga Beef Salad (Php250) was named after the betel nut that was extremely popular with the old timers.

The salad is divided into sections: salty-sweet beef flakes, green mango pickle, red onions, Haw flakes, cilantro and arugula that are to be piled on lettuce leaves rolled like betel nut chew and eaten with one's hands.

The result is a sweet, crunchy starter that for some reason tastes very 80s.

An iconic dish in Noli is the tinolang manok.

Pia y Damaso's version, Tinola Chicken (Php300) has a dark, flavorful broth and a sharp aftertaste, which is a nice surprise for a usually mild soup.

Now for my favorite part of a meal: dessert.

The Diablo (Php150) is a bittersweet chocolate souffle flavored with spices and red chili peppers. I am a big fan of the chocolate and chili pepper combination and this dish did not let me down.

The chocolate tempers the chili's heat while the spices round everything out.

I love, love, love Sisa's Dementia (Php160), which I have been searching for two years, having tasted it when it was still "Dementia."

It is a "truffle cake with white chocolate almond pastille, dark chocolate mousse and ganache," layer upon layer of differently textured chocolate to create a dense, addictive cake.

Notice how I've refrained from making any references to Sisa's mental state. That's restraint, that is.

The De Espadana Quezo de Bola Cheesecake (Php220) is a feat of culinary engineering.

Named after Kapitan Tiago's social climbing wife, what looks like your everyday blueberry cheesecake is actually an edam-based cheesecake with santol, prune and fig compote.

The cake retains the quezo de bola's sharpness, the topping tasting like marmalade. Probably the only time I voluntarily ate prunes.

A ligher dessert would be Salvi's Canonigo (Php100), a meringue-based dessert named after the novels' thinnest priest. The vanilla creme and fresh mangoes it comes with add texture to what would otherwise be continuous clouds of sweetness.

If you're like me, you probably sweated through Rizal class. Pia y Damaso makes Rizal fun to revisit.

Like the books its food is named after, it turns Filipino food inside out, but in a good way.

Hotels have a reputation for being more expensive than necessary.

But sometimes, places like the Mandarin Deli, the Mandarin Oriental's deli and coffee shop, surprise us with tasty treats at reasonable prices.

The Quiche Lorraine (Php80) is eggy, like Chawan Mushi (Japanese steamed egg soup) in tart form. It's got a nice semi-flaky crust and cheese and meaty bits in every bite. One serving is also twice the size of a quiche you'd get at a coffee shop.

The Spinach and Ricotta Tart (Php85) is bursting with cheese and spinach. It tastes like a naked ravioli and served warm, is really good, especially if, like me, you love spinach. One of these, plus coffee or dessert, would make a fairly filling light lunch.

The Crispy Praline and Chocolate Cake (Php119) is dense and moist, each spoonful packed with rice-crispy crunch. It may be a small cake, but it packs a powerful punch.

The Tea Flavored Chocolate Mousse (Php119) is a densely-textured cake with a surprisingly light taste. The cake is infused with Earl Grey tea, which explains its fragrant flavor and bergamot undertone. This was a favorite.

A light way to end a meal would be with the Fresh Fruit Tart, fresh fruits piled on top of creamy custard separated from firm crust by a thin layer of chocolate. The fruits come in big pieces and practically overflow from the crust.

As I write this, I plan to go back and have more Spinach and Cheese Tart and Tea Flavored Chocolate Mousse. Pair it with a cup of tea and you have a great way to while away an afternoon.

Ordering from the menu might give you a heart attack, but if you stick to the dishes on display, you won't go over budget.

Last year, I was fortunate to attend a talk given by leadership guru Dr. John Maxwell.

He was very engaging and charismatic, basically putting forth ideas found in his many books.

Though the forum topic was called "Leadership in Challenging Times," some of the advice he gave can be applied to anyone trying to achieve a goal, in good times or in bad.

For example, when trying to reach a goal, Dr. Maxwell puts forth the Cost Question, the question that everyone must ask him or herself, and that is:

Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?

All dreams have a cost. The costs aren't always monetary. For example, pursuing a lifelong passion may be free, but it could eat up time you could be spending with your family. Find out how much you dream will cost you is part and figure out if that's what you really want/ can afford.

In the beginning, all dreams are free. In Dr. Maxwell's words, "It doesn't cost anything to have an idea." The payment comes later.

The dream is free but the journey isn't.

A lot of people get discouraged from pursuing their dream because of all the hard work it entails.

All dreams have a price, and "you're going to pay it sooner than you think," and it will be more expensive than what you initially thought it would cost.

Again, the "price" isn't necessarily monetary.

You could be raking in the dough at the cost of something else in your life, and it's really up to you which to value more.

Dr. Maxwell says that "you have to pay the price more than once" and that "you have to pay the price throughout your entire dream journey."

You can't rest until you've fulfilled your goal.

Off the top of my head, an example would be writing a novel.

It doesn't cost anything to write - at least in money. It does cost a lot of time and thinking, a lot of shuffling of schedules and making time in between work, family, and friends.

Then there's the writing. You have to write until the actual novel is finished. You have to write it, no one else will write it for you, in the same way that no one else will walk the dog if you don't schedule your writing time properly. You don't stop until the last word has been typed in.

That's paying the price throughout the entire dream journey.

Lastly, Dr. Maxwell says that “there are no shortcuts for dreams.”

You have to pay the full price for your dream (unless you are very rich, whereupon you can just hire people, but it wouldn't be as fulfilling), and you always have to pay in advance.

How much of your dream you achieve will be based on how much you are willing to pay.

Sounds scary, doesn't it?

There is always a lot of fear in the beginning.

But if you strategize correctly, the end will, more often than not, be worth it.