Condos vs Townhouses

First-time home buyers usually dream of owning a traditional, single-family home with a lawn or a backyard, but it might be better to start out your property-buying with a townhouse or a condominium unit. The biggest advantage both types have over the detached house is price - with condos and townhouses, you have more living space for you money. Sure, the many high-end condominium developments in the market today might be a little intimidating for first-time buyers, but getting a mid-level market condominium will cost a lot less than a detached house with a yard.

Another advantage of both condos and townhouses is that you don’t have to worry about maintenance at all - the association takes care of all those things. The downside is that you’re definitely going to have to live within the association rules. They might have certain provisions against owning pets or renting out your unit, and these restrictions might make it difficult for you live there or resell the property. Still, there are many benefits to community living, such as a pool, gym, and 24-hour security, which you could probably not have afforded on your own.

Depending on what kind of lifestyle you’re living, townhouses may have the upper hand over condos. A townhouse allows you to live more independently - you’ll have your own garage or parking space, you can enter through your own front door, maybe you’ll even have a little bit of back yard. Some people prefer condos to townhouses however, because the former tends to be located near bustling business centers, malls, transportation, restaurants, and other facilities - all of which are very attractive locations. Townhouses are usually located a bit further from business districts and are not as easily accessible through public transport.

It all boils down to a question of lifestyle choice. Would you rather live in a house or in an apartment? A townhouse works more like a single family home and provides more privacy, whereas a condo lets you live in close quarters with your neighbors. Both condos and townhouses foster community living on the residents but the former offers cosmopolitan living whereas the latter gives you a little more independence.

Sprucing Up a Small Kitchen

The kitchen is probably the most important room of any house. Not only is it the place where food is prepared; it’s where the whole family convenes and bonds together over a good meal. Small kitchens can be quite a challenge, both in terms of daily usage and design options. But just like any part of the house, you can make the most out of your small kitchen space with a little careful planning. Don’t get too excited and start doing a complete overhaul of your kitchen. Before making any major changes, you must first assess what your kitchen has, figure out which items can be moved, and which appliances are worth updating.

For the walls and ceiling, choose bright colors as these will give the illusion of more space through the tone and scale. Keep the color and scale in mind when choosing tiles for the floor. Patterns in laminate flooring and narrow-strip wood creates an illusion of length and depth, and just like the walls, lighter colors automatically enlarges a room.

Pick light finishes for your cabinets and opt for open shelves and glass cabinet doors to add depth to the room. If you don’t really want to experiment with wallpaper on your walls, spice things up a little by using wallpaper to line the shelves - provided that they match the overall color scheme. Also look out for cabinets that have special features, such as spice racks and appliance storage racks, so you can maximize your storage space.

Kitchen countertops are usually the first thing you notice in a kitchen and you can use them to make a bold statement. Look at the color scheme you chose for your walls and ceiling and use complementing colors for your countertops. The advantage of having a small kitchen is that high-end countertop materials like granite are more affordable because you’ll need less to work with. If you don’t want to go for the high-end variety, ceramic tiles are an excellent choice - they’re inexpensive, easy to install, and easy to clean and maintain.

As for the appliances, many manufacturers create small-scale versions of their most popular products, from refrigerators to microwaves. Bulky appliances will eat up counter space and will make the kitchen look smaller and cluttered. Make sure you choose “Energy Star” rated appliances, which are 10% more energy efficient than the average appliance and will save you money on your electricity bills.

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The Innovative EntrePinoy (Part 2): Innovations That Changed Lives

It is the innovative drive of the entrepreneur that continuously improves daily living. If we compare the way we live with the way that our grandparents and great grandparents did, wouldn’t we say we’re better off in the sense that we enjoy more and better products and product choices, equipment, appliances and gadgets that make us feel more comfortable and let us perform our work better, faster, and with less mistakes?

Here are examples of innovations which have changed our lives:

From the traditional clay stoves using wood fuel, we now have:

· Kerosene stoves

· Gas stoves

· Electric stoves

· Stoves that can alternately use gas and electric power

· Multi-purpose cooking ranges that can roast, grill, and bake

· Turbo broilers

· Convection ovens

· Microwave ovens

· Specialty cooking devices like shabu-shabu cookers with side grillers

· LPG-fueled grills

· Crock pots or slow-cookers

· Rice cookers

From mats, wooden beds or papag, we now have:

· Mattress beds

· Brass beds

· Canopied beds

· Double-deck beds

· Pull-out beds

· Sofa beds

· Folding beds

· Water beds

· Hospital beds (that can be cranked up and down)

· Beds equipped with air compressors guaranteed to prevent bed sores (for bed ridden persons)

· Orthopedic beds

From the industrial revolution to what is now known as the IT age, entrepreneurial innovation have been making profound changes in the quality of lives and life styles.

Innovations in Information and computer technology or ICT has wrought the most recent and most pervasive changes not only in industry, commerce, and the management of the workplace but every conceivable dimension of human life such as education, communication, recreation, music and the arts. Paperless offices, strictly no cash transactions, robotronics, voice recognition in computing – these may still be in the experimental stage but loom large in the foreseeable future.

If Steve Jobs and his partner didn’t put together the first Apple personal computer in his garage and if Bill Gates didn’t spearhead development of computer application software and other tools, can you imagine how differently we would have been leading our everyday life? You couldn’t have been reading this blog piece on entrepreneurial innovation, in the first place, could you?

Next: Filipino entrepreneurs who cashed in on their innovative drive.

Heny Sison shares popular Japanese recipes in cooking class

The easiest way to learn a recipe is by using a cookbook. But none really beats attending a cooking class and learning from the masters. The number of lessons is limited, but at last you’ll be able to know insider secrets and precious tips that aren’t otherwise imparted in the books. Most of the classes these days are interactive,which I think is better than sweating it by your lonesome doing ‘trial and error’ in the kitchen.

And this is how I found myself attending a cooking class by Cake Queen Heny Sison one rainy weekend. Ms.Sison has a spacious cooking school-cum-coffee shop in Waltermart Makati which was filled that day with eager students. No, we were not set to learn about how to make her trademark desserts. It was for something Ms. Sison wasn’t really known for, but for which she was an expert just the same - Japanese cuisine.

Am sharing below some recipes, as well as some snippets from the session.

First on the agenda was Temaki-Zushi or do-it-yourself sushi rolls.

First, make the sushi rice. Rinse 360 g. of Japanese rice, strain and let stand for 30 minutes. Add 19 oz. water and put in rice cooker. As the rice is cooked,let it stand for 10 minutes. Prepare ingredients for sushi vinegar: 4 tbsps. rice vinegar, 3 tbsps. sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir together. Transfer hot rice to a large wooden sushi bowl, make a mound. Pour sushi vinegar over and mix rice by cutting across it in a fast slashing motion. Cool by fanning.

Assemble the temaki-zushi. For this, you need 800 grams of the prepared sushi rice, plus 120 grams of tuna,kani stick,mayonnaise,cucumber, eel, nori seaweeds and Kikkoman soy sauce. Squid, shrimp, sea urchin, salmon roe and tamago or rolled omelette can also be used.

Take a half sheet of nori and place it on a rolling mat. Spread a thin layer of cooked rice evenly over the nori, leaving a one-fourth inch of nori on each side. Dab a little wasabi in a line across the rice.Place other ingredients on top or the side of the wasabi,but too many or it will not roll well. Roll it carefully and evenly away from you, pressing it firmly. Remove the rolling mat, trim any ingredients that are protruding from the ends of the roll and cut into 2-3 cm. length.

Serve with wasabi and soy sauce, horseradish and sweet-vinegared ginger.

The second recipe for our cooking lesson was the beef gyudon which is best served as a topping on a hot bowl of rice. Gyudon is a popular dish in most Japanese restaurants,including fastfood joints like Yoshinoya. I was quite happy to know that making it is moderately easy. You just need to have good, thin slices of beef.

How to prepare gyudon or beef on rice: Cut 500 grams of white onions lengthwise and then slice thinly. In a medium-size saucepan, bring a cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of water to a boil over medium heat. Add 500 g. of thinly-sliced beef and simmer for a few minutes, skimming the surface of the broth as it foams.Add 3/4 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup mirin, and 4 tbsps. sugar. Press down lid of the saucepan and simmer for three minutes.

Remove cover, add the onions and again simmer until the onions are transparent and soft. Ladle cooked beef and onions together with some sauce into a bowl filled with rice and garnish with pickled red ginger.

Kanin Club : one more good reason to go South

For someone like me who works in Manila, heading South is always an exciting moment. The South is a booming region with various technoparks, excellent housing developments, tourist spots, historical churches and cultural landmarks. Of course, it would be be a sin to omit the cuisine. Some of the best culinary fare in the Philippines can be found here, by reason of the fact that a number of Manila’s top chefs have chosen to relocate or establish their restaurants in the quiet suburbs.

A great example of this is Kanin Club. Foodies have been talking of this uniquely Filipino restaurant for a year now. Curiously enough, this growing chain of restos can be found in the South only: the maiden branch is in Paseo de Sta. Rosa in Laguna, which is conveniently along the road to Tagaytay; while the second one just opened recently at the Westgate Commercial Center in Alabang. Both establishments are packed with people during mealtimes, especially weekends; this, in itself, is a testament to Kanin Club’s success among rice-eating Filipinos.

At Kanin Club, rice in its various incarnations is,admittedly, the star of the show. We had this glorious-looking Sinigang na Sinangag which was accented by crunchy vegetable tempura that I was happy enough to munch on. The sinangag or fried rice just had the right sourness of sinigang without a trace of the broth. Being a sinigang lover, I was amused at the seemingly magical concoction. There were tomato slices, sliced green pepper and generous chunks of pork belly or liempo on the big heap of rice, but no soup. It was good enough to appease our sinigang craving just the same.

The different rice variations give one a reason to come back to the Club. A bestseller is their Loaded Fried Rice, deliciously heavy with Chinese sausage, ham, crab meat, green peas, pork, and slices of scrambled eggs on top. Other must-tries are the Chorizo Rice, Tinapa (’Smoked Fish’) Rice, Daing (’Dried Fish’) Fried Rice, Bagoong (’Shrimp Paste’) Rice and Aligue (’Crab Fat’) Rice.

A dish that has made Kanin Club talked about is their Crispy Dinuguan. The dish is traditionally made with pork blood, pork or some innards and flavored with vinegar, garlic and green pepper. The Club’s dinuguan is another magic concoction since it certainly looked like dinuguan on the outside but tasted like lechon kawali on the inside. It’s easy to say that they deep-fried the pork belly first before covering it in the rich stew of pork blood. The result is a dish that even non-dinuguan eaters like me will learn to appreciate.

Aside from the Crispy Dinuguan, there were other ‘crispy’ items on the menu, actually. We tried an appetizer of Crispy Liempo. Then there’s Crispy Pata, Crispy Pork Binagoongan, Crispy Tenga (pork’s ears) and Crispy Tadyang.

The restaurant’s menu is quite long. Some are traditional favorites, while the others are unique twists to Filipino dishes, like the examples just cited.

Here’s what the resto recommends for first timers, aside from the usual ‘crispies’ and rice dishes:

Crispy Liempo and Thai Green Mango Salad for starters; Sinigang na Tadyang ng Baka or Salmon Belly in Miso for soup; Sigarilyas Express and Patola in Olive Oil for the veggies; and their signature dessert, Turon KC.

Turon is saba banana wrapped in spring roll and fried in caramelized sugar. At Kanin Club, it is even made more delicious with the addition of ube haleya, macapuno, sweetened red mongo beans and other ingredients usually reserved for another dessert, the Halo-Halo. The turon can be ordered with ice cream (a la mode) or without, but we preferred it in its pure form. It was a fitting end to our memorable meal at Kanin Club!

For reservations and inquiries, call Kanin Club:

In Laguna - (049) 544-0332

In Alabang - 771-1400

House and Lot in a Planned Subdivision

I spent all my life living in a house and lot in a planned subdivision. Back in the 80’s when my parents bought their first home, all these developers were still creating subdivisions within Metro Manila for the middle class market, so it wasn’t too expensive to buy a lot and build detached house then.

Today, however, it’s a lot more difficult to acquire a house and lot in the city; developers are moving to the suburbs of Antipolo, Canlubang, and Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Land in these areas cost less, allowing developers to build a lovely detached house in each lot while creating a subdivision that feels like a country club or a resort. Although these suburban areas are known for the fresh air, gorgeous view, and a peaceful and clean environment, the biggest disadvantage is that they’re at least 45 minutes away from the business district centers of Metro Manila. For some families though, they feel that going home to a relaxing countryside atmosphere is well worth the daily commute to work and back.
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Mano Po Lolo, Mano Po Lola

Lolo, Lola

They are closest to our children, they are our parents. Most often than not, when either or both parents go abroad to earn a living, the children are left to the care of the lolas and lolas, either directly or indirectly. Indirectly, in the sense that it is they who oversee how the children are taken care of by aunts or yayas.

But lolos and lolas soon grow old. Time would come when their wards are old enough to take care of themselves, or when they join their parents abroad, or when they get to have a life of their own. Sometimes, it cannot be helped, when lolos and lolas are left by themselves. Lucky are those whose children bring them along with them to their host countries, and so are those who have children in the country to take them into their homes.

What about those who have no one with them? Those who are left with no choice? The Filipino culture leaves the children responsible for their aging parents—unlike those in the western countries where elders are ready or foresee themselves moving in homes especially designed for the elderly—where they can spend the rest of their lives in comfort, without getting into the way of their children who have families of their own to support.

Heavy in the Heart

How difficult it is for the OFW or for the immigrants, how heavy it is in the heart, to think of their parents living on their own. It would have been easier perhaps if the elderly were computer savvy, communication would be easy.

Homes for the elderly are not yet as acceptable in the country as it is with our western counterparts. There may be one or two, like the Golden Acres, an institution that cares for senior citizens aged 60 and above, both male and female who are abandoned, neglected and needy. Golden Acres is located in Quezon City under DSWD-NCR and the two Homes for the Elderly are located in Regions IX and XI. This is not a place though, where OFWs and immigrants would want to place their elderly.

Options

In the Philippines, the elderly people are led by the Coalition of Older Persons Association of the Philippines (COPAP), and the Federation of Senior Citizens Associations of the Philippines (FSCAP). Check with your local government authorities on how these NGOs work, and how they can include your elderly in their programs.

Measures to enhance government-NGO cooperation for older persons should be identified. NGOs should perform an important role in the care of the elderly, be it in the form of residential care, day care, rehabilitation and nursing care, and financial assistance. There is also a Bill that proposes a social pension to financially disadvantaged elderly in the amount of P1,500 month.

Mano po, Lolo, mano po Lola—mahal po kayo namin.

Photocredit:  here