Sunday, October 13, 2024
The hustle and bustle that pervades the work week can take a toll on our health and well-being. It's hard to eat well when we barely have time to plan for meals, cook and rest during the week. Subsisting on to-go coffee, cafeteria meals and take-away food during the work week may not be the healthiest option but sometimes we just don't have the time and the energy to cook.
I welcome the rest and the respite that the weekend provides. Sleeping-in, listening to my favorite Spotify playlists and playing with my fur babies are the kind of recharge I need. The weekend is also the time to eat clean and whole. Thank God for vegetarian/vegan restaurants like Monkey Grounds Coffee, it's now easy to have a healthy, balanced meal delivered to your home.
My favorite weekend reset is the Buddha Bowl. Monkey Grounds has 3 types of vegan Buddha Bowls: Buddha Bowl Spicy Peanut, Avocado Lime and Garlic Tahini. This one-bowl wonder has typically 25% grains (i.e. quinoa, Adlai or brown rice), 50% vegetables (red/green bell peppers, beans, sweet potato, pumpkin, greens), 20% protein (candied walnuts and chickpeas) and 5% herbs, spices and toppings (dressing of choice). A Buddha Bowl is filling and good for your body and soul.
For breakfast, I have my weekend oatmeal reset- a bowl of natural protein oats, paleo protein raw superfood mix and chia seeds. I either add hot water or soy milk depending on my mood. Of course, there's caffeine free drip coffee sans the sugar.
For more mindful meal planning you may want to check out Eating Well Meal Plans or the Eat This Much Automatic Meal Planner.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
If you haven't been paying attention to your art history classes in college, now is the time to get seriously reacquainted with the Masters the AI way! Go on art refresher course on Google Arts and Culture. While you're at it, download the Google Arts and Culture Filter on your phone for some out-of-this-world, art movement inspired portraitures inspired by you!
The weekend is here!
If you're around Jaro area and you're looking for a quiet place to have solo dinner after work (or if you are too lazy to cook when you arrive home), Cocina Project's cozy little restaurant across San Jose College in E. Lopez Street is the perfect spot for some mealtime me-time. From starters to sparkling drinks, the dine-in menu selections are kitchen tested, crowd approved dishes such as smokey honey back ribs and citrus orange chicken. They also serve family size portions true to their tagline "Food brings family together."
Aside from being budget friendly, Cocina Project has a lovely and cutesy ambiance to enjoy food alone or with friends and family. Bookmark this place in your list of eating places for tasty, value-for-money meals. See you at the Cocina. Happy weekend!
Cocina Project
E. Lopez Street, Jaro, Iloilo City
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Today, let’s lift ourselves up by raising our awareness on mental health fitness and issues. Check out Wondermind, the world’s first mental fitness ecosystem that can help us improve our mental and emotional well-being.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
I love Iloilo City's quiet, laid-back lifestyle but there is nothing to love about the worsening transportation problem brought about by the city's rapid development and population growth.
In car-centric Iloilo City, commuting remains to be problematic especially if you live in the northern suburbs. Despite being a growing metropolis, the city still implements 80's style transportation management that has remained unchanged since my elementary days. With the addition of a few traffic lights, some road widening efforts, and implementation of a jeepney modernization program, nothing has essentially changed to make travel time faster and more convenient for everyone.
These are areas of concern that remain unaddressed:
1. On Mondays, when people from out-of-town return to the city for school and work, there is an undersupply of modernized and traditional jeepneys. Not even ride-hailing services such as Grab Car and Angkas can keep up with the demand. If you do not have a car, it is impossible to arrive on time as the deluge of commuters is overwhelming. This problem can somehow be remedied if this kind of situation is anticipated by the transport sector.
It has been observed that buses plying the routes from the northern/southern transport hubs have an average turn-around time of 1.5 hours. Perhaps supplementary point-to-point PUJs are needed to transport passengers from out-of-town transport hubs to the city's district plazas where they can get connecting rides.
2. The unresolved traffic bottleneck at Jaro Plaza continues to dim the district's sparkle. Yes, the Graciano Lopez Park is beautiful but is surrounded by constrictive traffic jams and visual/noise pollution from across the plaza. Maybe it's time to create a system for the organized loading and unloading of passengers in this area. Itinerant vendors also need to be regulated to maintain cleanliness and sanitation.
3. The shiny and new modernized jeeps no longer look relatively new and shiny due to lack of maintenance. The jeepney modernization plan should have a corresponding maintenance plan to keep the vehicles clean, safe and fresh-smelling. The passenger assistance officers (aka conductors) should also look well-groomed and clean.
4. Modernized jeeps should have designated loading and unloading areas to keep traffic flow smooth and clear. This is also to instill discipline and awareness in commuters that they cannot be unloaded whenever and wherever they want.
5. The modernized jeepney Panay transport card should be conveniently available so commuters can turn to a cashless pay system.
6. There is also a need to review and re-assess the placement of pedestrian crossing markings especially in places that pose a danger to pedestrians (i.e. forks in the road, rotundas etc).
7. Waiting sheds should be utilized for its most important function-a waiting area for PUJs. Enough said.
There are still a lot of things to be improved to upgrade Iloilo City's transportation. All it takes are small steps taken one day at a time!
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