World Cup 2014, Day 2: Speaking of 'surprises'...

...Spain left the world gasping as Holland gave them a surprisingly thorough whipping.
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by PAM


There was no furia in La Roja during their opening bout with their former challenger in South Africa in 2010 - the mighty Oranje.  The flying men in orange, while still pushed and shoved unnecessarily, did not have to resort to judo and karate this time.  They beat the Red side, mostly in the second half, in a fashion so reminiscent of the Spaniards' own brand of game for the last six years or so:  just beautiful!

Intense... that's what the first 25 minutes or so was like on the pitch:  the current World Cup holders asserting their supposed dominance, dancing, creating many chances for themselves... the 2010 challengers weighing their opponents' resolve, poking their

I don't mind losing... too much, but how I wish
that the score stayed at 1-2 instead of going at 1-5.

muscled attack here and there, showing menace on counter attacks, jolting the holders. You can almost see localized electric sparks flying everywhere on the pitch.  Intense.

The Brazilian fans are also adding to the intensity... booing Diego Costa loudly, showing their disgust toward the 'traitor' who wears red instead of bright yellow.  The 'traitor' is back on Brazilian soil... with his Spanish adoptive comrades.  Everytime he made a run for the ball, the stadium erupted in loud boos.  While that didn't seem to bother Costa, it seemed to have been shifting the localized sparks of pure energy to the Oranje side.   

And, then, Costa was knocked down - hard - to the delight of the (Brazilian?) fans.  It happened in the area, and so Xabi Alonso took to the spot.  He scored, 1-0 for the Spanish side.  The intensity went one notch higher... La Roja ran faster, more menacing, created more chances.  The uber industrious, David Silva, almost took the goal

Awesomeness.  Robin van Persie's goal on-a-flight. I
nominate this to be the Best Goal in World Cup 2014.  
(Photo credit: Reuters)

tally to 2-0 from a brilliant pass courtesy of Andres Iniesta... almost.  And then, out of nowhere, several yards from Iker Casillas' goal, a speeding Robin van Persie flew in a perfectly timed flight to head a beautiful cross-field pass from Daley Blind, willing his head to power the ball in a collision while his body was on full flight in a precisely calculated move.  His body reached and slid on the turf gracefully in a beautiful dive as the ball flew over Casillas' head - goal, 1-1.  Yep, that was indeed an absolute beauty!  Whew, just sublime.  Just in case, I respectfully nominate that as Best Goal in World Cup 2014!  

Fireworks!  The men in orange and their coaching staff celebrated with gusto, with a cute high-five between RVP and Louis van Gaal, while the Spanish side tensed visibly.  Game changer?  At that point, I thought it was just to make the match a little bit exciting.  However, now that we know what we know, I was very wrong, of course!  About a minute later, the referee blew his whistle... half-time.  Silence... the tension was close to snapping.

A few minutes after the resumption of the match, Arjen Robben muscled his way through Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos, right in front of Casillas.  The slippery Dutch beat the trio and brought the tally to 1-2.  There was a simultaneous leaping of orange shirts in the crowd... as the red ones fell on their seats with a thud.  They had no idea what was about to happen.  A throw-in from Wesley Sneijder, which was tapped in to the net by Stefan de Vrij brought the tally to 1-3.  At that point, the usually supercool La Roja boss, Vicente del Bosque, was on his feet... for one thing, Casillas may have been fouled by RVP before the de Vrij goal. Casillas appealed to the referee passionately, and he was shown a yellow. Tough luck!  The Spaniards started to look dejected... and scattered, with only Andres Iniesta showing unperturbed gut, trying his luck to cut their goal deficit - to no avail.  And then  RVP went at it again, beating Casillas, this time in a clinical finish, 1-4!  Robben followed suit, tried his karate-style flying kick to score a brace - he connected, bringing the goal tally to an official rout of the current World Cup holders, 1-5! 

Fernando Torres, who was shoved in to the pitch, last minute, had a quick opportunity to cut the Dutch lead, but as cold from the bench as he probably still was, he hesitated, and let the opportunity slip.  Robben tried to bring his goal hoard to a hat-trick, but by that time, Casillas' pride and the Spanish long-distance prayer over their "San Iker", saved them from an official crash out of World Cup.  Casillas kicked, punched, shoved... and it worked, a bit too late, but, hey... it's only the Group Stage.  There is a reason to believe that staying alive is possible... except that Chile beat Australia, 3-1, putting Spain at the bottom of Group B.   

Si, Del Bosque, siempre, will be spending sleepless noches.  He needs to come up with a quick answer.  The Spanish defense is a mess... no muscle, they lacked coordination, and without Carles Puyol, no leader to look up to. Iker committed many mistakes at crucial moments.  Oh, boy, I didn't think the day would come when I'd actually say that about Iker Casillas.  The midfield is not as precise, sharp and fast as back in 2010 in South Africa, and back in 2012 when they captured their second-in-a-row European Cup.  Nope, I didn't think I'd ever have to say that, too, with Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta still active. Their front line, while filled with talented men, are not as fast and not as connected to the midfield as, say David Villa, back in 2010.  Time for major revamp?  Perhaps.  More, importantly, I guess the Spanish men should put aside their colors at home, and concentrate on just being red... and things will fall in their right places.  

Never say die, boys!  Vamos, La Roja!

***

The Spanish Conquistadores completed their Italian Job

Viva, España!  Woohoo! 
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by PAM 

Europe and the world saw red!  Glorious day for La Roja! 

La Roja... Campeónes de Europa!

They did it! The beautiful Spanish Men in Red wrapped the Euro Cup with the Spanish flag in Kiev, Ukraine... and
Iker Casillas, Número Uno...
El Capitán de la selección
española de futbol.brought it home, to stay for another four years on Spanish soil. And they did it so superbly, so beautifully, so worthy of a place of honor in the history of the 'beautiful game'... made even more beautiful by the dazzling way they play it. 

Their victory in Ukraine is indeed historical... Vicente del Bosque González and his brilliant men, captained so ably by "the 1 and only", Iker Casillas, catapulted Spain to a place of honor in the history of the 'beautiful game'.  Theirs is the only other side (the other one is Germany) to have won the European Cup thrice! Theirs also became the FIRST and the ONLY side - ever - in the history of UEFA Euro to have successfully defended the title.  They won with a record margin, 4-0, too!  They also stand as the only European country to hold the European title back to back and the World Cup at the same time = hat-trick of titles, a FIRST in the history of... uhm, mankind!   :)

Following a number of eras of brilliant Spanish players with so much promise, but that stayed unfulfilled, Casillas's illustrious era, with Del Bosque's guidance, finally fulfilled the great promise of Spanish football brilliance. They continue to dazzle the world with the beauty of their game.  The streets of Spain, and other places in the world, flooded with red-donning fans who shared the joy of La Roja!

Glorious Age, indeed, for Spanish Football! Woohoo! 

The taste of defeat...

...is as bitter as victory is as, oh, so sweet.
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by PAM


No luck... and a lot of luck

And so, the current Cup holders took their last bow from this season's UEFA Champions League race - defeated in their very own "fortress".  Without luck, the mighty FC Barcelona was reduced to almost an ordinary team as they were ousted by the visiting London team, Chelsea FC, in the second leg of their semi-final tie at the formidable Catalan "fortress", Camp Nou.  And, I concede, it was a showing that was hard to be particularly proud of... with the Blues being reduced to 10 men before half-time as their captain, John Terry, shown a straight red card after knocking down Alexis Sánchez in the area, the visitors, with tons of luck on their side, still managed to keep their composure, stayed focused on their objective to move on to the final even when they were down, 2-0, and survived the attack from the hosts... winning with a convincing 2-2 scoreline, 3-2 on aggregate.

***
Barça was wanting a hero...

Nope, Lionel Messi didn't show up tonight... well, at least, not the Messi "we know" - no "red cape", no "magic wand"... and wouldn't
Leo? Is that you? But... where's the
red cape? and the magic wand?
Impostor! Where's our hero?you know it, he failed to connect a penalty shot and was shown a yellow card, too!  Aww... what happened?  Yep, it was an impostor who was wearing the #10 Barça jersey out there!  For whatever it's worth, the impostor was almost perfect in copying Leo's dribbling brilliance... and he had Leo's awesome eye for little cracks in the opponents' defense and to issue great assists, too. 

But, yeah, it was Sergio Busquets who showed the presence of mind and brought home the opening goal to put Barça ahead in the second leg of the tie.  It was supplemented by a fantastic finishing of Messi's pass by Don Andrés Iniesta into a fine goal to bring the scoreline to 2-0, in favor of the Catalans.  There was much jubilation among the crowd, as it appeared that the Catalans were going to be on a goal rampage at Camp Nou - a redemption from the last two defeats, one of which was in an El Clásico, at Camp Nou no less?  But just before half-time, Ramires, in a fine run of his own was found by the ball-stealing Frank Lampard, got away from the Catalan defense and beat, uhm, who else but Victor Valdes (?!!), to kick the crucial away goal that put Chelsea in a serious contention of a spot in the final, 2-1.  Chelsea led on away goal at half-time courtesy of the same duo who played Didier Drogba to slot the winning goal in Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the tie, Ramires and Lampard.

Busy, but never busy enough...

...to ignore Barça's awesomeness! :)
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by Philipina A. Marcelo


You bet, I've been waiting for an excuse good enough to set aside work for a few minutes to drop by here - yes, work on a Sunday night. *sigh*

September has been unkind so far... and I'm praying that it stops harrassing me with work and many other concerns. But it doesn't look like work will let up until the middle of October... so, I'm preparing to coil flat until then. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about my "lab affairs" lately... but the work involved to keep the "excitement" going while making sure that I stand between the students and the white board - on a regular basis - is horrendous! Aargh, I wish teaching didn't involve too much gear shifting... it's too energy taxing, even when one summons the ideality of Brayton Cycle! Ugh! I know... what a nerdy thing to say - and on a Sunday night, too! Tsk!

But enough about work... at least, for the next few minutes!

***
A thorough and painful sanding of the blade...

Ya know, I'd be lying if I'd say that the FC Barcelona - AC Milan 2-2 draw in their first outing in the Group Stage of the
Strike a pose. Barça's frontline and midfield
figuring out the AC Milan "Pato-esque" surprise.Champions League - in Camp Nou, no less - didn't shake me a litte bit... especially that it happened after another draw - with Real Sociedad at the Spanish La Liga. Barça conceded a super-early goal on the 24th second after the opening whistle via a superb Alexandre Pato runaway shot that took Victor Valdes - and millions of fans for that matter - by surprise. It was only after the scoreboard confirmed the Pato goal that Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets realized what happened - the Brazilian ghosted by them while they were still telling themselves what their roles were at the back. While uncomfortably stunned, the Catalans regrouped immediately and went on their attacking football game, with the forwards and the midfielders
Pato, surprises Barça. concealing a makeshift defense with fast passing. But Milan wasn't fooled, they kept pushing to exploit the thin defense during the first 15 minutes or so in the first-half, and Barcelona seemed to realize the opponents' awareness of their weak points at the back, and it affected their focus on the attack.

While the Catalans moved forward with one eye at the back, one genius in their side wasn't straying from the goal though. Lionel Messi kept the visitors busy all night, especially Alessandro Nesta, who did well trying to prevent the little bag of football fireworks from exploding. La Pulga set up Pedro Rodriguez for an exciting equalizer, and then David Villa sent a curling shot to the Milanese goal, via free kick, in a fist-pump-evoking beauty! Woohoo! It
Lionel Messi, always superb.did look like the Catalans were closing Camp Nou last Tuesday with a 2-1 win against the visitors from Milan, keeping ball possession almost all throughout the second half to protect their precarious lead, and trying to penetrate the Milanese defense for a cushion of a goal. But, on stoppage time, Thiago Silva found an "anomalous opportunity" and took his chance against Sergio Busquets via a header winner. That gave the Italian side their second goal and earning them the bragging right of having survived Camp Nou with a 2-2 draw - in their opening match against the reigning European Champs. I have to admit, it was quite a feat! Then again, AC Milan is Italy's best - the 2010-2011 Serie A champions... something that the Catalans seemed to have missed in their "reminders list" before setting out to meet Massimiliano Allegri's side from San Siro.

***
And brilliance blinded the football universe again!

While the season has merely kicked off, for a Barça fan, two consecutive draws in big games was quite worrisome. The Catalans set themselves up in a spectacularly high standards that a draw has become
Fabregas and Messi: megabrilliance.synonymous to defeat. But, just when pundits started writing-off (would you believe it???) the best club in the business today, the Catalans went on a goal rampage against CA Osasuna over at La Liga. The 2010-2011 Campeones treated their fans at Camp Nou (and elsewhere in the universe) with an 8-0 win. While that, in my opinion, does not make up for that losst opportunity in the AC Milan draw at Camp Nou last week, it did assure fans that the last two draws were anomalies rather than the tone of the Barça symphony this season. Nevermind what unreasonable pundits shove in front of us... and what José Mourinho thinks!

Yep, after a "Pep talk" on complacency in view of the previous two draws, Pep Guardiola loaded his big guns... and the Catalans fired at will in the field - mostly, from Osasuna's half of the field - clearly taking out "complacency" in their game equation. Prompted by Busquets, Dani Alves, who was playing in the right wing (and moving "all-natural" in that position, too, I must add) set the scoring pace with the opening big assist. Lionel Messi picked it up and turned it into an early lead. Cesc Fábregas then completed a nice
David Villa... and his new hairdo are lethal.Messi assist with a truly lovely volley. Later, David Villa joined the scoring party with a little zigzag here and a kick there. Fábregas then returned the favor to Messi as he set up the Best Football Player in the World to pick up a brace as the first-half closes with Barça tallying five goals, including an own goal from Roversio.

Pep Guardiola's men opened the second-half with "murder" rather than "complacency" in mind. The midfield maestro, Xavi Hernandez, put his boots on scoring mode, and picked up one via a follow-through from a Messi rebound. Fábregas then kicked one to a well-positioned Villa for a seventh goal, and a Villa brace. The Catalans closed the scoring spree by letting
Dani Alves, a pleasant surprise on the right wing.Lionel Messi give an all-in-one display of footballing prowess with a little help from Cesc Fàbregas, picking up his first hat-trick of the season - to the fans' tingling delight! Barça, Barça, Barçaaaaaaaaa!

Barça will face the current occupant of the La Liga Table top spot, Valencia CF, next. Surely, Valencia will take off shooting to defend their sumptuous rank... but Guardiola's men seem to have been cured from their alleged complacency syndrome that allowed the draw with Real Sociedad and AC Milan. Valencia will push them - hard - and I'm hoping that the Blaugranas will stand their ground... and go on attack - like there's no tomorrow! Visca el Barça!

***
And then there's this and that...

So, after Barça picked up 3 points to better their La Liga Primera Division standing,
If only Mourinho
could cover his (foul)
mouth like that...
more often!Real Madrid CF fell in the hands of Levante UD via a 0-1 loss, keeping their Liga points nailed at 6 and kicked down to 5th place... for now. Los Blancos opened their match against Levante with the injured Cristiano Ronaldo sitting it out on the bench, and had to finish the match with 10 men as Sami Khedira was shown two yellow cards before half-time.

Always looking for an excuse/scapegoat in defeat, José Mourinho naturally, and most specially, pointed at Khedira as the culprit... before adding his part of the blame, that is - just to avoid Madridistas wrath? And then, as his usual obssession of Barcelona, he said, "All points are important and it's better to lose one game than to draw two. Losing is tougher psychologically than drawing a match, but drawing two is worse than losing one." Sure, sure, Mou... now, would you like vinegar to dip those grapes in... just in case they aren't sour enough? And, oh, oh, by the way, would you please comment on Marcelo's second yellow card (which got converted to red card) for diving during your UEFA meeting with Dinamo Zagreb? :)

The good news is, Mou didn't poke anybody's eye this time. Now, that's an improvement! Looks like the psychiatric division of Real Madrid had been absolutely busy the past how many days. Poor Real Madrid... 'cause they have to put up with a jerk (sorry, can't find a polite term to describe Mourinho) like Mourinho! *sigh* And pity for the Madridistas 'cause they have no choice but to side with a deranged person like Mou, and make all sorts of pathetic excuses in doing so. *sigh*

Over at EPL, the pretty Portuguese tactician, Andre Villas-Boas, suffered his first
Red Devil Nani, impressive!defeat as Chelsea manager when Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils slapped The Blues with a 3-1 win at Old Trafford. While Chelsea went on ferocious attack that was more than impressive, Manchester United's speed and mind-connection-on-the-pitch was on such high level that there was no way for The Blues to match it. While Wayne Rooney went from a brilliant goal to a "say-what??" unbelievable miss, Nani was pure brilliance on the pitch, it was impressive! On the Blues side, while Fernando Torres did play wonderfully, and in fact, clicked with a goal
Fernando Torres, his best wasn't good enough.in the first half - hurray! - he blew a big opportunity (in a "most unforgettable" fashion, too - not in a good way) a few minutes before the final whistle... which sent Chelsea's confidence (mostly in him) blown to pieces. While ManU's fantastic win was at the expense of Stamford Bridge's pride, the match was a classic in its peculiar ups-and-downs, highs-and-lows, brilliance-and-booboos - one for the books! :) But the way ManU are running these days, they look like a side that is looking to win it all this season! That's good news to all football fans - excitement is in the offing.

Alright, I think that's all the fun I could have today. I have to do something to this threatening flu, while I set out to yet another BIG WEEK of incredible WORKLOAD! *sigh*

***
Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks!

Happy Easter!!

And I'm happy, it's Easter!
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by Philipina A. Marcelo


It's Easter Sunday!

God is Love... and He's alive! And the Christian world rejoices once again, celebrating the fulfillment of a promise, the promise of resurrection from death - the death from sin! A New Hope has risen... New Life, New Beginning. And we thank Him - the One who is almighty, all glorious and all loving for this gift of New Life filled with marvelous beauty.

Happy Easter to all!

***
And he did it... resurrected to a "new life"!

After 732 minutes of goal-less run since he changed jersey colors from Red to Blue and a total of 903 minutes including his run with Spain's National team, Fernando "El Niño" Torres has finally done it! He valiantly broke through the death of a depressed striker's goal drought to give Chelsea their second goal in their 3-0 win against West Ham at Stamford Bridge!

"From today, a new life," was what Carlo Ancelotti - Chelsea's coach - said about Torres's accomplishment, and Chelsea's chances for a title as the present season approaches its end. Torres's first goal for The Blues couldn't have come at a most opportune time. The win brought Chelsea to second place in the Barclays Premier League Table after ambling in the third place for sometime. Now, they are only six points below the leaders Manchester United FC and three points above third placer Arsenal FC. The Blues badly needed the win to get ahead of former second place, Arsenal, and keep their target of capturing the Premier League title within reach after being knocked out by Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals recently.

El Niño was thankful to his team-mates who never lost their faith in him, and supported him all throughout the time when he was struggling to break his scoring duck. I have seen many of their matches when Fernando Torres started playing with them... their enthusiasm in playing with him, and the trust as the playmakers passed the ball to him for a strike was unwavering - even when most of the chances they made were wasted as Torres missed one chance after another. Some of it may have even caused them their bid for the UEFA Champions League title. Pity.

Torres himself never stopped trying, even amidst criticisms from pundits and doubters asking if he was really worth £50m. When he wasn't trying to score, he was working to give a crucial assist to his team-mates, until Ancelotti finally set his foot under the pressure of Chelsea owners to win: while he sympathized with Torres, "Chelsea comes first."

And so, for the past couple of games or so, Torres sat as substitute for fellow striker Didier Drogba, no longer a part of the first 11. But he kept his cool and patience - always playing his part in the team when he comes on to play for the last 10 to 20 minutes of playtime, trying to make opportunities to score for himself and his team-mates. He behaved in the same way in their match with West Ham. When he came on for Drogba in the second half, he quietly got to work, providing a wonderful assist to Nicolas Anelka, which unfortunately didn't finish to a goal.

El Niño tried again, this time for a goal... it failed. When an opportunity presented itself in the rainsoaked Stamford Bridge, he raced to the goal with two West Ham defenders hounding him. The Stamford Bridge crowd were up on their feet and roared.

Could this be the day?

The field, which was soaked in the pouring rain, grabbed the ball away from Torres's feet as he sped towards the center of the goal. Realizing that he lost the ball, he slowed down to a screech and turned around for it, enabling a third defender to catch up with him, the other two defenders getting in front of him, and the goalkeeper had time to position himself for a save. The crowd let out another one of those now-familiar sighs of disappointment as they expected another foiled Torres attempt for a goal. But none of those seemed to deter El Niño from breaking through the curse of goal-less runs. He kept his composure... he reached for the ball with one foot, regained his balance, twisted his body quickly for a different angle other than what the three defenders and the goalkeeper were anticipating, and fired a passionate kick to the corner of the goal! Stamford Bridge gasped....

He made it!

And there was no one in Stamford Bridge who was not on his feet and cheering, admiring the determination of a very much criticized football warrior to turn fate's cruel curse around to his favor - and his team's favor, making all Chelsea fans ecstatic with absolute delight! I myself almost showered myself with my coffee as I shot up on my feet to cheer - from thousands of miles away! The next scene is well familiar - a whole team jumping to form a blue human pyramid on top of Torres amidst the pouring rain, and their supporters celebrating in frenzied cheers. A truly lovely moment! :)

Aaaah, the beauty of football - so unbelievable, nothing like it! :)

And here, the gift of Easter to El Niño and to Chelsea - "a new life"!


***
Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from Zimbio - thanks.

Super Sunday

...and I'm not just talking about the English Premier League!
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by Philipina A. Marcelo


No surprise

I did shout and "woot-woot" the whole time as I watched Chelsea battled Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on an English Premier League Super Sunday! The match was a "must-win" for both Clubs, as they tried to go up the League Championship Table - closer to the leaders, Manchester United (#1) and Arsenal (#2). Therefore, both sides started with their best men, with Chelsea opening with their epically expensive Spanish acquisition from Liverpool, the gorgeous Fernando "El Niño" Torres. The Blues had home advantage... and the Stamford Bridge fans didn't disappoint - not a surprise, of course! While the Citizens put up a tough contest, mostly preventing El Niño from scoring, the Blues trashed them via a 2-0 victory in an action-packed match. Of course, El Niño is yet to make his first goal for the Blues. The Stamford Bridge action was followed by another tight match between Sunderland and El Niño's former Club, Liverpool, which the latter won, 2-0, out of sheer pride - again, no surprise.

While there wasn't much surpise in the outcome of the matches, it was a satisfying afternoon of fantastic football!

***
A 3D surprise

As my throat was parched from all the "whoa-ing" and "aaw-ing", two of my sisters and I refreshed with some shopping at the biggest Mall in the Philippines, SM City-North EDSA, which is about five minutes away from our place - without the Parking wait, that is. :) While SM City has always been jampacked on weekends, there was an unusually big crowd at "The Block" - one of the newest additions to "The City". We went to check it out... and were pleasantly surprised to see that the United States Embassy's Roadshow, "America in 3D: Diplomacy, Development and Defense", stopped by and stationed for three days at "The Block". We were lucky to catch it on its third day. So, we made the most of it! :)

We went around to check out the Show and Exhibits. My sisters and I found a mutual High School friend who worked for the US Embassy's Commercial Services Section manning one of the exhibits. It was a fun mini reunion... and then I was grabbed on the shoulders by someone. I turned to see who it was and I was thrilled to find my friends at the Philippine-American Educational Foundation (PAEF)/Fulbright Commission of the Philippines! They invited me and my sisters inside the PAEF Booth with a "we have a surprise for you" teaser, and what I found sent me reeling in excitement! It was a "Wall" of Fulbright Alumni Testimonials... and my own "testimonial" was part of it. Beside my testimonial - a sentence from my post-Programme report, to be accurate - was a photo of mine from ten years ago... from my Fulbright application packet in 2001! It made me feel kind of nostalgic and felt a pang of longing for those exciting Fulbright/Cornell University days. Aaah, those were truly incredible days... exploring what one of the best Universities in the world had to offer under the auspices of the "Mother of all Scholarships" - absolutely surreal! Until now, I am still figuring out whatever good thing I've done to deserve such an incredible experience - I am so undeserving. Nevertheless, my sisters and I were so delighted to re-live those days through the "Wall"! We posed for a few souvenir shots beside my testimonial panel, chatted with my PAEF/Fulbright friends for a few more minutes... and then continued shopping. :)

Hmmm... talk about Super Sunday!

***
A cool surprise

As always, bonding time with my sisters culminated to a foodtrip. Our Sunday escapade was no exception. We voted unanimously for a "to-die-for" dessert... and ice cream got our triple nods. We escaped the heavily commercialized stores in the Mall though and went serching for a "unique" ice cream concoction... and we were happy to find a little ice cream parlor close to where we live. It was simply called "Ice Cream Store" - a small, two-car parking, four-table store, with no airconditioning. They weren't just serving ice cream concoctions with a surprisingly wide range of choices, but they were also selling packed ice cream in an impressive variety of flavors and formulations that were absolutely unexpected given the store's size. The Food Scientist in me was very impressed to see their coconut milk and virgin coconut oil (VCO)-based formulations. I myself am working on stuff like this in my research work, and I understand the challenges in formulation, processing and overall quality... thus the fascination.

My sisters and I ordered different Sundae concoctions, which were all reasonably priced and very satisfying in terms of taste and fun eating - truly to-die-for! And then, we brought home several of the varieties they were selling - in pints and cups - and continued eating at home without feeling "robbed" since all products were reasonably priced! :) The coconut milk varieties were very good - light and tasty, with decent texture. But what was best about them was that there weren't lactose intolerance-induced stomach upsets after enjoying them, and that added to the sweetness of sisters bonding. :) Naturally, we vowed to return to the Ice Cream Store soon... and to spread the word about the store's existence.

So, yeah, I had a Super Sundae, er, Sunday... uhm, both, actually!! :)

***
Photo credits: (1) Fernando Torres during Chelsea's March 20, 2011 match against Manchester City in Stamford Bridge - Getty's Image, grabbed from the Zimbio website.

I own all other photos.

***