Food favorites and more Divi finds

Been busy for quite some time now, so blogging has been kept to a minimum of once a week for my 3 blogs (plus 1 for Baby Jo-Lo, who was a bit ill last weekend). Today's post highlights photos of my favorite food, patiently accumulated the past couple of weeks to the curious looks of my non-blogging companions (why the heck is he taking photos before he eats?).

My taste in food is simple really. Fried, boiled, grilled, and with some basic sauce on hand. Don't forget the rice! Same with deserts and local snacks. And it becomes even more fun to eat when you're with friends and family.
Fried eggplants, thinly sliced and deep-fried. I like the ones with crispy edges. Serve with soy sauce and all I need is rice!
Produce taken from under the ground. Sweet potatoes, kamoteng kahoy, ube. This photo was taken from the Baguio City market.
Monggo (mung beans) popular on Fridays and tortang talong (fried eggplant dipped in egg batter). Like the fried eggplant, I like my tortang talong pressed thinly so it's cooked well.
Guinataan! Made with coconut milk, bananas, langka, sago, sweet potatoes. I simply love it.
Tupig! This is rice cake covered with banana leaves and cooked by grilling. This Vigan delicacy is courtesy of a colleague.
Spaghetti, Pancit Palabok, and Pancit Bihon all in one place! Courtesy of Ms. Beth (an office colleague) who celebrated her birthday last week. Belated Happy Birthday Beth!

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Divi Finds
You might think I have already completed my Christmas shopping by this time. Au contraire'. In fact, I haven't had time to set-up my Christmas tree yet! Yep, that's how busy things are at work. Anyways, here are some more photos of Divi finds. Perhaps you can have some practical gift ideas from these.

By the way, when I went back to Divi, I didn't have much money in me. Wrong move! I really felt so cash-strapped when I couldn't buy even a couple more of those nice 25-peso keychains. Lesson learned: be prepared.
This very nice photo frame costs 60 pesos each. Sorry, I'm not much of a haggler but I'm sure you can do better than my 5 peso-off negotiation. There was another very simple yet elegant photo frame consisting of three squares with a different color each. Could have been great for me, my wife, and Jo-Lo. But I was running out of cash fast! Arrrgh.
These wooden photos are at around 45 pesos each. I got three. The photo is that of my wife and friends in their tong-its session in Baguio. Nice, huh?
I lingered over this booth with loads of keychains. I would have loved to get lots for friends but -- all together now -- no money! Waaaaahhh.
Lunchtime is up so I did not have time to rotate this photo. This is all I was able to buy from the horde of keychains. Finding Nemo characters with the Little Mermaid fish at the bottom. Yeah, I know. I suck at shopping. Going to Divi without any money ... duh?!