I have come to realize how old our house was; reflecting upon the various vintage stuff that we were able to unearth AND bring back to life again.
Old, but not in a bad way. I was actually surprised how well preserved these finds are, as all that were needed were new batteries (assuming that the required battery model is still in production up until now) and some cleaning, and everything works like new again... so to speak.
This film SLR was actually my lolo's camera, passed on to his youngest son, then to my cousin, then to my sister and me. The first shots of this camera from us were taken by my sister, and during that time we were all reacquainting ourselves with film again, thus our n00b blunders while trying to work this thing.
Then came my interest in pursuing film photography. Since the Minolta was the only working film camera in our house that time, my practice shots were mostly done on this camera. I've tried color negatives, cross-processing, and even red-scaling on this one.
Only until recently I was able to discover how to work the zoom on the lenses. Unfortunately, my discovery put significant stress on this old camera... suffice to say, I accidentally broke the lens. The barrel came out of the mount, and mechanical camera pieces came out of the barrel. I was able to put things back together decently, but unfortunately wasn't able to make the zoom work again. Luckily, things were put back into order during my recent trip to Hidalgo. The damage was 800 PhP, but at least I now am able to use Minolta like new again.
Ever since Ivan Man Dy of oldmanilawalks.com introduced this foodie treasure, I'd always make it a point to stop by this place for lunch whenever I happen to be around Old Manila -- this, and Dong Bei (I will post an entry on this once my film rolls get developed). For this, I was in Hidalgo having the family film cameras cleaned/repaired, when I realized that I haven't been to Binondo in a long while. Since Binondo is just walking distance from Quiapo (albeit a loooong walk), I decided to brave the throng of people in the crowded streets of Quiapo AND Binondo, just to have my fix of good ol' authentic Chinese food.
According to Ivan, Cafe Mezzanine was built by an immigrant of Fukien (China), who had two passions in life: firefighting and photography. Both of these passions can be observed once entering the restaurant, as the walls were filled with pictures of firefighters in action... and the most obvious, in the subtext of the restaurant's name. Aside from the interior, another noteworthy detail about the restaurant is the history of the food itself.
(The two pictures below are found courtesy of Google Images)
Café Mezzanine is Located along Ongpin Street (near Binondo Church), Binondo Manila.
My first taste of Sango! was in their Makati branch (near Little Tokyo). Although I enjoyed the food, I have to admit that the location was a bit far to my liking. So you can only imagine how happy I was when I discovered that a new branch of Sango! sprouted up in my home turn, down south.
Sango! The Burger Master is located at G/F South Supermarket, Alabang-Zapote Road, Muntinlupa City.
Le Bistro describes itself as a restaurant that offers "special sustainable food menu which ensures that food products support earth-friendly initiatives and help sustain local farmers."
It's nice to know that there are those in the foodie industry who are thoughtful enough to support locally grown produce.
Pardon the goofball in the picture.
Le Bistro is located at Streetside, Fraser Place, Ground Floor, Forbes Tower, Valero St., Salcedo Village
