Half-rice, please...

This afternoon, I went to the grocery with my kids and was shocked to find out that prices of rice have skyrocketed. Just last week, you could still buy a decent variety of rice for less than P30 a kilo. Today, the P34/kilo in SM Hypermarket was like the regular NFA rice. Where has all our rice supply gone? Thankfully, because fewer people buy brown rice, the price is still cheaper. So we decided to shift to eating brown rice. Healthy eating now, by force. Haha! :-) Following the government's appeal to conserve rice, McDo announced it will soon start serving half rice in all its stores. McDo's press statement below:

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Help save the world one half-rice at a time

Quick service restaurant giant McDonald's today announced it will soon start serving half-rice to customers in response to the government's call to help conserve the country's rice supply.

In a statement, McDonald's Vice President for Marketing Margot Torres said the decision came after Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Malacanang officials called on Filipinos to help in government efforts to avert a possible rice crisis.

Since early March, rice prices have been steadily rising reportedly because of global shortage in supply.

McDonald's is one of the first restaurant chains to express support to the government's call.

"McDonald's immediately acted upon Secretary Yap's appeal and mobilized a plan to offer half rice in its restaurants, still guided by the brand's commitment to food quality for its customers," Torres said.

Immediately, the fast food mogul acquired half-rice scoopers and developed in-store promotional materials for this campaign.

Half-rice meals will be officially made available in all McDonald's outlets beginning April 17 .

Torres reiterated that McDonald's remains committed to offering only high quality food to its customers.

Torres said the effort will not only help the country in rice conservation, but will also enable the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) to support more children under its Bright Minds Read Program, a reading program under Department of Education's Adopt-a-School. (end)

Easter Sunday Reflections

My 11-year-old daughter Sofia blogged about her reflections on Easter Sunday. Growing up in an evangelical church, she and her siblings missed traditions that my side of the family always looked forward to during the Holy Week. But even without those traditions, she now understands why Easter is an all-important and happy occasion for us Christians.

Though written in a very simple, childlike prose, it is a good reminder of the sacrifice Jesus has made to give us life.
Reposting here Pia's unedited blog:

Well, I don't really know much about Easter Sunday all I know about it is that it was the day Jesus was resurrected and stuff like that, but I just want to remind you all about this wonderful day. This day is well known for being the day in which God was resurrected. This was the story we were supposed to perform in Tree-atro right? The resurrection and those stuff. Although, I don't really read the bible that much (I admit), but this day is very holy and it affected our lives very much. He died for us, for our sins and I really thank Him for that. We don't really thank Him for doing this wonderful things to us and I think that we should acknowledge Him for this. I wonder how the world will be like if he didn't do this to us. In church earlier, the pastor mentioned that there was this certain cartoon. There were two people( I kinda changed some parts coz i forgot):

Person 1(dunno the name): Did you know that Christ went to hell?(I was shocked by this one)

Person 2 : What?! Person 1 : Yeah, He did. He went there to cancel our reservations

I was surprised. I sat there, kinda frozen. I remembered how God really loved us and that He even died for us. If He didn't do that then we would live for nothing. All we do is : eat, sleep, do whatever we want and not care for others and what we do. We'd all do stuff that we think is "pleasurable", and we wouldn't care to think that what we are doing is wrong. We'd just do that our whole life and then when we die, we'd suffer in hell. I was really reminded that I should thank God for always being there and helping us all the way. He always did what was right. I would really appreciate if people would realize what I just realized.

Travelling again

"Travelling puts you in a heightened state of awareness. It stimulates your brain and makes you call up all your intellectual, spiritual and physical resources. Journeys are necessary for human beings; otherwise we stagnate. Change is essential for everyone, and travelling presents a high rate of change." - By the canadian writer Lynne Shuttleworth.

In the journey called life, you sometimes come to a point of exhaustion that you just want to stay still and ponder -- where I am really heading? I am taking the right direction? Should I rest? Or should I move on?

Knowing where you are heading makes the journey much easier. Yet, sometimes, taking a free fall can be more exciting. Knowing that Someone up there cares for you, and depending on Him alone, can make your journey more meaningful.

In less than two weeks, I will be travelling again. Travel has become a therapy for me. Most of the time, it brings me to new, unfamiliar places. Yet, it makes me appreciate home all the more.

Someone says travel is a means of escaping from the worries and burdens of everyday life. For a moment, you leave behind the bothersome realities in life. You discover new things and gain a wider perspective of the world. Life, after all, does not revolve around you. Yet, the more you go further, the more you realize what is more important to you.

Almost everytime I travel, I leave behind the most important gifts God has bestowed on me -- my family. I see new places and gain more insights of the world beyond my own. For a moment, I enjoy it. Being on my own, meeting new people, experiencing new culture, learning new things I would not have known had I not taken the opportunities the Greatest Giver of all opened up for me.

And yet, as I travel, the more He makes me realize that home is still the best gift of all.