For the Love of Story (and the Story of Love)

This is a story about love. A story about promises, uncertainty, happiness, distance, tenderness, intimacy, excitement, passion. A story about most definitely a Michigan boy meets a Mindanao girl.

My husband's version:

"After being divorced for about a year I had a lonely feeling and decided to start looking on the internet. I had tried many dating sites. The local dating sites did not bring anyone of interest to me. So I tried international sites. I started looking all over the world. As I was searching I had some concerns. How would I communicate with her? Most do not even speak my language. That would put a big strain on the relationship from the start. Then I learned that ladies from the Philippines speak English. I had found filipinaheart.com, and paid for a membership. I quickly learned that it is easy to lie and be deceived on the internet. This was a shock to me because I thought that being on a dating site meant your looking for love. I was very wrong. So I had to learn to become a detective to determine if the lady I was talking to was serious or only looking for a hand out. This took a while to perfect my technique. After being played and lied to for over a year by many girls and even one time offered $10,000 to marry one. I was about to give up my search.
Then in February 2010 one of my online friends said she knows a serious lady and she is a friends of hers. I said ok introduce us please. Right away I could tell she was different, and that she was looking for real love. She passed every test I gave her. Christine was quiet but she seemed to open up to me and we had an immediate connection.As we talked I knew had to meet her in person. As I was waiting for my flight we would talk and on yahoo, skype, and call her as much as I could. i started to develop feelings for her and we talked about family values and what we wanted out of life and what we expected in a marriage with a foreign spouse.
After landing in Manila on March 15th about 1030 PM and waiting over an hour in the immigration line gathering my bags and going through customs. I go outside of the airport. There was no one there. Only a few taxi drivers. I thought that Christine had not shown up to meet me. My heart dropped. Then I seen someone walk across the road and walk down a ramp. So I followed. I was amazed at how many people there was. I thought I would not be able to find her. As I was trying to make my way through the crowd of people a man walks up to me and ask me if I am Larry. I was shocked that he knew my name. I replied yes I am Larry. The man said Christine is waiting for you let me take you to her. My heart was lifted again. We make our way across one more road and half way across I seen Christine lean and look around a tall man. Then our eyes met and both of our faces light up. She meets me at the curb and takes my hand then pulls me down and gives me a quick kiss. Right then I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. She introduces me to her friends that were waiting with her.
We spent the night in her small apartment in Taguig City. Laying on her bed and brushing her hair over her ear I asked her to marry me. Christine said yes to my delight. When we woke up we went to the embassy and gathered the need papers to marry. And purchased the tickets to fly to Zamboanga where I will meet her and stay with her family. They welcomed me with open arms and I felt as I was part of the family already. On March 17th we started to gather the need documents for us to marry. And as I spent my time with her family we became closer and closer. We spent most of our time as if we are already married and had family trips to the beach. Then the day finial arrived March 30th. I asked her one last time are you sure about this? We will be together for the rest of our lives. And again to my delight Christine said yes. That day we were married at the court house and had a nice reception at a resort. But my time was almost over and I had to come home. As I was about to come go into the airport I seen my beautiful bride crying and that made my heart break.
Now that I am back home working as much overtime as I can and spending time chatting with her on the internet. I realize that I made the right choice by marring Christine. Now we cannot wait until we are reunited here and be able to start our lives together."

I know that many people have their own story of love too. It's a great feeling to belong to a story and make a love life my own love story.

What's Cooking?

When me and my husband were tired of the usual take out foods, I had prawns in mind for that night. Besides, I have not cooked a real dish in years so maybe this is the time I can impress everyone...especially my husband. So menu for that night was...Prawns con salsa Alavar. They say the cheapest prawns or seafoods in general can be found in Zamboanga, my hometown in the southern part of the Philippines. I also used the amazing Alavar sauce which is said to be made of coconut milk, crab roe and secret spices. My husband is not really fond of sea foods might be because it's pricey to have it on the menu during an ordinary day, I mean something you might want to have only during holidays. So here is the recipe and promise you it is just so simple. No need of magic wand or to be pro in the kitchen.

Here is my version of the Prawns con salsa Alavar.

• 1 kilo of fresh prawns (thaw if frozen)
• 500 grams of Alavar sauce, depends on how much you like but I like to make
more because it taste good on top of my rice and as a dipping sauce
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1-1 1/2 inch of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• vegetable oil

-Wash the prawns and leave them in a colander to drain.
-In a large wok or kawali, heat the oil then combine garlic, onion and ginger. Saute until onion is translucent.
-Stir in the alavar sauce and simmer for a few minutes or if sauce has fully melted.
-Add the prawns, let them heat through.
-Remove from heat then serve with rice.

I highly recommend this recipe which I had last month. The large pieces of prawns were cooked to sweet perfection and doused in sinful sauce. And the rice was steamed just right, which added to the delightfulness of the dish.