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I’ve long wanted to sell this chicken barbeque as soon as I had tried one back in the house of my good friends up in Quezon City. When I brought some to Cebu, Stephen, his wife Ash and myself all agreed in unison. This was up there in terms of flavor.

Luckily, my friends shared the recipe for me to try and sell. Here we are. Salt and Bird.

It’s a work in progress but over the course of a week, we’ve sold quite a bit and have had a few repeat orders from good friends. Last Sunday we grilled over 50 pcs. I was dead tired after.

Really huge thanks to the first few people who bought from us. You guys know who you are!

We’ve decided to open our Backyard Grill on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekend for all your chicken barbeque cravings. If you want something for tomorrow, you just gotta let me know.
 

 
The past week felt like a blur. We have been grilling
chicken for the past 8 days so I thought, we’d take some
time off and schedule deliveries so we can have some
rest days too.

The chicken took up a lot of my time that I ended up
missing to write about this little girl’s birthday. We were supposed
to go somewhere but I’m sure you know what’s going on so I’m
blogging pictures of her since the first time we met back in 2016,
which by the way was for her birthday, until our last meeting in January.

Coincidentally, they are the very family who taught me how
to make the chicken bbq. I got a chance to eat it during one
of my trips Manila and thought it could sell, you know?

Happy 5th Birthday Rica!!!
 

 
Dew and Kevin, whose pictures below I took back in December, are going to get married this month. While in the middle of the lockdldown, Dew told me she was going to get married even if that translated to a really, really simple celebration. “No dresses, no decors, only the essentials”, she told me.

Except for the imposed the safety measures, I’m kind of used to photographing small events. In fact, I’ve shot quite a number of weddings by myself this past couple of years and during pre wedding shoots, it’s usually just me and you. How’s that for intimate shoots? If you are asking, “is it doable to get married these days”, the answer is yes. I’m not even worried about how your pictures will look. Is there any more drama than the poignancy of these times?

I’m not saying that you go ahead and do away with your plans like Dew and Kevin. We all have differing values and a number of things to consider. After all, this is a wedding we are talking about. But let me say this, in almost a decade of shooting this beautiful aspect of life, I’ve realized that big weddings and small ones end up the same; Two lives touch and begin to intertwine into one.
Stay safe everybody.
 

 
A couple of days ago, our city has slowly eased some restrictions which had kept us inside our houses for what seemed like forever. In some areas, a pass is still required to go around but most businesses have already opened, a good number of people have gone back to work, and it seems like we’re heading towards what remains of 2020.

For their part, the Catholic church has laid out guidelines for baptisms, weddings and other religious gatherings. The highlight of which is that they are limiting the number of people who can attend. This means that majority of the upcoming events are going to be small or what most refer to as an intimate gathering.

While I agree with the idea that an event with only a handful of people can be considered as intimate, I believe there’s more to it than just mere headcount. In the case of weddings, whether it was attended by over a hundred people or just by family and close friends, I always approach each one with an absolute respect for its intimacy. I consider photographing these events a privilege, because in my opinion, the idea of two people deciding against all odds to spend the rest of their lives together is as intimate as it can get.

So on a wedding day, I try my best to not get in the way. I will be there but only to capture the stories that unravel by themselves because I take it to heart that meddling with how things should be only messes up what truly is an intimate affair. Maybe I’ll take a picture of you here and there, and perhaps I’ll ask you to hold hands and look at each other with intent, but we will end the day just the same. You writing your story, and myself letting the universe know how it all transpired.