What happens when you fall in love with your Kuya’s best friend? Thea Balderama, a 220-pound late bloomer, believes that she will never meet her mother’s incredibly high standards for beauty. Worse, while Thea deals with her deep-seated insecurities about her weight, she must also study to get into her dream university while keeping up with her boy-crazy best friends. Her life becomes even more complicated when Lucas Benitez, her Kuya’s best friend, (and her longtime crush!), returns from the States. As her attraction to Lucas grows, Thea cooks for him, pouring her passion into irresistible merienda, hoping to reach her crush’s heart through his stomach, in the hopes that he will think she’s beautiful—fat and all. Though Thea knows nothing is a piece of cake, she has a hopeful heart, and she’s hungry for love. Being with Lucas might just be worth the risk.
Take charge of your finances and achieve financial independence – the Clever Girl way Join the ranks of thousands of smart and savvy women who have turned to money expert and author Bola Sokunbi for guidance on ditching debt, saving money, and building real wealth. Sokunbi, the force behind the hugely popular Clever Girl Finance website, draws on her personal money mistakes and financial redemption to educate and empower a new generation of women on their journey to financial freedom. Lighthearted and accessible, Clever Girl Finance encourages women to talk about money and financial wellness and shows them how to navigate their own murky financial waters and come out afloat on the other side. Monitor your expenses, build a budget, and stick with it Make the most of a modest salary and still have money to spare Keep your credit in check and clean up credit card chaos Start and succeed at your side hustle Build a nest egg and invest in your future Transform your money mindset and be accountable for your financial well-being Feel the power of real-world stories from other “clever girls” Put yourself on the path to financial success with the valuable lessons learned from Clever Girl Finance.
Introducing the new 'How To...' series from #Merky Books: unlock your potential with our short, practical pocket-sized guides. _______________________________________________________ How To Save It: Fix Your Finances Fixing your finances starts with facing your finances. This indispensable guide will help you confront the awkwardness of having conversations about your money and what to do with it. In seven accessible chapters' financial wellness guru Bola Sol, will guide you through all your money essentials - from saving, to budgeting, dealing with your debt, building your credit, and taking your first steps to investing Packed with practical tips and straightforward advice, this is the book that will change your relationship with money for the better. Written by Bola Sol Foreword Moneybox _______________________________________________________ Designed to inspire and encourage readers to unlock their potential and provoke change, the How To series offers a new model in publishing, helping to break down knowledge barriers and uplift the next generation. Creatively presented and packed with clear, step-by-step, practical advice, this series is essential reading for anyone seeking guidance to thrive in the modern world. Curate your bookshelf with these collectible titles.
A Black teacher searches for himself across the United States in this “emotive, brave” (Daily Mail, London) story for all of us who have fantasized about escaping our daily lives and starting over. Michael Kabongo is a British Congolese teacher living in London and living the dream: he’s beloved by his students, popular with his coworkers, and adored by his proud mother who emigrated from the Congo to the UK in search of a better life. But when he suffers a devastating loss, his life is thrown into a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his fathers’ violent death, the weight of refugeehood, and an increasing sense of dread threaten everything he’s worked so hard to achieve. Longing to start over, Michael decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical “land of the free,” where he imagines everything will be better and easier. On this transformative journey, Michael travels everywhere from New York City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting romances, and splurging on big adventures, with the intention of living the life of his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out. “Narrated with haunting lyricism, The Selfless Act of Breathing is an intimate journey through the darkest of human impulses to the gleaming flickers of love and radical hope” (Susan Abulhawa, author of Against the Loveless World).
The goals of the National Workshop on Micro-enterprise Development in Coastal Communities in the Philippines were to exchange experiences and good practices and to identify financial and institutional support services and facilities to sustain livelihoods and micro-enterprise development in coastal areas. The workshop was attended by 45 participants from people's organizations, fisherfolk cooperatives, non-governmental organizations, national government agencies and financing institutions. The discussions at the workshop showed that livelihood diversification and the improvement of income and employment opportunities in coastal fishing communities are crucial for their participation in the conservation and management of aquatic resources. Key elements of sustainable micro-enterprise development as identified by the workshop include capability building of fisherfolk organizations such as cooperatives and associations to implement livelihood projects, the preparation of feasibility studies and business plans, technical skills development, sound financial management practices, development of innovative and high quality products, access to new markets including urban and regional markets and the full participation of fisherfolk in the identification of livelihood activities and micro-enterprises. The Pilot Project in Support of the Development of Micro-enterprises in Banate Bay, Iloilo and Southern Iloilo was implemented by the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in cooperation with the Banate Bay Resource Management Council Inc. and the Southern Iloilo Coastal Resource Management Council with support from FAO. A number of microenterprises were introduced and supported in the municipalities of Banate Bay and Southern Iloilo including fish ball production, shrimp paste production, oyster and mussel culture, salt production and iodization, fish marketing and fish sauce production. Training programmes were conducted for fisherfolk on product development and marketing of their products. Good coordination with local government units, active participation of all stakeholders and conduct of appropriate training programmes are considered essential for the sustainability of the micro-enterprises. The involvement of fisherfolk in livelihood activities and micro-enterprises is strengthening their participation in the fisheries and aquatic resources management councils of Banate Bay and Southern Iloilo. The experiences of the pilot project also suggest that in order to make various income generating livelihood initiatives sustainable and stand on their own feet, many of these need to develop further into full-fledged micro-enterprises. Considerable scope lies in farming of aquatic organisms such as seaweed, shellfish and various fish species as well as in fisheries related value adding activities such as fish processing and marketing. As far as the relationship between the conservation of aquatic resources and the generation of income is concerned, the quality of the aquatic environment and the economic success of mariculture micro-enterprises and activities are directly related. This should create a strong motivation for fisherfolk enterpreneurs involved in such type of enterprises to be strong advocates and stewards of a healthy coastal ecology. In the long term, fisherfolk will benefit from the development of various micro-enterprise initiatives. It is clearly in their interest.
In her debut cookbook, acclaimed chef Angela Dimayuga shares her passion for Filipino food with home cooks. Filipinx offers 100 deeply personal recipes—many of them dishes that define home for Angela Dimayuga and the more than four million people of Filipino descent in the United States. The book tells the story of how Dimayuga grew up in an immigrant family in northern California, trained in restaurant kitchens in New York City—learning to make everything from bistro fare to Asian-American cuisine—then returned to her roots, discovering in her family’s home cooking the same intense attention to detail and technique she’d found in fine dining. In this book, Dimayuga puts a fresh spin on classics: adobo, perhaps the Filipino dish best known outside the Philippines, is traditionally built on a trinity of soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic—all pantry staples—but add coconut milk, vinegar, and oil, and it turns lush and silky; ribeye steaks bring extra richness to bistek, gilded with butter and a bright splash of lemon and orange juice. These are the punches of flavor and inspired recipes that home cooks have been longing for. A modern, welcoming resource for this essential cuisine, Filipinx shares exciting and approachable recipes everyone will wholeheartedly embrace in their own kitchens.
The Place Called “There” We often think that our possessions are only physical or material either as a car, building, piece of land or other tangible assets. Just as physical possessions can be handed down generations, so also can spiritual secrets and assets be transferred like intellectual properties. There are hidden secrets from plain sight, revealed to those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised (Hebrews 5:14) to see, or/and hear, and then act. To these ones, it will belong and be entrusted because they are the ones who follow through the hidden secrets presented to them. ‘The Place Called There’ is a memoir of voyage of enduring faith and friendship with God, through ‘the wildernesses’ of advanced school of patience, trust, and perseverance (PTP).
