A Get Together with the Girls at Barcino

Shawie and I planned a dinner get togther for Ros. These two girlfriends of mine are both brides to be and it was as exciting evening for all of us. Shawie recommended this tapas and wine place at city golf in Pasig, Barcino. We met up there for dinner and Joy, another very good friend of ours, joined us shortly. It was another cellar type resto, similar to Galileo, but with a smaller area a fewer tables. It is a good idea to make reservations before going there.

The menu is quite simple, an array of tapas, paella, arroz ala bubanna, legua, ribs and a selection of wine. Shawie and I had the ribs, which was really good. The pork was so tender, with a melt in your mouth feel to eat. It had a delicious sweet tangy sauce that was just perfect yet very simple. It came along with garlic rice which was a good compliment to the dish. Joy and Ros had the legua. It was cooked perfectly and the sauce was very flavorful but not over powering. Along with that we had a bottle of semi-sweet red wine and had a very relaxed and pleasant evening of catching up and listening to the wedding plans of our brides to be. The place is simple and personal and very fitting for our girly get together.

We are college gal pals and looking back, we realize how grown up we all have become. Its great that even if we are separated by time and geography, we manage to keep in touch and be there for eachother, more importantly at life changing moments in our lives.

Welcome home Ros!!!!

My good good friend form college is back in town. Ros has been my friend since sophomore year in UP. I am sooo thrilled to see her again for the holidays and this time with very juicy news! My dear friend is engagged. We set on to meet after dinner.I had dinner with my friend Elaine and Chiqui at Tempura in Tomas Morato. I went to Greenhills for fetch her from her dinner at My Angels Kitchen and we went to promenade for some coffee and chit chat! We settled at Bizu. We got the Soleil cake, that happened to be the cake of the day. This was chiffon cake layered with mango balls and cream, fenced with white choclolate. This meant that we get free tea with that--nice! I was bad for I had a cappuccino! I really needed caffeine tonight because of the long chit chat we would have! hahahaa

Our good friend Tiff and her husband Jam joined us later and we enjoyed very much catching up with eachother and ofcourse talking about Ros' wedding plans. We look forward to meeting his fiance on the 26th! It was Tiff's birthday as well so we surprised her with a little birthday TIRAMISU! I adore the bizu Tiramisu. It's the only cake I really like there hahaha.

Happy Birthday TIFFANY and welcome home Ros!!!!! =)

Christmas is for the Children

Christmas is just a few days away. My friend Mike again asked me to help him do round 2 of his gift shopping. For today its for the kids. Our destination TOY KINGDOM! We went to Megamall and started scrimmaging for toys for boys and girls of various ages. We got lots of funstuff for each of his :ina-anaks". Its really fun going through isles and isles of toys. As I remember, when you buy a toy from Toy Kingdom, you get free gift wrapping. I guess times are really hard for they are charging 5 bucks per wrapper and 1.75 for each gift tag.

After completing our shopping list, we got famished and had dinner at Jipan. I adore this place. Its a simple Japanese bakeshop that serves delicious and cheap Japanese food. They have a wide array of interesting bread, pastries and sandwiches you can have to go. There meals are really good and satisfying. Mike had the Oyakudon and tuna sashimi. I had the chicken terriyaki bento, which comprised of chicken teriyaki, japanese rice, a portion of kani salad, a gyoza, kakaiage and miso soup. Not bad for Php220! Food is always freshly cooked and served in a jiffy. Perfect when you are starving and in dire need of good, hot, nourishment! hahahaha We finshed or dinner in a flash and did some shoe shopping for me =) . I was on the hunt for white strappy shoes to match a dress a bought a few weeks back. Its always good shooping with Mike because I'm always successful finding the artcle I want when I'm with him. Thank you Mikey! I was able to snag a pretty white-strappy-wedgy pair of shoes at U.R.U.S.

We suddenly craved for dessert after our shopping success. I suggested we have gelato at Italiannis but Mike had a deadlier dessert in mind. Krispy Kreme!!!!! Ohhhhh hahaahaha I conceeded to his cravings and we headed on to the Fort. Mike got 2 chocolate glazed, 2 regular glazed and one cheese cake flavored. He also had the Krispy Kreme blend coffee, its the signature coffee concoction of KK ---coffee with KK flavor??? hmmmm...Mike enjoyed it a lot with the doughnuts. As for me, I don't know, I was more enamoured with the doughnut they give out while you wait in line. It's fresh from the conveyor----piping hot, freshly glazed and soft and pillowy to the bite with that melt-in-your-mouth fatty and sugary goodness! That's the only way I enjoy doughnuts. If you give them to me cold or after being shelved---well they don't appeal to me anymore. Well..still ate some but I kept looking at the hot doughnut samples. Mike kinda notice this and asked one of the staff to get me a piece ---unglazed (as I want them) =) Sooooo good...that I polished off with a blink of an eye! :P

Uno is numero uno!

I've always been happy dining at Uno. I love their breads, pasta and entree's. I had lunch there last Saturday with my friend Paolo again. It was his last day in town, so I recommended Uno for him to try. We had my favorite sourdough ciabatta. I had it with carrot and cardamom soup, which was really good! A meal by itself! He had the Ham and mushroom soup, which was good as he declared. I had the pan seared Dory fish with veggetables and potatoes. He had lamb with hoisin sauce and red rice pillaf. Our food was good and we enjoyed them a lot while chatting along.

For dessert, I had the fallen chocolate cake and he had the creme brulee. The creme brulee, as he told me, was a bit too runny in the middle.

Yours truly, happily smiling ... =)

Galileo, Galileo!

I have read and heard so much about Galileo Enoteca for quite some time now, and I have truly been intrigued by the charm of this place. I was quite excited to get the chance to have dinner there and see it for myself. It was like going in a wine cellar with dining tables and benches, with walls adorned by the vast wine collection, lots of dried pasta, bottled Italian sauces, cheeses and cured meats. It was so much like Santi’s but with a wider wine selection. The menu was quite simple, they have antipasti, panninis and pasta. My friend and I opted for the set menu since we were to order, cheeses, cold cuts, wine and pasta. This was exactly what the set menu comprised of. Unfortunately, the tomato eggplant pasta was not available that evening. I chose the Putanesca and the Black olive pesto for my friend. We were first served with the house red wine and crostinnis. The cheese platter followed, which comprised of 2 cheeses (that I forgot the names of ) and the Grana Padana (one of my new found favorite cheese). The Grana Padana tasted like it was fermented from Yakult! It had a tinge of sweetness to it that goes well with the wine. The cold cuts were ok as well. The pasta was cooked a bit too al dente, to the point of being under cooked. I even got a conglomerate of half cooked fettuccine in one of my forkfuls. Nevertheless the sauce tasted good.

Its truly a very interesting place, with lots of foodie goodies to find, try and take home. I liked the cheese and wine bit, but I just hope they put a little more effort on the presentation of the food and take care in preparing the pasta =).

Galileo is a very promising place for casual gatherings to enjoy food and coversations.

Here is moi =)

Le Opera

It’s my first time to dine at Le Opera Ristorante Italiano, and I fell in love with the place at once. The place had a somewhat romantic feel to it---a little rose on each candle lit table while being serenaded by troubadours. Lovely! ...And the food….was great =)

For starters, me and my friend had the octopus carpaccio. It was an interesting alternative to the more common tuna or beef version of the dish. It was a very good palate stimulant with its unique texture and tangy flavor. I had the minestrone soup followed by my grilled lobsters with roasted vegetables and baby potatoes. The lobster was perfectly cooked with sweet butter on top.

The only thing I had room for was strong espresso but too bad I am not allowed to do have this pleasure. It would have been the perfect ending to the meal. Oh well, I promise myself when I get well….when I get well….. =)

Sunday at Le Souffle

Le Souffle is one of my favorite restaurants because of the nice, spacious ambiance and needless to say, the wonderful menu selection that is always interesting and with unwavering gastronomic satisfaction.

My friend Paolo (who is vacationing here from New Jersey) and I had dinner at Le Souffle, Fort after hearing the Sunday mass at UP church. We started our dinner with Escargot and Prawn Tomato bisque. Escargot is redolent of baked oysters with a more delicate texture, plus the thrill of picking the meat out from the coiled shell with the aid of a trusty cocktail fork, gives an added thrill. I just adore the little “clamp” you use to hold the snail body =). The Tomato Prawn bisque was divine! I just love the thick puree consistency and the melded flavor of prawn and tomato. It was served with a nice little flaky cheese bread stick on the side---nice! For my main course, I chose the grilled Ostrich served with steamed vegetables and baked potato. Ostrich meat taste so much like beef, but with a finer grain and much leaner meat. Paolo had the Sea bass with butter sauce and wild rice risotto. It thought it was very nice touch that the skin of the fish was removed and fried to a crisp, then served atop of the poached flesh. It gave a contrasting mouth feel of crunch, from the crisped skin, and softyness of the fish meat. Our food was superb! We were definitely happy with our food. What better way to complete the meal than to have a fabulous dessert? While in Le soufflé, we should have the soufflé! Apart from the vast array of dessert options, the soufflé list was really difficult to choose from. Good thing our good ol’ server recommended the soufflé special du jour. It was a chocolate soufflé with almonds, strawberries, mangoes, apples a ala mode, caged in caramel candy served with chocolate sauce!!!!---Ooooooooh lalala It was so grand that it didn’t have a name! I loved the perfectly molten center and the crisp yet most outer body of the soufflé.

My picture doesn't do justice at all to this exquisite dessert!

Senju and E bar at Edsa Shang

Last Friday, I met Paolo, the borther-in-law of my best friend in NY Yen. He is here for a weeks vacation and I was asked to take him around. I gladly obliged, ofcourse!

We went to Shang mall to have meryenda at Cibo and strolled around the mall. We bought some baby stuff to bring back to NY, Yen is pregnant with her first baby and we are all very excited for her.

Paolo decided we have dinner at Senju Japanses restaurant at the Edsa Shangri la hotel. We got there a bit early, so we had cocktails first, at E bar right beside Senju. E bar is a very nice louge type bar. The place was cozy and very conducive for chatting (when the band is not yet playing).

Senju is a nice Jap resto. I enjoyed my mix sushi plate. I love uni maki! The jiggly texture of the uni is creepy but ohhh sooo good. I was just kind of disappointed with the prawn teppanyaki---it was just ONE prawn! with ONE asparagus strip cut into 2! It was a bit over cooked, adding insult to injury! I could tell, because the prawn meat was sticking to the skin. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable experience all together.

After dinner at Senju, we met up with my friends Oli, Nikki, ELize, MArcel and War at Metrowalk. They had dinner at Misato! Japanese night for all of us. We all decided to go visit Krispy Kreme at the fort to try the famous doughnuts.

Ahh... what a line that welcomed us! Nevertheless, no one minded wating in line because we were all well fed with freshly fried and glaced doughnuts!!!! ;P Oh lalala--the first bite was deadly----oh so soft, warm and tooth-achingly SWEET!!!! I cried out for coffee..but =( can't have it.

Sugar high we moved to Stir- Crazy, a small bar somewhere in Ortigas, where we met up with some of Nikki's friends and they had a couple of drinks to cap the night.

We all had a great evening!

Good Shopping Day

It’s back to Greenhills for me and Sal last Sunday. We missed scrimmaging at the tiangge plus I was craving for buco shake from fruitas. Sal picked me up around 10 am, so when we got there we just decided to have brunch. I was definitely set on having my buco shake and I asked Sal if it was ok that we had Reyes bbq and my beloved fruitas. My Sally dearest gladly obliged…but we were distracted by the tiange stall and shops we pass through on our way to the theatremall food court. Nevertheless we manage to get to our lunch venue around lunchtime. To my disappointment---NO BUCO SHAKE TODAY!!!! =( RATS!!!! Sadness!!!! They told us the buco supply for the day was not meaty, hence not suitable for shake making. They use pala only the meat and add ice, milk and syrup (that’s why is sooo buco-licious!) We went to the Fruit Store to get out morning fruit shakes, I had the papaya-pineapple shake---my fruit combo to combat my dysfunctional digestive tract! Heheheh Sal had watermelon. We shared and order of 2 pc pork BBQ and an additional chicken wrap for Sal. We enjoyed our simple meal and went down to business. Oh yes! We combed through every nick and cranny of the shopping area. We covered the entire tiange floor area, vmall and theatremall. We didn’t go to shoppsville because ---just because! Heheheehe We got a bit tired and low on energy so we went back to fruitas to try our luck on the shake. No dice! We opted for the buco halo halo instead. We went to promenade to check out some books and Sal wanted to buy goodies at Hizon’s for her family. We were stopped at out tracks by a waft of deliciously frying food----ah…Belgian fires!!!!! Shall we taste??? Yes indeed! We shared an order of the mushroomy Belgian fries. For Php 75, I thought they were too “konti”, but its ok I guess---saving us from eating too much of its fatty goodness. Iam not much of a fries person, but I found it to be really good. We hopped to the Hizon’s stall and Sal bought a couple of ensaymadas and caramel cake. We then went up to fully booked to browse through the books. I love browsing through bookstores. You can learn a lot even with out actually buying the books you know! Hahahaha We decided to go back to the shopping area but then we were again stopped to by our feet with the sight of Cello’s doughnut. Sal is a real doughnut fan---a real fried food lover. So this time I indulge her request and went there to take out some loops. I can tell you that the smell of frying doughnut can make anyone week in the knees, doughnut fan or no doughnut fan…fried food is fried food and food at its fatty glory! Hahahaha We couldn’t help ourselves to hel ourselves to a doughnut. This was the plan---we share JUST one ok? ….chomp! chomp!---bitin ata---isa pa ?---yes---chomp chomp….and before we realized it, we have devoured 3---1 ½ loop each!!!! Christ!---TO THE HIPS THEY SHALL ALL GO! hahahahahOh well, what’s done is done. We loved it anyway =). It was already turning dark and the night market opened up. We moved there to check out the goods. Well, after already buying 2 dresses, a blouse, a tube top and shorts…I didn’t find anything there that interested me. What to do now? First we shopped around at Tin Hok to buy me some aloe vera juice. I am suffering from acid reflux and currently under medication. I read in a self help book I came across with at Fully Booked, that Alove Vera juice aids people with acid reflux by lining the esophagus, thus easing the burn as the acid rises through it. Burn management in other words! I’ll take any help that I can, so I bought a Korean branded Aloe Vera juice. Hope it helps =)

We finally got exhausted from the entire day and Sal wanted to take out dinner for her family. We went to Shin Ton Yon, located beside Tin Hok. It’s a canteen type resto serving up Chinese fare. Sal got mixed roastings and other “ulam”. For our dinner we just shared an order or “kiampung” which is like Chinese fried rice with meat and nuts. A side order or bituka asado to boot! We are Chinese---we love our food ;P

We passed to War’s house to pick up my stuff (the jacket I bought at Serendra) and headed home.

Great shopping and food day! Thanks Sal!

Pics to follow!

Jagshemash, I like you! Do you like me?

Hello! My name is Borat Sagdiyev (mwah! mwah!) I am Kazakhstani television top media personality

The movie night Oli has been waiting for finally arrived. Yes, it was time to see BORAT! hahaha Oli, Bny, War, Nikki, MAtt and I went to Eastwood City to have dinner at Heaven and Eggs and see the movie afterwards. I really didn't know what to expect from this film. I've only seen the pic of Sacha Baron Cohen in a MANKINI on Oli's ym --- kadiri! but hilarious! ;P

It was a real crazy film from start to finish! The movie was about the adventures of Borat in the United States. The contrasting Kazakhstani culture with the modern American lifestyle was the cracking edge of this movie's humor. Well, what can I say---everyone was rolling with laughter all through out the movie! The patrons of the filmwere mostly teeneagers and everyone was talking like Borat and repeating his funny lines. So I guess everyone found this movie to be a real snoozer-----NOT! hahaha It was truly enjoyable and the kind of movie that you won't have to do any thinking and just forget all your troubles. High five? ! hahahaha

With jaws aching from all the laughing, we all went to Jack's Loft for a little night cap and then headed home.

Oli and Bny are leaving for China the following day(today na pala yun)....Bon Voyage to you both!!!! =) Be good!

I'm In Love.....=)

Meet my love....Lee Dong Wook =)

He is the lead actor in my NOW favorite korean telenovela----MY GIRL! I am in the middle of the series (episode 12 to be exact). I am hooked!!!!! That's the only thing I watch whenever I am home.

Isn't he gorgeous??? =) hahahaha....

Tuesday Tryst Part 2

My weekday gimmick fell again on aTuesday. My friend Jenni invited me for drinks that evening. I gladly obliged since I haven't seen her for sometime now. She picked me up from my manicure and pedi session and we headed to East of St. Louis at Mother Ignacia. Old school bar, with old school music! But hey, it was still nice hanging there with the company of my good friend. We had a couple of drinks...well one for me and a lot for her! hehehe I know, I know..I really shouldn't be having any alcohol, but it was just so into the moment to have one. I put so much ice of my vodka currant that it turned pale pink! hahhaha we moved on to Guilly's, located where the defunct Aresi bar and resto used to be. We met up with her friend's Dennis and Joy. They were cool people and we had fun talking about life and relationships! ahhh..they are the best accompaniment to drinks I should say. I didn't know that guilly'sturns into a BAR after dinner. When we were there, it was dimly lit with loud music and disco lights to boot! They told me they even charge entrance fee on weekends!!!! Who would have thought?! hahah


It was nice hanging with you again Jenni..nice to meet you Dennis and Joy! =)

Fort Faux Pas!

After spending a beatutiful evening with my friends at the Fort Saturday night, I decided to share with Sal the nice places I've seen. She picked me up a bit later than usual and we headed on to the Fort. We both were'nt able to have breakfast and so we were famished by lunch time. We went around Serendra to check out the restos there. I don't know, but it kinda had a different feel in the morning. Could it be that the sun was shinning so bright and hot over there and I was missing the lovely lights that illuminated the area the evening prior? Perhaps. So we both decided to go back there later in the afternoon and have lunch at MArket MArket.

We both have not been there for quite sometime now, sowe were quite perked up by the vast array of food options open to us. Should we go IN the mall? Eat at the MArklet area fastfood? Or try the restos outside? Decisions...decisions...then a huge sign glared upon us.....EAT ALL YOU CAN BUFFET Php 218++ WITH FREE TEMPURA AND ICE CREAM over Kamay Kainan restaurant. We looked at eachother...smiled...and galloped on to check out the spread. As I've mentioned earlier, we WERE famished! Seeing the buffet spread of an array of Filipino fare like inihaw na hito, sinigans, pesang dalag, adobo, caldereta, inihaw na liempo, pritong tialapia, manok, lumpia and so on and on......before we could evern ask eachother if we wer good with it...we held plates already! Oh my, after having our first run on the buffet, I had the hito and garlic rice, liempo, which were all ok...but as we went on...we realized the mistake we have made. The food was not good at all. The fried stuff were all oily, the complimentary tempura were like battered shrimp meant for sauteing (hipong pang-gisa ba! ;P hehehehe). The desserts....were they desserts? They offered banana cue slices (mas masrap pa yun sa kanto na tinitinda 'coz their's was matigas);buko pandan (which was like left over fruit salad dumped with green gulamans and some buko shreds); a bread like I dunno what was that but it tasetedlikecard board; red gulaman cubes?! ( whatthe..?!!). The only salvation was the fresh bananas and they had dirty ice cream....yehey I THOUGHT!!!! I told Sal this will be the saving grace of this disgrace! hahahah OH MY!!!!!IT WAS DISGUSTING@! Nothing ICE CREAM ABOUT IT AT ALL. It was strawberry...gunk! SERIOUSLY. It was the first ice cream that I ever winced at! I'm so sorry for sounding sooooooo bratty about it...but you have to see it to believe it but BETTER DON'T! hahahaha Sorry Kamay Kainan, maybe the ala carte is better?

We went around malling and buying some stuff. We had late meryenda of Fruitas buko halohalo. I really lovd Fruitas buko...IN GREENHILLS. Sorry, but somehow the fruitas buko at the Market MArket didn't have the same quality as that of its Theatremall counterpart.

Sadness!!!! Foodie mishaps left and right! Our last recourse ---Serendra. We picked MAry Grace to takeout some ensaymadas for Sal's family. The place sa sooo pretty. It was like a lovely little country cottage, having the aroma of coffee (I MISS YOU SOOOOOO MUCH =( ....) and had a warm homey feel to it. We sat there to share an ensaymada as we rested and chatted along.

What a day! =)

DUO Dinner and Serendra Pics from last weekend....

The pictures from last weeks Serendra night out are finally here. Let me share them with you =)

Here are my friends (L-R) Oli, yours truly, Eliz, Matt, Nikki, Arlyn, Chinang


A view of Serendra at night...the lovely lights are captivating

This is the steak with foie gras dinner that MAt had at Duo....NICE! =)

Bazaars...Bazaars!!!

Our plan for Saturday was set on Bazaar’s. YES!

We first hit the Karl Edward’s bazaar at the NBC tent at the fort. Nikki, Oil and I started mid-afternoon. It was the same old tiangge stuff that you can find at greenhills placed in a air-conditioned venue. We combed through the area, isle by isle. Clothes, shoes, bags, food and even home appliance were sold. I was able to by shoes from SnS and a nice white bag-gellie =) hehehe. I’v been meaning to buy a new white bag for sometime now. I was a bit torn whether to get a branded or a “generic” one, but hey I found a nice piece at a very good price! Sorry I have no pic of the bag. I’m kinda lazy up-loading pics these days. Anyways, Nikki was able to score some shirts and blouses.

I think there were’nt so many good buys to find at that bazzar. Well, maybe for me because I’m a regular at tiangge’s and mall. We all got hungry after going through the place twice…yes, twice! Just tomake sure we didn’t miss anything heheheh. We decided to move on to our next stop, the Lifestyle bazaar at the Power Plant mall. We told Eliz that we would just meet her there. I recommended that we have dinner at World Banger’s Haute dog so that Oli may try it and get his hot dog fix! Hehehe Nikki and I had the Cacciatore meal and Oli got the Four Cheese. They loved it! Hehehe Eliz finally arrived and we hit the bazaar area. The lifestyle bazaar was more upscale than the Karl Edward’s. Designer’s like Happy David of Get Happy, Debbie Co ( a friend of mine) and so on, participated on the event which was covered by the Lifestyle channel. Some celebrities like Angel Jacob was present and models abound. There was lots of stuff by international designers as well. A lot of good stuff but at a more costly rate---so we went out of there empty handed ;P hahahaha

We headed on to Serendra at Fort. Goin’ aroundin circles ei?! Hehehehe Yupit was al in the plan. Actually we were supposed to have dinner at Serendra, but ofcourse we had to set our priorities straight---bazaars come first! Hehehehe Matt met up with us there. We chose to have dinner at DUO---well dinner for Matt and Eliz. The food looked really good and the price was ok. ( I’ll put the pic of Matt’s food this weekend) Matt had steak with fois gras and Eliz had the Caesar salad. They enjoyed their food so we really need to some back here to dine! What I was able to try was the complimentary bread that they served. They were nice pop-overs served warm with butter on the side. I liked them a lot. If I wasn;t full from our Haute meal, I would have devoured them hehehe. Chinang and Arlene joined us there as well. After dinner, we went around Serendra, and checked out the other restos there. There were lots of new places to try…on my list:
1. DUO
2. PORTTICO (for a come back)
3. Chai
4. Mary Grace Café

Then we moved on to the fort Stip and went to Piedra. Warren, Che and Kent joined us there short after and they had drinks as we all bobbed out heads (like resisting to give it all out and dance! Hehhe) and enjoyed the music!

Nope, we didn’t head home still, we got tired from standing and body bumping at Piedra so we moved to a more relaxed venue..Tiannamen Can you believe it was my first time here?? Yes! It’s a bar with a little dance floor there…some tables where you sit on the floor here and get this---you can have your dimsum and booze!!!! Hahahaha What a night cap ah!

It was a great evening!

The Name is Bond.....James Bond....

My friend Oli has two movies that he made "kontrata" us to watch....Casino Royale is one of them. Nikki and I agreed tto see it with him at promenade. Oli fetched me at Vmall as we waited for Nikki to arrive from work. We went around thinking where to eat..guess where we ended up? REYES BBQ!!! hahaha Well pag hungry kana....kahit saan na na masrapang fast! We had Fruitas buko juice. I love the buko shake t fruitas!!!! Soo cramy like sherbet! Too bad they ran out of it dinner time.

After our dinner, we went to Promenade to check outt the screening time. Perfect! The movie was just about to start.

To be honest, I was really expecting it to be a lousy film but to my surprise....it was one of the nicer bond films I've seen. I still don't like Daniel Craig as Bond...because..I have this thing for Pierce Brosnan.....he shall be the perfect bond for me. Butt Daniel gave justice to the movie, It was action packed and there was never a dull moment.

After the movie War met up with us and we all went to Grilla for some drinks. Good movie night! =)

Haute-ness!

This post is delayed because I've been very impatient uploading my lousy pics ;P hehehe. Nevertheless let me share with you my Sunday malling at Power Plant with Sal. Sal picked me up from my house and we got to the mall around 1030 or 11am andwe decided to have brunch at World Banger's Haute Dog. My sisters have been raving about this hot diggy place for a few weeksnow, and I amglad tofinally get the chance to give it a go.

I ordered the Cacciatore Dog and Sal hadthis....

Four Cheese Haute Dog with a side Caesar Salad, fries and drink (all for Php 130)

The hotdog is HUGE and you get your money's worth. My Cacciatore had a tomato based sauce and it was really good. I found their hot dog more sausage like in taste, but nevertheless--it was a very good and satisfying meal =) . (Oli, you will defintely love this!!!--super sure ako jan! hehehehe)

We went around the mall, onthe look for watches and window shopped. My friend Marke texted me and asked my where abouts. He was shopping for a gift and was on hisway to Poerplant. We met up with him and helped him find a wonderful gift, afterwich we hanged at Starbucks for some coffee and chit chat.

After parting ways with Mark, Saland and went on malling, butunfortunately we weren't ablt to buy anything(badshopping day I guess).

Before leaving we had dinner at Pho 24. I remember seeing this resto everwhere while I was vacationing at Vietnam. I never had the chanceto try it though, for the reason Pho 2000 was themore popular resto in Saigon. Thhe serving there was Hguge, delicious and cheap! (what more can you ask for? ambiance? no need for such thing when you're a back packer in a foreign land!)

We ordered the fresh Vietnamese spring rolls (I cound't upload the pic), which ad mincedchicken with somre greens wrapped in rice paper and spiced vinagar dipping sauce. I was quite disappointed with it to be honest. It wasn't half as good as the spring rolls I've had in Vietnam. The wrapperwas too thick and it lacked flavor. Sorry.

We shared this meal of fried rice, lemon grass chicken with 2 pcs of fried spring rolls Php165. Much more disappointing than the spring rolls. The rice wasok...chicken pieces were too few and lacked umph....the fried spring rollswas ok (maybe it was fried that's why it was better than the fresh counter-part ;P hehehe)

I would recommend eating at PhoHoa instead sorry to say..but then again maybe we just picked the wrong food. Nonetheless, I love Vietnamese food, everyplace I got to eat at the during my stay, was definetly memorable. I travelled there from Saigon, Nha Trang, Hoi An...to Hanoi. It was a great cultural and gustatory adventure -)

Shopping...Hanging..Trip Back toJuanita and Night Cap at the E.R.?!

I haven’t hanged out with my good friend Elaine for quiet sometime, so I was really glad when she told me she was free Saturday afternoon. Great! She picked me up from the office and we went to Shang mall. We had lunch at CYMA (my fave Greek resto) and we both had their delicious Gyros. We walked around the mall chatting and looking for things we need. We even bumbped into Gwen at Zara as wel were shopping along. After that I asked Elaine if we could go to Greenhills because I wanted to get a new phone for my SUN =) hehehe. She gladly obliged as she needed to get KApeng BAarako to send to her sister in Singapore. When we got there, we bought barako from Figaro and headed to Theatremall to buy my phone. I got a new Motorolla SLVR—black! I wanted it to match my V3 ---I was thinking they should be like brother and sister =) hehehee. I like the other phone I bought at MOA, but I really wanted the SLVR to begin with. MENTAL NOTE: DO NOT SETTLE. WHEN YOUR HEART IS REALLY SET ON SOMETHING—GO FOR IT! Hahaha OTHERWISE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SLEEP BECAUSE YOU’LL CONSTANTLY CONVINCE YOURSELF THAT YOU’RE OK WITH WHAT YOU GOT, THEN ONE MORNING YOU’LL REALIZE YOU REALLY WANT THE FIRST THING YOU SET YOUR HEART OUT TO GET! THEN YOU GO GET THAT THING AND TRY TO GET RID OF THE SECOND RATE THING YOU GOT! HAHAHAHA Am I crazy? Maybe.Nonetheless, I pick up a good lesson from this experience. Fair enough?

Ironically, Elaine was to go to wake that evening, so we had to part ways before 7pm. I had dinner plans with Kat and Sal, but it was set a bit late in the evening. So I asked Elaine to drop me off at Oli’s house to hang out. Good thing Oli was just lazing at home because we were to meet up later that evening after my dinner engagement. When I got there, Bny was also home. We played a bit with their cute dog Buger! Hello Burger ---you’re so adorable, but I am afraid of you! Hahaha Bny was tinkering with his fabulous lap top, so we asked him to play Grey’s anatomy (series 3). I love Grey’s Anatomy! I finished Season 1 and 2 already. Around 8pm or so Sal was arrived to pick me up..Thank you Oli and Bny for the hang time! It was cool =)
My dear friend Kat got back from her long vacation in the United Kingdom---horraaaaaaaayy!!! =) Sal and I missed her dearly, and so we planned a dinner get together Saturday evening. I asked Kat what food she missed---and she said anything just nothing Chinese, English or Italian. I instantly thought of bringing her to Café Juanita. So I made the reservations. When they fetched me from Oli’s house, we went to Café Juanita to hear Kat’s English adventure and enjoy the great Juanita food

Yours truly, Sal and Kat (Love these girls!)

For Starters...we had Buddha Pillows. Tofu with Oyster-sauce like sauce. Among all of our orders, we liked this least. I think the Tofu was not fresh as it had a sour taste to it and I kinda detected a slight rancid taste.

The Pasta Filipina- angel hair pasta with crab fat sauce, served with garlic french bread. EXCELLENT! We loved it to the last smear of sauce!

Callos- this is the best Callos I've ever had. Maybe I haven't really tried that many variations of Callos. All of the ones I've tried before are redolent of pork and beans! hahaha This was really good...but there quite too few tripe pieces =) Or maybe we were just matakaw! hahaha

Lengua- Ohhhhhhhh lalala (Oli, you'll love this dish!) It's just so tender and the sauce is ooohh sooo good. Sarap with lotsa rice! We initially ordered one rice lang 'coz we had pasta na (counting carbs ba? hehehe) Then ordered another...and another! Too sum it all up eh di one rice each na din kame! hahahhahaha

To end our meal...we had the Toffee Pudding

It was soooo good! The pudding tasted that of rich custatd and slight hint of toffee. Served warm and ala mode! I love contrasting temperatures and textures in my desserts!

and parang kulang pa yun so we ordered the Turon ala mode. Yummy mini-turons covered with caramelized sugar. Yum yum Yum

After that wonderful dinner of good food and great story telling, Kat and Sal were to go home early. They dropped me off at UCC in connecticut and I met up with Oli and Eliz.

We hanged there for a while and moved to Grilla for some drinks. Well they had drinks...as for me just warm water. My voice was still hoarse! It got really worse taht evening and so Oli dragged me to Cardinal Santos E.R. .

Eliz and I went ahead with Jamin and met Oli at the ER.

They checked my throat and advised me to have it check by an EENT. ---Guess how much i was billed...Php 800 bucks---telling me to seek an EENT. Hold up nga ba? hahaha

Thank you dear Eliz and my darling pipi Oli =)

Tuesday Trysts

I had a meeting at SM MOA last Tuesday morning. I was contemplating on having lunch there or goin back to the office, when my friend Gwen teexted me and asked me if I wanted to have lunch with her and her sister Lyn (who happens to be a friend of mine also) at Megamall. I had to do an ocular visit there as well so I gave it a go.

We chose to have lunch at Italianni’s. Lyn just had the complimentary bread because she had to go back to her office. So Gwen and I decided to share an order of Angel hair pomodoro. This happened to be my favorite pasta dish there =)

Angel Hair Pomodoro

For dessert…ah…we had our eyes set on them before we even went in! The put a gelateria at the forefront of the resto----ohhh lala. After polishing our pasta and bread we went out to check out the gelatos. After tasting several flavors, which were all soooooo good. Gwen chose the coffee crunch and I had the black forest =)

Coffee Crunch Gelato

Black Forest Gelato

Both was sooooooooooo good. The coffee crunch had a strong espresso like flavor. The blck forest was made of deep dark chocolate gelato with cherries and liqueur. It was superb!!!! I love cherries with the rich deep dark bitter sweet chocolate taste.

With happy palates we left Mega and headed to greenhills VMall to meet up with Oli. I had work to do there and Gwen was on the look for a digicam case and a Blackberry pearl. Perfect! We went about the things we had to do and went Jollihotdog hunting with Oli. We first went to the Jollibee at the foodcourt of theatremall, but alas---no Jollohotdog (taco style). We told Oli not to falter for there is still a Jollibee branch at the ground floor of the Carpark building. We hurried there….Oli grasped his breath as he went came forth towards the counter to ask for his Hotdoggidiy desire----YES! It was available!!! Happily we went to theatermall to hang out, have our caffeine fix and watch Oli devour his tacodog! So did he like it?---He said it was ok but BITIN =) hehehe

We went around Vmall and theatremall. Gwen was able to buy a nice digicam case. We then went to Unimart to do a little grocery shopping. Gwen was going to cook beef stew for her boyfriend the following day, so she had to buy some ingredients and I had to buy household stuff. We gingerly combed through each and every isle in the grocery. We reminisced the days when we all used to go grocery shopping with our families. Wasn’t that just great?! I mean it was like a shopping spree when we were kids. We would just take everything we wanted from the shelves (well, as long as mom and dad approves) and load them up in the push cart! The best part we all agreed was that our parents paid for everything, right? Hahaha Gone are these days, as well as the time of having extensions of our folks’ credit cards. I guess all of our parents wised up and realized we are all old enough to fend for our needs. Ah the pits of maturity and adulthood! Hahaha Now we limit what we buy to bare necessities.

I was to meet my friend Chacha (a highschool friend) for dinner at Alex III Wilson around 7pm so I asked Gwen and Oli if they wanted to come along. Gwen was in and asked Gretch (her beloved) to meet up with us there. Oli had a meeting that evening so he had to head home for dinner. We rounded up our stuff, loaded in our cars and parted ways with Oli.

My friend Cha was already there with a table waiting for us. I had the boneless chicken bbq, Gwen had the 2 pc chicken bbq and Cha had the pork bbq. Alex III, for me is one of the few restos that has for years kept the good quality of food and service. So I thought! We were quite disappointed with our food. My favorite java rice, for the first time---disappointed me. It was pale orange and tastesless! Mu chicken bbq, if not for the sauce was lifeless. Gwen’s chicken was cooked raw at the center and so she had to have it taken back and be cooked further. Only Cha’s pork bbq turned out fine. Gretch came in and ordered the chicken honey…which he was quite alright told us. It's sad that one of our OLD and RELIABLE favorites has changed like this. Maybe it was just a bad BBQ day??? I hope so....let's not give up on Alex! We shall come back another day! =)

Chicken Bbq with Java Rice

MOAing Again and A Dinner Fleur Two

Since I got home kinda late Saturday night, my very thoughtful friend Sal suggested that we don’t meet in the morning for our Sunday walking. I wasn’t able to detest since I read her message at 9am already =). One of the rare instance that I didn’t get up early in spite of sleeping in very late…or rather early in the morning. Good thing also because I just remember then that I had to bring my shobe Bakekang to CSB for her entrance exam! We had brunch at home and hurried to Taft to avoid any unforeseen traffic.

We got there just in time and my other sis Che ushered her to the gate. The exam was set 1pm till 530 pm. My sis and I decided to hang at SM Mall of Asa to kill time. We shopped for beauty stuff and had merienda of waffle time and mister donut coffee (nagtitipid kase kame =)). Sal then texted me and asked me if I wanted to have dinner with her. I of course said yes =) There was a promo going on at the Motoral shop at MOA so I moseyed in and looked for a phone that I can use as my SUN cell. I’ve been meaning to get a new phone and get SUN because most of my friends are SUN users and they were all convincing me that it will be more convenient and tipid if I had SUN. So I got a new Moto and bought a SUN sim. Oh joy! First thing I did was contact Nikki and Oli. It was great to be under SUN =)

We fetched our shobe at CSB and got her Jollihotdog. She was famished from her test. I had my sisterd drop me off at Starbuck’s in Morato and I told Sal that I’ll just wait for her there. I was SUNshipping with Nikki as I waited…and the time just flew on by. Before I knew it, Sal was there to pick me up.

We went to Fleur d Lys to have dinner. We shared the Fettuccine with Aligue sauce and tried their bacon waffles

Aligue Pasta

The pasta was good but nothing great. The bacon waffle was not at all like what we had expected

Waffles with Bacon and Egg

The waffle---just one square, like the size of frozen waffle or like the waffle sold at Starbucks. We also thought that the bacon would be incorporated IN the waffle, like in Pancake house. They served the bacon (which was more ham-ish than my imagined crispy fried pork strips) on the side, along with the fried egg. It tasted ok but we were just taken a-back by the miniscule size. Nevertheless, we were caught up with being together and enjoying our conversation, that we didn’t mind the food as much as I am minding it now.

Strawberry Pie

For dessert, we had the Strawberry pie. It was fresh Straberries on a short bread-like crust with chocolate ganache in between. It was actually good but the slice….was tooo small! Way too small for the price. It was more than 100 bucks a pop and we feel a bit short changed with the serving.

We also shared an order of the coffee jelly frap. It was cool and refreshing =)

I’ve eaten at Fleur several times already. I liked their crabmeat panini and the salad with grapes. The dark mocha is great there as well. As for the cakes, I like the macadamia nut pie served with a small dollop of ice cream and their NEXT BEST THING is great as well.

Sonja's at Serendra..a birthday Party and Piedras!

As if all the sugar was not enough for us from the part at Gourdo's, Didi, Edi and I decided to go to Serendra and check out Sonja's cupcake store. It was actually more to satisfy my curiosity because I've never been there.

The place looked very promising as a new site for dinning and ganging out. There were several restos opened and under construction. I will definitey go bcak there to 1.) dine at portico (I missed this resto!!! I remember the last time I went there, it was actually with Didi and Edi, but they were closed already) 2.) try the Mary Grace coffee shop (I adore their ensaymada and lemon squares)--the interiors was charming and cozy 3.) try the DUO resto

We went in Sonja's store and the place was packed! I guess there are a lot of cupcake fans out there, unfortunately I am not one of them. Didi and I are EXACT OPPOSITES when it comes to desserts....I am fond of coffee and chocolates..the darker the better...she hates them =) hehehe I hate whipped cream, frostings, icing and any white stuff on desserts and she LOVES them! hahaha

But then..opposites do attract..that's why we are good friends =)

After Serendra, Edi and Didi dropped me off at Corinthian's to meet Oli, War, Matt and other friends. It was the birthday of therir highschool friend Dax. After a few drinks...well for me, after several glasses of SARSI LIGHT =) we all said adieu to the party people. War and I were still up for some gimmicking so we headed back to th Fort! Talk about circling around!

I met up with my friends Harry, Sarah (Harry's sis), Hazel, Ken, Sam and others at Piedras. War met up with his college buddies there as well and what do you know--the venue was Piedras as well. It's a funky bar at the 3rd floor of the Strip. Well, I gladly burned off some of the dessert calories I took in from the EB party=) We had some drinks as we gyrated along the music. I like the music there...I shall definitely come back (pag gimmick mood and mga tao! --it rarely happens though)

Harry brought me home. What a Saturday it was! GREAT FOOD , GREAT FRIENDS =)

Meeting the Main Man...Mr. Market Man =)

Saturday was much anticipated by my friend Didi and I, for it was the night of THE bloggers EB, hosted by no less that THE Market Man himself! We were so glad that we have been accommodated to take part on such an event, to meet and mingle with the people we read and interact with through this awesome virtual medium.

Good thing Didi was able to convince Edi (her beloved) to tag along with us---the more the merrier! They fetched me at Greenhills around 6pm and we took on the saturday night Edsa traffic. Our spirits our unscathed! As we were so excied and we were absolutely confident that Edi would get us to The Fort on time...in no time.....and he did =)

When we got there, we were ushered in by no less than Mr. Marketman himself! Very cordial and very warm =). People around us were chatting along and nibbling on the bruschettas. We made our way to the buffet table....and such a spread it was! Two kinds of pizzas (one with anchovies and the other with black olives), salad with melons wrapped with proscuitto ham, 2 kind of pasta, roast pork and a grand desser buffet that comprised of goodies made and or bought by each and everyone of us.

the salad--I unfortunately was not able to try

this was fresh pasta with mushrooms and olive oil---I loved this =)

There was a wide array of dessert varieties....from native kakanins to cakes and cookies. Major carbo-loading---major sugar overdose! I actually got heart palpitations after having my 2nd plate of dessert! ;) hahahaha

Sugar-high, Didi and I mingled with the other guests. We were able to strike up a conversation with several people there, but most notable for me was meeting Mr. Anton of Our Awesome Planet and his cute baby and charming wife! We even had a little pictorial. Thank you Mr. Anton and family =)

We had a great time at the EB---thank you Mr.MM for hosting such an event!

Street Food Nostalgia

Growing up, we weren't allowed to have any street food. My mom, dad and nanay would constantly threaten us about getting hepatitis or diarrhea if we eat these food.

It was only during college that I was able to have these forbidden food. It is almost enevitable not to eat or at least try these food stuff because it was part of the campus culture. I remeber my first encounter with isaw--- I was then an applicant to the UP Pre-Medical Society, during my freshmen year. We would hang out at our tambayan in between and after classes as often as we can. There I learned to play several card games like bridge, gin rummy, pusoy dos, go-fish, rook, hearts, rape...we also played majong! One afternoon, some of the members called out "isaw tayo..isaw!" I looked at others for any violent reaction, but all i saw was faces perked up and thrilled with the idea.

Everone headed out...I didn't move an inch! They were waiting for me at the door.....I hesitated but followed then to the parking lot. We went to the isawan located right smack in the middle of the Asian Center and Bahay Kalinaw. They ordered 10 sticks...20 sticks or maybe more per person of mixed isaw baboy (pork intestine), isaw manok (chicken intestine), tenga (pig ears), balunbalunan (gizzard, I think they are chicke's), blood cubes....

I was mortified when they gave me my first isaw stick! I told myself "anything once Jen"...so I closed my eyes and ate....ewwwee.....uhmmmmm.......err.....YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =) hahahaha It was great! It was like soft bbq...chewy...and excellent with the suka! A memory I will never forget.

Yesterday I accompanied Mike back to UP to get TCG (tru copy of grades) for a friend of his in the states. Unfortunately, the registrar's office was already closed. "now what?" We looked at eachother and smiled..."isaw tayo"--let's go! hahahah

WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!!

lookin' for a low carb snack??---these are all fat and protein! Eat your Atkin's diet away!!!! SO THAT'S WHY WE WERE ALL SO SKINNY AND SEXY DURING COLLEGE DAYS :p hehehehe

as your friendly neighborhood FOOD TECHNOLOGIST, I say this is very safe to eat...any bacteria or germs has been eradicated by the flames of the coals....dipping it in HOAc (Acetic Acid a.k.a. SUKA/VINEGAR) gives an added anti-microbial bonus =)

To make the UP food trip experience complete...some crispy fried FISH BALLS!!!! I like it with the sweet sauce. In UP the vendors are regulated by the university vendors association. For hygienic purposes, the vendors were required to put the sauces in capped bottle containers. So no more "saw-saw-ing" (dipping) the tinusok-tusok na fishballs in the sauce garapon....hence no double dipping! The fishballs are now served on little paper plates for ease in eating as you POUR the sauce on the fishball stick--NICE =)

We also had dirty ice cream...but I wasn't able to upload the pic. Chocolate, maango and cheese flavors in one cone....Php 10--beat that!

We were so full from our street food degustation that when we went to Shang mall to have dinner with our friend Tey we told her that we would just accompany her through dinner. We decided to stay at outside of the mall, the part where bands play and you can order from all the surrounding restos. Tey ordered her dinner from the Red Crab, Mike had SMB and ordered an apps platter and I has a green mango slushhie. It was a fun evening of chatting, drinking and nibbling.

I wasn't able to join my friends Oli, Nikki and others at greenhills because we were all tired from the day. I also wante to go home early to get well rested for Saturday night. SAT NIGHT is the MM EB! =) YEY!!!

4 Souls Mallin' on All Souls

Since my family already visited the cemetery, the first of November was a free day for me! I was really planning to wake up LATE that day to catch up on my zzz's. I slept around 2am but woke up 7am!!! So much on catching up with sleep. I spent the morning watching TV.

Nikki texted me around noon time asking for aftrnoon plans!--Great! We contemplated on watching a movie. War picked up Nikki then moi around 2-ish and we went to Greenhills to see what movies are showing.

To our disappointment---nothing good was showing. While fuguring out what to do, we just had some buco shake at the Fruitas Buco--buco stall!!! hahahaha They sell great buco shakes at Php 39 only! War had the ice monster like fruit salad that was served in the coconut shell!!!! Nikki had her favorite chicken balls from Reyes bbq. After our meyenda at theatremall, we decided to go the tiangge and go shopping for shorts! Yes--I am a shorts addict. I love shorts and skirts....I have loads of them in differents cuts, colors and fabrics =) I don't know why I can't seem to have enough shorts and skirts! This addiction rubbed off on kiki then, she was on the look out for shorts . I told War.."NO...No shopping for me today, sasamahan ko lang si Niks". YEAH RIGHT!!! Stall after stall...WE started trying on shorts after shorts after shorts...hehehe. We got 5 pairs in all! 3 for Kiki and 2 for me---well I let the one pair go because I have too much na--self control naman d ba! ;P hehehe

After scoring those great shorts we went to Starbucks theatremall so re-charge. Oli met up with us there...famished! So we had early dinner at Aristocrat! They still serve the good ol' stuff of chicken bbq and java rice!

We decided to call it an evening early because of work the following day. We headed homearound 8pm. It started to rain----hard--harder----until we got a bit worried because War could barely see through the intense rain fall! We had to park somewhere in Ayala heights to wait it down, but it seems like the rain got harder and harder. So we had to head on home.

We managed to get home safely and not so late! Thank you War =)

We had a blast from shopping, chillin' and facing up a storm! hahaha

All Souls Day

Since I was little, it has been customary for our family to spend all souls day, 1st of November at the cemetery. It was something that me and my sisters look forward to then because it always turned out to be like a picnic with my family, aunt and cousins. Our beloved "nanay", who was our nanny (who saw us through childhood till college! She was like the lola we never had and the mayor doma to our other househelpers) and cook would prepare her famous pork adobo and yummy meatballs as our staple all sous day baon. We would bring hoards of rice, softdrinks and lots and lots of chicheriya!!! It was like a junk-food holiday for us kids, because we were normally not allowed to have junk food and sodas. All of that plus the food my aunt would bring, (which were usually the pastas, sandwiches, liempos or chicken dish) would really last us through the day. My parents and aunt would tell stories about their childhood as we played with melted candle wax and turn them into wax-balls! My sisters, cousins and I would at times stroll aroung the memorial park and look for more food to ask our parents to buy us---cotton candy, dirty ice cream, pop corn, kasoy, hotdogs, pizza....it seemed like it was a day in the amusement park!

I miss those days. Now that we are older, we rarely go the same day with our cousins. This year we went a different day for the firs time. We paid our respects to our departed ones on the 31st, to avoid the foreseen traffic annual hazzards going to the cemetery. Although we still brough our adobo (now prepared by my sis) and some chicheriya (which were 4-5 packs of e-aji)...its not the same, really. We got there late in the afternoon and stayed until half passed midnight....at least we were able to stay 'till Nov1.

Double Birthday Bash at Tagaytay

Nicole and I had our joint birthday celebration at Oli's house in Tagaytay. Bentot picked me up from the office around 230pm, we went back to his house and shortly after, Oli picked us up and we headed to Nikki's house. Their village was having their annual Treat orTreat, which slowed us down because the streets were teeming with creepy and cutely clad youngin's. We had a heavy meryenda of Tomato Basil Pasta with grilled chicken, Chicken Fingers from Chili's and a bowl of Clams =)----yummy.

After having our tanks "filled up" (thanks kiki and SB!) off to Tagaytay we went!!! We sang along silly love songs as we traversed the south bound traffic. We got there around 7pm, some of Nikki's friends were already there. When War and the others arrived, the boys wabted to have dinner at Mushroom bugrer...so pinagbigyan na ng mga girls....

Its my first time to eat at mushroom burger, so it was quite interesting. Well, as expected, everything had mushrooms! hehehehe They had sandwiches and rice meals as well as pasta and soup. The prices are very affordable though the place needed a little brightening up.

Oyster and Shitake Mushrooms

Pinoy Longanisa-Mushroom Burger and Black Gulaman on the side

This is what I had for dinner. I guess incorporating minced mushrooms with the longanisa makes it lighter and healthier than the average longanisa patty. Not bad for 24 bucks! The black gulaman was more expesive pa at Php26! hahahaha

After having our mushroomy dinner, we went back to the house to start the party! More of our friends arrived later that evening. It was a long and fun-filled evening---thank you to everyone who came =)

Surprisingly a lot got up early the morning after. We had our breakfast of Jollibee---all had Super breakfast meals as we were famished from partying hahaha! We hanged around watching episodes of the Entourage. Nikki and I drove around the village to check out the other houses. We even saw this cute little pup on the porch of one house--awww =). After that we returned to the house to watch some more. It was around 2pm that we all decided to pack up and have late lunch and head back home. We chose to eat at LZM. We had bulalo, inihaw na liempo, lechon kawali and pancit. Ahhhh, another great artery clogging feast! heheheeh

We parted ways...Oli, Ven and Mara went back together, and Nikki, War and I went with Matt. We were all tired during the trip back. Thank you Oli and Matthew for driving =)

What a great post birthday celebration. Thank you Oli for letting us party at your house...thank you Matt for being sooo caring thank you, thank you. To Bentot, War, Mara, Eliz, Che, Kent, Adam, Gwen, Gretch, Alfonse, Dino and Paj thank you all for coming!

To Nikki-kiki...luv yah girl! =)hahaha

HEAT's Sooo Good!!!

How good is it to have Japanese sushis, sashimi’s… Chinese dim sum, roastings… Korean stews, noodles… Italian piazzas, pastas…rack or lamb…prime rib…roast beef…fillet mignon…on a workday…with an empty stomach from having forgotten to have breakfast? And how about a cold rock-ish, smooshie ice creams…halo-halo…crepes…cakes…tarts..puddings and native kakanins galore to cap the meal??? HEAT’s Terrific!!!!!

Yes! The Heat buffet was great. My friend Mark invited me for lunch yesterday. After fetching me from the office, he instructed the driver indubitably …”to Edsa Shang Hotel…” He hadn’t told me the night prior, where our lunch-capade would be, but it was indeed a pleasant surprise. I was famished from not being able to have breakfast (good job! hehehe) so I welcomed the preordained venue.

I’ve tried the Circle buffet at Makati Shang around 3 weeks ago (for my birthday), and in comparison, I think Heat offers a better food selection.

For starters, I had some Salmon sashimi, maki and somesort of raw tuna salad...and some Roquefort cheese (which was off-theme from my jap plate..but what the heck!)

For my main entree selection...meet my MEAT! hahaha I chose from the grill station the lamb, prime rib-eye, fillet mignon, prawns thermidore (i love this) and a tandoored fillet of fish (don't know why I got that, it was good though). A piece of crusty dinner roll for carbohydrates =)

There were lots more food to try...dimsum, a wide variety of cosmopolitan dishes, pizzas adn pastas..I wanted to have pasta but the sauce for the day was bacon and cream =( I don't do cream man! There were huge crabs, oysters and prawns. So much food..so little time and space to boot! hahahha So we went to the desserts part...the best part?! ;P

There was a white chocolate fondue, with a whole lot of dippin'-ma-jiggies to choose from. Unfortunately, I don't do white chocolate either (to my friend didi--I bet you'll love this girl!) There was a halo-halo bar, a wide array of tarts, pastries, cakes, pies, puddings, native kakanins like sapin-sapin roll and bico. The awesome part for me...the cold-rock-like station. You get to pick your ice cream and they smoosh-in nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts), chocolates, candies, fruits.....whatever you can think of...I think it was there!

But my heart was set on the creperie =) "One mango crepe with slivered almonds, chocolate morsels, top it with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce and more almonds sil`vous plait~!" "Whipped cream ma'am?"...."HOLD THE CREAM monsieur!" hahahaha

hmmmmm...monsieur crepeur was very goooood....he made my crepe just as I wanted it.....

'Tis this gamine's joie de vivre!

Thank you Mark =)

To My Beloved Mom....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM.......

I hope your happy in God's graceful arms. May you always be in perfect peace and I want you to know that I love you very much. I miss you more than words could express and I need you now more than ever and maybe forever.

You were the best mom a daughter could ever have and how unfortunate for me that fate has not allowed us to be together longer than I want...longer than it should be..longer for you to see what I have become, and see me through all the good and bad changes I go through as I go through life. I've always thought that its so unfair of life to make this so...but I realize that who am I question His will.

Everything has a reason. I trust His perfect plan. In the greater scheme of things, I shall know the reason..all the reason for why things happen as they happen..I will know and understand them all in the end.

I love you Mom.

Singing till Closing Time!

After having a great dinner at Cyma, we were all full of energy! What better way to burn it off, than to sing it all out!!! Yes, we are videoke freaks! My voice still hasn't recovered from being hoarse, but that didn't stop me from perking up on the idea of giving World Music a go. They have an ongoing promo of Php 285.oo per head sing-all-you-can from 7pm till closing time. LET"S GO!!!!! We met up with Eliz and her sis Valerie at Promenade. To our disappoinment, all the rooms were occupied at sing-all-you-can rates! But our spirits were unscathed! We held on waiting for a vacancy, as we felt confident a group will eventually falter from singing and give up a room! With luck on our side, we got in after only waiting 15-20mins. Ha! It was around 11pm already but so what!! We got the room for an hour only because it was alreasy late and we all wanted to get home early....

Well, we all did get home early...early in the morning!!!! The hour extented to 2....the waiter knocked to call in our time...we extended an hour more! So many songs...so little time. We only gave up extending the hours because they were already closing up =)

No hope in getting my voice back after this heheheh ;P

Savoring Cyma

This monday felt like a friday! Tuesday was declared a holiday in observance of Ramadan...so no work (not including me) for most people. I guess a lot made out of town vacation plans, but not for me. Nikki, War, Eliz and I just thought of having dinner and coffee to chill out. Warren had other plans with his friends from college and Eliz had a family dinner engagement. The plan was War, Nikki and I will have dinner together...after dinner War goes to his UP barkada gimmick and Nikki and I meet with Eliz for coffee...the great switch-a-roo hehehe!

War picked me up from the office, fetched Nikki and went to Shang mall to have dinner at CYMA---my favorite Greek Resto, I might add =)

We had the Family Greek Salad.....it had lettuce, zucchini, capers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta cheese, farfale pasta with vinegarette, served with bruschetta. Really good!!!

This is the OssoBuco with pasta and meat sauce (I forgot the name of this dish). Perfectly cooked to soft tenderness! The pasta underneath it was ladened with meat and sauce of the braised veal shank. An excellent savory dish!

This was the bone marrow mass that War carefully slipped out from the shank bone and devoured with great gusto!!!

To cap our very satisfying dinner....we had the ever popular Flaming Mangoes. A whole mango with caramelized sugar, flambeed at your table then dalloped with a generous glob of vanilla ice cream!!!! HOOOOOPA!!!! ;p

As you can see..our dear War is so gigil making simut the mango buto!!!! Need I say, we loved this dessert to the last dribble of the sauce and mango fibre!!!!

Nikki and Moi....happy after our meal!!!

Breakfast in Bali

Sal and I went to Ortigas this sunday to do our shopping cum cardio. To start of our day, our breakfast venue was The Mega Strip and we chose to eat where paradise is just a cup away... Bali Blends.

Its a Balinese coffee shop that serves meals and desserts. Ofcourse, I have to have my morning brew and the good thing about Bali blends is that coffee is refillable! =) This is the bottomless Sumatra Coffee. Not bad for Php 80.00 but the brew is quite weak for my taste.

Sal had the strawberry smoothie because she wanted somthing cool and refreshing...

...and for our breakfast meal, we shared the vegetable omelet served with roti bread.

The omelet had zucchini, leeks and tomatoes. The roti bread was unlike the rotis that I have tried. I was used to the airy and flaky roitis I've had in Banana Leaf Curry and in Singapore Indain restos. The rotis they served us at Bali Blends were flat and somewhat like thin pizza crust. It was good though so its alright =)

After breakfast we shopped at St. Francis, Mega and Podium. We were shopping for stuff to send to Sal's sis in the U.S.. Her parents are goin there for vacation on November so our goal for the day is complete the pabli list.

We finished goin around the Ortigas malls around 2pm and went to greenhils to do some grocery shopping at Unimart. We had lunch first at Razon's. It's the famous halo-halo of Guagua place. Sal and I shared the tapsilog so that we have space for dessert =) The tapsilog was good..and we enjoyed our cool and refreshing halo-halo. It more like banana con yielo because..the laman comprised of sweet saba bananas, macapuno (that was like minced!) and leche flan. The ice is worth noting because it is fine as snow--we liked that a lot. hehehhe

We hit the tiangge, the Jewelry and Sun Shop...I am on the look out for a nice phone to use for the sun line I am planning to get--plan pa lang! War met up with us while jewlery shopping and we went to Unimart to hoard kare-kare, adobo, menudo, caldereta, pancit etc...mixes and local chicheriya =) Chocnut, breadstix, mallows, those chocolate covered cookies (like mallows na walang marshmallows) etc. Don't these junkfood make us nostalgic in more ways than one? It was really fun looking for these stuff because for quite sometime we neglect or no longer look for them when we grocery shop.

We got tired from shopping all day so we went to look for a place to have dinner. We ended upmgoin to Dexter's Bakeshop in Katipunan but they were already closing up. We just had sans rival and a chicken pie to go. We went to white plains to eat our take out and rest before heading home.

What a great end to a weekend!