Lovin' the Legend....Save Room for Me! =)

Save Room

Say that you stay a little

Don't say bye bye tonight

Say you'll be mine just a little of bit of love Is worth a moment of your time
knocking on your door just a little

so cold outside tonight

let's get the fire burningI know, I keep it burining right
If you stay, won't you stay - stay
save room for my love

save room for a moment to be with me

save room for my love

save a little save a little for me won't you save a little

save a little for me - ohh
This just might hurt a little

love hurts sometimes when you do it right

Don't be affraid of a little bit of pain pleasure is just on the other side
Let down your guard just a little

I keep you safe in these arms of mine

Hold on to me - pretty baby

You will see I can be all you need
If you stay, won't you stay - stay
save room for my love

save room for a moment to be with me

save room for my love

save a little

save a little for me

won't you save a little

save a little for me - ohh
[pa-ya-pa-pa] - [pa-ya-pa-pa] - [pa-ya-pa-pa] - [da-da-da]
Ohhh come on
Make time to live a little

don't let this moment slip by tonight

you never know what you are missing

untill you tryI keep you satisfied

if you stay, won't you stay - stay
save room for my love

save room for a moment to be with me

save room for my love

save a little

save a little for me

won't you save a little

save a little for me - ohh
save room for love

save room for a moment to be with me

save a little, save a little for me

won't you save a little

save a little for me

Power Breakfast

Since I wasn't able to go to the friday and saturday midnight sales, I talked Sal into having our sunday morning walk at Rockwell. We had our "power" breakfast at Grams Diner, located beside UCC, at the complex outside the mall (I forgot the name of the complex). They serve typical diner food (like pancake house with more variety)..everyone will find something they like. The selection ranges from pancakes, waffles, sandwiches...to pastas, rice meals and desserts. I guess this is pretty much the reason why the place if full at 8am, plus the food is not expensive. As for the taste...err..let's see...

Sal and I shared an order of Eggs Benedict, since we both haven't tried this dish anywhere yet, and we also had the waffle.

Eggs benedict, with potatoes and caramelized onions
These are english muffins with a slice of ham and poached eggs topped with hollandaise sauce. The hollandaise sauce was a tad bit too lemony for our taste... We would have liked this dish more if we had held the sauce! The egg needed some salt and the ham..was it there???

Waffles--that tasted like cardboard! hehehe...

The servings at Grams diner were ample and the food looked very appetizing... but while eating them..it felt-- empty. It was like, eating food that we are really fond of, without getting any satisfaction. I don't know but I surmise it's from the lack of taste of the food. The eggs benedict was bland and too citrusy. The waffles...didn't taste like waffles--more like...eating cardboard or foam! No matter how much syrup and butter you put (and normally I don't put syrup any use only a small slather of whipped butter).....nothing! I am person who enjoys quality over volume, so I guess Grams diner is not for me. I mean, it would be ok for me to eat here again but I will not look forward to it. The food is ok but I'd recommend you have your waffles at pancake house or heaven and eggs----or mag waffletime ka nalang! ;P, and have your eggs benedict maybe at bizu (though I have yet to try it). What I did like was the flowin' coffee =) hehee Alas! The saving grace of our morning grace...decent brewed coffee that was refillable! The first cup they gave was strong and americano-like..the refills were just plain brewed--but decent coffee. Two snaps up for that, least to say.

After that blad breakfast benedict...we moved to Starbucks because Sal wanted some iced tea and we were still waiting for the mall to open. We chatted along untill it was time for some malling action. We were hunting for bags and scrimmaged through all sales items of each store. I noticed they already opened the newly rennovated Hip area. It is a conglomerate of greehills shops in the powerplant mall. You see..wherever you go to shop....greenhills will haunt you!

We left empty handed...I went to greenhills to check out the tiangge again, as I wait for my friend Mike (he wanted to do some shopping as well) and Sal went home to fetch her mom and shop some more!!!! Are we crazy shop-a-holics or what??? But NO--don't think like we go shop crazy every weekend. We just like bargain hunting and most of the time just window shop for exercise ;) Matipid po kame! hehehe

New Baby Boy!!!

Last thursday, Sal and and went to visit our friend Wandi at her house in a nice village in Congressional avenue. Sally fetched me from nail loft at around 7pm, afer my manicure. There is a chinese custom, that after giving birth, the mother is to go through "ge-lai" to help her recover from the strains of giving birth and be in proper health condition for taking care of and nursing the baby. I have seen several of my married friends go through it and believe it or not, the new mom is not allowed to take a bath for about a month I think! Depends on the practice in the family. She is to eat a lot of oily food. Food fried in sesame oil. Sal and I decided to bring her cake--cake is fatty and sweet and will make Wandi happy! hahahaha We went to Alex III bakeshop located in Tomas Morato, where Icings bakeshop used to stand. I like the chocolate cake at their resto so I presumed they make good cakes and pastries. It was funny that the famous Alex III chocolate cake was no where insight. They offered muffins, ensaymadas, breads, cookies and an array of cakes. What was interesting were their different varieties of sans rival. They had the conventional sans rival, mocha sans rival, choco san rival etc... The best seller was the TORTA DELA ROSA (or DELO ROSO??--i'm confused) which was the chocolate version. We didn't get a chance to try it, so we just took their word for it and got the medium sized one.

We got to Wandi's house around 830pm. She looked so cute in her pajamas...and the baby......sooooo adorable =) The baby weighed 5 lbs at birth, so he looked quite fragile. His skin was still pinkish and flaky due to skin shedding. We spent the night talking about pregnancy, giving birth, breast feeding, rearing kids and all the motherhood enchillada. Congratulations Wandi!

After that, it occurred to us that we haven't had dinner yet. So we scouted the vicinity outside the village to find a place to eat. We chose to have our late dinner at Jo's Inato. We tried their famous chicken inato--which was like chicken inasal minus the yellow coloring and chicken oil. I thought that inato is the same as insal..but the waiters told me otherwise. As far as taste is concerned, its almost the same to me...like good ol' filipino style chicken barbeque! hehehehe We also had the laing. It resembled the tinomok of Jerry's, with which the gabi leaves are stuffed with a meatball like filling. It was delicious and great with our chicken.

I am not able to post pictures for the time being...but I do have the photos..I'll post them another day =)

Jo's Chicken Inato

Breakfast at Taza

There is nothing like a good breakfast rendezvous on a monday, to kill the start-of-the-week-blues. My friend Elaine and I met up early monday morn at my favorite carwash cafe--TAZA Cafe. Its located at Ma. Clara St. somewhere near the Banawe are. For me, its one of the non-commercial cafes with really good coffee! I love their Americano--strong and full bodied -withouth the sour taste. Their cappuccinos and mocha-la-roca (which is almond roca flavored cafe mocha) are excellent. The menu ranges from breakfast fare, pastas, sandwiches to rice dishes and they have a good selection of cakes and desserts. Elaine needed to have her car washed as well--perfect! Good breakfast, good company and clean cars! hahahah We both had the German Breakfast plate, which consisted of french toast, scrambled eggs and a German frank...oh and it went with a good cup of cafe Americano---hmmmm--that's like 3 nationalities rolled into one breakfast ei? hehehe

Again, I forgot to take pictures! hehehe ;P

After that we were ready for the days work!

Sunday Walking at Podium, St. Francis and Mega

For our Sunday morning walk, Sal and I decided to have it in ortigas. We met up first, at Dorset Cafe in Connecticut, Greenhills to have our usual breakfast and off to Podium we went. The shops were still closed when we got there, but several restos that serve breakfast were already open. We decided to walk to Megamall first and took the back exit going there. It was only then that we remembered that St. Francis Square IS already a mall too! It was our first time there and what a nice surprise---its like Greenhills tiangge in building format! The best part was that, the stalls there open up earlier than the malls, so we had fun killing time while we wait for the mall opening. They had nice and in-expensive stuff there, but you just have to be wary on what you buy...the thing about cheap buys is that at times, they tend to be of poor quality. I say AT TIMES ah...but you can find a lot of real steals rummaging through tiangges if you know what your buying and do your shopping right!

We went to Mega when the mall opened and bought some hardware stuff, grocery items and beauty products at Watsons. Mega is to have a sale on Oct.13-15 pala so we resfrained from making any purchases that day---err--well...just in Mega =P hehehehe With that restraining order, we felt that we had no business staying in Mega, so we went back to Podium...on our way, we inevitably had to traverse St. Francis Square, so we went around a bit and tried some of the stall food there since we forgot to have lunch. We tried the Bitcho Brothers, which as like an elongated donut. It was sold at 10 pesos a log. Delicious! How could it not be???---Like bread, deep fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar. I think you can't get wrong with anything freshly fried. We sampled the cheese sticks and "quek-quek" on the other satll. I didn't like the cheese sticks because it had a strange orange color. I guess they economized it to the max buy using sheese flavor? (eeeww) The saving grace? It was freshly fried so it was edible. Maybe they made it orange to match the color of the "quek-quek"?? hahaha

Having enough fried stall food...we walked to Podium. Delifrance welcomed us at the back entrance and we saw they sold kopi buns there. We decided to try the Delifrance version the buns we adore at Kopiroti, just to compare and contrast. We shared a bun and had it there while taking a walking break as well, we haven't sat down since breakfast!!!

This is the Delifrance Kopibun. I must admit, it tastes as good as the ones in Kopiroti. Sal thinks the buns here are softer than the buns of kopiroti and has more butter. As for me, I like the outer coating of the original better, which is more shell-like and a bit crustier.

The price is the same at Php 35.00 each, although I think the buns of kopiroti is bigger. Delifrance kopi buns are good, softer and butterier.

We went to Dexter's bakeshop to take out some chicken pie to bring home to our families (pasalubong). They have great chicken pie and pork empanada. I forgot to take photos...next time I will post pictures of that. Their version of the chicken pie is baked and has a very flaky crust...like a sturdier croissant. Great breakfast or meryenda.

Late that afternoon I went to Moomba and had dinner at Omakase with my friends Holden, Didi and Edmund. Again, I failed to take photos of our food. I can be really forgetful! hehhehe Omakase has a great nouveau Japanese menu. They have a fun selection of makis and salads. We tried the Dynamite (which was a maki with unagi and some sort of shell fish meat salad on top, a bit spicy but good); Crispy California Maki, which was just good old cali maki that was fried (thoughwe didn't like it that much because it didn't come out crispy and crunchy--the rice got soggy and oily). We also had chicken teriyaki, tempura and tonkastsu. Overall it was a good dining experience, relodent of Sumosam and Misato.

Mallin' at MOA with a Good Cause

Saturday afternoon, Gwen and I went to my favorite Nail Spa--Nail Loft, to get some hand and feet pampering. She was supposed to go to Piandre Salon and just txted me to ask for some directions...I already had an appointment at the spa so I just dragged Gwen to go with me. We had fun chatting along and being pampered.

After our nail-scapade, I went to Mall of Asia with my friend Carlo. Traffic was horrible at EDSA! It took us about an hour to get to MOA. When we got there we had dinner at Cafe Breton, my favorite creperie =) Gwen and her boyfriend Gretch met up with us there.

Gwen and Moi

My favorite Cafe Au LAit. I love it! Rich thick foam and strong bodied espresso

Galette American

My Galette Breton
It has spinach, crab meat and cheese (I think)--really good but super nakaka-busog (filling). This is actually the first time I've tried a galette, for the reason that I always have crepes =) Honestly, I didn't find any difference between the galette and savory crepes--maybe the size? I think the galette is made of buckwheat flour and according to my google search, cooked at one side only--so maybe the difference is in the texture and bite.

In the middle of dinner---we saw fireworks outside =) so nice ei?

After dinner we went to a charity event of Gawad Kalinga just outside the south wing mall area. Gawad Kalinga (which literally mean to give care) is a socio-civic organization which aims to address the problems caused by poverty in our country . They have missions, programs, releif efforts and various action plans fostering the destitute. That evening, there were food booths, exhibits and a display of several model houses made by the organization. There were many participants during the event and I believe it was done as a fund raising activity as well as to promote the existence, efforts and success of the organization On top of it all, there was a concert by several artist and bands. We were able to catch Sarah Geronimo and my favorite Gary V. =) It was very nice to see that still many people take time out from their lives and busy schedules to take part in helping our less fortunate brothers and sisters. It was a heart warming evening. It made me remember the days when I had opportunities in taking part in activities like out-reach programs, medical missions, humanitarian and even environmental movements and activities back in highschool and college days. Can you believe I was a member of Pro-Life Philippines? hehehe Unlikely? Well you don't know a person, until you know the person =)

We capped off the evening at Starbucks Corinthian hills. Its a lovely starbucks venue with a Rustan's Supermarket, Santi's Deli and an interesting Itallian resto. Nice hang out place--quiet and subdued but not desolate.

My First Poker Game

Back in my college days, card games have been the favorite recreation in our org tambayans. I've learned to play go-fish, gin rummy, hearts, rook, brigde etc...but never poker....for the reason , I don't know why....
Poker has been a long standing past-time craze for sometime now, and up until last night, I have never really played the game. It was my first time to actually sit-down and play! The game has been taught to me by different sets of friends with their respective poker groupies, but I guess you won't know if you know how to play unless you start playing the game! hehehehe ;P

I finally had the guts to play with my friend Holden and Edi's barkada. They were gracious enough to allow me to mess their poker game heheh. Annie, the wife of Andy, was my seatmate at that time and she patiently led me through the ropes of the game. I was quite shy and reluctant in placing the bets (imagine me..shy??? hehehe) the group has been playing regularly and I didn't wana slow the game down. I manage to win several games and I was so happy with that, considering I am a novice and playing with pro's hehehehe =)

I had a fun evening playing and watching. I never knew I'd actually enjoy playing poker. Thanks to all the nice players last night! hehehe

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME =)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF!!!!!

my birthday cake, thank you Sal! It's chocolate truffle cake from Conti's

This year, my birthday fell on a Sunday. I opted to spend the day with my very dear friend Sal. We went to hear mass at Sanctuario de San Antonio. I just adore that church....maybe someday I'll get married there ;P! hahaha (I wish) After the 1030am mass we went to have the lunch buffet at Circles, Makati Shangri-la Hotel. It's my birthday--ergo---birthday calories are not to be counted!!!! hahahaha We didn't have breakfast, so we were famished by lunch time....lookie, lookie at what they had instored for us....

have a shot of seared tuna or shrimp and mango for appetizer

cheeses!!!! i love cheese! I had my favorite roquefort (not in the pic) with some cashews and grapes.

all the pasta you want!
a chocolate fondue---for you! heheheh

chocolate cosmetics???

a cupcake tree

the halo-halo bar...load up on your favorite mix and top with ice cream! yummm

pastries..pastries..pastries

Our lunch lasted 'till three in the afternoon! We finally ended up our uber long lunch of eating and non-stop chatting and headed for some action...some malling action!!! Off to Tiendesitas we went. It was my frist time there. Ang init grabe! It was like an open air greenhills tiangge...sam shops and goods...I guess I'm partial to greenhills that's why I didn't like shopping at Tiendesitas. We moved to Podium, they were on sale then. We shopped 'till our soles were sore! Naka heels pa man din ako! hahahha

A good morning at church, a great gastronomic lunch feast and shopping galore....what a great day it was!!! =)

Milenyo Mayhem

Last thursday, September 28, 2006, our country experienced another duel with mother nature in the form of typhoon Milenyo.

I was in the office then, and as the power went out, we decided to thwart the work day. The rain wasn't quite threatening at that time....so what to do? What to do? No power, no office---head to the mall!!! My friend Warren fetched me from the office and we headed to Robonson's Galleria to meet up with Nikki, we were contemplating on a movie and some shopping--nice!Driving there, the rain started to get all misty and the wind getting stronger. By the time we got to Galleria, we can already hear the rain and wind growing wild, even from the inside of the mall. We started to worry a nit, but then resigned to the idea that we are safe in the mall and we can leave when it subsides. As we were shopping around, the shops started to close up. We were told that they were closing up the store! WHAT??? What about your social obligation to us who are already here?? --I managed to joke. Soon enough we had to get out of the mall. The blocked off the entire middle area,


the roof of the sort of atrium was ripped, letting in the rain!!! Good thing the shops closed immediately, otherwise they'll be soaked!

It was around lunch time then, so we thought of having lunch before we left the mall. There were people already eating at the restaurants along the expansion wings. Some, like Dulcinea was already closed, but most were still open, like Mangan, Piadina, Bangus and Bacolod Inasal. We were deliberating on where to settle and eat. We decided on Mangan but alas, they were just letting the people who already ordered to finish up. Moving on we found out that none of the restos would accommodated us. Everybody was in a hurry to pack up and leave.

With an empty stomach we left the mall...and then met Milenyo....





Perhaps we underestimated the magnitude of this typhoon as we were in awe at the sight of the condition of the metropolis. Uprooted trees all everywhere, signs and billboards knocked down, mini floods here and there....it was a sad sight and we felt guilty of thinkingof watching a movie and shopping amidst of it all.

We decided to wait it out at Nikki's house, which was the most proximate to our then on location. We drove through KFC to get take out. They were closed up as well, but they sold us what was ready and available then---only wings! hehehe No time to fuss around chicken parts, we got our food and left for safety.

Despite of the weather condition, we managed to enjoy our wings and have good laughs through the aftrnoon. The rain subsided and we decided to get coffee and then get me home. Can you believe starbucks in Libis and Corinthian Hills were both closed! NOOOOOOO!!!!! We went to Katipunan and good thing Kopi Roti was open. No airconditioning, but open. We had coffee and hanged a bit. I think it was the only shop, besides McDo and Jollibee, that was open as alot of people came in soon after we did. We even bumped into my friends Holden and Edi....hehehe crazy people, in a crazy storm and doin the same crazy things@! hahaha War brought me and Nikki to our respective homes safety and soundly....only to find out----NO POWER in all of our houses and weak Globe signal to boot!!!! Talk about adding insult to injury! But lucky for me, I only suffered the power outage for roughly 30 minutes. YEY!!! Meralco loves our Village! hahaha... I was even able to watch some korean telenovela and the news!

Hope all is safe now. I pray for the people who were more gravely affected by the awfull storm and thank dear God that my family, friends, loved ones and I are all safe through it all.

Hooop-aah, Scoop-ah and Suga-h! Monday Night

There must be a movie curse goin' on--really. Last week I already experienced an awful celluloid trauma with The Wickerman. The movie wicked! I can't belive fine actors such as Nicholas Cage and Kathy Bates would take part in a terrible project like that. Last Monday, I witnessed another film faux pas, this time with the (very handsome) Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johanson and Woody Allen---Scoop. The movie was a poopie! hehehe I apologize to the people who actually liked this film. As for me, I found the movie quite boring and lame. Scarlett Johanson was not convincing as a wide-eyed journalism student. The plots were poorly developed and I thought Woody Allen's character was too annoying (makulit sobra! reminded me of an uncle of mine ;P hehehehe). Oh well so much for that... I will not get into relating the gist if the movie...as I don;t want to remember it anymore hahahaha.

Dinner was the saving grace of the evening. My good ol' shopping pal Mike and I had Greek food at my favorite CYMA =). Across our table, there was a very nice family, whom I think were celebrating the mom's birthday. The mom was beautiful...she looked spanish and she was with her husband,two sons (did I mention they were gorgeous ;P) and a lovely daughter who brought a bouquet of lovely malaysian mums. Yeah---I know--ang chismosa at usisera ko right? Well, to me that kinda thing is just a sight for sore eyes...a lovely family having a lovely time at a lovely restaurant =) That's what I like about Cyma, its a family, friends and even casual dating place.

Here is my chicken gyros...its huge and yummy. The dressing however, is like honey-mustard sauce not the traditional garlic mayo. Its a nice twist and it does taste really good but I still prefer the garlic mayo (for that authentic flare) and I like it on the side. I totally forgot to tell the waiter to hold the dressing...so I just let the excess drip away--gross ei? hehehehe

ooozing with honey-mustard sauce....I don't like! =(

For dessert we went to Sugar House. We had coffee and tea with this chocolate truffle cake. Its nice and moist but nothing spectacular...just good ol' chocolate cake to me hehehe

Cyma is located at the 6th floor or the Shangri-la mall, along Sumosam and Penang Hill. You have to wait to be seated because the place is always full, even on weekdays.

Sugar house is at the 6th floor of Shang-mall as well, along C2, Green Tomato and Mongkok.

In Heaven Again

We met up quite early for our Sunday morning walk, 6am. This time, we were back in good ol' UP and a new friend, Carlo (who is a very good friend of Kat from UP MBA) joined us to take on the academic oval! Welcome, welcome! Proxy ata ni Kat! ;P heheheh. The whether was quite cool so its was a lovely time to walk leisurely as we chatted along. After going two rounds, we headed on to Eastwood, Libis to have breakfast at Heaven and Eggs. Again??! ---Yes! Sal wanted to compare the food and service of this branch and the one in Tomas Morato, where we had breakfast...last week =) We have a little tendency to go on streaks with our breakfast venue. One time it was Kopi Roti, which went on for about a month or two (so that's like 4 or 8 Sundays!). Then there was Conti's which dragged on for months as well and prior to H & E was Dorset Coffee. It's like we become faithfull to a resto for a time, get "sawa" with the place and food and move on to the next flavor of the month! hehehe ;P

3-Sausages and Eggs Platter for Carlo (notice there is one big chunk of sausage there, then a few slices of the other two; why don't they give 3 whole ones?? H&E are we getting too cheap? Last week it was the fake butter on the bread! hehehehe)

It was served with Eggs the way you want it (in this case scrambled), hash browns and 2 pancakes

Sal and I shared an order of the golden brown waffle (the pic was blurred, sorry) which was cooked right and crisp with real butter this time =) two snaps up H&E Libis! hehehe

We also had the crab and asparagus omelet (they have crabmeat here, bravo Libis!) served with hash browns (we liked these are better than the potato wedges because its like an aggregate of french fries! hehehe) and 2 small pancakes with butter (horraaaaaaaaaaaay!!!)

The Libis H&E has a smaller place but nonetheless, we think this has better service and better verions of the food. Will we be in Heaven again next Sunday??? Maybe---maybe not ;P

Finally...JT's

After carboloading at our friend's cereal shop...Sal and I wanted something savory for our late dinner. We made sure we burned-off all the sugar we ingested by shopping in the Block ;P hehehe Aha! How about having JT's insal!!! I read about it in a post by Ms. Lori Baltazar's dessertcomesfirst and I couldn't forget the mouth-watering photos of the chicken inasal and the garlic rice with loads of garlic...and the chicken oil.....yummmm. I've eaten insal before but it's only now that I've learned that the oil must be mixed in the rice and chicken for maximum satisFATion ;P hahaha

We shared an order of pecho (chicken breast part), corazon (chicken heart), baticolon (chicken liver) and an order of garlic rice!!!

My picture of our food is FAR from the salivating snaps of Ms. Lori's (please pardon the lousy shots hehehe) but believe me they were delicious!

Heart and liver beside the rice mountain with golden garlic bits and shimmering with artery clogging chicken oil!!!

No frills no fuss alfresco dinning, that's the JT experience!

Delicious and Nutritious Cerealicious!!!

Attention to kids and kids at heart who are lovers of the the humble early morn treat--the CEREAL!!!! Here, now open at the Block at SM North Edsa...a haven for all those crisp, sugary goodness....

CEREALICIOUS!!! =)

Just think, coco puffs, chex, frosties, cornflakes, fitness, cocopops...all the Nestle cereal brands put all together in a shop that turns this simple breakfast into a cool and fun treat that anybody will surely get addicted to.

You choose a favorite cereal and mix in with fruits, nuts, choc-nut, hershey's kissables, chocolate chips, sauces, cookies, brownies...whatever you can see on the "mix-in" counter that you want. It is served in a yummy vanilla-milkshake-like base. You can have ice cream a top of that to boot!!!

And for a great opening day treat--FREE ICE CREAM ALL YOU CAN with any order of big sized Cerealicious.Not a bad deal for 80 bucks ei?? Specially for the ice cream lovers out there.

Fun and friendly shop

M&M's, nuts, fruits, chocnut, wafer sticks, cookies, graham crakers and candies galore!!! Go gaga choosing over loads and loads of mix-ins...the possiblities seem endless....the limit?--your imagination ;P

a Cerealicious treat in the clasp of a healthy child =)

Lofty Leisures

When I am too tired to scrimmage in tianges and malls on Saturdays, one thing I enjoy as much as shopping is lazing in Nail Loft. It's my favorite nail spa and I go nowhere else for my nail care. And why you might ask?? They have great service by very friendly staff who are well trained. Where can you get a manicure or pedicure with free hand massage, foot scrub,eye mask and a cup of tea? Upon entering, you are greeted warmly with the smell of aroma theraputic scents and seated in their comfy and prettily upholstered sofas with pillows, with the soothing sound of nature or waterfalls on the background . The place is small but cozy and I just adore the interiors---sooo girly =)

Here I am having my pedicure done. They soak the feet in warm water first and is gently scrubbed to prep up the pedi.


They offer a wide selection of polishes, fromlocal to imported ones....take your pick!

As the pedicure is being done, you are given a cool cucumber eye mask to reduce the puffiness of the eyes....and helps you relax all the more. A complimentary hand massage is given. Ther embrocate your arms with a blend of lotion and eucalyptus oil (at least I think its eucalyptus =p) and massage the entire arms and hands.....ohhhhh...sooo good!

This is the little cup of hot tea they offer you as you go on relaxing and enjoying the cleaning and pampering. I always find myself dozing off through everything. Even if I was just having simple mani and pedi...I really felt the stress melt away. Love the nice flower touch.

Moseying at Terry's

As a leisurely activity... I fancy browsing in sprecialty shops, like Santi's, Cook's Exchange, Gourdo's etc. .I just look around to discover any new ingredient or kitchen equipment that I've read about or seen on T.V.. I think its a good learning exercise and at the same time, keeps me away from shopping for clothes, shoes, bags and accessories...which I fancy all the more! hahaha
Yesterday, I was at the Podium and as I was keeping myself from buying a bag that I had my eye on at Lulu (I plan to come back for it this weekend!!! ;P) so I wittingly thought of heading to the basement as I remembered Terry's Selection! Stroll to stall is the spending control strategy! And hopefully forget and lose interest in the item for purchase on target.

I've heard good things about their food, but I haven't had the chance to dine there--YET! Heheheh I've only managed to snoop into their wide array of wines, cheeses, cured meat products, chocolates, Itallian and Spanish ingredients; and cookery appurtenances.

Here I stumbled upon the rack of Terry's breads...They have foccacia (that I have on the picture below) and whole wheat... they didn't come on to me as appealing as breads at Santi's or Uno...they kinda look sad in their coffin-like rack! hahahah Sorry Mr. Terry! But I'm sure they taste great! ;P

I found vanilla beans on the counter. These, I heard, are great for making custards. Instead of using vanilla flavor that we normally buy in bottles...you heat it up with the milk to infuse the vanilla essence. You open the pod and scrape the inside out. Do I remember this correctly? Anybody there---please re-educate me on this matter as I have not yet tried cooking with fresh vanilla beans...forgive my audacity in siting cooking information I am ignorant of =( Heck, I just wana put something about it so I can post this picture! hahaha Basta, They're good stuff to cook with and they look cute! let's drop it!

The wines are also on sale and I also found they sell itallian coffee grinds and beans!

So what is the ponit of this entry? I have a to do list made in my head:

1.) Fine a good companion to dine with at Terry's

2.) Try cooking with fresh Vanilla beans

3.) After I finish my Cafe Amadeo (which I am beginning to dislike =( the brew i weak even if I put alot of coffee!), buy Terry's Itallian Blend coffee grinds

4.) GO BACK TO LULU ;P

Aaaah my friends..to window shop is good..but to purchase is divine!

Our family loves to cook. Yesterday I cooked beef steak and I was mighty proud of it because I thought it went out good. Unfortunately, only one of my sis got to try it because when we all got home from the office, my dad already cooked us dinner......



I think these are steamed baby lobsters...



and these are steamed soft shell crabs....

I like seafood but I am pretty lazy to make "balat". If there was someone who'd be nice enough to do that for me...I think I'd enjoy eating these more! ;P There was a platter of california maki and kani maki that went along with this (the pic was blurred unfortunately so I can't share it with you here)

Thank you for dinner dad! =) Let's just have my beefsteak another night...hehehehe

Heavenly Breakfast & An Advanced Birthday Surprise!!!

This sunday Sal and I had breakfast at Heaven and Eggs in Tomas Morato. We decided to go there because we were waiting for our friend Kat to get to her office.....yes...office, on a sunday. And why? Its because dear darling Kitty is leaving for the United Kingdom!!! Her long awaited and well deserved vacation, here at long last. She will be out of the country for a month---BON VOYAGE GIRL!!!! Sal and I will terribly miss you.


We love pancakes! To date, the best pancakes that Sal and I have had, and still coundn't forget...the banana walnut pancakes at Bag of Beans (when it was still open in Greenhills). It had bananas and walnuts mixed in the thick pancakes and stacked with more bananas and walnuts in between!!!!! This is why we had to choose the banana caramel pancakes at H & E. The pancakes were thick and fluffy but we felt short with the teensy weeency bananas it went with. We found the caramel too sugary sweet---I think the sugar hasn't reached the caramelization stage yet! And what more so diminished the satisfaction points of this order is that, it came in so late. Our chicken broccoli omelet came in 30mins ahead! I think its because the waitress made a mistake in taking our oder. We were wondering why they kept serving us the choco-banana waffle---we turned it down 3 times!!! Then I called in the waitress and said..."miss, d ba we ordered for banana caramel pancakes?" waitress goes, "yes ma'am the choco banana waffle" and smiles....that explained everything!

This lone pancake was what was left of 3. Sal and I stared at it and went...."kay Kat dapat yan share na yan e..." so we had it wrapped and brought it to her =) hehehehe

banana-caramel pancake (a lone banana on a pancake island!)

chicken-broccoli omelet (that's not butter on the bread!!!!)

This is the chicken broccoli omelet. We wanted it served with fries and bread....the fries turned into potato wedges and initially, pancakes were served to us instead of bread....we had it changed to bread but it came with margarine instead of butter! (you'd think a nice restaurant like this could afford to give REAL butter naman dapat d ba?) Hayayay! The servers seem to have minds of their own!

After that we headed on to Kat's office....and was I off for a surprise....

My birthday is up and coming...and every year we three celebrate eachother's birthday together. I was kinda sad because this year Kat will not be here for my birthday....but how sweet is my friend to still think of my present before she leaves for UK. Amidst her busy packing and office work wrap-ups....this....a beautifully packaged present with a beautiful gift inside!

Love it girl! Thank you very much though I'll still miss you on my birthday!

Theobromine in Theobroma

Chocolate contains a methylxanthine called theobromine. This gives that similar caffeine kick we get from drinking coffee, but to a lesser degree.

While out for work in Paranaque last Saturday. I saw this quaint chocolatier shop named after the stimulant component of the cacao----Theobroma.

They sell these lovely looking chocolates in different varieties...milk chocolates, white chocolates, semi-sweet, sugar-free and my favorite dark!

They also make their own gellato and they have coffee as well. I ordered coffee for take out but the server accidentally spilled it....what to do since I was in a hurry to go leave?......

change my order! hmmmm.... it will take more time to prep an americano than to scoop a gellato ---i did the math! less time more calories...what the #@%%
bitter-sweet chocolate gellato

This is bitter-sweet chocolate gellato on a waffle cone!!!! It's soooooo good! Really chocolatey...not too sweet and it has excellent mouth feel!!! To the hips they will all go!!!! hahahaha

Later that night, I had dinner with a friend at Italianni's Greenhills (I forgot to take photos of our Salmon risotto, which was great and verdure penne) and had coffee at starbucks. It was a pleasant evening filled with good conversations.

Theobromine and caffeine high...what a Saturday it was!