Random Thoughts

 

ChaTime Philippines

We have visited two branches so far, in Landmark and the other one in MOA. There are always lines on their stores, because people are willing to wait for their teas! Try it and I know you’ll love it! Don’t forget to ask for their loyalty card coz you might need it for you next rounds! ;-)

 

Secret Garden

We had another special dinner at Sonya’s Garden for the second time. This ‘worst-kept-secret’ garden never fails to bring out the romantic mood in us. During our first time, most guests were couples but this time – big families! But in spite of, um, happy noise from the other tables, we find our perfect spot just near the kitchen – with easy access on refills and requests. ^_^v

After a funny movie, Johnny English, from Rowan Atkinson at SM Dasmariñas, we arrived at Tagaytay just the perfect time when all the lights at restaurant are sparkling on. For two hours, we really enjoyed the food, the ambiance, the sound, and the mushy talks. Love, love, love.

 

Ideal Weight

Did you know that I am 4 pounds away from my ideal weight??? Hell YEAH!!!! But I still need more workouts to spread the fats on their perfect places. 0_o

 

Bora Hindi Natuloy

My close friends knew that I was having the vacation of my life in the islands of Kalibo and Boracay! I planned it for more than two months. Everything from the plane tickets, accommodations, budget and even the itinerary were planned by yours truly. But but but… I had to make way for my Brazil trip. :-/

I realized that fate is still getting aligned with my rule that “Pupunta lang ako sa Boracay kapag may ka holding hands na ako.” Hahaha!  I said it to myself for about two years ago… Well, I still yet to grant it to myself in the future…

 

Joseph Birthday

Oh how we really love to sing! For Josephs birthday this year, we ended up at Center Stage in Makati City to belt our favorites songs after our dinner at Sinangag Express (SEx). Belated happy birthday, Joseph, even though our Boracay party didn’t happen, we still have a lifetime to plan for it ;-)

 

 

 

Paris at Pares

 

I really have to share this with you because you know how I love food and how it makes my day satisfied with what I eat! Now here’s a story that I hope will make yours ^_^v

It was one of our miryenda breaks at the office about three weeks ago – the normal one. Zeny and I started to chat where to eat.

 

“Paris”, she wrote.

I replied, ”Okie, I’ll tell the boys :-).”

 

A few days before it, we have been talking about this sidewalk carinderia beside Metrobank Plaza across our building. It has been a blockbuster among the nearby offices according to them. Mostly, guys buy there. This push cart sells the famous “Pares” – a heavenly tender meat with sauce as the boys were describing it. Well, I haven’t tried any Pares in my entire life.

To continue with my story, I immediately approached Warren and Dave and told them…

 

Me: “Miryenda na! Sa Pares daw tayo sabi ni Zeny…”

Warren (hmmm, :-/ confused): “Sigurado kayo?”

Me: “Oo, sabi ni Zeny eh…”

Warren to Dave: “Tara!”

Warren to Me: “Isama mo si Mike!”

 

 Then I went back to my seat and asked Zeny again on the chat…

 

Me: “Are you sure sa Pares?”

Zeny: “Meeyeow, hinde… sa Paris!”

 

Hahahaha! I misinterpreted Paris to Pares. Paris is an authentic French restaurant along Makati Ave which far far far comparable with the Pares cart I previously had in mind. Hahahaha! I told Shiela about it and we were really laughing our hearts out!!!

We met at the elevator and I told them everything about the mix up. Hahaha. Tawanan kami nang tawanan. Warren and the rest of the boys went to ParEs, then Zeny and I ended up to ParIs!!! ;-D

The place is pretty small but nice. As I went inside, I smelled something good – the aroma of France indeed! When I looked around, most guests were foreigners. We even saw the restaurant owner giving instructions to the staffs. I had pizza and fresh grape juice. Zeny ordered hot choco and nuttella crepe. We shared to each other our food. Yummy!!!!

Then we invited Shiela and John to come with us after a week. :-) As usual, we were surrounded with French and Americans. We even saw the PBB Teen Edition Big winner. I forgot his name. ^_^v I’d definitely be back there soon.

Happy eating!!!

 

 

Greentennial Fun Run 2011

 

The Practice

My sister was very excited about her first run. I could remember mine so I really understood her! Hahaha! She even had her singlet stitched the night before the fun run because I got her a medium sized-singlet and I did not notice she was getting slimmer already :-)

For our last practice, we went to Island Cove, our usual running field, the day before for some jogs and breakfast! Tatay was invited, too. Still wearing maong pants this time, he really just not used to wearing shorts or jogging pants! Hahaha! At 6AM, we were already on our feet, together with the rest of Caviteños at the Cove, jogging too and greeting each other!

 

 

Now here’s the best part… again Tatay with his rusty stories :-D

Three rounds this time and we headed straight to DCMV for some breakfast! We had our 30-year old recipe of Tapa and Sinangag with bulalo soup. Yum! Yum!

 

Some Side Excitement

Mangos are reeeeeaaady! After the practice, it was time for another action – mango picking!!!!!! Which gave me these allergies :-( Huhuhu.

The mangos were reallycalling me, “Hinog na kami!” Hehehe. Jelly and I wasted no time :-D one bag-full of mangos! Yahoooooo!

 

The Fun Run Day

Both of them woke up very early and in no time, we were at Macapagal Avenue. Amazingly, we were able to find a decent spot to park White! Weeee ^_^v We headed straight to the start line, had some few shots with the big crowd. Greentennial team did a great job in organizing this event!

 

 

… And there was gun start!

…And my sister’s very first fun run. :-) Aaaaw

Jelly finished just a few minutes after me. Then there was Ate Doll after. Unfortunately I did not beat my last time. I finished 1 minute behind but it was okay, the most important thing was I have shared a good hobby to my sister which she really appreciated.

 

 

At the finish line, it was so good to see familiarfaces. There was my ex-officemates - Ate Jing & Sheh and a college classmate – Ann!

The medal was a plus. All finishers got one! Weeeeee!

 

 

I will continue to spread the word – running is fun! I owe this experience to an officemate who was the very first one to encourage me and I will encourage others to have time for some real healthy fun. ;-)

Next is the MILO Marathon 2011 on July 31, 2011!!! See yah!

 

Getting A Year Older Is Awesome

 

 

The month of May is a magical month for me. My birthday month always makes me feel awesome, pretty, wealthy :-D, and perfect! It is certainly because of being around with the people who celebrate with me. This year, I turned 31! Oh my! ^_^v I still feel I am only 24!

12^th May

It was Thursday and my birthday planning kicks off when Khen emailed me and jokingly asked where we suppose celebrate it. I said I really have no plans, “hahaha, magpapaka buro sa bahay. :-))” I filed a birthday leave and I was actually preparing to sleep the whole day for being stressed out at work that week.  And if not she insisted I could have ended up a loser the next day! Hahaha! Then I realized how sad that would be. :-/

Khen: “Gusto mo po tom dinner? till 430 lang ako. Sabay na kayo ni Jd punta makati? Para kami ang ka date mo kaysa magkulong ka sa house. Hehe”

And the table turned around…

Before I went to the office that Thursday, I excitedly asked Jelly and Tatay to join me to jog around Island Cove the next morning after my work. Birthday ko kaya hindi sila nakatanggi Hahaha! :-D I asked jelly to wake me up kasi baka paghiga ko, tanghali na ako magising!

 

At the office, around 12 midnight, Jason handed me this plastic bag with present inside. I was on UK shift the day before my big day so my last working hour was already 13^th of May. Greetings from my colleagues alone made me feel happier! It’s indeed my special day!

And when I opened the gift, it was an organizer and made special because of the design – Kitty! Thanks Jason!

 

13^th May 

I arrived at home around 2AM. Time for me to catch some sleep because I was going to have a birthday jog with Tatay and Jelly! After 3 hours of sleep, I put my running gears on and drove 10 minutes to Island Cove.

 

 

It was summer so morning is up as early as 5:30AM.

 

It was fun and funny because Tatay was wearing maong pants :-D Unfortunately, we just had 2 laps around the resort’s running/biking area because the three of us were already hungry. Hahaha! Nagsama-sama ba naman kaming madadaling magutom!

 

After we rested at the Fishing Village for about 30 minutes (well, after hearing all of Tatay’s old stories about Bacoor) we headed straight to Sangley Point Restaurant for some breakfast. We feasted Filipino breakfast but I did not like the tapa because it was not tender enough. I love the hot chocolate though.

 

When I arrived home, a traditional birthday banner was posted on the wall courtesy of the kids! It says, “Happy Birthday, Tita Meeyeow”

 

At miryenda time, Ate Doll cooked my favorite arrozcaldo and tokwa!

Joseph picked me up at my house around 3PM heading to Makati and met Khen at Unilab office. It was Friday the 13^th and traffic did not discourage us for a dinner date at Korean Garden Restaurant along Jupiter St in Makati. Joy was supposed to join us but she got stuck at the office mayhem. The three of us feasted their specialty!!! Sobrang busog ako. And I really love their side dishes! And the rice! And the stew! Hahaha everything! By the way, it was a birthday treat for me from them. Aaaw sweet talaga nung dalawa…

Have you ever felt you really want to get drunk? Hahaha, I did! that night! Tamang tama, hindi ko dala si White, may maghahatid sa akin sa bahay. Hahaha ^_^v After the dinner, we went to KTV at the next resto – we had a blast! Blast kasi ang lakas ng tunong ng videoke! I belted my all time faves and both of them too! I ordered margarita (my first time by the way) and had 3 Tanduay Ice and a Vodka Cruzer. Toink! The rest is history.

Khen and Jo, thanks for the time!

 

14^th May

My birthday celebration did not stop right there. The next day, I asked the little kids (4 nieces) – Jelly, Jaimie, Nene and Bibi – to join me for a pajama party! Kids arrived with their PJ’s on. ^_^v and I did too. We grilled mashmallow, hotdogs, corns, and barbeques under the moonlight. It was fun, fun, fun! We had games and picture taking.

And I blew my birthday cake.

 

Putol celebrated with me! Aaaaww…

 

15^th May

The next day, perhaps the most memorable one, we went to Sta. Rosa, Laguna to celebrate Jaimie’s 9^th birthday and mine too! It was my first time to drive along SLEX! Masaya talaga! We got lost twice hahaha! But we made it to Paseo De Sta. Rosa just after lunch time.

 

Kanin Club was the place. I really wanted take them there since last year and this was the right time for us to appreciate this place. We really loved the meals we ordered. Everything had a twist!

 

Nuvali was our second stop and the most enjoyable of the day. We loved the boat ride very much that we paid two round trips :-)

 

Kois are amazing too! But do not visit around 3-4pm during summer time – kasi sobrang ineeeet!

 

Since my first time at SLEX, I failed to exit at Alabang to we turned around Paranaque instead. Whew, round trip talaga! Hahaha. We arrived Cavite at around 530PM so we had our dinner  stop at Balsahan.

 

19^th May

After a week, my colleague, Julius and I threw another double birthday party at the office with our Kforce family. ^_^v

 

As a said, getting older is awesome especially celebrating it with the people you LOVE. Thank you , Lord for another amazing yeeearrr!!!

 

 

 

 

Day Out with Bargels At Shakeys

It’s another family eat out since we went to the dentist and getting hungry is not an option! ^_^v I understand Maynilad when they say “Dadaloy ang Gihnawa”. Fine, paki-bilis-bilisan nyo lang please. The traffic is so heavy. Shakey’s Las Piñas in front of Perpetual Help Collage was the place. What I love about his place is that it has an archade inside!

Our favorite! I popped P100.00 from my wallet and *booom* – coins for us!!!! While waiting, we hit Daytona racing and the not-so-friendly game, the “claw crane”. Honestly, I hate it sooo much but the kids love it. Hindi pa ako nakakakuha doon ng stuff toys ever!!! But Daytona is a classic one. :-)

 

As soon as we emptied our coin pocket, the food was ready for serving. Hmmmm, ambango ng chicken at spaghetti!

They have new addition to their menu - Frozen Yoghurt! in fairness, ang dami ng servings nila. A big sunday glass for onlt P115.00!

Foamy Sunday

Sunday is a perfect time for me to bring White to the car wash. This time, they’ve upgraded their foamy wash :-D dati parang malagnaw, pero this time, mas maganda yung machine na gumagawa ng foam :-D

Ligo time!!!

I'm more confident parking white now, Going back and forth to SM helped a lot. :-) Weeeee!

966 KM

It was time for White’s first 1000 kilometer preventive maintenance service schedule!  ^_^

 As early as last week, I already got my schedule in Honda Alabang through their customer service number (02)902-9439 and soon after I received a confirmation message sent to my mobile.  I was told that the service involved checking, cleaning or adjustments of fluids, brakes, hoses, connections, battery and joints (malay ko ba sa mga yon?).  Everything went OK and when I drive White again – perfect! Parang mas gumanda! LOL (psychological lang ata, pero in fairness, hindi na ako namatayan ng makina) Next schedule is on the 6th month.

Hitting two birds in one stone, Joy was able to test drive Civic – as she was planning to buy one. “Joy, great choice!” Ken, Jo and I had free-lunch at Pancake House in Filinvest courtesy of Joy!

On a side sad note, may bago na ulit galos si White :-(

“I’ll make up to you na lang…”

---

The other day, I went to SM for bills payment. :-D Given that I am a parking-engot, I decided to wake up early and have the whole parking lot empty for me Hahaha :-)) here’s a picture of my parking…

 

Toinks! 

 

Bagnet

Heard of Ginataang Bagnet? Or Bagnet Sisig? I still chose Bagnet Original as my order together with Ensaladang Talong. I had dinner out with Ron, Mike and Warren last night and we tried 8065 Bagnet along Estrella Street in San Antonio Village. What makes it more interesting is that the place is owned by the family of Kitchie Nadal. And undoubtedly, they are serving delectable Bagnet dishes!

The place is not that big, just enough for five six-seater tables and a couple of benches outside. The ambiance is so homey with the old paintings on the wall and vandals as design. We were so tempted to write our names on the wall but we were more interested with the food!

 

Their shrimp-looking pastillas (sabi ko) are heavenly too!

Double Anniversaries

We celebrated my brothers’ and sisters’ back-to-back anniversary celebration last January 23 at Kartini Hotel. We were supposed to enjoy their dinner buffet but we arrived too early. I drove the whole family with my White for the first time. Pasado na daw ako hehehe ^_^v

 

doll+joel’s 14^th!

jhoy+piwi’s 7^th!

Kartinihotel.com

Located along Centennial Road in Gahac, Kawit, the place is very accessible. I used to pass by this hotel during my driving lessons in A1. ^_^ The food is good and ambiance is okay.  And I am still quite intrigued with the Casino at the 3^rd level  ;-D ang daming oldies na pumupunta.

And then I spent the rest of the evening playing God of War in PS2!

Greetings pala for my bayaw, Kuya Regie! Happy happy birthday!

 

A Busy New Year Starter

Jan 1. Let me rewind to you the first half of my January 2011 by starting off with our New Year celebration! It was a simple yet special January 1 for us at home because we are still happy and healthy together like we always pray for. Dith and Kuya had overseas calls earlier that day to avoid the phone line clogs by night. It was a shabu-shabu dinner for us, inspired by one of our dinners during our family reunion last year – yummy! The day before, that was the first time I drove White all the way to SM and parked! Hehehe.

Parking is … driving me crazy!!!

I also bought Tequilla, first time for our own consumption. I used to buy this spirit as gift! As expected, I only had 5 small shots; just an itsy bitsy tiny sip for Ate Doll and Ninang Nina and the rest went straight to Kuya Joel’s throat until the next day. Hahaha!

Jan 3. Until now, I am still excited about having my first car. Trust me it is way more than having a new laptop! On the first week, it was funny that I got obsessed with car-wash! Hahahaha. I got White washed twice in just a week!

Jan 4-7. I also got a one week of driving practice from home to work and from work to home, accompanied by Diko Ermie. It was fun. I got to learn a lot of stuffs. But I still suck in overtaking, hanging and parking! Grrrrr. I need more and more practice. That is why Tatay did not allow me to use the car alone this week going to Makati.

Jan 8. At the first weekend, we enrolled White at Big Bert’s Professional Detailers in Ortigas for their OptiGuard paint protective maintenance program for a year. Too bad Marc mistakenly caught of beating red lights just a block away from Home Depot! P200.00 straight to someone’s pocket! Then we went to Megamall after for a bunch of cleaning stuffs. We also got lost in C5 while almost running of gas and work waiting for me at home! Hahahaha.

Jan 13. I also got my non-pro driver’s license at last! … With the help of Kuya Peter and a lesson of Karma, big time! Hahhaha!

Jan 14. I did my very first hands on car wash for White – followed carefully the instructions from Big Bert’s! I had Ailyn as my assistant. Tire black na lang kulang sa cleaning stuffs collection ko. Had dinner with Marc at Sultan Mediterranean Cafe a.k.a Sinbad and caught the waitress puting extra amount on my bill! Duh!? Hindi mo kami maloloko. Prices are cheaper compare before, ranging from P160-P400. Food is less tastier than before.

Jan 15. After a week, we went to Honda again for the installation of the backing sensor. Sucked again in parking at Alabang, watched entertaining Tron, got lost again in Festival mall, got Cruzee car washed in the middle of the night, had a blast at Jo&Kristle’s place while videoking and then it rained! Wahahaha. Carwash goodbye. We were supposed to go to Buon Giorno but time did not permit.

Jan 17. I caught Putol peeing at White’s tire!!!!! Grrrrrrr. I had to seriously talked to him (i hope he understood!)

Jan 18.  I had hilarious chats with Ate Lanie, Ate Rina, Tinay and Sheh! I was really laughing my heart out! and later that day I had car care session with Warren.

Jan 19. I practiced parallel parking again at home. Bagsak daw sabi ng Tatay. I have been pigging out with food this week O_O. Worked to the extreme and planned crazy stuff like Skydiving in Clark, Pamapanga on December 2011.

These were my busy weeks! ^_^

 

Kanin Club

We are officially the newest members of THE CLUB! The fact that this restaurant is more accessible to us now in Makati, of course we did not let the opportunity pass to try out this intriguing café that is all over the local food blog sites! I agree with Zeny that this resto is awesome; she have tried first in Laguna! I have also bumped into several forums and food review sites that praise their foodies and mostly Filipino cuisines with the twists.

It still amazes me up to now that Sinigang could match up with Sinangag! You should meet Sinangag na Sinigang. Cool diba? Although I did not try their Crispy Dinuguan (and I will never ever LOL :-O), it was praised a 100% by my friends. The tender Beef Kare-Kare is also a must try.

Binulatlat na Tilapia (hehehe, tama ba yun tawag ko? and sorry for the shaky shots . . . gutom na kasi akoooo)

Beef Kare-Kare

Behind the food trip, this also served our celebration of friendship for over three years! 

"thank you for the friendship!"

From Japanese To Chinese To Italian

This food trip would probably end this week. I will be on morning shift until December 17, so no more resto hunting for me in two weeks. 

We ended up at Amici in Ayala Triangle Garden for the final jam. :-) It was a lucky night for us! We got to watch the finale of Ayala Traingle Light Show (with fireworks!!!) and a buy-one-get-one pizza from the soft opening of Amici!!! Bongga!!!

fiUs watching the dancing lights. Lowbatt na aang phone ko kaya hindi kinaya ng flash! 

The best among our orders. Simut saraaaap! Mike scrape all the goodness at the bottom of the plate!"Tirhan mo akoooooo"

Spinach and Chorizo!

Buddies!

I will miss you guys! Sa muling pagkikita!

^_^v

The Bordei Boi

Shanghai Bistro was the place, we celebrated the birthday! We had a wonderful dinner even after a very very very very busy day. :) Trying Chinese this time!

 

The same day I was not able to text or call him for the first time at exactly 12 midnight – wala kasing load! Eeeew!!! Hahaha! Bawi na lang ako next year!

Happy Birthday, Bordei Boy!