some Angel cooked our food last Sunday

image credit: Paolo Paraiso

Clockwise: Soft Shell Crab with Mango Poppyseed dressing; Mandarin Boneless Chicken; Pinakbet Rice and Lechon Kawali with Chocolate Bagoong; Parmesan and Ceasar Glaze John Dory Fish Fillet with crisp lettuce leaves

What I ate! The best dish of them all!!! -- Parmesan and Ceasar Glaze John Dory Fish Fillet with crisp lettuce leaves

photo credit: Paolo Paraiso
amazing photos =)

As I’ve said in my earlier post, this place is a must try. But you have to make reservations prior to having lunch/dinner here since it’s quite small (baket ang mga masasarap na restaurants dapat maliit ang space….?? parang Conti’s!!!) and this place tends to get jampacked especially during lunch hour or dinner time and most most most especially on weekends.

I will definitely go back and bring J along with me. He must try the pork dishes I am pretty sure he’ll love it. =)

One more thing, the counter/Kitchen really looks a lot like the kitchen we have in our respective homes…well..parang kitchen namin sa bahay =)

maki love <3

Sumosam Dinner 02.21.09

for the loove of things edible.

I think and believe that anyone who’s anyone that has this love for eating must have that inner hidden talent and keen ability to cook.  It’s this passion in both enjoying the food we eat and knowing what key ingredients the chef/cook must’ve placed in each dish that makes it unique it his-her-your palette.  Maybe I am also lucky to be part of a clan coming from both sides who has this passion for food and cooking and that’s why I have been passionate about cooking ever since. I am not quite sure why I didn’t end up having this love for cooking as my main profession but I could try doing this sans the diploma. The images above are just some of the things I have cooked. Well, the Spinach artichole dip in ramkins are easy to do and I made them while the dish above (image), my brother’s creation. He is fantastic in plating his dishes. He’s not even a culinary arts student but a Medical student at that. Cool. I am just amazed how both my parents encourage us to cook and they get to eat the things we make.  I now know how to start the OVEN! Oh yes. I never knew how to light up an oven before until my siblings used them last December. Tedious than a stove but it can cook a lot of unique things! Must.Learn.How.To.Bake.Soon.

On Bargains. We went to Greenhills last Saturday to have our printer fixed. While waiting for it, I saw the most amazing summer dress! The first store that carried the dress, it was tagged at Php1,600. I was crushed. Since I really trying my very best to save my hard earned money, I simply cannot do away in spending Php1600 on a dress even though how wonderful it looked. So I opted to roam around the stalls outside the mall (tiangge) to check out other cheap alternatives but I simply cannot get my mind off that dress. After much roaming, I dragged my sister and I felt like I did some weird leaps of joy when I saw this one dress on display the same with the one I saw earlier. The price: Php1000 and made “tawad” and it was given to me for Php900!!!! Ok. It is still expensive for a Greenhills standard but, it does not look Greenhills bought. My mom even said she liked the feel of the dress, it’s not silk, its not tacky looking its something I cannot describe. It has a silver ring that looks like a bandeau and can be tied around your nape. BASTA! I will take a picture of it once I have the guts to even take a picture of myself wearing it. The best part of the whole day was, I got the dress at almost half the price (1oo pesos na lang, half price na from the Php1600 price). Shucks. The Secret Works talaga.

Ok.

Happy 45th J! =) love love!

Morning text exchanges with J:

Me: Hon, nagimagine ako na nanalo ako sa lotto!

J: Wah! Lotto bear! Ako nananaginip akong nakakalipad ako!

Why oh why? That made me smile. Seriously =)

Toodles!

Ciao Bella!

ola new eyeglasses

Haha fat chance to ever take a vain picture ever again..especially now that I have a new pair of eyeglasses. It’s been a while since I took a picture of myself hahahaha. I just love this new pair. No more blur, hello migraines! Since I put off buying a pair after losing the last one (circa 2007), my eyesight has been going haywire on me plus the fact that my work entails long hours looking for bugs and staring at the computer screen for hours, I feel my eyes going dry, and most of all, going blur at most times. For those who are used to wearing eyeglasses, you must’v had migraine attacks after a long time of not wearing eyeglasses. My eyes are adjusting to the comfort they are having and the correcting factor (I have astigmatism) that could’ve been added to the pain.

I am just so excited for the holidays! But booo hooo, I still have work until tomorrow (pretending to work? noooo..) and will pass my client issue test case and hoping that I won’t get as much corrections but well….corrections are goood

Dad ordered a ton of food from Conti’s for the 24th-25th. Waah! Hello jogging and swimming in our newly renovated clubhouse/pool! I shall maximize this vacation to redeem myself! =) I am perpetually on a diet!

it’s ok to follow trends..I guess.

OK. I just refuse to rant but I know each and everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion but my take on trends is this… why wear everything in one hideous outfit? I have this immaculate rule when wearing anything that’s “USO” (current trend)…wear only 1-2 pcs of anything trendy (though I hardly wear anything that’s uso — like scarves, shutter shades, gladiators among others). I actually saw a couple of people already. I don’t know them personally though (thank goodness) but I mean, there’s nothing wrong with going with what the fashion industry is offering us…just don’t overdo it. You could wear plaid tops with a bootcut pair of jeans or a hair band with a plain white polo or something. And and and….wait. I am also weirded out how some girls wear knee high Uggs-like pair of boots in the middle of the rainy monsoon infested Manila weather? UGGS! Ugh. I mean..why? The horror. I can already hear my siblings snicker. Well, it’s their money anyway and it’s my blog.

I am addicted to Takuyaki or Japanese balls. I loooove it.

The film selling’s turn out has been great! I’ve been asked by most clients (yesss…clients) if we’re selling other films, different format etc. We will have a new batch but maybe by January since we have tons of expenses this coming holiday season =)

I am thinking of selling my own stash but I might use them when I go to the US this April =) heheehhehe

December is coming to town! booo yeah! =)

Toodles! Ciao Bella!

“youu make meee feeeel….”

I had pineapple and veggies for lunch. =) I don’t know if I feel hungry or just sleepy. Hehe. And its just 1:13pm.

I will get the Pond’s Age miracle product line later over at Landmark (I might get the eye cream and the daily resurfacing cream in SPF15. I know these products don’t come in cheap but it’s my skin, my face and I have to invest in these things before I regret it in the near future. My mom used to tell me that we have to take care of our skin since a lot of women (when I was a kid) spent tons of money for skin care. Though I have not reached that point wherein I have to go have tons of treatments, preventive products are still important.

I got to watch an amazing wedding video/MTV style last night. IT WAS AMAZING. I love it. I will contact them when someone gets to ask my hand in marriage (hahaha how formal..). But it’s amazing..really. I simply loooove and adore weddings. I am still waiting for that certain moment wherein my friends will invite me in their respective weddings. Dressing up and everything else all lined up for you (for example…fooood) is exciting. Waaah. Hehehe

Have you already given thought on how you want your wedding to be like? =) You’ll never know! =)

the greek-jap weekend.

I have this ultimate love for Japanese food.  Had dinner over at Omakase last Sunday with the siblings and mom. “Ang sarap ng libre”. I love having dinner with my siblings plus the fact that we don’t have this chance as often as we could, I enjoyed every minute of it over fusion maki food. =) Greek food may be for some people but I know it isn’t for me. I am not a fan but I could eat Greek food once in like 10 years or so. I am a huge fan of garbanzos on my food but their garlic sauce is really something else. My brother loved the kebabs he had with rice pilaf =) I better start using my Canon again but I have yet to admit (the pictures in here), Nikon cameras really do give that certain “pop” in the images in terms of color. But I still love my 450D nonetheless. Need to have a new lens too and maybe an external flash to cap off the camera wishlist that I have yet to take note of.

 

crunch time!!!

I have been testing this application for like 2.5 weeks already with no errors/issues encountered until now! To think my last day for this scheduled task is tomorrow! Talk about GREAT timing! Waaah.

J and I decided to walk around Makati..well Salcedo-valer0-Sedeno-Herrera-dela Costa side of Makati after we had our lunch. I just rememberd that Makati feels like New York City with all the side streets, food carts (aka as jolly jeep) and the high rise buildings/apartments that are just about anywhere. There are tons of places to eat..hole in the wall-hidden quaint shops to have lunch..not your typical over crowded diner. The only difference is that the heat of the noontime sun was just too much to bear for someone like me who wore a black turtle neck to work in this unpredictable weather.

I love Makati. I have always wanted to work here prior to graduation. Good thing, I was given the chance to intern in one of the known IT companies (Java/Solaris ..*hint hint*) here and I got the first hand feel of how it is to work in such a fast paced work environment. I loved it! Every minute of it! From then on, I was hoping to land my first job here, but sad to say, I declined a fairly good offer for a fresh grad like me back then to pursue another somewhat same offer in Interesting Blue Men (hehehe). Makati is nothing compared to where that former company is located. I love it here and I love my job more than anything. I don’t code/develop applications but I test the applications prior to deployment among other things not programming related. I am still in IT minus the “hello world” aspect, if you know what I mean.

Positive energy is around me. Maybe its because I had a couple of bites from the chocolate J gave me earlier. =)

what I love about Starbucks

STARBUCKS

The company is named in part after Starbuck, Captain Ahab’s first mate in the book Moby-Dick, as well as a turn-of-the-century mining camp (Starbo or Storbo) on Mount Rainier. According to Howard Schultz’s book Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, the name of the company was derived from Moby-Dick, although not in as direct a fashion as many assume. Gordon Bowker liked the name “Pequod” (the ship in the novel), but his then creative partner Terry Heckler responded, “No one’s going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!” Heckler suggested “Starbo.” Brainstorming with these two ideas resulted in the company being named for the Pequod’s first mate, Starbuck(taken from here

Ok ok. Enough of that History/origin. But at least you now know where the name came from, or where the owners coined the name striking brand well known all over. One professor way back in college once mentioned the reason why Starbucks is well known and well recognized is through their name. It’s striking, different languages can easily pronounce the name and its easy to remember.

My first Starbucks experience would be way back 1998. A friend from Poveda called me up and told me that Starbucks Katipunan finally opened and are offering free drinks to everyone who comes in. She went to my house after a busy day in school and went to Katipunan. Had my Mocha Frap with biscotti which is also free. Saw a lot of friends from Ateneo and finally went home. This was 10 years ago.

I love Starbucks because of the comfort it brings. It’s welcoming and homey. I love looking back to those moments I have spent there, doing thesis, studying for BUSTAXA, asked some guy to Prom among other things both worthwhile and just mundane events that became part of my life. I have had a few out of the blue dates with J here, rainy valentine’s day 2006 =) among others. We just love listening to the jazz music that each store has to offer. Calming and not too evasive.

It’s just fun to look back and remind ourselves of the things we have done in the past, be it good or bad. It helps us keep grounded and continue to learn and evolve as human beings.