Fashion Emergency

I learned that I'd have to attend an official event in "cocktail" dress two days before the event.Oh no, I don't have a cocktail dress! Could I find one that will fit me in two days? Surprisingly, I found one in SM, and in my size too! I also found other formal gowns and dresses there in my size. The next time I have another fashion emergency, I'll know where to go...

Weekend Plans

I had a particularly difficult week at work, and am so looking forward to the weekend. It's the only Saturday I'll have free before classes start again. I'm going on a medical and dental mission with the charity group in Bulacan in the morning, but my afternoon will be free. I'm thinking of the following this weekend:

1. Dine at Pepper Lunch. The lines are still long, but the owner says (read it in her blog) that off-peak hours are from 2-6PM. Maybe I'll convince E to have an early dinner or a heavy merienda:-)
2. Try to sneak in some cleaning in the house.
3. Finally sleep early and wake-up late on Sunday.
4. See my family and attend Mass.

Our Travel Memories

End of Summer Term

Wow,it's the end of another term for me. I just completed my first term in New School and I must say, I've adjusted pretty well, with the students, new systems, a new subject and new colleagues. Teaching Introductory Accounting meant having new teaching skills. Imagine introducing the concept of debits and credits to students. I was extra patient and had to oversimplify things just so everyone got it. I never thought I would be able to do that, but I did, and I'm glad I had this opportunity. The new school term starts on June 2, meanwhile, I need to check quizzes, final exams, papers and prepare final grades...

Burgers

Since my officemates and I love to eat, we would always try out new places and take advantage of promotions. Just recently, two restaurants, Brothers Burgers and Chili's had promotions --50% off for their half-pound burgers. The Brothers burgers were being sold at P70 each and I think the Chili's burgers were at P80.

This reminded me of the burgers we tried in the US:

Five Guys Burgers at the Washington Dulles Internationaal Airport, Virginia

McDonald's at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia (no photo of McDo, but this is a photo inside the Museum) wih dear friend VK and daughter

Bar 12.21 at Morton's in New York where we had mini burgers with dear friends DL and RL
White Castle Burger treat of my cousin KS and wife MS in New Jersey
In N Out in San Diego (E with cousin DF)
Thurman's Cafe in Columbus, Ohio ( E's cousin TS with girlfriend JS)
Tommy's Burgers (with chili!) at City Food, Universal City

Don't make me choose which is my favorite. I love them all!!!

Food Trip

Dining at Pepper Lunch in Tokyo was one of E's Must-Do's on his trip there

E and I are very excited that Pepper Lunch has finally arrived here in Manila. E discovered Pepper Lunch at Ngee Ann City in Singapore and it has become his favorite place to dine in when he is in Singapore. I first tried it in December 2004, and had the chance to go there again during our month long stay in Singapore in March-April 2006. E made it a point to dine at a Pepper Lunch in Tokyo when he was there. And now it's in Manila, at one one of our favorite hang-outs, Power Plant Mall. Can't wait to eat there, but maybe we'll wait until the lines are shorter...

E and I have also dined recently at Racks and never thought that we missed it that much. We used to dine there at least once a month when we were still dating. Our favorites are still the pork ribs and the fish and chips.

Also, Bun on the Run is back. Well, I'm not really sure if it really disappeared, but I think it's been so long since I've seen a store until I saw the kiosk at Metrowalk. The chori-burger and the smoked porkloin were our favorite snacks when we were dating. Wow, talk about memories... I was just a bit shocked that the price per sandwich is now P75 each. It wasn't the cheap snack that I knew before. Nevertheless, I bought Hubby the chori-burger one evening as pasalubong.

E and I dined at Mom and Tina's twice in a span of a week. We adore their callos and beef stew. We also liked their chicken relleno with that intriguing garlic oil sauce.

Remembering Amsterdam

This post is inspired by the upcoming trip of my friend SC to Amsterdam.

We visited Amsterdam way back in May, 2004 and we loved the city. At that time E's cousin TS was assigned there and we stayed at their lovely home. One of the things that we loved about that city is that everything was within walking distance from Centraal Station. The most memorable place would have to be the red light district. Taking pictures is strictly prohibited there, so you would have to visit it yourselves!

With TS and wife GS at their lovely home

E taking a breather with the Rijksmuseum as background

E and cousin TS at the Airborne Museum in Arnhem. The boys, both history buffs, enjoyed this trip tremendously. Arnhem is about 1 hour away from Amsterdam by train.

At the Centraal Station

By the famous canals
The Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace)
The Nationaal Monument dedicated to those who died in WWII
At the Van Gogh Museum with our souvenir from Amsterdam

Happy Mother's Day , Mom!

The family enjoying the place and THE FOOD!
Baby S can't decide which food she wanted to have next
Salt and Pepper Prawns, Crispy Pata and Chorizo Rice were only some of what we had
Family picture at the Greenbelt 5 Mall taken by our friend JZ (take a look at Mom's lovely flowers)
Baby S enjoying her Mom's drink at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

We celebrated Mother's Day at Greenbelt 5. We planned to go to another restaurant, but were turned away because we didn't have reservations. That was fortunate for us, because we discovered Solihiya (Unit 39, 3F Greenbelt 5, (+632)729-8744), a Chinese-Filipino restaurant, and we loved the food and the service. They even took our pictures and gave us souvenir photos.

We had Hototay Soup,Crispy Pata, Salt and Pepper Prawns, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Lechon Macau Salad, Steamed Dory, Lechon Kawali,Yang Chow Fried Rice and Chorizo Rice. They also had delicious fresh fruit shakes. We will definitely be back to try the other dishes in their vast menu.

Baby Ralph's Baptism

Baptism at Mary the Queen
With his parents, ninongs and ninangs
With Ninong E and Tita R
At the Annapolis Seafood Palace with his Lolo, Lola, titos and titas
With his cousins

Please Welcome the Newest Members of the Family...

Baby Ralph and Baby Gabriel

My Birthday Week-Part 3

E treated me to a belated birthday dinner at Italianni's in Bonifacio High Street. We had our favorite Sicilian Chicken Salad. We also decided to try the Seafood Pasta and Combination pizza(half-half) of Pepperoni and Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese. Haha, talk about carbo- loading. We didn't finish the meal and brought home more than half of the pizza.

His birthday presents: New sandals just in time for summer and a photobook of our travels over the years. Really sweet, huh? :-)

My Birthday Week- Part 2

I spent my birthday in the office. When I got back from a meeting, my room was filled with balloons and there was a candle in a cake that was waiting to be blown:-) The rest of the pictures are of my officemates during the birthday lunch.

My Birthday Week- Part 1:-)

For the tradional birthday celebration with family, my and E's family got together at our house for the day. We had Filipino fare: Kare-kare, Crispy Pata, Laing and Pinakbet, plus Rellonong Bangus brought by my parents. Desserts were Tiramisu and Chocolate Cake from Conti's from my parents and Buko Pie from my sister and brother-in-law T and M.

Entertainment for the day were the PSP and Wii. It was indeed a happy birthday for me:-)