Discovering Discovery Suites

E treated me to this hotel stay this weekend. Really sweet of him because he knows how much I love staying in hotels, being lazy and doing nothing. The stay was really restful and we definitely enjoyed being together. However, Discovery's service leaves much to be desired. There was no coffee maker, now a standard of Manila hotels, and service was really slow at the coffee shop when we had breakfast. At least now we know that we wouldn't be spending our hard earned money in this hotel again.

Celebrating Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks to God for the harvest and express gratitude to others for our many blessings."

Though we don't live in the US nor Canada, there were numerous reasons to be thankful for to God and others. Thus, it was just so right to celebrate Thanksgiving right here in the Philippines with family. Maybe the next time we celebrate, it will be in Canada! :-)

To celebrate, we decided on Cafe Juanita. It was my first time in Cafe Juanita. The original branch in Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig has been a favorite among foodies and I've read good reviews on the internet. They've decided to expand at the new dining complex in Burgos Circle, The Fort. All dishes that E ordered were so good: from their version of the Catfish and Green Mango Salad, to the Kare-kare, Bagnet salad, Crispy Lapu-lapu and the Ginataang gulay. I'm not surprised that it has continued to be a favorite all these years.

Inspiration for all of us

Filipino pushcart educator Efren Penaflorida named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year

Birthdays at Banapple

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Originally uploaded by regina70

Our dear friends SC and LF invited us to celebrate their birthdays at Banapple (2F Il Terrazzo, Tomas Morato,Quezon City, www.banapplekitchen.com). The food was great! From the salads, to the main dishes, and of course the desserts. We of course had the Banoffee Pie which made Banapple one of the most popular restaurants. Not to be outdone was the Warm Shoofly Pecan Pie which was awesome. We also loved their house and asian salads. The servings of the main dishes were huge! But the best part of the evening was of course being with dear friends and celebrating the birthdays of two of ours. Happy Birthday SC and LF, and thanks so much for the birthday treat!!!

An Almost Perfect Weekend

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Originally uploaded by regina70

By unexpected circumstances, E and I found ourselves at the Crowne Plaza Galleria. It was an almost perfect weekend, luxurious accommodations, the mall with its shops and restaurants at our doorstep, the Shrine Church just a short walk away, buffet breakfast, no need to clean up...we could go on and on. Everything was perfect! Well... almost.

Cibo

When E and I are too lazy to think of a place to eat, Cibo would be our choice. Just because we know that we will never be disappointed. This one's in Greenbelt5.

Night at the Museum

BIL's most recent concert was held at the Ayala Museum. Definitely a unique experience for us. He played popular classics as well as music that we heard for the first time. He also had some of his most outstanding students as guest performers. Aside from the performances, another highlight of the evening was cocktails at the M Cafe. We've been wanting to try the place and were not disappointed. The cocktails served were quite good. Can't wait to try their main courses.

Three Weeks After

Three weeks after Typhoon Ondoy, we haven't stopped praying for people who were severely affected, especially those who lost loved ones, homes and possessions. The past few weeks, we have witnessed how truly great Filipinos are, helping each other the best that we can. It was most inspiring. All we can hope now is that we learn from all these, and be able to move forward.

Service Sucks at UCC Vienna Greenbelt5

On E's birthday, I let it pass that we found service at UCC Vienna awful. They never gave us drinking water when we asked for it, and the service attendants were too busy chatting among themselves, and to think I spent P700 for bad coffee and desserts. On our next visit , we forgot that we hated the service and ended up there again. This time we had Rowena's apple pie which were given to E's parents. We planned to order coffee and some desserts, and also eat the apple pies. Despite ordering coffee for each of us (which cost P100++ each by the way), and crepes -- (their display ref didn't have any desserts - turns out it's broken), they didn't allow us to eat the apple pie. Really? After ordering coffee and dessert? Oh well, that was it ---the last time we're eating there. And by the way, their credit card equipment wasn't working either. We should have insisted that we didn't bring any cash with us! That should have served them right! Instead, we didn't leave even 10c on the cash tray as tip. Sayang, we could have been loyal customers if they treated us right, but since they didn't, sorry na lang sila!

Birthdays at Tapella

My Father-in-law and Mother-in-law celebrate their birthdays a week apart so we usually have a joint celebration. This year, it was at Tapella (G/F Greenbelt 5). Tapella's specialties, as the name implies, are tapas and paella. Owned by the same group as Gaudi's, the most popular dish is the Chuleton (steak cooked on the table). Delicious food and really cozy place.

Term 18

Today's the first day of the new term, my 18th! Just when I was starting to relax teaching the same subjects for the past five terms, the school decided to take me out of my comfort zone once again by giving me a new subject to teach. Still Accounting, but another module. Now I have to prepare a new set of teaching materials...sigh...

Happy Birthday Sweetie- Part 2

E's birthday celebration with our families was in Cafe Bola just because we love it there. Delicious comfort food, reasonable prices and excellent service. The best thing about this place is that almost all items in the menu are so good. Our favorites are the adobo flakes with kesong puti rice bowl, the carambolas (seafood, chicken or beef balls with your choice of sauce, E's favorite is the green curry sauce) and sirloin tapa rice. Other orders were the Spam rice, salmon head sinigang,spaghetti with crabfat, corned beef rice,chorizo rice and fried bangus belly. They also had good desserts: tiramisu, bola flan and kesong puti cheesecake. A number of us had Gelatone gelato (bought at the neighboring restaurant) with the desserts.

And by the way, the mystery restaurant where we had dinner on E's birthday was ---Cafe Bola!

And we finally got Birthday wish #2: A Thule overhead bike rack for 2 bicycles...

Happy 3rd Birthday Baby S!

Baby S is 3! Aside from her birthday party in school, her parents invited us for the family celebration at Conti's BF Homes (the original branch). The whole family had fun watching Baby S open all her gifts and play with each gift that she received with her cousins. The adults meanwhile discussed politics over the delicious lunch and dessert. Some of the dishes ordered were the famous baked salmon and the beef salpicao. Of course, we had Conti's cakes for dessert, not just one, but two cakes!

Happy Birthday Baby S! We love you!

Happy Birthday Sweetie - Part 1

E's birthday fell on a Tuesday, and the day after he returned from Tokyo. Given these, we decided to spend the day together and plan for the big family get-together on the weekend. For the birthday itself, we had this bright idea of renewing our driver's licenses since both of us will be on leave. Not really a bright idea as we spent the whole morning at the LTO office, finishing just in time before the office declared a lunch break. Needless to say, what a waste of birthday time:-(

We had a nice and quiet birthday lunch with E's parents at La Nuovo Pasteleria, followed by coffee at UCC Vienna Cafe in Greenbelt 5. We heard Holy Mass in Greenbelt for Mother Mary's birthday as well as E's birthday. I think he is fortunate to have the same birthday as Mother Mary.

One of E's birthday wishes was a shopping spree at Adidas, and so we spent some time there, but I was disappointed that all he wanted was the Jawpaw -- similar to Nike's aquasock but way cooler. He says perfect for their bike trips which involve crossing bodies of water. Oh well, we are still set to get another birthday wish one of these days. (He gets to receive an x number of birthday wishes depending on the budget).

Dinner, still with his parents, was at one of our favorite restaurants. Which one is your guess?

On My Own

Today turned out to be very productive. E is on a business trip in Japan, and I had the (long) weekend all to myself. Today, Saturday, started out with a short visit to the school to drop off the Final Exams which my students will be taking in the afternoon.

Next stop was our Municipal Office. Background: I decided that this coming national elections will be different for me. I will try, in my capacity, to do my share. Just to be sure, I thought of checking if I am still a registered voter through the COMELEC website (www.comelec.gov.ph). And... Hala! The website did not recognize my name! Fortunately, registration is until October 31, 2009, and there are ongoing registrations Monday to Saturday in all municipal and city offices. And so I made it a point to go today, and I'm glad I did. The whole process only took 20minutes including taking my picture and digital finger-printing.

Next on the agenda was to spend the rest of the day in Greenbelt before I meet my family for dinner:

Lunch by myself was at Cafe Bola (2F Greenbelt 3) and I had my usual Adobo Flakes with Kesong Puti Rice Bowl. Yummy, it will always be one of my favorite comfort food. Service continues to be excellent by the way. After lunch, I went on my mission: Find shoes and clothes for work. I wasn't successful with the shoes part put had better luck with the clothes which I mostly bought at Marks and Spencer (Greenbelt 5). Marks and Spencer had an on-going sale and I was able to find trousers, sleepwear and lingerie at very cheap prices. Had fun window-shopping at Adora, where they had really nice shoes but were too fancy for work (I promised myself I would only buy work shoes this year since I'm most comfortable in my FitFlops on weekends and I hardly have any use for fancy shoes).

After going around for hours, I got tired and so I found a seat by the concierge and enjoyed Greenbelt 5's free wifi until it was time for Holy Mass. After Mass, met my family at Cibo (2F Greenbelt 5), one of Baby S's favorite restaurants. Obvious ba that I am a fan of Gaita Fores (naks, parang friend ko sya)? Waiting for my brother to post pictures so I can grab some of them...

End of Term 17

This term went really fast. Is it because "time flies when you're having fun"? Could be:-)

I will be having a two-week break in between terms. Well, that is if I will be re-hired for the next term. Along with the unexpected holidays in September, I'm hoping September will be a less stressful month for me.

BIL's 40++th

Brother in Law J's birthday celebration came around 2 weeks late because he had a birthday concert on his birthday, and was busy the days after. BIL and my sister invited us to their cozy home for lunch. They prepared a delicious Greek-themed meal of Greek salad with Feta Cheese and BIL's version of Shepherds Pie and Grilled pork chops. Desserts were our birthday gifts. Pictures courtesy of my brother N and his new Lumix LX3 camera (Did I say the camera model right, Bro?)

BIL and sister T preparing the buffet table

Greek Salad

Remnants of the Shepherds Pie (buti umabot si brother, mauubos na!) Birthday Cake #1 Strawberry Cheesecake from Conti's

Birthday Cake #2 Chocolate Cake from Celine's and Baby S practicing blowing candles
Family Picture

La Nuovo Pasteleria - Part 2

You may have read of this restaurant here twice before, and we still can't get enough of La Nuovo Pasteleria (San Antonio Plaza, Forbes Park in front of Sanctuario de San Antonio Church, Tel No. +632-8178568), an Italian restaurant. We've gone there three weeks in a row, it's now become our favorite routine. Saturday afternoon mass at Sanctuario and early dinner at La Nuovo.

Our favorites are:

Prosciutto di Parma con Mango - slices of Parma ham with fresh mango (P370)
Spinacci Trifolate - sauteed spinach w/ truffle cream in porcini mushroom sauce (P358)
Vongole al Vino Blanco - spaghettini w/baby clams, olive oil and white wine sauce (431)
Agli Olio con Salsicce - capallini w/garlic, sundried tomato, Italian sausage, chilli flakes in olive oil (P419)
Agli Olio con Gamberi - capallini w/garlic, sundried tomato, shrimps, chilli flakes in olive oil (P459)

The pasta, though a bit pricey is for sharing by two people. We also noticed that a lot of people order the pizza, but we haven't tried it yet. We'd have to invite other people to dine with us for us to try it as the servings are generous. Pizzas are priced at P333-P444 depending on the toppings.

Birthdays at Spiral

To celebrate our niece TR's and nephew AR's birthdays, their parents, E's sister TR and husband MR invited us to dinner at Spiral at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Spiral is said to be the best buffet in Manila, and we really enjoyed the dinner, especially the smoked salmon, salmon sashimi, oysters (both fresh and baked) and lamb chops with mint jelly. A bit disappointed though that they didn't have uni sashimi and teppanyaki ice cream (which puts Seven Corners a bit higher in my list). Thanks TR and MR for inviting us, and Happy Birthday TR and AR, we pray for a wonderful year ahead of you!