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.