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!!!

Nightlife at Universal City

We loved this place at night! The lights, the atmosphere, everything.

E and I just had Tommy's burgers for dinner but it felt like we were at this hip nightspot. Tommy's burgers are a must try. What's so special about it? Chili with your burger!

San Diego, California

January 10-11, 2008. After almost 8 hours, we finally arrive in San Diego. From Ohio, we took a plane to Chicago O'hare airport to catch our plane to San Diego. After a total of 3 hours of delay, we were so glad to be finally at the San Diego Airport. E's cousin DF guessed right that we were so hungry from the trip (Note that United Air does not serve food for free, it costs USD5 for a snack box). And E's special request: the famous In N Out Burgers. We wolfed down the burgers and fries in a few minutes and had about 3 refills of their soda (yup, free refills!). That was how hungry we were, in addition to the burgers being delicious (esp the caramelized onions, yummy!).

The next day (Jan 11) we explored the Otay Ranch Town Center, spending a lot of time window shopping, making some more last minute purchases of "bilins" and chilling at Barnes and Noble reading magazines and having coffee. And then it was off to Home Depot for still more bilins. It was E's first time to drive in the US, and outside the Philippines for that matter. So that was an adventure in itself for us.

Columbus, Ohio

Port Columbus Airport tarmac
Dinner with E's cousin TS and girlfriend JS at a Japanese restaurant
Easton Town Center
Lunch at one of E' favorite restaurants during our trip
At Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream

January 8-10, 2008. After a 2-hour delay, our plane finally arrives at Port Columbus International Airport at 8PM. I had to have a picture at the airport tarmac, it was a new experience for me.

E's cousinTS and girlfriend JS took us to dinner at a Japanese restaurant and we had steak and shrimps which were cooked on our table. Good thing I didn't order rice, but I was still so full after. (Thanks TS, for the delicious dinner treat!) Since it was already late, we decided to call it a day.

The next day, JS brought us to the Easton Town Center. Wow! It was so big we didn't know where to start. We picked up a lot of bargains from there. A big sale was ongoing at C.O Bigelow with some items at 90% off! We also picked up a lot of stuff from our favorite store Bath and Body Works. We used the gift card given by TS for some of our purchases (Thanks again TS, it is a wonderful gift and we really appreciate it!) and the ever reliable credit card for the rest of the purchases! Bath and Body Works and C.O Bigelow are based in Ohio, by the way.

Now with TS and JS, we went to the highly recommended Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream. I hope to try that some time because at this point of the trip I was nursing a very bad cold already and was coughing the whole time. But everything looked good on the menu and I will make sure that the next time I visit, I will have 2 scoops.

We had dinner at the very popular Thurman Cafe (183 Thurman Ave.,(614) 443-1570 ) and had their specialty burgers. They were so good, and very big, too! Afterwhich, we watched the play "The Wedding Singer" which we enjoyed so much. Yes, it's based on the Adam Sandler movie set in the 80's (my favorite era).

Not to forget, TS and JS drove us through Ohio State University. As you know, universities are of great interest to me. I love looking at the school buildings and seeing students around, and imagining how university life is there. We also drove through the Italian and German villages.

It was a great visit! We were able to explore and enjoy the best that the city has to offer, and we had so much fun with TS and JS. Thanks TS and JS for a wonderful time!

28 Hours in New York

Empire State Building
Times Square
How New Yorkers sip their coffee
Rockefeller Center

January 4, 2008, Friday. E and I were really excited that we will be spending the next two days in New York with our dear friends DL and RL. From New Jersey (New Brunswick Station), we took the train to New York's Penn Station (USD10 per person + tax). From the train station, we walked all the way up 7th Avenue (or was it 8th? I forget) to reach some of our must (photo)stops in NYC: The Empire State Building and Times Square. Our friend DL met us somewhere in between the Empire State Building and Times Square.

After the long (and very cold) walk, we had a light lunch at Europa Cafe (which according to DL is very New York) right in the middle of Times Square to grab sandwiches and to plan our itinerary for the day.

After E relayed his unsuccessful search of the "cruet", DL suggested Soho. Among our stops were Dean and Deluca, The Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel in Soho. Still no such luck. We had coffee in one of the coffee shops, and that's where we learned how New Yorkers like to sip their coffee. Interesting...

We headed next to Fifth Avenue for some serious window shopping and photo ops at Radio City Music Hall and right by the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

We then met RL, DL's dear husband for dinner at Morton's Bar 12.21 for a couple of their famous mini burgers and fillet mignon sandwiches. Yummy! We decided to spend the rest of the evening in DL's and RL's beautiful apartment, and took home dessert from Junior's Cheesecake and The Little Pie Company.

The evening was spent looking at pictures from their trip to Malta, catching up for DL and I, and computer games for RL and E.

We had a very full, exciting and fun-filled day, and it was great to see our dear friends!