WHAT I'M LOVING NOW: SINGAPORE! 1of 4

Just got back from a trip to Singapore! Must say that I have Singapoh hangover. What I like most about the place is how effective their transport system is. All you have to do is buy a prepaid EZ Pass card and your train, bus, cab fairs are all solved! It would really take an extra effort from you to get lost in this city.

Just take a look at their MTR map! How efficient, see!



The Cable Car to Sentosa.

Series I'm Loving Now: The Tudors

I am not ashamed to say it, I am in loooove with the Tudors. I am obssessed about their family tree, about Henry VIII and his many many wives, I am even obssessed with Jonathan Rhys Meyers (he really is hot)!!

I enjoy hating the Boleyn sisters and feeling bad for the first wife. I enjoy seeing how romantic courtship used to be, yet realizing how comfortably different we live now. Yes the scenes are very explicit. Nothing is hidden from the viewer. I really do hope they 'maintain' their faithfulness to the true events (as far as we know anyway) written in history.

Incidentally, there's a new movie coming out about the Boleyn sisters starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanson.

I can hardly wait for season 2 to start!

Movie I'm Loving Now: National Treasure Book of Secrets

I most certainly liked the first movie much much more. Also, one would have to be vaguely familiar with the characters from the first movie to be able to completely relate to this one.
The idea of having Nicholas Cage play a love lost character was a bit edging into creepy. Come on, this was the guy who made us all swoon in City of Angels.
The only parts I liked in this movie were the brief (albeit, doubtful) snippets of history we get from the plot of the story.
As expected Diange Kruger was beautiful though she doesn't convince me as a bookish kind of gal.

I'M GOING TO:

Singapore this coming weekend!! I hope some of you can give me tips on which restaus to try, where the best Hainanese chicken Chicken, Kaya toasts, Bak Kut Teh, Laksa and Chili Crabs are!
I'm so excited to go on this trip! Can't wait to try authentic hawker food! Will definitely be taking lots and lots of pictures!

cakes

It's been a whole year already! I can't believe it. This year, I had several cakes (4 in fact). Some given by vendors, but the best one we bought. This year I chose the Blueberry Cheesecake from Conti's.


I find it to be much too sweet for my taste. The cream cheese is a bit rubbery. I still think that Gateau de Manille serves the best Blueberry Cheesecake at the best price.

Guava

Wanted to celebrate my birthday with my favorite Thai dish, so far only to be found in Thai at Silk, only to discover that they had taken the item out of their menu. Ended up celebrating in Guava and had (no pictures today):

Mongonisa
Nothing spectacular except for the Longganisang Lucban included in the dish.

Ginisang Gulay in Bihod Sauce
This was very very good. You could not taste the bitterness of the ampalaya in the dish. I could not have enough!! Bihod is fish roe (like Pinoy caviar I guess)
We had initially wanted the 3 mushroom and Kesong Puti Quiche (was excited about it) only to find out that they had run out of kesong puti.

Milk Fish Bellies in Guava Broth
The broth was very good! The veggies in the sinigang were a bit too little though.

Lamb Kaldereta
This was also very good. The shank was very tender. Went well with the olives in the dish.

Service was a bit slow, the place is indeed very cramped. It was also odd that they didn't have ORs yet. They gave us our bill in an index card!!

Not the best place for celebrations but would definitely come back.

Miss Desserts 2

This really is the best dessert place in Serendra/BHS! Glad to see that more people have discovered the place. I'm just a wee bit concerned that service and ambience is starting to step down a notch compared to the last time we were here.

What we tried:

Almond Espresso Cheesecake Php95

Very very good. Would have been better if the espresso part of the cheesecake was stronger. I also think that serving size has grown so much smaller now.

Belgian Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Php115

The chocolate chips were melt in your mouth. The cream cheese and the chocolate chips really balance each other out.

Murray's New Orleans Bourbon Street Steaks & Oysters

Boy! What a looong name! We call it "New Orleans" for short. Got there at around 8pm, got a table at around 9:15! The wait list wasn't that very long, it was just that customer turnover was slow. Probably because service was slow too.

The place was very small, but very alive. It could have been the slightest bit bigger. I loved the over all decor in the area. It was like a mini-Bourbon street reinvented in your own backyard.
The bartender was very very friendly (and cheery) and he kept us 
company while waiting for our table. I believe New Orleans is part of the Claw Daddy/ 
Red Crab family as well. Expected the food to be similar.
Ate here on a Friday night so I really tried my best to avoid getting anything with meat. These are what we ate:

French Onion and Dumpling Soup Php105

The soup was a bit bland. I was expecting it to have a more dumplings and more stuffing in the dumplings!

Cream of Asparagus with Bacon Soup Php140


Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya Php345

Good for two people. I think they served the same rice they did to the other dish we ordered.

Fish Over Seafood Pontchartrain Php345

Finally, a fish dish I love. Finally!! I useally don't order fish dishes because more often than not I find them badly prepared. But not this dish! It was worth the wait. The fish was so moist and all the juices were well preserved. I specifically requested not to get the belly part, and they really did give me that. The rice side dish was a bit of a disappointment. I was very obvious that it had been sitting in their kitchen for hours on end already. I'm so happy about this fish!
Btw, Pontchartrain is a lake found in New Orleans. A tribute to the homeland!

As dinner wound down, customers became more sparse. Tables were easier to get. We didn't have dessert here as we were not that impressed by the selection. Their cocktail selectiong was very impressive too, though we didn't have any.

waffle time

I go through phases. Once I went through a pizza phase wherein all I would eat was pizza, I also went through a chili sauce phase, an egg phase, a koko krunch phase...you get the idea.. And now I'm going through a waffle phase. I wake up in the morning thinking about waffles and sleep at night dreaming about them. Have eaten in pancake house, gram's diner and heaven n' eggs in the past week. Isn't there somewhere else? Help me out you guys! Give me your best waffle places. Help an addict in need!

saddened

I am just speechless. I am utterly saddened by the death of Heath Ledger. I really think that he's a promising actor. Loved him in 10 things i hate about you, was looking forward to his portrayal of Joker in the new Batman movie. It's so sad. I am so affected.

Have been watching Sex and the City the past few nights, can't bear to watch it anymore because the actor playing "Aidan" sort of reminds me of Heath.

Moving on to my next series....


I pity Matilda (his daughter).

I really really reallllly hope it wasn't suicide.

questions

Ran into an ex today. Couldn't find the courage to cross paths with him. Turned around and walked the other way. Hid behind some plants, "spied" on him. Then I wondered, where does the love for an ex partner go? It definitely never goes away. Those times you see him and pangs of anger/ irritation/ happiness/excitement/ whatsoever comes over you only means that feelings remain. Does that mean that after all this time I still have *something* for those exes of mine? Eww to the thought....

Indeed, where does all that love go?

lost

I'm feeling lost. When these kinds of situations used to happen to me, I used to be able to get through it by talking it over with some friends over a cup of coffee or a piece of cake. But this time, I just can't find the strength to tell anyone. Matter of factly, I don't even know what's wrong!

Been locked up in my room for days now. I fall asleep as soon as I get home, and people who are close to me know that I am the world's biggest insomniac. I've stopped watching my diet, I've lost interest in movies and my tv shows, I've stopped seeing my friends. 

So this is what a mid life crisis feels like. And I hate the way it makes me feel.

I've realized I'm not enjoying what I'm doing anymore. I give so much more than they give me in return. I feel like there's no room for growth. Nor do they appreciate what I do. I can see there's no point in excelling (aside from self gratification) when you don't get what you deserve. All that hoopla about money isn't everything is a load of crap.

I want to travel. I want to migrate. I want to do so many things I can't right now. What's holding me back is myself. I am the alpha and the omega of my own problems.

I'm no longer happy. It's not a pretty place to be. I've got to fix me.

Movie I'm Loving Now: Enchanted

I wanted to see it even before it started production because (hot) Patrick Dempsey was in it. I'm glad it didn't disappoint. Enchanted is a grown woman's fairytale. To add even more glee, 
it's Disney! Impossible to go wrong with Disney! I don't want to make this entry a spoiler. I'm writing this because now I'm inspired again. I'm inspired to blog, to eat out, go out. I'm inspired to watch sappy romantic movies again. I believe in love again. Funny how a silly little comment and a feel good romantic movie can lift up one's burnt spirit.

for the foodie who plans

Accidentally stumbled upon this website (www.munchpunch.com) that features restaurants from all over. They sometimes even have menus of the restaus, something I find very useful when planning ahead, on a budget or when looking for a certain dish. They also offer reviews from other diners and even discounts at times.

I've been waiting and looking for a site like this for so long now. I hope they keep updating the site!!

Classic Confections

My friend got so excited when she saw this in Greenbelt 5. She's apparently heard so much about the bakery but had never gotten around to visiting the place since it was somewhere in Pasig. We had to come back like 6 times before we actually got seats. Only 4-6 (if you don't mind sharing with strangers) tables are available. I don't really get why they chose the tables and chairs that they did. It's so space consuming. Nevertheless, here were our cakes and we'll surely be back for more (want to taste them all!)!


Nono's Chocolate Oblivion

The only thing that I found to be different and exciting in this cake was the crusty outside layer of the cake which I *think* is a mix of jam and finely ground walnuts. This cake in particular isn't really my kind of dessert.

Banana Cream Pie

This was good! Perfect balance between the bananas and the caramel!. I was so tempted to buy a whole cake and bring it home to the folks!

Must tries on next visit: Lemon Torte, Rum Cake and their version of almond roca.