apologies

for some unknown reason, i cannot seem to fix the lines of my sentences in this blog. 
no matter what i do, one or the other keeps on extending that supposed text area and 
no one can emplain to me how that happens. sorry about that, and i promise to continue looking 
for a way to solve this. in the meantime, pls. be patient with me.
thanks 

Movie I'm Loving Now: Cake

Could Taye Diggs get any hotter??? This is a true blue chick flick; yet it tries to desperately show
women empowerment. It really pars well compared to the other romanti comedies out there and yet it was still able to maintain its substance. Great acting from Heather Graham. I don't exactly know where David Sutcliffe came from, I've never seen him before, but he was able to portray that 'lovable' guy role that everybody wants to fall in love with, well. This movie was able
to show so many different everyday life scenarios which I think many many people can relate to. When you just don't want to think and just want to enjoy, I suggest that you go watch this!

Oh. I love Pippa's (Heather Graham) dress for that banquet at the end of the movie. :)

Movie I'm Loving Now: Blood Diamond

Another high quality film. Something that caters specifically to an audience. I wouldn't expect this
to be liked by everybody, neither to be a box office hit though. Djimon Hounsou was the real star of that film for me. Also, I hope that people are now more aware and 
more careful about the diamonds they buy. I hope they go the extra mile and make sure that they 
aren't counterfeit.  This film at the very least should be given an award for promoting cultural awareness of something at the very least.

Moive I'm Loving Now: Little Children

 

If I had seen this movie four years ago, I probably would have never finished it and would have completely forgotten that it had even existed. However, when I saw this yesterday, I was quite engrossed in the film; and I watched all 2 hours of it. It tells of how man seeks to feel 'alive' even if it means hurting other people to attain this; and realizing that physical fulfillment is not all that you need to be alive. I love Kate Winslet's performance here, however, I think that Jennifer Connely's talent was wasted. I also liked the way the narrator guided the viewers into understanding the film in certain ways.

Movie I'm Loving Now: Scoop

This movie was hilarious in a very subtle way. I decided to watch it because Hugh Jackman 
is in it,
and I've been a fan ever since I saw him in X-men where he portrayed the role of 
Wolverine very intensely. 
This movie was no different, though he had very little parts compared to those of Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson, he was able to give substance to his character.  
Woody Allen's portrayal of Splendini was also great. He gave such depth into the role that
when what happened to him, happened, I felt very bad about it. Scarlett, with respect to her, is quite talented I must say. She really transforms herself into whatever character she is portraying. Coincidentally, she and Hugh have worked on another movie called The Prestige that same year...hehehe..


And oh, I love the after life bit of the story..hahaha

Cafe Mediterranean

Appetizer Sampler Php160

You can choose any 3 of the appetizers they have, which they serve in smaller sizes with 2 plain pita breads.
The black one is the tapenade which is made of “minced black olives, capers and olive oil from Provence.” I liked this one, not very ‘dip-like’ more of a filling kind of thing.
The white one is the hummus which is made from garbanzos. Of the three, this was my favorite and was the most addicting one, to be honest you wouldn’t know it was made of garbanzos if you didn’t know you were eating hummus. It was the most dip like too! It was described in the menu as "a classic garbanzo and sesame dip from the middle east."
The green one is the tzatziki which was made of cucumber, garlic and mint. This was very refreshing. I don’t normally like mint flavors in my food, but I couldn’t detect that in this dish! "Cucumber, yogurt and mint."

Kofta Burger Php120

Described as "spicy grille dbeef and lamb" I didn't quite find this as special as it was supposed to be. It was to have kofta
(which are ground vegetables made to look like meatballs) and lamb. 
I don't think there was much lamb in this dish. Also, I found a bone in the burger, so you be the judge!

Kofta Gyro Php95

I got this one in regular but in wheat bread. It was okay, better than the kofta appetizer they have. I love that what I'm eating are so healthy!

Beef Gyro Php105

Picture was taken from previous post because I was not able to take a proper picture. In my opinion, this is better eaten in wheat bread.

 

Sonja's Cupcakes 2

After dinner at Balducci's we had cupcakes at Sonja's. These are what we tried

PB&J Php65

I loved the peanut butter frosting. Yes, it was a bit overpowering but it was a perfect match for the grape jelly and chocolatey cake. Tip: don't lick the icing on its own. Best to eat everything as you should and not in parts.

Red Velvet Vixen Php65

The fact that the cake was red was really cute. Nothing special to say about the cake or the icing. Of the two, I definitely enjoyed the PB&J much more.

Balducci Italian Restaurant

We went to Serendra on a Saturday night without a reservation. Big mistake. All restaurants were full! We tried to go to several other places before settling for this one and were told we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table for two. Was I in New York? haha...I felt like I was.. Learned my lesson though. Next time I'll be getting a reservation or better yet will be going on a weekday. These are what we had:

Bread Basket

This of course was free and had matching butter, liver pate and salsa on the side. Was not that impressed by their bread selection. In my honest opinion, the bread in Italliani's was better.


Greca-Pomodoro, lattuga, feta, oregano,patate, olive Php220

Described as "Our version of the classic greek salad made with fresh red tomatoes, lettuce, feta cheese, olives, oregano and potatoes. Serving size was small. Obviously it wasn't meant to be shared. I found the dressing to have to much vinegar on it. Or maybe there really wasn't enought lettuce in the salad to soak up all that vinegar? haha... Wasn't that impressed with it. Probably would not get it again.

Fettucine all'uovo alla marinara con porcini (Seafood fettucine with porcini mushrooms) Php310

This was good. Serving was quite limited though. I liked the sauce (I really coulndn't figure out what it was, something cream-like though). There was a good share of seafood and mushrooms in the pasta. I was expecting a bigger serving (good for one pesron) for the price though.

Cool ambience. They have a mini deli inside as well. Musicians play throughout the night. Maybe it was really because of the rush hour of Saturday night, but I felt like they were rushing us to finish our meal. I was not yet done with my pasta but one of the other servers (not ours) was already standing by my table eager to pick up the plate already. That's just plain rude.

PYRO OLYMPICS

UK wins the Pyro Olympics. Too bad I wasn't able to watch it.... 

Tagaytay Highlands Steakhouse

Ate here to celebrate a birthday. Many many people at the time we were here and so, service was 
slow and the servers' attention was hard to grab. I don't take that against them though, since like I said, the place was packed! I'm not sure about the correct names of the food, nor of their prices but these are what I were able to try:

Caesar Salad

At the very least, I'm glad that there vegetables were extremely fresh, crisp and tasty. They looked like they had just been picked from the garden minutes before being served. The dressing was nothing special.

Clam Chowder Soup

'Meaty' with clams. I enjoyed this.

Steak (well done)

As usual, it had many fatty parts which I ofcourse had to trim down first. This steak was moist and juicy just the way I like it. I'm glad their steaks are cut thick. Had corn and some buttered vegetables with it.

Salmon

I didn't like this. I found it to be a little bit fishy. Glad I didn't get one for myself.

We asked our server for the night not to serve the food if it were to arrive while the fireworks were ongoin. But of course it still did....Irony of life...Becuase of this, we weren't able to enjoy our
food 'right of the grill.'

Brewy Read

Seafood Marinara Php130

This was good. I found the sauce to be tangy and tiny bit sour but perfect for my liking. Most especially to wash away that 'seafood' taste.

Eggplant Parmigiana Php80
I thought parmigianas were supposed to be like lasagnas..hehe...sbarro's brainwash! Not that good. All I could taste was the cheese. The eggplant cutlets, yes cutlets, were tough.

Sausage Pesto Pizza Php150

When they said 'sausage' I thought they meant sausage-sausage. Imagine my surprise when they served hotdog slices!!! It really had an off (horrid) taste. The crust was thick 
and a chore to chew. I actually think that they probably got their crust ready made from groceries.

I really wouldn't be surprised if they had closed down the next time I go to their place. Bad food. Really. Ended up there ONLY because no other restaus had seats left (pyro olympics that day),
otherwise we really wouldn't have gone their anyway!

Flaming Wings

There's a branch across my school yet I've never been there. Tried the branch in Paranaque and 
had a great time! We were full and the experience was great! We got:

10 piece Buffalo Wings Php358 
First you choose what sauce you want them to coat your chicken in, they have:
  Original, Mild n' Sweet, Wild and Honey BBQ
then you choose the dip that you want for your chicken, they have:
 Bleu Cheese, Ranch, Aioli, Wasabi Mayo, Balsamic Mayo and Honey-Mustard

For the ten piece order, you can have your wings coated upto 3 sauces and get 3 dips to go with it.

Pomme Frites Php35
"Thick cut fries served in the traditional paper cone. Comes with your choice of dip." Great match with the wings instead of rice.

In the end, we were able to try all their dips. I liked the balsamic mayo 
and bleu cheese the most. We got the original, mild n' sweet and smokey bbq sauces. My favorite would have to be the smokey bbq.

Jammin' Jamaican

Menu was extensive for a Jamaican fastfood. Place was small and seat were limited. We got pizza instead of te usual Jamaican Patties.

Bob Marley and Wailers Pizza Php150

Has pepperoni, mushroom, black capers and anchovies. It was ok enough I guess. 
Toppings were generous. You can choose from thick or thin crust. We got the thin crust and though it was not paper thin, it was thin and crispy enough for me! Oh, and I looove the name of the pizza! I am such a huge Bob Marley fan!

Btw, this was in MOA. :)
 

Sentro

Been hearing about the palce for a long time now. Their legendary Sinigang na Corned Beef is now infamous.
And it is absolutely just as good as the grapevine says! Here are what we were able to try:

Rated GG Php 185

"Gg fillets fried in garlic, oil, topped with browned garlic." This was okay. At the very least it was boneless, great appetizer or pulutan.

Corned Beef Short Ribs and Boneless Shanks in Tamarind Broth Php340
--> more popularly known as Corned Beef Sinigang

It was great! They actually give you a small serving of the soup early on so you can have your soup more or less sour. They also serve the clay pot on top of a candle set up to keep it warm
throughout  your meal. The meat was glorious, it was very soft. I think if there was a kilo of that meat in the soup, I could have finished it all by myself. The vegetables were very fresh and crisp. Great great great dish this one!

Bottomless  Sago't Gulaman Php80

I found this one to be too sweet for me, I didn't like it that much. I prefer those sold in sidewalks much more. haha.

Cute Rice Container Php45 (i think)



They give you butong pakwan (watermelon seeds) while waiting for your food to arrive. Food was good, service was ok too. A bit expensive for casual dining though, but I'm willing to come back to try the other dishes in the menu.

Pyro Olympics

I wasn't able to watch all of them, I was however able to watch: 
USA vs. Spain- wherein I think USA did a much better job
Denmark vs. Canada- where Canada just really brought the house down!!
China and Phils (exhibition only)-China's was amazing, Philippines was 90 minutes delayed from their supposed starting time. Ours was great too, many of the fireworks were unique and I'm quite sure I didn't see any of them in the other countries that I saw. Ours was also more colorful and had much much muuuuch more smoke, so we weren't really able to take great pictures. Speaking of which, although I have about a thousand pyro olympics pictures ot go through, I can't post any of them here because I'll be using them for a competition..... And I'm kinda selfish about them for security reasons. We also had the best synchronization and arrangement of fireworks amongst all those that I was able to see. And there I was thinking we might come up with roman candles and fountains only.haha....I must say we did a good job! And it was definitley worth the wait. It was really traffic though, got home at about 330am. Of the 3 times I went there, this was the worst. There were about 3x more people on jan 13 than there was on jan12.

Overall, I think China will be winning the Pyro Olympics. Maybe next time, we can join too. :) 

Pho Bac

Decided to try this place to be able to compare it to Pho Hoa. Well, I didn't like the ambiance 
and the color scheme of the restau. I most especially did not like the presentation of the menu. The prices may be cheaper, but I think I'll be sticking to Pho Hoa for now.

Cambodia (Hu tieu nam vang) Php173

Price was inclusive of vat and they did not charge any service charge. Soup was tasty. Lots of different meat cuts in the soup. The noodles were a big problem. It was very obvious that they had been boiled and had been sitting at the counter (refrigerator) for a long time.

Peking Garden

Ate at Pecking Garden for our first ever family reunion in my father's father's side.
Had a blast. Food was great but service was really poor. They were not able to properly 
time the serving of the different dishes. For example, we waited 15 minutes after being 
served (and finishing) the appetizers before the soup was served and so on.

It was also quite difficult to grab the attention of the waiters, not to mention that 
they were packed that night. Lastly, they forgot to clear up our plates, bowls etc before
serving the next course. Lack of training maybe? Or plain holiday rush....

We even had a set menu specially for us, they even went the exta mile and had little booklet menus publsihed for us. This are what we had :

1. 4 Kinds of Appetizer (white soy chicken, asado, jellyfish and hamon)
-I didn't like the chicken, it was too bland for me, also I hate boiled chicken skin. I liked the asado and the pata hamon a lot. I didn't bother to taste the jellyfish.

2. Chicken and Meat Dumpling Soup in Casserole
-One meat dumpling per person. The chicken part of this soup were whole boiled chickens sliced/'carved' before serving. Soup was bland for many so they added soy sauce, but it was good enough for me.

3.Peking Duck
-This one I loved. They served it only one way (we usually have it served in 2ways) with warm pita bread, spring onion stalk and Hoissin sauce. For those who are not familiar, what you do is coat a portion of the bread with the sauce, place a few spring onions (I put one only hehe) and some duck slices then just roll it up as you would lumpia (spring rolls). We ate it like pritchon. What I love about peking duck is that it is so artsy to carve (I actually enjoy watching duck getting carved). And oh, the skin, need I say more. It makes me sin thinking about it.

4. Prawns with Sweet and Spicy Sauce
-These were balled prawns in orange batter with a supoosed sweet and spicy sauce which I found to be neither sweet nor spicy.

5. Steamed Fish Fillet with Preserved Vegetables
-The fish fillet was a bit overcooked in my opinion and the preserved vegetables on top of it were way too salty when eaten alone. As always, its best to eat the fish with the topping together.

6. Sliced Beef in Oyster Sauce with Vegetables
-This dish came very late. Beef was a bit hard to chew. I didn't find anything special about this dish. Honestly, it looked more pork than beef because of its orange color.

7. Stewed 4 Treasure Vegetable with Minced Ham
-With regards to this dish, I think they sered us the wrong thing. First, the dish that was supposed be this only had 3 vegetables in it; stalks of some vegetable, fresh mushrooms and boiled brocolli. Aside from that, there was no minced ham at all in the dish!

8. Peking Garden Fried Rice
-This was actually jusy Yang Chow fried rice. I honestly prefer Northpark's version much more.

9. Steamed Vegetable Dumpling
-They actually forgot to serve this. It was okay I guess. But not something I would order if it were not included in the set menu.

10. Chilled Almond Jelly with Fruit Cocktail
-Basic dessert Nothing special to say. At least the almond jelly had some real flavor.

There was so much food leftover, it could feed all of us all over again. Like I said, service was not properly timed. They had no refillable drinks whatsoever and yet we ended up ordering several glasses of iced tea per person because of all the waiting. And so, our stomachs were filled with our drinks instead of the food. We were the only family that was not Chinese in that place. By 10pm, even though we were still busy with telling stories among one another, the waiters started cleaning up and the people stardted to leave. I found out that they strictly closed at 10:30. We felt like they were driving us away already (tinataboy) and gave us our bill even if we had not asked for it yet.
I probably would not eat here again on my own choosing.

Introducing Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's SWIRL CARD

A lot of people think that the SWIRL CARD is not worth it or that their previous Pink Card was better. Yes, you do have to buy the Swirl Card for Php125 but you do get a free regular drink of your choice when you avail of it. I got a regular Dulce de Leche Latte which in itself was already worth Php159, and so I am so sure that this Swirl Card is so going to be worth it for me. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is my favorite coffee shop afterall. BTW, their regular sizes are bigger than those of other coffee places. According to their site, this is how the card works:

• Earn 5 points for every Php100 purchase paid in cash or card, 1point=Php1 redeemable value
  
• Points can be doubled to 10 for every Php100 purchase made with the Swirl Card’s stored cash value
  
• For as low as 10 points, you can get a free upsize on your next drink
  
• Get a Php100 gift for every Php500 loaded in the card until November 2007
  

So go ahead and get yourselves one! Happy Holidays to you all!

my Dulce de Leche Latte (gross shot)

Very caramelly.haha.....As I had expected. Very Christmas-sy actually. Better than any of the 3 Christmas coffees Starbucks came up with.