Sunday, October 31, 2010

Week 43: Four Eyes, Dinner @ French Baker

Just got my first glass last Thursday, damn, I didn't know my eyes were bad already. I'm getting used to wearing glasses but I don't to wear it all the time. I was curious why they called it corrective glasses, do they correct the eyes and heal them or do they just correct sight when your wearing them? Sorry for my ignorance.

I just realized that my eyes were going bad when there was an APE conducted in our office. I think only my right eye is affected. That's what you get when you face the computer most of the day.






I was at MOA Thursday to buy additional materials for the Halloween decorations at the office. It was fashion week for spring/summer collection and ate at Frech Baker which was in front of the catwalk for Freego jeans. I usually order pasta or meat, this time I wanted to try their fish ala meunier for a change. My order came and it looked good, but when I tasted it, it did really met my expectation. The taste was a bit blunt and needed more flavor. I am a salty eater, I got used eating salty food since my brother sometimes cooks are food too salty. As I understand it, when you cook something a la meuniere, there's butter then lemon. The sauce did not really taste like butter, more of cream and I did not feel the taste of lemon. It did not taste bad, it just lacked more taste to it, maybe more pepper and lemon. With the fish aside, I like their other choices like their cordon bleue, pork chop au poivre, and hickory spareribs among others.


Rating the restaurant, I recommend it for casual dining. It tastes nice and the price is reasonable since the taste is nice, the choices are great and serving is big also. You could check their menu here. I'd give taste and preparation 9/10, I love their pasta and others, it was just I did not like the fish. Service 7/10, the people are all scattered, and I was waiting for the cashier lady while she was just speaking to some of her co-workers, and when we requested for water, they gave it after asking the second time. Price, 8/10.



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Monday, October 25, 2010

The Baranggay Elections

Just got home from the Baranggay Elections, which ended around 3 in the afternoon but we stayed in the area for a while to observe how the election would go. My brother was a candidate for kagawad, and I only voted and my friend.

The election in our area was held in the public school. Our place is divided in 3 baranggay although the division was really chaotic. I am registered under Tabon 1, were my cousin was runnung for chairman and my brother was running for kagawad but they were under different parties.

As we stayed in the place, we got to see several things. The precint that I was registered to had issues with a person that signed the wrong name, which also caused the delay in counting. The issue was that someone had signed in his name and he was no longer able to vote, and someone even mentioned that it was his sister's husband that did it claiming that he was the one listed, afyer a few minutes of arguing, they decided to check who signed it an turned out not to be him and it was someone else they did not know.

While waiting for the counting to stop, we went by the other baranggays to get news. My cousin's son was running for SK chairman and was on the lead, but we could never avoid sore loosers to give their own opinions, but what the heck, that is one of the fun things of winning.

We went home since I had to go to work, and the counting was still not complete, so while I blog this, I am not sure if my brother made it.




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Location:Magdiwang Hwy,Kawit,Philippines

Week 42: Lunch at Tokyo Cafe

Had lunch at MOA Sunday afternoon after the service. We were supposed to eat at Sbarro but the line was long and they did not accept credit card so our second choice was Tokyo Cafe. We were really hungry since it was already 1 in the afternoon. I was expecting some kind of authentic Japanese food but it was mostly pasta, pizza, sandwiches that had a Japanese twist.

I ordered Bacon Tomato Cream Pasta and Mixed Seafood platter that consisted of fried shrimp, squid and fish. The pasta tasted like carbonara but with tomato bits, I enjoyed the taste since I like pasta but it was too creamy for me, and it lacked something in the salty side. The seafood platter was dipped in breadcrumbs which was overpowering the taste of the meat.

Rating my first time to eat in the place, I'd rate the food 7/10, I did not really enjoyed what I ordered, but I liked what my friends ordered. In terms of service, we did not really encounter anything bad, so I'd give it an 8/10. In terms of value for money, for me the taste was not worth the price since the taste was really common yet price was high, so i'd give it a 7.




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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Week 42: Trying Victory

Woke up really early today because I slept for almost 12 hours. Went to church at 8 with my mom since she was going to go to her batchmate's house after. I was also off wondering again since it was the weekends. My friend invited me attend a service at Victory Christian Fellowship Malate. It was my first time to attend a live service from a Christian Fellowship and well, I did not really know what to expect, but I can say that I enjoyed it. It wasn't like the "alive alive" cliches. I am a Roman Catholic and I believe that everyone has a right to believe what they want to.

The topic of service was the Filipino mindset of "Ningas Cogon" wherein a person is only active at the start. I am guilty of that. Normally I try to start something and try to plan it from the beginning, really excited but after a few days, the excitement goes away, you can say that I get nored easily doing something. A good example would be the previous blog that I started, I think I was only active for a month then stopped. The perserverance went away.

The question is, what motivates you to do something, what's your reason? Sounds like a coffee commercial, but seriously, what keeps younmoving? Hopefully it is not money or desire for power.



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Week 42: Saturday Lunch at Tagaytay

It looked like it was going to rain, we were headed to Tagaytay after work. Due to the gloomy weather, we were expecting it to be really cold in Tagaytay. From work, we headed off to Tagaytay, but since it was the last day of campaigning for the Baranggay Elections, almost all the roads were affected. So after traveling longer than usual, we arrived in Tagaytay nearly lunch time, and it was hotter than we expected. We ate lunch at Kubo Kubo Ihaw Ihaw along Aguinaldo Highway going to Batanggas.


During weekends, you could choose from ordering from their menu or choosing some of the precooked meals in their counter ("turo turo" style) and they have many variants to choose from. Today, we ordered from the menu; Calamares, Kinilaw na Tanique (raw fish soaked in vinegar), Sisig among others, and since we were in Tagaytay, Bulalo (bone marrow soup).

The order came and they served rice in a banana leaf, and that would be where you would eat. I love the smell of rice wrapped in banana leaf, or cooked with pandan leaves because they make the rice smell good. You could either sit at the main building or at the kubo (nipa huts) in the garden. Since the kubo was in the garden, it was hard to avoid mosquitoes, but I don't really remember, if the last time we ate there, there were lots of mosquitoes. I would suggest considering plantings some tree that repel mosquitoes like citronella.

If I am to review the place, I would give them an 8 for food taste and presentation. Some tasted good and others could taste much better. The Bulalo, which I really don't eat except sip the soup, was a bit salty in taste and seemed to have too much umami (monosodium glutamate). But I enjoyed the Kinilaw and the Calamares. If you are at Tagaytay, and you want to taste Filipino dishes, maybe you could try eating here since most of the food they serve is Filipino style. The service was so so, it wasn't bad and the waiter assigned to you is attentive, but serving the food took a while, so that would be a 9. Price is reasonable, we were 13 and the price was around 4000 which was not that bad, so in terms of value of the food, I'd give it a 9.

After lunch, we headed to Bag of Beans to buy a whole blueberry cheesecake.


Saturday, October 23, 2010

Week 42: Friday Dinner at MOA..

Yes, last workday of the week. The week always seems faster when you only work for four days. It would be nice to have a 4-day work week instead, right? Woke up early to go to Mall of Asia so I could get an idea for my Halloween costume for the company's Halloween celebration. The costumes were expensive, did not want to spend money on that right now, so I decided to have my costume sewn instead, I am still not sure though of the design.

We also bought a gift in the department store and went to have it gift wrapped, the line was a bit long, but there was no line for Prestige card holders, so we went there. So much for their priority lane, we still waited for someone to finish but the lady wrapper still called for someone in the regular lane. Not being a brat, but don't you understand the word "priority"? What's the use of having that as a privilege? Anyway, someone was kind enough to help us.

Every thing was done, all that is left to do was to eat dinner. We were walking around the activity center and saw that there was a showroom for Chevy's and they also had Bumblebee roaming around for some pictures. I was just fascinated since it was the name of our new team at work.


We headed to Fish and Co. to eat our dinner. It was actually only my second time to eat here, and both times, I was with someone that is allergic to seafood. I ordered the same as before since I really like anything with cheese, that's why I ordered the NY Fish and Chips since the fish was stuffed with Parmesan. I really like the people in the restaurant because they are really attentive even tough there are lots of people eating. You know that they really take care of their customers, that's good customer service, plus the food is great also but is a bit pricey. So if I am to rate Fish and Co. - MOA, 10/10 for service, 9/10 for food and presentation, 8/10 for price.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Week 41: Masskara, the next day! (Sunday)


Woke up early that day to attend mass that Sunday although it was in Ilongo so I was not actually able to understand it. Just prayed in the Bacolod Cathedral then we walked to SM to buy some stuff, taking a look at souvenir items along the way.

In the afternoon, we went back to Araneta St to watch the street parade. It was my first time to watch the Masskara street dancing so I was really excited. We were at the backend of the audience and the show had just started. Since I wanted to take some pictures, I found my way to the front of the people. One lady kept telling me that I could go in since I had a camera, but I was scared by the rampaging street dancers so i just stayed back. My friend also told me that it was normal to see some of the dancers faint due to the heat and the heavy masskara, and we did get to see several dancers faint on the street.


So after standing for about an hour or so, we got a bit tired and decided to go to the back stage and get pictures with some of the dancers. Our feet were so sore but we really enjoyed the day.


Once the dance was completed, we decided to go home, but since the roads were still closed, it was hard to get a jeepney. Once we got one, even though it was really packed we got on and squeeze our way through.


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Week 41: Masskara! (Saturday)


The Philippines is rich with festivities. The Masskara festival is one of the most colorful festival here in the Philippines. I really enjoyed festival even though the weekend was very tiresome. The weekend was very memorable to me for several reasons, there was so many bloopers that happened.

The first day, we stayed at The Sugarland Hotel at Bacolod. The place was so so. Check-in time was 2:00 PM, we arrived at the hotel at 12:00, so we decided to go to MO2 Days Inn hotel to check if they already had rooms available for the next day since I only reserved one night at Sugarland since they only had the suite available, which was a bit more than the budget. Good thing, unlike that Saturday, Sunday was not as much fully booked so we got a room in Days Inn for Sunday which was actually cheaper. You would want to save as much money for other stuff. So we got back at Sugarland at around 1:45, we stayed at the lobby and waiting 15 minutes, went to the receptionist and was advised that they were still cleaning the room and asked for another 30 minutes. 30 minutes passed, they were still not finished, they gave as complementary ice teas. In short, it was after an hour before we got to check in. And because all of us did not get enough slip the night before due to the time of our flight, we slept, well, they did. After rest, we went to Lacson St. to watch the electric Masskara parade, which had only 4 participants. I am not sure if they were the winners of the parade the day before.