Only in Manila

Waffle dog from waffle time. Actually, I prefer the cheese waffle, which is just waffle with cheese filling.. but they ran out, so I had to make do with the hotdog. (which was yucky by the time I ate it because it was already cold)

Egg pie from Goldilocks. I love love love eggpie. As in I love love love eggpie!

Yum burgers from Jollibee. My mom bought it for me (she's really sweet) while I was stressing at the airport while waiting to see if we could make it for the last flight from Manila to Singapore. I was so stressed that I managed to gulp down the burger in about 5 bites.

Peri-Peri Chicken

*Droooooool*

We were in Mega Mall one afternoon and had to face one of life's daily challenges - choosing where to eat!

After going rounds, we decided to eat Peri Peri chicken.

Super good choice, because I loved it! The meat was tender and flavourful. Wow!

For me, it's 5X better than the Nando's here in Singapore.

And it's super reasonably priced too!

This is one placed I'd recommend.

Discovery Suites

I feel like a princess. Whenever I go back to Manila, my family always makes it a point that we check in at a hotel (to make enjoy and relax).

This time around, we checked in at Discovery Suites in Ortigas.
The living room

The bedroom. I got to sleep on the bed with my mom. My dad slept on the couch (awww).

TV in the living room and in the bedroom. Yey for this. No need to steal the remote control from each other.

The toilet.

This time, because I'm becoming super health conscious, we made use of the gym. That's 2 consecutive days of gym. (so I'm wondering why I still gained weight during my leave. I mean, I ate a lot, but I worked out too. It's so unfair!).

July 24, 2011

I chose to celebrate my birthday at Emerald Garden. A place we often visited while I was growing up.
The whole day was dedicated to my favorite people in the whole wide world - my family!

We ordered the live suahe.

And the green soup that I like.

Birthday noodles for long life. With the pink quail eggs that I love!

What this?

Oh! spareribs.

For four pax. We're a family of big eaters.

Hieng din tsun gwan! Minced pork which you need to wrap with crisp lettuce + hoisin sauce. Yum!

Mango sago. I looooove sago! =) And I love Philippine mangoes!

All in all, it was an okay meal. We've tasted better though. but we were told later on that there was a change in ownership - and apparently, a change in quality. Too bad, because Emerald has made a name for themselved as a good chinese restaurant.. and now, they've turned mediocre.

**************************************************************

For dinner, I decided to have it at Sala Bistro.

My RMs often take our private banking clients there..so I thought it might mean something.

It did mean something.. which I'll reveal later.

Ambience-wise, you get the cozy formal thing going on. Perfect for dates I suppose.

The menu

The complimentary bread and knick knacks were okay.

My fruit shake. Forgot what it was.

I think this was my brother's order. Or was it mine. Honestly it was so forgettable that it's just barely a month since our dinner there and and I really couldn't recall anymore.

My mom's order. Some pie.

Oh! it is my order. Cos I see my shake.
So this is the veal shoulder. No, it's the lamb shoulder. Or lamb shank. Whatever.

Take pictures. Take take take.

Some parts were tender, but some weren't. So consistency wasn't there. And I hate chewing on tough food!

Huh? I only have these photos? (sorry, I'm literally typing my thoughts as I see these pictures).

Anyway, I spent about almost PHP2K for the dinner for four people. If you convert that to SGD, that's about 60-70. What I pay for my own meal on those splurge nights.

But in the Philippines, this is already considered atas.

I felt the presentation was okay, taste so-so, but overall, I wouldn't go back. There are so many other restos to choose from. Why go back to a place where you can't even talk properly (because your voice just booms and echos) and where the food taste just okay?

Now I know why my RM brings his clients there - for the ambience alone, to create that feeling of poshness.

On the other hand, maybe my expectations were just too high.

Awww-shucks Story

Before getting to my backlog stories, I'd like to tell a story which touched my heart when I heard it.

It's not a serious drama story, but a sweet one.

My friend was telling me (oh, I didn't get permission to tell this story, but I can't help it.. It's so nice) that one morning she was running late. She rushed to the bus stop which was about 3-4 mins away from her house.

When she got there, she stuck her hand inside the bag to get her phone. Her hand grabbed air instead (I added this part for drama) and she realised that she left both her phones. One of them was her iphone! Everyone who owns an iphone would know how bad it feels to leave the house without it. You'd be lost without it! It happened to me once, and it was terribly challenging. The moment I realised it, I actually had a flashback of it on my bed. (Oh my, i'm super attached to Tibby!)

Anyway, she was contemplating whether to run back to get it. But then, going back to the house and returning to the bus stop would cost her precious minutes. Still, she started to turn back and when she looked up, she saw her boyfriend running towards her. Hands holding her two cellphones. Still wearing house clothes and probably home slippers.

Awww... I mean, how can you not say awww to this story?

The Ring (not the horror movie)

under the sun

while eating the chinese pastry from Macau

while grabbing the bacon and egg sandwich that my colleague gave me

while drinking my vitamin water (fruit punch flavor)

while peeking at the cinnamon roll, also given to me by my colleague. (she had a dinner appointment so she gave away her perishable goods)

My Medium Three Oh Dinner Celebration

I don't have that many friends, but the few that I have are real jewels. I am blessed to have such friends - both in Manila and in Singapore.

On July 23, I met with my college friends for dinner at Mesa . I really intended to treat them for dinner, but it seems they have already planned it out - with a cake from Dezaato Pan, and collaboration with the resto's waiters and waitresses to sing my birthday song.

I am really touched. But thinking back, I believe I may not have expressed it to them as clearly as I would like. Thank you my friends for making my 30th bday a memorable one! =) . Mwaaah! I am really touched and I truly appreciate all your efforts.

My sago't gulaman (pearls and jelly drink. sweetened by something milder than gula melaka)

Appetiser which my friend had to order so that the restaurant won't give the table to other people (we, the second half of the pax, were super late)

cheesy mussels

I don't care about the shellfish, I just love cheese.

I believe this was the tinapa (dried fish) roll

The roasted piglet being sliced up. I didn't post the picture of the pig anymore (because the face is visible. Don't want to gross out people)

Boneless tilapia fish. Yup! Goodness of tilapia without the hassle of removing those bones with each bite.

Laing (some kind of leaf cooked in coconut milk). This is good, but requires a lot of rice.

Squid. Mmm...

Let's tilt our head to the right. (I'm too lazy to rotate the picture)

Tilt again.

Mesa in English is table.

The hanging chicken. Cute little thing.

She's chopping the chicken.

And they're wrapping the sliced roasted pigs in pandan wrappers. Much like those peking duck wraps.

A mound of pandan wraps with a lot of dipping sauces to choose from.

Where my light and fluffy cake came from

So, they slliced the pork and wrapped them up in pandan wrappers.

What about the bones with the chunks of meat stuck on it? They fried it up! This is actually a two way dish. So the second way was to fry it up with some spice/chili. This was really good.

Add to that the challenge of looking for a piece with a lot of meat still intact.

My cake!

They also have branches in Greenbelt and Megamall.

I would probably go back there to eat the next time I go home.

After dinner, we decided to have some drinks (wholesome ones like milk tea, capuccino etc) at the nearby coffeeshop Baang.

My milk tea. It was too sweet! Otherwise, it was okay.

***************************************************************

What a nice way to start another year as a thirty year old er.. girl.. ( I still want to think of myself as a girl ^-^)