Pancake House

My friend, SM, was not in the good mood when he came in the office.  Something happened between him and his teammate the night before that ended up with exchanges of heated text messages.  You're asking what's the connection of this to the photo above?  Oh well, being the nicest friend on earth (that's me! :D), I treated him to Pancake House for a simple yet yummy lunch!  He had Tenderloin Steak (no photo.. :P), and I had Hamburger Steak Special Set. 

MBL Championship

Richard, one of my katropa in the office invited us to watch their championship game yesterday, April 30.  It's a company-sponsored tournament for employees and my first time to be invited to such.  Tina, Karen and Pags joined me in cheering for Richard's team but unfortunately, they lost the title.  But it was a fun and exciting night to be remembered.

Ramen dinner at Shinjuku

Post-Birthday Celebration @ Centerstage MOA

April 29, 2014.  It was a night of fun and laughter.  Thanks to my best office buddies for spending 5 hours of videoke fun with me.  It was an awesome night!

Mexicali

Thanks to Groupon Philippines for another wonderful treat from Mexicali.  I claimed mine at Glorietta branch and aside from the items in the photo, there is Bananas Caramel & Cream included.  I had Chicken Burrito (yummy!), Beef Tacos (which I decided to take away because I was already full with just the regular-sized burrito) and the dessert was even yummier! ;)   More to great deals from group-buying sites! :)

Zumba

After seeing several dance performances from different places and shows, I suddenly feel the urge to go back to dancing.  And I just started dancing again at home with my latest DVD Workout collections (after Hip-Hop Abs and Turbo Jam).  This package was delivered right to my doorstep for just Php 737.92, thanks to Lazada!

Birthday 2014

 

I guess the photos above say it all. :) Once again, thank you! :)

#howtobeatthesummerheat

Ice Candy, Bubble Bath, Halo-Halo, Ice-Cold Pink Lemonade

SPAM Tocino and Egg Sandwich

My dish of the month is........ SPAM Tocino and Egg Sandwich (as the title says :D) with BBQ-flavored French Fries on the side.  Unfortunately, no photos to upload because we were so hungry and excited to taste the latest Limited Edition of SPAM, our very own, Tocino! :) 

Divisoria

Today is a holiday (Araw ng Kagitingan) and a perfect time go shopping in Divisoria!  For just Php 2,400.00, I got the following:

• 3 dresses ( 3 for 1000)
• 1 stretched blue pants (300)
• 1 floral skirt (250)
• 1 pair of flat shoes from Payless (600)
• 1 white polo blouse (250)

Nice, isn't it? :)

Company Outing in Fontana

Summertime means Company Outing, one of the things I missed while I was still working in Singapore.  Our company was generous enough to held an overnight stay in Fontana for approximately 800 employees.  That's huge! :D 

We started the day with fun-filled group activities (sorry, due to implicit company policy, I can't upload photos of us wearing our singlets) which is included in our annual house competition.  Our lunch was served a little late but good thing the meals were good.  After checking in to our assigned villas, we went straight to the water park to refresh ourselves.  We tried the river, pool wave and slides.  It was great to be with the company of crazy and fun people.

But the best has yet to come.  After getting our dinner, we went out of the resort, met our friend in Angeles City and headed to the red light district.... yes... RED LIGHT DISTRICT :D  and the rest as they say... what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas :D

And before going home the next day, my friends Richard and Rey went to Puregold Duty-Free to buy some pasalubongs for our families.

2014 Plans (2nd Quarter)

I'm so happy and proud to say that all my 1st quarter plans for this year which I posted here was a success!  Congratulations to me! ;)

And as we enter the 2nd quarter, here are my new set of plans:

1.  Still, continue being an active blogger by posting at least 2 entries per week.

2. Cook at least 1 dish per month (from 2 to 1, 'coz it looks like I'll be very busy in the coming days but still, I don't want to miss cooking)

3.  I have already lost 2 lbs since the year started and I have two goals in mind:

     a. Maintain my weight at 52kgs or lose some more; and

     b. Cut off some fats from my belly and arms :D

4. Quarterly meet-ups with friends continue, so I'll see them again in June.

5. Try new food/resto at least once a month.

6. Visit new places at least once a month.

And this is not a prank for April Fools' Day, this is going to be for real. ;)

Maja Blanca

Spiral @ Sofitel

Thanks to my dear friend Tabel for sharing with us her Spiral voucher that gives us 50% off on dinner buffet.  So, as part of our quarterly meet-up and Nikki's birthday celebration, we had a sumptuous dinner buffet at Sofitel yesterday.

My verdict?  Hhmmm.... IMHO, the quality of food was superb, the selection was just fine and the rate was too much, yes, even at a discounted price.  Except for the foie gras, the rest of the dishes can be found in other buffet restaurants like Vikings and at a much lower price with similar taste.  But no regrets in trying it out, with good friends.. good food... it only means... good times :)

Corregidor Island

History is one of my favorite subjects since high school.  I can still remember, I got a perfect score in one of our periodical exams in Philippine History when I was a high school freshman.  My interest in this subject started when I was still a kid, being exposed to current events made me asked gazillion of questions to my father about how things turned out the way they are.  And one cannot talk about Philippine history without mentioning World War II in which, my dear country had a great part in, or is it the other way around? Anyhoo, just this morning, my parents, friends and I had a historic tour of Corregidor Island, an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in southwestern part of Luzon and played a great and significant part in Philippine History.

To know more about its history, please visit Corregidor Island website.

The tour is a "must" for all Filipinos, specially the students who are slowly losing interest in their roots and citizens who have lost in touch of history.

Happy Birthday, Tatay!

We love you so much!

Red Velvet Chocolate Crinkles

Yeah, it was meant to be Red and Crinkled.  But they turned out still brownish and round.  Arghhhh!!!  I'm still figuring out what went wrong :(.

No Make-Up

Pimples have always been my problem since I was a teenager.  Tried different ways how to get rid of it but they keep coming back.  From oral meds, facial cleansers, proper diet... they would just disappear for a short period and will surely return soon.  Last year, I started drinking distilled instead of tap water and surprisingly, it kinda helped... a little.

2 weeks ago, my aesthetician advised me to use cosmetics that do not clog pores or non-comedogenic because she noticed that I had quite plenty of clogged pores.  This came on the same week that I developed an eye infection which according to my ophthalmologist, one of the causes was particles from make-up.

So, I made one of the toughest decisions in my life:  NO MAKE-UPs, NO COSMETICS from now on.  Just moisturizers and sunblock.

Gambatte!

41st Wedding Anniversary

Today marks my parents' 41st wedding anniversary.  Cheers to more years of love, happines and kulitan!  Love you both!  Mwahhhhh!!!

And we celebrated it with a sumptuous dinner at Giligan's and Cold Stone SM North Edsa.

Summer 2014

March is synonymous to Summer.... my favorite season and the best ever (we only have 2 seasons anyway :D)!  As early as today, I already have 3 confirmed/booked out-of-town trips:

• Corregidor with my parents this March
• Company Summer Outing in Fontana in April
• Cambodia with cousins in May

This is going to be the best summer ever!

Corregidor in March

I have always been fond of history and this is just the beginning of a series of traveling back in time.

Cambodia in May

 My first out of the country trip with cousins. 

 

Cronuts

If my memory serves me right, Cronuts got its hype last year.   It's a combination of CRoissant and a doughNUT.  I'm not really sure who started it all, what I know is people went gaga over it for sometime and of course, I got curious as well but I didn't have the patience to queue up for so long just to get a piece of it.  So, after almost a year, I had a taste of it before my facial session.  I had Wildberry Kreme and Chocolate Cronut for snacks.

 

My verdict?  The cronuts tasted ordinary, nothing special if I may say but the Wildberry Kreme was superb! ;)

Pan-Grilled Mixed Veggies

Button Mushrooms, Carrots and Bell Pepper

Fruit Cocktail with Almond Jelly

DM Fruit Cocktail & Homemade Almond Jelly

Army Navy Burger + Burrito

Starting today, I'll post an entry about my first time experiences with any type and kind of food whether from a restaurant, kiosk, palengke and what-have-you :).  Just a disclaimer, I'm not an expert in food-tasting, I probably have the worst taste buds in the world.  For me, there are only 2 kinds of taste: bad and good :)  So, at the end of this entry, I'll just rate the food based on 2 things:  Experience and Food Quality.  Let me start with Army Navy Burger + Burrito in Glorietta.

Apologies if I don't have a single picture of what I ate.  I was too hungry to take one. :D  Anyway, I had their Classic burger which has a single quarter-pound patty with onions, tomatoes and lettuce.  Together with the burger is a regular-sized in-house freshly-brewed iced tea.  My verdict: 1-worst; 5-best

Food Quality:  3.5

Experience: 4

Travel!!!! NOT! :(

February is almost over but I haven't been to any place outside of the Metro :(  Me and my ex-colleagues had a plan to go to a resort somewhere south of Luzon but because of a family emergency 3 days before our planned date, my colleague informed us if we could set it some other time.  Of course, family comes first and I just hope we can plan again soon :)

And last week, my friends in Singapore asked me if I could visit them this coming weekend, have a foodtrip before Mitch gives birth :).  It was actually a good idea if only there was a cheap flight available.  One thing in my bucket list is to travel to SG (or any Southeast Asian country) just for a day.  No hotel overnight stay and with only a backpack with me.  My new passport has arrived and I have already made my itinerary:  touchdown in SG at around 10AM (Sat), foodtrip with friends from lunch 'til dinner, a bit of shopping late in the evening, airport check-in a couple of hours before the flight and be home again at around 7AM the following day.  Unfortunately, the cheapest flight I could find costs Php10K, wasn't cheap at all :D

Oh well, I'm still hopeful that one of these (if not both) will soon be a reality! ;)

BayanDSL

So, in just a matter of 3 days, Bayantel DSL is now installed in our home.  With up to 2mbps of speed, 15G data storage in a month and a telephone landline for Php 1,299.00, I can now download movies, music and tv shows as much as I want :)

In addition to this, I bought a TP-Link MR-3220 Router so the signal can reach my room. Hhmmm... it wasn't a good choice because the signal is not that strong in my room but it's manageable anyway.  I'll just buy with higher specs next time.

Puto

Sale Items

I don't usually sell my personal items.  Actually, I can't remember selling even a single thing. But after seriously contemplating on this matter, I've decided to let go of these...

Original Crocs Kadee Wedge W6 in Black, Php1,800.00

Globe Tattoo 4G Superstick with Prepaid SIM and Cable, Php1,500.00

The pair of shoes is only 7 months old and worn only once.  I bought this in Crocs Singapore and the reason why I'm selling it because it doesn't fit me :D  It's 1 size smaller and I thought, instead of keeping it in the shelf, I might as well sell it.

The next item is my 1-yr old Tattoo pocket wifi.  Since we already have a home broadband, I don't see the need of it anymore.  It would be better if someone would own it and be useful than forever be inside its box. 

Between these 2, I am more sentimental in letting go the tattoo ;(.  It really served its purpose for the past year and I'm thankful that such gadget was invented.  But as much as I wanted to keep it, I believe there's someone out there who needs it more now.  Hopefully, the new owner will take care of it as much as we did.

Reunited

From La-lah-land to the land of milk and honey to our very own native land....

It's so nice to see you all again... with the addition of a cute little boy who just turned 1.

Happy Birthday, Rai!

Home Broadband

And because Globe had just implemented the Fair User Policy, I can no longer conveniently use my phone as a hotspot whenever I use my laptop in downloading movies, videos and mp3s.  

This made me decide to subscribe to a home broadband.   As of the moment, the only option that I have in mind is Bayantel DSL since we already have an existing Bayantel landline phone.   I'm just waiting for the agent to give me a return call after I inquired yesterday.  Hopefully the plan and package is good enough for our use.

Meanwhile, here's the link to Globe's Fair Usage Policy.

Dumplings: Failed!

There's always a next time :(

Happy Birthday, Billy!

A simple greeting that sincerely comes from my heart.

Photo Credit: www.dreamstime.com

Avanza or Spin

If I were to buy a car now, I would be torn between these two:

4-minute Exercise

I am really serious in getting fit this first quarter of the year.  The challenging part goes to finding the right and effective ways that I could use not just for a few weeks but for a longer term. Sure, I could stop drinking sodas, eating sweet and fatty food but I'm pretty sure it won't last long.  And yes, I could wake up at 3am on weekdays to have an hour of exercise but again, I can't do it even for 2 weeks straight.

Just imagine how grateful and thankful I am for finding this video which is totally heaven-sent!!!! All I need is just 4 minutes of my time and voila!  I could burn as much as 600 calories. Of course, I'm aware that it won't be in an instant and it all depends on the intensity and proper execution but still, I find this as the perfect workout routine for people like me who is looking for a short but effective early morning workout.

And together with this daily routine, I'm trying to cut down my calorie intake with the help of MyFitnessPal.

No food deprivation, no rigorous daily workout, juts plain discipline and proper technique.

Check the video here.

MyFitnesPal

Yes, I'm back to an old routine because I need to!  Thanks to MyFitnessPal in helping me track my activities and progress.  Aja!

Homemade Hawaiian Pizza

As promised to myself, here's my first dish this month.  And since I have extra slices of bread, I made a healthier version of Hawaiian Pizza using whole wheat bread.

Car

I have never been this eager in buying a car.  I only realized the need latter half of last year, just after I came back from Singapore.  Since the family is doing a regular grocery shopping (twice a month), and I have parents who are both in their 60's, I guess driving my own car is a practical choice.  Plus, it would be great to have one for out-of-town trips. But after checking my savings and budget, I can only afford it once I'm done with my house's monthly amortization which will end last quarter of 2015.

What to do? :(

WAIT.

6 Months

Today marks my 6th month in my new job.  My manager informed me yesterday that I passed the probationary period and I guess it's a valid reason for a small celebration :). 

Photo Credit: http://sarahssecondchance.net/six-months-celebration/

2014 Plans (First Half)

Since these 2 might need more time of planning and saving, I've decided to give this a 6-month timeline.  Aja! :)

Ilocandia Tour

Home Theatre System

Save... Save... Save...

before

after

There is this 52-Week Money Challenge that is circulating in facebook which encourages the readers to save money for whatever goal they want.  Please read more of this from Kuripot Pinay blog.  Me and Nanay will start saving this way tomorrow ;)

2014 Plans (First Quarter)

Instead of making a set of century-old New Year's Resolution, I am creating this entry to remind me of my plans for this year but, let me take it quarter at a time.  So, starting today until end of March, I will try my very damn best to accomplish the following:

1.  Be an active blogger again.

      - make at least 2 entries a week

2.  Cook at least 2 new dishes a month.

      - that's 6 dishes in total by the end of March

3.   Lose at least 2 lbs.

      - yeah I know, shedding off some pounds is everybody's goal but 2 lbs in 3 months is not really that much so I'm setting this goal without giving myself tons of pressure... will try to achieve in the most easiest way I know ;)

4.  Catch up with friends
      - I just initiated quarterly meet-up with friends (Tabel, Nikki, Don & Bryce) which I hope will bring back the good old times

Happy Birthday, Josh!

May you stay sweet, smart and witty.  We love you so much and Tita wishes you good health and a healthy mind.  Enjoy being a kid! ;)

turning 6