"J"

hi this is "J". "B" is currently out of town. she went home to the province, somewhere in the visayas area. i actually miss her, particularly her nagging (hihihi, just kidding). did we tell you that we are about to get married on february? i guess she already did because there's a post here about our engagement. that's all for now... i really can't think of something to say... because my inspiration is missing. i love "B"!!!

A Series of Unfortunate Photos, Part 2

Ngeee... such fugly shots

We went to Tita Moning's upon the influence of the blogs i've been lurking on for the past year (comma) all of them raved about this restaurant cum museum (period)

We love the warm quezo de bola toasts, sopa de ajo, and the pudding (exclamation point)

How about the other viands (question mark)

The look on our faces when we saw the total bill for Menu 4 (ellipses) PRICELESS

A Series of Unfortunate Photos, Part 1

Haay, i must now accept that i have no talent in taking beautiful shots, or maybe, i just do not know how to use my point and shoot digi cam. Looking at these photos makes me cringe.

Anyways, these were taken during our annual Christmas dinner party with friends. We dined at Yujiin - a Japanese resto located at Wilson St., Greenhills. The food was surprisingly delicious. The photos do not give justice to the fine taste of the food. We ordered sashimi (the salmon was so delish and fresh), crazy maki, beef teriyaki, tempura, soba, tonkatsu, hhmm... i don't remember the other food items. The prices are reasonable (it's one notch higher than Teriyaki Boy's prices [and taste]).

We will definitely go back to Yujiin, (and will definitely work on my "picture-taking" skills)

Exactly a year ago

On 16 December 2006, my fiance and I went to Antonio's Tagaytay to have an advance Christmas celebration.

During the ride going to Antonio's, I had the feeling the he was going to propose over lunch. So I was kind of self-conscious and anxious when we arrived there. But once we settled in and were enjoying the feast before us, not to mention the charming ambiance and great wait staff, all the thoughts of the proposal faded away.

The food was delicious. From the appetizer down to the dessert, everything was perfect. We had pumpkin soup, Pan Seared Duck Liver Glazed with Honey and Peppercorn, Mesclun Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Grilled Certified Angus Beef Prime Ribeye Steak with sidings of Mashed Potato, Garlic Risoni, Gnocchi Potato, Rock Salt Garlic Fries, Dark Chocolate Souffles with Cardamom Creme Anglaise, Panna Cotta with Oven Dried Fruits and Fruit Coulis, and a jug of grape juice. Whew, just recalling this lunch makes my mouth water.

Anyways, after getting our bill (which was also mind-blowing, hehehe), we wandered around the garden, just trying to enjoy the cool breeze. Ha! little did i suspect that my fiance planned to propose in the garden. He proposed while we were sitting on the bench, by simply saying " i have a gift for you". I cried when i saw the box. And that's how we got engaged exactly a year ago.

Ipis, 25 cents, etc.

IPIS

Last Wednesday, "J" and i had a bad day so make ourselves feel a little better we decided to eat out with some friends at Serendra. But when we got there, parking was full, and even Market Market's parking was also full. So we decided to go the The Fort Strip to park, and just walk to Serendra. However, I am already an "oldie" and was a bit hungry, I suggested that we just eat somewhere at the Strip. We ended up eating at a spanish restaurant. It would have been a perfect dining experience (the food was delicious and the company great), were it not for the presence of a baby ipis crawling at our table. It was really gross. Imagine, a fine dining restaurant with a roach problem. Anyways, the waiter apologized for the unwanted guest. But definitely, we will never go back to this place (aside from the fact that "J" is a loyal patron of the other spanish restaurant). Oh, aside from the ipis, there was a fly and mosquito hovering at our area.

25 cents

I went shopping at the Landmark yesterday. When i was at the payment counter, I gave the cashier Php 500 for my purchase worth PhP199.75. The cashier gave me PhP300 and 20 cents. Hmm... i really hate this "practice" of cashiers not giving the exact change, worse, if they do not inform you beforehand about it. Most cashiers would just nonchalantly give it to you, acting as if there is nothing wrong or that it is SOP. Hello! Everytime this happens to me, i'm really tempted to give a lecture but I do not want to hold the line, the pinoy in me (polite and afraid to speak up) prevents me from giving a this lecture. Although there were two instances where i reprimanded the cashier, and they gave that look and snide remark "hello, 10 cents lang eh". One cashier, after the reprimand, gave me a much larger change just to show her disgust... weird noh, sila pa galit. I know it is only an insignificant amount but times are hard, and it is a matter of fair play and honest business practices. And as if big stores such as Landmark do not earn an obscene profit every single day, so why can't they provide good customer service and do us a favor by making sure they enough 5,10, 25, cents. One other store that practices this illegal and immoral SOP is Wendy's GB1. HAAY naku.

Boysit

I am so upset, pissed-off, frustrated, and full of hate right now.

I called up my former office to follow-up my clearance and last pay (i've been calling them almost every week since my last day). I was shocked and distressed to hear that I am not yet cleared and will not able be able to get my last pay inspite of their earlier promise because i have not submitted/returned the following: personal computer and last Time Report. I told HR that i did those things before my last day. HR reasoned that probably their record is not updated. DUH! HR also told me that i have an accountability of 9k. WOT? HR could not explain the said charge and told me to call another department. (WTF! isn't this one of your tasks??? this office is really the epitome of inefficiency, red tape and bureaucracy). So i called up this department, and they told me that i did not return the damn pc (damn u Ms. M.C., i submitted the pc to you, you are a lazy and inefficient bitch who needs to be fired), and after explanining, they said that they will recompute.

But what really totally ruined my day was the info that i did not submit my last TR, thus, they were deducting 3 days worth of salary. I told the person that i submitted my TR thru the database and i also submitted a hardcopy to the secretary (damn u Ms. B. C., please do us a favor by resigning or retiring, you are totally useless). The person checked the database and informed that they do not have any record of my TR. Leche naman. So i told them that to look for my hard copy, but no, for reasons only known to them, they do not want to look for the submitted hard copy. They want me to produce the hard copy, juiceme, sa tagal ko ng wala sa office, di ko na mahahanap copy ko at malamang natapon ko na yon. At this point, pinapasa na nila ako regarding my missing TR. Haay, none of them was able to help me. Mga pun%&*#! tao. Fcuk, with this hitch not to mention that they will probably dillydally in resolving this, i will not get my last pay in time for the holidays. This really sucks. I really hate that gedemmit office.

Inis

Inis...
1. ako kay "J", he accidentally sprained my fingers
2. si "J", because he couldn't find the design he wants for a shoulder strapped travel bag.
3. sa "commercial side" ng Christmas dahil ubos ang pera nya sa mga regalong binili

HK07

We went back to HK for some r&r, (window)shopping, and to go to Shenzhen. I must admit that I had fun as compared to my last visit. Everything was great except for the part where i got bedbug bites from our YWCA hostel (and until now, i still have these souvenirs).

Macau, A Second Look

"J" and i decided to go back to Macau because it was the cheapest out-of-country vacation we could afford, besides we love the weather there at this time of the year.

We stayed in a crappy 2 star hotel (i think they should be downgraded to -2 star hotel). Good thing we only stayed for one night. I wrote a review on this hotel in trip advisor so as to warn future backpackers/ fellow budget travellers.

Anyways, the food was great and the people were nice. We also had the opportunity to explore parts of Macau that we missed during our first trip, like visiting the museum. I also noticed that the number of tourists have tripled and there are many new buildings/infrastructures. Imagine, in a span of two years, Macau has rapidly grown. (Haay, kelan kaya ang Pilipinas magiging ganito?)

Yay and Yayay

Yay! after 48 years, i'm finally discovering and learning the magic of microsoft photoeditor. hehehe, i'm such a dinosaur.

Yayay! : ( i'm having weird rashes that looks like insect bites all over my hands, arms, legs, and butt cheeks. They are so irritatingly itchy. I consulted my sister via text, and she thinks it may be due the bed bugs i got from HK, which is being triggered by something i ate OR i could be allergic to our water (the rashes appeared after shower yesterday and after washing my hands today). I'm really pissed off /irritated with these rashes. I can't stop myself from scratching them.

low fi

It's a slow wednesday night. "J" and I just came from dinner with a good friend at Texas Roadhouse. Their food reminds me of Chili's, hehehe. The taste was so-so according to "J". Too bad, i forgot to bring my camera with me.

Right now, we are just "marinating" in this "low-fi" evening.

HK/Macao small eats

1. beef jerky? sweet meat

2. crispy crepe with chocolate sauce - tasteless

3. fruit shake - weird taste

4. tikoy with bean paste - yummy

5. tart - heaven!

tea time plus one

I absolutely love drinking hot tea. The photos show the different kinds of tea served during our macau/hk/shenzhen trip. The last photo: Horlicks, a malted milk hot drink which i also love.

I wish there are more restos/cafes serving different kinds of tea here in Manila.

Lutong Macao

HK/Kowloon chows

The pictures above are the food that we ate in HK/Kowloon. The restos are the hole in the wall types located at the side streets where the locals also eat. Food was great and prices reasonable.

Shenzhen Eats

We requested our friend who works in Shenzhen to take us to a restaurant that serves traditional Chinese dishes. I forgot to note down the name of the resto (it was in Chinese, so pointless din) but the taste and service was unforgettable. The food was delicious (that all of the other chinese food that we later ate paled in comparison to this). The service was great, the waiters/waitresses were attentive and nice.

We had peking duck with lettuce, peanuts, sauce, etc, roasted pigeon, fish fresh from the tank I forgot how it was cooked, shrimped cooked in salt, tofu, chicken feet, fried rice, and of course, house tea.

Our friend paid for the food so we can't assess if the price is reasonable or expensive. Thanks MP! for the delicious lunch and for taking us around the City. sa uulitin.

Budget Trippings

In the tradition of our budget trips outside the country (actually, even local trips are on a limited budget), we bought food from the grocery to serve as our breakfast, midnight snacks, and sugar rush. We usually buy food from nearby 7-11 stores for our first day but once we are familiar with our surroundings we buy at established grocery stores because the prices are a way lot cheaper.

Anyways, for my breakfast/snacks, i bought a soy mik capuccino flavored while J bought tropicana OJ. The soy milk was sooo delicious and it made me feel full all throughout the morning. I hope that the ZenSoy brand is available here in Manila.

As for our snacks, we popped the maltesers (dark chocolate) into our mouths like peanuts. This chocolate candy is addicting that we bought many boxes for pasalubong (we heard that only the milk chocolate flavor is available here) but ended up eating almost all of it in HK.

We also bought liters of Watson's water almost everyday. We are like camels, you know.

We also make it a point to buy something that is not found here in the country. Right now I cannot remember what we bought. Hmm, maybe we considered the maltesers dark choco and ZenSoy as such.

Anyways,

wtf

We were out of the country when we heard the news that tr*ll*nes and company walked out of the courtroom and marched the streets of makati (and eventually settled in Makati Pen). Things like this (corruption scandals, etc) makes you really wonder what curse has befallen our country. Issues/problems must not be resolved this way. Have we not learned our lessons from edsa 2?

I know it's frustrating just to sit down and do nothing while our government is always getting into corruption scandals, and on the other hand, the opposition with the help of some biased media outfits cast political intrigues, and other bs just to gain the maximum media exposure (thanks to the Cay*t*n* and Ch*z principle of grandstanding). But we dont need another revolution. we dont need this kind of negative development/publicity. this will scare investors/tourists away. It is so demoralizing.

I'm sick and tired of this bs. Can't we all move forward? why can't we be like the other asian countries? why can't our "leaders" set aside their vested interests, and instead work for a better Philippines?