Hot Pot

Mini Healthy Shabu Shabu

We ordered Seafood and Beef Hot Pot, P400.
Veggies, crab meat, tofu, noodles, taro, corn, squid ball, dragon ball

Seafood

Beef

Raw egg and soy sauce

and with chopped green onions, chilli, and miso

Chicken broth and the server who helped us prepare/cook our shabu shabu

Swish

Additional order of Philadelphia Maki, P200

Today's Snacks

Date bars

Soy Magic, my thirst quencher while waiting for J.

Banoffee Pie

J's favorite @Starbucks. A pie made of banana slices and toffee lying on a crust of crushed graham crackers and topped with a generous amount of cream drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce.

Too bad, I cannot share J's happiness with this pie or enjoy it with him because I have cream allergy or lactose intolerance. I attempted several times to eat this but I always end up having a bloated tummy and cramps. But I digress. J can't seem to have enough of banoffee pie. He can eat it for breakfast or dinner, not just for dessert.

Red Mango Yoghurt

Red Mango Small, Natural Yoghurt topped kiwi, mango and almonds, P120

I like Red Mango's yoghurt for its slight tangy taste, every bite does not make you squirm (or make a Datu Puti face). It almost tastes like an ice cream or gelato. The generous serving of toppings is also a big plus.

Pasalubong

I bought some pasalubong for our US-based friends who generously and whole-heartedly offerred to sponsor our stay in NY and NJ. J and I cannot thank them enough for their kindness and hospitality so as a token of our gratitude, we decided to bring as a pasalubong two uniquely Pinoy food. I do hope that they miss eating these:

Philipine Dried Mangoes, P111.50 andP 74.50. Hmm, I just checked my grocery receipt and it seems that the dried mangoes I bought are each priced differently, P111.50 and P74.50. This is weird since I got them from the same area and they all looked the same size to me. Hay sus, upon closer inspection, the cheaper one is dried mangoes chips and the other is not or has bigger slices. Oh well.

Choc Nut, 29.50. I love, love, love choc nut. For me, this is one of the best pasalubong ever, next to Jack and Jill's Chippy, Purefoods corned beef, and Lucky Me noodles, hehehe

I also bought "Philippines" themed t-shirts and blouses but not the Philippine map shirt because it has been politically exploited/used for the elections and besides the map is not accurate/does not represent the entire Philippines, just kidding.

"two drifters off to see the world"

This statement is very apt for us.

The places overseas we've visited together as a couple:

Bangkok, 2004

Singapore, 2005

Macau, 2005/2007

















HongKong, 2005/2007
















Shenzhen, 2007














Los Angeles, 2008














Las Vegas, 2008














Taipei, 2009

While the above places do not yet make up the world, having "B" by my side in these travels makes each place we visit mean the world to me.

And while we get to travel separately from time to time, nothing beats the exhilaration of "B" and "J" seeing the world together. :)

Wanted: comfortable walking shoes

I'm currently obsessed in searching for a comfortable (and fashionable) walking shoes for our upcoming NY trip. I only have a 5 year old New Balance rubber shoes that served me well during most of our trips, local and foreign. But I want to try something new and look fashionable this time. I want a mary jane-type of shoes that goes well with skinny jeans, and I think my New Balance will not go well with my skinny jeans. (arte!)

 

I recently bought a Fila mary jane-type rubber shoes during the MOA sale (P1,500) and I thought it would be a good walking shoes since when I tried it on (walked back and forth), it felt comfortable. It also looked cute and could be paired with any type of outfit. However, after two weeks of breaking it in, I noticed that my little toe on my right foot feels sore after a long walk (I thought breaking in a new pair of shoes would loosen it up?!). It seems like my little toe grew big or the shoe shrank. Oh well.

I really don't want to spend anymore because I already used up my budget for shoes (I only buy rubber shoes every five years). But I don't want to spoil our NY vacation by wearing uncomforable walking shoes. Haay.

I tried this:

this:

and this:

this too:

and the winner is:

I hope I made the right choice. I'll be wearing this to work everyday to break it in.

Breakfast @Starbucks

Today's breakfast

Chicken Pandesal, P55 - tasty and filling

Top Pot Doughnuts, P55 - too sweet for an early morning meal

As for our drinks, I ordered Chai Tea Latte Tall, P130 and J ordered Caramel Macchiato, P130.

Our 2nd Anniversary Menu (Aubergine @ The Fort)

Belated post

I heard so many wonderful reviews of Aubergine so it was just apt that J and I dine there for our second wedding anniversary celebration.

I ordered Aubergine's degustation menu and J opted for the surf and turf. But since I dearly love J, I shared the degustation menu with him. They were nice enough to split most of the courses ino two (that's why the food servings in the photos looked small-sized portions). However, even if I my share was already half of everything, I found every meal filling (I'm such a small eater). Each of the dish was superbly delicious and an added bonus was the unique food presentation. A special mention goes to the super delicious dessert, it was just a cake but it was something that we have never tasted before and tasted so good.

Unfortunately, J and I, aside from the grainy photos (taken from J's phone), cannot recall the names of the food served in the degustation menu. Perhaps, this is a sign that we need to go back to Aubergine so we can lovingly commit to our memories the sumptous food?!

Butter and Tapenade

Soup

Strawberry Sherbert on top of a cute teapot with dry ice

Surf and Turf

Heavenly dessert

:)

Lechon Bread

"B" and I had a great time looking at this.  Personally, I was wondering why a baker would make his/her bread in the shape and form of a lechon.  Disturbing! But "B" and I gorged on the loaf just the same :)

Enchanted Kingdom 2010

Fun, fun, fun day at EK despite the humidity and heat. We were kind of expecting that there would only be a few people crazy enough to go to EK and endure the heat, but surprisingly, it was a jam-packed afternoon. There were even three companies having their annual summer outing, Ginebra San Miguel, Chowking and yours truly.

I did not take a lot of photos though because everytime I try to take a shot, people would get in the way (that's how crowded it was)

We rode the usual rides: bump cars, which I do not get tired of; space shuttle, anchors away, which made stomachs queasy and heads ache, and the carousel. We wanted to try the other rides, especially Rio Grande but the lines were too long and with the humidity, one's patience in the line can be very short. Thus, we just went to those places that requrie a separate entrance fee, and there were virtually no lines.

4D Discovery Theater, P60 with regular pass holders

We had fun at the 4D  discovery theater watching/interacting with Dora the Explorer.

SRR:X!!! P50 with regular pass holders

The highlight of the EK adventure was the SRR:X!!!. I think this is a new feature because I did not notice this last year. We almost skipped this because the EK map did not give any description, it only says SRR:X, we did not know what SRR:X* means or what kind of entertainment it was. Good thing, the PA system in EK advertised it saying prepare to sream with matching "scary" voice, so I figured this was a horror house. Boy oh boy, the PA was really serious about the screaming thing. It was really a scary but fun horror house. I really got scared, we all got scared. The lighting or scarcity of it and the eerie and creepy silence of the house had a really scary effect on the psyche. We were all huddled up behind J (we were six in the group) while walking through the house and screaming like crazy. This was scarier than the one at the Universal Studios, Los Angeles. Love it!

*I checked the EK website today, SRR:X means Shake, Rattle and Roll: The Experience.

Racks

Dinner at Paseo de Magallanes.

Racks's Rib and Chicken Family Platter, P1055

Chicken, Pork Ribs and Beef Ribs - It was so tender that it easily falls off from the ribs. Racks's spicy  barbecue sauce added to the juicy and delicious flavor of the meat.

Coleslaw, large P90 -  so-so taste

Racks Baked Beans, large P90. This reminede of Hunt's pork and beans, a classic comfort food.

Seattle's Best Coffee

We were travelling down South and had to make a pit stop at Caltex. I went to SBC to take shelter from the scorching heat. I like this SBC branch because it is clean, spacious and offers free wifi if you purchase P150 worth of drinks. I ordered a drink worth P150 for the free wifi but I did not know it comes with lousy wifi connection. Aaisshh. Good thing that I enjoyed my drink, or else, it would have been P150 down the drain.

Iced White Chocolate Mocha, P150 - A great way to beat the summer heat, cold and not too sweet.

Alba Otra Vez

Alba Restaurante Espanol en Westgate, Alabang.

Alba has one of the best buffet in Metro Manila. It has a wide variety of food choices from their tapas frias like mahi-mahi frescas, jamon to the cochinillo, lengua callos, and paella (hello, cholesterol!) to canonigo and leche flan, and many, many more. As usual, service is great - they are efficient and quick in refilling the food (unlike other restaurants that offer buffet). What's best is that the price is very reasonable. Too bad, they only offer it during lunch.

Canonigo