A Not So Inspiring Kapangpangan Feast...

Despite the heavy rains yesterday, my hubby and I went to Trinoma to give in to my little niece's wish to ride the ferris wheel (that's what she calls the carousel). For dinner, we tried Cabalen. They offer an eat-all-you-can buffet for P398. Their drinks range from soda in can, fresh buko juice, bottomless iced tea, hot tea, and fruit shakes, prices range from P40 to P70.

The place is impressive, it's more "sosyal" than Kamay Kainan. What caught my attention was the chocolate fountain. And being the sweet tooth that I am, I started with dessert. Ihad two marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain, my niece asked for the yellow fruit (papaya) one dipped and one plain. The chocolate syrup was too sweet and it taste like melted powdered malt drink.

Their spread is not as plenty as kamay kainan, however, they have greens, fried greens!! It was my first time to try tempura veggies and it was good. Their sizzling tofu and sisig was also nice. But their lechon, is a bit cold, and it was bland. I also tried some of their viands, but it didn't pass my expectations.

I am not picky, it might be that I had a higher expectation of the food taste because I expected good food from kapangpangans. Or, maybe the weather has something to do with it. I don't know, I was not really inspired by the variety of food they had last night....

A new UnliRice Experience

Went to see my hubby for dinner a while ago. He's staying with his mom until tomorrow and I'm not used to not seeing him for more than a day. He suggested that we try this new place just beside Pao-Tsin (love their dimsum and rice), Camp Tribu. It's been there for over a month now. The name doesn't sound like it has anything to do with food (for me, that is). When entering Camp Tribu, you'll directly see their counter. They offer sinigang na baboy, garlic talbos, ensaldang talong, bottomless iced tea, pichi pichi, sisig and others. What caught my attention was their "unlirice" meals. For P99, you can have either chicken inasal (a choice between pecho part or paa), Tribu Fried Chicken, Boneless bangus and liempo with unlimited rice. Just like what Mang Inasal offers. Hmm, they better have a good chicken inasal, because Mang Inasal's is sumptuous!

We tried their P99 unlirice meal. I got the fried chicken and my hubby tried their chicken inasal. We added P35 to each order for bottomless Iced Tea and Pichi pichi.

Their fried chicken is good. I bet they use good quality chicken breading which I bet they bought from the nearby grocery store. Their chicken inasal was a disaster. It was small, it is burnt, and has more bones than meat. The rice that comes with the meal was a bit cold. The meal and the bottomless Iced Tea was not that satisfying but it did fill me up. I love their pichi pichi. It was not too sweet, has cheese and is so soft.

I wouldn't order their meals again but I sure will come back for their pichi pichi. Should I crave for Chicken Inasal with unlimited rice, I'd go to Mang Inasal's.

My hubby's first spa experience...

My hubby has been asking me about spa and massages for as long as I can remember. He usually get massages from his uncle and machines in time zone. Early this year, I planned to surprise him with a spa treatment and so I searched for affordable spas in Quezon City. A colleague of mine forwarded the link of Wensha Spa. He said, it is where he and his boyfriend spent their anniversary. For P680, they were able to use all the spa's facilities, Jacuzzi, steam bath, massage and sauna all with an all you can drink and eat feast.

I looked up some of the blogs about the spa. Read a few bad ones about their facial, but a lot of good reviews about their massage, affordability of their services and the buffet!

Unfortunately, the said establishment has a separate wing for males and females. I asked some f my friends to come along, unfortunately only two female friends were able to tag along. So my hubby spent his first spa experience, alone, in the male wing.

It was our first time at Wensha. The guard and the front desk people were so accommodating. We chose the Aroma Therapy Massage at P780. They have magnetic key for your locker, be cautious and mindful of your locker key because they ask P2,000 for each lost key. They provide two big towels, robe and a pair of slippers for each guests. Before we start with the spa treatment, we decided to eat first. After a light meal of fried lumpia, sweet and sour pork, a cup of rice and a glass of juice, we went to our locker room. The female wing is at the end of the dining area while the male wing is at the first floor. Once inside, you'll notice rooms for massages, and at the end are sinks and a large mirror. They have powder, hair dryer, cotton buds, hair setting lotion as well as hand and body lotion all of which can be used for free by the guests. Me and my friends tried out their Jacuzzi first. They have one hot and one warm jacuzzi. After an hour of soaking and a shower, we went to our room for the massage. Their rooms are dim lit and is big enough for four clients. The massage with ginger oil was very rejuvenating. It lasted for more than an hour and since there weren't a lot clients then, we were able to stay in the room for another hour to rest. After, we tried out their sauna. It was my first time to use a sauna. I didn't stay long for it was too hot for me. Then we went back to the Jacuzzi.

At around dinner time, we met my hubby at the dining area. He said, at the locker room, he was given a towel and a robe. He then changed inside the shower cubicle. When he got back at the locker room area he was surprised to find other male clients standing in front of their lockers and sitting on benches with nothing on...NAKED! He was so surprised that he almost shouted. An attendant asked him, if it was his first time and told him that it is the policy of the establishment that when a client enters the wet area (Jacuzzi, shower, steam bath and sauna) they must not wear anything. It was a bit weird for my hubby and since it is his first time, he was a bit scared. I felt sorry for him, I think he was not able to enjoy the amenities of the spa. But he said the massage was great and the buffet was good as well, it was just his first time, and he will be more relaxed when we go back and avail other massages that they offer.

Two Thumbs down!

I'm not really a fan of PNoy. I don't think he is president material, I think he was just pressured to run for presidency and so I never expected much from him. But after SB's speech at the opening of the congress, I hoped for RH reinforcement from PNoy's SONA.

Unfortunately, the 2nd SONA of PNoy was a dissapointment! No mention of Reproductive Health Bill instead a gratitude towards bishops. Why? They're the most "blessed" people in the Philippines. They're not audited, all their services are paid, they receive donations daily, PCSO gives them SUVs, Gloria gave one of them a vehicle for his birthday, they have beds to sleep on, they have food to eat, they have clothes to wear, people follow and believe whatever they say, they can say things like "kadiri" and get away with it.

PNoy, akala ko boss mo kami? Why didn't you say anything about RH? Were you afraid of the bishops? Did Bishop Cruz pointed a finger at you and shouted "you're going to hell if you support RH!"

PNoy, don't you understand, the bill, will help your boss. The bill will save your boss' life. The bill will simply give your boss a chance to choose.

The bishops say no to RH Bill, will you do the same? Don't you understand that saying NO to RH is actually saying NO to Health?

Chicken Kiev and Bottomless Iced Tea for lunch! SWAK!

It's been a while since I last ate Chicken Kiev. I remember my first kiev, I was still in college and it was introduced to me by one of my barkadas. It was round, crunchy on the outside, juicy and meaty on the inside. I remembered all the oil came rushing out the round kiev when I sliced it with my spoon. Ohhh, yummy!

This afternoon, my colleague treated us to lunch. We went to Chocolate Kiss in Roces. When I saw the Kiev in their menu, I immediately remembered my first kiev. Chocolate Kiss' Chicken Kiev is a surprise! It's presented with a cup of white rice, buttered green peas with corn kernels and gravy. The kiev is already sliced and it has cheese in it. The chicken as so juicy, I joyed every bite of it.

I paired my meal with Choco Kiss' bottomless Iced Tea. I had three refills of the drink. I like their Iced Tea. I like the concept of me pouring as much syrup as I want in my tea!

After that sumptuous meal, I had a slice of the Date and Walnut cake. I always have the Devil's Food Cake, but after that rich meat, I feel a date walnut will top it off.

My colleague then suggested that we walk back to the office since we had a lot to eat. I was so full, I did not feel hungry until 6 in the evening! It was a great meal and a great walk!

Our favorite videoke place, Pork Barrel!

Yes, the name of the place is Pork Barrel. It's located at Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City.

Don't let the name fool you, It is not owned by an elected representative (I hope).

Like any other Filipinos, my friends and I love to sing. Though singing clearly is not my talent. I love spending time in videoke bars and even at my own home (because I have my own magic sing!).

One time, my friend suggested that we try this bar she went to together with her officemates. When I first heard the name of the videoke bar, I laughed.

The place, is not as fancy as Music Match or Music 21. Once you enter the premises, you'll notice different cottages and it is somewhat dark. Most of their clients are men, as it is more of a bar than a videoke place. There are several air conditioned rooms at the end of place. The rooms are quite big, it can fit 30 or more people. All the rooms have two large tables and 4 long benches. They provide two microphones as well as two song book for each rooms. The room is rented for a minimum of P1000 two hours, consumable. They have P500 food packages that can feed 7 to 10 people.

It's not fancy, but hey, we can rent our own large room. We've been going to Pork Barrel since 2009. We spend at least 4 hours everytime we go there and the food is also great!

Will post pictures of Pork Barrel soon! (well, photos of us having a great time at pork barrel)

Green is the color of will, yellow is the color of a full stomach!

My hubby and I went on a date on a Tuesday. We watched Green Lantern (more of a love story, sayang, bitin sa fight scenes).

We chose to watch the movie in Trinoma since it has a better parking space and a better cinema. We bought tickets for an 8:30 show. Since we had more than two hours prior to the show, my hubby said that we eat to hearts' content. So we did.

We love Taco Bell, not because of the tacos, but because of the bottomless drink and the quesadillas. We ordered their fiesta platters, bottomless drinks, cheese quesadillas . I had platter C, which has rice, ground beef, fiesta salsa, and potato tots with cheese sauce, my hubby had the platter A, it has rice, chunky pork BBQ, fiesta salsa with churros and choco sauce.

After that heavy meal we ate at Krispy Kreme, we had donuts and bottled water. We then went outside the garden, and I had to control myself because I really wanted to get the mozarella burger of Cafe' Briton. I said to my hubby, I'll get the burger next time!

On our way to the cinema, we bought a large pack of potato chips, a large bag of popcorn, two regular root beer and a bottled water.

The movie ended a little past 11pm. But we didn't went home immediately. We stopped at the Korean store along kalayaan for ice cream!!!

That Tuesday was definitely a night of bursting stomach! Since green is the color of will, and Yellow is the color of happiness! My stomach was on it's happiest on that night! =)

UP Coop, a Street Food Haven

UP Shopping Center and Cooperative are well known establishments within UP Campus. It offers books, shirts. bags. photocopy of everything, book binding, medicines, and a lot more. These establishments also serves as the cleanest street food store.

I love spending quality time with my family and friends at the middle of the coop and the shopping center where you can find isaw cart, fruit shake kiosk, kikiam and gulaman cubicle and kakanin stall.

Oooohhhh, just thinking about it makes me drool!!

After a long walk, jog, tambay sa sunken, or stroll around the campus, you can end the day with a fulfilling glass (or two) of gulaman, partnered with one order of kikiam or kwek-kwek or squid balls or fish balls or siomai or siopao (or all of the above!!!). You can wash away the umay taste with a heaping order of isaw with hotdog or BBQed pork and other chicken parts. You can end your meal with corn on a cob or different kakanin for dessert like nilupak, banana Q or any fruit shake!

The downside is that there are no tables and chairs. There's a metal skeleton stairs used for sitting but it's not stable to put food on. People are also expected to clean after themselves, unfortunately, not all are familiar with the use of a garbage can so a lot of trash are left everywhere.

On Sundays, in addition to the food stalls, coop offers variety of viands. There are lumpiang sariwa, lechon, leche flan and others.

Clearly, clean street food is one of the perks of living and studying in UP Diliman!

Why I hate my sis-in-law...

I have only one niece. She's 3 years old and has a complicated life. Her parents separated last March. She stays with her parents alternately. She stays with us for a week then she lives with her mama for a week and so on. Though we have families of our own, we live in one house. Our family is close-knit and prioritizes relationships with our parents.

My sister-in-law started her motherhood in between jobs. She built her career as a call center agent, but it didn't work out. She then tried her fingers in survey promos, the one when an agent calls you and asks a few questions then when your name is drawn you'll win a small pack of their product. I didn't know how it went. While looking for a stable job, my mom employed a nanny to help in minding my niece. My brother was and is still working as a graphic artist in an advertisement magazine. He would accept side-jobs to earn extra money for his family.

A year and a half ago, a friend of my mine was looking for an assistant. I forced my sister in law to apply for the post, if she needs any help in that position, I am glad to help. She got the job. Everyone was happy for her, not just because she can now help in providing for her child, but because she can now have a sense of importance and sense of pride(this is a different story, this girl has the lowest self-esteem)

After a few months, the company became financially unstable, employees were asked to work for free and will be paid in full as soon as their money comes in. She worked more than 5 months without pay. She borrowed money so she can attend to official matters which i thought was a bit odd. If I were in that position, I would definitely consider staying at home with my daughter rather than spending time, effort, money for official matters. It's worst than being unemployed!

To cover all his daughter's expenses as well as his wife's, my brother, again, accepted a few extra jobs to earn extra money. Since, he was not able to provide enough, my family helped in my niece's needs.

My niece was hospitalized for suspected dengue. We brought her to PCMC at Quezon Avenue. My whole family was always there to entertain my niece. Me, my husband, my parents, both my brothers, my elder bro's girlfriend, were by my niece's side when she was admitted. She stayed there or three days. The doctor cleared her from dengue, it was just common flu. On the day of her discharge, my mom and I helped the couple with all the hospital concerns. Just as the medical personnel was about to take out the dextrose from my niece, I overheard my sis-in-law insisting that she leaves early because she's needed in the office. It's as if, the child is not her daughter. She does't care if her daughter gets home safely, or if the hospital bills will be taken cared of, or if her daughter will be comfortable after all the needles are taken out of her. Whew... she will really choose other things over her daughter.

My sis-in-law stayed with the company. After a few months, I noticed that she leaves very early for work and comes home rather too late. She even comes in the office during weekends, stating that she needed to finish something. She then spend too much time talking and texting. She even brings her cellphone while bathing her daughter. I got really irritated when she went to their room saying that she'll get her daughter's pacifier, she came back in the sala after 45 mins without the pacifier, so when i asked for it she went back in the room again and I heard that she was talking on the phone. When we went to EK last year together with friends, my sis in law was on the phone while going to EK, while eating, while on the rides, and on our way home. My friends even got a photo of her and her daughter on a kiddie ride, she on her phone and her daughter looking at her. She wasn't even holding her daughter!

After the trip to EK, she said that her company will be able to pay all her salary for all the months she worked for free and she'll receive two 13th month pays and P10K bonus. Now, that's a lot of money. However, her priorities were screwed. She didn't pay their credit card bills for 3 months straight, she bought a P7K bag on line, she did not pay her loans. It's as if she doesn't have a daughter.

She spends more time in the office and on her cellphone than with her child. This went on until March. While I was in a 10-day training, In received a text message from my elder brother asking when I'll be home. I called, and asked how my niece was doing, and I found out that a day before, my brother and my sis-in-law broke up and separated. My sis-in-law asked her brother and mother to come and get her and her daughter from us. There were lots of shouting and crying.

I wanted to bitch slap my sis-in-law. Why didn't they think about the child. Why do they have to go through that. Didn't she think about the implications of that situation to her daughter. Of course, I have to admit, I don't have the perfect brother. In fact, among us siblings, he is the worst. However, because I lived with them for so long, I observed a lot of inconsistencies and changes in my sis-in-law's behavior when she got a job.

Based on my observation, she took care of her cellphone more than she took care of her daughter. And what eats me up, is that kid is my only niece and she's bourne into a family of two irresponsible people!

Now, every time my niece arrives, I find scars, prickly heat, insect bites and other itch marks on her skin. She feels so light when I carry her and she doesn't want to eat or drink milk, she asks for coke, chichirya, candies and other unhealthy food. She's afraid to take a bath, saying she will drown. Worst of all, she forgets her alphabets and other nursery songs, she sings Justin Bieber songs instead. Oh, she also teach us new games which she said she learned from her mami lola, she now plays BINGO and Tatching!

"Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the undersigned"

It is so frustrating when people you expect to be intelligent are really stupid. Everytime I send out any communication, I make sure that there's a "call me if you need clarification" statement at the end.

Unfortunately, there are some people who would rather make an issue out of something they don't understand instead of clarifying it with the concerned individual or group.

Sometime in May, I sent out a request to an organization which acts as "care taker" of a commemorative quilt. It was a request to use the said quilt in an event which will highlight one of the key populations which the quilt represents.

One of the smart-ass care taker posted the letter in their bulletin board and wrote, in big bold letters, the word DISCRIMINATORY. They lent us quilt and asked for rental fee. First of all, the commemorative quilt is not for rent, it is used to commemorate those who are identified in the quilt. Second, the statement "should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned" means you call if you need clarification!

Is it really hard to admit that you need clarification? Should I wrote the statement in a different dialect or language? Or should I draw illustrations for you to understand it easily?

I extended my patience with this guy. After that incident, I saw him in a rather unsucessful event. I said hi, and he did not responded at all. What a bitch!

I've heard a lot about him in the past, about his attitude. It was my first time to encounter such manner.

Syet, this guy is currently teaching in a school in Laguna. I just hope he doesn't pull that kind of attitude towards his students. Goodluck kids!

My wanting to donate and my fear of needles...

I have been wanting to donate blood since the day I've met people who needed blood transfusion. But needles are not my friends. If there are other ways to get blood out of my body, I'd prefer that and I would have donated blood a long time ago. My fear of needles started when I was young and I underwent a lot of medical exams for a skin problem. The most painful experience was when I had to undergo biopsy, I can still feel needles pricking and a small part of my skin being scraped. I cried, I shouted, I asked and begged them to stop. I can still remember the look of the people and children watching me as i left the hospital after my biopsy.

When I was to receive my anti-flu shot, I told myself, I can do this, I am an adult, I won't be scared of a little needle. I repeatedly told myself, it's just like being bitten by red ant, by five red ants...Immediately, I cried. I got scared, I thought how painful it was to be vaccinated. Luckily, the doctor was very patient, he took time in comforting me, and made sure that I won't feel anything. And it worked. But the embarrassment...oohhh the embarrassment. It haunted me, it still haunts me. Imagine, I am always assigned to organize vaccination campaign and blood letting drive, but I am scared to death of needles.

Today, an opportunity! A blood letting drive near our house was organized. I was accompanied by my hubby and friends in my first attempt to donate blood. I requested to be the first so that there won't be a lot of people yet. Unfortunately, Red Cross was late and so is the doctor. It was the longest one and a half hours of wait. After I forwarded my accomplished assessment form, it was time to get my blood type. Woah...I thought i could get through that one easier, since I've recently had underwent HAT. Well, well, well, I thought wrong. when i was about to be pricked, tears fell down my face uncontrollably. My friends, hmmm, they laughed. I was like a kid, a kid who was forced to get vaccinated. A PNRC staff even asked me, if I am sure about donating blood. My friends answered for me, I am sure I'm just scared of needles.

When the doctor arrived, I was the first "victim". Th doctor asked me why I wanted to donate, when I look like crap and so scared. He was so concerned that he changed the size of the blood bag from 450 cc to 350 cc. I was really hesitating to lie down on the cot provided. My friends and hubby strategized on how they can donate blood and keep me calm at the same time. They took turns in talking to me while I'm filling up the 350cc bag. I didn't cry but I felt the pain. I was thinking, is the pain normal and why did the doctor suggested that I should not donate since I am scared when there is a need for blood donors. Is he challenging me? I thought to myself. That became one of my motivations. Because of fear, when the doctor told me that I need to rest for 10 mins and move to the left cot, what I heard was, rest for ten minutes because we need to put another needle to your left arm. Woah, I didn't know donating blood can cause deafness or was it just me?!

After that experience, I am really thankful for my friends and my hubby for helping me overcome my fear. One of my life goals is to donate blood before I reach 30. It's past my 30th year, but hey, I am now a donor! And it feels good!