Bilihing Pinoy

The Best City in Metro Manila

2012-01-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

Much has been said about Marikina, its floods, cleanliness and property taxes higher than Quezon City. The last time I was in Marikina was when I meant to go to Ateneo for the homecoming, and the only way back to Quezon City that I know of is a eskinita. I found this out the hard way, after my friend Gg and I got lost using the bigger streets.

My good memories of Marikina are from circa 2000, when someone else did the driving to Riverbanks. I remember riding a carabao statue, listening to the customers in the KTV bar, planning to go back to Riverbanks to ride the go kart, which we never did.

The other city that's well-run is Makati, although most of what I love about it is Ayala's doing. On the government side, it takes minutes to tubos my license--I did this twice last 2010, and once last year, so I don't really mind sitting in the hot sun or standing in the shade. What I mind is getting a ticket for running a yellow light on Ayala near Intercon when a jeep crossed EDSA from Ayala to McKinley while cars crossing Ayala/McKinley were on go light mode.

When I told the cop that I had crossed the street when the light was yellow, he said that it takes four seconds for the light to turn from yellow to red. When I crossed that intersection again maybe a month later, it took a second.

Or allowing buildings to take out road signs on Makati Avenue corner Kalayaan Avenue (photos) then pulling over vehicles that violate the invisible signs.

Or covering the one-way signs then not removing them when the new traffic scheme has been reverted back to original, on the street where you tubos your license.

However, PS tells me that paying real estate taxes in Makati is a breeze, with one table for each subdivision/barangay.

I also got maybe a cedula or PTR at the airconditioned munisipyo, which was efficiently run years ago, way better than, say, Pasig last year, where the queueing system was the siko system. There were more people standing than seated, as the seats were few. I even yelled at a guy who put his ticket in ahead of me, when he was clearly behind me.

Today, I mostly stay home on my UVRP day, as I forget to use the other car.

Going to San Juan from Makati, you could see the difference between the way traffic is run in Makati, Mandaluyong and San Juan. At the peak hours of, say, 5 to 7 pm, traffic aides are posted in the Salcedo St./dela Rosa area near Makati Med, Sen. Gil Puyat near Jupiter, Makati Avenue near Kalayaan. They don't accumulate the cars, but let every car move so that traffic moves smoothly.

Even when traffic was at a standstill at Pasay Road/Amorsolo because of a flood last November 2010, you could hear the traffic aides radioing each other, saying that the cars had nowhere to go. Some traffic aide at another corner must have urged him to get the cars moving as there was a buildup in his area. Brownie points for trying.

When you get to Mandaluyong, a city that should have boomed because of its location between two bustling cities, traffic is a mess. It doesn't help that the Christmas sale in the munisipyo turns the rotonda into a parking lot, as my friend AC would say. There is an obvious pandering to the squatter-voters, as they occupy a whole main street who knows how many houses deep, that would make more money for the city if it were rented out to a mall.

Down the same street, all the traffic cops do is sit on their motorcycles and pull over cars who cross Shaw when the light is green but turns red during the crossing. Instead of looking at which car crosses Shaw when it turns red, the cops look at who's trapped in the intersection.

Their comrades down the road in the Cherry area (photos) are no different. Bimbim, who was on vacation from Canada, fumed as traffic snarled while a traffic aide or cop stays in the shade, afraid of getting a tan.

At the same intersection, a traffic enforcer got angry at me for going forward to Shaw. I told him that I did not see his short (I did not use an adjective, of course) colleague, covered by a passing tall vehicle like a truck. I was looking at him in the shade, waiting for his who was looking at his colleague.

To be sure, another traffic enforcer on Santolan near M. Paterno also called my attention when I moved forward when I shouldn't have, but when I contritely told him that I did not see him, he went pusong mamon on me.

In Makati, a traffic aide or cop tried to put order in the dark. When he reprimanded me, I motioned to him that I could not see his supposedly glow-in-the-dark gadget. My friend said that it must gone through the usual government procurement process.

My other memories of Mandaluyong are also traffic-related.

Like being held up because of some electoral campaign parade. Twice. Once on a Saturday morning on Luna Mencias approaching Shaw, and another on a Sunday afternoon. I would have appreciated some kind of notice at least a week in advance, so I would have made sure not to have any appointments in Makati on those days.

In Makati, whenever a road was going to be closed for repair, or if there is going to be a marathon, or a Makati Day or Efren Penaflorida parade, you know in advance which streets will be affected on what day and time.

I guess having the Makati Business Club with its multinational CEOs around might not hurt, too.

What really moved me to write today is that there was a metal string/cable (photos) hanging onto M. Paterno Street yesterday. I avoided it the first time by going to the oncoming lane, but forgot it the second time and it hit the windshield. I sent an email to the City of San Juan through its website contact form.

I asked our maid C to report it, but she didn't. I called up 3ima to ask her for her San Juan contact name. She was in a hurry to go to the salon, and said that she had given the number to C. She also suggested that I call Meralco. I called up C but she didn't answer the phone, I didn't bother looking for the San Juan number, so I didn't get to call San Juan.

Today, a Saturday, as of early afternoon, the metal thing is gone.

Add to that the dispersal of squatter-voters on a government lot, where more policemen than squatters were hurt.

Speaking of illegal settlers, there is a lot on Santolan where the illegal residents were booted once every Ondoy or the like. They adn then occupy one lane of Santolan going to Ortigas Avenue.

I think it was during JV's time that a basketball court was built on the lot. No more squatters.

Back to Paterno Street, a street light has been installed this week after months of darkness when a light went out due to faulty wiring or something like that.

My other good experience with San Juan was when an LTO employee curtly asked me why I had arrived only at 4 pm. I told him that I had gone to Galleria where I usually have my license renewed but was referred to them since I had lost my license.

The reason why the LTO employee was unhappy was that there seemed to be a commitment to process everything within the day. I got my license past 5:30, and there were other people still waiting for their documents.

There were plenty of seats, no airconditioning, but I sat near the fans so it was not stifling hot. I easily parked across the street, on a pay parking lot, where free concerts of big bands were held before it was a parking lot, beside Mercury Drug.

The unique thing about San Juan, that I haven't heard of in other Metro Manila cities, if I remember correctly, is that it is the only post office where I have not paid customs duties for a book, Lacoste towel and bag and battery, in two shipments, spaced years apart. This is the Post Office on Pinaglabanan Street. I have heard a few horror stories in other places, like Fr. Lahiff's calendars at the Manila Post Office.

The San Juan customs officer told me that I should be taxed this much for the Lacoste items, as they cost this much online or in the stores here, but he let me pay the minimal fee. I told him that I couldn't afford to pay any taxes on the Lacoste items, as they were gifts, which they were. When I got the book, it was not easy to determine online--if there was such a thing then here--how much it cost. I just said that I didn't know how much it cost, which was the truth.

My other encounter with the San Juan government was when I picked up my dad's senior citizen card. It was not yet 1. The lady looked at the clock, then reluctantly opened a drawer and pulled it out. The whole thing, even the looking for the office, took all of maybe five minutes.

Then there's the electric spark from an M. Paterno post last April 5. San Juan Engineering looked at it, referred it to Meralco, then referred it back to Engineering. The problem was solved within the day, I think.

Also on M. Paterno were a fire last April 2010, put out within maybe an hour or so, and vehicular accidents last July and March.

I wish that the authorities had done a better job of cordoning off the fire area, but I guess the danger was minimal so they weren't too strict.

Otherwise, you could see the government firemen at work, with the volunteer and other trucks lined up orderly behind them. And the ambulance on a different lane. And traffic enforcers to turn back the cars.

The authorities were also at the scene of the accident maybe minutes after someone in our household heard the collision sounds.

So San Juan gets my vote for best city. It might not be as orderly as Makati, but it seems to be moral.

True, Makati is a much bigger city, so it takes a more able man to manage it.

The thing that I want San Juan to improve on is crime prevention. Over the past decades, our family, friends, relatives and their help have experienced intruders, burglaries, bag-snatching, side mirror-snatching, and even getting knifed.

Otherwise, I keep seeing good news, from job fairs, flood doleouts so big a friend's employee would rather skip work than the care package. Well, I hope Mayor Guia Gomez brings down the value of the goods, as we want to encourage people to earn a living.

Best Canadian Pasalubongs for Pinoys

2011-12-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

We Pinoys in the Philippines are stumped whenever our friends ask us what we want from the US or Canada.

After all, we have salmon, wine, champagne, prosciutto, Lacoste, bottled fruit drinks, thanks to S&R, Greenbelt, Power Plant, Podium, Santi's, Terry Selection.

What more can a girl ask for?

I told my friend here that I feel dyahe about telling friends abroad what I want. Even though I offer to pay for my 'orders,' my friends abroad refuse payment.

My friend here said that I'm actually doing them a service by telling them, so they don't have to rack their brains or waste their money and pagod to bring a pasalubong from halfway around the world that I don't want.

After all, whether we give them a wish list or not, they still bring us pasalubong, right?

Which is what I told my HK cousin, BK, when she came over. I told her that we were giving her a gift anyway, so might as well get what she wants.

My latest wish list item is a binder that Bimbim brought over from Vancouver.

Instead of clearbook pages, it has ziplocked envelopes so the documents are safe from, say, spilled coffee.

Bimbim and I went to Bridges and National Bookstores Greenhills this month but could not find anything like it.

Bimbim's binder (photo) is called Paper Plus 2 in (inch) round diameter Heavy Duty Poly Binder.

The other thing that we could not find is perforated business card paper. You can print your business cards using continuous ink then tear away.

One of my most-used pasalubongs is my Thermos Quick Charge Ultimate Insulation water jug. For maybe five years, I could not find anything like it in SM Megamall, Coleman Megamall or Toby's Robinsons Place. The closest I could find was a metal jug that doesn't keep liquids hot or cold. I was ok with it, as long as I put ice in it. I found it at Robinsons Department Store, thanks to Mike Abasolo.

Yesterday, I learned that Canon camera batteries are cheap in Canada.

I had asked Amanda to buy me a camera because the battery of our Canon Ixus 100 IS costs
P 3,000+ at Ambassador Appliances in V-Mall. She got me a Canon Ixus 310 HS in Hong Kong, for P 13,000+ including screen protector, pencil case, tripod and battery, or P 12,000+ without the accessories. It costs P 13,400 in Ensogo, I think.

Bimbim said that I could have gotten a battery in Canada for hundreds of pesos.

Last October, I asked Amanda to get me Reach or Glide dental floss because, according to Cra-C, S&R Congressional did not have Glide. Maybe it was part of the shipment that was on hold at customs. Amanda got me Reach, and commented that I seem to be very conscientious about dental health. :)

Another thing that I learnt was available in Canada (according to BK) is Costa Rican coffee. Ms. Klaws of Vegas got me Costa Rica Shade Grown Coffee, which I chose because I thought it looked like the coffee I had at KB's place.

The Best Lava Cake

2011-12-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

The only lava cake I remember having was at Goodies and Sweets Greenhills. It did nothing for me.

I was open to having lava cake again at Singapore Food Republic on the recommendation of two of HK Tan's guests on opening day. They said that their favorite desserts were creme brulee and lava cake.

CYdA said that it did nothing for her.

I liked the hotness and ooze, but I must admit that it is not addicting.

My 7-year-old niece liked it, though.
Singapore Food Republic is at Commerce Building (the map says Fort Legenda, which is on 3rd Avenue), 4th Avenue and 31st Street, Bonifacio Global City.

If Jollibee Bonifacio Stopover on 3rd Avenue is on your right, turn right on the next street. Parking entrance is on 4th Avenue, on the right side. HSBC is on the left side.

Balikbayan Checklist

2011-11-25T01:47:00.000-08:00

Photos: Ateneo, Market! Market!, Greenbelt parking lot, C2 Greenbelt 5.

Instead of Trinoma, which is far from Pasay City where Ms. Vegas lives, I think that it would be best for us to go to Glorietta, Greenbelt, Power Plant in Makati and Bonifacio High Street and Serendra in BGC (Bonifacio Global City).

Below is my balikbayan checklist, which Ms. Vegas says is like a balikbayan box; the x'es are for the places that she's been to:

American Cemetery
Ateneo Loyola campus
Ateneo Rockwell
Ayala Museum
Bangko Sentral museum
Barbara's Restaurant
bookstore
Bykes
CCP
Coconut Palace
Collezione
Dentist
Derma
Fort Santiago	x
ICA	x

Greenhills Tiangge	x
Kultura
Legaspi Market
Libingan ng mga Bayani	x
Lopez Museum
Manila Cathedral	x
Manila Hotel
Metropolitan Museum
Midnight Mercato
music:
: bar/lounge
: CDs
: concerts
: KTV
National Museum
Pasong Tamo/Ext galleries
Pinoy Lab
Quiz Night
Regina's
Rizal Park
Salcedo Market
Salon
San Agustin Church
San Agustin Museum
Shoppesville
SM Megamall galleries
Spa
SPIT

Tiendesitas
UP
Yuchengco Museum

More Balikbayan Places in Metro Manila

2011-11-24T05:04:00.000-08:00

If you ask IGT of California, the best balikbayan place for her is ICA. She asked me to arrange a visit to ICA. I told her that Ateneo and UP would be easy, but I would try ICA. Being a La Sallian, Ateneo (photos) and UP did not interest her like it did JK, who wanted B to see Ateneo as they had at least five FilChi books from the Ateneo University Press.

I wanted to show ICA to her daughter N, who goes to a Protestant school. At the time, G thought that N had never seen a nun in her life.

I called up ICA, was told that they would schedule the visit so someone could show us around. I told the person I spoke with that there was no need for someone to show us around, as we were alumni. We were told that we couldn't go to the classrooms. I was asked to email a letter which Sr. Dina Ang approved. I included G's enthusiastic email to me in the letter.

When we got to ICA, I realized that I had not texted our contact person. She was out, but someone at the directress' office called up the guard to let us pass.

We ate at the cafeteria. On the way there, we met G's PE teacher. Someone was leading the rosary through the PA system.

While G's daughter was at the tutor, G wanted to get a facial. As we had to watch the clock, I decided that my sister's clinic at Ortigas Center was too far so we went to Facial Care Shaw, which was nearest G's place.

When we got to Facial Care, G was told that she needed to book an appointment through the Call Center, that a dermatologist needed to see her for half an hour then her session would take an hour. Something like that.

I decided that it would take too much time so we moved to Greenhills. Her cousin (?) suggested Let's Face It!

Out of habit, I parked at the Annapolis Carpark, which was nearer Flawless, where my friend and her mom go.

So she went to Flawless while I went to Ultima and David's for my pedicure and manicure, which took longer than all the Flawless procedures, because I had to get my Islanders from the car as I had worn my pumps to Ultima, and so on.

While I was finishing up, I went around Greenhills to look at cellphone cases, which she found so cheap at P 150-P 200 ?) that she wanted to get a few so she could change her case every other week.

She got lost going to Shoppesville, from asking different people. I should have told her to ask Information.

She checked out the Louis Vuitton and Angry Birds cases. She was glad that she canvassed around as someone had advised her, as the prices are different in the stalls.

I asked her why she wanted to buy fakes, when there's Halo, and showed her my Asus sleeve. She said that N's teachers wanted the LVs.

I told her that my cousin-in-law had seen Nicole Scherzinger, when she was already with the Pussycat Dolls then, buying fake LV bags.

I had asked G if N would be interested in the Ayala Museum. G said that N wouldn't be.

Best Balikbayan Places

2011-11-21T18:59:00.001-08:00

JJH of Las Vegas, who is coming over in February, sent me this email: 'Saan ba puedeng mamasyal dian sa manila'

If you ask BRB of Toronto, he would probably say the Ayala Museum. I dropped off B and JK at the museum, after speaking to the receptionist in Pilipino, asking for tickets including the Gold Collection. I instructing both of them not to talk. Our plan was to tell Ayala that they are new Pinoy residents, since the price is higher for non-residents.

The Ayala employee immediately plunked two stubs for JK and me. B was near the entrance. We went up to him then I left them for work.

When I went back to pick them up an hour later, I asked them how it was.

'Fantastic!' went J, who said that they would go back.

They had not realized that her brother D would spend three hours in Ayala Museum.

I had asked B which museum he preferred, after seeing the National Museum's Artifacts Building (photo). He said that the National Museum would catch up with Ayala Museum.

I had asked Jeepney Tours if we could change the itinerary, replacing San Agustin Church and Museum with the National Museum. The driver agreed, with no extra charge.

Incidentally, the usual Intramuros tour has a minimum of two persons, but with the promo, the minimum was four. Since the usual price is P 2,000+ per person, I guess it was P 1,000+ for four.

The usual tour includes Fort Santiago (Josephine Bracken photo), Barbara's Restaurant (buffet food photo), a souvenir shop (capiz Christmas decor photo) and use of Magic Sing and a mini-concert from the tour guide.

With the P 100 entrance fee at National Museum for both buildings, what my friend would call an 'acceptable' P 500+ buffet and rondalla-dance show (photos) at Barbara's, it was well worth it even for a local like me who is willing to drive to the Intercon (Jeepney Coffee Shop photo) for pick up but not to Manila.

I had warned JK that a jeepney would be hot, but it turned out to be an airconditioned mini-bus with a jeepney exterior (photos). Cool!

The dances had modern twists to them, with several costume changes. JK and B enjoyed the show a lot. The best part was seeing a Caucasian like B dance the tinikling. He probably got picked because Jeepney Tours reserved the front table a week in advance.

JK said that she didn't remember when she last laughed so hard.

I bet, went B.

We learned from our tour guide that Jeepney Tours does not cover Batangas, but covers Tagaytay (Hotel Kimberly photo). This solves the problem of tourists who don't have their own cars.

I had been hoping that Tagaytay and Batangas would have a transport provider like Southwest in Boracay, where the land and water transfer fees are 'shared' among passengers staying in different hotels.

I joined the Intramuros tour JK's cousin JA's husband backed out, because, he said, what's there to see?

JA seemed impressed with Intramuros today, saying that she is a 'dayuhan sa sariling bayan.'

I teased her that she was a 'dayuhan sa sariling lungsod.'

JA asked me if I had taken JK and B ballroom dancing. I said no, that this was not J's thing but her sister E and brother D's.

Last June 2010, we had gone to Bykes (photo of me with instructor) at Lancaster Hotel where we danced with different DIs who we tipped only. The only other thing we paid for was the cover charge, which was enough for our food and drinks.

D said that, after two trips to Bykes, he had had eight hours of lessons. He said that lessons in Canada cost $ 50 an hour, one-on-one, and that he only learned one dance after ten sessions, and not well even.

B said that the only thing he know about the Philippines are floods. J's cousins even sent them photos of their flooded factory.

Then they see how Fort Santiago and the National Museum are so well-maintained, and it gives the impression that the country is progressive.

When I told EFY this, he said that it is the Department of Tourism's job to promote the Philippines.

I told him of a CNN feature of a travel expo, including an interview with the then Tourism Secretary of the Philippines. The feature included photos of sceneries from other countries, but none of the Philippines. It would have been so easy to copy some photos from a USB drive and CNN would have been happy to air them.

I told J and B that PNoy is the best president I've witnessed, with the no-lunch break policy at the BIR and the DFA processing so fast (three hours for someone like me with a foreign-sounding name, who had lost her most recent passport), there is no need for travel agencies.

J said that the country had hope, because the customer service is so terrific everywhere. She had mentioned this maybe seven years ago, when we were at Mercury Drug Libis. She pointed out that the smiles here are sincere, unlike in Thailand.

Even her sister A, who was here a week before Ondoy, said that she would see a saleslady in the horizon in the States. She was so delighted, surprised, that there was a saleslady to assist her for each brand bra that she was fitting at SM Megamall.

Oh, as for Ms. Vegas, it turns out that she's interested to see the Ayala Museum which her foreigner-husband and son said was maganda, and Trinoma and the other malls here. She has only seen Robinsons and SM, which she deemed at par with US malls.

Maybe three years ago, BD had said that Mall of Asia looks like a Canadian mall.

JK had remarked that the washroom in Greenhills is not smelly like some of those in North America.

IT, who moved to California maybe a decade ago, still wants to use only pay washrooms in Greenhills.

I hope to post my balikbayan checklists soon.

Photos:

Greenbelt center table.

Greenbelt chapel, and its ceiling. B wanted to know what the ceiling was made of.

The shrubs that JK and I had walked past in Ateneo maybe six years ago, are now tall trees.

Capiz decor items at Tiendesitas, June 2010.

Embroidered wall hanging which JK and B bought at SM Kultura Makati.

Among the galleries we visited, JK found the penises at Now the most interesting.

B enjoyed Isabel Roxas' Keen Street exhibit at Silverlens.

I don't remember the name of the gallery at La Fuerza, where we saw te baby painting. The owner pointed us to Pasong Tamo Extension galleries like Silverlens and Whitespace. The latter was closed for floor retiling.

Plant at Market! Market!

Parols at Granada.

Map shirt at Collezione/C2, Greenbelt 5.

The Best Shoe Store for Flat Feet

2011-11-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

This is the email I got from physical therapist Cra-C, when I asked her about the shoes that I had tried on at the Pabder store at Trinoma:

'DEFINITELY comfortable, even the material looks comfortable. SA LAGAY NIYA, PICTURE pa LANG ang judging ko, Not even sampling it in person. As to it being for 'formal' wear, no dont think so. It looks very casual. So, instead of looking formal, try dressing casual nalang to adjust to Pabder. Make it worth the 3k u spent for it. '

I think that it was even more than P 3,000, and I had warned her that they don't look formal, but I just wanted a comfortable pair of shoes, black so they don't look too informal. My friends wear rubber shoes or flat, almost ballet-like pumps.

I consulted her because she said that my Sanuks were too flat.

The best store for flat feet is actually Forward & Scoop, as I have bought two office shoes from there, the most difficult type of shoe to buy for flatties like me.

I got a black pair of Belle pumps at the Glorietta branch, and light brown Wisdom sandals at the Trinoma branch. Both of them are comfortable because, aside from the cushioned toe areas, the straps stretch.

I had always wanted strappy shoes, but couldn't find ones that fit my flat feet. I was willing to settle for Gladiators although I find them too masculine and trendy.

At less than P 2,000, I find the Wisdoms a very good buy, like they were on sale, as I got the Belles at around P 4,000 maybe a year or so ago.

3ima wanted to know if the Belles were comfortable. Not as comfortable as the Staccatos I got from CMG Glorietta, but if there's anything more difficult than buying office shoes, it's buying black office shoes. Which really stumps me, as aren't black pants more common than brown?

My agenda last Saturday was to get black corporate pumps, but all the styles I wanted or could fit me, did not have my size.

I wouldn't have known that Forward & Scoop was the same store where I bought my Belles, if not for the Belles--the same style that I own--that I saw in the Trinoma branch.

The Best Local Fruit Drinks

2011-11-06T05:09:00.000-08:00

Juice Bar Santol and pandan juices at Midnight Mercato.

Since I had balikbayans JK and BKB over, we always drank Pinoy fruit shakes or juices wherever we went, from Big Chill to Krazy Garlic, Midnight Mercato, Sentro 1771, Jeepney Coffee Shop, Barbara's Restaurant and Tsoko.Nut Batirol. We even sampled--and bought--packaged malunggay tea at Kultura in SM Makati.

The best fresh fruit drink we had since last Friday up to yesterday was santol juice at Juice Bar at Midnight Mercato last Saturday night.

At P 40 each, JA doubted that it was fresh fruit juice. After tasting all four, we decided that they were all fresh. All were better than the P 250++ green mango shake that I had at Jeepney Coffee Shop on the same day.

I was pretty happy with my dalandan juice until I tried the santol, which tasted kinda alcoholic, which, B said, explained why he liked it best. The flavor was distinct and strong. JK's choice was pandan juice. JA had guyabano. B and J decided that dalandan was the worst of the lot, although all of them were good. After tasting the santol juice, the dalandan tasted flat with a bit of sour-sweet taste.

I look forward to tasting their tamarind juice, which was not available last Friday when we went.

From previous trips, the Ks' favorite fruit juice seems to be dalandan or dalanghita. We were surprised to find that places like Big Chill Theater Mall and the restaurants that we went to, didn't have it since last week, even though Market! Market! sold the dalandan last All Saints' Day.

Anyway, P 40 might sound inexpensive for fresh fruit juice, but if you're in a group of at least four, Tsoko.Nut Batirol's Sampaloc Swing and Dalandan Salabat Twist are even better value.

J, B and I had about two and a half glasses each, on top of my giving away a glass to Nitz who we bumped into having lunch there.

Mike Abasolo said that this reminds him of Jack Loft's fishbowl iced tea.

The last time I was at Jack's Loft was at the Il Terrazzo branch, three Rotary Club (of Mandaluyong) presidents ago.

And the last time I had Jack's Loft fishbowl iced tea was probably around ten years ago, when there was only Eastwood Citywalk. No Citywalk 2, no Eastwood Mall.

I have no desire to revisit the taste.

Because of the Juice Bar dalandan juice the night before, and because I had been wanting to try Sampaloc Swing since I had gone to the Yuchengco and Ayala Museums around May 2009, when DK and I had Dalandan Salabat at Tsoko.Nut RCBC Plaza. The Salabat had a mild sting, but it was not overpowering like Via Mare Greenbelt 1's more authentic Salabat version, I guess. Tsoko.Nut's was refreshing, with just the right amount of sweet, sour, anghang.

Dalandan Salabat is probably the second best drink for me, but I prefer to go to Tsoko.Nut because of the relaxing atmosphere versus the People Power vibe at Midnight Mercato. I estimated about a thousand people in the airconditioned tent, another thousand in the open seating area, and maybe another thousand milling around buying food and drink. We almost didn't get seats last November 4, Friday night, even though we arrived before 10 pm. We had to wait until 10 pm to get our drinks and food. The Js paid for our Vigan Empanada and I ordered the drinks before getting seats. Next time, we'll divide the group into seat savers and buyers.

And knowing my teacher Anton Diaz, there would be more seats by the time I go there again.

For uniqueness, Santol wins over Salabat.

I had first gone to Tsoko.Nut on Rosalind 'Osang' Alipon's tsokolate reco, but I have not tried it. It seems such a wasted opportunity to order something for one when you are with friends. Besides, J and B had Pinoy tsokolate at home that day.

Anyway, Mike now is urging me to try the tsokolate. I am still thinking of the 'with pinipig' part of the menu that I saw last Saturday.

Another interesting drink was Krazy Garlic's Guava Shake, refreshing, and different. The mint did not hurt, too. Their Ripe Mango and Green Mango Shakes were good, too. The Green Mango deserves a special mention because it was, from B's account, not as sour as Big Chill's, which he didn't like as much as BC's ripe mango shake.

I didn't taste Big Chill Theater Mall's green mango shake, but Krazy Garlic's Green Mango Shake is the first one that I like, as the sourness is just a hint versus the more real, in-your-face version, the kind that makes me want to say, Oo na, alam ko ng hilaw ka.

Krazy Garlic can bring in more repeat customers by promoting its drinks, as, sadly, its food, like the rest of the Bistro Group (Italianni's--except for the kiddie meal, Flapjacks, California Pizza Kitchen, TGIFriday's)'s, is overpriced, just ok, not addicting, not anything I would go back for.

The only reason why Cra-C and I went to Krazy Garlic was because of the Bistro card that Cra's hubby had inadvertently signed up for. He thought that the card was free, not knowing that it was added to the bill that he signed for.

Anyway, we had hummus, mushroom soup and gambas at Krazy Garlic, especially disappointing after having gone to the defunct Garlic Rose, where everything we had, up to dessert, was very good. I really miss the old Malate.
JK then told me about a garlic place in Canada that sounded interesting.

She has been bugging me to visit her and so far it is she who has been 'giving in' by visiting me.

Anyway, to complete the drink list, I recommended Four Seasons to BKB at Barbara's Restaurant. He liked it. The Four Seasons had banana, ripe mango, watermelon and melon in it.

I reminded J that she, EK and I had it at Dulcinea Theater Mall. It was the last time that I enjoyed Dulcinea. On my next visit, I blacklisted Dulcinea even before it moved to its new location near BPI.

The Dulcinea takeout dishes we had at a Rockwell meeting did not change my mind, although takeout tends to be bad. Only Banana Leaf Power Plant's strong flavors can withstand the rigors of takeout.

JA had wanted to take out Mannang's and Stopover pizza when I told her that these were good and we were too full from the Barbara's mediocre buffet to eat anything. I warned her that it would not be fair to judge food that had been cooked the previous day.

Photos: Sentro 1771 Serendra's Banana Mango Shake which I didn't try. SM salespeople dance to a native song in front of Tsoko.Nut. Four Seasons and another shake--ripe mango?--at Barbara's. Sago't gulaman is still drink-all-you-can at Sentro. C probably shot the Krazy Garlic overhead photos.

Thanks: J, B and C for the food and drink treats.

The Best Socks

2011-10-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Thorlo right side up

Wright sock, stained :( Thorlo, Thorlo turned inside out.

Wright socks, inside out

I've been wanting to write about my favorite socks, but I felt compelled to write about them today when a Pinoy Blogger (don't remember who anymore, his post disappeared, so did my post asking who it was) asked about Thorlos socks.

My first pair did not last long.

It was a pasalubong from my mom, who had gone to Canada. It was just a trial purchase.

When I told her how soft they were, that they felt like walking on cotton, she got them back for herself.

That was maybe a decade ago.

I bought my own pairs at a sports shop in Glorietta (Olympic Village? I'm not sure anymore. It was near National Bookstore, I think.). When they ran out of Thorlos and had a similar pair, I didn't dare pay P 1,000 for them.

I saw Thorlos again at Planet Sports at my favorite sports area, Robinsons Galleria's Sports Loop.

They're now around half the price, at
P 500, if I remember correctly.

I also a more feminine pair, Wright socks, which I wear underneath my Thorlos because I'm used to wearing two pairs of socks when I play badminton, to cushion my jumps and prevent cramps.

I only bought the Wright socks because I couldn't find something like my old inner socks, plain but feminine i.e. without the thick Burlington masculine lines that I got at an NBC Tent bazaar.

Since they're just inner socks, my next ones will probably be from SM Department Store, Hypermart or Rustan's Supermarket. I'll just make do with what's available, masculine lines or not. The frilly ones of course will not do at all.

The combination of Wright and Thorlos are too thick for my flat feet to fit into all the shoes that I've tried, so I plan to buy thinner inner socks next time.

The Shamsey Dental Floss

2011-09-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

The third runner-up.

I just found out that Favorite Relative is going S&R tomorrow, so I asked her to get me Glide, which isn't always available. so I told her about Oral-B Ultrafloss, which I suspect the S&Regular EFY had gotten it for me at the Congressional branch.

When she asked me what it looked like, I told her that it looks like a building (RCBC Plaza?), not a flat thing like Glide, which we both love, or your run-of-the-mill Oral-B.

So the champion at the Primus (see Spartacus) is Trisa, then Reach, then Glide, then Oral-B Ultrafloss.

Ultrafloss has a thick thread, but slides easily. Hmm, come to think of it, it's pretty good, maybe even better than Glide and Reach, as it is quite soft. The thick thread makes it easy to do the job in one go, instead of several trips which I need to do even with my ex-favorite Trisa.

And check for the non-tangle factor.

Maybe there's hope for Shamcey after all. Maybe Miss Universe will abdicate her throne?

My Favorite Healthy Food

2011-09-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Maybe the pasta would have been a better choice?

Angelo Songco, one of the owners of SugarLeaf, had been emailing my friend and me about the seminars, etc. there.

Even though Angelo had introduced me to then-Appetite Magazine editor Annie Nisce, who in turn gave me my first media job, I was not too keen on going to SugarLeaf because I suspected that it was too 'healthy' for my taste.

'Premium Quality. Homemade.'

I was right. The Crabstick and Mango Goody Wrap was too wheaty for me. My friend said that she had expected a wheat wrap. I only realize now that the menu mentioned the wheat wrap. The Goody probiotic kefir dressing helped me finish it. But it was still much better than the vegi pao that I used to sell.

The Zonitos Nachos that my friend treated me too--thank you--was much better, even more flavorful than Nova, but of course nowhere as addicting as Miss Vickies Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream or Calbee Potato Chips. The dip was the same Goody Kefir dressing we had with the wrap. Yawn.

The Crystal Jade vegetable dumpling was, like SugarLeaf's wrap, better than I had expected, but I still wanted more flavor. In time, healthy food would taste better. And maybe the guys like the father and son in the next table, wouldn't have such a hard time rereading the menu.

Which got me thinking of what healthy food I like the best. I don't mean totally healthy food, but food on the healthy side. It's not easy to come up with a list, but off the top of my head I can think of Clawdaddy's baked crab with cheese and King Crab Crab Rice, which a finicky kid RKL asked for when I asked him what he wanted to eat. I also like Gloria Maris Greenhills Seafood Spinach Soup.

Thanks to my friend for treating me to this Pancake Bonifacio Stopover taco.

On the everyday side, I like Pancake House Best Taco in Town, which I ate thrice in a day at Times Plaza when my mom was confined in Manila Doctors. I wonder if I got a tummy ache the next day because of it. Is it still healthy when I got a tummy ache? P 110 in Bonifacio Stopover, and P 105 at UN.

And Mann Hann Shoppesville French beans (P 180 for two), which you can buy raw at SugarLeaf and, my friend tells me, Wei Wang. Gloria Maris Greenhills French beans

Our family spent about P 850 per person for crabs, Oysters Rockefellers, etc.

(around P 600) is not as good as it used to be. Come to think of it, Gloria's glory days are past.

And Crystal Jade Siao Long Pao. Even though it's pork, at least it's steamed. CdA said that she would like Xiao Long Pao with shrimp so it's healthier. I've brought this up with Nasi Lemak owner HK Tan, who said that this would be difficult.

Personally, I'm trying to stay away from shrimp after I saw the Blue Planet feature that said that five pounds of seafood are wasted for every pound of shrimp caught. But I looked twice at the shrimp wanton at the Crystal Jade menu the other day.

And North Park Leviste noodle soup (P 99).

And North Park Malugay corn soup (P 40).

Now that we're talking North Park, I'm thinking of Superior Congee and Tan Tan Mien.

The Best Contest Hosts

2011-08-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Winila or not, I'm careful of joining giveaway contests.

I'm not even referring to contests like Pen's, where a purchase--and supposedly, a DTI permit--is required.

I'm talking about total freebies, where all you lose is time, which I don't have much of. So I try not to join these types of contests:

requires 'Likes'
with lots of steps
from unheard of sources: a Pinoy Blogger member, Mr. Wang, had posted about a blogger event in Scott's Burger, it turned out to be a hoax.
prizes smaller than P 1,000.
pick-up points far from my coverage area i.e. San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, BGC, Morato, Eastwood, Katipunan.
photography, as I have no talent for it.
asks for age.

Here's a list of online contests that I've won. This year, I've won two. One is a Blue Tooth device that I won through Tanggera.

I had checked out Tanggera's blog, liked it. Then I maybe I looked up her Facebook page and saw that she was an Atenean. I thought that if this were not true, that someone would have reported her to Fb or something. Plus Faith Salazar's name was familiar, so I joined her contest.

I've asked her if we could meet in Makati on weekends, as my weekdays are busy. She said yes, didn't get back to me. More than a month later, I found myself in Ortigas Center. I texted her. She said that she did not bring the prize. She offered to send it to me. I gave her my address. I asked her to bring it to the office so I can just get it when I'm in the area. She said yes.

I should have told her a day in advance that I was going to the Ortigas Center area. So until now, I still don't have the item, which I want for a friend. In fairness, she always replies to my texts and emails promptly, and with apologies.

The second prize that I won is a P 1,000 SM gift certificate that I got for answering a coffee survey. I took the survey, because what the hey, it took only five minutes, and I love answering surveys. Bahala na where the pick-up point is. It turned out to be Aloha Hotel, and no, they can't send us the GC.

Diane, who called me up, asked me how I got to know of the survey. I told her that maybe it was Frannywanny, but after I searched Pinoy Bloggers, I realize that it was probably through Between Bites . When Diane mentioned Boy Kuripot, I thought of asking Jeff Siy if he could get my GC for me, if he was going to the area as well. He agreed. Woot woot!

Jeff, Diane said that the deadline for pick-up of the GCs is August 31. If you don't have them by the 28th, maybe I can pick up your GCs for you and your friends na lang? I'll just try to think of another Manila thing to do.

The way I see it, I need to travel to shop, anyway, and at least I get P 1,000 instead of my shelling out my own money. Now the gas is another issue.

Photo: New York Pizza Palace, where Blogger Jenny Gonzalez Roxas brought up Mr. Wang and asked me if he was for real.

The Best Computer Store

2011-08-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking today that my favorite computer store is Digital Hub/Walker/Apple Store and Canon Concept Store/d-vision in V-Mall, all of which are owned by Charlie and Howard Paw. Charlie Paw's wife Annabel is my sister's godsister.

When Digital Walker had a blogger event at dwcafe last July 1, I told everyone that I should be an endorser because of my 2010 Crumpler and Canon Ixus 100 IS, both of which I had brought with me.

John Michael Torres Bueno (in photo with blogger Vance Madrid, and with the expert speaker Mike) later introduced himself to the group, and it looked like he was even more of a Digital Walker endorser than I am!

When Bimbim was looking for 7-port hubs, she had returned two of them to Abacus, also one of my favorite stores, and another store, because the seven ports could not work at the same time. MdA suggested that we try the Apple Store, where we found Belkin, which Bimbim said is a good brand. She found it expensive, didn't buy it but later said that she might get it anyway. The saleslady said that she could not return the Belkin if defective, just an exchange. Bimbim didn't want anything else from the Apple Store at the time, so getting a refund was the only option that she would accept. I called up Annabel, who said, yes, she could return the Belkin if it was defective, but to please bring all the stuff she was going to plug into the hub so that it could be tested upon purchase.

Yesterday, I just bought a Canon Pixma MX416 from their Canon V-Mall store. I brought it home at closing time, even though no one in the store could figure out how to send a fax using the Pixma.

I've asked an xT Pro tech Anton to come to my house on his day off to configure my router, connect the Pixma to the phone, show me how the Pixma works, show me how the Media Player can access YouTube. He will charge me P 1,500 for all this, which seems fair considering that I've asked two people to configure my router, AYR's tech charged her P 1,000 for configuring the router, and my friend's tech charges her also P 1,000 for loading programs into her computer. And both are hard to get.

Also yesterday, coincidentally, Digital Walker asks me to blog about their Trinoma sale.

My other favorite computer store is Abacus, which Bimbim introduced to me. AYR and I got my WD external hard drives, and AYR got her Western Digital Media Player. AYC is also a suki. One time when I went there, a guy from the South--Mindanao!--was asking about servers. Hi-tech! Server guy said that the stuff he was buying was not available in the South.

The first time I went there, I was surprised that the customers lined up like it was a sari sari store. It's probably the only V-Mall store where you can't go in. Hmm, client queue. Good sign. The cashier answers tech questions. AYR asked the salespeople and the owner lots of questions. I once had a hard drive configured for both Mac and PC. AYR initially wanted to buy her stuff in the South--Alabang, Cavite--so it would be easy for her to return anything should anything prove defective. But the Media Player costs around P 7,000 in her neck of the woods, and only P 5,000+ at Abacus. I met a med rep at my neurologist Dr. Libarnes' clinic, and he said that he got his Seagate 500 G hard drive at P 6,000 last January, when WD costs only around P 2,400 at Abacus last Saturday, and around P 2,500 last May.

Bimbim says that Seagate is a good brand, but WD is gooder.

My other favorite store is xT Pro, where I have given Anton and another tech let me charge them whatever I wanted each time I went there this year. The first time was to reconfigure my laptop after it couldn't connect to the internet after my friend tried to configure it for my router. Anton didn't want to charge me for the advice, but I insisted on giving him P 200. It was KKC who eventually solved my laptop problem. Another time, I thought that it was rapture time for my laptop. I waited because the tech refused to give me a DR. I don't remember how he fixed it. I only remember his telling me to use only one anti-virus, which I did, and the problem did not resurface, if I remember correctly. He told me bahala na ako. I don't remember how much I gave him. Was it P 200?

I also ask Anton where to get stuff that they don't have, and he always refers me to another shop. This is the kind of helping that the V-Mall stores do for each other, as I discovered when I shopped for my 4-in-1, not unlike the Banawe auto supply stores.

Thanks to DSU for introducing me to xT.

I think it was last year when my Acer crashed. The xT tech said that he couldn't save anything, that he would reformat it. I think it cost me P 500. At least it was less than P 1,000, which the Acer shop was charging. I think they claimed that they could save my data. It was huge enough to skate in, the opposite of Abacus, and even busy xT, where you would need to raise your hand to be called hehe. Alarm bells, so I ended up having xT reformat my laptop.

My most-often visited store is CD Outlet, another Bimbim discovery. I had my Epson Stylus T10 converted to continuous after Bimbim was happy with the conversion of her brother's printer (another brand, I think). Our original fixer, a guy, is no longer there. He would bring down the price of ink because of competition, even if I didn't ask for it. In his place is Mic-Mic, who, unlike Original Guy, is almost always there and easy to contact. I consulted her on the HP, Epson and Pixma that I was considering. She asked me for the cartridge numbers. She said that the two HPs were not convertible, but that the Epson and Pixma were ok. I also asked her about Bimbim's Canon Pixmas, which she plans to bring home from Canada.

The last time I had the printer reset late last week, I had to leave the Epson with her overnight because there was something wrong with their software so someone with a laptop had to come in the next day to reinstall it. I don't remember this happening with Original Guy, who would fix my printer on the spot. He would also give me free resets even if I didn't bring my receipt when he felt that it was within warranty period. Hmm. I never had to leave the printer with Original overnight, but he seemed to have back jobs which I never experienced with Mic Mic. My other worry is that Original Guy converted both Bimbim and my printers.

I tell people who are worried about their printers breaking down when they convert to continuous, that the cost of original ink is like buying a new printer, so I don't care if my printer breaks down after, say, a year.

LLA has already told me that HPs are not convertible, and my friend's dad's HP broke down after her secretary did something wrong. Now she suspects that the HP broke down because of continuous.

Mic Mic told me this week that conversion costs P 1,700. Bimbim and I also got the trash bottle, for additional cost. I only got the big P 200 bottle after my friend pointed it out to me this year. Since last year, I have been buying the P 100 ink.

Original Guy told me that continuous has no draft mode, and that I could use each of the four inks until they get used up.

He also told me to keep on cleaning the printer head several times.

Continuous is so much easier than my old way, which meant injecting ink into containers. I had our maid Caycay, early 20s, who was not even a grade school graduate, watch the CD on how to inject the ink, and she got it in one go. When she left, I struggled to get the messy affair right.

My other favorite store in V-Mall is PC Depot, where I bought my Media Player last Holy Week because Abacus was closed.

My volume was on and off. I thought that it was the hard drive, but later realized when I was watching videos on my laptop, that the problem was the Media Player. I was told to come back in about two weeks, but the brand-new replacement was ready in nine days. There was constant communication throughout. I got a text when I forgot to bring my remote control, and another text to tell me that my Media Player was ready for pick up. I forgot my receipt when I wanted to pick it up, so I went back the next day, and told them that I couldn't find it. I xeroxed the receipt that they had, then they wrote down the new serial number in my copy.

Why V-Mall? Why not Gilmore and Broadway, both of which are nearer my house? I once went to Gilmore to get a flash disk. I had a driver with me, who was on hazard in the layered street parking (double, triple). There was no time to ask questions. Get in, line up (long line up), pay, get out. Strictly for techies like my developer friends and EU, who handles the IT in his company.

I suspect that the failed converted HP was done in Broadway, which I wouldn't go to even if it were good because my sukis are in V-Mall, and I'm such a mall rat. While waiting for Canon to finish reading the manual, we went to my clothes repairer Pat, CDR King, BPI and Ace Hardware.

The Best 'Fair' Buffet

2011-07-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

ThaiDara may be the best all-you-can-eat buffet, but Midnight Mercato is the best fair buffet.

I had always thought that as a 100+ pounder, that with the all-you-can-eat buffet price I pay, I'm subsidizing the 200+ and 300+ pounders.

Besides, how healthy is it to stuff your face?

So I had been dreaming of a by-the-weight buffet for years. Midnight Mercato is the answer! I want the variety, but I don't want to eat so much para sulit ang bayad ko.

I went to Max's Chicken-All-You-Can at the Greenhills branch last Thursday. I had three quarter-chicken pieces, which made the 09292703860
P 199 promo price worth it, as a Spring Chicken (Half) costs
P 163.90. There was a free glass of Pepsi product--soda or iced tea, to boot. So I don't feel so bad about 'subsidizing' the Chinabank Greenhills' guard's 18 quarter-chicken pieces! Or so Driver Mang Frank tells us.

Yesterday, I met my friend at The Feast at around 6 pm, where we had palitaw and coffee, then we had chicken soup without sotanghon at Reyes Barbecue Bonifacio Stopover, along with Blue Bunny strawberry ice cream--two scoops per person--at a friend's condo, then went to Midnight Mercato at around 8:30 pm.

After The Feast, I asked the maintenance-looking personnel what time Midnight Mercato starts. One said, 8 pm, another said that it actually starts at 10 pm and ends around 2 or 3 am, but that some stalls are open by 8:30 pm. The guard said 10 pm. So did the sign.

We passed through St. Luke's, which was the long route, because the roads were blocked at this time, which makes 34th Street/MC Home Depot the shorter route, even though there's a lane is blocked off for construction.

I hope that more roads and parking spaces are open for Midnight Mercato. When we left at around 10 pm, it was difficult to get out. Cars were double-parked. The guard told us to go straight but because the two cars ahead of us were not moving, my friend turned right towards the entrance. We could see why the guard discouraged us from turning right, as there was barely enough room for two cars--coming and going--to pass.

Also, I hopped out to check if there was something to eat already. I first saw paella negra at P 280, which was good enough for me. Stopover Pizzapasta also looked open. I asked Margie's Paella if we could already buy from them. They said yes, I went off to tell my friend. We then went off to park. The guard told us that it was still closed. He let us in after we explained that I had already gone in. Some cars were U-turning out, probably because the guard told them that it was closed.

We tried the paella negra, as my friend had been wanting to have some but did not have time to make one. My friend did not want to take the aoili, as she doesn't like mayonnaise. Margie's insisted that it had no mayo. She ended up not having any, and said that it tasted seafoody.

We both didn't think that it was anything special. She said that the paella negra she had in Spain two months ago was better. Of course naman no! Maybe the last good paella negra I had was at Alba's Makati, years ago. Again, not a fair comparison because of the price.

What's fairer is to compare this dish with the others at Mercato.

My friend said that the paella negra could have been served smaller, to lower the price.

I agree. The paella reminds me of Mercato Centrale Organic Market, where I had been twice at the old location. The only saving grace was Manang's, which we ate elsewhere because it was too hot at Mercato. We also had Ha Yuan lumpia. I had dry, lukewarm and overpriced Chicken Saffron Tagine. I thought of Arya as I ate it.

The Tagine, 'roasted Moroccan chicken with saffron, olive oil, preserved lemon and olives,' cost P 160 last January 8. Last time I went, more than a year ago, Arya's food cost around P 400 per dish, but each order was good for 1-1/2, had service, its own bathroom, and the food is the best in Greenhills.

We saw Mac's Deli 's Vigan empanada when we were full. The ingredients looked more interesting than those of what Mac's' owner called 'Laoag empanada,' which we had.

My friend, was the empanada from Juana Bowl or Pinak Best?

Anyway, we were hesitant to try the Laoag empanada because it was so orange, but curiosity got the better of me. I had been hearing of Ilocos Empanada for years but had been discouraged because of the dismal parking in the Katipunan area.

Even though my friend said that she was going to the Kat area tomorrow, we still had the Laoag empanada (P 50) yesterday.

I was glad, as it was hot with a light crust, good but not salty. I see why Ilocos empanada is so popular. I think that all lumpias should convert to empanada, as lumpias are so unwieldy, and lumpia wrapper does not taste as good as empanada crust. I pointed out that you can put anything in the empanada, and my friend agreed.

My friend had been craving for batchoy. This was her masamang tangka when she asked me if I wanted to go to Midnight Mercato.

So we went to Yaya's Best Batchoy Atbp. (YBBA). The batchoy (P 50) was ok, not as salty as Bacolod Chicken Inasal Greenhills, but my friend and I miss the liver. My friend prefers the batchoy at Deco's Westgate. Deco's Lapaz Batchoy Boracay's, at P 50 last August, was good for two, had lots of laman, with not a lot of people, but its sweetness ruined it for me. Too bad, as it had a view of the Station 2 beach. Still, I tell people on a budget about Deco's.

The best batchoy for me was at the defunct Sugar Nut Salcedo Village.

YBBA's contact info: Mads: 09292703860

Incidentally, we ate in the airconditioned area where The Feast is held. I don't like bugs, and my friend doesn't like getting wet from the rain, a possibility even in the covered outdoor area.

We were first in the Feast area, when Gelati was still setting up i.e. no gelato yet.

The second group to sit there was a family with a kid who should be the endorser of Stop Over Pizza & Pasta Four Cheese Pizza. I told his parents as we watched him eat almost a whole pizza, 'I believe!' which made his mom laugh.

We ordered Stop Over Pizza & Pasta bestsellers Four Cheese and Bulgogi pizzas (P 60 for 1/4). Their Bulgogi and Seafood Wasabi pizzas reminded me of Asian Flavours' maguro and Korean pizzas, the best pizzas I've had, even better than NY Pizza.

As our Stop Over pizzas would take four minutes, we got our batchoy first. With batchoy in hand, we dropped by Stop Over and was told that it will be done soon. When we said that we'll be back after we eat our batchoy--we wanted to eat it while it was hot, and that we would be in the Feast area, we were told that the pizzas would be brought to us. Yay!

Each flavor was brought to us cut into two pieces, even though we didn't tell them to.

Great service. Now if only they would change the lettering of their name as it looked like Stopover Pizzapasta to me.

I ate the Bulgogi Pizza alternately with the Batchoy, as the Bulgogi was a tad spicy.

My friend worried that the red sauce on top of the Bulgogi was catsup, which she didn't eat. It was hot sauce.

The Bulgogi was just ok. Chef Paul Poblador's title as King of the Korean Pizza is safe.

The Four Cheese was really good, even though it reminded me more of Shakey's cheese and garlic than the Quattro Formaggio of, say, Cantinetta Rockwell or Yellow Cab. It was as good as Cantinetta's and better than Shakey's' and Yellow Cab's.

My friend said that next time, she'll ask for a toastier version, with foil on top. She pointed out to me that Stop Over used brick.

I think I got the non-alcoholic champagne juice from Off Beat. The drink was a combination of lemon, mint, and apple. It tasted a bit alcoholic to me. My friend said that it tasted Spritey.

Refreshing, not too sweet or bland. I'm not as adventurous with drinks as with food, so I might repeat this drink.

At first, I thought of having Santol Juice, which my friend had asked her maid to make for me, but the sight of chopped fruits in a tower attracted me to the non-alco champagne.

My friend did not like my drink, so she got frozen Melon Juice (P 35/bottle), as she did not like Strawberry and Watermelon. She found it too sweet. I thought it was ok, although I would have preferred a stronger melon flavor.

Our last dish was Manang's super spicy wings (P 98 for 4 pieces). My friend said that Charlie Chicken in Banawe was yummier. Manang's' is easier to eat because it's not so spicy but BBQ Chicken Jupiter, which seems to have undergone just a name change, seems yummier because the sweet-spicy combination was a better blend. I prefer Manang's to:

1. Charlie's Grind and Grill on Ortigas Avenue, just good spicy, not sweet
2. Chicken Charlie San Juan: I can taste the Asian flavor, pero parang bitin.

Empanada: P 50
Manang's: P 98
Melon Juice: P 35
Non-Alcoholic Champagne: P 45
Stop Over Pizzas: P 120
YBBA Batchoy: P 50

We spent P 398 in all for two, or P 199 per person.

Now why would I prefer Max's Chicken-All-You-Can to Midnight Mercato?

And for that matter, why would I eat at expensive High Street or Serendra where I'll also be exposed to the elements as the spaces between the restos are open-air too? Only for the nice washrooms.

Note: Although the Mercato Centrale site mentions the new location at 34th and 8th, the Google map is pointed at the old-location-that-shall-not-be-named.

Photos:

We didn't have bagnet as my friend felt that it looked too oily.

The Fruilati Juice Smoothie (P 65) was one of the most interesting things we had at Mercato last February 26.

The Best Headphones

2011-07-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

When I'm waiting, say, at the hospital, I watch videos with subtitles because I don't want to bring around my clunky P 200 CE HS-5P headphones which I bought at xt Pro V-Mall last year, after xt determined that my then-year-old Acer's speaker or some other function was practically dead.

Pre-Acer days, I had a PC with 8 G memory which was a big, fat, hairy deal for me in 2000, coming from a kilo-byte PC. Today, my 8-gig PC is but a stand for a doggie keychain that my favorite PT had given me.

A friend had two hardly-used headphones. I got one, even though he was willing to give me both. Although the headphone's foam was almost gone, it worked fine. I used it to its death. I could have used the second headphone if I had accepted it. I think that it was the Skype era by that time (was it?), and he got to use the second headphone after all.

I have another friend who refused to get bulky P 50 headphones at CD-R King. She wanted the P 200 kind with a little earpiece for one ear. Even though you could hear the background noise, she prefers this little headphone to full headphones as they tend to be uncomfortable after prolonged use.

Bimbim, who supplied me with videos with subtitles is now in Canada, which means that if I didn't buy lightweight headphones by the time my subtitled videos ran out, that I would be reading books or filing photos during my waiting times.

Which isn't a bad thing, except when you have a headache like I had yesterday and didn't feel like reading.

I took out the Urbanears Bagis headphones which I got at the Digital Walker blogger event and watched Camelot on my laptop.

I was reluctant to buy headphones because I don't think I ever used my Nokia's hands-free device. I just kept detangling it whenever I transferred it from one bag to another. When I could have used it, it took too much time to untangle it.

The packaging was very cute, and the two earpieces connect to form mouse ears so you could wear it around your neck. And with the exception of basic colors like white and black, the other colors don't come out again. One can request for a Pantone color in the Urbanears website. The manual even urges the reader to color a headphone then email it to Urbanears.

The expert said that Pantone has all the colors. Actually, I try to find the closest whenever I give instructions to the printer, but in my promo experience, Pantone doesn't have all the colors.

I checked out the website, it said that you could send a reference image.

Now what I'd like to know is, what are the retired colors? Urbanears opened in December 2009, so sana they can have a color archive.

The Pantone site was not helpful, so I checked out Wikipedia. I'm leaning towards , Eggplant, Palatinate Purple and Byzantium. I've always wanted dark shades of colors, like green, blue, grey, red, orange, that looked almost like black, so they're easy to match, look classy and professional.

It took a while for me to tell the three violet shades apart. Eggplant is the darkest and most practical, Palinate the prettiest and lightest.

When I told my friend some of these features, she guessed that it costs
P 1,000. The packaging says
P 1, 200.

What I really love about it is that the cord doesn't tangle, because it's made of cloth and TPE.

My friend didn't like the white color of my Bagis, as it is dumihin. I didn't think of exchanging it with any other color, as my Acer is also white.

Jayson and I used his blue Bagis, as I was too lazy to pull out mine from the box. We used one earpiece each to watch videos on my laptop. We were side by side, with my bag in between, with his earpiece on his right ear and my earpiece also on my right ear. I just realized now that how long the cord is.

Whenever he would talk with me, I would pull out the rubber seal. When I was in Via Mare, I would pull out one ear plug whenever I spoke with the waiter. In my room, I could still hear the cars passing by on the road even with the A/C on. I don't mind hearing ambient sound, as I want to be aware of my surroundings.

Note: I'm partially deaf.

Jayson told me that he had asked one of the experts why he would buy an Urbanears headphone when his phone already has a headphone. He was told that the sound is different. Urbanears is made by the same manufacturer of Marshall Headphones.

The expert--Mike?--who owns a studio, told us to use the right-sized rubber seals. I opened the box of seals and found more cutesy stuff, but I don't dare change the seals to see which one fits my ear. I'd like to bring them to the Digital Hub or Walker in V-Mall where I bought my Canon Ixus 100 IS.

Anyway, using the already-attached rubber seals, Jayson and I could not tell the sound difference: him between his phone headphone and Bagis, me between my CE headphone and my Bagis.

I watched the same minute-segment of Camelot and compared my two headphones one after the other.

The Bagis sound was nearer, because of the plug was in the ear.

The Urbanears models Medis, Plattan, Bagis and Tanto are Swedish suburbs, with the GPS coordinates of each suburb on the box. The size of the headphone on the packaging is the same as the actual headphone.

I guess the market for Urbanears is the Ericcson set, someone like AMYC, who goes out of her way to collect cute things, like stuffed toys at Watson's. And who would appreciate having a pretty headphone that you can wear around your neck.

And I'm thinking that this might be a good gift for my inaanak who's into the iPad.

Thanks to the self-proclaimed OC--glad you were--blogger who sat to my right--sorry, I can't remember your name now--for saving a seat for me and for putting the headphones back to the package.

Photo note: Blogger FPJ is in the background of the photo where my Friendly Neighborhood Blogger put the headphones back to the box.

The Best Father's Day Galleria Resto

2011-06-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Cs were having problems with their Ortigas Center condo, so we had to eat at Robinsons Galleria for Father's Day.

8 Spices, AC's first choice, was fully booked for the night, so I called up the less formal, warmer, 'less quiet' (translation: noisy) Nasi Lemak, which AC was not so keen on because of our so-so experience last April.

Mae asked me if I wanted to be seated inside or in the outer area, and I said inside. Of course! She said that they were busy today, but agreed to a 8 pm reservation.

In the car, my dad said that he remembered that the noodles--or was it the rice?--were good and that we also had Fish Head Curry, which turned out to be too spicy for him.

When we got there at 7 pm, there were no seats yet, so I invited everyone to Cha Time. My dad objected to there being no seats at Cha Time. I said that there are, based on Anton Diaz's Pioneer account. I was wrong, so buti na lang we didn't go.

But before asking the info desk where it was, I decided to drop by Nasi Lemak to make sure that they had our numbers so they could inform us if a table is available.

Luckily, an outer table was available then, which we took instantly.

H. K. Tan told us that they had six turnovers for dinner already. Later, he would point out that the table to our left was the start of the 7th. I saw two turnovers on that table, not counting one that he nudged inside, by saying that they might want to check out the inner area: Send a scout, not a team.

H. K. set up our table with a napkin and a pair of utensils each, counting out our napkins in Pilipino, with another one of his jokes about having several women. He was quick to explain that it was a joke when it fell flat.

I initially ordered the Oatmeal Butter Prawns and Bakwan Kepiti, which I suppose is the meatball soup I had read about online, and which the menu described as a soup of 'minced pork and crab meat, bamboo shoots and spring onions.'. I had been wanting to try the Oatmeal Prawns since I read about it online last April.

My mom loves meatball soup, or so I thought. She ordered Tom Yum Seafood, so we cancelled the Bakwan Kepiti.

When KC asked for the menu, H. K. kidded him, 'No,' and went to get the menu.

KC wanted Salt and Pepper Squid, and Honey Glazed Spareribs.

AC insisted on Hainanese Chicken, even though we had ordered a lot of dishes already, and said that we could take out the leftovers.

My dad wanted veggies, so we had Stir Fried Bean Sprouts with Prawns and Salted Fish.

H. K. urged us to have their specialty Stir Fried Kangkong with Sambal Balchan, even though it would be too spicy for my dad and 3ima.

While waiting for our order, I asked the table beside us if they were eating Oatmeal Butter Prawns, and if they liked it. The host, the son probably, gave it a thumbs up. When they left, he told H. K. that they would be back. Then added, again and again.

The Prawns were the winning dish for AC. She pointed out that the crunchy oatmeal was stuck to the skin, so we scraped away.

It was nothing special to me, but my mom liked it too.

H.K. said that yesterday was a good day to order Oatmeal Prawns, as they were using a new tin. Someone had left the older tin open, so the crunch was gone. He said that this crunchy oatmeal was imported from--was it Singapore?

He also said that his kitchen staff was fond of throwing away expensive tins and another container which I forget now.

For 3ima, my mom and me, the winner of the meal was the Tom Yam. My mom especially liked the squid, while 3 liked the scallop.

I had forgotten my spoon in the serving bowl, as I was last to eat the Tom Yam, set the bowl on the vacated table on the right--the one I interviewed.

Big mistake on Father's Day. When I went to the counter to ask for another spoon, I was told that the utensils were still being washed.

My dad later pointed out that the utensils were right behind us. Looking at the photo now, I don't see any spoons.

When I suggested Bean Sprouts because of a positive review online, my mom asked for alternatives, so I suggested Sauteed Broccoli with Seafood, as I had read a good review on the broccoli. But H. K. prevailed on us to order Bean Sprouts.

We were hesitant to order bean sprouts, as our cook makes the exact same dish.

It turned out to be blander than our cook's saucier, minus-mushroom version, but the shrimp was much fresher than our house's, since shrimp is delivered daily to Nasi Lemak.

When I got home, Mrs. Varciano said that she had a hard time choosing a resto to go to with 3, as their cook also makes a lot of dishes well. Like lasagna, which was better than at Italianni's.

The Hainanese Chicken, which H. K. Tan said has been bringing in a lot of customers ever since Anson Yu's spotph's list came out, tasted just like any Hainanese Chicken I've had, like the one in a defunct Asian resto at Megamall five, six years ago.

For me, the yumminess of Hainanese Chicken is in the ginger in oil, which I ask my mom to get more of when she takes home Hainanese Chicken from Mann Hann Theater Mall.

It didn't help that the sauces did not come with serving teaspoons, and were served in a welded threesome, much like airport chairs, so it was not the kind that you could pour.

So I did not touch the sauce. I asked for teaspoons, but they did not arrive.

Throughout the meal, we kept asking for serving spoons.

We had four Hainanese chicken rice orders, after we had a sample that H. K. offered. I only had the sample, again because there were no serving spoons. But it wasn't a problem, because our leftovers were negligible.

Anyway, I told H. K. that Anson and I were together in Appetite Magazine. H. K. said that when he lost his phone, he also lost our numbers. Paging Anson. H. K. has been experimenting on some dishes that he wants us to try.

H. K. repeatedly asked me to miss call or text him my number, which I did when I got home, and promptly got replies from him.

I reminded him when we left Nasi Lemak that the resto and I were Fb friends, and that he had my email address. He had mentioned at the blogger lunch, I think, that he had no time for email.

We only took home the Kangkong and the Chicken for our cook to try. Daw.

The Kangkong was not as good as when I first had it, but still a hit with my mom , who asked for the sauce.

H. K. said that it was made with a block of bagoong that's too smelly when undercooked, but also bad when overcooked.

He said that he could sell the sauce to us, but that we would need to learn how to cook it first.

My dad said that we would bring our cook with us next time, and H. K. countered by saying that once our cook arrives, that he would shackle her so she doesn't leave. My mom said that our cook had been with us for 34 years, so H. K. countered by saying that it was time for her to change jobs.

This is the kind of joke that worked well with us. 3 remarked at how terrific H. K.'s PR is.

She said that when they arrived and saw my dad then my mom, he had asked my mom if she was my mom. I had made reservations under my name, so that he would know that I was coming.

Before we ordered, he offered a tour of a hawker stall or two in Singapore. He said that his Camry could accommodate four people, and to bring P 200 for two, three dishes per stall. We were wowed by this low price. He added that we might have P 35 change.

He said that he had been hawker tour guide for Paul (Frannywanny, my sister's classmate?) and another blogger, and for a foreigner married to a Pinay.

H. K. showed me his Garmin, which he bought for P 11,000+. He had consulted me on it. He asked me how my sister liked it, implying that he was not happy with it. I told him that ACYdA found it useful here. (My sister later said it was a hit-and-miss thing, but that she had gotten home the day before thanks to the Garmin.) He said that he plans to get another chip for Singapore, and showed me the chip that he had.

The spareribs were fall-off-the-bone, different from the ones I've had, but the best spareribs for me are the ones at Clawdaddy's.

I did not have the sauce, as I did not see it.

AC and my mom liked the ribs very much.

The Salt and Pepper Squid was very good, not as spicy or good maybe as Macau Eastwood, where I had it for the first time more than six years ago, thanks to BF. The sweetish vinegar with the imported (Malaysian, I think) sili-looking pepper made the dish yummier than Macau's. It seems that I was the Number One Appreciator of this dish at our table.

I paired the Squid with the spicy Kangkong, which still gave me the sniffles, but not as much as before.

H. K. was right, you do get used to spicy. He said that their employee from La Union used to react a lot to the spicy food, but after years of working in Nasi Lemak, she doesn't react at all.

AC wanted Crispy Baby Squid, but we had ordered too many courses already, so it would be in our To-Eat List.

AC had blocked my mom's Sizzling Silken Tofu with Minced Pork Sauce order, saying that we had this in our previous visit last April.

After we had settled our bill--
P 2,130+ with two senior citizen's cards, four of us took him up on his Malaysian coffee offer. We had three. I split my coffee with KC. It's 4:19 am now, and I'm still awake!

I think that H. K. intentionally did this to make sure that I blog about Nasi Lemak! And I'm not kidding.

My dad said that it was fragrant. My parents felt that it was too sweet. I felt that it was just right, not as sweet as at the blogger lunch.

H. K. explained the different types of coffee, including C for Carnation.

I had seen these varieties for the first time at Kopi Roti, then at Kopi Tiam, then at a similar establishment at NAIA last August.

At my last visit to Kopi Tiam at Benitez, the maybe two pages of coffee and tea had been been whittled down to about three lines.

He also gave us coffee beans, the same ones as he made for us.

He said that he had been thinking of what to give me, to thank me for the San Juan tour.

He told me to text him if we liked it, and even offered to grind the coffee for us--my dad grinds coffee every morning, so that he could get us a kilo at cost.

This dinner was way successful than our last April clan dinner, even for AC.

3 plans to bring her kids there, as they all love spicy food. She had asked for no MSG in the food, and
H. K. had pointed out the no-vetsin wall behind us. She told H. K. that she should meet her son, who loves to cook.

My mom plans to bring her friends.

Incidentally, my mom observed that there was a section on our left and right. She asked me where the kitchen was. I told her that it was in front of where we had sat last time, and pointed out the stockroom beside the no-vetsin wall.

When I told Mrs. Varciano about the no-vetsin wall, she asked me if this was literal.

The only adverse reaction was from KC, who tends to react to non-live seafood.

3, who's allergic to seafood, and who had shrimp in our house for lunch yesterday, had no reactions yet. She was planning to take Claritin after lunch, but I do not know if she actually took the 'abortifacient.'

I told H. K. that maybe the ingredients were not fresh because we had gone around Holy Week.

Photos:
Among the Ortigas Center area restos, the Cs go to Persian Square and Rai Rai Ken or some other Jap resto (not good anymore, AC said) at Ortigas Home Depot, and Cafe 1771, where I had disappointing strawberry trifle last September 3. The Cs also go to 'walang kamatayang' North Park.
North Park Salcedo Village: hot tea.

Cafe 1771 popcorn and quirky-fun interiors.

8 Spices interiors, February 13.

Tian Di Spa was part of the San Juan tour with H. K., Myke Soon and Nix Manalang Angeles.

Our cook Caymen's broccoli with chicken, lechong paksiw and pork chop.

Nasi Lemak:
blogger lunch: Pacific Clams in XO sauce

April dinner: Fried Rice with Salted Fish, I think--we liked this; green mango and four seasons shakes

Father's Day dinner: utensils beside the cake display. Tom Yam had shrimp, carrot, mushroom and scallop. Shakes: ripe mango, pineapple with coconut, banana. The Hainanese Chicken came with clear soup.

References:

Munch Punch

Nasi Lemak menu that H. K. Tan provided us after the blogger-and-girlfriend lunch.

The Best MSG-Free Restaurant

2011-04-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Nasi Lemak is the best MSG-free resto that I know, the other vetsin-free restaurant being the mediocre Italianni's (pizza photo).

Aside from that, it is one of the best restos in Robinson's Galleria. I think that 8 Spices (eggplant photo) is yummier with more 'ambulance' but I would go to Nasi Lemak when I'm in a hurry. Also, the health benefit of no vetsin tips things over to Nasi Lemak.

I told Chef HK Tan over late lunch today with bloggers Jenny Roxas and Myke Soon and Myke's girlfriend, Nix Manalang Angeles, about one Black Saturday when four of us went around Galleria, almost hopelessly deadlocked on where to eat. Cafe Mediterranean, which is no longer at Galleria, only had pizza. AZ didn't want burgers. We finally ended up at Piadina. The food was so unsatisfactory, I had not been back. My friend said that her Piadina experience before then was aslo not good, but she couldn't say no when my face lit up.

So I'm happy for restos like Nasi Lemak and 8 Spices. Though come to think of it, I'm not sure if the look of Nasi Lemak will pass muster with A.

Anyway, back at Nasi Lemak, we got to talking about Holy Week when I mentioned that the shrimp in the Kue Pai Ti photos that I see in blogs look really fresh. Nasi Lemak owner Cora said that their seafood is delivered everyday. I said that when it's near Holy Week, they must be out of stock of certain items.

HK said that they have no choice but put things in the freezer for three days.

HK had asked Jenny and me--Myke and Nix were parking then--how we were with spicy and subtle flavors. We said that we were not so into spicy. I'm not into subtle flavors.

Come to think of it, the spicy Kangkong Balchan may have had me sniffling, but it is the best dish that I've had so far at Nasi Lemak.

The subtle dishes were the Teriyaki Beef with Silken Tofu, Singapore Laksa with Prawns, Char Kway Teow, the Singapore Claypot Chicken and the Clams in XO Sauce.

HK asked us if we have had laksa before. Jenny had never had it. I've had it only twice, at EDSA Shang this year, and the defunct fastfood place Oodles in Glorietta, yummy sana if an ingredient had not been stale.

He said that after we go through these preliminary dishes, then we can have Fish Head Curry. He said that customers have told him that they have asked him to serve bigger fish heads even if it meant paying P 150 or P 200 more.

I showed him my You Jie Xiao Chao post. He said that his fish head was something like that, but that usually fish heads are served the other side up.

I told him about the yummy dishes that I had read online, like the cockles in the Char Kway Teow. He said that their Char doesn't have cockles, as he still hasn't found a safe source for them. He said that unsafe cockles could cause Hepa A.

I told him that the Discovery Suites Executive Chef has found a safe local source for mussels. HK said that there was none yet for cockles.

When I mentioned sting ray, he said that they have stopped serving sting ray to avoid the confusion with manta ray, which is banned.

When I mentioned the other dishes that I saw online, like Carrot Cake and Oatmeal Prawns, he said that he couldn't serve the same thing to everyone.

I agreed that I didn't want our readers to say that they've read about the food elsewhere.

HK also asked Jenny how much she loved her adobo. She said 9/10. HK said that it was rude to say that one's cuisine is better than another's, but he implied it anyway haha.

The stronger dishes were the more popular ones in the group: Crispy Baby Squid and Beef Rendang. Myke even grabbed a tidbit of the squid as the plate was taken away.

I pointed out that the squid would make a good merienda. It tasted like junk food. Yum.

HK told us that the way to eat the squid is to insert the fork inside the cavity, or to eat it with one's hands.

The Rendang was served with sauce, something that HK said Malaysians and Singaporeans would object to, but it was the only way that Pinoys would accept. I confirmed this. I told him that I wouldn't order Banana Leaf's dry Rendang (photo) after trying it for the first time last Sunday.

He patiently taught Myke how to mix the sauce with the rice, without the beef first.

Jenny pointed out that it was a spicy version of kaldereta, with coconut. It is almost as good as the gamey kalderetang kambing of Kamayan that no one wants to eat with me, as everyone's leery of eating goat. I think that Beef Rendang, without the gamey taste, would be more acceptable.

I took HK, Myke and Nix on a San Juan resto tour after lunch to convince HK to open a resto in San Juan.

When I pointed out House of Wagyu to him, he said that Pinoys like wagyu so much when the reason why it tastes better than cheaper cuts of beef is that Pinoys tend to be more careful when they cook wagyu.

He said that he used an inexpensive cut of beef for the Rendang. I didn't feel that it was the cut-corner beef variety, the kind that canteens and other low-budget restos use, so I only have beef when the price is, say, P 200 up.

Incidentally, HK told us to take his dishes as they are, and not to compare them. When I explained to him that Singaporean food is so foreign to most of our viewers, that referencing it with familiar food would help the reader imagine the taste, he saw it our way.

HK wrote down the dishes for us on a sheet of paper for us to take photos of. Myke commented that HK had nice handwriting. Me man crush yata si Myke. :)

Myke asked me how I met HK, and was surprised that I just met him as a customer of Nasi Lemak. I told him that, from the blogs I've read, this is how they come to know HK, too.

Myke and Jenny asked about Jayson, who didn't reply to my email, as he had 100,000+ unread messages a few months ago. :)

Anyway, the best part of the Teriyaki Beef with Silken Tofu was the ginger, which had a unique taste, not strong or bland.

HK told us to slice the tofu, put the sauce on top, then the beef also on top, then add a slice or half-slice of ginger.

I would have preferred this with more ginger! And more sauce. :)

HK said that their tofu is not the store-bought variety. It seemed softer and not malansa.

He asked me if I've had tofu before. I told him, mapo tofu, which he kinda scoffed at.

I still prefer mapo tofu--strong flavor again--but I can imagine blander eaters like my Kogi-loving friend liking it. Another possible merienda.

I told HK what RAT had told me, that there was a terrific tofu at Northeast Square, where I brought HK, Mix and Nix. HK asked me how many times I can eat tofu. I said, not too many times (if cooked the same way), but ASUY can eat it every week.

The laksa was also not as flavorful as I had expected, but I liked the bite of the noodle, a biggie for someone like me who doesn't generally like noodles with the exception of Pho Hoa's curry noodle.

Jenny did not care for it at all.

I'm willing to try it again, as my bowl did not have cucumber and shrimp. I suspect that the Laksa would taste better with more ingredients. HK had suggested that I bring one or two friends, and I had brought three, after consulting with him, so it's my fault that only some, not all, of the ingredients were in each bowl.

The Char Kway Teow was the most unremarkable dish of all. I still feel that Silk's Pad Thai is superior, with its just-right sour kick.

HK said that Cora would bring Claypot Chicken, alias 'Adobo, Humanda Ka' back to the province with her. I asked him if it still tasted good once it reaches the province. He said that, like adobo, Claypot Chicken tastes better over time. It is cooked a day or two before serving.

I told him that I saw Claypot Chicken on AFC, that there was this guy cooking twenty-one pots. He said that Claypot Chicken Rice is different. Nasi Lemak used to have Claypot Chicken Rice, but the kitchen couldn't get it right, so HK took it out of the menu.

It was subtly flavorful. I still prefer our cook Caymen's spare ribs or the saucy ones you can get at Chinese restos.

The Clams in XO Sauce was his pahabol dish.

He asked me if I like clams. When I said that I love clams--shellfish, actually, he had the dish cooked. I told him that I also like XO sauce.

I told him about my friend ZC, who had been looking for XO sauce. He only knew that it was in HK. When I told him that it was available in Green Joy, he found this funny: you mean, instead of getting on a plane, we can send someone on a jeep to get it?

HK said that Lee Kum Kee XO costs
P 600 a bottle. He said that they didn't put XO on the menu, because every time they come up with new menus, their menus disappear. He suspected that someone was copying their menu.

I told him that menus are nothing, they needed to know how to cook the dishes.

Well, the people getting their menus could be their customers, as ASUY is wont to do, clickthecity or munchpunch.

HK's enthusiasm reminds me of Chef Paul Poblador (photo) of Asian Flavours, who had two pizzas as his pahabol dishes when Jayson, Dante Ward, the Travel Book people-one of whom probably took one of the two Japanese pizza photos in this post, and Lily Ramos of PNA last December 8.

HK's humor also reminds me of Jehzeel Laurente (he took the photo of the squash soup at Balai Isabel), when HK had us sip the Milo Monster, a pahabol dessert drink which got Nix excited, at the same time. I also showed Jehzlau's site after HK enthused about his new Lumix.

The Milo Monster has not been priced yet. I suggested that we bloggers come up with a price that we would be willing to pay for it.

I found it too sweet, as with the top portion of the coffee, which HK prepared for and served us. When it got to the bottom part, the coffee was perfect. So this is how Singaporean coffee is supposed to taste like, so much better than Kopi Roti's version.

This was the best thing from the meal. I just have to remember to ask them to serve the condensed milk on the side, so I can control the sweetness.

Caveat, though: I suspect that I'm getting sleepy only now because of it.

It surprises me that I want the savory dishes' volumes pumped up, and the sedate versions of the drinks.

The dessert, Onde Onde, was like pichi-pichi, except the palm sugar gave it a sour hint. HK told us not to bite it, to use our tongues to squeeze it. I tried to at first, then lost patience haha.

Like most Chinese desserts, it was too bland for me. Amber pa rin ako.

Mix said that he and Nix went to Singapore a year ago, and they had baby squid and tofu at the hawkers center, and they were like Nasi Lemak's.

HK was all praises for Gene Gonzalez and his son Gino, who co-hosts a cooking show with China Cojuangco, who demoed a few dishes at the Carnation blogger event at Eastwood last January 12.

Gene Gonzalez had asked HK which spice brand they used; it is Babas.

I later showed the exterior of Cafe Ysabel to HK and the Ixes.

HK said that he would send us the menu in PDF. HK, could you send it to us in Excel, so I could post it in Bilihing Pinoy?

ADG asked me how I would rate Nasi Lemak. I said that the food and the service were 8s.

HK would thank each server each time we were served. HK asked for water when we were already eating. I got up to get napkins from Cora (photo). There was a buzzer on our table, but I didn't use it. HK told me to feel at home. I told him that I often get mistaken as a resto manager because I would adjust the aircon, and instruct the waiters to put together tables for our family, etc.

The kwentos, especially the off the record ones, I would rate a 9; 10 if you exclude HK's corny, repetitive sex jokes. :)

ADG accused me of being Nasi Lemak's promo girl. She asked me if that term was still being used.

What else do you call them nowadays?

I looked it up online and saw a February ad for promo girls.

I teased HK about the coconut bits on top of the Nasi Lemak rice, which I didn't have when I ordered it. He said that sometimes the coconut is mixed in already.

As soon as the rice was served, Mix commented on its aroma. Jenny appreciated it as well.

The best part of having a meal like this is it's gentle on the stomach. I always thought that you needed to eat something boring like Seoul Seoul's expensive (P 400 years ago) ginseng soup or something more interesting like Asian Flavours' Japanese breakfast, to have the same effect.

HK says that they want their customers to want more, so they stop them from ordering too much.

HK showed us a note from a four-year-old, who appreciated the meal.

Incidentally, all three had a hard time looking for Nasi Lemak. When I told JB about it, he also could not imagine where it was. It 's on the same block as Mangan, Alex III, Piadina, Bangus.

The Best Kangkong

2011-04-08T02:39:00.001-07:00

I've been eating at Pho Hoa. Makati last April Fools' Day and January 25. at Greenhills this year, and at Galleria on February 11 and May 17.

Although I enjoy the healthy food, I need a change. It doesn't help that I've been having won ton and other soups at Green Maris, Luk Yuen and Le Ching.

As I drove to the basement parking of Robinson's Galleria yesterday, and passed Johnny Rockets, 8 Spices and company, I resigned myself to eating at good ol' Pho Hoa.

I also considered at another resto for the sake of research, then I remembered Nasi Lemak.

I had been there last year with MA while we were waiting for a movie to start-- was it The Book of Eli? (opened January in the States, but I saw it past March onwards na). He was seesawing between laksa and another dish, and ended up with another dish which I don't remember now.

I remembered then that the prices were too expensive for the place. It looked more like a fancy version of the $ 1 or $ 3 Singaporean food stalls that I had seen on AFC.

When I told Jayson about the resto, he told me that the owner had taught him how to eat the resto's food.

I went over the menu, determined to eat Singapore Laksa, then I saw even other interesting things like Singapore Ba Kut Teh and Bakwan Kopiting Soup. They were interesting to me because I seem to have encountered them in the Asian Food Channel, and I sort of told Executive Chef HK Tan this.

I was surprised to see different dish nationalities like Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai.

After I read the descriptions, I decided on having Kangkong Balchan for health's sake.

My yummy recollections of kangkong include Pho Hoa (again!) and Gerry's Grill Insular. Also my friend's salty kangkong with garlic, Pinoy style. Our cook Caymen's has no salt, so I put lots of vinegar and chopped garlic on it. Kangkong is my 7-year-old niece's favorite gulay. Me, I eat it mainly because it's one of the few dark and leafy veggies that I sort of like. And Dr. Ruby Go has threatened to prescribe me meds if my blood sugar goes up.

The single-serve rice choices were Thai Jasmine Rice and Nasi Lemak. Jasmine Rice sounded ordinary, and I always thought that Nasi Lemak was similar to Nasi Goreng or bagoong rice. At P 35, it couldn't be a 'conglomerate' type of rice.

While waiting, customers are served a kropek-like snack. It was, to be politically incorrect, amoy Arabo, but it tasted yummy-Indian.

When the rice arrived, I was disappointed--what was I expecting?--to see that it was plain rice with what looked like green coloring, but when I ate it, I really liked the coconut aroma. The best 'plain rice!'

After I tasted the kangkong, I gave the female owner, who was serving customers--sorry, I forget her name--a thumbs up. She thanked me. I told her that it was much better than Pho Hoa's. It was spicy and had a more complex taste.

The bummer came when I asked for hot water. The container looked a tad dirty, or old. This was a deal-breaker for me, much like getting a dirty stick at Ineng's at the Petron gas station at Makati Avenue corner Jupiter corner Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue.

Or so I thought.

The food had come so fast that after I had opened my laptop, I had no time to use it. After dinner, since my laptop was on anyway, and I had a little time left before I picked up ASUY at City and Land Megaplaza across Galleria, I decided to use it.

Chef HK Tan gave me their password, and told me that their Globe internet was faster than Galleria's. The password was ab12341234 or the like. He said that he'll change the password once people start hanging around, but so far there was no need to do so.

He said that he had been the chef of Nasi Lemak for four years, and that he owns three restos in Singapore.

His friend, the Filipina owner, had asked him to help her out.

He asked me if I knew Spanky. I told him that I have heard that my teacher, Anton Diaz, had a partner named Spanky.

He said that Spanky wants to open a Singaporean resto with Chef HK in Pampanga.

He also said that their Hainanese Chicken was number 3 in spot.ph's list that my former Appetite colleague Anson Yu wrote. The top 2 are Stevie's and Tao Yuan. Nasi Lemak's Singaporean franchisor was ranked 7th, so their franchisor's reps went to Nasi Lemak to try their chicken, leaving their card. Wee Nam Kee was 8th, Banana Leaf was 6th, and Shiok was 5th.

I showed him Jayson's post. He showed me Leslie's. I told him that Leslie was my sister's classmate.

I told him that I thought that Shangri-La EDSA's laksa was ok, except that there was one ingredient that was past its prime.

He said that he'll give me a taste of their laksa. I said that I had to leave, and asked him if I could go back.

He said that he would be in the country for a couple of weeks. I set a date. He told me to go there with an empty stomach, and to bring a friend or two. Who wants to go with me? Email me.

He also asked me to email him on the dishes that I specialized in reviewing in. Chef HK, you can check out my top posts. Chinese chili fish, dumplings and noodles and Thai bagoong rice, fish, salad, spinach, curry and soup.

I also met Chef's business associate, who didn't know what a blogger was. Chef HK said that everyone is a blogger in Manila, and that bloggers talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.

He asked me if I was a Chinese born and raised in the Philippines, which I am.

He owns a resto in Malate. When I told him that I just go around San Juan and the nearby areas, he was happy that his restos catered to different markets.

He said that he noticed that I liked the kangkong. Chef HK said that the spices for the kangkong dish all came from Singapore.

Chef HK said that the specialty of Nasi Lemak is Claypot Chicken.

He said that when I go over, the dishes will be served like always, that sometimes he just asks the kitchen to make the dishes a bit more presentable. He pointed out the dish photos in their kitchen (behind Heng Carrot Cake). My friend had pointed out the dish photos at Papa John's Greenhills kitchen when we had eaten there a a week or so ago.

Photos: Pho Hoa Galleria kangkong photo--with rice--taken on July 13, 2010. Pho Hoa Galleria strawberry trifle taken on February 11. The other Pho Hoa photos, like the Pho Ga, chicken and shrimp noodle soup, were taken at Greenbelt. Tom Yang Goong or Ram Mid Thalay at 8 Spices. Johnny Rockets Eastwood servers dance periodically. February 8, 2011 soup might be wanton, Le Ching Shoppesville, P 125. Photo shows half portion. Lamb and clam curries at the best resto in Trinoma, Banana Leaf. Shangri-La EDSA's laksa, August 13. Half portion of Luk Yuen Greenhills' P 165 wanton soup (with bicho-bicho-looking crackling). Thanks to AR for treating me to lunch at EDSA Shang.

Best Mommy Bloggers

2011-03-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call tonight asking me to refer some mommy bloggers.

My list includes my Maven Secrets classmate Janice Villanueva of janicevillanueva.com, and others who I encountered in my blogger event:

Life is Fun by Rizza Zapanta (in photo with her friend Cathie), with 31,356 views

Nica's Day Out by Nica Mandigma, with its pretty layout

Mami and Family by Bedalyn Aguas

Her friend Jenny Roxas' Jen's Joyful Life and Mom mom's by Marlyn Borje were last updated last February and November pa, respectively, but I would like to keep them in mind.

Menu Layout

2011-02-26T02:01:00.001-08:00

A friend wants to hire Claire Maspinas to redo the layout of her menu.

My Maven classmate Meg Koh has approved the logo that Claire has designed for Meg's family business.

As of January last year, Claire charged P 700 for small logo, P 1,000 for the whole look of a website, and P 3,500 for a brochure. These fees include three revisions.

Claire, can you send me a sample of your work that I can post here? And your new rates?

You may email Claire at wankei2001@yahoo.com for her updated rates.

The Best Potato Chip Deal

2010-12-19T01:21:00.000-08:00

Cheesecake Factory White Chocolate Raspberry

Cibo lengua de gato, toasts, Lavazza coffee

My friend had been telling me that the best potato chip is Red Rock, available at S&R. EFY finally got some yesterday at buy one, take one prices!

He got them at SM Hypermart at the old Puregold site at EDSA, beside the gas station at the corner of EDSA and B. Serrano. I told him that if SM will offer the same things that S&R has, who's going to get S&R membership? Also, SM is quite accessible from our house, even more than Unimart, because of the traffic situation.

The catch is that the chips are expiring on December 23, which is why they're in the freezer now.

We had the Honey Soy Chicken yesterday. Four of us, all female, including one 7-year-old, finished a whole bag.

While eating the chips, I sang praises to my Food Deepthroat, who has been pretty consistent.

C thought of the greatest chip that EFY had bought. The name escapes me now. It sounded like mesquite, which got me googling now. I found Miss Vickie's Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips, which brings back memories of its Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream flavor. Yummy too! No, I take that back. Miss Vickie's was even yummier than Red Rock Honey Soy Chicken. But of course the comparison is not fair.

But I will go down this road, despite expected objections from Mike Abasolo.

The best potato chip that I've had was Calbee, which is on the same plane as the other brand that C mentioned. I don't remember the flavor now. EFY had bought the chip in HK. The China site is in Chinese, and not translatable to English. I didn't see any chips in the US site.

CYdA wondered if the SM near her has them.

Since the chips were in the freezer, I toasted them at minimum on a flat metal plate, then dipped it in Poco Loco Con Queso Cheese Salsa, which had only a hint of spiciness, so EFY could enjoy it.

We got the Cheese Salsa from a PESA Christmas party loot basket.

I had tried using the Salsa as a spread on Cibo toast, from a Christmas basket from AJR & NO, but the combination fell flat.

I tried toasting the chips below the first line in the knob, and they were same before and after they got into the toaster. I tried toasting them around the second line, and they got a bit burnt. I also tried toasting the chips in a bowl-type container, and the chip tops became blackish. So I just toast them enough so the toaster lights up.

Sea Salt, Honey Soy Chicken and Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream are all on buy-one, take-one basis. Lime & Black Pepper, expiring on December 30, is not on sale. EFY supposes that Lime will be buy-one, take-one around December 25, five days before expiration. Merry Christmas, Chip Lovers!

I had suggested to my friend that she give chips instead of cake for Christmas, but she said that she doesn't like giving away items that are about to expire--then get the ones that will not expire soon, and that some people might not like chips because they are not healthy. But aren't pastries unhealthy too?

But I guess there are people like the Pinay M, who said that chip bags lie around her house, partly eaten. I told her that cakes are like that in our house. Seven of us would take initial stabs at, say, ten types of pastries or cakes, one or two slices per type in a box, which would leave us with little chunks of cake in a box, lying there, neglected for around a week. M said that she could eat a whole cheesecake, about twice the size of say, a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, in three days!

I guess that's the Tsinays in us. I remember the chinky-eyed Mike of MasterChef, who got eliminated during the vanilla challenge because desserts in his house meant fruits.

The Best Web Designer

2010-12-13T23:29:00.000-08:00

inboundpass.com - Covering Philippine college basketball

Meg Koh wants to know how much a web designer or developer costs.

First of all, let's distinguish a developer from a designer.

I was one of those people who thought that developers and designers were the same, until Alvin Gale Tan cleared it up for the Maven Secrets 2 Positive Pressure Group.

*

Web Designers/Developers Rate Card

Company	Budget

Pivotal	P 200,000
Red Media	P 100,000
Alphonse Tan	P 40,000
Ross Dalangin	$ 350 per design excluding programming
Jinkee Umali
Richard Garcia
Claire Maspinas

*
He said that the web designer is the interior designer, and the developer is the contractor.

A! we nodded in unison. Finally, we see the light.

Alvin also pointed out that rare is a developer also a designer, that these are usually two separate persons.

After being referred to various web developers, I finally have a shortlist of designers who I can recommend.

I sent out this email to the web developers:

I'm sure that, like blogger Joy of Occasions of Joy, who didn't want a one-column blogspot site, and Meg, who are talking with designers who charge P 15,000 up, there are others out there. Tip: ask for a peek at his site, make sure that he did the design, not the development of the site. My friend M was disappointed when she asked a developer to come up with web design, which looked worse than free Woo Themes and even Bilihing Pinoy.

She then realized that in a previous site that she worked on with the developer, she had done the design and he had executed the look.

She is now working with someone in Canada on the design.

I've also talked with some developers and was disappointed when I saw their sites. Again, Woo Themes look better.

M likes the Red Media and Inbound Pass sites. I asked Dave Quitoriano, one of Yehey's Founders, for a ballpark rate. He quoted P 100,000. M said that she won't negotiate with him. As an artist, she respected his rate.

M also likes the Complex.com site, which Dexter Matilla showed a few of us who were working on a site that didn't push through.

TG recommends Pivotal for making their best non-Drupal sites.

He recommends Drupal because, although it is difficult to develop, it has a lot of abangs for forums and e-commerce, so it's easy for the layman to update. Anton Diaz thinks that forums are not applicable to all kinds of sites.

Pivotal charges around P 200,000.

On the low end is my cousin-in-law Claire Maspinas, who made the Firefly Electronics site, still standing after three years. Meg said that she has spoken with Claire, who told her that she's not a professional web developer/designer. Claire, may I publish your rate here?

I also spoke with Richard Garcia, based in New Zealand, who developed and designed Island Rose, and Baddicts!, which he founded.

He called me up one day and said that we had a site, and asked me to guess the name.

I guessed correctly with one try.

Richard, I can't find your rates, and you haven't given me a list of the sites that you've done.

Island Rose has been revised since he fixed it. Same with Baddicts! The original Baddicts! logo was designed by his wife Phonam, who won a web design award in New Zealand, if I'm not mistaken.

My Maven Secrets classmate Jinkee Umali has pointed domains to Woo Themes/Wordpress sites for our classmates Ana Santos and Nina Terol-Zialcita, if I remember correctly.

I've also spoken with Alphonse Tan, who has designed a travel site, Steve Balmedilla and Ross Dalangin. I find Alphonse and Ross quite technically proficient. Ross, specially, has sent me several videos and links to answer my questions.

I also tried to contact Dig It All Solutions and Tangerine, recommended by TG, but they did not reply to my email.

The Most Sophisticated Bloggers

2010-12-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

The influential Jonel Uy of Nomnom Club fame and Ryan Joson of Food Banquet outside Seattle's Best Greenbelt 3.

Thank you, Seattle's Best, especially Marketing Manager Alvin Saronicman, for my birthday coffee mug.

I really enjoyed myself at this event, primarily because Manager Alvin was so open to ideas. I showed him my Seattle's Best posts.

Don Covar said that his sausage,
pancake, scrambled eggs, butter and bread brunch was good.

He asked me about Seattle's Best aligning itself with bloggers. Like, are bloggers alike? I told him that there were upscale and/or sophisticated food and non-food bloggers that Seattle's Best could align itself with, like 1. Our Awesome Planet, my Carnation Food Tour semi-roommate 2. Jehzlau Concepts and 3. YugaTech Philippines. I forgot to mention 4. Yvette U. Tan, 5. Shoot First, Eat Later, 6. When in Manila, 7. my classmate Hilda Abola's blog, 8. her husband Exie Abola's blog, 9. Ivan About Town, 9. Maven 1's Alvin's 7107 Reasons to Love Pinas! (thanks for the shirt, Alvin!) and 10. Peach Kitchen, which I encountered when she signed up for my blogger event, held on the same day as the Seattle's Best event. Margaux Salcedo's blog is under construction. I don't know if Seattle's Best would be interested in the hilarious but controversial The Professional Heckler and the tamer RJ Ledesma.

Jeman Villanueva plays bartender. With Manager Alvin.

When I told Alvin that my client complained about the breakfast at the Valero branch, he knew that I was talking about the French toast.

Even at the TARA event, I was at the same table as Ann Saturno and Jayson Biadog.

OAP also came up with 8 Most Admired Upcoming Filipina Bloggers, which includes my Maven Secrets 2 classmates Writers Block and Ana Santos, and Jhoey Hernandez of Batch 1.

Boy Kuripot of Batch 3 has turned pro. It is about people who don't want to spend, which is the opposite of what Seattle's Best would want. There is a tie-up possibility, though.

Too bad the salmon and cream cheese was served at room temp.

Boy Kuripot's girlfriend, newbie blogger Girl Kuripot, writes well, too.

Alvin asked me about Nuffnang, which is a quick way of reaching several professional or semi-pro bloggers in one go.

The Best Invitational Buffet

2010-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

I tried Uncle Cheffy's Memphis Barbecue Beef Ribs because a couple of people--Yvette and my friend?-- said that they were good. They were, but I'm not that gaga over them. But then the food in the Festival was not hot, as my friend pointed out, so it's hard to judge any of the dishes.

Yvette Tan sporting her terrific haircut that she got near the Agora Market. What was the name of the salon again, Yvette? I had also seen it in the Mandaluyong market.

RRR and MK want to know why I didn't go to Ultimate Taste Test 5.0.

After UTT 4, I thought that I would go to UTT 5 just for bonding purposes, as I did not eat anything good, and had no patience to line up for Dulcelin and Boracay's Swirls Frozen Keffir, the best booths that my friend tried.

My second time to see Real Groove, the first time at Tiendesitas by accident. Also. After UTT 4, my friend still wanted to go to UTT 5.

But after the Appetite Restaurant Festival, we're not the same anymore.

Of course, as MK pointed out, not everyone gets invited to Appetite, so UTT would still have its market.

Appetite Restaurant Festival grouped together 25 restaurants in one party.

It was supposed to be held at the plaza outside Eastwood Mall, so I was worried when we didn't see any booth or stage when we arrived, not even a sign to say that the venue has been moved. When we asked an Eastwood guard, we were directed upstairs.

Due to the rain that afternoon, the venue was moved to the semi-covered veranda area.

A band sang old, tired songs with gusto. The drum group got the audience going. The most entertaining part was seeing Issa Litton, with Appetite Editor-in-Chief Lorraine Timbol, who agreed to be photographed with us.

My friend commented that Issa Litton looked thinner. Ms. Litton told us that she was pregnant when the episodes airing then, were shot.

Bill Shaw of Jeepney, for which I wrote one article, in a cordoned off Easter event.

The 'entertainment' was too loud for us to enjoy our conversations with Yvette Tan, Anson Yu and everyone else. This is my third time to meet Yvette Tan, as I had met her at the Carnation Food Tour, after she appeared in Ang Pinaka, and at the lunch hosted by Ms. Timbol, who Ms. Litton called 'Sharon Cuneta' (see photo)--oo nga no!--after LT took over Appetite from Lorraine Belmonte.

I would have preferred softer background music, so I could mingle without shouting.

If you must have a live performance, I would prefer a better performer, to sing only a few songs, instead of several not-so-memorable acts.

My friend and I had gone to Globe's 0917 event within maybe a week of the Appetite Restaurant Festival, and the Real Groove, my favorite cover band, rocked the place for hours!

I imagine that the Real Groove must be very expensive, so I'm hoping for a singer who's just slightly better than the Appetite Resto performers.

EIC Lorraine Timbol

My friend was also impressed that we got the current issue of Appetite, not a back issue.

We were

Ms. Issa Litton; ThaiDara

about to leave when my friend got a text to meet Ms. Ces Gahuman, who handed us our GCs!

Maybe the drum group got the best reaction from the crowd.

Maybe next time we can get the press kit at the same time as the GCs. But who's complaining?

Good thing my friend heard her phone, as my phone beeper was too soft for us to hear.

UCC's chocolate cupcakes were such a hit that I didn't get to eat any of them. Or maybe UCC didn't prepare a lot? I felt bad that some tables had what looked like leftover cupcakes.

We also think that 25 restos is too
much. I would prefer ten restos so I can taste everything. It got to a point where I was too tired to walk to the ends of the earth. This would also benefit the restos, so all their food gets a chance to be tasted.

Thanks to my friend for styling this shot taken on a sofa in Eastwood Mall, on the same floor as the Appetite Festival.

Appetite can hold a two-nighter or filter the restos so that it is a privilege to be part of the Festival, something that I doubt Appetite would do since they want to be friends with all the restos.

I'm not tired of Via Mare halo-halo yet. This is the Via Mare that I love, not the quality--or the lack of it--that I've had at Landmark Trinoma or Promenade.

The best dish in the Festival was Old Vine's steak with foie gras. My friend said that it was too cold for her to appreciate.
Ok. What about this: 25 restos with one dish each?

I would also put the restos with drinks near the center so people wouldn't need to go so far just to get refills. And ask more restos to have drinks.

I would also put more tables, as our plates could hardly fit.

Also a tip to the participating restos: Use big, contrasting labels for your food so they come out in photographs. Via Mare had the best labels, but they don't need any introduction.

I can't complain about the lighting, since this was a last-minute venue. Maybe this veranda can be a permanent venue for next time?

My friend said that it would be difficult to keep out people in the open plaza. I told her that Eastwood Mall has successfully filtered the people going to that area, whether it's for Easter and some other event.

I'm not surprised, because Eastwood has the best security of all malls and other public places. My friend RSFDS, who was bumped by a resident or resident's relative at Eastwood years ago, was very impressed with the assistance that she got from the guard.

Even Glorietta has a lot of limited-seating events at the Activity Center. I remember going over to Moy Ortiz to say hi at an anniversary event and an Ayala guard blocked me quickly, but without touching me.

For the next Festival, if we are invited again (I hope!), I'll hang on to my plate because they ran out of plates and had to buy paper plates.

All in all, it was a major major effort!

I was very happy to be invited, but for Appetite to include a companion for the invite was super!

So ThaiDara is no longer the best buffet, Appetite Restaurant Festival's is. But as far as public buffets go, ThaiDara is still the best. Incidentally, ThaiDara's P 404+ buffets are still available, but on Mondays to Fridays, except holidays.

Old Vine's salmon carpaccio--how can you go wrong with smoked salmon?

Canon Cartridges

2010-11-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

I asked GQM how much his Canon cartridges cost and got this reply:

'Im not sure, less than 5,000 yata.'

I edited his reply for clarity.

So the cartridge costs as much as the printer!

This is the same experience of CU, but I forget what her printer brand is.

I wonder how much Brother cartridges cost. The refill price I saw Sulit was not for my friend's DCP 7040.

I use an Epson Stylus T10 printer period. I used to have a Canon printer period. I was never scared of losing the warranty from using refill or continuous ink because even if the printer breaks down, the cost of buying a new printer is less than my ink savings!

Alternative Printer

2010-11-18T01:24:00.000-08:00

ShopOnline.com.sg

I asked GQM about his multi-function printer. He has a Canon Pixma mp198. I asked him how much he got it for: 'If I remember right it was less than 5,000 last year. They can go to
megamall and check out all the computer printers. better ask them also to
find out the price of the ink.'

He uses Canon ink.

He also commented, 'I just think that its a printer that can scan and can work like a xerox machine. It can also print pictures ok but not that great. I find the ink cartridges expensive.'

I've edited his emails for clarity.

The Best Printer

2010-11-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

CYdA is in the market for a printer.

My friend is happy with her Brother DCP-7040, a scanner-printer that costs around P 1.50 to
P 2.00 a copy for refill Laser ink. She bought her printer for around P 8,000. She uses Laser ink to retain the clarity of her important documents, especially after her Ondoy experience.

Her dad's Epson scanner-printer-fax, which he bought within the same year as my friend's Brother, is now kaput.

In the US, AK also uses a Brother 3-in-1.

The Best Oven

2010-11-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

AMYC is shopping for an oven and other appliances for her new condo.

I asked a friend to recommend an oven for an amateur baker. She said that Elba is ok already, and said that La Germania makes it.

Incidentally, AM and AZ went to Anson's to buy appliances because of the low prices, even though Automatic Center would match the lowest prices.

AM also likes how the salespeople are knowledgeable.

Not for Magic Sing, because the lady I spoke with at Anson's across Podium, couldn't tell me the difference between one model and the other.

The Best Chili Fish

2010-10-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

My friend said that it was an exotic homerun week: Thai Dara on a Monday, then last September 18, a Saturday, we went to You Jie Xiao Chao Chinese Restaurant , the same day that we had gone to Chocolate Fire.

If it weren't for OAP, I wouldn't even know the name of the resto, as there wasn't a sign when we went, and I didn't see the name of the resto anywhere. Maybe it was in the menu, in Chinese, which I hardly understand.

To this day, we refer to You Jie as that restaurant on Camia near Rockwell.

CYdA had asked me for the name of the resto. I had to look for it in my cell phone. When I told her the name, she went, kaya pala hindi mo alam.

When my friend said that she wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant, I winced inside. I imagine that this was how Carl Javier felt when his then-girlfriend said that she wanted to go to a spa.

I was tired of Chinese food, as my parents are Gloriamaris and Choi Garden die-hards. Actually, my Tsinay friends and I have been avoiding Chinese food for decades.

But if I agree to have burger, fries and nachos with my friend, why not Chinese food?

She said that her dad, who often criticizes restos, said that it was good. Her cousin, who had a Star column, praised the chili fish.

If not for Our Awesome Planet's direction that it was 3 houses away from Coznuts Salon, we might not have found it. Anton's directions came from Taguig, we had come from San Juan. I had forgotten to reverse directions.

The best parking spot we could find was at the farthest end of Camia. I was glad that my friend was driving. She had insisted on driving her car as my car was newer. She had read a map beforehand.

My friend pointed out that the 6404 tacked on the door was paper. She spotted the place.

When we got there, she saw an AIM classmate, who she had seen a few times before in faraway foodie places in Metro Manila.

The tea with leaves in it was refreshing and different, not too bland or overpowering.

The chili fish was very flavorful. It was very spicy for me, so I just had mostly sauce and rice. My half of the fish was mostly untouched. My friend brought it home, as she was more of the spicy person than anyone in my family is. She pointed out that the luya, chili peppers in the fish made it yummy.

The dumpling was yummier than Beijing Hand-Pulled's or that of this resto near San Fernando Bridge that specializes in noodles--I forget its name now. It is past Reyes Barbecue, coming from Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz. I think that it's called La Mien. It has the best noodles that I've had, as they're al dente. Like Beijing, you can see how the noodles are made.

Anyway, You Jie's dumplings are the best that I've tasted, too, because the laman had a kick to it, not just the usual ground pork and some green onions. We decided on steamed, even though the waitress told us that fried was much better.

The three waitresses were quite harassed, but they tried their best, so my friend gave them
P 20 each, on the sly, as we heard that tips were not allowed. It took a while to get our tea refilled, etc. But you can't complain at their prices.

Male customers helped themselves to rice in a pot in the kitchen, which my friend pointed out was unsanitary.

Rice was either all-you-can-eat or per serving, but we didn't bother asking what the price difference was, because the place was undermanned. We had a cup of rice each.

As we sat there getting stuffed, my friend saw some delicious dishes at other tables. She had wanted to order a few more dishes, like mapo tofu, but it's something that I eat at home, so I stopped her. Besides, we were only two, and the fish dish was plenty.

Like Arnold, we'll be back.