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food fest weekend

I am stuffed. I've eaten so much this long weekend :|

I am a bit tired too. Long weekends encourage me to delay sleeping time till the wee hours of the morning. Not a healthy practice :|

The food fest started with Saturday dinner with HS friends at Fat Michael's in Bangkal :) The place was cozy and intimate. It could probably sit around 15 people at one time. I liked the pizza and the garlic rice and the kesong puti rolls :)

Conversation topics that night included parasites and parasite-host relationships (c/o Jerome). That topic eventually led to the Gulf Air incidents of baby abandonment and suicide, which led to a funny discussion on dental floss. D came up with some dental floss commercial taglines :| We touched a bit on showbiz, on Kimerald's new movie and celebrity births. It was a quiet night with flowing conversation and good food :)

My friends got me a yummy Costa Brava caramel cake :D Like Estrel's but less sweet. Like!

On Sunday, D and I met up with Ni and Howell at Starbucks after my tutor session.

We visited a shirt store in the Juan Luna area before heading home to pick up Zel for a movie date. We watched Life As We Know It :) I liked the movie. It was funny and touching and light, perfect for kicking back and relaxing. After the movie, we headed to Cafe Juanita, where Ni had made reservations. D and I (plus Zel) got lost on the way. We found ourselves on the way to Antipolo instead of Pasig. Good thing D kept his cool and wasn't affected by my panicking self :| Of course, Dad's directions helped too :D We were able to drive ourselves back the right route. Whew~

Cafe Juanita was mesmerizing. The interiors are kitschy, dotted with Indonesian and Thai statues and decorations, interspersed with Old English china cabinets and garden accessories. I loved the round table we were seated at, at the center of the restaurant. We ordered mostly Filipino food. The Filipino ratatouille was good :) The string beans used in the Bicol Express were fresh and crunchy. Dad and Zel loved the kare-kare, which I hear is homemade; while Ni and Mom liked their version of dinuguan. The desserts were yummy too! We got the sticky toffee pudding ala mode on the house because it was my Chinese birthday :D The waiters and manager even sang "Happy Birthday" :) The cassava cake, which was served warm with

mozzarella on top, was heavenly. It literally melted in the mouth. The buko salad with kaong was good too, though I didn't find it as special as the other two desserts we had.

Cafe Juanita was a lovely dining experience :)

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On Sunday, D took us (Ni, H, Mom, and Zel) to Shang Palace for the dimsum eat-all-you-can. It's an ala carte buffet with eat-all-you-can dimsum, vegetarian dishes, appetizers, and desserts :) Plus you get one free main dish per person. We had servings of siumai, hakaw, chicken feet, xiao long pao, raddish cake, etc. I loved that they offered vegetarian fare as part of their dimsum treat :) We ended our filling meal with bowls of almond soup and mango sago. D connived with the waiters and they sang Happy Birthday for me. Haha. I celebrated my

birthday thrice four times this year :D

After such a filling meal, we were glad to stroll around at Rustan's afterwards. It was a bit after five when we headed off to SM for bowling :D Zel had been wanting to bowl (and so had I) and so we took today's holiday as an opportunity to test our bowling skills. We played two games. Zel and I were able to warm up after a few tries :) D and Howell and Ni played pretty well.

Had dinner at TOSH afterwards, and ended the night with flavored steamed milk - irish cream for D and me, strawberry for Zel, vanilla for Ni - at Cafe Firenzo.

Being out the whole day can be tiring, but spent with friends and family, such days out prove to be wonderful bonding sessions :)

Am sad to see the long weekend go, but am looking forward to see the coming week too!

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D surprised me with a box of birthday messages which he compiled from my friends :) It was a lovely and sweet surprise :-)

birthday

Quarter century. Anything paired with century seems old :| But I guess that's what I am, now that I'm 25. How's 25 different from 24? Well, I'm now only 5 years away from the big 3-0. People seem to think I'm of age to get married, although I'm not so sure if it's the right time yet. I read an article on Yahoo about people who earned their first million dollars before hitting 25. So, now I'm thinking if I should think more about business. I'm not so sure if I have that savvy needed in business. I'm more used to the managing side than the actual starting up. But I have been thinking about expanding and of pursuing other fields. I just need to get a more concrete vision and focus. Could be one of my goals for the upcoming year.

My birthday was a quiet day albeit it being a busy work day. Had dinner with my family at Peking Garden :) Ni and zel gave me a cute cupcake cake, which was aptly designed for me - with an apple, a worm (for bookworm), and books :) D surprised me by making it to dinner :D All day, I had thought he wouldn't be able to make it coz he had a con-call late in the evening. It was a lovely surprise seeing him in the restaurant. I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face :) That's love, isn't it? Hehe.

D got me Delize's pistachio sansrival :) It was packaged beautifully in a silvery purple box. The oval-shaped sansrival was peppered with beautiful specks of light green. Pistachios are my favorite nut :D I'm not a big fan of sansrival but I've read raves about Delize's version, and I was quite looking forward to taking my first bite. Let's just say it didn't disappoint. It's not like the heavy-on-the-tummy sansrival cakes I've eaten. The butter layers are really light and it's really chewy, just the way I like it. The sweetness was also just right, just enough to make it a light dessert :) It's truly a lovely cake. Speaking of cakes, Cha got me a lovely cake as well :) Cha never misses a birthday ;)

Maybe it was because it was my birthday, but as I walked towards the parking area with my hand wrapped in D's, I felt content and at peace and loved. I did feel guilty that D had to rush all the way from Makati. His eyes reflected his tiredness :| But hey, it was my birthday so I allowed myself to feel happy at my selfish need to see him :)

And so, my quiet birthday ended. And now, I'm 25. Whew. Some of my resolutions include improving work documentation, re-learning Korean, looking into making dumplings (i have a thing for dumplings, a secret love affair one might say :P), planning an overseas trip with friends (Lin? Hehe), being more patient and understanding in my relationships, and making time for the violin.

My dad said today that relationships aren't always smooth and happy. I've had my own fair share of trials. I'm going through another adjustment period now, but I'm telling myself to just trust and let go of my control issues. After all, a relationship is about two people. And I think I've been given so much already, in terms of time and love and patience. I'm spoiled :|

So, now it's my turn to take a deep breath, kiss my control freak and moody persona goodbye, and just trust and love and support. Sometimes, the best thing a woman can do is to shut up and give support. Sometimes, love is able to better express itself through silence. With silence, there is no judgment or expectation, there is just a quiet acceptance and respect for the other. Love deeply, share thoughts, have arguments, laugh together; but remember to make time for quiet moments to just silently appreciate and understand the other.

***

Happy 11 months to D and me :)

muji = love

I visited the newly opened Muji store on Bonifacio High Street with D today :) I just loved the interiors and the smell and the look of the place. I felt I was transported back to Japan, or maybe the TST branch in HK :) With all the products neatly lined up, organizers and files and folders and colored pens arranged in rows and rows of Japanese product goodness. I was just happy to browse around and read the Japanese tags and dwell in the simple and clean designs. Sigh. Muji hangover hehe :)

Headed home afterwards after a quick visit to Fully Booked. Had dinner at Fish & Co. with my family and ended dinner with a sweet treat from Gelatissimo. D and I had the Berry Yogurt and Macademia & Caramel. I loved the Roasted Almond my mom opted to get though. Maybe I'll have that next time :) Gelatissimo in Trinoma has nice and bright interiors and comfortable chairs, perfect for lounging around.

To backtrack, had my usual tutor session this morning. I have fun with my tutees :) Afterwards, had breakfast with D at Pancake House - they do have the fluffiest pancakes. We had lunch with D's family at Italianni's. I love their salad :) And the asparagus in their pasta tasted sweet and al dente. I think I now understand why some people just blanch their asparagus and drizzle with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. If fresh, asparagus have a crisp sweetness to them. I never thought I'd have a love affair with asparagus.

D and I visited Le Petit Artisan in Greenbelt 5. I love bread shops and was curious about this one. The shop didn't have lots of bread varieties but they did have lots of loaves. I bought myself a walnut loaf :) Will share the verdict after I have it for breakfast tomorrow. I love good bread :D

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On Saturday, D and I had dinner at Focaccia in A.Venue. We got to try the panizza :D We got the Vegetariana and Margherita. I liked the latter more :) It was a fun way of eating pizza. The arugula added an interesting bite and contrast to the pizza, while the alfalfa sprouts - well, it just made the whole panizza thing more interesting :)

We also had the mushroom risotto, which was quite yummy. The arborio rice had just the right bite and the mushrooms (and maybe truffle oil?) infused the dish with a rich woodsy taste.

I'd go to A.Venue if only to visit Focaccia again. There weren't too many interesting shops :|

resilience

Today was a pretty amazing day. I just feel blessed.

I had breakfast with my mom and D in Ongpin :) Nothing but two cups of coffee to jolt the nerves. After breakfast, D and I headed off to St. Luke's to visit Laurice, who gave birth last Sunday to a beautiful baby girl :)

I hadn't seen L in months so it was nice to catch up with her. Talking to her, I couldn't help but admire her strength and resilience, given everything that she's had to deal with in the past few months. I connected with her experiences, her trials, joys, and fears; and I couldn't help but feel an urge to protect her and to just hug her.

Today was a beautiful day because today I witnessed firsthand how God works in our lives. He provides us with trials and challenges, but He also provides us with strength, love, and patience to accept life as it happens - the tender joys and heartbreaking sorrows - and He allows us to rise again, with hope and faith.

dice game

After two weeks (or more) of preparing and shopping and budgeting, we finally pulled off the dice game at Ama's house last Sunday. Things started out a bit messy at first, for the kids, but it ended well enough, with people lugging off their winnings and enjoying banoffee pie, coffee cake, hotdogs wrapped in bacon, and other snack treats with glasses of cold orange juice and chilled water.

What I probably enjoyed most out of the prep work was buying stuff :) It was fun searching for bargains. I was pretty surprised to see that you can get some really nice stuff at a reasonable budget.

So, my preparation high has come and gone. My next project will probably have something to do with Christmas, or the upcoming anniversary of D and me :D

Till then, I'll just hibernate for a while. I have tons of books I have yet to read. Ironically, I choose to read one of Eizel's before i hit my pile of books :| But hey, a good book's a good book no matter whose pile it's from ;) Will have to sneak the book reading between violin practice and lesson preparations.

Speaking of lessons, anyone know a good okonomiyaki recipe? Or any other easy to prepare Japanese recipe? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated ;)

Oh, watched Eat Pray Love with D last night. Found it sadly lacking in depth and humor compared to the book. I did love Ketut though, who's either 64 or 101 :) And my favorite line in the movie is, "Sometimes, you need to get unbalanced by love, in order to find balance in life."

peanut butter!

In Meet Joe Black, there's a scene where Joe Black (aka Brad Pitt) walks around, eating peanut butter straight out of the container, by the spoonful. Yummy peanut butter goodness in a spoonful :)

Yesterday and today, D and I enjoyed some peanut butter fare. On Thursday, after my violin lesson, we had dinner at the PB Co. in SM. We tried the sesame peanut butter sandwich with fried fish and diablo fish pasta with chili peanut butter. The pasta was quite spicy. When they say chili, they mean chili :D I love spicy food and this one passed my spice meter. For those who don't like spicy food that much, the taste might get tiring after a few bites.

If I were to go back to PB Co., I'd order the sandwiches :) Couldn't try the bestseller - Elvis - because it had bacon in it so opted for the fried fish sandwich with sesame peanut butter. Gosh, I'd buy their sesame peanut butter by the container. Yummy! :) Great for cooking and on sandwiches. The sesame complements the peanut butter. The sandwich had just the right amount of crunch, from the bread and the fish, and the right amount of nutty goodness, from the peanut butter to the sesame. Two thumbs up :)

D tried the green tea vanilla peanut butter milkshake. Took a sip as I'm not really a fan of milkshakes. It was good, tasted like Reese's but in liquid form. Surprisingly, it wasn't too sweet, which was nice.

Today, we headed off to Borough in Podium. It's the new resto I read about in Yummy. Tried their mac and cheese (the crunchy melted cheese part was yummy, the macaroni was okay, the usual), tomato soup (thick and hearty. they also have a tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich combination. The soup's great for dunking thick sandwiches into), Brooklyn omelette (Omelette filled with cream cheese and tomato flakes - the tomato flakes added a nice salty bite to the cream cheese. Worked well with the omelette and toasted bread), and last of all, the Elvis :) The Elvis is a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. The bread had just the right amount of butter, and the banana was just sweet enough to complement the nutty flavor of the peanut butter. I'd go back to Borough if just for this sandwich :)

Talked to their chef who's from NY and one of the part-owners who's Filipino. The chef started out as a pastry chef and he recommended the desserts, particularly the Milk and Cookies, homemade cookies with his own twist on the milk recipe. Not like your ordinary fresh milk, the chef boasts. We'll be sure to try it next time :)

Borough is at the ground floor of Podium. It's still on soft opening, but the servers were attentive and nice enough :)

bargain shopping

Went to sm north today with ste and ni, while derrick met us up from makati :) We had one goal in mind - to finish buying things for our family's dice game happening this sunday. We spent an hour and a half browsing through the Homeworld section of SM, and found a lot of surprise bargains. We bought around 15 different items for 4 tables, and we were able to keep within the budget. Yey :)

It was fun, looking at things and discovering that there are some really nice things which don't have a hefty price tag. We went home with around 20 bags :|

We were super tired by the time we finished ringing up the last basket at the cash register. And we were raring to eat dinner. We filled our stomachs contentedly at banana leaf, with dishes of nasi goreng, pad thai, steamed fish, kangkong, and chicken curry with potatoes. Quite a hearty meal to soothe our aching legs and empty bellies. Thanks to D for the treat :)

We still have a few minor prizes left on our list but I'm sure we'll be able to find some cool and cheap stuff somewhere.

Here's to wonderful bargain discoveries :)