Diet Now!

I'm starting on a diet to slim down and look good for my childhood bff's wedding. I'm going to be her maid of honor. If I don't lose weight then I might just end up becoming the maid of horror!! Hahaha.

So goodbye french fries! Goodbye soda! Sob. LOL!

My Enderun Experience

Part of my job is to promote employee wellness and one of the perks of that is that I get first-hand information on the available activities that are best-suited to my needs. This is one of them: a free culinary class c/o Chef Thomas Wenger last May at the famous Enderun Colleges. 

Let me share with you the menu during the class. For the recipes, just drop me a note if you are interested to get a copy. :-)

Menu:

·         Pan-fried red mullet , Tomato Confit, Black Olives

·         Turmeric Spiced Chicken Thighs, Ginger-glazed Pekchai and Buckwheat Noodles

·         Red Berry Soup with Mango Granita

Enderun is located at 1100 Campus Avenue McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Revisiting Ongpin Street

My new officemates and I went on a mini-field trip to Chinatown last July. It was more of a food trip actually, but nevertheless very culturally enriching.

Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Posing with the group:


Poong Nazareno found inside Binondo Church:

Kalesa ride, anyone?

What is a Binondo trip without stopping by at Tasty?

Siomai to perfection:

Siopao which I couldn't resist:

Colorful version of the siopao infront of Eng Bee Tin:

Saying a little prayer thru incense:

Fruits at a very low price:

Luvet! I'm definitely coming back!

Foodie Find - Lydia's Lechon

My husband and I recently discovered that the nearby Lydia's Lechon in our place actually has a restaurant at the back portion. All along, we thought that it was just take-out place. Because of this discovery, we had found ourselves flocking there for "instant handa". One time, we got ourselves a couple of kilos of Cebu lechon. It was so yummy that it disappeared in no time.

Lechon is really a Filipino's guilty pleasure. Yummy!

Tif's Treat

My kumare and good good friend Tif treated me out to dinner a few weeks ago.

We drove all the way to QC to a place called 8 Spices for a sumptuous Thai dinner.

She ordered these for 2 people to eat.

Judging from the pictures here, you can say what you want. Admittedly, we were overly-full but happy. (Note: My hubby, who picked me up that night, finished off our left-overs, hahaha).

Really, nothing beats a night of food, friends, stories and laughter.

Thanks Tif! I really appreciate the treat.

On a date again.

Last week was a pretty stressful week for us. For one, there were some issues that we had to go through and pray about. And then work was, as usual, busy. While I created dozens of proposals for salary structure improvements, my hubby was busy dealing with people and helping them in terms of reverse mortgage information. In fact, I would test him sometimes on how well his knowledge is about reverse mortgage and what the reverse mortgage pros and cons are. Based on his answers, I could swear my husband has turned from an IT professional into a mortgage expert. And I see how much has changed with his disposition now. He’s so much relaxed, so much happier, without any regrets. The big sacrifice that he did a few months back has indeed paid off. There is nothing like trusting your gut feel and keeping your priorities right.

Overall, I am quite happy that we both are enriching ourselves and our minds with the challenges we encounter daily at work, even with the stresses and all.

Anyway, since it was another three-day weekend last week, we thought of leaving the kids behind and going out for dinner to somewhere new. With this in mind, we found ourselves going to Quezon City, particularly at the site of the UP Ayala Techno Hub where there are several new dining options.

Our feet led us to Kanin Club.

The last time we ate at Kanin Club was when we went to Sta. Rosa and then up to Tagaytay for Zoe’s 2nd birthday. And obviously, we missed their signature Crispy Dinuguan.

We waited around 40 minutes to get seats but since the breeze was a bit cold outside, we really didn’t mind.

Here’s a view of the UP Ayala Techno Park, the restaurant, salt and pepper squid appetizer we ordered and Kanin Club’s Crispy Dinuguan.

The dinuguan was high in cholesterol but it was delicious and not necessarily bad if you take it only once in a blue moon.

Can't Help It

I know that I should be controlling my sugar intake...but...

I just can't help it.

I received this frozen brazo de mercedes from a friend in the office and I just had to give in.

One word: YUMM-O.

C is for...

...Carrot Cupcake!

These were lovingly prepared by my friend C.

I swear, these are the most delicious carrot cupcakes I've ever tasted and I'm not even a carrot fan for that matter. (The picture doesn't do justice, actually.) And with the huge serving of cream cheese icing that she tops it with, you will literally forget your name. So yummy!

:-)

And what's better - you can order them thru me. :-D Just throw in a message at the shoutbox for more info.

Dinner at Claw Daddy's Serendra

My friend C treated us out a few weeks ago to dinner at Claw Daddy's in Serendra to celebrate her birthday.

Of course, we had a super fun time eating and chatting.

Here's us...girls first and then the boys (parang gustong sumama nung waiter sa pic, hehe).



Foodies galore!

Before we said good-bye, hunny took a picture of C, B and E chillin' outside the resto.

Back... and then... front. ☻

Thanks C for the lovely treat! Belated Happy Birthday!

Craving Carbonara

We ate this wonderful comfort food last Saturday at Claw Daddy's Serendra (treat c/o good friend Cherry - a post to follow) and now I'm craving for it again!

My friends may have been too busy chit-chatting to notice that I ate most of this dish all by myself (though I did share it a bit with Gracia). Hahaha. Wish I could make a quick trip to Serendra again this lunch...wishing, wishing...

Dinner at Cyma

This is yet another back post.

As I mentioned in one of my old posts, we had a late dinner one time at Cyma Eastwood Mall with some childhood friends.

I think I mentioned there that the food at Cyma deserves a separate post. But then now, looking at the pictures, I have totally forgotten the names of the food which we ordered.

All I can remember is that they were all yummy and heavy...and that salad had a side effect on Luigi (...it caused him a lot of gas since I still breastfed him when I came home). Bad mommy!

For Tonight...

For tonight, we will be having dinner out with our US-based relatives. Since they only have a few more days left here, we invited them to dine with us in Greenbelt. I have been craving for the delicious pizza and pasta at Capricciossa so probably that’s where we are going to eat tonight. I can’t wait!

All-in-all their vacation here is for about a month. And since they’ll be away for so long, I think that they are already beginning to wonder how the weather is in Chicago and how their house is doing. Well, we all hope everything is alright. We actually talked about installing a Home Security System for their home since there are times during the year that they are abroad. They know that among the many choices, ADT provides the best Security System for homes. Anyway, I hope my cousins (their sons) can check their house once in awhile so that they will feel secured that things are okay.

Yummy

After having dinner in Cyma, as I posted in my previous entry, we trooped to Cheesecake, etc. for some coffee and dessert.

Honestly, I never really noticed the Cheesecake, etc. store in Eastwood before so it may be the first time I've actually dined here.

Clueless, I ordered what was said to be the best-seller on the menu:

Here's the Cashew Dome Cake that they served and it looked very pretty and yummy!

Combine this with a mocha drink and you're in heaven!

There goes two more pounds on the weighing scale...Hahaha!

Luigi at 2 months...

We celebrated Luigi's 2nd month last November 08 with pancit, ice cream and THIS.

It's the yummy Rocha's puto (with cheese) from Marikina. My cousin Jiji gave this to us when she came to visit that day. Thanks Jiji! I love this type of puto to bits!

The Day Before I Popped

On the day before I popped......I simply had to enjoy myself. LOL.

We checked in the hospital at around 5pm on September 07, 2009. During dinner time, my hubby and I asked the resident doctor to call my OB for an out-on-pass (tama ba yung term?) so we can still have dinner outside (my last supper!). I was mighty scared of the next day's operation that I believed that having a cozy time with my sweetheart is the only solution to calm my nerves.

Anyway, guess where our shoes led us to?

Our ultimate comfort foods - Hot Ramen, Gyoza, Katsudon and a piece of Krispy Kreme doughnut!

Bwahahaha!!! Here's my last pic before I popped. I would have been (disgustingly) overweight if I hadn't been 40 weeks pregnant. (Update: I've lost most of my preggy weight now but still am a bit overweight for my height..hehe...what else is new?!).

Anyway, I'm now super enjoying being a mommy of two. Will post more updates soon!