Quarantine Stories Part 20

I got my UP UAAP basketball championship shirts! One of my classmates from college volunteered to place a bulk order for our group of friends. We had a choice of either maroon or black but I decided to get both. I was initially worried that the shirts might not fit but thankfully, they do! I can't wait to wear them!

My UP UAAP Basketball Championship shirts

I also went to Ayala Malls The 30th last month to visit Anyam Hablun, an exhibition of weaving arts by women of Sulu. This was a project of a good friend of mine. There were a lot of beautiful items, such as fabrics, malongs, bags, blazers, and even dresses. I ended up purchasing a couple of beautifully designed folding fans that I gave to my mom and my grandmother. A day after I visited, I asked my friend how much the bags were and if they still had fans that I could buy. She told me that all fans and bags were sold out. I later found out that almost everything in exhibit was sold! That's wonderful news, especially for the women of Sulu who created these crafts.

Anyam Hablun exhibit

Some sad news: Le Petit Souffle is closing. Ads popped up in my social media indicating that this restaurant was closing in mid-June. I really love the chocolate souffle here and while I told myself a couple of years ago that I would visit this place every so often to indulge in great desserts, I wasn't able to do that. As such, I made sure I visited Le Petit Souffle while it was still open. When I got there, they only had a limited menu. I decided to order a few items, including the French Onion soup which was at 50% off...

French Onion Soup from Le Petit Souffle

...and the Le Petit Souffle Carbonara Souffle (yes, that's the official name on the menu) which was served with a very fancy egg. (I didn't want to eat too much since I still had dessert so I only ate half of this dish and took home the other half.)

Le Petit Souffle Carbonara Souffle

Of course, I had to order my favorite Valrhona Guanaja Souffle and it was still such a quality dessert. Such a shame I won't have a chance to enjoy it again in the future.

Valrhona Guanaja Souffle

I'm also really happy that recently, I've been able to start exercising regularly again. It started when I got my Fitbit. There are daily targets, such as number of zone minutes (22), calories burned (2,700), number of steps (10,000), and distance covered (8.1 kilometers). I don't often meet the daily targets for number of steps and distance covered on days when I work from home, especially when I don't leave my pad. However, the zone minutes and the number of calories burned are much more achievable targets. I started using the Power Abs subscription that a friend of mine gave me last Christmas. It's about a 10-minute ab workout five days a week, although I probably get to do it only 3 or 4 times a week. However, since it's only a 10-minute workout, it's not enough for me to achieve my Fitbit targets. As such, I started supplementing my Ab workout with my Downdog app or with the dumbbells that I purchased late last year. I also looked up some zumba videos on YouTube and I started doing those routines to help improve my cardio. As a result, I've been able to exercise around 3 to 4 times a week for the last few weeks, which is the most I've been able to do in the last two years. The key now is for me to be able to maintain this. Wish me luck!