Certified!

I'm now a certified Professional Scrum Product Owner!

Our company has been building knowledge and capability in the Agile methodology and Scrum over the last few years. Recently, we got an external partner to conduct Product Owner training to some employees and my boss nominated me to take it. I was a bit worried about the certification that would come right after because it's been ages since I last took a graded exam. In fact, the last - and only other - time I got certified was more than a decade ago!

I had a lot of trepidation leading up to the exam because I hadn't gotten any proper training on Agile or Scrum prior to this and I had very little time to study and prepare. I ended up taking a lot of sample exams and reading the Scrum guide multiple times and I'm very happy that it all worked out. For the first time in a really long time, I have a professional certification! I'm really thankful to my company for giving me the opportunity to get trained and certified.

Quarantine Stories Part 25

One of my annual traditions is buying Halloween donuts from Krispy Kreme. The donut designs are always good but this year, they took things to the next level with some pretty awesome packaging. I ordered a dozen donuts and the box they came in was designed as a Spellbook with Halloween colors and a transparent center to allow customers to see some of the donuts inside. Cool!

Spellbook packaging of the Halloween Krispy Kreme donuts

There were six different Halloween donut varieties so I got two of each.

Different Halloween donut varieties

Tropical Hut got a lot of buzz recently and a lot of people rediscovered it. I remember having Tropical Hut as a kid and liking it more than other fast food burgers so when tweets and posts about this restaurant started going viral, I felt that I should try it again. One evening, after doing errands in Estancia, I decided to take a short drive to the Tropical Hut branch at the corner of Shaw and Pioneer. I ordered the Classic Burger meal set.

Tropical Hut Classic Burger meal

Now that I've had it again after all these years, I still think Tropical Hut Burgers are better than most other fast food burgers in the country.

Tropical Hut Class Burger

I also finally got to eat at Denny's. I found myself in Eastwood one morning due to an errand I needed to do in the area and I decided to eat there because they had many breakfast options as well as unlimited coffee! Because I knew I would need to spend at least a few hours there, I invited some friends to join me. It was really great spending time with Migs, Diann, Case, and her daughter Cara. For my meal, I got the Junior Lumberjack Slam, which had a sausage, ham, bacon, a hash brown, an egg, toast, and pancakes (the regular order has two of each). I also order unlimited coffee. The food was satisfying, the coffee was good, and the company was great. 

Junior Lumberjack Slam with unlimited coffee at Denny's

Speaking of breakfast, I also got to have a McDonald's breakfast meal for the first time in years. On a day that I couldn't drive my car due to the number coding scheme, I decided to go to work before 7am instead of booking Grab. Since I was really early, I decided to eat at the McDonald's next to my office. I got my standard order: Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Hash Browns, and coffee.

Breakfast meal at McDonald's

Clearly, I've been eating a lot of not-so-healthy food recently. I need to start eating better soon!

Coffee Academics

I discovered The Coffee Academics in Makati recently when a friend took me there to have coffee. On that first visit, I got the pour over Colombia Antioquia Supremo and I really liked it. Making the experience even more unique and memorable is the fact that they serve it in a 250mL beaker that you can pour into a coffee glass. Cool!

Colombia Pour Over from The Coffee Academics

I also liked the location and the vibe of this place and my friend told me they also serve good food. I just knew I had to go there again.

Inside The Coffee Academics

Since that first trip, I've been there a few more times. On a couple of visits that I was really hungry, I ordered the Academics Breakfast. This dish has a sausage, ham, mushrooms, baked beans, eggs, toast, and a side salad. It's a pretty hefty and satisfying meal.

The Academics Breakfast

I've also tried the Shrimp Cakes Benny which, as the name suggests, is like an Eggs Benedict but with the poached eggs being served on shrimp cakes and potato salad. I liked this dish as well.

Shrimp Cakes Benny

The Coffee Academics offers a lot more dishes in its menu so I will surely go there again in the future. I'm really glad my friend introduced my to this place.

The Coffee Academics in Legazpi Village in Makati

The Coffee Academics

https://www.facebook.com/TCAmanila/

109 Don Carlos Palanca, Legazpi Village, Makati

Gram Cafe & Pancakes in Serendra

I finally got to eat at Gram Cafe & Pancakes! I've had souffle pancakes before and I really enjoyed them so when Gram opened in the Philippines, I really wanted to try it but I never got around to it. That is, until recently when I found myself in Serendra one late afternoon. There were available tables when I walked by and I was getting a bit hungry so I decided to have a very early dinner there. Naturally, I ordered their Premium Pancakes (which are their souffle pancakes). They were light and fluffy but they held their form pretty well even as I ate them. Cool!

Gram Premium Pancakes

The pancakes were actually my dessert. For my savory meal, I ordered the Ebi Aglio Olio con Tomate Pasta which was pretty good. I read on their Instagram page that this dish is only available in their Serendra branch so I'm happy I got to try it.

Ebi Aglio Olio con Tomate Pasta

I quite enjoyed my trip here so hopefully I get to visit Gram Pancake again in the near future.

The Sandman, The White Lotus, and More Shows on Netflix and HBO Go

The Sandman on Netflix

The Sandman was released on August 5. I was really interested in it because it is based on the books and graphic novels of Neil Gaiman. I really loved the film Stardust and I started to read some of his books (I will write more about this later this year). Also, I knew about Sandman because of one of my good friends was really interested in it many years ago and I got him one of the graphic novels as a Christmas gift. As such, I made sure to watch it when it became available. I gotta say, it's very dark, most especially Episode 5. I actually had to stop watching after that because of how intense it was (which is also why  it took me a while to complete the ten episodes). Interestingly enough, the last couple of episodes had moments that were almost comical but they were actually pretty insidious. I acknowledge that this series is not for everyone. While I think I'm not exactly the target market given how dark I found it at time, I did enjoy it and I will keep an eye out for the next season.

The White Lotus on HBO Go

I remember seeing The White Lotus on HBO on cable TV a while back but I didn't watch it back then. Since it only has six episodes and has been in my HBO Go list for a while, I decided to finally see it and it was such a revelation! I initially thought it would be light and something easy to watch but very soon, I started to find it unsettling yet very intriguing and compelling. The characters were all flawed and the dynamic they had with each other was very complex and interesting. As I finished the show, I remember thinking that I thought it was weird but good. However, I found myself thinking about the show and the characters a lot even after I had seen it and the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. The music, especially the opening theme, is also incredibly good. As it turns out, The White Lotus has won multiple awards already. I'm not surprised.

The Umbrella Academy

I know this show has been around for a while and while I subscribed to Netflix about a year ago already, it was only recently that I watched The Umbrella Academy. I just finished Season 1 and I really enjoyed it. I loved the many interesting twists and turns in the story. I haven't started Season 2 just yet but I plan to watch it soon.

Other shows

I watched Sea Beast on Netflix, which kinda had How to Train your Dragon vibes. I've always been interested in Inkheart because of the premise that whenever the lead character (played by Brendan Fraser) reads a book, he can bring characters from that book to life. Now that I've seen it, I think it is just okay. I don't regret watching it though given that it is available on Netflix.

I also got to rewatch some films on HBO Go, including Paycheck, Nanny McPhee, Legally Blonde, and Hot Fuzz. I actually have a DVD  of Hot Fuzz but I can't get my DVD player to work anymore so I'm happy it was on HBO Go. Now if only they can add Shaun of the Dead as well...

Quarantine Stories Part 24

A friend of mine traveled to Australia recently. I asked her if she could bring me some Tim Tams and she said she could. I checked the Arnott's website and looked for flavors that aren't available in the Philippines. I saw several that I was interested in and my friend very graciously got everything in my list for me. I ended up with 7 packs of chocolate biscuits. My favorite was the Decadent Triple Choc and I also really enjoyed the Dark Choc Raspberry and the Salted Caramel Brownie. I didn't really like the others I got - Murray River Salted Caramel, Butterscotch & Cream Flavour, Chewy Caramel, and Royals Milk Chocolate. If I have another friend who visits Australia, I now know exactly which flavors to ask for.

A variety of Arnott's biscuits from Australia

In my most recent board game night, I got to teach Rococo to my friends. Up until then, I was the only one in that group who had Rococo and who had played it before. The version I used to play was the original print but I now own a copy of the Rococo Deluxe Plus, which I got as a Christmas gift for myself last year haha. I remember loving this game years ago and after play it again, I confirm that this is really one of my favorite board games of all time. Plus, the new version is really beautiful!

Rococo Deluxe

We also celebrated Niki's birthday during our board game night. I volunteered to bring the cake and I decided to order a whole Tropical Vanilla cake from Dylan Patisserie. I really enjoyed it when I had it weeks before so I thought my friends would enjoy it too. (I believe they did.)

Tropical Vanilla cake from Dylan Patisserie

I have a new source of decaffeinated coffee: Tim Horton's. Normally, I buy decaf at the supermarket and in a recent grocery run, I needed to buy more decaf because my stash at home was almost fully consumed. However, the supermarket didn't have any stock at that time. I then remembered seeing decaf at Tim Horton's so I made my way to one of their shops and got myself a 400g bag that cost P600. I did the math and it turns out that their decaf is cheaper than the one that I used to get so I decided to make Tim Horton's my new official source.

Tim Horton's Decaf Coffee

Finally, I completed my annual health exam last month. It's the first one I've had in more than 2 years. As expected, I'm nowhere near as healthy as I used to be after gaining weight during the pandemic and eating a lot more sugar. I now need to eat better and to exercise more. Thankfully, my Fitbit tells me that I am covering huge distances each week. That's definitely a step in the right direction (pun intended).

Paying Our Respects to Mama Guading

Mama Guading passed away more than a decade ago. Recently, her family decided to move her ashes to the St. Therese Columbarium in Pasay. She had been taking care of my family even before I was born so when we were invited to the ceremony which was scheduled at 130pm on Sunday, we took the time to attend.

Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

I suggested to my family that we have an early lunch in Makati before going to St. Therese Columbarium. I recommended Grace Park because the parking area of this place was just right in front of the restaurant. Since my grandmother was joining us, this means that she would only need to take a few steps from the car to the restaurant. It was a good choice because no one else in my family had eaten there before and they enjoyed the food. It was also good that we got there at 11am because almost all the unoccupied tables were reserved. We got the last available table and it was just the right size for my family. Our table was also outdoors and thankfully it didn't rain while we were dining.

After lunch, we made our way to the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Newport, Pasay. After going inside the church to take some photos - it was my grandmother's first time there - we headed down to the columbarium area. There we were met by Mama's sister, Yaya Isot, and the rest of her family. There was a lot of catching up and sharing of stories before the priest arrived to begin the ceremony. It wasn't just Mama's ashes that were being moved; the ashes of her niece, who very sadly passed away due to illness, were being moved along with hers (they would be sharing a niche).

I'm glad that my family was able to join the ceremony to pay our respects to Mama Guading. It's also good that she now has a new resting place which I am more familiar with. Hopefully, I can visit her more frequently. Rest in peace, Mama. We love you and we miss you!

More Get-Togethers

I had another reunion with college friends when we met up with Val and Louie before they returned to the US. A few weeks ago, we had dinner with Val but Louie was unable to join us. Since Louie and Val were staying in the Rockwell area, we decided to have dinner at Refinery since this place served both coffee and drinks, catering to the preferences of everyone in the group. After dinner, Val and Louie invited us to their room for more drinks. Louie served us a mix of port wine and tonic water with a slice of lemon. It was pretty good! Lala also brought a bottle of Matsu wine while I brought a bottle of Ube Cream Liqueur. It was my first time to try this award-winning drink by Agimat at Ugat and it is actually pretty good.

Ube Liqueur Cream by Agimat at Ugat

I also went on a BGC pub crawl with some high school friends. Erick was in town and Mitch wanted to take him out. We started the night having hotdogs and drinks at the Hotel Bar at Pink's. We then moved to Bank Bar. It's interesting how Bank Bar has been around for years and it was only recently that I was able to go and now, just a few months later, I was able to go back. Our final stop that night was Elbert's Upstairs, a bar above Mendokoro Ramenba in BGC. The good thing about BGC is that it's very walkable so it was quite easy for us to move from one place to the next.

The "secret" 7-Eleven entrance to Bank Bar

I visited Wildflour a couple of times in the last month. This was because Wildflour has an ongoing promo with certain BPI cards. Guests who use their BPI card can get 30-50% discount (depending on the card) for a minimum purchase of P5,000 (and with a maximum discount of P3,000). First, I took my family to Wildflour Podium for lunch. I had wanted to order the Bone-in Prime Rib Eye Steak for the benefit of my nephew who missed our lunch at Raging Bull but sadly, Wildflour had run out of that steak by the time we had our late lunch. Despite that, my family still enjoyed our meal there and we even took home several of their pastries. A few weeks later, I met up with my ex-colleagues at Wildflour Rockwell. Interestingly enough, I ordered the same dish both times - Chicken and Biscuits. I love biscuits (the bread, not the cracker) and Wildflour is only one of a few places I know that sell them so I figured I would order the same dish to maximize my enjoyment.

I organized a board game night with my friends Pat and Carlo. The last time I played board games with them was before the pandemic. I invited a couple of other friends to join us and we played a few casual games that night, including Istanbul (which we played twice), Herbaceous Sprouts, Splendor, and Roll For It. We ended the night talking about scheduling another game night.

I also had a few get-togethers with current colleagues and ex-colleagues. I met up with Mia, Ian, and Karla in TGI Friday's in Venice Piazza. I had dinner and drinks at Terry's Bistro in Salcedo Village with my colleagues Ysa, Caloy, and Sab with whom I had been working very closely for the last couple of years. Then, I returned to Dylan Patisserie to have dinner with my teammates Irish and Michelle. Irish requested that we meet up in QC so I suggested Dylan. Michelle ordered the De Hazelnut Praline which I got to try...

De Hazelnut Praline from Dylan Patisserie

...while I tried the Raspberry Mango Opera and a Blueberry Macaron. (The other French pastry in the photo below is the Chocolate Marcarpone Delight that Irish ordered).

More desserts from Dylan Patisserie

Finally, I had one more college reunion as my friend Nemboy and his family were in town for a few weeks. Nemboy hadn't been to the Philippines in a while so we decided to have dinner at Manam in Greenbelt so he could enjoy more Pinoy food before leaving the country again. I'm really happy and thankful that I continue to have opportunities to spend more face-to-face time with friends and that I am now able to take my family out for meals again.

How to Make Butter, the Victorian Way

This video was recommended to me by YouTube at the height of the pandemic. A couple of years later and I still watch it every now and then. I guess I find this video to be quite relaxing to watch. It's amazing how much work went into making butter back in the olden days!

 

video uploaded in YouTube by English Heritage