Amazing Christmas Light Show and Fireworks Display by Tom BetGeorge

I subscribed to Tom BetGeorge on YouTube a while back and I always look forward to the dazzling light shows he puts on display every year at his house during Halloween and Christmas. This video he published this Christmas - a lights and fireworks display programmed to Noel (He is Born) by Tommee Profitt (with Stanaj on vocals) - just absolutely blew me away! Check it out:

 

video uploaded in youtube by Tom BetGeorge

Tom's shows have always been incredible but while the ones I had previously seen always impressed the heck out of me and pumped me up, none of them moved me in the way that this video did. It starts out solemnly and poignantly then in the second half, it builds up into a scintillating and inspiring finale. Maybe it's the combination of the music, the lights, and the fireworks - I think this is his first show that involved fireworks - that did it for me. Someone commented that this show made him ugly cry and I can understand that. It is just so powerful. 

Hope you enjoy this video as much as I did. Happy Holidays everyone!

Holiday Hodgepodge

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a great season that I have very fortunately gotten to spend with a lot of my family and friends. Of course, Christmas was spent with my family. This was our first Christmas without Nanay so I thought it would be good to celebrate with some food that she would normally prepare when she was younger: molo and lumpiang shanghai with its special sauce. Nanay shared her recipe for these dishes with our family friends who are excellent cooks (in fact, they have a catering business) so I ordered these dishes from them. They told me not to pay for it anymore so I instead gave them some Bake Cheese tarts. I added a few more dishes from House of Lasagna and Dulcelin. I also decided to try their 10" Cacao Con Leche Cake, which is a chiffon and chocolate cake enrobed with Callebaut chocolate ganache, Dulce de Leche and Crispy choco pearls. I really liked this cake!

Cacao Con Leche cake from Dulcelin

I also got to celebrate with many of my colleagues and friends. My ex-team at work had dinner at Caerus in Podium. My current team had lunch at Mary Grace. Our entire department had our Christmas party at The Giving Cafe. My FGTC board game group had a game night at Linden. I also had brunch with some high school friends at SA Southbank at Estancia Mall. That was my first time to eat at SA Southbank and I ordered their Chicken and Waffles. It was really good! 

Chicken and Waffles from SA Southbank at Estancia

Christmas is also the time when many people fly back to Manila to celebrate the holidays with their families. Marj arrived from Australia and I joined her, Karla, and Ian for lunch at Din Tai Fung in Uptown Mall. Ian suggested a coffee place in Mistukoshi but it was full so we instead had our caffeine fix at Bizu. It's been a while since I had dessert at Bizu and one of my favorites - Roca - wasn't available (not sure if it's no longer on the menu) so I opted instead for their Samba cake. It was still good.

Samba solo cake from Bizu

I also met up with my friend Che, who flew in from Singapore in Prologue Greenhills. I had just had their Croque Madame a few weeks ago so this time, I decided to order two items from the menu: Buttermilk Fried Chicken...

Buttermilk Chicken from Prologue

...and Potato Gnocchi. That was a lot of food so I didn't order dessert anymore and I took home half of my chicken dish. It was great catching up with Che it was really great to know what she's been up to since I saw her last. 

Gnocchi from Prologue

I also started watching Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia on Christmas Eve and I've been sort of binging it the last few days. This show has been in My List for a while now and I'm happy that I finally started it because I'm really enjoying it. There are 56 episodes and I might just finish everything in early January. That said, to complete my Trollhunters viewing experience, I want to watch the 3Below: Tales of Arcadia and Wizards: Tales of Arcadia series after that then wrap things up with Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. Cool. At least I am getting to watch more shows on Netflix now.

For the first time, I purchased Bath and Body Works items online. Ads about the Bath and Body Works Christmas sale kept popping up on my feed and many of their items had a 60% discount, which was huge. Shipping was free for a minimum purchase of P1500. I had been meaning to get some candle so I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to get a few. I ended up buying four, which meant that I qualified free shipping. Cool!

Three-wick candles from Bath and Body Works

Christmas parties weren't the only celebrations I attended. I was asked by Cha (she's technically my aunt but I'm several years older so I never call her tita hahah; instead, she calls me 'kuya') if I could be the ninong of her son Pio and I naturally agreed. For his Christening, I got him a seahorse stuffed toy that glows and plays relaxing lullabies and soothing ocean sounds. Cha told me later on that it became Pio's favorite toy. Cool!

Finally, I got my Spotify Wrapped results. My top song for 2023 was Megalovania by Toby Fox. My top artist was Beyonce. My Spotify profile is Vampire, which means that I like to embrace a little darkness in the music I listen to. Apparently, I listen to emotional, atmospheric music more than most.

My Spotify Wrapped

I took some time off from work to end the year so while the weeks leading up to Christmas were extremely hectic, I'm glad I was able to wind down and chill out in the last few days. I'm also really happy that I got to meet up and spend quality time with my family and friends.

Another Scrum Certification!

After getting certified as a Professional Scrum Product Owner and then a Professional Scrum Master, I am now also certified in Professional Agile Leadership: Evidence-Based Management.

This certification came unexpectedly, right before the end of the year. The agile group at work organized Evidence-based training for employees that included certification and there was still an extra seat in the class. The Agile lead asked me if I was interested in this training. Fortunately for me, it was scheduled on a day that I surprisingly had no meetings which is an absolute rarity so I immediately jumped at the chance to get more training.

I tend to get stressed out (or pumped up? LOL) when I know that a test is coming up so as soon as it became available, I took it immediately. Thankfully, I passed! The next step now is for me to apply what I learned to the work I do, especially in relation to strategizing and managing my team.

The Christmas Celebrations Have Begun

It's still a few weeks before Christmas but I already attended a few Christmas parties and get-togethers. The first one was held on the last Saturday of November, when I met up with one of my board gaming groups. We realized that most of us already had full weekends in December so we agreed to meet up as close to Christmas as possible. We got to play a few games but one new game that I got to try was Mille Fiori, which Cla really wanted us to try. It was fun to play, but maybe what added to my enjoyment was the fact that I won haha. 

Mille Fiori board game

Shortly after, we had our company-wide Christmas party. Maybe because it's hard to find an available venue that can fit us all in December but for the second year in a row, our Yuletide celebration was held in late November. It was a costume party and different departments were encouraged to have a theme. Our department decided to come in minions attire. I decided to buy a costume from Lazada a couple of weeks before the event and while I was worried that it might not arrive on time, it did. The challenge though was that it was a jumpsuit with a zipper at the back. I had to ask colleagues to help me zip it up everytime I had to use the toilet hahaha. Maybe the next time I wear it, I will attach a string or something to the end of the zipper to make it easy for me to zip myself up or down.

My Minions Costume

I met up with my friends Martin, Jane, and Mike on December 8, which was a holiday so we agreed to make the most of the extra day off. I made some suggestions and everyone agreed to meet up at Breakfast at Antonio's (Robinsons Magnolia branch). I had just eaten there a few weeks ago but I didn't mind eating there again. This time, I had the Housemade Bacon Roesti. This dish has changed since I enjoyed it the first time several years ago. While I enjoyed the previous recipe more, this one is still good.

Housemade Bacon Roesti at Breakfast at Antonio's

The next day, I met up with my ex-colleagues at Prologue in Rockwell. I had eaten there before and I really liked their Croque Madame so I decided to have that one again. I also ordered dessert. Their Banana Pumpkin cake called out to me, mainly because I don't think I've ever had that kind of a cake before (and I actually do like pumpkin-flavored desserts). I gotta say, I quite enjoyed it.

Banana Pumpkin cake at Prologue

I'm really happy that I have already gotten to celebrate the holiday season with a lot of really important people in my life. I'm certainly looking forward to more get-togethers and reunions in the coming weeks.

Old Manila at the Peninsula

Old Manila is a fancy restaurant at the Peninsula Manila. I've been told the food here is really good but it is on the expensive side so I hadn't been able to try it. That is, until recently. Because of my Manila Pen membership, I had a voucher that gave me 50% off on their set menus for a group of exactly four people. I decided to take my family there one night.

Old Manila

The requirement to use this voucher is that all four people in the party have to select from the same set menu (there are three). Each set menu has two options each for an appetizer and a main course. We decided to go with the third menu because the main courses of this option were the ones that appealed to us the most. Before dinner was served, we were given an amuse-bouche. Because this wasn't on the menu, I can't remember exactly what we had. All I can say is that we really liked what we were served.

amuse-bouche

They also served us some bread. The wait staff said that they are famous for their olive tapenade bread so that's what we have and OMG it was amazing! I can completely understand why it is so popular. We loved it so much that when the wait staff offered us more bread, we each took one more.

Bread selection

There were two choices for appetizer: Crab and Green Bell Pepper Ravioli served in a bisque with peas, espuma, and roasted peanuts...

Crab and Green Bell Pepper Ravioli

...and Seared Duck Foie Gras with vegetables julienne, red cabbage, and a pepper beef consomme.

Seared Duck Foie Gras

For our main courses, our choices were Atlantic Turbot with prawns, oyster mushrooms, bok choi, potato, and ginger beurre blanc...

Atlantic Turbot

...and Australian Lamb Rack with a French potato puree, grilled green asparagus, and red wine sauce.

Australian Lamb Rack

For dessert, we were all served a unique dessert called Banana & Toffee which is served with tuille, cremeux, and rum raisin ice cream.

Banana & Toffee dessert

Our dinner included coffee (or tea, but we all got coffee). We were pleasantly surprised when we were also served some petit fours.

petit-fours served with our coffee

By the end of dinner, we were once again offered some bread. I had to tell our wait staff that we actually would have wanted to have more olive tapenade because it was so good but we were already too full. 

Olive tapenade bread

Even with our discount, the bill was still quite expensive. That said, It was a tremendously good meal and I feel that it was worth what we paid. The service was also exceptional, quite possibly the best service I've even been given in any restaurant I've been to in the world. I would need to save up for it of course but I'm pretty sure I will eat here again in the future. (I also need to find out if they sell their olive tapenade bread seaprately...)

Old Manila at the Peninsula
https://www.peninsula.com/en/manila/hotel-fine-dining/old-manila
Address: The Peninsula Manila Corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues Ground Level Makati, 1226 Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 8887 2888

My Fitbit Broke

Very sad news for me: my Fitbit conked out. It started acting up while I was in Japan. The screen started going crazy, switching from one view to another, which resulted in the battery running out even if I just charged it fully the previous evening. I was thinking if I maybe accidentally dropped some sun screen on it. Interestingly enough, after I charged it again, it sort of started working. I say sort of because tapping on my Fitbit to switch screens wasn't really working anymore. However, it was still tracking everything like my steps, my heartrate, and my sleep, which I could see on my smartphone app.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, my Fitbit stopped working completely. It was my fault. Fitbits are supposed to be waterproof and you should be able to wear it even while in a swimming pool. So I kept it on when I went swimming. Unfortunately, after just a couple of minutes in the pool, my Fitbit screen blacked out. I thought it might have run out of battery but even after charging it and trying to reset it, I couldn't get it to turn on. I guess maybe because it already had a problem to begin with, submerging it in the pool water completely broke it.

I messaged Fitbit support and they gave me some clear instructions that I followed to a tee but still, it wouldn't turn on. It was no longer covered by warranty so Fitbit wouldn't replace it anymore.

To make matters worse, Fitbit pulled out of South East Asia recently so it's no longer available here. I could ask someone in the US to buy it for me (or maybe even try buying it on Amazon) but if it's not supported in the region anymore, I decided I wouldn't make too much sense to get one anymore. (I also considered the fact that Fitbits are quite expensive.) I now need to figure out if I want to replace it with another fitness monitor, and if so, which one.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

It took a while but I finally got to read my first book in 2023: Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune.

I saw it on display in Fully Booked and the cover art (or I guess particularly the bright colors) caught my eye. I then checked the blurb at the back and this is what it said:

"When a Reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he's definitely dead. But even in death he's not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days."

It sounded really interesting so I kept it in my radar. Then last Christmas, when my friends and I organized our annual Kris Kringle activity, I included this book in my wishlist and my Secret Santa got it for me. Cool!

Under the Whispering Door is a beautiful story about redemption and love amidst despair and death. I will say that for me, it came with quite a few pleasant surprises that made my reading experience even better. 

SPOILER ALERT: skip the next paragraph if you want to read the book and still want to be surprised. 

First, its a love story. I didn't pick up on that from the blurb. I don't really remember when the last time was that I read a novel that was primarily a love story - I think it must have been when I was still in high school - but I do know it's been a while. Also, it's also an LGBTQIA+ story; in fact, it's my very first LGBTQIA++ book. Once again, I couldn't really tell that from the blurb. As a result, once I started to realize that this was an LGBTQIA++ love story, it was like a plot twist I wasn't expecting and it made the storytelling even more engaging and compelling than it already was.

***** END OF SPOILERS *****

I really enjoyed Under the Whispering Door and I'm happy that it is my first LGBTQIA+ book and my first love story in decades. Author TJ Klune has another book, House in the Cerulean Sea, that also has a very interesting, fantastical premise as well. I'm now thinking of getting that book too.

Hamilton!

I finally watched Hamilton during its Philippine run at The Theatre at Solaire.

I will admit that I was not expecting to like it all that much. In fact, I wasn't originally planning to watch it. That's because I watched a clip of Hamilton a couple of years ago and the segment I saw involved some rapping, which is really innovative because it's not common for musicals to involve rapping (in fact, I don't know any other musicals that feature rap). However, I felt like it wasn't my cup of tea, at least not when it comes to musicals. However, my family said they were interested to see Hamilton so I decided to get tickets so we could all watch.

I knew that tickets were extremely difficult to get and on top of that, many people also struggled to get multiple seats that were all next to each other, especially for those who purchased the day tickets went on sale on April 24. I bought mine in early July, more than two months later. As such, I wasn't expecting to get good seats, much less adjacent ones. However, I lucked out. On the day I made my purchase, I somehow found six adjacent seats, with one of them being an aisle seat, on the second row of the balcony on a Saturday matinee. Wow! I couldn't believe it! How was that possible? I figured that someone must've cancelled their booking shortly before I went online. Naturally, I snatched those seats up immediately.

Now that I've gotten to see the show, I have to say I'm really happy that I did. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, maybe because I wasn't expecting to like it. I can understand how this musical won 11 Tony Awards. It was an amazing production, with inventive storytelling, catchy songs, great costumes, and excellent performances. I also really liked the rotating stage. As it turns out, one of the rap songs - My Shot - ended up being one of my favorites (despite my original negative bias against rap in musicals).

I have since watched the Broadway version on Disney+ and the cast in the Manila show were equally good (and in my opinion, in some cases, even better). My favorites from the cast were Darnell Abraham (George Washington), Brent Hill (King George), Jason Arrow (Hamilton), and Deaundre' Woods (Aaron Burr). Darnell's performance of One Last Time was absolutely superb! Brent's performance of You'll be Back was incredibly entertaining and I especially loved how he sang it, will all his nuance and dynamics. It was also great having Rachelle Ann Go in the cast, playing Eliza.

It's great that Hamilton made its way to the Philippines and that I was able to take my family to see it.

A Good Week

The November 1 and 2 holidays gave me an opportunity to relax and unwind. I decided to spend All Saints Day in Robinsons Magnolia. The main goal: have brunch at Breakfast at Antonios, which opened there earlier this year. Breakfast at Antonio's is one of my favorite restaurants in Tagaytay so when I learned that it opened in Robinsons Magnolia, I wanted to go. And what better time to visit than on a holiday? I arrived there in the late morning but since I was dining alone, they were quickly able to get me a table. I can't recall the name of the dish I ordered but it bacon, longganisa, scrambled eggs, a hash brown, and a waffle. This was quite a heavy meal! (Edited: the dish is called Big Waffle Breakfast.)

Breakfast at Antonio's in Robinsons Magnolia

For merienda, I went to Cafe Breton. It's been a while since I ate here so when I saw this restaurant in the mall, I knew I wanted to have my afternoon snack and coffee here. I ordered the Blueberries and Cream crepe, one of my favorite items on their menu.

Blueberries and Cream Crepe at Cafe Breton

For dinner, I finally got to try Texas Roadhouse. I had been hearing from many people that the bread here is really good and that was actually the main reason why I chose this place to have dinner haha. I ordered the Prime Set, which included Cowboy Roast Beef, Potato Soup, and Iced Tea.

Prime Set at Texas Roadhouse

Naturally, their famous bread was served on the side. I gotta say, I really loved my food and the bread certainly lived up to the hype! I wasn't able to eat all the bread for dinner so I took home the rest with me haha. (They were just going to throw it away anyways so taking them home with me meant less food waste.)

Texas Roadhouse bread

The next day, I met up with my ex-colleagues from my first job because Raych was in town. She asked if we could meet in Vertis and she wanted Japanese food so Bett suggested we have lunch at Yabu. It was Raych's first time eating there and she enjoyed it, as did we all.

Hire Tonkatsu set at Yabu

After lunch, we moved to Katherine's Cafe for coffee and dessert. We ordered a variety of cake slices. 

Cakes at Katherine's Cafe

I spotted a Ramen Nagi in Robinsons Magnolia while I was there and I realized it had been ages since I last ate there. That made me crave Ramen Nagi so I naturally ended up having dinner there that same week. I ordered the Green King, which has basil, olive oil, grated parmesan, and marbles chasu. I almost always order gyoza to go with my ramen and that evening was no exception. Gotta say, I quite liked this Green King even if the parmesan cheese is certainly not authentic Japanese.

Green King and Gyoza at Ramen Nagi

To wrap up the first week of November, I met up with my friends Gabbie and Marie in St. Louis. (Yes, I was the one who suggested the venue.) Both of them had dinner plans that night so we decided to meet for merienda. While my original plan was to have ice cream there, Gabbie said I should try the Hokkaido Soft Serve at Kiwami, which was just right next to St. Louis. It was really good!

Hokkaido Soft Serve at Kiwami

The first week of November was a pretty good one, although maybe not necessarily the healthiest for me as I ate way too much haha. That said, I'm glad that I found time to visit some restaurants I hadn't been to in a while and try a couple of places for the first time.

Azadore

My family and I got recently got to enjoy a wonderful lunch at Azadore, a relatively new restaurant in the Tomas Morato area. It is owned by Chef Tatung, who has many restaurants all over the Metro and has even won an award for his cookbook Simpol Dishkarte. I drove by this restaurant recently and saw that it was pretty big, with a bit more parking space than the average restaurant in the area. As such, I told my family that we should try this place for our weekend lunch out.

Azadore Restaurant

Azadore serves Hispanic, American, and local dishes. We were a big group so we got to try many items on their menu. As I mentioned in my previous post, no dinner at a Spanish-inspired resto is complete without paella so we ordered the Paella Mixta, which has Chicken, Shrimp, Clam, and Chorizo. (Yes, in the Philippines, paella is served with chorizo haha.) 

Paella Mixta

Their Salpicao...

Salpicao

...and Gambas con Chorizo were both really good.

Gambas con Chorizo

We also got the Croquettes which had smoked bacon and cheese.

Croquettes

We did try some other non-Spanish dishes, such as the Bacon Wrapped Prawns...

Bacon Wrapped Prawns

...and the Seafood Aglio Olio. 

Seafood Aglio Olio

Azadore was originally a house that was then converted into a restaurant and I think some of the rooms in the house have been turned into private dining area. I enjoyed the food here and I also loved the design and the ambiance.

Azadore indoor dining area

They have indoor and al fresco dining, and the lush greenery in the garden feels very relaxing and inviting.

Azadore al fresco dining area

All in all, my family and I had a wonderful dining experience here. 

Azadore
https://www.azadore.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AzadoreQuezonCity/
Address: 111 Scout Fernandez, Corner Scout Torillo Street, Sacred Heart, Quezon City
Contact: 0917-101-0070
Email: info@azadore.com

More Reunions

When my high school friends and I gather to celebrate one of our birthdays, we usually have dinner at Mitch's house. Recently though, we flipped the script a bit because Iona got a room in Aruga for the weekend. We decided instead to have dinner at Rambla. I had eaten at this restaurant a couple of times before but it had been a while since I last ate there so it was nice to dine there again. Rambla serves Spanish food and we ordered a lot of dishes, including Pulpo Asado...

Pulpo Asado from Rambla

...and Tuna Cones (this was an interesting dish).

Tuna Cones from Rambla

Of course, dinner at a Spanish restaurant isn't really complete without Paella. We decided to go fancy and get the Chochinillo Paella. After dinner, we headed over to Iona's room to enjoy some coffee, dessert, and wine before heading home. It wasn't our usual celebration but it was just as fun.

Chochinillo Paella from Rambla

That wasn't the only gathering or visit to Aruga I had. I had a reunion with some ex-colleagues (we worked together on one of the biggest accounts we had in my previous company) and we decided to get a room in Aruga for game night. There were supposed to  be seven of us but some folks had to cancel last minute. There were still four of us - Marco, Jeoff, Mark, and myelf - who made it that night. I think the last time that we were all together in the same place was during Marco's wedding many years ago so was great seeing everyone again. Aruga is right next to Powerplant mall and Jeoff said he really wanted to try a certain restaurant at The Grid, which is kinda like a high-end food court. It was there that I spotted Pilya's Kitchen which serves hand-pulled noodles. I love hand-pulled noodes and it's been ages since I had some so I decided to get their Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. I also ordered Pork and Shrimp Dumplings. I do have to say that it was pretty expensive but really good! I definitely enjoyed my food.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup and Pork and Shrimp Dumplings from Pilya's Kitchen

The last month seems to have been a Rockwell month for me because I also met up with my friends for lunch at Pizzulu, a relatively new restaurant in the Proscenium area. I really do like the pizza and pasta here and in fact, I suggested some the same dishes I had in their BGH branch last year with a different set of friends. While we could have had dessert there, my friends suggested we move to one of the other restaurants in the Proscenium area so we could get to try another new place. We ended up having dessert at Brunch Bureau. I ordered the Nutty French Toast, which I think has peanut butter (as its name suggests), giving it a unique taste. I got it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make it extra special.

Nutty French Toast ala Mode at Brunch Bureau

I also had dinner with another set of colleagues at Mama Lou's at the Venice Grand Canal Mall. Mama Lou's was one of my favorite restaurants during the pandemic because I would often order their family-size truffle mac and cheese or truffle pasta which was only available for take-out or delivery. When my friends and I were deciding which dishes to get, I told them that we should get the Truffle Mac and Cheese (of course) and they could choose whatever other dishes they wanted to go with that. I actually arrived early so before I met up with them, I went around the mall to take photos. It really does look quite beautiful in the evening with all the lights!

Venice Grand Canal Mall at night

My friends and I were still on a high from Rona's sensational 80s theme party so we all agreed to have dinner shortly after that. We agreed to meet up for dinner at Locavore in Estancia. We all shared stories about how much fun we had dancing and how badly our bodies hurt after hahaha. I also hadn't eaten at Locavore in a while and I really missed their Sizzling Sinigang and their Lechon and Oyster Sisig. I never eat at this restaurant without ordering these two dishes.

Lechon and Oyster Sisig and Sizzling Sinigang at Locavore

To round out a month of gatherings, my dear High School friend Ezra was in town and shortly before she left, Iona hosted an after-dinner High School reunion at her house. We met up on a Friday night and because there was no work the next day, we weren't in a rush to go home. Which was great because it really had been such a long time since I last saw Ezra in person and it was wonderful catching up with her. That really is the thing about great friendships, isn't it? Even if you haven't seen each other in a while, once you do, you just pick up from where you left off.