Bright Side of Life

The last month wasn't easy, given all the losses my family experienced, but thankfully there were still many good moments and positive experiences. My friend Drew visited Japan and I asked him if he could buy me a box of Tokyo Banana if he had time to find it and if he still had space in his luggage. I got to try this sweet snack many years ago when a friend brought a box home from Japan as pasalubong and I enjoyed it. I saw that it is now available in the Philippines at the Mitsukoshi Mall but it costs about twice as much here compared to Japan. Not only did Drew manage to buy a box and fit it into his luggage, he also gave it to me as a gift. I shared it with my family and they enjoyed it too. Thanks Drew!

I also got to try the Kurobota Pork Sinigang at Mamou. I've been to Mamou on a few occasions in the past but each time I've eaten there, I always have the steak and the truffle pasta. However, during the pandemic, a friend told me that the sinigang at Mamou is pretty good too. So when my friends decided to have lunch at Mamou, I decided to try the sinigang. It was good indeed. I'm glad I got to try something new and that I actually enjoyed. Of course, I'm also really glad I got to catch up with my friends Eliza, Marie, and Meg.

Speaking of new dining experiences, I enjoyed a crepe at Cooper's Coffee Haus in CW Ortigas Home Depot for the first time. I was in the area one afternoon and I was looking for a place to have coffee and dessert. I love crepes so when I saw Cooper's, I immediately decided to get a table. I ordered the Banana Nutella Brulee and the presentation was a pleasant surprise. The crepes seemed to have been sliced into strips, rolled up, made to stand on the side, and then topped with a banana slice. Pretty inventive!

My new experiences weren't limited to food. I finally got to set up my new weighing scale at home. I actually got it as a birthday gift from my mom a couple of years ago but I only set it up last month. Ive never had a weighing scale before so now I can more closely monitor my weight at home.

I also finally used my Nike app. I set it up and created an account during the pandemic but I didn't use it. And when my old phone ran out of space, I deleted it. I installed it in my new phone but didn't really use it. That is, until I walked into the Nike store at Glorietta one afternoon. One of the salespeople said that several items were on sale but you had to use your Nike app QR code to get the discount. I ended up getting the black Nike Free Metcon 5 at 30% off. Cool!

And while we're on the topic of luck, I won a 500g bag of coffee! I attended a company event and one of the activities that day involved visiting booths of the different departments to understand how other groups do their work. One booth offered visitors a chance to win a prize if they answered a trivia question correctly.  Thankfully, I did! My prize was a bag of Baslay Forest Coffee from Negros. I'm a big fan of local coffee so this prize really made my day.

Hopefully, the worst is over and things start looking up the rest of the year. In any case, I'm truly grateful for all these moments that make life better.