Dionne Warwick One Last Time in Manila

I just watched Dionne Warwick's One Last Time in Manila concert at the New Frontier Theater. And oh what a magical and memorable evening it was!

Dionne Warwick One Last Time in Manila

Dionne is a musical legend with a sublime and exceptionally distinct and recognizable voice. A lot of her songs have stood the test of time, many of which I love. So when my Mom learned about her concert and asked me to get her a ticket, I decided to watch along with her.

Dionne's concert was held at the New Frontier Theater in Cubao

Dionne is known to be the muse of legendary composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David. As such, most of the songs that she performed that evening were songs written by Bacharach and David. This was her set list that evening:

• Walk on by
• Anyone who had a heart
• You'll never get to heaven (if you break my heart)
• I'll never fall in love again
• Message to Michael
• This girl's in love with you
• I say a little prayer
• Alfie
• Do you know the way to San Jose
• If I want to
• I'll never love this way again
• 99 Miles from LA
• What the world needs now is love
• That's what friends are for

Her voice may not be as pristine as it was in her prime - after all, she is 84! - but it was still magnificent! And she is still such a force. She continues to have that gorgeously husky and unique tone that is both sophisticated and soulful. Her incredible and expressive phrasing makes it feel as if she was a storyteller sharing something deeply personal with the audience. While her range is no longer as consistently wide as it was in her younger years, she was still able to showcase her power. It really was such a privilege to be part of the audience that night.

I was probably the biggest fan of Alfie in the entire audience that night so I was really happy when she sang it and I cheered loudly when she was done. During Do you know the way to San Jose, she introduced the members of her band. I can't remember if it was in that same song or another one but each musician in the band had a moment to shine during an extended instrumental. Another highlight was the audience participation part of What the world needs now is love that had us all singing back-up for Dionne.

As she got ready to close her concert, she told us that our paths may not cross again - after all, her concert tour is called One Last Time - and that actually kind of made me a bit sad. She then went into her final song of the night, That's what friends are for, and the audience sang along with her. Before she got off the stage, it looked like she hugged herself and I took that to mean that she felt the love from the audience as we all stood to give her a very well-deserved standing ovation.

As she slowly walked off stage, she signed some autographs for the people in the front rows. It kinda made me wish I was there too.

Thank you, Ms Dionne Warwick, for coming to Manila and entertaining your Philippine fans one last time!

New Year, New Experiences

The year has just begun but already, I have had quite a few new experiences. One of these is spending Three Kings Day with my family in Manila Peninsula.

Manila Pen lobby on Three Kings Day

In the Philippines, Three Kings Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of the year. When we arrived, the lobby was decorated with a nativity scene that showcased the gifts of the three wise men: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Nativity Scene display at the Manila Pen lobby

I had a discount voucher for Sunday brunch at Escolta and I thought it would be good to enjoy a buffet meal with my family to close out an amazing holiday season and before the craziness of the year starts. I love how beautifully the hotel is decorated. We've seen it sparkling in the evening and now we saw it during the day.

Escolta at the Manila Pen

Even the interior of Escolta was decorated to celebrate Three Kings Day. Cool!

Three Kings Day decor inside Escolta

Another set of new experiences: having dinner and dessert with Che at Greenhills Mall and getting to try a new place. Che and I agreed to meet for dinner in Greenhills after New Year and we were thinking of a place to eat. I don't know if social media was spying on our conversation but after we agreed over chat to meet in Greenhills, I got an ad for Cafe Kulture. It looked interesting so I suggested it to Che and she agreed. I ordered their Shrimp Aglio with Cherry Tomatoes which was pretty good.

Shrimp Aglio with Cherry

I had wanted to order a donut for dessert (it was their only dessert) but we were told that they had already run out. As such, Che and I decided to move. I suggested that we try SuperSam.

Supersam at Greenhills Mall

I suggested this place because I had eaten here once before - I ordered the Strawberry Croissant - and I really liked it. I also loved the fact that they serve decaf.

Strawberry Croissant from SuperSam which I tried late last year

As it turned out, SuperSam was an even better choice than we had originally thought. Che saw the history of this restaurant in one of the menu pages. The name is meant to be a contraction of the phrase Super Samahan, which was the main driver for setting up this business. Apparently, they started out as a means to help people who lost work during the pandemic by providing a source of income. They started out as a food delivery service before being established as a restaurant about a year later. That's amazing! It suddenly made me want to support SuperSam even more. However, we had just had dinner so I just ordered coffee and a dessert. I really loved the strawberry croissant I had previously but I wanted to try another item on their menu. So this time I went with the Dark Choco Croissant. It was good too! (Hopefully, I can visit SuperSam again in the near future.)

Dark Choco Croissant

Another new experience: buying Mamita's lasagna and enjoying it with my family. I had tried this before, during one of my board game nights, and I really liked it. So one weekend, I decided to place an order. They have two pick-up locations, Scout Gandia and Blue Ridge. I decided to order from their Sct Gandia branch.

Mamita's along Scount Gandia

I ordered a family try of their Special Lasagna (P1,150). When I got home, my mom saw the name on the box and said she had seen Mamita's as well on her social media feed. I'm happy that my family enjoyed it as well! Mamita's also has a lot of other dishes that you can order from their website. I am sure I will order from them again in the future.

Special Lasagna from Mamita's

A friend of mine flew to Japan over the holidays and I asked him if he could get me Tokyo Milkcheese Factory cookies (I know they cost a lot less in Japan than they do here in Manila). However, my friend went to Hokkaido and he was told that Tokyo Milkcheese Factory wasn't available there (because, well, it wasn't Tokyo haha). Instead, it was recommended that he get Shiroi Kobito cookies so he did. I tried this before, when another friend brought home a box and gave me one piece. This time, I had a whole box of the Chocolat Blanc Et Langue De Chat cookies. It was really good! Hokkaido really has a lot of very good dairy products!

Shiroi Kobito Chocolat Blanc Et Langue De Chat cookies

Finally, I attended the milestone birthday of my friend Martin. He is heavily involved in the cultural scene of the Philippines and during his party, he invited two musical prodigies: Vien who plays the harp and Dirk who plays the cello. The entertained the party attendees with beautiful music, some of which I had never heard before but some of which I was quite familiar with. A highlight of their performance was getting to hear them play The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals. I know this because there is a popular ballet dance called the Dying Swan that is choreographed to this musical piece. It was such an enriching experience to hear this music performed live, and so beautifully.

Musical prodigies Dirk and Vien

This really has been an awesome start to 2025. I can't help but feel very thankful to have so many wonderful and enriching experiences that I get to share with my family and friends.

Award-Winning Spain Cheesecake at Bolero

I had been seeing the Award-winning Spain Cheesecake of Bolero in my social media feed quite a bit. I've read people say that it's the best cheesecake in Manila. As a fan of cheesecake, I was very interested. Apparently, so was my friend. When we were discussing where to meet up for a post-Christmas lunch, she suggested Bolero. I immediately agreed because this would be the perfect chance for me to try their cheesecake. And I'm glad I did because it was exceptionally good! It costs P550 so it's definitely not cheap but I would very willingly pay that amount of money for this dessert.

Award-winning Spain Cheesecake

While the cheesecake was our main reason for heading to Bolero, we did have a main course too. It was funny how none of us in our group wanted to order anything more than a main course - like no soup, salad, or appetizers - because we all wanted to save space for dessert haha. I selected the Chicken Milanese, which is a breaded chicken leg with noisette butter and greens. Bolero is a Spanish restaurant but somehow I ended up selecting a dish that isn't Spanish haha. This dish was just okay.

Chicken Milanese

The main dishes are on the expensive size but they are relatively good-sized portions. My friend ordered the lasagna and she couldn't eat the whole dish. (I did try a bit of it since she couldn't eat the whole thing and it was quite good.) I do like the vibe of Bolero. It's sleek and hip and it has the feel of a place where you could wind down at the end of the day with some drinks.

The service was really good too. Would I go back here? I definitely would, even if it's just to enjoy their fantastic cheesecake. That said, given the price range, I do think I need to save up if I visit again and want to have a main course along with the dessert.

Bolero
https://bolero.ph/
Address: GF, Verve Tower 2, High street south, 26th 27th Street, Taguig, 1634 Metro Manila
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 2 AM
Phone: 0917 120 1228

Welcome 2025 and looking back at 2024

Happy new year, everyone!

I hope your New Year celebration were joyful and safe. It definitely was for my family. A first for us: we heard mass early in the morning. We don't normally do this because we stay up late the night before due to the midnight festivities. But we ended up waking early and deciding to hear mass at the start of the day.

Having a blog makes it very easy for me to see and remember the amazing and memorable moments I experienced in the past. And 2024 was definitely a year to remember.

The highlight has to be taking my family on a safari adventure in Kenya. We got to go to Maasai Mara, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Naivasha and see all sorts of animals, including the Big Five. I wrote extensively about this trip, including some travel tips and my final thoughts.

There were many special moments with family and friends. My family and I celebrated my brother's birthday at Mamou. I watched my nephew perform during UST's 34th Sampung Mga Daliri concert. My mom and I went to Batangas to attend a wedding and we spent a relaxed and enjoyable morning in Tagaytay the next day. I attended my friend and colleague's wedding at Tagaytay Highlands. My family and I watched Miss Saigon at The Theatre at Solaire. My mom and I watched Giselle at the Aliw Theater. I got to see my very dear friends Duncan and Amy together for the first time in years! Another first: my family and I decided to celebrate our pet dog's birthday with a special cake. We had an enjoyable team building event in Acuaverde in Batangas. And of course I had a ton of lunches, dinners, reunions, and board game nights throughout the year.

I also got to try a lot of new restaurants: XI by Cafe Guilt, The Fat Seed Cafe + Roastery, Grifoni, Talabar Kitchen and Cafe, Grapevine Manila, Samba at Shangri-La The Fort, Secret Recipe, and Ruth's Chris. I also enjoyed a discounted breakfast buffet at the Westin Manila. It wasn't all new restaurants of course. I got to eat at Corner Tree Cafe again a few times after a really long time (and I'm glad I did because it apparently closed in the middle of the year). And I revisited a lot of old favorites, such as Old Swiss Inn and Cafe Breton, and some new favorites, such as Old Manila.

It wasn't all hunky dory though. I had some medical challenges during the year, including my first root canal procedure. I visited a dermatologist for the first time in years. I also had had a trip to the ER due to abdominal pain, but thankfully I wasn't confined. I also had a lot of expensive repairs done at my pad, including replacing my bathroom tiles and my kitchen faucet. That said, I was surprised at how happy I was by getting a new light fixture and purchasing new pillow cases haha.

I also lost a couple of people this year: Tita Margie and Auntie Isabel. May they both rest in peace. My family also commemorated the death anniversary of Nanay.

My favorite male tennis player of all time, Rafa Nadal, retired towards the end of the year. That said, there were a lot of great moments in sports. Carlos Yulo won two gold medals at the Paris Olympics, Nesthy Petecio won her second Olympic medal, and Aira Villegas won her first. The Alas Pilipinas Women's Volleyball team won Bronze at the AVC Challenge Cup, with Jia Morado and Angel Canino winning individual awards. And the UP Men's Basketball Team won the UAAP Men's Basketball Championship.

I read only one book - The Miracles of Namiya General Store - but it was fantastic. It's the only book that made me cry in public (so far) and it may very well be my favorite book that I've read. I also got to watch a lot of movies at the cinema throughout the year, including Wicked. I got to watch more shows on Netflix and Disney+, such as Cobra Kai and 9-1-1. I also discovered Netflix Triviaverse, where I ended up becoming a Triviaverse God.

Here are a few more interesting experiences and memorable moments. I got my 4th Scrum certification, and the one I am proudest of to date. I spent a wonderful afternoon (and evening) taking photos in UST. I had an awesome Star Wars photo op at the Uniqlo Flagship store in Glorietta 5. I bought a new Seiko watch. I got to enjoy the incredible art of BenCab at the Manila Pen lobby. I acquired several pre-loved books from my friend. I purchased a few Snoopy and Peanuts shirts in time for Peanuts' 75th anniversary in 2025 and I bought some Hello Kitty cookies during Hello Kitty's 50th anniversary. I got a BFF card and a Landers card. Oh, and I got a new role at work.

What an incredible year 2024 turned out to be. Hopefully, 2025 will be just as amazing.