Rest in Peace, Wolf

Very sad news for my family. Our dearest dog, Wolf, passed away.

My family has had many pets over the decades but Wolf was the pet who was with us the longest. He joined our family almost 14 years ago. Apparently, the average lifespan of a medium sized dog is about 10-13 years so that means Wolf actually lived longer than expected. He had been getting sick a lot in the last few years of his life and there were times when we thought he wouldn't make it but he did. When my family took him to the vet this last time, we were told that he only had a 50% chance of making it. Sadly, due to his advanced age, he didn't make it.

I really do miss his presence at home. When he was alive, he would always greet me as I stepped into our gate. Now, whenever I pass by the shops where I used to buy dog food, I feel a twinge of sadness as I am reminded that Wolf is gone. That said, I am grateful that he had many wonderful years with us.

Run free, Wolf! Thank you for your loyalty, companionship, and love. You will forever be missed.

Celebration Dinner at Deo Gracias

My dear Anna recently had a milestone birthday and she celebrated it with her family and friends over a fantastic dinner at Deo Gracias.

Deo Gracias

Deo Gracias is a Spanish restaurant in the Tomas Morato area (specifically, along 11th Jamboree street). At the start of the evening, Anna said that it felt fitting that we were joining her at this restaurant because Deo Gracias is a Spanish play on words on the Latin phrase Deo Gratias which means Thanks be to God. She said that there is a lot to celebrate in this milestone birthday of hers and she was very happy that we were there that night to join her.

We had an incredible feast that evening. We started with several charcuterie board-style starters such as the Tabla Iberica which includes Jamon Iberico, Salchichon Iberico, Chorizo Iberico...

Tabla Iberica

and Tabla De Quesos which includes Manchego, Idiazabal, and Mahon cheeses.

Tabla De Quesos

Croquettes are a popular Spanish appetizer so it wasn't surprising that Croquetas Liquidas de Queso was on the menu. This is a croquette with Idiazabal cheese and a bit of apple jam.

Croquetas Liquidas de Queso

The Gambas al Ajillo y Gulas is a bit of a twist to the popular gambas dish. While it still has prawns, garlic, and olive oil, this dish also includes baby eels. I really loved their gambas!

Gambas al Ajillo y Gulas

I also really enjoyed the Puntillas Fritas. What makes this dish interesting is that the crispy baby squid is served with parsley aioli and squid ink aioli. It's quite cool to have squid ink as part of the dipping sauce of a squid dish. 

Puntillas Fritas

Anna and her family love callos so our menu that evening also included Callos a la Bilbaina which is pork and beef tripe stew with chickpeas.

Callos a la Bilbaina

Instead of the traditional paella to go with our Spanish feast, Anna selected Fideua Pollo y Alcachofas which is like a pasta-based paella (with pasta being used instead of rice). This dish includes chicken, artichokes, chorizo, and thyme aioli.

Fideua Pollo y Alcachofas

Our final savory dish of the evening was also the most grand: Cochinillo Castellano. This Castillian-style roasted suckling pig was delicious. The fact that it had a special presentation, with the wait staff cutting it up using a plate to show us how soft and tender the meat is, made the dining experience even more exciting and memorable.

Cochinillo Castellano

Different wines were served that evening. We had white wine, red wine, and dessert wine. Our friends and wine experts Lala and Ferg helped Anna select the wines that would be served that evening.

I did have a bit of the dessert wine but I preferred to enjoy my dessert with coffee. Our dessert: Tarta de Queso Manchego which is Burnt Manchego cheesecake. This was absolutely delicious!

Tarta de Queso Manchego

I took a photo of the cake display and I saw that this cheesecake costs P3,080. It's really expensive but I think that maybe for a very special occasion, I could buy this. I think my family would love it too.

Cake selection

While we didn't have an official program, Anna did ask me and our other friend Jenny (who is a classically trained singer) to sing a couple of songs. She asked our other friend Mitch to bring her portable karaoke machine. Jenny and I didn't have time to practice and I told her I didn't have time to study harmonies so we went with songs that we were both quite familiar with: Sun and Moon from Miss Saigon and The Prayer by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Yes, I know it was ambitious, but this was a performance with people I know so it felt like a safe enough space to sing these songs without fear of being compared to Andrea Bocelli and Simon Bowman haha. Since we did have a portable karaoke machine, we ended singing a lot more songs that evening, including That's What Friends Are For (which I loved, not only because it was appropriate but because I had just seen Dionne Warwick perform that song during her concert in Manila earlier this year).

It was such an fantastic evening, made even better by the fact that I got to spend time with a lot of great friends. Anna and I have known each other since high school, we took the same course and were classmates in college, and we even worked for the same company twice so everyone who was there that evening were people I have also known for a long time now. It was an incredible birthday celebration filled with amazing people and great conversations, spectacular food and drinks, and a lot of music and singing. Happy birthday Anna!

Deo Gracias
https://www.facebook.com/deogracias.ph
12 11th Jamboree, Diliman, Quezon City 1103 

New Glasses

I now have glasses for nearsightedness.

My distance vision started to become noticeably worse in the last few years. A couple of years ago, during my annual physical exam, I realized that the lowest lines in the eye chart were getting out of focus. I could still correctly identify the letters because I could see their shape but they were quite blurry. Last year, a line in the eye chart I could still read well last year was no longer clear.

I had been meaning to see an ophthalmologist in the last two years but I couldn't get my HMO letter of authorization sorted out up until very recently. My doctor was really good. He said my vision is still not too bad but he did prescribe glasses for nearsightedness. He said that I didn't need to wear glasses on regular basis but he strongly recommended that I wear them while I drive. Apparently, the grade for my reading glasses has gone up as well so he gave me a prescription for those too. My doctor also said that when I purchase glasses, the salespeople would most likely try to sell me progressive ones but he said he doesn't really recommend that for me. I had the same thought, especially since my grade was still quite low and I didn't need to wear them all the time.

I bought my first pair of reading glasses from Starfinder and I was quite happy with that experience so I decided to go there again. They were able to prepare my new glasses in about 30 minutes. Cool!

Starfinder

Hopefully, my eyesight doesn't deteriorate too quickly so I can keep using the glasses I now have for at least a few more years.

Renewing my Bistro BFF Card

I just renewed my Bistro BFF card. And as luck would have it, I managed to renew it with a P500 discount. Cool! It started a few weeks before the expiry date of my card. I had dinner at Secret Recipe in One Ayala and when I presented my BFF card, they told me that it was expiring soon and they asked me if I wanted to renew it. They said that there was an early renewal discount of P500 if I did. I knew I was going to have lunch at Modern Shang, another Bistro restaurant, about a week before my card would expire so I decided to renew then instead. However, during my Modern Shang lunch, they told me that they didn't give any early renewal discount. Bummer. So one day before my card expiry date, I went back to Secret Recipe to see  if they still offered an early renewal discount. They did!

I got to use my new BFF card for the first time at Olive Garden in Opus Mall. My ex-colleagues and I were planning a lunch get-together and one of us suggested Opus Mall. She shared some restaurants she hadn't tried before, including Olive Garden. Being a Cobra Kai fan - there is an Olive Garden scene in season 4 and they talk about how good the breadsticks here are - I said that I would like to have lunch here haha. Thankfully we did because I really enjoyed it! I ordered the solo Seafood Alfredo and it was good.

Seafood Alfredo at Olive Garden

The solo size is P795 and you might think that it is quite expensive. However, it comes with unlimited salad, soupd, and breadsticks. The salad was okay but the soups were delicious! I ordered the Chicken and Gnocchi soup and it was so good that I asked for another bowl!

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup at Olive Garden

Needless to say, after having pasta, two servings of salad, and two bowls of soup, I was completely full after lunch. I did get to have try a breadstick and it was good too! I could have eaten more of it if I wasn't full haha.

Olive Garden breadsticks

That said, we still had a bit of dessert after. Four of us shared tiramisu and strawberry cheesecake (I forgot to take a photo haha). Naturally, I enjoyed our dessert with free coffee that comes with my BFF card. I have to say, I really loved my Olive Garden experience because I liked the food and the unlimited salad, soup, and breadsticks is such a winner!

The BFF card has really proved to be a great purchase for me. I often get my return on investment way before my card expires and I do actually like a lot (most?) of their restaurants.

Easter-themed Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Manila

My Peninsula Manila membership includes a voucher for afternoon tea for two at the lobby. I was going to be in Makati with both my mom and my brother so I thought that it would be a great time to use my voucher. The last time I used my voucher, it was just me and my mom and we weren't able to consume the whole set so I knew that the afternoon tea set could actually be shared by three. (It comes with two coffees so we ordered one more.)

Since we were there close to Easter weekend, we got to enjoy the special Easter-themed tea set. The top tier included a pastry with bunny ears, another with a sunny side up egg decoration, a green macaron (I assume the green color symbolizes new life and maybe also the grass where Easter eggs are sometimes hidden during Easter egg hunts), and carrot cakes with a carrot slice decoration (because bunnies supposedly eat carrots). The special design really did make our set more fun to eat.

The Peninsula Manila lobby is usually full on weekends so I'm quite happy that we managed to get a table when we were there. I have also written about this before, but this might also just be my favorite lobby of all hotels I have visited in my life (whether locally or abroad).

7-Eleven Sale Finds

I recently passed by 7-Eleven to buy something and as I did, I saw several items on sale. A lot of them had a 50% discount. Cool! I felt like it was too good a deal to pass up so I ended up purchasing a couple of items that were half price off. I bought Paldo Lobster King Noodle and O'Food Tteokbokki (Cheese Flavor). The lobster noodles were not bad but it is pretty big so it is quite filling. I did like the tteokbokki but the portion size was so small haha. Thankfully, I got it at a big discount.

Paldo Lobster King Noodle and O'Food Tteokbokki (Cheese Flavor)

On a subsequent visit to 7-Eleven, I saw more items on sale. Once again, I picked up a few items that were on 50% discount. This time, I purchased Paldo King Noodle Chicken Flavor, Bibimmen II noodles, and Paldo Cheese Ramyun.

Paldo King Noodle Chicken Flavor, Bibimmen II noodles, and Paldo Cheese Ramyun

I haven't tried any of these items from my second purchase yet; hopefully when I do, I will enjoy them.

A Mexican Feast at Mamacita in BGC

I recently got to try a new place: Mamacita in BGC. It's a pretty new I hadn't been time to visit the Burgos Circle area in a couple of years. I do like Mexican food so I was looking forward to this dinner.

Mamacita in BGC

We were there on a Saturday night so it was quite loud. It might have not been the most ideal place to try and catch up with people (I felt like I was shouting most of the night and my voice from trying to compete with the loud music haha) but it did have a great, energetic vibe. I really love the interior!

It is beautifully designed with Mexican-style decor inside

They have a private room that looks really cool. (No one was using it when we were there so I managed to take some photos inside.)

It has a private room

I really liked the food here. Their tacos are really good...

Not the best photo of their taco but it was really good

...and I also enjoyed their quesadillas.

Quesadillas

We shared Elote, which is grilled corn, chipotle mayo, sesame, Doritos, and seaweed.

Elote

We ordered a few other dishes, including the Chorizo Queso Fundido, and some drinks (I didn't quite like their Mamacita Sangria which I didn't like that much because I guess I'm not a fan of red wine and tequila haha but I did like the Paloma). They have two desserts on the menu: churros and Piloncillo Ice Cream. Many of us got the ice cream, which is described as Mexican Brown Sugar, Charred Pineapple, Arbol Caramel, and Butterscotch Chip). This was quite good.

Piloncillo Ice Cream

I'm really glad that our dinner pushed through. These are people that I hung out with a lot around 15-20 years ago and I didn't really get to see them as a group for a long time, up until I joined a dinner with my friend Anne last year. It was over that dinner that people got to talking about trying to meet each other more regularly. It did take about a year to get that done, but we finally did.

Mamacita
https://www.instagram.com/mamacita.bgc/
Address: Forbestown Rd, Taguig City, 1634 Metro Manila
Phone: 0917 134 5995 

Unplanned Purchase at a Nike Sale

I was meeting a friend for dinner at The Podium but I arrived a couple of hours early so I decided to go around the mall first. I passed by the Nike store there and saw that they were on sale. I had been thinking about getting new slides so I thought maybe I would find something there that was on sale. And indeed, I did. The slides I saw were on sale with a 50% discount, bringing the final cost to less than P800. Not bad. I immediately decided to get it.

The reason I like slides is because I can walk around in them while wearing socks. They are much easier to wear compared to shoes i.e. no more bending down to put them on and to tie shoelaces haha. I also prefer wearing socks with them because I sweat a lot (especially in Philippine weather). In the past, this slides and socks get-up might have been viewed as a bit of a fashion faux pas but it has become a lot more widely accepted in recent years. (And well, even if they are still viewed as very un-stylish, I don't really care haha.)

I actually almost purchased slides a couple of months ago. I saw a pair I kinda liked that weren't on sale but then someone purchased the last pair right as I was about to buy it. I was a bit bummed about it at that time but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I like these new slides I got better and, because of the 50% discount, they are a lot cheaper.