Helping improve the quality of education in the country

A colleague of mine suggested that we look into partnering with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) back in August 2009. She said she volunteered for one of their strategic planning workshops and said it would be good to have our Corporate Social responsibility program organize a group of employees to volunteer for this activity. Only a handful of volunteers are needed to run a successful workshop and it doesn't require a lot of logistics so after a few meetings to understand the requirements of the event, we decided to do a "test run" in January 2010.

Our initial call for volunteers resulted in almost 50 volunteers signing up in less than 20 minutes so we knew that a lot of people were interested in it. The first run we had was very successful, with a lot of good feedback from both the ACED staff and our own volunteers. As such, it was a given that we would continue with this partnership and help out in these strategic planning workshops whenever we could.

The workshops are not run during the summer months so we resumed the partnership once the 2010-2011 school year started. Weekend-long strategic planning sessions were scheduled on July 31-August 1, September 11-12 and November 20-21. I normally work on gathering volunteers without volunteering myself and just swing by during the event to provide some support, but one of our volunteers had to back out at the last minute during our September 11-12 session so I had to take her place. It was a really interesting experience. Once you are used to the corporate setting, it is almost automatic for you to define specific goals and objectives, assign responsibility, and track progress. This isn't the same in other settings because people don't want to be blamed for things not going according to plan or schedule and which results in a tendency to shy away from accountability. It took a while for the school participants - which included the principal, teaches, barangay representatives, and parents of some students - to get the hang of setting priorities and defining indicators that would allow them to measure the success of their actions but in the end, we managed to come up with a pretty good plan that was actionable and achievable.

The great thing about ACED is that after each workshop, they gather feedback from the participants and the volunteers to figure out how to make things better, and I can see some specific changes to the workshop when I compare the first workshop we volunteered for in January to the one that just finished last Nov 20-21. There are a couple more schedules this school year - one in January and another in February - and we are already in the planning stages for those. Hopefully, our continued efforts to partner with ACED will help improve the quality of education in our public schools.

Game night

My friends and I once had a game night a long time ago - shortly after Suzanne and Nenen came to Manila and gave us all board games as gifts - but we never got around to staging another one. That is, until my friend Mike returned from his six-year stint in the US. Mike had a couple of board games that he wanted us to play. We set aside one Friday night for it.

We had dinner in Kirin in Bonifacio High Street before heading to Mike's place to play Settlers of Catan. The objective of game is to be the first person to earn 10 points by building a colony. Players can earn these points in a variety of ways, like building houses or putting together the longest road or amassing the largest army. There were quite a few of us - Mike, Joh, Raffa, Suzanne, Me-ann, Nats, Julie, and myself of course. It was especially nice to have Nats and Julie there coz it had been years since I hung out with either of them.


The game requires a lot of strategy and planning and it takes a while before someone manages to earn 10 points. We played two rounds - Mike won the first round and Julie won the second. We all enjoyed game night so much that a couple of weeks after the first, we set another one up while Che was in town. There were fewer of us in part 2: me, Che, Joh, Me-ann, and Mike. We ditched Settlers in favor of Ticket to Ride just so we could try a new game.
The objective of Ticket to Ride is earn the most number of points by completing train routes. We got to play only one round as people had to get up early the next day, and Mike, who is an expert on all these board games (he owns them after all), won yet again. Doesn't matter as we all had fun (apart from the fact that I kept singing the Beatles' song 'Ticket to Ride' the entire night, so much so that at some point we decided to play music so that I wouldn't drive everyone crazy LOL). Hopefully we can all get together every now and then to have more game nights.

F1 season comes to a close

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for clinching the 2010 F1 Drivers' Championship. It wasn't easy, but a win in Abu Dhabi (the final race) combined with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber placing 7th and 8th respectively meant that Vettel became F1 World Champion. This was made even sweeter by the fact that Red Bull Racing won the Constructors' Championship, ahead of McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari.

The podium in Abu Dhabi was also pretty interesting in that Vettel was joined by the last two World Champions: Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and Jenson Button in 2009 (they placed 2nd and 3rd in the race respectively).

Brunei: Final Thoughts

Brunei has enough going on to keep tourists interested. In fact, if you are more into nature-tripping, there are rainforests and parks outside the city that you can visit. However, Brunei is not your destination of choice if you are looking for late-night, alcohol-laden parties since the sale of alcohol is banned in the country (I believe that people flying into Brunei are allowed to bring a few bottles of alcohol, but there is a specific limit).

Bus fare in Brunei is quite cheap: BN$1 or about P30-35 even if you are traveling to the furthest point in the bus route. The same can't be said about taxis, however, but since our hotel was within walking distance of the bus terminal and a lot of the sights in the city center, we never had to take one. What surprised me was the relatively low cost of food. As I mentioned in previous blog posts, my mom and I got to try two hotel buffets (dinner at the Radisson and lunch at the Empire Hotel and Country Club) both of which cost about P1,000 or less (buffet lunches and dinners in the top hotels in Metro Manila are all more expensive than that). A lot of decent restaurants had menu items that were in the BN$4-6, or about P130-200, which is the same amount of money you'd spend on a decent restaurant meal in Manila. A latte in Coffee Bean is about BN$4 (P130) while a coke zero in can purchased in a convenience store is about BN$1.

This holiday was also the first time that I was able to try a couple of restaurants suggested by my travel book. In all my previous travels to other countries, I've always wanted to try recommended dining places from my books but somehow I never got to. In this trip, however, my mom and I got to eat in two places highlighted by my Lonely Planet book - Nyonya Restaurant and Portview Cafe (both in or near the Yayasan Complex). If not for my stomach problems, we might have been able to try a few more. Probably our favorite resto was Nyonya. This is where we had our first meal outside our hotel. We thought the food was good and reasonably priced that we decided to have our final dinner here as well.

One really cool thing about Bandar Seri Begawan, at least for Pinoys, is the fact that Jollibee has become a permanent fixture in the city. I saw four branches - one in Yayasan Complex, one in The Mall, one somewhere on the road from the city center to the Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, and one in the airport. I guess it isn't surprising since there are a large number of Pinoys working and living in Brunei. You can very easily find Filipinos working in hotels, restaurants, stores and shops, and in the buses. It made it so much easier traveling around the city since there was always someone who could help out when needed.


If you have the time and funds, I recommend a trip to Brunei. It may not be as popular a travel destination as other countries in Southeast Asia, but it definitely has its fair share of sights worth seeing.

Brunei: Travel tips and Suggested Itinerary

Your most economical option to visit Bandar Seri Begawan from Manila is most likely Cebu Pacific, which frequently has promo airfares to Brunei. The caveat is that flights are not daily so you have to plan your trip carefully, and you most likely have to take days off from work.

Assuming you take the same flight schedule we did, you will have the following itinerary:

• Depart Manila on Saturday, 11:45 PM, arrive in Bandar Seri Begawan on Sunday, 1:40 AM
• Depart Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday, 2:25 AM, arrive in Manila on Wednesday, 4:20 AM

The schedule is tricky and you have to be very careful when planning your trip around this itinerary.

Tip #1: book accommodations correctly
Arrival in Brunei is on Sunday at 1:40 AM, which means you still need to sleep that night. This qualifies as a Saturday check-in (albeit a very late one). Departure from Brunei is on Wednesday at 2:25 AM, which means that at around midnight, you should be heading to the airport already. As such, you don't need to book a room for Tuesday night anymore (otherwise, you pay for a room you won't really use). Given this, make sure you check into your hotel on Saturday and check out on Tuesday. That's a total of three nights - Sat, Sun, and Mon - which makes sense because you will spend 3 full days there (Sun, Mon, and Tue). A group of Pinoys checked into the same hotel and they made the mistake of not booking a room for Saturday night, and no standard rooms were available which caused them a significant amount of hassle.

Tip #2: if you are on a budget, stay at the Jubilee Hotel
It's a very basic hotel, probably 2-star, with basic amenities and no room service. However, the Jubilee Hotel is pretty cheap - about BN$70 or P2,400 a night - so if you are not fussy and just need a place to stay, this hotel is for you. The biggest selling point, though, is the free airport transfer: transportation is provided to the guests during pick-up (yes, even at 1:40 AM!) and departure. Given that taxis to and from the airport cost about BN$30, you save $60 or about P2,000. That means you effectively spend "only" P1,700 a night on accommodations. That's a steal in my book. The hotel also has free wifi access.

Tip #3: buy a travel book and bring it with you
It isn't too difficult to get around in Brunei so you are better off spending about P1,000-P1,500 on a good travel book instead of spending big bucks on a tour. I find tours to be quite limiting in terms of flexibility. Figuring out what you want to do when you want to do it allows you to explore the city more, and it gives you a lot more time to take the photos you want. You could also read the internet to prepare for your trip and mark the places you want to visit, but I prefer having a book with me so I can read and re-read the details of the places I want to go. It also helps a lot when your plans change and you have to figure out what else to do and how to get there.

Tip #4: Proposed agenda
My last three blog posts share what we did in each of our three days in Bandar Seri Begawan. But there were things we wanted to see that we were unable to visit. As such, assuming health and weather conditions permit, here is my proposed itinerary:

Day 1 (Sunday)

• Late morning: Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. Try to climb the stairs of the minaret to see a great view of the city, or take the elevator (we didn't get to do this).
• Mid afternoon: Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.
• Early evening: Jerudong Park Playground. This amusement park is closed on Mon and Tue, so Sunday will be your only chance to visit. (We weren't able to go here since we were too tired.) It might be hard to get a taxi from the Park when you are there, so try booking the transportation from your hotel.
• Note: if you are Catholic and want to hear mass, you can go to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. You can catch the 9:30 AM mass if you wake up early enough, but if you miss it, you can still catch the 5:30 PM mass.

Day 2 (Monday)

• Early morning: Royal Regalia Museum. If you are interested in buying souvenirs, this is actually the best place to do it. A lot of items carried in their souvenir shops like post cards and magnets are cheaper than anywhere else and they have some inexpensive shirts that you can't find anywhere else. Try to go the museum at around 830-9 AM so you can leave by 1030-11 AM.
• Late morning/Noon: take a trip to Seria to visit the Brunei oil fields. The bus terminal is in Jalan Cator and buses to Seria leave every 40 minutes. The trip itself takes about 2 hours. If you catch the 11 or 11:40 AM bus, you should get to Seria by 2 PM at the latest. Once you are in Seria, you can take photos of oil fields from afar and the Billionth Barrel Monument up close. You can also visit the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre. It is closed on Tuesday hence my recommendation to visit it on Monday. You can spend a couple of hours here before heading back to Bandar Seri Begawan in time for dinner or maybe some more souvenir shopping.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

• Mid-to-late morning: Kampong Ayer water tour (including a trip to the mangroves for a backyard view of Istana Nurul Iman)
• After lunch: You have the option of dropping by Istana Nurul Iman for a quick photo op outside the gates. If you don't feel the need for this, you can instead move quickly to
• Mid-afternoon: Empire Hotel and Country Club. Take photos while the sun is still up in the afternoon. You could even have dinner here before heading back to the city center. Make sure you check out one of the souvenir shops here since they also offer some items like shirts and pewter mugs that cannot be found elsewhere.
• Evening: you could make a return trip to the main mosques so you can take photos of them in a different light.

The important thing to remember is that some of the sights are not open daily, so make sure you map out your itinerary to take into account days and times of the day when these tourist spots can be visited.

Brunei: Day 3

One day left in our holiday in Bandar Seri Begawan and there were still a couple of key destinations we hadn't been to yet so we made sure we got to visit them in our final day. First on the agenda was a water taxi ride to Kampong Ayer, the Water Village.

My Lonely Planet book said that water taxis can take you to see Kampong Ayer and the mangroves for about BN$30 (about ~P1000). At first we were being charged $40 to $50, so we had to haggle a bit with a few water taxis before we found one that agreed to $30. However, my mom and I wanted to visit the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery, so we agreed to pay our water taxi driver an additional $10 for him to bring us there and wait for us.

Our water taxi initially took us to the mangroves. There wasn't much to see there - the proboscis monkeys normally come out in the early morning or late afternoon - but we did manage to see the backyard of Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan. This palace was built by a Filipino, Leandro V. Locsin. People are only allowed to enter the grounds to see the palace up close during the annual Islamic celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri (the festival at the end of the Muslim fasting month).

We then headed to Kampong Ayer, which is also known as the "Venice of the East". Kampong Ayer has great historic and cultural significance in Brunei. It has been in existence for over 1,300 years and served as a major port of Brunei, exporting a variety of goods. It is the world's largest village on stilts, with more than 30,000 residents. While Kampong Ayer may look like a slum from the outside, it is actually lot more modern and self-sustaining than people may think, with houses having air-conditioning, electricity, plumbing, internet access, and satellite TV. The village itself has restaurants, shops, schools (nine of them, in fact), and even a fire department. Other notable things we saw during our tour of the village were a mosque,


a police station,


a hospital (and water ambulance),


and a Shell gas station (I even saw a boat come up to the station to refuel as we passed by :)).


We capped off our tour with a quick trip to the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery. Entrance is free and visitors get to learn more about the background, history, traditions, society, and arts and crafts of the water village.


After a late lunch, we walked to the Royal Regalia Museum, another one of the must-see places in Brunei. As is the case with the other museums here, entrance is free.

What makes this museum unique is that it displays the gifts that have been presented to the Sultan of Brunei by government officials from different countries, including a treasure chest made of abalone shells from the Philippines given by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The timing of our visit wasn't particularly good since the crown jewels were being cleaned at the time so they weren't on display, but there were still a lot of other things to see. Probably the best thing on display was the recreation of the sultan's coronation day parade which included the royal chariot that carries the newly-crowned sultan, the different soldiers that pull and push the chariot through the city streets, and even life-sized photos of the actual crowd during the last coronation day posted all over the walls. Photos are not allowed inside expect in the main receiving area so my mom and I took a few photos of the memorabilia there.

We headed back to our hotel after that, just in time for our 4pm late check-out. We were planning to go to the Brunei History Center but it was closed to the pubic. I think it was under renovation or something since the staff there told us it wouldn't be open until next year. Our flight wasn't until 2am so we had coffee before taking a bus to the Istana Nurul Iman so we could see the palace from outside the gates. Unfortunately for us, it rained again, so we decided to just stay on the bus and take a road trip (after all, one way bus fare is only $1 or about P30). The bus conductor was Pinoy so this trip became our unofficial tour of Bandar Seri Begawan, with our conductor sharing stories of how it is to live and work in Brunei and pointing out some places along the road, including the Istana Nurul Iman. We had one last meal in the Yayasan complex before heading back to our hotel to rest in the lobby.

All in all, a great experience and a very good and satisfying holiday. I definitely recommend a trip to Brunei, especially since Cebu Pacific offers cheap flights to Bandar Seri Begawan now. I'll share some travel tips and recommendations in my next blog post.

Brunei: Day 2

The initial plan was to get up early and take a bus ride to Seria to see the Brunei oil fields. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't seem to agree with something, or everything, I ate the night before. My mom and I had more or less the same savory items in the Radisson buffet (including the baked mussels) but I ate more than twice as much as she did. Plus I had a truckload of dessert. I guess all that food turned my stomach upside down. I certainly felt it when I woke up. So much so that I barely ate any breakfast. My mom and I scoured the city center for a pharmacy but the only one available was still closed. We ask around and ended up in some store managed by Pinoys that actually sold Imodium. Thank God! However, by the time we got back to the bus terminal, there were no air-conditioned buses available to Seria. And since the trip to the oil fields takes 2 hours (during which time my stomach might act up again), we decided to just go to the Empire Hotel and Country Club, which was a lot closer and had a lot of restrooms ready for use. 

My Lonely Planet book on Brunei highly recommended a visit to the Empire Hotel and Country Club, and upon arrival, my mom and I understood why. The place was lavish, with its very high ceiling, multi-tiered lobby, and massive columns. Some of walls were made of glass so you could look out onto the beach, the pool area, and the beautifully landscaped grounds. My mom remarked that the columns made the hotel look like a monument in Rome so she wasn't surprised when I told her that they imported the marble from Italy. 

We decided to have lunch in the hotel lobby (or well, the 2nd tier of the lobby as the 1st one served mainly coffee and dessert). I had buffet again (this one cost about BND31 I think, or about P1000, still cheap for a hotel buffet!) while my mom, who was still full, decided to just get a sandwich. I still couldn't eat - I skipped all the seafood - so I ended up having a few bowls of soup and a lot of bread along with a few other solid items. Once we were done eating, we decided to take a few photos inside the hotel. This piano was set up right next to the lunch area. 

It was drizzling on and off when we were there so the moment it stopped raining, we decided to head out and take some pictures in the pool and beach area. 

At around 3 P.M. we head back to the city center but not before taking a few more snapshots inside the Empire Hotel. One of the most interesting pieces we looked for was a camel made of Baccarat crystal and gold. My book said the hotel carried two of these pieces, one in the lobby and the other in in their biggest and most expensive suite, and that each of these camels was worth US$500,000. It wasn't ostensibly huge so I am not sure about the accuracy of this piece of trivia, but I took a photo anyway. :) 

The plan was to hit Kampong Ayer (the water village) once we were back in the city center but once again, the rain started pouring heavily. So we make another adjustment in our plans and head to The Mall (right next to the Rizqun Hotel) instead so my mom could look for more souvenirs. We lucked out earlier in the day because one of the shops in the Empire Hotel actually sold a lot of souvenirs that were not available elsewhere and they were nicer and cheaper than similar items we saw in the city center. But of course we needed to get more. :) We managed to buy a couple of items in The Mall, including jogging pants for both my nephews, before heading back to our hotel. We wanted to catch the last bus back so we didn't have dinner in The Mall anymore (the last bus was at 7pm and we felt it might be tough to get a taxi due to the weather). Since it was raining quite heavily, we decided against eating in the city center. we ended up buying bread and peanut butter in the convenience store at the ground floor of our hotel and eating in our room (our hotel was quite basic and didn't have any room service). Despite the stomach problems and heavy rains that caused us to change our plans a couple of times, we still managed to make the most of it. We still had one day left in Brunei. More on this in my next blog post.

Brunei: Day 1

Two things about Brunei: (1) it's officially an Islamic state with a strong and rich Muslim culture, (2) due to the abundance of oil, it is a very rich country, with the 4th highest GDP in the world. Given this, it's not surprising that two of the must-see sights in (or around) the capital Bandar Seri Begawan are mosques: The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and the Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. These were the first two places we went to see.

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is right smack in the city center and was within walking distance of our hotel. We got there at around 11:30 A.M., giving us enough time to go inside (prayers start at 12 noon so the doors of the mosque would be closed to visitors at that time). The exterior of the mosque is stunning, with its golden domes (the main dome is made of pure gold!) adding a touch of extravagance to the pristine white walls.


Visitors are not allowed to take photos inside, which is too bad because I would have loved to take a picture of the dazzling Venetian mosaic that can be found in the interior of the main dome. Anyone who enters needs to put on an Islamic robe.


This "boat" that stands right next to the mosque is replica of a 16th century mahligai barge.


We headed to the Yayasan complex, which is just across the road from the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, to have lunch before walking over to the bus terminal in Jalan Cator. There we got on a bus that took us to the second item on our itinerary that day: the Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.


This mosque was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of His Majesty the Sultan's reign. Naturally, this landmark just absolutely takes your breath away. We first caught a glimpse of it on our way from the airport to the hotel and it was spectacular in the evening lights. During the day, it was just as awe-inspiring. The first thing that hits you is the scale of it. I mean, it's just so massive, and the four minarets that surround it seem like giant soldiers keeping watch.


There was no one at the entrance of the mosque so my mom and I got a bit confused about the whole process since no one could tell us which parts of the mosque we could visit and which were off limits. But as luck would have it, a small private tour was going on when we got there, and the tour guide who wanted to make sure we followed protocol invited us to join them (for free haha). Once again, no photos are allowed inside. Such a shame because once we entered the main prayer hall, my jaw just dropped. It was beautiful! The thing that drew my attention the most was the massive golden chandelier in the center of the hall.

We took a bus back to the city center before walking to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. We went to the church in the morning and learned that masses on Sunday were held at 7:30 A.M, 9:30 A.M (both of which we missed) and 5:30 P.M. So we made it just in time for the late afternoon mass. The good thing for us was that the ceremony was held in English.


On our way home, we decided to swing by the Sheraton Utama Hotel (or the Radisson) to have dinner since the two restaurants in our hotel were both under renovation. We figured the Radisson would have a good restaurant with a buffet dinner and we were right. The buffet dinner was "only" 26 Brunei Dollars or about P800, which is actually really cheap for a hotel buffet. The fact that it came with refillable coffee made it an even better deal!


I ate way too much food to compensate for the exhaustion and lack of sleep (I was working like crazy leading up to the trip) and I got a very bad lesson in overeating. I'll talk more about this in my next blog post.

Holiday in Brunei

It's always an interesting experience when visiting a country for the first time. So when my mom asked me if I wanted to travel with her to Brunei on holiday (Cebu Pacific had an airfare sale - as they often do - and the flights to Brunei were even cheaper than domestic flights), I jumped at the opportunity. I didn't know what was there to see in Brunei at the time, but it didn't really matter. I always keep a very positive and open outlook when traveling to a new destination and this always allows me to connect to new cities and countries I visit. I was sure the same would be true in Brunei, and it was.

We stayed in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, and made sure we got to see as many of the sights during our trip. There aren't a lot of landmarks and tourist attractions and the city isn't too big, which means that spending a few days here will allow you to see all the key tourist spots without having to rush from one place to another. Some highlights of our trip:

Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque


Kampong Ayer Water Village


Empire Hotel and Country Club


More about my trip to Brunei in the next few blog posts. :)

Nelly's "Just a dream"

I heard this song while driving and it got stuck in my head that I just had to search for it the moment I was online. Didn't realize Nelly could come up with music like this. It's such a beautiful song with great lyrics. Definitely my current favorite!


video uploaded in youtube by user ChannelMusicHD

Out of the doldrums

With a couple of back-to-back wins, Liverpool have finally moved out of the relegation zone! After their defeat against Everton, I didn't have much hope for the squad anymore. But two wins in a row - aginst Bolton and Blackburn - have given Liverpool enough points to land right smack in the middle of the league table. If they keep up this form, maybe they can move back up to the top of the league where they belong.

Trick or treat

Trick-or-treating is now an annual family tradition and this year was no different. My mom and I took my nephews to a Plants vs Zombies-themed activity although you didn't have to come as either a plant or a zombie to join - CJ had a Scream-type mask to complement his hooded skeleton outfit while Ciera had a scary pumpkin mask that matched his pumpkin costume.

Before the event proper, we were told that several zombie stickers were scattered around the assembly area. We were tasked to find stickers that had numbers written on the back since these corresponded to prizes. I found one and my mom found one (two actually but the other one she found had no number) so that meant each of my nephews got a prize.

The set-up was similar to the Amazing Race in that you had pitstops but, as the emcee kept emphasizing at the start of the event, it wasn't a race. Each pitstop required a very easy and quick-to-perform task so while there were a lot of kids, no one had to wait very long for their turn. After completing each task, the kids would then get their share of goodies.

Our first pistop required the kids to dribble a mini basketball with their non-dominant hand then shoot the ball into a basket. The second pitstop required kids to pop a balloon with a pin while they were blindfolded (they were assisted by a marshal). The third pitstop required the kids to score two goals by kicking a football past a goalee. There was also a photo booth, a giveaway stop, free food at the food booths, and a Plants vs Zombies themed show before the raffle.

I had never played Plants vs. Zombies before but my nephews told me I should. So the next day, I did. And I've completed it, too. I now have a gold trophy to show for it LOL.

French Baker 50% end-of-day sale

I finally got to try the 50% off French Baker end-of-day sale. Joyce was in Ortigas and we met up for dinner in Pancake House in Megamall. We left at around 9:15pm and I was walking with Joyce to the taxi stand when we passed by the long queue in French Baker. Neither of us were in a big rush to get home, and Joyce said she loves bread so we decided to fall in line and enjoy the 50% discount on French Baker items.

I ended up buying a cinnamon roll, two ham and cheese croissants, a chocolate cake, a brownie, and a chocolate chip cookie. All for P153. Pretty good. I've had the cinnamon roll and ham and cheese croissant before, but it was my first time to try all the chocolate items. The brownie and cookie were okay (definitely worth it at under P25 each!) but the cake which I got for P42 (originally P84) was actually quite good. I'm now thinking when I can go to the end-of-day sale again. :)

Opportunistic comeback

Fernando Alonso started the F1 season well by winning the first race in Bahrain. Then it seemed the Red Bull team just took over, with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel taking 7 of the next 11 races. Then it seems things went Alonso's way. Webber and Vettel were leading the drivers championship at #1 and #2 respectively, but their inability to finish the last race in Korea have allowed Fernando Alonso to be in a fantastic position to win end the F1 season above everyone else. He has now won 5 races this season, including 3 of the last 4, and has an eleven point lead over Webber (Vettel is a further 25 points behind). Should be interesting to see if Red Bull (or even Lewis Hamilton, who has now gone ahead of Vettel with a 2nd place finish) can force the issue in the last two races and overcome Alonso's superb form.

Reunion in Burgos Circle

My friends Suzanne and Nenen have both been based in the US for the last several years but they make it a point to visit the Philippines every year (or every other year). Since we don't get to see them a lot, we always catch up with them whenever they are in town. So on Friday night, Joh, Raffa, Me-ann, and I had dinner with Nenen and Suzanne in Cafe Juanita in Burgos Circle.

It was a night filled with fun and very positive energy. A lot of catching up, a lot of stories, a lot of laughs, and a lot of food! There were only six of us but we over-ordered - I think we got about 7 or 8 dishes - and so it's not surprising that we all got stuffed silly. I kept telling people it felt a 'fiesta' with people enjoying the night in front of a massive spread of really good Pinoy food. Peegee and Randee swing by for a bit since they had other plans that night and couldn't join us.

We decided to move to another place for dessert and coffee. I suggested Sugarhouse but apparently it closes at 10pm so we decided to have our caffeine fix in UCC Cafe instead. Despite being full, the six of us decided to share a couple of desserts with our coffee or tea. It wasn't long before Mike followed and joined us for the remainder of the night.

That was Nenen's last night in Manila but Suzanne will still be here 'til the middle of November so we agreed to have a "game night" before Suzanne leaves. Mike had been wanting us to play 'Settlers of Catan' which I had played once with Ching and the other folks when I was in Mind Cafe in Singapore (I specifically call out Ching 'coz she won that game and wiped the floor with us all LOL). It's definitely a night I'm looking forward to. :)

"One Song Glory" by Adam Pascal

"One Song Glory" from Rent of my favorite songs from a musical and I don't think anyone tops Adam Pascal singing it. Here's a different version of the songs, accompanied by piano instead of a full band. Equally great in my opinion.


video uploaded in youtube by user thatbrianboy

Merseyside derby disaster

Liverpool's horrific season continues as they are topped by rivals Everton in the first Merseyside derby this year. 0-2. 2nd from the bottom (and only ahead of Westham because of goal difference). Even getting new owners hasn't changed their luck. Maybe they should just sack the manager.

Keeping busy

When I say busy, I mean on virtually all fronts. Professionally, I haven't had a workload like this since about 4 1/2 to 5 years ago. On top of that, my CSR organization peaked in terms of projects - a Habitat for Humanity build on September 4 and another one on October 9, a strategic planning workshop with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) on the July 31-August 1 weekend and another one on September 11-12, an International Coastal Cleanup project on September 25, and three upcoming projectes: a teacher training with GILAS on Oct 27, a tree planting activity on November 13, and another workshop with ACED on Nov 20-21. And since I celebrated my birthday recently, I had a lot of get-togethers with friends, most recently dinner with Mitch, Ferg, Joyce, Iona, JP and Aya in Cafe Juanita in Kapitolyo and then dinner with Joh, Raffa, Me-ann, and Mike in Conti's in GB2 the night after. That's a lot! I got tired just writing all that LOL.

While my schedule has been really hectic, I can't really complain though. I don't think I've ever been as successful juggling so many things at the same time. I am due for a holiday soon though, and I may just take a few days off a couple of times before the end of the year to make sure I don't burn out. After all, I am a bit too old to be averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night. :)

500

Hey hey! After 5 1/2 years I finally reach blog post #500! :) Pretty cool milestone. I have managed to post a bit more in the last few months despite my massively busy schedule so let's see whether I can keep that up. If I can, blog post #600 shouldn't be too far away. :)

Wall Street 2: Money never sleeps

My friend David was in Manila for a week and we met up on Sunday to watch "Wall Street 2". David says that since he got married and had kids, he never gets to watch movies anymore since all his time is devoted to his family so whenever he's in town, we make it a point to watch a movie. A few of his colleagues were also in town and since they didn't have anything to do, they joined us.

The choice of movie came by default since Wall Street 2 was practically the only movie that seemed interesting enough to watch. None of us had seen the first one that came out back in the 80s and is a cult classic (the line "Greed is good" becoming one of the all-time movie quotes classics) so we had no basis for comparison, but this second installment was really good.

The film is set against the American economic crisis that happened a few years ago and it tries to depict how things turned out the way they did (although who's to say what is fact and what is fiction - this is a movie after all). The most interesting thing I learned is "moral hazard" or the situation wherein the
person who has your money is not responsible for it.

It's a really good movie and the cast did a great job. I personally felt that Josh Brolin and Carey Mulligan stole the scenes they were in. It was also nice to see Charlie Sheen - who was with Michael Douglas in the first film - make a cameo appearance. Don't be surprised if after watching Wall Street 2, you feel like going out and investing in the stock market. The ending was conveniently positive but with my crazy workload that brings with it a lot of stress, a feel-good movie is definitely good. :)

Republiq night

Another birthday celebration, but this time not mine. Tim had a two-part celebration last weekend: we had drinks in Izumi in Burgos Circle before heading to Resorts World to party in Republiq. It was my first time in Resorts World (cool place) and also my first time in Republiq (cool club). We ended up partying until around 3am. After a really long week last week, it was great to unwind and let loose! :)

This song was played three times - once by each of the 3 DJs featured that night. Great song that definitely gets you in the mood. :)


video uploaded in youtube by user MrNewRNBmusic

Liverpool in the doldrums

It was supposed to be a very promising season. Gerrard and Torres both stayed in the team. They signed Joe Cole. And Rafa Benitez left after a miserable last season.

Seems though that they were better off with Benitez. Now Liverpool are practically at the bottom of the barrel. Several matches into the season and they have one win to show for themselves. One win! This from a team that was battling for the premier league title a couple of years back. Even Dirk Kuyt has had to apologize to the fans for their horror show. I'm not sure what it will take to turn things around, but they better do it fast.

Birthday lunch in Adarna

I celebrated my birthday with my family in Adarna Food and Culture restaurant along Kalayaan. I've eaten in Adarna a couple of times before so I knew that my family would enjoy it here. Just like La Cocina De Tita Moning and Romulo's, Adarna is a house-turned-restaurant that offers very good Filipino food so it was a perfect place to celebrate with my family.

The ambience plays a big part in the overall experience in Adarna. The interior is filled with Filipino memorabilia such as framed celebrity photos and news clippings that are decades old. The service was excellent and it didn't take long for the food to arrive. I was really pleased with our selection of dishes. My favorite dish was the Piassok, a dish from Sulu that consisted of beef chunks cooked slowly in smoked coconut cream and spices. It was beautifully flavored and the beef was very tender. Our waitress told us it was their bestseller, and I can completely understand why.

The great thing about the dishes here are the interesting combinations. We ordered the Tagalog Pochero with Roasted Eggplant Dip, and it is recommended that you eat the pochero beef with the dip. The combination of the sweet beef and the tart eggplant was perfect. The same is true for the Grilled Pork Chop with Salsa Monja. The Batanes yellow rice had a hint of ginger which wasn't overpowering. And the Camaron Rebosado had a unique olive oil-based sweet-and-sour sauce which I haven't seen elsewhere.

It just sucks that I forgot to take photos of the food! Need to make sure I sort out another trip here sometime soon and blog about it, but this time with pictures. :) The only downside to Adarna is that they don't accept credit cards, so you need to make sure you have cash ready when you visit. (I did appreciate the fact that they informed me about this when I called to make a reservation. At least there were no surprises.)

After lunch, my nephews wanted to watch 'The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole". My brothers and my aunt couldn't join us so I drove to Shangri-La Mall to watch the movie with my nephews, my mom, and my grandparents. This movie really caters to kids - I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to adults unless you were taking children to see it. However, it did provide several good lessons to my nephews. It had themes like not giving up and trying your best even after you fail. It also showed that even if you are small, you can still succeed against immense odds (and bigger opposition) if you use your brain, train hard, and have a lot of heart.

Missing out on Singapore F1

Can't believe it's been a year since I watched my first Formula One race in Singapore. I decided I would watch it on TV this year - had to save up on money and the timing of the race didn't sync up well with my deadlines. It was an interesting race with Fernando Alonso winning again and moving him up to second in the drivers championship, past Lewis Hamilton who got involved in a tussle with Mark Webber that left his car out of commission. Webber still stays at #1 in the drivers championship with his 3rd place finish, and with Vettel placing second, he leapfrogs Jenson Button into overall 4th.

There are four races left this season but anything can still happen. Only 25 points separate the top 5, and when you consider that anyone who wins a race gets at least 7 points more than everyone else, it's still anyone's championship. And while it will be tough for Ferrari to win the constructors championship, their outside chance make it an interesting three-way at the top, along with Red Bull and McLaren-Mercedes. Should be a fun rest-of-the-season!

International Coastal Cleanup Day

Every year, the world celebrates International Coastal Cleanup Day, a global event led by Ocean Conservancy similar in concept to other global events like Earth Day and Earth Hour. International Coastal Cleanup Day normally falls on the third Saturday of September, but this year it was on September 25 (the 4th Saturday of the month).

Our Corporate Social Responsibility group at work felt that this would be a good event to support, given that the Philippines is an archipelago with more than 36,000 kilometers of coastline. So we organized a trip to Balai Anilao in Batangas and got about 50 volunteers from work to help in the cleanup efforts. If budget wasn't a constraint, we would have had a lot more participants actually - we sent out a call for volunteers at 2:45pm on a Friday afternoon and within 20 minutes, more than 80 people signed up.

On cleanup day, we arrived at 9am after a 135-km drive from Manila to Anilao that felt even longer due to the traffic. We were then split in two groups - the shoreline cleanup team (most of us were in this group) and the dive cleanup team. After the briefing, everyone went to work. Garbage bags were distributed and people started picking up as much trash as they could.

It was really interesting to see what kind of items were collected. Apart from the expected plastic bags, food wrappers, and drink bottles, we picked up an old knapsack, a syringe (God knows what that was used for...), a toothbrush, and a Magic touch liquid eraser. We also saw a whole lot of "pair-less" footwear. I don't know if it's because people lost one and tossed the other on the beach or if people got drunk and unintentionally while on the beach and lost half their footwear in the process.

The coast fronting Balai Anilao isn't very long but with a team of about 40 people sweeping through the shore, we filled seven large garbage bags in less than an hour. I didn't even realize there was that much clutter on the beach! Then came the garbage analysis - we went through the trash collected to count the different items we had. The information gathered would then be submitted to Ocean Conservancy for processing.

Once we were done, it was time to relax and enjoy the resort. The buffet lunch was really good - I had two massive servings LOL.


To officially close the event, we distributed certificates of participation and volunteer shirts to everyone there. We were lucky that we didn't get rained out considering that it had been raining a lot recently, at least in Manila. It was a successful event that the participants truly enjoyed - even if it meant getting dirty. The Philippines apparently has been the second biggest participant (next to the US) in this event every year since it first joined so it's nice to know that we were involved this year. It's definitely something to look forward to in 2011.

Surprise birthday party

My friends threw me my first-ever surprise birthday party. It was a joint surprise birthday party for me and Tim actually since his birthday is just a few days after mine. While some surprise parties tend to fail since the people involved figure things out somehow, I really didn't pick up on it, even when I ran into another friend Aldwin going into Hai Bar LOL. I guess I just really had so many things on my mind as my workload in the last few weeks has been intense. In fact, I didn't even want to go to my surprise party (which would have been a disaster haha).

It was set up as Cesar's celebration after taking the medical board exams (or at least, one of the stages - apparently there are a few). I had initially agreed to go but the day before the party, I told Walter that I might not be able to make it because I was so tired and was starting to feel sick. So when Walter started texting the final plans that day and telling me that they were on their way to meet me, I felt quite annoyed that they didn't even bother to ask me whether I would be joining them or not. Apparently, they could sense that I wasn't in the mood as we had dinner in Little Tokyo.

We arrived in Hai Bar at close to 11pm. There, we ran into Aldwin who was also about to go in. Tim even asked him what he was doing there, and he just said that he was Walter's guest. Strange that even then, I didn't suspect something was going on LOL but in my defense, neither did Tim. :) In fact, I was so spaced out that when I got in and everyone there - Jesse, Mark, Clarisse, and CY - all said "Happy Birthday" and presented me and Tim with a shot each, I still didn't get it. It was only when Walter asked me if I was surprised that it dawned on me - oh wait, this is actually for me (or well, me and Tim)! Talk about your brain not working...

So what started out as me being displeased at the fact that I was practically forced into a night out turned into a real fun surprise party. I'm definitely thankful to have friends who'd spend all that time and effort organizing something like this.

Despicable Me

I promised my nephews recently that I'd take them to watch "Despicable Me". I've heard really good reviews about the movie so I made sure we caught it while it was still showing in local theaters. It certainly lived up to the hype.

As is the case with a lot of animated films in recent years, "Despicable Me" is as entertaining to kids as it is to adults. It's not often that you have a villain as the protagonist in a film and Gru, the main character, is as despicable as villains come. At least initially. But when Gru's supervillain status comes under threat early in the story, an interesting series of events triggered by Gru's attempt to steal the moon lead him to three orphans Margo, Edith, and Agnes who become a very positive influence in his life.

The switch from villain to hero isn't instant, and it's a well-defined and careful process of character development that has the audience relating to and rooting for Gru, even when he is still trying to steal the moon. Its this growth in Gru's character and his increasing involvement in the lives of Margo, Edith, and Agnes that provide a lot of heartwarming moments in the film. This is complemented by the many fun and funny scenes that provide entertainment for the whole family and have audiences laughing out loud.

I felt only one thing missing by the end and that was the lack of resolution with respect to Miss Hattie's Home for Girls. I really wish we could've seen Miss Hattie get her comeuppance for the way she treated the children in the orphanage. But this little blip aside, "Despicable Me" is a really good movie and is worth seeing, even if you don't have any kids in tow. I'll certainly be getting the DVD when it comes out.

Little Asia Dinner in The Piazza

My friend Mike, who has been living in the US for the last 6 years, is in Manila right now. We haven't seen him in a while so we decided to meet up over dinner. I noticed that there is a Little Asia in The Piazza at Venice, McKinley and I love that resto so I suggested we meet up there when Joh asked for dinner suggestions. Joh had been wanting to try the restos in The Piazza for a while so the dinner venue was set.

Joining the dinner were myself, Joh, Raffa, Peegee, and Mile. A lot of time was spent catching up and talking about current and upcoming plans - both career-wise and personal. The food of course was really good. The group favorite: Vietnamese Crispy Spareribs with Garlic. It was a weeknight so we didn't stay out too late. We are supposed to meet up again some time soon to celebrate my birthday and I'm obviously looking forward to hanging out with them again.

Rafa on top of the world

Rafael Nadal finally completes the career Golden slam! Despite rain on Sunday that forced the final to be played on Monday, Nadal beat current world #2 Novak Djokovic in four sets to claim the US Open crown. This was an incredible achievement on so many levels:

• He is only the seventh man in history to complete a career Grand Slam. That is, winning each of the four Grand Slam titles (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) at least once in his career.
• He is only the third man to do this in the Open Era. It's amazing to think about this because some of the greatest tennis players in history - Sampras, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Connors, Wilander, Edberg, and Becker - were unable to achieve this rare feat.
• With his Olympic Gold back in 2008, Rafa also joins Andre Agassi as the only two men to have won all four slams plus the Olympic Gold medal. The only other player in history to achieve this feat is Steffi Graf (who of course won all four slams + the Olympic Gold in the same year - 1988!)
• Rafa now has 9 Grand Slam titles. This puts him in 7th place all time. Two more slam titles will put him on equal fourth, tying him with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.
• This win also assured Rafa of ending the year #1.

I am hoping Rafa can win a few more slams in his career and maybe end up with at least 12-13 Grand Slams. But even if he doesn't, his strong results in the last 6 years have now placed him firmly among tennis' elite. I do hope he doesn't stop at 9 though. In fact, an Australian open title in January would be incredible. Coz that would mean he'd win a non-calendar Grand Slam. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that. :)

An early baby shower

Anna was in town this weekend so we decided to all meet up and have a very early baby shower for Joyce, who wasn't due for 3 more months. We decided to have our celebration in Mitch's place and while the initial plan was for Joyce's other close friends would join us, most folks backed out in the last minute so it ended up being just us.

Mitch asked Joyce what food she wanted and Joyce said pasta and salad. So we ended up having salad with three different dressings, really good lasagna, and chicken. Plus the mango tart I got from Conti's. Anna ended up being really late because she got pulled into a family gathering but Mitch's sister Myra and her family were there too. Myra and Iona are both very strong advocates for breast feeding and are experts on it, so a lot of the talk over dinner was on how best to accomplish breast feeding.

Anna joined us around 10pm and we decided to share gifts then. I didn't get Joyce a gift yet because I didn't know who would be there and what she might have gotten from other people. In any case I still have three months to get Joyce a gift so no rush. Maybe I will just combine her birthday gift, Christmas gift, and baby shower present and get her something really big and cool. I will just have to wait for her registry.

"Dakota" by The Stereophonics

Discovered this tune a while back. Awesome song by an awesome band.


video uploaded in youtube by user candchaoz

Food trip Friday

Thank God Friday was a holiday! I probably worked more than 50 hours in the four working days of the week, pulling an all-nighter from Wednesday to Thursday to make sure I met all my crazy deadlines (which thankfully, I did!) so it was great to unwind on Friday and enjoy a lot of great food with great friends.

Walter, Tim and I started the day off in Ongpin. Our first stop: Masuki. We shared a big bowl of mami and had one order of siomai (2 pieces) each. Their siomai is about twice the size of normal siomai and tastes really good and their mami ranks up their as one of the best I've ever had.

We initially wanted to have asado rice rolls and dimsum in Waiying but the place was full so we tried another resto a couple of blocks away. I can't recall the name of the place though. Aside from ordering asado rice rolls, we got hakaw, mushroom siomai, and sio long pao. I liked the hakaw but everything else was just okay. I'd probably try another place in the area if I want to order the same food we had there.

I was planning to get hopia from Eng Bee Tin before leaving China Town but we were a lot closer to Salazar Bakery (practically right next to it, actually) so I bought my hopia there instead. We then left Ongpin and headed to Makati.

Along the way, I decided to drop by Becky's Kitchen. I've tried the Cherry Walnut brownies from Becky's Kitchen a few times before when people would give them as gifts to my mom and I think they are great. I figured that since we had time, I would find out where along Bautista Street Becky's Kitchen was located and buy my first ever brownies from there. We were given a queue number once we got in which I found to be quite weird since there were very few people there. My number gets called shortly and as I start placing my order, the crowd in the shop tripled in size. Their numbering system all of a sudden made perfect sense. :) I got my half-box of brownies and we headed out.

For our next stop, I suggested we go to Earle's Delicatessen in Greenbelt 1. I tried this place for the first time with my mom and brother in Columns when we watched Master Class and thought it was extremely good value for money - the sandwiches which cost P120-150 were hefty and didn't scrimp on the fillings, the grilled sausages cost only P50-80 if you dine in (they cost about P20-30 per 100 grams if you buy it raw - in Rustan's supermarket, the sausages cost P35-50 per 100 grams), and the brewed coffee at P48 is quite good.

When I suggested Earle's Deli, Walter remembered that he wanted to try The Spud Diner by Potato Corner in Columns which was next to the Earle's Deli there. So we went to Columns instead. We set up base in The Spud Diner - Walter and Tim shared the Italian Job and the Crazy Spudster while I ordered Shepherd's Pie. I asked the cashier if it was okay to bring food from other restaurants in and she said it was, so I ended up ordering brewed coffee and a grilled Bavarian Cheese Smokies sausage from Earle's Deli. Apparently the Crazy Spudster was pretty good and the Italian job not so much. But my Shepherd's Pie matched perfectly with my Bavarian Cheese Smokies!

Our mid-afternoon snack was quite heavy but we still managed have dinner at around 730pm. We were planning to spend the night drinking in Distillery so we decided to eat somewhere in Burgos Circle. We ended up in Cantinetta, which is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Manila. I've eaten here a few times before and in each visit, I always order the same thing - the Tartufo, which is pasta in truffle cream sauce with prosciutto. I absolutely love this dish! While most people normally drink white wine with pasta, I had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon with mine. An expensive dinner but it's not often I go on this kind of food trip so I decided to go crazy with it. :) And boy did I love my food!!

Distillery was full that night so we ended up downing a bottle of Absolut Citron in Izumi instead, this time with a couple more friends joining us. Once the bottle was gone, we moved to Hai Chinese Restaurant and Bar, where we ordered their Bar Chow Sampler along with the drinks we had.

A really long day with a lot of driving and a lot of money out, but there was a lot of really good food too. That I got to hang out with really good friends who enjoy food just as much as I do made it even better. Hopefully we get to replicate this day in the future.

Saving more paper cups

After discovering that I can save P5 by using my Starbucks tumblers when buying coffee in Starbucks, I decided to try and use reusable mugs when buying coffee in other places. The most logical place for me to try this first was the 7-11 at the ground floor of my building. I decided one day to bring a reusable mug to 7-11 and used it for my brewed coffee purchase. My mug was roughly the size of a medium cup (P45) but I got charged only P35. Pretty cool!

I brought my mug to Figaro as well. I have this fairly tall mug that matched their 16 oz coffee and I asked them to use that for my order. I didn't get a discount but at least I get to save another paper cup.

Old show a new favorite

I've recently rediscovered Criminal Minds on Fox (channel 50 on Skycable). I used to watch this show during my short stint in Sweden but it wasn't showing on any of the channels I had here in Manila. Either that or I could never catch it while it was airing.

I recall being disappointed when Skycable replaced Fox Crime - which had all three CSIs and The Practice - with Fox. At the time, there weren't a lot of shows on Fox which I enjoyed apart from The Simpsons, but now they are showing a lot of Criminal Minds (specifically season 4). I'm getting to watch a lot of it and I'm finding this show compelling once again. It's a heavy theme actually but there's a lot of triumph in it. What makes it even more interesting to watch is that different episodes don't always follow the same format - sometimes the antagonist is revealed early on and sometimes you don't find out who the perpetrator is until the show is close to the end.

There's also a new channel on Skycable - Universal on channel 33 - which shows a lot of the different Law and Order franchises. SVU (Special Victims Unit) remains to be my favorite one. With Fox and Universal added to the Skycable roster, there are now more shows to keep me entertained.

Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace

If you're looking for a cozy restaurant that offers good, affordable food in the Quezon City area, you might want to try Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace. I saw this resto a few months ago and thought it was quite interesting. So when I had dinner with my friends Tim and Basil and Tim wanted to try something new, I suggested this place.

A big part of Blacksoup's appeal its unique interior: quirky decorative pieces, musical instruments, and tables displaying different pictures and photographs all combine to provide an artsy yet cozy ambience. When we were there, the film Bicycle Thieves was being projected onto the far wall, making our dinner a lot more interesting.

And of course the food. Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace offers menu items that are inspired by traditional Filipino fare, such as the laing pasta and mango turon.

Laing Pasta

Mango Turon

If you want something other that local cuisine, you can try some of their other dishes like the chicken with basil and cheese stuffing. You can also check out menu of the day for more options.

Chicken with Basil and Cheese Stuffing

Meal prices range from P100 to P150 so we went crazy and ordered five dishes. Apart from the items mentioned above, we also ordered the aligui pasta, the pasta ala victoria, and the salmon from the daily menu. Their coffee is pretty good and costs only P35 if I recall correctly. You can check out their menu here. Good prices, good atmosphere, and good food. That's a solid combination in my book, and it makes this place definitely worth a visit.

Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace is located in Unit G Maginhawa Bldg, #154 Maginhawa Street, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City. You won't see it along the road if you are driving along Maginhawa, so instead, look for Crave Burger and park in that area. Go through the short walkway right next to Crave Burger into the building complex behind it. Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace has a facebook page if you'd like to read more about it.

Hitting the treadmill again

It's been 2 months since I ran my marathon-for-a-cause and mentioned in a previous post, I haven't been able to run since then. That is, until today. I finally got to hit the treadmill again using my new running shoes. Since I haven't had any exercise in two months, I decided to go low-intensity and ran only 3 kilometers. It felt incredible flexing my running muscles again and breaking a sweat. I just need to regularly hit the gym 3-4 times a week. Not only will that keep me healthy but it can help me bring down my finish time in next year's marathon. And maybe lose some weight along the way. :)

What a bad start

The Barclays Premier League started a couple of weeks ago. With the Liverpool featuring old stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and new players like Joe Cole, my hopes were high that the team would do better this season.

Unfortunately, things haven't panned out the way I hoped. With a draw against Arsenal, a bad loss to Man City, and only one win coming against West Brom, Liverpool are sitting sadly in 13th place!!! That's 13th out of 20, which is a sorry place to be in for one of the biggest clubs in the BPL. Of course it's only the start of the season and it's only a 5-point difference between 13th and 1st, but you always want to get off on the right foot and Liverpool didn't do that.

Here's hoping things change soon and Liverpool start notching more wins and moving up the league table.