Vienna

I was told that Vienna is known for its beautiful architecture. One of the first places I visited was Neue Burg, or the New Castle wing of the Hofburg Palace. This palace has housed some of the most powerful people in European and Austrian history, including the Habsburg monarchy (rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). The palace currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria.

Neue Burg, the New Castle Wing of the Hofburg Palace

One of the most popular landmarks of the Austrian Capital is the State Vienna Opera, which is within walking distance of the Hofburg Palace.

Wiener Staatsoper (State Vienna Opera)

Another impressive building is Karlskirche, or St. Charles Church. Located in Karlsplatz, it is named in honor of Saint Charles Borromeo, a cardinal archbishop of Milan in the 16th century who was responsible for major reforms in the Catholic church.

Karlskirche (St. Charles Church)

While I did see several museums in Vienna from the outside, I only actually got to see the collection of the Albertina Museum.

Albertina Museum

One of the most popular waltzes is the Blue Danube waltz so I naturally wanted to see the Danube river while I was in Vienna. It is the second longest river in Europe (after the Volga) and it touches the border or passes through ten countries.

Danube River

Stephansdom or St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. As you can expect, this cathedral is pretty massive.

Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral)

I visited Schloss Schönbrunn, or Schönbrunn Palace, as part of a tour. I don't think the tour took us anywhere else but Schönbrunn itself is so massive that just going around its ground and taking photos can easily take up half a day. I didn't actually go into the palace, but with its 1,441 rooms, it used to be the summer residence of the Habsburgs.

Schloss Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace)

The Secession Building is an exhibition hall built in 1897. Secession apparently refers to the withdrawal of a group of rebel artists from the long-established fine art institution. The most remarkable thing about this building is its golden dome which some Viennese apparently describe or refer to as the 'golden cabbage'.

Secession Building

Other places in Vienna I got to see were the Wiener Riesenrad, a 64.75-metre Ferris wheel at the Wurstelprater amusement park, often simply called "Prater"...

Wiener Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel) at the Prater

the Soviet War Memorial...

Soviet War Memorial

Stadtpark (or City Park)...

Statue of Johann Strauss in Stadtpark

and the Parliament, which features Greek-style statues and architecture.

Parliament Building

Since it was summer when I was there, I spent one night at the Rathaus (City Hall) to enjoy the Rathaus Music Film Festival. This is held every summer at Rathausplatz. Entrance is free and there are a lot of places where you can get food and beer while you enjoy the show.

Enjoying a beer at the Rathaus Music Film Festival

Finally, I got a package from Pegasus that included a cake and coffee in Cafe Schwarzenberg. Being in Vienna, I needed to order the Sacher Torte, one of the most popular Viennese dishes. It is a specific type of chocolate cake that was invented by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich in Vienna.

Sacher torte in Cafe Schwarzenberg

Other places I got to see while I was there include the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Naturhistorisches Museum, the St. Francis of Assisi Church, and the Votive Church. That's a lot to have seen in just two and a half days, although of course this is also because I didn't spend time going inside a lot of these place since I didn't have a lot of time and I was already running low on funds. Nevertheless, it was still a great stay in a beautiful city. Up next: Salzburg.

Austria!

Three things compelled me to write about this now. After posting my 1,000th blog post and re-reading my Iceland trip back in 2007, I realized I never got to write about my succeeding trip to Austria. Then I just had dinner with my friend Anne and her Austrian husband Georg (both of them live in Austria now). Then it's Throwback Thursday. So it's a perfect time for me to finally complete writing about this trip that I took back in 2007.

Vienna State Opera

I didn't write about this back then because when I was looking through my pictures, I realized that there was a smudge on my camera lens which resulted in ugly spots appearing on half of my photos. I tried to clean them up myself using photoshop but it was slow and laborious and I wasn't happy with my output. I finally decided to just "outsource" this effort by asking a friend with the right skills to help me out. Now that I have a full set of clean photos, it was time to write about it.

Mirabell Gardens, Salzburg

While this trip happened 6 1/2 years ago, I apparently remember it in pretty good detail. I didn't automatically remember the names of a few of the places I visited (I didn't write them down at the time either) but somehow I easily remembered where they were on the map and from there I was able to identify what those places were.

Statue of Mozart, Vienna

My initial plan was just to go to Vienna and spend 3 days there. After all, my holiday would be a combination of a trip to Iceland and Austria.

Gloriette in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

However, after reading more and more about this beautiful country, I decided I wanted to go to Salzburg as well.

Residenzbrunnen fountain, Salzburg

After all, I am a big fan of The Sound of Music and I thought it would be good for me to visit some of the locations where the film was shot.

The gazebo where "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in The Sound of Music was filmed

I eventually spent almost six days in Austria - about three days each in Vienna and Salzburg. I will be writing in detail about my trip to these cities in the next few posts.

Dinner at Ukokkei Ramen Ron

My friend Anne, who now lives in Austria with her Austrian husband Georg, is currently in the Philippines. On her last night in Manila, she organized dinner at Ukokkei Ramen Ron in McKinley Hill. I hadn't eaten there before; in fact, I haven't really tried a lot of the new ramen places that all came out as part of the Ramen craze in Manila so I thought this was a good venue choice.

Apparently, there's an item that they serve - Tantanmen - that's really good but it's not on the menu. Most of the folks in our group ordered it but as I got there later than almost everyone else, it had just run out of stock. Everyone seemed happy with the Tantanmen. I on the other hand ended up ordering the Shoyu Ramen. I thought it was just okay. I prefer the one in Ramen Bar. We then moved to Banapple next door for some coffee and dessert, although Tricia and CJ, who arrived after we were done eating in Ukokkei, ended up having a late dinner in Banapple instead.

I last saw Anne when we went to the Hundred Islands then had dinner in Eat Well early last year. I missed meeting up with her when she was here in March due to my stomach problems so it was great that I got to see her and Georg again now. That I also got to see my other friends, all of whom I haven't seen in ages - Ray, Dessa, Tricia, CJ, and Teb - made the evening even better.

The Smartphone Generation

Call it a generation gap but there are things about current smartphone use that I find odd, if not impolite. I remember having dinner with friends recently when I noticed a lot of them were intently on their smartphones - and not just to reply to a text - and I had to call them out on it. What's the point of all of us having dinner together when everyone just starts spending more time on their gadgets than engaging in conversation? (We could all just call it a night if people realize they need to do other stuff.)

I saw this video recently and I can definitely relate to the lead character:


video uploaded in youtube by charstarleneTV

My recent dinner experience resembles 0:26 to 0:43 of this video. And while I have taken my fair share of photos in concerts and maybe the occasional video clip, I don't spend the entire time with my camera up taking videos. I guess it works for some people but personally (1) I can't really enjoy the concert as much when I'm half-focused on my phone or camera and (2) the video and sound quality almost always sucks anyway and it never captures just how great the artist's live performance was. But well I guess that works for some people.

K Style Hair fix

It all started during our department Christmas party last year. It was a long and busy day of preparations and execution and when I saw pictures and videos taken of me before and during the event, I noticed that my hair was a veritable mess. Years ago, I used gel regularly but then I stopped when my hair started thinning. I haven't used any hair product on a regular basis since then; I pretty much went wash-and-wear and I would just try to straighten out my hair throughout the day. However, seeing those unappealing photos of myself was a big wake-up call. I spoke in front of a large audience that night and I realized that how I was presenting myself to people wasn't all that good.

So since the start of this year, I've been using Lakme K.Style Fiber Paste.

I purchased it at Piandré. At P500 for a 100mL container, it's not exactly cheap but you need just a little amount so it's not too bad. I've been happy with it so far. To top it all off, a lot of folks at work kept saying I look a lot cleaner. And thinner! Amazing what looking just that much more presentable can do for you. :)

Free Parking in Shangri-La Plaza Mall

Did you know that depending on how much you spend, you can actually get free parking when you're in Shangri-La Plaza mall?

I was there a week ago and after buying new shoes at the Rustan's Department Store - I broke one pair of office shoes recently so I needed to get a replacement - I just thought of asking customer service whether it is possible to get free parking. I was told that I can get a parking coupon if I have a single receipt from Rustan's worth P4,000. The shoes I bought cost just slightly over that amount so I got my coupon. Cool!

I was there again yesterday and I decided to ask both the information counter of the main mall and the customer service of the supermarket. To summarize all options you have to get free parking:

• Single receipt worth P4,000 at the Rustan's Department Store
• Single receipt worth P1,000 at Rustan's Supermarket
• Single receipt worth P2,500 anywhere in the mall (not including Rustan's)

Since I did my grocery shopping when I was there, I ended up spending more than P1,000 at the Supermarket so I managed to get free parking again. I told my mom about this and she told me it must be relatively new because she also asked Rustan's time ago about this and they said they didn't give free parking at the time. Or she may have been given the wrong information. Either way, I'm happy to have learned this now and that I've benefited from this knowledge twice already. :)

The Power of Words

I truly believe that it's not just what you say but how you say it. And that 'how' can be greatly influenced by your choice of words. This powerful video shows exactly that.


video uploaded in youtube by Andrea Gardner and created by purple feather.

"It's a beautiful day and I can't see it." That was pretty moving.

The Oscar nominations are in...

...and Meryl Streep gets nominated for the 18th time for August: Osage County. She adds to the record of most Oscar acting nominations that she already holds; next on the list are both Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson with 12 each.

With a lot of strong female performances this year and with Meryl just winning her third Oscar two years ago for the Iron Lady, there was a lot of talk that she may not be nominated this year. I haven't seen the film yet but with what her co-stars and her director were saying, it seems that she put in yet another master class in acting. Here are some interesting quotes from this interview of the Men of August: Osage County.

Chris Cooper: "You can't imagine her talent unless you're on-set when the camera is rolling, take after take after take, and see the variety that she brings to each take. It's astounding."

Director John Wells: "The biggest problem that I didn't anticipate is that what she's doing can be so interesting that occasionally, other actors would forget to continue to act and drop lines and just be watching. And I could come in and say 'I know you're off camera but you actually have to continue to act.'"

Meryl is definitely not going to win - Cate Blanchett almost has that in the bag - but I'm glad to see that despite Streep fatigue, the Academy still rewarded her unimaginable talent with yet another nomination. Makes me wonder how many nominations Meryl will end up having. I am still hoping that she wins at least one more acting Oscar before she ends her career.

Trip to Clark

The Ber months last 2013 proved to be very busy and very stressful. I badly needed some me-time away from the noise of the city so I decided to go to Clark. Partly because I hadn't been there in a while and partly so that I would have an opportunity to do some duty free shopping right before Christmas. :) I used the voucher for Hotel Stotsenberg that I purchased some months back. I had seen photos of this hotel before and it looked interesting so I thought it was worth a visit.

Based on my stay here, I would say it was just okay. The room is pretty spacious but it does feel a bit old. Unfortunately, I slept through my alarm and missed the free breakfast so I can't comment on how good it is. WiFi in the room is free for one device; for any additional device that you want to connect, you have to pay around P120 which would be good for 24 hours or more, if I recall correctly.

I saw a sign for Giada's Cafe and Kitchen while I was driving along M. A. Roxas Highway. I didn't really have any any specific plans of where I would eat that night so I figured this would be a good place to try.

The waitress told me that the special of the day (P349) was the Baby Back Ribs and it came with soup and salad. By some strange stroke of luck, the baby back ribs is exactly what I wanted to order so I opted for the special instead. It's not a very good photo but it tasted really good.

Baby Back Ribs

Soup and Salad, part of the Set Menu

I wanted to eat in C' Italian Dining for lunch the next day after checking out of the hotel. I don't have GPS so it took me a while to find it but when I did, I discovered that it had already closed down. Darn! I wasted a lot of time looking for it so I then decided to just drive to the Duty Free area and have lunch there. Unfortunately, it turns out that the only restos there are McDonald's and Chowking LOL. I didn't want to have to drive back out and look for a better place to eat so I ended up just having lunch in McDonald's before heading to Pure Gold.

I planned to buy a lot of stuff but somehow I ended up just getting a few bags of chocolates, a couple of cans of Pringles (I got the Honey Mustard and Four Cheese since I hadn't seen nor tried these flavors before), and a few biscuits that my mom purchased there a few years ago that she liked. Clearly, I wasn't all "shopped" out yet so on my way home, I stopped by a couple of gasoline stations along NLEX, not to gas up, but to visit the outlet malls and shopping centers there. While I was initially planning to get something from Nike, Adidas or Puma, I ended up getting a DC Shoes shirt.

I got back to Manila in the late afternoon so hung out a bit in Trinoma before heading to Romulo's at 7:30 PM, in time for dinner with my high school and college friends. I really enjoy these solo-flight, out-of-town trips so hopefully I can do this more often.

Fun, food-filled weekend

It was as if I was still right smack in the middle of the Christmas season as the last weekend brought with it lots of food enjoyed with great friends. Alvin and Doray moved to their new place recently and last Friday, they invited us over for dinner. While they ordered food from Boon Tong Kee for our main course, they themselves prepared the salad and the dessert (rocky road ice cream served over corn flakes and with a hazelnut biscuit. Pretty sophisticated!) I should have also taken note of the wine they served because it was quite good. We talked about a whole lot of stuff, from showbiz gossip to online deal vouchers we've purchased and we even tried out the slowmo camera capability of the iPhone 5s LOL. It was close to midnight when we finally called it a night.

I spent most of the next day in SM Aura. My friend Jesse was in town and we decided to meet up in SM Aura since a lot of the gang hadn't been there yet and some folks requested that we meet in BGC. It started out with just me, Jesse, and Tim having afternoon coffee and merienda in Shine Bakery and Cafe. While Jesse and I ordered sweets (she had a cupcake and I got an eclair), Tim opted for a savory dish and got the Spanish sardines. At close to 6pm, the rest of the gang texted us to say that they were on their way so we decided to move to a new place for dinner. We eventually ended up in Mesa since Jesse wanted to have crispy pata. Once everyone was there, we all started talking about potential out-of-town plans this year and people started getting excited about it. Not sure if the plans will push through but I hope they do. :)

We capped off the night with more food. :) I took everyone to The Royal Touch so we could have dessert. There were nine of us and each of us ordered a different cupcake and we all got try a little bit of everything. I think my current favorite is the Apple Crumble cupcake which is one of their bestsellers. I was raving about The Royal Touch so much during the day that I was worried that I raised everyone's expectations too much. I shouldn't have worried since it lived it up to the hype. :) Before heading home, I decided to get a box of 10 of their mini-cupcakes so I could try out a couple more flavors and give the rest to my family.

The LEGO Movie

I am really looking forward to this!


video uploaded in youtube by WarnerBrosPictures

The LEGO Movie will be in cinemas on February 7, just a couple of weeks from now. Can't wait! :)

1,000!

Another year, another milestone. This is my 1,000th blog post! Amazing. :) I've had busy months and slow periods but over the last nine years, I have been able to write one blog post every three and a half days on average.

Probably the greatest use of my blog is when I have friends who are traveling to places I have visited in the last several years. One of my friends went to Iceland and picked up on some good things to do and places to visit from my blog. Another friend was going to Oslo and he was thinking whether he should go to Bergen or not. He only had a few days in Norway so he was inclined not to go. When he read about my Bergen and Norway in a Nutshell tour experiences, he decided to go. Another friend traveled to Brunei and found my posts and proposed itinerary quite useful. I shared my South Korea trip to friends who also traveled there and some other folks were inspired to visit Batanes and Russia because of what I wrote about those places. Cool!

Can't believe I've managed to remain active even after almost nine years of blogging. In fact, I think I've become a bit more prolific in the last year or so. I'm not that far away from my next milestone - my 10 year anniversary. I am definitely looking forward to that. :)

Tagaytay Food Trip 2: Java Jazz Coffee

I learned about Java Jazz Coffee from tripadvisor, where it is currently ranked #3 among restaurants in Tagaytay. After reading more about this place, seeing pictures online, and checking out reviews, I knew I had to visit. And might I say, it definitely lived up to the hype.

The main thing that drew me here was the fact that there is an art gallery inside. The Java Jazz Coffee Shop Blogspot calls it "Sining sa Sahig" or "Art on the Floor". The low, angled ceiling doesn't provide a lot of space on which to hang the artwork so several paintings are just standing on the floor and set against the wall.

It's a small restaurant so there were only a couple dozen pieces on display, but that meant that I was able to spend more time carefully looking at and appreciating each painting. I didn't ask but I'm guessing that at least some of the pieces there are for sale.

I already had a few cups of coffee earlier in the day so while in Java Jazz, I decided to order the Tsokolate - Eh! (P85). This is pure tablea chocolate served without milk. I like my Filipino chocolate to be more on the bitter, strong-flavored side and I found this to be a bit too sweet but it was still pretty good. I paired it with a chocolate chip cookie (which cost around P20-25, I think).

There were a lot of Filipino sweets for sale there so I decided to buy a box of chocolate-coated cookies-and-cream flavored polvoron. I ate one there and I took home the rest. It was my first time to try chocolate-coated polvoron and despite my sugar overload that afternoon, I quite enjoyed it.

Adding to the quirkiness and cool-factor of this restaurant was the fact that the men's toilet featured some pretty interesting (and appropriate) art. :)

I spent the afternoon here soaking in the art and ambience, reading a book, and listening to classical music on my ipod (how cultured! LOL). Java Jazz Coffee is a perfect hideaway where you can escape from the hustle and bustle of the city while enjoying a cup of coffee or hot chocolate (their menu also includes a variety of other items such as pasta and rice bowls). I can understand why this place has been rated very highly and I am now a fan myself. I am definitely visiting Java Jazz again.

Java Jazz Coffee
442 Tagaytay-Calamba Road, Sungay West
Tagaytay City, Cavite, Philippines
Tel. No. (046)8602699
Directions: From the Tagaytay-Sta. Rosa Road, turn left onto Tagaytay-Calamba road heading towards Picnic Grove and People's Park. Java Jazz Coffee will be on the left side of the road, right before Ina ng Laging Saklolo Church, Keni Po, and T House.

Tagaytay Food Trip 2: Mano's Greek Taverna

I've seen Mano's Greek Taverna on multiple occasions since it is located right along Calamba Road just a short distance from the Rotonda. I enjoy Greek food so I thought it would make sense to try this place out.

I wanted to have the Spanakopita, which is a savory spinach pie, for my appetizer but it was unavailable. So instead I ordered the Keftedes (P190) or Greek meatballs. I thought these were just okay. It could have done with a bit more flavor.

One of my favorite Mediterranean dishes is Moussaka (P300). The ones I've tried before are mainly eggplant-based but the one in Mano's also has potato. I found this a bit overpriced since you can get really good moussaka in Cyma for the same price (P290) and in Cafe Mediterranean for a lot less (P190). (Or maybe that's just because I have come to realized that I prefer moussaka without potato.)

The restaurant interior is quite simple but it is interesting to note that the tables are covered in blue and white, matching the colors of the Greek flag.

I don't know if it was just for that evening, but they didn't accept credit cards when I was there so if you choose to dine here, make sure you have enough cash to cover your meal. It's probably not the best restaurant in Tagaytay but I don't think there are a lot of other Greek options in the area so if you are there for a while, then I guess it's worth a visit just to change things up. Since I wasn't wowed by the food that I tried, if you do visit Mano's, I would suggest that you try something other than what I ordered, like the shawarma or the souvlaki.

Tagaytay Food Trip 2: Chine

Chine is a Chinese restaurant in Casino Filipino. It currently has a 4 1/2 star rating in Trip Advisor and some reviews talked about this place having the best dimsum in Tagaytay. Feasting on dimsum sounded like a great idea so I included this resto in my food trip itinerary. While it seemed like a good plan, it didn't exactly turn out the way I hoped.

Before I got there, I was planning to stuff myself on multiple plates of dimsum like siomai, hakaw, and beancurd roll which is what I normally do when I eat in Causeway. However, when I saw the menu, I realized that the dimsum menu was very limited. I think it had siomai, wonton, and siopao. That wasn't really what I had in mind so I changed my plan and instead opted for one order of dimsum and a main course. I ordered the Pork and Shrimp Siomai which was pretty good, although I think the Causeway siomai is still better (and cheaper, even without the 50% off).

I also ordered the Minced Pork with Lettuce. (Unfortunately, I forgot to note down the exact names of the dishes I ordered and I also lost my receipt so I don't know how much each item cost.) I'm not exactly sure what ingredients were mixed in with the meat but it had a lot of flavor, similar to what you would get in Chinese restaurants in Metro Manila.

I remember spending around P500-600 for these two items plus a Coke Zero so it is a bit on the expensive side. While the food is good, the ambience is definitely not up to par. It does photograph well from a distance but a closer look will make you realize that it isn't exactly the cleanest place and they could do with new table linens.

I wouldn't recommend that you go out of your way to have a meal in Chine. The food is good but the restaurant is a bit dingy (and the restroom here really sucks). If you are already in Casino Filipino and you don't feel like heading out for a meal, then this is a good option for you. I'm guessing that it has good reviews online because people in the casino can order from the restaurant which allows them to enjoy some dimsum and Chinese food while gambling the day and night away.

Chine at Casino Filipino
Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay City
Casino Filipino is located right across Taal Vista Hotel

Tagaytay Food Trip 2: Breakfast at Antonio's

This wasn't the first time I had a meal in Breakfast at Antonio's. When I had lunch there back in 2008, I felt it was overrated. Nevertheless, me being the big fan of breakfast food that I am, I decided I wanted to give it another try. Thankfully, I did because I just did a complete 180! Maybe I ordered the wrong thing the first time I was there, or maybe they had a bad day. Whatever the case, this time around I became a massive fan.

I got there mid-afternoon and I still hadn't had lunch yet so I was pretty hungry when I arrived. I ordered the Roesti with Bacon, Swiss Cheese & Over Easy Eggs (P320). And wow, this dish is soooo exceptionally good!

The potatoes (roesti is a Swiss potato pancake) served as the base and every other ingredient was delicately and carefully piled on top of it. The eggs were perfectly cooked and I loved how the yolk just gently oozed out into the rest of the dish as I cut it up. You could taste every single ingredient, from the silky egg to the crisp and salty bacon to the flavorful cheese to the delicious potatoes and everything just worked perfectly together. This Bacon Roesti has now been elevated to one of my favorite dishes and it makes me want to go back to Tagaytay just so I can have it again. :)

The dish came with freshly baked bread and it should be enough to fill anyone's stomach but I was committed to trying another item on the menu so I also ordered the Apple Pie (215) for dessert.

It's actually quite a big apple pie and it can be shared by 2-3 people or more. The pie crust was soft and flaky although I do think it was a bit too thick. Clearly, I wasn't able to eat everything so I took the rest back to my hotel and enjoyed it later that night.

Breakfast at Antonio's also serves bottomless brewed coffee (P180). I had a few cups of coffee to complement my roesti and apple pie. To make the overall dining experience here even better, the service was incredible. I guess it helped that there were just a few other customers there at the time. :)

This is one restaurant I am definitely visiting again!

Breakfast at Antonio's
Aguinaldo Highway, Barangay Bagong Tubig
Tagaytay City
Phone number +63 (46) 413-0738
You can check out the map here.

Tagaytay Food Trip Part 2

I had a surprisingly great time when I did my first Tagaytay Food Trip a couple of years ago that I decided to do it again. My food trip this time around consisted of the following:

1. Breakfast at Antonio's
2. Chine
3. Mano's Greek Taverna
4. Chateau Hestia
5. Restaurant Verbena
6. Bag of Beans
7. Java Jazz Coffee

I'll have separate blog posts about the places I didn't go to during my first trip. I did revisit a few places, though. I had dinner in Chateau Hestia and this time, I ordered the Set Menu (P795). It was supposed to come with a specific soup, salad, main course, and dessert but I was told by the waiter that I could replace almost all of these items with something else on the menu. I ended up replacing the Viennese Potato soup with the Lobster Bisque, which was very flavorful and had small bits of lobster in it.

I stuck with the Hestia Garden Salad...

and the main course, the Rinds Rouladen or beef roulade filled with onion, bacon, mustard and parsley and flavored by its own sauce. This was pretty good and once again, the portion size was quite hefty.

For dessert, I had Panna Cotta, which was light and creamy and topped with their home-grown passion fruit jam. Together with coffee, this provided the perfect ending to a very good meal.

My return trip to Restaurant Verbena was a bit different since I had a friend who was also in Tagaytay at the same time and we decided to have lunch there together. We ordered the Black Truffle Risotto (~P590) which doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore (I took this trip several months ago). I love risotto and you can't go wrong with truffle oil and panchetta in the same dish.

For our main course, we decided to share a Grilled US Angus Rib Eye (P2000+). Pretty good steak. :)

I will say though that I enjoyed my first meal in Restaurant Verbena more. If I do a third food trip, I may re-order the Verbena sampler. :)

I also enjoyed some coffee and dessert in Bag of Beans, but this time in visited their place near the rotonda. I ordered their bottomless Brewed Barako (P120) and their Chocolate Mousse (P110). The mousse I had came straight from the freezer (I'm guessing they all do?) so I had to let it thaw a bit first but it was pretty good.

Next post: Breakfast at Antonio's.

Customer Service Surprise at Conti's

Last December 30, I passed by Conti's Greenhills to place an advanced order for their party-size American Grilled Ribs. The plan was for me to pick the food up at 4pm on December 31 so that it would serve as our dinner and media noche on New Year.

I arrived at Conti's on December 31 and I'm given a number for the pre-order pick-up queue. Once it was my turn to be served, I was not pleased when they told me that there was some mix-up in the dispatch of food and my order seemed to have been given to someone else. Ugh!!! They told me that my order was already being prepared but that it would take another 15-20 minutes before I get served. At that point, I had already been in Conti's for 20 minutes and given that I had to do a couple more errands that afternoon, I really wasn't happy to be kept waiting even longer.

Around 11 people who were in the queue after me were served - most of them with big orders! - before my food finally arrived. At some point, the manager spoke to me and apologized for the delay. I left Conti's feeling disappointed.

Anyway, several days later, I go back to that same Conti's to place an order for their party-size Baked Prawns and Chicken Pastel for my nephew's birthday celebration at home. (Conti's Baked Prawns are my nephew's favorite so I had to order it for him.) When I pick up my order, the manager approached me and told me that it was she who spoke to me on the 31st when I had a problem with my order. She felt bad that she was not able to give me anything at the time so she then handed me two boxes of brownies and told me they were complimentary, to compensate for the delay in my food order. Cool! It may have been several days late but I really appreciated the gesture (and the brownies). I also think it was great that they actually remembered that I had a bad experience there and tried to make amends the next time I was there.

The manager told me that they would be moving soon to a new location in Shaw. I do think the Greenhills location is much more accessible since you won't have to go through Shaw traffic but hopefully, the new location is bigger and has more parking options. In any case, I need to know where in Shaw the new store will be.

Nadal wins in Doha

What a great way to start the year. Rafael Nadal won the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, his first tournament of 2014, beating Gael Monfils in three sets in the final. He cements his position as world #1, adding 250 points to his current total and slightly increasing his lead over #2 Novak Djokovic. This win, on a hard court surface, should help Rafa's confidence as he heads into the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament.

Doha marks Nadal's 61st singles title, moving him to the 8th spot in the list of ATP tour titles won in the Open era. He is only three titles behind Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg now so there is a chance for Rafa to move to solo 5th in the list by the end of the year.

Dinner at URBN

I had a craving for cheese soufflé ever since I saw a soufflé challenge on an episode of Master Chef USA. I’ve had chocolate soufflés before but never a cheese one because I didn’t know where in Manila that I could get it. That is, until I stumbled upon a Deal Grocer voucher for URBN Bar and Kitchen a few months ago. I checked out the menu and saw that it had a cheese soufflé so I quickly bought a voucher. :)

When I finally made my way to URBN, I decided to get two items. For my appetizer, I obviously had to go with the Manchego Souffle (P395) to satisfy the craving I’ve had for months already. The photo doesn’t do it justice but I absolutely loved it! It has crispy Jamon Serrano and it is served with a healthy dose of truffle cream sauce. Wow.

For my main course, I got the Slow Cooked Beef Shank (P500). The beef was very tender and well-cooked and it tasted good. the portion was pretty sizeable. It was served on top of Fried Parmesan polenta and the saltiness of the polenta matched the richness of the beef very well. The green beans balanced out the entire dish. Since I already had an appetizer and the beef shank portion was quite big, I ended up eating only half of my main course and taking home the rest.

I am definitely going back to URBN at some point to have at least that Machego Souffle again. Hopefully another voucher becomes available on Deal Grocer so I can get the food at a good discount. :)

Youtube Rewind 2013

Here's a cool video that celebrates stuff that went viral on youtube as well as some of the most viewed youtube videos in 2013.


video courtesy of YouTube Spotlight

Mini Family Reunion

Last Rizal Day, I visited Mama, my grandmother on my father’s side, and Tito Raul who lives with and takes care of her. The last time I saw them both was when Tita Florence and Tito Mario celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary which was several months ago. Strangely enough, our extended family didn’t have a big family Christmas or New Year celebration so I decided to organize my own mini-reunion.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy groceries for them and as it turned out, Tito Raul told me that I probably had mental telepathy because a lot of the stuff I brought were things they liked or were planning to get. I brought fruit cocktail and Tito Raul told me that Mama really loves fruit salad and the salad he made for her a few days before was almost fully consumed. I also brought ingredients for spaghetti with meat sauce and Tito Raul told me that Mama had recently asked him to prepare spaghetti for her. Tita Raul also told me that he recently asked Tita Susan to send him a box of Swiss Miss (she now lives in the US) and I brought a box of Swiss Miss for them. Pretty amazing! I also brought a whole lot of other stuff (Mama also said she loves chocolates so the bag of assorted Hershey’s chocolates I brought was very well received) and that should last them at least a few weeks.

They live near Lourdes Church in Quezon City so we had an early dinner in Aristocrat Banawe which was just a 5-minute drive away. We ordered sotanghon guisado, fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce, laing, and of course chicken barbecue. After all, Aristocrat is the 'home of the best chicken barbecue in town'. :)

It was a good meal that all of us enjoyed. We clearly ordered more than we could eat at the time so Mama and Tito Raul took home the leftovers. Aristocrat Banawe is right next to Formosa bakeshop so after dinner, I got them a couple of bread items and yema cake.

It was such a great experience spending time with Mama and Tito Raul. I need to make sure I get to visit them a lot more often.

New Year resolution?

For the nth time in the last few years, I am trying to get back into the habit of exercising regularly. I will always manage to get on the treadmill about 2-3 times a week for a few weeks then I somehow end up stopping for one reason or another and it takes a long while before I get to hit the gym again. Obviously, I'm not getting any younger so it becomes even more important for me to keep fit.

The question now is how long I can keep going to the gym now. I know I can exercise regularly since I've been able to do this in the past (albeit around 3-4 years ago). I now need to channel that experience and discipline and make sure I stay on the fitness path now.

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year! :)

It’s amazing how many things happened in 2013. As I read though my blog, I realized that certain experiences that feel like they happened a couple of years ago actually happened in the last 365 days. Here’s a quick look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the year that was.

Family time
My grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday, my aunt and uncle celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and my nephew graduated grade school.

Travel
A couple of firsts: I traveled to Russia with my mom and I also took my family to Legoland Malaysia. We revisited Singapore and Universal Studios Singapore. I also went to the Hundred Islands for the first time since I was a little kid.

Entertainment
I watched The Killers, OneRepublic, Cecile Licad, the Philippine Madrigals, and the Little Singers of Monaco. From classical to pop to rock, it was a pretty eclectic set of concerts that I got to see and I enjoyed each and every one of them.

New experiences
Apart from visiting new places like Russia and Legoland, I also got to try several new things. Food: Pistachio Sans Rival of Delize, Dutch Bread Hauz, Opus (for dinner, not for drinks), the Wildflour Croissant-Donut, cupcakes from The Royal Touch, and Nomama Artisanal Ramen, among a whole lot of others that I didn’t write about. Services: Zalora, Big Bert’s Auto Detailing, and Kimstore. Hotels: Fraser Place, Crosswinds Tagaytay (which I have yet to write about), and Hotel Stotsenberg (which I also still haven’t written about yet).

Random experiences
I was forced into a ballroom dancing competition for the first time in my life, our bowling team won first place, I had a photobook party with my friends, I organized and participated in Tree Planting and Tree Nursery activities, and for the first time I got to write one blog post per day for an entire month (January).

Of course, there were things in 2013 that weren’t great. My aunt and my cousin passed away, we lost our dog and I had stomach problems and also back problems. On a bigger scale, the Philippines was beset by major calamities: the Visayas Earthquake and Yolanda. With the PDAF scandal and the Zamboanga siege, 2013 is probably a year that the country would love to say goodbye to.

The great thing about having a blog is that it also serves as an online diary. I can always look back at stuff that happened during the year and remember in pretty good detail the cool experiences I had. I’m definitely looking forward to experiencing and writing about more great stuff in 2014.