Lunch at La Spezia MNL

I took my family to La Spezia MNL to celebrate my nephew's birthday.

House specialty: Spaghetti Al Tartufo Nero with real truffles

I learned about this place when I was searching for good restaurants. I wanted our lunch venue to be extra special since my nephew missed our lunch at Raging Bull last year. I checked the menu of La Spezia and when I saw that they had steak which I wanted my nephew to have, I decided this would be the perfect place to celebrate his birthday.

There were ten of us so we ordered a lot of food. For starters, we got the Burrata (P650), which is buffalo mozzarella served with charred corn, cherry tomatoes, basil and sea salt. 

Burrata

For our salad, we got the Arugula Insalata (P570). It has baby arugula from Tagaytay served with Genovese pesto, tomatoes, 18-month Parmigiano-Reggiano, and extra virgin olive oil.

Arugula Insalata

Since La Spezia is an Italian restaurant, we naturally had to have some pasta dishes. We ordered a few, including the Spaghetti Aglio Pesca (P720). This spaghetti dish has clams, shrimp, and squid and is served with garlic, Parmigiano-Regiano, and extra virgin olive oil. I got to try a bit of this and I think it may be my favorite pasta dish that we ordered.

Spaghetti Aglio Pesca

The Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (P650) is served with a 63-degree Celsius sous vide egg, guanciale, 18mo Parmigiano-Reggiano, and extra virgin olive oil.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

The highlight of our pasta dish orders was the Spaghetti Al Tartufo Nero (P1,360). It is served with guanciale, a 'convento' vino reduced sauce, walnut cream, and 18-month Parmigiano-Reggiano. What makes it extra special (and very expensive) is the fact that it is served with actual
PERIGORD black truffles. There's even a special table presentation: they brought a box of truffles to our table, sliced them, weighed the slices on a food scale, then served the truffles on top of the spaghetti. This whole ritual made the dish feel even more special than it already was.

Table presentation of the Spaghetti Al Tartufo Nero

We also got the Risotto Milanese (P820), which is Arborio rice with Spanish saffron, bone marrow, 12-year old balsamic vinegar, 18-month Parmigiano-Reggiano, and extra virgin olive oil.

Risotto Milanese

Aside from pasta, we also got some main courses, including the Pancetta di Maiale (P720). This is a 16-hour Sous Vide Pork Belly served with polenta, apple pork jus, and extra virgin olive oil.

Pancetta di Maiale

My nephew ordered the Vino Rosso Agnello (P1,050), a 4-hour Stewed Lamb Shank served with Guanciale, shallots, button mushrooms, pancetta, and polenta. While I didn't get to try this, my nephew really enjoyed it.

Vino Rosso Agnello

Then of course, we had the steak. I ordered the 1Kg Bistecca Certified Angus Beef Rib-eye (P5,200) as soon as we arrived but it took some time to prepare so it arrived at our table towards the end of our meal. It was a really good steak and despite the fact that everyone had eaten quite a lot already by the time the rib-eye was served, we still managed to consume it fully.

Bistecca Certified Angus Beef Rib-eye

We ended our meal with Tiramisu (P380). Their version is a bit different in that it has ice cream.

Tiramisu

It was a great meal and my family and I really enjoyed all the food. I can understand why La Spezia MNL has gotten a lot of good reviews. It's pretty expensive so it's not for everyday consumption but it's perfect for special occasions. I also really like the ambiance and the service was superb. I'm really happy that I picked this place.

La Spezia MNL
https://www.facebook.com/LaSpezia.MNL/
Address: 90 Sct. Dr. Lazcano St, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 7960 6903

January Hodgepodge

I got my family a new coffee maker. And it's a pretty snazzy one too: a De'Longhi Argento Flora Drip Coffee Maker. It's actually really expensive but I decided to get this for several reasons. First, our old one was broken. Second, practically everyone in my family drinks coffee so a fancy new coffee maker would be good value, especially if it works and lasts better than our old one. Third, it was kinda like a Christmas gift to all of them. Finally, it looks really nice haha (or well, to me it does). My family started using our new De'Longhi coffee maker in the new year and my brother told me that it works so much better than our previous one. It also looks really nice in our kitchen. I think it looks bright, clean, and sleek. While it is really pricey, I'm quite happy that I got it for my family. Hopefully it lasts us a long time!

Our new De'Longhi Argento Flora Drip Coffee Maker

I also got a Uniqlo Rugger Polo for myself. And yes, it's the shirt that went viral haha but I got one in a different color combination. I know that most people don't like wearing a shirt that many other people wear, especially if they wear it at the same time as someone else. However, because this rugger polo went viral, it actually brings a smile to my face each time I see someone wearing it. As such, I decided to get one for myself. My initial plan was to get either the blue and green or the red and blue. However, once I got to Uniqlo, I saw that this shirt came in another color combination: white and blue. I found it to be the most striking visually so I decided to try it on and I thought it looked good on me haha. So instead of getting either of the two color combinations that went viral, I ended up getting the one that people aren't as familiar with. That said, the saleslady told me it was actually the most popular of the three shirts, which kinda made sense because it was the one they had the least stock of.

Uniqlo Rugger Polo

My family caught a snake at home right before New Year. It was really interesting because my nephew called me and asked me if I knew of any place that can take care of snakes. He told me that they managed to capture one at home and they didn't want to release it back into the neighborhood because they were worried that it might end up in someone else's home and they might kill it. I suggested that they take the snake to Parks and Wildlife, which my brother did the next day. My suggestion was right because the park accepted the snake. My nephew told me that they kept the snake it a box that night but it actually got out so they had to catch it again. I have no idea how they managed to catch it twice but I am really proud of my family for not killing it and making an effort to bring it to an organization that would treat it properly. I gotta say, it was actually a beautiful snake.

My nephew took this photo of the snake they captured at home

On the downside, I had a flat tire the other day. I was driving home and about a kilometer or so away from home, I started to hear a weird sound coming from the back of my car. I couldn't figure out what it was. As soon as I got home, I noticed my rear left tire was deflated. There was a vulcanizing shop a very short distnace away so I decided to drive there really slowly and have my tire fixed. The guy at the vulcanizing shop almost immediately spotted the issue: a pretty big nail pierced my tire. I hope I didn't do major damage to my wheel by driving flat. (I should have it checked soon.)

A big nail pierced my tire

I also got to catch up a bit on my streaming platforms. Over the holiday break, I got to see three animated films on Disney+ that I had been wanting to see for a while. Pixar's Soul kinda gave me Inside Out vibes and I understand why many of my friends found it to be introspection-inducing. Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon was also good and I love that it is inspired by South East Asian cultures. Pixar's Onward was surprisingly enjoyable. I hadn't heard much positive feedback from people about it but when I watched it, I found myself very thoroughly entertained. (It does have a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes so maybe people who saw it didn't talk about it as much, especially since it was released right as the global pandemic hit and theaters were starting to close). Top Gun: Maverick was just released on HBO Go so I naturally watched it again. I really do love this movie! Finally, I saw Glass Onion on Netflix, which is a sequel to Knives Out which I love. As a fan of whoddunit mystery stories, I really enjoyed this movie. Hopefully, we get more sequels.

An Amazing Customer Service Experience with Merienda by Pan De Manila

I recently purchased take-out from Merienda by Pan De Manila. What started out as a big mistake turned into an incredible customer service experience that has now made me a, dare I say, a loyal customer.

It all started one night when I was heading home from work. I was craving Sopas so I decided to pass by Merienda by Pan De Manila that was near my office to order sopas for take-out. I decided to also get their Ginataang Gulay, or vegetables cooked in coconut milk. Once my order was ready, the waiters hand me two bags. The sopas was placed in an open bag but they also handed me a bag that was sealed with tape. I didn't bother removing the tape but I assumed it contained the ginataang gulay. Imagine my absolute dismay when I got home and opened that sealed bag only to see a pack of pan de sal!

It was upsetting on multiple levels. First, I really wanted to have some vegetables for dinner that night and now I didn't have any. Second, my ginataang gulay cost a lot more than the pack of pan de sal. Third, since I was already home, I was too far away from Merienda by Pan De Manila to go back and have my incorrect order replaced. Fourth, the soonest I could go back there would be a week later. (Technically, I could return sooner, but the time I would spend going there and back plus the cost of gas would be worth more than the cost of the food I ordered). I tried looking up their contact number online but I couldn't find it. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to get a replacement or a refund.

I had the opportunity to return to that same place a week later and I was in two minds as to whether I should still complain about the wrong order. After all, a lot of time had passed since the mistake and they could argue that I should have checked my order to confirm that what I got was right.

I decided to just share my experience so I can tell them to be more careful in the future; I wasn't expecting anything at all. I spoke to the woman behind the cashier (who was there the previous week as well) and I told her about the wrong order. Before I could even go into detail of my concern, she immediately acknowledged their mistake, saying that she remembers the situation from the week before, and she told me they would replace my order. She sounded genuinely apologetic. She even told me that they stuck a piece of paper on the door of the restaurant with their contact number on it in case I returned on the night in question; that way I could call them if the store had already closed.

I honestly didn't expect that response or even that they would remember me and replace my order so I was very pleasantly surprised. I decided to order a pack of cheese sticks and tablea ice cream as kind of a 'thank you' (in the form of additional revenue for them) for their positive response. As I was paying for my order, the woman told me that they would just charge me for the ice cream and they would give me the cheese sticks for free. Wow! But as if that wasn't enough, when my vegetables finally arrived, they gave me a complimentary cup of iced tea as well. They also continued to apologize for the error in the previous week.

I've never experienced this kind of response in a local establishment in the past so I was really pleased with how they managed the situation. I remember taking customer service training many, many years ago and the trainer talked to us about how you can actually turn a bad customer experience into a good one. I guess this is a clear example of that. I now consider myself to be a loyal customer of Merienda by Pan de Manila and since that experience, I try to eat there or buy take-out whenever I can.

Counting to 12, Sesame Street-Style

This is one of the many amazing videos from Sesame Street that its viewers, including myself, remember even decades after seeing it.

video uploaded in YouTube by Sesame Street

I always found the animation to be really interesting and inventive and the music to be catchy. I have to say, as an adult, I actually appreciate the musicality even more now, with its funkiness and amazing musicianship. I also only just discovered that The Pointer Sisters actually sing this song. Awesome!

Savage by Josh Boutwood

Just before New Year, I got to meet up with some friends for lunch at Savage by Josh Boutwood. I heard that the steak in this place is pretty good, as are many other menu items, so when we were figuring out where to eat in BGC, I suggested this place and everyone agreed.

Savage by Josh Boutwood (photo taken by my friend Che)

I actually arrived late haha. I think the craziness of the holiday season caused me to oversleep and wake up really late on the day of our lunch. As such, I was unable to take a photo of the first two dishes that my friends ordered: the Deviled Eggs and the Mussels and Fries. (They did leave some for me so I could try them once I arrived and both were good! The mussels dish brought back memories of my visits to Belgium where this dish is extremely popular.) I did arrive in time to take a photo of the Charred Romaine salad, which has grilled romaine lettuce with garlic and anchovy dressing and topped with sourdough breadcrumbs & parmesan cheese. This salad was really good too.

Charred Romaine salad

We decided to order a couple of main courses and share them. Naturally, we had to get steak. There were four of us so we went with the 1.2 kg Dry-aged Bone-in Ribeye, which is dry-aged in-house for 28 days, grilled over oak and charcoal, and finished with smoked butter, mustard, leaf emulsion and sea salt. 

Dry-aged Bone-in Ribeye Steak

I got a side of Crushed potatoes with flying fish roe to go with my steak.

Crushed Potatoes with flying fish roe

We also got the Tuna collar, which is grilled over charcoal and paired with a fermented soy bean emulsion and served with wild rice furikake. This, I felt, was the only misstep. I don't know if it was because the tuna might not have been fresh anymore but we all found it too fishy.

Tuna Collar

We shared a couple of desserts to cap off our lunch. We ordered the Kladdkaka, a Swedish chocolate cake served with whipped cream...

Kladdkaka, or Swedish chocolate cake

...and the Meringue and Strawberries, with a hint of vanilla bean.

Meringue with Strawberries

Savage is on the expensive side but it was the holidays so it was a pretty good time to splurge. We did enjoy our dining experience here, tuna collar notwithstanding, and I was happy that I got to catch up with my friend Che whom I hadn't seen in person in years.

Savage by Josh Boutwood

https://www.joshboutwood.net/restaurants/savage

Arya Plaza, GF, McKingly Drive. Bonifacio Global City
+639153339546
savage@bistro.com.ph

Welcome, 2023!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Sticking to tradition, my first blog post of the year will be a review of the past year. It was the most eventful year for me (and probably for everyone else) since the pandemic started, with so many amazing things happening.

First, there were a lot of family celebrations and events. My grandmother 'Nanay' celebrated her 95th birthday. I took my family to Raging Bull to celebrate the birthdays of my mom and my brother. My family also paid our respects to Mama Guading as her remains were moved to a new resting place. I didn't get to write about it but I also took my family to Wildflour for my nephew's birthday. We threw a party at home for my other nephew's birthday. My family also enjoyed a great lunch at Dylan Patisserie. I'm really happy and thankful that my 95-year old grandmother still has the strength to join us when we go out to celebrate.

I also got to travel again. I took some time off work to spend some days in Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu earlier this year. That was also my first plane ride since 2019. I then got invited to a wedding at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan, which was my first long drive since the pandemic.

Best purchase of 2022: my Fitbit! It helped me keep track of total steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, and sleep score, among other things. Over the year, I amassed several Fitbit Achievements, the latest of which is my New Zealand badge! I got my Fitbit during one of the many Lazada sales during the year. I also leveraged these Lazada sales to purchase several Kiehl's products and an Issey Miyake fragrance that came with a lot of freebies. I also purchased some really awesome Nike shoes called Desert Elephant. And while this wasn't exactly a direct purchase, I did make use of my mobile phone provider's recontracting rewards program to get a new Samsung S22+ phone. (Gosh, looks like I went a bit overboard on my shopping and spending hahaha.)

In sports, Nadal won his 21st and 22nd Grand Slam titles, including his 14th French Open title. His comeback win at the Australian Open allowed him to win at least 2 of each Grand Slam event, making him only the second male player after Noval Djokovic to accomplish this in the Open era. Hidilyn Diaz won three gold medals at the 2022 IWF World Weightlifting Championships, making her a world champion for the first time. She is now a gold medalist at the Olympics, the World Championships, the Asian Games, and the SEA Games! Also, UP won the UAAP Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1986.

Other stuff: I got certified as a Professional Scrum Product Owner. I read four Neil Gaiman books during the year. They were some really good books too so I'm happy I was able to make enough time to read them. I subscribed to Disney+ and I have since seen many, many movies and shows on that streaming platform. I got to try a several new restaurants in 2022: The Loggia by Margarita Fores, Gram Pancake, Coffee Academics, Antipodean, Pizzulu, and Savage by Josh Boutwood which I haven't written about yet (aside from Dylan which I already mentioned). I continued writing my throwback posts: Paris, Luxembourg, Vietnam, US (including California, Ohio, Kentucky, and New York), and Palawan (Busuanga and El Nido).

2022 was also filled with a lot of get-togethers, game nights, and reunions. I'm really happy that life seems to be slowly going back to pre-pandemic normal. Hopefully, 2023 will be just as good, if not better.

Reading My Neil Gaiman Books

I read four books this year, all of them by Neil Gaiman: American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Neverwhere.

My Neil Gaiman Books

American Gods is the first book I read. It's highly rated, with a 4.1 rating on Goodreads at the time of this writing, and it was even made into a series on Amazon Prime. The premise is very intriguing: gods from different mythologies walk amongst us here on earth and their power and immortality comes from the belief people have in them. But as more and more people in the world start to believe in technology, new gods are created and this stirs up a battle between the mythological gods and the new technological gods. I did have some difficulty reading it since there were a lot of characters introduced through flashbacks or different scenes that deviate from main storyline. I realized that I have difficulty with that writing style and it took me a while to finish it. That said, I fully understand why many people love this novel. It's inventive, the pace really picks up as the story comes to its powerful climax, and just when you think the story is done, you get hit with a very surprising and even chilling denouement.

American Gods

I next read Anansi Boys. While this isn't a sequel, there is a character here - Anansi - who is also in American Gods. I gotta say, I really love this book. I think a large part of that is because I really like the lead character, Fat Charlie Nancy, around whom the story revolves. There is something charming and captivating about his insecurity and his struggle and it was great to see his evolution as the story progressed. The antagonist (or one of them) also seemed almost benign before it is revealed just how diabolical he is. The discovery of Fat Charlie's history is surprising and there are a lot of really interesting twists and turns that kept me really engaged. I personally prefer Anansi Boys to American Gods, maybe because there are less characters and the storytelling is a bit more linear and straightforward, making it easier for me to follow.

Anansi Boys

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was unexpectedly heavy and haunting. We get introduced to Lettie Hempstock when she becomes friends with the narrator and it is this friendship of two "kids" that becomes the core of the story. While we never truly understand who Lettie is, we find out early enough that she and her family are far from ordinary. When a mortal threat presents itself to our lead characters, we don't exactly get worried for Lettie and her family but we do get worried for the narrator. His dread and fear are very palpable and I felt his despair. The climax is shocking and heartbreaking, and what is revealed after that adds even more layers of depth to the sadness and emotion I was already feeling. I was very affected by The Ocean at the End of the Lane and it really stayed with me after I read it, which is a sign of a great book. While it isn't a happy ending by any stretch of the imagination, it is powerful, moving, wildly imaginative, otherworldly, and very well-written. It's also a short book so you can finish it quite quickly.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The last book I read is Neverwhere. This was fantastical, whimsical, and absolutely fascinating, which are things I have come to expect in Gaiman's works. The story is practically a quest, with our lead characters searching for something and having to overcome many obstacles and challenges along the way. While it's not as heavy as The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it's pretty dark and grim in its own right. The situation that our lead character Richard Mayhew finds himself in early in the story is quite distressing and I truly felt his desolation. Also, the loss of a character early on was jarring and disturbing, to say the least. The villains are also pretty sinister and menacing. This book is fast-paced, action-packed, and riveting, with many twists and turns that lead towards an explosive climax. Despite the fact that I am a slow reader, I finished this novel quite quickly even if it's more than 400 pages long. 

Neverwhere

One bittersweet thing about all this is that three of these novels I read were inherited from my friend Karen who passed away a couple of years ago. In her will, she left her books to her friends. I still miss her but I find solace in the fact that I have now read some stories that she herself read and enjoyed when she was still with us.

I'm also happy that I was able to find enough time this year to read four books this year. Many of my friends who saw my social media posts suggested other Gaiman works but I will most likely go through other authors next year since I still have several other books at home. Hopefully, I can continue to find time read next year.

Random Stuff

I just got my New Zealand Badge! Since I started using my Fitbit, I have now walked a total distance of 1,593 kilometers, which is the entire length of New Zealand. This means my daily average is now 7.11 km. Awesome!

My New Zealand Badge

What has helped me get my new badge so shortly after my previous one is all the walking I have been doing this Christmas season. For the last 3 weeks, I was clocking in anywhere between 52 km to 62 km per week. That's because of all the gift shopping, errands, and get-togethers I was attending. It was also on one of my gift-searching and gift-buying days that I got my Trail Shoe badge. This meant that I walked more than 30,000 steps in a day!

My Trail Shoe Badge

I walked so much that day that I actually covered a distance of more than 21 kilometers. That's the distance of a half marathon! As such, it's not surprising that I burned more than 4,000 calories that day. Needless to say, my legs and my feet really hurt after that hahaha.

My best one-day stats on Fitbit

All that walking deserves some good food too. My youngest nephew celebrated his birthday my family decided to throw him a party. We couldn't organize one for him the last two years because of the pandemic but we felt that it was safe enough to do it this year. My cousin Mark and his family were in the Philippines and they were able to join us so it was a bit of a mini family reunion as well.

My nephew's birthday celebration

I got to try Gan Hotpot in Alphaland Makati Place in the Malugay area. Normally, when I go to a hotpot or shabu shabu place with friends, I prepare my own dipping sauce or someone in our group does. This time, the wait staff shared their recommendations of the best sauce for what we ordered and it was quite good. It was the tail-end of the World Cup when I ate there so I had to take a photo of their World Cup-inspired decor.

Gan Hotpot

I also found myself in Estancia one day and I decided to try Hanamaruken Ramen for lunch since I had never eaten there before. It's not at the level of Mendokoro (then again, for me, nothing is), but what I loved about this place is that they had a meal set that included a bowl of ramen, gyoza, and fried rice. I can't remember how much it cost but I did feel it was a sweet deal.

Hanamaruken Ramen

Spotify recently shared analytics on the listening patterns of its users. I was surprised by my results. I was actually one of the top 3% of listeners of The Clash. I don't know if this is just in the Philippines or worldwide. I will be honest though. All those 139 minutes were spent listening to Rock the Casbah over and over again.

I'm in the top 3% listeners of The Clash on Spotify in 2022!

So it's not surprising that my Spotify profile is the Replayer. I stick to the songs I like by the artists I like.

My Spotify listener profile

And which artists did I listen to the most in 2022? It's a pretty eclectic combination: (1) The Clash, (2) Beyonce, (3) Kuh Ledesma, (4) Andrew Garfield, and (5) Florence + The Machine. The top 5 are all from different genres of music and Andrew Garfield makes it to my list because of how frequently I listened to music from Tick, Tick... Boom!

Artists I listened to the most in 2022

And since we're on the topic of entertainment, I finally got to watch a couple of movies I had been interested to see for a while: Pixar's Soul and Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon. I watched both one after the other on Christmas eve and I really enjoyed them. Hopefully, I can find more time to watch more films and shows on the many streaming platforms to which I'm subscribed.

A Hectic but Happy Holiday Season

Christmas is always a very busy time socially and this year was no exception. Not that I'm complaining though. I'm really happy that I got to spend time with many friends, some of whom I haven't seen in ages. Let's start with the most recent one. Yesterday, I joined some of my ex-colleagues for dinner at Locavore. My friend Ana told me that Cholo, who moved to Canada several years ago, was in town and some folks would be joining him for dinner. It turned out to be quite a fantastic evening. I got to catch up with Cholo, Ana, Earl, and Migs. We were also joined by Mark, JP, Nono, Cori, and Noy. I think the last time I saw most of them was when I was still working in my previous job! We all went through quite a lot together so it really was nice reconnecting with all these people with whom I have a lot of shared experience. The fact that we enjoyed my favorite Locavore dishes, specifically the Lechon and Oyster Sisig and the Sizzling Sinigang, made the evening even better.

Lechon and Oyster Sisig and Sizzling Sinigang from Locavore

Later that evening, I caught up with Marco and Cha. They were having dessert when I swung by although I didn't order anything anymore because I was still stuffed. It had been years since I last saw Cha so it was really good to see her with Marco. Since I was double-booked that evening and joined them late, we didn't get to spend a lot of time together. Still, the conversation was great as always.

Christmas with my board gaming friends happened earlier in the month. We got to try some really cool and interesting games that night, including 5-Minute Mystery which is quite possibly my favorite deduction game right now. It's very quick to play and it's cooperative in a way that gets everyone involved so it's a lot of fun! I also decided to bring a Chocolate Swiss Roll which I bought from Dylan Patisserie and I'm glad to say it was a hit. It was a good chiffon cake and it wasn't too sweet. It also looked quite fancy!

Chocolate Swiss Roll from Dylan Patisserie

I had written about my Pizzulu dinner earlier this month and that was also a Christmas get-together with ex-colleagues. After dinner, we moved to Starbucks for coffee and dessert. We also did a simple exchange gift. While we initially wanted to do a more elaborate white elephant set-up, we ended up just doing the basic pick-a-number-that-corresponds-to-a-gift arrangement. I got a bamboo-scented room spray from Mickee. Aside from the planned exchange gift, a few of us also brought some gifts for everyone else. I had yema with pili nuts for everyone, Pao gave everyone goodies from his family's bakeshop, Mon and Chelle gave everyone homemade ube, and Nat gave us black garlic from his garden. Cool! I really love this team and I'm happy we continue to see each other every year, whether virtually of face-to-face.

Another dinner with ex-colleagues happened earlier in the month at Grace Park in Rockwell. Pia booked a table in the semi-private area on the second floor. It was a night of wining and dining as we feasted on several dishes. We ordered a few appetizers to share and almost everyone had dessert but as if that wasn't enough, I ordered two dishes for myself: the Duck Ragu and the Seabass Acqua Pazza. I'm not particularly sure how I managed to eat everything haha.

Seabass Acqua Pazza from Grace Park

It wasn't all ex-colleagues that I met. I also joined Irish and Michelle for brunch at Tyler Cafe along Katipunan. Since we stayed there for a few hours, I started by ordering their incredible ricotta pancakes and later on, Irish and I shared a pizza from Gino's. Michelle had just graduated from her MBA class so she very generously treated us. I also attended a couple of company Christmas parties. Our company-wide Christmas party was actually held in late November and I stayed until the after-party, dancing like a crazed madman to 80's music being performed by a live band haha. About a week later, we had our department Christmas party. The theme? Denim. I didn't have a denim jacket but thankfully, I was able to borrow one from a friend. Since I don't normally wear this kind of outfit, I had to have my photo taken haha.

Denim-themed Christmas Party

I also had one virtual get-together with my high school friends. Lia lives in the US so during the pandemic, we started having an annual virtual party. Even if people are a lot more comfortable to meet up face-to-face now, we decided to continue doing this so that we would have an opportunity to spend time with Lia and her husband Ferdie. Iona recommended a Secret Santa website back in 2020 and we have continued to use it. I ended up getting a couple of shirts that I included in my wish list and I'm really happy with them. We will have a face-to-face dinner as well for those of us who are in Manila, but since some of us will be traveling during the holidays, we decided to just meet up in January for that.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It has become my annual tradition to bring food to my family on Christmas Eve that would last until Christmas dinner the next evening. This year, I decided to order from two places. From Dulcelin, I got the US Beef Belly Roast Beef, Lola's Chicken Relleno, Cannelloni, and Blackened Fish Fillet with Dirty Rice. Since Dulcelin doesn't have any vegetable dishes, I decided to order the Caesar Salad from Matchpoint Catering. (I also tossed in Matchpoint's Gambas and Scallops al Ajillo so we would have a shrimp dish because one of my nephews loves shrimp.)

For dessert, I wanted something really fancy that we would normally not order. Dulcelin has a lot of great desserts but we've tried many of them already so I wanted to get something that I wouldn't normally get. I kept seeing Serendipity Gourmet on social media so a few weeks ago, I messaged them to ask if they still had available pies for pick-up the day before Christmas and they did. I decided to order their Bellissimo Blueberry Mango Gourmet Pie. It looked really fancy and it has really great flavors. It was very expensive but it was a special occasion so I thought it would be worth it to splurge.

Bellissimo Blueberry Mango Gourmet Pie from Serendipity Gourmet

We also got to do a couple of things for the first time in years: (1) we physically went to church to hear mass and (2) we had Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. Over the pandemic, my aunt and her family would visit us during Christmas. But since my grandmother has been going out  a lot more recently, my aunt and uncle thought that maybe we could all have dinner at their house this time around. So we did.

It was a really good Christmas celebration with family. Hopefully you all had a great time too!

RIP tWitch

Very sad news. Stephen Boss, more popularly known as tWitch, passed away.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Allison Holker (@allisonholker)

I used to watch So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) back when it was shown on one of the channels on Skycable and tWitch was one of my favorites. He placed second in Season 4 where he performed one of his most memorable routines on the show with Katee. He returned to the show three years later as an all-star in season 7. It was here that he put in a performance that quite possibly made him a bit of a household name. He and Alex did a hip-hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo that went viral. Check it out here:

video uploaded in YouTube by roman0102

This dance was such a hit that Ellen wanted to perform it, which she did with Twitch in the Season 7 finale. A few years later, he became the resident DJ of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he remained until the show ended in 2022.

I also love the fact that tWitch ended up marrying Allison Holker, who may possibly be my all-time favorite contestant on the show. His proposal to Allison is on YouTube. It moved me the first time I saw it and now that I watch it again, it moves me but in a different way now.

Sadly, he took his own life. I have known for a while now that people who struggle with mental health issues sometimes look to be the happiest people we know and his untimely passing reminds us of this sad and painful truth.

Rest in Peace, Stephen "tWitch" Boss.

Pizzulu

I found out about Pizzulu during the pandemic since ads for this Italian restaurant kept popping up on social media. It looked interesting and a friend of mine who had tried it said he enjoyed the food so this place was definitely in my radar. When my ex-colleagues and I decided to meet up for an early Christmas get-together and people wanted to have dinner in BGC, I suggested Pizzulu and everyone agreed.

Pizzulu BGC

Most of us were eating here for the first time so we picked a few recommended dishes. I didn't really care what other items we ordered as long as we got truffle pasta. Pizzulu had a couple of truffle dishes and we chose the Black Truffle Casarecce Pasta, which is Barilla casarecce pasta with truffle cream sauce, shiitake mushrooms, and parsley (P1,275 for the platter, P850 to share, P425 solo). I loved it!

Black Truffle Casarecce Pasta

We also ordered the Ragu Bucatini Pasta which is bucatini pasta with premium grass-fed beef, tomato ragu sauce, and parsley (P1,197 for the platter, P798 to share, P399 solo).

Ragu Bucatini Pasta

Dinner at an Italian restaurant for a group our size wouldn't be complete without pizza and the ones we got were pretty good. The Shrimp & Roasted Garlic Pizza (P675) has garlic cream, Italian mozzarella, peeled shrimps, shrimp oil, roasted garlic cloves, and parsley.

Shrimp & Roasted Garlic Pizza

The Spinach & Artichoke Pizza (P699) has Pizzulu's original spinach cream, Italian mozzarella, goat cheese, and artichokes.

Spinach & Artichoke Pizza

I gotta say, I really enjoyed the food here. The only watch-out is that due to the size of the restaurant and the volume of customers, they strictly follow two seating schedules for dinner, one from 6pm to 8pm and another from 8pm to 10pm. We reserved the first seating and as it got closer to 8pm, we were politely told that our seating was almost over. As such, I highly recommend making a reservation if you plan to eat here. Hopefully, I can visit this place again in the near future.

Pizzulu BGC
https://pizzulu.com/pages/pizzulu-bgc-restaurant
Address: G/F Eight Forbes Town Road, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City 1630
Number: 0917-127-2548