Food Trip!

My college friends invited me to dinner last December 15th. We met at Ayala Triangle at around 7 PM. Most of them were already there when I arrived. When I got there, they told me they chose several restaurants and reserved a table. Because everyone was so busy no one thought of making reservations earlier. There was even a Christmas lights show every hour in the Triangle so we decided to watch that while waiting. It was my first time to see it even though I've worked in Makati City a couple of years ago for a few years. 

We waited for a long time until a table was available, and Wee Nam Kee was the first to have a table for us ( we estimated there would be 10 of us ) so that made our choice. 

Click here for: Wee Nam Kee menu

1. Chicken Rice Large - 6-8 persons. Choice of steamed, roasted or mixed.

2. Barbecued Pork (Asado)

3. Cereal Prawns

4. Honey Crisp Squid

5. Kangkong

6. Fried Rice - good for 3-4 people

7. HK Style Birthday Noodles

It was a nice time to see old friends and I guess I'm going to make an effort to be in touch with them from now on. Besides, there's facebook, twitter, and all these technologies, there's no excuse anymore.

Food Trip!

I had lunch a couple of months ago at Gerry's Grill. I treated a family member to lunch because it was her birthday and it's been a while since I've been to Gerry's Grill.

We ordered Tahong ala Pobre, which is mussels with spicy sauce. It's also sprinked with garlic on top. I reall liked this but it was too spicy for me. We also had Sizzling (Pork) Sisg. This is one of the house specialties. The picture is not mine and very deceiving. They don't serve that much. For the rice, we ordered the Adobong Puso. The rice is wrapped in a banana leaf and is mixed with pork adobo. This is usually for 3-4 peope but based on my experience ( this is the second time I had it ), it's just good for 2 people if you have healthy appetites. For our drinks, I ordered a green mango shake and my relatived just ordered a soda. Between the two of us, we were able to finish everything. We must have been really hungry because we were shopping. I guess it's okay since we went back to malling after lunch. I also went to Gongcha and grabbed a large Caramel Milk Tea to take home. Overall, it was a very good day. 

So rudeness is defined as discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way. Check. It is also defined as rough in manners or behavior; unmannerly; uncouth. Check.

 
I know this person for a long time now, there were even time when we would hang out together. Actually, I don't prefer hanging out with her, she just gets on my nerve. It seems like hanging out with a teenager who has a crush on someone. No, it wasn't me. She has a huge crush on a common friend. I don't even think that crush is the right word, she seems obsessed. The guy is already married, I would like to tell her.. you've got to give up you know. Or maybe, I think it's time to move on. But she never admits to this obsession even when everyone knows about it and I even heard some people talking about it.

To make the story short, she seems to be jealous when I'm talking to this guy. She's making it seem like a competition. If I could ask her, "Am I acting like you, following him all around and everything?" One time she texted me reminding me how he heard the guy said that he would usually look for me at events where he thought I'd be there. I guess I wouldn't think any of it except that I've known her for making side comments or just trying to open a conversation about this guy. So I was like.. "here we go again.." I mean, true, the guy said that but he was just saying that as a form of compliment. The guy was sort of one of the "hosts" of that event and I guess he was just trying to flatter me and thank me at the same time. It's just that it registered on that girl's mind. I was thinking... so she feels bad that the guy said that to me and not to her? She's been AWOL for some time. It's not as if I've been to all the events, but I've been present every now and then. It's safe to say that somehow this guy and I see each other on a more regular basis than her.

Just a few weeks after that there was another event and she asked me if she could get a ride with me going to that event. I desperately wanted to say no. (Maybe I'm too nice?) The problem is that I don't think she'd want me in that event without her, it's like I would be getting an advantage. If I told her no and she went there anyway, I think she would definitely blurt out in front of the guy that she was trying to get a ride with me and I wouldn't answer her. I would be the bad guy then. So she got a ride with me and while at the event, she asked me if she could use my phone because she's also on prepaid and she doesn't have any credits left. I was nice enough again to let her use my phone. After the event, this guy and I talked. I didn't even look for the guy, I just realized one time that he was just there and of course we had to say something to each other. And again, that girl had to say something about the guy spending some time with me, even for putting his arm on my shoulders when we were talking. The guy and I just didn't say anything. What was with her? When another guy friend hugged me and she was there, I wanted to tell her, "what? no comments? You had a lot to say when (the guy) and I were talking!" She asked to use my phone before we left the event. And I let her. Again! When will I learn. But for some reason I had a bad feeling again. It only took her a short while to use my phone. When I saw her end the call, I went to her to get my phone and I guess she was surprised I was there. She asked me how she can erase the call history but I told her I also don't know and to just leave it. It's not as if I would call their home number and that it will just automatically be erased. All the while she was riding with me, she kept asking for me phone, asking if she could "call" again. All that time! I told her I was expecting an important call so I never gave her my phone to use again. When I got home I checked the dialed numbers and saw the guy's name. Right about that time before we left the event and she borrowed my phone. Besides, I never called the guy so I knew it was really her. I just don't know if the guy was able to answer the call. Hopefully, he missed the call. I don't want him to wonder if I let the girl use my phone to call him. 

Update:

As I was checking my phone registry again, I found out that there are more than 1 signs for a dialed number. I think the other one is dialed and the other is dialed and answered. The first one is just a phone and an arrow pointing outwards, the latter is a phone, an arrow pointing towards another phone. So I'm guessing the latter means the guy answered the call. Darn it. Still, the guy hasn't mentioned anything to me. I just hope that my phone has a call duration record.

Megadeth: Public Enemy Number 1

Food Trip!

So I've been to what some may call a "food trip" with a friend, although I cannot call it an authentic food trip because we just went to one restaurant at a time. I guess, you could count two if you count the establishments we've tried for snacks/desserts/afternoon refreshment. Last August, my friend and I finally visited Crystal Jade at Greenhills. We've been planning this since last year, we were able to dine at Crystal Jade in Kuala Lumpur. Upon getting the menu (sorry no picture), we started looking for the dishes we ordered in Kuala Lumpur. Most of them are not available here though and that made us a bit disappointed. We really enjoyed the food in KL. Here is a list of what we ordered:

Appetizers:

Drunken Chicken Marinated with Chinese Wine and WolfBerry
Fried Pork Dumpling

Main Dish:
Yang Chow Fried Rice
Sauteed Sliced Beef with Broccoli
Steamy Soupy Pork Dumpling "Xiao Long Pao"

Dessert:
Red Ben Paste Pancake

Can you imagine just two people eating all of these? Haha, we didn't actually ate all of it, we were able to take home some leftover. We thought that the food is good, but not great though, especially after we've been to their restaurant in KL. Even the Xiao Long Pao wasn't even that tasty and soupy. 

I found the picture from out Singapore-KL trip and the picture below shows what we ordered from their KL branch last year. 

After having lunch at Crystal Jade, we watched a movie: Cars 2. Well, that was fun.. I really enjoyed it. I really think that Owen Wilson's voice fits the character. 

After the movie, we bought some refreshments/drinks at Happy Lemon. I saw an article about this place a couple of weeks before so I asked my friend that I wanted to try this out since I really like milk teas. Due to my memory lapse, I forgot what I ordered. I just remember it's some kind of milk tea with black sago and crystals. I remember arriving in front of their store and seeing all that people in line ordering their drinks. I guess we just have to brave the storm (yes, it was raining that time also although there was a roof above our heads, but still, the expression fits since the rain is sort of stormy), line up and decide which we would order. I think my friend ordered something with Yakult on it. I never ever liked Yakult, even when I was a kid and all my brothers were drinking it like water, so I never even considered getting a drink with Yakult on it. 


A couple of weeks after that, we had some free weekend again and since I was craving for some Japanese food (I can't get enough of shrimp tempura), my friend suggested this Japanese restaurant that has been around for ages, New Kamameshi House. This is my first time to dine in this restaurant and these are what we ordered:
 
Kamameshi House Menu 

Ebi Tempura (Php365)

Gomoku Kamameshi (Mixed rice) 173.60
Tori Momo Teriyaki (Boneless chicken legs teriyaki) 224.00

I really loved the rice because it's so moist and sticky. There were also a lot of toppings which made the rice very tasty. I guess I couldn't comment on anything more about the tempura and Chicken Teriyaki, these are always the specialty dishes in Japanese restaurants. 

We went to the mall after lunch and had dessert and coffee. This time we tried Parvati at Trinoma. I had Dark Chocolate Cake and my friend had an Apple Pie. There were so much to choose from that I had a hard time figuring out what to order. I was pretty happy about the coffee being free when you dine in their establishment. I opted for the dark chocolate cake because I saw in the menu that it's one of the bestsellers, besides I love dark chocolate! 

The Book Series

Drawing a blank right now. The weird thing about it is that I've been wanting to write for the past couple of days, maybe even weeks. It's like I've been wanting to read a book/s but I'm just too lazy to get a book and start reading it. Does it even make sense? I don't know why I'm feeling like this.

So I'm going to try this, maybe it will turn out good.

I'd like to think that I've been appreciating the "arts" for the last couple of months. By arts, I mean music and movies mostly haha. Let's see... I've been to a couple of concerts, aside from the usual small gigs. I watched Cirque du Soleil, my first time to watch one of their shows and I had a great time. I think I've gone to the theater to watch enough movies, at least the more popular/anticipated ones.

I started to read A Game of Thrones a few weeks ago, but I just haven't found the time or energy to finish it yet considering I enjoyed reading the first half of the book. I also enjoyed watching the HBO series also. Is it because I'm reading the e-book/PDF? It's more difficult reading while sitting in front of the computer. I'd rather sit on my bed, holding the book, with my legs stretched and relaxed. I also like the classic feel of turning the page of a book and maybe even the smell of paper. Although the whole "save mother earth" and "save the trees" slogans might move me. I still got a couple of books (real books) at home which I haven't read yet. Brisingr, His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), The Dark is Rising series (5 books), The Chronicles of Narnia (The Silver Chair, The Last Battle), Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers' Soul, Chicken Soup for the Dog and Cat Lovers' Soul, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers' Soul. There might be a few more books in my shelf that I haven't even opened yet but these are the ones I remembered at the top of my head. Come to think of it, I bought these books mostly because of the movies made. There was Eragon, the first book in the Inheritance series (Brisingr). The Golden Compass, Narnia and The Dark is Rising were all made as movies. They are making a movie for The Hunger Games, etc.

I never let go of the kid in me. When I found out that Cirque du Soleil would have a show in our area, I decided to go ahead and buy a ticket. It took me about two weeks to decide because I had a lot of things to consider. Or let's just say I had a lot of concerts to consider. We'll go into that later. So anyway, I went to the show, sadly by myself, and had a great time. If I enjoyed it and was amazed by the exhibitions/stunts/acts or whatever is the right term to describe what they do, I wonder what the kids have felt when they were watching it. There were lots of shocked "oohs" and "ahs" from the crowd, and mostly from adults. (I watched on a Thursday night, 7:30-10 PM show) The lights, music, costumes were so vibrant and lively. I don't think I'm that good of a writer to give justice to what I've watched. 

      

Coming to Terms with the Mike Richards Trade

I can't believe I had this reaction when I found out about this bit of news. And yes, it still baffles me up to now. I'm not a Flyers fan!!! When I woke up that June 23rd morning, I immediately logged on to my twitter account knowing that there might be some trade news. And boy was I shocked to see a hockey player (not from Philly) saying he was kinda surprised with the Richards and Carter trades. Well, Richards is a common name and there's more than 1 Richards in the NHL. But when you put Richards and Carter in the same sentence, you'll know that it's definitely a Flyers news. I had to scroll some more and look for more informative posts. I think I kinda found a link and there I found out about Philly trading Mike Richards to LA Kings. I'm not gonna elaborate on that because I know every hockey fan have heard about it by now.

The first thought that came to mind was... I'm not surprised about Carter because I've heard rumors about him about getting traded a couple of months ago. Although I must admit I haven't really found out which teams were interested in him. Carter is a rare commodity in the NHL, so I guess there's more than 1 team interested. However, I never heard any rumors about the Flyers' captain Mike Richards. I'm thinking, am I the only one shocked here? I've always thought of Mike Richards as the face of the Flyers. Yeah, others think it is Jeff Carter. So anyway, it doesn't really matter now, does it? So again, I'm thinking... why? Maybe it's a salary dump. Maybe it's because they got eliminated by Boston in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and mind you, it's a sweep. I don't think anyone predicted that. Maybe the management doesn't think that Mike Richards could lead the Flyers to the Cup. Never ever? In the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, I've always thought that LA and Philadelphia would go far in the playoffs. (Don't mind my bad predictions, I'm not good at it) Again, look at how the Flyers played against the Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. And of course, we all remember that win against Boston from a 3-0 deficit in the second round of the playoffs in that same year. I think Mike Richards has done a lot for the Flyers even if he may not be the highest scorer in the team. I also admired his performance in the 2010 Winter Olympics. The list goes on and on. So maybe he didn't have a very good performance last season. It came out that he was playing hurt the whole season and even got a surgery (hand) right after their exit from the playoffs. Is that an excuse, maybe, maybe not.

Like I said I thought that trading Carter and Richards are salary dumps. But after hearing that the Flyers were bidding for Brad Richards, that made me think. He's gonna cost at least the same as Mike, right? Probably even more. A few days after the trade, I listened to an interview ( a radio station in LA, sorry I don't have the link anymore ) and was very impressed with the interview. Mike Richards was very honest, saying he was extremely shocked to hear the news because he never really thought something like that would happen. Like what I was thinking before, there were no rumors about him getting traded. I think he even thought that Carter wouldn't be traded, saying management said that wouldn't happen. It seems like he's really disappointed and saying that he thought he would end his career as a Flyer. A reason he signed that long-term contract for less money. Yeah, way to go Mike! He also said that he was excited to go to LA because it is a good team...

I'm just rambling on and on, and I don't know if someone has an inside info on why this happened. Even if Ryan Miller referred to the Flyers (and I think he was specifically referring to Mike Richards) doing mass murder, I really like Mike Richards. I even have a Mike Richards Flyers shirt... so... Can we expect him to have an explosive season with the Kings next season? 

Movie Madness

Watching Tranformers: Dark of the Moon yesterday made me think about the movies I've watched for the past couple of weeks. Summer in the US brings us tons of movies which are predicted to be blockbusters.. Between the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, Tennis French Open, and Tennis Wimbledon, I've managed to sneak in some time to go to the movies. So far I've seen the following since April (of this year of course).

Thor

Fast Five

Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides

Kung Fu Panda 2

X-Men: First Class

Super 8

Green Lantern

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

I still can't decide if I like the newest Transformers movie yet. Yes, the effects (watched it on 3D IMax) were great. I just think that the previous one has a better storyline. And again, what's with the leading lady's pouting lips? I was thrilled when I learned that Megan Fox wasn't going to be in this movie because all she does is... well, pout those lips and wear those short, skimpy clothes. Could they just give the leading lady a better personality and not just good looks? What's with the white outfit again? At least there were a few smudges of dirt on it at the end of the movie (after rolling on the floor with all those debris and rubble)!  And those killer heels! Yes, I'm a girl and I wish I could at least just walk with those high, high heels. So imagine me noticing her running with those shoes with all that rubble again! The movie was action packed and the of course, who saves the day like Optimus Prime. Anyway, so far I've read mixed reactions from people who have already seen this movie. 


I think I liked Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides than At World's End. I just didn't like the ending of At World's End. But I've heard that most guys didn't like On Stranger Tides, mainly  because of the mermaids. Haha. They said it was like Little Mermaids gone wild and that one exception and of course it ended with a love story. 


I think the one I didn't like the most was Green Lantern. Not sure if the movie convinced me that Ryan Reynolds is a superhero. Maybe it's the story? I didn't even like the villain. I guess it's just a prequel for the next great villain of Green Lantern. Maybe I'm just biased, I'm not really a Green Lantern fan. (Batman is my favorite DC superhero!)


I liked Fast Five. It's not just all about the cars and races, but I guess a lot of people were looking forward to that. Personally, I think the replacement was worth it. Great story, great action, great acting. It's like Ocean's Eleven (Twelve or Thirteen) meets Fast and Furious. 


Thor? What can I say? This is the first superhero movie I've seen among these movies. I enjoyed watching this one. I remember watching the old cartoons. I don't even know that Loki was Thor's adopted brother, heck I don't know much about Loki. I also loved the fact that Natalie Portman plays the smart leading lady here, unlike all those action movies where the ladies just acting like supermodels. I also liked the humor that Chris Hemsworth brought to the character. This movie may not be Iron Man quality but I think it was worth watching and got me excited for the Avengers movie.

Chris Cornell: When I'm Down Live at Troubador

Preschool in Sweden Fights Gender Bias


This is a bit extreme for me. What do you think?

Hello World

This is my first post here and no one would probably read it anyway, so here goes…

I’m just a regular girl with a regular job who likes a variety of things. Some people may regard me as weird because I’m usually passionate about the things that I really love. I like doing a lot of things and I would have done more if I could only afford them! Sometimes I wish that we could go back to the old days when things are so much simpler. Maybe we wouldn’t want a lot of things too. By things I’m not just saying material things. With the kind of technology today, we get to see and learn more. And knowing all of these things, I guess it makes us want to buy more, do more, learn more… etc. It also means we got to spend a whole lot more. Here are the things I really like, doesn’t mean that I get to do them a lot, I just get by you know.

1. Music

2. Sports - I like watching ice hockey (NHL) and tennis

3. Pets - Dogs are my favorites, but I like cats too.

4. Travel

5. Movies, TV

6. Books

7. Going out, having fun, just seeing new things, places, tasting new food, etc.

Anyway, I’m just going to keep this short. Hope I’ll make new friends in the next couple of days.