Post Manuscript Submission Weekend

Last Friday I submitted my thesis manuscript. *wohoooooooooo* Had dinner with friends at Flaming Wings and then went to the fair, and waited patiently for Jeff to usher us in. Haha cheap. But it was paid off with a Sugarfree performance, so it's fine.

Saturday was kinda mum. I didn't get to see Ate Ekkay's defense, but I still went to UP to get my things. I wanted a froyo treat but I felt soooo tired when I was on my way home, good thing a new DQ stall has opened near the entrance of SM North so I grabbed a goodie there.

Today,  my family and I went to Greenhills. Bea bought a Blackberry, and we sifted through the stalls a bit. We were supposed to grab lunch at Thai Dara but a couple of things didn't go as initially expected so we just had our meal at the shopping complex. Nonetheless we had our 'food trip fix' during dinner at Ye Dang. It's a Korean restaurant at Ortigas, and it's really good. :)

I used my phone's camera and I was playing with different effects in Vignette, so disregard the play of colors, contrast and so on in shots. 

Inaaaaaa

Grilling!

I'm sorry but I really forgot to take note of the names of the dishes we had, so I'll just describe them. To start, they serve several side dishes that also kinda serve as appetizers while your meals are prepared. I particularly liked the tofu sort of kimchi side, it was spicy but not too hot and the tofu was silky but well done. We had pork and beef strips as well as beef spareribs for grilling, which was done by a gracious staff. Then we also had a bibimbap rice mix, I think, and a glass noodle dish that was simply divine.  While I may not have memorized the dishes' names, it's fair to say we had a really good dinner and that's not even factoring in their excellent service. Thumbs up talaga.

Tofu + Lovely kind of spicy = <3

Glass noodle dish. Suuper sarap.

Controversial plain rice. It's good!

Pineapple, on the house. 

After dinner we headed to a Korean grocery shop a couple of doors down from the restaurant for some ice cream. Of course we just deduced the exact flavors of our choices, because most of the terms were in Korean. I thought my pick was a pistachio and berry kind of mix but the green part was actually mochi and the ice cream part I never got to fully understand the flavor, but it tasted okay and had walnuts. 

We want ice cream!

Mmm.

Nori

Darkness tubes shining lipgloss

Mochi covered ice cream :)

I still feel full actually.

So how was your weekend?

*

Ye Dang

My rating: 4.5/5 

Happy New Year!

Or as my Italian teacher would say, Buon Anno!

I am very thankful for my 2010. Family and friends made my days terrific, hilarious or just even bearable. I got to go to Singapore, and revel in their disciplined ways. I got to spend a loooong and super weekend with my bestest friends in Cebu. I got to sortof publish, and my adviser even upset me, last SPP. I got to try and go tugsh tugsh, though I wasn't present when Jane and Che got mega drunk and Tino and Andy really dared. Mwahaha. Lots to be really thankful for. :)

So cheers to 2011, and also to our extravagant neighbors who had tons of aerial fireworks therefore providing us with an awesome fireworks display on the 1st. :)

Tomorrow, it's back to school for me and I can't just *forget* the work ahead of me. I have to graduate!

Every year, we celebrate Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family and then Christmas Day with my dad's side (plus hunting godparents.) It's a pretty solid tradition, and after twenty years a change wasn't something I expected.

Lola, my dad's mom, had her pacemaker batteries changed the other day and she's still at the Philippine Heart Center. She will be okay to move out of the hospital by tomorrow, but she'll be staying at my Tia's for the time being. It's perfectly understandable, but thinking about it saddens me. I am very close to my grandparents and Christmas without them is incomplete, it's just wrong.

Well, the show must go on. Or something to that effect.

*sigh*


UPDATE! We're going to Metro Manila tomorrow, so Christmas will be spent with lolo and lola after all! :)

I have the best grandparents in the world. I know, everyone would like to think so, but I really do mean it.

I love you Lola, Lolo, Mama and Papa (wherever you are)! Thank you for knowing exactly how I feel, preparing what I love to eat and being always right behind me. I know I'll fall short in making up to you, but I'll try. :)

Malamig na ang simoy ng hangin.

Today I realized Christmas indeed is just around the corner. We went shopping at SM Department Store earlier, and the whole mall echoed Christmas songs. As in. Plus we stayed near the trees and decor at Home World while waiting for Lola and Mamie so the image of Christmas is quite vivid now. 

I love Christmas, and I don't think we Filipinos celebrate it like anyone else. For one, we have Christmas for around four months and I don't know any other country who has Christmas that long. Tia tells me our tree this year will be something like Paskong Pinoy. I want to hoist up the tree this instant. Mwahaha. But I can't do that so I'll just hunt for some new Christmas albums. :D

Singapura!

Last weekend, my cousin Bea, my mom, my lola, my aunt Janet and I went to Singapore. We stayed at Tita Meldy's for four days. It was my first trip out of the country. Singapore has been one of the places I have wanted to see for so long, so I was really ecstatic for this trip ever since we booked our tickets!

National Geographic Singapore! Tito Osman treating us to a Singaporean dinner.

Tita Janet, Mama, Mi, Tricia, Bea @ Telok Blangah bus stop

Awesome cars are everywhere!

My mom and I.

Chinatown

Bea.

My mom fancying this Audi.

At the Singapore National Museum

Twas raining :(

Songs of the Sea!

I truly believe Bea takes the best vanity pictures.

Rain, rain go away.

Flowers at Changi Terminal 3

Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City Mall

The Singapore Flyer was closed because of a mechanical glitch.

No sitting please?

From Paragon basement. Super high exchange rate!

Pinoy siguro mayari ng franchise na ito.

 

Ride back to the airport.

There were so many lows as much as highs in this trip. But it was absolutely unforgettable. :)

Bond

My Lolo and I bond over sports.

Andre Agassi 

I got into tennis (well, watching tennis) because of my Lolo. For all I can remember it's a news channel or a sports channel whenever he's in control of the remote, but I know he watches tennis most eagerly. Now, I'm like his RSS feed on what's on, when Federer's match is or who beat Kim Clijsters.

Since then, I was more inclined to watch sporting events. It's a very good exercise of patience, camaraderie and team work among players. I admire the magic it has over people, uniting citizens and how it promotes nationality among divided men. We don't have football culture here in the country but I think their football craze is the same hysteria we have when there's a Pacquiao match. 

Regardless if you're a sports fan or not, I think thanks are in order to the ingenious minds who came up with these events. It's capitalist, a bit bohemian, and all the while fun. Hehe

--

Photo from Wiki Commons

Baguio Weekend

My family went to Baguio for the weekend. I have always liked going to Baguio. I used to spend summers there while Tia was still stationed in Baguio, good times. This weekend, we stayed at Tita Nadine's transient space for a night. The house was spooky, but we had a great time scaring Miguel. 

Saturday afternoon, my siblings and I wasted time at Burnham Park. They went biking while I read. I feel quite happy that over the weekend, I finally got to finish a novel! Scrap one off my tally of unread books. Mwahaha. For those wondering, I read Jane Eyre. I found it a very good read, maybe because I can identify with her principles, kinda.  I got the title when I saw Definitely, Maybe.

Bea met with her HS friends from Berkeley and Achievers, my mom went shopping at the flea market and ukay-ukay, my grandparents and my dad went to Good Shepherd for goodies. We had different plans, so we just agreed to meet at SM Baguio. After dinner at home, we went to Session Road for some nighttime ukay-ukay. I have frequented Baguio, but this is the first time I went to the nighttime ukay-ukay. The goods were laid out on the streets, where numerous street food were also present. My only purchase was a small bag, 'cause it was hard to see which ones were good with the little light that was available. And besides, I'm kuripot. Haha

Before we went home, we stopped by Camp John Hay. Unfortunately, the humungous chocolate crinkles at Everything Nice was not available in the branch at CJH. Boo. Good thing we already have alfajor and ube jam from Good Shepherd, that's quite enough Baguio goodies for me. 

Leaving Baguio, I realized how it has degraded. When I reached SM, all the negative little things I saw while driving around just overflowed.  I used to picture Baguio as a very cool, green and rural-ish retreat. I loved that it had parks, had so many family activities, and that it had a very cozy charm. The Baguio I saw this weekend was dirty, very commercialized and populated. I hate to say this but I think it has lost its spell on me.

I hope after this coming elections, those who will be fortunate enough to win will at least try to get Baguio cleaned up and jazzed up again. I hate having no favorite Philippine city. 

Ina's Grad Lunch

Last Saturday, my cousin Ina graduated from grade school. I can hardly believe it, but hey, congrats little cousin! I wasn't able to attend the ceremony, though. Living up to my crappy exam sched was my AP185 Finals, 7am that same day. After the exam, I went home to take a nap and then went to Ina's grad lunch at Kimpura Trinoma.

Now, I am a follower of Japanese cuisine. I like the fact that they're fresh and very creative, and I love seafood. I don't have a favorite Japanese resto, but I do like dining at Omakase and Teriyaki Boy. Tofu steak is the bee's knees! This was my first time to eat at Kimpura, and I had pretty high expectations.

Hah. Kala mo makakaligtas ka sa picture Miguel!

We had a set lunch. Sushi and sashimi platters plus miso soup for starters. Main courses included fish tempura, blue marlin teppanyaki, some other seafood dish and this beef stuffed with garlic thingy. While their sushi platter was definitely noteworthy, overall, they have good offerings but not really the best I've had. However, there is no doubt that the best part was being served and cooked for by the good people at Kimpura.

My plate~ tempura, soup, sauces and Jap fried rice in picture.

Here is Manong, making our Japanese friend rice. He made Japanese fried rice and all main dishes, except for tempura, in front of us. Cooking Master Boy ba!

The experience definitely made the difference. My rating: 3.5/5.

More interestingly, can you discern what's on Manong's wrist? :D