"Not So Home Alone" Christmas Posted on Wednesday, December 25, 2013 | 0 comments

Last night, I decided to stay home alone instead of going to with my relatives house to celebrate Christmas.  I felt tired from being with so many people for the past days and thought that the best way to relax this holiday season is by staying inside the house.  No traffic and no people - strange ones especially!

It was a sort of experiment I brought to myself if I can survive Christmas on my own. And yes,  I survived it with the help of our neighbor whose name I still can't recall.  I just call her "Ate."   The experiment was a failure because I knew myself as a social being and I love human interaction.   So choosing to be alone sounded very pathetic.  After such a late realization, I went to this "Ate's" house and drank two bottles of beer at her place.  She offered me some "humba" which is pork fat swimming in a sea of soy sauce with oil and some fruit salad too.  I politely declined because I planned of coming back the next day.  I'm not and you too are not allowed to have a full meal before going to bed unless you want to die a peaceful death because of acute pancreatitis.  This has got to be proven yet but it seems so real I don't want to not follow it.  

I felt like I was such a free loader because after finishing my beer, I said my goodbyes and went straight to my room to sleep.  Thank you "Ate" for adopting me last night, you don't know how much it meant to me.  

On the other hand, three people I know lost their loved ones.  Its so difficult.  I can't imagine it happening to me.  This brings me to another level of paranoia and  I wanted to pray for their strength.  I wish them comfort and peace in their hearts.  Such sad memories for their holiday.  Please send my friends your prayers too.  I'd appreciate it a lot.  

On a lighter note, I am excited for this weekend because I am going home.  I'll finally see my family for almost a year of just being a figment of their imagination.  

I will be blogging about it and hopefully I won't be too busy to forget.  

Merry Christmas to everyone and since I am trying to learn German with the help of Duolingo let me say "Fröhe Weinachten!"

PS: Had to get a screenshot of the photo I posted on Instagram because I accidentally deleted the selfies from last night.  xOxO

Larry's Bar + Cafe Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2013 | 0 comments

My friend, Honey and I woke up on the right side of the bed.  Because unlike all our other lazy Sundays, we've decided to get out of the house for breakfast.  Usually, we just order Crispy Chicken Fillet for her while my add-on is a large order of fries.  For the rest of the day we just roll on the bed laughing.  

She suggested Apartment 1b as she imagined crispy bacon strips on her plate while my imagination was a blank slate.  I cannot think of anything but McDonald's!  I was loathing the idea of an expensive breakfast. But I said yes anyway.  

While dressing up, our other friend Jake was having breakfast at Larry's Bar and Cafe and I realized that I enjoyed their mackerel the last time I was there.  So without batting an eyelash, we took the cab and went to Bonifacio Global City to break the fast! 

The interior design looks very classy and we all liked it.  I smelled "danggit" but I couldn't brat about it because my sane self understood that restaurants should smell like food.  

It started to become so cold inside so we transfered outside and below is our picture with the logo of the resto. 

I couldn't wait to eat so as soon as the food arrived I hurriedly grabbed my spoon and fork as I was very famished.

A closer look of my food sans the filter.  I ordered Tocino with Garlic Rice and Scrambled Egg (Php 150). The presentation was normal but I couldn't care less.  It tasted good! Jake actually discouraged me to order this because it was too sweet for him but I like everything sweet so it does not matter then.  Cem, our server, was so kind to give me some vinegar probably to neutralize the sweetness.  

Honey on the other hand was more famished than me so she forgot to take a photo of her food.  She ordered bacon as planned and she said that it was good too.

Just a tip, if you want to order some toasted bread as in those with brownish sides please request for one.  They don't mind.  That will cost you another Php 40 for two slices of bread with two cute little boxes of Anchor butter.  

Then we went around Forever 21 and Uniqlo at SM Aura for some Christmas shopping.  Had coffee at Starbucks and walked to Jake's place to print some of my immigration documents.  

Below is my OOTD!  Wore Raybans, Old Navy, Penshoppe, and Surfer Island. 

That looked like a Sunday well spent! 

Au revoir! 

You can find Larry's Bar and Cafe in this address: 

G/F Serendra, 26th StFort Bonifacio, Taguig
For reservations: 
Call (02) 856-0527

Mama Lou's Italian Kitchen in Nuvali Posted on Sunday, December 8, 2013 | 0 comments

Yesterday, my friends decided to go to Nuvali instead of going to Tagaytay because we kind of anticipated the unfathomable traffic that we might have to brave on our way there. 

I gave these two ladies some cakes from Mary Grace since Honey just celebrated her birthday days ago and Kaye just bought a new car. The night before, Kaye was craving for something sweet too.  Thought that they might like something from Mary Grace MakatiMed Branch because I too am a fan of their Tiramisu cake.  The kind of sweetness is just right and won't let your blood sugar levels shoot up to the maximum. 

 

I like this picture so much because it shows off my new Herschel-inspired bag but I look so big in this photo beside my friend Larry. 

We had a short stopover at KFC Shell Station along SLEX because we waited for our friend Jake. We had a difficult time looking for a parking space in Glorietta so we left him in Manila thinking that he might still be going around Market Market. 

Traffic was moderate when we were almost in Nuvali but it went unnoticed since all we did was laugh inside the car as we made fun of each other.  

We went around Solenade Two to look for a place to have dinner and found Mama Lou's.  With the intention of having a nice background on our photos and not to mention selfies, we went inside Mama Lou's Italian Kitchen.  I wanted a full meal with rice but ended up ordering Spaghetti Seafood Olio (Php 315) thinking that the presentation on the menu photo will be same.  I was quite disappointed with the presentation because it looked very normal. 

Presentation is very important to me as a blogger because I love sharing it on Instagram, Facebook and of course here.  But I gave it another chance to redeem itself as food should taste good too.  They say never judge a book by its cover.  

When I started eating, I couldn't stop until my plate was clean and finished all the seafood in it without any regrets. It was good. 

Went plate hopping and tasted the Salpicao (Php 295) that Honey and Jake ordered.  It was not as good as the one in Tapella because the meat was difficult to chew but they consumed the whole serving though.

Kaye and Larry shared Mama Lou's Special Pizza (Php 350) which has tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto, mango, arugula, and balsamic cream.  It was good for 3 people and quite a steal for its price. 

It has a good register on the camera too. Very yummy looking and lived up to my expectation.  I highly recommend this if you eat at this restaurant.  

Before going home we went to some outlet stores like ALDO and we all went crazy but decided not shop because of the Christmas bonus uncertainty. 

Larry bought a pair of black shoes for work that costs Php 1500 which formerly sold for Php 5000.  Good deal, indeed! 

We drove back to Manila and had a short stopover at Starbucks to keep us awake.  A good dose of caffeine is necessary for late night drives, not that I drive but I want to keep my driver awake anyway so I had to have the energy too.  

We wanted to comeback this coming weekend for another roadtrip and probably do some more shopping.  In this group, things can be a little random and you have to expect the unexpected.  

At the end of the day, I just  had to thank God for another smooth sailing workweek and for giving me the chance to enjoy life at its fullest! 

Bisoux... Til our next adventure!