Day 36 - On the Grass, Under the Trees, Beside the Mall

Today I tagged along with my friends D&M (and G, who is not in this photo because he was also asleep, but behind me) all the way to Tarlac for a gig. We got there really early so we could explore the area, but because this is still the Philippines, we ended up just hanging out at the mall. It is a pretty cool mall, though. Not at all concrete-y, but grassy and breezy and, because we traveled around 150km to get here, it was mostly impossible not to fall asleep once we'd found a place to sit/lie down.

Day 26 - Lemon Squares and Brewed Coffee

I remember my friend telling me years ago about this particular combination. Or did she just post about it in her blog and didn't actually tell me? Anyway, it was many, many years ago and I'd actually forgotten about it, so when I ordered this in Mary Grace and discovered how amazing it was, you could say that I kind of discovered it for myself. It was only when I got obsessed with it and started ordering it every time I was in Mary Grace that I remembered that my friend used to be obsessed with this combination, too.

Anyway, Americano coffee and lemon squares from Mary Grace Cafe. This is just the best thing to have after any meal.

Day 20 - Rigatoni al Telefono

The restaurant was out of penne so they asked me if it were okay to use rigatoni for the pasta dish I was ordering instead. I said it was fine, anyway what's important is the other ingredients they were using, right? This is my very favorite pasta in the world.

Day 14 - Pre-school Friends

Today my pre-school friends and I had lunch and an "art session" at Designer Blooms Cafe in Alabang. It was to celebrate my friend J's birthday. We ate at around 12:30 p.m. and started coloring pages of the booklets J gave us at around 1:30 p.m. We thought we were going to finish everything by 3 p.m., but lo and behold, by the time any of us thought to look at a clock it was already 5:30 p.m. And we only noticed because it was starting to get dark outside. I love how time flies when you're having fun with your friends. I also love that I've been friends with these ladies since I was 6 years old. :)

Day 8 - At Your Local

For lunch today, my former officemates and I decided to eat at Your Local, a hipster-y restaurant in Makati. I ordered their salmon dish and I must say I enjoyed it very much. :) A bit pricey, but that's Makati for you.

Afterwards, we went to Glorietta and bought ice cream from Manila Creamery, which makes artisinal gelato, which made for a very hipster day, culinarily speaking. ;) After having ice cream, I bought another dessert item--Sweet Surrender, a variant of the frozen brazo de mercedes from the outlet of The Suite Life by Ange, also in Makati. And then I got a ride from Uber to get home in time to prepare for a farewell party for one of my work acquaintances. Not a bad Saturday indeed.

Day 7 - Cousins

My cousins M and G are here from Germany, but because they're staying at my aunt's house in Quezon City and have plans to go to the beach and other places out of town, I was only able to see them today, when they stopped over this restaurant near my office on their way back to my aunt's house from Flow House Manila where they tried surfing on the wave machine. They won't leave the country until the end of the month, but since I have overtime work on Sundays and I think they'll be out of town during all the weekends they're here, I think this shall be the only time I see them during this trip of theirs to Manila. Hopefully I get to go to Germany soon and see them there. :)

Photo taken by my brother with whom they surfed at Flow House Manila and also doubled as their driver for the day. :P

Day 4 - Brunch

Today, I went with my mom to pay some taxes. And because that is an extremely boring activity, afterwards, we treated ourselves to brunch at Vanilla Cupcake Bakery. This sickly sweet girly interiored restaurant. And as my mother is my mother, here she is on a business phone call. At brunch. On a Saturday. #NoRestForTheWicked

In case you're wondering what we ate, she had the chicken tocino dish and I, the rib eye steak. Both were yummyummyummy. :) We had their chocolate cake for dessert (not in photo), and it was okay. I still prefer their cupcakes, though.

Day 363 - First Out of Town Trip of the Year

With my new friends and one old one, I went to Baguio and Sagada. This is my first out of town trip of the year, but I'm hoping there will be more. I'm hoping I can budget enough money for more. But let's not talk about that yet. Instead, let's talk about how this was such a fun dinner. We ordered the "Inihaw Platter" and it only cost us about P150 each. That includes the yummy garlic rice. This was our first dinner during this 4-day 3-night trip, and I have to say, it was a really good start. :)

Day 349 - Teriyaki Boy Again

I don't think we meant for it to happen. We certainly never established that Teriyaki Boy is our favorite restaurant, because it really isn't. But for some reason, it's the restaurant that we've eaten at the most. And at its different branches, too. Is it because we're both picky with food (and by we, I really mean just me) and Teriyaki Boy is one of those rare things that we agree on? (And it seems to have a branch everywhere we go.) Although, I did end up eating 3/4 of this Sesame Maguro order by myself. E ate most of the chicken teriyaki instead.

P.S. Fifth movie (since getting back from NZ) today! Too bad The Three Musketeers kinda sucked. I think it's because I still keep thinking that Orlando Bloom should be the hero. :P

Day 348 - Parking Festival

So today I went to a pre-employment physical examination. Yup, you read that right. And yes, it means what you probably think it means.

Anyway, this is the parking lot at the back of Festival Mall. It's the view from Fukuya, my now 2nd favorite Japanese restaurant in the Philippines (only because I haven't really explored Little Tokyo all that much). The first one being Tempura, though that one's really mainstream.

Day 345 - After Dinner Alcohol

3rd consecutive day to go out since I got back! Hindi naman halata na na-miss ko ang friends ko? :P Although this time, we also met up because the girl on the left of this photo D, was in Singapore for the last year and a half and she wanted to see us all again now that she's back in the Philippines. And because these are my friends from high school, our meetup was @ Alabang. Hooray for geographically convenient friends! :D It's why we didn't mind drinking alcohol on this occasion -- our houses are so near this place!

Day 322 - PRAWNS

As the cliche goes, a visit to Taupo wouldn't be complete without passing by the Huka Prawn Farm Restaurant. Unless you're allergic to prawns, like my poor brother. But he didn't go with us on this trip anyway so we were free to order as much prawns as we liked, which is a whole lot. Yumyumyum!

Day 308 - Breakfast at Benedict's

Benedict's is a restaurant/post office near my sister's house. Today we had breakfast there and I ordered these banana pancakes. Yummy yummy yummy. :)

Day 275 - Pancakes and Mushrooms

Breakfast with my favorite sister! :D

Afterwards, we went shopping, did the groceries and even went to the gym together. Hehe! Happy bonding time! It's because I have to catch up on the last 5 years apart within the next 5 months! LOL.

Day 271 - Mini-Reunion

Oh how busy our lives have become. We can't even get complete attendance, let alone go on a summer outing. :( Actually, we have Christmas parties in March and birthday celebrations 3 months after ones birthday, too. I don't know why everyone else in our lives is more prioritized, but maybe it's because we know that we'll always be there for each other no matter what? I'm being too sentimental.

This is me and 2 of my college friends, X and G. The cute little boy is X's son (my godson!) A. He's turning 5 this August.

Anyway, we all ate lunch @ Tempura in ATC today (one of my favorite restuarants, despite their betrayal) and had some Serenitea. Happy day with my happy friends. I wish we lived closer to each other (X lives in Laguna, G in Makati, and our other friends who aren't in this photo--M, G2 and R live in Makati, Manila, and Singapore (!)) and had more free time.

Day 260 - Hot Chocolate is Better than Coffee

My sister Z is happy with her decision to order hot chocolate. Her fiance E... not so much with his decision to order coffee. Obviously. :P

First in their itinerary in the Philippines is to go shopping. But not before having a hearty breakfast, so we ate at BFast in Ayala Triangle. We walked to Glorietta, Greenbelt and Landmark afterwards.

Breakfast was good, and not as expensive as I thought it was going to be. The hot chocolate was delicious, but too much for me. I didn't finish drinking mine. :(

Day 258 - Happy Birthday Again!

My mom and brother's birthdays are only a day apart, so as soon as we got back from Coron, Palawan, we waited for my brother and his girlfriend M at the airport (who would arrive only an hour after we did, but from Boracay) and went straight to Friday's restaurant at Bonifacio High Street for my brother's birthday dinner.

This is him with his free cupcake ala mode. The Friday's staff didn't sing Happy Birthday anymore because we asked them not to. :P

Day 240 - Treasure Check

At Pamana Restaurant where we had lunch today, they put the checks in a small wooden treasure chest. Isn't that cute? :)

Day 239 - Breakfast at Tagaytay

Mmm... Coffee....

My mom is attending a conference in Tagaytay this weekend, and my dad and I saw that as an excuse to have breakfast at Bag of Beans, a coffee shop/restaurant in Tagaytay that I've always wanted to try but never had the chance.

This is a picture of my cup of their house brewed coffee, which is very delicious indeed, but a bit too strong for my taste. I had to ask for extra milk :P

Still, nothing beats delicious breakfast with delicious coffee in a place with good ambiance and nice cool weather. I think Tagaytay is actually my favorite out of town place that's near the city. I only kind of forgot about it recently because it became too popular and you know me, I hate it when things I like become popular. Hehe.

Day 228 - Papa and Pizza

My mom asked me and my dad to go to the bank today to take care of some financial matters. Pretty boring, until I realized that the bank was a very short distance away from Yellow Cab Pizza. And I convinced my dad to buy pizza for lunch! :D This is him while we were waiting for our pizza to arrive.

P.S. I realized today that it's pretty good to take pictures inside Yellow Cab Pizza. The lighting is bright (and therefore just right), plus they have those awesome background stuff on the walls.