The Story of my Life

1. Choose the items in your shabu-shabu platter - beef, chicken or seafood. Vegetable is a staple for every platter you order. The vegetable platter contains fresh homemade noodles, the fat and thin of noodles, vermicelli and egg noodle, Taiwan and Baguio petchay, beancurd, yam, black mushrooms and carrots.

Husbo and I were with our YDWTL family at Subic two weeks ago. It was the first time in such a long time that we were able to join them. I'm glad we got to relax more because I know husbo needed a break from his stressful project.

While in Subic, our friends were talking about how heavenly this cookie sandwich is, and because I was a big fan of Oreo cookies, I had to grab one for myself from Duty Free. I love Oreo because even though its chocolate, it has the bitter taste of dark chocolate which makes it less sweeter than other chocolate cookies.

This, on the other hand, is just way too sweet for me. I think what makes the original Oreo flavor a hit is that the cookie balances the sweetness of the filling, a perfect match to your glass of milk. For the Golden Oreo, it's vanilla filling on cream cookie and that makes it hell sweet. But to offset that sweetness, perhaps pairing it up with a cup of coffee will do the trick? You should try it.

Husbo and I are not big at spending Valentine's day but we still make it a point to celebrate it in our own little way. Yesterday, after mass, we headed to Vivere Suites, Alabang, to have some sort of pre-valentine's date. It is, by far, the most we've done for Valentine's.


The view from the Sky Lounge is breathtaking, and that's only at lunch time. Just imagine how spectacular the view from there would be at night time...with all the city lights. Nice, romantic and chilly! hehehe I have to warn you, though, that the food is not as great as the view. There's nothing extraordinary about it, but I can't complain cause the prices are on the average.


Next time we're in Alabang, I'd suggest Bellevue to the husbo. A friend told me their food is tastier than Vivere.


For now, I'll leave you with the Grape slush I had with my meal. Hope it gives you that cool feeling in this hot v-day afternoon.

I've imposed diet on myself since my last check up with the OB. I gained freaking 7lbs over the holidays, would you believe?!?!?!?! So now, I'm sticking to a more healthy diet. Some sweets on the side when I can't help it. hehehe. But when I can, I choose healthy food.

This morning, I was in a good mood to be healty so I had these for breakfast. Muesli with fresh fruits, non-fat milk and wheat bread with jam. I'm thankful that the office cafeteria offers a wide variety of food so there's no excuse to binge on the "evil" food.

...trying hard, that is. hehehe

As earlier planned, I attended the Thai Cooking Class last week at Valle Verde. It was a very informal cooking class. Not like the ones where you'll cook the dish on your own. But for the price of P1,100, I'd say it was worth it.

The class was participated by househelp and housewives. Connie Reyes was even there! My friend, Roselle, tagged along so at least I had a companion the whole day.

We cooked the following Sticky Rice with Mango, Tom Yam, Steamed Fish with Lime Juice, Pad Thai and Bagoong Rice with Sweet Pork. Out of the dishes I cooked, I was only able to take a photo of this:

And that's because I ran out of battery...again. Please remind me to buy an extra battery next time!

One of the things the Chef stressed during the class was that to get authentic Thai taste, one must use authentic Thai ingredients. She said some of those ingredients are locally available, others are not so she gets it straight from Thailand. Good thing they were selling those ingredients.

I got what I could buy from her, and bought the rest from the Supermarket.

L-R: Kaffir Lime Leaves, Thai Patis, Shrimp Paste, Galangal (Thai Ginger) and Tamarind Paste. Not in picture are Green Curry Paste and Chili Paste.

And then, last Sunday, I cooked Pad Thai so the husbo can taste it. Here's the output:

Not very happy with the result because I put in too much oil and the tofu was a bit overdone. Perhaps in my next try, I can perfect it.

I rediscovered the goodness of Pomelo and other citrus fruits since I've gotten pregnant. And to this day, I make it a point to get a daily dose of either mandarin or pomelo, thereby making pomelo and mandarin a staple in our household.

It was love at first taste. I'm not a big fan of cheescakes but this cheesecake blew me away the first time I tried it. Unlike other cheesecakes, that's all sweet and velvety, this cheesecake has the balance of both sweet and salty taste, plus crumbly texture! It's soooooooooooo yummy.



Try it for yourself. Order from The Cru Kitchen.

After our lunch buffet with Husbo's family, Husbo and I headed to Max's Tiendesitas to meet up with his high school friends for that much awaited chicken-all-you-can fest. Max's Restaurant, in celebration of their 65th year anniversary, launched Chicken-All-You-Can promo. The deal is you pay P165 per person if you want to avail of the promo (rice not included). You get ¼ chicken for every order. And they will refill your plate as you wish.

I was still full from lunch so I didn't find the chicken appetizing, that considering I am a chicken-lover. Plus, I'm not a fan of Max's chicken--I find their chicken bland and dry. But I availed of the promo, nonetheless, primarily because if I ordered something else it would probably cost us more.

Their chicken was surprisingly good – flavorful, crispy and freshly cooked. I liked the first serving so I had two plus 1 cup of rice and Kare-kare on the side. If my stomach was empty, my chicken count would probably be close to or more than the boys' count. They had an average of 6 servings or 1 ½ chicken. If only I was that hungry.

Not to worry, I'm already planning our next visit and I promise to come prepared.

My last trip was a blast! It was so much fun we hardly recognized the time. In fact, we felt we should have stayed longer to enjoy the site and the food. I've been to Cagayan de Oro several years back. But it was a business trip so I didn't have time to go around the city. I was not, in anyway, impressed with CDO so I never planned to go back. But when my friend told me her thrilling experience white water rafting, I had a change of heart. That's one of my motivation, second to Camiguin of course.

White water (actually, I don't know why they call it as such when the water is brown...yuck corny!) rafting takes about 2hours as you have to tackle 14 rapids. We were charged for Php700, inclusive of a sumptuous lunch and transportation to and from the river.

If you're not the adventurous type, fear not because the Guides are well trained. During our batch, there were a total of 6 rafts. In one of those, there was a 7-year-old or less, and she enjoyed every bit of it. No tinge of fear on her face. Several weeks before us, they had a 10-month-old on board. If a child made it, what more for an adult like me? You just have to listen to your guide, do as you are told and you'll finish it with flying colors. If ever you get so unlucky and you're thrown out of the raft, your life vest will keep you floating. Promise, it's a piece of cake.

One thing that made it memorable for all of us was when our raft went under a rock formation. We were asked to back paddle, to back paddle is to put on brake, as we were moving too fast and was about to hit under that rock. But since we were enjoying the ride and we were too thrilled, the next thing we know Ritchie was doing ala matrix-bending backwards almost breaking his back bone. Wilson got scratches on his left hand. From then on, Ritchie started counting so we would all paddle.

After the white water rafting, which ended around 2pm, we went straight to Balingoan pier to catch the ferry to Benoni, Camiguin. Land travel to the pier took about an hour, but that's because we rented a van, it might take longer if you take the bus. The ferry ride took another hour, and from Benoni it took us an hour and a half to get to the resort, that's inclusive of all the stops we did to get food and drinks. By the time we reached the Paras Resort, we were all starving and exhausted. After dinner, it was good night to all.

Day 2 - Camiguin Island Tour

The next day was rainy, and my cold was getting worse, yes I was ill again. The night before our trip, I had fever but since I waited for this for so long, I can't just back out because of this pesky illness.

The hotel has a ready map for tourists who want to tour the island so after breakfast the following day we were off on our road trip. There were 9 destinations in the itinerary, most of which were hot/cold spring. The part I liked the most was the waterfall. We didn't get to swim though because the water was murky, because of the rain, and the fall was gushing. So we contented ourselves by taking pictures with the waterfall.

Lunch was super. We ate at Kinamot, a local version of Kamayan Restaurant. I love their Calamares and Halaan soup, and their sweet pineapple. One thing I love about these two provinces is their sweet pineapple, I don't get a lot of that in Manila, especially in ADB. Our pineapples are pale yellow, genuinely sour. hehehe

If you're planning to go to Camiguin, you have to allot 3 full days to see everything, that's exclusive of travel time. We were there for two nights and two days and we didn't get to see the nicest destinations in the island. What a pity. It would have been more fun if we have set foot on White Island, Mantigue Island and Mt. Hibok-hibok. The weather didn't cooperate and there wasn't enough time so we had to delight ourselves with what we could get.

We were back at the resort in time for dinner. Our objectives were to get to White Island, buy Pastel and catch the last ferry to CDO. We were planning our itinerary for the following day when I asked one of the waitresses for travel time:

Me: Miss, alam mo gaano katagal ang biyahe from here (resort) to pier?
Waitress: Mag-vavan po kayo Ma'am?
Me: Oo.
Waitress took a deep breath then clasped both hands.
Waitress: Hindi po ma'am eh.

While I was controlling my laughter, I could see Ritchie from my peripheral doing the same. When the waitress left, we all burst out in laughter. At some point there, we all thought she knew the answer. So if I answered "no, we're taking public transport" would she have answered differently? hahaha

We downed one bottle of Absolute Mandarin that night. As usual, Ritchie was the casualty. It's not obvious with the pictures, is it?

Day 3 - Bumpy ride

It rained again the next day so we were not advised to go to White Island. How sad...As I said, abot tanaw na hindi pa rin napuntahan. Towards noon, the rain stopped but the rest of the day was gutsy. Our boat ride to Camiguin was very bumpy. The ship was swaying intensely. The ship behind us had to re-route because it couldn't stand the wind. I was getting uncomfortable, imagining the worst things that can happen to us. I couldn't sleep because I could fall off from my seat. Some passengers were beginning to become restless, standing, walking back and forth. Then we saw a rainbow. Living in the city deprives us of natural wonders such as this. It was beautiful and we were pleased with the site. Our fears vanished and the next thing we know, we were back. Haaayyy...thank God for rainbows.

Day 4 - Last hurrah

We started our last day in CDO early, early as in 5:00am as I got a text from Cebu Pacific informing us that our 1:30pm flight is cancelled. It was a for-your-information message, no explanation why they cancelled, nor an option. When we called, the option they were giving us was to take a flight the next day. Wow! What a great option. When we agreed, but on the condition that they'll pay for all the expenses we'll incur for having to stay an extra day, they booked us on the 5pm flight on the same day. Which we all thought was a good schedule because then we don't have to rush. Case closed.

When we've all finished breakfast, we went to Macahambus park for another adventure - canopy walking and zip lining. We were charged Php250 for both. With Canopy walking, you have to walk on a 154-meter-bridge that is 174 feet above the ground. This one is a no brainer. Zip lining, on the other hand, is quite scary. You have to go back to your starting point zipping. I zipped first, when the guide let me go I screamed my lungs out! It was liberating.
After all this excitement came a text from Cebu Pacific. "Good am. Please be informed that your flight today 5J386 bound for Manila will resume today, same time of departure." Don't you just love how easy they change schedules? We took the flight, nonetheless. Hehehehe

After hoarding Pastel and ham, we left CDO with a smile on our faces and an experience we won't forget. We will be back, but next time we'll do pinoy rafting.

A busy Saturday that was.

Badminton. My partner and I played three games and, even though I was warehoused, we won all of it. Woohoo!!! Thanks to my partner Joy who was excellent, as usual. Warehoused is a term in Badminton, which I heard from Mama Carms, that when translated to Filipino would mean the popular word binodega. When you are warehoused, it means that all of your opponent's shots were given to you because they consider you the weaker of the pair. Gaaazzzz...

Food-trip. Honestly, this is the part I looked forward to the most...eating at Mom and Tina's Bakery Cafe. For some reason, I'm craving for sweets these days. When I learned that diabetes was in the family, sweets suddenly lost its appeal to me. But for two weeks now, I've been having dessert every lunch and I always want something sweet with my coffee. Going back to cupcakes, the taste didn't fail me. I liked it better than Sonja's. Their's is not so sweet and far more affordable than that of Sonja's. To my delight, I brought home some so my family could taste it (I ate 2 of the 6 cupcakes I brought home).

Music Practice. YDWTL is coming up with a CD compilation of all Days music for the coming batch. But before all the singing, there was a feast of grilled meat (and Tofu). I ate, even though I wasn't hungry, because my mouth was watering with the barbeque and vinegar at sight. Anyway, we ran through each song in the Days songbook, including my favorite Lord I offer my life. There are other songs I love in the songbook, which I'd like to share with you, but I'm not really good at memorizing so I'll post that some other time. At break time, we would jam to the songs of Barry Manillow, Air Supply, and Chicago. Oh how I miss those songs.

PBB. It was the Big Night at the Big Dome. Flow, Camille, and I watched as they unfolded the order of the four remaining housemates. We speculated on who would be the winner based on the color and the design of their gown. Because in the past, the housemate who has the most elaborate gown turns out the winner. Flow said that maybe it's Wendy because her gown was black. Or Bea could be the winner because she wore a tube dress, while the other two girls were wearing haltered gown. When Gee-Ann was called as Fourth Big Placer, we were all disappointed. One friend sent a text saying "Edsa 3 na to, mukhang si Wendy pa ang mananalo." Then I started thinking what I would do if, indeed, she won. Hhmmm...

Last week we had our much-awaited housewarming party for Meyri. And because it was her party, she had the license to say these:

HEZIL: So, bakit kayo naghiwalay?
MEYRI: Cultural differences.

So, ano ka? Chinese at sya Pakistani?

MAMA CARMS: Cler, have you ever had a boyfriend?
CLER: Of course naman Mama Carms.
MAMA CARMS: Gano kayo katagal?
CLER: Five years po. Parang 4th year high school to 4th year college kami.
MEYRI: 8 years kayo?!?!?!?!

So kailan pa naging 4+4 ang pag-count nun?

View pics at http://cafanlo.multiply.com/photos/album/29