Jellybean74170: May 2010

McKinley Hill And Alexandre's Croissant

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Been hearing a lot lately of a gondola in Manila, just like the one in Venice and Macao. And I was like "What? You Sure? Is that for real?" One day, decided to check it out myself since I always pass by McKinley Hill.

So much of the talk about gondola, to my dismay it's still under construction. But anyway, I had a bit fun on my trip. It was a long walk but pretty much enjoyable because of the nice sights. Classy designs and constructions of buildings/condominium full of lushy greens which lessen the polution in the area. How I wish I could afford to live in a place like here.

Tired from walking and also a bit disappointed from not being able to see the gondola, I hired a taxi which brought me to The Fort. Then I saw another classy looking store called Alexandre. I told the taxi driver to drop me there and as I went inside the store I've learnt it was a bakery cafe selling mostly of croissants in different variety. Tapioca loves croissants and he always orders this at Starbucks. I got interested and bought 2 pieces of almond and butter croissants.

. . . Nicey packaging, isn't it?

Once I got home, we tried them right away. Tapioca said they're okay, nothing special. As for me, I like the butter croissant. It's flaky on the outside but pillowy soft inside and the butter was very distinct. I just love anything with butter :-) . The almond croissant on the other hand was kinda tough. It's strange cos I got these early in the morning and I believe the croissants are freshly baked. I am no bread expert here so not sure why it's tough unlike the butter croissant. Or maybe it's just the way it's suppose to be. Any croissant experts who could shed some light?

Sony Goes To The Movies

Monday, May 24, 2010

If there's one party I never fail to attend in the office, that's none other than the Sony party. This year's theme: Movies. At first,we decided to come as we are cos ya know, mukha naman kaming mga artistahin. Just like those extras (part of the crowd, some random gals-guys,unknown citizens) you see in the movies.

And then, five days before the party, Tapioca got a message from our boss saying that he'll be hosting . . . again. Last year he hosted the party, we all thought he did a bad job. Obviously we're shocked they chose him again.

You guys might ask what did he do last year. His hosting was bad in a sense that he rarely speaks up and when he did we can hardly hear or understand what he was saying. It's like he's eating his words. I do and still love my Tapioca despite all that. Probably our boss thought Tapioca have learned his lesson from the experience and might deliver a better job this time. Oh well, that was what I thought as I write this post and as his girl, I should be more supportive. And I would hate to see him on stage as some random guy in a movie so we thought of wearing a costume that we can come up in a short span of time and won't bore a hole in our pockets.

He thought of going to the party as one of the characters in the movie Godfather by wearing a suit/tux and a hat. But renting a suit would cost us and we might have a hard time looking for one that would fit him. Then came another idea. Him as Bruce Lee and me as his leading lady. We're going as Chinese couple. Great idea. We can just buy fabrics and have my mother sew then into traditional Chinese outfits. My mother is a whiz in rush sewing jobs. Did you know she made my prom dresses on the day of my prom? And my graduation dresses on the same day of the ceremony? Yes she did. And she did our costumes in less than 2 days!

And here we are on our Chinese outfits. We got the design over the internet.

So that was Tapioca in Chinese clothing. He was supposed to be Bruce Lee who forgot to exercise that's why he gained weight. And I'm his leading lady. But everybody else thought he was dressed as Kung Fu Panda. LOL!

Click here to view more pics from the party.

It was a great party with lots of free booze and food. A great time to chill out, have fun and socialize with co-workers. I'm now on my 4th year in this company and I can say a lot of things has changed over the years. Each year is different than the previous ones. Old friends go and new ones come along. What's important is I'm still happy with my job and I can see myself staying here for as long as they need my service. I'm just forever grateful to this company who believe that I can have a career in call center industry.

Thank you and more power. May God Bless Us All.

Hanson's Back with a New Album and a New Single.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Hanson's back in town to promote the new song and I missed it. Darn. Thank God it was just a dream. Who would have thought there is even more frightening dream than getting your self drown or fall. Or how about running away from something or someone endlessly without knowing where you're going? Or what about an appearance of scary animals like snakes, haunted houses, monsters? Or even dead people? Or even more more scary, death. Okay, I'm so overreacting here. Death is probably the most scary nightmare in my opinion but I never thought missing a Hanson gig can be really tormenting.

One night, I dreamt that Hanson was back in town to promote their new album and they went on a mall tour and I missed it. And to make matters worse, in my dream it was like I didn't care at all. I woke up and realized it was all just a dream. I was somewhat relieve but I felt bad for myself for not caring at all. How can I not care? That's so totally not me. I can never image myself forgetting a Hanson gig so easily, especially in my own country? Never. Not in my wildest dreams. Ever. Just the thought of it makes me mad.

Oh well, dreams are suppose to be crazy and weird. And I always get this dreams at the sleeping quarters of our office. I always pray, like pray hard(er) but it seems like there's no shield for nightmares in that room.

Putting the bad stuffs aside, good news is hanson does have a new album with a new single and music video! I have learned this before the nightmare happened. Thanks to Yahoo news for the heads up.

. . . The album Cover. Me likey :-)

And an awesome music video! Omg, dancing on their music video? Coolness!

ike and zac dancing while taylor playing the piano on the background, and some random guy dancing too.

Now they're dancing with taylor and the rest of the crowd. This scene was taken at Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hanson's hometown.

Oh come on, Taylor. Why do you always have to show off that fugly ring? Everytime i see that, it pisses me off. Until now I still hate that ring. (Bitter lang!)

I love the video, the dancing and I love the guys but the music? So old school, not a lot of people buy this sort of music anymore but since I'm a fan I'm definitely going to get my own copy. I just love those guys and missed them so much.

I ♥ H A N S O N F O R E V E R ! ! ! !

Casa Reyes

Tapioca’s mom came to town from Singapore and she misses Filipino food so much. Her and Tapioca’s staple place is Aristocrat Restaurant, famous for their chicken barbecue with peanut sauce and java rice. Whenever she visits Manila, she never fails to pay Aristocrat a visit.

Last Friday, we went to Greenhills Shopping Mall for some last minute shopping. Tapioca was so in the mood to have Mexican burrito from Ristras. By the way, we rarely go to Greenhills so you can just imagine our longing for a food trip/adventure especially now that the Greenhills area is getting crowded with lots of food places bloggers raved so much. But this is not the right time do food tripping because her mom wants to have nothing but Filipino food and me, I couldn't’t care less. I just got my braces adjusted.

When we got to the mall, the first thing that we looked for was Aristocrat. But alas, Aristocrat already closed down and now replaced by its sister company Casa Reyes (also related to Reyes Barbecue) Well, it’s a sister company so it shouldn't’t be that bad.

For thirst quencher we had Sago’t Gulaman. It was so refreshing and the vanilla extract was so distinct in every sip. It was actually pretty good except they used really small tapioca which always got stuck between my teeth. Nevertheless, I loved the presentation and the flavor because of the vanilla extract.

. . . calamares

This was an overpriced calamares. Few little pieces of breaded squid rings with tartar/mayo dip on the side. I couldn't’t manage to munch on this. Tapioca and his Mom preferred this with vinegar, though.

fresh lumpiang ubod . . .

Tapioca and I liked this cos from the taste itself you can really tell the ingredients were fresh. From the wrapper to the veggies and the garlic sauce that came with it. It’s what you call perfection. Nice plating, too.

. . . kare-kare

We ordered a single serving of kare-kare and we got this. It’s actually pretty big for a single serving. It was an okay kare-kare though, nothing special. The bagoong that came with this was just okay, too.

palabok . . .

This was my order. The presentation was pretty good. My only concern was the serving of the sauce was not enough to coat all the noodles. We are still rooting for Red Ribbon’s palabok.

. . . Pork Barbecue

This was as good as the pork barbecue you get from Reyes barbecue. Very soft and flavorful. Same peanut sauce from Reyes barbecue, too.

Then came the worst part. As you know we came here looking for Aristocrat’s chicken barbecue. But since there's no more Aristocrat in Greenhills and Casa Reyes also offers chicken barbecue, we went in anyway. It took some time for the chicken to arrive and when it did, the meat was dry and tough. It was left in the grill for too long. The color of the meat was so scary. It’s so dark probably because it has been in the fridge for ages. While eating, Tapioca’s mom can’t help but dream of Aristocrat’s chicken and compare it to Casa Reyes’ chicken.

The experience was nice and all but the chicken was unacceptable. If you plan to dine here expect some hits and misses. That is obviously based on this post.

Tapioca's Mom Was Back to Town . . .

. . . all the way from Singapore and we're all in for some surprises.

We picked her up at the new airport, the NAIA 3. It was a huge airport. My first time to step foot here.

. . . waiting for her

Tapioca made reservations at Makati Prime Tower Suite where his mom's going to stay for a night. Believe it or not it's our first time to check in to a hotel. But what's more weird is that we are all gonna stay in one room.

I'm not sure why Tapioca picked this suite of all places. He said he liked it because it's near the airport and also cheap. Yeah, he's actually right. A few minutes from the airport and the cheapest suite ever. And that's because the place was horrible. The pictures on the website are very deceiving, it is not at all what it is like. The building was so old and definitely needs renovation. The lobby was so dark it didn't feel as welcoming as it should be. The place was also near the red light district. And not to forget, poor service. Very very poor. Also Php100 for Wifi an hour? No, thanks.

This was our room. It ain't bad actually. There's a TV with cable, a well functioning aircon and a veranda where the pool (it was dirty with a lot of trash) was located. But Tapioca asked for a double bed and we got a single queen size bed. They won't let us transfer to another room anymore so they just added an extra bed.

The pantry area with mini-ref, oven toaster and electric kettle. Plus there were plates and utensils, the only thing we liked here.

The bathroom. Cleanliness is acceptable but no hot water. And that's me in the mirror :-)

Although its's only a one night thing, this place definitely hit a bad impression on us. For the cheap price that's what you'll get.

And for the surprise, Tapioca's mom gave me this fab, fab, fab purse from Guess and shoes (amazingly they fit on me well) from Charles and Keith . . .