moments and the meantime

2009-06-01T15:05:00.003+13:00

this blog needs a facelift.

damn, it's been over two years since my last update?! haha. lots of interesting stories to tell. give me about a week.

i'm back!!!

2007-09-26T00:31:00.001+13:00

my deepest apologies for suddenly disappearing off the face of the blogging earth. it's just been soooo crazy! i've just uploaded a long overdue entry. please check out the may 14 entry about aan uber gorgeous persion restaurant hidden somewhere in makati :)

i'll be updating in the next few days.

mwah! :)

updates!

2007-05-31T14:00:00.000+13:00

since i just got back from cabiao, nueva ecija and have obviously been out of circulation for a while, i am now catching up with where i left off. since it might be missed, as it would seem like old entries, do check out the new entries i added prior to the last post:

awesome band line-up at bigsky tonight! (may 4)
downtime at 77 (may 2)
pao's last official duty + end of compre celeb! from 4byforce to 77 (april 30)
fashion + art = f*art (april 19) <-- adorable store!

in a few days, i'll be posting more write ups as well as photos, ranging from new restaurant discoveries, another uber nice date place, fashion finds, our community rotation and gorgeous pictures of a hidden vacation spot just a few hours drive from manila. so please do bear with the month long delay *grins guiltily*

cheers! :)

congratulations pao!

2007-05-21T06:26:00.001+13:00

just got home from a huge celebration (any guess what it was? haha!) i was planning to update on a chronological basis the places we've been to recently and the stuff that i've been up to, but really, even at 1:30 am, this couldn't wait coz my boyfriend just graduated medical school! :)

medical clerk valerie mayuga with dr. paolo delos santos :)

i knew you could do it baby :) i always said you're way smarter than you think you are. ;)

after all the blood, sweat and tears, he completed all his requirements on time and passed his comprehensive exams and was among the 42 students out of the hundred something in his batch to graduate on time :)

to the other graduates of batch 2007, congratulations and good luck!

congratulations sweetie! :) i'm soooooo proud of you! :)

28 weeks later + ziggurat = awesome movie and dinner date! :)

2007-05-14T00:02:00.000+13:00

uber fun day. pao and i went out a little past lunch time to catch a movie at rockwell. initially, i wanted to see spider man 3. pao, however, suggested we see 28 weeks later instead as he’s not really a huge fan of, well, comic-book-turned-movies. it was a good option, i have to say, as i am a huge fan of the alex garland’s works (the beach, coma, the tesseract), who also wrote 28 days later. i remember seeing that movie a long time ago and how it stuck to me.

we arrived in rockwell around 2. since the movie was still at 3:50, we had time to go around a little and grab a pizza at café mediterreanean, which i have to say has one of the best pizzas i’ve tasted.

before 3:50, we were comfortably seated inside the movie theatre and i have to say, i was pleased that 28 weeks later did not disappoint. as expected though, 28 days later was more…nerve wracking than the sequel. still, it didn’t suck as much as most people have predicted.

from the powerplant, we went off to have dinner at ziggurat, a mediterreanean restaurant pao read about in fhm which had both our curiousities piqued.

located behind tianamen along jupiter street, ziggurat is a small hidden theme restaurant that from the street appears to glow from the inside brought about by a gorgeous combination of a small brightly lit lights.

walking into zigurrat was like walking into an arabian nights set. the interiors were beautifully decorated with beautiful and vaibrant-colored cloths, complete with gorgeous lighting. no wonder it was named by fhm as one of those top hidden date places around the metro.

ziggurat's interiors

though this wasn’t the first time i've been to an authentic persian restaurant, i always find it fun how you sit on a raised portion off the floor and eat from low level tables. it always makes a date more fun.

we started off with lentil soup that was lightly flavored with cumin and had a hint of lemon in it. yummy. before we were done with that, a plate of samosa came, the sauce of which i liked more than the food itself. it was pretty good though. lastly, we tried out their lamb shawarma. for 150.00, the size was quite small, and it was a little bland. still, it deserves a thumbs up for the tenderness and herb-iness of the lamb, which i heard is not an easy thing achieve.

l-r: lentil soup, lamb shawarma, samosa

i fell in love with the chandelier though most of all and ended up taking more pictures of it than i should have. *sheepish grin*

here’s my attempt at an artsy collage of the chandelier taken with different...erm, exposures.

we hung out for a while just enjoying the place and each other. :) it was nice. only bummer was that the liquor ban still hasn’t been lifted so no alcohol for either of us that night.

after we left ziggurat, we headed off to serendra for a walk but since pao still had a long way to drive after bringing me home and i had to fix my stuff for cabiao tomorrow, we didn’t hang out that long.

but all in all, it was a really, really good day. J thank you so much baby for being the boyfriend that you are. :)

my boyfriend's graduating next week!!!

2007-05-10T23:19:00.000+13:00

it’s official! pao’s graduating!!! yaaaaaay! you can’t imagine my relief and how ecstatic i was upon hearing that he passed his compre and that he’ll be graduating on time!

i was still lounging in bed at our dorm in the cabiao community clinic when pao called me up this morning and just said, “okay na.” since he was attending to a patient in the e.r., we didn’t stay long. it took me about 10 seconds to figure out that it wasn’t his make-ups he was talking about, rather, his compre!

i was screaming and jumping up and down like a maniac when i found out (and i was at our dorm in the community), and i just couldn’t wait to get home (just a few more hours!) and give him his well deserved round of congratulatory hugs, kisses and what nots. ;)

we celebrated at bigsky with a hefty plate of pasta aligue for each of us, followed by an order of kurant sprite for me and an absinthe for him.

would’ve been a good night if only his car wasn’t hit-and-run (or at least in this case, scratch-and-run) by some stupid vehicle. nevertheless, the damage was minimal, at least after several erm, rubs of rubbing compound.

still, nothing could really disguise the fact that it’s an awesome day, coz that really was the best piece of news we both have heard in a long time. :)

congratulations sweetie! i knew you could do it!

last supper

2007-05-06T23:19:00.000+13:00

i couldn’t help it, i just had to take a picture… see, this is the last time i’d be bringing my adorable boyfriend dinner at the call room, and possibly the last time we’d have dinner together while on duty… at least until after a loooooooong time from now. *sniff* of course by then, he'd be a senior resident... yeah! *big grin*

i’ll miss seeing you around the hospital corridors baby… but, i’m also super excited for you coz so much closer to becoming an md now! goodluck sweetie! iloveyousomuch…

awesome band line-up at bigsky tonight!

2007-05-04T23:19:00.000+13:00

came home from cabiao yesterday (i'll be posting pics of our community soon!) and since my entire family is still in dagupan (or baguio already, i think) for my dad's midyear anesthesia conference, i had the chance to spend some nice couple time with pao.

and where else would we head off to for dinner on a friday night but to bigsky for a yummy plateful of aligue pasta? they have the best, i swear. and at P110.00 a plate, you'll find yourself frequenting the bar for that.

of course, aside from dinner, the reason we were at bigsky was coz radio active sago project played! as expected, they were really awesome! i always loved sago, and like all thier other gigs that i've caught, tonight, they did not disappoint.

the dawn played after radio active sago project, and after listening to them, it's no wonder the band has remained in the music scene after all these years -- despite thier ages, they still sound so...young! i remember how it seemed like bigsky was gonna come down when they played "enveloped idea" -- everyone was jumping around and singing and dancing -- it was crazy! i could only count with my hands how many bands were able to work up the crowd like that in bigsky.

peryodiko played after them though i was already a bit timpsy at that time for me to focus on their music. nevertheless, i remember them sounding really cool, and i was glad to be able to watch them again, this being my second time.

by the time it was itchy worms' turn to play, pao and i both decided that it was time to head home while we could still think, stand, and walk...or at least while i could still do that, since he hardly gets drunk. afterall, we didn't want that alcohol go to waste *wink*

downtime at 77

2007-05-02T23:19:00.000+13:00

pao and i met up with some of his friends at 77 last night for a few post-internship drinks (for them! haha!). it was fun seeing how they reacted to 77, it being their first time there.

on another note, tomorrow’s the day i leave for cabiao, nueva ecija, the province we spend one month in for our community medicine rotation. so I won’t be updating (again!) for a while. I will try to catch up with where I left off though. please bear with that.

in the meantime, as I usually end my posts… here are our shots for the evening!

awww...i'll miss him while i'm away... right, like i won't be back after two days since it's a weekend!

pao's last official duty + end of compre celeb! from 4byforce to 77

2007-04-30T11:19:00.000+13:00

to celebrate pao’s last official day of duty at the hospital (i can’t believe he’s done!), as well as the last leg of his compre (short for comprehensive exams which the interns have to pass in order for them to graduate on time...God, i hope he passes!), we decided to have a few celebratory drinks after dinner. after much thought, with the help of marge’s text, asking us where we were, we opted to head to 4byforce along gilmore to meet up with her and aina.

to those who’ve always wondered what the place along the right side of gilmore is that causes constant traffic going north (i.e. if you’re from ortigas or greenhills and you’re headed to aurora or espana via gilmore), the al fresco bar/restaurant is called 4byforce.

customers enjoying dining & drinking alfresco at 4byforce

nothing spectacular, really, but it's a good place to just chill out with friends. and seeing marge and aina's always good :)

photo op! aina, marge and i

while we didn't order any food here that night, i do remember that the bacon-wrapped asparagus was way yummy. for tonight though, it was just drinks for everyone. a san mig light for both pao and marge, a wengweng for me and hot tea (go figure!) for aina. a short while later, pao's roomate rey joined us. considering that they're roomates, i think this was the first time i've been out with pao where we were with rey (not counting the lunches and dinners). random thought.

l-r: pao & rey; marge & i; pao & i

eventually, marge and aina had to leave. luckily, pao's roomate rey, joined us and a short while later, we decided to transfer to 77, another nearby watering hole which we frequent more regularly and where we know more people. always good. we didn't stay long though, both of us were from duty. haha. still, no matter how tired i am, i always love spending downtime with pao. he really is the best. :)

our evening's mugshots...notice the "from duty eye bags?" hahaha! i love how he loves me even when i look my worst... :)

for the lack of updates

2007-04-20T02:10:00.000+13:00

my apologies for the lack of posts. i have been way busy as i am already rotating in anesthesiology and i'm just at the E.R. all the time. it wouldn't be so bad if i didn't have to be up by 5 am to make it on time by 6:30 am. :(

i do however, have the weekend off (yipee!!) so i will update by then. in the meantime, let me leave you with two very contrasting pictures: one of another one of our (pao and i) little field trips and another of a very interesting store find that pao and i just happened to discover while driving along which recently opened.

more about those in about two days, as i am on a 36-hour duty once again tomorrow (argh!!!).

cheers!

fashion + art = f*art

2007-04-19T23:19:00.000+13:00

after a hefty dinner at snackaroo, pao and i, while ready to head home, couldn’t at the moment (or at least he chouldn’t) for some quirky reason. so we decided to head over to 77. after making a right turn at one of the streets that would lead us to kamuning (where 77 is), we noticed an interesting looking, brightly lit store on one corner of the street. deciding to kill some time there, we parked up front and walked in.

the store’s name is f*art which is short for “fashion and art” though personally, i would have preferred a different name. upon entering the store, we were greeted cheerfully by happy andrada, the young owner and designer of some of the items being sold at fart, who, unfortunately, refused to have her picture taken.

the store’s interior was beautifully done, with warm, inviting tones of light and gorgeous fixtures that complemented the items being sold.

a lot of the pieces being sold leaned towards more modern design – very chic and edgy, with asymmetrical lines, geometric cuts and bold colors. very, very funky!

f*art is located at 24 k-d cor. k-1st, kamuning, quezon city

more to that though, fart also had a line that catered more to the cautious buyer, with pieces that employed more girly and classic styles, but still with its own twist of designer artistry.

f*art's interiors...check out the array of colors and styles on those racks!

then there’s what looks like a goth line, which i later on learn is called the "happy rocks" line – it’s black, lace, rocker and romantic all fused together into something very funky but wearable, at least for those who dare.

what i found quirkiest though, was that fart also had its own line of pajama sets (the happy jammies) that came complete with a matching eye covers! absolutely cute!

l-r: more accessories! from purses to wallets, from slip ons to ballet flats, to quirky sneakers resembling chuck taylors; the "happy rocks" line for the gothic/rocker chick; cofy t-shirts and matching pajamas

aside from the clothes, they also had a very diverse line of accessories, varying from those that would appeal to the sweet, kikay girls to the kick-ass chicks. they also had consignments with other artists who provide them with other unique finds in the store.

l-r: religious-icons-inspired earrings & clutch bags; necklaces & bangles provided by consigned artists; more girly accessories for the girly-girl

on the second floor is what appears as space that would be turned into an art gallery though the walls were still quite bare at that time. what would greet you, though, is a huge shelf with 12 cubby holes that contain cute, fun, and quirky items ranging from shirts, to notebooks, to keychains and stamps.

quirky items greet you from each cubby hole at the huge 12-hole shelf on the second floor

living up to its name where an exciting fusion of fashion and art can be found, f*art is also a place where young, fast rising fashion designers and artists showcase their freshest creations.

conveniently, by the time pao and i were done exploring fart, much time has already passed and it was time to head home. while i didn’t end up purchasing anything designer, i did end up buying one of those small magic wallets which i thought would be really convenient for me to slip into the pockets of my scrub suit while in the o.r. funny thing was, it wasn't until pao showed how it worked that i understood why they called it a magic wallet. tee-hee.

the lavender magic wallet i purchased from f*art

field trip!

2007-04-15T23:19:00.000+13:00

this afternoon, right after pao's first leg of comprehensive exams, we drove over to the fort area in hopes of pao using up the black and white film roll of his holga to take pictures at the american heroes cemetery. unfortunately, by the time we got there, they were ready to close. determined as we were not to let our afternoon go to waste, he drove for a few more minutes until we got to libingan ng mga bayani which was just nearby.

there's just something about rows of crosses that catches anyone's eyes. maybe it's the symmetry. or maybe it's how you find beauty in something so gothic. afterall, gothicism is more than just a cult movement -- it is an art period whose designs and building structures are still kept alive up to this day as many of our present churches still adapt the period's architectural structures.

i've always thought that empty cemeteries are beautiful places to take pictures at. and there's no more perfect time than sundown.

i tried my hand at taking black and white photos, but i think i need more practice. honestly, i didn't know from which perspective i would capture the rows of crosses from. nevertheless, i think it turned out good.

as it was a sunday, from libingan ng mga bayani, pao and i headed over to sanctuario de san antonio to hear mass. since i start my anesthesia rotation tomorrow and i really need OR shoes, we drove over to bonifacio high street after mass so i could get a pair of white crocs.

when we got there, it was unbelievable how there was a line outside the store. pao, who was little irked that i was spending out date to do my shopping remarked something like, "apparently, everyone's going to the OR." if he wasn't so pissed it would've been really funny. because i really needed the shoes tomorrow, i had no choice but to fall in line. luckily, since i knew exactly what i wanted to get, it didn't take me more than 10 minutes to walk into the store (when i finally got in!), pick out the pair i needed and fall in line (again!) to pay.

since it was for the OR, i had to get a pair that had no holes in it, lest i want my socks stained with blood or betadine. cool enough.

after making my purchase, we went around for a while, checking out some of the stores. And who would i bump into but michelle who was presently assigned to the blow-up babies serendra branch! still as darling as ever, i just had to get a picture of the two of us with her wearing a pink girly headband complete with a bow.

michelle and i when we ran into each other in one of the cuter stores in serendra (i think this was in souk)

after walking on and on, we reached the end of serendra and found ourselves in front of market! market! where we headed into to have dinner at yellow cab. yum! deciding to call it a night, we headed home after dinner, but after passing by bigsky, decided to get a just one drink to end the day.

cool day, i gotta say. tomorrow pao and i both go on duty again. but that's okay -- i'm looking forward to rotating in anesthesia as my dad's an anesthesiologist. ;) should be fun. to end this post, here's our mugshot for day.

our first black and white picture (i think...well, not counting our skin shots. haha!) thanks for an awesome day sweetie! mwah!

post dinner with friends at taste of LA

2007-04-13T22:41:00.000+13:00

just got home from a fun night with marge, her date jim and her cousin meann. met up with them at taste of LA after i had dinner with pao at kfc as pao had to go study for his comprehensive exams in surgery, pathology, and ophtha-ENT tomorrow (good luck baby! i know you'll do great!) . pao and i had our christmas dinner date here last year. :) personally, i've always considered this as one of the top date places i have on my list -- classy, authentic, origina, with gorgeous ambiance.

it was nice having some downtime with people outside the hospital for a change. haha. not that i don't love being at the hosp, it's just that it's such a breather. plus the fact that i haven't seen marge in a while.

they had already ordered when i got there, and a yummy -looking platter of rockefeller oysters were already on the table. this was an appetizer that pao and i ordered before, and it was as tasteful as i recalled it to be. :)

the rockefeller oysters which taste even better than it looks ;)

i had a frozen strawberry margarita, meann had bailey's, while marge and jim both had super dry. it was nice seeing them again. plus, it was nice getting to know jim. i swear, my best friend has had the most interesting guy "friends!" haha! fyi, she has been my best friend since we were both 8 years old. great, isn't it? ;)

since i'm quite sleepy, and i still need to get some shut-eye as i am once again on duty tomorrow, i'll end this post with some of my pics for the night. i hope i do get to post about something decent soon.

l-r: jim & marge; marge, meann & i; marge & meann

after our 24 hour duty

2007-04-10T23:19:00.001+13:00

just did my third duty, this time doing only 24 hours as it was a holiday today. that meant there's no "from duty" status for those who went on duty yesterday, thus, we were able to go home in the morning and didn't have to return later that day. luckily though, since yesterday was a sunday, and a holiday at that, there were hardly any patients at the CT scan nor at the MRI. so that was cool. i got to sleep a full 5 hours straight and didn't have get up until 6:30 am this morning. plus, it helps that the residents in the radiology department are really cool too. :)

what made yesterday and today was special though was that pao picked me up yesterday morning then brought me home too this morning. :) that was special coz i drive myself to school everyday. so being with him first thing in the morning was a real treat.

to make things even better, we had breakfast at mcdonald's in tomas morato this morning before we both went home. not that having breakfast with him is an unusual thing, for some reason, it just felt more special today. :)

pao and i from duty... minimal make-up for me and sleepy looks for both of us.

thank you for loving me even when i look and feel my worst baby, and for making everyday special. you're always the best part of my day... :)

on organizing my bag

2007-04-10T23:19:00.000+13:00

on another note, i went to greenhills this afternoon and aside from getting a copy of preview's latest issue (april 2007), i also got one of those bag organizers from one of the tiangge stalls. absolutely love it! the super O.C. person that he is, pao's gonna be proud of me. at least now i won't take forever just to locate the alcogel in my bag. *beams*

what i love about it is that for P250.00, you get two bag organizers -- one big, one small -- it's lightweight, and it's super flexible. what i mean is that it's not structured in any way, thereby making it easy to fit into a bag of almost any shape :)

this is great coz my everyday bag not only contains all my girly stuff but also my med stuff, so it helps in delineating what's what inside my bag. love it! :) let's just see how long i'd be able to keep it this neat. nyahahaha. ;)

happy easter to all!

2007-04-09T04:29:00.000+13:00

happy easter everyone! :)

upholding good friday traditions

2007-04-06T23:19:00.000+13:00

i got to go home earlier this morning and i don't have a "from duty" status today. best of all, i get tomorrow off! :)

in lieu of good friday, we had the seven last words this morning (to which i arrived late) where my sisters performed. there was also a procession earlier this evening that went around the parish. as tradition, parishoners would accompany the mother dolorosa through her seven sorrows. this is exemplified by having the procession stop at 7 appointed houses along the route where a short gospel is read coupled with a short reflection and followed by a prayer.

the Mother Dolorosa whom you accompany in a procession through the "seven sorrows of the Blessed Virgin"

since i was just so tired from duty last night, i slept this afternoon and woke up at 6:00 pm already and was no longer to go with the procession from where it began, which was at mt. carmel. nevertheless, i joined in after they passed by the house and managed to finish it till the end. i was glad to see that there were still a lot of people who went with the procession. however, we've had more participants in the past.

parishioners upholding some of good friday's traditions

pao and i were talking over the phone earlier and we both agreed that it would be nice to uphold the holy week tradition that our parents and grandparents have lived by all these years. it's sad sometimes, when you think about how people use this time to party and get drunk when it's supposed to be a time for contemplation and being one with Christ's sufferings. afterall, it only happens once a year. i think pao summed it up perfectly when he said, "i think we're nearing the point where malls would even be open on good friday."

the crowd of parishioners who joined the procession

1st day

2007-04-04T02:55:00.000+13:00

just had my first 36-hour duty as a clerk. damn! at least my first rotation's alright -- radiology. still, now i understand why everytime we'd fight and pao's "from duty," he'd always say, "sweetie, i'm from duty. i just want to sleep." awww...

anyway, i'm off to my own bed! woohoo!

i'll update soon with a more decent post...after i've gotten my beauty sleep!

lazy sunday

2007-04-01T23:57:00.000+13:00

spent half of the day at glorietta, buying last minute stuff for tomorrow. nothing really interesting. from glorietta we went to serendra for a while coz my mom just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. since we just had a heavy dinner at tender bob's before we left glorietta, eating at serendra of course was not an option. instead, we just walked around the area and maan and i checked out some of the more kid-friendly stores as well as the fountains. here's an interesting one:

a huge rock turned into a fountain floated suspended on three curved metal poles and water just continuously showered down to the ground from the rock. interestingly, it was while maan and i stood looking at it that i realized why there were so many fountains at serendra -- i think it serves as a "cooling device" since the area would generally be warm. standing beside the fountains lets you feel a cool breeze blow in all directions.

here was another interesting sight:

sure, to this guy, it's all in a day's work. but it always cracks me up when i atually see people working on display windows coz more often than not, we see them as perfect, polished and always ready to call attention to the store. seeing someone working on one always made me feel as if i was taking a peek at the sort of "behind the scenes" that goes on with store designing.

is that weird? haha!

on another thought, damn, i start going on duty tomorrow... glad pao's there to help me get through it while i adjust to my new...erm, lifestyle. ;)

interesting find at the ortigas home depot, julia vargas

2007-03-31T23:57:00.000+13:00

i've passed by julia vargas ave. several times and i've always been curious about the row of small restaurants situated a little above and along the road. this evening, pao brought me there as he had been there earlier this week with a couple of friends.

it was an interesting place. i loved how it was quiet and uncongested, with just a few people around. i guess it hasn't been discovered by the mainstream yet. the rows of restaurants included domino's pizza, brooklyn pizza, another small italian restaurant, interestingly, razon's (which by the way was full), and chackik's, a small bar with a stage that reminded me of big sky.

brooklyn pizza at dona julia vargas. and they deliver! :) 6339999 (hmm...could've been a good picture...)

after much thought, we decided to try out brooklyn pizza for dinner. the place reminded me of yellow cab, only, the motif was red, gray and white as opposed to the latter's yellow, black and white color schemes.

inside brooklyn pizza

since the slices were huge, we decided to get one slice each of their white cheese pizza, and another one of their supreme, together with a can of coke. then we had the slices halved so we both get to taste each one.

the pizza tasted as good as it smelled and looked. i loved the supreme, at least. as for the white cheese pizza, we thought it could use a little more salt and just a touch of herbs. i found it a bit odd though that brooklyn pizza did not have salt nor pepper when we asked for some. nevertheless, we had no trouble finishing our meal.

l: supreme; r: white cheese

all in all though, it was good. i'm glad there's another new pizza option out there. best of all, they also deliver! :)

from brooklyn pizza, we walked around, checking out all the other places at the area. interestingly, there were several bars which appeared to have small crowds. the so-called dampa was also in the same area. it was a perfect night to walk around, if i may say so myself. as we walked further on, we came across the ortigas branch of pier one, where we decided to get a drink.

as expected, we sat at the top most deck where i have to say, the view was gorgeous! nothing beats a beautiful city skyline on a perfect night. seeing the lit-up buildings from where we were gave me the feel that we were in the middle of the hustle and bustle of city life, yet tucked away far enough to just chill out after a long week. plus, i love how it wasn't crowded at all. from the top, it was also a gorgeous place to take pictures.

love the view from up here

pao had a san mig light and i got a wengweng. since we were filled just right from our pizza dinner, we ordered a platter of crispy crablets which i absolutely love.

l: my weng-weng and pao's sam mig light; r: crispy crablets (we've already eaten half before i realized i didn't take a picture yet! haha)

there's nothing much to say, really. it was one of those perfect evenings. we just talked and laughed and talked some more, which was really great coz i've been kind of down lately, and i just couldn't figure out why exactly (pms?). nevertheless, it was an awesome saturday night date for both of us. and with pao around, i guess i could count on having more of those. :)

thank you for an awesome evening sweetie... iloveyou!:)

dinner at friulli

2007-03-29T23:57:00.000+13:00

today was the last day of our medical clerk's orientation. then next week, we're all off on our own at the hospital. i could already tell i'm gonna miss a lot of my batchmates. afterall, it won't be the same anymore where you get to spend the whole day with each other. anyway, i'm still excited though. :)

after the orientation, i went to the radiology department for my courtesy call. it's my first rotation and i'm glad that the residents as well as the consultants seem friendly enough. it really does help ease the anxiety.

as soon as pao was relieved from his duty at the pedia department, we headed over to my place where he worked on a report before heading off to teacher's village so he could get the car from his sister. before we did that though, we opted to have dinner, this time at friulli, that small pizza-and-pasta place that caught our eye when we had dinner at ababu (which is right across it) a couple of months back

located along maginhawa street at UP teacher's village, friulli is a small pizza-pasta place that i've received mixed reactions about from various friends. of course, we weren't expecting the oh-so-fine dining experience, but what better way to find out if a restaurant's worth going back to than to try it out yourself, right?

while friulli had one of the better looking facades among all the little eateries in the area, the interior really wasn't that inviting. still, that familiar itallian smell wafted through the the place as we walked in so i was hoping that my friend who said the food was good (as opposed to the one who said it's not) was right. plus, there were a few people having dinner there as well, and a few more walked in, so maybe they must be good.

upon seeing the menu, we were surprised, honestly at the prices. almost all 10 inch pizzas as well as pastas were under P200.00. since we were both hungry, we ordered one pizza and one pasta, with 2 cans of sprite (it was supposed to be 2 cans of coke, but they were out of it).

friulli's menu on the wall. there are, however, a lot more choices to choose from, but i'm guessing these are thier more popular ones, aside from the new ones, of course

the pasta puttanesca was served first and it was large enough to share if you're also getting a pizza. it was surprisingly good. nothing spectacular though, but definitely not disappointing. only downside to it was that i couldn't taste the anchovies. generally though, all in all it was a good pasta dish.

next came the viva venezia pizza which we ordered at the waitress' recommendation, where she claimed it was thier best seller. the pizza didn't disappoint either. the size especially was suprisingly big, and the toppings were generously placed. had the dough been a bit thinner, it would have been perfect.

l: pasta puttanesca; r: viva venezia pizza

there was more than enough food for both of us, though pao managed to finish off my share of the pizza when i swore i couldn't eat anymore already. besides, i read somewhere that girls aren't even supposed to match up to thier boyfriend's eating capacity coz males generally have bigger appetites. haha. besides, getting out of shape is the last thing i want to happen since i obviously wouldn't have enough time to even exercise in the upcoming months.

the verdict? all in all it was okay. while there was nothing spectacular about the food (though we weren't really expecting that), it wasn't bad at all. definitely a place we'd go back to if we were in the area again.

at the end of the night, after pao had gotten the car from his sister, convoyed me up to the front of our gate and kissed me good night, i couldn't help but feel lucky that i'm with someone who appreciates the more off and obscure things in life as much as i do. :)

post lunch dessert at cafe breton

2007-03-26T16:19:00.000+13:00

today was the second day of our medical clerk's orientation. it was a long day (we started at 9 am and ended nearly 7 PM. of course, we were still able to squeeze in some fun in between. since pao's duty was ER-PM (night post at the ER), he was free to go out in the daytime. thus, when 12 o'clock hit and we were out for lunch, pao and i headed off to yellow cab in tomas morato where we finished a 10" four season's pizza in less than thirty minutes.

the highlight of lunch though (and today, for that matter! aside from seeing him of course!), was dessert at cafe breton. :) i've only been to cafe breton's tomas morato branch once. and that was a long, long time ago when i had coffee with marge and her officemates after dinner. pao however, has been wanting me to taste their crepes for a long time. since we both wanted something sweet and cool as it was such a hot day and we were in the area anyway, we drove over to cafe breton.

the interior was as quaint and cozy as i remembered. of course, there's always that comforting feel to any country style interior.

cafe breton's interior

since we were both still full and i'm trying to stay within a certain diet (yeah, right!), we decided to just share one. pao ordered a la pinay crepe which tasted even better than it looked. :) it was a mango crepe served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce.

cafe breton's la pinay crepe

i loved how the crepe, the mangoes and the chocolate were warm while the vanilla ice cream was cold. pao said something about how it confuses you taste buds yet all the various tastes still mesh well in your mouth. :) i think that's the best way of putting it, though i really didn't think about it much coz i was too busy enjoying all the sweet-hot-and-cold combination i was tasting at every bite. and i'm not so much of a dessert-and-sweets person, so it takes a lot to please me in that department; so it says a lot that i was more than pleased with dessert today. :) then again, that's expected -- hello?! it's cafe breton! :)

i have a sweet tooth for more than just dessert *wink*

saturday night at the fort :: from bonifacio high street to serendra

2007-03-25T23:57:00.000+13:00

last evening, after dinner, pao and i drove over to the fort partly to satisfy my curiousity as to how much of the area has changed since the last time we were there, it was a site mostly of shop cover-ups with signs that said "opening soon!" plus, i realized i haven't treated him out yet since i got my paycheck from burn, so i thought i'd take him out this time. :)

it's amazing how they've transformed what was once just grass fields into the place that it is now -- from serendra to bonifacio high street. specially at night, the place is just so alive with all the lights, the music and the people!

bonifacio high street

we walked all three blocks to-and-fro just enjoying the evening and wallowing in the festive feel that the place exudes. we checked out a few stores (but didn't really get anything), people watched and walked some more. while there were still a lot of stores that aren't open yet, there were enough open ones for people of varied age groups to choose from.

when we finally got tired, we opted to sit at larry's cafe & bar as this appeared to be the only watering hole that had seats available. even then, they still had to get a table from, i'm guessing, one of their sister restaurants in the area. in addition to that, according to pao, it's owned by the same owner of cafe havana who's known for their mojitos -- something we've been curious about for a while.

it's funny coz initially, one waitress told us that the mojitos were not available that night. later on (i'm guessing), a more senior waitress, at my obvious indecisiveness on what to order, suggested we try their mojitos. surprised but glad that it was available afterall, we decided to get that. upon tasting it, it was as good as we expected. i'm not really sure what goes in the mix, but i love the how the subtleness of the alcohol is complemented by the mint. it was both refreshing and, well, just alcoholic enough for me. pao loved it too.

larry's mojitos :: these were really, really good. :)

since our walking around worked up an appetite though not enough for something really heavy, we started with an order one of the appetizers on the menu, the samosa. it was alright, nothing exceptional about it. later on, since the serving was quite small, we ordered a plate of pita with hummous. this one was really good. i liked the two kinds of hummous served, though i preferred the lighter one more. both appetizers went well with the mojitos.

l-r: samosa; pita with 2 kinds of hummous

as always, we spent the evening just...talking, and laughing :) which is what i always love. everytime we go out, it still amazes me that we never run out of stuff to talk about. and these are the times that i feel really lucky to be with him. i couldn't really imagine myself with someone who can't carry a good conversation, much less not meet me on the same plane of thinking; that would drive me nuts. then again, pao always does drive me nuts...but in a good way. ;)

our evening's mugshot :: thank you for making everthing come alive for me sweetie!

happy birthday maan! + how to walk in high heels

2007-03-23T23:57:00.000+12:00

happy 12th birthday littlest sister!

after both maan and melissa's classes we piced up my dad at st. luke's after his kidney transplant that lasted longer than usual. luckily, they were able to finish at 7 and a short while later, we were at gateway since maan wanted to celebrate her birthday at burgoo.

however, since she and melissa wanted to waste time at timezone for a while, my mom and i went around to kill ours. my night ended well with a nightcap with pao at bigsky where we spent half the time playing "pusoy dos" with another customer and cindy (the barista/owner)

at the end of the day, i was super happy thought, and it wasn't coz of the alcohol. my happy came from fully booked, where i was finally able to get myself a copy of camilla morton's how to walk in high heels -- the girl's guide to everything! it was the last copy at that branch too so that made me super happy that i was able to get hold of one (since i've been looking for this book for ages!).

it is such a breath of fresh air after sticking my nose in all my thick medical books the whole school year! as expected of a book with such title, author and even cover, it's simply fabulous! it is, literally, a "how to" book but it's written in such a candid, breezy and hilarious manner that at times i can't help but laugh out loud.

definitely not the kind of book you read from cover to cover, and complete with whimsical illustrations, chapters range from greeting your public (looking your best), to being socially adept, to tackling your technophobia, to handling a house and garden, and joining the jet set. from practical (how to get dressed in 5 minutes) to obscure (how to deal with wasp stings), from plain etiquette (how to behave stylishly when dining out and how to complain with class) to learning the rules of a game (poker!), from how to deal with affairs of the heart to how to surf the web unnoticed in the office, is a book where page after page, you read about something that you probably wondered about at one point in your life (how to taste wine like a professional) but never thought of asking about, possibly because you thought it was embarassing or you just didn't know whom to ask (how to eat tricky foods -- oysters, lobsters; how to enjoy modern art). or maybe it was just something that never occured to you, but are "it could happen" scenarios -- how to dance and decline with etiquette or how to use toilets at concert venues).

there were also quirky but enlightening articles from "guest writers" like manolo blahnik, who did a piece entitled "how to pick a shoe," jade jagger who wrote "how to compile your own soundtrack;" and gisele who gave tips on "how to look good in a photo, among many others.

it's such a fun read, and i've just started but it's a book that i recommend all modern girls out there get a hold of -- not only will it tickle you pink with the girliness of it all, it's also full of handy hints on almost every aspect of a conteporary girl's life.

vogue.com sums it up perfectly: "from playing poker to climing out of a car in a mini skirt, from tackling lobster in a restaurant to changing a tyre, it's the most fabulous instruction manual the world has ever seen, all told in camilla's inimitable straight-talking, hilariously funny style." :)

white shoes!

2007-03-22T15:59:00.000+12:00

in our institution (and in other medical schools, i think), there are only two thing that distinguishes the medical clerks of the hospital from the third year medical students at the college building since both batches have the same uniform -- clerks wear an orange ID and white shoes as opposed to the usual nameplate and standard black shoes of the third year. well that, and the haggard, obvious lack of sleep of the former. funny how the heirarchy is delineated, huh? this is the reason why one of the first things that those from the upper batches more often than not ask the third year students as their school year is ending is "white shoes na?" which actually translates to, "did you pass? are you gonna be promoted to the next level?"

as a matter of superstition, pao always told me not to buy a new pair of white shoes for clerkship until i see the official list. might jinx it, i guess. but really, i didn't have any "pending" subjects anyway. however, since i'm also kind of a superstitious person, i rode along with it.

since "the list" was posted a couple of days ago, i took that as my "go signal" to get the pair i've always wanted. so this morning at gateway mall in cubao, a few minutes after i walked into lacoste, i walked out with one of the most comfortable pair of shoes i've ever tried on (thanks dad! mwah!):

lacoste irina white

cheap finds at greenhills

2007-03-21T18:48:00.000+12:00

if there's anything you could count on at greenhills, it's that you'll always find the best bargains in town. after divisoria and 168 of course. on days however, where it's so hot to go to on a field trip to 168, and i'm just looking for some immediate gratification, i ask for some "shopping money on a budget" from my mom and i drive over to greenhills for some cheap finds -- which are more often than not successful.

this afternoon, after a little of three hours of walking through aisle after aisle of stalls in thier airconditioned tiangge, i ended up with the following goodies at under a thousand:

black shorts (P280.00); brown plaid shorts (P280.00); white camisole (P90.00) all from the greenhills tiangge stalls

fun huh? :)

hello clerkship! + party crashers!

2007-03-20T23:55:00.000+12:00

it's official! i have been promoted to fourth year and am now a medical clerk! :) the official list was posted earlier at 5 pm and to those who made it, a huge "congratulations!" is definitely in order. it was, however, a bittersweet moment, as there were some who, despite all thier efforts were not able to make it. :( i was really saddened by that, since some of them were really, really good friends of mine. good luck to you guys, and whatever your plans are, i hope you still continue on with med...

it was, for me, however, a celebratory moment, and pao, being the sweet boyfriend that he is, immediately took me out to celebrate. we drove over to nostalgia to get some of thier gourmet sausages (we both had hungarian) with a can of coke each after which we walked over to mary the queen for a thanksgiving mass.

since it was still early when mass ended and we were both still full from our little snack, we opted to look for art informal, a gallery we've been intending to check out for the longest time but just couldn't find the last time we drove the whole connecticut strip in greenhills. since we had much time to kill and we were already in the greenhills area already anyway, we thought we'd give looking for it another shot. finally, after driving halfway through connecticut st., we noticed a wall where numerous tarps were hung and upon closer look, we saw the sign art informal! yipee!

we went in excitedly, and what greeted us was an al fresco get together among a small group of people (the artists who put up the show, we presumed) gathered in front of what seemed was a house-turned-gallery that was brightly lit from the inside. we walked in excitedly and were taken by surprise at the site that greeted us -- there were no traces of the house part left. in its place was a wide-floored gallery, where artworks could be found all over.

art informal is located at 277 Connecticut StGreenhills EastMandaluyong City; Tel. 725-8518; view thier website here

interestingly, the current exhibit was an exhibit by an all-female art group, and the works were all about women. while i was not able to get the title of the exhibit nor the title of the show (oops, my bad!) it was something like an inspired by women, made by women, for the women kind of show.

on the door was a poem that sums up the whole exhibit (photo on the left), and the whole piece just kicked ass if i may say so myself. sometimes i think women are taken for granted in society, despite us being a very civilized culture where women's rights and equality is regarded. still, there are times that i think men have to be reminded that yes, we women want to be treated as equals, but yes we still need to be loved and pampered and treated like females -- where old habits and practices should still prevail and chivalry should not be dead (!). it makes me wonder sometimes how men would be able to survive without our kind for a week (a day, i think, they would). while i do have high regard for the male gender, i personally think that they will forever be, as my mom would always say, little boys in long pants. ;)

nevertheless, here are the pieces that caught my eye. and since i am not an art critic, this entry will be more of a photo blog than a narrative one.

l-r: Sisidlan by Cathy Lasam (paper, 48x48 in, 2007); Femme by Konn Salao (oil on canvas; 48x48 in; 2007); Infinite Form by Sandra Fabie-Gfeller (Oil on canvas, 48x48 in, 2007); Sunong by Joy Mallari (Oil on Canvas, 12x12 in)

these were my favorites among the exhibit. sisidlan looked like it would drive me crazy if i did something like that -- tiny square boxes out of paperr; femme was absolutely devine -- i think it captured the essence of a woman amazingly -- how she could be both powerful, and vulnerable -- and it was just so...sensual. it reminds me of i always feel that women should master thier body and thier spirit and learn how to use it and take advantage of it -- from thier sensuality, to thier tenderness -- to eploit men ;). infinite form was simply beautiful. i couldn't stop staring at this one because you could see and feel the grace in the movement of the dancer. sunog, on the other hand was anything but a still life to me. i loved how the bite from the apple was done, and how there was an almost dark comedic feel to it, with the apple being on top of a tiny head.

l-r: Follies by Maysa Arabit (mixed media; 36x48 in; 2007); Superchick 1& 2 by Maya Munoz (Acrylic on Watercolour Paper; 45x33 in; 2007); F(rancaise) by Aleth Ocampo (oil on canvas; 36x48 in)

for some reason. i immediately heard bon jovi's voice in my head singing, "shot through the heart, and you're to blam. you give love a bad name" the moment i looked at follies. Superchick 1& 2 on the other hand drew me to it because i always loved people drawings/paintings/portraits that only had a space for a face. F(rancaise) on the other hand was a vibrant painting that's sure to brighten any wall.

l-r: Fertility (diptych) by Anna Varona (oil on gesso panel; 36x48 in, 2007); 6. F… by Maria Taniguchi (ink & graphite on paper; 22x30 in., 2007); Fragmented by Anna Cabardo-Lozano (acrylic & Collage on Canvas; 36x48 in, 2007)

Fertility was a picture that depicts the difference between a house without children and a hose without. i loved the almost mirror image of this pair; F... says it all there. Fragmented was interesing -- initially, pao thought the painting was very masculine...until we both realized the dogs had udders. i guess they were bitches after all.

l-r: Hot Flashes, Cold Flashes by Plet Bolipata (found objects, yarn, beads, manikin; 2007); Free by Stephanie Lopez (Epoxy Resin & Acrylic; 36x48 in; 2007); Retablo ng Introspeksyon by Marina Cruz (Mixed media, 19.5x15x6.5 in; 2007); Fur & Fern by Pam Yan-Santos (acrylic, collage, serigraph on canvas; 53x43.5 in; 2007)

Furious Feathers; Fearful Fins, Forlorn Fur by Jill Posadas (watercolor on paper; 21.5x 21.5; 2007)

after looking through all the pieces, we were invited to get some food outside. that was when it sank in that we were indeed crashing a party. i just got a taco. pao had a taco and pancit (i think). still, the artists were really friendly and easy to talk to, and after they found out that paolo, who's one of thier former classmates and a very gifted artist as well, is pao's cousin who's now residing in new york, they easily warmed up to us more.

apparently, not only is art informal a gallery, but also an artist-run continuing education center for art and creativity. it was established in 2004 by a team of contemporary Filipino artists whoes aim was exploring alternative experience-based artistic learning in the scope of creative development. thier programs range from short-term artist-facilitated workshops on art and creativity to special modules for art students and enthusiasts, collectors and specialists in the form of art projects, lectures on art history, theory and appreciation, exhibition projects and artist-led sessions in studio work and apprenticeship.

o 0 o

after we left art informal, we headed to bigsky for a nightcap, and upon walking in, it seemed as if we were crashing another party for the second time that night. afterall, it isn't everyday you walk into one of your favorite bars and see that it's decorated with animal balloons and streamers. apparently, mishka, annabelle's daughter was celebrating her 19th birthday there. no harm done, though, since we knew most of the people who were actually invited (which we weren't, technically). it was cool though, and as the night wore on, we had our fill of children's party food and even had fun with the cardboard masks.

kiddie-party fun!

all in all, it was a really good afternoon/evening. and while i probably would have been really embarassed for walking into a party where i was uninvited, or didn't know anyone for that matter, for some reason, it all seemed okay to do that today. nevertheless, i don't intend to make a habit out of that. ;)

thank you for your help the whole year baby... i couldn't have done it wiothout you... or in the spirit of feminism, maybe i could have... it just wouldn't have been as fun. ;)

schu sale!

2007-03-18T23:45:00.000+12:00

went from megamall to shangri-la and back to megamall again initially for some retail therapy. funny thing was, i really wasn’t in the mood to shop. or at least, for the time being, there really wasn’t anything that i just had to buy. other than get a haircut, and have the lenses of my glasses changed, there really wasn’t anything on my shopping list.

then i walked into schu and saw that they were on sale. in the past, i’ve had the luck of availing their “two pairs for the price of one” promos as they had my size in the styles that i wanted. this afternoon, upon seeing that their flats were on sale, i jumped at the chance to purchase a pair of silver ones after finding out they had my size. best of all, the price was a steal at p399.00! the schu sale runs till april 1 so check it out while there are still sizes available coz stocks go fast!

my purchase from the schu sale: silver flats at P399.00!

congratulations ralph!

2007-03-16T21:39:00.000+12:00

i had the chance of watching ralph taylan's graduation violin recital in at the UP abelardo hall earlier together with my mom and two sisters.

ralph's violin recital programme

the highlight for me were the first and the last numbers. the opening number, sonata in G Minor (The Devil's Trill) composed by Guiseppe Tartini was an showcase of skill and finger dexterity. as with any bachelor's recital, he ended with a concerto, his choice being sergei prokofiev's concerto no. 1 in D maj op. 19. i always did love the more modern compositions. it reminded me of my kabalevsky concerto in G, but unlike him, i don't think i'll ever be able to actually play that with an orchestra (med keeps me busy. haha).

Ralph performing Sergei Prokofiev's Concerto no. 1 in D Major op. 19 with the Manila Symphony Orchestra II, conducted by Prof. Arturo T. Molina

i suddenly missed my music and playing the piano. it has been a while. i have to say, i've always looked up to individuals who actually graduate with a bachelor's degree in music because it's so hard not to let yourself be drawn to the more fun but less serious side of music (performing jazz/pop/rock here and there) to a layman, it may seem easy -- putting together a recital and performing it the whole hour and a half. to musicians though, it's a life that's anything but easy. it was one of the reasons i went into med -- i'd rather spend sleepless nights with my nose stuck in a book rather than spend all my time practicing. my love and passion for music is there, yes. but i guess it just isn't enough. still, i always get that wistful feeling everytime i watch a classical performance, and i'd always think that even after i finish medicine, i probably still won't be able to play my kabalevsky concerto completely much less put together a recital. nevertheless, it's always a plus if you know how to play some classical music... not always to perform, but more often than not, for your own satisfaction. those who called it "food for the spirit" weren't far from the truth...

vieux chalet :: couldn't think of a better place for an end of the school year celebratory dinner

2007-03-14T03:09:00.000+12:00

finally! exams are over, over, over! so is third year! yay! hello clerkship! after a whole year of sticking my nose in nothing but my books and transcriptions, studying for exams every 6 weeks, and stressing over everything -- from making it to class on time, to getting lucky with small group preceptors who'd give higher grades, to doing endless papers and reports to passing each and every exam i took -- it feels awesome that none of my efforts have gone to waste. *beams*

to celebrate my last day as a junior, right after my last (last, last, last!) exam for the year ended, pao asked me if i wanted to have dinner at view chalet in antipolo and it didn't take any more prodding to convince me. throughout the trip, i couldn't stop feeling excited. we had a late lunch there a couple of months back, and i remember the view being awesome. this is my first time to go there at night and i couln't wait to see how the view looks from up there at night.

a little over an hour after we left my place, we finally arrived at view chalet. tucked away in antipolo, it felt like i was stepping into a "secret place" hidden away from the rest of the world the moment we walked in the gate.

view chalet from the outside

the moment we walked into the restaurant is a different story. it was warm and cozy and it just had that incredibly romantic ambiance to it. i remember going there once for a late lunch and loving the view. but at night, it just takes on a whole different feel, and to anyone who's going, and it's definitely better to go there for dinner.

how could you not fall in love with the place?

but what really takes your breath away was the view. pao and i both caught ourselves mesmerized by the beauty of the city's skyline which looked simply amazing from up there. luckily, there was just another group in the place so we were able to choose a seat beside the window.

after going through the menu several times and on the recommendation of the waitress, we ordered a foie pate for starters, followed by the osso buco (veal baked in a tomato and cream sauce with herbs) and mashed potatoes.

it was difficult to decide what to order because most of thier dishes had servings good for a minimum of four people. in addition to that, the canneloni that pao originally wanted to order wasn't available. it turns out, get this -- you have to call in at least three days in advance before you go there.

while we waited for the food to be served, we spent the time talking and catching up on each other's lives and it was awesome. i felt like i haven't really spoken to pao in the longest time with exams driving me all crazy and stuff, and i couldn't think of any other way or place to celebrate my last day as a junior. it still amazes me the places that pao knows where to bring me. =)

pao and i having fun with the cam...it's such a lovely place to take pictures

the platter of foie pate with bread came first and it was just as great tasting as i remembered. the ossobuco and the mashed potatoes came next and after getting a whiff of the herb-y dishes and seeing the size of the serving, pao and i looked at each other, glad that we ordered the right thing.

l: the foie pate and bread appetizer; r: mashed potatoes and the osso buco

the osso buco was cooked to perfection that left the veal juicy and tender, and with just the right amount of herbs, the tomato-and-cream sauce of the osso buco was awesome! the mashed potatoes on the other hand, which were swimming in butter (yum!) complemented the veal perfectly. the verdict? both dishes tasted as good as it looked.

an hour and a half later, we were filled to the brim and we hung out just enjoying the view. it was really breathtaking. from up there, everything just seemed so perfect...

the breathtaking view is a favorite backdrop for photo ops for guests who visit

i have much to be thankful for for this school year. all the little miracles were there when i needed them, and the people who were there to help me were always there at the right place, at the right time. the biggest blessing of all though, is having the best boyfriend in the world... 'nuff said. ;)

i love you sweetie... thank you for (still) making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world...

happy birthday cent!

2007-03-12T22:19:00.000+12:00

happy birthday cent!

l-r: me, geo, cent & lady...i couldn't ask for a better group of friends in med than these :)

after our last exam today, we surprised cent with a small chocolate mousse as it was her birthday last saturday, march 10. yes, that's why we all look spent! but it was a pretty good short breather in between our last exam and studying for the last two exams tom, i must say. :)

yeah! two exams left...

exams still...

2007-03-06T21:57:00.000+12:00

i just got home from studying at coffee bean. it's the first day of our finals tomorrow -- we have prev med at 9 am, followed by neurology at 1 pm.

i am suddenly reminded of how i had a friend back in college who said something along the lines of one of the most unforgettable comments that would top my list: "being in med seems like so much fun... you study in starbucks..."

i hope people don't think that's that all that we're made of -- that we're just staples at coffee shops and that we do that so we'd seem, well, "cool." to those who wonder why most medical students end up closing coffee shops, it's coz those provide the most conducive places to study at if you're not a library person like i am. see, i tend to feel sleepy in the library, at least after school hours. in the morning, when i have to cram for an exam, it's fine. but after class, specially when it's starting to get dark outside, i feel my concentration drifting away accompanied by the drooping of my eyelids.

so really, we don't stay in coffee shops to, well, be cool so we'd meet some other people, coz to us, it just equates to a library. only with the add-ons of caffeine and nicotine. believe me, when we're struggling to position the huge schwartz's principles of surgery textbook, it's coz we really don't know how to place it in a way where it would be easy for us to highlight. at least i don't. since i'm not really that tall, i'd need at least two pillows to sit on for me to be able to mark my book if it's flat on the table because even if it's lying open, it's still way too think. on the other hand, it's way too heavy to rest on my lap for the next 4 hours. so no, it's not coz we want to show off our huge, thick, medical textbooks (half of which we read, takes us forever to understand!).

i'm just rambling here now. i'd update soon, i promise. and it'll be more than the random musings of a medical student who's obviously running low on sleep. aaah, what i'd give for 8 hours (straight!) of sleep on my real bed in my airconditioned room (since i sleep on the love seat in the study room during exams so i'd be able to wake up early...)

just a few more days to go...

finals week...argh!

2007-03-04T10:42:00.000+12:00

finals are coming up. funny, i'm supposed to be stressed, but for some reason, i'm just too burned out to care. just about three weeks ago, we were studying for our fifth long exam, and now, there's a need to study everything from start to finish.

it's just not possible to study surgery, medicine, pediatrics, ob-gyne, neurology, ophthalmology, preventive medicine, radiology and legal medicine from cover to cover all in one week!

it's too absurd, it's almost funny!

anyone got any suggestions?

a moksha dinner with pao

2007-03-01T22:19:00.000+12:00

just came home from a nice dinner with pao at moksha. had so much fun! :) it wasn't my first time to go there though, and i've written about this place last january when i discovered, the place thanks to marge. we just had drinks there though, and i've been curious about thier food eversince. so as celebration of pao's last day in his medicine rotation yesterday, we opted to have a nice dinner as opposed from our more usual fast food options. besides, i've also been bugging him to go there, since i knew he's like the place.

moksha is located at 713 abad santos place, near wilson, san juan

he was surprised with the place the moment he walked in coz we frequent jack's loft nearby and we never noticed moksha whenever we passed by the street on our way home. nevertheless, the cozy interiors were very inviting, and the crowd, composed mostly yuppies made for a great dinner place.

moksha's cozy and warmly-lit interiors make for a great post-work dinner place or even after dinner dinner drinks either with friends or even a date

after much thought, we ordered a bacon and potato appetizer (i forgot the exact name), chicken kebab with spicy mango (at the suggestion of the waiter and the really enticing picture on the menu), and a moksha pizza. we both had it with iced tea. while we waited for the food to come, we caught up on each other's lives and i have to say, that's always the best part of having dinner with pao -- sometimes it's the only time we really get to talk, talk since we're both so busy with our own stuff -- him with his duty, me with my schoolwork. so it's always a treat for me to actually just be able to really talk to him and all. glad i still get giddy whenever i'm with him, despite us being in this relationship for over a year, y'knw? :)

the light above our table -- l: my shot, r: pao's shot

the appetizer came first and i remember it smelling really good. it was sort of a huge hash brown with bacon slices in it topped with parmesan cheese. really yummy appetizer. i was, however, curious with the chicken and when it came, i was glad it was what we ordered. the chicken, which was filled with ham and cheese was juicy and tender on the inside, and was topped with a sweet and spicy sauce with the sweetness of the mango complimenting the spicy-ness of the chili in such a wonderful way that i never really occured to me (spicy mangoes, that is). it was served with a siding of potato wedges, which probably was the only wrong thing in the picture, coz we had potato as appetizer. it didn't occur to either of us to have it changed. nevertheless, the wedger were good and we were still able to finish it.

l: potato with bacon & cheese appetizer; r: chicken kebab with spicy mango sauce

the pizza was served just as i was finishing off my part of the chicken and despite already being full, it just looked so good. it was the only pizza on thier menu (if i remember correctly), and after biting into it, i'd have to say, is one of the best pizzas i've tasted. it was topped generously with meat and vegetables, and the thick layer of cheese just melted right in your mouth. it tasted really good. had the crust been a bit thinner, it would've been perfect. it was crunchy enough though, so that can be overlooked. it took us a while longer to finish the pizza since we were both already stuffed, but we managed...it was that good!

moksha pizza -- i can't forget how the cheese melted so easily in my mouth!

since we both had duty/school the next day, we called had to call it a night quite early (well, before 10). nevertheless, it was good night and an awesome dinner. after a stressfull two months with his medicine rotation, this really was a treat, and i'd have to say that the most mundane things (such as having dinner) could easily turn into one of the most special things you share with someone... :)

fun dinner with yummy chocolate cake at nostalgia

2007-02-27T00:19:00.001+12:00

just came home from nostalgia, another new place pao and i tried out. located at washington street in greenhills, it was our first time there and it's funny how it was his aunt who was visiting from the states who piqued our curiousity about the place. apparently, she had eaten there once and was raving about the burger to pao.

so this evening, we decided to try out nostalgia. it's easy to fall in love with the place at first glance. built on what was once obviously a garage, it gives off that "warm, home-cooked meal-ish" feel from the outside and with clean glass windows held together by gorgeous wood frames, it had a picture-book facade of what that "little store around the corner" would look like.

nostalgia on the outside

walking inside made me feel like i was back in europe -- from the pastries in the chiller, to their little menu on the counter, to the wodden stools and tables, it just felt so european.

inside nostalgia

the cookies inside the cookie jars atop the counter looked so yummy. and then there were the cakes inside the chiller which looks soooo good. i was still contemplating though if we should get one since i have to absolutely loose some excess weight! still... who could resist chocolate, right?

left: a jar filled with "old fashined oat/peacan cookies;" right (l-r): flourless chocolate cake, mnage a trois (triple chocolate cake -- white, creamy and dark)

the one cake that caught both our eyes though was the wolfie's choco cake (picture at the lower part of the entry). it looked like several melted hershey's dark-chocolate bars. still, as i always say, we decide on dessert after our meal.

we were hoping to order one of thier hot dishes together with a burger. unfortunately, they only srved those between 2-5 pm. so we opted for 2 sausage sandwiches -- a hungarian and a veal sausage, and one order of a burger.

nostalgia's menu

pretty good combination when the food came, i should say. the sausages were good, i should say. but the burger, which pao's aunt was raving about, was really, really good. more to that, they make their own patties. the good thing about it was that it wasn't oily at all, although the cook did admit to frying it on a pan and not grilling it (which would render it really oil-free).

l-r: hungarial sausage, cheeseburger, veal sausage

i was still stuffing the remainder of my half of the burger when pao decided that we shold have a slice of wolfie's choco cake. seeing my diet program fly out the window, i agreed, only because it looked really, really good -- yup, i still saw it as if several hershey's dark chocolate bars melted all together then molded to a cylindrical shape.
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it was at this point that we met the husband of the lady who ran nostalgia. a swiss guy whose business is custom-built furniture. as expected, it was him who did the interiors of the place. that suddenly explained why it felt so european inside. apparently, nostalgia has been there for 15 months, and they mostly earn through orders. pretty cool huh? to think it started as a hobby.

to go back to the cake... well, put it this way -- now i understood why they considered chocolate food for the gods. it was heavenly! and while i am not a dessert person, i did not have any qualms about it. the chocolate was smooth and creamy and it was the perfectly unsweetened kind of chocolate cake. far from the the ones where you could feel the sugar roughly sliding down your throat. it was way heavy though, but hey, we did finish it!

to think i said i didn't want cake... riiiiight...

before we left, we met the lady who owned and ran the place. a cute, sexy and quirky chinese woman, she looked really thin for someone running a restaurant. still, she was super nice, only she was in a hurry, so i wasn't able to get a pic.

all in all, while nostalgia served good burgers and sausages, i have to say, it was thier chocolate cake that, well, really takes the cake! definitely a place we'll find ourselves in once again.

one thing i never forget to do before a photo op after you've had chocolate cake -- make sure i don't have any traces of it left on it around oral area! haha *wink*

happy valentine's day to all!!!

2007-02-14T00:25:00.000+12:00

happy valentines day to all!

hope you all took this chance to kiss and hug your loved ones, and that everyone had a pleasant, romantic and fun day of hearts!

i initially thought my valentine's day this year was gonna pass by uneventfully. i mean, i was never one for celebrating the day of hearts until pao came along (awww...). with his erratic medicine duty schedule lately, we both thought he'd be staying over at the hospital longer than needed. despite both of us agreeing that that was okay, i think we both felt bummed about it. and since this uber romantic commercialism of a holiday just comes around once a year, we both just ended up giving in to all the hype.

last year, he surprised me with a gorgeous boquet of gerberas. since he's been really toxic the past few weeks and has been on duty since last night, i decided to be the one to surprise him this year instead. conveniently, the student council took advantage of the holiday and sold long stemmed roses that you can have delivered to anyone within the school and hospital grounds.

yup, i ordered one and had it delivered to where he was which, at that time was at the cardiovascular unit. i wish i could've seen his face when he got the rose. since we were at the hospital too at that time, he went to where i was to give me my first kiss for that day. =)
my class ended at around 5:30. at 7 pm, he finally got to the parking lot with his bag on one shoulder, his clipboard in one hand and a huge, pretty boquet of flowers! absolutely adorable!

i still get all tickled giddy with flowers... =)

these are the times that i just completely fall in love with him all over again. before he handed me the flower, i rushed to give him a hug and upon closer look, it was a huge, gorgeous boquet of red and peach gerberas! =) writing about it now makes me all giddy again. haha! funny how i'm just always so tickled when he gives me flowers. it just makes me feel all girly *wink*

lovely, aren't they?

my surprise for him didn't end with the rose though. when we got to his place, i handed him a box which i didn't really have the time to wrap decently coz i did it in between the gyne lectures. nevertheless, it didn't really matter coz he quickly tore at the and pulled this out:

from our earliest pics as a couple to all the fun trips we've had to the simple random moments

so i may not have seen his face when he got the rose, but could tell he loved the pictures. =) yay! plus, under that were two rolls of 120 films for his holga -- one black and white, one colored.

since we've both been uber busy the past week -- him with his medicine rotation and me with my exams, plus that possibility that we might not even get to go out, none of us really thought of where to have dinner. we both wanted to go to the UP fair though. so we ended up driving there and after a few wrong turns, found ourselves parking in front of chateu verde -- that beautifully lit outdoor restaurant in UP diliman.

entrance to chateau verde...i love how it feels like you're walking into a secret garden =)

i've always been curious about the place and from the restaurant's prettily lit walkway to when we walked in, it didn't disappoint. it was nice, cozy and pretty. it's the kind of place that just gets me all excited and makes me feel giddy.

cheateau verde inside

there were just a few dishes on thier menu that night which was a sort-of valentine menu, so we didn't really have that much trouble deciding what to order. while waiting for the soup, the waiter brought over a garlic bread basket with pesto dip. the bread was really yummy! i just love how butter melts on warm bread. haha! since i'm allergic to pine nuts and the pesto did appear to have bits in it, i decided to pass that up. sucks though that i could smell it.

warm bread and lots of butter -- doesn't get any better than that!

the salad came next followed by the asparagus soup, both of which was also commendable. i especially loved how there were crunchy bits in the salad.

asparagus soup and the salad

this was followed by our main dishes -- tenderloin for me and salmon for pao. both tasted awesome! the tenderloin was cooked to rare perfection and was really juicy inside. plus, i loved how i could really taste the meat. pao's salmon on the other hand tasted as good as it looked. the salmon was really fresh and i loved how it was cooked as it ended up soft and juicy -- not like those hard, dry salmon you sometimes get.

our tenderloin and salmon dishes

i really had a hard time finishing my food! but since it was all good, i ended up just stuffing it all in. haha! man, was that an awesome dinner! we didn't have room for dessert though, but after we paid the bill, our receipt came together with a cute little box of chocolates. funny how valentines day is highlighted with all these cute little adorable goodies. =) still, the best part is always just being with, well, that one person who makes everything glitter for you. *wink*

from chateau verde, we headed to the UP fair grounds where we checked out the booths one by one. sadly, we didn't catch that many good bands. luckily, we were able to watch kiko machine and that was enough for the entrance fee. =) in addition to being a good band, they're absolutely hilarious in thier red overalls with well-choreographed 80-ish dance moves and a bassist famous for his spider man costume which he never performs without. true blue UP FA students. hahaha!

kiko machine!

at the end of the night, we both went home happy, though tired. nevertheless, i love it how i get tickled giddy with what i once have regarded as cheesy excuses for consumer patronage... simply coz i have the best boyfriend in the world. ;)

we're such a vain couple, i think... but then again, why not? ;)

from dinner at ababu to drinks at conspiracy to a nightcap at 77

2007-02-10T22:30:00.000+12:00

yesterday, pao had to get his uniform from his sister after his duty. luckily, se didn't have to go all the way to ortigas to meet mia there. instead, we just had to drive to teacher's village which is way nearer as she was at her bf chris' house.

it was already 7 when we left pao's place but since we both weren't so hungry yet at that time, we opted to go look for that persian eatery both pao's sister mia and our friend bernie was telling us about last friday at bigsky. with only the name ababu and no directions but just "within teacher's village" to help us find it, it was another night of unsure and gut-feel turns around teacher's village. after about 15 minutes of going around the area, we finally found it and it was just as i expected from bernie's stories.

ababu persian kitchen at teacher's village

ababu is situated just off the side of the road and while nothing physically separates the eating area from the road -- just that it's about two steps higher off the ground -- the place was full with a crowd made up mostly of students and yuppies who were just passing by for a quick dinner. what i love about place like these is how off it looks, and how off its location is, but how the food is surprisingly good. adds to the adventure of it, i guess.

ababu served persian dishes at really low prices, though i'd have to say, the ratio of rice to meat was really huge. pao and i each ordered the beef kebab meal which came with a plate full of rice and a helping of tomatoes and onions. i went a little batty after the food came, because i am so not a rice person, and the size of the meat was so small, it's something you could eat all on its own. still, for the price, the beef did taste good, and i never minded butter on my rice.

beef kabab rice meal complete with iced tea at P50.00

since there was obviously too much rice and so little meat, we opted to order for another serving of beef (P35.00) which luckily, if ordered individually came in a bigger portion. thinking we still had room in our stomachs, we both also ordered shawarma (P35.00), which i have to say was also pretty good.

after dinner, pao and i headed chris' place where he got his uniform and from there, we headed over to conspiracy bar since it was so near where we were. located in visayas avenue and owned by an inquirer writer, conspiracy is a bar where cynthia alexander is known to play regularly. however, while i've caught her play at other venues, i have yet to watch her perform here. we just had a few smokes and a drink each -- pao had a beer, i had a weng weng.

conversation with your boyfriend/bestfriend over drinks and a couple of smokes... what could be better?

since the night's gig hasn't started yet, we stayed outdoors and just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the garden. the customers were mostly people from the older generation who appeared to be from the smarter or at least more political sets of society.

conpiracy's al fresco area

i can't remember the last time i appreciated being in a quiet place with pao. it was nice to be able to talk to him again. =) with the stress of his medicine rotation and my exams, it just seemed that lately, we really haven't had a chance to just talk. conversation has been empty the past few days, and time spent together just felt so monotonous. don't get me wrong, i love every minute spent with him. it's just that since we're both so tired with the day's activities, by the time we see each other for dinner, while i'm always excited to see him, and there are days that it's the only thing i really look forward to, coz we're just physically and psychologically tired, it just feels like something we want to get over with so we could sleep. so tonight was nice because we really got to talk. nothing special in particular, but the kind of regular conversation we have as a normal couple.

l: outside the area with main stage where smokers could enjoy their cigarettes while listening to the performers. love the rows of bottles on the wall. r: the doorway to the area where the main stage is (to the right) and another indoor dining area (to the left)

despite our being together for a long time now, i love it that he could still make me laugh, and that we never run out of stuff to talk about. and i especially love it how when i have something quirky or interesting or funny to talk about, he's always the first person i'd think of talking about it with. =)

from conspiracy, we decided to check out 70s bistro, but after finding out the jerks, who were playing that night, still hasn't started playing, andwe'd have to pay an entrance of P100.00 for a show that we weren't going to stay around long enough to finish anyway, we drove to 77.

it's always nice hanging out in 77 because there are always people hanging out there who you know. while 77's world has been recently rocked a bit, i don't think anything would change how it's such a comfortable place to crash to at the end of the night for a night cap. a bottle of san mig light for pao and a glass of kick-me for me, a few conversations with the more interesting regulars at the bar -- like edsel and st. luke's radiologist doc gil -- and we were ready to call it a night.

i love it how with pao, dates don't always have to be, well, date-ish. it's always fun going on spontaneous non-date nights where initially, we really don't know where we're heading. i guess it doesn't always matter where you're going... but who you're going with really counts a lot... =)

snackaroo :: great, inexpensive steaks

2007-02-05T23:11:00.000+12:00

it's exam week once again, and by torrow, i won't have time to do anything but be so buried in books, notes and transcriptions. argh! mondays are the worst, i think. after almost a whole school year, i don't think i've still gotten used to the whole 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. pedia schedule followed by the 3-5 pm o.b. schedule.

on the upside, i just came home from a good dinner with pao (what else is new? haha). it wasn't another fine dining experience, but who could not be happy with a steak dinner? on days when we want good, inexpensive food, there are just a few places we choose from (mcdonald's, kfc, jollibee and the like not included). i forgot to mention the fast (or semi-fast, for that matter) part too, since more often than not, after a whole day of class for me and an 8 or 36-hour duty for him, all we wanna do is have a quick dinner so we could both go home and sleep.

we both felt like steak tonight, so we headed over to snackaroo which is on one of the side streets along kamuning. known for thier t-bone and porterhouse steaks, as expected, the place was packed with people ranging from students to yuppies to the people from the older bracket. of course, they serve more than just that. there are also numerous other dishes though mostly filipino.

while suddenly there seems to be numerous steak places that have recently opened, the reason why we keep coming back to snackaroo is that the steaks, for their price (t-bone is about P120.00), are really good. not to mention huge. the meat is tender and definitely not gummy, with ample amounts of fatty portions that are just enough to make it tender.

snackaroo's t-bone steak

total bill for a t-bone with one soup, one rice and a coke is about P160.00. not bad for a good steak dinner huh? of course, for it's price, don't expect the kind of restaurant that comes complete with the dim lighting, posh furniture and romantic ambience. snackaroo couldn't be farther away from the stereotypical steak house. it's not airconditioned and is along one of the bigger roads leading to e.rodriguez.
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snackaroo from the outside

then again, if you don't really mind the jeepneys passing by (which can even hardly be heard if you're on the inside), snackaroo's a great place to have a fast and inexpensive but really good steak dinner.

dinner at aioli cafe

2007-02-03T15:52:00.000+12:00

it sort of has turned into a habit that pao and i would have a nice dinner somewhere on fridays or saturdays (depending on when he's not way tired from duty). well, not necessarily date-nice all the time, but something new, at least.

yesterday, we decided to try aioli, a restaurant somewhere in cubao that marge recommended. initially, we had trouble looking for the place but after a couple of wrong turns and a few straights, we saw the restaurant's sign which was, actually, hard to miss.

i got excited the moment i caught a glimpse of the inside, and when we walked in, i understood why marge wanted us to try this place -- from the outside, aioli had a warm, cozy feel to it. the al fresco dining area was prettily lit with those tiny christmas lights creatively placed inside wine bottles. we would later learn that those were the handiworks of the owner's mother.

left: aioli's entrance from the outside; right: aioli's al fresco dining area

opting to stay in the indoor dining area, i felt like i travelled through time the moment we walked in through the glass sliding doors -- it was like walking into an old spanish-style mansion, only the receiving area had been transformed into a dining area with several long tables and a few square ones. it was lovely! with yellow lighting, lace tablecloths, and some strategically placed antique furniture, it was almost as if you stepped back into the era of romanticism.

everything was just so pretty!

everything on the menu sounded so good. after much fuss, we decided to order and were attended by the owner himself, ralph who recommended that since we're first-timers in his restaurant, we try thier best-sellers. apparently, two out of the four dishes that he recommended we were already thinking of ordering, but since what better way to try out a new restaurant than to try out their best-sellers, right?

"don't move!" said pao. as expected, i did... oops!

pao in the mirror of the dresser that was to our table's left.

while waiting for the food, pao and i went to check out what was behind the sliding door on the side, and when we stepped out, what greeted us was a wooden pool table. pao found it funny that it was my first time to see one of those kinds of pool tables -- where instead of balls, there were, um, chips, and instead of a felt-covered surface, the table was a smooth, flat, wooden surface.

pao trying his hand at pool

after a few in and missed shots, our soup came and when i saw my spinach and garlic soup, i didn't want to dip my spoon in it, lest i would ruin the perfectly green and brown division of it! pao on the other hand, ordered pumpkin soup. both tasted really good! i've always loved spinach but this is my first time to have it in soup form and i loved it. pao's pumpkin soup was equally as good with a lot of mashed pumpkins in it.

left: my spinach and garlic soup; right: pao's pumpkin soup

the seafood pasta came next, which we had ralph split into two. the seafood pasta was olive-oil based and i love how despite that, it didn't feel oil at all in my mouth. generous helpings of seafoods were mixed in, and i was happy that the seafoods used were as fresh as they came after being cooked.

seafood pasta

halfway through my pasta, i was starting to feel a bit full, but we had another dish coming, and after ralph placed the beautiful plate of baby back ribs in the middle of the table, i suddenly wished i could already get started on that. the ribs were huge, unlike the usual small rack of ribs that is served in most restaurants, and it was so tender! that was the first thing i noticed when i cut into it. glazed with a special marinade that perfectly complemented the meat, and served with generous helpings of vegetables and rice (which i let pao finish! haha), i understood why it was one of aioli's best-sellers.

baby back ribs...good luck trying to finish that!

total damage was just a little over P600.00. not bad at all (!) considering the food was really good, and the ambience was just so lovely. definitely one of those places where we'll find ourselves again, aioli would have to be among the top of my romantic date places list to go to if you want to impress someone. then again, i think what makes it so great too is that it's also a nice place not just for romantic dinners but for group dinners as well.

with ralph, the owner of aioli

aioli is located at 7 don egea st. and is open mondays to saturdays for lunch and dinner. to those who want to visit aioli, here's are thier contact details and a scanned image of the "map" on the back of their business card:

o O o

from aioli, we headed to big sky mind along broadway to have a few drinks and check out what bands were performing that evening, since it was a friday. we were in luck since there was a good lineup. it would've been nice if i could review the band one by one, but that's another entry. to end this post, here are some pictures of the bands that played that night. adios!

blas ople

pedicab

peryodiko

chilitees

sound

and here's our evening's mug shot. haha! mwah!

who could resist chocolate?

2007-02-02T22:38:00.000+12:00

just got home from the chocolate clearance sale! :) went with kriselle all the way to thier warehouse in pasig, not necessarily coz i'm a fan of chocolate, but because i always love great bargains. driving the distance was way worth it. initially, i thought it would be difficult to find, but it wasn't that hard, as it turned out.

left: the electronic flier that spread via the internet. right: the contents of the "free gift" bag (when you bring the flier): a notepad, 2 sample pakets of myra e facial moisturizer and acouple of pouches with girl stuff in it.

i can't believe we spent over two hours just picking out and fitting clothes! haha! we got there a little past 5 pm and didn't go out until after 7 pm. expectedly, there were a number of people when we got there though it thinned out as it got a little later.

items were marked from 50- 70% off, which was really great, except that for most parts, sizes of the clothes i wanted were no longer available (i'm an xs or a size 1) . luckily though, after going through the 6 (only 6, take note!) racks of clothes numerous times, i was able to decide on the stuff i wanted. it wasn't easy, though. i can't even remember how many trips i made to their makeshift dressing rooms. but it was fun =)

the entire area of the sale

after finally deciding on what to get, we sat down on the couch and had a little snack. yes, shopping can be tiring (i hope that didn't sound too ditzy...)

pretty cool huh? they even have refreshments for their shoppers. i wish every store out there gave the same treatment to thier customers. the cake was addicting, for some reason. i (guiltily) had three slices and several helpings of chips. great, there goes my xs size!

notice the tired but satisfied smiles?

pretty fun evening, i must say. to end this post, here are the contents of my loot bag from tonight's sale :)

pleated corduroy mini (original price 1,295 less 50%, got it at 647.50), worn out denim mini (original price 1,795 less 70%, got it at 538.50), black halter (original price 1,295 less 50%, got it at 647.50) & cut-out tank (original price 1,495 less 70%, got it at 445.50)

a quiet saturday night at moksha with marge

2007-01-28T04:21:00.000+12:00

after a tiring saturday morning, marge and i decided to grab a couple of drinks after dinner. wanting to stray away from the usual places we hand out in on weekends, she drove to wilson and after we had parked in front of alex iii, led me to a tiny bar. named moksha, i'd have to say it's one of the coziest bars i've been to in a long time. aparently, my gorgeous best friend knows the place (it's something that's always been there, i'd think, but just something you'd miss coz it's so small!) because it's one of thier clients in thier business.

pretty cool night. i'd have to say few things beat hanging out with your best friend (who's going through a crisis) on a saturday night when your boyfriend also has plans of his own. 4 hours of endless conversation on just about anything... always the way to go :) well, at least as soon as we were done dissecting our little dramas (right, like that ever happens!).

after conversation over a cosmopolitan and a kamikaze for me, 2 strawbery daquiries and a super dry for marge, not to mention a bunch of smokes (though i just had way, way less than i usually do coz my throat hurt so bad that time), we were ready to call it a night.

love you marge! hope you find what you're looking for...

mirror mask

2007-01-27T15:40:00.000+12:00

saw neil gaiman's incredible, incredible movie, " mirror mask."

as surreal as it is wonderful, the visuals are as amazing as the story... sucking you into a world so different yet so similar to your own, it reminds you that a lot of the things we take for granted are really the ones most precious to us.

a breathtaking, dizzying emotional trip through the innermost recesses of a girl's mind...

as if that wasn't enough, the heartbreakingly beautiful theme of the movie, "if i apologized" made me tear up...

if i apologised
mirror mask ost
words by: neil gaiman, melody: dave mckean; sung by: ashley slater

if i apologised
it wouldn't make it all unhappen
wouldn't make the darkness go away
if i apologised
it wouldn't mean i was forgiven
wouldn't mean you wanted me to stay

but it's a dream
when you seem
to be walking into the sun
we're on first unrehearsed
and we still don't know what we've done
so we don't say anything.

if i apologised
i don't suppose you'd even notice
even though i'd whisper it inside
if i apologised
we could be the perfect couple
well we could, but only in my mind

but if you ask
for the mask
then we're stumbling on through the dark
but we wait it's too late
and we only had to be asked
so we don't say anything

it couldn't hurt to try it
it couldn't hurt too much to try
it's there beyond the quiet
it couldn't hurt too much to fly...

meeting more of pao's family

2007-01-21T00:58:00.000+12:00

had so much fun yesterday!

in my previous post, i mentioned that i was in a real hurry. well that was because i had a really full schedule that morning. initially, my timetable was already set, until pao texted me, asking me to do his yearbook write up for him. how could i resist? i thought it was uber sweet. because i wanted to make it as perfect as i could, i spent almost the entire morning doing it, throwing my whole morning schedule of, well, girly stuff, upside down. but that was okay, coz after i finished the write up, i'd have to say i was proud of myself. after finalizing it, i emailed it to him and after he told me he loved it, it suddenly didn't matter that my "pre-party rituals" were thrown so off-base.

see, it was his cousin's wedding yesterday. the wedding was set at 2:45. since he was picking me up together with his family, *gulp* i had to make it on time. last night, he told me to be ready by 1:30. so you could imagine how little miss perennially late just went nuts trying to figure out how to organize her morning so she'd get everything done. this was my set schedule:

9:00 - 10:00 - breakfast

10:00 - 10:45 - bath

10:45 - 11:00 - apply facial mask, cut fingernails while letting it sit

11:00 - 11:20 - blow dry hair

11:30 - 12:00 - lunch

12:00 - 12:20 - curl my hair

12:20 - 1:00 - do make-up

1:00 - 1:20 - put on dress, fix clutch contents, borrow jewelry from mom

1:20 onwards - wait for them

pretty rigid huh? only the breakfast part was followed. then i went crazy tring to figure out what to write on pao's yearbook profile. luckily though, i managed to make it on time and even had enough to spare because he got out of the hospital way late.

nevertheless, i was proud of myself for making it on time *wink*

at around 2 pm, pao together with his mom and the driver arrived at the gate. i felt my face break into a huge smile the minute i saw him -- he looked amazingly good in his barong. and the way he looked at me made me feel even prettier that afternoon.

awww...

when we got to St. Peter's church, i started to meet his mom's side of the family one by one. everyone was just so nice and warm. and his mom's sisters were so cute! they all looked alike! i have to say though, among the many relatives of his that i met, my favorite is his tita eva. too bad i don't have a picture of her. you'll never guess how old she is by looking at her -- she has an amazing figure for her age, but she still insists on going under the knife for some body sculpting -- something which she does not need! nevertheless, she was loads of fun to talk to! eventually, the wedding started. i was part of the entourage -- something which i just found out the day before. of course, my initial reaction was that my dress was an entirely different color from the wedding's orange-and-fuschia color. i calmed down after he assured me it was ok. apparently, the secondary sponsors for the candles couldn't make it at the last minute, and chris (his sister mia's boyfriend) and i stood in for them. i thought that was really special how his aunt, who never met me, thought of including me in the entourage.

two failed attempts at getting the perfect picture...still, i think we make a good-looking couple... *wink*

the whole wedding mass passed by in a blur. i just remember lighting the candle when i had to and how his tita eva (who was seated in fromt of me), turning back to look at me and chatting with me from time to time.

l: pao took this picture of his cousin charity taking a picture; r: macoy, one of pao's adorable nephews. he wouldn't let me take a picture of him but i caught him unguarded this time! haha

after the mass ended, we headed to jade valley, which was just a few blocks from the church, for the reception. funny how my our family used to eat at this restaurant a lot before, but how i was never able to get a look see of their reception area on the other floors. nice place, as it turned out.

top, l-r: mia (pao's sister), tita del (pao's mom), charity, brian, gwen, ben, pao and...um, sweetie i need help

bottom: the newlyweds, kid & vannie

dinner was good! i don't remember the menu, but i do remember eating a lot. who could resist chinese food, right? had lots of fun too. i got to talk to some of pao's cousins and met more relatives. it was so sweet how he just made me feel so at ease, and everyone was just really nice. plus his nephews were all so adorable, though just a little too rowdy for me -- they didn't seem to get tired of running around the whole place!

with miggi, whom i thought was the most adorable of pao's nephews

...and more pictures of us... :)

after they brought me home, i found myself missing him already... (awww...) it was a good day...and night, in fact. :) most of all, think, is i loved seeing how pao's really close to his family and i love how he's always excited to have me meet the people in his life; i don't think it could get any sweeter than that...

19th! + congratulations tin! + great to be at 77 again!

2007-01-20T10:00:00.000+12:00

first off, happy fourteen months sweetie! such a non-anniv day... we both forgot! well, i almost did. then i decided to bring him breakfast but i was so late, and since i couldn't just hand it to him while he was at the medicine conference room (something's just not right with a third year student bringing her intern boyfriend food in the middle of a grand rounds session), i ended up giving it to him at 11:30 already. so what i intended as a sweet breakfast for him turned into lunch. toink. and while i'm not big on celebrating monthsaries or whatever you call it, we spent our evening with two different groups of people. don't get me wrong, it was fun (it was my first time to see marge since the year started and i did miss her!), but somehow, i can't help but miss the moments... a friend once told me that since she and her boyfriend have been going out for way too long, they're not that romantic nor that sweet anymore. God, i hope that doesn't happen to us. i'd die (i could almost hear someone saying, "don't be so melodramatic."). but i luuurve pao! he's the best boyfriend in the world! *big hug*

happy fourteen months sweetie! iloveyousomuch!

secondly, congratulations to tin for giving birth to a cute baby boy! pao and i quickly changed after class (well, me after class, him after his duty) and headed to manila doctor's hospital to visit tin who gave birth the previous night.

brand new mommy tin with baby... umm... help!

lots of interesting remarks that night... nevertheless, it's always fun hanging out with pao's college barkada.

fyi, bing was pointing to the baby...unfortunately, not seen in the pic.

l-r, 1st row (huh?) bing & tin; 2nd row: pao, cielo, claire, rich & i

from the hospital, we walked to tempura to have dinner. unfortunately, there were no available tables when we got there, so we opted for the restaurant next to it, casa romano, which was also along nited nations avenue.

inside casa romano (l-r): comfy interiors; the top of the bar (i just took a pic of this for the name of the resto); and a view of thier bar

i don't remember the exactly the names of the pasta dishes we ordered, but we ordered two: one was penne with a combination of white and tomato sauce, and a tomato-based one with seafoods in it. the food was okay. nothing spectacular, really, but the i remember the sauce of the the one with the seafoods being particularly yummy. the pasta itself (the noodles) was a bit undercooked though and was chewy and a bit gummy for pasta.

left: penne with combination tomato & white sauce; right: the seafood pasta whose name i can't recall

after we finished the pasta, thier house specialty, the "quadro pizza" came. it was...sweet. while the description in the menu read that it had seafoods in it (which was the reason why the group opted to order it), it didn't say that it was topped with teriyaki sauce and mayonaise. it wasn't bad tasting, but it wasn't great either. if anything, the upside to it was that the crust was nice and crunchy. despite all the complaints though, the entire pizza was wiped out in less than half and hour.

group pic at casa romana

we hung out for a while before calling it a night. after we parted, pao and headed off to 77 where this time, it was my set of friends whom we saw. haven't seen marge and doy since the year started and later in the evening, j.r., ysma and arnie came! =)

oh, and omigod, i almost had an allergic reaction! after biting into the pesto pizza, my mouth started to itch and i could feel my tongue getting thicker; this is how i always initially react to peanuts, to which i'm so infamously allergic to. realizing that i must be reacting to the pesto, since pesto has pine nuts and while i'm not always allergic to pesto, there are some which i react to, i stopped midway through my pizza, ran to the restroom and tried cleaning my mouth as best as i could without a toothbrush (no need to go into details). luckily, my reaction didn't progress to its really bad form (hives and eventually upper airway obstruction). unfortunately, finishing my slice of pizza was out of the question. while i hate, hate, hate it when my peanut allergy kicks in, it's also awfully sweet how my friends all become so concerned when i start to "look funny." pao was so sweet, saying he compltely lost the buzz he got from several drinks when he thought i was experiencing an allergic reaction.

i remember going to bed tipsy that night. lucky for me, i get to sleep through the next day. my poor intern boyfriend has to wake up early though to make it on time for his 6:30 am medicine call awww... i'm sorry for keeping you up sweetie...aren't you glad i asked to go home already by 1 am? *wink*

pretty awesome night... for a non-romantic monthsary... or whatever you call it... =)

in the meantime, i gotta work on pao's yearbook profile and figure out a way to start getting ready for this afternoon's event...which i'll blog about as soon as i get home. =)

alive 2007

2007-01-13T14:11:00.000+12:00

wolfgang and razorback sharing the stage at the music museum in an explosive 3-hour concert. need I say more?

my squashed ticket... luckily i was able to reserve a pair even before the first leg of the concert last january 6 coz tickets even to the second show were sold out way, way early.

1st row, l-r: tirso ripol doing his guitar effects while karl roy looks on; wolfgang; basti artadi working up the crowd

2nd row: wolfgand and razorback on stage

3rd row: wolfgang; tirso ripol & karl roy; worlfgang (again)

t-b, l-r: karl roy belting out his vocals; basti artadi still looking as hot as ever; tirso ripol vs. manuel legarda; tirso ripol working his guitar

pao and i all sweaty after the concert. hahaha!

my 6cyclemind cover article for burn magazine (jan-feb 2007)

2007-01-09T22:19:00.000+12:00

finally, the january-february issue of burn is out! yes, i am a music fan, but the reason why i’m so ecstatic is because my article is the magazine’s cover story! ok, well, there are two covers -- one’s john mayer, the other’s 6cyclemind, and i did the latter.

i admit i was never really a hard-core fan of the band, but interviewing musicians, seeing your own byline and getting paid to do it (i wish i got paid for going to med school. haha!) all are always enough reasons to be giddy about writing. best thing is, i have always – and still do -- consider it a hobby!

burn january-february

here’s my article including the first spread and the 2nd page

so people, get your newest issue of burn magazine and read all about your favorite musicians coz it has something that would cater to a wide variety of taste – from concise articles about your favorite pop, rock, trip-hop or even classical artist, to guitar chords, and of course, cd reviews. more to that, this double issue also has its own fashion editorial (yes, it’s a “fashionable” music magazine) that features bassists from various bands, and other non-music articles like fashion updates, restaurant and “date place” reviews and even some quirky write-ups what to do if you’re single on valentine’s day (awww…). but if you're not much of a reader, well then maybe the free cd that comes with the magazine would make it cool enough! :)

my contributor's profile for burn

thanks for giving me the assignment conch! and to 6cyclemind, with the special mention of datch, thanks for helping make my work a lot more fun than it’s supposed to be. :)

2007-01-05T02:50:00.000+12:00

finally, we got the last photo in the 2nd set-up from the photo shoot we did last november. it was pao's first year anniversary gift for me. no, it wasn't just this one; there were skin shots too. ;p we got those earlier -- equally gorgeous. as for this one, i was absolutely ecstatic when i saw it.

i can't believe it's been a year...

photo courtesy of michelle morelos of blow-up babies

absolutely gorgeous, huh?

post-christmas dinner with the person i look forward to spending more christmases with

2006-12-26T23:50:00.000+12:00

because we couldn’t be with each other during christmas (*pout*), pao and i decided to celebrate christmas by having dinner the day after instead (*big smile*). we wended up at taste of l.a. along roces avenue. writing about it makes me feel all giddy. at best, he can be the sweetest, most romantic boyfriend in the world. =)

initially, we were supposed to have dinner at café isabel in wilson, but unfortunately, the restaurant was closed when we got there coz someone rented the entire place for a wedding reception. so we had to think of another nice, cozy but romantic place to dine in quick and after not much thought, we both decided it would be nice to have dinner at taste of la.

the inside of taste of l.a. as viewed from the 2nd floor

luckily, we had no trouble with parking nor finding a table when we got there. we did have a hard time with the menu though because everything sounded so good from the descriptions and we were both starving! nevertheless, after much thought, we decided on oyster rockerfeller, their spinach and bacon pizza (which a lot of friends have been raving about), and a puttanesca, split.

us having fun with the cam shile we waited for the food to be served

the oysters rockerfeller came first and because it was presented so beautifully on a bed of salt and looked so good to eat, neither of us remembered to take a picture of it . baked with spinach and cream and topped with melt-in-your-mouth cheese (i could feel myself getting hungry as i write this), the oysters were as fresh as they came and lives up to it’s reputation of being an aphrodisiac. ;) hmmm…ironically that night…

after we finished the appetizers, the pizza was served and while this isn’t the first time we’ve had pizza from taste of la, even just the smell of thier pizza enough to make your mouth water. after we bit into our slices, pao echoed what was on my mind: "they really do have the best pizza in town." that was part of a review of the restaurat from a magazine whose name i can't recall. the bacon and spinach complemented each other perfectly, the spinach setting off the bacon's saltiness in just the right amount and the crust, as always, was crunchy as it was perfectly thin.

bacon and spinach pizza -- taste of l.a.'s best selling pizza

the puttanesca came as we were nibbling our pizzas. as full as i already was then, i couldn't stop myself from digging into the hot dish of pasta covered in fresh tomato sauce with anchovies, capers and black olives, happy that it tasted as good as it looked.

merry christmas baby! it may be the second time, but you're still the best christmas gift i received...

we hung out for a while after dinner, enjoying the ambience and the authentic feel to the place. made mostly of wood, the interior of taste of l.a. is as good for romantic dinners as it is for small get-togethers. i hope we have more nights like these. then again, if we had it all the time, it wouldn't be as special, wouldn't it?

merry christmas baby! iloveyousomuch... =)

2006-12-26T09:39:00.000+12:00

merry christmas!!!

had awesome christmas eve and morning celebrations with the family where i got a bunch of stuff from bags, to jeans, to quirky accessories and of course, good old cash (always the best!). there was a slight downer to the occasion though, but i really don’t want to harp on that coz it just ruins one of my favorite holidays.

before christmas day ended, some of us had a get together at marge’s on the evening of the 25th. and what could be a better way to end a holiday than a bunch of people getting together and talking the night away over wine, cigarettes, and platefuls of pica-pica? well, seeing a certain someone on Christmas… ;p

highlight of the evening was when michelle decided to come. i haven’t seen her in a while and it’s always great to talk to her coz she always has a lot of funny, quirky and interesting surprises which randomly pop out during conversations. like how she and whom i thought was still her someone is now “was” her someone. lucky for her (of not?) despite her and her (now previous) significant other being, well, previous, they still spent a part of christmas together. unfortunately for both marge and i, our boyfriends are far, far away and couldn’t spend the holidays with us (awww…). maybe that’s why she was itching to have people over for drinks. haha (marge knows i love her)! And why I really had to go.

michelle and i

kudos to marge for hosting a fun impromptu christmas get together for anyone who could come! made up for my downer the previous evening. =)

l-r, t-b: paolo, tommy, paul, marge, aina, me & michelle

merry christmas again everyone!!!

all i wanted for christmas + christmas party # 3 :: with pao's other UP barkada

2006-12-23T17:52:00.000+12:00

i spent the whole morning in greenhills to satisfy the shopping urges i've been getting since yesterday and to find the perfect box for pao's gift. after over a week of searching for the perfect box for the fedora hat i got him from zara's (which unfortunately, did not come with a hat box), i have learned that finding enev just a box to fit the thing in wasn't as easy as i thought. nevertheless, i ended up with an almost perfect box and was on my way home by 4:30. by 5 pm, i was starting to panic because pao wanted to leave for jacqui's place by 6:30 and i had just started getting dressed and haven't gone around to warapping his gift yet. miraculously, i made it on time and after he picked me up, looking very gq in his black polo, pinstriped pants and black and red checked skinny tie, we stopped by his apartment to exchange gifts.

i was getting a bit confused because during the ride, he either kept saying that he was really excited to give me his gift, while there were times he'd say he wasn't able to get me antything special. nevertheless, i was really excited when he handed me a beautifully wrapped thing shaped like a cylinder. i gave him the box wrapped in red paper and tied with a bow then we sat on the bed. i made him open his first. after much paper, tape and stuffing later, he pulled out the fedora with a pleased look on his face. i was glad he liked it. best of all, it fits! yay!

then he turned to me and watched me unwrap mine. after reading the card, i undid the twine that held the soft pink wrapping and inside was the prettiest candle holder i've seen.

turns out it was just the packaging...

then, i noticed that there was still something in it. taking out the small item carefully wrapped in green japanese paper, i excitedly tore at the wrapping and inside was the sweetest, most beautiful surprise a girl could get on christmas...

he had the pictures we had taken on our anniversary printed on a bracelet!

i let out a squeal and practically leapt of the bed and threw him a big tight hug. it was the bracelet i've been harping about and he went through all that trouble to get it for me! awww... suddenly, i was reminded of why i always thought i'm lucky to have him. :)

a couple of minutes later, we decided that we had to get the tortes ready and head off to jacqui's place, both of us giddy, with me wearing the bracelet and him wearing the hat. when we got to jacqui's, a lot of people were already there. kudos to jacqui for volunteering to host the party! thanks girl!

a short while later, they started to bring in the food, starting with the appetizers -- pita, foccacia and another kind of bread, with cheese (brie?) and tomato & garlic dip, hommous, and a green salad. most of it, tin bought from malate's shawarma snack center, which serves authentic mid-east food. as expected, the food was amazing. and we were just getting started.

holidays = good food = ...weight gain (aaargh!!!)

i was starting to feel a little full when someone brought out the baked macaroni that cielo made and a while bilao of razon's pancit luglog, courtesy of carla. carbo loading, but who cares? the pasta tasted really good (great job cielo!). unfortunately, i couldn't seem to stuff the pancit in my tummy any more, when mike and lia came, armed with a deep dish of baked chicken. talk about too much food! it was all good though and nothing beats a get together with good friends, good food and great conversation.

spot the difference? ;)

right pic (l-r, t-b): lia, mike, jacqui, claire, reyu, pao, tin, cielo, carla, me, bing, plong, mike

left pic (l-r, t-b): kimchong, carla, lia, jacqui, carla, reyu, pao, tin, cielo, me, bing, plong, mike

a short while later, pao brought out the three dessert dishes we bought the previous day and made a show of presenting the different flavors to the group. finally, i got to taste the other two flavors i've been curious about! i still love the strawberry walnut torte, but the tobleron walnut torte is a close second. the caramel profiterole which came with cream puffs was also just as good.

more people started coming in and a short while later, the ice-cold sodas in paper cups were replaced with glasses of red wine. then people started giving thier gifts around. our colorful marshmallows were met with compliments and thank you's while i got several nicely wrapped gifts from pao's friends (which was really sweet since i hardly knew them!).

girls' photo op...this is the problem when there are too many cameras flashing... one more try!
l-r, t-b: plong, claire, cielo, rich, lia, carla, tin, jacqui, me

several glasses wine, cigarettes, photo-ops and hours later, some decided to call it a night and head home. pao and i together with bing and cielo stayed for a while to help jacqui fix up after which we hung out for a while. everyone was happy with how the night turned out. a lot of people who didn't make it to last year's christmas part made it this year, with the exception of a few.

couple pics after everyone had left... spot the cutest couple! ;)

l-r: jacqui & gp, pao (yes, that's the fedora that i had such trouble finding a box for!) & i, bing & cielo

an hour later, pao brought me home and as i gave in to the little amount of alcohol in my body, i fell asleep happily, glad that the party and the gift which my sweet and adorable boyfriend had been a bit worked up about the past week turned out really really well.

to end this blog, here's a pic of what's probably the best picture of the night:

...until i got carried away with photoshop...

happy holidays!

from (l-r, t-b): val, pao, lia, mike, claire, rich, cielo, kimchong, jacqui, reyu, tin, mike, bing, carla & plong

a yummy christmas up adhead!

2006-12-22T01:19:00.000+12:00

what started out as a crappy day turned into a really good one :)

my day started off on the wrong foot and it was keeping me from smiling the whole day.

then again, i had a busy day ahead of me, so i thought i might as well channel my energy on that.

first off, pao and i went to greenhills where he picked out gifts for his family and we had to do it in about three hours. riiight! i usually need the whole day for stuff like that. surprisingly, we finished it in less than two hours! i swear, sometimes guys' shopping senses leave me at an awe. after lunch at reyes barbecue, one of the food stalls in theatre mall's food court, we went back to his place to take a nap. i was still kind of down from the fiasco i had earlier today, and it didn't really help that i was at one of my favorite shopping places but i couldn't exactly go around and look for stuff for myself to cheer me up (spending is therapy for me -- not such a good one, huh?) coz we didn't have enough time. still i thought it was really sweet how he let me help him pick out gifts for his family and that just made up for it.

apparently pao noticed i was really sad, and being the sweet boyfriend that he is, he insisted that i open one christmas gift to cheer me up. to backtrack a little, we both agreed to exchange gifts the following day. at first i didn't want to (because that would ruin the whole christmas surprise bit) but he was insitent and said i've just been so down the whole day, he was sure this would cheer me up. taking my hand, he led me back up to his room where he made me sit down and close my eyes. i could hear him ruffling through his closet and when he told me to open my eves, beside me was a box wrapped prettily in purple metallic paper complete with a bow. when i read the card, my jaw dropped. it was from his mom! and i thought that was really sweet. i felt my face light up and i walked over to the bed where he was and gave him a big hug, but not before i saw him smiling. then i excitedly tore at the wrapping, opened the box and inside was the most darling little black furry bag i've seen. it just spelled fun all over it and without missing a beat, i was already running in my head which outfits i could use it with. i absolutely loved it. :) then pao tells me that when his mom bought it, she also got the same thing for herself! awww... the whole thing just lifted my spirits and suddenly it felt like everything was right in my world again, and i could tell that my adorable boyfriend was pretty proud of himself. it was endearing. :)

he had to go back to the hospital in a bit and after dropping him off, i headed over to walter mart to try to look for a box for his gift to no avail, after which i drove to metro, a local grocery around the area, to get more ribbon for our gifts. about 3 minutes after getting home, pao calls me up says he's done for the day, and asks to meet up with me again. a coule of minutes later, we were on our way to mom and tina's in libis to get several tubs of torte which will be his contribution to thier christmas party tomorrow (later), since he was assigned to bring dessert. much traffic but less than an hour later, we arrived at mom and tina's, a small bakery outside the huge san jacinto chinese restaurant.

Mom and Tina's Bakery Café at FRDC Bldg., 106 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave, Ugong Pasig (Tiendesitas Libis); contact no.: 9140833

the front display just had the yummiest looking goodies. damn, i could already feel myself gaining weight just by looking at it. but it looks like one of those perfect little gifts for christmas!

little drops of heaven, pao calls it

nevertheless, pao ended up buying what we really went there for: their famous tortes. he got two tubs of strawberry walnut torte, one tub of toblerone walnut torte and one tub of caramel profiterole. all were 1.5. liters with prices ranging from p350.00 - P380.00. the verdict? i'll tell you in a bit. ;)

mom and tina's fridge filled with their insanely creamy and smooth chocolatey and fruity tortes

while we were there, i also just bought a take out of san jacinto's pancit canton which my dad just loves. from there, we headed home for dinner, after which we opened one tub of the strawberry walnut torte which pao gave to my family as a gift (thanks sweetie! *big hug*). it was amazing. smooth, creamy, and with loads of whole strawberries, it's the stuff that "sweet dreams" are made of, thought it wasn't uber sweet -- it had just the right mix of sweetness and fruitiness to it, and is definitely one of the yummiest desserts i've tasted.

after dinner, pao and i picked up where we left off with our gifts and about two hours later, this is what we've accomplished:

everytime a marshmallow fell on the table, pao or i would end up popping it. can you guess how many marshmallows we ate when we were working on this? can you guess which bows were tied by me and which ones were tied by pao? nyahaha!

so, to answer my question a couple of posts ago: how do you keep yourself from spending way too much and still giving your friends something special?

answer: a cute tub of colored marshmallows labeled with the quirkiest christmas tag and a patiently, painstaikingly and lovingly tied with a pretty bow. :)

all in all, what started out as a crappy day turned into one of those almost perfect days. and we capped off our evening with the repeat telecast of the nu rock awards. pretty cool huh? to end this post, here's a pic of pao and i at mom and tina's at the end of a busy, busy day:

have a yummy christmas!

christmas party #2 :: with one of pao's UP barkada + anne's birthday

2006-12-21T23:39:00.000+12:00

had another uber fun christmas get together last night, this time, with one of pao's UP barkadas. conveniently, it was also anne's birthday celebration. happy birthday (again) anne! =)

with pao from his neuro pre-duty post and me from the mall, we almost didn't make it on time for dinner at don henrico's at tomas morato. luckily though, we weren't the last ones there, though by the time we showed up, the birthday celebrant herself, pawhay, and ytienne were already there. :D carlo showed up a short while later.

random thought: these are the times that i'm thankful i get along well with boyfriend's friends. =)

we ordered a huge platter of buffalo wings, putanesca, and supreme pizza, plus bottomless iced tea. dinner was uh-mazing (thanks anne!), and we ended up with so much more than we ordered. in the end, we couldn't finish the pizza nor the buffalo wings which lead to, what else, but a huge take-out box. i couldn't believe how full i was. i just kept burping the whole night (silently, but yeah, still...eeew!).

from left: pao, me, pawhay, carlo, anne & ytienne

after dinner, the group decided to go to 77, one of the more cozy watering holes around the area. unfortunately, when we got there, cars were parked one after the other and there was absolutely no place left to park. i guess it was just as well since it turns out most of the group wanted to have a dose of caffeine rather than alcohol. we drove back to tomas morato hoping to have coffee at starbucks. unfortunately, the place was packed. catching sight of a newly opened koppi rotti, we walked over there where luckily, there were two available tables outside big enough to fit our group. as everyone settled down with thier coffee and some with thier cigarettes, a couple of fireworks lit the sky. as we all looked in the direction of the light, a burnt piece of what's left of a firecracker dove straight into pawhay's cup, startling us all. for a moment, it didn't quite register what that thing floating in his cup was until we all realized that it came from the firecracker that had just fizzled out. makes you think: what are the chances? hahaha!

firecrackerccino

as the night and the conversation wore on, several more people showed up -- mike & lia and maan & pj. with conversation ranging from anne's piggly wiggly (sorry anne! can't help it!) to the group's quirky antics back in college to the local medical boards and the us mle to the 4-day wedding that mike and lia attended in cebu, it was a fun and interesting night that had no instance of dead air even for a second. we gave out our cute gifts a while later, while mike and lia gave thiers. i got a cool striped pouch which i know exactly what to use for already. a couple of hours later, a light rain that did not show any means of letting up started to fall and we were forced to transfer to a place with a roof.

from left: me, pao, carlo, anne, mike, lia, maan, ytienne, pawhay

some few steps later, we ended up at a watering hole outside 9 ball, a pool bar where the people who were looking for some alcohol got thier fill. about 6 hours of laughter and conversation later, at around 1 am, everyone decided to call it a night as we all exchanged christmas hugs and kisses.

pao and i, on the other hand, decided to drop by 77 for one more drink as we reviewed the nights events. i was happy that he was happy, and he was happy that i had fun with his friends. before we left, ene complemented my outfit (i was wearing a red dress with a belt tied as a bow around waist) saying, "i like the bow...parang gift." to which someone yelled to pao the catch phrase of the night, "buksan mo na yan!" ;)

have you been naughty or nice this year?

2006-12-18T23:37:00.000+12:00

pao and i started working on the gifts we were gonna give his friends -- from his groupmates at the hospital, to his two sets of barkadas from UP manila. all in all, that's roughly between 35-40 people. so how do you keep yourself from spending way too much and still giving your friends something special?

i'll blog about that soon. ;)

in the meantime, i did my share of work by making the christmas tags that we are gonna use. printed on glossy sticker paper, it's good enough to give as the gift itself, like, as a sticker! ;)

happy holidays from santa's naughtiest couple!

3 b's :: busy day, from a bazaar to dad's birthday

2006-12-17T02:37:00.000+12:00

headed over to the la vista bazaar this morning which i've been receiving emails about. it was apparently, just a lot of hype. there were some really cute items but all in all, i thought it was overrated. still, i was able to cover about one-third of my christmas shopping, though i went home with just a bag for me.

after the bazaar, i headed over to pao's apartment where we had lunch before we went to wait outside dr. arcena's clinic for thier group's courtesy call in thier psychiatry rotation. this was at 2 p.m.. by 4, the psychiatrist was still busy with a patient so pao decided to just kill time by getting a haircut. fortunately, he was done by the time 5:30 rolled by, which was about the time his groupmates were starting to text him and i was trying to weigh if i'd make it to the 6 o'clock mass on time. then my mom started texting, telling me to park on another street since the church was closed because there'd been a shooting where two people were killed within the church parking lot.

i was still a little confused about the messages, but i hurried to church after dropping pao off in front of the medical arts building. the atmosphere that greeted me in church was that of a sad one. a certain congressman bersamin had been shot close range and lay on the ground alongside his also dead body guard. apparently, he was a principal sponsor to his neice's wedding. after all the ceremonies, as he was boarding his vehicle, several armed men in barongs riding motorcycles drove to where he was, where one shot him at the back. as he fell to the ground, the man continued to shoot him, while another shot at his bodyguard. a "watch-your-car" boy sustained an injury on his thigh and was rushed to the hospital.

the two dead bodies were still there as the 6 pm mass went on, but everyone was obviously shaken by what happened. it makes you wonder how much one's life is -- how much was the bounty on this congressman's head? i feel sorry for the newly-wed couple most, i think. imagine having to celebrate your anniversary year after year with the memory of a relative dying so violently on your wedding day. they'd probably have another wedding. i know i would.

after church, we headed over to kowloon house, a chinese resto where daddy celebrated his 5?th year. his birthday is actually on the 17th, but he celebrated it one day in advance since he and my mom have a wedding to attend today. so nevertheless, happy birthday dad!

i personally am not a fan of the restaurant but his side of the family likes it there for some reason. happily, pao agreed to be my date that evening which wasn't bad at all because he enjoyed the food.

from left: my grandparents, my cousin abi, my aunt & uncle, the birthday celebrant himself & my mom, maan, melissa, me & pao

pao and i ended the night with a couple of drinks at 77, a place which will always remain at the top of my list among one of the best places to end a night.

christmas party #1 :: slmc christmas party

2006-12-15T21:19:00.000+12:00

at long last, we get to really feel the holiday season. one of my favorite things about the holidays are the endless parties. first stop is the college christmas party, the best way, i think, of ending our agonizing week-long exams.

held at access point in one of the "scout" streets along tomas morato yesterday, dec. 14, i'd have to say the freshmen did a pretty good job of getting everyone in a festive holiday mood. as for the hawaiian theme, well, we did our best!

highlights included, of course, showing up with a date who tried his best to conform to the party theme (hawaiian), me winning some starbucks gift certificates for being the best dressed girl, though i think they just let me win coz i was the oldest among the contestants, and corinne getting lester and i up on stage for an impromptu acoustic number. haha go figure.

best part of the party being held elsewhere other than in the college was that we at least got to smoke and order alcohol as the night wore on and everyone went home drunk and happy. all in all it was a good night.

here's to the beginning of the holiday season! cheers!

from top left: pao & i; with lester...on what med students do upon request and without

hesitation when they've had too much to drink (haha!); pao & i (again) trying to

look sober; with corinne, cent & lady; still with corinne, cent & lady plus kriselle

pizza, pasta and donuts

2006-12-09T03:50:00.000+12:00

after my exams in radiology, surgery and legal medicine earlier that day, pao's tiring pre-duty at his neuroscience rotation, and initially, much thought, we decided to check out acmici de don bosco over at makati. about a 30-secondswalk from the church, it's a bit hard to find. yet, surprise surprise, when we walked in, the place was packed! and why not, when they offer authentic ialian food,courtesy of the more entrepreneurial salesian priests.

yes, the food was way awesome, but don't expect the usual ambience you'd normally be welcomed with when you dine at authentic restaurants. the set-up's almost like that of a canteen. on second thought, it is a canteen. a huge one. that's packed.

here are two views of amici:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this one was taken from where we were seated, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and this is a view of the inside taken at closing time.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawhich seems like an extension of the place. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa imagine all those chairs packed during thier open hours!

don't let the lack of ambience turn you off though. the food is awesome! pao and i ordered a plate of tortellini all panna e prosciutto and a whole sicily pizza.

the tortellini was served first and it tasted as amazing as it smelled. of course, i practically devour anything that has cheese in it, but in this pasta, the cheese just melts in your mouth and the cream sauce was just perfect, complimenting the saltiness of the ham. hungry as we both were, we finished the dish in about, say, 15 minutes. haha!

tortellini all panna e prosciutto

stuffed pasta with ham, cream and parmesan cheese

the pizza came just as we finished off the tortellini. cooked in wood fire, the crust was uber thin and crunchy and it tastes great. no other explanation how two people could finish off a whole pizza after a plate of pasta.

sicily pizza

tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, sundried tomatoes, olive oil

all in all, pao and i both eneded up very satisfied with what we ordered. amici de don bosco's hand at serving their clientele authentic italian dishes is a refreshing break from the commercial italian fast foods we're all used to eating. i love how the flavors of a dish were so distinct. pricewise, the pasta may have been a bit pricier than what most people are used to, but it's well worth it. the pasta, on the other hand, at P240, i found to be very reasonable. i also would've wanted to try the gelato, but since we got there late already, they were already starting to fix up, and that included the gelato freezers. no big deal though. at least that'll give us another reason to head out there since we both look forward to trying out their other pasta dishes as well as the pizza. ;)

we have yet to try the other pasta selections... everything sounds so good!

pizzas are at P240 only! way worth it!

from amicci, we headed over to the week-long opened krispy kreme at the fort and at 11 pm, we were surprised to still see that there were still a number of people falling in line or waiting outside (probaby for thier friends/families who fell in line).

check out the crowd at krispy kreme! and this was at 11 pm!

surprisingly though, the line moved fast. i fell in line when we got there (and the line had extended up to the outside) but just minutes after pao emerged from the rest room, we were already inside the shop, breathing in the freshly cooked doughnuts that are sure to be a lot of people's new addiction in a couple of weeks. too bad for those who are on one of those perrenial diets coz you can't just eat one!

lots and lots and lots of donut-y goodness!

all in all, it was a fun night, if only we didn't get stuck in an hour-long traffic on the way home :( gilmore was (and still is) under construction, so it's causing a whole lot of problems for motorists as far as those coming from edsa. i hope they get that fixed soon coz it's also adding to the traffic that the christmas rush brings.

then again, despite that traffic, very few things could possibly beat sharing with the one person you love the most, the feeling of sinking your teeth into the softest, melts-in-your-mouth doughnut you've ever tasted. ;)

yum!

2006-12-05T09:59:00.000+12:00

i realized i haven't posted a decent blog in sometime. that should be my new year's resolution, i think, since 2007 is just around the corner. ;)

2006-11-28T01:01:00.000+12:00

erk...

i can't believe i've gotta get into exam mode again... i'm not even over my sem break mode yet! suddenly missed a really good friend...who's probably having the time of her life, spending a part of her november on a secluded beach tucked away somewhere out there...

2006-11-15T00:02:00.000+12:00

when i was telling pao about my previous entry, he said, "people might think you're talking about us." i assured him it doesn't sound that way. but after looking over it again, i realized he was right. it's such a universal subject, i think... and how everyone i know who has read it has reacted to it in one way or another, asking me indirectly if anything was wrong in my life (but too polite to ask if i was writing about mysel), or if i was writing about some common friend we have (depending on the person whose curiousity was piqued).

and that's the beauty of a blog...because it cultivates a kind of drama all by itself just by being posted. you just sit back and watch it do all the work.

so do i have perfect friends? well, don't we all? it reminded me of that time we saw, "the devil wears prada" which in turn reminded me of how two close friends of mine had a fight. one called the other one a social climber and a war erupted between them. it was quite interesting seeing the whole thing unfold -- it was like watching one of those reality shows without any external influence from the directors nor producers. of course, who's to say that this friend called a social climber was just doing her job, really, and had to attend all these uber cool rsvp events decked in dressed to kill haute couture?

looking at my friends having the time of thier lives in thier twenties sometimes it makes me think twice if i'm in the right field. sure, there's fulfillment in passing my subjects. and the few patients we get to see, and help, somewhat, well, it does remind me time and again that someday, my efforts will be rewarded. then again, i'm a 24-year old student, who's still not earning her own money, still lives with her parents, and still has a curfew.

what if i pursued a career in writing? i mean, i was doing contributory work here and there for the past four years and it does have its perks. not to mention instant gratification and a paycheck that is not bad at all for something that i consider a hobby. now i can't even find inspiration on what to write about. i mean, there's no drama right now (thankfully, though) and really, nothing to harp about (and i should be happy about that, right?).

nevertheless, i miss writing. i miss playing the piano. i miss performing. i miss working out everyday. i hate missing all those social events i've had to endlessly pass up because my books or a deadline were calling. and i was just writing as a contributor at that. what if i went into it full time? would i be really, truly happy? or would i be eaten by the system and just end up being another plasticized girl?