Category: food

– Saw UP Samaskom’s L.I.V.E AIDS for the first time. The thing with watching a first show (we watched the matinee on Saturday) is you can be sure there will be mistakes. This shouldn’t be the case, but it happens. It’s the first show of a run, people are giddy/nervous/crazy, and the audience is basically a guinea pig. The second show will be tweaked and perhaps will end up better, with no dying microphones, people who forget their cues, etc.

purple stage

 

There were errors. Yeah. The pre-show felt like it was done on the fly, although I did laugh at the Mara/Clara gag: “Anong gagawin ko, Clara?” “E di mag-aral ka, bitch!” In the show itself, some jokes fell flat, and the ending feels rushed, but I still found myself laughing at certain segments (Shalami is HILARIOUS). But it could have been better. It should have been better, damn, it’s Live Aids. They decided to put up a musical, but the music isn’t extraordinary, and the story arc (based on the Wizard of Oz) actually restricted the comedy. We don’t need a story, Samaskom, we just want to laugh.Give me one skit after another, and I’ll be a happy clam.

I heard last year’s show was better, so now I’m having second thoughts. Should I watch again next year?

– Jaykie and I tried Wicked Kitchen. I’ll recommend everything we had: buffalo tenders, chunky cheese sticks, chicken kebab, fish and chips, drunken seafood platter, and this big-ass cookie (Gluttony, cookie with ice cream – to share). They have good food.

– We weren’t able to exercise this weekend because we weren’t feeling well, but next week! I need a month to burn this m*therf*ckin cookie!

food and fiction

Vegetarian siopao! Two office mates brought these to the office. I bought two for P50. They are awesome.

Speaking of awesome, check out these two short stories I recently discovered online:

Things You Don’t Know by Ian Rosales Casocot

The Depressed Person by David Foster Wallace

sweet valentine

On Feb. 14 a little boy came over and handed me an apple tart from Rowena‘s.

The tart made me want to go back to Tagaytay already. Yum.

We were wary of the traffic, so we initially planned to go to QC, have food delivered from TGI Friday’s, and watch some shows while waiting for the food. But traffic was (surprisingly) light for Valentine’s Day, so we decided to dine at Mom and Tina’s. Jaykie’s treat!

Have you ever been? We’ve been to this restaurant several times. They have good food (soup, pasta, steak, sandwiches), and even better desserts. We go to the one on E. Rodriguez in Pasig, but there’s one now in Makati (G/F Unit 104, Tropical Palms Condominum, Dela Rosa St., Legaspi Village).

I had chicken and chips!

I always order their walnut tortes, but that night I tried their Baked Oreo Cheesecake. Our Awesome Planet swears by it.

Best. Oreo. Cheesecake. Ever.

Seriously. I’ll order this again next time.

And I only had the solo portion.

Before we headed out, the woman behind the counter (Jaykie wonders now if it was the Mom in Mom and Tina’s) stopped us and said we had a Valentine’s gift from them.

Yay free cupcake!

It was good. :)

P.S.

Let’s talk some more about food! Read Jaykie’s culinary adventures on V-Day.

weekend update

Busy weekend. Had to wake up at 6 a.m. on my days off, but it’s all for the sake of productivity.

Friday. I was in QC since Thursday night. However, Jaykie had a morning job interview scheduled on Friday in Makati, so we woke up at 6 a.m. I didn’t have to, but I decided to tag along instead of staying in QC because I would end up either sleeping or shopping. (And of course I wanted to show my support to my boyfriend.)

We had a McDo breakfast because none of us had the motor skills to cook at such an ungodly hour. We also brought our running shoes and extra clothes for our planned jog in UP later that afternoon. Then the drive to Makati. We couldn’t find the building, so after going ’round in circles (and one-way streets), we left the car at a paid parking lot, took a taxi, and walked. That morning involved a lot of walking and getting lost. Jaykie did well, which was exciting. We had lunch at Tempura (I had a Kani salad and some sushi), then walked some more, trying to find the paid parking lot. We couldn’t find it. Makati has the shittiest street plans. The people we asked gave us conflicting directions, so in the end, we took a taxi again. That was frustrating, but at least we found the car and it was intact.

We went to UP to cool our heels. Stayed at the HGC tambayan for a bit, then we changed (it was so hard to get out of my jeans in the backseat of a car – I don’t know how the teenagers do it) and went jogging.

It was the eve of Ate VJ’s birthday, so we had a great dinner with Ate Budz and Jael: pasta, palabok, cassava cake. There was fried rice, but I couldn’t touch it due to the blasted diet. Then drinks (the Arbor Mist wines were delicious, and I couldn’t get enough of the mustard-flavored pretzels!) and quality daldalan.

Saturday. Jaykie had class, and I wanted to jog, so we woke up at 6 a.m. again. Another McDo breakfast. I had my jog, went home, washed the dishes from last night, and went to sleep for an hour and a half.

That night we went out for dinner with Jaykie’s family at the Marriott Cafe.

Seafood buffet! It was awesome. I didn’t eat a lot, but I went crazy with the desserts.

Jaykie’s parents and sister, VJ:

Kuya Ben and George:

Hi, Jake!

krazy garlik!

I love garlic, so when I saw my office mate’s Irene’s pictures of Krazy Garlik (second floor, Greenbelt 5, open till 11 p.m.) dishes, I knew at once that I had to try this restaurant.

I had the chance last night, with Jaykie. Here be some random pictures of things while we’re waiting for our orders.

Appetizers: I had the creamy garlic fondue, while he had the Sopa de Ajo.

I love it that there’s little candle under there to keep the dip warm.

Drinks: I wasn’t able to try Jaykie’s (Madhatter), but I enjoyed mine (The Shadow).

My drink contained dragonfruit, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream.

These appetizers were on the house. The radish (?) strips were refreshing. Top them with kimchi, salsa, or the sauce. (I’m not really sure if we ate this right, but what the hell.)

I loved both the fondue and the soup! The flavors in the soup worked really well. That’s the soup I’ll look for when I’m sick or depressed haha.

Main Courses: Spaghetti Parmesan for me and Seafood Fettucinne a la Diablo for him.

Both tasted good (the fettuccine had a nice sauce), but we loved the Parmesan more.

Dessert: YOU GUYS SHOULD TRY THESE BOTH.

Apple tart a la mode

 

Crema Catalana

No hint of garlic in the apple tart, but the apples were done beautifully. The crema catalana was just awesome – down to the caramelized garlic.

The dishes were a bit expensive, but I’d love to go back. That was a fun dinner.

weekend pictures

Jaykie and I went to UP on Friday, and discovered the Bahay ng Alumni Christmas bazaar (after a scrumptious dinner of fish al forno and fries and Cherry Christmas cake at ROC).

I got costume jewelry, of course.

Jaykie also bought me a copy of McEwan’s Saturday. Thanks, love.

Saturday, I tagged along with Jaykie and friends to Cubao X for dinner at Bellini’s. Pasta, pizza, cake heaven. I loved the complimentary wine, sweet with a bit of fire. I also appreciated the fact that the proprietor shook our hands as we left. I told him I enjoyed their food. Then CBTL for tea/coffee. I didn’t take out my cameraphone, so I’m posting pictures by Jme here.

The boys were trying to figure out how to cut this small cake into nine slices. Naturally I zoned out. Ha!

(Don’t worry, the division was successful.)

Before that, we passed by Sputnik, and I got Carljoe’s and Adam’s books. Finally! (Unfortunately, I still don’t have Elmer.) I went to the Reading Room to buy Leyende, a moisturizer (thanks Lizzy for the tip!), for my awfully itchy dry skin, but they’re all out.

Cubao X has the coolest shops. Wish I could drop by more often.

easy a, and other things

Like hell you need to know the storyline. Watch it, watch it! They reference Natasha Bedingfield, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and Kinsey, and even work the phrase “whore couture” into a sentence!

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In the interest of being healthy, we went to Chimara to buy movie snacks. The tofu chips are actually very filling, so just buy the small pack. I recommend sour cream for seasoning. Also: the apple chips are heavenly. They blossom like sweet marshmallows in the mouth. Wash down with green tea.

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VN Benedicto, who did the artwork for “Elsewhere”, has an interview up at Rocket Kapre.

How did you go about creating the artwork for “Elsewhere“? I’m glad this one was assigned to you, considering the subject matter, since you’ve done comics before.

It was kind of intimidating since I haven’t done a sequential page in a looooong time. And I have never done a fully digital comic page. I spent a lot of time just coming up with a layout. I also relied heavily on references for both the colors and pose of the hand in order to make it reasonable realistic, and kept the rendering of the page loose so as to contrast with the realism of the hand.