Weekend Snapshot : Future Cake Artisans

I found these fantastic “Make Your Own Cakes” kit at a local bakeshop. Each kit contained 1 cake, 3 tubes of frosting (white and 2 colors of your choice), a plastic spatula, and a small pack of sugar flowers. I figured that the whole family would enjoy decorating their own cakes for a Sunday afternoon activity. So right there and then, I purchased 4 kits to take home to the Hezzies and the hubby.

Right before dinner we went ahead and started decorating our own cakes.

And after we finished up all our frosting, this is what we came up with….

Mama’s Floral Fantasy

Papa’s Carnival Creation

Gaby’s Princess Fantasy Cake

AND……..

Adi’s Monumental slash Abstract Edifice

Check out the other Weekenders here.

To Hyphenate or Not

Last Friday I discovered that I had run out of calling cards. Fortunately, my husband decided that we visit the mall where I have my cards printed. Previously, my card carried my maiden name. It was a none issue, actually. I never gave it any thought. I never even imagined that my husband would mind. And he doesn’t. Really.

Proof…when I had my passport renewed, I decided that I would keep my maiden name on it because my visa was issued to me as a single person. And I didn’t want the hassle of having to do legwork just to have some amending done. I asked him, in a legal sounding inquiry, if it was ok. He said that there was no law that prevented me from doing such.

And so it was that I was contentedly using my maiden name for things like bank accounts, business correspondence, and calling cards. The only time I used my married name in bank transactions was if it involved the husband and the kids. My personal accounts are still in my name. No amendments here.

Anyway, so there I was filling out a reprinting form for my business cards. Then it occured to me that my business associates have been referring to me with my married name for about 2 years now. So I figured, why not hyphenate. That way I could keep my maiden name and my married name at the same time.

Why the big fuss? Why not just put my maiden name initial?

Why? Because for what it’s worth, I had already built a life even before I got married. In my small little world, I was already a somebody before I got married. And my being married didn’t change that. I did all that when I was still using my maiden name. For me, that carried a lot of weight.

It may sound rather trivial for some but for me it is a big deal. I truly am grateful of my position in life now, thanks to my dear husband. But I also am thankful for what I had achieved even before I put my autograph on that little piece of paper after pledging my life to this man.

To put it bluntly, I don’t need another name to tell me who I am. But if adding my husbands name to my name makes things a little clearer to some, then so be it. And yes, I hyphenated.

Happy 41st, My Sweet Prince

Good God…could I get any sappier?!?

Folks, it’s my swithart’s birthday today. I don’t know what we have planned, save for a good lunch with the kids.

Yesterday was gift giving day. Prematurely. Gaby conveniently forgot that it was supposed to be a secret. She announced that we had gone to the mall the day before to buy gifts. Thing is, she wasn’t allowed to say anything so it was still a secret. Oh well.

Anyway, to my Honey…HAPPY BIRTHDAY! No words can truly tell you what I want to say. But you know what I mean.

Today, YOU DA MAN!!

Spot.ph Trinoma Food Tour (Part One)

Here are some photos of spot.ph’s Trinoma Food Tour, the first leg of the Exclusive Blogger’s Food Tour. I have several other photos of the food we ate and that’ll come in the next few posts. In the meantime, feast your eyes on these….

spot.ph lounge area

Madison Grill’s Lamb and Tomato Pizza

(on a scale of 1-10…this would be an 8 and a half)

Haiku’s Oyako Salad and California Roll

(Scrooch Rating : 7)

La Maison’s Chef’s Duck Liver Pate
(decadent!!)
(Scrooch Rating : 6)

La Maison’s Seafood Marinara
(Scrooch Rating : 5)

La Maison’s Spareribs with Bourbon Barbeque Sauce

(This was definitely a winner!! So tender!)
(Scrooch Rating : 9)

Recipe’s Emperors Chicken

(I liked this. Very tasty.)
(Scrooch Rating : 7)

Recipe’s Crispy Tilapia
(Scrooch Rating : 7)

Recipe’s Gising Gising

(Very similar to Bicol Express. Too “anghang” for me.)

(Alternatively, may be called “ubo-ubo” because of its heat.)
(Scrooch Rating : 4)

Ruby Tuesday’s Cheese Fries and Nachos with Spinach and Artichoke Dip
(Scrooch Rating : 7)

Ruby Tuesday’s Mini-Burger and Baby Back Ribs
(Scrooch Rating : 7)

Cyma’s Spinach and Artichoke Fondue

(Best with Pita Bread)

(Scrooch Rating :

Cyma’s Greek Salad

(Scrooch Rating :

Cyma’s Leg of Lamb

(Scrooch Rating :

Cyma’s Flaming Cheese

OPA!!

Cyma’s Skolatina

(Loved this!! Gooey, rich, sinful!!)

(Scrooch Rating : 9)

I’m A Postie!

I finally did it!! I signed up for Payperpost!

Thanks, in no small measure, to my 2 eating buddies Teacher Julie and Wenchie, I got the nerve to go for it. Well, honestly, most of my hesitation stemmed from plain old ignorance. I never really thought much of writing paid posts. In fact, I thought you had to be invited to do it. All the while I thought that those sponsored posts in some of the blogs I read were rare opportunities given to only a deserving few.

It was only after having a hearty talk (and a couple of hearty bites) with Julie and Wenchie did it all become clear to me.

Initially I was lost during the conversation. Words like bidding, opportunities, payouts, pagerank, etc. sounded completely alien to me. However, after listening intently, I started to get the gist of the whole thing after a few minutes. And the more I listened, the more interested I got.

And then came the magic words…”IT’S SO EASY!”….that’s all it took. When I got home I immediately got online, looked for the PPP site, and the rest, as they always say, is history.

I just followed the steps. I signed up for an account, waited a day and voila…my blog was approved. If I had only known that it was this simple then I would have done it earlier. Which only goes to show that you need really able blogger friends to open the world of opportunity to you. Now I get to do two things I love…write and make money. And that’s not bad at all…not at all.

OVERLOAD!

What happens after 2 days of ingesting gustatory delights from 36 different restaurants in the Metro? Overload!! That’s what happens.

Thanks to the folks at spot.ph, we were able to sample food from several of the restaurants in Trinoma, Serendra, and Bonifacio High Street.

I’m still trying to recover from all that eating. I can’t even imagine how I managed. I have to admit, I really enjoyed all that food, not to mention all the “take out” items I gave to my kids (my Mama instinct really kicked in here).

So how did I manage….well….it started with a light breakfast…no lunch…and a lot of intestinal fortitude…literally.

To kick things off…here’s the list of places we got to visit.

Trinoma Food Tour

• La Maison
• Recipes by Cafe Metro
• The Madison Grill
• Bubba Gump
• Cyma
• Cafe Breton
• Fish and Co.
• Italianis
• Holy Cow Chop House
• Jack’s Loft
• Ruby Tuesday
• Red Box
• Starbucks
• TGIF
• Cold Rock Ice Creamery
• Five Cows
• Krispy Kreme

Serendra

• Choco-late de Batirol
• Cuillire
• Cupcakes by Sonja
• Fu by Hei Shin Lou
• Mamou – A home Kitchen
• MezzaLuna
• Miss Desserts
• Xocolat
• Chelsea
• Kape Isla
• Portico
• Polu Kai Grill
• (non-food) Gymboree
• (non-food) Carnavale
• (non-food) Abbey Road
• (non-food) e-Gallerie
• (non-food) Luna

Bonifacio High Street

• Kabisera ng Dencio’s
• Starbucks
• TGIF
• Italianis
• Krispy Kreme
• New Orleans Bourbon Street Steaks & Oysters
• Texas Roadhouse Grill

Whew…..

So before I start posting…allow me to thank the people at spot.ph for coming up with this wonderful activity. To Trixie….the indefatigable marshall of the orange group..Here..Here. And to my 2 best eating buddies…Julie and Wenchie…I will reiterate…Mama’s know best.

WS 3 : My Little Ballerinas

A few weeks ago I asked the Hezzies if they wanted to take any lessons for the summer. Last year they took swimming lessons and decided that they weren’t taking them again this year.

Adi was the first to respond and she said she wanted to take ballet lessons. Gaby, on the other hand, wanted to take taekwondo lessons.

We were all set until we bought Adi’s ballet outfit which was a cute pink leotard with a pink frou-frou skirt, pink tights, and pink ballet slippers. One look at the all-pink outfit immediately changed Gaby’s mind. She wanted to take ballet too…if only to wear that same outfit.

Now they’re both enrolled in an 8-session ballet course for beginners. And I must say, they’re doing pretty well.

Here are photos of their 2nd session taken over the weekend.

Here are some other weekenders.

The Prize is Rice

I just got back from the Visayas Avenue branch of the NFA. Yes folks, I lined up for rice. At first I had hesitations after seeing the long lines over the weekend but my Mother-In-Law informed me that there were no lines on weekdays.

So immediately after lunch I piled the entire household into the car and drove to NFA.

True to form…there were no lines!! I had enough money to buy 2 sacks and I fully intended to keep on going back until I got those 2 sacks. Call it hoarding…call it panic buying….hey, my kids are big rice eaters so I wanted stock up for the rainy days. And by the way, it’s raining now so is that coincidence or is that coincidence.

I saw several luxury cars parked with their trunks overflowing with rice. There was even one passenger jeepney with enough rice to feed an army.

It took me 5 minutes to get my share. That’s 6 kilos per person. It costs Php110. When I saw that there were sacks upon sacks of rice I knew I could get my 2 cavans. However, the barker made an announcement that they would not take any 500 peso bills anymore due to some counterfeit bills they got yesterday. Bad!! I only had 3 hundred peso bills and the rest were 500. I had enough for 18 kilos so that’s all I got.

So here are some tips when buying your rice at the nearest NFA :

• Bring loose change. (5 kilos costs Php91.25 and 6 kilos costs Php110)
• Don’t bring a sack. Bring regular grocery bags.
• Go on a weekday.
• Go after lunch (all the restos and carinderias buy their share in the morning)

I’m thinking of going back tomorrow to get my fill.

And by the way…the rice is excellent. Rumor has it that it’s a Vietnamese variety.

Oh No!! Not Another Subic Post!?!

Well…sorry. It’s another Subic vacation post. We are, obviously, great fans of the place.

We spent the last, long weekend in Subic as a pre-birthday celebration for Gaby. We asked her to choose where she wanted to go and she said she wanted to go to Subic. So, we went to Subic.

Unfortunately for us, all the new hotels were fully booked so we had to settle with the Subic International Hotel. Not exactly our favorite place. It’s an old, and dilapidated place which needs a lot of refurbishing. Sleeping on a lopsided bed isn’t the best way to catch your zzz’s. Not now, not ever. But the kids didn’t mind..so we settled.

I was nursing a fever on the morning of our departure and was deliberating on not pushing through. However, the kids, especially Gaby, couldn’t contain their excitement so it was a go. Armed with my favorite pillow and an armada of medications, we were off to Subic. I was asleep for the most of the trip and only managed to wake up for lunch. It was that bad.

When we got to Subic the fresh sea air must have done something good because I suddenly felt better. My clogged nose just popped open and my head cleared. So we checked in, rested for a bit, and went shopping. And suddenly….I felt as good as new.

By evening I was good to go. The kids saw a carnival right outside the hotel and begged to go after dinner. All of a sudden, I felt sick again. The sight of that roller coaster made me nauseous. But I wasn’t going to be the party pooper so we went to the carnival.

Funny thing is, our birthday girl wasn’t too keen on riding. She just wanted to watch. So we gave in to her wishes. I rode the roller coaster. Adi rode the carousel. Adi wanted to ride the Galleon swing but I put my foot down on that. Adi rode the octopus too.

Finally we were able to convince Gaby to try the octopus. She was fine at first but 20 seconds into the ride she wanted to get off. Actually, I wanted to get off too because all that spinning was starting to make me sick. Good thing the ride lasted just a few more seconds.

The next day, we were up early in preparation for our visit to Subic’s newest theme park, Jungle Joe’s. We found out about this place during our last trip and made a mental note to visit the place on our next trip.

The way to Jungle Joe’s is the same way to Zoobic & Ocean Adventure. It’ll take you roughly half-an-hour from the main area of Subic.

The cost to enter is Php350 per person. There are no distinctions between adults and children. It’s a flat rate. You can get a 50% discount, though, if you buy 3 Coca-Cola products that amounts to Php105. All in all it’s a savings of Php70/person. Since there were 5 of us, we got 1 entrance ticket for free.

I want to make one thing very clear…to describe the place I can use 2 words….RIP OFF! It’s nothing but a playground. And it’s so hot, you can’t play. The only place we were able to use was the indoor playground (much like the ones in Mcdonald’s) and the theatre that shows Disney movies (the quality of which was very bad). There was supposed to be a train but it was busted. For a 2-month old place that’s really something. Then there was the promise of a nice beach which we were looking forward to seeing. No dice. The “Gordon” family was using it and they had special guests. It was OFF-LIMITS for the day. My only consolation would have been the kids enjoying. However, the birthday girl wanted to leave after 30-minutes. Adi asked to be carried almost immediately because she wasn’t enjoying either.

Personally, they can improve the place. Firstly, they shouldn’t charge too much. The difference in price between them and Zoobic/Ocean Adventure is not much yet you get more for your money when visiting the other two theme parks. Much, much more. Second, they should provide “walking areas” that are shaded. The train was supposed to take of that but it never made an appearance. Apparently, it’s been busted for some time. Third, stop charging for everything. To play in their indoor playground you have to pay for socks. To ride the bikes, you have to pay. Couldn’t the Php350 cover that?

We stayed for an hour before beating a hasty retreat.

In the evening we had dinner at Sam’s pizza in Olongapo. This was our little celebration for Gaby. The band even played her a “Happy Birthday” song.

We had pizza, nachos, and chicken. It was a perfect foil to what would have been a ruined day.

The following morning we checked out early so as to avoid the mad rush of traffic on NLEX. When we got to the tollboth of the Subic interchange we were informed that the SCTEX was open and we could take it going home. And they weren’t charging. So we took it. It took us 30-minutes to get to Clark!! It was, by far, the best ride we’ve had on any Philippine road, ever. Imagine 30-minutes of uninterrupted driving on smoothly paved concrete. We were going at a fast clip. Like 120-140 kph and we couldn’t feel it. The way is peppered with verdant fields of rice and green hills. Beautiful. I have no idea how much the toll fee will be but this is going to be our way from now on. It even gave us a good number of hours to shop in Clark. At least we ended the whole affair pretty well.

WS 2 : Summer Flowers

Can anything be a more perfect reminder of summer than sunflowers?

Every year the entire University Avenue at the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus is lined with the most beautiful sunflowers this side of the city. Every year we make it a point to visit when the flowers are in full bloom.

Last year I made the mistake of picking a few. This didn’t sit well with the security guards. They gave me a stern reprimand after my flower picking adventure.

This year I did the flowers justice by just admiring them and taking pictures. Here’s what I got.

By the way, the other exquisite flower (with the giant sunflower) is my little girl, Adi.

Take a look at some of the other “Weekenders.”