Breakfast, Egg and Me

 “You have to know what you want when you reach the end of the line…” - Andrew Zimmern, Bizarre Foods host. 

I’m one of those who consider breakfast as the most important meal of the day. I can skip lunch, dinner and whatever snack there is, but never breakfast. I don’t know if this is a common occurrence, but I become grouchy most of the time I miss it.  I just realize that this may be the reason why I’m one grumpy driver on my way to work and becomes grumpier when I learn that the sweet scent of a good breakfast I smell at the parking lot is after all foods comparable to a piece of cr*p (pardon the word) once I reach the canteen.

So what is it with breakfast that makes me crave for it everyday? Well for me a typical breakfast always includes coffee and egg. Then these two may be combined with longganisa (sausage), hotdog, tocino, corned beef and spam, just to name a few…a few of the oily ones. Sometimes fish and veggies are preferred although I consider these two as a need-to-have just due to health reasons. If only my taste had to be followed, fish and veggies won’t be any near my breakfast menu.

As weird as it may seem, I enjoy watching movies that has scenes of people having breakfast whether in their own home or inside a restaurant – be it a local or a Hollywood film. And to make it even weirder, one of the scenes I won’t skip in my favorite movie Ronin is the part wherein one of the assassins cooks egg for the group. It’s either I’m enjoying the car chase and gun exchanges or just the thought of having great sunny side up with some assassins.

You see I have a fascination with perfectly cooked sunny side up eggs. I can’t exactly recall how long I’ve been into this (obsession) but I know that it has been years since I started trying to mimic the well rounded sunny side ups of McDonalds (or Jollibee). I’ve been stubborn enough though to admit that this perfect egg can’t be done without the help of an egg ring or any other things to attain its shape.

To prove how serious I’ve been with what others will consider a trivial part of a breakfast preparation, I’ve actually spent time and money, fortunately not a fortune…yet, on this search for the ideal sunny side up. I have tested and bought several things to achieve my goal:

1. Teflon frying pan – failed. I’ve tested varying stove settings to see if the egg will cook differently, but to no avail.
2. Microwaveable egg cooker which shows on its box 4 heart-shaped (it’s not rounded but as long as it’s perfect, I will go for it) sunny side ups – this one not only failed to meet the promised result, but the egg tasted bland and feels like rubber.
3. I tried poaching the eggs with the expectation that once I drop it on the boiling water, it will miraculously attain the coveted shape. Instead it appeared as an egg lacking its crab and corn mixture. (I consider trimming the edges as cheating)
4. One day, I chanced upon a couple of egg rings in the grocery store and at that moment it looked to me like a foolproof way to finally have breakfast with a McDonalds-like egg. Right after I break the egg though, all hope was gone when the egg white leaked like water from the sides.
5. A smaller Teflon frying pan was my last purchase hoping that its size will make the egg form perfectly. It did but the top side does not cook well and it led me to flip it in the end which destroyed the form as a result.

My egg tools: 1. Egg rings 2. Microwaveable egg cooker 3. Mini Teflon frying pan 4. Teflon frying pan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With those above mentioned methods or tools, all of which I consider a failure, I’m continuing my search for a promising sunny side up and hoping that someday I’ll start my day with a lovely egg I could proudly say I personally cooked to complement the brewed coffee and other breakfast menu that goes along with it. Hopefully that day will come before we welcome another tiny family member at home…else I’ll be forced to serve either scrambled or boiled eggs to this small guy – ‘coz father can’t cook sunny side up? Hahaha.

Sunny side up SNAFU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

Postscript:

Just right after I finish this blog, I suddenly remember why I haven’t checked the internet if someone is as desperate as me. Well, I guess I may not be alone after all as I discovered this after typing: how to do a perfect sunny side up.

Anybody want an egg meet?

 

Busy Eater

 

Just woke up. I’m now catching up on my emails; catching up on forum updates; staring blankly at the Badminton Olympic match on TV. At last I’m at home and I’m staying put, at least for today. For the past few days, I’ve been on the go and I’ve been craving longing for one good day of rest  and I think today is the day.

The lull in activity gave me time to think of what kept me recently occupied. I can’t believe that I’ve been so busy that I miss my afternoon siestas so much. So what was it really? Work? Maybe. My new motorcycle? Maybe, but not quite. Now I remember. Surprisingly (or not),  I’ve spent so much time lately on mall-hopping and food. Yes, you read it right…F O O D.

Last Wednesday, on a trip, literally, down memory lane with my wife to her alma mater in Taguig (I was surprised that it made me reminisce my own memories of the place) we decided to have lunch at Shakey’s Magallanes while having a break from the school clearances process. The last time we were in Magallanes was more than 10 years ago when our manufacturing plant was still in Makati. The whole place has significantly improved a lot; other restaurants are now available and several other establishments have opened up for business.  Shakey’s pizzas (and shakes) of course still continue to perk-up my palate.  One thing I miss though is having the real Tabasco to come with my pizza. Anyway, my wife pointed out that even other restaurants have changed their hot sauce to cheaper brands in the name of cost cutting.

The new Magallanes

 

Thursday last week is “Saisaki” day at the Glorietta Mall. I’m once again with the company of my wife and her team colleagues. Despite working with another team (which made me to be on leave), what makes me comfortable joining hers is the fact the most of these guys are also Japanese food lovers just like I do. Well, Saisaki day just doesn’t mean pure Japanese foods as the option to do a crossover (to other buffet menu) is always picked, thus lechon (roasted pig), turkey, and ginataang kuhol (escargot) never fails to be on the plate - at least on my plate. And normal side trips with them always include San Mig lights beers and a coffee stopover to cap the night.  (Note: 1 beer bottle per hour is always followed when I drive).

Raw

 

On Friday until Saturday, I reported to work on a night shift. Normally being on this shift gives me chance and excuses to go on a diet as the cafeteria food especially at night, pardon the word, sucks. Saturday however wasn’t the case this time. My colleagues got totally bored of canteen food that they decided to have rice, lechon manok and liempo (roasted pork meat) for our meal. Desserts were chocolate rolls and a super sweet pastry. If I were to count calories I might need a calculator to do so.

Coming from the graveyard shift, Sunday was a day off that was supposed to be a rather light day for us. Instead, after a 5-hour sleep and a trip to my dentist, wifey and I decided to go to MOA (Mall of Asia) with the intent of either watching a movie or buying my helmet. But once we reached the mall, it seems like my teeth having come from the dentist wanted a test of their biting power. My wife suggested UCC Vienna Café. I eagerly concurred and I swear I heard myself saying, “I’d take only coffee and a light food”. But then, the sight of Risotto in the menu changed all that as I’ve been so intrigued with this food every time I watch it featured in cooking shows on TV. I always think that it’s just lugaw (congee) cooked by an Italian chef. After tasting UCC’s chicken, cheese and curry risotto however made me a fan of this food. Their Sumiyaki coffee and mango crepe were fine as well. Prices in this restaurant are fair.

 

Monday was no different. And I blame it on the absence of good movies. After we arrived at ATC, we learned that Wall-E and X-Files are still not showing. We decided instead to eat at North Park where once again I ordered their lechon rice toppings. This food is good all the time and this is one of the restaurants where food is a bang for the buck.  Now If only either of the two movies is available, then I could have had coffee and donuts only for lunch. In Festival Mall the movie titles haven’t changed as well. Good thing I was able to stand firmly that I’ll have only coffee and muffin in Kenny Rogers - although the call to have baby back ribs is almost inescapable.

 

 I have now lost track of the calorie pile up – or just wouldn’t want to know the exact score. I’m also thinking how many liters of gas we’ve actually consumed the whole time. It was indeed a busy week where we’ve been spending money, burning gas and piling up calories. And now I’m quite sure that my 3-hour badminton and gym session yesterday wasn’t enough to undo the calorie damages. But there’s still hope. But then again there’s activity in Batangas next Sunday – it’s someone’s birthday. Will there be food? Your guess is as good as mine. I think it’s about time I get my wife a helmet and a pair of riding boots. At least we’ll save on gas.

Wedding Anniversary

This week is our week…as husband and wife, that is. Initially planned to be celebrated as a road trip going farther north of the country but due to unforeseen factors from work and the weather, I welcomed the cancellation with less resistance. So goodbye SCTEX drive-by. Goodbye Cagayan.  Goodbye Ilocos. Goodbye Pagudpud. Welcome Dasmarinas – just where we actually live.

The series of events at work added with the fact that majority of us are trying to make every bit of last celebration worthwhile made me finally give in to my wife’s request to allow her to have their area’s summer outing fall on the exact date of our wedding anniversary. And so instead of driving hundreds of kilometers north I find myself driving just around ten kilometers south from our home to the resort of their choice.

By 8 AM, June 26, we were both already at Qubo Qabana resort which is a just few minutes’ drive.  We actually scouted this place just a couple of days prior and it was a bit of surprise finding it better than expected. The area has good facilities. There’s a pool for both kids and adult. There’s an activity area readily available for large group of people and event. More importantly their rate is affordable. So it’s no wonder that it immediately got everyone’s approval just by looking at the pictures I took. Besides, it is just halfway along the way to work and settled strategically near Magdaragat (sea foods restaurants) and Quinta Court motel.  It’s so easy to spot that one won’t need Google Earth to find it.

Most of the group arrived later but by then those who came earlier were already very busy preparing the food which seems to be overwhelming the grilling area and the people in it. Being a bad cook, I was helping out in keeping the charcoal aglow and it kept me occupied for hours. There were enormous squids, tahong (sea shells), fishes, chickens and hot dogs queuing to be cooked that even Bobby Flay could have been busy with it.

Thankfully by noon most of her team had arrived already and all foods have been prepared. Other than the grilled meats, there were also a variety of menu contributed by the rest of the group which made lunch time a feast. On the table are chicken curry, shanghai rolls, salads and one of my favorites – bicol express. Too bad the alcoholic drinks came later in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the heavy meal, everyone picked their own activity. Some played cards. Some played bingo. Others opted to check the pool out – I was one of them.

The pool’s design is good but at first glance the flooring appears to be a disappointment because it was made only of white concrete. Surprisingly, upon closer inspection it is not mossy, it is not slippery, and it is clean. An improvement on safety may be needed though by posting a depth guide as it has deep part at the center that could have caught novice swimmers unguarded.

Before 6 PM came, some of the attendees had already left and those who remained - – both sober and drunk - were already starting to pack up.  From the looks of it, everyone seems to have enjoyed the picnic. And obviously at the end of the day my wife and I were neither in a resort in Ilocos nor in a nice beach somewhere in Pagudgud; nevertheless, we both enjoyed our 9^th anniversary by celebrating it somewhere near together  with friends and colleagues – next year, I’m sure it will just be us or probably with another set of colleagues.

 

 

 

 

F*** You

Be calm.No need to censor. But I’m trying not to say this dreaded F word – FATS; because right now I’m facing a tough problem. Tougher than the impending unemployment and tougher than facing an unending oil price hike. It has something to do with my weight. And the horrifying number is Seventy pounds. That’s how heavy I am right now. And that’s seven pounds more than my required weight.

In gym lingo I’ve reached the hated plateau. It’s no matter how much I do the tread mills, do weight training and perform hopeless crunch and abs work out, my body just got bored with these routines. And like an employer running out of manpower, my body has posted a vacancy sign outside its doorstep. It’s accepting fats and calories like Vietnam is accepting all the multinational companies.

I know I can’t do anything about Vietnam but I’m sure I can do something about this weight. A battle must take place though to achieve once again my ideal weight as I don’t find it amusing anymore seeing our bathroom scale displaying a value higher than the last time I stepped on it. So instead of crying over spilled beer…I mean milk, I’d like to write about this new weight goal so I can get back to it soon and feel good about losing – weight, that is.

For me to be back on track, a re-assessment has to be done like anything that has gone awry or in this case what I’d call SNAFU – Situation Normal All Fat’s Up. Got to go back to monitoring what I eat and when I eat. I have to say goodbye to Jollibee breakfast, goodbye to Burger King Whopper, goodbye to heavy dinner, goodbye to beer…ooopps, let me recall the latter.

As part of my reflection, I’m wondering what I have done recently that made me accumulate such weight. So let me focus at least on this past week’s activity.

Monday. As scheduled, I played badminton with a couple of colleagues. Although known as the fastest game and tagged by some as a good cardiovascular workout, I find this game as a false sense of exercise to complement a diet.  Why? Normally, the heart-pounding and blood-pumping game for the whole day will bring us to a fast food restaurant to recover what we skipped during lunch. This last game, we found ourselves eating spaghetti and having a couple of beer in The Old Spaghetti House.

Fats – 1. Diet – 0.

Sunday. I was in Batangas with wifey to attend a birthday and a farewell party. The Red Ribbon chocolate cake and the predictable spaghetti were there and were looking mouth-watering as ever. I must have blacked out in front of the table but I found my stomach bulging and my lips colored brown and red.

Fats – 2. Diet – 0.

Saturday.  Finally, I attended my first TUP-V summer outing after several postponed dates with my batch mates. So right after a hard day’s work (at least I believe so), I find myself worthy of rewarding myself with good food and good company.  Without wasting time, I excitedly drove my way from Cavite to Sta. Rosa Laguna; and a hundred wrong turns  and a couple of hours later (thanks to the perfect map), I eventually located Dictado Resort where most of the attendees also got lost which is probably the reason why the program started late. Despite the exhausting drive it was fulfilling to meet long lost friends, schoolmates and other new alumni. It was also nice seeing some of the faces behind the aliases in the Tup-Vian’s yahoogroups. It was a “tagalog-free” night and it was like being home in Bacolod with everyone around speaking Ilonggo.  The feeling of nostalgia is of course never complete without guess what? Beer. Lots of it. Ti abi.

Fats – 3. Diet 0.

Friday. Coming from work, I picked my wife at home and went back to SM to watch the most anticipated movie of this year – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t know if the peanuts we brought inside was responsible for my calorie pile up that night OR was it the film being the MOST boring (sorry, I can’t help but emphasize) Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg film I’ve ever seen – it was so boring, my metabolism almost stopped working.  If I haven’t seen any of their previous works, I could have included them in my “never-to-watch-films” list. Watching Indiana Jones is like watching a chopsuey of films such as X-files, Tomb Raider, Alien vs. Predator, Armageddon all rolled into one. And that’s not a compliment either.  Anyway, peanuts or this B-movie film, Fats – 4. Diet – 0.

Thursday. Failing to bring home something to eat after my shift ended, I asked my wife for a dinner at the nearby David’s Tea House. Meal was picked to have the least calorie content that we can think of. I ended consuming the dumplings that my wife did not eat. By the way, did I mention I had beer that night? Well, I did.

Fats – 5. Diet – 0.

As much as I’d like to add more days in this list, it’s becoming more obvious that my Diet is losing the battle. I can imagine a fictional referee raising the Fats’ hands after winning the unanimous decision for the 5-rounder battle. But the fight is not yet over, my Diet is calling for a rematch and I’m making sure we will win next time.

Beer and Gym

A Gold Fish and An Iron Man

The recent gas price hike didn’t keep us inside our house on a weekend.  It’s not that we’re rich (but I WISH we really are) or never really cared if a liter will cost us around Php 50.00 (>USD 1.00), it’s just that we craved for Indian foods since the start of last week. And Sunday was like a much awaited day and when it finally arrived, we were so raring to go.  In fact, I was so excited that I once again met up with Hana and had my red collared shirt pressed.

Originally we were headed for Bollywood restaurant in Greenbelt 3 Makati. After attending mass however in the Shrine of Jesus church, we decided that maybe the giant Mall of Asia (MOA) will have some Indian foods to offer. And after less than 10 minutes (which most of it was from cueing at the exit and letting some pedestrians pass) of driving from one parking lot to another, we were already inside the mall.

Just like any visit we had in MOA, the mixed feeling of excitement and confusion enters my mind as soon as we came in. The mall is so huge that it has a dizzying effect especially if you don’t exactly have a plan in mind to where your destination may be. Or maybe I’m just not the window shopping expert yet that relaxes at the sight and thought of the numerous stores ahead.

And since it was already lunch time then, we immediately checked the stores locator. Bingo! We spotted an obvious Bollywood replacement . The name itself shouts I’m an Indian food restaurant. The place is Prince of Jaipur. I likewise noted Fish & Co.’s location. I got hungrier with anticipation.

Disappointingly, when we reached our first choice, the place was deserted.  It was as if a police caution tape has been placed around it that only the surrounding restaurants had flocks of patrons whom some are even eating al fresco (by choice or not). For whatever reasons, none were inside Jaipur’s and in the food business the mutual rule, “eat where there is a long queue” is a surefire rule of getting good food. Although my wife and I are the type who willingly try any food around, the emptiness inside the Indian restaurant on a lunch time is not a good sign. Maybe our second choice is good.

Fish & Co.’s place was enticing. Once we got inside the restaurant, the smell of the place tells me, this one is a hit. The place is almost packed and by the look at the tables, it looks like everyone is enjoying their meal. Happy customers mean good food. And just as we got seated the menu was promptly laid in front of us. And that’s when I smell something fishy when I glanced on the price list. But since my mind was conditioned to have anything Indian, the word curry convinced me to order the Seafood curry. My wife picked the Prawn Fettuccini.  

 

Gladly, the foods were served in no time. The presentation was just like in the menu book. So far my two senses – smell and sight – agree that I got the right stuff. But just as the two are feasting on what’s on the table, my taste buds tell me that I’ve been robbed. So as not to be judgmental on the first bite, I kept on eating. I even tried if my wife got better pasta than she ever had. Unfortunately, the ummmhs and the ahhhs never came. Both foods didn’t deserve a round of applause. And by the way, the clam chowder is a shame compared to Don Henrico’s (theirs is the best so far). We’ve been robbed indeed. I can’t say, “Curry $14, Pasta $10, having Sunday lunch at Fish & Co. priceless”. This commercial tagline just doesn’t fit in.  The food is overpriced, period.

Next time, we’re eyeing MOA’s Sakae Sushi. Doesn’t buffet ring a bell?

 

 

 

***

Good thing we got our ticket for the 1:20 PM showing of the Iron Man at Centerstage – at least we got a reason to scram out of Fish & Co. (and I’m never buying anything from there, if you ask me).

As I’m never an avid reader of marvel comics, I’m just going to give my pros and cons of this movie just the way I see it.

Pros:

·         I dozed off at the first part of the movie…errr, this must be in Cons.

·         Setting aside Mythbusters , I find the effects such as the transformation and Iron Man’s flight great (I’m a sucker for anything that flies – except flies).  We never knew if such technology will someday come to reality and to quote “it’s all funded by the military”. Amen.

·         The sound effects are overwhelming. Hearing the Jericho blast out of the missile pod made me smile. The sonic boom Iron Man created is just as remarkable.

·         Gadget’s and cars galore!

·         The humor lines are perfectly delivered.

Cons:

·         Story is a bit dragging at first plus the fact that someone invited something sophisticated inside the cave is just lame.

·         Surgery and implants inside a crude environment - cave. I just wonder if anyone will survive for days. I could be wrong though, I’m no medical expert.

·         Stupid villains are a thing of the past. And by the way, somewhere in the Middle East, an anti-Iron Man movie sentiments is brewing, I’m sure.

·         Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is pathetic…hmmm, must be the talent fee that convinced her to still do it.

Overall, this movie is great if watched with a couple of friends over a bottle of beer (paging cinema owners) just to kill time. And remember, always forget about the Mythbusters prior to watching the movie.

 

Photo credits:

Fish & Co website

Iron Man - Yahoo movie site

Two-Choices

Every now and then, I always remember one of the e-mails I received regarding man having just two choices the moment he wakes up and starts his day. So as this week seems to be a week of confusion, fun, adventure, fun…or in short just confusion, I’m once again faced with these two choices. And what are these? Simply, it’s just deciding if it’s going to be a good or bad day.

So on April fool’s day, despite already having a hint of the things that may happen within the week, my wife and I refuse to let it go down on us. We chose to be happy. By lunch time we decided to eat at Brazilian Bbq restaurant in ATC which is just a couple of months old in the area.

The place is just at the back of the former Saisaki restaurant and is fairly small thus giving a homey feel to it. I think it just can accommodate approximately 50 customers at a time – less elbows to rub (that is if you actually get to be even that near), less buffet rivals, more chance to pick and savor the food. Just don’t be deceived by its size though as this restaurant packs a variety of good food, mostly grilled, in its menu.  I don’t know who conceptualized it, but this place re-defines yoyo diet.

Other than the plates, spoons and forks, and condiments, the waiter also places a yoyo on the table. To a newcomer this may come as surprise as to what its purpose may be. The yoyo is actually colored green on one side and red on the other. Laying the toy with its green on top means a waiter will come at your table with random grilled food still at its rotisserie stake for you - although you may ask whatever you wanted. They’ll be coming right back until you’ve turned the yoyo over with its red side on top. It just occurred to me that this is a good way to keep the customers from saying “stop” while their mouth is “stuffed”. Wise idea.

As we normally do, we checked out the movies after the hearty meal. And as much as I’m longing to watch an animated film – Horton, I quickly erased the thought of it as the grilled meat seemed to make me look for something adrenalin-packed. So we transferred to the nearby Festival Mall and without any doubt I saw what I’m looking for – Vantage Point.

The first 30 minutes of the movie will make one think of seeing a crap film. The scenes keep on coming back to 11:59:59am. What’s good with that!? Sooner though, the plot continues to thicken and it was just then that I begun praising its filmmakers.  The movie stands true to its theme: “8 strangers, 8 stories, 1 vantage point”. The car chase scenes are almost at par with that of Ronin. But unfortunately this film is not free of Hollywood B.S.  One will never fail to notice the clean state of some of the characters amidst the bomb blast and car crashes. Other than that, I find the acting of both heroes and villains convincingly great. Two thumbs up.

  

Amazing Pampanga…

They say that watching TV has its subliminal effect.  I may have to agree this time as what we’ve done a day after the Balloon fest is somewhat similar to the recently concluded Amazing Race Asia Season 2. No, there’s no running involved, no Henry-Trinidad-arguments and definitely no clues nor roadblock to beat. But of course there’s money to be budgeted (I always imagine myself saying, “Money is no issue!” kelan kaya?). I can somehow relate to the show though as my 2-weeks of “re-gym” made me somewhat near Marc Nelson’s six-pack abs. I wish.

Flashback. Waking up at Swagman hotel still with the after taste of San Mig lights beer and the flavorful chicken curry my wife shared with me during last night’s dinner, we just did some stretch, a shower of course, then we packed our things immediately. We avoided having breakfast at the resort thinking that the breakfast menu is quite stiff.  Instead, we opted for the nearby McDonald’s and had our hearty late morning meal for just more than P100.

Actually, the reason why I’m trying to control our first meal, both budget and volume, is because we’ve been planning on checking out Everybody’s Café. So after Angeles, we were on our way to San Fernando, where the main restaurant is located.  We got the idea of going to this famous Pampanga restaurant from a TV (see, TV again) show which if I’m not mistaken is from the Food Network channel. The host of the show ate frog legs in this resto and that perk up my appetite to try this exotic food.

We arrived in San Fernando about an hour later. The city is surprisingly good and looks more developed than I expected. The presence of several major car dealerships reaffirms this observation. A couple of minutes after entering the city and spending a few more time asking for directions we eventually located our objective. To my dismay, it’s not the one that we saw on TV. My wife later mentioned that what we’re expecting is actually in Angeles – it’s their branch store. Ti abi. To save the day, and our grumbling stomach we proceeded still.

From the outside, the place looks just like any old residential house. And with only one SUV parked that day, a newcomer wouldn’t even think that inside is a restaurant if not for the large sign just at the right of the entrance. But just after stepping inside, the sight of the food display gave me a hint that we are in the right place. At this point I was already starting to check every food tray for something looking weird, with long legs and webbed feet, and that resembles those we see in ponds – frogs. Unfortunately, there were none. Good thing the old lady at the counter sensed my craving for kapampangan delicacies. She politely offered buro with mustard leaves, fried hito (catfish) and of course to my delight,  fried camaro (crickets).  We also ordered Tapang Kalabaw – this became my instant favorite since I had one in SM Clark’s Cabalen.

  Tapang Kalabaw    

  Camaro!

Once the foods were served, I was a bit surprised that there was little hesitation (esp. from my wife) to dig the foods in front of us. The camaro tasted just like small shrimps if not for the hollow stomach and dark brown color that reminds you otherwise. And the buro and mustard leaf combination reminded me of my late lola’s preparation when taking the nganga (leaves and lime chewed usually by elders). Overall, we enjoyed the weird lunch. Burp. Spent: P500+

 Too much cricket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon finishing our kapampangan meal we still had time to check out San Fernando’s malls which we unintentionally discovered when we took the wrong turn while looking for the resto. So with full stomach we find window shopping a good way to burn calories – I’m still wondering if how much calories did the fried crickets deposited in me. I observed that unlike the malls in Manila and Cavite, Robinson Starmills and SM San Fernando are a bit deserted (and sleepy) when we came in.  So after grabbing some items, we decided it’s time we head back to Manila. Spent: P1000+

It was just around 1:30PM when we left San Fernando. Traffic at NLEX was smooth and we only got stuck starting in Cubao and the area before Ayala. We realize we still had time to kill; To the delight of my wife, I agree to drop by Glorietta Center in Makati. And besides, our car badly needs a wash.

Inside the mall, the temporary stalls located at one part of the mall reminded us that a renovation is still on-going to repair the site affected by the December 07 blast. Suddenly I felt like going back outside. However, that feeling was soon forgotten once we got in Glorietta 4. And as if to continue my quest for local foods I decided to take my snack from Taco Ilocano – Ilocano style empanada. My wife got something different too.  Right after the calorie pile-up, we went to watch the movie “The Eye” in one of G4’s cinema. It’s been quite some time since we last watched a film in this mall. Spent: P1500+

By around 6pm we were already on our way back home. And then the thickening traffic flow gave us another reason to make our final stop - we dropped by SM Mall of Asia (MOA).

Once we got out of the elevator from the parking lot, all the food we took a couple of hours ago seemed to just disappear out of our bellies – we are hungry once more. So we combed the area and found ourselves facing the Manila bay at the rear portion of the mall. And there in front of us we saw that something new has been recently built in that vicinity – SM by the Bay.

We excitedly crossed the bridge to check the area; and it was as if all of a sudden we were transported into another place. We kept on reminding ourselves that we are still in the Philippines. Whoever thought of doing this place deserves more than just a pat at the back. It was packed with people, it is clean, it’s enticing, romantic and more importantly, the choice of places to eat is overwhelming.  Almost an hour later of picking which is which, we eventually settled in Aling Tonya’s restaurant. We ordered calamares, sinigang na isda and of course, last but never the least, San Mig lights beer. What a wonderful way to cap the Balloonfest. Spent: P800+.

There goes another trip with my lovely wife, another well deserved outing for the two of us. Until the next road trip, and good food to deal with. And by the way, I need another set of coin banks.

   

Balloon Fest’s Last Day

 

While my wife and I lined up at the event’s entrance gate, I heard over the PA system that there would be some delay in the morning’s program. Ironically, the wind that was supposed to make everything fly was the same wind that forced almost everything that flies grounded, at least for a while. So true enough, as we entered the area people were anxiously looking around and up as they wait for the show to continue.  (I noticed that this year’s attendance is better than last year’s, sadly there were less exhibitions this year.)

Moments later a rewarding sight came – the static line jump went through. The view of rounded gray chutes dropping side by side from a military cargo plane was just awesome. Back in the days, I assume, this view either sent hope or fear depending whose eyesight receives it.

There were several pauses again to wait for a tolerable wind speed and once the signal was given, the view overhead was filled with colorful skydivers’ canopies.  A number of sorties were made that pleased the whole crowd. Most were clapping as each skydiver flaired and landed one by one. Actually, since last year’s event, these skydivers, especially from the military had my respect. It was my perception then that most (my 1^st and last skydive instructor is a Colonel) of the good ones are civilians due to budget constraints on the government side. They proved me wrong however when I learned and saw that they can actually execute long freefalls and some can even perform stacking. I’ve never been so proud of the Philippine military.

What followed next are the aircraft exhibitions.  Seeing a helicopter fly and a couple of small planes speeding past at low altitude and climbing at a dizzying rate in preparation for a nauseating roll is always fascinating. In spite of my basic knowledge of aerodynamics (howstuffworks.com, anyone?), I still can’t help but ask the questions, “What makes it fly? Why and how does it fly?” and “who is the lucky one who flies it?” I’m always green with envy when I shoot this “who” question.

As the shadows went shorter with the sun climbing higher, I went into multitasking. I acted as Air Traffic controller, Weatherman and Psychologist. I was reading the wind cone, checking the air temperature while reading my wife’s gestures. It seems like there’s a direct link between the first two factors and my wife. She was cowering into the remaining shades and faking a sleep - a tell-tale sign of irritation and boredom. I acted fast - just as any sane husband would, I asked her if she’d like a break from the event. Her answer was clear. Few minutes later we’re at SM Clark’s Cabalen restaurant, eating buffet lunch. Wifey at this point is now full and smiling. I didn’t regret doing so either. The tapang kalabaw is remarkably soft and tasted good.

Past 12 noon, we decided to check the hotel which I booked online. There I realized, that it seems like I have a knack of picking comfortable but nevertheless weird accommodations. This time I booked us in Swagman Resort Hotel for an overnight stay. Good thing we got an upgrade. Instead of the standard room, the hotel clerk gave us the deluxe family room still for Php 1400. Nice. High five.

Waking up after a two-hour siesta in the hotel room, we hurriedly went back to the balloon fest site. As I approached the parking lot, I saw that the balloon bursting contest is on-going. Little did I know that by the time we got settled near at the shady hangar, I won’t be seeing any of it anymore. What I saw outside was to be the last leg of the contest. Grrr. The price I have to pay for a siesta. I also don’t know if we missed the synchronized kite flying & kite surfing too, but what I witnessed once again is Mr. Bill Wright’s aerobatics (not that I don’t like it) and several sets of skydiving exhibition. I’m hoping by the way, that next year, they’ll place a jumbo monitor for the crowd to witness videos of the freefalls.

 

Keeping the disappointment of missing (or expecting to see) some of the shows to myself, I continued shooting videos of what’s going around the exhibition ground. And then I heard an announcement that made me interested once more. An awarding ceremony is going to happen at the event’s control center. And the names that were paged sounded familiar, so I eagerly left my wife at her post to see the ceremony.

And there it was in front of me is Peter (PFSG founder) who won 3^rd place in the balloon bursting competition and Tonet (PFSG supremo). These are the guys I got to know and at least interact with online – Philskies.net (thanks of course to Mark, who by the way was with me last year. He gave me hangar access and I was able to see skydivers pack their canopies in front of us.) Surprisingly I was able to chat with Tonet (and his son, Carlo. Both of which are good pilots and bloggers), who in person is just as articulate as he is in his blog. Frankly speaking, I was star struck. Unknown to him, he is one of those who inspired me to have my own web log.

 

When I got back to my wife on her place in front of the hangar, I was actually thinking how I’m going to explain to her the lull in the exhibitions. No other reason I guess, but just to blame the windy condition. I tried convincing her to pose in front of the gun exhibits but to no avail. So we decided to stay still and entertain ourselves with whatever sight (met some colleagues in the process) is available around us. We can’t just go home yet, not until we see what I missed last year. And what we also missed this morning – the balloon flight and night glow.

Dusk came and the wind somewhat calmed down. One after the other, the hot air balloons inflated. Huge rounded canopies came into life. Around 20 different shapes and colors of balloons covered the horizon in front of us.  It was so massive that the last batch of skydivers and a lone Malaysian paraglider were dwarfed if not sidelined. And as if on cue everyone came near the fence to catch a glimpse of the spectacular sight. Every gadget that can capture pictures – from cell phone cameras to giant DSLRs – came out in unison to grab their own share of the scenic event.

With the feeling of accomplishing what we came here for, we headed back to our hotel together with the rest of the exiting crowd. It’s funny but I even find the sight of a hundred vehicles coming out of the parking lot on a very dusty trail a spectacle by itself.  The way going out of the area is so dusty that at some point there’s zero visibility and the only way to see the road again is to slow down in order to stay away from the vehicle in front of you until the dust settles down. Looking back, I saw a long trail of headlights waiting for their turn to reach the paved road.

Once we reached the hotel, we parked (worriedly) Mary in their weird parking lot and then tried the resort’s restaurant. And just as weird as the parking lot, we find ourselves having dinner in front of women who seemed to be practicing a dance routine. Deep in my mind, they’ll likely be wearing at least a swim suit come past 10 PM to the delight especially of the American customers. But fairly, we find the food great and of course needless to say, the beer is too. Cheers!

           

 

(note: pictures in this blog are either intentionally blurred or came out blurred from our point-and-shoot camera)

2008: Year of Changes?

I’m currently hooked to Dan Brown’s books. During my December vacation I borrowed a book from a colleague and brought it with me in Bacolod. On my rest times I tried reading “The Da Vinci Code” – and under some sort of scrutiny from my pious mother. Answering, “it’s just a book” still somehow raised an eyebrow.

On our way back home to Dasma after the holidays, we rented an airport taxi service and that made me finish the book while inside the cozy Toyota Innova (it cost us only Php 1.3K. Very cheap compared to availing Park n Fly’s service). That was at least a week of reading it. Not bad considering the other yuletide activities I have to attend.

Now I borrowed another, “Angels & Demons” and I’m almost halfway since I started it just this Wednesday. Other than the conspiracy theories that seem to have captured my attention and that got me to ask a lot of questions regarding its possibility, one line in one of its pages made me reflect of what has been happening around us since then.

Olivetti looked the camerlengo dead in the eye. “The prayer of St. Francis, signore. Do you recall it?”

The young priest spoke the single line with pain in his voice “God, grant me strength to accept those things I cannot change.” – pp. 169.

This prayer made me pause and reflect on the changes I’ve seen and observed since last month. Some I might expand but others would remain as a one-liner for others who knew about it to explain.

Dec (3^rd week). Our company’s shuttle bus provider for more than ten years was changed.

Dec 31. Just as the year ends come also the closure of our favorite restaurant – Saisaki ATC. No more sashimi. No more sukiyaki. I went back to the place on Jan 10 and to see it silent with doors locked and tables turned was a bit sad. I’m wondering where its crews have gone.

Jan. Video City, a video rental store near our place closed. Most likely it’s another victim of the proliferation of pirated cds. I’ve seen ACA video Dasma closed before during the peak of piracy and seeing a second one close is just disappointing.

Jan 18. Now the state of the old Bacolod airport is uncertain with the opening of Silay Airport.  I don’t know if Bacolod City’s officials are still considering retaining the old one or if they will totally phase it out. With the recent experience I had both during arrival and departure – mostly due to deceitful porters and taxi drivers – I couldn’t agree more if they pick the latter option. But then the innocent & honest employees’ jobs are at stake. Hopefully they’ll be re-assigned.

We are just starting the year and I hate to think about the things to come. I’m still trying to keep a positive attitude about what the future holds and whatever it will be, I’m hoping that we will be ready by then.

Que sera sera, as my mother used to say.

   

Die Hard on A Sunday

After a hearty buffet lunch at Cabalen, my wife and I headed for Festival Mall’s cinema ticket both and picked movies to watch. Out of the nine (or ten?) cinemas there are only three others not showing the latest Harry Potter.

Since I’ve never been a Harry Potter fan (my wife is, though) myself, we only have three more movies to choose from and those are Transformers, Die Hard 4.0 and Tiyanak.

Transformers. We’ve watched it already on its second day. We like it a lot, in fact we viewed it twice in a row. The last time we did that was in the movie Saving Private Ryan.

Tiyanak. I avoided it at first look. I knew CGI’s would rule this movie. And I have a thing about pinoy CGI’s especially if done on horror films - it sucks. I can count the pinoy thriller’s I’ve watched with my one hand.

So given the options and reasons, Die Hard 4.0 is it.

More often than not, I’d get sleepy on the first quarter of most movies especially when viewed right after lunch. Even then I knew it’s one good movie if it gets to perk me up out of anticipation and amazement. I even joked about it with my wife that I rate movies depending on how long I stayed awake during the whole film.

And so the fight versus the urge to have my weekend siesta started.

At first I was trying to convince myself that despite being shown in a movie house with hard and short seats, the story will somehow redeem itself. Just right after the start, the explosion and fireballs so typical of Die Hard series reverberate in the theater when some geek was blown out of his house as a super penetrating virus made its way into its PC.

Not bad. Good concept. Could be interesting. So I was now at this point beaming with anticipation. More explosions please! I was silently pleading and hoping.

However, as the movie progresses, the story turned ridiculous. I was starting to see the faces of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savages of Discovery’s Mythbuster as if debunking the stunts every time one is shown. It started when John Mclane threw a fire extinguisher at the bad guys and guess what? I was right. It was meant to be shoot at to create far bigger explosion to throw the bad guys away. Damn. That one ruined my day. It changed my perspective of the whole movie.

After that one bit, I started seeing the movie as a quilt made from scenes from different past movies. I saw Matrix in the highway interchange scenes. I saw Crouching Tiger in the fight scenes. I saw Rambo superimposed in John Mclane’s face. Before I doze off, I knew I even saw Mr. Bean. I saw utter stupidity (no it’s not a movie, but I saw it) in the bad guys. And the last few scenes remind of typical pinoy movies where police would come in and one would knew the end is near.

It was that bad. It’s a pity because I knew the stars could have done better roles. Mclane’s daughter was hot. The Asian bad chick was foxy. Even Bruce Willis could have even made a better come back without having to appear in this poor Die Hard film.

Exiting the theater, I was wondering who’s to blame for all this? The producer? The director? The scriptwriter? Or the Mythbusters? Or the ginataang kuhol (Escargot in Coconut milk) I had for lunch. The latter’s not bad (it was actually very very good), but some one or some thing has got to pay for this mess.

The movie should have been titled “Sleep Hard 4pm”. Ti Abi.