Pursuing our Best Life - one word and one stitch at a time
Food Trip
We bond over food. We love checking out new restaurants, just for the fun of it.
Like many of our generation, we click before we eat. Sometimes though, we’re too hungry to bother.
We are not prolific food critiques, we’re just normal people who know good food. :)
Between the two of us, it’s the husband who cooks at home. Maybe someday I will too. But until then, I wouldn’t likely be sharing recipes on the blog. :)
When I decided to get the Elba, I told myself I was not going to spend on anything else for photography. That meant not signing up for photography workshops, and not getting additional gear. If I wanted to get anything camera/photography related, I’d have to earn from either baking or blogging to get the money for it.
Well yesterday, I went against that decision.
Jo mentioned earlier this week how she wanted to checkout a camera shop that is said to have Hidalgo prices – without having to actually go to Quiapo. I looked up their Multiply site and went gaga at so many things. So we set a date for Saturday afternoon. I asked my friend Edsel to be there too – we need to be sure we’re buying the right stuff and not just be swayed by the sales people right?
So off to the camera shop we went, and I ended up getting a UV CPL filter/polarizer, and a +10 macro filter. Jo ended up not getting a filter, but she did go home with a tripod.
There were other things I would have wanted to take home but I had to stop somewhere.
The original plan was to go home in the morning after my shift, and meet with everyone at Il Terrazo at Morato extension where the FotoHub was located. But I didn’t finish my work as early as intended, so I ended up staying there til 12. Alfred came by, and we went to lunch at Omakase (also at Il Terrazo) and waited there for both Jo and Edsel (who arrived separately of course).
Of course we ordered my favorite salmon sashimi, but we also ordered a couple of other things:
The American Dream
Rising Sun
Japanese Potato Salad
The only one I didn’t really like was the Japanese Potato Salad. It tasted more like french fries/potato wedges than salad. 🙁 It was a full meal though, we were stuffed even though these don’t look much.
I feel bad though that I couldn’t ask Jo to spend the afternoon shooting around with our D60’s. I was just so sleepy already! 🙁
Can you guess what this is? You’d probably know what it is if you’ve already been to the Sizzling Pepper Steak at Trinoma. If you don’t know what it is, well…
Last night was the first time we had dinner at this place and both Alfred and I agree that it was a good experience. You don’t have to be worried on your first time there, they have a TV that plays demos of how to eat their bestselling dishes served on hot plates. No, I am not kidding 🙂
The food is served on hot plates, with paper walls shielding the customer from the smoke that’s coming off sizzling meat:
The waitress told me to flip the beef cutlets (I ordered Gyu Saikoro) so that it can be cooked evenly, but I had to take photos and forgot to flip them at the right moment. I thought for sure the meat won’t be well done just the way I like ’em, but surprisingly, they were cooked just right. And I cannot believe how tender the meat was. As in, like it could melt in your mouth. Haha 🙂
It is served with mongo sprouts, a few slices of carrots and baguio beans on the side. There’s also a sauce to glaze the meat. It kinda tastes like Tokyo Tokyo’s Beef Mizono, but not really. Basta, I liked it 🙂 If you want rice to go with your meal though, you’d have to order it separately. I didn’t. What I got instead, was this yummy Chicken Salad.
We ordered the salad as an after thought, but we were so glad that we did. It is both sweet and salty; the chicken was very tasty. It’s chicken salad with nuts on top of lettuce, ripe mango slices, grapes, and tomatoes – with yummy sauce. Ugh. LOVE.
Tiramisu was up for dessert, and it was the single disappointing part of the meal. I don’t think Tiramisu is meant to be frozen delight is it? In my mind Tiramisu is meant to be soft, and even wet. I’m guessing they stored the pan in a freezer, but it didn’t thaw enough before serving. So when you try to get a spoonful you get stuck at one layer… Oh well…
So Alfred and I discussed our eating habits, and how we could actually just order food to share the next time we dine there. We’d definitely get the chicken salad again. On a more serious note though we should really change our eating habits because even the best diet supplements won’t be able to help us lose weight! Wahaha 🙂
Oh before I forget, so what’s on the first photo? Exhaust vents! They have a lot of those over the tables all around the restaurant. While we were being seated, the waitress warned us not to bump our heads on the exhausts. Alfred and I both reacted – that’s what it is! 🙂 Unluckily for the guy who sat on the table next to us, he hit one of these babies real hard. As in.
This is crazy! Last night, I had to delay leaving for work because it rained non-stop and the creek overflowed leaving the street out front flooded. I wasn’t happy about having to trod through two-inch thick (and yucky smelling) mud at two in the morning when the water subsided just so I could go to work. We cancelled what would have been our impromptu team building activity (supposedly at a private pool) because we thought it’d still be raining today. But guess what? The sun was up, and it’s been super HOT all day! Crazy!
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that the storm has left Philippine territory because it has done too much damage and took one life too many. But the weather’s been too unpredictable you don’t know whether to accept that summer’s gone by and we have had no vacation to speak of, or if there’s still enough summer left to make quick plans. Ugh.
Oh and one more. Because it was hot and the sun was up this morning, the mud from last night has dried and is even more foul smelling than when it was wet. Waaah! Where are the local officials when you really need them? Hello, clean up brigade please?
While I was at work today, I was surprised to see the mother from the reality show Jon and Kate Plus Eight on the headlines at the MSN homepage. Apparently, a tabloid released a story about Jon cheating on Kate. Jon denies it, and the girl that he was rumored to have been playing hooky with also denies the allegations made by her brother. It’s sad that they’re in the middle of such a controversy. I enjoy watching the show because I love kids – but I can never imagine myself having that many kids, all at the same time!
I shared lunch with Ingrid today at The Loop (hi Ingrid! :)) It was the busiest I’d seen The Loop so far – we had to settle for the bar-like areas because there were no more tables left. I also noticed for the first time that what used to be Figaro was already boarded up. I hadn’t been buying from Country Style for awhile, but I used to buy salad for lunch there a lot when I was still in the midshift (just this time last year – a loooooong time ago). I finally was able to have their Traditional Chicken Sandwich!
Tomorrow I’m attending a basic digital photography class, and Jo will be joining that too! Yay! We get to explore our D60s together! (I’m excited, can you tell? 🙂 )
Today I donated 490 grains of rice, and reached level 36 (out of 60) for English vocabulary. I noticed just today that you can now switch subjects! Cool, more fun while donating. hehe 🙂 Wait, while I was typing this, I clicked to switch to Math and now my donation is up to 520 grains! I’ll stop for the day though because I want to take a few more minutes to nap before I have to prep for work.
Now how exactly does playing Free Rice help alleviate worl hunger? Here’s what it says on their website:
Do I really make a difference by playing FreeRice?
The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007.
Now, let’s backtrack a bit. What is all this talk about World Hunger? For starters, you can read up some of the FAQs from the World Food Program. Yes, we all feel hungry – that’s when our body tells us we need nourishment. Or simply, that it’s been hours since you last had a bite of anything. But in many places all around the world, it’s not just about being hungry. There’s malnourishment and undernourishment too. Children of rural communities and depressed urban areas are most affected by hunger, but yes, those who are in the middle of conflict have less access to food as well.
Every year, the number of people affected by this phenomenon is increasing at an alarming rate of 4 million per year. It has become the number one health risk worldwide, greater than AIDS even. I guess one of the reasons why we have not been very involved in efforts to address world hunger is that we take it for granted – specially when food is readily available for us. Surely there’s more than enough food resources to feed the world’s population. What we forget is that equal rights to food does not mean that each person has equal access to these resources.
What can we do? You can give – time, effort, money – whatever it is you’re willing to give. Me? I write about it sometimes, I click the button on the Hunger site daily, and I play Free Rice whenever I could. I won’t save the world, but we all must do what we are willing and can do to help out. Every little thing counts.
So I was totally excited to post my P365 photo for yesterday but then I remembered that I wanted to post today in keeping with the Bloggers Unite theme, Unite for Hunger and Hope. And my photo isn’t really in keeping with the theme, if you know what I mean? It’s like saying I’d totally keep within my budget for this month, but seeing myself spending on too much food for just myself, or at a shoe store cashier and seeing the figure come up after my next purchase goes through the lady’s barcode scanners is just – ugh! But going back to what I reallly meant to say – please don’t kill me for talking about hunger and posting a photo of my latest guilty pleasure all in one blog post:
I’d been craving for Krispy Kreme’s Chocolate Carnival since I saw a poster somewhere a few weeks ago, I just never got around to buying any. Alfred was forced to go to Cubao yesterday morning just to buy dog food and grab a dozen of these yummies. Thanks dear! I knew you would have been well within your rights to choose any of the three nearby grocery stores to pick up what Zune needed, but you honored your promise to get me these sinful delights anyway. Haha 🙂
I am thankful that I can eat something totally unhealthy like donuts, or anything else for that matter, it reminds me that there are people out there that don’t have that. I pray for them, and I hope that WFP gets to them too. Not just because one is aware of these issues and want to help out doesn’t mean one has to starve right? 😉
I spent a few hours of my day at the hospital this morning to undergo a Spirometry test. It was an interesting exam. There’s a pre- and post-exam that I guess measures if taking Ventolin or some kind of asthma medication would make any difference. The technicians had me retry the pre-test several times because I was falling below the normal range. There was significant change after three puffs of Ventolin.
I knew I was going to breathe through something, but I didn’t realize I had to sit in that contraption! It was a glass booth with these tubes and a chair. You had to suck in and breathe out through the tube, with your nose clipped so no air could go through it. It was a bit uncomfortable because you’re in a booth, but yeah you get used to it. I just had to take a photo but I snapped just this one lest the technicians found me weird. Haha.
There was a minor power failure just when we were about to begin with the test, and the technicians weren’t able to get the computer and the machine started up right away. I had to wait awhile but I didn’t mind because one of the techs and I were chatting about his work at another BPO.
I’ll be going back to the hospital tomorrow to claim the results and take it back to the doctor. I still don’t see what all these have to do with my colds?
Caffeine and chocolate was not allowed within eight hours prior to the test, so at work I stopped drinking coffee at around 2am. That was quite an effort because I didn’t get much sleep the previous night. And no chocolate! How was I to keep awake? Haha. So I decided to treat myself to a good lunch after the test. I headed to Delifrance. Even before I stepped through the threshold of the cafe, I knew what I was going to order:
That’s a half Oriental Shrimp Salad. I love shrimp on greens, and the dressing here is very tasty 🙂 I probably shouldn’t have ordered a drink to go with it, but I could not resist this, and to be honest, I didn’t regret ordering:
I usually order a Green Tea Frappuccino at Starbucks, but this one was even better! I probably should have skipped the whip. I deserved the treat though.
76181 this number will have no relevance to anyone but i need to remember this to follow up on something next week… Haha…
