It was the first time I drove that far and without a guide. Fun!

Everything still looked familiar, and yet new, all at the same time. Funny how they were familiar sights, but I’ve not been to many of those happening spots around the City. And on this trip we again went to an old familiar place for their famous Bulalo, and spectacular view: Leslie’s.

The view, captured through my camera phone:

It was a nice and windy afternoon, with scattered rainshowers. I wasn’t too worried about the rain spoiling our day. Come to think of it, I didn’t bother checking the weather forecast. I probably would have if we actually planned the trip.

Yep. This was an impromptu roadtrip. We were supposed to just go see a movie when I suggested a driving adventure instead. Alfred took me up for it, surprisingly. Imagine, we’d been together 12 years and this was the first time we went to Tagaytay together. Haha!

Alfred toted Deena around and snapped some photos too. I haven’t looked at them yet. Here’s another one framed with my phone:

I wish we had used that hut! What an amazing spot, no? I thought you had to pay extra to use it but as it turns out, you just have to request for it at the front desk. Maranaw 16, I think. Next time, we’ll try to eat bulalo from this spot. And maybe have a drink or two (not for me, I’m driving). Or doze off even? Haha!

But the next time we drive up, we probably won’t be eating at Leslie’s or at least we’ll try not to. There are so many other good places there that deserve to be tried at least once, so I hear. Or we’ll take our own baon and have a picnic at the park. Someday. One day.

Oh and checkout this photo of us, from this trip too.

Well, the time says 10:35PM, but it’s really more 10:35AM when I tweeted that on Wednesday. I finally got a taste of Magnum ice cream that I’ve been hearing about all over the social networking sites. It was love at first bite! That Belgian Chocolate is yummy!

Richmond (Senior Line’s resident angry bird, at work) agreed to run to the Supermarket across our office building to get us a bar each. He was back very quickly. My Almond Magnum almost melted only because I insisted on taking these photos.

The Magnolia Pinipig Crunch we grew up on is no match to this. The almonds are way better than pinipig, and the chocolate coating is just divine. The bar is thick, more than enough ice cream for one serving.

We’re a family who loves their ice cream and chocolate, and I couldn’t resist not sharing the Magnum goodness with the rest that same afternoon. So after taking my car for a much-needed wash, Alfred and I went to a supermarket to get some more.

This time, I tried the classic bar. And guess who loved his Magnum too?

Yes, I had two ice cream bars in one day. I just couldn’t resist it. This afternoon, Alfred kept on hinting at wanting more and it took all my strength to resist grabbing the keys and driving off with him to the nearest 7/11. Even more to keep my hands off the last bar in the freezer – Dad hadn’t eaten his until after dinner tonight.

These bars are a delightful treat. They cost 50 pesos apiece so I don’t think I’ll be having these everyday. But one Magnum a day would really make me happy. haha!

It was a week day and we both had work but we went to the Mall of Asia anyway to meet up with Alfred’s parents, his older brother Andy, and little cutie Alphonso, his nephew. We were there for a birthday dinner to celebrate Tatay Fred’s 70th birthday!

Here’s the boyfriend’s parents inside the roomy gondola:

The rest of them had been at the Mall hours before because little Alphonso who’s only 3 years old wanted some play time. I arrived home from work at past 2pm so Alfred and I were only out on the road at past 3pm en route to the MOA. Traffic and wrong turns made our travel time longer – must have been 430PM already when we arrived at the MOA.

We hung out at The Creamery while Phonso cooled down with his favorite ice cream cone. Then we headed out to the bay side restaurants to get dinner. While Alfred and his brother went to market to buy the seafood we would have cooked at one of the restaurants, I took these shots of the MOA Eye –purportedly the biggest ferris wheel in the country today at 180 feet tall:

Alphonso was excited and really wanted to ride. It wasn’t difficult to convince Nanay and Tatay to go. But it was a challenge to convince Alfred that this was the day we would finally get on this ride. But convince him we did, and he even paid for it – PhP 150 pesos per person, even for the little 3-year old boy.

Each of the 35 gondolas is air-conditioned, and seats up to 6. There are a few VIP gondolas that offer more privacy – you can’t see inside. They aren’t in use yet and will cost extra. I don’t see the point though. People are too busy either getting scared of being so high, or admiring the view, they won’t have the time to check out the couple next door.

As for me, I was busy being scared. I didn’t move around much and only took a few photos.

The ride only took about 10 minutes. It wasn’t shaky at all. I felt quite stable actually.

I’d like to ride again, maybe at night so I can see the lights all around.

For now, I am just proud to say that I no longer fear the Ferris Wheel!

This morning is actually the first time I’ve felt good in days!

Yesterday afternoon, I forced myself out of bed because of Crazy Idea no. 1: I wanted to see Yeng Constantino in concert at the Aliw Theater that evening. I had to see if I could muster the energy to go the event before committing to it and buying tickets.

First off, we drove to an ATM machine. Then to Pag-Ibig near GMA-EDSA. Alfred got off and paid for my overdue loan payment while I waited in the car. I was hoping we’d go buy tickets after that, but sitting in the car didn’t do me any good – I actually felt more sick and somewhat nauseous. But I could still drive.

Next stop was early dinner. Yesteday’s choice was Jay-J’s Inasal in Timog.

We had Bulalo, one order of wings inasal, and ensaladang mangga. It was good! No photos of the food or the place though, just this crazy photo of badodong wondering what his cup size is (aka Crazy Idea no.2):

Hilarious no?

Jay-Js in Timog pretty much has the same setting as their Ortigas branch. They had very minimal décor, just plain tables and a bench indoor on either side. In Timog, they have an outdoor section at the back – that’s where all those people disappear to! I’ve always wondered how the place could accommodate a big crowd (judging by the number of cars parked outside). Now I know. So yes they also have outdoor furniture bench. That’s also the smoking section (although I’m not sure if they still let people smoke given the new laws on smoking). In Ortigas (I had breakfast there with a colleague last week), they have a small outdoor area up front.

Despite having a wonderful meal, I still wasn’t up for any concert. I regretfully decided to give up on seeing Yeng in concert. The problem wasn’t in keeping up the energy for the concert, but for the drive home.

Rather than driving around in the sunset which was the initial plan B for the day, we headed straight home. But we didn’t really go home right away, we had the iPad with us and decided on an experiment.

We parked outside the house and set up to watch a movie IN the car! Free movie, free aircon. We didn’t have flowing popcorn because we weren’t ready but that’s totally something we’ll do for next time. We didn’t finish the movie though (Inception, haven’t seen the whole flick until now!) because it actually felt stupid to be home but not be home. Haha. But it’s a fun new idea for movie date night, don’t you think?

We’re going to need a lot of coin banks to save up for that!

So it’s really sad that the Philippine Azkals didn’t win over Kuwait. Even that amazing goal by Stephan Shrock wasn’t enough to keep the boys going for more. They played well. We made a lot of attempts at goal but the Kuwaiti defense was tough, and so was their goalie.

Tonight’s home game was a far better game than the last one. Too bad we couldn’t pull off a miracle. We could have at least won the second leg though. Still, nothing to be ashamed of. The boys fought well. It’s that coach I’m not too sure about. Hahaha.

(Image linked to source)

There are variations to the Azkals logo, but this is closest to the one I actually like. Alfred wouldn’t let me buy an Azkals shirt though, hahaha. He’s not a fan, or maybe a closet fan. He doesn’t like it that the Azkals is dominated by Fil-Europeans. I keep telling him there will be more homegrown players because the sport is gaining ground in the Philippines. It takes time.

Anyway… The Kuwaitis must be partying now, sharing their Black and Mild cigars around. Well they deserved to win. They were pretty solid as a team and they worked hard. The Philippine National Team must have learned a lot from competing against them. For that, kudos to Kuwait.

So, will me make it to Rio in 2014? Time will tell.

This is my nephew Adam when he was still a tot. That’s the boyfriend holding him. 

Adam turned 11 years old on Saturday. That’s how long the boyfriend and I have been together, plus a few months. Wow.

My nephew didn’t recognize himself when we showed him the original photo. The boyfriend, on the other hand, didn’t want to acknowledge that this was him.

As a project, we’ll take another photo of them in this same pose. I’ll post it in The Newbie Photographer if and when it happens.

No, it was not a hangover. He was still drunk. How did I know?
> The way he talked. Not slurrred speech, just fast and a bit excited.
> How he moved
> His smell (he didn’t reek of alcohol but there’s that nice hint of it)
> How he was sweating
> His being touchy in public.

The day before, we had a big lunch at Max’s. We talked about the need to regulate our food spending, and the need to eat less and eat wise. If we couldn’t prepare our own lunch, we’d buy from the stalls at the back of St. Luke’s instead of eating out.

Guess what? Because he was drunk, he had wanted another big lunch. And because I wasn’t feeling well, my conviction easily went out the window and I agreed.

That day’s restaurant of choice was one we had never tried before: Uncle Cheffy.

Now, it’s on the list of our favorite places to dine at.

We ordered their Asian fried rice, and their specialty dish Mediterranean barbecued ribs. The ribs were served with greens on the side and baby potatoes. There were two sauces as well – a special barbecue sauce (I didn’t ask what it was called) and the chimichurri that I so loved.

The chimichurri was a sort of pesto sauce in olive oil and a concoction of herbs. I liked it with the veggies, the potatoes, and even on the ribs. If they sold it in bottles I would have bought one. I asked, they don’t.

The whole time we were eating the boyfriend was commenting how he loved the food and that we should come back. We loved it so much we ordered dessert.

The two cakes we had were heavenly! I got the Chocolate Roulade while he ordered Uncle Cheffy’s cheesecake. Yum!

The only thing that wasn’t quite okay was the wait time for the bill, and then again my two debit cards not working with their swipe machines. It took so long it allowed my headache to creep back in. The boyfriend eventually had to go out and withdraw from an ATM because I didn’t want to use credit. But other than that, we love Uncle Cheffy and we will be back.

(Uncle Cheffy is on the first floor of the Ali Mall. There’s an entrance from the outside walkway fronting SM. It’s next to Gerry’s Grill (or The Old Spaghetti House))