Published

How cool is that?!!

I am so excited to see my work published. submitted somthing to Inq7 youngblood section last year and found out only today through a friend that it made it online! Thanks Harold:) If you're interested, the link is: Think About It. I've missed writing. With this blog and all the opportunities for writing, there might be a future for me to just have the freedom of living as a writer. What do you think?

Some updates:
Won't be coming home for Tin and Vins' wedding nor Hiyas and Bonz's wedding. Awww. Can't have it all.

Taking advantage of being home to go out with friends, play badminton and go to the gym before leading 4 weeks of aloneness in San Antonio starting April 29.

Had a successful Falcon's reunion with representation from all 4 sections. Hope to get the directory published soon.

Surprise shower where the organizers got surprised coz Tin knew about the surprise before it happened and made a good effort to just pretend. It was still fun. The gggang was complete!

Surprise party for my parents' 60th birthdays. Achi did most of the work. Everyone was all smiles in their red attires.

Talk to me when I'm in Texas ok?

Back in Manila

I was looking out the window anticipating the sunrise. No sun again today. Thought it was foggy but no, the metropolis is covered in smog first thing in the morning. And for this I long to go back up the mountain to breathe freshly made O2. Join me?

Accomplished things gives a sense of fulfillment. Office daytime paperwork done. Made it in time to the 530pm closing of our HR offices. Met with the Heroes. Missed Mon and Mare. Went to work and finished deliverables.

Thursday was a Bravo day with Meme, Jessa and Bing. High School friends catching up on what happened.

Friday. Gym. Saturday with friends.

I'm actually making it back to the weddings. Yehey!

Casa Verde, Portions, AAs, Taboan, Body and Sole

Ang Sarap Kumain...

Feels great to eat. It's been a while since I've uttered those words. My old colleagues from the office have often commented how often I've declared the wonder of filling ourselves with the tastes of wonderful food. And this was just after eating cafeteria food. There is something to be said for the wonder of eating.

Sunday Lunch: AAs
After learning about how to pray in GCF Cebu, I waited for Pong to show up so we could try another sugbahan place in Cebu. I was awaiting my seafood bonanza. Since AAs was close to Waterfront where I attended church service, we headed on and shopped for our meal. Had my shrimps sauteed in garlic and one big squid grilled. Washed it down with a pitcher of frothy iced Nestea to fortify us for the pasalubong trip in Taboan. Oh, Pong had fat and fat cooked in fat (translated: pork belly full of fat, grilled with all the oil oozing out of it).

Achi requested for Rosquillos, Otap and Barquillos. Adam wanted a refill of the squid rings I had brought back from my last Cebu trip. Had purchased the first 2 in SM last week, so all that's left are the barquillos and squid rings.On to Taboan. It's a dried fish market where pasalubong can be bought at a better value. I heard about this from the PAL ticketing officer who booked my return flight. Thanks to him, we got to buy dried mangoes, etc. for a better price.

When the cab door opened, my nose told me we were in the right place. It smelled of daing - dried fish. Soon after, so did we. We made our rounds. Got 1 kilo of squid rings for php 700 (yup, it's not cheap but it really tastes great), barquillos at the first store for 55/pc, rosquillos again at 3 for 100. Some more barquillos at the last shop which gave it at 50 apiece. Since the last stall we went to seemed to have good prices, I bought some more dried mangoes. Mama loves it. Oh, bought half a kilo of siniguelas as well for 20 pesos. That's for me. Didn't know how much they usually went but I felt it was a good price. Will ask Ma when I get home. I'll be home in 2 days!

Body and Sole
After spending all that cash and imbibing the odor of Taboan. We brought our stash back to the hotel and decided to go to Body and Sole for some pampering. I bathed the stench off of me before refuelling my wallet at the nearby Metrobank. Since it was a windy day, I convinced Pong to just walk to the spa since it was like 5 minutes away on foot. Everything felt wonderful. Spa was less than 500 for 2 services! And the service was fabulous. I will surely come back for more.

Sunday dinner: Casa Verde
Heard about this good place called Casa Verde and so we took a cab to this out of the place restaurant which was an old house converted into a semi-fine dining place. Ambience was good and it was really a house so you had all these pockets of rooms where they had guests dining. I ordered the house specialty, sacrificing my love for seafood for some of the famous Hickory Baby Back Ribs. For just 98 pesos, you get a whole lot of ribs. It was good to the taste even for someone like me who wasn't too fond of meat nor anything sweet. Walking out to get a cab, we stood at the corner streets where ther was an ATM - Automated Tubig Machine. Yup it was a water dispenser. The pun got me laughing. Unfortunately, the cab arrived before I could tinker around with this ATM.

Monday: Portions
There's this inviting restaurant in Ayala Center Cebu called Portions which I've been wanting to try because, well, it looks...inviting. The facade was all black with clear glass and silver counter. Looked sleek to me. Skipped gym today since my tummy was killing me and indulged in Portions. It served Italian, my favorite. Unlike my Idea Italia experience, Portions gave me good food and great service. Was feeling cold so I got my usual serving of soup. The choice was French Onion or Soup of the Day which the server informed me was vegetable soup. I went for the healthy option clear tomato-based vegetable soup. Had half a serving of Roasted Vegetable Panini. They served it with tomato, eggplant and white cheese with a side dish of potato salad. While waiting, the server handed me a Cosmopolitan Magazine Feb 2004. I wasn't one to read these types of literature but soon after, i caught on to the articles and read each one on through dessert. I knew I had to reach dessert, thinking about which crepe to order. When i asked for the dessert menu, I saw tiramisu and was torn between that and La Pinay (Mango crepe with chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream). Thankfully, they had no tiramisu so it was out of my hands:) Their La Pinay had some buttery taste with the mangoes. I loved it. The sweetness was just right for someone like me who did not have a sweet tooth. The portion would have been better if someone split it with me.

So after three meals and two days left in Cebu, I have gone down more of my places-to-eat list. Till the next Cebu trip.

Maybe next time I could add pictures. First i'd need a camera (or even a camera phone) and figure out how to add images to this blog.

My day...

My day...

Planned to wake up in time for the sunrise and head on to Js tapsilogan for breakfast before hitting the gym. Good plan? Well it remained a plan. What really happened was...

Lazed around. Watched American Pie 2 (not too nice) then went to the gym. I can dance! There's this group exercise called Latin where you learn to shake your hips and move to the music while getting your low-impact cardio workout. It was fun. Since this is the 3rd time I've joined the class, I'm catching on. It's fun:) After having numb triceps due to dumbell extensions and kickbacks, my stomach growled. Decided to check out Idea Italia. It's an Italian reso in Ayala Center Cebu that got good reviews. Not from me, though. Let me voice out my lunch briefly.

Walked in to the resaturant without any server asking to seat me even though there were 2 of them at the door. Strike one. They served sliced French bread with butter. The bread was not warm and so I requested it to be heated. Server came back with the still cool bread a few minutes later saying, "Our oven is busy". Strike two. As I was getting the bill, there was extra charge for the parmesan cheese I asked for my spaghetti al pesto which surprised me since no mention was made at the time of request. Strike three. You're out! In short, it could've been good food but the bad service didn't sit well with me. Other minor points that will make the restaurant better: menu was left on the table rather than being handed to guest already opened, servers were not facing the guests, no suggestion box.

But it is a good day. I had my Italian fix. Now I had to run some errands before sleeping to transition to working the night shift. Took the jeep to SM Cebu to get my ticket to Manila booked. There was a line. As I was debating whether to wait the 40 minutes for my turn or just come back another day, I walked around and did 2 things for the first time: wall climbed and asked about Contiki tours. Yes, I climbed a wall, scraped my knee in the process, felt my heart pound halfway up the wall and came down weak-kneed. It was an exhilirating experience. I had always wanted to try climbing. Now I have! I have always wanted to go Contiki tours as well. While waiting for my turn, I inquired with a travel agency about it. Now I have a brochure and price range to see if I can afford it. I'm thinking of the European camping tour while I can still join. Contiki is only open to 18-35 year olds.

Overall it was a good day.

P.S. Here's a highlight of my weekend:
1. Breathed the fresh air and was awed by the scene from TOPs last Friday.
2. Ate ngohiong from Ngohiong Express. Ate DaVinci's Pizza, yum - better than JCA. Oh, I mentioned that in the last blog - oops. I'm happy to cross out names from my list resto's to try in Cebu. There are a lot more. My condition being to eat at places not found in Manila.
3. Saw some etel peeps who surprised Papa Alvs on their first year anniversary with a party. Some of my former students were there. I knew their faces, couldn't remember some names...Sorry;P
4. Went to Jamaican Nights, the annual Cebu beach party. Had no ticket, took a chance. It was a different experience. Too loud for me though.
5. Attended church in GCF Cebu. Time of reflection. Recharged and reenergized.
6. Walked to Tsibogs and had seafood kebab, puso and 2 glasses of buko juice for less than 100php. Also, Keempee de Leon, Sunshine Dizon and Francine Prieto had lunch there too. Ang payat nila!
7. Played Bingo in SM. First-time experience. Sat beside a kind Cebuana who showed me the ropes. Did not win anything. Maybe next time, if there's a next time.
8. Got a 10% discount at Mr. Quickie because it was sale in SM. Took the jeep home. Finally found the terminal.
9. Missed the PAL office by 30 mins. Oh well, if it were open I wouldn't have been able to wall-climb.
10. That's all folks! te--nene-nenenenene, ta da da da ---- da da...(just imagine the looney tunes theme)

finally...

finally...

Coming down from the mountain TOP

It was a wonderful day amidst the beauty and serenity of God's marvelous creation.

Tang brought me to TOP, the lookout point on top of one of the mountains in Western Cebu. Lots of greenery, fresh flowers and clean refreshing air. We caught the sunset and I sang to the changing hues as the night came to be. There were 2 teenage couples when we arrived. Towards the latter part of our stay, Japanese tourists snapped some shots under the starry sky. A family with 2 kids took pictures with a digital camera with the little girl immediately rushing to the photographer after her fun-filled poses saying, "Tanaw ko be!" (didn't know if that was an accurate transcript of my observation). In this world of impatience, she wanted to view the shot on the digital camera.

Ahhh, to be kids. She started out saying she was scared because it was dark but after a few shots, gone was the fear as she teetered closely to the edge of the lookout for some better and wackier shots. Conquering fear is really THAT easy. Just focus on what you want, Ivy! You''l forget the fear:)

Back to the stars...Never saw as many stars as I did tonight. Thought I was inside the planetarium but isn't that ironic? I compare reality to the man-made dome that we visited during a grade school field trip. City lights are pretty nice but it just covers the greatness up there.

Ate Davinci's white sauce pizza, bought ngohiong from ngohiong express. Great to eat. What a great day!