Sunday food trip

I attended 4:20PM mass at the Sts. Peter and Paul and asked Joe to join me for a dinner after my mass. But before our dinner, I saw another branch of the shop selling my ever longing shoe in the Raffles City. This time, I really took time trying it and adoring different colors. This time was more enjoyable as I have Joe to comment on the shoes. I ended up leaving the shop with a brand new pair of shoe. Yipi!

We had a japanese ramen (our favorite food actually), and thanks to my credit card for giving us 15% off the total bill.

After the dinner, we walked around the shopping mall and looking for another next purchase. Pag pinagsama ang dalawang matakaw, isa lang ang pwedeng gawin ... ang kumain. We had half dozen of J. Co donuts. These are really good donuts.

Weekend with Friends

November 28, Friday - I had a bountiful dinner with Doc Cleofe and Guen in Lucky Plaza (the Filipino store place). We were supposed to be more watchful on our diet as we keep on telling each other that the festive season is harmful to body as it is also the season of cholesterol. As a matter of fact, in the coming days, we will be having celebrations and non-stop buffet and good dining cos there will be X-mas party everywere. They asked me to decide on which food is cholestorel free and something which will not leave them guilty. What will you expect if Ray did the job??? I ordered ... crispy pata and sinigang na baka! Hahahahaha!

I grew up sa piling ng sago, kaya naman sobrang nami-miss ko to lagi sa Singapore. Kaya pag may chance, lagi akong umoorder kahit na mahal sya. And of course, the Philippine sago is incomperable to what we have here, it tastes like an immitation of the original sago. But who cares, sago is sago :)

November 29, Saturday - I woke up with the voice of utility guys that cleaned our aircon. But it was a good thing cos it was also about the same time where I had to prepare for a buffet lunch for the celebration of Bibay and Len's birthday. It is the exact birthdate of Bibay, while Len will be on December 1, but we treated them a nice lunch together, an international buffet that is.

My female friends were so amazed how I eat. Pinabilib ko sila sa kasibaan ko, hahaha! Ilang piraso ng salmon ang tinibag ko. Ilang plato ng crabs ang binuno ko. Ilang plato ng chocolate cake at cheese oreo ang tinira ko. Everyone else were just wondering how I did it, and still look payatot aside from my katakawan. Hmmm, secret ko na lang din yon :)

I enjoyed the buffet lunch so much. Why oh why??? Because they have my favorite mochi! It was indeed the first restaurant that offers unlimited mochi.

After the good lunch, my female friends spent time in the shopping mall looking for gifts on Christmas. While the ladies to their thing, I also did mine of course. Hindi ako pwedeng sumama sa shopping nila kasi napaka bagal nila, kaya nagliwaliw ako sa mall while naghihintay sa kanila. Na-corner ako ng "ever-longing" shoe ko. Ewan ko ba kung bakit hindi ko sya mabili-bili, I guess my kamahalan ng konti. Pero this time, gusto ko na sya talagang bilin. So I went inside the store and look for my size. The sales lady was Pinay, so it made us both convinient to talk, hehe. Unfortunately, I don't have my size anymore, but she helped me checked on the other branch, and I guess, I will really save money for this one.

An image with my pretty friends.

Kung hindi puro babae ang kasama ko, puro lalake naman. Hindi ko sila mapagtagpo-tagpo lahat.

Sa Kasal Ko

Dalawang bagay lang ang pakikialamanan ko, yun ang cake at simbahan. Simbahan, kasi sentimental akong tao, gusto ko ikasal sa simbahan kung saan ako lumaki at natutong magdasal ng taimtim. Cake, dahil mahilig ako sa cake. At anong klase ng cake ang gusto ko.

Eto sya: Ray's wedding cake

Sa F&S

Naghapunan ako ng napaka sarap na teriyaki noodle. Special request ko na damihan ng patatas than the noodle. Syempre laging nasusunod si boss. Here are the images of my masagana and healthy hapunan.

What a Wednesday !!!

Yesterday, I received a call from Urban Homme (face and body studio for men) and I was told that I still have two sessions left for an eye treatment with them. Then I recalled that I bought a plan with them way back year 2004 when I had to undergo a treatment cos I keep on having pimple and it stays at the same spot for over few months.

The eye treatment comes free with the plan, and since they reminded about it,I immediately made an appointment and re-visited the clinic tonight. I really had a pampered moment in there, I got one hour of face massage and eye treatment. Sobrang relaxing, parang nawala lahat ng isang taong pagod ko. I love the moist in my eyes after the treatment.

After my treatment, I went to Fox for my dinner where I ordered smoked chicken sandwich. Matt was preparing a chocolate smoothy when I arrived and so I hijacked this to accompany my sandwich.

The reason why I went to Fox was to collect a box from my friend in Australia, Amor. She gave me an early Christmas present filled with all my favorite goods and an A&F shirt. Here is the image of some of the goodies she sent me. I am loving these!

I will forever be thankful for having such generous friends :)

Exactly 1 month before Christmas

And that makes 25 more days before I go for my ever longing and most awaited vacation. My last Christmas spent in Philippines was 2005. Hmmm, I'm wondering how our Christmas Tree looks after 3 long years. But one thing is for sure .... it is taller than me :)

I gave a call to my Mom right after I knocked off from work, I just kind of missing her voice and makikibalita lang kung ano ang ulam nila for tonight.

My mom was so excited telling me how well her kitchen renovation is going, and that actually sent me to nostalgism cos I can't wait to see how is the new kitchen looks like now. As far as I remember (2003), I had a very funny incident in the open kitchen cos I was taking something from the fridge when a big rat ran in front of me. And since then, I hardly go to that kitchen anymore, especially at night. (Daga at paniki ang pinaka kinatatatakutan kong hayop).

There was a major renovation of our house aside from the kitchen cos my Dad also decided to change our roof. According to my Mom, our roof now can be seen from far .... Hmmm, that sounds like a castle to me. But of course, it will not be the case :) All I know is that our roof now is bootyliciously ....... RED. My mom rocks!!!

New Scent

I roamed around the Robinson's shopping mall which is just few steps away from my workplace after my lunch break as I have been thinking of getting new scent for my room although I still have a bunch of good smell oils untouched.

I got so lucky that this brand is on 20% off sale today and I took time to smell each of the scents they have, and I finally got this one. And of course, I was a little too excited on going home so I could test this small wonder.

And I was just blown away with the smell. My room smells like a real Christmas. Ang bango-bango!

Saturday House Party

Last Saturday, Roman cooked paella, some kind of noodle and adobo. This was a tail of his birthday celebration, this time he invited few female friends and grace the simple dinner with us. Doc Cleofe brought her special home-baked brownies and beef steak. And as always, pinili ko ang crab sa paella at sya kung nilantakan ng walang humpay. My friends were just too clever on bringing cakes with 2 puroposes. First, it was a birthday cake and the same time, it was a log cake, which we all know for yuletide season only. Thank you so much for having friends who doesn't like chocolate cake as mush as I do, so ang ending ... ako lang naman ang umubos ng pagkasaap-sarap na chocolate cake na to. Para lang akong kumakain ng mane habang kumakain ng isang malaking cake. And of course, this won't be a party if alcohol is missing. So due to insistent public demand, I offered them this special edition of vodka. Its black with OA 50% alcohol. I am the barista as always, and I gave them screw driver. But before this drinking session, we already started the dining with one bottle fo wine. It was one of the very unfortunate events of my life cos I was the one holding the camera all through the night and that was the reason why I only have this very poor image of myself.

Friday Movie

One of the cutest and sweetest movies I have seen. Drew made it again.

Charice @ Good Morning America

She did it again!

Regalo

I rushed to Amara yesterday and had my hair done the fastest as I need to rush back to Orchard and do some errands.

I was so amazed by the beautiful Christmas decors in Orchard, the theme for this year is "Sweetest Christmas". So expect to see candies and lots and lots of sweet stuff all over Orchard road. I will surely capture this scene and I just can't wait to see myself standing side by side by these larger than life cup cakes :)

I wento to Gramophone in search of the best gift I could get for my housemate Roman. I was thinking of giving him Nat Geo photo collections but I ended up in the DVD section which leads me on meeting this cool girl with dark eye shadows and a pierce on her lower lip :)

I got him the latest installment of the Incredible Hulk which comes in a very unique packaging including "behind the scenes" and "the making of" plus some uncut versions of the recent movie. This is by far the most expensive DVD I bought after the "Passion of the Christ" way back to 2002/2003. It's a gift anyway to a person who have helped me a lot in many ways.

Good girl won't go bad

Pop singer Rihanna is in a campaign for Gucci’s “Tattoo Heart Collection,” which will be donating proceeds to UNICEF. Rihanna is currently a spokesmodel for Gucci and has been working with Director Frida Giannini on the brand’s 2008 Holiday ad campaign.When anyone purchases an item from the white “Tattoo Heart Collection,” Gucci is going to donate 25% of the sale to support UNICEF programs for orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. The campaign will go on from November 19, 2008 - January 31, 2009. This will be the fourth year that Gucci and charity foundation UNICEF has partnered.

Even though this is for a great cause, the bags are not cheap, the Gucci python messenger bag costs an estimated $2230.

In addition, a full-length film documentary chronicling Rihanna’s work with the campaign will be debut online on Rihanna’s and Gucci’s websites come December 9th.

Come taste this ad. I love you Rihanna!!!

Gucci UNICEF e-Trailer

My housemate's birthday

My ever rich housemate celebrated his birthday yesterday. He took time few days ago asking me where we should celebrate his birthday as it falls on Tuesday and not many of our friends could join us as it is a working day. So he finally choses to just have dinner with me and celebrate another party on the coming weekend with all other friends.

We went to this fine dining Japanese barbeque restaurant in City Hall and we had only the finest meat ever eaten in the universe of meat. They have a set meal for two which consists of pork, beef and shrimp .... and the best part was, we grilled it ourselves. So it was cooked in a way my tongue likes. And what is the perfect drink to match barbeque? Nothing but wine. So we took the finest wine in the menu. I felt so privileged eating in this restaurant :))

And how much this dinner costs? Whooping $250 bucks! Damn, that is equal to my ever longing iPod nano!

We then walked out the place and thought of going to Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, this hotel is the one to blame for the success of Singapore Sling as this famous cocktail originated from this bar. It was called Long Bar cos obviously, they have a very long bar in there. We just had singapore sling there and another friend joined us kasi sawa na kami sa muka ng isa't-isa.

After the Long Bar, we moved to Hotel Stamford and went up all the way to the 70th floor where we chilled with tequilla at Asia Bar. It was my 3rd or 4th time in this bar situated 256 meters above sea level. That was cool!

We also tried their famous home made bacon pizza. Really very yummy!

We finished this grand and yet quiet celebration at 3AM. And I have to post this picture cos it will be my first picture for this year surrounded with Xmas decor. I can feel the yuletide season already.

Ang ending, hindi ako pumasok today kasi 10AM na ako nagising. I am becoming a good boy each day!

Madagascar 2

Watched this movie last Friday ..... I say the first one was betther than this 2nd shot. That's all.

Nov 15 - my dear sister's birthday

I went to Fox and had carbonara as my meal as I celebrate my Ate's birthday. After a while, few pinoy friends came to the cafe as well, it was in honor to our good friend Alvin who gathered everyone of us and gave us free CD of David Archuleta. Ang numero unong fan ni David sa Singapore na namakyaw ng CD sa launching day para lang ipamudmod sa amin :)

After all the pasta, pizza, good coffee, tiramisu and many other foods .... I went to Woodlands with Joe and Matt to deliver some computer games and we had dinner at Billy Bomber's at about 10PM.

Then we received SMS from Dr. Chua (one of our friends) inviting us to drop by and have some drinks with other friends at his house.

Eto ang inabutan namin sa bahay nya ... anim lang iinom jan!

It was around 1AM already and my battery is about to be discharged when we reached his house. But something just changed my power level nang malaman ko ang price ng wine na to. Magkano? $1,000 lang naman. Susko, 32 thousand pesos! Biglang tumaas ang level ng dila ko, hahaha!

Hindi pa jan natapos, ang champagne na to worth $600 naman.

At isang nakakatawang habit ang na-discover namin sa ilang tropa. Kapag nalalasing sila, gusto nilang binabago ang interior design ng bahay, hahaha! Halos mamutla ako kakatawa everytime imo-move nila ang kahit anong makikita.
Ang united nation group sa piling ng mahal na lintek na alak. Matapos ang wine at champagne, dumating na ang tunay na inuman. Ito ang always favorite ko screw driver, syempre ako ang nag-mix para sagad to the bones ang sarap. Around 3AM when I started to vommit, yuckkkk! Ang ending, wala kami pang-uwing energy dahil hindi ko na talaga kayang itayo ang sarili ko. Salamat kay Yei Meng na inayos ang guest room at pinalitan ang beddings.

Nakauwi ako ng bahay ng alas dose na ng tanghali kinabukasan. Good boy!

Disturbia

Here is one of my favorites from her latest album "Good Girl Gone Bad" ... its called Distrubia!

Meeting Rihanna

If there's a will, there's a way ... in tagalog .... pag may tyaga, may Rihanna!

I finally did it! Last night was considered to be one of my darkest nights ever as I cannot get someone to accompany me over this concert which I have been eyeing for quite sometime. It was a roller coaster ride on how I finally landed in this stadium, but as the saying goes .... "the journey is as exciting as the destination", and this just hits me.

I was just so good in convincing my good friend, Joe, that made him spent a $$$ for a ticket to someone who he doesn't even know much about (that is Rihanna).

Anyway, I was just so out of my mind and a little bit disturbed cos I was really so excited to see Rihanna. And guess what happened??? I just simply lost our ticket!! Hahaha! How could I be so dumb losing it?? Thanks to Singaporean people who doesn't care about what they see when they walk as I found out ticket on the floor being stepped by everyone else rushing to get in the stadium.And by the way, our seat was upgraded to a better location with, of course, a better and nearer view of the stage.

The lights finally turned off, and there she goes .....
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
um bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum

She started with Disturbia (one of my favorites) and followed by all of her hit songs like SOS, Pon de reply, etc al.

All the while she spent singing on that stage was also the same time I spent standing, moving to the groove, shouting, and many other acts that made me so tired and hungry after the concert. I didn't even use my seat, I should not have bought a ticket if I knew that I wont seat at all, hahaha!

She ended it all with Umbrella! She rocks!

Tinawagan ko halos lahat ng kaibigan ko

Concert ni Rihanna bukas, at ewan ko ba naman kung bakit ngayon ako naging aligaga na manood, to think na last week pa nakabili ng ticket ang ilang friends ko. Ang ending, naubusan ako ng affordable ticket, at puro mamahaling ticket na lang ang naiwan. And worst, wala pa akong makasama. Kaya naman, habang kumakain ako ng masaganang hapunan, nagtatatawag ako sa halos yata lahat ng naisip ko na may possibility na sumama sa akin. Pero until now, wala pa din akong nahahanap.

Natatawa ako na naaawa sa sarili ko habang naghahanap ng makakasama kasi halos makiusap ako na samahan ako, pero mukang hindi ako mapalad, hahah!

Ganun pa man, nilantakan ko na lang ang sobrang sarap na hapunan ko na may kasama pang isang bloke ng chocolate cake.

DOnut

My sweet tooth is on attacked! Napaka sarap nyo!!

Avenue Q

I watched Avenue Q yesterday, it is considered to be one of the best musical plays in London and NY, it was the reason why I purchased a ticket although I can say that it is a little bit pricy for a puppet show. Then later I realized that it wasn't just a puppet show but a really musical play which uses few puppet characters who have gone wild.

It was so nice to see Filipino actors on stage. I like Carla Guevarra, she has a very wide range of voice, she played two characters and she can change voice instantly. Really very impressive. And of course, Aiza Seguerra also wowed me. I wasn't expecting too much from her but she just nailed it, playing a man on stage, really very good accent. I want to give credit to Frenchy as well. The whole cast, MAGALING!

They got really cool songs like "It Sucks To Be Me", "Internet Is For Porn", "Fine Line Between Love And A Waste Of Time"and a lot lot more. I almost fell from my seat laughing when Kate Monster had sex with Rod, I wasn't expecting to see puppets making out on stage, hahaha!

There was a 20 minute break in the middle of the play and I was just so surprised to see few big names of Singapore watching together with me. I saw few models and newscasters and a lot of really beautiful people. There were a group of Filipinos as well, pero mas madami pa din ang nanoood na hindi Pinoy na talaga namang napahanga sa galing natin :)

Tuwang-tuwa

Lorie's Bday and Cinderella and Avenue Q Ticket

Laing - ito ang sinabi ni Guen at ni Len na handa ni Lorie habang gutom na gutom na ako kasi almost 2PM na, hindi pa ako kumakain ng breakfast at lunch. Pero bago ng lunch bumili muna kami ng ticket para sa Cinderella ni Lea Salonga, which will be in Singapore on January 2009. Iba talaga ang power ni Lea kasi halos paubos na ang ticket ng shows nya sa January.

Birthday ni Lorie last Saturday at dumayo ako sa dulo ng Singapore para sa kanyang birthday lunch party. Sobrang sarap ng mga handa nya! At isang dish ang hindi ko makakalimutan, ito nga ang laing. Hindi pa ko nakatikim ng laing sa buong buhay ko dahil ewan ko, haha! Hindi lang siguro nagkaron ng chance or baka ayaw ko ng concept :) Natikman ko almost lahat ng dishes na nasa table but laing. Until hinamon ako ng mga tao na tikman kasi masarap daw, so pinagbigyan ko sila. WTF! Ang sarap ng laing!

Biyernes

Napakain na naman ako sa paborito kong fastfood resto. Lunch, kasama ng mga officemate. Salamat sa officemate ko na mahilig mag-click ng camera ng phone.

Pang-alis antok

Inatake ako ng antok sa office kanina lang, kaya binulatlat ko na naman ang baul ng katatawanan.

Dinner with friends

Akala ko masusunod ko lagi ang schedule ko na mag-jogging at least 3 times a week, pero ewan ko ba naman kung bakit lagi na lang sa last minute tumatawag ang mga friendsters ko para mag-ayang mag-dinner. Manonood ng movie ang few friends ko, since napanood ko na ang 007, hindi pa din sila pumayag na hindi ako sumama, kahit sa dinner man lang. Kaya sa The Cathay na kami kumain kasi dito din sila manonood.

We had Japanese food, ito lang naman ang kinain ko. Salamat na lang sa active metabolism ko!

007

My housemate bought a perfume last week and he got a free ticket of this new James Bond movie. I just got so lucky that he asked me to join him. November 7 pa ang world premiere pero naunahan ko pa sila kasi sneak preview pa lang ito.

Trivia: 007 ang number ng bahay namin sa Nueva Ecija :)

Multo ba ang nakausap ko?

I have been calling my Mom since early morning of Undas cos I know they will be visting cemetery. I thought it will be a good time as well on catching up with my cousins who I lost contact with. And once again, I find it very difficult calling my Mom. In short, I didn't get to talk to her and my cousins too. I have been calling her for many times during that day, pero pinanindigan ni Mama na wag sagutin ang phone nya.

Come November 2, Sunday, about 5:00PM. Tumawag uli ako kay Mama, after 4-5 rings, finally sumagot din sya. She said "hello", so I said "Ma!". I realized na hindi boses ni Mama yung kausap ko kaya tinanong ko kung sino sya. Hello lang sya ng hello sakin na parang hindi nya ako naririnig. At that moment, medyo nilakasan ko ang boses ko kaya narinig nya din ako. I said "Pakibigay nga kay Ma itong phone. And sino ka?" .... then she said "sandali lang". I know binaba nya ang mobile phone para tawagin si Mama. Inabot ako ng almost 1-2 minutes kakahintay pero hindi dumadating si Mama. So I ended the call kasi ang lakas kumain ng dollar ng oversea call.

Sunday nung tumawag ako na may sumagot na babae, then Tuesday, finally nakausap ko na si Mama. Pinag-usapan lang namin kung saang hotel kami mag-stay pag sinundo nila ako kasi kasama ang mga pamangkin ko na since February pa lang eh nagbibilang na ng araw ng uwi ko. Medyo sinita ko na din si Mama na pinaghintay nya ko last Sunday na naka-hang ang phone ko. Medyo nagulat ako nung sinabi nya na wala namang tumawag sa kanya para sabigin na nasa line ako. At ang Regal Shocker, dalawa lang sila ni Papa sa bahay buong araw ng Sunday at walang ibang humahawak ng phone nya but her, not even her assistant daw sa office answers her phone which I understood cos it is a private stuff.

Ang tanong .... sino yung sumagot ng phone ni Mama?

Seafood Spag

Masagana na naman ang hapunan ko kanina. After ako magpenitensya kahapon sa hapunan dahil wala akong makain sa bahay, bumawi naman ako ngayon sa dinner. Isang malaking plato ng seafood spaghetti at isang malaking baso ng banana smoothy at isang malaking baso ng mango juice.

Sunday

I met Ate Cleofe in the Sacred Heart church for the 5:30 mass and we had a bountiful dinner afterwards. We wehnt to Sakae Sushi and tried their grilled foods.

Nakakatuwa yung nagluluto kasi nasa harap ko lang. Ang sarap istorbohin habang serious na serious sya. The good thing about what we ate was the quantity served. It consists of grilled shrimp, pork, fish, miso soup, fresh salmon, sushi and sashimi, and egg cooked in an oniom ring plus a mochi ice cream dessert, all for $35.

Solved na solved na naman ako, tapos may kasama pang milk tea. Haay, kay sarap mabuhay!

Pero hindi pa dito nagtatapos ang kainan, kasi galing si Ate Cleofe ng Pinas at ang dami nyang pasalubong na polvoron sakin. When reached home about 9:00PM, just right time din ng pagdating ng housemate ko from business trip in Manila. And when we say Manila, dapat may mga pinas goodies din. So, all in all, ito lahat ang mga anik-anik na titirahin ko.

Undas na undas

While everyone in Philippines are celebrating the All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day, me in Singapore had a very normal day that made special by eating so much foods. I know that it should have been a kakanin or puto but there was just no way I can have those rice cakes here. It was a totally out of the tradition I grew up with as I started my morning by eating these: Yes, a donut. In fact, many donuts. I got a box of Mister Donut from Bangkok and these few pieces were the left overs of no other than myself.

It was late afternoon when I decided to have my tea time at my bestfriend's coffeeshop where I had banana smoothies (i am no coffee lover). And one of the many privileges I can get by having the owner of a cafe as a bestfriend is that I can enjoy eating literally anything I like as long as it is available for sale. Joe gave me some biscuits but I customized it by adding chocolate mousse as a spread. And this is what I came up. Yummyness really!
We closed the shop at 5:00PM and Joe and Matt brought me to a very nice Japanese resto called Tomton. I should agree that egg is one of the selling factor of this resto as they really cooked it well and mysteriously. It is hard on the outside and soft inside. The thing that surprises me was this creamy tofu, such a small tofu but big in dollar as it costs $8. This is how it looks like: And sorry to say that this is not my type of dessert. It was so tasteless, I was wondering why my friends like it so much.

After our dinner, we thought of celebrating the holiday in a theatre, haha! It was a significant movie anyway, the movie is called The Coffin. I should say that this movie really left me scared and shaking. If I were to count it, I literally screamed for three times, hahaha! Not to mention that I uses my hand sometimes to cover my eyes! I hate this movie so much! Grrrrrr!

It was 10:00 PM when we came out from the movie house and had some drink just outside the theater. We were in the middle of a very serious conversation when our doctor friend invited us to follow them at Esplanade for really serious drinking.

Most of the bars in the Esplanade were about to close already so we moved to a very nice party place which I can tell that it is really for "it people" of Singapore, the place is called Marina at Keppel Bay. The place is secluded and not very easy to reach. It was actually my frist time visiting this place. The cocktails are reasonably affordable considering that people with big money come here. And you dont get to see cars in the parking space cos it is a YATCH parking outside, imagine that?!

I ordered singapore sling which happened to be not in the menu, but who can argue with me. I asked the poor manager to give me what I like, hehe. Here is the image I got from our party. We are a combination of different nations again, this time round we have Hongky. Pinaka gwapo pa din ang pinoy. Ano pa nga ba eh ako ang author nito.

I ended up tipsy that night. Morning na pala.