Let's eat!

He came home from work on his birthday with mocha cake, pancit and chocolate ice cream for us to binge on. Then the next day, we meet up with my parents at SM Megamall to toast his 46th year at Savory Restaurant. Fun times.


Spinach with Crabmeat Soup


Rellenong Shrimps


Miki Bihon for long life.


1 whole Classic Savory Chicken

Note: This binge will continue for 2 weeks as we also celebrate my sister (even though she will be in Thailand for a business trip) and my birthday in quick succession! So diet won't be a part of my vocabulary during this period. :D

Climate

What I don't understand is how come it is already almost October but the temperatures in this part of the world is still very stifling hot. I was under the impression that the 'Ber' months were supposed to be cooler. Hmmm did I miss the memo that this year would be different?

Or perhaps it is just me? I am having really hot flashes which isn't really a good sign for my motherhood plans, isn't it? I still sweat up a storm even when I find myself inside a fully air conditioned environment. Goodness gracious me. Quel horror!

Alright enuff ranting, it's shower time yet again!

Tuesday

It is a holiday in the province of Pampanga, today. They celebrate the 100th birthday of the late President Diosdado Macapagal.

My husband is certainly not 100 years old but in this household we also celebrate his natal day. For the first time in our 3 years of knowing each other, I didn't buy him a gift. Actually I had something in mind but when I consulted him about it, he wasn't open to the idea so ewan I couldn't think of anything else so no gift it is! Beh! Since he has work, we will just have our date tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to my "Plus One". =)

Picture perfect Friday

Happiness is new season of my fave TV shows

It's the time for me to turn into a couch potato again. September is the time when the new seasons of TV shows are unfurled upon us. So far Survivor: Nicaragua and The Amazing Race Asia have begun. I'm looking forward to watching Grey's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters as well.

But I have to admit that I am certainly NOT a Glee fan. Never liked it and don't intend to watch it either. :D

Surprise

Monday night D comes home and tells me to hold the door open while he gets the TV from the taxi. At first I thought that he bought a new TV since the one downstairs has been broken for quite some time now since it was grounded during a freaky lightning storm. He and the driver of the taxi bring in this huge box with this 21" ChangHong TV:



But before I could reprimand him for not consulting me about making a major purchase, he explains. Apparently he got the top prize in some school activity and tada we now have a brand new TV downstairs. To think that earlier that day, I was lamenting that we had alot of broken appliances in the house which needed to be fixed but since budget is tight, we had to postpone the repair.

A nice pleasant surprise when we least expected it. A very good blessing indeed! =)

Coffee Break

It has been a while since I had a leisurely time to enjoy an iced coffee at one of my fave cafes. During my break, I was able to indulge in what used to be my regular past time during my single and idle days. My poison is the Mocha Frost at Figaro. Yes as much as possible I patronize local products to help our economy. :D

I also like to read various magazines as I sip and savor my refreshing drink. I tend to gravitate towards the lifestyle mags which feature useful tips on everything from "how to make use of limited space in a condo" to "the latest electronic gadgets in the market". Technology Articles are very informative. They usually give valuable pointers about various products like digital cameras, Mp3 players, TV and the like. I've learned a few tricks or two just from browsing these magazines.

I'm back!

So this year I managed to catch 4 films at the recently concluded Cine Europa at the Shang Cineplex and I have these 3 keychains to prove it! I watched films from Switzerland, Bulgaria, France and the Czech Republic. In between the European films, I saw George Clooney as "The American".

The thing with these film festivals which are screened for free are the very long queue of people lining up for tickets. So we (my parents and I, D was busy with work and intrams) would only get to see merely one film per day. Because by the time we get out of the theater, the line for the next screening has already formed and I didn't want to stand up for hours again. I was really worried for my parents who patiently lined up since they are already in their 70s but it turns out they were game and I was the one who got really tired and aching feet from standing for hours on end. Heh!

To occupy my mind while waiting in queue, I bought a book and managed to while away the time engrossed in the life of Elizabeth Gilbert. Her "Eat, Pray, Love" novel is so much fun to read. It is described as one woman's search for everything across the 3 *I* - Italy, India and Indonesia. True enough I've been lucky to have visited all these 3 places so I could more or less identify with her journey except for the yoga part. I'm still in the India phase of the book. I desperately want to finish reading it before the movie opens here on October 6, 2010!

Time off

Just a short note to say that this blog will be out of circulation for a week.

I'll be in a European frame of mind!

A bientot! =)

Furnishings

Limited space is a big factor to take into consideration when one needs to furnish an abode. When my sister and I first purchased the condo, we scouted at several stores for the right size of furnishings.

Dining Room Furniture needed to be both functional and non bulky. Initially we were aiming for a round shaped dining table so that 4 people can eat without literally rubbing elbows with each other. But then we came across a dark brown square shaped dining set which we both fell in love with at first sight.

For almost 9 years now, it has been the centerpiece at the loft. A vital fixture where we share meals, watch Tv and have endless conversations about anything and everything under the sun.

Picture perfect Friday

Happiness is comfort food!

For me comfort food would be a large bowl of Pho or Vietnamese noodles soup from Pho Hoa. My usual order is soup no. 38 which consists of brisket, tendon and flank which i top with bean sprouts and hoisin sauce. It is especially comforting to have it on rainy days and Mondays. And yes I can devour all by my lonesome self an entire LARGE bowl of this delicious soup! :D

What time is it?

I am always consciously aware of the essence of time. It seems my whole family is that way. We have an abundance of clocks in our houses. Every room has its own wall clock. My cellphone has a clock as its screensaver. Even when I am on the computer I immeasurably do my tasks according to a certain time frame.

So I was really shocked when D didn't even had a wall clock at his former apartment. His alarm clock was so small the first time it rang I barely heard it. But that is just the way he is, he just breezes on without even making a conscious effort to check the time. So while I like to be always ready way ahead of time, he simply takes his own sweet time. Now that's funny!

Laundry woes part 2

One of the things we discussed when we got married is that it will be cheaper if we just have our clothes cleaned at a laundry shop. Thus we didn't include a washing machine in the list of appliances to purchase. This way, we lessen our electricity and water billing expenses.

There were a few laundry shops in the area which had a pick up and delivery service so it was pretty convenient. I would fold the clothes, specifically list down each item to be washed then simply called them for pick up. We didn't really encounter any problems except when we had to return an item or two which didn't belong to us. They were probably accidentally included in our stash.

A few months ago D noticed that one of his jeans had a pretty nasty stain along the front side of the leg area. You know the kind of stain that occurs when you mix a dark colored item with your whites. So he took it to the laundry shop and they said they will try to remove the stain. After several weeks had passed and we didn't hear from them, D decides to just get the jeans back. But they reason out that they had fired the employee who caused the damage. But in the process, they refused to return the said item. So he demanded to speak to the owner. But apparently she was in the province and they didn't have her number. He spent almost 1 hour at the shop trying to find an acceptable solution to the problem.

To make the long story short, they simply agreed to pay a measly 300 pesos for the aggravation but still refused to give his jeans back. D believes that the shop wanted to avoid us pressing charges against them so they decide to hide the 'evidence'. Take note it took them almost 2 days to come up with the measly amount!

Oh well ... yet another incident of bad service!

Travel Souvenirs

I remember I had a friend who used to collect postcards from her travels. The thing is she would mail these souvenirs to herself from every city she visited. Naturally, she would get home way before the postcards landed at her mailbox. But she told me that it would always be a pleasant surprise and a lovely reminder of her travels way after she had unpacked her luggage, distributed the pasalubongs and recovered from jetlag.

She was in the process of gathering all her collection and collating them into a giant color postcard printing mosaic. I never saw the finished product since we relocated to another country but I believe that until now it is still an ongoing work in progress.

Laundry woes

Since I sometimes sleep over at the condo, I leave some of my clothes inside the closet of my bedroom. Then my mom would include them in the items to be sent to the laundry for washing and ironing.

Just this July, my sister was in town so I spent the whole week at my former residence. On one of our shopping sojourns, I just grabbed the dress pictured below from my closet took a bath and got ready. As we were about to leave, my sister noticed something on my dress. At first she thought that I accidentally pour water on it while drinking. But lo and behold there was a gaping tear on the right side (the tummy part). The kind of tear that is caused by an overheated iron! Actually I had no idea that it was torn! I was shocked and really upset because it is one of my favorite items to wear.



So we confronted the laundry shop and after endless phone calls and much wrangling and heated discussion, they agreed to just pay half the price of the item. For me the damage has been done, there is certainly no price high enough for the mental anguish it caused me. I can never wear it ever again.

Today I find out from my mother that my chiffon blue blouse has also been damaged with exactly the same problem. It was ruined by an overheated iron! Actually I believe it was included in the same batch of clothes together with my purple dress. My mom only noticed it because it was mixed along with her blouses and was placed inside their closet.



Oh dear! Another outfit ruined. That's it I think I will just hand wash my clothes from now. It is quite lamentable that in this country, consumers have no rights whatsoever when it comes to bad service. Tsk tsk.

Tees

D turns a year older later this month. He is a pretty witty person with a good sense of humor. He might find LOLcats funny, it is a website which features funny pictures of cats.

This early, I am already brainstorming for his gift. I figure that since he and his friends are in the t-shirt printing business, some funny t-shirts would be appropriate. You can never have enough tees in your closet. Actually it is a vital part of his casual style of dressing. His mind is constantly bursting with t-shirt designs so he might find some inspiration from funny posters and convert them into funky t-shirt prints.

Well anyway I still have plenty of time to find a suitable gift.

Ang blusa

It was my father's birthday so I sorted through my wardrobe and decided to wear this blouse I bought from Celine. After I was ready I went down to wait for D who was still dressing up. So while we were closing all the windows in the house, D notices my attire. According to him it was pretty flimsy so he politely asked me to wear something inside. I insisted that since I was wearing a flesh colored bra, it wasn't scandalously vulgar. But he went on and on how you can see everything yadda yadda yadda. So just to shut him up, I was forced to wear this dark brown chemise inside the blouse, much to my sweaty chagrin.
Well truth be told, when I bought the item it *did* come with an inner garment. Yet when I tried it on my sister who was with me in the dressing room said that it was fine and wasn't flimsy at all as long as I wore a flesh colored bra. But D vehemently thought, otherwise.

Now I call him "MTRCB" for censoring my outfits. I also maintain that due to that stuffy attire I sweated up a storm and got sick. Well that and the fact that I had ice cream, ate ice cubes and got rained upon when our umbrella was too small to shield us both from a heavy downpour. I wanted to bring a bigger umbrella but he said that it won't rain that much and the foldable one which fits in my bag will do!

So you see, it's his fault I got sick! :D