After the success of Sine Bahaghari, our beloved forum administrator, Jade, came up with the idea of screening a favorite flick from the event for the forum's 3rd Anniversary party. Having already discovered we can hold film screenings (or almost any other event) at Chef's Bistro absolutely for free, the anniversary party pushed through the night of the 31st of March.
As with any other PG4M parties, it was packed full of loud, boisterous beckies, of course, taking advantage of the bistro's unlimited cocktails.
It was too bad that the bistro was only open 'til midnight. PG4M gatherings are known to last until morning and this one was certainly no exception so after taking advantage of the Chef Bistro's cocktails we decided to head to Mister Kebab in West Ave. for some grub.
That's one long table!
I realize that my past posts have mostly been about food and this is turning out to be a food blog with just some scattered spurts of randomness. Gone are my musings, emotional rants, and tales of my extraordinary adventures. They've all been replaced by things I have chewed and gulped and the places where I chewed and gulped them. I guess I've just been too lazy to come up with a sensible writeup for everything that's been going on.
It's also a bit difficult to keep up with the mounting amount of things to write about. I tried to cram them all up in one post, but it's taking me too long to finish so I'm just gonna do one right now.
And this post is entitled "I Wanna Dance in Zambales!"
The back-to-back events last February left us longing for sun and sand and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The answer: 2 days in Zambales.
It was quite an adventure: drinking on the shore, wading along the beach, star-gazing, fire dancing, and just basically enjoying the relaxing time.
In the morning, we went island hopping, visiting Camara and Capones Islands.
There wasn't much to do in Camara except to cam-whore.
Capones was where the real adventure happened. Our search for the path to the famous Spanish-era lighthouse on the island had us walking around the island for hours under the scorching sun. I have to say, though, at least I got my tan because of it.
It was some hours of walk just to find the darn arrow that supposedly points to the path towards the lighthouse. Yes, it took us about 2 hours just to find the path.
The path was uphill and involved hanging on to ropes to successfully climb. So after the long walk along the shore, there we were walking among the shrubbery. Actually more of climbing, really, until we finally reached the lighthouse where we cam-whored some more.
We weren't much into the sight-seeing since only one of us wasn't acrophobic. While at the top of the lighthouse, we spend more than half the time holding on to the walls for dear life, although the view was undeniably splendid.
After the Capones Lighthouse adventure, our next and last stop was Anawangin cove.
The cove is known to campers, somewhere you can "feel close to nature". There are no air-conditioned rooms here.
No. We didn't camp out. Anawanging was just one of the 3 stops in our tour of Pundaquit. We really just wanted to experience swimming there.
It was quite a fulfilling vacation. In fact we loved it so much we're already planning to go back this November.
Since it was summer, one of the most obvious places to go to to cool things up is Baguio.
I don't normally attempt the travel to Baguio during the sunny seasons and squeeze in with all the tourists. I only went because it was my boyfriend's sister's graduation.
So while in there, we took the time to visit old favorite places to eat.
I've already blogged about Steaks and Toppings before, but it would seem that a trip to Baguio is not complete wqithout visiting this place.
It's still easily one of the must-visit places to eat in Baguio.
This is another old favorite that I've blogged about before.
Forest House will forever be one of the most memorable places for me. It's where my boyfriend took me for our very first dinner date.
They offer a wide variety of mostly Western dishes. This one's pork with apple sauce served with mashed potato and buttered vegetables.
This tender and mouthwatering ribs is so melt-in-your mouth.
This is a bit more upscale version of Steaks & Toppings, but still an affordable place to satisfy your cravings for steaks.
A classic favorite, this Salisbury is served topped with sunny-side up egg.
If you're not much into beef, they also have other sizzling plate dishes you can choose from like the double pork chop (top) or opt for a hearty sizzling boneless bangus (above).
A meal in Sizzling plate is not complete without a dessert. Their sans rival is one of the best.
Good Taste
If you're on a tight budget and you're feeding a group of people or you simply have the appetite of 10, the Good Taste is the place to go.
You're sure to get really full even on a tight budget. Their single serving is usually good for 2 to 4 people.
I thought this old favorite had already closed down until my last trip when I found out they simply moved to a bigger space. The restaurant used to be located near Rizal Park but is now along upper Session road.
O Mai Khan offers probably the most affordable Mongolian buffet in town. It's a make-your-own bowl buffet: start by picking out what kind of meat you want in your Mongolian barbecue (choose from chicken, beef, pork, and liver), then move on to the veggies (you can get as much as you want), then choose from the over twenty condiments to flavor your bowl.
Just let your imagination run wild with this buffet.
It was too bad I didn't get to take pictures of the food or the new place (because I was already so hungry), but I'll make sure I'll get some next time.
It's finally time to start the April series! Though, I realize that summer's already over and that the rainy season has already officially began a week ago, but hey! It's never too late.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the summer treats we've indulged in.
This fruity ice treat is from IceBerqs. The treats are a bit steeply priced, but one would do anything to beat the summer heat.
I call this water chestnut con hielo! These edible corms are surprisingly very sweet. Jatujak serves them with ice and coconut milk.
I've already blogged about Jatujak's Thai coffee previously. Like I said, it's become one of my favorites!
This enticing banana split dish is from a neighborhood ice cream house somewhere in Quezon City (I've forgotten exactly where). It's such an eye-candy.
Seryoso na 'to. Last na 'to ng March Munch series. Promise!
For an office mate's birthday treat, our team headed to Makati Avenue for some Korean food experience.
Sulit naman kasi sa complimentary side dishes pa lang, panalo ka na.
We ordered samgyeupsal (one of the standard orders if going to a Korean restaurant I think), some kind of spicy noodles, and some kind of weird dish that you wrap in lettuce. I really can't remember all of them but they all tasted really good.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to take much pictures of the food dahil parang puro kami mga patay-gutom na pagkalapag na pagkalapag ng pagkain, sugod na agad. At least I got this shot at the last minute:
I've been planning to take my boyfriend to that restaurant one of these days. Nahirapan lang akong tandaan kung ano yung pangalan niya. Now I know, it's Sansung with an N
Well, I thought I was done with the March Munch series but my photo album showed me otherwise so here's another installment from our food adventures that month.
Bellore, an amalgam of the three owners' last names - Beltran, Lopez, and Reyes, is a quaint little restaurant along Examiner Street in Quezon City. The restaurant is quite known for their "Everyday Breakfast Buffet" which me and my boyfriend have already enjoyed a couple of times.
The buffet table may not offer an overwhelming variety of mostly Filipino dishes, but it gives you enough to be happy about. There's scrambled eggs, tocino, hotdog, danggit, ensalada, champorado, macaroni soup, and adobo. The food is quite fantastic in a home-cooking kind of way.
Some hotdogs, a piece of lumpia, and scrambled eggs.
I think I might've placed the camera too close to this tocino.
A bowl of champorado filled almost to the brim with fresh milk.
Pieces of ham and chicken.
Dahil Mayo na at hindi ko pa rin natatapos ang series na 'to, gagwin ko na lang isang bagsakan 'to.
From Saturday, Jatujak while eating food ordered from an adjacent restaurant (the name of which I already forgot), to watching two movies one after the other (Mirror Mirror and The Lorax) with an ice cream break at Sebastian's in between, to Sunday yakiniku lunch at Yakimix, then having a laugh trip watching Live Aids in the evening, straight to Malate to have a quick dinner at Hap Chan then to watch a benefit concert at The Library and capping the night off with fabulous performances by the Divas of O Bar. It was quite a long weekend but so much fun.
A chicken dish from Jatujak. I forgot what it was called, but it was yummy.
My boyfriend ordered noodles from an adjacent restaurant. I have to admit, though, that this is not the first time I ate something that I did not order in the place I was at.
Jatujak's Thai coffee is growing to be one of my favorites.
After watching Mirror, Mirror, we decided to go for another movie. So while waiting for The Lorax, we had an ice cream break at Sebastian's. Their cookie dough ice cream was divine!
For Sunday brunch, we decided to head to one of our favorite buffets: Yakimix.
More yakiniku, more fun!
Grilling the food right on your table is just as much fun as eating them.
Of course, we don't want to be hungry while we're grilling. Good thing they have a fine selection of cooked food, too.
For anti-umay, go for desserts!
Later that night, we laughed our hearts out at Live Aids 2012. We took advantage of the free photo booth, too.
After Live Aids, we headed to Malate to watch a friend who was performing in a benefit concert, but, of course, we had to have our tummies filled first so we enjoyed a quick meal at Hap Chan.
We're dimsum lovers!
And our last stop for the weekend: a couple bottles of beer while watching our favorite drag performers at O Bar Malate, Rhirhi and Letlet.
