Thursday, February 24, 2011

First Hearts Day as Hubby & Wifey

Xtian is not the lovey dovey type. We are not a lovey dovey couple I may say. Valentine's Day was never a big deal for us. The only time we formally celebrated it was last year. We got some tickets for a formal dinner at Pearl Garden Hotel. There was actually a reason behind that dinner and that is to try the food at the hotel since we were planning to book it as our reception venue. It was also the time that we had an ocular of the event hall that they have. So V-day 2011.. we had lunch at Berjaya Hotel... Don't be fooled that it is something fancy. It was a free lunch actually care of Arleen, our account executive for the reception. She apparently transferred hotels and landed a job in Berjaya. She invited us for a free lunch and we saw hearts day as a good day to go!

We were expecting a plated lunch but lo and behold it was a buffet. It had the usually Filipino dishes since the hotel serves a Filipino buffet lunch from Mondays to Fridays. It was not bad at all. The kare-kare was good... The rellenong bangus was great but what we love was the pancit! Winner ito! Hubby cannot stop raving about it! There was a halo halo station and off the track pasta station but I was too full to try it. It was good to know that others can try the buffet for only 350 pesos. Not bad for the selection of food that they offer. After lunch, we went to the reception area to pay our reservation for the valentine promo that they have for the month of February. More on that one on my other blog.

Since we finished just after 1 pm, we decided to check out Rockwell. I just went around Fully Booked to browse through their selection of paper crafting books. Too bad they don't have any of the titles that I was looking for. We decided to head off to Eastwood and just wait for our respective shifts to start. We ended up watching Black Swan to kill the time. May I say it is a very very very good movie. Xtian is not a fan of movies like this but he liked it in the end. Hehehe... I hope it was not the *toot* scene!

That's how our hearts day went. It is our first as hubby and wifey and I just wish that he will do the planning next year but then I like it this way that every thing was unplanned and just spruce of the moment thing!

having a cold bottle of beer at 12 noon


early right? that's how hubby rolls!

keeping my food within the inner rim of the plate!

2nd serving for hubby

yes he bought me flowers... i think it was more of peer pressure!

movie and flowers...

black swan is the bomb!

blurry picture of us

flower power!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Early Birthday Celebration

I enjoy entertaining friends at home. I love cooking food meant to be shared. These would be the reasons why I decided to spend a day with my w@w sisters at our home and cook for them. It is somewhat an early birthday celebration slash belated birthday for K slash despidida for E, who was scheduled to go back to the US. Me and K decided to have some food delivered but I wanted to add something else since some of my relatives will be coming over as well. So the menu for the party... lumpiang shanghai (spring rolls), kare-kare (the most talked about kare-kare due to the FB post!) and spaghetti!

During my birthday I will always cook spaghetti. I just don't know why but ask my friends who came over during my past celebrations, it will always be spaghetti with fried chicken! Hahahaha... I remembered making my San Beda friends spaghetti and I would always make it "halal" or good to eat for Muslims since one of my friends is a Muslim. This time that party was not meant for a good drinking session but more of a sit down lunch that went on to merienda! hahaha... Of course gossips were talked about, stories were shared and some talk about business on the side!

I just wish on my next entertaining moment, it will be a formal one like Barefoot Contessa's dinner party. Hehehehe!!!

making lumpia!


a very supportive hubby... separating the lumpia wrappers!

sauteing the bagoong for the kare-kare!

mommy prepping the paper plates!

cake time!

the black forest is heart shape... and the mocha cake! hehehehe


thanks for the gifts guys!

Xtian munching!

able to take picture of the food before it disappeared!

cake from Auntie Lida...

it's my sister's birthday as well .. she celebrates her 18th birthday on 2.23... she said "legal na ako!"

happy birthday to me... happy birthday to me!

yummy cake!

Friday, February 18, 2011

What comes after weddings... Babies!

After the series of weddings... what else do you expect to happen... Baby showers of course! For the last Saturday of January, me and my w@w sisters set it as the baby shower for two of the members of our group... B and J! B is expecting a baby girl while J is expecting a boy! We are sooo excited to see the little ones already!

We had the baby shower at Luk Yuen at Glorietta 5 and we set it at lunch time. We sat on a very long table since the husbands are with their respective wifeys since all of us are married already. The only absent hubbies were the hubby of B and Xtian. It was a day filled with laughter and stories of the recent weddings. The table was overflowing of food also. Thanks to A and her hubby J for bringing the much-awaited lechon cebu! It was the best! Yummy!

After the sumptuous lunch, it was time for the gift giving and the opening of the presents.

my gift... it is obvious which gift belongs to who!

it was a raining pink and blue that day!

smile!

hmmm....

ssss--mmmillle!!

pink and blue again!

future mommies multi-tasking.. talking while opening gifts!

huggies!

the most sosyal gift of all.. coach???

gosh.. who would have thought.. coach carries avent bottles! hahahaha

the much talked about diaper bag for J... hahaha

the trash that we left at Luk Yuen


We walked out of Luk Yuen full and happy. Happy to have spend time with the girls and of course the hubbies! I just hope Xtian will be able to join us next time! He is really not the social butterfly as I am!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Will Keep My Mouth Shut!

This day marks the day that I will keep my mouth shut.
Bawal na pala to voice out opinions!
No banging of the table!
No more angst!
Keep it to yourself!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tagaytay... Loving the weather!

I grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but I am not a fan of hot places! I easily get irritated and I just don't love the sweaty feeling because of our country's humid climate. However, recently the weather is tolerable until we went to Tagaytay for K's wedding. Gosh! I love it! It was cold cold that Xtian cannot tolerate it! Hehehehe... It was like the weather in Raleigh, NC when I was there.

Aside from the weather, I was excited to go to Tagaytay since it will be my first time to go to the city and be able to explore it and not just go pass through it. It is also Xtian's first time so we decided to booked a room at one of the inns along the highway. Nothing fancy or elaborate just somewhere to crash to rest, freshen up before the wedding and spend the night. We met at the bus station in Cubao at around 7:30 AM since he finishes work at 6:30AM and I overslept. The bus ride was long but it was ok. We were able to get some shut eyes. We got to Tagaytay, looked for the inn, checked in and decided to go around because it was almost 11 AM when we arrived and we were hungry. Good thing that Mushroom Burger is almost across the inn so we decided to have lunch there.

It was our first time at Mushroom Burger and it was good that it did not disappoint. No wonder people flock the place during lunch break and it is good that we got there before the crowd thickens. Xtian enjoyed every spoonful of the meal that he got and I love my burger. After that we headed back to the inn to freshen up and change for the wedding.

Well the wedding story is on my previous blog but good to note that public transport is not a problem at Tagaytay. There are jeepneys, buses and tricycles to get you around. Too bad no taxis. Hehehehe!!! So even though one does not have any vehicle to go around, you still can since most of the popular places to check at Tagaytay are accessible through the main highway.

Too bad it rained the night after the wedding. We were planning to check out the casino so we just decided to buy some booze at 7-11 across Max's and drunk at the hotel. After finishing the booze, we just slept but I was awaken with a shivering body until I decided to turn off the air conditioning! Gosh that is a first for me! I even covered myself with the a blanket! I rarely do that! I have to pull the sheet from Xtian who is always feel cold! Hahahaha!

The next day we were off to have brunch at Leslie's to try the famous bulalo but it was closed so we spent some time at Starbucks to wait. I was happy with the sight of Taal. It was too foggy the day before so I was just glad that it decided to show itself to us before we head home! When Leslie's opened we ordered the bulalo and rice! It was good but nothing special to it only. The bulalo house along N. Ramirez near Welcome Rotonda still is the best for me. The only good thing about the bulalo in Leslie's is the size of the bone marrow! It was huge!!! Xtian ate 3 cups of rice and took some the rest of the marrow! He just ate the vegetables and the soup!

After the brunch, we headed to the place where you can buy the buco tarts, I forgot the name of the place. We got some buco tarts from there when we had our last outing with our friends turned principal sponsors. The tarts were good and I always craved for it. Good thing I remembered where the store was located. It was easy to spot since I knew that it was just past the Pink Sisters area. After buying the pasalubongs, we were on our way home. The weekend was fun. It was just relaxing and there is nothing to worry about!

while on our way to Tagaytay!

it was a long ride!

waiting for xtian to get our orders at mushroom burger!

yummy meal!

delicious burger!

busong.. ang laki ng tyan oh!

feeling bata!

hello taal! nagpakita ka rin!

reading the sunday paper.. its been a long time since i got hold of one!

the coffee is not enough to warm our bodies!

nice nice view!

just a lovely site of nature!

at leslie's!

love the details of the restroom!

the famous bulalo!

there is nothing to stop Xtian from attacking that soup!