A Blessed 2009

Another year has ended... Last year was a very meaningful, fruitful and a blessed year for me and my family. We've been to a lot of trials and challenges but those trials made me and my family stronger and more intact. But of course, we also received a lot of blessings too...

FRIENDS: I am very thankful that the Lord has given me friends. I have a few but those few are the ones that won't leave you whatever happens. They are the ones that I can proudly say that can be TRUSTED and won't backstub you. Friends that will pull you up when you're down. Friends that even you don't that often, you know in your heart that they are always there for you... You know who you are and I am thankful that I have you.

FATHER: I am thankful that although the Lord has taken my mom while I was younger, I still have my dad. Though he's far away from me, we still have time to see text each other, call each other and see each other. Love you papa!

BROTHER: My only sibling. He's far away from me too but never be the hindrance to not see each other atleast once in two months. We never fail to text each other everyday.

DAUGHTERS: I am blessed to have a cute and cuddly little girls. They are growing up real fast. They are now getting so makulit but they give us happiness which money cant buy. Besides, there are lots of people who havent have children yet and they wish they have one already.

HUBBY: And of course I am very lucky to have a very understanding and loveable hubby.

JOB: Though I dont have the perfect job, I am still thankful that it give us a source of income to supplement our needs and working with a lots of challenges makes me strive more.

Although it sounds more like a thanksgiving holiday than a lookback for the past fruitful year, we still love to mention the following things:

1. Our loving Dog Brandon who tirelessly guard our house day and night

2. Our reliable and dependable transportation of service which doesnt fail us going in and out of the office and taking us to far away places with no hassles eventhough he loves to drink premium gasoline too much.

3. Our yayas who take care of our children patiently but not those yayas which ...nevermind

4. Another accomplishment we had this year is that we never failed to go to Baclaran Church every Wednesday without misses to say the novena. Thats 52 wednesdays of 2009! whew. Hope we do it again this 2010

5. Our home which sheltered us through Ondoy floods and other typhoons that passed.

6. And lastly to God Almighty who never failed us to shower his blessings. Thank you for everything.

The Best Ribs in Town is at Tony Romas!

We woke up early Saturday morning, December 12, to attend the office's General Assembly in our office compound. Since our little princesses were not allowed at the meeting, we decided to bring them to the "Breakfast with Santa" at the Pavilion (still inside the compound). They had fun playing with the other kids and especially when sat at Santa's lap to blow their wishes and have picture with him.


After four hours at the compound, we have decided to head to Glorietta Makati to treat ourselves to Tony Roma's. It was first time for Brin, our friend, to eat at TR so we hope she enjoyed the ribs. we ordered the ribs served in four different styles. One tastes chili, the other is sweet. But for me all four are yummy and delicious. We also ordered Ceasar's salad and Baked Potato soup. We are so stuffed that we didn't realize that another rib was left. But nobody cared as we are so full of food. Talking about eating so much hehe. Their serving is so big it can feed four people and the bill was well affordable.

After the Tony Roma's feast, we head to Mandarin Oriental for the kids to have a dip at the hotel pool but the water is so cold. Hey its December and the wind is blowing too fast. And for last hurrah, we head back again at Glorietta to eat AGAIN at Mesa. What a feasty Saturday it is.

Loving Jatujak, MOA

18 days to go before Christmas and I haven't had any single gift under our Christmas tree. Since last week, I have been planning to wake up early last Sunday, 6th of December, go to Church before going to Noel Bazaar at the World Trade Center to buy some nice and unique gifts for my friends, love ones and especially for my godchildren (I have lots of them). But it didn't happen as planned. We woke up late and had brunch at 1100am. We were about to go to World Trade by 12noon but something happened unexpectedly. A heirloom necklace was somewhat lost and couldn't find. It took us 2 hours and a half to find it... Thank God! Whew!!!

So off we go to World Trade Center at 230pm. I was sooooo excited! I have seen a lot of good stuffs but I didn't had the chance to actually look at it because it was sooooo crowded. We cannot move inside the Bazaar. A lot of us are bumping with each other. We were there for about 2 hours (but it seems like forever) but I never had even a single thing to buy. Walking around and seeing that made us sooo hungry. So, we decided that we go to Mall of Asia instead.

When we arrived at the Mall of Asia, we decided to have dinner at Jatujak. Jatujak is also one of the nicest place and the price is very affordable. We ordered Bagoong Rice (Php155), Moo Grob (Php230) and Grilled Talong Salad (Php115). But since we are still stuffed with the Kalderata we ate at breakfast and lunch, (I haven't mentioned the Shawarma too at the Bazaar) we are just contented to order these three. On a normal day, we will add their Tom Yum Soup, their Chicken Pandan and their Pork Spareribs. One of our friend loves their shredded Hito?. You'll enjoy your meal with their bottomless Iced Tea or a Iced Coffee. And yes, you get a 10% discount if you pay in cash by presenting your SM Advantage Card. I dont know if this only applies to MOA branch because their branch in North Edsa, particularly the Block, doesn't accept this card for obvious reason. For those who are familiar with their geography and those who love to travel, they know that Jatujak is a famous night market in Thailand. We have been to Thailand but we dont have enough time to visit this place. But we've been to night market at Suan Lom which is almost the same.

After thirty minutes of savoring our feast, Jatujak never fades and never fails. We remember that the first time we went there, we were having second thought if it is really worth the try but after two years of in and out of that restaurant, we know that we made the right choice. So please add Jatujak to Mesa and Gilligans as part of our favorite restaurants. Next up: Chilis, Tony Romas and Hooters.

Reunion at Mesa, Modern Filipino Cuisine!

My friends and their families decided that we meet at Greenbelt for a quarterly reunion. As we all know, Greenbelt is one of the nicest place in Metro Manila for its homey ambiance, nice place for chitchatting, and they have nice restaurants too. It is also known as one of the most expensive place for dining, but guess what??? There's this restaurant called "MESA". It is not the usual Modern Filipino Cuisine because they have a unique way on how to present it.

We ordered Kare-kare (Ox Tail - P280), Laing in Two-ways (Php120), Eggplant Salad (Php - 90), 4 pcs Pork Barbecue (Php120), and the Yummy Squid (i forgot how they call it but it's only Php280). I don't have the pictures now but I'm pretty sure we will be back again this week and I'll post some of it.

First, we do some 'window' shopping. Yup, that's really window and doors for you because the stores at Glorietta and Greenbelt are 'high-end'. There's the ever popular and eye-catching watch stores such as the recently 'broke-in' by holduppers 'ROLEX' stores and brands such as Omega and Philippe Patek. There are also famous bags and shoe store like Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. etc. So much for being brand-conscious but honestly its not the brand that made them popular but the quality of their product and the big money they invest in marketing this products. I bet Marikina can also produce quality stuff like the one in Italy but only if Filipinos put their heart to it. Anyway, after some strolling, we say a little prayer in the Church in the middle of the mall. The mass is already on-going so we just decided to come back after we are done dining.

The kids enjoyed playing at the water fountain near Cafe Havana (?) just outside Glorietta 3. Yohann, Eds' son had a wonderful time playing with water that after ten minutes, he was all soaked up. So her parents have to change his shirt and pants and diaper. The two little princesses also enjoyed walking and running around the fountain but we make sure that they dont get wet becauase they were not feeling well that time. Staring at them make us smile and tired. So we hit the Mesa for the sumptuous dinner.

Times like this really makes your life and day and appreciate all the wonderful things that God has given us. Consider this, we are around 10-20 percent lucky in this world to have internet and computer and even the basic necessities in life. We already consider this as luxuries. That's why we never forget to thank God for all his blessings.

Giligan's Sisig - The only sisig that my little girls eat.

Today is a holiday for us because both my husband and I were working with the US Government. We make it a point that we also celebrate "Thanksgiving" in our own way. But, instead of the traditional turkey, we decided to choose the best sisig that we have ever tasted... The GILIGAN'S SISIG!!! After we got tired from our little shopping at the Noel Bazaar at the World Trade Center, we decided to go to Giligans to feast for Filipino food because the price is very affordable without sacrificing the quality! You will never need to worry about what to order because you can never go out of your budget.

And so when we arrived, we ordered a bunch of food: Sinigang na baboy which can be shared for 7 persons (hubby, I, our 3 friends and our 2 girls), Kilawing Oysters, Shrimp Gambas, Pork Sisig and 2 platters of rice. Everybody knows how Filipinos love to eat rice :) Of all the dishes, the sisig probably was the BEST! Absolutely addictive! It was made from fried pig cheeks and possibly ears and they made it very crispy, they also put liver with a bit of mayo mixed in. Not only hubby and I liked it but also my 3 year old and 1 year old daughters too. I can say that the Giligan's Sisig is the only Sisig that my little girls eat :)

By the way, there are lot of Giligan's Restaurants we have been too, but the Giligan's at San Miguel by the Bay is very accessible to us aside from the fact that besides the affordable price, their staff were very accommodating.

All about YAYA!!! Whatever!!!

Just as I arrived at the office yesterday, I received a call from our landlady. She's telling me that our "yayas" (nannies) were fighting at home. I was really worried and wanted to go home immediately. But then, the good landlady told me not to worry and offered that she'll visit our house from time to time to check on our yayas and also to check on my precious ones.

Hours had past, the elder yaya (i'll just call her "Isabela") keeps on texting me and hubby a LOT of negative things about the younger one (or "Gabriela") so we decided not to answer the text until we get home because we don't want just to hear one side of the story. Also, we noticed that Isabela was a very good actress. If you can hear her and just listen to her... you'll believe everything that she says.

And so we arrived at home at 6pm due to heavy traffic. We asked them where it started but both of them won't stop talking. Each of them has something to say about each other but Isabela always have +2 points. She always make it a point that she hasn't done anything wrong and that she was only following my instructions. Then I found out from the conversation that we had that Isabela was making up stories about me. She keeps on dragging my name to Gabriela. Since, Gabriela was younger and its her first time to work as a nanie, she believes everything that Isabela says. To make the story short, Gabriela thinks that I am bad because i have soooo many rules at home which is not true. I told them from the very beginning that the most important thing of their job is to make sure that my kids are well taken care of (food, clothing, hygeine) and next will be the household chores.

We were caught by surprise what had transpired. In fact, we were made to believe that both of them are getting along too well. If we only knew right from the start what is the problem, we could be sure that this have never happen, both of them fighting each other. Since the bubble have already burst, there's no other way than to contain the situation. We have no other recourse but to make a drastic action and a tough decision. We know that if both of them will stay together while both me and my husband are away from the office, we will still get worried that they will clash again.

So we agreed that we have to let go one of them. We know it's very tough since it is really hard to find somebody who will help you in your daily chores but the situation was too traumatic not only us but also the kids, we have no other choice. This morning we dropped her off at Buendia. So goodluck to her and hope she change for the better. For now, life at home is peaceful and less worries.

A Close Encounter at KFC Mall of Asia

It was a gloomy day when we woke up this morning. Nobody wanted to wake up until we realized that it was already late for breakfast. After our brunch (breakfast & lunch) we decided to go out for the usual family day because our supposedly lunch date with our family friends was cancelled today due to health reason. Hubby and I wanted to watch "New Moon" but also wanted to bring the kids with us. So we decided that we will leave them at Dave's Play House at the Mall of Asia while at the same time hubby and I would watch the movie. But when we came there, we were shocked to see a lot of people falling in line for that movie so we decided to watch "2012" instead.

While we were waiting for the scheduled time (3 hours more), hubby and I decided to ran some errands and buy some stuffs at the grocery. We didn't realized that it was already 1 hour before the show so we hurriedly decided to pick up the kids (and their yayas)and bring them to a fast-food so we won't be running out of time. Our eldest daughter Peachy chooses KFC because she likes chicken with gravy and mashed potato. We waited for about 15-20 minutes to be seated because KFC was a 'blockbuster' during weekends any time of the day. All of us were done eating and just waiting for hubby to finished his chicken when this tall man wearing a barong instructed the waiter to clean up our table. I told him that my husband is not done yet with his food and the this tall man who instructed him scolded him and i heard him say "Bakit hindi mo nilinis yung lamesa?" (Why didn't you clean the table?) Poor waiter keeps on explaining that my hubby isn't done with his dinner yet. Then I ask the guy why is he instructing the waiter to clean the table? He answered impolitely "Ano bang masama dun?" (What's wrong with that?) I knew why... because a woman was standing beside our yaya was waiting for us to leave and the man wanted her to be seated in our table. I told the guy, whom I thought was the supervisor that we waited for 20 minutes to be seated and we were just 10 minutes being seated because we don't want to be late in the movie. But the man was still raising his voice. Then a lady in a uniform , May Flor Celis, supervisor, approached us and ask what the problem is... we told her what happened. We asked who the man was, she said he was just a security personnel. The guard's name is Alexis Steves, who acts like a supervisor. The way he talked to me made my husband more angry. My husband's point is, provided the seurity guard made a mistake, he could have asked for 'forgiveness'. Not that we wanted him to kneel to us but a simple ' sorry po maam/sir' will do. If only that we realized that the movie is about to start, we could have stayed there for a long time and give this guy a hard time. Oh well, good thing me and my hubby are not in a fighting mood otherwise he'll get what he asked for. It's just so disheartening that a customer will be treated like this not by the management but by employees or contractual who doesn't value the word customer service.