Eastwood on a Saturday

Before anything.....From my family to yours,
Good cheers, good health, peace, love and prosperity to all of us! Happy New Year!

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I met my two friends at Eastwood last Saturday. We were supposed to have our dinner before Christmas but all were busy so we postponed it a week after. As always I enjoy going out with them. We had pizza and pasta at Pasto. We went around the tiangge (flea market) where I was able to buy a red blouse with puffed sleeves. It was a good buy actually, fits me well, nice feel of the fabric and below P500 (roughly 12USD).


Pasta is really good at Pasto.
More on Pasto in my food feature in coming posts.
Eastwood was jampacked as it was a Saturday night, gimmick night. There was a concert too featuring Regine Velasquez, one of the Philippines' top songbirds. My friends and I were supposed to have dinner at Jack's Loft but my, it was so full. I love the cakes at Jack's Loft. But a lot were still waiting so we have no choice but to transfer to the more laid-back Cafe Adriatico.

Around dinner time my hubby and my daughter came to fetch me. They had dinner with us at Adriatico. My hubby said the Lechon Kangkong tastes great. This dish is quite unsual for me though.

Lechon Kangkong
I was still full from all the pasta so I just had maja blanca. Maja blanca or coconut cake is a popular Filipino delicacy. For this particular order, all I can say is I only had a teaspoonful of it. My friends checked it out but didn't like it too. I was expecting a softer, corn-flavored finish. It's just plain sweet.

Maja Blanca (Coconut Cake)

My daughter is a pasta person too. She got herself a baked macaroni and consumed them all. I tasted it and it's good, it's like home-made. It's rich with sauce and the sweet-sour taste is just about right.


Baked Macaroni

We all had a grand time as we went home at almost 12 midnight. My daughter enjoyed the picture taking with her Titas at the theme area of Eastwood. The area has a really festive mood.

We had coffee and a late snack at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf again (this was our meeting place earlier). We were a little tired already and did not bother to see the fireworks outside. On the way to the parking area, my daughter dropped by Eiko, an accessories store for tweens and surveyed some items.



We had a grand time, who wouldn't? Being with family and friends are always the best. :)

A Fun Mess

My parents and the rest of my family living in another country love sending us packages of just about anything every now and then, mostly gifts for my daughter. One of the holiday presents my mom gave to my daughter is a scrapbook set. My daughter excitedly opened them upon receiving them. She eagerly cut, pasted, designed, stamped and what-have-you the pages of the scrapbook. It was a little messy on the table but it's fine with me. She's enjoying these kinds of activities and I encourage it. It helps bring out her creativity. :)




See more messy stuff here. Happy photo hunting! :)
I'm off for some groceries and meeting some friends after. I'll continue going around the messy photos later tonight. :) Have fun!

Far from the Madding Crowd

We went to Olongapo last Friday and had an overnight stay at Subic. Subic is a forested area where monkeys are free to roam around the stretch of the road. Warning signs are up so that motorists are aware to give way to the monkeys when they cross the road. Also, monkeys are not to be fed by passersby.

The monkeys are cute actually. Most of the people slow down to take their pictures. The monkeys tend to show off and some go even near the cars. I don't want them jumping on me so I took their pictures from afar and with our car windows up. :)



A break from the city traffic.

See the monkeys along the road.

Sitting pretty. :)
I do not observe Christmas but boy I have been busy since the start of the holidays, how much more those who are all agog for the Christmas eve. :) If you need to relax from all the hustle and bustle, you can check out Weekend Snapshot participants.

Happy Holidays! :)

Merry Lights

I was out of town and got back a few hours ago. I've to run to another activity after arriving home. Would I miss photo hunt? No, especially I like the theme for this week - Lights. So many lights wherever I go. It's the holidays. I took light here as brightness or illumination. Oh so many of them. :)

Oh, it's a humungous tree! I'm not sure how tall it is but it seems like as high as a five story building.


Even the road leading to the tree is well-lit. The trees are screaming with beautiful lights.



You may visit other photo hunters if you want to see more light.

Messages

My husband and I were munching over the chocolates my cousin gave us. He teasingly showed me what he found printed from the inside of his chocolate wrapper.



Funny thing, look at what I got from my piece. :)


These chocolates by the way are Dove. I was thinking does Unilever produce or distribute chocolates already. Well, it's from a totally different manufacturer.

Check out a lot of other interesting Weekend Snapshots. Enjoy! :)

Basketball

It was a long day yesterday but 'twas fun. We did our holiday shopping, the first wave. That's what I call it. :) There are still other things I need to buy, more on gifts. I have not completed them yet.

After going around the department store, my daughter asked if we can drop by Time Zone, a family amusement center which carries interactive games among other things. The intended few minutes lasted for more than an hour. As always, I am the family photographer. My daughter tells me she reminds me of the mother of one the characters from Bratz movie who takes pictures of her daughter like her every move is a milestone. Funny, daughter, funny.


Score, 4 points.

Daddy couldn't resist. Additional 2 points.

Curious how the others spent their weekend? Click here. You might want to join too.

Long Walk, Long Strand

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm standin' here outside your door...If I may borrow these lines from Jewel's song, Leaving on a Jet Plane. We're not leaving here through a jet plane but through the resort's service vehicle.

This was taken from Dos Palmas, the beautiful resort in Palawan. It's early in the morning on our fourth and last day of stay. Baggages were positioned in front of the beach villas so the drivers can pick them up and send them ahead to Puerto Princesa where we are booked in another hotel for the Underground River trip (more on that in another post).


It's a long road from the beach villas going to the resort's reception area. Plus the fact that baggages are heavy with all the souvenirs we bought from the island, I wouldn't want that long walk.

In an unrelated story, fettucinne noodles are somewhat long which makes it a mess sometimes to eat it. I'm teaching my daughter to cut them first and twirl the fork so the noodles won't slide in her fork.



I'll be out after this post. I'll be going around long posts later. :) Happy weekend! :)

In a Nutshell

I'm still working on this.

Red

I usually munch on something when deep in school or office work. I veered away from junk foods and started on munching on fruits and vegetables. Red apple is a favorite. Take a bite. :)



Check other REDs here. :)

The Big Switch

I thought it will be a hard cross over. I was having apprehensions if the family will be able to follow what I want. It is for everyone's good anyway so I took the plunge.


From white to brown. My husband and I are taking note of our food intake. I must admit it is both for health and vanity's sake. We still love eating out but we are conscious of what we are having. We are limiting our rice to one cup per meal and we don't take rice at night. It's either oats or a little serving of pasta. Our fish and vegetable diet at most times of the week has been going on for quite a long time now. It's the rice intake that we have to manage. Since we cannot totally avoid it, I thought of the brown rice.

Brown rice is actually white rice but the the bran remains which is high in fiber which as we all know, is good for our body. From my readings, we need at least 25 grams of fiber daily. Brown rice gives around 3 grams as opposed to white rice's less than a gram. Generally, because of its mineral contents, brown rice helps control blood sugar and cholesterol. The process of making brown rice to white rice largely reduces its nutrients.

I was warned that brown rice is bland in taste. If one is used to white rice (jasmin rice especially) then it is really a big leap to brown rice. I can add salt or pair it with sauces to perk up the taste. Fortunately, I don't have to apply those. We like its chewiness and we don't find it bland at all.

I learned it takes longer to cook. This did not pose as a concern since I don't normally cook at the last minute. Also, brown rice is said to have shorter shelf life than white rice. It develops rancid flavor when not kept properly. Just ensure you have an airtight container and it is kept in a cooler place to keep its fresh state.

I did not find any disadvantage in going brown, only its benefits. There is no hassle at all. I believe the next big switch is on brown sugar and brown bread. :)

Pizzeria

Some restaurants get popular because of word of mouth. One such restaurant is a-Veneto Pizzeria Ristorante. It has its first branch at Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. Most of my officemates living in Katipunan and from UP Diliman frequent the place. They rave about its pizza. The place was very crude so to speak, in fact, the servers are the owners' household members. The restaurant was always jampacked though.

A few weekends ago at Trinoma, my family and I tried a-Veneto for the first time. The interior is simple but comfortable enough. As expected it was full. We have to wait for about ten minutes to have a seat. And maybe another twenty minutes for our food to be served. I must say the restaurant people were very accommodating.

I don't think it's very clear here but if you can, try to guess what actors are on the mural. There's Richard Gere, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, etcetera.


Our quick snack turned to dinner already since the servings are huge for the three of us. The platter alone can make one really full.


The carbonara is not the best but just fine. I guess I'll take another pasta when we go back.


This one is the best, Seafood Pesto. It's very creamy and there were loads of shrimps which I really appreciated since I am a shrimp lover.



Check out other weekenders with their wonderful snapshots. :)

Hot Cruise

I'd take this week's photo hunt literally. What's hotter than the sun, tell me? :) These were taken during our Sunset Cruise at Subic going to Grande Island. It was a great show of nature.









To see what else is hot, please click here. Happy photo hunting! :)

Pasta Overload

Often times my daughter ask for a delivery during their supposed break time, break time from playing. Last week she asked for a chicken joy and some ice cream since her friend was in the house. I called up Jollibee, surprisingly, they got my order quite fast this time. Anyway, I need to complete the required P165 (around 4USD) so I thought of adding macaroni salad. Look here, too much green. I still prefer Wendy's but there's no Wendy's near our house.


A few minutes before Jollibee delivery arrived, my husband got back with pansit Malabon in tow. She came from my sis-in-law's place and thought of buying a plateful good for five. This is a lot better than the macaroni salad. Had I known he'd buy this I wouldn't have a delivery.


Normally I try to prepare something during weekends - pasta or a new dish I read in Yummy magazine. So the following day we thought of trying out the sundried pesto we bought and prepared some pasta. How was it? Let me just say now I know the sundried tomato from Santi's is a lot tastier than those prepared in bottles.





Curious what weekend snapshots the others posted? Take a peek here. :)

Overlooking

These pictures were taken at Mines View Park, Baguio City on a Saturday more than a month ago. I took fancy capturing the view of the mountains with the young couple having some sweet moments together.




This was also the day where I did some panic buying of vegetables since they are cheaper and fresher in Baguio. There were some excess broccoli and cauli flowers but they were put into good use before getting stale. I shared about it in a post on Pancit Bato.

You may visit other Weekend Snapshots participants here.

Flexible

I was thinking of what to share for this week's Photo Hunt. It has to be flexible. I thought of rubber bands, my daughter's ballet shoes...I thought of posting spaghetti noodles. My husband recommended his map light in his car, it has a flexible body. Hmm, it doesn't sound interesting to me, haha.

I settled to our hot air balloon pictures no matter how much my hubby talked me out of it. He said these balloons expand but they are not flexible. :D It used to be that it's only me and my daughter decide what pictures to share. Now it has become a family affair. :D





These pictures were taken at the 11th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta early this year, held at Clark, Pampanga. Suddenly a song enters my mind as I post about this..."up, up and away, in my beautiful, beautiful balloon...". Was this from the Bridgette Jones's Diary soundtrack? Anyway, there's another balloon song when I was in college, 99 Luftballoons by Nena. I love this song back then.

One has to get out of his comfort zone and be flexible and try more adventurous undertakings like riding a hot air balloon. Now that strengthens these hot air balloons' connection with Flexible. :)

Check out other Photo Hunt Flexible participants here. I'll be going around PH participants later, Mommy duties beckon at this time. :)