Get-together with My College Friends

It's 2014! Well, yes, it's been three weeks if I may remind myself. It's been really busy. A lot of things are going on in my life and I am just thankful for that. I'd really be dragging posting here if I will go back to the 1st day of January up to today to chronicle what's been happening. I'll get to those as soon as possible. :)

Let me just start my first post for 2014 about my meet-up with my college friends. It was really not on schedule.  As it is often said, unplanned events push through most of the time. This is generally true for me and my friends.

Last Saturday, Jan. 18, my friend and I agreed to meet at McDonald's in Makati because she will be accompanying us to the seamstress who will do my daughter's prom gown. We were on time. My daughter and I were really happy with the way the seamstress entertained us, with her suggestions and comments. I was happy too because the printed design was really clear and the dressmaker readily understood what I want to happen. She is a seasoned clothier.

Our original plan is to go back to the mall and have some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. But my friend told me our balikbayan friend is on the way to the mall to meet us. It was such a perfect timing so I agreed right away.  I was excited to see all my friends as well as the little son of our friend.  They're residents of the Netherlands and will just be staying in the Philippines for a couple of months.

I can't recall anymore the last time we were with our balikbayan friend, about eight or nine years I guess.  The last thing I know she went to Netherlands with our other friend.

Here we are now.  Still looking young and everyone's happily busy with our own lives.  But as we say, friendship surpass distance.  We need not be together all the time but we know in our hearts we are friends in the truest sense, forever.

Well, the balikbayan gave us a treat at Banapple. My daughter and I were there just recently but we only had their banoffee and slow-cooked chicken sandwich. My daughter and I tried their pasta. They're good!

Lasagna roll-ups, P180

The lasagna roll-ups is delicious! My daughter loved it! It's so creamy.

Fettuccine Magnifico, P170

I had the fettuccine magnifico and I like it.  Well, how can one still go wrong with something as basic as this? :)  It's actually aglio olio.

Terrific Tuna Sandwich, P130

Our friend ordered this sandwich to share with her son. He preferred bread than pasta or rice meals. 

Breaded Fillet  of Cream Dory with  Honey Thyme Mustard Sauce, P185

This is cream dory tastes a lot like what I prepare for lunch.  Nothing really special but I must say Banapple is generous with rice.

Baked Fish Gratinee with Scalloped Potatoes, P185

Again, this baked fish tastes just fine. I'd say though I like this better than the one with mustard sauce.

Banoffee Pie, P95/slice, Old-fashioned Chocolate Cake, P100/slice

And for dessert, we had our cakes!  They're okay.  I'm  not into banoffee. My daughter loves it. The chocolate cake lacks the moistness I want in my cake.

And yes, we love the loots our friend gave us. :) 

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Chateau Melk Chocolade

And since I am a certified chocoholic, this is my favorite among all the pasalubongs of our friend. :) 

My friends and I plan to meet again some time in April for the christening of my friend's daughter.  I really hope our schedules are all okay so we can have a get-together again and celebrate with our families.  :)

Rustic Mornings with Friends

Since October 15, Tuesday, was a holiday, it was a perfect time for me and my friends to finally meet-up.  It was a very belated birthday blow-out of iMom.  We agreed to go at Rustic Mornings located in Marikina City.  The place was jampacked when we arrived around 9:30 AM.  It took almost an hour before we were given a table for five.  It was a bit hot but we were all in a pretty good mood so we patiently waited while standing near the counter area. We understood it was a holiday and breakfast seems to be their peakest hours.

What made the waiting more bearable was the friendly staff.  They are genuinely friendly, move swiftly attending to customers, composed, neat, with genuine smiles. For me, I spent my waiting time checking the place, and of course, taking pictures of the place, my friends, and myself. :)

The food was fine, nothing spectacular but presentation is good. The price is almost the same compared to other restaurants, about P150 - P300 per head.

Shared by all, Bread Basket, with fruit jam, and butter, p150

iMom's Sausage Platter (Bratwurst and Cheese Sausage,  Toasted Rye Bread, 2 Sunny Side Up Eggs, P215

CessnaPlane's Frankfurter, Cheese Omelet, Garlic Rice, P220

Teacher Julie's All-Veggie 3-Cheese Omelet (with Tomato, Zucchini, Onion, Green Bell, Mushroom), P195

President Mama's Waffles, Buffalo Chicken Strips, Salad with Marinara Chipotle, P250

Mine, Country 3-Egg Cheese Omelet with Bacon and Potatoes, P185

Everyone had coffee of course. It's good, priced at P65, with one free refill for the Americano.

As the name tells it, rustic, the place makes use of crude materials as their decorations which blended well giving us a countryside ambiance. I like it. Electric fans are provided for each table if I am not mistaken, for the al fresco dining area.

Yes, the place is full of plants but good that I did not see mosquitoes or other insects flying around. :)

This is where the dining area starts. 

This is the counter area, also al fresco. I like the masks hanging on the wall.

One side of the wall in one of the dining sections is peppered with framed paintings, pots, and synthetic crustaceans. 

This is yours truly in one of the interiors of the restaurant, with my OOTD, haha. I blend well, right?

I like the embossed flower in yellow paint finish. It's nice, dainty.

Us Girls: TeacherJulie, iMom, Me :), CessnaPlane, PresidentMana

I want to go back here with  my family. It's a bit far from our place but we can schedule. :)

Rustic Mornings
#11 Isabelo Mendoza St., San Roque,
Marikina City
Business Hours: 8 AM - 4 PM
Contact #s:  5106914, 6812461, 0917-7005810

Figaro with Friends

This is actually a belated birthday treat by Cess.  Finally we managed to pull off a date last Monday when all of us are available.  The five of us met very early at Figaro for our breakfast date.  As always, I am happy to see the girls.  We usually send each other messages in our Facebook group but of course, face to face conversation is different. It's more animated, it's more active, everybody gets to participate at the moment. No late replies. Haha.

It was a happy morning. Figaro is very conducive to meet-ups like this, at least in this branch at Congressional Avenue.  It's a bit cold because it was only the five of us inside the restaurant but that's fine.  I just like the ambiance of this particular Figaro.  It's so quiet. It's so clean.

With the girls, Chats, Julie, Cess, that's me in blue, and Cookie.  Dont' we all look really fresh very early in the morning? :)

My breakfast for the day, honey-glazed bacon with sunny side up on toasted bread. Just bacon and eggs but the presentation is really nice. The girls said they should have ordered this. It's around P200 with refillable coffee. All our breakfast come with refillable coffee.

Funny because the three girls ordered for this, fresh mushroom omelette. Again it's around P200. Expensive, right? Good thing we are all coffee lovers. The refill compensates for the pricey breakfast.

Julie had her very Pinoy breakfast of bangus belly with garlic rice and egg. It's around P185 I think.

Our dessert consisted of butterscotch and chocolate muffin.  It's funny because it was really early and yet these are just the desserts available.  The staff said their delivery will still be on Wednesday.  Oh, sayang ang sales n'yo.

I have always been a fan of Figaro. I like the ambiance, especially this branch, I love the food. My daughter loves their milk shake, I love their arrabiata.

We spend the whole morning together which is very rare as we are always busy. We savor the time together and we have already planned for our Xmas dinner sometime middle of December. :)

Saturday Bonding Time

It was a fine good Saturday for me.

I was preparing to bring my daughter to school for her Math tutorial and head to the gym after.  I read my friend's status via foursquare that she was in her yoga class with another friend of ours. I immediately told them I'll drop by if they were still in the area. I texted them too as soon as my daughter was already inside the school.  They were having breakfast at McDonald's. Yay!

They waited for me and we spent the rest of the morning till lunch at McDonald's catching up. I love my girls! We were not complete as this was an impromptu meet-up but we'll find time to get together for breakfast or lunch or dinner. :)

The gym can wait.  I want to be with my friends. :) (Photo below grabbed from Cess.)

Nice to see you, girls! Chats, Cess and me. :)))

After our meet-up I headed to another McDonald's branch to wait for my daughter and her best friend.  After we all had our lunch we proceeded to the mall to buy our movie tickets. There's still a good one hour before we can enter the theater so I took the time to squeeze in my workout.  I had cardio (treadmill) for 40 minutes. It was good! I burned the calories I just had from McDonald's. Haha! While I was at the gym, my daughter and her best friend went to the grocery to buy some of food for her (the best friend) stock.

We met at the theater lobby and yes, watched Sinister, and enjoyed it. Yep, enjoyed it.  We had a pretty good scare.  My daughter though is not really one to get scared by horror movies.  But the best friend was really freaking out. Haha! It was also a good time for me because I have watched an Ethan Hawke film after so many years. I didn't know he was in Total Recall.  

And the kids goofed around the standee of Sinister. 

Watching Sinister with the kids. 

My daughter and I ended the day by going back to the grocery for our own groceries.  

Meeting friends, squeezing in my gym, going out with my daughter and her best friend, groceries....it was a really good Saturday I don't mind repeating.  :)))

Yabu, The House of Katsu

I met with my two college best friends yesterday afternoon after my business in one of the offices in Ortigas. I was really looking forward to this day because I haven't been with my friends for several months now. We have been so busy for the past months...well, throughout the year, that we cannot find a date when the three of us are available. The last time I met with one of them was around April this year.

This meet-up has in fact been postponed I think twice already. We've talked about this since mid-November and finally it pushed through, thanks to the holiday break. :) We were supposed to go to Serendra but I suggested we try Yabu, The House of Katsu. I have been reading a lot of good reviews about this restaurant - from the warm ambiance to the good service and the great food. Also, I have not been to SM Megamall's Atrium for a looooong time.

I must say I like the interior of the restaurant. I like the soft, warm light which gives some touch of intimacy among groups of diners but it does not make you feel stiff and too business-like. It's cozy-laid back as a matter of fact. I like the murals on the left side of the dining area - kind of cartoonish focusing on Japanese characters and katsu. Next time I will take pictures of the mural as well as the facade.

The service is prompt too. Someone hurriedly went up to me smiling just as I was about to enter the restaurant. This gave me the feeling of being so welcome as a special guest. We didn't have to wait long for our food. Maybe it's only about 5 minutes. The food servers are also very polite and fast.


I have been eating katsu dishes for years but I don't exactly know what it means. I know the food is breaded and fried which are also two descriptions I find in Google. It also said katsu is a shortcut of katsuretsu which means cutlet.

Katsu sets all come with miso soup, shredded cabbage, about three slices of fruits (watermelon and pineapple). Katsu sauce will also be served where you can dip your pork or chicken cutlets - toasted sesame seeds to mix with katsu sauce. I must say the chicken katsu can stand by itself even without the katsu sauce.


My friend ordered chicken katsu. I tried it and boy, it's soooo tender. Next time this is what I will order. I love the Japanese rice too - sticky, soft and chewy.


Chicken Katsu, 190 g, about P250 (I missed the exact price)
The other friend ordered Rosu Katsu Curry Set. I am not into curry so I passed on this.


Rosu Katsu Curry Set, P295
I ordered Rosu Katsudon which is very tasty. I love eggs so I love that this is covered with lightly scrambled eggs.


Rosu Katsudon, P265
All the servings are quite huge for one person. Is it value for money? I must say it is. So far, it's the most tender meat cutlets I have ever tasted. Pork and chicken are covered with panko (Japanese bread crumbs) which make the meat really crispy but very tender and juicy once you have taken a bite of them.

I will definitely go back here with my family even if it's far from our house. It's that good.

Great place, great food, great friends - I am very grateful about all these. :)


To my friends, thank you for the gift of friendship. :) I love you, girls!


***More food sharing at Picture Clusters and Food Trip Friday.

Chef Tatung's

I thought I couldn't make it to our dinner date. My friends and I scheduled this two weeks ago I think. I suddenly had an appointment on the night of the date we are going to have our dinner. My appointment was in Makati and our meet-up will be at Quezon City. Oh.

I was done with the meeting at almost 8PM. Luckily I was able to get a ride fast and I was able to locate Tatung's easily. Thanks to the cab driver for being nice while we were looking for the street. Simple blessings. :)

I was not able to take any pictures of the foods as they were all half-way with all the dishes. But I was glad I proceeded even if I was tired already. I just have to meet my friends.

Tatung's is a house converted into a restaurant. It has a classic Filipino theme into it. It looks cozy and intimate with soft lights in some parts of the dining area.




I love the food served to us - Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wrap for our appetizer, for the main dishes - Tamarind-glazed Butterflied Tilapia, Honey-glazed Slow Roasted Pork Belly, Bam-I. The white rice was good too. I think it's jasmine. We had our dessert - coffee and the Warm Chocnut Chocolate Cake which was so divine!

I will go back there with family and friends! I love it there!


With Chef Tatung


Happy Holidays! I love my friends! :)

Weblinked 7.0

There's seven of us. We met each other through the internet. We all joined a group about three years ago exclusively for Filipino mommies. We visit each others' blogs and from there we were able to develop some camaraderie. What made us closer is the fact that six of us live in the same city, in areas near each other. One is from a different city but it doesn't matter. She joins us whenever she can.

Three years ago, one of us suggested we meet up and have dinner. And so we did. We met in a mall and had our first dinner at Five Cows. Only four of us were able to come but in most succeeding meet-ups, we are complete. We had our picnic, we had our Xmas party, we had our malling and eat-outs, we attended events a few times.

We created our own site catered to mommies all over the world, Filipino Mom Blog. True, we were not able to give this much attention as all of us have our own preoccupations in our daily lives. But we are still maintaining it and will relaunch as soon as we can. I hope we can relaunch this year.

What we are busy with right now as a group is our newly formed small company, Weblinked 7.0. It was borne out of Wenchie's entrepreneurial spirit. There is a big market for a lot of professionals, and people with businesses, which are very interested in creating and maintaining their own websites. This triggered her to tap potential clients and for us to start a web development group.

I will not go into details but this small group will evolve into media consultancy and events organizing later on. For now we are focused on website development and maintenance, which includes web content management depending on the needs of the clients.

Finally, I was able to join the group yesterday as it was a holiday. We missed Chats because of her migraine. Talk about wrong timing. We had our meeting at Figaro, UP-Ayala Technohub. It was very productive as we were able to finalize the first leg of our activities complete with target dates of completion.


Julie, Feng, Wenchie, Me, Cookie
We have different personalities but we have the same drive to make things happen. We have proven this in our individual lives, professionally and personally. I guess these differences in personalities are complementing as we have been together for about three years now.

Wenchie is the entrepreneur. Chats is the marketing person. Cookie can take care of legalities as she is very well versed in big businesses and her husband is a lawyer. Cess is a good writer. Julie has technical knowledge and has a resource person, her husband who is an IT consultant. Feng takes care of government dealings as she is very familiar of the procedures. I can do business development and financial and investment management - managing costs, expenses and how to make the business more profitable.


Julie, Wenchie, Me, Feng, Cess, Cookie
This project of ours excite us because this is something we are passionate about. We love the internet, its benefits and its power to send messages across millions of people in just one click.

We have to manage our busy schedules for this great project of ours. Admittedly, we have our own preoccupations. We are all mothers for one. I am in the corporate. Julie is a teacher. Wenchie is an entrepreneur and works part time in a government agency. Feng works too. Cookie presides their business. Chats does a lot of freelance writing as well as Cess and she's also into sales.


Cookie, Me, Miss Liza Maza, Wenchie, Julie
We chanced upon former congresswoman Liza Maza at Figaro. Wenchie introduced herself since she and Miss Liza have a common ground. We took the opportunity to have our photo with her.

She said it perfectly as a reply to what Cookie said that we have our "own things". Miss Liza said, "women, they always have their own thing". Haha. True.

Trust us, women, to make things happen. :)

My Dearest Friends

At last I was able to see two of my long time friends last Saturday. These two people are very special to me. They are my best friends. Our schedules just won't meet. We only get to talk through YM and that is on rare occasions only since two of us do not frequent IMs.

We comment in each one's status in Facebook but not much too since none of us are fond of posting status but we do send private messages every now and then. I am just glad this meet-up materialized finally. I miss them so much. It was a post-birthday celebration by one of them actually.

Real friends are hard to come by. I am thankful to God that He gave me these two great people. They keep me grounded. I can be myself with them and know that they accept me as I am - with quirks and all. They listen to me even if I just keep on repeating myself. They make time, even through YM, when I send a message that I need to just talk about anything under the sun.




J, L and me @Trattoria Gourmet, Shangrila. Good food, great friends. What a great day!
We are friends since college. I love them both. Through thick and thin, we stay together. There was a time I was missing in action because I was so engrossed with my work. The only world I know was my work. But things change.

Life has a way of balancing things. As I mature, there's this feeling that I need to reconnect. And I did. I am so glad I did. And my friends are still there ready to welcome me and pick up where we left off. Material wealth and professional success are not enough to give someone bliss and happiness. Friends, like family, matter a lot. They are there to root for us, to care for us, to scold us if needed, to be with us just because.

Thank You, God, for dear, dear friends. We have our differences and boy, they are a lot. But they don't really matter. There is understanding and acceptance. There is love...and tolerance? Haha. Bottom line, we are always there for each other no matter what. I love these two girls in my life.

Another Get-together with High School Classmates

Some of my high school classmates and I had a get-together yesterday at our favorite restaurant, Cravings at Shangrila. We often meet here because it's convenient for most of us. It has space for long tables which we usually occupy, there's the salad bar for anyone who wants it. But next time we said we should change venue, just for a change of atmosphere. :)

This is the second time this year we met with high school friends based in a different country and vacationing for a few weeks in the Philippines. It's a great feeling to see familiar faces from one of the happiest periods of my life - high school.

Anyway, it was really exciting to see again a former classmate, one of my close friends during my early years in high school, after twenty six years. She is in the country with her family for a month-long vacation. This is the first time I have been with at least three of them after high school graduation. They had a reunion during the early 90s at Barrio Fiesta but I was not able to make it. In fact I don't think I even know they were going to have a reunion then. I was so preoccupied with my own activities that I was practically missing in action during those times.

I started reconnecting on 2006 and have not regretted it since then. In fact I have been immensely enjoying catching up with former classmates and friends, even relatives, I have not been with for quite a time.

I am happy to note that everyone is doing good at whatever it is he or she is busy with. Success is relative. One cannot argue with that. As long as you are truly happy with what you are doing, with what you have, and you won't exchange if for the world, you feel successful, you are successful.

One of my favorite sayings goes like this, "A man or a woman is successful if he wakes up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between loves what he or she does." Very, very true.

Everyone's doing a different thing but one thing we have in common is leading a happy family life. Some are in the corporate, some have their own business, some grew up to be doctors and lawyers, some are stay-at-home-moms and loving it, some are still single, some are already planning of how they will retire. Generally, we all are thankful for the blessings and times like what we are having - meeting each other again to catch up, reminisce the happy past we had and just be there and have fun with everyone else.


I love my high school life and my high school classmates! I keep on saying this, high school is one of the best times of my life. I will forever treasure it.

Eight Women and Two Babies

Saturday night last week was well spent. My mommy friends and I had a get together at Cookie's house to celebrate her birthday and our baby shower for two of our friends. Feng just gave birth while Cess is due in two months. We have been planning this since April or May but our schedules just won't meet. Finally we had a date when everyone can attend. I was glad to meet Anna Manila for the first time.

Thanks to Cookie for preparing delicious dishes. I love the fish fillet and the salad green.


Cess and Feng with the gifts from the mommies. I love their smiles!


Group picture after dinner. Seems all the food on the table are nowhere to be found. Magic. :)


Standing, L to R: Julie, Chats, Wenchie, Cookie, Me. Sitting, L to R: Feng, Anna Manila, Cess

We stayed until nine in the evening and some stayed even later waiting for their rides. It's been quite some time that we are complete so as expected, we shared endless stories of just about anything. I love these girls!

***More snapshots at WS, hosted by Slack-jawed.