best-in-town(s)

hi sis,

while lita's on vacation, we've been fattening up with restaurant-cooked meals.

i'm glad though that the mall nearby has 3 top-of-my-list dishes...

for diet food, or a hits-the-spot merienda, i love the sesame chicken shake salad of Pepper Lunch.  for me, it's the best fastfood salad in town (and there aren't a lot)!

it has udon noodles and corn to satisfy that carb craving without overdoing it -- and yummy bonito flakes on top.  you're supposed to shake it well before eating...

sometimes, i have 2-3 orders (diff varieties  -- there's seaweed and spicy tuna) for a not-too-heavy lunch.

for something heavier, i have the tempura roll maki of Kuretake.  best tempura roll maki in town (and i've had many)!  i love tempura makis especially when i'm craving for something fried.  since the serving is usually just 6-8 rolls, it's just like eating 2 pieces of tempura with a little bit of rice.  perfect!

i heart kuretake's because the tempura's big and fat the way it should be, and each piece is rolled in tempura batter bits.  i usually take it with a side order of horenso ohitashi (boiled spinach).

when i feel like pigging out though, i have the tartufo pasta of Cantinetta.  best tartufo pasta in town, and in my opinion, best pasta dish in town!!!

it's the real thing!  fettuccine, heavy creamy truffle sauce with prosciutto on top.  thanks to heart2heart for the photo.

yun lang.

edeng's

holy kamote, have you been to 'edeng toys' center?'

it's in market market.  it's like all those small stalls in divi bunched into one big one.

yale and i went there yesterday to buy cars and used these for a centerpiece in a baby shower.  here's the end result:

the super mini cars were P70 for a dozen (!)

cute?

office rehab

YES please lend that to me after :)  My niece Danni (who's 11) highly recommends it.  i'm in the mood for light reading.

many of our books have actually found a new (temporary) home.

since lately, i've transformed our bookshelf into a messy Messy Bessy shelf, 

we've decided to park some of our books in Ngow's new office library.  

how cool is it that they have one?

after checking out the new library, i trekked upstairs to continue my toughest and longest-running design project yet: his office! 

given virtually zero budget and a picky (!) client, it's tough!

one of the first things i did was salvage old starbucks club chairs and reupholster them with uber funky fabrics.

then i added small touches, like this cute tassle i attached to his projector screen.  i don't think anyone notices it.  hee hee.

then i tried to neaten up his shelves (which are actually their old kamagong chapel benches) thanks to domesticity boxes.

before:

after:

watjatink?

twilight

tsk tsk... shopping online after we had just come from the mall...haha :)... something that i am trying to avoid given my new, though temporary, "life". in the meantime, i've been thinking of what i could keep myself busy with (other than frisbee, biking, running, climbing and online shopping). i thought of going back to knitting, or finishing my creative day project, but then not being able to move one arm freely kinda makes that a little hard. and just as i was finishing my haircut yesterday, Drea starts "passionately" talking about this book to me...

"Twilight" is the first book of a saga of 4, the debut work of author Stephenie Meyer that was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Drea calls it the "new harry potter" for teens, "sweet valley high meets anne rice" (haha!), its about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. she had me at hello. haha. so right after my haircut, i go straight into a national bookstore branch to get a copy (and they are actually running out of copies!). i started reading it before i went to bed last night and had a hard time putting it down. i know you don't like fiction much but i can lend this to you when i'm done (which might be soon).


what i really should've been reading was this, though, as recommended by our "enlightened" brother. its been on my night table for several weeks now, but i've managed to avoid it for now...


i'm not really an avid reader, as you know. maybe because i find it hard to keep still for long periods of time. or i have a really short attention span - the book has to really engage me, or else it will end up back on my bookshelf with a permanent bookmark in it, along with the rest of my attempts. i think the last book i finished was one you recommended to me. it was the perfect read for my trip to eastern europe last year!!!


i think i'm staying in today to read my book :)

(btw, i would choose the raspberry or the lime.)

help!

on another note, how cute are these!?

they're reusable shopper's bags that can roll into a ball, being sold by my multiply contact, planet noah.

they sell for P490.  which color should i get???  aqua? lime? or raspberry?

pinoy pride

how exciting!  two more reasons for us pinoys to be proud of!

well, here's another one:  new york-based mia herbosa.  she's just really so talented!

glad i got to see the show in ayala museum with you and ngow earlier.  this poster's her self portrait which she enjoys doing.

this was what i liked -- "the dancer".

i like how the subject is very modern and nontraditional -- a male, old (gay-looking) dancer.  i didn't like the price -- 90k!!!

this was what ngow liked -- it was of mia's daughter --  he liked the technique a lot.

this was what you liked -- although i just took your photo with it since the glass made it impossible to take the photo.  it was a sad & powerful piece, very unlike you but maybe it's your current broken arm that makes you relate to broken subjects :(

then we trekked to another place worth being proud of -- ac 632 -- did you know that that stands for area code 632 -- hence, manila?

this is what i WANT -- just one though. can't afford all haha!

this is what you liked, 

but i think it's only because you liked the similar piece from terence conran :)

yun lang...

pinoy movies

hi sis! i'm back and bionic! hehe :) and since i am to stay away from my usual sporty activities (*sniff*), i've been keeping myself busy with work instead. i decided, though, not to take on that movie project i was thinking about...the daily shooting schedule (with no final script) just seemed too hectic - so much to finish with so little time (and money!).

but i have not totally given up on philippine cinema! especially when i heard about these new pinoy movies....

i heard about The Thank You Girls from a friend - we were supposed to watch it in UP yesterday but we both had to work. i hope they show it somewhere else soon though. it looks really funny! its a road trip movie about gay beauty pageant contestants done in bisaya! chick out the trailer...



this one is a full-length pinoy animated film called "Dayo"(wanderer)- its an entry to the Metro Manila FilmFest this year... something to look forward to!



so yes i still do hope to work on a pinoy movie someday....

p.s. yes to the plastic trashcans over the glass jars (so long as you can close the lid)....love the vintage jam jars (i might just use them for a project).... felix will match your gold good luck cat in your kitchen....YEY! to H&M... and BOO! to the LPGA!

engrish only!

chickout this new rule in the LPGA (ladies professional golf association of america):

"August 26.  Orlando, Florida:  The LPGA will require players to speak English starting in 2009, with players who have been LPGA members for two years facing suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of English skills.  The rule is effective immediately for new players."

what da???  what happened to the supposed emergence of the global village?  what happened to the land-of-the-free blah-blahs?

the koreans say they're being targeted, given that they're really the only ones increasing significantly in number in the lpga lately.

the organizers say it's for the sake of the sponsors.  and it's an american league anyway.

i say it's silly.

si yao ming ba magaling mag engrish?

hennes and mauritz

didja hear?  SM is bringing in swedish brand H&M.

THEY say SM is starting to get into luxury/boutique brands.  "since we're landlords to most, why not own the brands as well?" is their thought daw.

although i'm not so hot on the quality of H&M, i just love how they tie up with designers every so often.  last i saw was Madonna's line.

  

oh and Marimekko's too.

when there are new designers being launched, pinipilahan sa nyc.

dito kaya?

window shopping

hey bionic woman :)  how's the new arm?  

i went malling last week and saw a few stuffs i thought you'd like (too).

first, these trash cans in office warehouse.  i heart them.  i want to buy them but there's really no space in my apt anymore.  i thought maybe i'd buy them for the empty plastic & glass bottles my helps collect to sell monthly...  but they said the cans won't fit a lot of bottles -- hehe.

so i thought maybe to use it to store wrapping paper because right now, i use glass vases which i think is not so practical...  watjatink?

second, went to true value, one of my fave stores.  i love it because it's so full of kitschy stuff.   like for example these vintage-looking jam jars for P700+ a dozen.  they'd be great for storage of knick knacks, for packaging gifts, or for center piece accessories during parties...  

saw this clock too!  it's on sale already because i guess no one buys it.  the eyes i think might be scary ones they start moving with the second hand -- but definitely love the kitschy-ness of it.

yun lang...

broken sis :(

hey sis,

if it weren't for your pajamas and socks, this scene would have looked so sad and scary.

just got news that your surgery went well.  but as i write this, you're still in the recovery room -- and will be there for another few hours.

see you soonest!  happy new arm!

the skinny truth

hi again sis,

one last post on our alma mater...

chickout what i saw in one of the high school corridors...  kinda disturbing...

zoyks.

sports for all!

guess where i am?

clue:  you've been here before.

yup!  it's our beloved alma mater!  can you believe it?

these facilities belong to AC's new 3-storey sports complex.  it even has a ballet studio.  the whole building stands on where our rinky-dink covered courts used to be.

and this is the mother rose hall!

anyway while we're on the subject of sports in girls' high school, opus dei-run woodrose apparently discontinued their football (soccer) team because "it's too unlady like".  wat duh!?!?!?

fundamentalism makes me sick!!!!!