Fried Ice Cream, Dumplings atbp.

This post will be part Tagalog (my vernacular) and part English to express my feelings fully... Pardon to my readers who can't understand Tagalog. :-( (note: atbp. in the title is an abbrev. of at iba pa, it's the equivalent of etc. in English)

I was on leave yesterday (Tuesday, March 15) to fix some "papers" for migration. This day was also dedicated to find a supplier who can give us the lowest price for a table top name plate. It'll be our manager's birthday on Friday (March 18) and we want to give her the best gift we could think of.  After visiting about ten suppliers, we chose the cheapest but quality maker of table top name plate (the name is Tri-F just in case someone bumped into my blog and wanted a supplier for plaques and name plates).  My friend, Meg and I were still full from breakfast so we decided to go to Tutuban Mall (it is a place in the heart of Manila where you can buy anything and everything at the lowest possible price. So, you must be good in haggling for you to get what you want at the price you want) and look for drawstring pants.  Too bad though, we didn't find any but we found a nice top that we could wear on Fridays.  Meg was so used to this place so we got a hundred peso discount (from P250 to P150) haha! Isn't she just good?! And the blouse was just so nice! :-) 
After walking and walking along the aisles and aisles of goods, we found a nice bridal gown displayed in a window so we went inside the shop. We were just so lucky that we got two complimentary tickets to a Bridal Fair at The Fort Global City which will be held this Sunday. Woohoo!!! And the ticket came with quotation for a bridal entourage! :-) Our feet were already tired (especially mine!) so we decided to sit down on one of the benches but before that, each of us bought a large cup of Fried Ice Cream!!! That was a first for me so I took a photo of the store and our ice cream. Yum!  While we were busy devouring our ice cream, two old ladies approached us to tell us that the end of the world is near and that the world will be a new paradise... Sorry, I won't divulge their religion, I still respect them ;-)  After the old ladies, came a Real Estate agent who sells condo units in some Metro Manila suburbs... We just let her talk and talk then we said good bye... In a nice way of course! Too much for our adventure in Tutuban...
Our next stop was Binondo, the Chinese community in the Metro.  But, our Binondo trip would not be complete without witnessing a Chinese wedding at the San Lorenzo Basilica.  The last time we went there, there were two Chinese weddings and we just loved witnessing the mass!  Although, the rites were in English.  We were already hungry so we decided to go to our next stop--Dong Bei.  Actually, Binondo has a lot of nice place to eat but Dong Bei is our favorite!  It's just the hole-in-the-wall type of eatery that serves authentic Chinese dumplings!  Even the owner are "authentic" because they don't speak Tagalog, only Chinese.  :-) This was already our second time to be here but I didn't get to blog about the first time we were there... I'll just post photos. Hehehe... I just can't explain the taste of their dumplings, it's just so masarap and malasa!  Alam mo yung kahit ang tagal nang na-digest nung dumplings nalalasahan mo pa... Ay grabe!!!  And their soy sauce and vinegar dip was just right to the taste!!! Plus, the chili sauce with crunchy red chili and garlic adds flavor to the already delicious dumplings (I ate 19 dumplings total)!  And since this was the second time we visited the place, the waitresses were already at ease in telling some stories about their work :-) and from our little chitchats, we learned that Ate Jane, was the most tenured among the four waitresses, she was already there when Dong Bei started... that was seven years ago! The next was five years, and I forgot the others. Hehe. Ang tagal na nila don but hindi pa daw sila nagkaka-increase... Naawa kami ni Meg.  Our stay in Dong Bei was somehow relaxing because we get to know a part of the lives of the waitresses over our sumptuous kuchai, pork and shrimp dumplings (a plate of mixed dumplings which consists of 7 kuchai and 7 pork dumplings costs 100 pesos and a plate of shrimp dumplings (10 pcs.) costs 100 pesos as well) ! We didn't buy anything for our drink because after our meal, we went to ZenTea to buy our Chai Tea with Black Sago (Tapioca). This was also our second time to visit ZenTea so we already know the name of the vendor--Kuya Jake.  And he was actually startled when we called him by his name.  Sabi nya "huh?! kilala nyo ko?! Paano nyo ko nakilala?!" then we explained to him that we already bought ZenTea from him two weeks ago. And just to refresh his memory, I told him my infamous line "Chinese din ako kuya, hindi lang halata" that's when he laughed and said that he remembered us! :-) 
Our day ended at SM Manila, where we just sat and Facebook-ed and YouTube-d away at Cyber Internet Cafe.  I was so damned tired but I enjoyed this day so much!  Next time I go there, I'd bring a lot of shopping money to buy great stuff at low prices! ...and of  course visit Dong Bei again :-)


This store in Tutuban just caught my attention because of the name! I was just laughing so hard seeing the name! Haha!

Fried Ice Cream stall. I forgot to ask the name of this attendant :D

My Strawberry Fried Ice Cream with Strawberry Syrup and White Choco Chips

 

After the Chinese Wedding



The Purple Engine firetruck outside the St. Lorenzo Ruiz Basilica

Fourteen dumplings: Kuchai and Pork. Was not able to take a photo of the ten pieces of Shrimp dumpling

Meg choosing her Zen Tea, while Kuya Jake was busy preparing my drink

It was drizzling but I still wanted a photo of me taken at this Filipino-Chinese Arch. See that tarpaulin beside me? That's the best Ube Hopia in town! When you visit Manila, you should bring with you some of these sort-of moon cake, Eng Bee Tin Hopia Ube flavor.

Liberating Saturday!

Last Saturday, my friends, Shawie and Keat invited me for a movie date.  We were debating on what to watch since there were a lot of nicey movies showing this week.  I like Yogi Bear, Keat likes Love and Other Drugs and Shawie likes Season of the Witch.  Shawie doesn't like Yogi Bear, Keat likes anything that we would like.  We agreed on Love and Other Drugs and we chose the second to the last screening.  We arrived at the movie house forty-five minutes before the screening time but we're not just so lucky because the tickets were sold out for that screening.  We didn't want to get the tix for the last screening but we still want to watch a movie.  The only flick that was within our "allowable time slot" was Yogi Bear... Now, I'm lucky! Haha! 

So what can I say about Yogi Bear... I enjoyed the movie (and my Margarita wrap) so much!  Aside from the fact that it was my favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoon, the movie was in full 3D!  I love 3D!  I love how the water seemed to splash on my face or how Yogi's picnic food float in the air as if I can touch those... 3D rocks!  After the movie, we settled for coffee at McCafe.  I also had a sugar boost with their Rocky Road Brownie, yum!

And why was my Saturday so liberating?  Because, after the movie then I realized this was the first time in three months that I went out with friends on a Saturday night.  I felt like I was set free after so many years of confinement!  Even if it was just a movie/coffee date, I felt happy and good just being able to go out with friends!

 

Happy Birthday Beystie!

I have promised my best friend Angel that I'll write a birthday blog for her, well, two birthdays ago. Haha!  But I know she fully understands the delay because writing is my waterloo and sometimes I feel lazy blogging.  Anyway, I guess this would come a surprise for her because when she asked me to do this, I just kept quiet. Hihi, sorry bestie! And sorry for this is not as long as the one you did for me :-) So here goes...

Angel and I have been best friends since God knows when.  We have been through a lot! And I mean a lot!  Thick, thin, hell, high waters, sickness, health, richer, poorer, when in love or loveless... A lot!  She's my sister and I'm thankful for that because I really don't have one... She's my counselor, my support, my shoulder and my ears.  She has influenced me in a lot of ways... Although I think she's clueless about it.  She has the best pieces of advice one could ever give, she reads my mind and can sense that I've something that I'm not telling her... She's my sisterfriend!  And just like the wedding vow that goes "to have and to hold, for better, for worse, until death do us part"... I would say You will be my best friend until we have our own children, our graying hair, our grand children and great great great grand children! Happy Birthday Bestie!  I pray that all your wishes would come true... I Love you!

My bestie Angel

One... Happy Birthday to ME!!!

My seven-day countdown to my birthday is over (I guess now you know why I put numbers as my title).  Today's my big day and it started by speaking with my aunt who is in Canada right now.  We "skyped" away from midnight till 1:30am!  And, I really waited for the very start of the 14th (12MN) because I wanted to "welcome" my birthday :-) My first well-wisher was Ann (my best friend's sister) who sent me an SMS at exactly 12MN, and she only had one wish for me... Love Life! Teehee! :-)  Then, since I was also chatting with Angel at the time, she was the second well-wisher via YM, plus she wrote a very nice birthday write up for me (because I kept on bugging her about it hehe) which made me go "awww..." Again, thank you so much bestie for that very touching write-up!  From midnight until the end of the day (as in 11:59pm), birthday wishes were coming in through different media--SMS, Facebook, Blogger, Skype, YM and Plurk.  My family and friends' common wish for me was...  A good man who will fight for me and my love; and (as Angel would say) real-life fairy tale happy ending :-)

Other than replying to the birthday greetings I received, nothing so fancy (e.g. party) happened in the day... Just a little pampering for myself at David's Salon and Spa.  I availed of their leg waxing, brow threading and pedicure... Now I feel so pretty! Haha!  After my salon visit, I went home and again "skyped" away (teehee!) until "my friend" had to sleep already.  I had my nap after skype-ing and when I woke up I cooked my own recipe of vegetable Carbonara... Yum!  And of course, like I always do since 2006, my birthday won't be complete without going to the church, thanking God and asking for a prayer from our Pastor.  It's funny too because the Pastor's wife invited me for dinner, isn't it supposed to be me who should invite them for a treat? :-D  After the nice dinner, I went to Pizza Hut and ordered two boxes of pizza which I shared with my mom and my brothers when I got home.  The day ended with (again) skype-ing with "my friend" until he had to leave for work.  It was only a simple celebration but I'm very thankful for my family and friends who remembered and who shared their time with me even in their simplest ways.

My birthday food!

The birthday girl

The birthday girl and her mom

The birthday girl and her crazy brother

Us! Papa was not around, he's at someone else's party hehe. My other two brothers were not around as well, one was in China and the other one was already sleeping.

 

Two

Aside from receiving two resignation letters from (whom I consider) assets of the team, I had a sort of h-to-h talk with someone I know today, which made my number two an interesting one! :-)
Because nothing too much special  happened today (except for the abovementioned), and it's only almost seven hours before my birthday, I would like to share with you my best friend's birthday blog for me in 2010...
I know this is long overdue, but like what they all say about this kind of stuff: It's better late than pregnant. I mean never. Wehehe.

My bestie celebrated her birthday more than a week ago, but I promised that I would dedicate a post to her as a birthday gift, no matter how long it took me to do it. I hope you forgive me if I wasn't able to do it right away. Things are just crazy lately and I haven't really had the time to blog and stuff. But, here it is. Enjoy! Whoopee!
Dear Bestie,
A few Sundays ago, I got the chance to sleep over at your house. It was unplanned but I'm so glad that I did. It had been ages since we last had a sleepover and finally having one again brought me back to our simple, happy teenage days. It felt just like old times. It was very comforting and very happy, even if all we did was giggle and talk about boys.
Being in your room, seeing all the things you have collected and accumulated throughout the years, made me realize the kind of woman you have become. It made me realize the kind of person you still are. Pictures of friends and family, keepsakes and mementos, photography books and photography equipment, stuffed animals, your spotless white church uniform --- these are really what you love and value most, and I'm happy that you come home everyday to these happy reminders. I'm happy that you do the things that make you happy.
I'm proud of how dedicated you are to honing your skills in photography, and I'm amazed with your dedication to your church work every single weekend. When you start talking about any of these two things, your whole face just lights up and I know that you really do love it. Keep it up!
We know the one thing that would make this equation complete, and you know that we wish this for you most ardently. I know you're getting impatient but don't worry, I know that it will come soon. Good things come to those who wait.
"Here's to lying, stealing, cheating and drinking. Lying in the arms of the one you love; stealing away from bad company; cheating death; and drinking in the moments that take your breath away."
Belated happy birthday, bestie! Love you!
The original post has my picture attached to it, check it out if you want :-)