My UST-Dong Bei Experience (03.04.11-super late post)

Wow I missed my blog! So many happy moments happened for the past weeks but then, our office blocked blogger.com; reason why this blog was not recently updated. Too tired to blog at home, sorry. But I promise, I'll try my very best to blog more often.
Anyway, why did I choose my Dong-Bei (or Dong Pei) experience over a lot of other experiences for the past few weeks? Mainly because it's about... FOOD! Yes, food. There's nothing so special about the place, but when we were there, I can feel the Chinese aura! :-D Last Friday, my "soul sister" Margaret decided to go on half day because both of us were uber late. But then, Friday sickness struck us and the next time we knew it, we were already at the Quadricentennial Photo Exhibit of University of Santo Tomas. Right, I was in UST. And, that was the first time I visited the place. I was amazed really, because the campus was so huge! They even have food complex with McDonald's, Jollibee, Hen Lin and other famous fast food places! I just felt bad because I did not have my camera with me to take photos! Well, I'm not ready because it was an "impromptu date" with my friend. Lesson learned: always bring your camera, even if it's just point and shoot :-) From the main gate of the school, we walked several steps to Beato Building (I guess this building is for Fine Arts students) and my cousin welcomed  and lead us to the exhibit. My cousin told us that it was a "mini" exhibit but when I asked her how many photos were posted, she answered "400". WOW! 400 nice, drool-worthy photos! Then I missed my camera... By the way, UST is a nice place for photo shoots :-) After too much ahs and oohs from us, I asked Meg and her boyfriend to bring me to a dumpling place. I told them that there's this must-go dumpling place in Binondo, I just forgot the name. Then they searched it from their iTouch and Dong-Pei (Dong Bei) was #1 in the search.  Before reaching Dong-Pei, we passed by St. Lorenzo Ruiz Basilica and Meg and I were just so happy because a wedding was being held at that time.  We witnessed the ceremonies and then we waited for the second wedding to take place... It was a Christianized Chinese wedding by the way.  After watching two weddings, we finally reached Dong-Pei.  It was just one of those hole in the wall places in Binondo. It was not a fancy place, actually it only has four tables. I was so excited to eat and taste their wonton noodles with dumplings!!! The noodles was "hand-stretched" (Handiwork noodles in their menu) and the dumplings were being made just across our table! We also had their version of "pancakes" and it was so good! Plus, their sawsawan of vinegar and soy sauce was a little bit sweet it compliments the pancakes.  We also had Wong Lo Kat Chinese herbal tea to add "authenticity" in our Chinese Dumpling lunch. After eating at Dong-Pei, we walked and walked and walked on the stretch of Ongpin St., unconscious of the pain on my right foot. We passed by Eng Bee Tin, Salazar Bakeshop and the shop that sells fried Siopao. But we didn't buy any of their goodies because I don't want Mom to know that I did not report to work :-D We also checked out the store that sells a lot of preserved fruits. That time, I was PMS-ing so I was craving for Kiamoy (red plum) and Haw Snow... However, they have it in large packs so I didn't purchase any of those... But I promised myself that if I'd go back to Binondo, I'll buy one bag of Kiamoy! Yum!
After all the walking we did the whole day, was a whole body massage at home! Too bad, I still can't let the masseuse touch my right foot even if it badly needed the massage.
Some of the photos captured by my trusty mobile phone:

The workers making the dumplings.  They're just at the table right after us.

The Menu written in English and Chinese

At the back of the menu was a newspaper clipping about the place

The menu posted on the wall

Yummy wonton-noodle soup!

Dong-Bei's version of pancakes

Chinese herbal tea (it tasted like leche flan's syrup or arnibal in tagalog)

Pa-rant lang no...

May 12, 2011. Thursday. Sweldo. Ang saya-saya! Even though toxic ang araw na ito sa work, d.e.a.d.m.a. Kasi sweldo... But NO!

http://matthewjamestaylor.com/art/angry-man

Kasi ganito yon... Nagpa-appointment na ako sa suki kong si Mang David's para magpa-foot spa, pedicure at threading. Pagdating ko sa salon... Ayun si Ate, may minamanicure. Hintayin ko na lang daw kasi matatapos na... Aba, I waited for 45 minutes at hindi pa tapos ang customer ni Ate. Yun pala, ipepedicure pa sya. Dapat maghihintay pa ko for another 15 minutes, kaso, after 2 minutes, tumayo na ako from the waiting area at pumunta sa branch head at sinabing "Ate, babalik na lang ako bukas. Pa-appointment ako mga 6pm. Gutom na kasi ako eh". Naka-smile pa ko non at humingi pa ng dispensa si suking manicurista sa akin... Pero ang totoo, asar na asar na asar na asar na ako... So yon, before I went to the salon pala, I had my photo taken (at Fujifilm) for my IELTS exam requirements at binalikan ko na lang sya from David's.  Eto na, sabi ni Ate'ng taga-Fuji after 30 minutes tapos na yung pic ko, aba eh 45 minutes na nakakalipas di pa napiprint yung picture ko! So ayun, sinabi ko babalikan ko na lang after dinner... Buti na lang gwapo yung photographer hehe :-D Ayun, so, I went to French Baker to have a quick bite. Dapat sa Gotti's eh, kaso ayoko na umakyat ng isa pang floor kasi same floor lang ang Fujifilm and French Baker, ayoko na lumayo pa... Eto na... Nagsisisi ako ng lubusan dahil sa hindi pag-kain sa Gotti's. Hindi masarap ang Lasagna sa French Baker!!! What happened to their Lasagna?! Hindi naman dati ganun yon... Masarap yun dati eh... Pero ngayon, ang lamig tapos ang asim! Hay! Kung hindi lang ako gutom, at kung wala lang taong nagugutom, hindi ko na inubos yung Lasagna na yon! C.h.a.k.a.! At wag ka (with matching wagayway ng pointer finger from side to side), to cap the night, pagkapasok na pagkapasok ko sa pinto ng house, yung tito ko na cousin ni mama na ngayon lang dumalaw sa amin at ngayon lang ulit ako nakita after more than 5 years eh sinalubong ako ng palong palo'ng pagbati na "kamusta na ang aking pamangki'ng matandang dalaga?!" GRRRRRRRRR....!!!

At Last!!!

Ok... At last! Nakapag-blog din.  Kasi naman I was just so busy with other stuff (translation: tinatamad mag-blog). Anyway, I just want to get in touch with my bloggie friends once again and, you know, just to update my very few readers of what I've been up to.
Anyhoo, I gained ten pounds in less than a month, I had a chance to practice my photography skills (my friend's son's 1st b-day and fun photoshoot ng kung ano anong occasions sometimes kahit walang occasion nagshushoot), bi-weekly eat-outs (reason for weight-gain) and activities at church. Yun lang naman.
Tapos, yesterday, my good friend Ian allowed me to "gatecrash" their family lunch at Melo's Alabang. I thought the invitation was hindi na tuloy due to some circumstances, but his brother called him up and told us that we shall proceed to Melo's na. But then, we already had lunch at home so hindi rin kami masyado nakakain ng steak (grade 7 Wagyu & Rib-eye). Well, to start with, I don't eat steak din naman... Uhmm, I eat steak but I'm not fond of it. I'm more veggie and fish person. Sayang, di ko tuloy mabigyan ng reviews ang Melo's but I tasted a teenie weenie bit of the steak and it was good :) Anyway, we still enjoyed our second lunch especially Miggy (Ian's nephew) was there to sort of give us entertainment. Teehee! :) Siya ang star of our afternoon :) Too bad though, yesterday was the first time I met Miggy and it would take maybe a year or two before I see him again. They already left for the States this morning. Awww... Sad.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite photos for the day...

Miggy... cutest! :)

Miggy & his wowa (the celebrator)

So I guess I'm the odd one here...??? :D

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!