Celebrating my 36th at Microtel by Wyndham (Mall of Asia)

This year, I had no intentions of celebrating my birthday at all. I am grateful to turn another year older, yes... but at this point, I am more of being thankful than actually celebrating it, if you get what I mean. On the day of birthday, it was pretty much an ordinary day, but I gotta give it to my mom and sister for making it more special. My mom cooked Pansit Bihon and my sister brought home KFC and a small single serve slice of cake from Bread Talk.

I guess my sister truly is into not following requests as far as birthdays is concerned. For me, spending the day with the people dear to my heart would have been enough, but I was surprised to know my sister was cooking up a surprise. I would have never known about it if my sister had to ask me something about Agoda.

That's how I found out she was trying to book a room at Microtel by Wyndham - Mall of Asia. She asked me if I liked it, and instead of answering her, I asked if mom would agree to it. I was surprised when she told me she already talked to mom and brother. Ah huh... so I was the last one to know? Hahahaha. With the help of brother, sister was able to book hassle free.


I am not sure where sister got the idea of staying here, but I loved it instantly!


It was a little sad that only available rooms were those for smokers. We could definitely smell the cigarette smoke residue along the halls and inside the room, but it wasn't a big problem at all.

The room had two double-sized beds (as pictured), so of course mom and sister shared and I had the bed all for myself. Yipee! Since this is mainly a food blog, I decided not to share a picture of the bathroom and toilet anymore. It was nothing special, but fully functional. :)


They didn't have electric kettle, but they do have a steady supply of clean, drinking water and ice. Though guests had to get water and ice near the elevator, not having to buy bottles of water was a great relief.


The (zoomed) view from our room. So pretty!

Food Shopping in Laguna

Last Saturday, we joined fellow parishioners in visiting four Catholic Churches - two in Rizal Province and two in Laguna. It was a very good way to visit something new at the same time spending time with people from our neighborhood. We visited...


St. Jerome Church
Morong, Rizal


St. Joseph Church
Baras. Rizal


St. Peter of Alcantara Parish Church
Pakil, Laguna


St. John the Baptist Church
Liliw, Laguna

Our breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served on the bus, so no food trips for this pilgrimage, but, when we arrived in Liliw, we were given ample time to explore the Gat Tayaw street. It was there that we spent a lot of time checking different shops, but we also got to buy a few food items in Pakil. Some of the foods we took home are:

Food Finds Here and There

Internet connection is kind to me today, so might as well take the time to update this blog. I don't have anything specific to blog about, actually, but as I browse through my folders trying to find one specific picture, I realized I have taken food pictures here and there, and would like to share the pictures for this post.


Bignay Fruit. This was the first time I saw such fruit. Months ago, I came across Bignay Juice, but when I saw these berry-like fruits at the market, I first thought it was fresh pepper. It was actually cheap for its price, but because I am not sure how it tasted, I didn't buy any, I just asked the vendor for permission to photograph it. Reading up on a few blogs, I realized I should've bought some, I suddenly became curious to its sweet-tangy flavor.


Dayap. My dayap memories took me back to when I was a kid and we would pick up some dayap fruit from our lot in La Union to make our dipping sauce for fried fish. Over the course of time, the dayap trees were cut off, so seeing this at the market for just 10 pesos per 1/4 kilo made us buy instantly. It's not as sour as calamansi or lemon, but it does deliver that citrusy taste.


Ginebra San Miguel Gin. I am not into gin, but seeing this while lining up at a nearby supermarket made me take out my cell phone to take a quick picture. I do know about gin-pomelo (gin mixed with pomelo flavored juice powder), but dalandan and melon flavored gin? Hmmmm....

Anybody tried this already?


Salmon Spines. This, brother bought. He was walking around the market looking for something to cook for dinner, when he saw this. We all know how expensive salmon is, which is why we usually go for the heads (cheaper than the steak cuts). It had a pretty decent amount of meat, so at 50 pesos per half a kilo, brother bought some and cooked it for dinner. Well, these may be scraps from salmon fillets, but it still is salmon, so for all its worth, we enjoyed this.


Mogu Mogu Drink (Strawberry). The nearby supermarket may be small, but it did have quite a lot to offer. Whenever I go to the drinks section to buy Yakult (which is my everyday drink - for digestion), the shelf filled with all the Mogu Mogu bottles would always catch my attention. I finally decided to buy one bottle and as much as people rave about it, I wasn't really that much pleased with it - I felt it was too sweet and it tasted quite "artificial." But, the nata de coco bits are definitely good! :)

ABC Wednesday | W and X

I still am coping with slow Internet connection, but I feel optimistic that the 30th is about to come - means the contractors will be here to check the problems. Hopefully come July I will have faster connection, giving me the chance to update my blogs regularly.

Today's Wednesday, here's my share for letters W and X.


W is for Wintermelon.

I thought for this round I'd share another watermelon picture and this morning I thought of taking a picture of the Worcestershire Sauce bottle we have at the pantry, but while eating dinner just a few hours ago, I remembered this picture I took last March.

My sister and I were in La Union that time for our cousin's wedding. They live in a house near the farm lands,  and while roaming around she saw this and asked me about it. Told her it's the Wintermelon, or Kundol as we call it locally. I heard this vegetable/fruit is used for soups, but I still haven't really eaten big chunks of it. The only Wintermelon by-products I got to tasted were the dried wintermelon candies and the Hopia Baboy (a type of pastry), which uses Wintermelon tidbits, which gives the pork fat texture. Nowadays, there are a lot of raves about the Wintermelon Milk Tea, something I am quite fond of.


X is for X.O. Candy.

This is probably the only "X" food I can think of and I was glad the nearby store sells it. I am not sure how many flavors there is now, but my favorite would have to be this, the Butter Caramel candy. Although I don't really consider this as something I'd pop in my mouth most of the time, whenever  we are expecting guests here at home, I tend to buy a bag of this candy and serve this at the coffee table.

Two more letters left... I think I am going to finish this round of ABC Wednesday.



 

ABC Wednesday | R and S

Another two-in-one post for me, simply because I forgot to take an R picture. :)


R is for Raisins.

I never really liked raisins. Not only did I find the appearance unappetizing, I also didn't like its taste. My brother on the other hand loves raisins and would often get all the raisins on my food. :) I do take out all the raisins on my food, but of course if it's in a cookie I don't take it out anymore for it will be such a hassle to do so; I will just chew on the cookie instead.


S is for Sky Flakes.

This has been a very popular brand of crackers here in the Philippines. It's light, had the right amount of saltiness, which makes it a good snack. For some, they eat this as their "diet" food - some people eat tend to just eat a pack of this (3 crackers inside) for dinner. I am in a weight loss journey, but I never really considered eating this for dinner as I find it very tasty I tend to eat 2 packs.

There are many flavors now, but aside from this one (the original flavor), I like the Onion and Chives flavor. Here at home, we oftentimes fix some tuna spread to go with the Sky Flakes crackers.


 

The Warm and Cold Drink Experience

The White Hat (Italian Frozen Yogurt)
2nd Level - SM City North EDSA Annex
North Avenue cor EDSA, Quezon City
23 February 2012

A few weeks ago, I received a voucher from The White Hat through e-mail. At first I was happy about it because there's a branch near me (SM Fairview), but the voucher specifically said I could only redeem my voucher in one of three branches: SM City North EDSA, SM Megamall, or Shangri-la Mall. Three locations that are quite far from where I live, so at first I wondered if I will be able to redeem it.

Thankfully, I was invited to attend an event at SM City North EDSA yesterday, making me able to redeem my voucher. Actually, a few days ago, I received another voucher for a different drink, so everything just fell into place, basically.


The White Hat has been a choice for foodies craving for frozen yogurt based on how people around me raved about it. Well, I have yet to taste their yogurt, so I still am not in the position to talk about it for now.

Anyway, I invited my cousin Marge for this little drink trip (well it's not really a food trip, right? hahaha), and also for us to have a little bonding moment. We see each other during events, but we don't really get to talk much, so I considered this a very precious moment for us. In a way, I was a bit thankful to Jonel (Marge's bf and a bloggy friend of mine) to decline Marge's invitation to join us. :)




I have seen The White Hat's branches at SM Fairview and Shangri-la Mall, so I was a bit blown away when I saw their branch here! Talk about comfort! Marge and I truly loved their choice of furniture and fixtures - so homey!




I have had frozen yogurt in the past, but their store had the most amount of available toppings to go with their frozen yogurt - fresh fruits, nuts, and some fruit and nut variations. For one moment I was thankful that I won't be redeeming a cup of frozen yogurt because if I do, I'd have to face a hard moment of deciding which topping(s) to choose!


Creamy Cioccolato. We asked this to be served first because we just had lunch and we just wanted something warm to comfort the tummies. This might be the most interesting cup of chocolate drink I had - a cup of warm frothy milk and a wooden spoon with a small block of chocolate. What we just needed to do was the stir the milk with chocolate and once the chocolate has melted, it's time to drink away.

Things I loved about it:

• You control the amount of chocolate in your drink. If you're not a big fan of chocolate but still wanted a cup of chocolate drink, you can stop melting the chocolate block anytime.
• It was creamy, but not really sweet. It was like drinking a cup of creamy milk chocolate sans the sugar; though I forgot to ask if one can ask for additional sugar or syrup.
• The temperature's just right. The frothy milk was a bit hot when served, but because I needed to melt the chocolate by stirring the milk, the drink was slightly warm that I got the comforting goodness of a chocolate drink without really burning the tongue.

I took my time sipping this drink... it was so good I didn't want the experience to end.

The other voucher I received was for any cold drink. Since the voucher is good for 2 cups, Marge and I decided to choose one from their Signature Smoothie and Fruity Smoothie lines.

Mango Cream Pie (Signature Smoothie). Marge asked the server what was their bestseller and they answered this. It had the mango flavor, but it wasn't really intense - maybe because of the "cream." It had crushed bits of nuts, that gave the drink the interesting twist. Asking about it, we found it it was Walnut Strussel.

I am not a big fan of mangoes. However, I found this drink very light, creamy and interesting that I asked Marge if we could exchange cups. Hehe.

Other available flavors for the Signature Smoothie line:

• Peanut Butter Banana (banana, peanut butter, milk, and yogurt)
• Blueberry Grape (grapes, blueberries, milk, and yogurt)
• Strawberry Cheesecake (strawberries, cheesecake, milk, and yogurt)
• Banana Walnut Honey (bananas, walnuts, honey, milk, and yogurt)
  

Strawberry (Fruity Smoothie). A cup of strawberries, milk, and yogurt. It was like eating crushed fresh strawberries - very light in sweetness, but still very good. I love strawberries and this was awesome, but the walnut strussel won me over so I exchanged drinks with Marge.

Somewhere between the drink trip, my friend and neighbor Ria joined us. We went to the mall together but we had separate appointments, and when she sent me a text message asking if I was still at the mall, I quickly asked her to come and join us. I loved the Mango Cream Pie Smoothie, but both Marge and Ria loved the Strawberry Smoothie more because it tasted natural. Well, I did find it good, too... but maybe the Mango Cream Pie Smoothie was much better for my liking.

Other fruit flavors for the Fruity Smoothie line - Kiwi, Banana, Mango, and Blueberry.

The White Hat also offers Creamy Treats - a cup of cold drink that's milk based... flavors include Almond Cream, Caramel Cream, Cookies & Cream, and Chocolate Cream.

Aside from this branch in SM North EDSA, other The White Hat branches include: Ayala Trinoma Mall, Fully Booked BHS, Gateway Mall, Glorietta 3, Landmark (Trinoma), One Archers Place La Salle Taft, Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Manila, Rockwell, Shangri-la Mall, SM Fairview, SM Megamall, SM Marikina, SM Mall Of Asia, SM North Edsa.

To know more about the White Hat and what they serve, check their website at www.thewhitehat.com.ph or like their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheWhiteHat, or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TWHYogurt.


Tasting something new is always a great experience, but sharing the moment with friends and family is always sweeter. From left to right - Marge, me, and Ria (whose food trips will be shared here on my blog starting this Saturday)


Big thanks to cousin Marge of Living Marjorney for the last picture on this post.