What is your Answer?

I recently received a very beautiful text message (SMS) from a friend from Davao. I will disclose the name for privacy. Anyways, the message goes like this:

WHICH IS WHICH?
fight for your love or set them free?

WHICH IS RIGHT?
forgive then forget or forget then forgive

WHAT IS REALLY RIGHT?
I love you because I need you or I need you because I love you.

SHOULD IT BE?
to see is to believe or believe when you see it.

DOES IT HAVE TO BE?
action speaks louder than words but still words hurt more than action

IT IS?
love for a reason or the reason is love

What is your answer?

Sunday Feast Part II

Again, as I said in my previous entry, every Sunday is a special day for us. Not only this is the day wherein we devote our time to the family but this is the day of the week wherein mom would prepare sumpteous meals for us. We are all busy during the week and this is the only time wherein mom would be a "mom" for us and pamper us with her kitchen expertise.

FOR LUNCH:

I went with mom the day before to Araneta Ave. near So-en there is a place there wherein you can buy live suahe (shrimp) for only P499.50 per kilo. That is considered cheap already. You can buy live tilapias there as well. She soaked the live suahe in chinese ginger wine overnight. And look at the finish product. Steamed and fried. Need I say more?

These are the famous gyozas. You buy them frozen. They leave you the glory to steam them and fry them a bit to make it look like the original yummy gyozas you taste in Sugi. It's all in the manner of cooking and mom perfected it already. True enough, her frozen gyozas tasted exactly like the ones in Sugi and Kimpura.

Not to forget the very famous barbequed spare ribs. These are roasted to perfection. The flavour is indeed very very delicious. Smokey but still very asian. The meat is so tender and so juicy that you end up wanting more.

FOR DINNER:

We had our usual sandwich dinner. Thanks to the veal sausages, kielbasas and the schubligs of Santis. Not to forget the lean porkloin ham, the dill sauce, the egg and the wheat bread from DeliFrance.

The main highlight is mom's SHRIMPS AND SCALLOPS SALAD. Of course, the greens come from Santis, the scallops from Cold Storage (look at the size of the scallops) and the shrimp which are really sweet and succulent. The way she arranged it is very dramatic also. She placed two lettuce leaf in a parafin and topped it with bacon bits, shrimp and scallop. The dressing is from Santis as well known as "Calypso" their rendition of the famous thousand island dressing.

All of these are made by mom and our housekeeper, Lanie. Thanks mom for yet again another sumpteous and hearty feast. These are all prepared in natural substances. No preservatives or msg or any other was added. Truly, a restaurant quality cooked in the comfort of your own home. Two-thumbs up mom! Thanks!!!! You two sons are not only full but nourished.

Kare-Kare: A Native Beef Casserole in Peanut Sauce

We had a post celebration of the birthday of Mom's sister, my aunt, today at home. She prepared "Kare-Kare" for us. This is one of the most treasured family recipe that no one can imitate. Not even the best Filipino restaurants here in Manila can be at par with the "Kare-Kare" of my mom and my Aunt and that I can attest to. To be fair, Fine! "Kare-Kare" will be delicious ONLY if you haven't tasted OUR "Kare-Kare". Care to debate? Come over and have a taste! You will not order Kare-Kare in any Filipino restaurants anymore! I assure you!

Kare-Kare is made up of ox tripe, ox tail, ox intestines, particularly the inner organs of the beef. Sometimes, we add chunks of meat for the kiddies. Vegetables are also present in this dish specifically eggplants, banana heart (puso ng saging), straw beans (sitaw) and pechay. Here is the best part about this casserole, its orange sauce is made up of PEANUTS.

SECRET: What makes our family's Kare-Kare special, not only because we have the best chefs (auntie and mom) but also we use REAL GROUNDED PEANUTS unlike other restaurants and also majority of the cookbooks they only use Peanut Butter which kills the flavor. Why do they suggest Peanut Butter? Simple, it is easier because all you gotta do is open a jar of peanut butter and dump it in and it is way cheaper compare to using freshly grounded peanuts. The process of making the grounded peanuts really saucy is tedious and time-consuming but the benefits after is spectacular. When it is served, you can really smell the scent and the aroma of the fresh grounded peanuts turned into sauce as oppose to using Peanut Butter you smell practically nothing! BOOO!!!!

Fruits & Wine

Nothing beats a relaxing saturday with the company of some family members, a bottle of wine and a tray of fruits on the dinner table.

The bottle of red wine is Mont Gras Merlot. It is a french red wine. The taste is dry. It is a good drink before a delicious meal. The fruits that you can see on the picture are Longans and Ponkiats. Ponkiats are a family of oranges and mandarins. It is eaten by peeling off the skin and slowly savoring its tangy flavour. While on the other hand, the Longan is a fruit of Chinese origin. Pressing hard on the fruit will cause its outer skin to split, a white translucent will be revealed to you. This is the edible part, it is really sweet and very delicious. The Chinese word for Longan is 龍眼 meaning "Dragon Eye!"

Duo Steakhouse and Wine Bar

During Fridays, me, my brother and dad usually have our Friday night dinner, we call this our so-called "Daddy Day!" We usually meet at UCC Connecticut for some coffee sometime around late afternoon until we finally decide where to eat. Sometimes, we end up having a long debate and conversation where to go and have our dinner and it always ends up in Annapolis Seafood Palace (XinHau).

One friday, an SMS came through my mobile phone and it read "Meet at UCC Rockwell, Dinner at Serendra!" I quickly called to confirm if this is in fact true and indeed it is. But because of some changes, we all met in Serendra instead. Jerwin and Chin suggested that we eat at Duo since Dad is always craving for a delicious steak.

Duo served our palettes right. The food was delicious and the service of the waiters was exquisite.

This is the salad of Duo. It is named after one famous personality here in the Philippines who happens to be Ms. Tessie Tomas. According to Duo, they named it after her since that is her favorite salad. Everytime Tessie Tomas enters Duo and sits on its table, she will definitely order this salad. It is very very very delicious. Smoked salmon and grilled shrimp on top. Simple Amazing.

Duo is located in Serendra at Bonifacio Global City.

PRIVATE SALE of Topman

When I went home from work today, just about to eat my dinner, I noticed one thin red passport looking mail beside where the spoon, fork and plate had been laid. At first I am just ignoring it until I saw the huge shining PRIVATE SALE and it got my attention. I picked it up and read it. To my surprise it is the much-awaited Private Sale of Topman together with Topshop and Dorothy Perkins. This is what I've been waiting for since June. An invitation to a private sale of one of my most favorite brands.

A private sale is strictly by invitation only. It is not open to the public. It is open to all the invitees only so that we can have the first pick on the sale items available. You will present this invitation to the guard at the entrance of the store. After the private sale, then they will open it to everyone already. I feel so priveleged being invited again to this event of Robinson's Specialty Stores, the one who owns and managers Topshop, Topman and Dorothy Perkins as well as Wallis and Warehouse.

So to all the invitees see you guys on:

August 1, 2008 from 12nn to 9pm

Nesvita for Dinner

I don't know what got into my head when I decide to actually open 2 packs of Nesvita Cereal Drink at home and have only that for dinner. I accompanied the drink with some vienna sausages heated in a microwave oven. I am just experimenting if I can last the whole night just by drinking Nesvita and eating a few pieces of vienna sausage. Currently it is already 9:30 and I feel that my stomach is already grumbling! I really hope I can last the whole night. This is actually the first time I did this thing... call me stupid or what?

The reason for my decision in drinking 2 packs of Nesvita is because lately I haven't been exercising and I haven't been going to the gym to lose the extra fats and I am gaining weight slowly. My stomach is getting bigger everyday and when I look at the mirror, I don't feel great anymore.

BUT, I'm not planning to actually do this every dinner. Today is just an experimentation.

For everyone's information, Nesvita is a ready-to-drink cereal beverage made by Nestle. Combining wheat, bran, corn and soya to form a healthy, fiber-rich and delicious cereal drink. It currently has 4 flavours and it is readily available in your leading supermarkets and groceries nationwide.

COMDDAP at Cebu City 2008

COMDDAP (Computer Manufacturers, Ditributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines) 2008 was held at Cebu City in SM Trade Hall last July 3 - 5, 2008. Working for MSi-ECS who happens to be a member of the said association participated in the exihibit. We, the product managers, were asked to go to Cebu to man the booth for MSI-ECS. It was a very very very tiring but a great learning experience for me and I guess for everyone as well.

We rode Cebu Pacific going to Cebu on July 1. Our flight is at 3:40pm but unfortunately it got delayed for 2 hrs. We just lounged ourselves in the uncomfortable and unpleasant Manila Domestic Airport. We reached Cebu at 7pm already, went to our hotel and ate dinner. The next we visited MSi-ECS Cebu Office and performed last minute checks before we head to the Cebu Trade Hall in SM City Cebu. We lift boxes, count, displayed and etc. Dust, Stress, Anxiety are our companion during the ingress. We manned the exhibit from 10am to 7pm from July 3 to 5. On the last day, the exibit was extended til 8pm. The egress is better than the ingress base from my experience. Our flight out of Cebu is at 8 in the morning. We didn't had time not even for a few hours to actually roam around Cebu. We didn't actually feel that we are in Cebu. But then again, it is a business trip and it is very much expected so I got no qualms anymore. We were allowed to go to work at 1pm tomorrow which is a good compromise as well.

COMDDAP is an association of Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers here in the Philippines. Besides MSI-ECS, other distributors such as BanBros, WSI, Lamco International, Brother joined as well. This is where they display their products either for showcase or for sale.