Puto Bumbong in September

One thing that I miss from Christmas is puto bumbong. The only chance I get to have some is during the ber months and of course, the holidays, since it is associated with the season along with queso de bola, hamon and others. For those who aren't familiar, it's a purple steamed rice cake, cooked in bamboo tubes and served with grated coconut. Today, I had a craving for that and, although Christmas is still months away, I know there was this stall in front of our church that is already selling it so I there to buy some for 25 pesos. The one I just had today was good as always, texture was nice, good deal for 25 pesos. :)  It's been a while since I've had one of these.

Wow, September's coming to a close... October's a promising month and hopefully, things will get better from here on out. Thanks for dropping by! :D

Stormy Lunch at The Porch (plus some plans)

Man, quite a stormy day today and it also happens to be my brother's birthday. To mark it, we and other relatives had lunch at The Porch by Casa Verde, located along Anonas street, in Sikatuna, QC. Today's the second time I ate there and last time I did was weeks ago, though back then, I wasn't feeling too well plus I didn't bring my camera (if I brought it though, then I might've blogged about this place already). I'll just be talking about the food and the restaurant and I wont go much into other things that happened. 

Anyways, the place is quite small, located past the grocery there along Anonas ext.. It looks like this small house but you'll know it when you see it. Although it's small and I find it tight, it has a good ambiance to it. One can eat inside or outside, depending on the availability of the seats. Personally, I might've preferred it if we ate inside (last time we did though) but this time, we were outside. Good thing that despite the winds, the weather didn't mess things up. :)

Now, on to the food. The restaurant serves American food such as ribs and the food's within the 150 to mid 300s range, so it isn't too expensive, but not cheap either. I have to say that the ribs here (Brian's Ribs) are tasty, and as one of their bestsellers, it's definitely worth a try. While I can't say if it's the best, since I don't eat ribs a lot, it's certainly good. A single serving's 250 Pesos, and by the way, that's a big serving since it's even good for sharing (that's how big it is). They also serve the ribs by the bucket (888 Php) for people that'll dine in bigger groups (kanina, we ordered 2 buckets, plus ordered 2 single servings! There were 12 of us). In addition to that, we ordered 2 servings of their Best Sampler(s) (one serving is 328 Php) which had potato skins, fried cheese and buffalo wings. By the way the wings here are one of the spiciest I've had. I'd say it is, but it's good though :D. Potato skins and cheese were great too, it's better with the dips that come with them. Other things we ordered today were a salad and spaghetti (dunno how much, I'll not comment on them). For desert we had their Death by Chocolate ice cream cake (188 Php) which had a rich taste, nice. We ordered 3 slices. One thing we didn't have this time unlike the last was the Fisherman's Platter. All in all, it made for a great lunch. :)

The Porch. I'm sure you can't miss it if you go by this place.

Iced tea and the salad

Salad and spaghetti. Both are good, I'd say. There was nothing we ate that I didn't like.

Best Sampler and Spaghetti.

Ribs by the bucket with rice. Wow, it's great. :)

Death by Chocolate cake. Ice cream's melting though... Still good. :)

The menu board. After choosing, you order at the counter. :)

After that I went home with my cousin and tito since the rest had other things to do. The weather's still bad though with all those strong winds and all. I was supposed to attend a retreat tomorrow but it got postponed :( ...

Anyways, it's gonna be some busy days ahead. Though our retreat was postponed, I still have plans for the week. Of course, I have my school work to deal with. In addition to that, I'll be heading to SM Mall of Asia for the Manila International Bookfair (MIBF) and if I go next weekend (which seems likely) I'm gonna drop by The Best of Anime (BOA) convention which was the first cosplay event I've attended (wow, it's almost been exactly a year ago). In addition, my birthday's fast approaching as well. Well, that's that and thanks for checking. :) Ingat! :D

FB page of The Porch

Short Trip to Tagaytay

As mentioned in my previous post, last Monday (National Heroes Day), I went to Tagaytay. Dunno the last time I've been there, but for sure it's been a while. It was a really short trip, one of the shortest (if not the shortest) out of town trips that I've had. We only went to the convent of the Pink Sisters and had dinner then we went home. Though short, it was a fun experience. I went there with my dad, ninang (dad's side) and my cousins.

So on the day of the trip, I had an overnight stay in Marikina at my dad's and we would be going to Tagaytay in the afternoon. In the morning, I went biking all over Marikina with dad. Pretty enjoyable ride, though it was tiring and at one point messy because a part near the river was really muddy. Good thing I wore rubber shoes. :)

In the afternoon, we left for Tagaytay. The ride on the way was enjoyable already, but at one point, we got lost in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. When we got to Tagaytay, we went to the Pink Sister's Convent. I wasn't in the right clothes when we went so I didn't go in the chapel out of respect and we wrote our petitions. Me and one of my cousins went all over the gardens for a bit and then we left.

After visiting Pink Sister's we had dinner at this restaurant named Buon Giorno at this place that had more restaurants, overlooking Taal Volcano and the lake. When we came to the viewing deck, we were greeted by the view. Amazing I gotta say. Unfortunately the pics I took weren't clear >_<. Still, it was nice to see the place. Now, on to the food. All of us, except ninang ordered a rib eye steak (at medium rare) and we also ordered this salmon dish and a salad. Ninang paid for the dinner. While waiting, they served bread as an appetizer which was dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The salmon and the salad were good and after that, the steaks came. Wow, the steak was big and it tasted great along with the sides it came with. I'd say, it was worth it. A steak alone was 600+ pesos, by the way. :D
Just so you know, there's a restaurant next to the one we ate in and my one of my cousins (when they went to the same place in another trip before) told me that the steak there naman was 3000 pesos (yes, as in). Makes our steak's prices look cheap. :P

After that, we went home. When we came to the Metro, we noticed it was raining hard and it flooded at some parts. We went to Marikina first and from there, dad took me home to my place in QC.

Overall, while short, it was an enjoyable trip and it'd be nice to go out of town again for another vacation. ^_^

Some pics:

Pink Sister's Convent

 Buon Giorno @ Cliffhouse Tagaytay

Cliffhouse Tagaytay (found out the name of the place in the 'net)

Taal lake and volcano. Pic's blurred >.<

Dinner at Buon Giorno, Tagaytay.

Rib eye steak. It's bigger in person, plus it tastes great.

Sunset at Tagaytay

Cliffhouse at Tagaytay. Love the lights, it's like Christmas. (which is coming soon)

The Long Weekend

It's been a busy long weekend. As we know, last Thursday and yesterday were both holidays; Ninoy Aquino Day and National Heroes Day respectively. So yeah, it was a long weekend, meaning it was chance to have a break for some of us, although some of us too might've been busy with something, maybe like work or school. In this post, I'll be sharing about some of the stuff I've been doing in the last few days.

Thursday - August 21

Didn't really do much on Ninoy Aquino Day. Uneventful really. :(

Friday - Aug 22

Fridays this semester are no school days for me, since I have no classes scheduled for this day. Yet last Friday, I went to my school (UST) because I had to go to the general assembly of school organization. Other than that, nothing much, aside from homeworks and reading this long novel for one of my classes. Weird novel... :/

Saturday - Aug 23

Busier than the day before. I had to go back to UST to attend the general assembly of another org I joined (Yeah, I joined two orgs. I won't attend every activity though since I've got other things to do). In addition to that, before going to UST, I went to SM North EDSA to attend some event. Didn't finish the org GA, so I asked permission to leave after the dinner portion and I went back to SM North after going to UST. Of course, I still did my homeworks and was nearly done with them at that point.

Sunday - Aug 24

Much busier. By this time, I finished much of the bulk of my homeworks and did my readings. In the afternoon, I went to Marikina and had an overnight stay there with my dad. During my stay, me and him rode bikes all over Marikina during the night. Good experience plus we ate at this pansiteria (forgot the name, it's near the market area, but a bit off) for dinner. For something that's 90 pesos, the pansit was a great deal since it was 1) a big serving (it could feed 2-3 guys) and 2) it tasted good. :)

Just sharing some of my pics I took:

Sunset at Marikina

Taken at the pansiteria where me and dad had dinner during the ride.

Monday - Aug 25

Of all the days, this was the busiest day without a doubt. In the morning, me and dad had another bike ride all over Marikina which we finished by noon. Man, though ride. We rode by the river (which was really muddy. Bikes and my shoes were a mess. :( Good thing I wore my rubber shoes :) ), through the "bayan", took the bike lanes all over the city, headed to Marist (my old school) and from there went home, but not without having lunch first at this Pares house next to Concepcion church. Didn't bring my camera this time though unlike the night ride.

Later naman in the afternoon, I went to Tagaytay with my dad, ninang (Dad's side) and cousins. Of all the out of town trips I went to, this was one of the shortest ever, if not the shortest. We only went to the Pink Sister's Convent and had dinner at this restaurant that had a great view of Taal volcano and the province of Batangas. While it was short, it was fun. :) I'll be focusing more on this in another post so look out for that.

Pink Sister's Convent, Tagaytay

Taal lake and Taal volcano

And today, classes were suspended in UST, adding another day to the 5-day long weekend. Oh well, more time to do my homeworks and/or other stuff. :) All in all, enjoyable except for a few mishaps that happened. :)

And man, September's upon us again. :)  It's almost the start of the ber months. :)

Lunchtime at H Cuisine

It's nice to eat in a good restaurant once in a while, especially when it's a place that you haven't tried before. Today, me and my mom went to H Cuisine near Tomas Morato. Originally, I was to decide where we'd eat since we were gonna have lunch after first visiting Sta. Clara along Katipunan. Though I had some places in mind and thought of something along the way (like near where we'd be going), in the end, I never decided so mom suggested the place especially since it was featured (daw) on Kris TV and mom's been there before, but I haven't yet until now. So after visiting Sta. Clara, we went there. It was this small restaurant behind Shakey's Tomas Morato. Good thing the place wasn't full when we came. 

On to the food, we ordered their angus beef belly (their signature dish) and their taco salad, along with rice and iced tea. Wow, the food was good, especially the beef. No wonder why they call it awesome since the meat was flavorful and tender, quite rich. One of the best things I've eaten in a while. The salad was lovely as well. Overall, it was a great lunch and nice to try out something different this time around. After that, we headed to TriNoma to do some shopping :)

Facebook page of the restaurant

Taco Salad

The most awesome Abgus beef belly. Really good.

The restaurant. Next to it is Rub (the red and white building), a restaurant where I have eaten at before.

PS: I don't watch Kris TV.

Mezza Norte @ TriNoma

For 3 nights (so far) this summer, me, my brother, cousin and ninang have been eating at this food night market called Mezza Norte (Mercato) at TriNoma already and I thought, might as well blog about this place I guess, plus, I've got nothing much to do, or even to post about. :)

First time I went to this place, I can't recall but it was last year during the ber months since there were Christmas decors in TriNoma back then.

This is a good place for dinner for 3 reasons: 1) The food here is inexpensive (though it does depend on the stall) 2) The food's also good and 3) There's a lot to choose from but now, maybe because it's summer or something, there are less stalls that remained here from the first time I came, but nonetheless, all of them still offer diverse choices. Probably in the future or something, more stalls are gonna come here, or probably around the ber months. It's open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 4PM-3AM.

Taken (I think) last May 17th. There were more people then.

The rest of the pics were taken last Saturday, May 24th.

Trinoma

Easter at Makati

Last Black Saturday, me, my mom and brother spent an overnight in Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati and we went all over the place in Glorietta and Greenbelt as well. In addition, I attended the Easter Vigil in Greenbelt Chapel. I won't be going into too much details over what happened but I'll just post some pictures from back then.

@ Greenbelt

Greenbelt chapel

At the lobby. When we came, the lobby had the smell of perfume all over it.

Swimming pool, Dusit Thani. Quite small actually, but nice nonetheless.

Easter Vigil at the Greenbelt Chapel

Mater Alegria, Greenbelt Chapel

Christ is Risen!

EDSA, taken from our room on Easter Sunday morning. If only it were like this more often...

Breakfast buffet at Dusit Thani. The food was awesome

Easter bunny

Easter bunnies. So cute... :P

Glorietta, Easter Sunday morning

Bought milk tea @ Happy Lemon Glorietta

Dusit Thani Manila

EDSA, later in the morning

Traffic builds up

Last picture before we left.