DESPEDIDA FOR TITA PET AT BASIX RESTO, DUSIT HOTEL

Today, Kaye and I left for Dusit Hotel to meet up with some relatives having a despedida celebration for Tita Pet at Basix restaurant. Tita Pet arrived about a week ago and during one kitakits at Papa’s condo she asked for me and so before she left they made sure I would be around during her despedida. Only my daughter and I went there, although the titas instructed that the hubby and I were actually invited, as he is a bit uncomfortable when eating in big hotels and restos.

So here are just some of the food we ate at Basix. By the way one good thing about their buffet is their ‘cross-over’ thingy meaning even if we chose to dine at Basix restaurant itself, we can cross-over and eat/order food at their three other restaurants Benjarong (specializing in Thai cuisine), Umu (Japanese cuisine) and Cosca (Italian food). Basix itself served continental buffet and from there I chose basically meat dishes like hams and steaks and a bit of tempura for my first plate. There was also a salad bar but I guess I forgot to take some or maybe I just decided to throw away my ‘diet’ conscience for a day.







Then, for my next plate Kaye and I went to Umu with Mama Heidi and Auntie Bebs to get our Japanese favorites – salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi and of course…California maki! Yummy!















I also tried their authentic Pad Thai which the others ordered at Benjarong restaurant. I didn’t go up there na since I felt full already. Instead, Kaye and I feasted on dessert of fruits dipped in chocolate because they had a chocolate fountain!












The final meal we had was the Flourless Chocolate cake topped with Vanilla Ice cream from Tosca - it was so good that I forgot to take pictures…sorry! Meanwhile, here are some of the other food fares at Basix that we didn’t get to taste because we were already quite full, maybe next time! And I’d be sure to bring the kids too! I just wish that they were here to be able to see one of my favorite aunts in the world, there are only quite a few. Tita Pet and I became close when her husband (my Uncle Melo) died and she went home to the Philippines to bring his ashes. I joined the party that scattered his ashes at Laguna de Bay and during the trip we talked a lot. Our communication extended even long after she returned to her home town in Australia, primarily thru emails so I guess it is quite understandable why she would look for me whenever she visits the country. Goodbye Tita Pet, I wish we had more time to talk and catch up on things. Here's hoping we could spend more time together next time!

BOOK OF ELI: A Film review

Rainy Saturday afternoon today and so we had nothing much to do but sleep and eat and - watch a movie! Keith wanted to watch Book of Eli and since I told him I had that DVD, he pestered us to watch it and so we did. After eating breakfast and way before it was time to cook lunch, we went upstairs to our room and watched it with our PC. The story is about Eli (played by Denzel Washington) set in a world torn apart by war. Denzel is cast here as a drifter/survivor with uncanny skills and abilities that enabled him to fend off attackers and cannibals for the past thirty years. He has long been traveling to the West to guard a ‘sacred book’ which he believed he must bring to someone…somewhere. Along the way, he meets criminals and bandits killing and raping anyone just to survive in order to get some food, water or other supplies that can be traded (it seems money is not a commodity anymore in this future)

While Eli enters a town to get some water and have his ipod recharged he gets into a scuffle with a gang of bad men headed by a powerful man named Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman). Carnegie was impressed by Eli’s fighting skills so he offers him a place in his gang but Eli declines. Carnegie insists and tries to send Solara (Mila Kunis) to sleep with Eli to convince him to stay. But still Eli refused and instead teaches Solara to pray and shared his meal with her. The next day, when Solara tries to repeat the prayer with his mother, she also inadvertently revealed that Eli has been reading a book – THE BOOK - which Carnegie had been searching for so long because he wants to use the Bible to maintain his power and keep his town under control. And so he runs after Eli. They try to shoot Eli but they miss and Eli ends up killing most of his men before walking nonchalantly away.

Solara follows Eli on his journey and was almost raped by two thugs until Eli came along to save her. They continue traveling West and in their talks, Solara discovers that Eli is guided by a voice in his head that had whispered to him where to find the last remaining Bible in the world and where to bring it. They then visit a house with an elderly couple who they soon realize were cannibals who eat their visitors so they get up to leave but they see that Carnegie and his men have caught up with them. The old couple helps them to fend off the attackers and bring out an impressive arsenal of weapons. But they were no match for Carnegie’s weapons so the old couple got killed and half of their house got torn down. Carnegie succeeds in getting the book and shoots Eli in the stomach before taking off with the book and Solara. But Solara kills the driver and hurls a grenade at the third vehicle. Rather than taking after her, Carnegie lets her go because they have no more fuel left. Besides he already has the book, and that’s all that mattered to him.

Solara finds Eli still walking West despite his gunshot wound and they head to the Golden Gate Bridge (or what’s left of it) and take a boat to the island of Alcatraz. Inside, Eli is met by a curator of pre-war items who gets excited upon learning that Eli had in his possession a King James Bible. Eli then asks him to produce a paper and pen then proceeded to recite the bible word for word having memorized it for the last 30 years. Meanwhile, back in town Carnegie discovers that the Bible is locked and so he gets the Engineer to open it for him, when he finally gets it open he discovers that the entire book is in Braille…and that Eli is blind. He tried to get his wife Claudia (also blind) to read it for him but she lies and says she has forgotten how. Carnegie flies into a rage, having something he has longed for so near and yet he can’t have it. He falls into despair as his bar is looted by hoodlums since he no longer has enough men to protect him because most have died in his quest for the book.

Eli, on the other hand, finishes reciting the Bible and says one last prayer for Solara and the world before he dies. Eli is buried in a courtyard as printing of the Bible commences. Solara, meanwhile visits Eli in his grave for the last time before setting off with his machete and Ipod to embark on her own adventure. In all, the film was very good - the scenes depicting the post-apocalyptic future was in black and white and very nicely done, even the action scenes though violent were swift and artistic. But what’s amazing was the fact that Eli was blind was only revealed in the last part of the movie…a very nice twist indeed!
[photo grabbed from IMDB]

MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY

I would have wanted a simple celebration for her birthday. After all, she’s just turning nine this year – not really a special number to hold a grand birthday. And besides, we didn’t plan to hold her birthday on a weekend – so it would just be a simple get-together with maybe some neighbors and her friends as guests. But it didn’t turn out as planned! Because Inang decided to take her entire brood from BP and even borrowed a jeep to ferry all of them to our small abode in Bulacan.












For sure, our planned food budget went awry that day and we had to make some major adjustments and bought additional food just to accommodate all of them. In fact, our house felt too small and too hot because we couldn’t seem to fit all of them inside!!! But it sure was fun!!! Tiring because we had to do all the cooking but fun all the same! The choco fountain was the hit of the show and the teens took turns drinking Boracay rum under the hot afternoon sun, whew! All that was lacking is a beach to dive into and it would have been perfect. Of course, I would’ve been much happier if the hubby was were here to tend to his relatives but he can’t go on leave today, so we just held the party without him.

NEW PETS…LOVE BIRDS FROM MAMA!

Mother’s day last Sunday and we paid a visit to my mother the next day, Monday to bring her some gifts – Celeteque moisturizer, a sack of rice and some cash, but guess what??? She gave us an even better gift - NEW PETS and I do believe my daughter would surely be glad about this! Because she had been hankering me to buy her some love birds but I figured with the bunnies and all, we surely can’t afford another pet??? Since that would be 4 more mouths to feed – coz there were four birds in all – three yellow ones and a cute, fat blue bird! Here are some of their pics of them at the office.
















P.S. They don’t seem to be lovebirds to me …more like parakeets from what I have been browsing over the net?

HEALING WHITEY

Just an update, after about three weeks since she had her ivermectin shots at the vet clinic, Whitey’s healing nicely - all her sore spots are gone! No more wounds in her nose, or her ears, and her feet. All we need to do now is make her eat more so she would be chubby again, like Brownie, and so that she would go back to looking her cute and cuddly bunny self. In a few weeks time, it would be her other bunny (Vanilla) that we’d be bringing to the vet for her shots. I just hope the others who are in their new homes would get the same treatment they did for them to be cured of mites and look good and cuddly once again.

JOGGING AT COLINAS VERDES

It’s Mother’s Day today and since we’re not really celebrating it - I didn’t cook any celebratory food and neither did I buy cake, I just decided to give a gift to myself – good health! Coz today my son and I decided to take our first ever jog at Colinas Verdes and I am truly glad that we did. It felt exhilarating to jog/brisk walk again though we both didn’t pressure ourselves since after all it has been more than a month (I think!) since our last run/jog at CCP. So rather than over exert ourselves we just paced our jogging with some walking (although my boy did more walking than jogging) and what’s more we didn’t finish the entire ‘track’ yet just up to the clubhouse since we were still unsure how far it would still go. We’d just finish it at some other time. What’s important is that we break the first barrier and established some great bonding time together. What we just need to do now is get the motivation to continue on and finish what we started. (P.S. The photo is not mine, I just saw it somewhere from the internet)

COOLING OFF IN THE HOUSE POOL

It’s the middle of summer and the heat is just unbearable - and what better way to beat the heat than wallowing in our very own swimming pool! Nope! We did not win the lotto and just bought a new house with its own pool (I just wish!) Instead, the kids made do with the next best thing there is - an inflatable pool set up at the back of the house! (so they won’t get directly hit by the sun) Here are some pics of their fun frolicking. The pool itself isn’t exactly new, I think we bought it some two or three years ago. It wasn’t too small as to fit just kids (in fact even adults and I myself have once taken a dip in it) and neither is it too big as to require a bigger space (which we don’t have!). It was on sale then – at only Php 1200(I think) and for the many years that we have been able to use it, I guess it truly is one very economical way to beat the heat of summer!

CMS OUTING AT BAGAC, BATAAN

My first time to go on an outing with a new unit – the CMS and the group decided to go to Bagac, Bataan – a place they have been to already a few years back but they say the place was really good and indeed it was! We arrived in Bataan early and after an hour’s stopover at the market to buy some fish, pusit, chicken and fruits, we finally reached the resort! Upon arrival, we got busy preparing lunch. The kids, of course headed to the beach at once and we just let them go their way. Anyway, the resort had a lifeguard and there were some teens with them naman (like the boss's daughters).













My son stayed with us to help in the cooking, I just sliced tomatoes and onions while Grace sliced mangoes for the ensalada. It was the hubby who fried the tilapia (with Kit’s help) while Nel and Zandra cooked the sinigang na liempo. The others started the ‘drinking session’ early because it seems Glenn (who arrived without his family) would be leaving /returning home later. We had our lunch at 1pm then after some chatting, we retired to the bedroom to nap a bit till 4 pm.














Upon waking, I went out to the beach to swim with the kids and take some pictures…particularly of the sunset. But bad luck suddenly befell Kit because he lost his slippers and got stung by a jellyfish in the arm so we had to return to the house at once to put some vinegar on it. Learned from the kids that a chopper fell down near the shore but on another cove, not the one where they swam in but it was just nearby. We just heard from the news a bit later that it was a training chopper flown by a nephew of Candaba’s ex-mayor Gatus.



























After a while, Kaye and I took our baths so I could go down to help in dinner preparations. Dinner was inihaw na liempo and inihaw na bangus but we didn’t cook everything because there were still so many food leftover from our lunch which we reheated and also served. Nel also cooked tokwa for their pulutan tonight. Zandra, meanwhile prepared the chocolate fountain for the kids to enjoy some dessert later on.
















The next day, we got up bright and early to cook an early breakfast and go island hopping! Well, not literally on another island but rather on a different cove of the same island that we’re currently in - and boy was it so beautiful!In fact, it can even rival the beauty of Boracay and Puerto Galera!But definitely not Palawan or Bohol because despite its clear waters and calm waves, there was nothing much to be seen underneath – sure there were a few fishes but not as varied and colorful as the fishes and corals of Coron or Pamilacan. Still it was a nice place to visit and we even got to see a cave and swim in deep waters using our life vests. In all, I guess this is one good place to go to for a fun beach vacation that is not so heavy on the budget!

HOLY WEEK AT TAAL, BATANGAS

Last week was Holy Week and this year I didn’t want to get bored like the last time (when we all spent it just at home at BP doing nothing!) So this year, the hubby and I decided to compromise and spend the Holy Week partly at his hometown (the first two days, evening actually of Wednesday and the whole day Thursday) and the remaining days (Friday to Sunday) with my family vacationing at Taal, Batangas.

Anyway, I wasn’t truly bored during the first day at BP since I had an assignment – to bring atsara and puto for the ‘oldies’ at Taal, so I spent the day helping out in grating the papaya, cutting onions, bawang, siling pula and carrots. Then, Inang mixed it and adjusted the seasonings, before we transferred them to plastic containers, ready for shipment the next day.

On Good Friday, we finally left for Taal at around 11am. Good thing that Papa called asking us to bring an extension cord otherwise, we would have left after lunch. We arrived at Taal without much of a hitch since there was no traffic. We did get lost a bit because I failed to see the small street we had to look for but it was just a minor glitch and we finally reached Taal Imperial Resorts – the one owned by Mother Lily and indeed the place was very refreshing!





The place had many trees and three villas which we all rented so, in a way, we had the entire resort exclusively to ourselves. The first villa was rented by my two aunts and their families (each villa had two bedrooms). Papa and the maids occupied the middle villa while my family occupied the third villa with my stepsister and her family. Each villa was tastefully designed and their website said the furnishings were handpicked by Mother Lily herself. Indeed you would not feel any of the cold ambiance of hotels but rather it feels warm and welcoming, just like a home away from home.











The resort had three pools but the two were small and shallow ones (for kids) So, we only made use of the big pool near the entrance. I wasn’t so sure if the pools were clean so I just dipped for a short time when I felt too hot and I just let the kids enjoy swimming for most of the three days we were there. Anyway, the villas had centralized air conditioning so we stayed mostly inside the bedrooms to escape the summer heat. But I was surprised to see my dad and stepmom swimming one morning so I guess they weren’t too bothered over the fact that the pool’s water was already quite translucent, maybe the overpowering chlorine had already cleansed away most of the germs of the resorts previous occupants??? But still, I shudder at the thought, which is why I’d much rather swim in the sea than in artificial waters like pools.











But I guess more than the resort’s amenities, what we enjoyed truly was the camaraderie and companionship that we shared with our relatives since we normally don’t get to be together all that often especially for out of town activities. And of course, most of these ‘bonding’ moments happen during…of course, mealtimes! Our family’s favorite pastime! There were lots of delicious foods, more than enough for everyone. Ace regaled us with his concoctions like pasta Alfredo and Visayan humba but still there was something lacking – the lechon, of course! But I guess because of the expensive resort, we’d have to make some budget cuts especially with the food. They had to pay 20K for each villa for the entire three-day stay and that’s more than the usual expense allotted for the accommodations.



























Anyway, we were all satiated with the food naman and that’s what matters. We even had the grand dame herself – Mother Lily as a guest for Good Friday dinner and she enjoyed eating with us. In fact, she even liked the puto/bibingka I brought from Pampanga! Furthermore, we weren’t always cloistered inside the resort, we had much time to visit scenic and historic Taal, particularly the oldest Basilica in Asia and the heritage houses that littered the town. We also visited another mountain resort in the area (Noni Resort) which was also quite full despite Philvolcs warnings on the possibility of a Taal eruption so I guess we weren’t the only ones who were hardheaded eh?















The final day was the highlight of our vacation – the Easter egg hunt! But this time Kit was not able to find much because the kids (Kaye and Alex) had a five-minute leeway time to search in advance so all those he was able to see earlier were seen by the kids…oh no! Alex turned out as the biggest winner and Kaye came in second while Kit only got one but at least all the others had a difficult time also searching for the eggs. Well, maybe next year he’d do better but I guess not here again because this may be the last time we would be visiting here. Not because we didn’t like the place but rather due to the hotel currently being constructed behind the villas, so that means we would not be able to ‘own’ the place like we did today. Still, everyone had a fun time vacationing here at Taal and it is one good place we would surely recommend to everyone!

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: A film review

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

While vacationing at BP, I was able to finally finish watching the movie – How to train your dragon. My daughter was actually the one who wanted me to look for the film and download it over the web since she said she liked the movie ever since she watched it with Kevin and Nicole (when they stayed overnight in Pasig last year). And, indeed, she was right – it was really a good movie! The kind that you wouldn’t tire watching again and again.

The movie is actually about a boy named Hiccup, who lives in a village called Berk that has long been plagued by problems with dragons. Hence, most of the village people become Viking dragon slayers except for Hiccup who can’t seem to get his bearings right and thus, almost always creates more trouble for himself and the entire village. But one night, he uses his invented contraption and discovers the next day that he had captured the most dangerous and totally unknown Night Fury dragon. But then he also discovers he is unable to kill it and so he sets it free.

Later on, he learns that the Night Fury dragon (whom he eventually calls Toothless) has been living in a valley because its tail was injured and was thus prevented from flying too far away. Hiccup befriends it and makes a prosthetic tail fin that enabled him to help the dragon fly, but the only thing was that he needed to ride the dragon to control it. So he builds a saddle, a control mechanism for the tail fin and a safety harness.

Meanwhile, he is left by his dad (who is by the way the Village Chief) under the tutelage of Gobber for dragon slaying training and he uses his dragon training knowledge with Toothless to become the star-pupil, much to Astrid’s dismay. So one day, Astrid follows him into the woods and discovers his secret friendship with the Night Fury dragon. Hiccup tries to convince Astrid not to tell the others yet about Toothless and takes her flying on Toothless’ back. But they soon find out the reason why the dragons have been stealing their sheep and other livestock, they bring it to a mountain island to feed a huge terrifying and very hungry dragon otherwise, they would be eaten themselves! Thankfully, Hiccup was able to convince Astrid not to reveal what they have seen yet for fear of what his dad may do to Toothless.

On the final day of dragon training, Hiccup tried to show everyone that dragons need not be their enemies. But his dad intervenes which angered the dragon and endangers Hiccup. So Toothless comes in to save him and everyone soon finds out about him and their knowledge of the dragon lair. Hiccup got disowned by his father who sets out with Toothless chained on their ship to find the dragon's nest. Hiccup then mounts the other ‘practice dragons’ with the other new ‘trainees’ to pursue the Viking fleet. Hiccup arrives in time to see his father bravely trying to fight the dragon himself.



So the kids create a distraction to allow the other Vikings to retreat safely while Astrid and Hiccup rescue Toothless still trapped aboard the sinking Viking ship. Toothless and Hiccup go after the giant dragon together and draws it flying to the clouds. Finally, Toothless releases a blast straight into the giant dragon’s mouth which sends it crashing but both Hiccup and Toothless go down with it. After the fire clears, Hiccup’s dad finally finds the boy safely cradled under Toothless’ wings and the boy wakes up back at Berk. He sees that he lost a leg and now has a prosthetic one (just like Toothless) but he rejoiced upon seeing that the Vikings have now changed their attitude against dragons and now treats them as pets and friends.

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

WHITEY’S GONE!

This morning, when I went out as part of my regular routine to check on the rabbits to see if they still have water and feeds, I got the shock of my life when I saw Whitey’s cage was empty! I panicked and tried to search the garden to see if she was just around somewhere. Then I also checked the screen to see if it’s broken anywhere and I can’t see any tear or hole in it??? So I wonder how she was able to get out? It would be impossible that she was able to push her way upwards using her cage door because it would be too heavy for her to push.

After sometime, Jun went out of the bathroom and helped me search and finally he found her. The only thing inside her cage at that time was a round PVC pipe (about two inches in diameter) which the bunnies used to play with (like a tunnel) when they were still a month old. When they left, I forgot to remove the pipe but I never would have thought to look inside it because it was too small for her to fit in. So I just wonder why and how she was able to get inside??? In fact, I had a difficult time getting her out so I had to push her gently because she won’t easily slide out when I tried to place the pipe upright. I guess she was just missing her babies and figured she may find them inside the pipe. It had just been five days since we took the bunnies to their new homes in BP and maybe she was still feeling the pain …poor Whitey!

BTW, here’s the latest picture taken of Whitey - she’s cured of mange already but still a bit thin due to her pregnancy. I sure hope we could make her a bit chubby once again!

WE’RE GIVING THEM AWAY…

I guess we have to face the inevitable, it’s time to give the bunnies away! Huhuhu! Now that they’re more than a month old already, well exactly 42 days old and since they have long stopped nursing from their mothers I guess it’s now time for us to be weaned from the baby bunnies too. Even if we don’t really want to part with them and even if admittedly, they’ve been such a drain on the budget because before with just the two rabbits, we only buy 2 kilos of pellets per week and 2 bundles of camote tops per day. But now with the addition of five voracious bunnies, we need to buy 4 kilos of rabbit pellets and countless bundles of camote tops. In fact, we may soon earn our neighbor’s ire because we’re on the verge of using up and even killing their camote plants with our frequent picking! So I guess it’s just practical to give them away but only to people close to our hearts so we can still come to visit them and see how they’re doing every once in a while.

Since the bunnies are two brown-patched and three whites, we decided to give one pair (with a white and a brown-patched) to Yana and Nog-nog (a niece and nephew from the hubby’s side of the family) while another pair to Chi-chi and Sam (my brother’s kids), and the remaining white bunny to Monica (another cousin’s daughter). So there’d be no more bunnies left with us… boohoo. But that’s OK coz soon enough, Brownie and Whitey will have new kits again and next time, we’ll surely keep even just one for ourselves…

POSTSCRIPT: Well, it seems the owners of the bunnies changed a bit since Chi-chi and Sam will be gone for a month (to join their Mom in Bangkok) so they can’t take care of the rabbits. So we just gave one brown-patched bunny to Monica so that her white bunny will not be lonely. The other white bunny remained with us and we named her Vanilla. Meanwhile Chi-chi and Sam will have their bunnies during the next litter.

WHITEY’S TURN AT THE VET

Today, it’s Whitey’s turn to be taken to the vet. She’s ready because she has long been weaned from nursing her babies and we’d be giving the babies away this weekend. I know she’s scared…I can feel it.






But she has to go through with it – her Ivermectin shots for her mange because it’s for her own good. So that in two weeks time, she’d look as good as new once again - just like Brownie!!!

A LUNCHTIME ADDICTION

These past few weeks I admit, I have been quite addicted to something you would never guess. Yes, indeed it has been existing since May 2009 but I have never really paid attention to it before I often just let the kids do their thing with it. But one lazy afternoon in the office (about two or three weeks ago) when there was no internet and there wasn’t much work to do, I tried doing it…and by God! I was definitely hooked!!! In fact, sometimes I would forego my usual afternoon nap (during lunch break) just to do it! And nope, you never would have guessed it - I am addicted to playing Plants vs. Zombies.

According to Wikepedia, the game was developed and originally published by Popcap Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It involves the player as the homeowner who had to repel numerous waves of zombies seeking to enter his home by planting different kinds of plants and fungi with varied unique and defensive capabilities. The zombies will try all sorts of modes (which actually consist the playing fields) to enter your home – thru the front garden, the backyard (which has a pool), at night (with the use of mushrooms and fungi since there is no sun) and the last level, through the roof.

And so today, I guess I am just so happy to proudly announce that I have finally finished the main adventure mode by beating that huge monster - Dr. Zomboss… hurrah! hurrah! But this doesn’t really mean the addiction’s over…no, definitely not! Since I still have my Zen garden to tend to and lots of mini-games to still unlock, and of course, there’s still the survival mode that I have to go through. I read it is definitely more difficult and filled with more zombies than the previous stages I conquered. So here’s hoping I’d gain more trophies, finish more stages, and spend more sleepless lunch hours playing!