attacking KFC's tower burger

you know me and kfc, we go waaaaaaaaay back. so while my relationships haven't exactly turned out to be long term, at least my relationship with this chicken place has withstood all kinds of test, major allergies to chicken included.

so you will understand why after i saw the commercial for the tower burger, i knew i just had to taste it despite all of the comments that i'd just end up sorely disappointed. you do, after all, have to take the good with the bad in relationships. that's just the way it is (so saith the expert, haha!)

a fellow kfc-lover and i then made a pact -- one day, we'd try it together. until then, we'd just have to satisfy ourselves with original recipe chicken (like that's a major sacrifice). so when our corregidor trip didn't push through and we were trying to figure out what to do with our monday morning, we miraculously found ourselves at kfc ordering, what else, the tower burger.

[now, if you see some jollibee stuff in the pics know that (1) our friends who got there first were already at jollibee and (2) yep, we at our tower burgers at jollibee!]

now if this burger was anything like double down, well, i knew i was going to be in for a treat. and if it at least approximated the crispy chicken burger thing, well, that would be great as well.

unfortunately while the box was promising (you know when things come in a box they must be the best the fast food chain has to offer, right? like big mac, or champ. yep, my food choices have clearly not improved with age!), the tower burger didn't exactly have me at hello.

in fact, it felt more like, uhm, hello, are you really there?

cause while it seemed it had all the ingredients for a good time, it didn't seem like it was up to giving me a great time. pretty much like being with a sulky friend at enchanted kingdom. in theory the happy part is supposed to overshadow the bad but in the end you can't get over the bad part. in this case, was it the lack of bacon (which so propelled double down to stardom, hands down)? was it the greasy and not-so-crispy hash brown? was it the paltry excuse for chicken? was it the substandard bread? i dunno really, but in the end, the chicken had too many sad friends that it was bound for failure.

of course when i started out, it didn't seem like it. i wanted to be all commando about it and just attack the thing like i was fighting japanese invaders (sorry, i was sorely disappointed by our trip not pushing through) but while it appeared massive in this picture, know it seemed ginormous only cause me holding onto the stacked burger was pushing out its contents -- you know like what too-tight underwear does to your lady parts.

eep, did i just say that?

in any case, it was a sad moment for kfc (and for me -- i KNEW i should've just ordered chicken which, incidentally, i did the following day, hahaha!). but, there's always unlimited gravy. and in my world, as long as kfc keeps on giving out free flowing gravy, well, it couldn't break up with me even if it tried ☺

let's pretend i'm not going to boracay this friday, shall we?

you know how people are like months before they go on a vacation whch will require them to basically traipse around in their underwear?

well, they start eating less. and they start exercising. and they save money.

me, i'm not like everyone else. so on top of last week's buffet with my boss, my AG's dinner buffet pushed through last night. it was supposed to be at dusit's basix (so we can use the voucher) except that the place was booked solid. so we ended up at cafe jeepney at the intercon. i've never been there for dinner before, although i do remember it was there where i had my first (heavenly) taste of eggs benedict. to this day, i still am on the search for eggs benedict that taste as good as the ones i tasted then.

anyway, we were all supposed to be there by 6:30. i arrived 7-ish. i was in makati by 6 (nope, not excited, haha!) but i got a pedicure trying to kill time, and before i knew it, i was late. but not that late that i was the last one that got there.

so, here's me and ann (with ann pretending to be healthy with a plate of salad, haha!)

clearly, i had consumed my first plate of potato salad. yes, i know that it fills up your tummy really fasts and yes i know it isn't the best thing to eat in a buffet, but i love potatoes. so there.

shy and faith were across us ... and they too had their fill all to quick that faith's plate was empty by the time we took our first pics. love the bright lights of sm peeking through the trees. have i mentioned that i'm in love with henry sy?

it was a bit before che and dory arrived, but let me assure you that they ate up their P730 worth of food as well. yup, that's how not-that-expensive it was.

see, happy faces all around!

while it wasn't that expensive, let's just say that i was a wee bit disappointed with the food. this was the intercon for goodness' sake.

i mean, if i basically ended up eating potatoes with various dressings on top + bacon, you know that i was trying to salvage my dinner with bacon bits. sorry, intercon, i don't think i'll be coming back soon.

now, if you know me really well, you'll know this isn't my plate: i don't hardly eat japanese food (except yakimix/sambokujin, but they don't count, right?).

but that piece of hakaw, well, let's just say that one got away from me. yes, i love me some hakaw.

the desserts were slightly better, and there were a lot of pretty little things to choose from, but unfortunately, by this time, all the potatoes in my system began taking their revenge, and it wasn't long before i groaned my last and told my friends that if they didn't hear from me today, they should send someone to my house to check on me.

and you know why they ought to check on me, right? remember rico yan?

the buffet was a bit of a disappointment but the company, wow, the company just keeps getting better. we're planning something for the long weekend and that's really exciting (i'm rooting for corregidor!) and i'm just glad that i'm with a bunch of girls that i don't only get all giggly and matakaw with me, but girls who have been storming the heavens for prayers for me for the longest time.

p.s. my x-ray results revealed a slightly enlarged heart. i'll need an ecg to confirm everything's normal, so can you kindly say a little prayer for me today? of course, i'm saying everything's fine by blaming my additional fats and/or my bazillions of crushes for the heart thing, but i'm a bit worried so your prayers will be very much welcome!

i love it when things turn out way better than expected

vouchers ... have i told you my entire department's addicted to them?

me, i try to avoid them as much as i can. for one, i didn't have a credit card i could use until recently and two, i know in my heart that once i get started, it would be difficult to stop. after all, going to all of these group buying websites feels like there's a mall-wide sale all the time.

but, i won't pretend i'm not immune to all that temptation. so when i got approved by that company to do a lecture for them, i kept my promise and bought a voucher for a buffet dinner at manila pavilion's seasons for me and my boss.

now, i worked in the court of appeals and i passed by manila pavilion almost daily and it wasn't really that impressive. so, at P699 per voucher, i didn't have high expectations. and then we entered the restaurant and it was bright and spacious and lovely.

my boss left me at the table to freshen up. i said, it's okay, i'll wait. but right behind me was a huge slab of parma ham and this salmon with a huge blob of cream cheese. i wasn't able to wait. i made a beeline for the buffet line and grabbed these two plates.

let's just say that seasons had me at parma ham. i LOVE parma ham. even probably more than i love bags.
they had stuff on the side to go with their parma ham. all i wanted was parma ham, but i pretended to be chi-chi and all that and grabbed a small spoonfull of mango slices and that sweet-ish sauce.

it was still parma ham heaven.

and let's just say that this salmon + cream cheese was heaven part 2. i kept coming back for more, and more, and more. i wanted a fifth ball but i was in pain from eating too much.

and shrimps ... sigh. i love me some hakaw and while the dumplings they had weren't exactly hakaw, i was fine with that. i was a bit disappointed with the cold shrimp salad though. while i never exactly thought i'd say this, there was too much shrimp and too little salad action going on.

and these oysters ... i dislike raw oysters in general so i wanted these "rockyfellered" but they said the best they could do was put in some cheese and what not. i said, okay ... except they apparently didn't cook them long enough. i still ate every single oyster though, and even stopped the waiter from taking one away since i wasn't done with the last oyster yet.

i can't remember what plate number this was, but note that i had more parma ham. did i say i was in love with parma ham? yes? oh, can i say it again: i LOVE parma ham. i can get married to parma ham and be okay with it.

i remember eating pumpkin soup (my favorite kind) and some other stuff, but let's just say that if all they had was parma ham in that buffet, i would've been fine. i was so full by the time we left and there was still oodles i didn't get to eat. it wasn't circles, it wasn't heat, and it wasn't spiral, but for some reason, that buffet at manila pavilion gave me a whole lot of loving.

i hope they have more vouchers there soon, cause i definitely know where i want to go back again.

note the mooncake face? i was having difficulty digesting my meal by this time ... and guess what still was on my mind.

yes, still more parma ham.

it doesn't get any better than zubochon!

ah, cebu.

to this date, i still think of you fondly. i think of your sweet mangoes. i think of your wonderful beaches. i think of the cheap danggit to be had.

but most of all, i think of zubochon.

{according to ate marivi's driver, "ay ma'am dun sa may lumilipad na baboy"}

*sigh* zubochon. once, i said if i were dying of some deadly disease like cancer, i'll just eat bacon rather than have chemotherapy. now, it's going to be bacon + zubochon lechon. i promise you, happiness doesn't even begin to cover the feeling of partaking of their lechon.

but first, let's backtrack.

theo, cathy, and i volunteer in tuloy sa don bosco. we're from the thursday group (so kuya germs, i know!) ate marivi used to be a full-time volunteer. on theo's first summer, we were assigned to work on the summer program with the namuncura boys, ate marivi's dorm. all the other volunteers were deathly afraid of her; we weren't.

{technically, this should be the last pic ...

halata bang busog na kami?}

it was a sad day when ate marivi left and went back to cebu to take care of her parents. so imagine how excited we were to visit and catch up with her. when she picked us up from ayala center, she asked us, "cebu lechon or seafood?" smart theo replied, "lechon, since we can get seafood anywhere."

bless ate marivi's brother who recommended that we go to zubochon which, anthony bourdain christened as the "the best pig .... ever!"

{while i'm fat, best pig ever is the lechon, not me}

thing is, if there's one thing my friends know about me (or at least gay does), it's that i'm not a huge fan of lechon. not only that, i'm not a huge fan of the skin of the lechon. if at all, i love the meat part slathered with a whole lot of sauce. and, the few times i've tasted cebu lechon, it was okay. no choirs of heavenly angels, no smile slowly spreading over my face, no life changing moment. it's just lechon, and for me, without the sarsa, it wasn't my cup of tea. but, since i believe in a democracy (sometimes ... i tend to be a dictator with my friends, ha! ha!), i was okay with trying out zubochon.

deep inside, though, zubochon meant only one thing for me: i'll be able to try the kamias shake that tin recommended i taste. of course, i was a bit skeptical, but since i loved playing with kamias when i was a kid, i was okay with this choice. worst case scenario, i hate it.

{the kamias shake that changed my life. seriously}

first sip and i wished i could knock at my old house in pilar village and ask for our old kamias tree in the backyard. it was the best thing ever! perfect blend of sweet and sour, it was cool and refreshing, it was nothing at all like i expected when i first received the text message asking me to try it out. (and it was so good that my friends and i, on our last night, passed by zubochon just to have another glass of this kamias shake)

bit by bit our food started arriving ....

{everything in zubochon is good, including these seaweeds that i don't normally eat}

{sinigang na hipon}

i know, i know there should be a picture of the lechon we ate but, what can i say? as soon as it landed on the table, all thoughts of taking pictures for this blog (and for posterity) flew out the window. i wanted to claim my stake on the crispy skin (something i rarely eat in a traditional lechon) and if i could trick my friends into giving me more, i would've most likely done it. it was THAT good.

we also had fish but while it would've been great elsewhere (as well as the sinigang na hipon ... as i said, everything in zubochon was amazing), it was simply eclipsed by the fabulousness that came in grilled pig form. perfect is insufficient to describe the wonder that they turned the pig's skin to. and the meat, the meat ... i wouldn't mind sacrificing high cholesterol scores if i could eat that every single day (with bacon, of course, let's not forget my first love!).

the only sad thing was that zubochon was one of my first meals in cebu so everything else that came in after that just paled in comparison. there were times where i'd stare off in space and i'd have zubochon fantasies ... the crispy lechon skin, the refreshing kamias shake ... one meal, and i was a goner.

and you know what, i still have fantasies of that flying pig ... even more than a week later.

KFC lang ang katapat ko

as you might very well know by now, i've been having a bad week. all recent sightings of forbidden boy v. 2 notwithstanding, my week has been beset by one issue after another.

and as if things couldn't get worse, my office PC's powercord died this morning. yes, a powercord that's barely a year old.

in any case, this week also brought one of the happiest things in the universe to me: a bucket of FREE kfc chicken.

let's backtrack, shall we?

monday, i think i was wallowing in the sheer number of stuff to be done, half of which i could barely make sense out of, i saw pam's tweet asking who wants a bucket of kfc chicken.

i immediately replied: me! me! me!

much to my surprise, she asked me to DM her my address. is a bucket of free KFC chicken actually going to make its way to me?

apparently yes. cause yesterday, it arrived. 8 pieces of chicken, four pieces of rice, four sidings, and a big bottle of coke.

now, the entire universe can gush about the chicken-all-you-can from max's, but this girl, i'm a KFC girl through and through. as a matter of fact, when my friends and i went to max's to actually do the chicken thing, i chose to order lumpia and potato salad instead. and while friendster is oh-so-passe, can i just say that the best testimonial anyone ever wrote about me there was that "i'm the best thing since KFC started giving out free gravy." ♥

so, bring on the four hours of sleep at night, a laptop that lost the past 1.5 years of my life, issues with certain people, and three board meetings. because free kfc came my way, i can do anything.

i always knew that one day i'd benefit from all that tweeting, ha! ha!

faux-ella

i love paella.

but i can't really afford it all the time.

so thank goodness for clara ole ora mix mo -- because it allows me to have paella any day i wish.

just like last sunday.

brown rice + the ora mix mo + left over squid from the previous night's dinner at gilligan's = faux-ella.

in the mummy, rachel weisz repeatedly utters, "patience is a virtue." and while it may be true, tell that to my rumbling tummy craving for a paella. it (my rumbling tummy, that is) believes that patience isn't always a virtue, and because of clara ole ora mix mo, it isn't so. ☺

p.s. god forbid that you should think this is a paid post cause (1) i'm not a food blogger and (2) only five people read this blog. so there.

food review: selecta's hershey's collection reese's

a long time ago, my friend introduced me to reese's. and while i wasn't a huge fan of peanut butter, i somehow fell in love with it. much later, reese's pieces came, and those i fell in love with ... a lot.

so imagine how i felt when i saw this in the grocery:

i thought, so what if we were having the biggest loser at work. and so what if it wasn't in my grocery budget. if something that cost less than P150 was going to make me extremely happy, then who am i to deprive myself, right?

right. i knew you'd agree.

so a tub came home with me and even before i could eat dinner (yes, that's one of the good things with being 30+ and alone at home -- you may eat dessert before dinner), i got started on this baby.

maybe i was expecting the ice cream to taste like reese's. or maybe i was expecting a bouquet of yumminess to just burst on my mouth. maybe i thought that aside from the reese's, there was going to be some peanut butter chunks, chocolate swirls, nuts, and marshmallows (well, i just love marshmallows so even if it didn't make sense in this case, i thought it would be a good idea to have them. ha. ha.). i can't pinpoint exactly what i was expecting, but whatever it was, this wasn't it.

in fairness, it had a LOT of broken up reese's peanut butter cups. remember how chip's ahoy advertised that you'd get a chip in every bite? well, here, you'd get a chunk of reese's peanut butter cup with each spoonful. they were generous with the chocolate, all right. but the loveliness known as reese's peanut butter cups were nestled in plain chocolate ice cream.

now, don't get me wrong, i love chocolate ice cream. but, somehow, in this case, it just seemed so wrong, so un-special. it felt like the person who came up with it didn't think much about it and just dumped chocolate onto ice cream. and to me, that's sad.

so i still have the tub of ice cream in my freezer. and while i'd grab a spoon or two every now and then, it hasn't sufficiently tickled my fancy to force me to sit down and just gobble everything up. maybe that's a good thing. but knowing me, that really isn't. sooner or later, when i clean up the freezer, i'd see it and knowing it's been there for ages, i'd throw it out. so much for happiness for below P150.

now, if it were puno's cheese casuy macapuno ice cream (imagine, only P205 for half a gallon) we're talking about ....

sopas is ♥

nothing spells comfort food for me like good old sopas.

warm, milky, stuffed with anything and everything from the fridge. while i'm rarely the intuitive cook, this is one thing that i don't need a recipe for.

butter + onions:

add the carrots:

add broth. allow to boil. then add protein of your choice. this week, i loaded up on shabu-shabu stuff (so not regular sopas fare) chopped them all up (so that they'd cook all at the same time):

and noodles!!!! oodles of noodles ☺ this week, i used fusilli.

didn't take a picture of the final product, but let's just say that i not only had it for dinner last night, and for breakfast this morning, but i'm also planning to have it for lunch and dinner.

sopas is ♥

happy happy fun fun weekend!

i wish i had taken more pictures ...

i really wish i did ... cause i had one of the most fabulous weekends ever ☺

saturday morning saw me sprawled in bed. it was the first saturday in weeks that i didn't have to get up early (saturdays in bed are a major luxury for me!!!) so i woke up, turned on the tv and watched one inane tv show after the other. all too soon, i had to get out of bed and head on out to tuloy where we were having a general assembly. at first it was such a drag (cause none of my friends were there) but eventually they came and my team won in the challenges (yipee!). i allegedly won in the raffle, but since i had to leave early for a surprise honoring, i wasn't eligible to get the nice bag i had won. boo!

in any case, after that, it was one mad dash after the other: getting stuff for the surprise honoring, surprising ann at the music min practice (complete with harana, mind you!), hearing mass at st. jerome, running to festival mall to catch the 9:30 pm screening of "catch me, i'm in love (waaaah!!!! and winner ni gerard anderson ... buhay na naman ang fantasy life ko!), then heading on out to visit pazi's lola's wake. since we still had ann's birthday cake, we cajoled her into treating us to mcdo coffee, which she did, and we stayed there till 3 am just going through the various photo albums on facebook (thank goodness for mcdo wifi!).

while going home at 3am shouldn't be a problem since i had woken up late and stayed in bed virtually the entire morning, it also meant spending the entire sunday with almost zero sleep! tita mayu asked me to join them in tito lito's 50th birthday bash with the kids and we were hoping to catch the 8am mass at our lady of caysasay so it meant having my second cup of coffee in four hours. for a non-coffee drinker like me, that was the crazy boost i needed! so while the magician was getting ready, i played a couple of games with the kids and distributed some of the prizes i had in my giant bag. it was funny cause the kids were pretty much ignoring me at first but after the magician concluded his act, they were all over me asking if i still had some stuff up my sleeve -- they wanted more games!!!! i was crazy sleepy on the way home but woke up long enough to inhale this yummy crepe from breton ... i think it was gwenn da hu (okay, it's not spelled that way, but it sounded like that in my mind) which was a lovely mixture of sweet (from the dark cherry thing) and savory (with the raclette cheese). it was a departure from the stuff i usually order (either the one with mangoes or the neptune) and i was proud to be all different and what not. then again, it could just be cause i was crazy sleepy.

got home by six and had a few (too few actually) zzzzzs before heading on out to KEf's house for adobo dinner. it was a lovely, simple dinner with good friends, half of whom have never been to his house so they were oooohing and aaaahing over just how pretty his place is. i've been there countless of times and i was still ooohing and aaaahing. sigh, one day dear house, you'll be as pretty too! it's the start of a new week and i'm still majorly sleepy. wish i could just crash a bit first but i can't. there's dinner care of a new friend tonight which will include bonding with new people. so i'm probably getting home late again tonight, but it's all good.

savory sunday

my brother's friends know me as the girl who can bake stuff. and my family knows i can cook. as a matter of fact, i remember i impressed my mom once when i was able to make the perfect crispy garlic topping for her arroz caldo.

i don't know if its cause i eventually got busy with work, or because we stopped getting regular water in bf but i stopped cooking. so friends i made recently all think i'm this girl who doesn't know her way around the kitchen and who relies on fast food to survive.

but i'm not that kind of girl, not at all.

in fact, i love to cook. i grew up trying to cook my way through all the recipes in cooking it up with nora. saturday mornings were spent watching nora daza on tv.

so maybe it's cause of all those seasons of top chef that i've watched. or the fact that we now have water 24/7 in bf. or cause i'm nesting. but i've taken up cooking again.

{boiling water for the pasta}

{hitting two birds with one stone - boiling pasta and the hungarian sausage}

{finished product - noodle & sausage soup, rosa style}

well hello, yakimix

there's probably several things you know about me. why don't we try naming a few:

1. i don't like japanese food;

2. i like bacon; and

3. i have a major thing for buffets.

so, notwithstanding my declared hatred for japanese food, the fact that yakimix got two out of three is good enough in my book. (plus the fact that henry sy, my true love, is apparently part owner of it is enough to make me say, me? hate japanese food? no, i LOVE japanese food.)

thing is, since almost everyone i know know i dislike japanese food, no one has invited me to eat at yakimix with them. not my officemates, not my family, and not my friends (well, probably cause yakimix is too far north for us). so everyone and their cousin has eaten at yakimix ... except me.

that all changed yesterday.

my lovely, uber sexy, and definitely smart boss got a salary adjustment. since she knows of my undying loyalty to her (as she always reminds me, we UP girls must stick together), she texted me the other day, i'll make you libre. so we set a date and that was yesterday so we hied off to trinoma in search of good food. she suggested zong (okay lang) and cyma (okay lang) -- places i've already tried with my former boss. some chinese place was also suggested, along with a couple of other places. i was mentally trying to tell her "yakimix! yakimix!" but since (1) i'm too shy to imply that i want to be fed at a place that might be beyond her libre budget and (2) she knows i don't eat japanese food except to be polite (i.e. last tuesday's lunch with gwapo boss), i was resigned with the fact that she won't suggest yakimix.

then again, bottomless buffet (and probably my mental prodding prowess! naks.) is stronger than my half-hearted objections, she DID suggest yakimix and i (without hesitation) said, yes please, i've always wanted to go there.

okay fine, i didn't really always want to go there except that my new favorite blogger had written a rave review about it and i've learned to trust his judgment on food cause, after all, he does like bacon and sweet and sour and potatoes -- stuff that i myself go weak in the knee for.

so we were #32 on the waiting list. we didn't care. we were going to have yakimix that night even if it meant i won't be able to catch the last train back south. all that mattered was that i was going to be able to eat stuff (mushrooms, vegetables, whatever) wrapped in bacon. *sigh*

evil people tried to discourage us ("number 32 pa kayo? naku, bukas pa kayo, promise!" "we've been here since 6:00 and we're still waiting") but we weren't going to be swayed. after all, my boss' husband was still on his way. plus, all that waiting will allow our stomachs to be oh-so-prepared to eat, and eat, and eat.

after half an hour of waiting, i was staring at the people inside with my evil eye, saying stuff like, "tapos na kayo kumain, tama na ang pikturan," and "o, hija, curfew mo na, tama na ang date." we rejoiced every time a diner signaled for the bill and would every so often stand beside the receptionist to check if things were indeed moving along. together with the other prospective diners, we would shout "wala" whenever they'd call someone who had obviously left (yakimix has this policy wherein if you weren't there when they called you you'd miss out on your chance to get in). by 8pm (after only an hour of waiting, yay!) it was OUR turn to feast.

and feast we did.

so, while i'm supposedly still in the running to be my department's next biggest loser, i told my boss that the yakimix experience is still bound to be more precious than whatever weekly prize i would stand to win tomorrow.

and you know what? i was right.

i dream of circles

... or more accurately, of the buffet at circles ☺

a long time ago, hotel buffets were just an offshoot of overnights with tita celia at various hotels. breakfast buffets meant all the bacon and corned beef i could eat, not to mention all the lovely fresh orange juice and waffles with whipped cream.

and then i worked for justice mpc, who loved to eat (but had a waistline way smaller than mine, so hateful, i know!). one day she told us she'd feed us at spiral, this fabulous (then) new buffet at sofitel.

what can i say? the world was never the same again. i fell in love with every single thing i shoved into my mouth. i remember being so full already, but then i spied pumpkin soup, so i ate once more, rationalizing the act by saying that the warm soup will melt all the stuff i had already eaten, thereby assisting me in the digesting process.

she fed me there again after i helped her with her mom's 80th (or was it 75th? 70th?) birthday party. but then she discovered more restaurants to bring us to, and that was the last time i stepped inside spiral (woe is me).

i switched jobs in 2008 and it came as a major surprise when, on my second day, the receptionist informed me that they will be having a welcome dinner for me at heat. oooohhh... i have had breakfast there, but never dinner. i was excited, and took it as a sign that i had made the right decision switching jobs.

but, boo-ness, since after that dinner, we never ate anywhere swanky again.

so i moved jobs again (no, there's no correlation between buffets and the jobs i accept) and what do you know ... my boss willingly adds to the december meeting budget and takes everyone to buffet at circles.

ooooohhhh. i can imagine it now.

steak.

lobster.

shrimp.

dessert.

more steak.

oysters.

prosciutto ham. (i hope)

more dessert.

maybe pumpkin soup.

and even more steak and more dessert.

i've got less than 24 hours to go. while i'm busy working, my mind is floating where no diet has gone before.

say it with me.

steak. oysters. dessert. shrimp.

bachoy lang pala katapat ko

if there was one thing that i felt bad about when i left my previous job, it was the fact that i would never again be able to eat the bachoy from my favorite stall in the food court. don't mistake it for la paz bachoy - the bachoy that i'm referring to is made of miswa noodles and liver and a little pork (i think) with a weird mucous-like (at least to my mind) consistency. i first had a taste of it college, when the food service in ilang-ilang would serve it on fridays. i loved it so much that on the fridays that they served it, i'd choose to stay in the dorm instead of going home, postponing my weekly trip home to saturday morning.

bachoy was ♥

i stopped eating it -- cause i couldn't find it anywhere -- after i graduated but the memory remained. so imagine the extreme joy i felt when, one wednesday, i saw liver floating in a sea of miswa at the tektite canteen. bachoy was back and i was going to eat it every single chance i get. and since i had (originally) planned on spending the rest of my natural and productive life in that firm, barring the store's cook refusing me bachoy, or the food stall going out of business, i was going to have bachoy every single wednesday (or thursday) that they served it.

so when i finally decided to leave, i couldn't help but say goodbye to my beloved bachoy. and, as luck would have it, they served bachoy on my last wednesday there, which i ate with gusto. if i weren't eating with the managing partner, i would have probably ordered a take-home portion, and portions to freeze when i needed more bachoy in my life. i was saying goodbye to a diet staple and it was crazy tough.

on my first day at the new job, i learned that food here was (1) cheap and (2) good. the canteen ladies knew everyone by name, and it wasn't long (four hours to be exact) before they learned my name too. i was happy, no, i was ecstatic. but at the very back of my mind, i was still nursing my break-up with my bachoy. they could feed me all the yummy kalabasa and sayote they want (their vegetable dishes are yummy too) but they couldn't make me forget about love affair with miswa and liver.

and then today, as i passed by the canteen to reserve my lunch (you can reserve in the morning so you get the food you want), there it was on today's menu: bachoy, P25. i thought, what's the likelihood that it'll be my miswa-and-liver object of affection. then i figured, i can order half, and if it isn't, then i could afford not to eat it, right? so i told the manang, a half order of bachoy please (to go with my chicken afritada and half rice), and she said, yes, soup would do you good, so i was thinking, oh, it couldn't probably be what i thought it would be.

but the best surprises are those that come when you least expect them.

guess what i just had.

chicken afritada. half rice. and my beloved miswa-and-liver soup.

if this isn't a sign that i had made the right decision moving here, then i don't know what else would do the job.

me, turn into a healthy eater? why not, chocnut.

so last week i turned into a domestic diva. and, while i've still to deal with the leaf situation outside my house (made worse by, gasp, neighbors who attacked my mango tree and left all the branches and leaves on my tiny front yard!), i've pretty much kept my side table and desk in the bedroom clean, as well as have swept almost every single night upon arriving at home.

as for cleaning the marble floors with hot water, and attacking all the other tiny projects at home, well, let's just say that yesterday, i spent the entire day alternating between my bed and my reading nook, doing nothing but, well, reading. my excuse? it was raining so hard outside to attack my growing pile of towels to be laundered.

anyway, since i'm on the rosa v. marth stewart path, i couldn't resist getting some goodies from s&r last weekend when we passed by.

at first i only had a roll of garbage bags on my cart (they were relatively cheap!!! hurrah!). and then i added a can of tuna. then my friends said it was time to go, especially since my cart was virtually empty. so i said wait ...

... and wait a bit ...

until i stumbled onto this ...

and guess what the label said: lolo rosa. hmmm... nothing like a little vanity to make me buy lettuce.

but then i also saw this ...

and truly, it was just too pretty for words that i also bought it.

what can i say? i like pretty food.

then i also bought salad dressing, and boneless fish (for use with my glad steaming bags, something i picked up from the biggest loser), and some ham (to perk up my salad greens), and viola, hello healthy eater rosa.

i'm proud to say that yesterday, while it poured outside, i was happily ensconed at home, eating my, ehem, steamed fish, and ham wrapped in salad greens. and, i'd like to think that save for the mrs, fields cookie i ate (one piece, baby), i had almost zero carbs yesterday. good job, me. good job ☺

of course, the challenge is how long i'll be able to keep up this healthy living (all that grocery shopping is expensive!!!) and how long i'll be able to stay away from cheetos twisted puffs (i avoided that aisle entirely). thank goodness i'm too stuffed right now to make a chippy-run over to 7-11 (i have my last giant pie from banapple as well as my lettuce-wrapped ham for breakfast to thank for the satiated hunger pangs) but i'm guessing one day i'll wake up craving for chippy like i never have before.

for the meantime though, people, i'd like to introduce you to healthy rosa. clap. clap.

*update: i just found out that contrary to my claim that yesterday was almost carb-less, lettuce has carbs. oh. then again, there's plenty fibers. go fiber go!!!

dear world, gusto niyo po ba talaga ako pumayat?

i am a creature of habit. if there was a grand plot to assassinate me or something (uhm, hello summer students, i know you want to do this), it would be as easy as a pie since i hardly ever change stuff around.

heck, i even order the same thing from my lunch place all the time: monday - sinigang na bangus; thursday - bachoy; friday - rellenong bangus.

predictable, right?

so as i was having a really horrible day yesterday, going through a personal mini-crisis or sorts, i figured why not resolve it the best (and most effective) way i know how -- by food, and by food, i meant my staple food. as i said, i am a creature of habit.

okay, i know i could lose more than a few pounds, and i've said countless of times that i'm going to diet and stop eating stuff, but yesterday was a really bad day, and i had stayed in the office later than usual working on yet another pleading, so i was hungry and i really needed food in my system.

first stop was subway. fail #1. it was not even 8pm and they had run out of bread already. so much for my sub of the day fix.

second stop was MXT. jumbo siopao at Php65 = happiness. fail #2. it wasn't there. at first i thought i had the wrong floor so i went up one more floor. not there either. apparently it had closed down. but i ate there at least once a week (or once at least every two weeks). how could it close down without so much as a tiny piece of bond paper stating where it transferred or when it would open again? boo, megamall, boo.

with two "fails" i was pretty despondent. i figured maybe it was time to cut my losses and just go home. after all, barely a kilometer away from my home is my not-so-secret 24-hour favorite lugawan place. i could always go there.

but i was hungry, the stomach-growling kind, and i was miles and miles away from home. so i stopped by kfc, ordered take-out, and devoured the coleslaw salad while on the shuttle to alabang. with the yummy smell of chicken and gravy wafting from the plastic bag on my lap, i knew i will survive till i got home.

and i did.

except that, had i not bought the kfc, and had i counted on my lugaw place, i would have been in for fail #3. cause when i passed by, for some reason, it was closed and boarded up and *gasp* no tiny bond paper telling me when it will open again or if it ever will.

Edit, at 4:28 p.m.: we had lunch with a client, and one of their representatives asked me, "when are you due?" i actually couldn't understand what he was asking and i asked him to repeat several times until i realized he thought i was pregnant. i couldn't say anything except, taba lang po yan. so yes, world, i hear you loud and clear. gusto mo na talaga ako pumayat. diet begins ... tomorrow?

* i know the picture has nothing to do with the post, but it's a happy picture, during a happy moment, and we all should be reminded of happy stuff, right?

taking ME out to dinner

yesterday was a great day. finally, we received the much-awaited mid-year moolah.

now, unlike the year-end bonuses that send me to the high heavens when they finally arrive, the mid-year bonus goes directly to spike's expenses: car insurance (spike is still on comprehensive insurance) and car registration. last year, i also treated myself to a work wardrobe. and this year, the moolah was supposed to pay for stuff i wanted to get to prepare for my mom's arrival.

so, together with the rest of the staff, i waited ... and waited ... and waiting for any announcement regarding to bonus. and finally, last saturday, during the office party, they finally said we'd get it monday.

i was excited, i was happy, and i was finally going to be able to get the stuff i planned for mama, as well as pay for the KL plane ticket + hotel. and then it struck me: i needed to find a replacement for my washing machine. and i need to set aside pocket money for my vacation with mama and kit. by the time i added everything all up, i was left with zero moolah.

boo. never had i felt so broke after receiving "blessings" from the office.

and so i did the next best thing. i took myself out to dinner at pho hoa. and i ordered EVERYTHING i wanted, including fresh spring rolls which seem weird if you're all alone and ordering something else. i didn't care. i've been wanting to do that for the longest time and i finally did.

unfortunately, the thing it seems with taking yourself out to a MAJOR dinner all alone is that you end up eating too fast. and the food spree was over too soon.

*image from wysgal's photostream