I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it's been months since I last made a post, and it was barely a post even. Between reading emails, other blogs, face booking, twitter, and now instagram--who has time to blog at all? Maybe I should just link my instagram here? After all, a photo with a caption is a mini-post or a slice of my life in itself. :)

Anyhoo, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks. I'm officially feeling quite old now as I am getting past "mid-30s" and fast approaching late 30s. Eep.

Ootd

Ootd
Originally uploaded by MandyEC

The Perfectionist by Rudolph Chelminski

The Perfectionist
Originally uploaded by MandyEC

This book has been on my bedside for more than a year now. I got this the same time I got my first copy of "The Quentins" (by Maeve Binchy; yes I have 2 copies of the same book, senior moments!).

It is a biography about this French chef who killed himself after losing one star in his 3-Michelin starred restaurant. I am just on the first chapter and it has been quite interesting.

He was said to have been very, very particular as to how his eggs were cooked. He deemed it too plebeian by cooking an egg on a frying pan. Instead he slow cooked it on a saucer with melted butter until the whites are just slightly creamy and the yolk warmed & liquid. When it is "cooked" and transferred to a plate, it is poured with more melted butter. Amazing, huh?

To revolve your life around food and base your self-worth on what you have made is sad, because one may fail in life and it shouldn't be the end. Kinda reminds me of Gen. Reyes and how, he too, took his own life because of pride.

But I digress, this is a good read for those who are interested in gastronomy & the culinary arts. I just like to eat. :) so reading about "poached filets of sile on puff pastry croustades, each filet topped with a lobster tail scallop and a ruinously thick slice of T. melanosporum..." Ah, now that's what differs French cuisine from the rest of the world! :)

Cibo: Penne al telefono

Cibo: Penne al telefono
Originally uploaded by pussmercs

This dish is one of three I would alternately order in Cibo. I take photos of food I eat, but I can't believe that I haven't taken photos of food I eat in Cibo. Sorry my dear love, you were taken for granted. Hehehe. (very special thanks to pussmercs from whom I swiped this photo from)

Penne al telefono is named as such because at the end of the cooking, cubes of mozzarella are added and they melt. When you pick up the pasta, the melted cheese are long and stringy resembling a telephone cord. Cute huh?

My other two favorites are Farfalle alla Genovese, which is pasta ribbons with pesto, cream & mushrooms. The other one WAS (yes, was) Spaghettini Valentina and it has long been discontinued. It was my absolute favorite & I stopped ordering the Genovese & al telefono for this pasta dish. It was quite simple--it had lobster, cream, and some liquor I believe.

I didn't pay much attention to the description as I thought it will always be available. Had I known, I would've paid more attention to what it had in it so I can somehow replicate the dish at home. Ms. Fores, can you please return this dish to Cibo?

Backlog

I have so much! If you look at my Flickr, my photos there are from September last year! I still have lots to upload. I also have some posts in my draft folder, that I never got to finish. Sigh. I have lots to share here, if only I don't get lazy to type out posts. LOL.

Our New Year

...Or rather, our New Year's eve. This is the first time we spent New Year's eve in a different place (not out of town though). In '08, we went to the ILs, to celebrate for a while, do the media noche thing & watch some fireworks. It was too smoky for our taste. In '09 & '10, DT was already born, we spent at home, to avoid the fireworks. It was still smoky (even if we were indoors) and a bit too loud for our toddler. It was always in hindsight, those past two years, that we wished we checked in a hotel. So this New Year, I prepared ahead & bugged DH that can we please check in a hotel? So we did. We decided to stay at Bellevue Manila as we had a reunion the following day to attend. I booked us a room at their new wing.

Come Dec. 31 in the afternoon, we checked in (there were already a lot of families checking in too). Service was quite fast and we got our room in no time. A bellboy helped with our luggage who led us to our room on the 5th floor. DH commented that it would be nicer to get a higher floor room. Much to our surprise, we were placed in a smoking room! Our very kind & listong bellboy offered to do our room transfer (although at first he offered to spray the room with air freshener, which won't do of course!). The reason we check in is to avoid the smoke & here we are in a smoking room. The bellboy was quick to return with our new room assignment.

He led us to the 11th floor, and to the last room at the end of the hallway. What a pleasant surprise--we were upgraded to a grand deluxe suite. :) Hahaha, I guess they gave us this so we won't complain to the manager or leave a bad comment. We had a great view of Paranaque on one side and Alabang on the other side window. A couple of hours later, they brought us a bottle of Asti Martini. Wasn't that nice?

Since we had a late merienda, we had a late dinner. Unfortunately for us, the nearby restaurants outside closed for the New Year's eve celebration. Galing no? So we just had room service. We had our usual Nasi goreng (I don't know, but we always always order this dish for room service in any hotel we stay in). After dinner the kids were knocked out, so we celebrated quietly, DH & I, by having a bag of lay's potato chips & the Asti that we were given. (we did bring our own bottle of bubbly, but the foil was gone & it made the bubbly stale. Ew.) we watched the fireworks from our windows. It was a nice quiet, non-smoky new year. Just the way I like it. :)

01/27/11 P.S. Just finished typing this very long overdue post! Teeter.

Japan Part 3

This post is a tad too late, but here's one more post about Japan.

A few days after Halloween, our hosts brought us along to a time share resort facing the famous Mount Fuji. We stayed in the XIV (read as "eksiv", not 14) Yamanakako Resort. This was about a 2 hour drive from Yokohama where we were based for the duration of our trip.

Before we went to the resort we stopped over at the Gotemba Premium Outlet. Heaven!! When we got there, I didn't even realize where we were. I thought we stopped to eat or we were passing the back of the hotel or what. Until I saw their map around the area. Woohoo. Shopping.

I went to the Cosmetic Company Store (CCO in the US), I picked up a few items from Clinique & MAC. There were other brands too, like Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder. I had to hold back myself! ;) I do regret not getting some stuff from another store, the Shu Uemura outlet. They had really good deals as well. There was a GAP store, North Face, Barney's, etc. Unfortunately, shopping at the outlet was not the purpose of our stop there. It was to grab some lunch and our host wanted to buy a present for her friend. They did let us stay for an hour or two. Not enough, I tell ya.

It was dark when we drove to the resort. They already checked us in earlier; DH & I were pleasantly surprised to see our "room". It was not a room, it was a suite. Not a 1 bedroom suite, but a 2 bedroom suite. Wow. Just for the four of us.

Soon after, we had dinner at the French-slash-Japanese restaurant. Kinda difficult to order because the menu was in Japanese characters. I settled for the hamburger steak, DK had her usual spaghetti, DH his steak, DT ate off our plates (he totally loved the "babi-cue" aka my hamburger steak). When we stepped out of the restaurant to go to the car--it was soooo cold. Like 5 degrees celsius. Sarap! :)

Here's what greeted us when we woke up the following morning:

Isn't it beautiful? I took this photo right from our balcony! What a wonderful view. :)