Of birthdays and another leaf to turn

I just came from a surprise birthday celeb from my team in the office. 

Tomorrow, I turn another leaf. 

Another year.

Thank you, God - for all the experiences. They were all great. Everything was awesome. 

Here's to more birthdays, wonderful friendships and great loves. 

Gratitude

This week, I'm grateful for a lot of things.

Not in its order of importance, I'm grateful for:

1. Some desk time. 
2. Me time.
3. My new Kindle Paperwhite. 
4. Being able to finish reading The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
5. Friends. Old and new. 
6. Time to work out. 
7. Healthy, organic food. 
8. Skye. 
9. His penchant for planning ahead. 
10. His corny but cute rhymes. 
11. My Mom. 
12. My Dad. And his coming around.
13. Abbygale. 
14. My own parking in the office --- because it's soooo hard to get one. 
15. My best friends. 
16. Being able to catch up with Ian.
17. Being able to convince him to get back into the circulation.
18. Coffee. 
19. Hot chocolate. 
20. My cozy apartment.
21. My cupboard and ref filled with so much food from Christmas hampers. 
22. Good health.
23. Unexpected windfall.
24. Reliable team members. 
25. My efficient admin assistant. 

What a blessed life. :-)

New Year's Eve

Woke up very early today. By very early, it's 6am for me on a non-working holiday, with no alarm to disrupt my sleep. 

Off to dear ol' Chinatown today with Skye. I hope the shops and restos are open since it's going to be his first time. 

Last day of the year.

Let's make the most!!! 

Coffee love: the deprivation that's driving me insane

Coffee is my fuel in the morning. It's both psychological and physiological, but I need my coffee to kickstart my morning. 

All of my team members back in Jakarta know that if anyone wants me to contribute a humongous proportion of my brains in the discussion, we gotta have the brew! 

I have been having gastric cramps and hyperacidity attacks for several days now, which merited a trip to the doctor. Lo and behold --- the treatment requires me to stay away from caffeine for 2 weeks. 

2 loooooooooong, aggrandizing weeks!

Hindi lang 'yan. The list goes on. I cannot drink coffee, tea - not even hot chocolate! I can't drink any soda (not really a loss) nor eat anything spicy or with tomatoes. Spell pizza and pasta - just my favorites and my staple food. 

2 weeks. 

The rest, I can stay off of them, but coffee --- is a different story. The deprivation makes me crave for sweet stuff - cakes and pastries, even the very faddish tea drinks. 

2 weeks. 

Oh well. I gotta do what I gotta do.  

Finally...

Filipino food! 

Lechon kawali (don't forget the Mang Tomas lechon sauce!), pinakbet, sisig, chicken barbeque and  kilawin!

'Will definitely need to pound the pavement in January to burn calories!

 

Missing one of Manila's finest

I know I need my dose of Manila when I start to miss one of it's finest : GREAT FOOD. 


I've been around Southeast Asia a lot, but I can really claim that Manila is the ultimate enclave for the foodies by heart. 


I'm not talking about Filipino food alone. It's not a very Filo thing to admit this, but I do know that compared to our other Southeast Asian counterparts, Filo food will pale in comparison to the melange of flavors of Thailand and Malaysia. Although our adobo and kare-kare will definitely give some of their dishes a run for their money.


Now that I'm in Indonesia though and I've been to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia several times, I do know that Manila is the melting pot of all kinds of restaurants - both boasting of local and international cuisines. 


I'm missing out on the Mercato and night food markets. I have not been to the new fusion restaurants dotting High Street and the nooks and crannies of residential Makati. 


I. cannot. wait! 


The first thing I do when I land in Manila is to ask for lechon kawali with the classic Mang Tomas sauce.  


7 more days to go.

The Bitch weekend

Evelyn - a Pinay colleague and friend - formed this BBM group she fondly named The Jakarta Bitches. It's just 5 Pinays here (yes, including Madison) who gets together regularly for the Saturday salon day, Wednesday movie night and the usual dinner and drinks.

Yesterday, I went to Kleo-Fazio salon with Madison for my usual hair creme bath treat and her mani-pedi. The hair spa here is fantabulous - the scalp and back massage lasts for a good one hour. It's one of my not-so-cheap thrills to tide me over very stressful weeks.

After the salon session, we got together with Evelyn and Leah to watch Salt at the Premier EX. I'm not over the Inception hype so although Salt was good, it was a so-so movie for me. No cognitive processing needed so it's all good. Liv Schreiber's role was a dead giveaway of the ending, though. Whoever thought of the casting, hello???

Today, the Jakarta Bitches will all trek to the Four Seasons for our champagne brunch. The Jakarta Bitches Convention - as Jen puts it. Hahaha. Thus, the need for me to wake up early today (on a Sunday at that) to do a bit of work since I'm foreseeing I'm gonna be too wasted this afternoon to even think about usability standards.

It's been a great weekend, so far. I'm loving it.

So looking forward to the champagne and foie' gras in a couple of hours.

This. is. life.

Hong Kong...

I miss you.

Immensely.

I miss the stores. I miss the hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Hau Fook Street.

I miss that ramen restaurant inside the HK airport.

I miss Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

I miss partying at Lan Kwai Fong.

I miss my friend Marlz.

I miss the crowded streets smelling like dimsum.

I miss the fasyon. Gawd, I miss wearing knee-high boots.

Hong Kong, I shall conquer you again.

Very soon.

2009 Flashback - part 1
My October birthday celeb

I know, I know. I was on hiatus again for more than 2 months. 'Can't blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol because all I did was work my a** off. True enough - greater power comes with greater responsibility. I can't really complain, though. It is what I wanted. The new post, though, robbed me off humongous precious personal time.

To make it up, I'm posting photos of some important milestones from October until now.

What better way to start by posting my birthday photos last October 17. Had a fantabulous time with the original myGlobe and the inner circle. Birthdays should always be this fun!

Tres Marias (with Nabeth & Mela)
at Capricciosa for an Italian dinner

with the original myGlobe peeps + Teng

with Arlene

with Ariel

Shiny, happy crowd during my birthday celeb

with Ariel and Gem

with my bestie & favorite alchy - what more can I ask for?
Moved to Spicy Fingers for cocktails.

with Romy and Gemma

with the favorite posse': Teng, Wryl and Gemma

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it. ;-)

with me favorite bros - Teng and Wryl
'wish Thad's here!

Shooters!!! Yeba!

Are we drunk? Hell no!
Denial is a river in Egypt.

BIllabong rashguard from Gem and Des - yeeeey!

Sandman from Arlene - favorite!

Mawawala ba ang special?
Cicu French dinner with R.

Me birthday cake

Just like last year, my birthday was a blast. My own birthday party is the one day in a year that I can totally let my hair down, let loose and just be my fun self.

Thank you, Inner Circle and R. for always being there to toast with me.

Until the next birthday partay!

(And I already have a theme in mind!)

Happiness is...

1. Charlie's Burger for lunch with JT

2. Sleeping soundly as Mandarin Oriental's soft, white bedsheets and pillows embrace me

3. An unexpected pasalubong a.k.a. Gucci from him

I love this version of life.

Happy.

Shangri-La Mactan, Cebu: One more time with feelings

Another 4-day break at the Shang, Mactan = Nirvana.

Okay foyn, I must admit: I love manicured lawns and gardens, pristine beaches, mosquito-free dinners al fresco and hotel staff at your beck and call.

I luuuuuurv the resort.

I can surely rough it when needed, but my ideal vacay is a hassle-free beach trip with hotel staff who will treat me like a Princezz with a Z.

Just some of the things I love about Shang, Mactan:

1. Food

Buffet breakfast at The Tides is to die for!
Forget the buffet dinner, though. It's... forgettable.

Service bread at Acqua - soft dough, nice and warm when served.

White cheese wrapped with Jamon Serrano. Aylavet!
Have it with white wine.

Salmon wrapped with mashed potato at Aqcua

Angus strips - we ordered medium rare but came out well-done.

I forgot what this is - but a sumptuous dish nonetheless at The Tea of Spring.

Buffet dinner at The Tides - seafood, sushi and sashimi were good.
The rest - nah. Disappointing.

2. Booze

Mangaaaa!!! That's actually a mango-based cocktail.

Jagermeister!!!

Trying to get smashed at my ever-favorite hangout at Mactan - Cowrie Cove!

3. Pool and the beach

Moi observing a hermit crab passing by

Nice underwater cam!

Fantabulous beachfront

4. Room view and all the amenities






















5. Timezone - ang walang kamatayang Timezone! Aylavet!




Almost everything is always fun at Mactan.

And everything is so much better of course, if you've got great company. =)

Going back for the 3rd time. Why not?