Happy Lemon in Davao!!

-mobile blog post-

After 48 years, I'm finally here in the newly opened (just 2weeks+ old) Happy Lemon in The Peak - Gaisano Mall of Davao. I've been craving for their Rock Salt & Cheese green tea since I heard of it last December 2010 as I'm sucker for sweet-salty foods ;-) Yeah, 2 years have passed before I finally had a chance to taste their signature drink. No, I'm not a loser, just a patient fan from faraway Davao :p

So how was their Green Tea with Rock Salt and Cheese? IT WAS freakin' WORTH THE WAIT!! The (not so) sweet-salty combo was a riot in my mouth, and I was in gustatory heaven! The foam (see the drink on right in the pic above) was to die for, hehe! ^__^ Anyway, the drink on the left was hubby's order- Deluxe Milk Tea with Grass Jelly. It's also good, comparable to the yummiest milk tea we had in Taipei, just a tad heavy on the green tea taste.Ü

www.happy-lemon.com

Iya's 1st Korean BBQ!

I guess the title says it all ;-) Today is our first night in Astoria Plaza (Pasig) after 3 days in my bro's condo. Its our first time to be in this part of Metro Manila (we usually stay in Makati CBD) and thus we're unfamiliar on where to eat, what to do, etc, etc in this area. Luckily for us, there was a Korean BBQ eatery in front the Astoria, a MiniStop (that serves Pinoy hot meals) on the side, and a Red Ribbon nearby. We won't go hungry for sure ;-)

For tonight, as you might have surmised, we had dinner in the Korean BBQ eatery. Labsie and I last ate in this type of resto way back in 2007. We had so much fun grilling stuff + making our own lettuce rolls then. And tonight was no different :-) Our Iya, who is normally very active, sat through the entire meal! A miracle we say! My guess is she found the food very colorful (brown grilled pork, green lettuce, orange sweet potato, red sauces, yellow steamed egg) and can't wait to put it in her mouth, hehe! :-) All in all, we had an awesome and very satisfying family dinner. Til the next Korean BBQ cookout!Ü

Iya's HappyBaby organic snacks are here! :)

Got free 2kg US to Philippines shipping from HopShopGo.com again, and as usual I used it to buy Iya's stuff :-) If I had this free shipping before she came into our lives, I would have bought tons of Victoria Secret products to sexify myself, heehee! But having a kid really does change your priorities. And my top most priority right now is Iya's health- as much as possible I only want her to eat organic stuff. Not an easy feat if your toddler is a picky eater, organic food choices are limited (haayy Davao!), and people surrounding Iya are giving her not-organic stuff.

When I had the free shipping last time, I bought lots of toddler clothes and shoes for Iya from Old Navy and GAP. The online prices were at least 50% cheaper than store prices. HUGE savings I tell you! :-) I also bought baby safety items, baby health products and feeding stuff from Amazon.com- saved a lot again!Ü

This time around, I bought 3 boxes of HappyBaby organic finger food products to last Iya a year :-) I got 1box of organic yogurt melts in berry flavor, 1box of organic munchies in kale/cheddar flavor, and 1box of organic apple melts. These are all snacks so Iya can't eat / be given junkfoods in between meals.Ü I also bought her a stainless steel cooking set coz she always plays with our heavy metal pots- very dangerous if it will fall on her feet :-( Iya's cooking set includes 5-in diameter frying pan and 2 pots, 1 lid, 1 soup ladle and 1 frying ladle + wooden fried egg, chicken leg, brocollis and carrot. Ready, set, cook! :-)

Anyway, I rarely see HappyBaby products here in Davao, even in Healthy Options-- they have the organic Earth's Best product line though, which I also buy. EB snacks are cheaper than HappyBaby's but has much more salt or sugar (bad! just like junkfood) so I limit Iya's intake of it too. Organic food doesn't automatically mean healthy food through and through, YOU HAVE TO READ THE NUTRITION LABEL so you'll fully know what is *really* inside the food.Ü

P.S. Super, super thanks to Ma Pattie for paying the customs tax! :-)

When your CebuPac flight is delayed..

..do an International food contest! :p I'll tell you the contest mechanics later as I'll share first how I came to 'invent' this contest.Ü When we came to Manila last Monday, our Cebu Pacific flight was delayed 30minutes. It was annoying but bearable. Today, for our 12nn flight back to Davao, we arrived early in NAIA3 to check-in. To our horror, there was NO specific lines for different destinations. The result? Super long and slow moving lines! Add a super kulit toddler (yes, our very own Iya) to the mix and you have the recipe for a toddler tantrum / meltdown :-( The only thing that kept Labsie and me sane was the thought that we'll be in Davao soon (2pm!)..

But, as you must have known from the blog post title, us arriving in Davao by 2pm was not to be :-( When we *finally* received our boarding passes, we were told our 12nn Davao flight was pushed back to 4pm! That's four FREAKIN hours of entertaining Iya! Hayy.. But the Lord is good- its 230pm (May21) now and Iya is finally asleep after traipsing through gates 130-134 and back, over and over and over again. Labsie is now able to relax and I'm now able to mobile blog :-)

As for the International food contest, it goes like this- buy food from different cuisines and let your toddler eat from the selection. The food s/he eats or chooses wins! ;-) The picture above was our batch1- Vietnamese spring roll, French basil quiche, Japanese assorted maki and American Slurpee (not pictured). WINNER: Slurpee! LOL! Since Iya didn't eat any solid food, we were forced to have batch2- Italian tuna pesto penne (pasta), Aussie meat pie, Filipino Jollibee Chickenjoy (CebuPac's 'compensation' for the delay). WINNER: pasta and Chickenjoy!! Iya really enjoyed the olives from the pasta and of course, the famous crispylicious chicken of Jollibee. Happy Iya = happy Mommy and Daddy! :-)

meet our new cook ;-)

Quite young eh? In fact, she just turned 13months old a few days ago. Yes, months! Coz the young cook in the pic above is our lil Iya! :-) Our baby girl first expressed interest in housework when she was 11months old. Iya would accompany my mom in doing laundry + washing the dishes, having some water fun while doing 'work' :-) As the days progressed, Iya took to watching us prepare and cook food. She would smell the ginisà, taste the stew, and watch the fish fry.

Finally, last night, I let Iya prepare dinner- not on the stove but on our sofa ok? Hehe! She shredded some wheat bread, put it in the pot, added meat and stirred the entire 'mess' :-) In the pic above, she is transfering meat (right) to the pot- the bulalo meat was actually our dinner last night, hehe!Ü Well done chef Iya! Next time we will bake yummy cookies :-)

Its Palm Sunday!

And that can only mean a whole week of no-meat meals to look forward to- mehh! But then this kind of sacrifice comes only once a year, during Holy Week, so I'm sucking it up. I will survive! Hehe! And so, on this fine overcast Sunday morn, Iya and I found ourselves accompanying Daddylo and Mommyla in one of Davao's largest wet markets (the Toril market pictured above) to buy loads of fish for Holy Week. I hope we'll get seafoods too (yes, we're still here- I'm live blogging via SEk800i) but then eating shrimps and crabs isn't much of a sacrifice eh? Hehe! ;-) Have a meaningful Holy Week everyone! Eat (less), Pray (lots), Love (lots n lots)!

organic baby food

Mashed fresh fruits VERSUS processed baby food -- this has been a dilemma of ours. Hubby and I have decided before giving birth to give our baby only fresh fruits and vegetables but unfortunately there are no organic fruits for sale here in Davao =( There are organic veggies (especially for salads, thank you Eden!) but you don't give that to first-time solid food eaters :p Anyway, my only other choice is to give organic baby food. At least I know my baby isn't eating pesticides and other chemicals. I just pray to God that there's no contamination while the baby food was being processed -_-

If you know any organic fruit sellers here in Davao or nearby areas, please leave a comment. Thanks! In the meantime, baby Iya will be eating Earth's Best organic baby food and Rafferty's Garden stuff ^_^ What's great with Rafferty's as compared to other organic baby food? Their packaging! The food isn't in glass jars but in safe plastic pouches! So great for traveling!! =) Some of their products have spouts (just squeeze out food, no double dipping which promotes bacterial growth), some have resealable tops while other pouches are microwaveable. Read more about it here: http://www.raffertysgarden.com

crustless quiche!!

I love pies and I love cheese.. More so when I got pregnant! Just ask hubby and my parents.. They'd tell you how loud I squeal when I see pies and cheesy pastries in stores =) Anyhoo, I wanted for a long time to bake my own pie, quiche or buttery pastry -- but what really turned me off is making the crust. I love cooking (and I'm quite good at it!) but baking is simply beyond me. Especially if it involves making doughs o_O Today I stumbled on Food Connect and found a recipe for a CRUSTLESS quiche!! That's it below, no crust baby! And the best thing? It's made up of 4 cheeses! Yummy eh??

At first glance I thought FoodConnect.com was a cooking website full of recipes and stuff. It turned out it's more than that! They do have recipes and food articles but the best thing is their website's ability to search for restaurants in Canada and the US. Users can review these restaurants, other users then can read the reviews and decide for themselves if the restaurant is worth dining in. Each restaurant listing contains the restaurant's address, how to get there (directions), contact details, specialty or cuisine, plus pictures, ratings and reviews from Food Connect users. You can also print and email the restaurant listing page if you like.

The website also has a page for Foodies (the website's users) where one can search for fellow food lovers in their own city. Each Foodie profile lists the suer's city and you can add the user as a friend. Yep, http://www.foodconnect.com/ is like a social network for foodies =) Anyway, the website also has a page for Events where users can enter food events in their cities. In your entered event, you can invite your friends, assign them to tasks and share recipes before the event and upload photos after. Real good stuff eh?? So if you're a foodie like me, check Food Connect! You'll love it!

happy 28th birthday to my hubby!

October is a big month for me and Labsie. It's the month we celebrate our wedding anniversary (Oct 8), our couplehood anniversary (Oct 15) and the best event of all -- Labsie's birthday on Oct 31! Yep, my hubby is a Halloween baby! And would you believe he was born around 11:45pm? Very near the witching hour of midnight! =) But no worries, he's not scary or monstrous at all. My hubby is the sweetest guy ever!

This year, Labsie decided to have a simple dinner celebration in his family's home with my family as guests. Just two families coming together to eat and celebrate hubby's 28th birthday. We had seafood extravaganza, with crabs, shrimps, prawns, clams and grilled tuna gracing the table. We also had the usual pansit guisado, lumpia ubod and birthday cakes. Yes, cakeS! Coz Labsie had two, courtesy of Tita Ling and my mom =)

To Labsie, may the Lord grant the desires of your heart. Stay as great as you are! Love u always.. XOXO

my weird cravings

One awesome thing when you're pregnant is that you get to have food cravings that you have to have at that moment. Not buts or ifs from the husband or partner -- he has to get the craved food asap or else all hell will break lose! ;-) I had my share of food cravings during the first two months of my pregnancy, the time when I was still blissfully unaware that I was eating for two. I craved for sour green mango with salty shrimp paste, sour oranges and apples dipped in plain salt, cheesy junkfood and steamed seafood. Sounds pretty usual for pregnancy cravings right? Well, my weird cravings are actualy non-food stuff!

Would you believe that during my first trimester (I'm in the second tri now, woohoo!) I craved to watch car shows? Thank god our cable had Discovery Turbo! My cravings were satisfied. Of course, I also looked online for sexy cars and devilish big bikes, and stumbled upon national cycle's website. My saliva just drooled from viewing their stocks of Cruisers, Harleys, Sport Bikes, and Goldwings. They also have over 30,000 motorcycle parts and accessories to fully customize your bike. Mine will be heavenly pink and a girly big bike :p Hubby says my weird craving for cars and bikes might indicate that we'll be having a baby boy. If that's the case, we should buy a big bike for him now! ;-)

Four Foods On Friday #82

Join in the fun HERE! =)

1. Lynne’s question: Do you cook items besides meat on the bbq grill, and, do you prefer gas or charcoal grills?
- Aside from meat, we also cook fresh whole fish wrapped in fragrant banana leaves on the grill. Sooo effin good! =) I prefer charcoal grills coz its gives a distinct yummy smell to grilled foods.

2. Name a food that begins with A.
- Arugula! LOL! "Top Chef" contestants always use this but I haven't tried cooking this yet.

3. Name a drink that begins with A.
- Appletini! I think I learned about this in "The Real Housewives of New York", hehe!

4. Share a recipe for something that calls for American Cheese.
- Hmm.. Lasagna! After layering all the ingredients (pasta, red sauce, white sauce), top it all off with grated cheese =)

our foodie weekend!

We had a very stressful Friday as I wrote HERE. The next two days weren't much different. We were traveling to and fro, rushing here and there. The good thing was Labsie and I were stuffed with food the whole two days of Saturday and Sunday! LOL! June 6 (Sat) was my brother's birthday and my hubby's grandpa's birthday too. Since my bro resides far, far away from us, we just contented ourselves with greeting him on phone and the web. As for Daddy Bert (the grandpa), we went to Panabo (Labsie's hometown) for a lunch feast. My hubby had a graveyard shift the night before so badly need sleep but still off we went! At Panabo, we had super-fresh grilled panga, fried lumpia and the requisite noodles for long life. Then Labsie went to sleep and we went home by 7pm, another 2 hour ride.

Sunday we were just catching our breath in our home when Labsie's dad called around lunch saying we will eat at Cafe Marco buffet in Marco Polo Hotel. Yeah, the only 5-star hotel in Davao! Tired as we were, we couldn't say no to this gastronomic opportunity. Hehe! Off we went to downtown and stuffed our selves with gourmet food. I tell you, I can barely walk after. I was too full!! I was even making gagging sounds, LOL! :p My father in law then announced that there's a dinner feast with his relatives later that night. Of course we were required to attend. We then went home, slept for 3 hours and went to the party. As expected, Labsie and I ate sparingly. We were still full from the buffet! LOL! Yup, it's definitely"what a weekend!" for us ;-)

Pink Ribbon Gumballs

Yep, for Breast Cancer Awareness! ^_^ The official month for it is October, still 5 months away. But why wait til October when you can spread the awareness whole year round through Pink Ribbon Gumballs? Yeah, I'm so into food that I'll support any worthy endeavor (like search for a Breast Cancer cure) if it involves food, LOL! ;-) And the gumball above is available in real life! If you wanna support Breast Cancer Research and earn on the side, you can do well selling these yummy gumballs. Nice huh?

addicted to Restaurant City!

I never thought I could get addicted to a game as I did with The Sims! But the people behind PlayFish (maker of the popular game, Pet Society) knew my weakness (food!!) and here I am, staying up late to run my very own Asian restaurant! LOL! Here are some screenshots when I was just starting. Note the number 50 at the upper right -- that's the highest popularity level and I'm sooo proud of that! Why? Coz I had the score despite dirty toilets! Hahaha!

a healthier us in 2009! =)

Labsie and I are both health conscious. He has been noticing his increase in abdominal girth and the development of double (triple) chins the past year. Of course I have been noticing my rounder figure too, ughh!! So what to do? Diet and exercise of course! And so far, we have been good *angelic grin* Here’s what we’re up to:

1. BIG breakast everyday to keep the hungry pangs away throughout the day. I usually cook meat viands and eggs during breakfast.

2. SMALL dinner — 1 cup rice for Labsie and half cup for me. Non-meat viands like fish, other seafood and veggies.

3. Eating HEALTHY foods. We have brown rice which have more fiber than white rice, and we have plenty of fruits — which we’re trying very hard to eat at least once a day.

4. EXERCISE!! Labsie does abdominal crunches every morning and walking about a kilometer if his morning sked allows. Me? I’m still dreaming of getting state-of-the-art treadmills, hehe!

5. Drinking WATER instead of softdrinks. No problem with me while Labsie is still weaning away from Coke. He can get Diet Coke though..

Christmas 2008 tag!

Ten more days to go and it's Christmas! Can’t wait!! ^_^ Join in the fun HERE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? both, depending on the gift =)
2. Real tree or Artificial? haler, as if we have a choice here in Pinas! artificial, what else??
3. When do you put up the tree? after All Souls Day (Nov 2)
4. When do you take the tree down? after 1st Sunday of January
5. Do you like eggnog? nope =(
6. Favorite gift received as a child? my one and only Barbie doll, hehe!
7. Hardest person to buy for? my pesky brothers
8. Easiest person to buy for? Labsie =)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, but it lacked one wise king, LOL
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? either, it's the thought that counts ;-)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? hmmm.. can't remember!
12. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham and Mama's fruit cake (which she didn't make this year! sniff!)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? as early as January, hahaha!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yup! the receiver needs it more than I do ;-)
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies and Mama's fruit cake!
16. Lights on the tree? definitely! =)
17. Favorite Christmas song? "Christmas in Our Hearts" and "Perfect Christmas" by Jose Mari Chan
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? as long as I'm with my family, doesn't matter =)
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? star! but this year, Mama put up an angel.. the new trend?
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? anytime during December! LOL

credit: Typepad banner from Blog in a Box: Little Joys by Zoe Pearn

honeymoon chronicles: chapel and kitchen

WARNING: LONG POST AND PHOTO OVERLOAD AHEAD!

The latter is my favorite place in the world while the former is Labsie’s most hated one. Hahaha! Kidding! But the truth is, he only goes to Mass about once or twice a year when we were still a couple. Back then we didn’t spend Sundays together coz we allotted it as quality time with our respective families. Thus, he never got my habit of going to church every Sunday (which I got from my strict parents, hehe). But it must be said that Labsie is not difficult to bring to Mass whenever we’re together ^_^

Since I slept early the night of Day 3 of our honeymoon (I was sick), I woke up quite early and never felt so much better! Sleep is really THE wonder drug ;-) And guess who texted me that early? My mother-in-law of four days! Hehe! She texted that Labsie and I should attend Mass since it’s our first Sunday as husband and wife – kind of a pamahiin to start our marriage right. No problem with us! We already knew the Mass schedule of Greenbelt’s cute chapel (the nearest church to us; it has a Koi pond with live ducks + carabao sculptures around it) and we decided that the 830am mass suited us best. It was a rainy Day 4 but still, off we went to hear God’s word!

Unfortunately, we arrived late and since I don’t like not starting a Mass, Labsie and I roamed around the Greenbelt – Landmark – SM – Glorietta area looking for an open store. Only Landmark’s grocery was open so we just went shopping for snacks and medicines for our Coron (Palawan) trip the next day. By the time we finished, Landmark’s department store opened and Labsie got lost in their funny shirts and what-nots area. He went home with 3 shirts + pajama set while I got nothing, hehe!

Since it was still too early for the next Mass (1015am), we just went malling in SM and Glorietta. We got lost in bookstores (I got a MUTTS comic book collection!) and gadget stores -- and by the time we realized the time, we were late for the 1015am Mass! Ackk! It seems that the fates does not want us to go to church, hay! Anyhoo, a 12nn Mass was next so we just went malling some more, bought snacks (super-hot Pinatubo Jamaican Pattie!! Pix above) and explored our options for a scrumptious lunch after the Mass. We were very conscious of the time this time and we made it to Greenbelt’s chapel before 12nn. Yippee! =)

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Honestly, I was expecting the usual, boring Mass and was mentally preparing myself to be awake for the next hour or so. I want to be a good churchgoer model for Labsie you know! LOL! But as always, the Lord has something up His sleeves and gave us the most wonderful Mass ever! The priest was a bit youngish and a firebrand, and he gave the most rousing sermon I’ve ever heard! He talked about people who comes to Mass but are mentally absent, who comes to Mass but does not sing praises and respond, etc, etc. And he was funny too! The pretty chapel was ringing with laughter the entire sermon (and even after coz he kept interjecting!).

He even asked the “emcee” to stop talking and let the people say the usual Mass responses without him. He also told the choir to stop singing and just let the churchgoers sing so he’d know if we knew the praise songs without a guide. I tell you, the Mass was hilarious! And humbling as well.. Coz I’m one of the people who doesn’t sing (I respond though) and the priest said: God doesn’t care if you sound like a broken record, only your seatmate does. And who judges if you’re fit for heaven? Not your church seatmate who hates your voice! That day I resolved to praise God as loudly as I can – just be sure you’re out of hearing range! LOL!

After Mass it was off to Saisaki (and Lolo Dad’s) yummy buffet in Glorietta. The eat-all-you-can spread was gonna end by 2pm and we only have 1 hour to stuff ourselves with luscious tempura, maki and other Japanese delicacies! Hehe! Of course, we were able to do it and left Saisaki very satisfied (and around P1200 poorer, lol). Since I was not feeling well again, we went back to the condo to rest. We were meeting the Luzon-based KADA (Jinky, Pidja, Mhe, Penavi) that evening and I want to be fully rested coz I know there will be an energy-draining talking marathon later. Hehe!

Around 6pm, we went to KITCHEN, a resto with modern concept in Greenbelt’s Restaurant Row. Jinky suggested it and we trusted her taste. Hehe! I was very sick (my afternoon nap didn’t help at all) and I prayed that good food will revive me again as it did last night ^_^ Jinky arrived with fiance’ Madz (that’s them above) as we took our order and Pidja arrived after we finished dinner. LOL! At least she was there unlike Mhe and Pen. Hala mo!! Hehe! Our evening, however, was cut short (despite the super yummy dinner I had, pics below) coz I was coughing left and right with runny nose and fever. Not good at all!! =(

Labsie and I started with a delicious tomato soup. It was really good and cleared my sinuses for a bit! Rich in lycopene and vitamin C too! Good for sick lil me! =)

Madz had pork ribs with lotsa garlic. Looks yummy to me!

While Jinx had creamy seafood carbonara. Mmm good!!

I had a bland tuna sandwich (above) that I wasn’t able to  finish-- or maybe my taste buds weren’t functioning properly. Love the crunchy bits in the upper left though! So who ordered the best dish? LABSIE!! He got this super duper scrumptious shrimp rice topping with crab fat sauce!! It was heavenly!! Yep, my sick taste buds weren’t sick at all, LOL!

Isn’t it lovely?? I just love crab fat!! Here’s a closer look --

DELICIOSO!!! ^_^

Buoyed by the crab-fat-gasmic dinner, Labsie and I set off packing for our Palawan flight the next day. Our flight was at 930am and we planned to leave the condo before 6am. I know it’s too early but it was Monday the next day and we don’t want to be caught in the morning traffic jam. Better safe than sorry! =) Day 4 ended quite nicely coz of the fantabulous dinner food. Thus despite me getting worse for wear, food came to the rescue again! Plus our spiritual aspect was nourished. Plus I got to hang with old friends (despite the short time). Plus we were off to Coron the next day!!! Woohoo!!!!!

ALL PHOTOS taken with my Sony Ericsson k800i ^_^

honeymoon chronicles: sea creatures and robots

WARNING: LONG POST AND PHOTO OVERLOAD AHEAD!

And the honeymoon posts are back! =) So far, we're in Day 3 (yeah, I'm so effin' slow!). As earlier posted, Labsie and I started our day early in Salcedo's Saturday Market and by 8am, we were back in our condo for a second breakfast.  After resting and showering, we headed to our second destination of the day: Manila Ocean Park! This was around 10am and we were both super excited for our "ocean appreciation tour" ^_^ Labsie and I love anything water-related. He especially loves the ocean for its fishes and other sea creatures. Their family has a saltwater aquarium with Nemo (clown fish), anemones, and other colorful fishes. Labsie missed it so much that he asked Mama quite bluntly if he can build a saltwater aquarium in our home! LOL! Anyway the photos can enlarged (just click) and they have labels, just hover / mouse over them. Enjoy! ^_^

It was my second time in Manila Ocean Park (entrance fee is P400) but I was still taking pictures left and right with my SE k800i phone. I sooo love the pretty and weird fishes!! =) We took our time appreciating the rich marine life but we managed to finish within 2 hours. We were on tight schedule as we still have to go malling in the world's third largest mall, exploring the latest in science and movies, and experiencing Manila's famous sunset after. Anyhoo, on with the pictures! Not much photos of the fishes (and me!) coz we're still celebrating Labsie's 27th birthday -- so all you'll see is his face! Hehe! :-p BTW, can you guess where's the fish in the photo at the middle of the collage below??

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Around 12noon, we arrived in SM's Mall of Asia (MOA), the world's third largest mall. Instead of eating in the food court or in one of the numerous restaurants there (RACK's has a branch there!! We totally dig RACK's ribs!!), we found a cozy spot in one of the open air spaces / indoor park strewn in MOA. There, we ate our maki and other food from Salcedo's Saturday Market. It was refreshing to breath fresh air (sometimes tangy coz of the nearby Manila Bay) "inside" a mall! ^_^ After lunch, we explored MOA a bit but mostly we spent our time in bookstores browsing for books. Around 1pm, we went ahead to our 3rd destination of the day: SM Science Discovery Center! Woohoo! Can you tell we're nerds?? Oceanarium, bookstores, and now a science center! Sa honeymoon pa talaga, hehe!

SM Science Discovery Center (P350 entrance fee + freebie ice skating tickets and popcorn discounts) has over 400 exhibits in 10 galleries. Plus they have the Philippines' ONLY state-of-the-art Digistar Planetarium! Info about it is pictured above. This got me really excited coz the last time I was in a "planetarium" was in Pisay, more than 10 years ago! I can still remember watching the heavens lying down, while a voiceover droned on about the universe and its magnificence. I can't wait to experience it again! ^_^ Luckily, a show was scheduled at 120pm -- we only have to wait 20min! Woohoo! The planetarium shows start at 10am til 10pm, with 3 shows every 2 hours. Anyway, that's us below inside the dome-screened 158-seat Digistar Planetarium. The seats were reclined and the blue "screen" was 180 degrees, like half a globe above us.

As usual, we were with noisy kids. There was an excursion and the SM Science Discovery Center was crawling with grade school children! Gahh! Also, around this time, I was very feverish, dizzy and weak. I told Labsie that if I won't improve after taking my meds, we have to cancel our sunset dinner by Manila Bay and watching Superman in the IMAX Theater (also in MOA). I badly need to rest. Aside from this not-so-good news was another disappointment: the planetarium show wasn't about the planets and the stars! =( It was a short movie about the deep blue sea, its fishes and their bravery. Yup, it was cartoons in 3d! Tsk! Still, it was enjoyable especially since you were kinda "inside" the movie, the screen was a dome after all! All around me was the beautiful ocean and its creatures =) After the show, we enjoyed the Center's 10 galleries. Loved it all!!

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GROSSOLOGY: Learn about the icky stuff! From burps to slime to odors -- you're sure to learn about grossness the super fun way!

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ROBOTICS: Two galleries -- Robot Inc. and Lego Mindstorms Robotics Center (closed when we were there). The former gallery features the famous mechanical and electronic wonders, shows you the historical evolution of robots, and the importance of machines.

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TRANSPORTATION NATION: Build your own car (see photo below), the first automobile (owned by Pilipinas Shell), Philippines' own solar-powered car (Sinag), Segway and prototypes of future cars and transportation solutions. Labsie had lots of fun here! GUYS!

SPACESHIP EARTH: Pictured in the small photos below. "Know what's happening and what needs to be done to save the world!"

Other galleries not pictured: Lifeclock (factoids about Internet, send emails to the future), ImagePort (learn everything about the camera!), SMART Media City (free internet and PC games, experience the latest software and digital trends, play CG games), Virtual Reef (too dark to take photos; a fish will "talk" to you, so fun!), and City Science (earthquake simulation, TALL scaled models of the world's tallest buildings).

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By the time we finished exploring SM Science Discovery Center, I was very weak. I also felt very cold and couldn't imagine sitting over 2 hours inside an air-conditioned IMAX theater =( So we decided to go home.. But before that, we bought dinner first. I cannot cook in my condition and Labsie has absolutely no idea how to cook! Hehe! And since we were quite feeling low (I really wanna have a sunset dinner!!), we lifted our spirits by splurging on food -- in SBARRO!!! We got yummy veggie salad, creamy spiral pasta, HUGE stuffed pizza, and bread"sticks" -- carbo-loading to the max! Thus, despite me being sick and us missing IMAX movie-watching and Manila Bay's sunset, Day 3 ended on a happy note! ^_^ Nothing like good food to drown all your sorrows eh? Hehe!

 

ALL PHOTOS taken with my Sony Ericsson k800i ^_^       (except for the Astroboy photo pala!)

honeymoon chronicles: makati food pornography

WARNING: LONG, RAMBLING POST AND PHOTO OVERLOAD AHEAD!

We finished Day 2 of our honeymoon wet and tired, no thanks to the water rides in Enchanted Kingdom and whole day of rain (!!!). Day 3 promises to be less wet but nonetheless exciting ^_^ Our itinerary: food trip in Makati's 'sosyal palengke', ocean appreciation excursion, malling in the world's third largest mall, exploring the latest in science and movies, and experiencing Manila's famous sunset. Heavy schedule huh?? LOL! And thus, we started our day very early at 6am. With no breakfast and no bath, Labsie and I walked two blocks to Makati's posh 'palengke' known as Salcedo's Saturday Market held in a park within Salcedo Village. The market starts past 5am and ends just after lunch (or when the goods are gone).

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What's unique with Salcedo's Saturday Market is that most of its sellers are from the alta sociedad. The first time I went there late last year (I was alone since nobody in my family woke up early!), I overheard conversations of gracing the cover of Tatler's magazine, guesting in this TV show, attending this high-profile party, etc, etc. My ears bled with all the English, hehe! Since the sellers are rich (old rich and not the newly rich okay?), most of them are selling gourmet food that Labsie and I just dream about in Davao. Also, the female sellers were mostly mestizas (Spanish, Chinese descent) and the males were mostly foreigners (French, German, etc). There are Pinoy sellers too with provincial goods (fresh flowers, native products, food) and wet market stuff (huge shrimps, veggies, fruits).

 

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The first thing we did upon arriving in Salcedo's Saturday Market was buy breakfast food. Since I was not feeling well (scratchy throat, feverish), I bought Arroz Caldo while Labsie got Chorizo Rice. There are tables and chairs in the center of the park where you can eat comfortably what you bought. After breakfast, we got a smallish grocery cart and began our systematic 'tour' of Makati's food heaven =) Photos (with labels, just hover over the pic) of our mouth-watering food trip follows. You can also click the photo to enlarge it. We spent about P1000 for bits and pieces of gourmet this and that (see last photos for our yummy loot!!), quite cheap since gourmet meals in Makati can cost more than P1000 per person. Hehe! Enjoy! ^_^

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Aside from food, there were also herbs, more flowers and nutritious stuff. I don't know if you've heard of the guy selling Wheat Grass (and other 'grasses') and claiming that its 'juice' is very good for the body -- but he was in Salcedo's Saturday Market! I think I saw him featured in Kapuso Mo, Jessica (Jessica Soho's Saturday show at GMA-7) and it was cool seeing him in action =) He was explaining the benefits wheat grass to customers and was away giving samples. I heard one woman said the wheat grass 'juice' was sweetish and not at all yucky. He sells live wheat grass (just cut it when you want fresh 'juice') and pre-made 'juice' at P100 per bottle.

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And finally, here's our loot! This is not everything since we ate some stuff already (Baklava, fruit juices, etc). We ate some of the food for second breakfast (Sugar Crepe, Sausage Galette, half of the huge Beef Lasagna [P150], Beef Samosas, Japanese Cakes [with cream cheese and plain cheese fillings],  Chorizo Rice, Shrimp Okoy) and stored the Arroz Caldo, Maki set, Basil and Cheese Quiche. All in all, we ate Filipino, French, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Italian and Chinese dishes. How's that for two hours of food trippin' with just P1000 budget for two persons?? ^_^

ALL PHOTOS taken with my Sony Ericsson k800i ^_^