little momo

Say haro to our new little Momo. Initially my mom said no to getting a new dog, but my dad couldn't resist so he snuck in this little badoggy in the driver's room. Beautiful little thing with big paws, a big head and soft, velvet like hair. Once my mom saw him, she couldn't say no. Welcome, little Momo!

xavier

A few months ago I had a post about our black Lab Ben passing away. It's so unfortunate that today I make a new one for Xavier, our first Labrador. He had an operation the other day because we found out he had stones. Unfortunately his wound didn't heal well, and a day or two after the operation, Xavier died. 

Xavier is probably the second to Jako, as it was only Xavier and Jako that ever got the chance to live with us inside the house. It was when we moved to Hillsborough, got more dogs and Xavier got bigger that we had to let him stay outside with the other Labs. 

Everyday, Jako, Ben, Xavier, his brother Julio, and daughter Isa would roam around the garden and lanai area, jumping and running around. But Xavier was always the calm one, seated quietly in one corner. When the other dogs would pester him, he'd just always walk away and move location. And unlike our other Labs who would playfully run towards us or at the sight of any person, Xavier would simply look, and actually know the people he's looking at. And that's when he would slowly start walking towards our direction. Just like my dad said, Xavier was the most different one. "He was the most reserved. Loyal, and obedient. He knew his place." 

Now, it's only Julio, Isa and Jako around. And it pains all of us at home to see that Xavier is no longer one of the dogs hanging around the lanai and garden. 

Ben and Jako meet for the first time.

Xavier and Jako napping in front of the fan in our old house.

Xavier's first day with us at our old house in Yakal. 

The day we got Xavier

The last photo I took of Xavier, just a few weeks ago. 

We have a magnet on our ref that says, "A house is not a home without a dog." And indeed it isn't, for us. We've never had a dogless house, and we have given homes to 2 German Shepherds, a Rotweiller, a Golden Retriever, 4 Labs and a pug. But never before did we get attached to our dogs the way we are attached to them now, and seeing them go one by one really is heartbreaking. 

My dad says in his FB post on Xavier, "It's hard to have beautiful loyal dogs. It's expensive, and emotionally draining." 

And it really is. 

bulgogi brothers

Ever since my sister mentioned her craving for Korean food last week, I couldn't help but start craving for it as well. I kept picturing Kimchi, Bulgogi, Samgyeopsal, Chapchae, spicy soup and all the other side dishes, and it really got me wanting some Korean. I think it has become the second to Japanese cuisine because I have grown to actually crave for it. Yesterday, I got lucky and was finally able to satisfy the Korean craving! What made it better was that it was in a Korean restaurant whose food pictures posted outside its walls before the opening taunted me to try it out. Bulgogi Brothers is finally open!

Located at the ground floor of the newest area of Town, beside Wee Nam Kee. 

Bulgogi Brothers Special (good for 3-4 persons at P900)

My favorite! This unlimited side dish salad is so good. So glad I got some to take home!

When you order Sake, they make you pick a cup from that tray of multi-colored cups. The cup color you pick says something about your personality which you can read upon lifting your pick.

Loved it! Good food and good service. I ate there with Anton and his dad and we only ordered one Bulgogi Brothers Special because we were three and the dish was pretty big (we didn't even finish it), then we just kept getting refills of that salad because it was too good. Before our meal ended, we saw the table beside ours (filled with Koreans) order a bottle of Sake that came with the tray of cups and a nice pitcher, so we decided to try it out. Yuummyy. 

The service was real good too actually. Our server and the restaurant manager were so knowledgable and accommodating, which I really liked because it's nice to talk to servers who know more than what's just on the menu, plus it really encourages me to go back. And because they accidentally charged us for the salad (which is suppose to be complimentary and unlimited), they took down one rice order to make up for the inconvenience. Nice!

Try it out! My first Bulgogi Brothers experience was real good, and I'm hoping I get to go back soon and try out the other dishes. It just opened in Town so expect the place to be quite full. Good food at good prices and good service all in one!

v-day

Belated happy Valentine's to everyone! In as much as the holiday is somewhat characterized by two adjectives that we all try to avoid being--cliche and cheesy--I still love V-day! I love seeing couples, I love seeing flowers, I love seeing chocolates, I love seeing people out in restaurants (but hate the traffic and wait), I love seeing mommies and daddies on dates, I love seeing singles getting together. No matter how much V-day makes some feel loved or #foreveralone, it still gets people together to celebrate ♥, whether it is love for a man or woman, a job, friends, family or alcohol. Even for the love of celebrations!

So here's how I spent mine:

A pre-Valentine dinner on the 12th with the family, lola, and our plus ones, all prepared by my mom.

  

Appetizers

Dinner

the attendees missing Jim and my dad (taking the photo)

On the 14th, I had my V-day Shabu lunch with my parents and relatives tita Nini and Chanti who are visiting from the States.

And for my V-day dinner, I spent it with Anton. Unfortunately the little pictures that I took were bad since we were eating in his garden so it was dark, and the flash sort of made the picture come out too exposed. So no dinner photo :( 

After dinner, we headed to TJ's in Westgate to get a drink, then went to Sam's house to have some drinks with couples, while all the single friends were partying at Skye! 

photo from Isa Escano

So that's how I spent my V-day. I hope everyone else had a good and hearty one!

17th hot air balloon festival

Two hours and thirty minutes after arriving from Mamma Mia, I was ready to head out again. My dad and two of his friends planned on going to the 17th Hot Air Balloon festival and had extra tickets, so my sister and I decided to join them. We went to Clark with 5 tickets, and the possibility of getting into the launching grounds, but unfortunately there were only 3 passes to enter the grounds, so my sister and I didn't have a choice but to watch from behind the fence with everyone else. It wasn't so bad, and was actually slightly more convenient than when I watched last year because not as much went to watch on a weekday. We sat by the fence and waited in the cold (SO cold) for about 2-3 hours until the setting up started at 6:00AM. 

Here are some of the photos I took using the Canon 7D. 

Spot the cake!

Ms. Daisy on the left

vikings x mama mia

In celebration of 2 birthdays and an anniversary, the family went to the Vikings buffet in MOA and watched Mamma Mia last night. It was my second time at Vikings, and despite a few negative feedbacks about the place, it still really never fails to get me excited and satisfied. The quality and quantity of the food (at good prices) always get me leaving the place with a happy tummy, and eventually craving for more.

If i'm not mistaken, it's about P800 per head on weekdays, and P1, 200 on weekends. They have a wide variety of choices: Japanese, Chinese, Italian, sea foods, shabu-shabu, steaks, lamb, drinks (beer, all kinds of juices, tea, coffee). And for dessert: cakes, cookies, fruits, fondue, ice cream, yogurt, halo-halo and more. Not bad for the amount of delicious food they offer! Plus the place is clean and has a sort of fancy look to it. Really worth visiting!

After going through some of the photos I took last night, I can't help but crave again for Japanese food, that spinach dip and rare lamb. Super yummm-eeee. Here are a few pictures:

My first plate out of.. a few more others.

My forever favorite: Ube ice cream with mallows and sprinkles.

After that 5:30PM meal (yeah, we started eating by the time the place opened), we had to rush to our Mamma Mia showing that was at 8:00PM (which we were able to get to on time despite the bad traffic outside CCP).

I love Mamma Mia the movie and I love the soundtrack, so I really was so excited to watch. And when I finally did, i loved it. The characters they got for the musical were so similar to the ones in the movie, so the whole time I couldn't help but put Meryl Streep's face on Sophie's mom and Pierce Brosnan's face on one of the dad's. I loved the costumes and the singing and dancing and everything. Very similar to the movie talaga, with the men in flippers and the order and setting of where the songs were sung and danced. The musical just had about two additional songs and dances, hot men (hot men from UK), and a touch of humour in their presentation. The best part of it all was in the end, when the cast sings and dances to the Abba hits, and when the audience join in the singing and dancing as well. It was great! So if you think you can still catch a showing before the UK production leaves, GO FOR IT!

ps. sorry for another food-filled post. I love taking pictures of my favorite food!

23 years

Last February 3, my family and I celebrated my parents' 23 years of marriage over our favorite cuisine: Japanese! The unexpected mini celebration was spent in Omakase, followed by dessert in one of the family's favorites, Frutti Froyo. It was unexpected because a special night that has yet to happen has been planned in celebration of the birthdays of my dad and sister, and the anniversary of my parents. Luckily, my parents decided to treat us out and celebrate since we were all available for dinner on that Friday night (which nowadays rarely happens). Happy Anniversary! :)

Here are a few pictures that I took over dinner using the iPhone. I have to say that I'm actually pretty happy with the quality of the pictures that I take with it. Initially I was attached to the camera of my Blackberry because the photos I took there were clearer than any other cellphone camera I've had in the past. But after living with an iPhone for almost two months, I gotta admit that I am very much satisfied with it!

BEHIND THAT PATCH. I've been walking around school and other public places with that patch on and I'm pretty sure some of you are wondering what's behind it. Well, I got a stye. I don't really mind saying it here because I know by the stares and double takes that the patch attracts much attention and curiosity. Styes don't often come out bad enough to have to put a patch on it, but unfortunately my eyes are so sensitive that it leads to the swelling of the whole eye. It doesn't look pretty and is very sensitive to dust, so I decided to cover it up. It's day 4 of wearing a patch, and I'm really itching to leave my house without it because I am so tired of bumping the people walking to my right. Hopefully by this week I'll be patch free!

p365: january

Behold! My 365 Project for January. Like I said in my Facebook album, I'm not exactly proud of this set. I wish I went around more, took better photos and chose better subjects (for some days, that is). My laziness and forgetfulness sometimes tend to take over which leads to me squandering the opportunity for a nice photo of the day. Hopefully this Feb, I am void of the two in order to be able to come up with something better.

Two photos from the set I'm pretty happy with: (T) taken during a football match in BGC: Socceroo vs. Manila All Japan; (B) View from the top of Anton's future house.

habitat help

Habitat for Humanity needs your help!

Habitat is trying to raise funds in order to be able to build houses for more than a thousand families. The fund raising is for the May 12, 2012 build, a build consisting of about 2,000 volunteers working together in order to build houses for those who are in need.

Support Habitat's May 2012 build by joining the build AND by sending money donations HERE! Habitat aims to earn P160,000 in 88 days in order to be able to build homes for thousands of families.

"Donate a little, and help A LOT!"

Learn more about Habitat, the Youth 2012 build and ways to help by visiting Habitat for Humanity.

Photos from the 1K for 1 Day build of Habitat in Laguna in 2011 (taken by Alec Yatco)

Join us and become a Habitat hero now!