italian treat

Balsamic vinegar

 For a post Christmas and pre New Year activity, my family and I went up to my grandparents' place in Tagaytay. We usually go up for at least a night during Christmas break to spend some time with relatives, freeze our asses off and eat the world. For the one night visit this year, my lolo decided to take us out to dinner in an Italian restaurant just outside Royale. Il Gallo Nero. That was the name of the place, and the food was delicious. My cousins and I left the oldies to order our food and just decided to share everything so we could get a taste of each dish. They didn't order much since we were still slightly full from our heavy merienda of junk, so we only had small servings of Pasta Puttanesca, Bolognese and Carbonara; Pizza Margherita, Hawaiian and White Cheese; some salad and a shell dish (forgot the name, but it had some heat and was absolutely delicious).

Bolognese 

Carbonara

Pasta Puttanesca

Try it out! It's a nice, quaint little open restaurant to have a good Italian dinner, drink some wine and embrace the cold Tagaytay weather. 

D

the birthday

Photo by Alec Yatco @ the Lorenzo's Solid Party

The birthday salubong was spent at the Lorenzos' Solid Party held at their house. For the past few years, I was always at my place with friends during the salubong, but this year I was pretty glad there was a change of setting. What made the change even more exciting was the fact that it was at a Lorenzo party, and those annual parties of theirs really never fail. Unlimited Dencios, Teriyaki Boy, Yellow Cab and Pancake House + drinksdrinksdrinks and greatgreat company. Now how can you not enjoy?

THE BIRTHDAY

I spent my day at home resting and trying the gain back the energy I used up the night before. Once late afternoon hit, I was up and ready to head to Rockwell with Anton, but unfortunately pressed time and traffic just got in the way. My birthday really isn't travel friendly. It's probably the worst time to move around because everyone is just hitting the malls and doing their last minute shopping for Christmas Eve the next day. According to my mom, they even closed the skyway years back on the 23rd because they had to cut down the number of people taking it--it was that bad. Because of this, Anton and I decided to stay down South instead, hear mass, and head to dinner.

* Birthday dinner was Japanese, of course, so we ate at Nishijin and had their Friday Japanese buffet. 

(L) w/ Mom and Bettina; (R) w/ Dad; (B) Mara, Chesca, Cheng, Jim, Anton and Dan

* The dinner was followed by a surprise at Anton's :)

Photo by Alec Yatco @ my surprise in Anton's house

A surprise with a cute setting, my favorite drink, yummy food and cupcakes, favorite people, birthday video, pasalubongs & balikbayans, drinking games and good conversations, all prepared by my boyfriend and best friends ♥ 

Thank you to everyone who greeted and made this day extra special for me! It was a good one this year and I have my amazing family and friends to thank for that.

ps. Sorry for the inconsistent photo sizes and color!

D

newspaper wrapping

This year's Christmas gifts were wrapped using newspapers to (1) save money and more importantly (2) save paper! We have stacks of old newspapers here at home, and my mom felt that it would be cute and at the same time more practical if we used them to wrap our gifts. I know, my initial concern too was how dirty they were. But before wrapping, my sister and I wiped both sides of each newspaper with a towel in order to somewhat reduce the dirt on it, and it kind of helped. For one gift, 2 spreads were used to make the wrapper a bit thicker, so imagine how many newspapers we had to wipe! Fortunately this is something I enjoy doing, so it wasn't really such a burden. Aside from that, it was fun reading some articles and looking through pictures while wrapping!

See, I even got to have a Manny Pacquiao wrapper! They don't sell that in National

No tape was used, only raphia and and rope string to hold everything together. Try it!

korean with a true korean

My recent downer day was lightened up by a delicious Korean lunch meal I had with my friends Kaye and Lee. I've always told Lee how much I enjoyed eating Korean food (just the typical Kimchi and Bulgogi + other side dishes and the yummy Pepero snack), so that day, Lee decided to treat us out to a Korean meal. It was also her birthday, so we celebrated (and ate our sorrows away) at a Korean restaurant located in one of the side streets along Taft Avenue. It's name will forever remain a mystery to me because I couldn't understand the Korean words printed on the sign hanging outside the resto, and even Lee, after eating there for years, still doesn't know its name.

So that day, I had a Korean meal with a true Korean. Once we were seated and received our menus, Kaye and I just sat back and let the Korean do her thing. She ordered our food, cooked some of it, taught us (or just me) how to eat and even gave a little lecture on manners and Korean culture. We had Samgyeopsal, some soy bean soup and this salad (forgive me, I cannot remember what it was) along with all the complimentary Korean side dishes.

It really was such a good meal that came with good Korean lecture from Lee. It's different eating the cuisine with someone like Lee who knows everything about it, because any question that popped into my head was immediately answered and didn't need any menu or waiter for some explaining. I just wish we had more time, money and space in our tummies to be able to explore more Korean food.

meet Yu Jung Lee

Thank you Lee!

30 things to start doing to yourself

Perfect. Just the thing to somewhat lift up the spirits of the absolute downer of my Christmas break. I started my morning all wrong and received some unwanted, dreaded news, so when I stumbled upon the follow up of 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself, I felt a bit a better.

Read up: 30 Things to Start Doing to Yourself 

Today's most important lesson:

"Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you. – Mistakes are okay; they’re the stepping stones of progress.  If you’re not failing from time to time, you’re not trying hard enough and you’re not learning.  Take risks, stumble, fall, and then get up and try again.  Appreciate that you are pushing yourself, learning, growing and improving.  Significant achievements are almost invariably realized at the end of a long road of failures.  One of the ‘mistakes’ you fear might just be the link to your greatest achievement yet."  (30 TSDY)                                      

       

The story of my life:
"Start noticing the beauty of small moments. – Instead of waiting for the big things to happen – marriage, kids, big promotion, winning the lottery – find happiness in the small things that happen every day.  Little things like having a quiet cup of coffee in the early morning, or the delicious taste and smell of a homemade meal, or the pleasure of sharing something you enjoy with someone else, or holding hands with your partner.  Noticing these small pleasures on a daily basis makes a big difference in the quality of your life." (30 TSDY) 

30 things to stop doing to yourself

Today, I came across a list of things that screamed of my guilt and thoughts exactly. My friend Carla tweeted a link that directed me to the 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself post by Mark and Angel Hack Life, and it absolutely got me wondering--a lot. Reading one number after the other left me with shits and omgs in my head, with the feeling of pure guilt and shame, and at the same time a little bit of "ah, exactly."

I saw a part of me in probably all the 30 things listed down, and I realized a lot of numbers where I've done horribly in (or maybe right, in some cases. got to give myself a little credit). But other than the guilt, I also felt like the one writing the article found the simple words to write down everything I spend a lot of my free time thinking about. It is strange.. for that kind of realization to come when all along at the back of my mind, I had an idea of the right steps to take to make things--to make life--right. I guess it does not apply only to me but to a lot of us, that we are so stubborn when it comes to these things. We always take for granted the thought of knowing something, and somewhat feel that knowing is enough to make us that kind of person. But it is always acting on something that's difficult, most especially when it concerns a loved one or a special thing we consider valuable in our lives. But just like this article says, we must make room for risks; because nothing that brings us a step forward is easy. It entails stepping out of our comfort zone, but sometimes we all like our comfort zone a wee bit too much to ever leave it. And I think a lot of our difficulties start from there.

Click the link above and read through the blog I'm talking about and you'll probably understand more of what I'm trying to say. It's a beautiful reminder to the self that we should really take in and learn to put action into.

Thank you Carla for sharing!

bracelets

Free day today! I couldn't decide if I should watch movies, exercise, sleep, read a book or play tetris. But I didn't want to be a bum and just stay in so I got up at 7 and went to the gym. It's something I used to do almost everyday, and after the gym today, I remembered why I liked exercising in the morning so much more than in the afternoon. I feel so energized and ready for my day when I exercise early as opposed to sleeping in and starting my day and gym after lunch. Waking up early also leaves me the rest of the afternoon to do more things or sleep, so I end up either getting rest or being productive. The only hassle is having to wake up early, but I think the pros of it still outweigh the cons. But that's just me.

After the gym I decided to help my mom with the Christmas gifts. She hasn't been able to shop for anything at all because of her hectic schedule, so I decided to help her make some of them in order to save some time and money. I'm not a baker, nor am I a cook, so making something in the kitchen was out of the question. Instead I tried to do something that I enjoyed and felt I did okay in.. so I made bracelets! 

Really simple gifts, but personally I would be glad to receive something like this. I really am fund of bracelets especially if they come in earthy or vibrant colors.

 I don't know who these are going to but if you're reading this and end up receiving it from my mom, then I hope you like it! It's not so hard to make, but if you make a lot of them, the beads tend to hurt your fingers a bit and it gets kind of tiring. So if you receive it, remember that it is made with lots of love!

D

happy three

 The third anniversary. One of the few special things to look forward to this December.

Anton and I spent our third year (last Dec 12) doing something simple. We both didn't have much money and were tired from the weekend, so I told him that I just wanted to have dinner out and watch New Year's Eve. The plan was initially Mona Lisa and the movie, but it ended up being a good dinner at the Palms Japanese restaurant, Nishijin, and drinks and good conversations at Vivere. Just like last year's anniversary, we had Japanese (and to think we had Jap just the day before at Vikings). Birthdays and Anniversaries have always been spent with Japanese food (even my graduation dinner), and I don't think that will ever change. Haha! Eating in Nishijin was suppose to be for appetizers only but it turned into me getting the Tempura buffet and Anton getting his burger (he was too tired of Jap. poor boy!). After dinner we decided to check out the new Cafe Arts in Vivere, which is actually a pretty cute bar with amazing vintage pieces displayed (they had vintage suitcases under each table, jersey numbers of football players painted on their stools, different paintings hung all over the bar, a pretty vintage clock and a lot more). The prices are not so bad, 100 for a San Mig Light and about 200 for a cocktail. After a few drinks there, we headed to the Sky Lounge located at the rooftop of Vivere, where we got a few more drinks and ended our night.

The Japanese Dinner

My little boy's dinner (blurry, arghh)

Cafe Arts

Thank you Anton! :)

D

the surfing experience

The visit to Zambales was an opportunity for me to have my first ever surfing experience. I've been invited several times to go on a surfing trip by my friend Carla (who's a surfer), but because school work and last minute plans got in the way, it never pushed through. So once the invite to surf fit perfectly in my free schedule, I went for it.

Here are some of the photos I took during our first day of surfing. Unfortunately, none of us brought a camera (I know, bad choice) so I had to settle with my BB for photos (which btw, didn't do such a bad job. The photos in my previous post were taken using the BB). The people surfing in the photos are Rosie (L), Carlos (R) and Anton (B). 

The surfing experience. Man, it was hard. Honestly I thought I would have a little difficulty on the first day, and do okay on the second, but I wasn't even close to doing good on both. I got up a few times, which was okay, but I really struggled getting in the water and trying to get through the waves. Once the big ones started coming, my board just went with it and I was easily dragged closer to the shore. It really was a challenge, and I couldn't help but laugh thinking that I was going away from the shore and back to it over and over. It was tiring! The only thing that actually kept me going was the thought that I wasn't the only beginner struggling to get through the whitewater, and that I had an instructor with me to help me out (yes, may instructor na ko, struggle pa rin!). 

Going against the waves with this little figure and a board at hand was just too hard, so seeing the other female surfers get past the whitewater and actually surf the waves just really amazed me. Seeing them surf so smoothly (is that a good word to describe it? haha) got me wanting to do the same. And now that I've been able to experience how it is to surf, I realized it really isn't as easy as it looks. It's a difficult sport that needs a whole lot of practice and patience (and could actually be risky). But after last weekend, I really am so determined to go on another surf trip again and try to do much better. Despite the challenge, I still find it to be a lot of fun!

D

the circle

The first schoolwork-free Saturday-Sunday of my break was spent in an absolutely chill overnight surfing getaway in Zambales with some of Anton's siblings, cousins and friends. We stayed in a place called The Circle, a newly opened hostel in that area of Zambales, which made its opening on Dec 10 (the day we arrived).

THE CIRCLE
I've never been to a place like The Circle. Everything in that little hostel is so laid back, affordable, creative and fun, and its simplicity and warm, happy aura made our overnight stay so relaxing and enjoyable. The place just screamed freedom--the freedom to paint anywhere, to talk to people and make friends, to smokedrinkeat, to wear whatever and to just be yourself. It really was so nice to be away from the city, away from all technology and chaos, and take pleasure in the simple things: surfing, slacklining, bumming by the beach, chilling by the bonfire, listening to different tunes being played and sung by the people around, watching the amazing poi man and ball man do their thing, drinking, eating, and being happy. It's exactly the kind of environment I've been wanting to immerse myself in, and I'm absolutely glad and thankful I was given the opportunity to do so. It really was such a great way to start the break.

If one day you decide to visit Zambales to surf, I highly recommend you stay at The Circle. No bath tubs, soft beds, nice bathrooms or the like, but I swear the experience is just so worth it, you're going to want to go back.

These are just a few photos to give you a glimpse of The Circle. More on the surfing experience to follow!


D

almost 3