FOODIE FRIDAY : Sebo Pacific

Saw this a few days ago on my FB timeline:

FOR REAL?!? I am pretty sure gastro-delight places like BF and Kapitolyo started one great dining place at a time in the neighborhood. Could this be the start of something big in garage-based restaurateur in Bacoor? I instantly got curious and checked their FB page. Found out that the place is just a mere 10-minute leisurely walk from my house and also took a quick look at their menu:

photo grabbed from Sebo Pacific's FB page

So I together with my sister, 2 nephews and of course, my ever loyal foodie companion Ken went there at around 1920H on a Thursday. The place can comfortably seat at most 18 dining guests. When we got there, we saw a couple and 2 other guys seated on opposite tables who were already done with their meal, there was a family of 4 waiting to be served, and a group of 3 people who have yet to place their orders.

We wanted to seat together so we opted to wait for the other diners to finish. While waiting, copies of their menu (similar to the one above) were handed to us. My first instinct was to check the back of the laminated menu sheet that they gave us, hoping to find other options. But that was it, but I figured it is fine, after all they just started a few days ago.

When the couple left the table, we immediately helped ourselves to be seated. My sister knew one of the guys who just finished eating and exchanged pleasantries with him. She also asked what was Sebo Pacific's specialty and she was advised to try the crispy dinuguan. This confirmed my gut feeling that this is the dish that they are most proud of since it was listed first on their menu list.

Since me and Ken still had other plans for the night, we went to place our orders first. Ken chose the crispy dinuguan and I opted to try the sizzling bulalo. We asked the guy taking our orders to describe the dishes. The guy was knowledgeable enough and explained that crispy pork bits similar to lechon kawali will make the dinuguan crispy and that the bulalo will be served in their specialty white sauce.  My sister and 2 nephews each ordered something different. We ended up ordering everything on their menu except for the longanisa. We also ordered a pitcher each of iced tea and dalandan juice.

A few minutes later we were served soup. I am not a huge fan of soup so I politely declined. I don't know but maybe if they can have soup served upon request, it could help lessen cost and spoilage as most of us did not even touch the soup. Sayang naman.  Drinks came next, together with glasses with ice cubes.

After a few minutes the person who took our orders served the pork steak, burger steak and the buffalo wings. It was also around this time when my sister-in-law came and placed an additional order of buffalo wings. At this point Ken and I were starting to get pissed. How come their orders came out ahead of ours when we placed our orders first? At 1950H my sizzling bulalo was served. The first thing i tried was the white sauce. It tasted good... I mean really good. It was creamy and buttery, at first look, i kind of felt that it will taste like salty-starchy but I was wrong. I really liked it. The meat was also very tender. Overall i think it was priced just right for PHP 140.00.

Ken was growing impatient, after all, my sister was done with her first serving of rice and was waiting for her extra rice to be served and my nephews have already finished their meals but Ken's crispy dinuguan was still nowhere in sight. I offered to share my sizzling bulalo and told Ken to just share his crispy dinuguan with me once it arrives. We were almost finished with my sizzling bulalo when Ken lost hope and decided to just have his crispy dinuguan for take out. So I advised the guy who took our orders to not serve the crispy dinuguan anymore but I was informed that they did not have take out containers and would just place it inside a plastic bag. Oh well that was the last straw, we decided to have the order cancelled. And barely 2 minutes after Ken's order was cancelled, my sister-in-law's buffalo wings order was served. Like seriously?

A lady went to our table to apologize, it was a very nice gesture but the excuse given was so flimsy it did not help at all. Ken was told that the reason why his order was taking too long to prepare was because they were making sure that it was crispy. No. Not buying that crap.  I think what can help them is a little tutorial from my 2007 hometown hero Flo.

We left the place in a rush, just left the money to pay for our meals meal with my sister.

I liked the food, the white sauce was impressive,  the place : nice and cozy. Their service? Not quite there yet. Maybe they can hire an assistant too like what Flo did?

teach them to fish

It is cliche to say "Give a man a fish and he'll have food for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll have food for a lifetime"... But that is exactly what I did to make my sister realize the value of working for money. See my sister has not been working for quite a few months now a ( since mamu is away), my sister gets to keep the household running. Making sure that meals are cooked, clothes are washed. It is with high hopes that I am thinking that she will find a job as soon as my mom returns, but that is still a couple of weeks from now. And Christmas time is just around the corner. That time of the year when everyone, and I mean everyone needs money. 

With that in mind, I thought of having my sister do something to ensure that she will at least have money to buy presents for her inaanaks, or better yet, buy herself something nice. I thought that if I give her 1,000 pesos, the probability of her spending it all on foodtrips is very likely. So instead of giving her the money, I purchased milk, colorful candy sprinkles and declared that we are making pastillas. 

I had everything planned out, I wanted the pastillas to have fillings, so we made pastillas with strawberry, caramel, nutella and chocolate fillings and had them rolled in colorful sugar. We called it sweet surprise. they look something like this:

The first batch we made was given out for free. All I wanted was for my sister to have at least 5,000.00 profit. But my sister-in-law proved to be the "bestseller"! I sometimes think she can sell even ampalaya -flavored chewing gum! Orders started pouring in. From making 6 dozens every night, a day came when my sister had to produce 50 dozens! I urged my sister to not decline any orders, to strike while the iron is hot.

A month into our operation and my sister has already reached my 5,000.00 peso target. 

I feel good about it. My sister has her own money, my nephews have extra allowance, (they sell them to their friends), they all learn that  making money requires a lot of hardwork... but the most priceless benefit we all get from this pastillas-making activity... is the chance to bond! 

Got to go.. I think my sister needs help in boxing those sweet little milk balls! 

FOODIE FRIDAY - cafeteria foodtrip

I had grand fitness related plans for Friday. I was supposed to wake up early to jog and then proceed to the badminton court for at least an hour of shuttlecock-smashing-calorie-burning activity with my cousin Ken. But Ken's dad ( whom I fondly call my fake father), was rushed to the hospital Thursday night and had to spend the night there. Needless to say, Ken can not join me with my fight-the-bulge plan so I just went with him to the hospital.

I was not able to take a decent breakfast and was already hungry. Ken munched on a piece of oily bread he purchased at ministop while we were on the bus and had with him a pack of roast beef flavored potato chips. We arrived at DLSUMC a little before 10am, Ken's mom was waiting for us. My fake father seem well, and really did not look like he needed any assistance. He was ready to drive himself home but has yet to obtain a clearance from his doctor. Before Ken's mom left, she told us to have our lunch at the hospital's cafeteria. We nodded but in my mind I was already placing my order for twice baked potato halves at the pizza place just across the hospital building. An hour later, 2 of my fake father's siblings arrived. Ken and I decided to check out the hospital's cafeteria. Ken's mom was right, there really was a lot going on in the cafeteria. Aside from the usual rice and ulam stalls, there was a hotdog stand, a fruit shake stand and also a nook that sells RTW's. I decided to eat an early lunch, fish fillet and tortang talong cooked on banana leaf while Ken who had rice for breakfast just ordered lugaw with egg. All these for just 125 pesos, I find that reasonable. While waiting in line to check out our food, I asked Ken to grab a bottle of lemon iced tea from the chiller, he said we should try the fruitshake.

I had this feeling that it was one of those fruitshake stands that uses fruit-flavored powder mixes. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that they use fresh fruits. Being starved, I ate while Ken was still waiting for his mango-strawberry shake. The fish fillet was nothing fancy, it was so crunchy I thought I was eating fish crackers,the tortang talong was too oily. And I think their food warmers are not working since everything I ate, including the rice was as cold as a healthy puppy's nose. When Ken returned to our table, it was my turn to get my shake. Avocado is my favorite, but it is out of season so I was not surprised to see "not available" across the photo of the avocado on the fruitshake stand's signage. I spent quite a while looking up at the pictures of possible shake combinations when something on the menu piqued my curiosity.

Cheese? Fruitshakes with cheese?  Seriously? This I got to try. I ordered for a mango-peach-cheese shake. The lady preparing my shake grabbed a pack of presumably mango and peach slices and tossed it in the blender, then she took a thick slice of cheddar cheese and tossed it in too. She added a cup of crushed ice, evaporated milk and sugar syrup and turned the blender on. I paid 50 pesos for my shake ( 20oz with fresh fruits... Very reasonable...) and told Ken that my shake has cheese. He took a sip and liked it too. 

I found my shake to be a bit sweet, the mango dominated the peach. But i love the way the cheese made my shake creamier. The cold cafeteria food may have disappointed me but this fruitshake managed to put a smile on my chubby face. 

After 2 hours, we went back to the cafeteria for merienda. We both ordered a hotdog sandwich.  30 Pesos for a king size tender juicy hotdog... not bad . The best part was we get to put our chosen condiments. Lucky for me since I am not really fond of mustard. They have thinly sliced cabbage and carrots available too. This time Ken ordered a mango-cheese shake, i opted for bottled water. We went back to my fake father's room and watched The Grudge. I wanted to go back to the cafeteria before going home to get a fruitshake again. But I think my conscience whispered "glutton".

Going to the hospital is not something I find very enjoyable, it can get very depressing. But the cheap cheap cafeteria food ( talking about the hotdog sandwich here) and the yummy fruitshake made my day not as gloomy as I expected. 

The "kabetching" Theory

"walang babaeng pinangarap maging kabit" -Sari (The Mistress)

Is there really no one who ever wanted to be a mistress? I will be risking my pristine goody-two-shoes image with what I will admit : Back in 2003, me and some of my airport friends, agreed  that being a mistress is far better than being a wife. We had plenty of reasons to believe so, and we called it our "kabetching" theory. 

• The "kabetching" or mistress is well loved by the married guy.
• She is always showered with gifts and presents.
• She knows what is going on with the married guy and his wife but the wife is blissfully ignorant.
• When the husband had a fight with his wife,be it about him womanizing or not, he almost always tells the mistress about it, and she has the chance to comfort him and this will endear her to him more.

... And so on...

I did believe those things back then, but as time passed by, and along with it came more responsibilities and inevitably maturity, I somewhat forgot about it. I never really had the chance to prove that theory. And after watching The Mistress, I came to the harsh realization that our theory might be flawed. 

"Limang taon. Limang taon na kuntento lang ako sa kung anung meron kami ni Rico. Di ako nagreklamo, di ako naghanap. Tapos dumating ka, nagsimula akong magtanong." - Sari 

The mistress will have to be contented with what the married guy can offer her in terms of time. Christmas, valentine's day and other events are always celebrated with the real family. They can't be seen together in public so they can only go to places no one will find. She can not ask questions about his family, she can only wait for him to volunteer the information.

"mahal ko sya" -Sari 

When she is not in it for the money, but because she has fallen, truly,deeply,madly,genuinely,head-over-heels,crazy... (you get the point) ... inlove with the married guy, the mistress is bound to get hurt big time. Because no matter how much she loves the married guy :

"as long as I am alive, you will never be promoted to wife" - Regina

 So I guess at this point it is safe to say that our kabetching theory might not be all that fancy after all. I hope that in a perfect world, there will be no mistresses. Because nobody, not the wife, nor the mistress deserves to be hurt. Because everybody, deserves to be happy and nobody deserves to feel unloved,unwanted and unneeded.

They used this song as background music, the orchestra version... It is a song from 2006 (?) and I only liked it now because of the movie.

i am a TRY - athlete

That is no typo.. I did not mean to announce that I am a triathlete, I mean to say that I am A TRY-athlete.. a trying hard athlete! For as long as I can remember, sports has always been a part of me. Taekwondo in grade school, Swimming class in high school. In college, I was part of my batch's volleyball team. But don't be deceived, true enough that I did try out to be part of the team, I was a shoo in not because my volleyball skills was spectacular, but because they needed at least 12 players for the team, and only 8 showed up for the tryouts. PE in college was fun, I was able to try table tennis and soccer. 

Despite being employed, I still find time to play badminton, a sport that I have been playing almost 7 years now but still has no confidence yet to play it competitively. I also had a short love affair with tennis, but that sport proved to be too expensive. I also have a pair of boxing gloves collecting dust now  And lately I have been running 5k's.

Last year, I participated in 3 out of 4 events in a company sponsored sportsfest. 

I played basketball but was not able to shoot a single ball. I felt confident about my badminton game, we finished second. The volleyball event was also a pleasant surprise, I felt.. needed and important as I was assigned the tosser and we also finished second. The only event that I did not join was bowling. Balls are too heavy.. not my sport really. 

But I guess there is no escaping bowling. For my Thai Airways group's team building, they have decided to have a friendly competition at the bowling alley. The 7 supervisors of Thai Airways were each assigned a color and drew names from a bowl. I was picked by sir Toti and we were assigned the color red. 

When I learned that I needed to play bowling, I panicked. I have never held a bowling ball! Good thing I was picked by sir Toti, because everybody knows he is very competitive so he had scheduled a day of practice for us. As expected, I performed badly. My balls tend to run straight for a few feet but slowly turns to the sides before it reaches the pins. I was so concerned about me looking stupid on the event that I have asked my mom to accompany me to the bowling alley and practice. My mom obliged and she turned out to be a better bowler than me.

I have surrendered to the fact that I will only make a fool of myself in the bowling alley. But I was still determined to have fun with my friends. And I was pretty sure it was going to be 1 colorful event. With this in mind, I have asked my cousin Ken top borrow his sister's nice camera to document the event. 

Here are some photos of the event:

Here is my team in action

ever poised ms. Phet

nice form from sir Toti!

Greg in action

Monique throws like a boy! My idol!

our most dominant player! 

me of course!

 Guess which group was declared champion?

we are the champions!

After the games, we stayed on for some more photos. Here's me with my photographer and his assistant! HAHAHA

the photographer's assistant

my demanding photographer!

We goofed around the bowling alley after...

jumping is difficult!

more so with an 8-pound ball!

but my photographer needs more shots!

I am not sure if it was the bowling game or the pictorial that made me burn calories. 

My TANABATA experience

   Today is the 7th day of the 7th month of the year. For those who are in Japan, I am sure they will be celebrating the TANABATA festival. Tanaba-what? Tanabata is a Japanese tradition wherein people  write their wishes on colorful strips of paper called tanzaku and hang them on bamboo branches.Tanabata is celebrated on July 7th of each year. Being a closeted hopeless romantic, a festival that is based on a love story surely hits the spot. click here to read the full story of Tanabata festival's origin.

  

   I was giddy with excitement when I learned some time late last June that our station will participate in the Tanabata festival. I wanted to learn more about the event so I googled it right away. I immediately looked for a bamboo tree supplier and gave the information to our supervisor. After learning that origami can also be hanged on the bamboo tree , I spent a whole afternoon looking for origami crane-making tutorials on you tube. I got more excited when we were shown the  tanzakus that was brought in from Japan. who wouldn't want to write their wishes on these dainty looking pieces of paper?

   We actually had the bamboo trees available for wish hanging for two days, July 6 and 7, but since I would want to hang my wish on the exact date of the festival, I held on to my wish and only placed them on the bamboo tree this morning.  I placed a chain of origami crane because I read that hanging one means wishing for  safety and health of family and longlife! a 3-in-1 wish! lovely! Have a look at how our trees looked like after it was decorated by wishes:

passengers hanging their tanzakus being assisted by yukata wearing staff

my crane!

colorful wishes

my two lovely co-workers wearing Japanese traditional summer outfit  called yukata

wishes wishes wishes!

   A lot of the passengers , specially those who have experienced this for the first time gamely participated and wrote down their heart's desires on the tanzaku. Aside from providing the bamboo trees, we also distributed fans to passengers and since this celebration is also known as the star festival in Japan, star-shaped cookies were also given to the passengers. After the flight, the bamboo trees were kept in the office. The wishes hanged on the trees will be collected and sent to Japan and will serve as an offering to a shrine. 

   I hope that my wishes will be granted.. I also wish that we get to do this again next year!

I chickened out after 4

What could better than spending your day off with family eating sarap-to-bones Max's fried chicken? 

... Eating as much as you can for just 200 pesos... and the best part is if  you are not paying for it!

My cousin Carlo celebrated his birthday last June 8, unfortunately (or fortunately?) It was a stormy day so I decided to not join him and his family for the celebration. So as his birthday treat, we have decided to avail of the Max's chicken-all-you-can promo. For 1 whole month (June 10 to July 10, 2011) customers can eat all the fried chicken quarters that they can for just 199 pesos. This is available from 6pm to 10pm at all Max's restaurant. This also comes with a free glass of Pepsi.A glass is not enough? Add 28 pesos and your glass of Pepsi gets filled non-stop.. 227 pesos for free flowing chicken and drinks... Not bad! Max's offered the same promo last year. Needless to say, I think it was a huge success for them to be offering it again this year.

Carlo's brother Ken, documented the event by taking a photo of me everytime i finish a piece and asks for my next one.  The following photos will show you the chicken-glutton me:

 

1-2-3-4 ! four chicken quarters! I'm not a math genius, but that surely is a whole chicken!

me and the birthday boy!

a whole bunch of happy chicken eaters!

so.. i think some birds got angry after what we did with the chickens!

 Only 7 of use took the eat-all-you-can promo. So how many chicken pieces did we eat that night? Let's have a look at the official tally :

Our official tally. I being the only girl and the oldest consumed the least. A total of 37 pieces! hahaha

Until we meet again chicken - all- you-can! I will definitely see you next month... and hopefully next year!

   

Want to get more info about this promo? Click here

 

a day at the cove

I used to be a regular at Island cove.  Back in 2005, I lost major poundage playing tennis there. But I had to stop. Mainly because it was financial suicide if I continue. I was not playing competitively, I played with a trainer. So I had to pay for court usage charges, pay for the trainer fees and pay for the ball boy. Back then, what I was shelling out for my twice-weekly game was equivalent to a quarter of my monthly salary. 

My officemate recently spent a day with her family at Island cove and told me that her kids had loads of fun with what the place had to offer. I heard her say that they swam and biked around.  So in my endless quest to keep fit, I asked my nephew to go with me for an early morning bike.

Much has changed since the last time I was there. Very noticeable was the new CAVITEX. The new road that connects Kawit to Coastal road. So for those who will be coming from Manila, you can now be spared of the gruesome traffic along E. Aguinaldo Highway. Me, my nephew Jermaine and cousin Lara walked to the entrance.  Way back in 2005, I used to just enter freely and announce that I would be playing tennis, thereby exempting me from resort entrance charges. But when we got there, we were asked to pay 100 pesos each in exchange for IC (Island Cove... I guess) money that we could use for purchases inside the resort.Fair enough since I heard we are to pay 100 pesos for an hour of bike rental. This is a mandatory charge for everybody. Since I have also tried running inside the resort before. I can not help but ask if I will be charged should I not use any of the resort's facilities and just run around. Yup! I still need to pay entrance fees! I guess nothing really is free. But they offered me membership to their runner's club. For 300 pesos, I will be given an ID to grant me free access to the resort to run. This card is valid for a year. No thank you.

I was not aware that the bike rentals will not be available until 8:00 am ( We went there on a Friday, we were told that on weekends, they operate an hour earlier) We were there as early as 7:00 am. We walked around, visited the fishing village and spent a few moments by the poolside. Since I noticed that my nephew was losing his enthusiasm and was starting to feel bored. I challenged him to a game of chess. Here's a few shots courtesy of my cousin Lara:

 

Here is Maine with his Queen!

After our game.. actually once we saw the bike rental counter was already opened. We rearranged the chess pieces and chose our bikes. Lara and Jermaine picked mountain bikes, old fashioned me, I picked a BMX. After an hour of butt-punishing-leg-torturing biking, we decided to call it a day, or half a day and went home to a hearty breakfast. 

Find out more about ISLAND COVE.For a quick getaway from the summer heat!

What I got for 63 pesos

After almost a month, I did my second run.Most runners I know do their runs progressively, I did the exact opposite: I ran my 5k first before running my 3k! 

I would have wanted to run in the 5k as I have survived my 1st. but the event that I joined required a child partner and my only willing nephew was 10-year old Jermaine. Although he was willing to run in the 5k, he was only qualified to run in the 3k.

I registered for this run on the last day of registration as my nephew did not always show enthusiasm towards running. There would be days he'd wake me up early so we could jog around, but there were also times he'd rather stay home and play with his computer games. So before I finally registered, I had to get his 100% commitment, after all I wouldn't want to waste 500pesos.

After my duty last May 1 (last day for registration), I took an MRT ride to Ayala station.  I had to walk to Greenbelt 1. I am a rehabilitated mall rat, so I did not find the walk from Glorietta to Greenbelt amusing.  After what seemed like a lifetime of walking, I reached L time studio only to find out that they can no longer accept registrations for the 3k run. Bummer! But they advised me to proceed to SM Mall of Asia's Hypermart as ALASKA has set-up a booth for registration there. Not wanting to break my nephew's heart. I hailed a taxicab and went straight to Mall of Asia. 

I reached MOA a little before 5:00pm. Was so delighted to know that all i needed to do was purchase a few Alaska Chocolate drinks and my registration will be free of charge but I had to do it quickly since the registration will be closed by 6:00pm. After I paid for the drinks, went back to the booth and filled-up a registration form, I was handed 2 bib numbers for me and my nephew and another chocolate drink. No shirt was issued to us as only the 1st 500 finishers will be given a finisher shirt.

Come race day, me and my nephew woke up early to go the the Mall of Asia grounds. We just took a bus to Baclaran and took a cab ride to MOA. Gun start was set at 6:30am, we were there at 6:00am as I wanted to be there early since I was unfamiliar with the place. 

2 rehydration stations were set up at the starting point, I told my nephew to have a drink first before we position ourselves to the starting point. Here is Jermaine with his Gatorade cup. Which he did not finish because he said it tasted bad. Hahaha

As this was virtually a free run, it was well attended. I had a hard time looking for the starting point. I was confused because I saw a lot of adult-child pairs wearing the same bib color as ours but they were lined up behind the "FINISH" sign. It turned out that they have placed the signs wrongly. We really had to start at the finish point. At that point I already had a feeling that the run will not be as organized as my first run.

The runners were not guided to stretch so I just asked my nephew to do our usual stretching routine whenever we run. After waiting for around 30 minutes, amidst the whining of children getting impatient, I heard the gun shot that signified our start.

Jermaine started strongly, I always checked on him and kept reminding him that he should tell me when he is already tired. I was a bit worried since he is asthmatic. After the 500m mark, he said he was already tired so we walked. He complained of side stitches every once in a while so I had to remind him to breathe deeply. At the 1km marker, we already saw pairs on their way back, that gave me very small hope that we will be able to get a finisher shirt.

We finished the run in 27 minutes. After the run we lined up for the loot bags. I expected to get just Alaska products but got the surprise of my life when we got finisher shirts! The loot bag contained 4 Alaska yoghurt drink and a sports bottle.Here is my happy Jermaine with his sweaty hair, wearing his finisher shirt and showing his loot bag:

So let's do the math, I paid 63 pesos and got the following:

• 7 pieces of Alaska chocolate drink
• 2 finisher shirts
• 2 loot bags containing a total of 2 sports bottles and 8 Alaska yoghurt drinks
• 3 km run 
• and priceless bonding moment with my sumpungin nephew. 

Needless to say, that is probably the best deal I ever got for 63 pesos.