This iz it, folks. After years of making halfhearted attempts, Toto and I were finally able to do a 4.5-hour food trip + walking tour around UP Diliman. That's one item checked off our {imaginary} bucket list - HURRAH!
0 Comments
This is another case of wanted-to-try-a-new-resto-but-ended-up-eating-in-another kind of Sunday. And to be honest, we couldn't care less because we thought it was high time we went back to one of our ultimate, most favoritest, bestest places to eat comfort food - *drum roll please* - Uncle Moe's Shawarma Hub!
I.CAN'T.STOP.EATING. If tomorrow were judgment day, I'd probably be given a one-way ticket to hell for gluttony.. and I'd tag along Toto :p If I were to choose where to eat for the last time before the said "flight" (God forbid!), I'd probably say Jatujak Thai Restaurant at SM North The Block, one of our ultimate go-to places for yummy comfort food!
Toto and I have been hearing a lot of good things about Casa Verde but there was a long queue outside the restaurant when we arrived on a busy Sunday night, which led us to try 8Cuts Burger Blends at UP Town Center instead. From their FB page: "The name ‘8Cuts’ is a reference to the eight cuts of beef used in the 5 custom blends that only 8Cuts offers — chuck, rib eye, short rib, sirloin, brisket, hanger, flank and ox tail. All patties are made in-house from 100% pure U.S. beef. Our patties are also hand-pressed so no two are ever the same, adding to a unique experience!" Quic kie is my blog's newest section that features short posts about random things - stuff that don't require the whole weekend to write and publish! ;) Here I'll feature quick eats, quick trips, quick picks, etc.! And what better way to kick off this new section than to write something about food! This blog post is fresh off the grill (pun very much intended) as we only visited this small deli a few hours ago! (which is very unlike me as it takes me at least a month after the event/trip happens to attempt to post)
So anyway, I'm talking about Almon Marina in SM North The Block. We had more than half an hour to kill before my schedule with the ophthalmologist and since we were starving (an hour after we had lunch!!), we decided to stroll around the mall and look for light snacks other than KFC. When we reached the ground floor and saw a girl looking at Almon Marina's menu, we got curious. When we saw that it serves subs and salad, it was a done deal ;) I can't believe it's been almost half a year since I last updated this blog! NOT. I'm on blogging hiatus most of the time so I don't know why I'm feeling obliged to blog now...must be the PMS/hormones. Hihi. So anyway, I'm loving how 2014 is turning up so far! There are a lot less travels but much more reconnecting sessions with family and longtime friends. And oh, a lot of pigging out, too! Ah, good times. January: Abe's Farm and Reunions Toto and I celebrated our 9th anniversary of being together (OMG, I feel so old) in this bed and breakfast a couple of hours away from Manila. It is not the best we've been to, the food is mediocre (and expensive), the place is not well maintained, and the massage is overpriced (!!) but we enjoyed our stay just by hanging around and doing nothing. LOL. I will blog about Abe's Farm in detail soon. I promise :D
While everyone was busy shopping in SM North, Trinoma and Divi ten days before Christmas, Toto and I decided to hang out at R20 Lifestyle Hub (I know, it sounds so fancy). It's a new place located in the intersection of Road 20 and Mindanao Avenue in Project 8, Quezon City (scroll down for the map!).
It was a laid-back kind of Sunday for the two of us who decided it was best to avoid the holiday rush in the malls but wanted to get out of the house. I thought I could do a bit of shopping in their bazaar but nothing really caught my attention. Everything was just super marked-up Divisoria stuff anyway. But hey, at least the bazaar venue was air-conditioned! And the entrance was (and still is) free. There were more or less ten food stalls and a beer station in the 'hub' so it's not exactly what foodies would call a food heaven, but the choices were more than enough for us who just wanted to chill. Besides, a beer station is always more than enough ;-) We spent two hours eating overpriced isaw, listening to aspiring rock bands, criticizing their voices, and talking about random things. R20 Lifestyle Hub, although not as bongacious as Noel Bazaar nor as popular as Banchetto / Mercato Centrale / Mezza Norte, is a good alternative for people who just want a relaxed venue to drink a couple of bottles of beer and chat the night away with good friends :) If it weren't for a raket, Toto and I wouldn't be able to visit La Mesa Eco Park this soon. It's not exactly in our list of places-to-visit-this-holiday-season but we just couldn’t let the opportunity pass. As expected on a Sunday, there were already A LOT of people in La Mesa when we arrived at 11:30am. There were families picnicking, bird watchers holding onto their binoculars every other minute, photographers taking pre-nuptial and pre-debut shots of their clients, kids rolling on the garden, college students holding their team-building activities and couples taking a nap. It’s like a bigger, greener, relatively cleaner but noisier version of Quezon City Memorial Circle.
After walking aimlessly along Maginhawa St. on a humid Saturday night, Toto and I finally decided on trying Don-Day Restaurant in Malingap St. I've never eaten in a Korean restaurant before because I heard their food tastes weird (and they probably think the same about Pinoy food) so I didn't know what to expect from Don Day.
It was the first day of May and Kert was asking the heavens for some rain because he said, and I quote, "Swerte ang unang ulan ng buwan kaya kelangan nating maligo sa ulan!" With the scorching heat from Mr. Sunshine's rays, I doubted it would rain on Labor Day. But lo and behold! At 12:30 in the afternoon, the heavy rains poured over the metro. We wasted no time and immediately ran outside the house to bathe under the rain. Fast forward to 15 minutes later, the rain abruptly stopped and we were left wanting for more teardrops from heaven. I was desperate and being the impulsive me, I declared to them that I would buy an inflatable swimming pool in Puregold to quench our water lust. They all looked at me as if buying a pool was the most ridiculous idea ever XD It may qualify as one, but hey! I WANTED TO SWIIIIIM.
We all fell into deep silence and nobody wanted to change clothes. Aaaaand then the much needed light bulb moment came to the rescue when Toto said, "Sa Mahabagin!!!!" |