Japanese Food is Soul Food

Maybe you're wondering how J and I spent the Valentine's Day.. Well, we really don't celebrate 'Valentine's Day' since we became 'us'. There's no definite reason for this but maybe because for us, every day is Valentine's Day. I know, that sounds cheesy!

Moving on, we had dinner at Nodasho in Little Tokyo. If you're residing in Makati, I am sure you know this place. Restaurants here are known for serving authentic Japanese cuisine. We wanted to stay away from heavy traffic and from the mall crowd so this was a perfect place.

I super love maki so I ate a lot of these.

Not a fan of gyoza though.

It was my first time to try an okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) and I find it very flavorful and filling. If only I wasn't full from eating too much maki, I could have finished slices of this.

Have you tried eating at Little Tokyo? What other Japanese restaurants do you love?

Up, Up and Away!

I really had no plans to go to the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival until the last minute. I don’t know why, honestly! I just felt I needed to be there. *big smile*

Anyways, I purchased tickets last Friday from SM Ticketnet outlet in SM Makati. This is probably the best thing I did! Why? Because the queue on the event is shorter if you have tickets already. I wouldn’t have the patience to line up especially if I lack sleep. Yes, I woke up at 3 am to prepare for this. J picked me up at 4:30 am.  As we expected, heavy traffic greeted us at the entrance of Clark so we were able to get inside at around 5:40 am.

Reminders for those who plan to attend the festival:

*** Buy tickets beforehand. Trust me, it will be a lot easier.

*** Be on the venue as early as 4 am or earlier if you can. Parking your vehicle takes time. Also, you will need to walk from the parking to the venue. Plus, there is a long queue on the entrance itself.

*** Wear comfortable clothing and foot wear. You will not perspire because it’s still early morning and the cold February breeze is prevalent. But you will need closed foot wear because the passageways are not cemented. There are also parts which are full of weeds.

*** Bring water to rehydrate yourself from walking. An umbrella should be kept handy in case it rains or you decide to stay until after the sun shines.

*** Bring food if you can. Although there are food concessionaires, I think that they are pricey. J bought a tapsilog meal for P100 (he said it didn’t taste good) and I had a pork bbq (which is 60% meat and 40% fat) for P35.

Here are some photos from the festival. We didn’t have the chance to go near the balloons since we didn't have a press/media/sponsor pass. Nevertheless, we felt like kids watching the balloons being inflated and then finally flying to the sky.

Did you go to the festival? How was your experience?

Light Dinner and Hard Laughter

This is one of those night when we are tired of just staying home (condo) and decide to have dinner somewhere else. It's a spontaneous night of eating, laughing and just enjoying each other's company.

J dropped us at Burgos Circle in The Fort where we have a (light) dinner at Uncle Cheffy.

On the table:

I love pomelo very much so no doubt I like this salad. This one's actually a regular-sized order but it's already good for sharing.

Grilled Prawns and Pomelo Salad (P295)

Oven dried tomatoes, mushroom garlic, anchovy, chili flakes, basil and three cheese- isn't that enough to make you hungry? Oh well, this panizza tastes so much better than it looks. Rolling a strip with fresh arugula and alfalfa sprouts completes the flavorful experience. 

Uncle Cheffy Favorites Panizza (P395)

Our panizza is thin (as all panizzas should be) but really filling. I think it's because of the generous amount of toppings. I especially love the saltiness of the cheese that made me want to grab another strip.

What's more delicious than ending the night with a Serenitea drink? I think I'm developing an addiction to milk tea lately. This is the same addiction I had with yogurt then. Good thing there's a branch in Rada which is a few minutes walk from my office building. :)

Happy weekend all! Don't forget to let loose and have fun once in a while. :) 

In Great Company

Woah, it's February already! I can't believe how time flies by so fast! 2012 has been really good to me so far. I can't thank God enough for all the blessings He's giving me. Thank you, Lord! :)

I want to share with you my last meet-up with my high school friends. You see, we are the closest even if we don't see each other very often. I would like to think that it is because we have had really good times together when we were still teens and we truly treasure our friendship all these years.

We had a quick dinner at Racks in SM Pampanga. It was my first time to eat there and unfortunately, I didn't like the food. The ribs platter that we ordered wasn't juicy and flavorful and the side dishes were sort of dry. Too bad. But then again, it wasn't a big deal because we had a good time catching up with our lives, love life included. Haha!

After dinner, we hang out at an open-air bar and restaurant. Hey, I don't drink but I just want to be with them. The endless stories and hard laughter really made my night. I so missed these girls!

We are all quite busy with work and studies but I really am thankful that we still get to be together. I love you so much girls! You know that. Mwah!