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Art Center

DSC05534, originally uploaded by calista flippers.

Our country is a home of multi talented individuals. From actors and actresses, sports figures, successful entrepreneurs, writers and painters, we Filipinos are known all over the world because of our notable talents and skills.

Lately i've been wondering around a mall somewhere in the Metro and here's what i bumped into; a work of some of our local artists displayed in the Art Center (click here).

Duets

Friday nights are the best night. Thanks to Mr. Diaz for the very informative site awesomeplanet; I have been informed of this theatrical play "Duets". Duets of Repertory Philippines is four vignettes performed by two actors that explores the lighter side of romance and relationships. Though doubt clouded me when I saw the crowd entering the theater (most of them are on there 30's and are couples), i didn't get any disappointment at the end of the show.

Me and Dale keeps on laughing to our hearts content on the full duration of the play. We become unmindful of how hard and loud our laugh is. Blame it to the plots humor and the people on our back who at the same time are throwing a full load of laughter to the performers.

If you happened to experience the show, you'll definitely know why they deserved the good reviews from the viewers, especially for the last scene which is my favorite of all the four act. The last one is I think the most humorous plus the one of all four that received the loudest clap from the viewers. Maybe that's why it is the one served as the finale; the best is served last.

I was just a bit sad that i wasn't able to take some pictures due to the strict theater security. But i have gathered some from sources.

Angela is about to marry for the third time and brother Toby hates the dress, the groom, the party and only wants the best for her—really.

Shelley and Bobby are divorcing on a holiday in Boracay but drunk on emotion.

Barrie is gay and Janet wishes he wasn’t.

Leaving w/ no trace of disappointment, the show gathered a good rating from me. It run for 2.5 hours and it left us all with an empty stomach. Well maybe because we already have burned our calories stretching our mouth.

We pulled our feet to Pepper Lunch to have our dinner. It was Dale's choice but sorry it was already closed by that time. A bit disappointed we walked straight the corner and ended to California Pizza Kitchen and heres what we got ☺☺☺:

Penne with slices of grilled spicy Italian sausage, mild onions, red and yellow peppers and Parmesan cheese in CPK's own Marinara sauce


Thinly pounded chicken breast, lightly breaded and sauteed, topped with fresh arugula, shaved Parmesan cheese and combination of tomatoes, basil, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil


Fresh mushrooms, pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, Mozzarella cheese and CPK tomato sauce

At the end of the the day i was asked if i enjoyed it. I said "Well...Good show, good food and good company... and then i SMILE☺. Next Friday?

Mom's and Tina

Lately i've been spending most of my time after shift in a cafe restaurant i recently discovered about 3 mos ago. It is Mom's and Tina's Bakery Cafe along De La Rosa St. in Makati. One late afternoon while i was browsing the Net to look for a good food restaurant, i came up with a good review for Mom's and Tina's. Since it stands a few distance from where Im working, so why not try and justify the good reviews i have read..

So i planned to meet my friend, Aloha for a dinner that following Saturday. What catches my attention was the very homey ambiance of the place. At the center of every table sits a lighted candle and a bouquet of flowers. Ahuh such a lovely evening! I noticed that most of the decoration of the cafe is very unique in style. From the wall paintings, the choice of the seats and there they are!. On top of their counter is the collection of a little miniature of different houses. It looks like a doll houses in an antique style.

Much as i wanted to sit on the big couch, i had my seat on a round table because the comfortable couch were already taken to my dismay. I think its really fun having that seat since its huge, soft and i can have my Indian style kind of seat :). Well the round wooden furnished table is good and the wooden chair is equally comfortable so the next thing i focused myself with is the menu.


Though the place is named Bakery Cafe there are a lot of food choices not limited to pastry and cakes. They offered variety of salad for the starters, different pasta and meal courses. After scanning the list of food that would possible make my night, i decided to go for Spinach Lasagna and Aloha ordered Meatball Spaghetti. They were fast serving the food. 15 minutes and we are already ready to eat what we ordered. Mom's and Tina's provide big servings, enough to make your stomach full for just a single order of pasta. Im happy as well that the pasta also comes with 2 garlic cheese roll.

Satisfied as i am I would definitely set another dinner on Mom's and Tinas.

Nuvali

Struck. Yes! that was the word i can describe myself when i set my feet off the van i am riding to Nuvali. I cant believe how fast the transformation of this town is. My sister Lovelyn used to work here in Laguna (Infonxx, now KGB) and it is not the first time that i get to see this town. But now, here i am at the side of the street and still in awe of the sight prompted in front of me.

Sta. Rosa as what i can remember back then is a town with vast green fields and some few uncultivated piece of land, the roads were not that polished and the houses - most of them are not really eye-catchy. But hey again!.I looked around and ask the question again. Am i on the right place?.

I mean, i know i could be exaggerating but i really cant help but be amazed by how fast this town has developed. The greenfield that seems to be endless has turned out to this amazing sight...

Ayala Corporation did one hell of a great job with Nuvali. According to my research☺, Nuvali stands for new beginnings.

* “Nova”, latin for birth of star
* “Valley”, a place of growth and substance

And Ayala Land justify the word substance with just the look of Nuvali.

Too much of the advertisement and so lets continue with my trip. I entered Nuvali and go straight Starbucks to wait and meet my usual date, Dale who is just living inside AUP, 7 mins ride from where i am. I chose to sit outside the cafe to cover my eyes on the place while waiting for my friend. To my delight in front of the cafe stands a 2-storey National Book Store. I am a bookworm and seeing another place of comfort delights me!. .I can live inside a bookstore all my life!

Another thing that amazed me is the atmosphere of the place, its near Tagaytay and it is very cold. I have to round up my neck a scarf even in the middle of the afternoon. The air is so cool and the ambiance of the place is so peaceful. Really a perfect place to just sit down, relax, look around and be at piece with a book in hand.

Dale arrived and he took me an a tour around the place. We went around the man made lake with so much Koi fish. There's so many of them that they have to jump each others body to catch the food being thrown at them. It is so much fun feeding the Koi fish!. I feel like id been back to my childhood and i cant hide the delight in my eyes. After feeding the fish, i went off and rent a bike to go around the whole place. It is so cheap for only P60 for the full hour and comes with a protective helmet. Good! All the people here is so warm and friendly. Even one of the personnel help me chose a low seat bike because the standard one is so high for me.

Thank you Manong! And so there i go and follow the trail provided on the map. I went to the bridge over the lake, the patio, over the landscape and far on the Glass house. Yes, there is a Glass house in Nuvali.If you go over with your family you can also go rent a boat and go water biking. I just don't know how much the rate is but i assume it is cheap since a lot of people i see go for one!.


Finally after a long and fun biking experience we decided to take our late lunch or might be just the early diner of the day. We have a lot of choices like Italianni's, Brothers Burger, Reyes Barbeque, Domo Tomo and etc., we decide to take our food at Conti's.

....and what comes to our table is this...

For the appetizer we have:

Buffalo Wings
Juicy chicken wings glazed with zesty tomato sauce served with blue cheese.

For the entree, Dale decided to try Chicken Ballotine which is so creamy and according to him is delicious.

Chicken Ballotin
Meat-stuffed boneless chicken breast rolled in creamy sauce and served with buttered vegetables and garlic rice.

For the variety of food list the is in front of me, i opt for a healthy one. So i go for Seafood Au Gratin, which for me the fish is quite bitter for my tongue..

Seafood Au Gratin
Fillet of fish with assorted seafood sauce topped with melted cheese served over garlic rice.

After the meal i left the place with a big smile on my face. I fell in love with Nuvali and i know i would definitely be back soon with my family and close friends.

Welcome

Whew!. At last may blog n din ako.. Actually, this is not the first time that i would be blogging. The truth is i started installing WordPress blog on my hosting package long time ago but decided to uninstall it since i dont have time to manage it anyway. That was when Facebook is on its verge of making everybody addicted to it with all its social applications and games. Guilty as charge, I'm one of those people.Well, i must say, social applications they are very popular nowadays with so much advances in terms of technology having the same height as how people get to much attached with Internet.


So much to say, well, here i am starting to deploy myself in to another hobby - blogging. I'm still unsure of the theme il be using for this blog but i guess I'm glad that i got now a new tool to help myself flowing, posting some lines and opening my life to public reading.


I guess, this will just cover my everyday living. This will cover how i woke up everyday, how i start and end it and what comes in between. I can foresee that most of my entries here will be mostly about food and places, since that is where my passion lies. Everytime that i dine out, i always make sure that i took pictures of what i ate- starting from the appetizer to the entree and even the hot coffee i took after the meal. I am a very big fan of good food and restaurant. I've tried quite a few restaurant around Makati and South and most of them range from ordinary to EXCELLENT. Expect the images of those luscious food on the next entries. Enough of the introduction. Welcome to my blog and come with me while i learn, enjoy, share and reveal myself to the world of the bloggers.


SMILE☺