Best Of '09... Part 2

Best Viral Videos of 2009:

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

In second place:

Kanye Interrupts Taylor Swift at the VMA's

(worth mentioning: Baby Dancing to Single Ladies, and Susan Boyle's Britain's Got Talent Audition)

Best Weirdly Awesome/Awesomely Weird TV Character:

Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

In second place:

Sue Sylvester, Glee

Best Dessert Place of The Year:

Classic Confections (Nono's Chocolate Oblivion cake)

In second place:

Tie: Cafe Breton (Adam and Eve crepe), Wicked Kitchen (Gluttony)

Best Fish Dish I Tasted For The First time This Year:

Cookbook Kitchen's Parmesan Crusted White Fish

In second place:

Fely J's Tilapia with Sweet Plum Sauce

Best Sandwich for Lunch In the Office:

Subway's Italian B.M.T. in Parmesan Oregano Bread with Honey Mustard and Sweet Onion dressing

In second place:

Delifrance's Frech Dip Roast Beef

Most "I don't get it..." Music Trend of 2009:

Justin Bibier being popular (I mean come on, his voice is exactly a quarter of an octave lower than Alvin and the Chipmunks')

In second place:

K-Pop girl bands.

Most Annoying Showbiz Issues of 2009:

Hayden Kho sex tapes. (Seriously, a senate hearing? So you just couldn't find anywhere else to waste our tax money on, Bong Revilla?)

In second place:

Manny Pacquiao's alleged extra-marital affair with Krista Ranillo. (At least he didn't try to beat Tiger Woods' list of hoes.)

Best Starbucks Pastry That I Eat With My Cafe Mocha:

Banoffee Pie

In second place:

Cinnamon Swirl

2009 Pinoy Hero:

Muelmar Magallanes

In second place:

Efren Peñaflorida

Awesome Things, and Things One Should Probably Rethink Before Trying

Had a great time last Wednesday, celebrating my team lead Jonpe's and my former team lead Seph's new roles. The pics are over here. It was a fun night with the free food and beer, and the all-night karaoke. But what really made it awesome was when one of our teammates suddenly was given a rose by a "mystery" guy. What's funnier is my teammates went out to investigate who the "mystery" rose-sender was, and they were given the most obvious clue about who it was by the staff who delivered the rose... ROTFLMAO! Some things just align in a way that makes you think the universe intended them to happen exactly like that, and some things, well, not quite sometimes.

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Nickelodeon is back on my cable. I can finally watch Fairly-Odd Parents again. Yay.

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The Amazing Race 13 had teams going to Siem Reap, Cambodia last episode. Woohoo! They went to Angkor Wat for the roadblock task (where teams had to look for the Chamber of Echoes, which I think I found when I was there, but I had no idea that it was a chamber where you had to thump your chest to hear an echo), and to Bayon Temple for the pit stop. Awesome awesome awesome!

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Krispy Kreme has some new Reese-flavored donuts. Which will probably make me fatter because I love Krispy Kreme, and I love chocolate, and I love peanut butter. (I just took home a half dozen box of donuts for the weekend, right now only two are left.) Hurray for my belly!


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Now playing: The Magic Numbers - Mornings Eleven
via FoxyTunes

Other Food Products, #4

Damn It. So apparently Lotte Koala Biscuit (Family Pack)(Chocolate Filled)(Double Chocolate Flavor) is contaminated with Melamine. I ate a whole pack when I was in Hong Kong a few weeks ago.

Well, the bright side is, this buys me a viable excuse to go on endless sick leaves from work.

Officemate: Absent ka na naman? Tamad ka talaga.
Me: What? You're calling me lazy? Don't you know what I'm going through??? My kidneys are failing because of the Lotte Koala Biscuit pack that I ate 3 weeks ago! I'm so sick my piss is milk chocolate and my shit is shaped like koalas!

Anyway.

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The Amazing Race 13 premiered last Monday am here in Manila. The 13th season's first leg had teams going to Brazil. Woohoo! I'm a huge TAR geek so I'm happy the show's back. However, the premiere wasn't as exciting as I thought it could've been, partly because the tasks weren't that hard, and partly because the Married Beekeeping senior citizens were so slow and unexciting, their elimination was basically a foregone conclusion. Last year's premiere was awesome, because really, it's hard to top braying donkeys in Ireland when it comes to comic relief.


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Now playing: Massive Attack - Live With Me
via FoxyTunes

That Box Is Now Empty

I just got my new (work) laptop last week. So far, everything is going well, except for the part where I can't send or receive emails on my Outlook. It's really annoying me big time.

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It's been raining pretty much the whole night.

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Did you know that Ping Lacson blogs? It's kind of interesting. I wonder if it's actually him who writes on it or just a really smart intern. He posted the transcript of his privilege speech on his blog and I just found it hilarious that the / and // are still there to denote the short and long pauses.

You'd think the intern would remember to remove them before clicking "PUBLISH POST"

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I'm hungry. And there's no ready-to-eat food in my ref or anywhere in my kitchen for that matter. Damn it. I said in my previous post that I brought home one box of Royce' Dark Chocolate. Well, the problem is it was just one box and that box is now empty.

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Funny thing. Last Friday marked my 3rd year working for my company. It's also the only company I've ever worked for after I graduated from college. I didn't think I'd be so loyal, but I apparently am. Funny thing about loyalty, is there's usually an underlying reason that motivates it. Money, comfort, contentment, safety and security. Actual happiness. Or actual laziness that prevents you from searching for a better replacement. Funny, that.


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Now playing: Radiohead - Street Spirit
via FoxyTunes

Add Salt and Pepper To Taste

I realized that for the past month that I've been spending way too much money on food. With the frequent take-outs from Sbarro in the nearby SM mall and the almost-nightly deliveries for pizza and giant burgers (and the frequent trips to Starbucks and Seattle's Best for coffee breaks in between work) being the main culprits. So last Saturday, to conserve my dwindling cash-on-hand, I attempted to cook a meal that would last me the whole weekend. I just basically grabbed whatever I saw on our kitchen cabinet and mixed them all up, and I came up with a dish I would like to christen Mackerel with Garlic Mushrooms in Tomato-Teriyaki Sauce. I think I'm Top Chef material.

Ok... So it was canned sardines in tomato sauce with canned button mushrooms with lots of garlic and onions and instant teriyaki sauce from a bottle (+ sesame oil, some basil, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.)

It still tasted good though.

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The 13th season of The Amazing Race is coming in September! WOOOOHOOOO!!! And according to this article, the teams will be going for the first time to Cambodia! Awesome! I've always wanted TAR to go to Cambodia, because 1) it just fits a TAR location, in my mind, with the exotic culture, non-English-speaking people, unconventional transportation methods, and the beautiful landscape. 2) any temple in the Angkor complex would make a great pit stop and 3) up until last month, it was one of my dream destinations that I've never been to yet, so I was hoping my all-time favorite show would take me there. (The linked article has more location and other pseudo-spoilers that came from the show's executive producer, btw)


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Now playing: Massive Attack - Live With Me
via FoxyTunes

Buzzed

Just got my head shaved (blade numero dos) and now, whenever I'm bored, I just run my hands all over my head. I like how the stubbles feel on my hand... Now I know why Britney did it.

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If you're ever going to eat at Cyma, make sure you order their Saganaki. It's awesome. And if you like cheese and good burger as much as I do, you'd love their Bifteka. Wagyu beef burger with a big block of Feta Cheese right on top. Mouth-watering, bites of good food is what it is.





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Now playing: Phoenix - Long Distance Call
via FoxyTunes

Things That Are 5 Years In The Making

I've been heaping a heavy dose of instant yakisoba, pancit canton and chicken noodles on my hungry mouth for the past few weeks. If not that, it's usually tuna or corned beef from the can.

I need to learn how to cook good food. Badly.

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In other news, my favorite hottie Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia is in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open! She's been a quarterfinalist at a Grand Slam thrice before, but the last time was in 2003 when she was still 19. She beat my other favorite hottie Maria Kirilenko (from the earlier post) in a two hour match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

She next faces teenager Agnieszka Radwanska, who comes from my favorite Polish city of Krakow :P

Podme Daniela!






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Now playing: Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter [Live]
via FoxyTunes

Channel 82

BBC Food is gone from our cable. Just disappeared without notice.

Damn. I loved watching that channel.


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Now playing: Portishead - Sour Times
via FoxyTunes

I'd recommend it, except for that thing it does on your ass.

Last night, I had dinner with my officemates Becca, Joseph, Mia (who came all the way to Makati from the Ortigas office) and Mike to celebrate one of our company's attempts to stop us from moving to another job (in other companies, of course.) (Jan was also supposed to be with us but she was not feeling well as had to go home early. Boo!)

Mia and I decided that we were eating at Bubba Gump in nearby Greenbelt since we were hungry and that place doesn't disappoint with serving sizes. However, one of us (who I will hide under the name Poseph) was still stuck in a meeting, so... this meant we had to wait for him. And we did. For the next two hours or so.

Then when we were finally ready to leave, Poseph suggested that we dump the Bubba Gump idea and head to Serendra so we could dine at one of the restaurants there. We agreed with him (despite historical facts that if only we remembered then would have reminded us that we should never entertain Poseph's suggestions regarding places to eat. *cough*Tony Roma's*cough*) and headed to Serendra. When we got there, the first question that popped into our heads was "Where do we eat?", a question that never seems to get an answer within 15 minutes of its question mark.

The first restaurant we went to was Polu Kai, but they were at that time only serving appetizers and desserts (we waited two hours remember?) Then after that, we headed to Brazil! Brazil!, because they were serving buffet, but by that time, the food on the near empty trays didn't look too appetizing. So we headed to Mezza Luna, but they were already closed. So we settled for Portico, which was a nice enough place. The food was pretty good so I'm not gonna complain there. I ordered Grilled Gindara with balsamic vinegar and some other stuff as the sauce, and it tasted really good. The fish was melt-in-your-mouth soft and the sauce tasted great. I'd recommend it except it has a weird after effect. On your ass. (Let's just say I'm glad I stayed home today.)

After dinner, we headed to Cupcakes by Sonja to eat some... cupcakes... by Sonja. The cupcakes are really overpriced and the place is really popular now in the sort of way that rich teenagers wearing booty shorts flock to them (on a *gasp* school night!), so that should only mean that the cupcakes are great, right? Anyway, Poseph paid for the the cupcakes so that made those wittle things taste better. =P

The best gifts are the gifts you get

The best gifts are the gits you get even when you're not celebrating anything.

Thursday Last Week:

I met up with some high school friends two Thursday's ago for a long overdue and much-delayed dinner out. We ate at A Venetto in Glorietta 3 and ordered more food than we could eat, which is usually the case whenever I eat at A Venetto (I always underestimate their huge serving/I always overestimate my appetite for pasta.) (I highly recommend their Oil and Garlic with Ham and Bacon in White Sauce, btw.) I haven't been seeing much of my high school friends as much as I want, so seeing them again after some time was really nice. High school friends are the best people to share a good laugh really (between the Walking Human Mirror Ball and the Salted Duck Egg-and-Potato jokes, what could be better?)

After dinner, we rode a cab home to Las Pinas (where we all live) and winded our night down at the kapihang bayan ng Las Pinas (take a guess), where we were able to extort money for a cup of coffee from SMART-employed Mel. We were more than happy to accept Mel's offer(?) to treat us since we know how generous Smart is with their Christmas bonuses (hint hint).

Friday Last Week:

The next night, I met up with my PEx tennis friends (Ron and his friend Trish, PJ and Anuck) in NSG to have dinner and to watch the Roger Federer-Nicolas Kiefer Aussie open semis match (we ate dinner, but we basically ignored the match coz we were too busy eating/talking. The Fed was gonna win in four sets anyways). The highlight of my night though was when PJ gave me his brand new copy of Jeff Buckley's first and only studio album Grace.

The back story: PJ is a big Jason Mraz fan, and so is Ron I guess, and they were talking about the Mraz concert that they both watched some days before (Mraz did two shows in Manila and PJ actually watched both, presumably so that he could write a compreshensive thesis of how Mraz's singing and performances in Manila changes from one night to another. Hehe.) Anywayz, they asked me if I liked Mraz too, and I said I think he's okay but I don't like him enough to watch his shows. And then I said If it was Damien Rice then I would definitely go watch, and if it was Jeff Buckley, then I would kill anyone who stops me from watching. So PJ asks me if I had a copy of Jeff Buckely's Grace, and I said no because it's so hard to find Jeff Buckley cd's anywhere here in Manila. Then suddenly he takes out the Grace CD he has in his bag that he got for a very looow price when he was in Singapore and said that I could have it since he already had the Grace Legacy Edition. Ofcourse there was a few seconds of me pretending like I was too shy to accept such a generous gift, but that only lasted a few seconds because there was no way in hell I was letting PJ change his mind.

I then proceeded to declare PJ "My favorite person in the world for the next five days."

This weekend:

I planned to talk about my weekend but the weekend is not yet over and this post already has too many words in it, so I'll just blog it next time... (I think I'll call my next entry Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!)

Much Has Been Said...

Bought the Bamboo album "Light Peace Love"

I have to admit it's a really good album... Not really a big fan of the band, but after hearing the whole album, I gotta say, yeah it's very impressive.

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Happy Halloween kids.

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I finally got to eat at Cibo last week. I always wanted to do that place but never got around to actually eating there. So last Sunday, we went over to my brother's house in Cainta where we had lunch, then later that night went to Gateway Mall in Araneta (site of my 7-hour Neil Gaiman Experience) because my parents have never been there and they wanted to check out the place. I treated my parents, my kuya and his wife (my sis was in Puerto Galera, where apparently, she got stung by a jellyfish) to celebrate (celebrate nga ba talaga ang tawag dun??? gagastos ka para sa kabusugan ng iba? not that I'm complaining, but....) my first paycheck. Anywayz, I highly recommend the Funghi Pizza, forgot what it's called but it's the pizza with mushrooms in it, and the La Foresta Pasta.

/end of plug

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Caught season 3 of 24 on AXN some days ago. That show is damn good.

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Michael Jackson and the Brownie Factory

Watched Charlie and the chocolate Factory yesterday. The movie was really good... Fun to watch (especially the Oompah-loompahs' musical numbers, hahaha...) I was seated beside Mela (my life in a box), who (I think) was hyperventilating when Charlie finally found the last golden ticket (don't worry, she survived the rest of the movie ;P), and behind us was a group of grandmothers, who were reacting to every fucking thing that happened in the movie
Grandmother 1: Ay, mabait kasi si Charlie eh...
Grandmother 2: Gwapong bata pa, ano?
Grandmother 3: Ay, ayan na! ayan na! Tanggalin mo na yung wrapper Charlie, bilis!
(short silence) ay... wala pa ring golden ticket?
Gotta tell you though, their reactions were as funny as they were annoying...

Johnny Depp was also really creepy as Willy Wonka. Two words: Michael Jackson.
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I used to buy these brownies in the cafe inside Aristo in La Salle. Those brownies were awesome!!! They were really fudgy, it's like you're biting into a brownie that was 90% chocolate fudge... yum... For some reason though, they stopped selling it some months ago. I probably shouldn't tell you, but I mourned that for about a week (the same way that I mourned when Tubby's raised the price of their Mocha Mud Pie to P150), and every time I pass by Aristo, I'd always come in and check if they had those brownies for sale again. They never did. Sometimes, when I think about it, I still feel kinda... sad and... empty.

Or at least until I got a taste of Sugarhouse's chocolate brownie, woohoo! Out of all the brownies I've tasted, this is the only one that comes close to the taste (and it's also like biting into a brownie that's 90% chocolate fudge. )




I gotta say, those brownie are so good it makes me want to write something in metaphors.