Baker and Spice... and everything nice

I was in Shanghai for a short vacation with my friends last year.  We stayed at The Portman Ritz-Carlton on West Nanjing Road, the better end of Nanjing.  And being at the Ritz guarantees that you are just nearby some cool places.  And that means Din Tai Fung and Baker and Spice just in the building complex!

We thought Baker and Spice was just a muffin place so we opted for Starbucks, also in the building complex, for our first breakfast in Shanghai.  A Shanghai-based friend picked us for lunch and mentioned that Baker and Spice was a good place to have breakfast so decided to give it a try the next day.  The moment we entered the place, we fell in love with it!  It was more than a coffee shop!  It was simply cozy and they served the yummiest sandwiches, breads and coffee.  We practically ate everytime there.  Oh how I wish we have some sort of a Baker and Spice in Manila....

Peer Gynt: Morning Mood

One of the reasons for getting me back to write is Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.  I was checking out a friend's Facebook account, saw this and got inspired.  A good Morning Mood to everyone!

I am back!

It has been a while (more than a year in fact) since I logged in.  I was thinking of deleting my blog before and thought it was just a passing thing.  Good thing I did not...  It's good to be back.  I have lots to write about :)

SMURFed

I am on vacation leave for the past two days and this afternoon, I watched "The Smurfs" with Peppe, Juju and Ate Sai.  It was an absolutely cute movie, I had giggling moments. The Smurfs became a hit way back when I was in high school I remember the finger puppets were sold at National Bookstore.  I was not a big fun back them.  It is only now that I learned who they really are -  all so cute ad cuddly.  The movie was an enjoyable one.  Try catching the movie in a theatre near you if it is not too late - and feel good about it!

My Mang Inasal food trip

This is day 4 of my Mang Inasal chicken diet (not!).  The first time I ever tasted Mang Inasal was just this Tuesday and I totally became I fan.  I ordered my first ever Mang Insasal PM1 (leg and thigh with unlimited rice for only Php99!).  I got home past 10 in the evening with a very satisfied stomach.  The following day, my office mates and I were craving for more we ordered "to go" but I was not able to enjoy the meal as I was in a rush.  Come afternoon, I invited my friends to go to Mang Inasal (jut nearby our office) again for dinner. This time, we all ate with our hands which made the meal more enjoyble. Imagine juicy chicken eaten with chicken oil drizzled over hot rice.  Happiness!  This past 2 days, I have been eating Mang Inasal still.  And tomorrow, I will be making my own inasal- complete with chicken oil.

Here are photos of Mang Inasal picked from the web.  

Pictures pa lang, nakakagutom na!

I will be posting my chicken inasal shots soon.

Got my bikes!

The wait is over!  I finally got my bikes yesterday- a Giant Revel 3 2012 and a Giant Revel 4 2012.  Both are entry level bikes.  Who would complain?  I have not biked in 30 years and I do not know if I still can.  I am hoping to take a vacation from work so I can do some biking this week.

A Batangas Day!

We were in Anilao, Batangas yesterday to bring some balikbayan friends for some swimming and diving. We left Manila at 6 a.m. and met up with some other guys at McDo-Petron in SLEX. We headed to Mt. Malarayat Gold and Country Club at Lipa, Batangas to pick up the balikbayans, chit chat with their folks and some photo  taking at their very picturesque backyard- the golf course itself!  We finally reached our destination, Bambu Villa,  at almost noon after being stuck at the Batangas City junctions.  (We later found out that it was Batangas Day so probably there was a parade that held up the traffic!)

As soon as we arrived, the kids practically jumped into the pool! This was all they were waiting for after hours in the van.  And as soon as they got into the pool, it started to rain so, we, the oldies went up and waited for the buffet lunch to open.  And here we stayed and chatted until it was practically time to pack up and go.  Lunch and merienda were so-so but we sure did a lot of catching up and reminiscing- and snacking on all sorts of chips. We left the resort at past seven too tired to even mind about dinner. Good thing Edith made reservations at Johanna's Grille at Bauan, Batangas.  I was not excited anymore as I was dead tired but dining at Johanna's capped the day indeed! They served fork tender hickory barbecued baby-back ribs!  It was so worth the side trip!  Apparently, Johanna's Grille is a popular stopover place to dine in  for divers coming from Anilao. The servings are huge and cheap. A big slab of ribs costs Php200 and this comes with corn and a scoop of rice.  I went for a smaller slab that was just Php180 (a similar dish would cost more than Php500 in Manila)
It was truly enjoyable Batangas Day indeed!  We were in 3 Batangas towns yesterday!  As soon as we hit the road for Manila, I dozed off until we were almost near Edith's house where I parked my car!  Thanks Norman for driving to and from Batangas as I was no big help!  Thanks much!