ATTN: PLDT

I just hope customer care of PLDT take this seriously.

Christmas Party! Lechon and Dessert Galore!

It's Christmas Season!!

People here in Manila celebrate xmas season like there's no tomorrow! It's everywhere and it's really amazing! Christmas lights, Christmas carol, new clothes, loud Christmas music, xmas decorations! and most of all, FOOOOOOOOOD!!

Our department had a little get together (xmas party) since the whole bank division agreed to donate the xms party budget to the typhoon haiyan victims (including the amount agreed for exchange gift)

Yummy home cooked meals!

Creamy spaghetti, and beef with mushrooms

Embotido (Pork sausage like dish), Salad, Cheese and Sausages

Creamy, Sweet, and Indulgently yummy dulce de leche like cake from The Peninsula Hotel. It was soooo yummy and I specially love the nutty taste.

Cheesecake. Words can't describe how perfect this cheesecake is. Creamy at its finest. The cake just melts in your mouth. Every slice is pure heaven. I even thought of buying this cake every month.

JCo Donuts

Yamato Bakery's Cronuts + PNoy + NAIA T3

All Saints day and All Souls day (Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 respectively) are days that  people fluctuate to different terminals to go back to their respective province and greatly commemorate the dead relatives.

Greatly commemorate. It's because here in PH where relatives sleep overnight at the cemetery, you can hardly cross the other side of the cemetery due to volume of people. It is also the time where relatives have their family reunion and of course prepare food.

My Dad and I agreed to meet at my office around 1:00 pm to go to NAIA T3 to catch a 5pm flight. Traffic in Manila is the worst! We left Makati at around 1:30 and drive along EDSA where we find ourselves stuck in traffic. I was calm at that time because we had a lot of time to spare, I slept at the car all the way trough the traffic. I woke up 3:30pm only to find out that our car is not allowed to enter since parking is full and my dad (diabetic, impatient , and maliglaig) is going hyper, I told him that I'll walk and proceed to check-in our bags and he just wait for a few minutes so he can enter the parking lot.

Thank God he was able to get a parking slot (park n fly). Luckily, increase in parking fee is not yet in effect at that time (Read this: Worlds worst airport strikes again one thousand peso parking tickets at NAIA)

I told  my dad the new rate scheme and both of us agreed to just take the cab going to NAIA on feb 2014 going to Hong Kong. I don't mind since our house is a 20 min. ride going to the airport via C5 and our departure time is at 5am, so no worries.

Amazingly, there's no queue of line (Dec. 31  is our departure date. We didn't want to travel on Nov 1 with the exodus of people) at the check-in counters and check-in of bags is done within 10 min. Thank you web-check in. 

As I passed trough the final security, I realized that it only took me 15 min from baggage check-in to final security. No more manual check-in and terminal fee payment. Check in time is cut by half, saved some time for coffee and plane spotting. 

I was ecstatic to have rows of chair for myself.

Then I saw a commotion. I hurriedly went to Cafe France and left my bag to my dad.

Dept. of Transportation and Communication Sec. Jun Abaya ( I'm not thrilled to see him because I find him too inefficient to become a transportation secretary. A transportation secretary should be firm and work fast, transportation is a big contributor to the economy, and the DOTC took a lot of months just to bid out the renovation of Mactan-Cebu International airport) 

President Noynoy Aquino.

Wide! 50% of the travelling people I saw was foreigners.

Breakfast at Cafe 1771

I always wanted to eat breakfast outside the house or outside the office. I'm not a morning person but I certainly love breakfast food. I love fresh egg, ham and orange juice in the morning. Cafe 1771 is open 7am and gain numerous award for their excellence. 

I love the old-spanish style facade of their building and their very pleasant staff. 

Croque Madame (P370) 

It's a croque monsieur topped with sunny side up egg. The egg was fantastic and fresh,it was perfectly cooked (no bubbles on the side) The bread was soft and crispy which is weird but very very delicious (addicting actually) the cheese and ham were nice as well. A total breakfast meal!

Fruit Parfait. Sweet and yummy. The green apple balances the sweet taste of all the fruits which makes this parfait better than ice cream.

Lunch at Florabel

 

Uneventful day for me. It's 8 am and the cab I was riding bumped to a jeepney and it was shocking terrifying. It's the first time that I experience such accident. After that I was nervous and shaking, it kinda ruined my day.

I heard a loud bang! scary but thankfully nothing serious.

Fast forward to lunch time. I was in podium, ortigas to look for a place to eat when I walk across Florabel and I got curios. I must say their menu is appetizing and very unique.

not a living soul was dining here,only me.

A special dip that I don't like. It's weird, salty and too oily.

A Night at The Peninsula Manila

Every stay is like heaven on earth. It's like when Maria went to the swiss alps and make the hills alive.

It was my Birthday and mom decided to celebrate it in makati so we stayed in Manila Pen.But she just slept the whole time we stayed. I was so ecstatic that I brought all my outdoor activity clothes.I  went to the gym and shocked the newly renovated gym and spa facilities. I swallowed my pride then went for it. I don't exercise but for Manila Pen, I will. hahaha. 

Now I understand my mom just slept the entire time. The bed isn't hard nor soft, perfectly relaxing. The sheets are gorgeous, silky soft and fragrant. The pillow was soft and relaxing, I wish I could take them home. It was morning and my mom is waking me up but I dare not to.

It was so spacious, a cow can sleep on the floor.

Hall and counter.