Cebu airport... In real need of upgrading.

Cebu's International airport lead a lot to be desired. As far as airports go, this one is so small. It hardly has any selection for food kiosks or restaurants - at least, ones that offer a wide variety of selections. It's basically an airport that lacks a lot of the usual amenities and technology that most international airports have.

Granted, I don't really care for the size... So long as it has the amenities. After all, if one is expected to check in about two hours before their flight, the least the airport can do is offer comfortable amenities to their regular (and not just their VIP) guests... Heck, even their VIP lounge is 'wanting'.

Still, if I were to count my blessings... few as they are, regarding this airport, at least I can say they've one decent coffee place (Bo's), and it has WiFi - though even this can be sluggish. The airport tries to have WiFi for others, but one can hardly log in to join.. and mind you, this is a Wednesday, when the airport is near empty with little passengers.

Yeah... when will we see something somewhat resembling a more decent and proud to have airport here in Cebu? I mean, after all... Manila's domestic and international airports are at least presentable ( though they too woefully lack concessionaires serving inside the terminals.

Bernice's dance recital (a long delayed post)

I was unable to post this before... I guess you could chalk it up to having been too busy before. Now that I'm not too busy, it becomes a matter of recalling an event that happened close to 9 months ago. So this also needs a little recall.

It started with Bernice having her summer vacation, and asking us if she could join a dance workshop - one that I would later find ot be organized and handled by the Power dancers (at least, that is who I think they are). Needless to say, this took the better part of the entire summer, and we were lucky that she had a friend/school mate (Ella) who was attending the same class, so she could go with her friend whenever they went to the practice.

Naturally, as most of these workshops are wont to do, they would have some kind of recital as proof of how their nearly months of practice helped their students. Well here is my assessment of such... at least, form the part of how I saw Bernice.

The recital was held in the RCBC theater, in Ayala avenue. It started about an hour late - not very professional, and we (that is, the audience) was getting antsy - finally, when the show started, it opened with each student doing some moves - giving them a very brief (roughly 5 seconds) spotlight exposure. As Bernice took to the stage, I noticed that her moves were slightly reserved... yes, she was dancing, but she still had some obvious stage fright. Not surprising, after all... this was her first time.

Bernice then participated in three more dances, interspersed across the rest of the show. I still noticed how she would mostly go with the flow... be in the background and be an almost invisible part of the dance numbers. It was nice to watch her, and even two of her friends watched and were elated to see her (and Ella) do their moves. I even got to tape the dances using the iPad... and posted at least one in YouTube. At the end of it all, Bernice said she wanted to do things again come next summer vacation. I believe her, after all... performing on stage can give you a rush (as I used to feel when I was part of the ADB chorale - an experience I did at least twice). So I know she'll do this again, and come next time, I know she'll show a bit more confidence in her performances.

Too bad I had no pictures as I listened to and complied with the message of cameras not being allowed. Hnh... almost half the audience brought cameras... so I know better next time.

A very unexpected Jolibee drive through

Chalk this one up as a brief and wonderful happening. You see, I was driving along Ortigas on an early Sunday evening. With me was my family, and we had just come from Greenhills shopping center, having done some groceries in Unimart. I was not trying to find the most convenient route back home. Barbie also needed to stop by an ATM machine to get some allowance money for Bernice - which meant going in another direction.

I thought that since Ortigas avenue was not allowing cars to do a U-turn (and I though one convenient route was to do a U-turn, I decided to take a right at the next corner (where there is a Jolibee and Cafe France eatery) - the street itself is a sort of dead end... being a closed gate to a subdivision. I had the intent of using this dead end, and making a U-turn in it to allow me ot make a left witht he help of the traffic light, thus being able to go to the other side of Ortigas without having to make the U-turn in Ortigas - from there, I could take a service road leading straight to Wilson street, which was basically my intent as it represents the most convenient way home. Unfortunately, the dead end was busy with some kind of repair, so I went into the car park of  Cafe France to execute my U-turn.

It was at this point that barbie noted the Jolibee drive through menu and candidly mentioned to the kids (technically teens now) of how in years past when they were much younger, there would not pass a weekend without our going to Jolibee because it was what they wanted most. Well... suddenly, this discussion went to barbie realizing (and possibly voicing out what everyone was thinking) that it has been some time that we've had Jolibee - and suddenly, before we knew it, we were asking each other if they wanted Jolibee.

Needless to say, we all agreed and I maneuvered the car into the drive through. Barbie, Bryce and I had the Joli-hotdog, wich Bernice had the Cheese burger. Each of these came with Cokes (regular for the kids and zero for Barbie and me) and fries. And as I was driving home, we were enjoying our food - me whenever I had the chance to grab and bite my sandwich and fries while carefully driving.

Imagine that... just out of nowhere, we were reliving our old days as a family enjoying Jolibee. I guess the memories and experience of enjoying Jolibee as a family has been ingrained into our DNA, deeper than we realize... or it's just the act of wanting to experience the same feeling as before - even if just by a drive through. Needless to say, we weren't really hungry - but we enjoyed our meals. In fact, for some of us, it became dinner (or part one of our dinner).

Maybe this should be a possible plot for Jolibee's next commercial.

Blogging on the go...

This is the third blog post that I did on the fly, using my iPad 2 as the device to record my thoughts, ands though the other two did not appear here (they were more training and teaching related, hence their being placed in my training related blog), they and this particular entry signify a shift in my blogging habits.

I now get to blog in a more immediate (some might even say a more timely) manner. Should an idea come across, I can whip up my iPad, and type things out - like what I'm doing now, and just type away my thoughts. So yeah, I've said it before that I will find the time to make more blog entries.... and I did not get to really do it. Well, now, it becomes more a reality.

Downside to this (for now, anyway) is the fact that I've no way to place pictures I've taken from my camera directly into blogs I've posted via the iPad. Still, I can take pictures with the iPad, so that shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. More like a situation I have not yet resolved - but resolve it I shall.

Meanwhile, it looks like this particular blog will see a whole lot more minutiae musings from me, as it was meant to be.

My Piazza Food Adventure - 19-Jan-2012

Thursday evening was dry - which was good news, it meant we need not have worried about getting rained out, specially since the event was happening at the Piazza open grounds, with just a large tent pitched up and tables with chairs arranged to give an outdoor dining experience mood.

I'd just come form my training (a walk away from where this event was happening - which is a definite plus factor for me) and went through the motion of introducing myself to the organizers with the help of Jinky. Apparently, I arrived just in time as the entire place was already set-up; ready to accept their invited guests. I was given my passport, a wristband was placed on me and settled down to my table, I was then approached by some helpful people representing their respective establishments, with he intent to help kick start my Food Adventure.

As this was my first experience participating in such an event I was definitely excited to jump into tasting mode. I started out my getting an 8oz. Moroccan Mint Hot Tea Latte from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, as this was something I would occasionally order with them, it helped me get into the right, relaxed mood. As always, this beverage had a relaxing effect on me. As I normally get this product, I did not bother to rate it - after all, I would have been biased. SO lets just say that I was happy this was one of the six items offered - the others were Chai, English Breakfast, Tropical Passion, Match Green and Apple Pie - in hindsight maybe I should have tried these others... but I tend to be a creature of habit. Maybe next time, I'll try the Apple Pie, I mean, who wouldn't want to try out such a flavored tea latte?

My first dish, courtesy of Little Asia, was their Vietnamese Spring Rolls (the alternative was their Shrimp Curls with Mango Dip, which I tried at a latter time, courtesy of a friend who ordered this option instead), and what I can say about the spring rolls is the fact that they really tasted great... it had the right crunchiness, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that what started out as a taste test ended up with me consuming the entire serving (even if I had to contend with the hot food - luckily I did not scald my taste palette, but this was my fault and not the food's). We tend to have vinegar as condiment for the spring rolls, and Little Asia's vinegar dip had the right combination of being mildly sweet and sour. Out of five stars I would give this dish a strong 4-stars!

After this, I tried out the Karaage and Kakuni buns from the Ramen Bar. I must say that the Karaage (chicken in this instance) was one of the best tasting dishes of the night - I could have wanted seconds on this; as for the Kakuni buns, they came across as not that spectacular... I guess, by themselves they would have been good - but placed beside the Karaage, they were just easily disregarded (not that I disregarded mine - after all, I still loved eating them. If I were to rank this dish as a whole, I'd give it a 3.5 stars, only because the Karaage - which to me deserved a five star, got dragged down by its side dish.

My next two samples came courtesy of Kuse, Traditional Filipino Cuisine and Old Vine Grille, Kuse's choices were their Lechon Kawali or their Chicken Relleno - I gave into temptation and and got the Lechon Kawali a.k.a. Bagnet, with rice and some pickled unripe papaya strips (a.k.a. atchara). Simply put, the skin was crunchy, the pork was tender, and I had to definitely trim down the fat - even if there was not too much of it, for health food-conscious me. Still, it was nice to indulge a bit. I would suggest that next time, Kuse would try giving the traditional lechon sauce to further emphasice the 'Filipino' experience. I ranked this dish with four stars.

From Old Vine, the options were Grilled Fish Fillet with Lemon Butter sauce or Chicken Barbecue with Fries and Red Beans - I opted for their Grilled Fish Fillet which came with some vegetable salad and rice. Did I say I was not anymore taking the rice that comes with the dishes? Nope, I was concentrating on the dishes themselves. That being the case, I got to enjoy the dish better - and realize that there were some slightly saltier portions. For this dish, I will have to say I loved the fish, and the salad was nice too - but gave it a three and a half stars for the uneven saltiness. Personally, I'd lessen the saltiness - I don't mind a relatively bland dish where I would add the condiment to better fit my taste.

At this point, I needed to slow down, so I opted to take one of the desserts, namely the Yo Swirl yogurt - specifically their Vanilla-flavored version with some chocolate toppings. This would give me a breather, and hopefully reset my taste palette. Now, I have to say that I know how the vanilla yogurt tastes like, as its a regular item I order - though I've yet to try it with some chocolate toppings (as opposed to the usual strawberry toppings I take with my orders). The Yo Swirl break hit the spot, and I was ready to continue my adventure. Next time though, would it be possible ot get more Yo Swirls? No star rating here for the same reason I gave earlier regarding the tea.

The adventure continues and this time I ordered Pho Hoa's Pomelo salad and Red Crab's Dory Fillet with Honey Mustard Sauce - its other option was Fried Stuffed Bean Curd with Crab Relleno served with Garlic Chili sauce. The Pomelo salad is, once again, something I've regularly ordered when I dine in Pho Hoa, and though it is considered an appetizer, I needed it to help make sure I had something to counter any dish that I might be tired of. In other words, 'pang alis nang umay'.

The Red Crab Dory, I'm sorry to say, had that effect on me. I felt that it had too many extenders (flour) and not enough fish in the dish to sort of lose the fish taste - granted that Dory is not a strong tasting fish, something had to be done ot make the fish taste rise up - and tasting the extenders instead gives one the thought, likely or not, that the dish was made with scrimping in mind. So I guess it was just proper that as I was trying out the Dory, I had the Pomelo salad. It is with this concern that I have to rate the dory dish a two stars. In hindsight, I should have ordered the crab relleno - after all, the place will not be called Red Crab if their specialty isn't crab dishes, right?

It was at this point that I felt the need to end my adventure, after all, I was full... really full, and any further adventuring would be less appreciated. But I was not yet ready to leave the venue - not without dessert and a coffee drink. Saving perhaps the best for last, I got my scoop of gelato, courtesy of Sol Gelato. I always was curious as to how their mint flavored, chocolate shell topped gelato tasted like, and this evening was a perfect chance for me to try things out. Now, Sol Gelato is another place I frequent when at the Piazza; in fact, I was just there right after lunch to get some dessert. So I knew that ending the day with a Sol Gelato was the perfect way to cap my eating adventure.

I also ordered my 12oz iced coffee (decaf) from Figaro (another place I frequent for their Barako blend, so no review for this as well... lets just say I liked it, and the fact that it was Decaf meant I wold not be awake in the middle of the night. Also note, that the decaf option was my preference - you can order regular. This drink I milked and sipped as I drove home. There were definitely some other dishes I was unable to try - believe me, I tried trying them all in one sitting... maybe in my younger days as a college student, I might have been up to finishing every dish in the resto hopping adventure - not now though.

Just to let you know what I missed, I'll just make a roll call:
- Empire Deli and Restaurant's options of Grilled Tuna or their Empire signature salad. My colleagues swear to the Grilled Tuna, so that's what I might have ordered.
- Pinchos' duo of Buffalo Chicken Fillet with Chips and Salsa (I like Buffalo wings - thus I'm curious about this as well.
- Blackwood Bistro's Penne Puttanesca (looked tasty, but I was just too full)
- KBOP's Chap Chae (glass noodles) or their Seafood and Vegestables Pancake (this one sounds like its worth a try).

Four dishes left out... man, maybe if I wasn't weight conscious.

So the bottom line... is this adventure worth its Php600 price tag? I'd have to say DE-finitely. You have to try it. It might be too pricey for a family to get individual passports, so maybe in the future Megaworld can consider a family version of the passport. This way, even the members who don't really eat a lot (and in my family, I'm the one who eats a lot) can likewise partake of such a food trip without feeling guilty that they aren't consuming their passport's worth. This allows the possibility of enjoying the adventure Then again, remember... when the adventure is done (it only is valid for the Saturday it was purchased - unless you bought is late Sunday, in which case you can continue using said passport the following Saturday.

For more information, call the Megaworld Lifestyle malls concierge at 7099888, 7090888 or 09178380111.
They have a website: www.megaworldlifestylemalls.com
Like their Facebook page for more updates.

Venice Piazza's Food Adventure

If you happen to find yourself hanging out in McKinley Hill, you'll not miss the Venice Piazza food court in the heart of McKinley - and if you happen to be a 'foodie' (translated as food lover - or lover of food), then this new adventure will be to your taste palette's liking.

Starting January 7, all the way until March 31 - every weekend will see the Piazza transform into a place where food lovers will experience food mecca with 14 participating restaurants offering specially prepared dishes to tickle the fancy of anyone brave (and hungry) enough to participate in said adventure simply dubbed 'Food Adventure'. This is apparently the Piazza's second year in offering this adventure, and they are proud to bring it back for everyone's enjoyment.

The mechanics are simple... each adventurer will be given a passport and wristband - the first will allow them to partake of said dishes prepared for this adventure as it acts as a sort of map to which establishment to try and what dish (or dishes) they offer in this adventure - while the second acts as their identification to the 14 establishments. Armed with these two items, the adventurer can then hop from one restaurant to another; experiencing, not just the food/drink, but the ambiance of each establishment.

These 14 restaurants collectively offer a complete range of appetizers, main courses, desserts and coffee/tea. For establishments offering two meals, the adventurer can choose one of the two options available. By sampling these best-selling dishes, one will be treated to a representation of international cuisine. The 14 establishments are Blackwood Bistro, Empire Deli, KBOP, Kuse, Little Asia, Old Vine Grille, PhoHoa, Pinchos Bar and Restaurant, Ramen Bar and Red Crab Alimango House. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Figaro offer the drinks while dessert will be coming from Sol Gelato and Yo Swirl... all these, for just Php600. Just take note that the passport is non-transferable, and should you find it difficult to finish all the dishes in one day (Saturday), you can return the next day (Sunday) to finish your adventure.

Should you find yourself finished with your restaurant-hopping adventure, your passport also offers special discounts and freebies any day of the week, so your experience continues on. That said, if you've got nothing planned for your weekend, and you would really like to go on a Food Trip - then simply head on over to the Piazza at McKinley Hill, and start your Food Adventure.

I've been privileged to be invited to sample the adventure as part of an advanced blogger group to help market the adventure, and I have to say that I had a hard time finishing the food - but soldier on I did, so I could review the dishes. I shall post these in a separate blog entry, as I will need to refer back to my passport where I jotted down my crude ranking system for each serving. For now, this is to just announce the adventure and of course to thank my friend Jinky Umali for making my experience possible, and likewise my appreciation to Andrea Ruth Padla of the Megaworld Commercial Division for inviting me to the launch of the Food Adventure.

For more information, call the Megaworld Lifestyle malls concierge at 7099888 or 09178380111.
They have a website: www.megaworldlifestylemalls.com
Like their Facebook page for more updates.

Facebook's new Timeline - any good?

I've been using Timeline for the better part of a month now, and frankly, I like how it allows me more control of the page - how it gives a webpage like look, and how it gives an easy to view two column layout.

For my part, I've selected as my timeline profile a picture of the moon (in eclipse mode) - a minimalist view... and why did I choose this? The moon picture gives an aura of mystery and simplicity... two traits I carry. If you've met me, you might agree.

In a way, I'm more open in Facebook than, say, when we meet personally - but you have to realize that this openness has percolated for months... years even, hence it looks like I share a lot more in FB, than I would in a party or social gathering. Not to mean I shun discussions - just that I choose what discussions to join and who to have it with. I envy those that can jump in a present a ease of opening up and sharing discussions with others. On my part, if I'm not talking, its because I would really like to listen.

I don't mind sharing... after all, some would even say I share too much info in FB - and forma security perspective, that may be true. But if you don't share... or if you're too afraid to share in FB, then why bother with it to begin with?

To me, this last idea is akin to people becoming xenophobic due to terrorism. If you change your life because of them - then they win. If, on the other hand, you choose to be open despite their actions, then they do not influence you (or me) and they don't win. So there it is... my real answer to why I share (sometimes too much) in FB.

This is the reason I love Timeline too - it allows me to organize my life - to share my milestones and memories. Lord knows I've a lot of blanks in Timeline... which makes me more appreciative of having a camera with me daily. Call it a vanity... but I don't want to leave this world without even a ripple. FB's timeline is my ripple. If only for that, I would say it is definitely good.

Revitalizing this blog

Yes, its been a while since I wrote something here - not because I have nothing to say, but I've other blogs that I write to... and yet, when I think of it, this is the place I should be placing those short thoughts. Maybe not Twitter short, but short none the less. I will definitely do this starting now. After all, I wouldn't want an ode to a past friend to be the last item ready by anyone visiting this site.