Guitar Serenades

Once in  a while at least 2 times a week, my hubby would be playing beautiful background  music for me through his guitar while I browse the Web, read a book or while simply curling in bed near him . A very skilled guitarist, he never ceases to amaze me whit his talent and music.

Tonight he is playing the classical Air on a gstring. On any given night, it can be bluegrass, country, gospel, classical, modern.. but he is the best with classical music.

And with our wedding song, Moon River.

Lucky girl. That's me :)

Candy Crush cupcakes

Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to sit as an exernal panelist for the Thesis Defense for the Master of Information Technology degree at the University of the Cordilleras of a colleague. And look what she gave us as aside from a yummy dinner?

My own Candy Crush balls. Erna Martinez (colleague instructor/graphics artist/tattoo artist) and Tintin Nañasca (architect/beautician) are sisters who are artists on their own right and they have this cupcake business going on.

Ma'am Tintin knows I play Candy Crush saga that's why that was my theme. The other panelists had their own themes.

This set of cupcakes are lemon in flavor and are covered in fondant...delisyoso and the designs are fab:

My niece was so excited to see that my "me" cupcake has dimples on them that's why she touched it thus the smudge. :)

I have been ordering cupakes from them before but I never took pictures -- tsk! maybe I can unearth some of those in my niece's memory card.

For those interested to order, contact Tintin Nañasca at https://www.facebook.com/tintin.nanasca

Just Around the Corner

My partner and I had an opportunity to revisit Ketchup Community two weeks ago and this time, we went to Canto.

We had their almond drink. It is a colored mixture with gelatin cubes at the bottom. It's cheap. It's Php 20.00 only. Mine is the red one, his is blue. Both are different from the color only but the taste is the same. If you are conscious about calories, drink water instead. If you're not then drink soda. It tastes too artificial with lots of sugar in it.

Now here comes the food. We both had their sandwiches. Hubby had the chili  burger:

It was yummy and the dish comes with fries. I had the pulled pork sandwich:

Just like the chili burger, it has a side of fries-- this time, wasabi-flavored. It would have been better if the wasabi was optional. The fries complement the sandwich because the sandwich is a bit sweet (like it was teriyaki flavored) however, the taste of wasabi is strong. Although I love wasabi on sushi but it tasted weird on the fries.

But still, it was yummy. We also had some desserts. This is their teeny red velvet cupcake at Php 35.00 each . It was tasty and "bitin" pero we did not dare order more because we had another dessert...

..which is the panna cota which was also yummy.  We had the raspberry although there isn't much of raspberry fruit in there :p.

In our previous visit before at Happy Tummy, we made an order for Canto's ribs and it was fab. ( you can order at the other restaurants at the Ketchup Community as long as 50% of the total order will be coming from where you seat :) )

For roasted ribs and meat sandwiches, visit Canto at the Ketchup Community. The drinks were disappointing but the food was yummy. We will definitely go back to try their other offerings.

Snatched Dates 2

Two cups of coffee  and Combos while waiting for the bus bearing the delivery we needed to bring home....

7-11's French vanilla coffee is our favorite :)

My tandem

My hubby loves to bike. He's been biking on trails, streets, mountains - everywhere since he was a kid.

Me? I don't know how.I can if the bike had a side car or balancer but to ride a bike with 2 wheels is a challenge for me because in the first place, I never attempted it. :p Hubby has been convincing me for three years already to learn to ride one. The problem is I am "always busy" and he is also "always busy" to teach me.

So, he came up with the idea of riding in tandem - that is, on a tandem bike. 

On the first attempt, I was nervous because he was the one doing the balancing and maneuvering while I should keep still with my arms and just match my pedaling with his.

On the second attempt, I was still nervous and we cruised on the short part of our flat street. My armpits and feet were a bit sweaty from my nerves. We were supposed to bike on Sunday on a track field but it was closed. I guess we need to  practice more on the street near our home.

I am hoping that I can be very good with this. For me to learn, I have to learn how to trust my hubby as my driver which somehow co-relates with our actual lives- to trust in him confidently that he will lead our marriage and lives in the right direction.

Hopping on with Kangaroo Jack

Here we are again with our eats journey. For one thing, I got s many backlogs concerning food since I do not regularly blog so this is one of my flashbacks.

Last March 2013, I had an opportunity to try for the 2nd time, Kangaroo Jack with my highschool friends. My impression before with Kangaroo Jack was that, it was so expensive having seen its restaurant in Robinsons Place Ermita Manila last year. We never entered it when we went to the mall since most of what they were promoting in their menu were the expensive steaks and at that time, money was tight since my parents were having their checkups at nearby St. Luke's Clinic and we were processing their papers.

So when Kangaroo Jack opened at SM Baguio late last year, it was surprising to find that their prices are reasonable. Here are some of the foods our group took in last month and our OWN impressions:

Friend 1 had cream dory fish, vegtables, corn and fried rice. The rice was nice at first but then it was a bit too greasy in the middle of the meal.

My friends had San Mig Light, I got me my favorite green mango shake. :)

Friend 2 had adobo. The adobo was tasty but too rich to be eaten alone.. this should be shared

 I had this  - marinara pasta. As of the moment until now I crave for marinara. Their version was yummy :)

 Friend 3 had the standard spaghetti, chicken and pizza meal. 

 Each of these meals cost an average of 140 to 180 pesos each except for the spaghetti, chicken and pasta which costs around 110 to 120 pesos.

The food are worth the price. All in all we were satisfied. If you go at Kangaroo Jack's on friday, saturday or sunday night, it is their acoustic night so you get to enjoy (if you are into it) music and food. 

As for us, it was annoying because the speaker was loud and me and my friends wanted to talk. We couldn't hear each other clearly. Soft music will do or maybe, I am getting old. Lolz.

A teacher's fulfillment

A teacher's fulfillment comes from:

...students who live up to their potential:

...visits and invitations from alumni who chase their own dreams and fulfill them:

.. from knowing that you were able to teach your students well and you have made your mark:

A teacher's fulfillment comes from being with students and colleagues and having fun with them :)

Happy ba ang tummy mo?

There was one newspaper columnist who once commented that the eats in Baguio has become plenty and diversified  in taste and price and if one goes here, he should not only fill his sense of sight but also his sense of taste and smell.

Two weeks ago we had the privilege to have a family date at one of the "almost new" restaurants in town, Happy Tummy. Happy Tummy is a Thai themed resto and is one of the eateries in the Ketchup Community across Wright Park along the road leading to the Mansion House. What's good with this "community of restos" is that you can order from the other restos while eating in one of them as long as 50% of what you are eating came from the resto where you are seated. So, these restos help each other out in terms of profit, thus the term "community".

So what are the eats we ate at Happy Tummy:

Mongo sprouts and vegetables:

Thai fried rice:

Grilled shrimp with curry dip ( i forgot the exact name)

 Fish with tausi (this is one of my favorites)

 Thai Bagoong Rice (yummy but not as yummy as the ones I had in other restaurants)

 Pad thai noodles (sweet and yummy)

We got some lhaksa from nearby Rumah Sate ( you can get food from other restos in the community). Lhaksa tastes nice if you like coconut milk and spices.

and some barbecued pork from Canto: (this one was soft and delisyoso)

Overall we were supremely satisfied. Look at the happy faces with filled stomachs :)

Baguio's Bestest Japanese Resto

If it hadn't been for my boss, I would never have known about the best tasting Japanese food serving restaurant in Baguio - Chaya.

Chaya is located at Legarda Road. It is one of the many old houses in Baguio that was converted as a restaurant/coffee shop/hangout place.  Chaya is owned by a Japanese woman ( I think she was the one who greeted us when we went there the 2nd time) who is also the cook.Her name is Sonoko Taguchi.

The food is very yummy. And the ambiance was homey since the interior was pine paneled and you're just like in a house. It has a cozy feeling to it. So when the opportunity came to show my brother around with my parents and husband, I grabbed the chance to bring them there. 

Everything we had was superbly yummy. Even my brother who came from Sydney who frequents every now and then some Japanese restaurants there commented that he has never tasted  better Japanese food than that of Chaya's.

So here are some photos that captured that mmmmm dinner.

Pardon the quality of pictures since I used my cellphone's camera. At the same time, lighting isn't good since it was evening and the lightbulbs they are using are the yellow ones.

This is the appetizer. Leaves ( i don't know the name) marinated in mild soy sauce at the right and mashed potato on the left.

 My mom enjoying her tea while hubby poses.

For our food, we got their assorted tempura composed of lightly battered shrimps and vegetables. It was not oily and we were able to eat everything! On the right side is the rice bowl composed of beef, some vegetables and rice..so yummy.

 Below is their sukiyaki (beef stewed in vegetables and sweet stock) and their pork katsudon rice bowl. The pork was so tender and their rice -- delicious.

We got the four dishes and then ordered extra rice to eat them with. The viands on the rice bowl are plenty.

After dinner, they served complimentary tiny avocado ice cream with sweetened mongo seeds in small dishes .

My mother and father who are not fans of Japanese food were all praises and we had clean plates afterwards. Sulit!

The menu is a bit expensive but the food, ambiance and service are all worth it.

I will be definitely posting other stories on Chaya when we visit it again.

For those interested, you can visit Chaya at:
72 Legarda Road 
Baguio City


Or you can contact through:

phone: (074) 424-4726

mobile: 09164394141

website: http://www.chayabaguio.net/Welcome.html

Snatched Dates 1 - McDonalds Session Road

My husband and  I are both very busy as of the moment so setting a date can be difficult sometimes. That's the reason why when we go out on errands, we snatch a certain amount - 30 to 45 minutes of time -  to talk and eat while talking. 

So yesterday while looking for glucose strips for an uncle confined in the hospital we had an impromptu date at McDonald's Session Road. 

We were happy to be seated near the glass walls overseeing the traffic in Session Road. This brings back memories when my 2 cousins and I used to sit around that area eating our fries, coke and burger worth Php29 back then during college days. We made it a point to have a date every month or every 2 months.

:)  

Of course what me and my husband ate yesterday was so different with our preference -- and budget- back then with my cousins.

Honestly, we were famished since it was 9:00 PM when we had dinner. This is the view directly  along our line of view. Not much has changed since then except for the people  you see below. Before there were more or less 3 to 5 people we know who crosses this street. Now, not even one.