The Mishap That Was Forever 21

Last April 12, a Tuesday, I went to pick up Mom at Makati. After dinner I told her I wanted to go check out the newly opened, and much-raved about FOREVER 21 store at SM Makati. Since it was late, I knew there wasn't going to be a lot of people.

So off we went and looked around. It was huge, and it is a playground for fashionistas (UNLIKE ME hahaha). I've read blogs of fellow Kulasa Anagon, my fashion idol Tin Iglesias, favorite pastimes reads Tricia Gosingtian, another fellow Kulasa Joanna Ladrido, and Patricia Prieto PRAISE Forever 21 to high heavens. So I wanted to have a look at it for myself.

The funny thing was after spending several minutes, make that close to an hour, of looking around unique-looking dresses, Mom was the one who ended up buying something. No it wasn't a dress or anything, it was a BELT worth P495. Please see picture of purchase below.

When Mom went to the counter to pay for it, the girl at the cashier gave her usual spiel which lead to this blog entry. She tells my Mother, "Ma'am we have a no return, no exchange policy for the belt". We knew she was just doing her job, but you use, the Department of Trade and Industry has this rule that SHOULD AND MUST APPLY TO ALL STORES that an item purchased can be returned, if not exchanged, 7 days AFTER THE DATE OF PURCHASE.

And the lousy excuse she gave Mom as to why we cannot exchange or return the item was it was deemed UNHYGIENIC to return a belt. Mom really gave that girl a piece of her mind. Underwear being returned or exchanged IS UNHYGIENIC but a belt? Whut!?

Oh, and another thing about SM, I don't know if you guys have noticed this but in all SM receipts, it only states THIS SERVES AS YOUR SALES INVOICE. All purchases must have an OFFICIAL RECEIPT. Landmark, Jollibee, Petron, Chowking...all of them issue OFFICIAL RECEIPTS. Why doesn't SM? Mr. Henry Sy, I think you have a lot of explaining to do at BIR.

And to Kim Henares, since you are very much into running after tax fugitives, you may want to get ALL SM stores at the top of your list. I think they've been getting away with paying taxes, it's your job to find out now.

To all fashionistas and all consumers, I think you should all be mindful of your purchases. Don't just say yes when cashier girls tell you that you can't exchange or return your items because of hygienic purposes even if it was a belt. As consumers we must all be aware of our rights. Be vigilant about that people!

P.S. If you read the comment below, an Anonymous person just commented. I have talked to a certified public accountant who has worked previously for the Supreme Court and now at the Department of Tourism, and she has told me that IT IS A BIR REQUIREMENT THAT EVERY PURCHASE MUST BE ISSUED AN OFFICIAL RECEIPT. However, she has also added that BIR also give authority that the machine tapes that some outlets or department stores issue serve as the OFFICIAL RECEIPT. But you have to double-check with the store. In the case of Forever 21 or SM, we weren't able to do this because we had no idea about this set-up. Since this has been published, I advice you do ask the girls at the counter if SM's machine tapes SERVE AS OFFICIAL RECEIPTS.

Please do not believe that merchandise purchased are EXEMPTED from being issued OFFICIAL RECEIPTS. Whatever school this anonymous person has gone to, and whatever accounting subject that is, is teaching them the WRONG STUFF! I think it is common knowledge that EVERYBODY SHOULD PAY THEIR TAXES and it is through OFFICIAL RECEIPTS that the government could keep track of this. There are way too many tax evaders in our country, so let us not add to this!

V-Day Weekend Part 1: Food, Music, and Fireworks

Nope! Not really Music and LYRICS, maybe much better than that! Mom was super excited about this one, she kept raving about it. We both love fireworks, so it wasn't a surprise when we both found ourselves at the SM Mall of Asia last Saturday for the 1st day of the 2nd Philippine International Pyromusical Competition. Last year, we were also able to watch a couple of countries go at it! Last Saturday, we were able to watch Spain versus South Korea.

We still haven't had any reservations, so first thing we did was go to the 2nd floor of the Entertainment Hall facing the bay. It was amazing how the restaurants were able to think up of ways to entice people to eat in their restaurant while watching. The food prices ranged from P900 to P2500, some consumable, some buffet, while others had a set-menu.

We were able to set up camp at TANABE, a Japanese restaurant with an excellent view of the barge where the fireworks would be set off. They offered P1000 per person but since it was consumable, it was worth it. We just had Japanese overload! Here are some of the things we ordered.

Salmon Sashimi


Tuna Sashimi


Ebi Tempura


Yaki Udon

The food was pretty good, and they had very generous servings. Mom and I enjoyed it, and even took some home. But since it was quite a busy night for them, they were a bit problematic with their service. It took some time for our orders to come. And the servers all looked panicked. It's a good thing the customers were all distracted with the fireworks display.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took during the competition.

SOUTH KOREA




SPAIN




Everyone seemed to agree with me when I say SPAIN did a much better job than Korea. They did a good job in synchronizing the fireworks with the music, and Spain also had a fantabulous taste in their music. They were able to mix classical music with happy, dance music, much to the delight of the crowd!

Oh Filipinos will forever love fireworks! I think it's the kid in all of us! Just hearing the collective oohhss and aahhsss from the people, you can't help but feel twice as excited.

So don't dare miss out on the Pyromusical Competition. It's absolutely BREATH TAKING! Below is the schedule from spot.ph

You may also buy tickets at SM Mall of Asia, just look for the booths found all over the mall. Ticket prices are at P1500 (with dinner), P500, P200, and P100.

Tanabe Japanese Restaurant
2/F Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia
Pasay City
Tel. No. 556-0360

A Reunion That's A Couple Of Years In The Making

I've mentioned in past entries that I used to work for a publishing company. It was a small publishing company, and we were all overworked but had a grand time! We were mostly fresh graduates when we got hired, so it was a great way to learn everything you can about publishing. It was where I met my good friends and some of the worst people on the face of the planet.

Many of us left for greener pastures, better job opportunities with probably better pay. I left the company November 2007, and I miss it dearly. We all became good friends when we were there so it was hard to say goodbye.

We've been wanting to have a reunion, but since people have their own lives, it was hard to get all of us together. The last time we got together was during our former boss' wedding last October 2009. But last Saturday we finally pushed through after n million re-schedules!! :) We all met up for lunch at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and ate at the Super Bowl of China. Great thing for me because I super love Chinese food (as testified here, here, and here!).

But first, let me introduce you to my former officemates! :)

Team Chinky Eyes: AR and Mariko

Part of the original Editorial team: Gera, yours truly, and Jermaine

The super originals of FAME Editorial and PR! The best days of FAME, I must say, was when we were all together! :)

So now, let me let you guys in on what we had for lunch that day. We were all hungry and we had two boys with us, but the funny thing was we still had a doggy bag when we left.

Gera and I both wanted noodles. So we got the Cripsy Noodles with shrimp ad vegetables.

I super loved the sauce in this dish! Although it was just sad that it made the noodles soft in the end, it was nice to mix it in with the noodles and dip the shrimps in it.

When the boys arrived we asked them what they wanted to add and AR said Lemon Chicken.

The chicken was soft and tasty. But what got me disappointed was the lack of twang from the lemon sauce. If I recall correctly it was sweet! So I didn't really feel like I was eating LEMON CHICKEN.

I recommended this because I would order this in ANY Chinese restaurant: Sweet and Sour Pork.

Two-thumbs up for this one! One of the best sweet and sour pork I've had in a while! :)

And last but not the least, Yang Chow Fried Rice.

The star of every Chinese restaurant. Since I'm on a constant diet I don't eat rice. Maybe I should ask them how this was! :)

It was a great reunion I must say. We all had fun that day catching up and talking about the good old days in FAME. We may have our own thing now, but I guess you don't just diss your old friends. 'Til the next reunion guys! Hope that next time, there'd be more than just 8 of us hahaha.

This reunion was only the first half of my Saturday reunion extravaganza. Up next is my reunion with my BFFs in Tagaytay.

Super Bowl of China
SM Mall of Asia
Ground Level South Wing Main Mall
Tel. No. 556-0584
Telefax 556-0583
Website: http://www.superbowl.com.ph/new/index.php

When Cooking Was A Disappointment

Was supposed to blog about this earlier, but bumped it because I just had to share with you guys my favorite comfort food.

When Yakimix first opened its eat-all-you-can, drink-all-you-can, shabu-shabu doors at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, it was JAMPACKED. I remember seeing a platoon of families waiting for their numbers to be called. So I thought, hey! this place must be good!

So on New Year's Day I decided to treat Mom, since she was the one who treated me for our Christmas dinner. We got to MOA WAY EARLY for dinner, so when we got to Yakimix (they don't accept reservations, by the way) they weren't giving out the numbers yet. It was a free-for-all ball game, so we decided to just go for it.

This is not my first time at a shabu-shabu, but I was very disappointed right away at how little the food was. I couldn't help but compare it with the previous shabu-shabu restaurant we ate it where the food was OVERFLOWING and segregated into kinds (pork, beef, barbecue, etc). They even had that hot pot for SOUP.

On one side was the uncooked meat for the shabu-shabu

Yes, that's basically it. Meat lovers, like me, would be super disappointed. But they did have barbecue and even fish that you could cook on your own.

They also have different kinds of soup bases and you can just feel-free to add whatever garnish you want in it


Here, you have the DESSERTS!

Had fun with the desserts. They also had ice cream, and you can have as much as you want.

As I was going around taking pictures of the food, one of the waiters suddenly approached me and said, "Bawal po yan!" (That's not allowed). I was super bummed and irked. So I left my trusty DLSR (who by the way was its first time to get dejected!) and went on to get food.

I mixed the cooked and uncooked food in one plate. For their cooked food, Yakimix had sushi, maki, and sashimi. They also chicken lollipop, sweet and sour pork, and lechon kawali. They were actually pretty good! :)

But I had so much fun in cooking, since I don't really cook anything at home less we want our home to turn into ashes.

Here's Mom enjoying her food.

We left Yakimix full and bloated, but very much disappointed. For P1290 (drinks weren't included in the P580) we could have eaten at a much-better restaurant with much-better food. It was all just a hype since it's eat-all-you-can, and we Filipinos are just suckers for that! If you guys want an eat-all-you-can shabu-shabu just go to TONG YANG!


After that, we went to New Year's Mass at the Shrine of Jesus behind the mall. Then we saw HUBERT AND FREDDIE WEBB.

That is a blurry pic of Freddie Webb who is MORE BUFF, HANDSOME AND YOUNGER LOOKING than his son. Everytime Hubert would pass people would give him the "we-know-you-killed-the-Vizcondes" look, it was funny!

But what we really came all the way to the Mall of Asia for were the fireworks display. It was pretty, and it lit up the night sky with a multitude of colors! It sure capped off our night, and it was a great way to spend New Year's with Mom. :)






Yakimix Sushi, Smokeless Grill, Restaurant
SM Mall of Asia
Central Business Park
Bay Blvd., Bay City
Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 836-1535 to 37

Other branches are at:
Hobbies of Asia
Hobbies of asia
Macapagal Blvd.
Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 387-8120 and 387-8112

Tomas Morato
Forum Bldg.
270 Tomas Morato Ave.
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 385-7500

Greenbelt 3
3rd Level, Greenbelt 3, Greenbelt
Paseo de Roxas cor. Legaspi St., Ayala Center
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 475-5153