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

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

A New Year; A New Decade

Hey everyone! Happy New Year!! :) Can you believe it's 2011 already? Time flies by so fast! So what did you guys do during the New Year? I've been reading 2010 highlights from my fellow bloggers and it made me think of what I did during 2010. It's probably too late for me to do a recap, but 2010 was a year of blessings, but we also had a fair share of trials. But we all have the Lord to thank for helping us get through day-by-day! :)

Anyway, it's our first New year at home, and we were all really psyched for it. We also finally bought fountains and sparklers for this year's celebration. And when the clock struck midnight, this was the scene on our street.




There were people in our subdivision who gave us a wonderful fireworks display.


After bonding with our neighbors it was time to chow! For our New Year's Eve feast, we once again had a home-cooked meal! We also opted for something INIHAW or GRILLED, among other food choices!

My ultimate favorite GRILLED LIEMPO!

It's a slab of meat grilled to perfection! It was so good I had two slabs of this! Cholesterolific to the highest level! :D

Chicken Inasal

This may not be a Mang Inasal, but our helper was able to "copy" the taste of the chicken inasal in our old neighborhood in Makati. This dish made Iloilo FAMOUS and when the recipe found it's way here in Manila (thru Mang Inasal and Bacolod Chicken Inasal) it was an instantaneous HIT! Must-try for foreigners when they get to make their way here in the country! :D

We also grilled this gigantic fish.

Although I'm not sure what fish this was. Mom even garnished it with tomatoes.

The next set of dishes are not grilled anymore. :D

Once again, we had tahong or clams.

Our helper already bought like a kilo of this at the market. But by lunchtime Mom and I devoured it, so we had to return to the market this time for 4kgs of these bad guys! :))

Baked lasagna.

I was kind of disappointed with this. Mom put in WAY TOO much onions, every spoonful of it had onions (yuck!). It tasted funky in the end, maybe because I'm not much of an onion person. So I made sure I got most of the cheese.

Another fishy dish, this time with sauce and vegetables. I LOVED THIS, especially it's zesty sauce, and had it for lunch on New Year's Day! :)


Pinakbet

When I was a kid, I called this pangit na sabaw (ugly broth) because of it was dark-colored. It's a native Filipino dish, which has kalabasa (pumpkin), okra, talong (eggplant), and ampalaya, and cooked with bagoong. It may look fugly and unappealing, but it tastes HEAVENLY!!

For dessert, we still had our Fruit Salad


Fruits - none of those spherical ones that they say bring you good luck.

And 2 kinds of fruitcake.

It was a simple way to usher in the New Year for our family. I am quite geared up for 2011 because we'll be finishing two important things that will mean a huge relief especially for Mom. It made our 2010 very difficult, but I'm very positive we'll make it in 2011.

Mom said that for my sign, Virgo, I'd be traveling a lot this year. That's what TV Patrol (our 6pm news) said, but I'm really hoping it would be true! I'd be kicking off my travel itinerary with my Baler comeback this January 14. I just wish I could go to Baler with two of my college barkada in February. That would be a dream come true! But then by October, my BFFs and I would be heading on over to BALI, INDONESIA so I really gotta start saving!

As for my New Year's resolution I am really trying to be MORE PATIENT (people who know will support this claim and you guys may even wish me luck hahahaha), be a bit more OUTGOING, get to meet NEW PEOPLE (more blogger friends!)), blog some more (more food and travel), and be a much better friend and daughter to my Mom.

How about you guys? What are your resolutions? Let's all try to make it HAPPEN if only we put our hearts and minds to it! Happy New Year guys! CHEERS! :D

Holiday Fruitcake