The Much-Awaited Barkada Reunion

This has to be said, I am iffy with Capampangan food. But when my college barkada called for a reunion and asked around for a nice place to meet in, I said ABE in Serendra. Seems like Taguig's the new reunion place for my barkadas, my high school barkada had our Christmas get-together over at Burgos Circle.

I also wanted to change my mind about Capampangan food, so what better place to do this than ABE.

In Capampangan ABE means friend, and this was also the nickname of Emilio Aguilar Cruz, a Capampangan writer and painter.

Good thing we made reservations because the place gets PACKED with huge groups of families and friends eager to have dinner. There were people waiting in line, and some were even getting rejected already. It's that much of a HIT!



The inside of the restaurant is just yellow and the space was a bit cramped. But they made it a place to display the works of Emilio Aguilar Cruz - his painting were there and so were other photographs of him.


Everyone in our group was STARVING. So we ordered A LOT because we left Steph in charge of ordering.

Pork Binagoongan

Green Mango and Bagoong

Binukadkad na Pla-Pla

Lumpiang Ubod

Knockout Knucles. WE SUPER LOVED THIS! :)

AND KARE-KARE A LA BISTRO.

Remember the last kare-kare I ate and RAVED about it? Well this is just like it! I remember sopping up the sauce..it just lacked the peanut bits but it was really good! :)

Yes, I realized that Capampangan food's good. Nothing to be scared of anymore.

After the heavy dinner, we all trooped over to the new Starbucks near St. Luke's Medical Center. It's the latest store with a DRIVE-THRU! Here are some of my pictures. Come meet my DLSU barkada.








Just a little story about us, we all got together when we were in 3rd year in DLSU. We were all majoring in Mass Media. This group was the first barkada I had my first road trip with when we went to Pagudpud. We went on countless overnight trips and numerous nights getting wasted! But hey, after 7 years and despite us being busy with our own "careers" we're all still together! :)


Dinner at:
ABE
Serendra, Bonifacio Global City
Taguig City, Metro Manila
Tel. No. 856-0526

Coffee and Caffeine

Will kill me soon if I don't stop!

Ever since we transferred to the province of Rizal, I've been waking up at 6am just so I wouldn't be late for my 8.30am call time at work. So this entails slow, sleepy mornings at work, hoping against hope that projects would come later in the afternoon when my mind has woken up (if it decides to eventually wake up).

What I usually do is eat breakfast first then sleep or take copious amounts of, yes, COFFEE. As of this writing, I am currently finishing my 2nd cup of brewed coffee from McDonald's.


Yesterday though I had like 4 cups - Jimm's 7-in-1 in the morning, then went to Jollibee, then at McDo after lunch, then Coffee Chill from Quickly. Okay, maybe Iced Coffee doesn't really count, but still I could taste the Nescafe from the creamy thing Ate Quickly made for me. It was so good I inhaled it in a minute. :)

If my coffee cup in the office could talk it would be cursing me already! Like me, it's also high and crazy from caffeine! But I love it!


Sad thing is that it doesn't even have an effect on me anymore. Yesterday after the 3 cups of coffee I still fell asleep at my desk. I swear they're gonna fire me soon for sleeping on the job! And at night, I still sleep soundly, and it doesn't really make me hyper. I drink it just for the heck of it. I am an addict, a coffee addict.

Oh and by the way, since I have admitted to being an addict, I am on a hunt for the best Latte and Brewed Coffee. I've had Starbucks and Seattle's Best brewed coffee already. Seattle's Best's brewed coffee totally sucked! It sorta ruined their really good breakfast meal. The cheap brewed coffee from Jollibee and McDo are really good, too!

Latte's I've had from all 3 coffee shops - Starbucks, Seattle's, and Coffee Bean. The best pa rin Starbucks in my opinion. Creamy, and not too foamy. And regardless of whether you order it with regular milk or non-fat milk, the consistency of the taste and texture stays the same. That's what I call latte perfection, which you only get from Starbucks! :) I am not advertising, I'm just saying!

OH MY! To have a hot latte on a good day, with a good book, my trusty mp3 player (mind u I didn't say iPod :p), and cigs is heaven to me! I'd diss work just for that..seriously!

So if you guys have any other coffee recommendations, lemme know! I wanna taste other coffee shops too! Just not Bo's Coffee though, I wanted to hack up the coffee I ingested.

Happy Birthday Bez!! :)

Last Sunday night I get a late-night call from Trency telling me to sleepover at her house on Monday night. She wanted us to make salubong her birthday which was today (August 10) at their Rockwell condo. Excitedly, I said yes.

Despite having menstrual cramps, a very painful wrist (no thanks to carpal tunnel syndrome), and back pains (again, no thanks to my foam-less bed), I happily drove to Rockwell after work. The happy birthday salubong plan was beer, sosyal (posh) pulutan (beer chow), and movies.

It was so weird, because of all the times I've gone on a drinking session, the usual suspects were greasy peanuts, greasy barbecue, sisig, and anything with oil and grease that is known to man! But last night, this drinking session called for beer chow that even the Zobel de Ayala's might partake of.

Here's the lowdown: 3 kinds of fromage (cheese), assorted nuts (almonds, pecans, and the like), cold cuts, and assorted crackers. All of those partnered with Gilbey's Premium Strength (DEFINITELY NOT for men only!) and Tanduay Ice.


We also watched Aladdin, just so we could feel like kids again! :D

At the stroke of midnight, we went up to their condo's terrace to officially welcome in the 10th of August and Trency's 24th birthday. Wishing her all the happiness in the world, we let her blow her ESPERMA candle. Sorry, we all forgot to bring a real birthday candle! :p


As for Trency's cakes, we had sugarless, flour-less chocolate cake and Heaven on Earth. All from Starbucks. The Heaven on Earth was so good, we ate it before I had the chance to take a photo of it.

It was a great night, a great way to celebrate yet another year of endless possibilities, another year to grow! But we all had to retire early (at 2.30am) because we all have certain responsibilities today. We didn't even finish the 2nd movie (The Boat That Rocked).

So Trency, my one and only bez, happy, happy, happy birthday! We love you so much! Always remember we're here for you. And I know we were talking about this while you were washing the dishes, how hard life is now that we're adults, but I know you can get through anything. I wish you luck in your interior design endeavors, I know you can do it. I wish for you to have more theater stints, so we can all watch you act in your plays with pride only true friends could do. Amanda may not have been there last night, but I'm pretty sure, she'll wish you well. We may not have a love life right now, but I'm sure you'll find that right guy someday.

Love you bez! Happy birthday! *hugs* :)