on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)...
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| rants and raves on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)... |
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Sunday, June 29, 2003 I’m happy I found the time to cook dinner this week. I just made some chicken pandan, but it was nice to be back in the kitchen. I realize now that the pandan in chicken pandan is more pang-effect that anything else. I don’t think any of the flavor actually gets transferred to the chicken itself. The pandan also gives a nice smell to the whole kitchen, but that’s about it. I did make some mango jubilee and chocolate bread pudding with vanilla sauce a few weeks ago, but those weren’t first time attempts for me. *** Might take a cooking class or two soon, maybe in Café Ysabel or Center for Culinary Arts. I’m not sure if it’ll do me any good though. Unless it’s a participation class, I’ll probably end up just sitting down taking notes … not much different from watching a cooking show on the telly. *** I’m beginning to think I don’t really have a taste for scrambling to watch movies first (a la people who pay top peso to get into movie premieres, or watching crappy pirated videos just to be first). Of course if someone *gives* me premiere tickets, I’d happily take them. Not to the point of desperation though. And it’s not worth it to watch movies in a full theater the first day it’s released. It’s not like I’ll have anyone to talk about the movie with anyway. Everything in due time. posted by wys | 8:36 PM 0 comments Thursday, June 26, 2003 FOOD RAVE Gourmet Garden Pizza Yellow Cab Pizza Co. I have no idea how we started ordering this, but now my family is completely addicted to this pizza flavor from Yellow Cab. I remember a time when I was much younger and all of my siblings would be home on Saturday nights, we would order Pizza Hut religiously. Of course now no one can really tell how many people will be home on any given night, and we find ourselves ordering midnight snacks on any day of the week. To accompany a good night of CSI watching, we ordered Yellow Cab’s Gourmet Garden Pizza, an welcome and much yummier alternative to Magoo’s Vegetarian Pizza. Zucchini, grilled eggplant, fresh tomatoes, black olives, capers, mushrooms, olives, onions, red and green bell peppers, all the ingredients are baked to perfection on a nice doughy albeit slightly soggy crust. It’s a little more expensive that normal pizza fare at PHP245 (10”), PHP400 (14”), and PHP530 (18”) but well worth it. Branches at: - Glorietta, Glorietta 1Ayala CenterMakati City - Tomas MoratoQuezon City, 372-0000 - Tierra Nueva, Estelita Bldg. 2Alabang, Zapote RoadMuntinlupa, 850-1111 - G/F Bldg. D, St. Francis SquareJulia Vargas cor. Bank Drive, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City, 687-0000 - 7800 Makati Ave.Makati City, 728-1111 posted by wys | 11:06 PM 0 comments RESTO-RAVE Piadina G/F Greenbelt 1, Makati City This is such a great restaurant, it’s a shame I don’t go to it more often. Back when we used to go to Robinson’s Galleria a lot more we used to eat at the Piadina branch all the time. Then someone became a fussy movie-goer and now insists on watching only at Greenbelt 3 or Power Plant. On a lazy work day we found ourselves in Greenbelt and I suggested eating here because it had been a while. There was a semi not so clean feeling when I sat down in the Greenbelt 1 branch (but everything else in Greenbelt 1 gives me that feeling anyway) but I was happy to see a lot of menu innovations—new pasta sauces, lotsa pizzas, a whole lot more piadina fillings. A pasta and piadina (basically a tortilla type thing folded in half with some filling inside set goes for PHP140. Service is really really snappy, ingredients are fresh, and they stopped using those freaky neon green plastic cups for drinks. Expect to spend PHP200/person, which to me seems like a good price for a pleasant meal in the mall. They have other branches at: - Robinsons Galleria, 2nd Level, EDSA cor. Ortigas Ave.Pasig City - Glorietta, Foodchoices, 3/L Glorietta 4, Ayala CenterAyala CenterMakati City - Foodparks, Enterprise Center,Ayala Ave.,Makati City (this seems wrong though, I’ve never seen it if it does exist in the Enterprise foodcourt) - Robinsons Place - Manila, 2nd LevelM. Adriatico St.Manila posted by wys | 11:04 PM 0 comments Tuesday, June 24, 2003 MOVIE RANT The Hulk (2003) This movie was a total and absolute drag. And I was expecting a 100 minute movie so when I got a 150 minute one, I felt pretty ripped off of my time. It’s more of a talkie, no real action going on. Not that I don’t like talkies, it’s just that I was promised a lot of action in the trailers and by the hypemachines, and instead I got a philosophical look into the life of a comic book character.. I knew from the trailers that the Hulk looked pretty ridiculous, computer generated and all that. So I don’t know why I was expecting an interesting movie to begin with. The pacing is really slow, with the foundation for Bruce Banner’s troubled past coming in the form of a helluva lot of boring flashbacks. And Ang Lee took to using a lot of multi-paneled frames (a lot of different angles of the same scene in one frame), jumpy cuts and unusual transitions, thick black borders on frames within frames … all in the spirit of making the movie look like a comic book. And it did look like a comic book. But if I really wanted a comic book I would have bought one. Phooey. posted by wys | 6:26 PM 0 comments Sunday, June 22, 2003 MOVIE RANT 28 Days Later (2003) I knew it was supposed to be some horror film from indie-type director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Twin Town, The Beach) and I think maybe I was expecting a lot more than what I got. The film looks cheap, and feels cheap, maybe that’s what ticked me off the most about this movie. There aren’t any real scary moments—not that I want to get totally freaked out, The Ring gave me enough creeps to last another year. In a nutshell, some horrid virus wipes out most of the life in England. A bike messenger (Jude Law lookalike Cillian Murphy) freakily wakes up from a coma 28 days after the first signs of outbreak to a lifeless world. Just as he’s beginning to realize that he’s pretty much alone, some zombie like creatures attack him. What exactly are the “infected” infected with? Funnily enough, RAGE. Most of the horror is dished out in the form of stories told by the characters, nothing really shown onscreen. The movie sort of reminds me of Night of the Living Dead, albeit a more stylistically made one, but just as campy. Corny stuff, no real thrills, cheap sets and effects. Opens in Metro Manila theaters July 2nd-ish. posted by wys | 1:58 PM Like the trendoid that I am I went to Powerbooks yesterday and got myself a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I wasn’t so desperate that I went between 7.01am and 10.00am to be one of the first to get a copy (with a free cup of joe) nor did I reserve a copy for myself. As expected, there were a million and one copies anyway. I got my copy for PHP1210.50, 10% off the regular price of PHP1345, but still a little bit more pricey than Amazon’s price of $17.99=PHP960. I’ve gone through the first few chapters, and will post my thoughts on it once I’m done. posted by wys | 11:28 AM 0 comments Tuesday, June 17, 2003 BOOK RANT Summer Sisters By Judy Blume This book was a complete disappointment. I loved Judy Blume’s coming of age books when I was growing up (even if I freakily didn’t understand all her sly references to masturbation, peeping toms and other adolescent concerns). Thank goodness I didn’t buy this book retail or I would have felt even more ripped off. It’s the story of the complicated (or so they would like us to think so) friendship between two girls from the age of 12 all the way up to their adulthood. There were too many two-dimensional characters, and I hated the way the author would peep into the thoughts of different characters by just spelling them out. An exercise in laziness if you ask me. The strength of her children’s books lies in her ability to explore the psyche of awkward teenagers in a way other writers might be afraid too. In Summer Sisters she goes through 20 years and a dozen characters in 300+ pages. A little of a lot of things, but not much of anything really. posted by wys | 10:34 PM 0 comments Sunday, June 15, 2003 RESTO-RANT McCafe Eastwood City, Libis This is Mc Donald’s attempt to go upscale. Weird. There’s been a McCafe in Glorietta for a few years now but I never really wanted to try it because it looked a little run down. Since the branch in Eastwood was brand new I saw no harm in trying it. I got a McFrappe (PHP 85), a disappointingly overpriced slushy coffee drink that was more slush than actual coffee. Pastries are a little boring, although I can see the obvious attempt to imitate the upscale coffee bars: quiches, rum cakes, more cakes, etc. I got an orange rhum cake (PHP 40), a little crumbly but generally okay. Interesting experience, but I generally dislike restaurants that purposely segregate customers in a restaurant with one part pricier than the other. RESTO-RAVE Recipes 2/F Greenbelt 3, Makati City One of the semi-priced restaurants in Greenbelt 3, this had generally good food, attentive service, music that wasn’t all that annoying. Filipino-slash-Asian fusion-ish, we ordered yummy (and unhealthy) Adobo Flakes, Hainan Chicken, and a Mango Catfish Salad. You'll spend around PHP 400. It's not so good that I'd go back to Greenbelt and eat there again right away (there are so many untried places left). Maybe when I'm done sampling everything. RESTO-RAVE Pho Hoa Eastwood City, Libis Nice clean Vietnamese food. When we ate there they had just received a fresh shipment of sweet basil that they were air drying in one side of the restaurant so the whole place had this nice aroma to it. Their fresh spring rolls are always good, as are all their Pho noodle soup things (even if I’m not much of a soup person). Their music was a little on the corny side: that 80’s Close-Up posted by wys | 10:08 PM 0 comments Sunday, June 08, 2003 Our country is obsessed with getting everything at a bargain. And you see the most ridiculous excuses to have sales: January: New Year Sale, First Grand Sale of the Year Sale February: Valentine’s Day Sale March: Graduation Day Sale, Women’s Month Sale, Pre-Summer Sale April: Summer’s Here Sale. Lenten Season Sale, Easter Sale May: Mother’s Day Sale, Flores de Mayo Sale, Labor Day Sale June: Back to School Sale, Father’s Day Sale, Bridal/Wedding Sale, Independence Day Sale, Manila Day Sale July: Rainy Day Sale, Back to School Sale Part 2, Mid-Year Sale August: Friendship Day Sale September: Grandparent's Day Sale October: Halloween Sale November: Pre-Christmas Sale, Thankgsgiving Sale, Remember Your Loved Ones Sale December: Christmas Sale, Last Grand Sale of the Year Sale Any others you can think of? posted by wys | 2:30 PM 0 comments Tuesday, June 03, 2003 How exciting, I just enrolled online for the Chartered Financial Analyst Level I exam in December 2003. The CFA certification isn’t that popular yet, it’s been around for ages though and is slowly starting to gain popularity now. Basically it’s described on their website as follows: The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) Program is a globally recognized standard for measuring the competence and integrity of financial analysts. Three levels of examination measure a candidate's ability to apply the fundamental knowledge of investment principles at a professional level. The CFA exam is administered annually in more than 70 nations worldwide. It’s a self-study thing so I’ll be doing a lot of reading in the next few months. At least I’ll be able to visit a new country. Since the December exam isn’t administered in the Philippines, I was choosing among the Asian test centers:
and decided on Malaysia, since it seems like the most SARS free and I’ve never been there before. I hear there’s a Fitness First there as well. *** My sister is back from the States for her summer vacation. Which means: lots of stuff for us. My Amazon orders didn’t come with her though, she only brought my Dave Matthews Band DVD and one of my books. The rest of my loot is coming here via Johnny Air Cargo. I did get my magazines (her magazines actually, which she pays $1 each for via subscription) and my Clinique eye cream, toner, freebie kit. There were also a few boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts. Mmmmm. My older brother thinks they taste only slightly better than Dunkin Donuts. posted by wys | 9:58 PM 0 comments |
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