Binging on Thai Food at Marriott

Being an Aquarian, I can really be extreme sometimes, including with food. There are days that I work so much that I forget to eat, or I'm just so tired to even make some food, and there are days, especially lately, that I get to have the opportunity to go to some food events and end up binging on tons of food!

lemon serbet for appetizer

Nuvali Fun Activities

Whether you plan to buy one of the luxurious eco-friendly houses in Nuvali, or you plan to work at one of the business establishments there, or you simply want to visit this soon-to-be ecopolis in the country, you will have a ton of fun at Nuvali. I know I did. Here are the activities you can do:

Tour of the huge parcels of land being developed by Ayala Land for Abrio, Monetcito, Santierra, Venare, and Avida.

Bird Watching at the Gazebo - Currently, there are around 60+ species of birds found to be thriving here in Nuvali.

Focaccia and EKstreme Tower Ride: Blog Events, Good for My Soul

I love to cook food and eat my own creations whenever I have the time. But since my VA work has been so hectic plus this emotional turmoil whose source shall not be named has been bugging me for weeks now, I decided to not let these things get me down. So whenever there are blog event invitations sent to me, which I feel would help me grow as a person, enjoy life, take my mind off the sordid little things in my head, and be more grateful to the universe, I say yes to them, not to all of them though, just a few events that are about things I am passionate about.

One of them is the Focaccia Food Tasting event I went to last week. Have you seen the 13 dishes served to us? My golly! I swear I gained a few pounds after that! Every pasta and pizza served on our table was so divine. My most favorite dishes from Focaccia are:

Pazzo Rollio and the Osso Buco pasta.

They gave me a gift certificate which I will use this weekend so Peter can have a taste of at least one of those dishes. Just thinking about them already makes my mouth water! Yum! Being with other bloggers who are also passionate about food that evening made me forget my troubles for a while. Peter has been very supportive and helpful about the entire thing and it really helps get my mind off my concerns when I am with other people and enjoying life. I did feel much better after that so when I received another invite to go to Enchanted Kingdom and experience their new EKstereme Tower Ride, I immediately said yes!

Me and my hubby, Peter! Wee!

Me and my fellow blogger friends
(L-R: Joriben, Flow, Montsch, Iris, Me)

SM Cubao Bloggers Tour and Impressca Sampling

L-R: Alex, Earth, Fjord, Jen, Ryan, Iris, Me, Az (photo c/o Alex)

I just want to share here the fun I had at the start of this month when I got invited to shop at SM Cubao with my fellow bloggers. It's been a looooong time since I last visited SM Cubao. It's now newly renovated and looking so posh and chic. And no, it's not a mall. It looks like a mall but it is actually just a Department Store that houses the Cyberzone as well as numerous other concessionaires and service establishments. It's really looking great and it seems like anything I could ever need and want is already there!

L-R: Iris, Me, Fjord, Jen, Earth, Alex, Ryan (photo c/o Az)

I also got to sample some of Impressca's salad and sandwich offerings, SM Cubao's new health food concessionaire. They tasted so good and I felt so much better about it coz they're all so healthy too. Read a very inspiring story on how Impressca started. I was pretty much impressed myself!

So anyway, that was my first blogger event for this month. I usually don't attend because of my very hectic schedule at work but when I'm really, really, really interested, I try my best to work around my work schedule and go. ^_^

Thanks again to Az and SM Cubao for this fun shopping opportunity! And thanks to my fellow bloggers for tagging me at the photos. :-)

Mines View Park Hotel in Baguio - a Fun and Relaxing Stay

I came home late last Friday evening feeling so proud of myself for having joined the very fun and relaxing bloggers tour of Mines View Park Hotel located at 1 Apostol St., Outlook Drive in Baguio City. This is the fourth time that I traveled without my husband, Peter. The first three times were as follow:

1. 2008 FunBoard Cup in Boracay
2. 2009 Jakarta and Bali trip
3. 2010 Singapore, Ho Chi Minh and Kuala Lumpur trip

...and this time, I did it with so much gusto unlike before when I used to cry prior to the trip and I'd be having several panic and anxiety attacks at the airport and while on flight. The whole excursion felt right from the start because I know I'd be going with wonderful people who share the same passion as I do -- passion for blogging and for traveling, and because Baguio, for me, in a way, feels like home. Aside from the fact that it's just 5 hours from Manila, I've had a few visits to Baguio before and each time had always been full of exciting (and romantic) memories. Plus, if anything happens to me, Peter won't be that far away. ^_^


Anyway, because I don't want this to be a very,very, very long blog post, I'll just share with you here the summarized version of how it all happened, plus links to other Baguio-related posts.

Sept. 23 at 5:30 in the morning, all of us bloggers scheduled to join this trip met at HalfMoon Cafe along Tomas Morato for beakfast. I didn't know everyone in the group so I stayed outside with my blogger friend Ryan and had breakfast with her and Peter. I ordered Bangus breakfast set and brewed coffee.


At around 6:30 am, we were on the road up north. We were divided into three vans and I was honored to be with the Aspacio couple, Jennie and Jed, my co-MJ fan Ryan and my Plurk buddy JL.

L-R: JL, Ryan, Jennie and Jeff

L-R: Me, Ryan and JL inside the Innova we rode.

There were several stopovers at different gas stations. Finally, at around noon, we stopped at this huge Lion statue along Kennon Road for some major photo op.


At times like this, I miss Peter. Who will take my picture??? LOL! Thanks to my blogger friends who tagged me in some of the photos. At least there's proof that I was part of this very exciting Baguio trip and visit to Mines View Park Hotel. Hihihi.

Resident Evil Afterlife 3D: Movie Date with my Best Friend

I was so happy to know that my best friend, Mer, is here in Manila. So when I got a chance to watch Resident Evil Afterlife 3D which I know she also loves, I grabbed the opportunity and invited her (thanks to SM Cinema and Az!).

Singapore: Little India

To view everything about this trip, please click the link below:

Singapore Nuffnang Event

~~~oOo~~~

When we got off at Little India, we dropped by the SRI VEERAMAKALIAMMAN Temple first located at 141 Serangoon Road. We would've loved to go inside. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they were already closing the doors of the temple. Tsk, tsk.

Outside the temple, there were flowers, magazines and wooden products being sold. Reminds me of Binondo. ^_^

Tiong Bahru Food Trip

To view everything about this trip, please click the link below:

Singapore Nuffnang Event

~~~oOo~~~

After we secured our stuff at Link Hotel, five of us decided to start exploring the city with the hours we have left before the Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards Night. The five of us included Kate, Crissy, Jonel and Jane. Near our hotel in Tiong Bahru is this mall called Tiong Bahru Market along Eng Hoon street. Before getting there, we saw locals happily eating along the sidestreet where delicious hawkers' food are also located.

We crossed the street and figured our way around the market. We took the stairs going up and discovered a huge food court with numerous stalls selling Asian cuisines. Everything was smelling so good! The place looked simple but very, very clean. We also noticed that each stall would have an alphabet displayed in front. A means it is in perfect accordance with their cleanliness regulation. There's B and there's also C. We of course decided to get our food from one of those stalls displaying A in front. ^_^

Visiting Singapore for Nuffnang Event

To see everything related to this trip, please click the link below:

Singapore Nuffnang Event

~~~oOo~~~

I was one of the lucky bloggers who got invited to attend Nuffnang's First Asia Pacific Blog Awards last Oct. 23-25,2009. Unfortunately, Peter won't be with me and it'll be another long weekend without him. Sigh. We left early for the airport since I had to be there by 4:30 am. By 3:00, we parked and made our way to Cafe Amadeo where we spent some time just bonding over coffee. I will surely miss my Baboo and again, there's this big empty space in my chest. This always happens when Peter is not with me. Nevertheless, despite my fear of riding airplanes, I was still excited about it all! Singapore, hereI come!!!

By 5:30 am, I was already with my other fellow bloggers having breakfast. I actually didn't eat anymore since I had big breakfast at home. So I just tinkered with my Nikon D40. I seemed to be having a hard time focusing my lenses. It must be the cold temperature inside the airport. Teehee. ^_^

By 6:25, we were already boarding the plane. I was seated beside the talented siblings Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao. They both have very powerful DSLRs as compared to my cutie Nikki. Oh wow!