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let's play photo caption: food finds

I am not really much of a person who would experiment with food since I am so finicky with the things I eat... I just want to share the little first experiences I've had recently - and yup! it includes recent dessert finds! which I can not indulge in as of the moment because of my abstinence! darn!

One Saturday

I had a late lunch/merienda with my friends...

No I didn't have that

(four squares: lemon squares, brownies and food for the gods)

but will come back for it for sure

I instead had the reliable carbonara at

Cafe Mary Grace

That evening, I had dinner at

AMICI - Pizza pasta gelato

Had the pasta...

Spaghetti White Vongole E Gamberetti

Had the pizza...

Tutta Carne

and my friends had their desserts =)

Tiramisu Twist

Mango Symphony

On a different Sunday

I went out for dinner and dessert with a different group of friends

in Greenbelt, Makati

and experienced dining in yet another

Filipino modern restaurant

MESA

Filipino Moderne

Baked Tahong

Baby Squid in Olive Oil

Pato Tim

Crispy Tilapia with Four Sauces

and had dessert that night at

a place predominantly purple in color

I bet to the amusement of the birthday celebrant! haha

BIZU

Samba

Strawberry Chiboust

On a weekday Wednesday night

My officemates brought me along to this little homey, fine dining restaurant

which offers mostly Mediterranean cuisine

PITO & MITA

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Smoked Fish Dip

Steak Salpicao

Parmesan Crusted Baked Fish

Garlic Chicken

and washing it all down with

Lemon Moringa Juice

which I didn't know was malunggay! haha

*****

check out my multiply site for the rest of these photos

Week 16 - The Help

As usual, I'm not done with my previous novel and yes you can assume I'm currently reading two books including this new one...

The Help

by

Kathryn Stockett

for 40 days, I'm staying away from...

Lenten season started last March 9, Ash Wednesday and as a habit I thought of what else could I abstain from aside from eating meat and fasting...

The day before Ash Wednesday, after discussing with my friend Katek and qualifying and looking for all the loopholes, I've decided to stay away from sweets - cookies, candies, cakes, ice cream, anything chocolate - that means goodbye desserts!

And the 1st test.... our intern gave us polvoron and brownies for us to share! hahaha

The next day... we went to Starbucks at the new store in Glorietta 5 and after a long discussion with the barista... I had and suffered through a GREEN TEA LATTE! I kept the cup sleeve because it was cute and green!

thanks to Sheila for this photo

I was supposed to meet my friends after work on Saturday... and when they confirmed the date... where else were we going to meet? At Cafe Mary Grace! Goodness! It was my first time there in that coffee house and I just had to list down the recommended ensaymada and pastries and tsoknut chocolate that I will try the next time I visit the place - I had carbonara instead...

Also on that same day... I met up with Katek again... and for dinner, we tried out Amici pizza pasta gelato - yup! I had the pizza and the pasta and not the dessert! haha

Goodness! I can do this! I know I can survive the rest of the 34 days! haha

oh and I deactivated my Facebook too if you would care to know

Week 15 - On The Road

Finished reading The Lovely Bones - which was the thicker book - faster than Eleven Minutes, which I thought would be a light read. Read my feedback about these books here and here

*****

On the Road

by

Jack Kerouac

it seems like this will be a loooong journey... I mean... a long read for me haha

chronicling my firsts (1st of a series)

When I got my Starbucks Coffee 2011 planner I was excited to have a new one after 2 years since the last time I availed of it... but now with all the journal writing I've been doing online and in a little notebook I have at home and on my iPod's Notes, I'm sort of neglecting this planner of mine haha... Too bad I've already started writing a few entries if not I would have given it as a gift! haha

I'm now a little stumped on what else I could write there aside form the usual reminders of events, meetings and birthdays... I first thought of listing down the movies I would be watching this year - but since I'm not really an avid fan of the movie theater - thanks to torrent and online streaming haha I shot down that idea... So now I ended up doing what my friend suggested...why not write down "my firsts" (or even those things I haven't been to, done or seen in a long while)

January

eating at

WOORIJIB Korean Restaurant,

Kalayaan Ave., QC

Incidentally while I was looking for photos

I saw this same photo (above)

thru Google haha

watching a gig here

Conspiracy Bar and Garden Cafe

Visayas Ave., QC

*****

February

trying out

John and Yoko Cosmopolitan Japanese

Greenbelt 5, Makati City

But I think I like red kimono better than this one...

forget I said that haha

looking for a new kind of dessert

Classic Confections

Greenbelt 5, Makati City

Panalo yung Calamansi Bar nila!

(reminds me of this calamansi cupcake I had in Boracay)

finally! seeing this jazz artist perform LIVE

Philippine International Jazz Fest 2011

featuring Mishka Adams

Greenbelt 3, Makati City

photo by rain contreras

I like her songs: (a cover of) Both Sides Now, Star Eyes and Whisper Not -

all from her latest album Stranger on the Shore

proud of wearing

My first ever Intrams shirt given by my current batch of kids

(as a guidance counselor it's a hit or miss whether our kids

remember to provide us shirts during their Intrams haha)

Can you spot me here?

(100 points for Gryffindor if you do! haha)

for more photos from

the recently concluded Intrams click here

March

I know this month has only started

but I can't help but rave about this find!

(thanks to my friend mJ Juco)

Tuna Pesto

Pasta in a Dough

by

Angel's Pizza Pasta Combo

(formerly Domino's)

photo courtesy of mJ Juco

I do believe this will be a staple in our office during the summer

- at least for me it would be haha -their branch in Parañaque

delivers as far as Las Piñas! wohoo!

Week 14 - Eleven Minutes & The Lovely Bones

Since I overlapped and finished 2 books the last time - I was still reading Life of Pi when I started on the The Curious Incident... - and it's been almost a week since I started on a new book so now I'm overcompensating and reading 2 books at the same time! One is an ebook and the other is a paperback I borrowed.

*****

Eleven Minutes

by

Paulo Coelho

AND

The Lovely Bones

by

Alice Sebold

I started reading both books last night and it seems like they have certain things in common - both protagonists are female and they seemed to have been disillusioned in one way or another...Maria's motivation behind her "profession" is because of her bitterness against love and I particularly am drawn more to the character of Lindsey the sister of Susie (The Lovely Bones) because I seem to relate with her especially when it comes to expressing feelings or the lack of an appropriate outlet for them... well it's quite difficult to explain unless you really know me

It seems that I will enjoy reading both books... I just hope they won't end tragically since they both had a bad start already haha...