Ready!I'm set Again!

"He will never forsake us...."

It's been a while since I stop posting on this blog. I don't know why I stop writing when there's so many things that happened to me that I want to share with all my friends in the blogging world. I've been quiet busy for the past few months with things that will change my life and my dreams. I've been contemplating on my plans that hard. But now, I'm ready again to be on track...I miss blogging and I miss reading the blogs of my friends.

I'll be posting a lot and I will start from where I ended it. God bless us all! and I miss you all! Adelante!

Helmet Diving

It's a whole new world out there.

Helmet Diving is one of the attractions in Boracay Island the capital of beaches getaway in the Philippines. When we had our weekend holidays there, we decided to try it although I'm not afraid at first but then when the Scuba Diver demonstrate that your going to "equalize" pressure by using your ears. I had a second thought of doing it because my right ear is not palpating so that would be a problem underwater. I keep on practicing  how to do it by "trying to blow my nose" until my ears palpates. The helmet that your going to wear weighted 25 kilos but when you already immersed in the water it weighs only 2 kilos not bad I think. They assigned 1 divers in each of us that will guide us down into the seabed all we have to do is to stay put and don't make any unnecessary movements like trying to swim. We were taught basic hand signals under water and it's so much fun learning those signs.

Demonstration time.

We were the first group to dive and I was like "what if my ears will burst because of the underwater pressure" but I did not let my nervous eat me up I was affirmative all the time that nothing will happen to me. When the diver put the helmet on my head my guide hold me in my waist and guide me down and I was like "wait!could I go up again?" but I just scream it inside my head. But when he puts me down in the seabed I was like "Wow!so beautiful down here". It was really beautiful it's a whole new world down there you could feel the fishes in your hands and you can feed them. It's another amazing experience and I want to do it again when I go there again soon. The nervousness I felt was gone when the fishes come to me and I was thinking "well, I'm the one in an aquarium down here". So, when you happen to be in Boracay don't miss this experience try it!and live it!let's take care of our nature.

Han Guk Kwan

"When it comes to foreign food, the less authentic the better."

Gerald Nachman, ‘San Francisco Chronicle’

Have you ever tried craving for a food and then when you finally indulged with it you lost your interest? Well, it seldom happened to me because I always eat good food. But unfortunately when I craved for Korean dish I want to try other Korean restaurants than stick with the restaurant where I used to dine. And the disaster in my dinner happened. I've searched some blogs about the good Korean restaurants that is within my vicinity and I happened to find a good review about Han Guk Kwan so I decided to dine there together with my boyfriend. The place is so-so a typical Korean restaurant but with minimal decorations compared to other restaurant. And one thing I noticed when we entered, their crews are not that customer-friendly maybe because it's already late in the evening but still for the sense that their restaurant is open for 24 hours then; they should have a lot of energy stored in their body. We ordered only my all-time favorite "galbi" and a tofu soup and take note Korean restaurants have "banchan" about half dozen side dishes served together with your meal. But we got only 4 side dishes that's too bad and take note without kimchi that's a total disaster. Moreover, "galbi" is supposed to be meat that was grilled while you were eating but in there we fried our meat I almost burst in frustration and their service is so low in quality. They are not attentive with the Filipino customers because they focus their attention to Korean customers. My point is that they have business here in the Philippines so they should expect that their big market belongs to the Filipinos.  I really regret not dining with my favorite Korean restaurant. And one thing I learned is that when you give reviews of a certain establishment don't put any "flowery" words that will mislead the readers.  

  

Giligan's Island @ Ayala Terraces

Friends have all things in common. Plato

Last week one of my classmates in college went here in Cebu City to have a short vacation together with his wife. And so, I texted all our other classmates that are already based here to meet him and dine together. Despite of our busy schedule we still manage to arrive at the given restaurant although some of us came up late but it doesn't matter as long as we'll see each other again. We decided to dine at Giligan's Island located at the The Terraces of Ayala Center. The restaurant interior is so-so and it doesn't have an appeal to me, we talked about the Giligan's at Tagaytay, Manila about their famous Salpicao dish and that's the reason why we choose that restaurant. While waiting for the others to arrive we began to order our food, and guess what to our dismay their popular dish the Salpicao is not available what!?ok, then I choose the sizzling gambas the waiter said it's not available, mixed seafood it's available but it doesn't have a shrimp,ok so I ordered grilled bangus belly it's still not available what!?so I ordered Sinuglaw and so I asked the waiter all your seafood dishes is not available?and then he answered "no ma'am, some were available" and so I told him "so, you want us to guess your available dishes?"and so I thought this is such a disaster. And when I ordered my drinks I asked for their pineapple juice it's not available,ok, orange juice it's available but it was mixed with mango what!?why putting it on the menu as orange juice alone?another disaster and so to be safe I ordered mineral water duh! Such a waste of time ordering and then, it's not available. Next, my classmates ordered, sizzling salmon not available so they ordered sizzling squid, sizzling bangus belly it's not available,so they ordered sauteed Imbao clam shells, grilled tuna belly it's not available so they ordered the mixed seafood without the shrimp. We just burst our laughter every time the waiter would say "it's not available" and tell our classmates "wrong guess again", and so here comes our ordered let's start with my sizzling chicken sisig well, it's not sizzling and the taste is bland, sinuglaw is so-so, sizzling squid what!? it's not sizzling and it looks like a sauteed squid, sauteed Imbao clams it's not hot and so,we just said to ourselves "if you microwave our order please do it properly it's not really hot it's just came fresh from their cooler"; and other dishes came out. Out of all that dishes only the  mixed seafood taste average the rest of the dish a two thumbs down for me. The service is also a thumbs down imagine, you have to call their attention just to follow-up your other orders cause if you don't do that they will eventually forget about it just like my mineral water OMG! this is really a bad dining experience for all of us. We just felt ok when the band started singing thus, we felt lively again.

It's such a perfect reunion if it was not ruined by the restaurant and the food we ate. It's an al-fresco dining restaurant located at The Terraces of Ayala so you would really expect that the food and the service is excellent! We do expect that dinner would cost us "an arm and a leg" but it doesn't matter as long as the food was great but then, with this experience it really matter because the food and the service is a total thumbs down!

Miguelito's Fried Ice Cream

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.  ~Don Kardong

 Chocolate and cheese flavor.

 When you starting to get thirsty even though you just had a glass of cold water a few minutes ago and when you feel like the scorching heat of the sun starting to penetrate your skin even though you've put on an SPF50+ lotion then it's the signs that SUMMER is here! But on my 24 years of existence here on Earth this year is the hottest summer for me I believe this is cause by the continuous problem in our climate. Anyways, during this time of summer all you wanted to do is to quench your thirst but for me all I wanted to do is to eat ice cream every other day. While strolling in a mall I found out this new ice cream stand it's called Miguelito's Fried Ice Cream to tell you honestly, I don't like fried ice cream because I don't like the style of frying the ice cream in an oil that's why I never tried eating it. But, this one is different I observed first the procedures before we bought our fried ice cream. In Miguelito's Fried Ice Cream the flavor was blended and then fry it in a cold pan and then scraping it making an ice cream rolls. Wow! I absolutely love it and you have a lot of flavors,toppings,candies,and syrups to choose from. It's an absolute summer thirst quenching for us.

Max's Restaurant

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. 

When it comes to the best fried chicken the first thing that comes up with my mind is Max's Restaurant maybe because this restaurant has already a name in the market even before I was born or even my parents were born. That's right Max's Restaurant has been out in the market for sixty long years and still "clucking" (sound of a chicken) in the chicken business. It's started right after the World War II by "Maximo Gimenez, a Stanford - educated teacher, befriended the American occupation troops stationed at Quezon City.This prompted Maximo to open a cafá where the troops could enjoy food and drinks.The cafá initially served chicken, steak and drinks. Maximo's niece - Ruby, who managed the kitchen, created a special recipe for chicken that became an instant favorite for the GIs. Soon, the Filipino public heard about the delicious chicken - tender, juicy and crispy - and they came too! Max's Restaurant was born. Over the years, Max's Restaurant's popularity grew and became known as "the house that fried chicken built". It has expanded in Metro Manila, Southern and Northern Luzon, Cebu and California, USA." So, what we see in today's Max's Restaurant is the rest of the history of this chicken house. Me and my boyfriend decided to spend our dinner in this restaurant after our work.And I was awed with the particular board in the wall which contains the menu with prices of the first Max's Restaurant on the year 1945.

 Imagine my surprise that the whole fried chicken before was price at 5.00 well, before it was a big amount already compare to the price of today's fried chicken ranges from 300-500.00 I realized how our country's economy escalated for over a hundred years now. Well, as for the ambiance of the restaurant they have a homey ambiance and the crews are also good the service and food presentation are excellent. We ordered the regular whole fried chicken because their sweet and spicy chicken is not available already and chicken sisig for a change because we usually ordered pork sisig with egg and this is the first we've tried a chicken sisig.

And the overall verdict for its taste the chicken sisig is the champion!really tasty with a twist of a creamy sauce I loved the taste. As for the chicken my boyfriend loved it but to tell you honestly the taste of their fried chicken is really different from those with other restaurants. And because its a whole chicken we were not able to finish it because we were already so full to devour it. It's such a sumptuous dinner for us. Thanks Max's!

Golden Cowrie and Hukad sa Golden Cowrie

 Golden Cowrie @ SM Cebu

Hukad @ The Terraces, Ayala

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces- just good food from fresh ingredients.

Every time I'm with the two men in my life (my brother and my boyfriend) at SM Cebu and Ayala Center doing grocery and shopping stuffs. We don't let that event passed by without eating at Golden Cowrie and Hukad sa Golden Cowrie. One of the best reasons that we love this two native restaurants is because they offer an UNLIMITED RICE! which is super fit with our appetite and not to mention that they served the best Crispy Pata and Dinuguan in town. Before I don't usually eat crispy pata because the pata's that I've tasted in other restaurants ironically, was not crispy and the pork's oil was visible so, its like eating a spoonful of oil but with Golden Cowrie's crispy pata it will live up to your expectation of what crisped pata should be. Last year when we had our college reunion we went to a certain restaurant in Iligan City and because I really wanted to eat crispy pata that time I ordered their pata but then nothing compares to the pata in Golden Cowrie. The Golden Cowrie and Hukad sa Golden Cowrie have they same ambiance although the place is somewhat posh but mind you the prices are affordable and the servings are not only good for one but for the whole group. Aside from the Crispy pata and dinuguan that we usually ordered we also tried the Chicken pandan @ Golden Cowrie and the Imbao (clam) soup @ Hukad for us the chicken pandan in Hukad is not that tasty compared to the chicken pandan in Golden Cowrie and also, the Imbao soup @ Hukad is superb compared to the Imbao soup @ Golden Cowrie I dunno the reason behind it for it's very clear that the two restaurants were the same. But still, the taste and the quality of the food is a two thumbs up for me.

Chicken pandan @ Golden Cowrie

Imbao (clam) soup @ Hukad

Therefore, these two native restaurants serve such a delectable dishes that leave you wanting for more cholesterol kidding if you want to be healthy eat a proper balanced diet food and you can also ordered their vegetables and fish dishes. If you want to live well then EAT WELL!