Posted in Restaurant Review, tagged Cafe Mocha, Coffee on November 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] Located at the top floor of Robinson’s Place Ermita, Pedro Gil wing, near the cinema, Cuprizzo Coffee is located. The ambiance is not really good but the drink was amazing.
We tried cafe mocha. It was a bit sweet. The taste of coffee is not that strong that’s why I liked it. It’s like drinking hot chocolate. For 90 pesos, it’s worth it.
Posted in Restaurant Review, tagged Beef Hofan, Chinese Food, Fried Rice, Hot and Sour Soup, Lido, Portuguese Rice Topping on November 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] Along Alonzo street, there lies a secret restaurant by the name of Lido. You won’t notice the entrance to it. You need to go to the second floor to see the actual entrance to the restaurant. Inside, it gets full around noon time, where a lot of Chinese folks are dining in. Majority are elder folks.
We tried out Portuguese Rice Topping with Shrimp and Asado. These two dishes taste basically the same so select which topping you like, they also have pork, beef. It’s one of the house’s specialty and we learned a trick: “ask them to separate the rice and the topping.” This way you have 2 dishes.
I gauge a Chinese restaurant if it’s good or not through the Hot and Sour soup. I like the flavor in Lido, comparing to other Chinese restaurant, it was a bit spicier. But I really liked it. The serving size is a bit big. We ordered small, but it was good for 5-6 people.
The beef hofan is good. Nothing spectacular. But typical good Chinese dish. The serving is also big. Enough for 3-4 people.
The house tea and the coffee are also good. In fact you can see how they brew it, I think it’s via dripping. The house tea actually has flavor. Unlike other Chinese restaurants where you can only taste water.
This place is really good. I can’t wait to bring tuddies here to try this out.
Posted in Personal Event, Product Review, tagged Cute, Robinson's Place Ermita, T-Shirt, Tbe Perfect White Shirt on November 28, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I got an early present from shobe. She bought me a shirt from The Perfect White Shirt. I find the cartoon cute. Shobe bought it because it looks like me she said, especially when I’m keeping all my hair up.
I like the concept of the designs. It’s super cute. The shirt was comfy and useful since you can wear it on any casual day. I also like the packaging. You don’t need to gift-wrap it anymore since it’s already presentable. You can also write your note in the actual package itself. The concept is really good.
There are a lot of designs to choose from. Here’s the link of their website. To view more designs. I’m planning to get the professional photographer shirt. It looks really cute, with a DSLR hanging in your neck as the design.
Posted in Restaurant Review, tagged Better than Ice Cream, BTIC, Froyo, Frozen Yogurt, Robinson's Place Ermita on November 27, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] This is my shobe’s favorite ice cream place. Before, when we go to RP, she would always eat at this place. Ice cream, Froyo, Gelato, they all taste the same to me. I really can’t tell the difference. Same with BTIC, I can’t differentiate it with ice cream. The good thing with this froyo is that it’s not sour at all. You won’t even think it’s yogurt based.
They have an on going promotion by the way, buy a scoop in a waffle cone and get another scoop for free. Roughly costs around 60-80 pesos, for the 2 scoops. Here are the flavors of BTIC.
I tried Chunky Mint & Chips and Double Dutch. Initially, I wanted to try the Cherry Marble flavor but then I would have the same order as my shobe. Double Dutch is not super sweet and Mint & Chips tasted like Andes.
I love ice cream! That’s why it’s really easy to like Froyo and Gelato as well. Although, I’m a bit choosy when it comes to Froyo since I don’t like sour tastes. I’ll certainly come back to try out the other flavors.
Posted in Book Review, tagged Dream Catcher Trilogy, Fade, Gone, Lisa McMann, Wake on November 26, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I’ve finished another book as suggested by my friend Gen. At first, I didn’t like it. I tried reading a few pages and I was having a hard time continuing reading. So I stop first and tried to re-read the book and this time round, I absolutely loved Wake.
It’s a unique story for me. I didn’t imagine the story would turn out the way it did but I’m absolutely happy. The plot? Janie Hannagan has special abilities to enter into other people’s dream. One minute she’s fully awake and the next minute, she’s sucked inside the dream of another person sleeping nearby. I find the plot intriguing. Not sure if this kind of thing is really possible in real life.
The character I like was Cabel Strumheller. He’s one heck of a guy. Super sweet. It’s hard not to like his character. He’s cool, sensitive, smart and caring. I like the simple things he do to make Janie feel good. Like taking care of her when she’s having seizures or thinking of ways for Janie to notice him. It’s too cute. I also like how he struggles to keep his heart safe. He’s very sentimental and I can feel his pain and I can love him easily.
Wake is one book that I can read again and again. After all, it’s not that long. I really enjoyed it and was able to finish it quickly. It’s been a while since I was so happy after reading the book.
Fade changed into a mystery plot. They have to solve a school crime that involves a teacher-student affair. This is the first mystery book that I’ve read. The suspense was killing me as I was reading the book. I want to know who the real suspect is as soon as possible. I don’t like the plot on the side-effects of a Dream Catcher though I saw hints in the first two books. I just don’t like it. It’s sad and it’s unfair.
Gone was disappointing. I had high expectations for the book. Since I like the plot for both Wake and Fade. But it focused a lot on the dream catcher ability of Janie. The ending of the entire series was also disappointing. It was a bit rushed with a lot of the loose ends untied. The plot is a bit weak, discovering the secrets of Janie’s dad. In the end, I ended up with an expression of “Ok, so what!”. That’s how I was so disappointed with the series.
Despite the terrible ending for the series, I was happy to read this series and got to know Cabel. Wake and Fade are really good. Too bad, Gone pulled the whole series down.
Posted in Personal Event, tagged Gift Gate, My Little Twin Star, Robinson's Place Ermita, Sanrio, Toy Capsule on November 24, 2010| 2 Comments »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I’m super unlucky when it comes to Toy Capsule Vending Machines. I’m very choosy when it comes to the items that I can get from it. It’s should have a right balance of cuteness and usefulness. There are times when I lost myself to cute stuffs. Two past events that I remember clearly related to my experiences are:
1. When I was in Hongkong, I thought it was cheap to play with the machines for it only cost 5 HKD. One store in Central station has more than 50 machines. I had a hard time choosing which machine to play. I ended up playing a lot of it. Only to realize in the end, I spent more than 100 HKD in these machines. Approximately 700 Pesos. That’s a bit excessive!
2. I’m a super fan of Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin). When I saw the toy capsule related to it, I was super excited. It has 2 Kenshin, Kaoru, Sanosuke and Aoshi. I was thinking 4 out of 5 toys I’m okay to get. Guess what? I got Aoshi. Of all the toys, I got the least I wanted.
This story happened again today. I was lurking in Gift Gate and the Little Twin Star stuffs captured my attention, It has a bag, 2 handkerchiefs and 2 mirrors. 3 of out 5 chances. And I got the mirror. Booo. I’m super unlucky when it comes to this game. Luckily my shobe played another round and gave me a handkerchief. The right color is similar to what I like.
Below are the items related to My Little Twin Star Toy Capsule, it requires 2 tokens at 50 Php each. I got the 1st item on the left and my shobe got the right most item.
Next time, I’ll pay and ask another person to play for me. Fate might be playing with me to give me the least item that I like.
Posted in Restaurant Review, tagged Cafe, Cafe Breton, Greenbelt on November 24, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] Cafe Breton is the ultimate dessert place. I absolutely love their crepes. It’s been years since I’ve first tried out this place, and instantly, I liked it.
The Greenbelt branch is the most often branch I visit. Their crepe ranges from 100-300. But you can make your own crepe also. I haven’t tried making my own crepe yet. I don’t trust my instincts much so I rely on the pre-made selections. La Pinay is one of best in terms of balance between price and good taste. It’s mango-filled with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.
Mixed Fruits is a combination of Mango and Pineapple. It doesn’t go really well for me. Like there’s no blend in the taste. The pineapple is a bit sour. That’s why it doesn’t taste like a dessert.
Adam & Eve is a mixture of apple, cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. If you are a fan of apple pie, this is the crepe version. And if you don’t like cinnamon, you might not like this as the cinnamon flavor is quite strong.
The rootbeer float was also good and it was less than 100 Php. I think the main reason why a lot of the desserts here are good is because of their vanilla ice cream. It’s really good. I’m thinking if it’s from Big Scoop or Paborito.
There are still lots of desserts that I would like to try out here. Example are the parfaits. I’ve never tried eating a parfait before.
Posted in Personal Event, tagged Gracie, Pregnancy on November 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I visited my good friend, Gracie, in the hospital, she just gave birth to a healthy baby girl yesterday. We arrived around 11 AM at St Luke’s. The reception told us that the room number was 2031. I thought it was similar to a hotel where the floor is the first 2 digits. But Kalvin said there’s no 20th floor. And he was right, Gracie was in the second floor.
We arrived at a wrong time, as it was feeding time for Baby Helena, we also found out that it’s not possible to view the baby as there is no viewing room in the nursery. It was nice to see her in pictures instead. She looked so cute.
I had a lots of realization after this visit, which made me more afraid of pregnancy. I’ve known Gracie for a long time and she’s much stronger than me, mentally, emotionally and physically. Given that she had a hard time, makes me wonder. What would happen to me? I’m a bit scared honestly.
Congratulations to Harold and Gracie for a very cute baby girl.
Posted in Product Review, tagged Ensaymada, Glorietta, Muhlach Ensaymada on November 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I first heard of Muhlach Ensaymada when it was featured in one of the local shows. Ever since I’ve been curious about it. Today, I had the chance to try it when Mama asked me to be in-charged of our breakfast tomorrow.
Well, I was a bit disappointed. There’s nothing special about it. I tried the Cheesy Ensaymada, the classic one but there’s no impact. It’s like eating an ensaymada from an around the corner bakery. It was so disappointing that I’m not trying the other variants anymore.
The advertisement from the TV before saying they made it cheesier meant nothing because as a whole it was just so so. Each ensaymada cost 16 PHP, I should have tried it first before buying a whole dozen. Now, we need to finish it up soon. Boo!
Posted in Restaurant Review, tagged Greenbelt, Yakimix on November 20, 2010| 1 Comment »
[tweetmeme source=”ibethyap”] I’ve been hearing Yakimix for quite some time now and how it is good. Being a fan of Japanese and Korean cuisine, I definitely had high hopes for the place. After all it’s an eat-all-you-can buffet.
They serve both cooked dishes and raw dishes. In case you’re hungry and don’t want to wait for the BBQ, you can eat the cooked dishes first. I find the cooked dishes okay, nothing special. Majority of it are Chinese dishes. There are lots of variety for raw dishes, these are for BBQ, whatever meat you choose, after BBQ-ing it would taste the same. It’s fun to try out different types of meat and best of all it’s smokeless grill. You won’t smell like BBQ after eating here.
The sushi selection was a lot, I tried out various sushi and sashimi. They are fresh and really good. In fact I had a hard time choosing the sushi because I know I won’t be able to finish everything if I become greedy. Korean dish selection was not much, they did offer Kimchi, but I didn’t like it at all. It taste very different.
There are also lots of desserts to choose from also. They are good for the eyes, meaning they look really good but doesn’t taste good at all. In fact the only thing I like was the ice cream and it was from Selecta. The desserts doesn’t taste sweet. It’s weird in a bad way.
I probably would go back with friends to try out the dishes I haven’t tried like the salads, sukiyaki and the tempura. Next time, I know there’s no need to leave some space for dessert.
On a weeknight, they charge 580 for dinner. If you want unlimited drinks you have to add 65 pesos to your tab.
A Peek in My Life 