Aamin na Ako: Gayuma ni Maria

Me and Ray celebrated our 3rd year anniversary last September 24. It was a celebration of three years of love, and a countdown to the awesome things to come. Once again, Ray has managed to surprise me  in spite of his busy schedule, and headed over to UP to meet me up right after our lab meeting. It was special in a lot of ways but I'd rather not elaborate that here because I got too cheesy on Facebook already hahah!

When we were discussing where we wanted to have our anniversary dinner, I knew right away that we had to try Gayuma Ni Maria because it's one of the more famous dining places near Maginhawa, and is said to be perfect for celebrations such as ours. Well, Ray has long since accused me of using 'gayuma' on him so might as well live up to that! Hahah! So off we went and boy we sure enjoyed ourselves!

Right from the porch, Gayuma ni Maria already made an impression as a spotlight suddenly lit up right after we hit the steps. We checked out with other guests and it looks like they've got a sensor installed over there. Nuks paandar!

Haha mai-push lang ang pangalan ko! :p

Click here to read more >>

Of Work Dates and Coffee

This is one of those random blogposts that I blurt out just because. :)

I really like it when we have these working dates. It's when he needs to work on something and I need to work on something entirely different and we do it together. We just find ourselves a good coffee shop to crash in then spend a whole night minding our own businesses. I think it started back when I was desperately trying to learn the Matlab programming language and he'd stay around to teach me and watch me work my way around it. Eventually he realized he wanted to learn other things too while I sat and studied for exams and problem sets.

On of our earlier working dates at Starbucks Makati, December 2011

So the practice has gone on until now. We tend to learn in different ways: he likes video lectures while I'd rather read e-books and articles. We could never read together because I tend to flip pages too fast heheh!

Click here to read more >>

Say Hello to Cebu's Napoletana Pizzeria!

Two weeks ago me and nanay made a weekend trip to Cebu. I thought it would be an uneventful  2-day visit but hah! I was wrong!  We had a grand time  during our short stay, it's just sad that we didn't get to see everyone but we can always come back next time!

What I'd really like to share here is our visit to my cousin Kuya Jeremy's brand new pizza place. Okay so who among you DOESN'T like pizza? BOO!! Hahah! I strongly feel that pizza is among the top ten gifts of God to mankind lol! It's  the favorite comfort food of many and a staple among lots and lots of group dates. So when I found that Kuya Ji now had a pizza place of his own, we just HAD to check it out!

Napoletana Pizzeria is a cozy hole-in-the-wall dining place that serves authentic wood fired brick oven Italian Pizza. Here in Manila, we have Gino's Brick Oven Pizza over at Makati and Katipunan and it's definitely a hit!

So what's the difference? Most pizzas use conventional ovens that take forever to cook and can either make your pizza too stiff or overcooked. You don't get these from brick oven pizzas.

Behold 'ze Brick Oven! (photo taken from the Napoletana FB page, click the photo!)

Click here to read more >>

Oh Java Jazz!

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. Been up to a lot of things the past few weeks. But I sure won't like to let this one pass without sharing with you. This is one of my newest favorite stops in Tagaytay. It's been a while since we visited this place but I never got to blog about it because a lot of *other* priorities got in the way. But hah! I won't let this one go!

It's easy to miss it, but have you been to the Java Jazz café? It's located at #442, Sungay West Calamba Road Tagaytay City. It's a small cafe that doesn't really stand out because of it's brown paint and bungalow style, save for the small signage saying that it's actually a coffee shop. Oh but it looks really pretty in the evening. The red lights and the very laidback-in-a-hipster-kind-of-way atmosphere reminds me of stores at Cubao X.

Click here to read more >>

MemoryLane Tagaytay - The Real Throwback

Memorylane is a themed restaurant in Tagaytay that takes you back to the 50's and 60's the moment you step on the lawn. It's a big and cozy house that's a gift shop, a massage salon, and a restaurant inside. They're much famed for their big breakfasts, Baby Back Ribs, Sinigang na Lechon, and Bulalo. 

We were super super excited to have a taste of their breakfast however we got there past 11am, and they were apparently very strict that no breakfast meals should be served beyond the 9-11 am schedule and so no matter the pleading (and pa-cute and pa-beautiful-eyes lol) we still got heartbroken huhu. Lesson to future visitors!

The lunch didn't disappoint though. The sinigang was our common favorite!

Great place for reunions! I missed the gang!

Click here to read more >>

Up...Up… and Away! :D The Baguio Getaway ;)

One year! How fast time flies! Wasn't it just yesterday when he asked me out for dinner after how many palipad-hangin-patay-malisya months? :D

"Time flies when you're having fun"

To mark the first of many years to come, we decided to spend a whole weekend on the land of Pines: Baguio City.

"Baguio City was established by Americans in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. The name of the city is derived from the word bagiw in Ibaloi, the indigenous language of the Benguet Region, meaning 'moss'. The city is at an altitude of approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion condusive to the growth of mossy plants and orchids."

- Wikipedia

I was a giddy kid as the Victory Liner Bus (1st time on Deluxe!) rode off to the north. (I tried the CR in the bus and I went out almost nauseated hahah.)

True enough, you knew you were already in Baguio when leaves of the trees changed from rounded corners to spiky thin greenies. It's been almost 10years since I last came to Baguio but I don’t think I was able to appreciate it the way I did last weekend. I really got to experience and get a feel of the place. Iba padin pag commuter ka! :p

The roads. Maygad. It's like a Rollercoaster City. Sharp curves everywhere, and their highways are more like high-WAVES. Pataas pailalim ang mga kalsada! And their jeepneys weave in and out of the streets without even breaking a sweat. I think they've got more powerful engines there than they do in Manila. Kung makapag-backing wagas!

 So I guess this could justify why on the first night I was DEAD.TIRED. My feet almost died. We walked around SM Baguio and strolled along the Session Road. Downtown Baguio is very much like Manila except that it's cooler. Literally and figuratively :p

They've got affordable dining lined up at the Session Road. We ate at Steaks Toppings, where you had a hefty serving of steak and great ambiance for less than Php150 a meal.

"Seryoso ka paglalakadin mo ulit ako dyan???" Medyo tawa-busangot mode nako nung hinihila ako ni Papa Ray. Hahah! He practically succeeded in luring my attention somewhere else to forget my tantrums (he's getting better at this actually lol) and managed to drag me back, climbing to SM. We had coffee and just took in the chilly Baguio air. It was some silent time discussing random matters (including our budget lol!) and I think, this is the part of the trip where we just breathed and really realized that, "hey sweetie, we're actually in Baguio! " :p

Click here to read more >>