Travel: Trip to Subic (Day 1)

June 08, 2012

Our summer vacation came a little late this year but as they say, "better late than never".  The kids, Patrick and I went to Subic for 3 days and 2 nights and we were lucky enough to be test driving the 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Top Gear Philippines in the same trip.

Our first stop on our trip was the Teriyaki Boy Restaurant in the Petron compound along the North Luzon Expressway.  We all love Japanese food and Dylan especially loves California Maki as you can see from this picture.

The rest of us had Katsudon,gyoza and the rest of the Maki.

It's just great that my kids really love trying out new food for themselves. :)

After having that hefty lunch, we all trooped back to the Subaru STI we named "Ghost" in honor of John Snow's direwolf in Game of Thrones.  Why Ghost?  Well, he's silver (close to white) but he's so ferocious on the road.  He can reach up to 200 kilometers per hour and there's not even a hint of hardship on the engine.  He's as cool as they come.  I didn't even know we were running at that speed!  But sshhh! I don't think that's allowed :D  I did have a problem with it being too sporty as I felt it was a bumpy ride.  I ended up getting a headache upon arriving in Subic.  This car is an animal on the road!!





We arrived in Subic in record time. We checked in at the Bayfront Hotel which was were we usually stay when in Subic.  We were surprised to see a new hotel in front of Bayfront.  It was still under construction when we last came to Subic.    Now it was called the Terrace Hotel and it looked interesting from my vantage point.  At first we had a problem with checking in because the room that they assigned was not the one that I requested when I made the booking.  Then they couldn't accommodate the request because they were fully booked.  Good for them so I settled with a different room.  This one had twin beds which still wasn't what I asked for and not what I paid for.  Eventually, they got it right.  It was a good thing I was still in a good mood or else ...  With this setback, I was considering trying out the Terrace Hotel on the other side the next time we came to Subic.


So we just rested for a while with the kids just watching TV.  In the end, we opted to go to Royal Subic to buy our snacks for the beach trip tomorrow and to see if there was anything worth buying :)


Right after buying what we needed to buy, it really didn't take us long, we went to Meat Plus Cafe for dinner.  It was a good thing we didn't take too long at the Duty Free because when we reached Meat Plus, there wasn't that many people lined up and we were able to get a very cozy table.  Right after we ordered, the people started coming in...

Here are pics of us waiting for our orders at Meat Plus Cafe.

And here are our orders:

Tenderloin Meal

Meat Plus Burger Meal

Hamburger Steak Meal

After a satisfying meal, we all went back to the hotel to rest.  I also had to pack our stuff for our trip to the beach the next day.

Dana's Day Out

Today is Chinese New Year and it's a holiday! yahoo!

Funny enough when we asked the kids if they wanted to come with us to go out, it was only Dana who wanted to come.  Dylan wanted to remain at home to "use the computer" hahaha He doesn't get to use it once we're all home so since he knew that 3 of us will be gone, he has more time to use it hahahaha

Anyway, so this started a new tradition of sorts.  We will take one child on a Day Out so that all the attention will be focused on him/her.  In this case, Dana got first dibs :)  She had already asked me before, you know, for just the two of us to go out and have fun together.  Well, she's getting both parents this time so that's even better.  The original point of going out was for me to look for a pair of shoes for my friend's upcoming wedding.    We ended up having the first "Dana's Day Out" outing.

For starters, we went to Cubao where I knew there were a lot of shoe stores aside from the usual stuff they sell in the department stores.  So, we went to Farmer's Plaza, where I was fortunate to find a pair that was just right for me.  And it only cost P250!!  I also bought Dana her own pair :) Love shopping with her :)

After all that walking around and looking for the right pair of shoes, naturally, we got tired.  We ate some quesadilla, tacos, nachos and churros at Taco Bell.  Dana had fun refilling his Dad's cup of coke :)  Simple joys for a simple girl hahaha

Next, we went to Shopwise to buy some necessary groceries.  What we didn't know was that they had an ongoing promo in line with Chinese New Year!  People who are wearing red will automatically get a fortune cookie!  Imagine that! And Dana was wearing an all-red outfit courtesy of her Tita Shawie LOL

She got one fortune cookie as we entered the grocery.  But then we had to go out for a bathroom break.  When we came back, through a different entrance this time, she got another fortune cookie! hahahaha It was great because then she had one and Dylan will have one too !!

After depositing our grocery items in the car, we went to Gateway for dinner.  Dana wanted to eat at Teriyaki Boy because she loves Japanese food and she loves their Yogato dessert :)


So here they are, Daddy and Dana enjoying a cup of Yogato!

And here we are having a few moments together.. but the last picture looks a little creepy hehehe

The Story of the Coffeemaker

December 24, 2010

The week before Christmas just passes so fast because everyone is hyper about buying gifts, wrapping gifts, thinking of menus, buying ingredients and actually preparing and cooking the Christmas dishes.  It's even harder to juggle everything when your kids are underfoot because their Christmas vacation has already started.  Still, you persevere and hope that you don't catch a cold to bog you down.

It's very much the same for me.  I hardly knew the day, much less the date, until I hear news anchors on TV announcing, "It's only X days away from Christmas!"  We've gone to different malls in search of groceries and ingredients for our Christmas meal.  Can you believe that fresh basil was nowhere to be found?!! It's like everyone decided to use fresh basil for Christmas! LOL  I have had to change the menu several times because I couldn't find the necessary ingredients.  I also had to experiment with some of my menu, like making sago and gulaman because I haven't tried that one yet :)  The first try was a failure because the gulaman got too mushy! LOL  Funny, but I never got to do it again hahaha Then we all helped make banana bread to test Ate Mel's practical knowledge with baking seeing as she took some classes in Dana's school for it :) It turned out okay :)

Patrick was also having a hectic time at work.  He had to deal with fixing the documents needed for his trip to China in addition to his actual writing.  It was funny because when he told me that he was invited to participate in an event there, I was writing China Visa articles for a website hahaha It was like serendipity hahaha Anyway, with all of the things that he needed to accomplish, he hasn't found the time to buy me a gift since we were always together when we went out.

Finally, on the 24th, we went to Cubao for some last minute shopping.  We went to Gateway and after having lunch at Teriyaki Boy, he casually strolled into the Rustan's store.  I was wondering why because we hardly went there.  But it gave Dana a chance to buy her Dad his Christmas gift (a Batman face towel to leave in Stanley so that when Patrick perspired, he would have something to wipe himself off with).  He did mention that he was looking for a gift for me then and he found it but he and Dana will just have to return to buy it hahaha So he took us, Dylan and I, to Shopwise so we can buy what we needed while he and Dana went back to Rustan's to buy the gift.  To cut a long story short, they ended up buying the gift but failed to have it gift wrapped due to time constraints.

Once at the house, I was stuck in the 2nd Floor while Patrick went about his business of wrapping the gift.  When he was done, he presented it to me with a flourish, giftwrapped with a bow! :) It was wonderful!! Then it was my turn to finish wrapping the presents so I went back to our room where he left the Rustan's shopping bag.  It was calling out to me and I was really tempted to check it out hehehe So I did!! Curiosity killed the cat and all that!! My bad!!  I saw the receipt and I knew what was in the box !! hahaha  I went back down to tell him hehehe I told him I knew but I was already practicing my surprised look for the pictures the next day hahaha

The funny part was when we were all in the bedroom and I started tickling Dana to reveal to me what was in the box (even though I already knew).  She was laughing so hard but she was really trying hard not to say it.  I tried a different tactic - I asked her, "If I gave you P100, will you tell me what's in the box?"  I wasn't really expecting her to answer but then - she blurted out, "It's a coffeemaker, Mama!" LOL Patrick did that face-palm thingy LOLWhat's even funnier was that, later on, everyone was downstairs and Dylan was near the Christmas tree checking out his gifts, he was murmuring - "That's mine, That's Ate Dana's, That's Mama's coffeemaker!" LOL

Patrick said, "this is the last time I take you with me when I go shopping!" :)