RYAN'S BIG NIGHT AT CRYSTAL JADE

Finally!

       
                 Apart from American BBQ's I would have to say that Chinese food is one of my favorite cuisines.  Considering I already have six entrees on it, more than any other cuisine out there, is proof enough.I've had quite a few people suggest the acclaimed restaurant "Crystal Jade" to me, but I never made any plans to go just yet, because when Rina and I would plan our next foodtrip, we would deliberately avoid going for Chinese so we could expand our (my) horizons a little bit (Every time I would die a little inside, though). 

             A couple of weeks ago, Rina and I went to Greenhills to look for my Halloween Costume (stay tuned), I planned out where we were going to it (as usual). Since I wanted to go to a place that wasn't located in Eastwood or Makati, we decided to go to this place in Quezon City that Rina had been wanting to go back to for quite some time. After looking around, we drove out of the parking lot building and we drove past Crystal Jade. I was quite surprised that their wasn't much people - which made me suspect, since it was around 3pm, maybe it was closed. But at the same, time i couldn't help but think that It would've been the perfect opportunity to have tried what everyone has been saying is a superb restaurant (Especially when iI was disappointed with the place we ended up going to - will be posting that in a few weeks).


            A few days ago, my sister Raquel called me up making sure I kept my Saturday night free, because we will be having dinner out to celebrate my brother's being done with his culinary course. Of course, I never miss out on having dinner with the family, so i was ecstatic. 

            I could have sworn I felt a tear roll down my cheek when I asked her where we'd be eating, and she replied, "Crystal Jade".

                                   

A DAY IN THE LIFE PART 3: THE YAKIMIX INVASION

Come to daddy!

           One fine day in the office, I saw Audrey, a friend of mine from the office, researching on "Yakimix". What started her interest, I have no clue, but when I heard her talking about going to visit the recently opened Greenbelt Branch, I knew I wanted in.

             I'm usually not a fan of those places where you have to grill your own food, because the smell gets all over your clothes, and when I pay to eat in a restaurant, I expect THEM to do all the work. Otherwise I should've just eaten at home.

             Its difficult to make definite plans with my office friends because we never really get off work at the same time. There's always someone with a client that's still there when everyone else is ready to go. We set a night for everyone to go, and said that if everyone is free, we would go.

  

           During that night, we were waiting around for our respective clients to leave, someone realized that almost everyone was done with their tasks, and it was just about the time to go home.

           Finally, our dream to invade Yakimix would become a reality.

                     

A DAY IN THE LIFE PART 2: MRS. YULO'S STRAWBERRY TALLCAKE

(Umm.. I didn't do it)

           After getting back to the office from my John & Yoko lunch break, I went straight to our Marketing meeting. As we were discussing some of the issues that we needed to tackle for the upcoming months, Miss Mench, The head of our department, commended us for a job well done the previous month. And as a token of her appreciation for all of our efforts, she had a huge cake box brought in and placed in the center of the table. 

         When the lid was lifted, and the contents revealed, it brought chills down my spine. This cake and I had crossed paths before. And it was one of the best cakes I'd ever tried in my entire life. 

          It was one of my all time favorite cakes - The Strawberry Shortcake. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE PART 1: JOHN AND YOKO

As you can see by the empty bowl beside me, this picture was taken after the meal

           I had quite an interesting day last week. So interesting, in fact, I decided it would be the subject of my posts for the week. Truth be told, it's not really all that exciting unless you're a foodie (I'm not exactly a lion tamer) but I did manage to get three awesome food experience in one day, and it happened to be on the day that I decided to bring Rina's camera to work- So i just happened to capture everything on (digital) film.

          My day started on a rather sad note, because all my lunch buddies at work were preoccupied, leaving me to fend for myself (I hate eating alone). Just when I was starting to contemplate skipping lunch all together, my cousin Paolo gives me a call out of the blue, saying he's got some free time for lunch, and asked if I wanted to join him. 

        Since I had my camera, I told him i thought it would be a great chance to get more material for the blog, so I grabbed my camera, and he picked me up. Since it's so near our offices, Greenbelt was the default place to go to. Since I don't have a Japanese post yet, I suggested John and Yoko, which he was very much game for (Ecstatic, in fact. I wonder if the girls in the short skirts had something to do with it.. hehe kidding bro.. you know I love ya..).

ELVIS FOUND IN CUPCAKES BY SONJA

Three of the sweetest things in my life.. My Wife, My dog, and my cupcakes..

               
          I've got a thing for cupcakes. I'm not ashamed to admit it. And everyone knows that Cupcakes by Sonja is perhaps the best place in the Manila for cupcakes (although, my lovely friend, KC isn't far behind - and that's on self study and sheer passion alone, mind you). After dropping by Krispy Kreme for some take out during day two of Schatzi's day out, Rina and I walked Schatzi to Serendra with the intent of heading straight to the basement parking where we had parked, and head off home.

          Alas, it was not meant to be. Once we saw the sign of Cupcakes By Sonja, a stopover was a must. 

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: THE LAST NIGHT AT STEAKHOUSE BORACAY

I'm dead sexy

   
       For our last night in Boracay, I wanted to take Rina to a romantic candle light dinner.. preferably a quiet place where we could enjoy each other's company during our final hours at the beautiful island. Apparently when you're in Boracay, the ultimate party hot spot in the country, finding a "quiet place" isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. Fortunately, during our walks around Station 2, (when we weren't getting besieged by offers to go Parasailing, Jet-skiing or Reef Walking), we passed by Steakhouse Boracay quite a few times and took it into serious consideration. The last night when we were looking for a quiet place to go to, Steakhouse Boracay proved to be the closest to what we were looking for. (Not counting the guy down at the beach who rocked the Magic Sing about how he never knew it would go so far, when she left him on that boulevard, the ambiance was perfect for the romantic dinner I was hoping for.)

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: PANIC AT LEMON I CAFE

           After our Zorb Experience, Rina and I needed to grab a bite to eat for brunch. We passed by Lemon I Cafe quite a few times the day before and we noticed it was always packed, so it intrigued me. I had read about it before during my research, but I couldn't recall what was the "must try" of the house. Before we went in, we took a glance at the menu, and I was a little bit surprised by with the prices, which I found to be a bit high - and not just for a cafe in Boracay.

              The desserts in the display looked good and the items on the menu were very interesting, so it was a no-brainer that we would be going there. My only problem though, was I couldn't remember what the review I read said to try. 

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: HOT STUFF AT JONAHS SHAKES

It was full to the brim when she started taking the picture

             My giant buddy Joel went to Boracay at the beginning of September, so he was able to scope out some places for me to try. One of the places he mentioned to me was Jonah's Fruit Shakes. Naturally I told him that i'm not really into fruit shakes, but he said not to worry because there are other things on the menu as well that would probably interest me. In fact, on his part, he didn't order a fruit shake. He ordered a chocolate peanut butter one. Sounded good to me, so I marked it down on my list of places to try during our Boracay trip.  

           The problem was, I thought I heard him say it was at D' Mall, which it isn't. So after a few minutes of walking around D' Mall looking for it, I gave up my search.

       

           After breakfast and a brisk walk around D' Mall, Rina and I decided we wanted to walk the length of the beach, all the way back to our hotel in Station I. It's actually quite a long walk, but when you're on the beach and you can see a landmark from far away, and when you're holding hands with the one you love.. *cheeziness alert* suddenly it doesn't seem to matter what time you get to your destination. (Pogi points for the missus hehe)

           Rina stopped to talk some pictures, and she was surprised to see I had turned the corner and was about to enter a tiny alleyway.

Its a sign!

         She was just about to ask where i was going when she looked up and saw the sign and understood completely. I had finally found the ever elusive path that would lead me to Jonah's. 

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: THE HALLOWED HALLS OF BISTRO VALHALLA BORACAY

                  When I was researching places to eat for my trip to Boracay, the name "Valhalla" caught my attention quite a few times. It came across to me as a Carnivore's heaven, with a wide selection of steaks, ribs and other assortments of savory meat dishes to choose from. After a huge breakfast at the Sea Breeze Cafe, Rina and I headed back to our hotel room to get some rest. I got around three hours of sleep the night before, and Rina got none at all, so I felt it would be best to take a short nap before heading off to explore the island. We got back to our room around 9am, with the intention of waking up at 11am to take a walk down the beach. For some reason, we woke up at 2pm hehe. (I blame the buffet)

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: RAIDERS OF THE SEA BREEZE CAFE

 

I swore that before the our Boracay trip ended, someone's gonna get pregnant.
This wasn't what I meant

  I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm a sucker for breakfast food. I'm easy to please, what can I say? Since we were going to be arriving Boracay early in the morning, I knew that the trip wouldn't get off to a good start if I didn't immediately get some food into Rina's tummy (She one of those people who gets really grumpy when she's hungry hehe). Good thing my friend Rain (and fellow breakfast food junkie), gave me the heads up on the breakfast buffet of the Sea Breeze cafe at the Boracay Regency.

        After arriving at the sunny shores of Boracay, at around 6:30 am, and we were famished. Rina had worked till 2am, meaning she didn't get any sleep anymore, except perhaps a little bit on the plane. I knew that if we took a nap, we wouldn't wake up anymore, so from our hotel, Residencia Boracay, we put settled in our stuff, and grabbed a tricycle to the Regency. 

       The Boracay Regency is one of the more upscale hotels in the island, so you can imagine how shocked I was to have what Rain told me confirmed by the hostess upon greeting us.. Breakfast Buffet was only P400 bucks!

THE BORACAY CHRONICLES: RIDE THE HYDRO ZORB!

My first video post!

Ironically, it's not about food. 

I'm still trying to see if I'll be incorporate more videos to my blog, but at the moment, I've got three more lined up after this, (but one isn't food related). 

I took a crash course on Windows Live Movie Maker, and I might need to install Adobe Premiere and take a crash course in that too.. hehe.. 

Anyways, Enjoy!

          Disclaimer: The Pickiest Eater In The World is shirtless in this video. Don't say you weren't warned.  

       Rina and I just got back from Boracay, and I was totally amazed. Anything I may have said about not being interested in going there because "I don't like the beach", I had to swallow, because I would go back there in an instant, given the opportunity. We did quite a few things while we were there, (especially eat) but I was so excited to show everyone the video of us riding the Hydro Zorb! The Zorb is basically a big giant ball that you hop into, and then you are rolled down a hill. You can imagine how awesome that would be! There are two types, one with a harness, and one with water. The one with a harness sounds like a vomit factory, so I stuck to the "Hydro" one. I was also pleasantly surprised that Rina was willing to ride it as well!