RINA'S GREENBELT DATE WITH EDWARD, JACOB &.. FELIX!?

         Convincing Rina to leave the house without Baby Rain is next to impossible. But I can't blame her either. Rain is still just one month and five days old, and we're both first time parents, so even a trip to the bathroom that takes longer than it should can induce the feeling of panic. But even when Rain was still a little speck in her mommy's tummy, Rina was already making plans on who would take care of our daughter on the weekend of November 20. 

     Why? Because Breaking Dawn Part 1 would be showing that weekend. 

      I'm not ashamed to admit that I've read all the Twilight Books, and save for the first one, I actually enjoyed them. The movies, on the other hand, are another story. But Rina and her sister Chaikka are crazy over both, and both were asking me to reserve tickets for "Breaking Dawn" as early as the closing credits of the midnight screen of "Eclipse" in 2010.

        I bought a voucher from CashCashPinoy to the restaurant, "Felix" in Greenbelt 5 a couple of months back, hoping to use it during one of our movie trips. (After a few experiences in different cinemas, we resolved that, with its online reservation and forgive me for a lack of a better term but its "Classier" crowd, Greenbelt 3 Cinemas would always be our default choice when wanting to watch a movie). 

     So since everything just seemed to be timed so perfectly, Rina finally got to go on her date with Edward, Jacob, and Felix. 

    (Oh and yeah, I was there too.)

WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES, JAMBA JUICE!

Warning: Long intro up ahead

           So it's been almost a month since Rina gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Rain, who with the grace of God was delivered in good health for both Mother and baby. With no disrespect to all the other babies out there, but she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my entire life (I'm biased, I know). I'll be writing about that experience soon, but this time, I wanted to share with you another story. 


      Before Baby Rain was born, the baby of our family was our little Shi Tzhu, "Schatzi". He has accompanied us in a number of our food adventures, most notably during our trip to Uncle Cheffy and most notably, during Mercato Centrale's "Doggie Love" days. Schatzi would sleep in our room with us (not in our bed though), and before we would turn the lights out, I would give him his "Denta" treat, which he anxiously waits for every night 


      The night Rain was born was only Schatzi's second time to sleep without us in the same room with him (The first time was when we were in Singapore). According to our helper, he cried the entire night.


      As soon as we got out of the hospital we stayed a couple of weeks in my parents place in Antipolo. We brought Schatzi along with us so he could play with his brother, Spike (owned by MY brother, Ryan). Our plan was to keep him busy so he doesn't feel like we're neglecting him. With Spike there, it was easy to keep Schatzi pre-occupied (The two of them would rumble around to the point where they look like just one big ball of fur). But as soon as we got back home, it was clear that Schatzi was looking for the attention that we would shower on him in the past. 


     With Baby Rain in still such a delicate stage, we don't allow Schatzi in the room anymore. In fact, we don't allow him upstairs anymore. I love Schatzi deeply but it's obvious that he's not the most hygenic creature in the world. You can tell he's feeling a little bit sad, yet he lights up the minute one of us calls out his name. 


      Last Sunday morning, Rina and I decided to take Schatzi for a change. It wasn't easy leaving Baby Rain and home, but she was sleeping so soundly, and we knew we would only be gone for an hour or so, so we headed off to one of our favorite places to take him, Bonifacio High Street.


     I realized it would be the best time to try the recently opened juice bar in the new section of High Street, the world famous "Jamba Juice".  

(warned ya it was a long intro)

THE CHIC-BOY MADNESS

           The weeks before Rina gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Renee' Amelie aka Rain, we would have to go for her check ups with her doctor in QC. Naturally, we would eat out immediately after, which is how we ended up going to "Kanzhu Hand Pulled Noodles" (I'm still craving for their Lamb Dumplings) and "Size Matters" (I still need to try their "Breakfast In Bed" with an English Muffin). We usually head out to QC by 8am so we can be at the Doc's office by around 9am. It gets really packed, so we try to make it a point to get there as early as possible, just to make sure our lunch plans don't get hassled. Unfortunately during this trip, the doctor texted Rina after we had left already, saying that it would be best for us to get to her office by 12noon instead of 9am, throwing a monkey wrench in our lunch plans. 


      Instead, to pass the time, we decided to visit my grandfather who happens to live in QC as well. We then decided to head off to the doctor's office by 11:30, to get there, "Early". Unfortunately, all her other patients were thinking the same thing, so technically we were already late. The receptionist told us we would be waiting for roughly around an hour and a half or so, and advised us to get some lunch nearby and wait for her text. 


     With my growling stomach starting to alarm the other patients in the room, we headed downstairs where we saw the huge sign directly in front of our doctor's building.. "Chic-Boy". 

BFAST & BFURIOUS: THE MYSTERIES OF THE AYALA TRIANGLE III

This is what we did the day before Rina gave birth.. Coincidence? 

Well, there's a good chance Rina stuffed herself so much, 

that there just wasn't any room for the food and a 6lb baby anymore

           Just last week I found myself alone in the office early in the morning, starving, and dreaming of a breakfast buffet. I asked some of the members of the Pickiest Eater facebook page for suggestions of places with breakfast buffets, and a few came up with some very good recommendations. It was Genevieve Emeroso's suggestion that really stuck with me. Gen simply said "Chef Laudico", and just like that, bells went ringing in my head, and I remembered been wanting to go to Chef Laudico's "BFast" at Ayala Triangle for the longest time (Thanks Gen!)!


        After seeing my post, Rina too was attacked by breakfast buffet cravings, and naturally blamed me. She said since I was the one who put the thoughts in her head, it was my responsibility to get them out. So being the dutiful husband I am, right after hearing mass in preparation for the birth of our daughter Rain, we set off on a beautiful Sunday morning to Ayala Triangle  for our long awaited assault on Chef Laudico's breakfast BFast Buffet...


 For what might be our last Pickiest Eater adventure in a long time..