Maximizing Saturdays: Dimsum and Noraebang

- July 13, 2013, Saturday.

- My friend Margarette planned to make the most out of her last free weekend before she goes to her new job on Monday. She first asked me and Clarisse to have a dimsum afternoon once more, since we really can't get enough of dimsum.

Lucky number??

- The three of us met in Golden Fortune at around 2 in the afternoon and stayed until around 5. We ate like there was no tomorrow since the dimsum there are always well-done, moist, and best of all, discounted. (At least during afternoons and late nights.)

- After our dimsum tea party, Marga and I went to get her car to fetch Melissa, to have a Korean K-Pop night. Marga planned to have a karaoke night in Music 21, located at HK Sun Plaza at Macapagal Boulevard.

- We discovered a nice Korean restaurant named Song Do Weon, also located in HK Sun Plaza. Although the payment scheme was cash-only (so far,) the food was great, and authentic. Like most awesome Korean restaurants, the side dishes were free and refillable. Since Marga and I were still full from the afternoon dimsum, we ordered significantly less than what we usually order.

- We spent two and a half hours in Music 21, a few doors away from Song Do Weon. Aside from singing K-Pop songs, we had some fun singing songs from the past. Marga and Melissa said that passers by who might have heard our room might be confused, since we sang Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, Filipino, and English songs -- had they offered Indian songs, I might have gave it a shot too, they said.

- We finished around 10:30 in the evening, and quite tired from all that singing. At least we were sure that we made the most out of our Saturday, despite not being too fond of going home late any day of the week. We may need to wait a long time again before we get to get all crazily-wholesome like this, but at least bits likes this Saturday created yet another nice memory.

Dimsum Party with the Engineer and the Food Blogger

- October 12, 2012, Friday.

- My good friend Margarette wanted to meet up with me and Clarisse, despite having met 2 weeks ago, because Margarette finally passed the engineering board exams. (Congrats!!) Also, my friend Clarisse was recently invited by Yabu to try their food, and blog about them. As for me, I am still struggling with studying for my last final exam next week. (Sigh.)

- We met at our very favorite dimsum place, Golden Fortune Soler, at around 3pm. For some reason, we were a bit too hungry, and had twice or thrice the usual number of dimsum baskets. We were a few dishes close before we could say that we ordered "one of everything" on the dimsum list.

- I also handed Marga her congratulatory present, a framed origami hanbok. I hope she'll display the framed hanbok where she can easily see it, and fantasize about her Korean celebrity idols.

- We walked home around 5:30, with high hopes that life will treat us better from now on. On a random note, my attire's concept was based on the "yin yang" symbol. Haha.

Golden Christmas, Fortunate Evening: Where Did Everyone Go??

- December 21, 2011, Wednesday.

- Bless and I had a hard time organizing tonight's dinner because everyone seemed to be busier this year. It was the first Christmas where most people in the group had jobs, me included, while those left in school were still battling with their theses, or for some, we weren't sure what happened to them due to lack of communication.

- We planned to have maybe a casual gathering at a pizza place, but Genevieve wanted us to have a more formal sit-down dinner, although she ended up not showing up tonight at the last minute because of her thesis.

- There were only five of us tonight, and boy, what a banquet we had. We had a platter of noodles, fish, rice, soup, and an oyster cake. We even wanted to have a regular salt-and-chili crocodile meat, just so we'd know how croc meat tasted like, but it wasn't available tonight.

- In the middle of our dinner, my friend Tiffa dropped by to hand me her Christmas present. It was nice seeing her again after 2 weeks (??) I think.

- We ended dinner at around 10 in the evening, after noticing many customers finishing their dinner too. Bless and I walked home to burn some of the food we ate, and we really did feel the Christmas spirit after passing by some carolers, bibingka sellers, and teenagers inside the nearby church practicing their dance for a Christmas party (at least that's how it seemed like to me.)

Fat Night: The 3-Hour Dinner Buffer Challenge

- September 23, 2011, Friday.

- I hadn't seen my friend Eric since March this year, and decided to meet up with him a while ago. I tried to ask other common friends to go, but it ended with just the two of us.

- Eric and I initially planned to eat at Tasty Dumplings, the one beside the Binondo Church, but Eric came home a bit late from work, so we decided to eat some place else. Eric had not tried the Golden Fortune buffet before, so we decided to eat there.

- We arrived at Golden Fortune (the one at the Pacific Center) at quarter to 9, and was surprised to see almost no one aside from the crew. Eric was curious enough to ask one of the waiters, and the waiter told us that the buffet promo would start at 9. The buffet promo is available the whole day, but during the promo hours (2:30-5pm, 9pm-1am,) each head would only cost 338php insted of 488php (or is it 448php??) Still, we noticed that Golden Fortune wasn't as jam-packed as we expected it to be, especially during the promo period. At least it wasn't as noisy as the usual "full-house" restaurant.

- Eric and I ordered a lot, trying to make the most out of the buffet. Eric told me to choose the some of the items with weird and unfamiliar names, so we'd get to try them. We also tried some of the "special broth" in the menu, just because we were adventurous like that.

- As expected, we ordered more food than we can ever imagine, at least more than enough for two men. We tried to master the art of "pacing," so we could slowly, "but surely....err, hopefully," finish our food. Of course we spent most of the time talking and talking and looking at the weird golden mushrooms. Haha.

- We ended around midnight, and I was really lucky to find a tricycle nearby. The guy charged a bit extra, but it was OK; it was raining, the place was a bit far from my house, and he was one of the few drivers who were still awake.

- Thanks for celebrating my early birthday with me, Eric, till next time. :D:D:D:D Tomorrow....err later today....I shall be a jetsetter around Manila. HAHAHAHA.