Japanese Town, French Restaurant, Chinese People: The Blue Boy And Pink Girl Adventure

- September 26, 2011, Monday.

- A few days ago, my friend Cristina asked me if I knew a place that sold Japanese groceries. Popping into my mind the "most Japanese" are in the Philippines, I asked her if she were willing to go to to Little Tokyo with me today. Bursting with excitement, she told me that she'd be bringing her video cam, so she could take a video of me and the place.

- I woke up today with the cloud shedding its tears again, like it did exactly 2 years ago - the day Onday came. This time, Pedring was moderately showering Manila, although I had a feeling that the storm wasn't as heavy as Ondoy. Tina and I still decided to push through with our trip, and were headed towards Little Tokyo at around 10:30.

- After getting off at Magallanes station, and not knowing where the jeep terminal was, I just hailed a taxi. It was raining anyway. I also thought that hailing a taxi would be a faster way to get to Little Tokyo.

- We arrived in rainy Little Tokyo soon, and Tina was amazed at how it really seemed like we were both transported to a small Japanese square. Most of the restaurants were closed, except for Hana, Oishinbo, and Nodasho. Too bad the okonomiyaki place was closed.

- Tina and I first tried Hana, where we ordered takoyaki, fish cakes (err, fish-yaki-like dish,) and an unagidon (eel rice.) Hana is famous for their takoyaki, and their snow-cone like desserts. After eating, I greeted the owner and told her that we ate well ("gochisoosama (deshita)") and went to our second base.

- It was my first time to eat at Oishinbo, and I was informed that their specialty was yakitori (Japanese kebabs.) Tina and I tried to order a reasonable amount of grilled stuff, which included a stick of chicken balls, a stick of grilled potato, a stick of bacon-wrapped quail eggs, a stick of chicken skin, and a platter of deep-fried chicken and pork. I guess I need to be with a Japanese enthusiast the next time I go there, since I wanted to try other things in the menu that didn't seem familiar to me. I didn't want to order a lot because the food was a bit pricey (like all Japanese food,) and because we were headed to out last stop for the early afternoon: Nodasho.

- Upong entering Nodasho, I greeted the kind owner who looked like a typical neighbor grandfather who liked to talk and walk around. I greeted him in Japanese, and he thought I was fluent, so he spoke to me in pure Japanese. Not knowing what to say, I stared at him. He laughed, and understood that I was just being a "pretend" Japanese. He then asked me if I was going to "KAIN????" and I said yes. He smiled, and went back to entertaining his two Japanese guests/customers.

- I've eaten at Nodasho before with my family. Nodasho is famous for their (expensive) sushi platters as well as their big curry hotpots. Since Tina and I were a bit full from all that eating, I decided to order an ika (squid) fry platter, and a puri puri salad. The puri puri salad is just like a typical kani salad, wrapped with rice paper ala fresh lumpia, and served with a fried-sesame-mayo dip. Tina and I were fortunate enough to see our puri puri salad being prepared right in front of us. I also noticed that the sushi counter had a lot of fresh seafood being stored, aside from the usual shrimp/kani/tamago/tako which can be seen in other Japanese restaurants.

- Since it was chilly outside, Tina and I also ordered two cups of Japanese service tea. Their tea was less strong than what we'd have in Chinese restaurants, probably because the tea leaves were also semi-powdered.

- After we paid the bill and greeted the owner once more, we went around the groceries to look for stuff on Cristina's shopping list. In the end, I was the one who was able to find something. HAHA.

- Later on, we quickly hailed another cab to Greenbelt, so we could walk around before coming home.A lot has changed in Greenbelt and Glorietta since I went there last May. I am also glad that there's already a Muji branch in Greenbelt. TEEHEE. (Expensive things. I usually enjoy looking at the things there rather than buying them. Haha.)

- On the way back to Manila, I texted Jane if she wanted to hang out with Tina and me at the new restaurant inside Metropolitan Hospital. Yes, it's one of the hospitals that people go to "to hang out," because of some of the foodie places at the ground floor. Jane agreed to meet us at 5:30, which coincidentally was around the time that we reached Manila.

- The restaurant that we tried was named "Cafe France." The restaurant had the same format as DeliFrance or Le Coeur de France: bakery/restaurant. The food sold there, I think, was a more or less reasonable, although they could add a bit more to their pasta servings. Oh, I also saw some friends who worked there part time. They knew it was my birthday yesterday, and I asked if they wanted to treat me. HAHA.

- Jane arrived a few minutes after Tina and I did. we talked a bit before starting to eat. We had carbonara, fruit tarts, quattro formaggi (4 cheese) pizza slices, and supposedly we'd have a cream puff each. I bought a box of three from Greenbelt. Haha. (In the end I just took the box home since everyone was too full to eat the cream puffs.)

- We talked and talked, and stayed there longer than we expected. My supposedly super mild headache I got early that afternoon continued to pound my skull, which meant that I had exceeded my body's adventure limit. Well, come to think of it I had been going out with several people since my fat Friday night. Haha. I came home, took a bath, skipped dinner (well my meal in Cafe France was sort of an early dinner anyway,) and slept for two hours. HAHA. Well, it's back to slowing down a bit tomorrow. Oh life, you play with me in both the funniest and the most irritating ways.




** BY THE WAY.... I didn't feel like my myself today because I attempted to pull off the beanie hat I got from the exchange gift with my HS friends a year ago. I thought it's be perfect for today because of the weather, and it somehow fit in with my music shirt, my white hoodie vest, my neon orange belt, and my famous/infamous bright yellow boots (that I only wear during rainy days like today.) TEEHEE.

How To Own A Pizzeria: The Double Birthday

- September 25, 2011, Sunday.

- The actual day of my birthday was reserved for my high school buddies (and my family at night.) What made the 25th of September more special was that two of us celebrated on that date - my friend Karel, and I (which meant I wouldn't have to shoulder the whole bill. YAY!!)

- Our friend Genenieve, who unfortunately wasn't able to come, kept on telling us about this restaurant near UST that served regular-sized, to giant 36-inch pizzas. With much researching through the net, I discovered that the pizzeria's name was "Calda Pizza," and is located at P. Noval Street, located near the big Ministop at the corner of Espana and P. Noval. Although Genevieve wasn't able to come, and I think she was the one most excited about the pizza plan, I still decided to eat there just to see if the food there was great.

- My friends and I were supposed to meet around 11am, although I met them 30 minutes later because it took me a while to finish thanking people who greeted me via Facebook. I hurriedly ran to the swimming pool area to meet up with them, and we rode two tricycles to somewhere near UST.

- We first went to Berna's condo near UST before going to the restaurant. After Bernadette came out of the elevator, she asked us why we brought a cake. I really thought she was joking, until she asked a second time while walking to St. Thomas Square, a mini-mall on the way to the restaurant, where we're supposed to meet Karel. Jessica dragged Berna to one side, and whispered that I was my birthday and Karel's. Hahahaha.

- We soon arrived at St. Thomas Square, and met Karel within 5 minutes. Not knowing where Calda Pizza was exactly, we asked the guard of St. Thomas Square who fortunately knew where it was.

- The Calda branch in P. Noval was a bit small, and can seat around 20 people, or maybe a bit more. Since it was a Sunday and no students can be seen around the UST area (although some students were inside UST for extracurricular stuff I suppose,) the restaurant was empty.

- We first ordered a 30-inch 4 Seasons pizza (Quattro Stagione,) and later, a 30-inch Milano pizza. Calda's pizza is relatively less expensive than most commercial pizzas, but I liked how their pizzas aren't as oily as most commercial pizzas. Calda's pizza crust was also thinner than other pizzas, and well-"toasted." Although the toppings aren't as "abundant" as other pizzas, Calda's pizzas tasted light, and the aromatic melted cheese, almost liquid like the pizzas of Italy, wasn't overpowering the other toppings.

- Our friend Nathalie soon arrived, and Marvinson texted at the last minute that he wouldn't be able to come, which made me the only guy again in the group.

- In the end, Karel and I didn't know how to divide the cake between us, so I let her keep the cake, while I took home the leftover pizza. We all went home after around 3 hours of lunch, instead of going to the Rockband place and hang out more; people were busy, sick, or tired. Well, at least we were all able to spend a quiet afternoon - with Calda's radio music playing oldie songs, most of them depressing - but I think it was one of the coziest meals I've had with the group apart from the time they hung out here at home. Hopefully we'll be complete next time, and still manage to have a cozy lunch or dinner. Even better, if we could "own" a restaurant again for a meal. Teehee.

Jetsetter Pre-Birthday PART 4: Late Evening to Early Dawn with Dorenett, Monica, and Marianne :D:D:D:D

- September 24 to 25, 2011, Saturday to early Sunday.

- FINALLY, the last part of my pre-birthday day. Monica asked us a few days ago if we wanted to go to Mercato after the cultural performance in PICC. Since Dor and I have never gone to Mercato - or any of the foodie market places - we decided to go.

- From Manila, we had a comfortable ride to Makati, then Taguig. Upon arrival, the place seemed nice....until we went inside. As expected, it was highly crowded, especially since it was a Saturday night. Dorenett told me that it might be possible to have lung cancer in just seconds of being inside because of all the grilling from many stalls. Still, all the stuff there seemed to beg me to buy them.

- For those who don't know, Mercato is a weekend-market place that opens some time in the afternoon, and around 10pm to around 3am at night (to dawn.) Monica told me that the shops/stalls during the afternoon are different from the ones at night.

- We were lucky to have found a cozy table outside, right in front of the Chinese-owned GuacTruck, a Mexican-Filipino food-truck/van. I just found it amusing that the owners were Chinese, because they didn't look to Chinese, until I heard them speak to their aunt (??) in perfect Chinese. Haha.

- Dor and I went around and bought a pizza with international-fusion flavors, and nachos. On the way back to our table, we saw our friend Cherilyn. Yay!! After Dor and I settled, Monica and her sister went inside and brought back a ton of food. Taco salad cups, bon-chon-ish chicken wings, fish and chips, etc. I also tried stuff from the GuacTruck and I love it; it wasn't too heavy. I didn't want to eat a lot because I might not sleep again like what happened to me the other night. HAHA.

- It was, I think, the first time that I was out with someone on the eve of my birthday. The thought of eating outdoors with friends, in Global City, and on the eve of my birthday, almost let me expect to see fireworks when the clock struck 12. Then again I remembered that people only did that during new year. HAHA.

- We soon went inside and tried some weird/unique- but-delish ice cream. I wanted to buy myself a cup, but my throat was still a bit dry, and I'm afraid that I might have a sore throat today (gladly I didn't!!) Well, I got to have free tastes of the weird flavors, and I liked them - some more than others. Haha.

- We went around and sat near the exit, while my companions finished their ice cream. Just before we left, Monica treated us to mochi ice cream. I had green tea because it wasn't as....sweet as the other flavors. Hahahaha.

- We all went home at around 1-ish, and had a really adventurous ride home. For one, we almost hit a motorist who suddenly swerved to our lane. Good thing the driver's foot was on the brakes!! Haha. I am just thankful that we all got home safely.

- I really really want to thank everyone for making this unique experience/day special. It wasn't unique just because it was the day before my birthday (and ended up on the day of my birthday,) but because I was able to do something I haven't done in a long time, did new things with old friends in old places, met new people, went to new places, and had that "countdown to my birthday" in Mercato that really made my night. To more adventures. :D:D:D:D

Jetsetter Pre-Birthday PART 3: Evening with Dorenett, Monica, and Marianne :D:D:D:D

- September 24 to 25, 2011, Saturday to early Sunday.

- The real adventure, I think, started right after my lunch date with Margarette (sans Clarisse.) I quickly went home to change my clothes and air myself. I wore another red shirt, and brought my Tibetan shirt with me as well. For my evening agenda, Monica was going to treat us in Mr. Ube for an early dinner, since she had Mr. Ube gift cards. Afterwards, Dorenett had free tickets to the Chinese cultural performance in PICC, in celebration of the 62nd foundation day of China.

- I rested at home for a good 15 minutes, while I prepared my things for the night. Err, so much for rest. I rushed to Dorenett's house, a few moments beforE Monica's car arrived. Monica's driver zoomed to Ongpin, so the four of us could have an early dinner before going to PICC. We hoped to get good seats.

- At Mr. Ube, I found it amusing that Monica didn't pay a single cent for all of us, and used "sheets of paper" as payment. Yes, I have seen give cards before, and I know how they work, but using something else than actual money or credit cards/cheques to pay for something isn't something that I usually encounter.

- I realized that we all ordered noodle-soup dishes, and Dorenett realized that she and Monica's younger sister, Marianne, wore the same color. Since Monica still had much to spare, I ordered a lot of drinks to moisten my throat; my throat was dry from all that shouting during the workshop yesterday morning.

- I quickly finished my soup and drinks, before going to the restroom and changing into my golden Tibetan costume for the cultural performance. Monica had just finished calling their driver to pick us up too.

- We arrived at PICC after battling a semi-heavy traffic, and walked brisky towards the theater. Since we were holding yellow tickets, we were flushed to the side of the audience area. We hoped that not too many would watch, so we could move to the center seats. Later on, I was able to spot spot-on center seats, located just below the camera man who was tasked to record the whole performance.

- The cultural performance started around 8pm with the national anthems of both the Philippines and China, and speeches from the VIPs, such as the Chinese ambassador himself. Soon, the emcee came out from the backstage, and introduced the Yi-tribe dancers.

- Based on the title of the dance alone, the Yi tribe dancers danced something in relation to the moon, although the execution of the dance was very fiery. The splashes of yellow, reds, and oranges lit up the stage, aside from the lively hops and jumps the made the people look like dancing flames.

- The second performer introduced was Cao Fu Jia, a really pretty singer, although I fancied her clothes more. Purely red, simple, elegant, and flowy. She sang two ballads. She also tried to sing a Fukien song after those two, since she said that she wanted to "give something" to the Chinese here in the Philippines, most of which come from the Fujian province (my grandparents in both sides came from Fujian too.)

- The third number was another dance number from the Yi tribe, entitled "Treading on Clouds." I've seen this dance many times before via youtube, and it didn't appeal to me, until I saw it live. The women played around with graceful, but with some jerky movements all throughout the dance. The music was mysterious, dark, with occasional syllabic chanting by women. I loved the number.

- The fourth performer was Lorsang Tenzo, a Tibetan male singer, who sang a Tibetan drinking song, and another song entitled "Shangri-La." Aside from the usual Tibetan style of singing, what appealed to me more was the costume he wore, especially since he wore the same thing I was wearing, only with a different color.

- The next performer was a magician named Wu Song Xun. Well, to be honest, I'm not really a fan of magic tricks, although the guy's showmanship was impressive. There was also a portion where he asked an audience member to go on stage for a certain trick. The whole theater laughed after this Chinese dude stood up, and raised his hand, and shouted at the top of his voiceeee "WOOOO!!!!" (MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!) I think the magician had no choice but to let a guy as enthusiastic like him be his assistant. Hahahaha.

- The next number was a fan dance from the Han tribe (the biggest ethnic group of China.) The dance depicted the flowing river through laced fans and the ever so graceful movements, and the playful eye contact, especially of the main dancer.

- A singer named Wang Qun came after the fan dance, and sang two pop-ish ballads. I wasn't too fond of her, although I thought she was wearing a really unique fringed (??) dress.

- The next number was an interesting dramatic dance by the Hani Tribe of China. The Hani tribe can be found in the Sino-Vietnamese border, and is also one of the tribes recognized by Vietnam aside from the Chinese. The dance they performed was a comedic depiction of men searching for their prospective wives, and carrying a woman who a male Hani thinks is fit for him. In the end, the two main characters, who seemed to love each other dearly, showed a funny conclusion to the scenario: since the guy seemed to be "weak" to carry his lady, the lady carried her lover instead!! Hahahaha.

- Another interesting performance was the next one by Yang Ji Qiang. He played the erhu, the two-stringed Chinese violin. He played two pieces, altought the second one, entitled "Horse Race" was more familiar to me. I knew how the song sounded like, but it was way more impressive when watching someone play it live. The piece's difficulty can immediately be seen through the fingering techniques needed to be developed in order to perfect the piece. As a treat to the Filipino-Chinese, he also played "Anak" with his erhu.

- The next portion was a dance number from the Vu/Wu tribe. This tribe can be found near the Sino-Burmese border. Their earth-and-fire-toned dance was participated by two men, and plenty of women who seemed to have danced with their hair. Aside from the dizziness from the constant spinning of their heads around and around, I was baffled at how the women were able to express the mood of the dance clearly through their movement; their long hair/wigs were over their faces, and for the most part, the women hunched their backs to give space to their hair/wigs, and let the hair strands fall gracefully with the help of gravity. It was a dance worth pondering upon.

- The next number were two song by singer Yong Feng. His style of singing was not "modern," and he might have appealed to the older people in the audience. He sang well, I think.

- The last dance number for the night was another dance by the Hani tribe, which depicted a white bird dancing together with the green grass. Because I was very amazed with the pirouettes, and the perfect stances of the white bird, it took long before I realized that the white bird was a male dancer.

- The last number of the night was a song presented by all the performers of the night. They sang "Me and My Motherland/ Ancestral Country." Thinking we could sneak n the backstage to hopefully get a photo of Tibetan Tenzo Lorsang, we positioned ourselves towards the stairs just as everyone was leaving, and the performers were having their final photo ops with the media.

- We followed the sound of Lorsang Tenzo at the backstage, since he was singing while fixing his things. We wanted to knock on the dressing room door, which happened to be slightly opened, but we didn't disturb him after we saw that he was changing his wardrobe. More performers came to the backstage, and we kept on having photos with the "wrong" people. I think Monica turned out to be the lucky one, since she had a photo with the "white bird" who she admired so much.

- What made the four of us leave the backstage was when Cao Fu Jia, who gave us a subtle "what are these people doing here" glare. Dorenett, being the perfect PR person that evening, was about to ask Fu Jia if she could have a picture with us. Because of that glare, Dorenett didn't ask her anymore. Too bad, Dorenett was admiring her beauty and talent during the performance. Haha. Oh, and Dorenett said that she glared at us a second time, although the rest of us didn't see the second glare.

- After the awkward "moment" with Fu Jia, we all decided to leave, with me not having a photo with Lorsang Tenzo. Anyway, he already changed into his street clothes, which defeated the purpose of my having a picture with him. It was nice to hear Lorsang Tenzo sing anyway. :D:D:D:D

- The four of us rushed to use the restroom, I changed into my street clothes too, and we had "final pictorial" by the lobby of PICC, before riding the car once again to our ultimate night-ender. :) :) :) :)

Jetsetter Pre-Birthday PART 2: Noon and Early Afternoon with Marga :D:D:D:D

- September 24 to 25, 2011, Saturday to early Sunday.

- After my reemergence in MASCKS that morning, I immediately went home, left the cake and the giant cartolina, and headed to the train station. I rode to Pedro Gil, and rushed to meet Marga. I think she had been waiting for around half an hour.

- Marga and I soon walked leisurely towards Korean Village in Nakpil street (near the Adriatico corner), and talked on our way there. It would've been more fun if our friend Clarisse were with us. Too bad she wasn't feeling well. :( :( :( :(

- We arrived at the restaurant, with only the two of us as customers. It felt weird, because normally the restaurant was moderately too fully-packed. Since both of us felt a bit adventurous, we deviated from our usual orders, and tried other items in the menu. We tried Korean Village's version of pajeon (savory pancake,) jajangmyeon (black-bean noodles,) samgyetang (the famous ginseng chicken porridge,) although we had the usual grilled beef.

- Marga and I hung out until the restaurant closed at around 3pm, and decided to cool off for another hour in Robinson's Place. Goodness, the sky didn't seem like it, but boy is was terribly hot that time. T__T

- For some reason I really enjoyed walking around and doing nothing in RP, even if it were just for an hour. Marga and I saw a lot of nice things, and would have bought them if they weren't too expensive (even on sale!!)

- Since I felt tired, and still needed to go home, change, and prepare for my long long evening, I asked Marga if it was OK for us to go at around 4:30. Marga had to prepare for something at her house as well anyway.

- I could've hung out with Marga longer if both of us didn't have any agenda later that day, or if I weren't super tired from the lack of sleep. Still, I was able to take it easy yesterday afternoon, and air my head (and body.) Haha.

Jetsetter Pre-Birthday PART 1: Morning with MASCKS :D:D:D:D

- September 24 to 25, 2011, Saturday to early Sunday.

- Thank God for letting my prof give us a research break, and I had a free day the day before my actual birthday. Even better, I was able to arrange many things with different friends, until I realized that I barely had time to rest in between activities. Well, at least I'd be making most out of my day.

- The problem with yesterday was that I didn't sleep well - err, barely had sleep that is - the night before because my tummy was still working hard to digest all the food I ate last Friday night with Eric. The irritating echo of the neighborhood rooster was also another reason why I couldn't sleep, even if I might have been able to, after my tummy was more or less successful in working with all the food I ate. I think I slept around an hour or two. Shucks.

- I woke up around 7 in the morning to prepare myself for my first agenda of the day: my reemergence in MASCKS. I haven't visited the club since I "left" after last school year, and I had Saturday morning classes that hindered me from visiting the club.

- Last Friday, I had already arranged with the current adviser, Ms. Isip, who happened to be as old as I am, that I would be giving the members a workshop. Even if I barely had enough sleep, I seemed to be more than happy to wake up from my bed and fix myself for the morning. I wasn't able to bring cakes to share to the members, since Goldilocks was still closed when I passed by.

- I arrived in my alma mater at around 8 in the morning, and saw some former members lingering around. Still tired and sleepy, I tried to speak much sense while chatting with the members and waiting for the meeting to start. We were soon led to one of the third-floor rooms, and waited for Ms. Isip to formally begin the club meeting. Funny how I could pinpoint which members were new: they were silent, I haven't seen them in previous school years, and they sat as one big chunk at the side of the room.

- The session started when Ms. Isip told everyone that we were celebrating my birthday, side from the workshop proper, and so the session began with an awesome "Genie" dance number by Jordan and company. I had - and still have - no idea how they knew that I fancied SNSD and their dances.

- I also appreciated how some former members having their NCAE review (third year HS) took time to stop by and at least say hello. That was one of the things that really touched me yesterday morning.

- For some reason, Jordan and everyone else was asking me to dance an SNSD dance. I had forgotten most of the parts of "Oh!" so I requested if I could dance "Gee" instead - something I've done a thousand times both here and in Korea. HAHA. Good thing someone had "Gee" in their phone, and someone had a speaker. Hahahaha.

- Just before I began to dance, someone was testing the lights, and I had a hunch what was going to happen next. After a few seconds, someone closed the lights, and Ms. Isip brought a cake with a ton of candles. I quickly made a wish - which I can't seem to remember what - and blew all the candles. After that, Jordan and people gave my this big, yellow, and rolled-up cartolina with messages on it.

- I soon danced my "Gee," accompanied by Clarice, and yes I seemed to have mad a fool out of myself again. Hey, at least I wasn't wearing a barong or a bahag like I had done previously!! Haha.

- While setting up for the workshop proper, I introduced myself to the new members, and later taught everyone how to do a certain clapping game I learned from interpretative dancer Jung Young Doo in our expression workshop during my week-long stay in Korea last June.

- The original version was simple: everyone should form a circle, and one person will clap his hands, directing that clap to a certain person, and the person "tagged" should pass the clap to another member in the circle. Ideally, this should go from slow to fast.

- Ms. Isip wanted to let the members loosen up to each other, so I made a variation by letting the person call out the name of the person tagged. This meant that everyone in the circle should be familiar with each other's names. Initially, we had two circles, and soon, I asked them to make one big circle.

- I later asked everyone to do the original version of the game, the objective being the development of eye contact and precision; the earlier variation's goal was to get to know each other, developing voice clarity, and precision too.

- The last variation of the game that I did was to have the basic clap-tagging format, but with one person saying a word, and the following person saying another word that began with the letter following the first letter of the previous word. (Example: person 1 says "a"pple, person 2 says "b"all, person 3 says "c"oat, etc.) The goal of this version was to practice spontaneity and presence of mind.

- After a few rounds, Ms. Isip took over, and introduced an ageless acting/improvisation exercise. A sheet of cloth was to be passed around, with each member integrating the cloth in a scene, or using it as something else. Some used it as a diaper, a baby, a magic carpet, a mermaid's tail, etc.

- The morning ended with everyone discussing about the play that the club would probably be watching in/near Shangri-La, and thinking of where to eat.

- I decided to tag along with some MASCKS members, and Ms. Isip, when they decided to eat at McDonald's. I ate lightly, since I had a lunch date with Marga and Clarisse (though she wasn't able to make it because she wasn't feeling well,) but I decided to treat the people I was with; we were around 9 I think. Teehee.

- Thank you MASCKS for preparing everything. I really made me happy, let alone surprised. I might have under-reacted yesterday morning since I lacked sleep, but please know how happy and touched I was with everything. Thank you once again for letting me handle yesterday's workshop too!! I hope you learned a thing or two, as I have learned many things from you during that 2-hour session. :D:D:D:D

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.