Sapatos At Kape

Sapatos. Ano pumapasok sa isip mo pag naririnig mo ang "sapatos"? Imelda? Otto? Rusty Lopez? Sa akin Marikina.

Wala lang. natripan ko lang. lumibot ako sa may palengke, sa sentro ng Marikina. Yung malapit sa Sports Center. Oo. Yung sports complex na may fountain sa unahan. Marami palang tagong lugar doon.

Pumunta ko sa may simbahan. Buti nalang madaling magpark doon. Sabado kasi. Pag linggo siguro marami ring tao. Pumasok ako sa may gate ng simbahan. hehe.. naghahanap ako ng comfort room. Akalain mong may bayad pala! Pero wala naman akong magagawa diba? Keysa naman sa puno ako. Marami kayang tao nun. Baka huliin pa ko ng pulis. Hehe.. Ang linis ng CR nila. Mas malinis pa ata sa kwarto ko.

"Bayan" ang tawag nila sa lugar na yun. Yun ang sentro ng marikina. Naalala ko nung may nagkwento sakin. Si Luther ata yun. "Aleng may hawak na bayong! Huhuliin ka dyan!" May ale kasing tumatawid sa pedestrian. Eh nakailaw ung pulang signal na bawal tumawid. Hindi narinig ng ale. Malapit na siya sa gitna ng kalsada. "Aleng may hawak na bayong! huhuliin ka sabi dyan!" Tuloy parin yung ale. "Ale! Huhuliin kita!" Nang marining ng ale, dali-dali syang bumalik. Haha.. Strikto kasi sa marikina, lalu na sa bayan.



Syempre naghanap din ako ng mga restaurant sa paligid. Gumagawa kaya kami ng magandang blog! ung "thetastebytes.blogspot.com"!! Haha.. Merong resto dun sa malapit sa simbahan. Cafe Kapitan ung tawag. Nasa loob siya ng parang isang lumang bahay. Antigo yung mga dingding tapos kapis ung bintana. Syempre hanggang sa labas lang ako. May dress code kasi. Eh naka-paa lang ako nun! hehe.. biro lang. naka-tsinelas naman. Sa labas may open space na may ilang mga benches. Masarap magkape dito at magbasa ng dyaryo habang unti-unting sumisikat ang araw.

Spanish cuisines ang specialty ng Cafe Kapitan. Bawal ang naka shorts at duster. Bawal din nakatsinelas. Bawal nakasando. At oo, bawal ka dun! Hehe.. biro lang, toh naman. :p Eh kung havaianas kaya ang tsinelas mo? papasukin ka kaya?

May eskenita sa likod lang ng Cafe Kapitan. Hindi ko alam kung anong meron dun. Basta pinasok ko yung eskenita. Eh bakit ba? Lakas trip eh. :p Di ko alam san yun papunta. Basta naglakad lang ako. Akalain mong nakarating ako sa ilog! haha.. Hindi na malinis yung ilog ngaun. Hindi naman siya ganun kadumi. Pero hindi rin siya ganun kalinis.

Mainit nun. Bumalik na ko sa may simbahan para sumilong sa puno. Nang makabalik ako, Napansin ko yung isang building dun na parang wala lang. Pero may nakabantay na gwardya. Pinuntahan ko. Museum pala yun ng mga sapatos! Doon nakatago yung ibang sapatos ni Imelda. Oo. Si Imelda Marcos na asawa ni Ferdinand Marcos. May entrance fee. 50.

Wala kang makikita sa loob kundi sapatos, sapatos, sapatos! Mga sapatos ni Imelda, ng mga dating senador, dating presidente, pati yata yung sapatos ni BF nung isang araw nandoon eh. Meron din palang mga Mannequin doon sa may taas. Pinapakita nila kung pano gumawa ng sapatos.

Kung mapadpad ka sa Marikina, pumunta ka sa bayan. Magswiming ka sa sports center, magfoodtrip, at bisitahin mo yung shoe museum. Tara, punta tayo minsan. :D

The Hidden Garden

Within a busy campus, there resides a serene garden hidden in the heart of UP Diliman. Filled with green plants and blossoming flowers, this humble abode is the perfect place for a peaceful meal.

Day after valentines, Gracie and I decided to have dinner in UP. The place is situated within a residential area and it is very easy to miss for it is literally covered in trees and green plants. Lucky for us, it was night time when we got there and their signboard was lit.

There is ample space outside for parking. Though darkness engulfs the surroundings, there is the friendly kuya guard to which you could entrust your vehicle. And I did. Iniwan ko muna si beck (kotse ko) dun.


AMBIANCE

Seemingly a portal to another world, the passageway to the Verde is decorated with greens. This short pass leads to the dining area. Simple but well decorated, this area is open to the cool breeze of the open air. There is a mini-waterfall on the side and a series of paintings on the other. Everywhere you look, your eyes will be filled with blossoming life.

The place is lively and yet relaxing. Every table is a candle light set-up with a freshly cut flower as the centerpiece. Sayang lang hindi kita ung buwan. The place is housed in a hut-like structure with wooden posts. Above, you will see decorations: dangling heart shapes and wind chimes.


FOOD and SERVICE

Gutom na kami. hehe.. We ordered Paella. It is stuffed with shrimp, crab meat, shells and other spices. We planned to order a second dish but didn't. Pang dalawa na daw yung serving ng Paella. Baka di namin maubos.



It took about 15 to 20 minutes to cook our order. We waited a bit and talked about the place. Ang kulang nalang sa kanya ay slow background music and a small dance floor. hehe..

Our dish was served hot. We ate. it was my first time to eat paella and it was great. Sabi din ni Gracie masarap ung paella. hehe.. naubos namin.



Dessert na! Since we still have a little room to spare in our digestive track, we ordered dessert. It was called mango something.. I forgot. It's made of mango and strawberry bits rolled in lumpia-like wrappers, dressed with sweet caramel syrup, topped with ice cream and cotton candy. It was a valentines special dessert. Who would have thought manggo and strawberry bits in lumpia wrappers could taste so delicious?!


THE VERDE

The place is called Chateau Verde. It is one of the fine dine restaurants inside the UP Diliman campus.

Fazoli's: Yet Another Italian Resto

Come Mid-December, the affiliated ones of the College participate in the most grueling week of the year - the engineering week. As members of the UP ERG (and others as Friend/s ng ERG na indi ERG or as i call them FERGiEs, haha), we usually hang out at Eastwood after the Miss Engineering for a Victory Party. Last year however, the usual Something fishy did not commence. We instead turned into the then closing Fazoli's and transformed it into an ERG house (something that we envision to have someday for our org).

Since we "owned" the place, it has a familial "house" feel to it, with two floors, winding staircases, and clubhouse design. As the name suggests, it is an italian resto, with its trademark of overflowing drinks and bread sticks! The team ordered all variants of its "value meal", dubbed as the

Pepperoni Pizza-Pasta Combo

Pizza & Spaghetti Al Pesto - P145

Pizza w/ Fettucini Alfredo - P140

Pizza & Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce - P130

The combos exceeded my expectations for a value/entry-level meal. Generous servings of pasta and pizza for the prize tag really is something that spells 'value for money'. coupled with the bottomless drinks at P45 (not to mention the unlimited breadsticks), its best for people who are really REALLY hungry. In our case, we shouted our hearts out with the rest of our orgmates at the University theatre, so we are really hungry that we ate meals at wee hours of the morning (pre-breakfast!)

Agave: Of Giant Nachos and Gay Zombies

 

Agave Mexican Cantina is this, Mexican (but of course!) restaurant located at Eastwood, Libis. I went there with Ian, Jeb, Gracie after Chris and Tin's going away party, which was already pretty late, around past midnight I guess. It was one of those random gimmick nights, when we have no idea what to do and I don't know why we didn't just head home and sleep. :) I'm not complaining though. I had a great time, trying out those nice-looking cocktails. Plus their waitresses have this pretty costumes. Too bad we weren't able to take a picture of them.:p

To be completely honest, I'm not a big fan of Mexican cuisine but we had a fairly decent meal. We didn't order a lot actually, but their Nachos Grande is really grand indeed! I enjoyed it a lot because aside from the generous serving, it had a heap of toppings like jalapenos, beef, cheese, guacamole, etc. Yum! I think for the price of a little over Php300, it was kind of worth it. I recommend you order it if you are not that hungry and you just want something to go with your cocktail drinks. One serving was enough for the four of us. Unfortunately, it made me crave for nachos a couple of days after. I miss Agave because of it!

 Now see Jeb from the picture on the left, with his very first Zombie. I think he was supposed to be showing his desperation here, because the drink didn't turn out looking as tough as it's name suggests. Lesson learned: Don't judge a drink by it's cover? err, name. If you'd ask me, he seemed happy with it actually. I don't know, it must be the umbrella :p

Oh, and they also have a live band at the place. Too bad they only has a few songs left when we arrived. Personally I love restaurants with live bands but it makes the place a little noisy which in turn, crosses Agave out of the our suitable "MacLaren's Bar" list. And so the pursuit continues.

R.O.C. buffet @ the 8th EEE Alumni Homecoming

Though I don't feel like an alumnus of EEE (since I am still stuck in the Institute), I decided to give in to the lure of free food (and alcoholic beverage, malaki na nga lang kasi ang tiyan ko so food lang talaga). The theme was "Eng'g na Eng'g na Eng'g: Getting bigger and better", which was very appropriate since the groundbreaking ceremony of EEE building 2 was held earlier that day. The Eng'g na Eng'g na Eng'g is an inside joke of what EEE stands for (in contrast to IE, ChE, CE, and the like). While Alumni may say "Is this still the EE department I have known?", we must accept that change is inevitable, and we must enjoy the exciting changes that is happening in our "beloved" department (now Institute) of Electrical and Electronics Engineering of the UP College of Engineering.

Hurling comments by the page while perusing the souvenir program, it is happy to see that EEE alumni in general now holds key positions in the government and industry here and abroad, and it is a challenge to the institute to maintain or surpass the quality of education that was established ahead of them. Nakakatuwang mabasa na happy sila sa fields nila, tapos iisipin mo na 25 years ago, nangangarap lang sila (Ang payat pa nang isang babaeng alumni noon, at feeling ko, hearthrob siya nung college, judging by her pictures tsaka hello, iilan lang ba ang babaeng EE noon?)

Mike threw his dignity aside that night as he related the EEE 41 song with action (Forward active, saturation at cut-off, clap clap clap). Too bad Doc S was not listening. Buti nalang talaga si Mike ang natawag , kasi naman diba, meron din akong EEE 33 song. tsaka the villar song.

We also learned that the students then despise EE 42 (now EEE 43). Ma'am Gev even dropped the subject, as it was her first time to score a Z-E-R-O in an exam. Nasa huli nga naman ang pagsisisi, as she later learned that the passing average for the course was 35 (her average prior to dropping). There teachers were also a "no-show" at a time, for they watched Voltes V instead of dishing out the exam.

As expected, the Institute loved its own, the buffet is courtesy of the ROC (Restaurant of Choice), a posh resto owned by Sir Carl Odulio, among others. The pasta used in the pesto was not al dente, but other than that I enjoyed the food, especially the greeny salad stuff with salsa and cheese.

Grad Students' sit-all-day CR-all-you-want eat-out Conference at Sofitel

Some of the EEE's grad students attended the 4th ERDT conference at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, and with that in mind, HOTEL FOOD! batch 04 MS students were seated on table 23, with some EEE faculty/MS students in the nearby tables and VIPs on the front tables.

WOW tech of the day: She's tablet PC. a tool to help a scholar to be very productive.

To start the day, we had coffee coupled with chocolate crumpets and tuna criossant, unmindful of the resource speaker. Don't get me wrong here, but I honestly tried to be attentive, hindi lang talaga nag work dahil:

1. hindi ko maintindihan ang mga foreigners
2. parang antatas ng topics
3. pangit ang powerpoint display, mahina ang audio
4. minimum ang audience participation......

tuna crossaint and chocolate crumpets

participation nung mga scholars na mag-uundertake ng research that will shape this nations future na niriroad-map ng nasabing conference

Lunch time: the set menu is composed of (in order of appearance):

Potato and Leek Cappuccino and butter (above)

Coriander Mashed Potato soup (below)

Cappuccino pala yun, haha. the mashed potato soup was good, the croutons added contrast to the coriander.

Pan Fried Salmon fillet served with garden vegetables and Beurre Blanc

(above, this is what 8 out of 10 in table 23 ate)

Two (2) piece Pan Fried Salmon fillet served with Beurre Blanc (is what Flip ate)

Garden vegetables served with Beurre Blanc (is what Iris ate)

In general, table 23 did not enjoy the meal. We keep on putting salt and pepper (in cute marble dispensers labelled 'S' and 'P') to the salmon fillet. JC's fillet even looked like it was charcoaled-grilled due to the heavy coating of pepper. I keep on imagining that I am eating Century tuna lite in order to finish half a slab of the fillet.

Somewhere in fish-vana, a salmon soul is weeping because the pink fleshed fish died in vain. It had not served its purpose of providing nourishment to a hungry ERDT scholar. The soul then fervently prays that later that day, the pink remains will go down the throat of a cat, or another human being, and will not deteriorate in a garbage can.

Dinner rolls served for lunch

Truffle cake with chocolate stick for dessert

Afternoon: Table 23 was animatedly involved in paper games, finger games, name games, and color games to take mind of things. Funny how scholars think complicatedly, which adds frustration if one does not get the game.

The following note is a reflection of what I feel about Sofitel's accomodation of the conference.

disappointing service

Blue's Clues: Dropping Slip, EEEI Brochure, Dirty Ice Cream, and Chateau Verde

This week is the dropping week. I am thinking of dropping a 7am Math grad class since it is 'statistically impossible' to get a 2.75 (the MS 3.0 is a 2.0, by the way) , abated by my lowest score in an exam in recent years. So I went to class, consulted the teacher, and approached to sign my blue slip. but the teacher 'refused'. I think the teacher might be offended that I am dropping the class. the teacher then encouraged me not to drop.

Next Stop: the Intel Science Fair, where I, along with other grad students, distributed EEEI brochure like this, for the participants to read.

Attending Science fairs are fun, a hall full of young inquisitive minds, some of them might consider a career in electrical and electronics engineering. I have met a fellow Palawenyo that reached the finals, and nostalgia was triggered (HS days - yey, may ibubuga din pala kami sa national competitions.)

We then encouraged Iris to eat dirty ice cream since the vendor assured her that 'no animals were harmed' in the production of the ice cream since manong used virgin coconut milk.

Hungry, Iris and I succeeded to force Sieg to treat us in ROC (failed attempt at dropping! yey!), but it was closed so we opted to go to Chateau Verde instead. It is still Love mode at CV with red hearts sprawling across the restaurant.

It was my first time at CV, but the ambiance is quite familiar. Mang Jimmy-ish and EEE Rooftop-ish (see the silver roof stuff and the green metals. very EEE). Haven't got time to walk around and enjoy the garden though. :(

I thought that CV has higher food prices that ChoKiss, but long perusing of the menu proved me wrong. For my only meal of the day (It was also Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting) was Pasta la Gandalo (cream based, with mushrooms, bacon, and cheese).

Gaite de Coeur

This is what I ordered for free at Gaite de Coeur. Ian dropped by the lab to inform me about their free food. The freeloader in me heeded his invitation, together with Luther and Iris. The place has a cinema-feel to it, with loafy chairs and a multi-purpose projector for film screenings and 'stringent scoring' videoke sessions.

Since we have Iris in company, we have talked about animals and plants (the background video that time was of sea creatures like dolphins and stuff). It was a good conversation to kill time. Luther ditched in some thoughts to debunk Iris' animal-friendly eating habits. I then catched up on some of my required papers to critique, and Ian was (what was Ian doing?)

It took more than half an hour to complete our order. so service rating: negative. but one data point is not enough to judge the place over-all, after all, there is no such thing as a free lunch (or in my case, free dinner). free food, just like Life, resembles one big compromise. But don't ever lose that light in your eyes. Keep on shining, keep on smiling. Don't lose faith and don't lose heart.