lynn said... jon said...

Condo Transfer Update

2008-11-07T09:11:00.002+08:00

we did have the punch listing of our condo unit done last month (oct), but until now the bank hasn't released the funds from the approved loan that we've applied for......still waiting for a few more signatures from robinsons land corp people.

at the rate things are going we foresee full transfer to our condo unit by early next year na lang!!!

Top Blade

2008-09-27T08:18:00.006+08:00

having opened our meatshop last year, jon and i had the opportunity to attend the 3rd Monterey Franchisees Convention which was held at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila last December 4, 2007. the highlight of the convention was the awarding of the BLADE AWARDS to deserving Monterey Neighborhood Meatshops (NMS) throughout the country. the awards included five (5) awards in the following categories: "Rookie of the Year", "Best in Customer Service", "Best in Sales", "Best in MVP Promotion", "Best in Food Safety Management" and the top award called "The TOP BLADE Award" which encompasses every aspect of the above.

being only 6 months in operation during last year's awards night, we were not qualified for any of the awards.....so we just enjoyed watching the affair.

last night, we attended the 4th Monterey Franchisees Convention at the Crowne Plaza Galleria. to our surprise, our very own Monterey Meatshop Kapitolyo was nominated for three (3) awards: "Rookie of the Year 2007" (out of 36 new meatshops that opened last year); "Best in Food Safety Management 2007" (out of more or less 140 meatshops); and the granddaddy of it all..... "The TOP BLADE"!!!

we didn't win the "Rookie of the Year 2007" since apparently the new meatshop in Tacloban, Leyte posted the greatest monthly sales for last year; but we won 1st runner-up for the "Best in Food Safety Management 2007"..... (the winner being the meatshop in Tuguegarao).

for me though, the greater honor was being nominated for "The TOP BLADE" award because as what the presenter said last night, our being nominated was "phenomenal" because for the first time a meatshop that has only been in operation less than a year was nominated..... whereas the other 4 nominees have been opened for at least 5 years..... one being in operation for 12 years now...... and 2 nominees being company-owned!!!

"The TOP BLADE 2007" award went to the meatshop in Tuguegarao who's received this award, plus 3 of 5 of the other awards, for 3 consecutive years now..... thus, it was announced that it has been elevated to the Monterey Hall of Fame.

this leaves the awards open to all the other meatshops for 2008 (except of course the "Rookie of the Year")!...........

Our New Home

2008-09-24T08:00:00.002+08:00

we will soon be moving to our condo unit along EDSA....we're just waiting any day now for word from the developer as to when we can visit the unit. we're very, very excited about the prospect of finally ending our days of renting an apartment and start a new life of owning a HOME!!!

(of course, the prospect of having a swimming pool a few meters from our doostep also isn't diminishing our excitement at all!!! hehehehehehe)

permanent sun tan

2008-09-04T19:28:00.002+08:00

it looks like a piece from a puzzle... it's like the last piece to complete the puzzle.. it will soon become a reality! can't wait...

nini's garden

2008-09-03T19:50:00.002+08:00

here are a few photos of nini's garden. she will be moving to a new place soon and i thought it would be nice to take some photos to preserve the great memories that we had while we stayed here during weekends.

of course nini will have another garden when she does move in to her new place...

One Serendra.......

2008-05-25T10:15:00.008+08:00

a few weeks ago, bebeloi (fresh from her travels abroad) transferred to her brand new unit at the newly opened One Serendra, the country's newest and most exciting housing development locale (owned and developed by Ayala Land) located at The Fort right smack at The Bonifacio High Street.

this meant that the our group now has another place to swim in aside from Tarawoods in Batangas.... and true enough, on her first weekend at One Serendra we were there with bebs to sample their very lovely and serene pool..... (this makes our withdrawal symptoms from being away from Tarawoods easier and more bearable.... aside from the fact that compared to Tarawoods, One Serendra is very near as it is located right here in the city!!!)

of course, it also helps that by just walking past an entry door a few meters from the pool area, we find ourselves right at The High Street.... where fantastic places for shopping and dining abound.

on our first swim in, we sampled the food at ZAO, the vietnamese bistro right outside the door from One Serendra. except for some mishaps, the food was great.... and greater still.... we didn't even have to take our swimsuits off to enjoy the feast.... which made going back to the pool after lunch faster and more convenient!!! hehehehehehehe

Tarawoods 03

2008-05-06T10:43:00.012+08:00

here are some more pics of our visits to Tarawoods, so far. the main reason i'm showing these is that..... in case our family doesn't find a beach or a better place to go to, we could probably go here and spend 2 or 3 days bonding as a family (maybe even including john's family) after gwen and john's wedding in august. tarawoods would be perfect for it's privacy, it's amenities, and it's closeness to the city.

(and maybe, we could even negotiate for discounted rates.... hehehehehe)

what say you kuya, ate liz, gwen, and gail (& alej)..... diko, ate nette, and gino..... mabelle, billy, and julius (who knows, you might fight a way to come home too!!)????

i hope i get your answers soon so we can reserve the Tarawoods this early.

Tarawoods 02

2008-05-05T11:30:00.009+08:00

the following are some of our pics taken during our visits to Tarawoods in Tanauan, Batangas. i'm posting these to give you an idea of how beautiful the place is and how relaxing and enjoyable each visit is.....especially now that it's summer here in the philippines.

Tarawoods 01....

2008-05-04T07:27:00.012+08:00

undeniably, jon and i have not been posting in our blogs (including this one). but that doesn't mean that we haven't been doing anything or going to places lately. this past few weeks, we've been mostly at Tarawoods....a nature sanctuary in Tanauan, Batangas owned by the family of nini's husband.

Tarawoods was formerly known as Tara Farms when i used to go there with nini and some of our friends during the 90's. at that time, there were flower, vegetable, and fruit farms as well as a chicken breeder farm and a small farm house in the place. now, the breeder farm is gone and several houses have sprung up (or converted) around a main 3-storey house (with it's own air conditioned seminar room). It still has the vegetable and fruit farms and it is open for rent to families or groups for seminars, private parties, weddings, reunions, etc.

jon and i first visited Tarawoods last August 26, 2007 together with nini, miguel, roberta and cora. during that visit, rob (who is Tarawoods' landscape designer) and nini suggested to bob's mom and dad to put up a swimming pool to add to Tarawoods' amenities. and so, planning for the pool started that day.

the next time we visited was last march 9, 2008. by then the pools (one main pool, one kiddie pool), the shower rooms, and the gazebo have been constructed. we went there because rob and nini were asked to landscape the pool area. planning for the landscaping began in earnest.

the gazebo:
the male (left) and female (right) shower rooms:

the main pool:

the kiddie pool:

by our next visit in april 7, 2008, the materials as well as the personnel for the landscaping job have been assembled....and that weekend, landscaping was begun until well through the night (pakyaw style). these continued for the next weekends until april 27 when we last visited.

Last Day in Bangkok....

2008-04-16T11:24:00.006+08:00

jon and i woke up at 4:00 am on Easter Sunday and were on our way to the airport by 5:30 am for our 8:30 am flight back to manila. before leaving our home base while in bangkok, we realized we haven't taken any pic of the Rachaprarop Tower Mansion, hence, this pic:

while in line for check-in at the thai airways counter and later, while waiting for our plane to leave, we admired the beautiful new airport....

breakfast at the airport consisted of phad thai for both of us and iced coffee for me and regular coke for jon....

a little bit of shopping for thai chichirya followed at the duty-free shop....

then we went to our assigned gate of departure and waited for boarding announcement....

the flight was uneventful.....

we arrived at NAIA on time..... richard, bebeloi's driver, was waiting for us at the airport and promptly whisked us off to nini's place, where i left my car....

happiness was being at home, at last!!!

4th Day in Bangkok....

2008-04-16T10:23:00.006+08:00

our third day in bangkok was mainly spent shopping at Chatuchak weekend market, followed by a night of thai culture at the cultural center at Namiit, and topped off by last minute shopping at the night market at Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

at Chatuchak, we were only able to take a few pics, mostly of street foods; while at Namiit cameras inside the theater were not allowed, hence, our few pics outside the hall.

Spring/Summer Restaurant

2008-04-04T09:30:00.008+08:00

the food at spring/summer restaurant was scrumptious! it's traditional thai with a modern twist. we were supposed to have dessert afterwards, they have an outdoor thingy filled with bean bags to relax on but the place was just packed! the down side is the service was really awful! and of course, especially hard for us since they understand very little english. but the food is enough to make one want to go back...

A Bit of the Old, A bit of the New.....

2008-04-03T08:36:00.011+08:00

on the 3rd day of our stay in bangkok, we had to wake up very early because we took an out-of-the-city tour of the Bang Pa-In Royal Summer palace and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, 60 kms and 76 kms north of bangkok, respectively.

from our base at Rachaprarop Tower Mansion, we took a cab for nearby Indra Hotel where a van picked us up to bring us to the site of Suan Lum Night Market, where the air-conditioned tourist bus was waiting.

after about an hour's trip on the bus, we reached the Bang Pa-In Royal Summer Palace. "The palace dates back to the 17th century, pre-dating the establishment of Bangkok as the capitol. All the buildings seen here date from its revival by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the 19th century. Today, the palace is only used infrequently, and then mostly for state occasions rather than as a royal summer residence.

the palace is very European in design. The buildings are laid out along an artificial ornamental pond. In what was formerly the public area of the palace, the lake is a long rectangular pool, lines with formal plantings and the odd folly of copying buildings or ornaments from other places."

in contrast to the Grand Palace in Bangkok which is toured on foot, to our relief, the Summer Palace can be toured with a golf cart (for a fee); in fact, jon enjoyed the entire tour just driving the cart so much he never left it until the tour of the grounds was finished!!!

from the Summer Palace, after about a 30 minute-travel by bus farther north, we came to the old city of Ayutthaya.

"Ayutthaya, or Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, the Thai capital for 417 years, is one of Thailand’s major tourist attractions. Many ancient ruins and art works can be seen in a city that was founded in 1350 by King U - Thong when the Thais were forced southwards by northern neighbours. During the period of Ayutthaya being the Thai capital, 33 kings of different dynasties ruled the kingdom until it was sacked by the Burmese in 1767.

at the last stop of our Ayutthaya tour, miguel and i even had the chance to enjoy a 30-minute elephant ride through the streets and ruins of this old city.

the trip back to bangkok was a 3-hour leisurely boat ride along the Chao Phraya River.

on the boat we had a sumptuous buffet lunch, lots of cups of coffee, and a few hours of rest for our tired and aching feet.

we got off the boat at River City and took the "Shuttle Boat" of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to their spa just accross the river from the hotel.

after touring the spa, we took the shuttle boat again, this time for the hotel itself. we were picked up by our rented van from the lobby of the hotel.... then brought back to Rachaprarop.

after freshening up, we were off to the Spring/Summer Restaurant for dinner. This is what Gourmet Traveller says of this retaurant:

"Every night BMWs and Land Rovers fight through the city's noxious traffic; their Prada-clad occupants heading for the oversized cushions outside this pair of retro-fabulous 50s houses in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood. Zesty spring rolls and lemongrass chicken skewers dunked in tamarind sauce get the palate off to a familiar start. Spicy wing bean salad has plenty of zing, as do creamy braised scallops with sweet onions and chili oil. Linger under the stars or head into the lounge-like Summer Chocolate Bar to indulge in a selection of equally standout chocolate treats, vanilla crépes and Thai tea custard."

too bad we left our BMWs and our Pradas in Manila (hehehehehe).... because this review notwithstanding, we didn't stay long in the place!!! although the food was fabulous, the service was bad.... and it didn't help either that there was a group of foreigners dining with us who talked sooooo loud you'd think they own the place!!!

(as before, jon will post the 'fusion" gourmet food we had at Spring/Summer.)

to cap off the night, we all had a family style massage at the 8-storey Health Land Spa and Massage.....

"While the settings are grand and luxurious, our services are priced at the same level as in general massage centres rather than the high-end spas found in hotels. Attention to fine details of customer service and satisfaction remain our key goals in striving to offer superb services that are worth the customer every single penny. Henceforth, customers who come to visit Health Land are left with the impression that we provide better premium services and offer a heavenly escape from high-stress lives. Our broad customer base include expatriates, office workers, housewives, university students as will as forgien customers who come from overseas to visit us."

orchid garden restaurant

2008-03-30T17:07:00.005+08:00

our first thai meal was indeed at bob's apartment! and we loved every morsel of it! and it is absolutely convenient because all we had to do was call and they brought the food up! so let's see... from the top.. fried chicken wings, morning glory with crispy pork(my absolute favorite!), prawns with garlic, hmm.. i don't remeber this one.., fried rice with crabmeat. awwww... i miss this..

Filipino Tourists in Bangkok....

2008-03-31T10:11:00.012+08:00

after a short picture-taking session at the balcony of our room and a breakfast room service of pancakes (for me) and american breakfast (for jon), we were off early thursday (mar 20) morning in our rented van to experience the sights and sounds of bangkok.

our first stop was Bangkok's ornately decorated Royal Palace (also known as the Grand Palace). our tour of the place was made more interesting and educational by our lovely tour guide, Ms. Cindy.

the palace sits on about 60 acres of land and holds the bulk of Thailand’s greatest treasures, including the Emerald Buddha in Thailand’s most scared temple, Wat Phra Kaew.

bangkok's weather, especially at this time of the year, is very much the same as in manila. after all that walking in the hot unforgiving sun, all of us were glad to be back inside our air-conditioned van which took us to the Siam Paragon Shopping Center where we had lunch at Fuji Japanese Restaurant. needless to say, the food was fantastic; however, cameras were not allowed inside the resto, hence we were not able to take pics of the food!!!

after lunch, we toured the Siam Ocean World Bangkok which is conveniently located at the basement of the shopping center!

the day wouldn't be complete without shopping.... and so, we went back to the Paragon's Food Hall and supermarket and did our "food" shopping.

dinner was room service at bob's apartment at the mansion.

First Night in Bangkok.....

2008-03-30T10:28:00.006+08:00

finally, after weeks of anxious waiting and wondering whether we'd be able to make it or not, jon and i flew to bangkok on the night of march 19, 2008 for a well-deserved, albeit short vacation. actually, nini, rob, and miguel also flew to bangkok that night but they took the philippines airlines flight while jon and i took the thai international airways flight, which left the old manila international airport an hour ahead.

after a 2-hour and 50-minute flight, we arrived at the suvarnasbhumi airport in bangkok safe and sound. after barely an hour of waiting at the arrival terminal, we hooked up with the rest of the gang.... and from the airport we took a cab to rachaprarop tower mansion, our home base while in bangkok.

upon arrival at rachaprarop, the first order of business was dinner.... which we had in-house at bob's cozy apartment unit. incidentally, this was also our (jon and me) first taste of authentic thai cuisine.... and it was fantastic!!! what we had that night were basically the same food we ordered over and over again whenever we ate "in-house"!!! hehehehehe

perhaps, jon will feature them in his next entry.....

Jon's Bday Surprise.....

2008-03-29T09:22:00.005+08:00

last march 18, 2008 (a day before our departure for bangkok), we had a surprise 33rd birthday party for jon at roberta's house. jon didn't have any idea and he was really taken by surprise.

earlier that day, nini texted us both to ask us to drop by boot's house to get some things that she (nini) wanted us to bring to bangkok for bob (nini's hubby). she said that they already exceeded the baggage allowance and since jon and i were not bringing a lot of things, she wanted us to bring some of the things for her. little did jon know nini and i talked about it the day before and that most of our friends were already there.

when he entered the house, he was greeted by all.... and here are the pics for that memorable day.....

Jatujak......Prelude to Our Bangkok Trip

2008-03-26T09:40:00.006+08:00

it's been a long time since we last posted entries to this blog..... just to update.....

last march 17, 2008.....jon and i had lunch at a thai restaurant called jatujak at megamall. judging from how the food looked (and tasted!), they weren't far from what we actually had when we went to bangkok a few days later...... see for yourself!!!

watch out for our pics in bangkok.... coming very soon!!!

north park at the strip

2008-03-05T17:53:00.003+08:00

we were back in medical city for my doctor's appointment.. the last one i hope.. :) then after my check up, we went to north park to have a not so early lunch. you guys might think that i ordered too little this time but actually, i didn't take photos of the other stuff because they weren't presented nicely... pleasing to the eyes they were not but my mouth loved every morsel of food that went in... :)

endless

2008-03-05T18:04:00.002+08:00

after our lunch at north park, we were on our way back to the shop. lynn was driving so i was able to take photos of the beautiful sky... it almost seems like ripples on a body of water... the sky is amazing, it's possiblities are endless..

What a Difference a Dye Makes.....

2008-03-04T10:10:00.003+08:00

these photos were taken a day apart..... notice the difference??

(coloring c/o jon!)

Even Lazier Saturday Evening.......

2008-03-03T20:27:00.001+08:00

as usual, last saturday we arrive at nini's past 9:00 pm (as jon and i had to close our meatshop first). nini was already having the first half of her massage (she had the rest after dinner). dinner was sumptous yet simple and healthy.... and the dessert was delicious yet simpler still!

after dinner, we all went up and got ready for bed while watching fashion rocks 2007 on tv. jon, nini, and roberta didn't have their usual scrabble game before bed.... but i still had my 2-hour massage session.... which lasted until way past 1:00 am!!!

lazy sunday

2008-03-03T16:42:00.004+08:00

we had made plans to go to a nice zoo in montalban called avilon. however, after having dinner we were all watching tv and felt kinda lazy... so we decided to just have a lazy sunday, nothing strenuous.. we went to aani for a while... had lunch.. then played scrabble, a game i've only been playing since nini asked me to play.. now i'm really loving it!

Asian Finds.....

2008-02-27T10:26:00.005+08:00

last monday, while waiting to have lunch with cousin grace at trinoma, jon and i spent some time at nini and rica's store. while there i took pics of some of the store's beautiful, wonderful, and interesting merchandise....

after lunch, we met up with nini, roberta, cora, grace, and miguel at the store. they were re-arranging the display while i clicked away.....

the store's name is "Asian Finds" and they have their main store at the glorietta in makati.....

btw, this is where we picked up most of the things in our chinese teapot collection..... in fact, why don't you drop by and sample the delicious, delightful, and healthy chinese teas they offer.....

who knows, nini (or i) might be there to offer you a freshly-brewed ginseng-oolong tea.....

chinese tea table, P35,000.00..... chinese yixing teapot, P550.00...... yunnan dian hong black tea, P25.00..... ready to drink, puh-er tea freshly prepared by nini, priceless!!!

Turning Japanese....

2008-02-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

here are the photos i took during our lunch with cousin grace at haiku at trinoma: