Monday, January 26, 2009

Christmas in Bangkok

Before we proceed with my kwento about our vacation, let's talk about Christmas in Bangkok first. Christmas is not really a Thai holiday, but they still decorate the malls and buildings for the sake of the foreigners. I must say, they really go all out with the decor. Bongga sya in fairness. That's why I want to share these photos with you.
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Emporium. These were taken using my dad's new Sony camera (naks!) last November.
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Ang laki ng snowman! Teka, parang may kulang yata...
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...that's more like it! Para mas realistic yung kuha.
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The gingerbread house.
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Central World Mall. These were taken a day before our flight to Manila.
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A for Alyannah.
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Ang laki ng christmas tree!!
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Next stop: Siam Paragon.
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Ang laki ng christmas balls!!
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And our last stop: Oakwood.
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Eric + Lani's Birthday

We arrived in Manila on 13 December 2008 via Cebu Pacific at around 5am. This also marked the start of our three-week long vacation and the end of our imaginary diet. Haha! So many people to meet and so many Pinoy food that I wanted to eat! I made an itinerary to make sure that I don't miss out on important parties, dinners and get-togethers.
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First on our list: the joint birthday celebration of my brother-in-law Eric and sister-in-law Lani. It was a simple celebration -- just a family dinner at Eric + Tata's house -- pero ang daming pagkain! Thank you, Tata for preparing the wonderful dinner :)
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The birthday boy.
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The Valdez Family. Left to right: Tata (Eric's wife), Lani, Mama Lilia, Jayson (Richard's cousin), Me, Aly and Eric.
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The birthday girl.
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Tita Lani teaching Aly how to play chess.
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Ofcourse, no birthday celebration will be complete without gifts! Let's take a look at the presents.
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A shirt for ninong Eric.
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For tita Lani...
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...a new digicam!
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And last but not the least, for lolo Lila (she celebrated her birthday last 20 October)...
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...a blouse!
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I love you, Lola!
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To Eric, Lani and Mama, we wish you more years and many more blessings to come :)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Visitors in November

Mom, Dad and my titas were here on November last year. I told you about them being stranded, but I haven't shared with you any photos of their trip. Picture taking was done only on the first and last day. The rest of their stay kasi, they went shopping on their own and I had to stay behind to do my household chores. Pfffft...Corny no? Anyway, here are the pics.
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Seated, Left to right: mommy, tita Lori, Aly and daddy.
Standing, left to right: me, tita Vicky, tita Jojo, tita Wena and Jolo. Tita Vicky and tita Lori are my dad's sisters, while tita Jojo, tita Wena and Jolo are tita Lori's friends.
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After Sunday mass at Christ the Redeemer church.
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Lunch at some Thai restaurant at Central World.
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Around Central World.
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Merienda at Swensen's.
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Dad and his Apple Tower.
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For me: Chocolate Millionaire. Four baby scoops of ice cream, truffles, banana, whipped cream and a shot of thick, gooey fudge. Sooo heavenly!
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Dinner at Curries and More!
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Pomelo salad and shrimp cake.
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At the Oakwood poolside.
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Aly and her newfound playmate Kuya Jolo.
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He always gives me the best smile when I take his pic.
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Waiting for the shuttle that will take us to Central Plaza.
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We're going to have dinner at Sizzler!
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Short intro about Sizzler: I have always been intrigued by this restaurant mainly because there's always a long line of people outside who are waiting to be seated. As in, the other restaurants beside it can be practically empty, while Sizzler would always be packed. Richard and I thought the food there must be really good! We've been wanting to try the food but I was always turned off by the long line. Until finally, we had to no choice because tita Lori was going to treat us for dinner there. Hehe!
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Tita was raving about the all-you-can-eat salad/soup/pasta/dessert bar, which comes free if you order a main dish. I saw people going crazy in the salad bar -- ang daming tao palagi and it was hard to get anything -- but I wasn't too thrilled because I'm not really a salad person. I'd rather have soup, but I wasn't happy with the choices available so this is what I got: crab salad. Parang ang lungkot ng plato ko...
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...compared to my mom's plate. The dessert spread wasn't exciting either. It was actually boring (hello? puro jello lang with whipped cream on top) so I didn't bother anymore.
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Hindi sila maka-smile kasi may laman bibig nila. Hehe!
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Tita Vicky got soup with prawn crackers.
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Inseparable: Aly and her lolo Bernie.
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Si Jolo masaya kasi bukas uuwi na sila (after being stranded in BKK for more than a week!).
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Hamburger steak with baked potato.
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Half rack of baby back ribs.
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The verdict: the food did not exactly blow me away. I've tasted better baby back ribs before. But I'm willing to give Sizzler another try. Maybe next time I should try their steak. Baka mas masarap yun. The food is pretty expensive (THB250-Thb400), but it's worth it because of the salad/pasta/soup/dessert bar. Actually, sa appetizer pa lang mabubusog ka na. Hehe!
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The next day, we had to bring them to the airport. They were happy that they were finally able to go home, but it was also kinda sad to see them go.
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Look at all that luggage! Isama nyo na yung bata sa harap. Hehe!
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Bye, mom and dad!
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When I woke up that morning, I kept telling myself over and over na susunod na rin kami after a week para lang hindi ako umiyak. But when I saw my mom getting all teary-eyed when she kissed me goodbye, I got teary-eyed too. It was a quiet ride back to Oakwood and even more quiet when we got home.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Strawberry Cheesecake

The cheesecake that I made on New Year's eve was palpak. It looked like egg tarts and it tasted like lemon squares. It did not look like cheesecake and it didn't taste like cheesecake at all.
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Try to spot the cheesecake. It's those small round thingies at the foreground. Some are plain, and some had blueberry on top.




I followed all the measurements and directions, but it still came out wrong. Baka palpak talaga yung recipe (good thing I left the cookbook in my mom's house!). Anyway, to prove my theory, I tried making another batch here in Bangkok. This time, I used the Assumption Cookbook that my friends gave me for my wedding shower. I only followed the recipe for the cheesecake because I wanted to use strawberry Oreos for the crust and to top it with the strawberry flavored Nestle cream that I have in my pantry.
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I used a heart shaped cookie cutter for this.
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It was a success! How do I know it's a success? Because my little girl loved it and she's not a dessert person. We just ate the last slice last night (been eating it for almost a week!). I just need to make a few adjustments to make this cheesecake perfect.
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You might be wondering where I got the strawberry Oreos -- I found them at the supermarket here in Bangkok. I think I bought them last year pa before the holidays. As for the strawberry flavored Nestle cream, I got them at Robinson's supermarket during my trip last November.