And the Winner is...

because we were just not totally satisfied with the cheesesteak we ate last sunday, hubby and i decided we would try the philly cheesesteak at Charlie's Grill so that we would have something to compare the new kid in rockwell to.










and the winner is...

when you wish you were doing something else

Today i wish i could lounge & watch TCM movies the whole day. Most classic movies are surprisingly entertaining & comical! Im not really sure why but i love watching old movies just like im fond of watching foreign film. Must be my propensity for the unusual. There is an audrey hepburn film festival at rockwell mall which i had wanted to go to but my conscience will eat me through if i dont attend to more pressing matters so i passed.

The lure of a newly opened food place however is always a strong temptation i cannot resist. After all, eating is a necessary activity. So sunday snack before work was spent at elberts cheesesteak at rockwell.










our thoughts on elbert's cheesesteak

a photographer wannabe's lazy saturday

i woke up today determined not to do anything productive. and because this rarely happens i allowed myself a little indulgence by being a bum for a day.

hubby gave me a little tutorial on using my LX3's flash.
(Click for the full story)
















*apologies for my choice of subjects to shoot, it was whats within reach!!!*

the busy body tries schublig

i had a hectic day today.

i started with my favorite classic hot chocolate with a shot of espresso and headed to QC to do some registration errands. it took me more time going to and fro than the time i spent doing what i went there to do! traffic is really bad in edsa now a days even if its way past 9am! all those late employees! geez!! i was happy to be leisurely seated in the back seat with a schedule in my own hands!

when i got to the mall i had time to get a drink and inquire about gym membership fees (all that eating is making me bulky! so im thinking of investing on gym membership) and when the mall officially opened i went straight to the clothes shops and got a few items for Vday and Bday (excuses, excuses!).

i finished shopping just in time to meet couple JM & MH and our seniors GQ & GJ for a treat at 7 corners by our wonderful consultant LC! i had sashimi, sushi, lamb chops and...



yes, i found my dried apricots!!!

now i remember where i saw them, in the spiral buffet and not at the grocery! luckily 7 corners also has them! oh well, so now if i get the craving again, ill have to ask hubby to treat me to a buffet! hehehe! (whatever!)

after stuffing ourselves silly i headed to get some much neglected review time at starbucks with a cup of chai latte and then headed to mass where i was just in time for the novena.

when i got out of church i received a message from my good friend HL telling me that she was in the mall so i decided to visit their stall and indulge hubby in a midnight snack.



SCHUBLIG is a traditional Swiss sausage. It's made with select cuts of beef and pork, mixed with our special blend of spices, non-fat dried milk, and onions, fine ground, and lightly smoked to perfection.



this was honestly a delicious piece of sausage! this was recommended because hubby is fond of hot (as in spicy) dishes. the spices blended well with the cheese interspersed into the meat and the bread was firm and held form yet soft enough to complement the schublig (i was told this was handpicked from a number of buns for its just right consistency). have it with the works (mayo, ketchup and mustard) and you're sure to feel like you could gobble up another one! YUUUMMMY! when business picks up it would be great to have tables and chairs around the stall so that diners could sit and chat and maybe order seconds... =)

what a gastronomic day! till my next indulgence...

SCHUBLIG
4F West Wing
near the arcade and skybowl billards and bowling
Robinsons Galleria
Ortigas, Pasig City
On the menu
Hungarian with cheese P89
Schublig P89
Frankfurter P79
Beef Kranier P79
Garlic P75

chocolate eating petrol

ive never really been a tv person. must be my upbringing. i only get to watch because hubby is such a tv monster and in the rare moments that i do turn on the tv myself, its always cnn, fox news, mtv or TMZ (for my dose of hollywood tsismis!!!). but if there is one thing hubby and i enjoy watching together, its english automobile reviews. we get a kick out of laughing at the goofy reviews of tom ford in Fifth Gear and the adventures of jeremy, richard and james of Top Gear !!! they never fail to entertain us, hubby with car information and i with the show production.

tonight we were watching the latest episode of fifth gear and was snickering at the review of the BMW X6 when our hungry tummies signaled for a little snack. actually it was induced by a text message from AST that they had dinner at Charlie's and had the philly cheese steak describing it as super goood!!! so with our tummies impatiently grumbling i decided to go down to the icebox to see what we could munch on and delightedly found Desage Chocolates from my mom.

Desage Milk Chocolate

i picked the milk chocolate, well, because hubby is not much of a chocolate fan, actually not at all (how odd is that?!), and left the dark chocolate for a rainy day (for me hehehe!).

this is the 2nd or 3rd time my mom sent us these gold and silver ingots and they are really good! the ones wrapped in gold are milk chocolates and the ones wrapped in silver are dark chocolates.

Desage Milk Chocolate

this is best slightly chilled and allowed to melt luxuriously in your mouth. the outer part is smooth and creamy when it melts and the inner part is a little powdery and milky which, when combined gives a unique experience

Practice lang

ive been practicing how to develop pictures with light room...

this was taken during one of my long review day at my mother ship. i got too bored with their cold sandwiches and my favorite bacon and caramelized onions did not seem too inviting so i decided to be adventurous and try their italian pocket. it had olives, onions, tomatoes and a meat ball. almost like a pizza except the bread was crusty. i liked it!

this was taken in the new wing of SM megamall. i was so relieved i had a chance to eat a non pastry dish that day i went ahead and got their best seller (grilled black peppered chicken -sorry i could not fix the exposure of the dish's picture, i took it with my omnia and i was too hungry and gave it a click which was unfortunately over exposed)

this was taken after a day being an apprentice as a gastro. i was so happy i had to eat! hehehe! i went to icings and again felt a vegetarian adventurousness come over me and ordered grilled vegetable panini at icings in hypermart.

this had grilled zucchini, tomatoes, pepper, eggplant, and onions. it was surprisingly delicious!

this was taken at kenny rogers roasters in power plant. we were so intrigued that they served so many other dishes aside from chicken and decided to give it a try. interestingly the place is a sit down and order type in contrast to the fast food lines of the original kenny rogers. hubby had this lamb dish. we've had better lamb but the dish did looked enough to shoot!

i ordered a philly cheese. i didnt like the bread too much and it could use more cheese but the meat was good. it was cut thin and had the right amount of fat!

now, that made me hungry!!! a good sign my photos are getting better? i wonder...

Cheap Thrill

when we got home this evening hubby asked me how my Charlie's Grill review did in Spot.

i was hoping to make the featured review list but my review wasnt there...

i did however make it to the hottest review list!!!

im so thrilled!! woohoo!

Dieter's Reward

i needed a break from my review and hubby needed a reward for sticking with his diet (for 2 days! hehehe!) so i agreed to an after dinner snack at the new charlie's grill.

we've passed by this place countless times and i never noticed there was an indoor eating area. naturally i was thrilled and more so after i found AC and cable tv too!!

just a few seconds after looking at the menu, hubby and i decided on the black angus burger with fries.

hubby ordered a corona beer to wash down his burger and i boringly got a bottle of nestea.

next time i want to try their milkshake but tonight, i thought our after dinner snack of burger and fries was already enough indulgence.

service was satisfactorily quick and after less than 10 minutes our basket of goodies came.

i wont deny the presentation looked really appetizing! the burger had a generous serving of greens, a slice of a medium sized tomato, onions and cheese.

the wedge fries looked delicious with potato skin (yum!) and was salted and peppered. if your not much of a salty dish person, i recommend you ask them not to put too much salt on your fries.

the thickness of the burger is ok (it could have been thicker though -a customer's wish!). although hubby had a problem with the beef patty slipping out of the bun while he was eating his burger, im thinking it might be because of the cheese. despite the beef slowly slipping out of the bun we gobbled up our burger (and fries) in no time and we were definitely satisfied.

this is a great place to hang out when you're looking for comfort food (and have extra cash at hand, because its surely not cheap).

its even a good place to spy on sexy looking boots! hehehe!

wonderfully its like 1 minute away from home!!! how great could that be?!

Skin Make Over

i cant remember when i last got my facial...well, actually i can, but its long over due so when the new year ushered in, i decided i would treat my skin to a much needed pampering session.

thanks to Dr. K who gave me a VMV skintificate which i gladly used (woohoo, free service!).

after the treatment i was so inspired that i gathered a couple of new concoctions for my skin regimen.

because im trying to experiment with eye make up (with not much progress) i started using the shu uemura cleansing oil facial wash.

it does wonders like ive never seen before. in the past when i wanted to remove water proof mascara i would need to wash my face twice and then clean up with baby oil (hehehe! im so primitive!). with the shu cleansing oil, one rinse is all i need, there is no trace of mascara!

i loooove it!

after my pampering session at VMV i realized how much debris my skin was carrying and vowed it will never happen again so i purchased a bottle of their toner and got really excited.

of course that means i would need a good sunblock which will burn a hole in my purse (oouch!). oh well, anything for vanity!

so a week after my grueling extraction and my daily regimen, im really very happy about what im seeing!

im definitely going back for a monthly treatment...

Holidays 2008

food for thought -ranting about breakfast for dinner

dont you just hate it when you go to a restaurant, ask a waiter about something in the menu just to be told that they will ask because they dont know? or to order and be told that more than 2 things in the menu are not available?

this was what happened when i went out with my HS classmates last saturday to have dinner at heaven & eggs.

the place had a cheery atmosphere, very inviting indeed. we settled in and after looking at the extensive menu, we ordered only to be told that 2 or 3 of our choices were not available.

i had ordered bacon, egg and cheese wrap and i naturally showed discontent that it was not available. the waiter retracted his statement after my frown and came back after a few minutes to tell me that my order was available. that would have been a disaster to a hungry customer early in the morning (as this restaurant does specialize in breakfast).


the dish was pretty good except for minor set backs.

there are two things i like about breakfast. one is over easy eggs and the second is ketchup (where its applicable of course)! i had asked for the eggs to be over easily cooked with the waiter dutifully repeating my request with the run down of the orders but it was not cooked that way. and when i gobbled up the little saucer of ketchup and had asked for a refill, they took more than 5 minutes to give me my condiment! now unless they tell me that they make fresh ketchup in the kitchen, i think that there is no excuse for such a small establishment to delay more than 3 minutes to give a customer her ketchup!

and it does not end there. when dinner was over, we were handed the dessert and drinks menu. my friend was intrigued and asked the waitress what the milo dinosaur was and she replied "milo po", uhmmm, i think that warranted further description...this was of course dismissed. i wanted something hot and asked the waitress what the the heaven and eggs blend was and i was told to hold (?!). a waiter came and asked for my inquiry which i repeated and was surprised to know that it was just the restaurants brewed coffee!

gosh! ok, lets just say the waitress was new, but shouldnt she have undergone training. i definitely was not asking what the herbs in the steak were or what oil they used in frying a dish, i was just asking what a drink was which turned out to be plain coffee! sheesh!

thank heavens for good company which neutralized the unsatisfactory experience!

weekend reunion

my first non solo weekend!

hubby was craving for sisig so saturday evening, he persuaded me to visit a restaurant which is truly a hidden authentic sisig place, aysee.

because i am not fond of non air conditioned restaurants with no exhaust installed, so i was hesitant at first but how could you say no to a request of a balik bayan (hehehe!), i just had to agree.


i was happy to find out when we got to aysee that there were available seats inside. the least i wanted to do was to eat roadside. so we ordered sisig and papaitan (aysee's specialty) and were ultra happy at the sight of our food.



it did not last long and less than an hour after ordering, we were out of there satiated.

sunday was an exciting day for me. i used my new anya hindmarch bag and coach wallet which hubby brought home for me and the new mossimo sandals that came in the box with other loot from my mom.

and, i finally opened my mineral make up and braved my way with the brushes. this was of course after reviewing the instructional CD that it came with.

because im such a cream make up fan, it was weird using powder from start to finish. at first i thought that it was a bit cakey and dry but when i stepped out and looked at my reflection, i thought it looked really flawless. i am now a convert. in fact, im wanting to try to do eye make up. ill see if i can find some locally available mineral liner.

sunday has always been rockwell mass day for us until hubby left, so after 2 months of saturday anticipated mass alone, i was happy to hear service with him.

before heading to mass we went to get our tresses maintained and it was there that we found out that manny won the fight (kwentong barbero! hehehe!).


and after mass, with growling tummies we headed for kuretake to collect my win from our boxing bet. of course i routed for pacman and hubby, the skeptic, routed for the bigger man.

we were both pretty hungry when we got to kuretake.


so we ordered a bento for two

(do you spy my anya on the seat?)

and sukiyaki teyshoku which both came with their entourage of dishes.

sashimi, and rolled cabbage

and shawan mushi

when our orders came and the dishes could not fit on the table, i had to ask the waiter to readily wrap some of the components of our orders so that we would have room for our plates. talk about two hungry people!

tummy filled, we ended the day with bolt the wonder dog. it was a good movie although for a cartoon, the plot seemed pretty grown up to me. i guess gone are the days when mikey rode steam boat willy.

a little teary eyed walking out of the cinema, we headed to the parking lot. i happened to look at cmg going down the esclator and spied a nice pair of shoes. i went in and did not want to leave without it. hubby felt helpless and gave in (after a few upward rolling of eyeballs).

so home i went with a great looking pair of shoes!


you immediately know you have a great buy when you feel that you will not be buying a new item like the one you bought in the near future. this is how i felt after i bought my new soles. dont you think they just look absolutely gorgeous?! i cant wait to wear them!

how did you spend your weekend?