The past few weeks, I’ve been trying to cut down on my food intake.  I so badly want to fit into my pre-Abby clothes which are gathering dust in the closet.  But you know dieters, they fall off the wagon a couple of times before they achieve their ideal weight.  And so last week, I decided I wanted to fall off my wagon…for two consecutive days, that’s June 17 and 18.

Merienda Fiesta

Saturday last week, I had a most wonderful merienda with Dondi, Abby and Dondi’s parents at Bon Appetite in Shangri-la Mall.  Everyday, apart from their lunch and dinner buffets, Bon Appetite has another buffet offering which they call “Merienda Fiesta” from 2:30pm to 5:00pm.

There are two buffet spreads.  The first includes arroz caldo, sotanghon, dinuguan, several kakanin: kutsinta, sapin-sapin, bico, palitaw and puto, turon and fresh lumpiang ubod. I have to be honest, this is the 3rd time Dondi and I had merienda at Bon Appetite in the past three months and I was a bit disappointed that there was no fried lumpia.  And to think that all morning, that’s what I was looking forward to eating!  Since we’re practically regulars at this joint, we knew already that we have to ask the friendly coffeshop staff to steam the puto, before we dare dip it in our dinuguan.  I especially like the palitaw!  It was very malambot that you could easily slice it with your fork (as opposed to slicing it with a knife).

The second buffet spread is very exciting.  It’s a selection of streetfood!  There’s kikiam, squid balls, fish balls, and kwek-kwek (for the benefit of the closet jologs, it’s hardboiled egg covered in this orange thingy) with authentic “street sauce” to boot!  So if you’re afraid to catch hepatitis if you dare “make tusok tusok the fishball” on the street, this is the place for you! :)  Just get a bowl and fill it up with all the “street balls” you can eat and the chef behind the counter will gladly fry them for you…as in deep fry!

If “street balls” are not your thing, you may choose to have a hamburger  and/or hotdog sandwich…or just the hamburger patties and hotdogs alone (which are lined up next to the fish and squid balls). ;)  The hamburger is enough to fill you up!

I think its s.o.p. for restaurants which have merienda buffets to offer free drinks. In this case, it’s sago’t gulaman.  There’s a bowl in the middle of the buffet spread where you can help yourself with all the sago’t gulaman you can drink! 

What’s a fiesta without halo-halo?  That’s exactly what we had for dessert, halo-halo!  The macapuno is just soooo good, just the right sweetness.  And the leche flan?  Soft, smooth and absolutely yummy!  You may choose to forego the halo-halo and just have leche flan alone.  Nobody will care!  It’s just too bad that they don’t offer ice cream anymore.  Last we heard, the sponsor withdrew already.  Sayang!   

The damage on your wallet?  Just 145.+ per head!  Very sulit!  I suggest you have an early heavy breakfast and skip lunch if you want to have a merienda this heavy.  Otherwise, sayang! 

We had the chance to also try Bon Appetite’s “Merienda Fiesta” at its Glorietta branch (which is right beside the perfume department of Rustan’s).  The obvious difference is that instead of native kakanin, they had 3 different kinds of cakes.  I personally think that the Shangri-la branch’s buffet is better because the place is bigger and you can actually see your food (the street kind) being cooked, unlike in Glorietta where you hand your bowl to the servers, they disappear with  your food, and come back after a few minutes with your food already cooked.  Not very exciting.

Senor Alba

Weeks before Father’s Day, I already knew where I wanted to treat Dondi and my Mom (who is a Father in her own right!) for lunch come Father’s Day,  Alba in Eastwood City.  I don’t know if I chose Alba to satisfy my own personal craving for Spanish food, basta that’s where we found ourselves on June 18. :)

I made reservations as early as Friday to secure our seats for lunch, a smart move, because that Sunday, the restaurant was packed with people.  There was hardly any space to move in.  I was glad I made the reservation, otherwise, we would have been very disappointed in ending up somewhere else.

The buffet selection at Alba isn’t very extensive.  This is the classic case of quality not quantity.  We were there for 5 dishes: the cochinillo (suckling pig), paella, callos madrilena, lengua sevillana and the canonigo.  And we did have our fill of all of these!

For appetizers, there were 3 kinds of pate, kilawin with fresh prawns(as garnish), chorizo, mushrooms, chicken lollipop, chicken wings and rolls.  I almost forgot about the baked oysters topped with melt-in-your-mouth-cheese!  Yum!  There was also seafood soup.  I’m not a big fan of chorizo (Dondi is, but not the Chinese kind which is like longganisa!) so I concentrated on the cochinillo.  The skin is perfectly crunchy and the meat was just right!  I could have eaten the entire baby pig! :)  There was also barbecued pork belly but it simply can’t compete with the cochinillo.  It’s a shame that “jamon serrano” is not included in the buffet.  Ok lang!

For main course, there were two kinds of paella: valenciana and regencia.  Paella Valenciana is an old favorite of mine but the Paella Regencia was good as well…sticky and very tasty.  Yummy!  There was also penne pasta (I forgot the sauce), pato and our sentimental favorites, the callos and lengua.  Nobody makes callos as well as Alba.  It was very chewy and the sauce, to die for.  The lengua is very tender and the gravy, rich. 

For dessert, there was canonigo, tiramisu, fresh fruits and jello with lychees.  Abby loved the jello (next to the big prawns on the kilawin).  I don’t consider fruits as dessert, so canonigo and tiramisu were “it” for me.  Canonigo is like brazo de mercedez without the yellow filling…just a thick slab of fluffy egg whites with caramel on top.  It came with a thick sauce which would otherwise be the filling of the brazo de mercedez.  The tiramisu was also heavenly.  Not so sweet, not bitter, just melt-in-you-mouth goodness.  Hmmm.  God is really good! :)

The price of the lunch buffet is 475.+ and a few pesos more expensive for dinner.  And since it was Father’s Day, we got a coupon for a 50% discount on one lunch or dinner buffet on our next visit.  What a treat! 

Alba has three branches, Eastwood City, Polaris St. in Makati and Tomas Morato in Quezon City.  Alba is an old favorite of mine because as kids, my parents used to take me and my brother at the then lone outlet in Polaris St.  I was very happy when they started having buffets which used to be offered only on weekends. Fans of Spanish cuisine can now have a fill of all their favorite dishes any day! 

Now, when can I fall off my “diet wagon” again? ;)

Since the month of June is dedicated to Dads, I’d like to blog about my Dad… :)

Daddy passed away when I was only 13 years old.  17 years have passed and yet, it doesn’t quite feel that long.  I could still vividly recall the best times I had with my Dad as if they happened just yesterday.

As a child, most of my relatives and close friends of the family would always tell me that I looked like my Dad, to which I would always disagree.  My Dad was heavy (as in!) and I was (and still is!), well, chubby.  He is kinda dark, and I’m not!  To me, I looked like my mom – tall, chinky eyed and fair skinned!  My Mom often asked me why I don’t want to look like my Dad when he is handsome…heavy but handsome.  Well, what do I know?  I was just a kid!  I only allowed myself to see the resemblance when I was older.  Hey, he’s not bad looking after all! :)

Daddy is very funny and we often exchanged jokes with one another, bordering from corny to green to downright hilarious.  Coming home from work, I would ask him if he has something “new” for me.  And almost always, there was.  He was funny  not only because of his jokes but also because of the things he did.  One time, I remember him driving with me and my brother along Roxas Boulevard and we had to stop at a red light right in front of the Rizal monument.  Out of the blue, he rolled down his window and asked a vendor, “Boss, saan ba ang Luneta?“  I was so embarassed!  If my memory serves me right, he asked no less than 3 people!  And they were all so nice to point out where Luneta was!  I just covered my face with my hands and hoped no one saw me at the back seat.

Eto pa ang isa, some of  my classmates from gradeschool, boys and girls, went to our house one afternoon.  I think I was in 1st or 2nd grade then.  Guess what my Dad told the boys…he told them not to come back to our house until they had jobs!  (Huwag kayong babalik dito hanggat wala kayong trabaho ha?!)  :)  Can you imagine?!  He was only kidding of course.  He also told everyone of them to be nice, because he eats naughty kids, which was why he had such a big belly.  Kahiya talaga!

Daddy was quite a talker too and shy is a word that can never be used to describe him.  During my enrollment for 1st year high school, I was busily filling up the application form with my Mom, and when I looked up, there was my Dad, chatting up a storm with the principal, Mr. Tagaro!  As it turned out, Mr. Tagaro was my Dad’s teacher in high school, he being a graduate of UST High School as well…valedictorian, if I may add. :)

My Dad was very intelligent and smart.  Now, why wasn’t I told I was all of those like my Dad?  Here’s my excuse, I was too young and still had so much to prove.  Ha ha!  My Dad wrote very good speeches, for himself and for other people.  His speeches were never boring because they were always very funny.  And for a man, my Dad had very good penmanship, be it script or print.  This was also the very reason why my brother and I always found ourselves practicing our handwriting every Sunday at our Sampaloc dining table.  And I could say that my brother does write script quite nicely.

Funny as he was, my Dad was also very strict.  My Mom was the “good cop” and he was the “bad cop”.  Our little tushies got their share of spanking when my brother and I were still kids, but always for a good reason and always followed by a “talk”. 

To my Dad, his children always came first.  When my brother or I got sick, he would take a leave from work to bring us to the doctor.  He loved talking about us almost with anybody.  If people at work wanted to get on his good side (He was VP for administration!), they oughta know his favorite topic for discussion…his kids!  That’s why it was always a joy to go with my Dad to his place of work during summer breaks.  Everyone was nice to us!  Ha ha!  He would help me and my brother get ready for exams, which can be very tense!  He can be very impatient kasi sometimes.  He was the one who searched for possible schools for me to transfer to for High School.  He got the application forms and helped me get ready for entrance exams by bringing home the tests his company gave to applicants!  I wanted to go to St. Scholastica’s Manila and he wanted me to go to UST (his alma mater).  I passed the St. Scho exam which came before the UST exam and which also meant I didn’t have to take it.  He got annoyed when I told him I didn’t want to take the test anymore.  My Mom told me to just take the test for my Dad.  And so I did, half hoping I would fail and without bothering to re-check my answers. :)  And where did I end up? UST!  Ok na rin, that’s where I met my husband eh. :)

Sundays were always reserved for the family.  He always made it a point that we’re out of the house on Sundays, to eat, to watch a movie, or whatever.  And we still observe this “rule” until now. :) 

If my Dad were alive, I would probably be a doctor by now…pursuing a second degree in Nursing (no offense meant!).  Even if I did not become a doctor, I think my Dad would have still been proud that I ended up an Architect.  Anyway, I still graduated with flying colors. :)

Dondi’s panliligaw days would have been more interesting if my Dad were still around that time.  I wouldn’t really know if he would have lasted my Dad’s grilling or whatever else he could have possibly done.  Well, Dads are supposed to be like that, aren’t they?

These days, his favorite topic would have already been his grandkids.  He would be so proud of everyone of them!  My youngest niece, Sophie, looks so much like my Dad.  And Abby, she is so loud like my Dad!  I’d bet he’d be in all of his grandkids’ school events with a video and digicam!

I could go on and on and on about my Dad.  There are so many stories to share and so many fond memories to talk about.  Come to think of it, I’ve never really talked about my Dad in such a long time.  Somehow, I feel good for writing this blog.  At least, I was able to let you guys know a little bit about the great man I call Daddy. :)

P.S.

Dear Daddy,

I miss you very much. I wish you were here.  You granddaugher Abby is so much like you…smart, siga and biba! :)  You would be so proud of her.  But don’t worry, I’ll make sure she grows up knowing about you and the great things you did for her mommy and her ngongong (ninong).

Don’t forget that I love you very much!  Happy Father’s Day! Mwah!

Weng 

Abby has been a member of Gymboree since she was about 5-months old.  But we never ever really enrolled her in any of their classes…until last month.

The past month was a big-time learning experience for Abby, Dondi and me.  We enrolled Abby at Gymboree (Shangri-la Mall) for a 4-week summer camp (May 2 to 30).  We availed of the “unlimited” classes which means Abby can attend as many classes appropriate for her age level as she can.  This will also allow her to use their playscape for an unlimited number of hours for the duration of her enrollment.

Abby is in Level 4 which is the 16 to 22-month old age group.  The classes she can attend are Gym, Music, Art and Yoga.  Gymboree encourages parents to accompany their children for their classes…as much as possible. If parents are not available, the grandmas and grandpas can come with the child.  Nannies should only be the last resort.  I’m blessed that I have a liberal “boss” (a.k.a. my Mom) who allows me to take a 1.5 to 3-hour break to accompany her grandchild to her classes. :)  It’s also very convenient that Shanri-la Mall is only a 10-minute walk from The Richmonde Hotel where we hold office.  Classes go on for a minimum of 45 minutes to a maximum of 1 hour.  Now, let me tell you about the classes.

GYMBOREE (GYM)

For Gymboree class, concepts are introduced to the children by making use of their roomy playscape which have numerous slides, tunnels, bridges, etc.  For the duration of Abby’s enrollment, 2 concepts were introduced: “fast and slow” and “going through”.  The class also develops the following skills:  spatial awareness, gross motor/motor planning and problem solving.  This will allow the kids to be more aware of their surroundings, thus, they’ll be able to tell if they’ll hit something and how much room they have to wiggle in and out of.  “Problem solving?” you may ask.  Simply put, if a child want to go to the other end of the room to be with Daddy or Mommy, what does he/she have to do to get there when there’s this barrel blocking her way?  :)

The first time Abby and I attended this class, I was already sweating the first 10 minutes of the class!  It’s good exercise for both the kid and parent/guardian! It also gets more challenging when your child does not want to participate and instead wants to play with the other stuff in the playscape (which, in Abby’s case, is half the time!). 

There’s also a lot of singing in the class…as in all classes, including Art and Yoga. The Gymboree class also has signature activities like “Bubble Time” and “Parachute Time”.  Abby loves this class because to her, it’s just play!  She thinks she’s just catching the bubbles with her fingers when she’s actually improving her “hand-eye coordination”!

ART

Parents will get a kick out of this class because you get to take home actual projects which the kids made (sometimes, mostly parent-made!).  The class is divided in several parts: dough-time, story-telling, 2 art projects , tactile time and some singing and running around the art room.

I’ve always thought that playing with dough/clay at Abby’s age is a no-no, primarily because it’s a lot of mess!  Little did I know that it will improve her “fine motor skills” which will help her hold a pencil and write.  I also didn’t realize that it’s actually an introduction to Math: taking away bits of dough from a bigger dough will make it smaller (subtraction) and adding bits of dough to a smaller dough will make it bigger (addition) and cutting one piece of dough with the slicing tool will give you two pieces of dough (division).  Of course, Abby couldn’t care less!  As far as she is concerned, she’s just squeezing and rolling dough to make a ball and a hotdog! :)  And oh, we now have several packs of dough at home and lots of tools!

After dough time comes the first art project.  The entire month that Abby was enrolled, the focus of the Art class was “the beach”. Kids made circles using sponges, experimented with colors using roller sponges, scribbled on paper with markers, etc.  It can be a mess, all right!  We were always reminded that it’s “the process” that’s important and not “the product” because for sure, the finished product will not look as you would have preferred.   The kids are allowed to experiment with the materials such as squeezing the sponge and paintbrush, using their fingers to paint, etc…yup, more mess!  It’s easy to clean-up because all the paints and markers are washable and there’s a kid-level sink where the children can wash up with the help of their “alalays”.

After the first art activity comes “Story Time” during which biscuits and cookies are served on paper plates and placed in the middle of the room.  You guessed it right! The children tend to sit around the plate with cookies and not really listen to the story. :)  I haven’t seen Abby eat so much biscuits!  We bought the same kinds of biscuits being served during story time but she doesn’t eat as much at home as she does in the Art room.  Oh well!

For Tactile Time, there’s this big covered red rectangular container which contains stuff children can explore.  The children always love playing with whatever’s inside this box.  One time it was sand with rakes, shells and other play things we use at the beach.  Another time it contained water with rubber duckies.  As expected, the kids ended up splashing water all over the place!  The last time Abby was in Art Class, the box had pebbles and plastic cups to scoop the pebbles with.

The 2nd art project usually needs more parent participation since it involves a lot of glueing.  The projects that Abby and I made include a fan, a fish with scales, a beach complete with sand a clouds and an under-the sea scene.  The second art project is usually a source of much frustration on my part, because by this time, Abby is already a bit bored, more interested in the other stuff insdie the room and simply wants to walk around as if to supervise the other students. :)  I would have to carry Abby to her spot in the room at least twice and try to convince her to do the project.  She doesn’t quite get the concept of glueing just yet.  It’s too much work for her.  But she loves to sprinkle sand on the paper when we were doing the beach scene.

Art class has taught me more fun things I can do with Abby at home.  I’ve bought her jumbo crayons so she could doodle at home and help her prepare for writing.  This will also help me introduce colors to Abby.  For now, she loves “blue”.  We also have fun moulding animals out of her dough and making “spaghetti” with her other dough tools.  It’s not messy at all as long as there’s adult supervision.  We now have a bunch of Abby’s artworks waiting to be framed!  (I’ll share the photos next time.)

Music

During summer camp, Abby was exposed to “folk music” and “marches”.  Like Art class, the Music class is also divided into several parts.  There’s dancing with scarves, marching with wave drums, and exploration of different musical instruments.  The class also helps develop the children’s listening skills and their ability to follow instructions.  Maybe, if all of us were exposed to music at an early age, then nobody will be “without rhythm”! :)   

Gymboree doesn’t and can’t take the place of formal schooling because for one, the kids are not graded and there’s no real evaluation of the children.  However, I think it’s a good complement to formal schooling.  Parents also get to bond with their children in a more special and fun way.  It’s a learning experience not only for the kids but for the parents as well.  And the good thing is, learning is disguised as play!  Now how cool is that?!  We hope to enroll Abby again soon for twice a week classes…one day a week each for Gym and Art.  I’ll have to check the available limit on my credit card first because classes can be a bit costly. :) 

Nope, the above title is not our shortlist of baby names. :)  To be honest, during my pre-mommying days, I vowed never to expose my would-be kid to Barney and Winnie-the-Pooh.  For one, I thought they were gay (no offense meant to anybody).  Second, a purple dino?  You have got to be kidding me!  Like most of what I said before I knew better…I gobbled up everything.  I just thank God that the Teletubbies are no longer on tv (at least not here in the Philippines).  Whew!

Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends

Winnie came to Abby’s life by way of gifts: baptism, Christmas and 1st birthday.  In fact, a few days after Abby was born, one of our best buddies, Abby’s Ninong Jeric, gifted her with a Graco Winnie-the-Pooh crib complete with mobile from which Winnie, Eeyore and Tigger hung!  Now how can anyone refuse a free stuff like that?!  Not this mommy! :) Except for one small ball, we never really had to buy any Winnie stuff.  They just landed on our eagerly awaiting laps…yup, like manna from heaven.  Abby has a few cool stuffed pooh dolls: one that plays the drum after you press on its foot, singing 7 nursery rhymes non stop and another one which lights up and sings about the bees after you press its hand (or paw? whatever!).  There’s a pooh “musical tv”  the pictures of which, unfortunately, would no longer budge after Abby dropped it from her high chair several times.  And the list goes on…

Barney and Friends (also)

I did not really discover the wonder that was Barney until March of this year when my sister-in-law, Ngonga (Ninang) Claire, joined a Children’s Fair in Tiendesitas to promote her preschool, Playlab Learning Center.  One of her “tricks” was to play a Barney video, which would of course attract the kids and waddaya know, next come the parents!  Nice trick!  I was genuinely amazed at how the kids would sit-up and watch the video attentively unmindful of the toys and other kiddie stuff in front of them.  It’s like kid-hypnosis, if you ask me!  And so, we were off to the video store soon afterwards to buy Abby’s first Barney video.

I found out later that there’s more to Barney than his size and purple color.  The children can actually learn the alphabet, nursery rhymes, colors, shapes and to count, among other things.  The best part is that there’s a lot of singing and dancing and most parents probably already know that music should be made a part of their growing kids, specially the 5-year olds and below.  Abby loves watching her Barney videos and I think she has already memorized all the videos we have.  Time to get some more!  When Abby wants to watch Barney, she would say “abyu” (love you).  At first, I would always reply with “I love you, too.”  Until she tried saying it in a sing-song manner.  Stupid me, that’s the only time I got it!  I didn’t realize she was trying to sing Barney’s signature finale song.

Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. has become one of my favorite tv channels, even if it only runs from 8am to 2pm.  Abby’s and my favorite programs are the ones which involve a lot of singing and dancing:  Hi-5, The Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer and Lazytown (relatively new so Abby hasn’t really gotten used to it yet).  In fact, one of Abby’s first words is “bapa” (backpack).  One time, while our small family was at the toy department of Rustan’s, Dondi and I were surpised when Abby pointed at a purple thing and said, “bapa.”  Dora’s backpack!  Abby also loves seeing animals on tv so it’s a bonus that the stars of The Backyardigans are singing animals. :) 

If used wisely, television can actually be a parent’s friend.  Of course, we shouldn’t just plop our kids down in front of the tv by their lonesome.  It’s best that they watch tv with a reliable caregiver, particularly, the parents.  Except for Barney, it is very seldom that Dondi ever gets to watch the Nick Jr. programs and he’s amazed that I can sing along with pretty much all of the songs. :)  As a mom, I have to be able to sing to my daugher, you know!  I may not be the best singer in the world, but at least, I have an eager adoring fan…and I don’t mean my husband!  Ha ha!