Abby turned two and a half years old exactly a week ago, 17 February.  I never really got to do a monthly milestone journal for Abby.  Not even for her first year of life!  I do wish I did, like Mia for her little Ninna.  Nevertheless, Abby is often the topic of my posts, food being a close second. :)  Here’s the latest on my little girl.

Repetition

Abby loves to watch videos, specially new ones, and listen to her favorite songs over and over and over again.  She watched The Sound of Music sooooo many times that when we went to church one time and she saw a number of nuns lining up for Holy Communion, she pulled my shirt, pointed towards the direction of the nuns and exclaimed, “Mommy! Sisters! Maria?”  She thinks sisters=Maria. 

She We watched her Laurie Berkner Band DVD, a gift from her Tita Mia last month (Thank you so so much, Mama Meeya!), so many times that for several days, all I could think of are Victor and Freddie eating spaghetti (from the song Victor Vito).  And don’t get me started on Barney!  We used to play and re-play whatever Barney video we’re watching 2 or 3 times in one seating that I would involuntarily doze off and just be awakened by yelps of “Mommy!  Wake!”.  Sometimes, my naughty little daughter would wake me up by sticking her pointer finger in my nose, which she used to do to her dad a lot!  Yuck!

Two nights ago, I can’t remember how many times I sang “Bahay Kubo” while we were lying in bed trying to sleep.  She always said “again” after I finished one round of the darned song.

Peek-a-Boolaga

A while back, I posted an entry with the same title.  I said a mouthful about the Sexbomb Girls’ “Spaghetti” and Bayani Agbayani’s “Otso-Otso” and my efforts to have Abby speak in English.

About two months after, Abby’s Ninong Edward, taught him something which practically drove me out of my wits.  And these days, one song (if you can call it that!) that Abby is able to sing all on her own goes like this: “Boom t-rat t-rat, boom t-rat t-rat, t-rarat t-rarat boom boom boom!” Grrrr.  In case you’ve been up in the mountains, Boom Tarat is by Willy Revillame.  I swear, I could have strangled my brother!  He can’t look me straight in the eye everytime Abby sings the freakin’ song.  And Dondi enjoys it!  Double grrrr!  At this point, I’ve accepted that I can’t keep Abby from having a “jologs dose” every now and then.  I’ve allowed myself to enjoy her boom t-rat phase and actually begin to find it cute.

Since I’m a self confessed kapuso, and have admitted to being an Eat Bulaga fan, there’s no escaping another jologs dose, by way of Joey de Leon’s “Itaktak Mo”.  For balance, Abby also sings “Itaktak mohhhh, taktak mohhhhh.” There, that’s karma staring me right in the face.

The other song that Abby likes to sing is one she learned from her cousins, : “Ikot ikot ikotan, assignment assignment, sunkutan (suntukan!)!” I know, it doesn’t make any sense.  Claire said it’s larong pambata.  With both hands held up, I surrender.  I’d honestly much rather sing Bahay Kubo again and again.

Oh and there’s one other song from my childhood which she’s starting to sing and her version goes like this:  “Nanay, Tatay gusto kong tinapay, ate, kuya gusto kong coffee.”

Sure, she can sing Twinkle Twinkle, and all the other nursery rhyme stuff, even Hillary Duff’s “What Dreams are Made Of” and “Do-Re-Mi”, but she prefers singing these with me, unlike Boom Tarat, to this day, I refuse to sing.

Conversations

Abby has turned out to be quite a talker.  Conversations with her have become more and more interesting now that she can pretty much say what she wants.  I have to admit that there are still times when I can’t understand what’s she’s saying and she just resorts to giving me clues or acting out what she means.

She likes it when we eat out and we ask her to call the waiter to ask for water or the bill.  When she’s in the mood, she would shyly look around, raise her arms and say “Excuse me.  Boss!”  (Ok, we need to work on this a little.) or “Miss!”  She gets all ticklish when the waiters/servers come to her and call her “ma’am”.  I’m proud to say that her “pleases” and “thank yous” are very well in place.  Success!

When it’s bath time and “Hi-5″ happens to be on, she has learned to bargain for time by saying, “Later, 5 minutes.  Busy.  After watch, ok?”  As if she knows how long five minutes is!

During meal times, she eagerly announces to everyone, “Eat time!” and when she’s done eating, she yells, “Yaya!  Done na ako!”  When she’s not in the mood to eat, she holds her tummy and says, “Full already!”

There’s one question that Abby always asks, which I find truly cute and endearing, “Mommy, happy?”  I don’t know where she got it.  But she asks it a lot, usually when we’re in the car or in bed.  Sometimes, she just asks it out of the blue or after I scold her.  When I tell her I’m not happy, she would hug me and say “Kiss!” and gives me a kiss. Then she looks me in the face and asks again, “Happy?”  She wouldn’t stop until I answer in the affirmative.

oOo

Since Abby was born, she has pretty much dictated how my day will turn out to be.  We do have our disagreements and arguments and sometimes, I just want to scream into a pillow, cry or just give her one big whack in the butt.  I can’t help but get pikon every now and then.  (Pasensya na po, tao lang!)  Through all this, Abby brings me so much joy and, in more ways than one, has taught me so much.  I thank my daughter for being very patient with me.  All our little battles are instantly forgotten after a few minutes.  I do tell her “I’m sorry” after we’ve both cooled down.  She nods and says “Ok”.  I do love love my Abby very much and that needs no further explanation.

oOo

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

I took a short clip of Abby for Dondi on Chinese New Year, 18 February.  Enjoy viewing it!

Valentine’s Day has got to be one of the more popular and widely celebrated occasions, specially in a country where people just love to give and receive some lovin’.

In my high school days upto around the time until I finally chose "the one" (Hi Munchkin! ), V Day, to me, has always been pretty exciting.  Aaahhh…the teeny bopper years…to be young and ignorant innocent (clasp hands and blink, blink, blink). I had my days in the sun receiving flowers, chocolates and valentine cards, and not just from one guy, mind you! (yabang! hee hee!)  It always felt good to receive such tokens of affection, whether I actually like the giver or not. ;)  My favorite flowers then were white roses, and for chocolates, it did’t really matter.  My sweet tooth isn’t very hard to please (as you may very well know by now).  It’s the card that makes or breaks the person. ;) 

Young love.  Who could ever forget?

oOo

Dondi and I have what you may call a V Day phobia.  Blame it on that one time in our college days when we got stuck in really bad Espana and Quezon Ave. traffic!  Our dinner plans went pffft.  It was getting late and we just wanna eat and get dinner over and done with.  I believe we ended up at Dulcinea in Tomas Morato and since I was am Cinderella (shhhhh!), I have to be home at a very decent hour, say 9pm? (Joke! Ok, half joke!)  Since then, we never celebrated V Day on the actual date ever again!  Seriously!  From the teeny bopper who used to swoon at the thought of V Day, I began to associate it with heavy, impossible-to-get-anywhere traffic.  That’s scrooge of V Day for you!

oOo

As with most everything else, all that changed when Abby came along.  Suddenly, we were celebrating V Day again.  And on the 14th at that!  You know me and my "Abby’s Firsts"!  In 2005, Abby’s first V Day, we dined al fresco at Eastwood City’s Shanghai Bistro.  Last year, we had lunch at Mc Donald’s…in Germany.  You may probably already know how this year went, what with Dondi thousands of miles away.  Abby and I simply stayed home and for dinner, I made spaghetti as per my little lady love’s request. :)  I told Abby, "I made that (spaghetti) for you" and with a smile, she graciously replied, "Thank you."  How’s that for good manners? ;)  She ate an awful lot last night, twirling the noodles by herself with Gerber fork.  I wish she’d always eat like that.

oOo 

Did you know that in Japan and Korea, Valentine’s Day is celebrated with mostly the women giving chocolates, flowers or candies to people they like?  This is an interesting fact I came upon in Wikipedia.  Want to read up more on V day?  Then click away!

oOo

As the price of flowers in Dangwa and the sale of Hallmark cards go back to normal, I hope everyone got their chance to express their love to people whom they hold dear, although I believe we need not wait for V day to do that.  It’s so much sweeter and nicer to receive flowers and love tokens when there’s no occasion at all, dont you think? (Hint! Hint!)

And now, to continue with my sharing of our gastronomic adventures last week….

Last Wednesday, 07 February, we were back at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, this time to avail of our free night.  Another blessing came our way by way of a room upgrade…from superior to deluxe. ;)  For this stay, we were determined to have dinner at Spiral, discount or no discount!

The hotel dining trend these days is providing diners with an interactive dining experience, hence, the advent of open kitchens and live cooking stations.  I read that it was supposed to be the Mandarin Oriental’s Paseo Uno which was the first to undergo massive renovations, and the other hotels followed suit.

I’ve been dying to try out Spiral ever since it opened its doors in March 2006.  Spiral now occupies the space where 3 restaurants used to be: Cafe Plaza, Alfiere and China Sea.  So you can just imagine how big it is!  I personally went to the restaurant to make our reservations and so I can personally choose where we should sit. :)  (Super OC!)

We were down at the restaurant at exactly 7:30pm.  I came as Emilia Cuenca, with my Mom’s privelege card tucked safely in my bag . ;)  This translates to a 50% discount on food bill!  We realized that making a reservation is truly a must because for a weeknight, the place is packed!  We got a nice booth by the window and our sofa seats were nice and comfy and made even comfier by lots of pillows.  Had it been the daytime, we’ll have a perfectly nice view of the poolside and the bay, what with the floor to ceiling picture windows!  But since it’s the night time, we had a clear view of our reflections instead. I’m impressed and utterly delighted that they thought of their kiddie diners as well, for they have special colorful utensils and cups for the little ones.  And I can tell that Abby appreciated it very much!

I can’t even begin to describe what Spiral had to offer.  I instantly forgot about Seasons!  The buffet with its open kitchens practically run from one end of the restaurant to another end.  We took our deep breaths, shhhhhd our palpitating hearts, and got ready to attack.  Haha!

The cold station is a seafood lover’s oasis.  There, laid out ever so nicely on tons and tons of ice were the biggest prawns and oysters this side of Manila.  There were crabs as well.  Diners also had a variety of dips and sauces to choose from: ketchup, thousand island, and vinegar.

I’m a very predictable eater.  If it’s a buffet, I’ll mechanically proceed to the fresh shrimps and oysters, then the sushi, and then the cold cuts, which I did. :)  Their parma ham and its sister, jamon serrano (or was it prosciutto?) was served with sweet watermelon.  I also had ementhal cheese with a piece of roll and curry dipping (I don’t know what it’s called exactly…basta Indian something!) with my roti.

We served Abby her favorites, tempura shrimps (again, she ate four pieces!), and squid balls from her noodle soup and 2 pieces of fresh shrimps.  She was constantly pointing at the variety of food on our plates asking what they were and asking to taste.  Soon, sushi will have to be introduced to her and the wonder that is wasabi.  Haha.  To keep her busy while Dondi and I stuffed our faces with food, we gave Abby some kropek on the side. 
There was a long line at the grilling station.  I got a few pieces of Dondi’s lamb chops which went so well with the sweet minty dip.  I didn’t quite make the right beef choices because the ones I got were a little too tough and hard to swallow.

Much as I wanted to avoid the Chinese station, because as Filipinos, we are always eating Chinese food, the selection was just too hard to resist.  The dumplings were yummy and so were the roast pork and the pecking duck.

There was a pasta station, which we skipped as well as a shawarma corner, which we also skipped.  We knew very well that it was just impossible to taste everything.  I wish I had some more room for the Indian fare.  I’ve somehow developed a special liking for Indian food simply because Dondi and I love spicy food.  Maybe next time?
If you are diabetic, avoid the dessert station at all costs!  Just a peek at what it has to offer will make one’s blood sugar shoot up.  There were not one but two chocolate fountains: white and, well, brown.  There was a halo-halo corner, which I skipped.  My first stop, you may have already guessed, was the crepe station for my banana caramel crepe.  What can I do?  I’m addicted to the stuff!  The chef offered to put chocolate from the chocolate fountain but I politely declined.  I said I’d have to get my scoop of vanilla ice cream first. ;)  Every bite I took off that crepe, I either closed my eyes or went wide-eyed!  Hmmmm.

Abby had strawberry ice cream as well as a bowl of assorted goodies: gummy bears, marshmallows, gummy fish, and other gummy stuff.  (Please don’t report us to the candy police!).  She got to dip some of the mallows on sticks in the chocolate fountain and she loved the experience.

The tiny plates and cups the desserts were served in made them even more attractive.  In addition to my crepe, I had flourless chocolate cake, melt-in-your-mouth blueberry cheesecake and one type of mousse.  I seldom eat cookies for dessert but I’m glad Dondi discovered that one of their cookies is the chewy kind.  The chocolate practically drips after you take a bite!  And for the sissies health conscious, there’s always assorted fresh fruits (Blah!).

The restaurant’s service crew is always on their toes.  Once you’re done with your plates, they’re whisked away from the table, pronto!  They are very attentive and prompt.  Just excellent!

The dinner buffet price from Sundays to Thursday is a little over Php 1400.00 net and on weekends, Fridays and Saturdays, the price is, hold your breath, a little over Php 1700.00.  So come on a weeknight and come early!  To enjoy a buffet of this magnitude, you have to make sure that you have no other appointments after dinner. :)  It is best to eat at a leisurely pace so you can taste as much of the food they offer as you can.  Do not rush into the meal. Lunch is cheaper by a few hundred pesos.  We don’t order drinks when we eat buffet because one, the price of drinks is a sure hold-up and two, we don’t want air to occupy very important tummy space.
I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary bank to describe the experience, save for yummy!  You’ll just have to try it out for yourself.
oOo

I was too shy to take pictures of the different food stations because there was just too many people.  However, I found some professionally taken photos which are enough to back up my amateurish post.

Just the same, here are pictures of ourselves pigging out …and then some.

The very first Monday (08 January) after the holiday season was officially over, I was determined to get a hold of my life and start losing some a lot of unwanted pounds.  I stopped eating sweets and rice.  And for three weeks, I’m proud to say, I was able to really keep at it.  That was until the despedida get-togethers for Dondi.

The past week alone, Dondi and I, including Abby, stuffed ourselves silly by indulging ourselves in dinner buffets 3 times in a span of 6 days.  Call it intimate despedida dinners, if you may, what with only the three of us.  Suffice it to say that we had a very good excuse to pig out again and again and again.  Let’s face it, in spite of our “third-worldness”, we have buffets, in and out of hotels, which are at par, if not better, than those in most parts of the “first-world”.  And at way less than USD50 per head!

There are two buffet experiences I wish to share.  For this post, I will talk about our first gastronomic adventure.  This is somewhat connected to one of my previous posts, Blessings in Disguise.  Since we were not able to use our “Member for a Day” certificate at the Phil. Plaza on February 3, which should have entitled us to a 50% discount at Spiral, we decided to postpone our planned dinner at Spiral for another night (our 2nd gastronomic adventure), when I get a hold of my Mom’s “Advantage Plus” card, the Philippine Plaza’s privelege card.

An aritcle about one of the newly renovated hotel restaurants in Manila came to my mind, Seasons of the Manila Pavilion.  After checking the price of the dinner buffet with the hotel, which was Php 1100 nett per person, we were very pleased and decided to give it a go.  We took a cab from Traders Hotel to the Manila Pavilion in time for our 8pm reservation.  This being our first time at the hotel, we didn’t quite know what to expect.

We were greeted by the Seasons’ cozy and bright ambiance. Seasons used to be Cafe Coquilla until the Manila Pavilion decided to join the bandwagon and renovate the restaurant to feature live cooking stations.  Compared to the Hyatt Hotel and Casino’s Market Cafe, The Makati Shangri-la’s Circles, The Crowne Plaza’s Seven Corners and the Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Spiral, Seasons is easily the underdog in terms of size.  But don’t let this teeny weeny detail fool you.  It may be small scale in size but definitely not in taste.  It also has a little bit of everything that the other hotels have to offer. 

Because of its “intimate” size, Seasons doesn’t come off as overwhelming as the others, which I think is a good thing.  It’s not at all intimidating.  I read that in keeping with its theme, food stations represent the four seasons as follows:  the hot station with its soup and dimsum is summer, the cold station with sushi and fresh shrimps and mussels is winter, the rotisserie and grilling station is autumn and the dessert station, spring.

Service is excellent.  The chef behind the cold station offerred to have the shrimps I was piling on my plate and which I intended to eat as is, cooked in garlic and butter.  I agreed and I was glad that I did!  Abby loved the shrimps with a capital L, not to mention the freshly cooked tempura, of which she ate 4 to 5 pieces!  What can I say, my daughter has turned out to be a seafood monster, no thanks to my Mom! :) 

I so so love the freshly and thinly sliced parma ham!  I also got the ones that were made to look like flowerettes on top of sweet melon slices.  I dare say that from that alone, I already got half our money’s worth!  I always say that I was probably Japanese in one of my past lives because of my sheer love for Japanese food.  I had several pieces of tempura in addition to my appetizers of assorted sushi.

The assorted meat skewers on display was just a sight to behold.  I requested for grilled beef, which got lost somewhere along the way and never got to our table.  I think they mistakenly gave it to Dondi.  I didn’t mind at all though because I don’t know how else I could have possibly eaten it had it gotten to our table.
I did have a few other hot items, which I assure you I loved, but all I could think about now is the dessert station. :)  Sure, they didn’t have a chocolate fountain, but I didn’t care one bit!  Seasons has a halo-halo station, a crepe station, fresh fruits, ice cream, and a wide assortment of cakes and pastries.  I didn’t have halo-halo but it was a hit because all the people who went to the dessert station, save for Dondi and me, had a glass of halo-halo in hand.  What I had is my customary hotel buffet dessert of banana caramel crepe topped with vanila ice cream and chocolate syrup.  It was just heavenly!  Just thinking about it makes my dessert-loving heart beat so much faster. :)  A lot of the cakes are beautifully served in little cutesy cutesy plates of different shapes and sizes.  I especially love the presentation of their leche flan which was as big as a single-serve jellyace.  Much as I wanted to savor each and every dessert available, in addition to my leche flan and crepe, I only had sansrival, chocolate panna cotta and strawberry mousse.

Seasons also didn’t forget to put up something that was sure to tickle the minds and tummies of their younger patrons.  They had a small section for the kids which had marshmallows and chocoflakes and other kiddie treats.

I am all praises for this restaurant from the ambiance, to the food to the impeccable service.  With the price proving to be more affordable than its 5-star counterparts, there need not be an occassion to celebrate for couples and families to dine at Seasons.

Here are pictures from that wonderful dinner.

They say there’s only one thing permanent in this world, and that is “change”.  For someone like me who tends to become a little OC, change sometimes leaves me feeling incredulous.  It’s something I can’t always embrace especially if it means having to leave my comfort zone, which I’m very well protective of.  And being at home, or simply being in the company of my loved ones, is where I am most comfy. 

Dondi left for the US this morning to take on a temporary assignment in the US.  This is one major change.  For starters, in the next two months we’ll have to deal with temporary separation while Abby and I wait to finally join Dondi, hopefully, some time in April.  Dondi and I have never been apart for more than 2 weeks at a time.  So this new set-up is killing us a little.  I’m used to having Dondi go on business trips for 3 days and 2 nights week after week until it became an every other week thing.  Business trips outside the country take a little longer.  It is safe to say then that we’ve had some practice being apart and with time flying so fast, those two months will be peanuts (or so I think!).  It’s the weekends which are going to be a bit tough because we almost always never stay home on weekends.  This weekend will be even quieter since my Mom is on a business trip as well.  I’ll have to check what my brother and his family are up to this weekend.
Mushy as it may sound, I started missing Dondi the moment we said our goodbyes at the airport.  Thank God for advances in technology, at least, we’ll be able to chat and actually talk for free (thanks to Yahoo with Voice!) as soon as Dondi is issued his laptop.

Many more changes are about to transpire especially come April.  But I don’t have to deal with those just yet.  For now, I have to keep busy and trick my mind into thinking that Dondi is in Cebu. ;)