Caila's Trolls Themed 8th Birthday

Since my sister treated Caila (and the rest of us) to a luxurious weekend stay at the InterContinental Dubai Marina as a gift for her 8th birthday, I knew I couldn't top that... material-wise, at least.  Thankfully, my eldest daughter had already told me how she wanted to spend her actual birthday and it didn't include a big party so we didn't have to dig too deep into our pockets this time. Whew! 

However, it did include giving away goody bags to her close friends and classmates at school.  It would have been an easy task (just buy treats and put them in bags, right?), but since she was so used to having a theme every year for her birthday, she insisted that there be a theme as well this year...yes, even though it would just be for the lootbags. This time it was Trolls. 

Mama's 75th Birthday (Part 2): Family Dinner & Dubai Mall

After everyone had gotten enough sleep after the early morning surprise, we all sat down for a hearty late breakfast/early lunch.  Since they haven't tasted Mama's cooking for a long time, our guests from Canada made a special request for her to cook her delicious igado.  As Mama and I walked to the nearby supermarket earlier to buy the ingredients she needed, she kept asking me all sorts of questions as to how we had planned everything, and how thankful and happy she was that all her children and their families were finally all together with her.

You can expect she was really teary-eyed while I was doing my best not to get too emotional (Syempre, nasa supermarket kami eh. Nakakahiya!).  Even when we arrived at home and while enjoying our delicious meal lovingly cooked by Mama, we could see her just looking at us smiling as if she still couldn't believe her eyes.  She said she felt like she was simply floating with happiness and joy.

Letter to Sophie for Her 3rd Birthday

Dear Sophie,

I know this is a bit late, but I couldn’t let any more time pass to share what happened on your birthday this year.

First off though, (belated) Happy Birthday! You’re 3 already! Wow! At this age, you’re already showing signs of becoming a future entertainer by singing, dancing, and talking non-stop. You also like to dress up, pose and ask me to take your picture. Your cute and funny ways are definitely one of the reasons why we find you adorable.

You’re growing independently so fast, anak. Most of the time, you want to do things by yourself: get food, eat, wear clothes, putting the seatbelt on, clean up any mess you made, and so many other things. It makes us so proud! Since you came out into this world, you made our lives more fun, entertaining, and crazy (in a good way); and we’re just so thankful at how wonderful our days are with you around.

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo

Since we’ve never visited the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo before, and my sister had vouchers in her Entertainer Book, plus the fact that Mama and Gabe were going back to the Philippines the following week, we took our family to Dubai Mall on the 20th of March.

You can’t miss the replica of King Croc while approaching the ticket counter

Dinner at Carluccio's with December Brides-to-Be

I spent two consecutive dinners with friends from my SFC days last Saturday and Sunday. This post is about the first night which I spent with my former household members at Dubai Mall.

It had been a while since we all got together, and since two of them were getting married this month (one on the 22nd and the other on the 26th), we all agreed to meet up for dinner on the 29th of November.

I met up with Carol and Ivy, the two brides-to-be, before we proceeded to Carluccio’s to wait for the others. There were a lot of diners in the restaurant when we arrived, but fortunately we were attended to right away and we settled in a booth/table where we enjoyed a great view of the Dancing Fountain. Mitch arrived later and she was soon followed by Joanne.

Since Carol had three Entertainer Vouchers, we put all of them to good use by ordering two of each of the following:

Chicken Saltimbocca

Salmon Pesto

Seafood Linguine

waiting for the others

Was the food good? Well, there were five of us and six main meals…and we managed to eat everything. So you can tell we liked what we ate.

It was funny looking at Carol and Ivy and listening to them talk. Both were calm and relaxed, but while Carol was really hands on and very detailed with everything, having accomplished most of what needed to be done, Ivy still had so many things to take care of and decide on…but still she was calm. Unbelievable!

In between, they would ask the three of us how our wedding day went, any advice or small but significant things they needed to do, what happened the days and weeks after getting married, and most importantly…the wedding night. There was one word we told them to remember: "Shameless!" =)

It was a dinner of laughter, memories and advice…and Michael Jackson! Hahaha! Yup, you read right, although of course you’d have probably guessed it wasn’t really him.

Earlier, while the three of us were chatting and waiting for our orders (the two hadn’t arrived yet), someone who dressed and looked like Jacko casually walked in the restaurant with his friends and sat down at a table near us.

MJ is alive?!?!?!

We were hesitant to ask for a picture because although we knew he wasn’t the real thing, we thought it would be fun to get one; on the other hand, he might not want to be disturbed and/or didn’t want to have his picture taken. But when we saw another diner approach him for a picture, we found the guts to approach the King of Pop impersonator who willingly smiled for a couple of photos.

Now that’s a dinner I won’t easily forget! =)

ihop and picture-taking at dubai mall

I admit that when I heard that IHOP was opening in Dubai, I was curious and wanted to try it out. Plus, there were so many raving reviews about it. So even though it was just a restaurant that mainly served pancakes (food that I cook occasionally on weekends), I felt that we should try it, at least once.

And after our visit, I’m thinking that maybe once is enough.

Let me start with when we arrived. When I told the lady that we needed a table for 4 plus a baby, she first offered us a table in the mall part, outside the restaurant. No way did I want a table there (it would defeat the purpose of an IHOP experience), so I asked her if they had any tables inside.

Lady: Ahh, yes ma’am. Is this table ok? (it was in the middle, in the way of the diners who would be going to the balcony and out)
Me: Is that the only one available?
She didn’t answer, but just looked at me.
Me: What about outside on the balcony?
Lady: Outside? Yes ma’am.
And she led us to the balcony that had several empty tables.
I don’t know why she didn’t offer this from the beginning.

Soon a server approached us and gave us the menus, and after scanning the options, we told her our orders. A while later, our drinks were served...

(l to r) Caila's Chocolate Milk, my Splashberry, Hubby's Tropical Island Twist, and Jovy's Iced Tea

...followed by our food.

The servings were pretty big; and since we hadn’t had breakfast yet (we had come from attending Sunday mass), we dug in, anticipating yummyness.

Unfortunately, we weren’t satisfied. The hashbrowns were too toasted for us, so you could hear our mouths crunching while we ate. The Breakfast Sampler and Griddle Melts were generally ok, except the Melts’ breads were too thick and the Sampler’s eggs were too runny. The pancakes (from my Sampler and Caila’s Funny Face) were our biggest disappointment. Sure they were thick and fluffy, pero walang lasa! I honestly think that’s why they had these syrups ready on the table…to add flavour.

I know our pancakes weren’t part of their Pancake Menu, but still, whatever pancake they served, it should be delicious and tasty. Siguro naman iisa lang yung pinaka-basic na batter ng pancake nila di ba? It’s their signature dish. Kaya nga International House of Pancakes eh. Seriously, even the Maya boxed pancake mix tastes better.

Anyway, after leaving the restaurant, Caila wanted me to take her picture. I gladly obliged because she rarely wants to have her solo picture taken...and it's hard to make her smile for pictures.

click! click! click!

And since ginaganahan sya magpa-picture, we asked Jovy to take one of our family.

a decent family picture where our faces can be seen. yay!

friends from jeddah visit dubai

Good friends from my high school years visited Dubai during the Eid holidays, so of course we had to have a mini-reunion with all our other batchmates based in Dubai.

After enduring all the detours and heavy traffic leading to Dubai Mall on the 17th of October, Hubby, Caila and I met-up with the group at Ribs and Rumps in the Foodcourt. As usual, it was a get-together filled with laughter and reminiscing.

Although Kiomi and Francis’ son had fallen asleep, their daughter, Caila, and Sharon’s daughter had a good time as they played together. It was really cute that they got along, quickly overcoming their shyness from meeting for the first time.

Time passed by quickly and although it was getting pretty late, since our batchmates from Jeddah wanted to see the Dancing Fountain, we headed outdoors where we reached just in time to watch a show begin. Coming all the way from Al Ain, Love managed to meet up with us for a quick group picture and one last show of the Dancing Fountain before we left the mall.

middle east chapter reunion

The next day, my family and I took Kiomi out so that she could do a little souvenir-shopping. And on Sunday after work, I met up with her and Francis (and their kids) at Tim Horton’s in Deira City Centre. I also managed to meet fellow n@wie Gracie (behind the blog A Reality Bite) and her husband who were college pals of Francis.

Hubby and I had taken Francis around the sights of Dubai when he came for a quick stopover several years ago (2005 or 2006), and the last time I saw Kiomi was back in June 2010, so there was so much to catch up on. As always, it’s great to see good old friends again wherever and whenever our paths cross.

dubai 24 hours

For the second consecutive year, Dubai had malls open for 24 hours during the Eid holidays. And because we had two reliable people to leave our children with at home, we took advantage of the opportunity to go malling late at night on the second day of Eid Al Adha at the largest mall in the world: Dubai Mall.

As we were approaching the mall, we could see that there was a long queue of cars trying to get in. Fortunately, Hubby had already expected this and came up with a simple but great idea: he parked Pepper just outside Al Murooj Rotana and we walked across to the mall. No queues, no waiting.

Upon entering the mall, there were so many people inside…just like how it is on an ordinary weekend. Ok, it might not have been that late (we got there around 10:30pm), but I honestly thought there wouldn’t be that much people there. Obviously, I thought wrong. So anyway, we headed to Reel Cinemas (it’s one of the best ways to pass away the time, after all), purchased tickets, bought nachos and a big drink to share, and headed to the cinema showing "About Time" starring Rachel McAdams.

The movie wasn’t that exciting; it was just a normal romantic-comedy with the twist that the leading man could go back into time. Still, I enjoyed it. Hubby, on the other hand, dozed off about 45 minutes after the film started. Either he found the story too slow-paced, he was too tired, it was his normal sleeping time, or all of these reasons =) He did manage to stay awake during the last 30 minutes of the movie, though.

After the film, we just walked around the mall and bought a few things for the girls. We were toying with the idea of having a bite to eat, but then decided not to since we weren’t really hungry. So we continued window-shopping. By 2:45am, we were getting pretty bored. There actually wasn’t that much to do; the mall was pretty much the same as it would be on a normal Friday or Saturday. Plus, we were getting sleepy. So, instead of staying until 5am, we walked to our car and headed home 2 hours earlier than planned.

It was a good thing we did because as soon as we arrived at the apartment, we found that Caila had woken up a few minutes earlier and started crying when she noticed she was alone in bed; and no matter what Jovy did to pacify her, she wouldn’t stop. She very rarely wakes up in the middle of the night, so you can imagine how shocked (and maybe horrified) she was when she found we weren’t beside her. Upon entering the room, I changed my clothes as fast as I could and lay down beside her, apologizing and assuring her that she wasn’t alone anymore. Almost right away, she was sleeping soundly as if nothing happened. Whew!

If the malls open for 24 hours again for any special holiday, I don’t think we’ll try it again. Well, maybe we won’t go in the middle of the night. We’ll probably try malling in the early morning when our whole family can go and most of the people are going home or in their beds…err, at least, I hope so.  Maybe.

typg #2: yesterday’s accomplishments and lafayette gourmet

Another 27th of the month, so another chance to dine out and celebrate. However, our monthly tradition wasn’t the only reason to celebrate yesterday. Hubby was able to get 2 things done on the first day of the work week: Caila’s passport renewal and our new nanny’s Employment Visa. Hurray!

It wasn’t easy, though. We didn’t have an appointment at the Philippine Consulate, but since Caila’s visa would be expiring in December, and her passport in April, we had to process the renewal ASAP. And since she didn’t go to school yesterday (she was still recovering from a fever), it was the perfect time to go. So yesterday morning, Hubby and Caila headed to the Consulate where they had to wait a looooooong time several times. Initially, they were rejected and told to get an appointment for a later date, but after explaining the situation about her visa and passport, they were finally allowed to complete all the procedures.

In the afternoon, Hubby waited several hours (again!) at DNRD. With the Immigration, it’s always nerve-wracking while you wait for the Officer’s decision whether your application will be granted or not. As he or she looks through the papers, you never know if the documents you have are complete…and even if they are, he or she might ask for something else. Fortunately, everything went pretty smoothly. The Officer asked Hubby a few questions, wrote on the application, then told him to pay the Deposit (Dhs2,020) and Entry Permit Inside the Country charge (Dhs680) at the payment counter. After Hubby did these and presented to him the receipts, the Employment Visa was finally issued.  Whew!

Since we were in the vicinity, we headed towards Dubai Mall for our traditional monthsary celebration. We’ve been meaning to try out IHOP for some time now, but Hubby wanted something more filling (all the waiting made him hungry!), so we decided to eat at Lafayette Gourmet. It was a good idea too because we had an Entertainer Voucher that we could use.

Walking around the store, we saw a grocery and various sections offering all sorts of food items: meat, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, coffees and teas, pastries and desserts, and many more. There was even a separate pork section. We saw diners enjoying their food at the area with the wooden tables, but since we wanted to sit back and relax, we opted to eat at the area with the soft red chairs. Here’s what we ordered:

Hubby's Pomegranate Iced Tea (left) and my Berry Blast (right)

California Roll
This was on the menu so we couldn't miss this

Hubby's Lafayette SLIDERS

I found the stamped BURGER on the bun pretty cool and unique

my Traditional Crispy Duck with hoisin sauce...

...and pancakes

Unfortunately, we were too full to order any dessert. Ok, I admit, the dessert selection just didn’t seem to have anything that tempting…even for take away. So we just settled for what we had already ordered. Not that we were disappointed, though. The food was actually really good and very tasty. Except for the California Roll…it just seemed too ordinary.

In spite of this, I’m sure we’ll be visiting Lafayette Gourmet again before the year ends…because it would be a shame to not take advantage of our 2 remaining Entertainer Vouchers at such a nice restaurant that offers so many international cuisines in their menu.

Thank You and Praise God for the day’s accomplishments and another opportunity to spend quality time with Hubby.

food and bonding-filled birthday

I woke up Saturday morning with Hubby and my daughters still sleeping beside me. Since I didn’t have work that day, I just lay in bed, cherishing the early hours of the peace and quiet of the morning. After a while, my youngest stirred and soon she was on her tummy giving me a wide gummy grin. My husband followed shortly, and within a few minutes all of us were wide awake tickling each other and laughing just like the day before. By 7:30am, we started getting ready to go out.

We attended the 9 o’clock mass (celebrating Palm Sunday) at St. Mary’s, then we went to Ansar Gallery to pass away the time and because Yaya Juliet wanted to buy some things. A little after 11am, we headed to Asiana Hotel. I know I gave a not-so-good review about La Mesa here 2 years ago, but a lot of our friends and colleagues still enjoyed themselves, so we decided to try out their brunch.

i don't hate chinese food anymore

I hate Chinese food! Okay, that sounded too strong. Let's just say I don’t like Chinese food. If you take me to a Chinese restaurant, most probably I’ll just eat siomai, siopao, and/or Peking duck wraps...with occasional bites of noodles. If none of those are available on the menu, I’ll end up forcing myself to eat whatever the rest are eating and not enjoy the meal, which would be a total waste of time and money. So if I can help it, I avoid Chinese restaurants as much as I can.  But last Friday, I couldn't avoid it...which thankfully ended up to be a good thing.

the cheesecake factory

Finally, finally, finally I got to eat at The Cheesecake Factory in Dubai Mall! Yaaaaaay!!! Another item off my list. Honestly, I’m so glad we always celebrate on the 27th of every month...it gives us a reason to go out and splurge a bit while satisfying our palates and tummies. Hahaha! Anyway, yes, last Sunday after work, Hubby and I headed to Dubai Mall for our monthsary. That was the day after we got Pepper, so the car’s arrival really was perfect timing. Good thing it was the first day of the workweek so, although almost all the tables were full, we didn’t have to wait and were immediately directed to a table for two.

my first grade teacher

After almost thirty years, I got the chance to see my grade school teacher from Papua New Guinea…right here in Dubai!

As most of you may know, I was born in PNG and I spent my elementary school years there. Rabaul International Primary School was where I studied Grade 1 and 2, and I remember liking both of my class advisers.  Mrs. Clayton (as how we called her then) was really, very nice; I don't recall her ever shouting at me or my classmates, considering majority of them were boys.

I'm the really small girl on the extreme right of the front row

the avengers

Saturday, 5 May 2012

Just me and Hubby, after dinner at Dome

Dubai Mall

If it weren’t for Chris Evans, I wouldn’t have agreed to watch. I already wasn’t in a good mood because I felt guilty leaving Caila at home while she was taking her afternoon nap. My mood became worse when, upon arriving at the ticketing counter, we found that the only seats available for the 6pm show was right at the front (which I absolutely didn’t want) and the next show was at 7:45pm with seats five rows from the front at the extreme right side! Feeling my mommy-guilt grow by the minute, I wished that Hubby would feel the same and just reschedule our date, but since he was so excited to watch it, I just stayed quiet and watched him buy our tickets for the 7:45pm show.  After that, since we had loads of time to waste, we ate at Dome before window-shopping around the mall.

dinner by the dancing fountain

Ever since we got together, hubby and I make it a point to celebrate every 27th of the month by having dinner at a restaurant. Then when Caila was born on the 27th of February, it gave us another reason to stick with this monthly tradition. However, since we haven’t had the chance to go out on a date lately, and it’s been a long time since we last celebrated the 27th as our day, I suggested to hubby that we celebrate Caila’s month-birthday in advance, and then on Thursday, we’ll go out on our own...which is why we headed all the way to Dubai Mall for dinner at TGI Friday's last night.

eat pray love

Thanks to popsie and momsie, we got these movie passes...

So last night after work, we went straight to Dubai Mall to watch this...

"Do not look at the world through your head; look at it through your heart" (Ketut)