bagsakan by chito

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Sorry, I know I haven't been posting anything on this blog for almost a month now.  As usual, I've been pretty busy.  December means Christmas, which means lots of parties, events, and get-togethers, ergo no time to sit and gather my thoughts. 

But since the busiest month of the year is over and 2014 has begun, hopefully I'll be able to find time to blog again.

In the meantime, I just wanted to share this video I took during the High Impact A2 Festival.  I won tickets over the radio, remember?  The concert was so cool! I promise I'll tell you more about that night in a separate post.  But just to give you an idea of how amazing it was, take a look at this clip where Chito Miranda sang "Bagsakan" without Francis M. (naturally!) and Gloc 9.

Galing! Astig! Amazing!

free samples delivered to your door

Someone from the neighbourhood pharmacy rang each of the doorbells in our entire building to give these out last night


unexpected goodies!

Just in time too, because we had run out of wet wipes and forgot to buy a pack when we went to Carrefour last Saturday.  As for the tube of Olay, I'm willing to try it out.

I remember there was also a time when a truck parked outside our apartment building and men started giving out paper bags full of different kinds of Yoplait yogurt to the passersby (either the brand was still new in the UAE market or about to be introduced). All of us in our family had a great time trying them out.

Now where else in the world do you have samples delivered to your door for no reason?  =)

pc's at cc

1 september 2013
instant get-together
kfc cluster a parent coordinators
treat

oceana beach club

Our entire family got the chance to try the Oceana Beach Club on The Palm Jumeirah in June. Well, not exactly the entire family because Hubby couldn’t join us due to a prior commitment so it was only us girls (Mama, Ate Ning, me, Caila and Sophie) plus Gabe. We arrived at around 1:30pm and left just before 6pm. What did we do for four and a half hours? Swim, eat, and enjoy the views while relaxing on the lounge chairs…over and over again.  Ahh...this is the life!

what Caila called the "Cow Car"

the skyline of the Dubai Marina

floating in the clear blue waters

enjoying the lazy river

tired and hungry, so she took a quick break

the big chicken burger

nuggets and fries

three flavours of ice-cream

delicious lemonade

in front of ms liberty =)

another view of the Marina skyline

my sister, Mama, and me

raffles hotel and their pre-ramadan iftar

If you remember, I posted recently how difficult it is for me to limit my food intake. Here’s just one of the reasons why: I received an invitation to try Raffles Hotel’s Pre-Ramadan Iftar which I simply couldn’t say no to. I’m sure if you received an invitation to free food at an elegant hotel, you’d go too. Anyway, the hotel opened in 2007 and its primary distinct feature is that it’s shaped like a pyramid. Well, it’s located in Wafi which has an Egyptian architectural theme, so I guess it makes sense. I’ll photoblog a bit ok?


glass doors opening to the hotel entrance

the hotel lobby water fountain

a miniature model of Raffles Hotel, Singapore

statue of an ancient Egyptian

one of the pillars in the lobby with Egyptian designs

i love the huge ornamental lights hanging from the lobby ceiling!

beautiful flowers displayed on the tables

you can comfortably sit here while waiting in the lift waiting area

the lift waiting area on the 3rd floor

view of the lobby from the 3rd floor

As soon as Hubby and I stepped out of the elevator, we were greeted by a staff who directed us to Azur Restaurant where someone else checked our names on the list and showed us to our table.

colorful lanterns in the restaurant entry

And now, on to the food =)

these dried fruits and nuts were placed on all of the tables for the diners to nibble on

The salad bar

a miniature dhow adorned the salad bar

the entire salad bar set-up

I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the mains because there was always at least two people serving themselves, but it was a typical spread of Arabic food, including Hubby’s favourite: the roasted lamb ouzi.


image source

Here are the yummy assortment of desserts

I forgot to take photos of my plates of the salads and mains (or most probably I just wanted to devour the food right away), so this is the only shot I have of whatever I ate.

my helping of dessert

The slice of apple pie was very tasty; Hubby said the thin crust tasted like otap. The French mini-macaroons were sooo delicious! I’ve heard so much about them but I’ve never had the chance to try them, so when I saw these in the dessert spread, I took 3 pieces. Sobrang sarap talaga, I swear! Parang 2 bits of meringue with cream in between. The white chocolate pyramid naman had a smaller milk chocolate pyramid inside.

After we had our fill, we asked for green tea which the waiter gave us in a dainty white teapot, with a bowl of sugar cubes on the side.

Needless to say, Hubby and I had a very hearty meal that night.

Ramadan will be starting during the second week of July. That’s one month of fasting for Muslims. I just hope I’ll be able to lose some of my flabs during that time...unless I get invited to another sumptuous Iftar again =)


Raffles Hotel
Sheikh Rashid Road, Wafi
Dubai
Tel: 04-3248888

wasabi-coated green peas

Thanks to our manager who arrived from his business trip to Japan yesterday, I got to taste these peas for the first time.

Even though I still don’t know how to read Japanese, I knew what they were when he gave me the pack. Obvious naman kasi. And although I can’t bear spicy food, I was determined to try it, simply because they’re from Japan. And besides, I always use wasabi in the sauce for makis and sushis, so I guess I could handle them.

pick-me-upper #2

Last night after getting my new BOSCH KITCHEN MACHINE (yeah!), I was browsing Facebook using Tisoy when I found out that I was one of the winners of a competition from Emirates Parents Plus. The prize was a La Bonita “Pamper Day” Moroccan bath, full body massage, facial, mani and pedi.

image source

After a bummer day last Monday, not to mention the stressful and tiring week I had last week, I so really badly needed pampering, so this was definitely a wonderful surprise.

Imagine, two great things in just a couple of hours! How cool is that?!

eraserheads reunion concert in dubai

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, Hubby and I were one of the thousands of people who gathered at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre last Thursday to watch the Eraserheads Reunion Concert. Honestly, I’m not really a fan of the band. Sure I know some of their songs, but that’s it. Same thing with Hubby, although he knows more of their songs than me. And the only band member I know is Ely Buendia; naturally, he’s the singer kasi. So why did we bother to watch? Because we had FREE PASSES! Naturally, if someone offered you free passes to a reunion concert of the Philippines’ version of The Beatles, you’d go, right? What made it better was the passes were for the Platinum area...at the front!