Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana

Abet and I skipped fine dining for our anniversary this year, we need to save our money for our backpacking trip next week. So instead of going to Paseo Uno which we originally planned, we wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't burn a hole in our pockets like a hotel dinner buffet would. My second favorite cuisine is Mexican and his is Japanese (#1 is Italian for us both) and on our shortlist were Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana in Ortigas Home Depot and two Japanese restaurants. Guess who decided to give way? He loves me, yes he does!

Boy, was he glad. The food we had was great, just great. It's my new favorite Mexican restaurant.

We always order quesadilla when eating in a Mexican restaurant, and here we got their Grilled Tomato and Cheese Quesadilla:

The tortillas were 8 inches across and were bursting with filling and came with generous portions of sour cream and salsa, and it was just P125. Compare with Mexicali's Garlic and Cheese Quesadilla which costs around P90:

Four small pieces, not enough filling, and paltry dips. I used to love these quesadillas, but Jalapeño ruined that for me. I don't think I can bring myself to order these from Mexicali anymore.

We also got the Baked Jalapeño Cheese Dip (P140):

The nachos it came with were good enough for three:

Abet had the Chili Beef Burrito (P125):


Pardon the bite mark.
I had the Grilled Chicken Fajita (P225, comes with 3 pieces of tortillas):


Sorry about the blurry picture, I've had my camera for over a year now but I still don't know how to focus. Meh. I got the fajitas, because at 26 years old, I still like to play with my food:


Make your own fajita--so much fun!
I have a low threshold for spicy food and rarely put chili sauce/hot sauce on my food, but theirs was really yummy, it was spicy-sweet. If they sold this, I'd buy a bottle or two:

My only complaint about the place was that it was too dim inside, in the indoor upstairs area where we were seated. Dim places strain my eyes. I had to take the photos above with flash. I avoid taking photos with flash in restaurants so as not to annoy other diners, but there were only two other tables occupied in our area, and both groups were really noisy, so I guess it was only fair, hehe.

Overall, we enjoyed the Jalapeño experience and I'm glad we dined there to celebrate our third year as a couple. The food were all great and reasonably-priced. For our meal above with two bottles of beer and two glasses of iced tea, our bill was just exactly P800. We were already too full to get dessert.

Of course, no dinner date will be complete without dessert, we walked to Metrowalk para magpababa ng kinain, and a little while later I got to have a Kahlua Chocolate Sundae, my favorite thing to eat at Icebergs:

It was a happy anniversary, indeed.

========================

Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana

Food Street, Ortigas Home Depot

Julia Vargas, Pasig City

Bloody Eyes

That's what my officemate Gelo called me when I showed up at work looking with my right eye looking like this:
I didn't realize that not having breakfast is dangerous to your eyes. I didn't get to eat breakfast last Tuesday, and not long after I had a very late Jollihotdog lunch, I was puking my guts out in the restroom. Stomach acids acted up. Little did I know that throwing up (as well as giving birth , carrying a heavy load, coughing violently, or just being really, really mad) may cause the blood vessels in your eyes to rupture. That's what happened to my right eye.

The ophthalmologist said that there's no need to worry, it's just like a bruise that should go away in a week with cold compress. The redness is getting lighter already.

It's just to bad that this had to happen just before our anniversary, tsk. No googly-eyed staring at each other this year, lest Abet get nightmares of bloody-eyed me.

I really do hope this goes away before our trip, or my sister will have some major Photoshopping to do when we get back--no way am I posting pictures of me with my eye looking like a monster's.

Just a quick message to my boyfriend

my best friend, my partner, my idol, my teacher, my biggest fan, my biggest critic, my clown, my alarm clock, my music stand, my metronome, my jukebox, my alalay, my body guard, my personal chef, my masseuse, my secretary, my nurse, my travel buddy, my pillar, my hero, my strength, my inspiration, my happiness, my Prince Charming, my dream come true, my happy ever after, my lover, my soulmate, my The One, my first love, my only love, my true love, my everything, my Abet:

Thank you.
I love you.
Happy Anniversary.

*reposted from Multiply, because there just aren't enough words*

The long way home

Papa finally got home today after being stranded since Thursday, thank God! It was just supposed to be balikan trip, all he brought with him was leche flan and chocolate muffins for my brother. No thanks to the landslides that blocked Marcos Highway and Kennon Road, he got stuck in Baguio with no change of clothes and no cellphone charger. Still, my dad is a very hard-headed chum and wanted to come home already, especially since Mama just came back from a week in Surigao yesterday. This is the same guy who went up to Baguio in the midst of typhoon Pepeng, after all (while my paranoid office took us home early as a safety precaution--and dropped us off in front of our doorsteps).

And so, my dad is home, safe and warm, but not after three bus rides, one jeepney ride, one van ride, one tricycle ride (12 of them crammed in one tricycle!), and three long, muddy hikes...

the Victory Liner bus from Baguio took them only up to here

damaged road

hiking along the highway

lapuk

boulders along Kennon Road from the landslides

more walking along mud

finally, dry land

this bridge in Pangasinan was impassable...

because it collapsed

Seems like my dad had quite an adventure--and a 12-hour adventure, at that! He's exhausted and is getting a massage as I type. I'm glad that he's as tenacious as he is (he seemed to forget that he's a heart patient, my God!), because if he weren't, he'd still be in Baguio right now, and we'd still be deathly worried.

Anyway, it looks like he enjoyed the way home. Who says baby-boomer dads can't camwhore?

Kalat-kalat.

Mama is in Surigao, Momon is in Cebu, Mimay is in Cavite, Joe is in Baguio, and Papa is en route to Baguio right now. I can't wait for the gang to be all together again.