Pepper Lunch

Until this afternoon, I was probably the only Chuvaness fan in Manila who has not tried Pepper Lunch yet. The first two branches (Rockwell and Shangri-La) aren't too accessible to me. Luckily, Pepper Lunch opened at Alabang Town Center two weeks ago. I dragged Abet and May there for lunch today.

May's Beef Pepper Rice (P198)

The dish is served on a patented cast iron heated to 260 degrees centigrade and stays hot for up to 20 minutes. The meat is raw when it arrives: you're supposed to cook your meat on the plate, mix everything up (there's special butter and sauce in the middle of the plate), and drizzle the food with steak sauce (Amakuchi - Honey Brown or Karakuchi - Garlic Soy).

Abet's Shimofuri Pepper Steak (P610)

Just look at that pretty chunk of beef above, doesn't the marbling look good? We couldn't talk to Abet after his dish was served, he was too busy enjoying his steak.

my already-cooked and already-mixed Chicken Pepper Rice (P198)

I enjoyed everything about my Chicken Pepper Rice, and I don't even like peppercorns. I guess it made a difference that their peppers are freshly prepared each morning, with just the fragrant outer shells used. Their honey brown sauce was just to die for, May and I practically drowned our food in it.

I can't believe it took me this long to try Pepper Lunch. It was worth queuing for more than 15 minutes to order and smelling like our food afterwards. With the ATC branch nearby, the only thing that's keeping us from dining there more often is the price. Don't get me wrong, the food was worth it, but Abet and I shouldn't be spending so much at this point. Still, I'm dying to try the salmon chicken rice and the hamburger + cut steak combo. Next payday, perhaps? I just need to make sure we don't go there during lunch time.

--=-=--

Abet took me to the Pluck and Struck concert at the Insular Auditorium in Alabang last Saturday evening. It was my first time to watch Abet's professor and mentor, Sir Ruben Reyes, in concert. He played Brouwer's Concierto Elegiaco and I was in awe: he really is the best. Perf de Castro performed one of my favorite pieces in the whole world, Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, and I was utterly disappointed, both with the guitarist and the orchestra. What a bummer. Jovianney Cruz's Liszt Piano Concerto no. 1 was fantastic, so it was still a good concert overall.

--=-=--

While waiting to meet up with Abet last Saturday before the concert, I caught this nice old man playing the grand piano at the Commerce Ave. part of ATC:

I was looking at shoes at VNC (great stuff there, by the way) when I heard "I Wish You Love" playing from outside the store, and I just had to follow the music. A small crowd had gathered to listen to him play standard tunes. Lolo was really good--he took requests--he must have been a hotel or bar pianist in his younger years. I have a video of him playing "That's All." It was a nice treat to hear good live jazz music when I least expected it.

--=-=--

Abet and I watched Marley and Me on DVD--Marley looks exactly like our Labrador Retriever, Django! We were cooing during the movie. I wish our dog lived with me instead of with my boyfriend--I only get to see him on weekends--but I don't think I can handle all the feeding and the cleaning up.

--=-=--

I'm drinking chocolate Vodka Mudshake as I type. Good stuff.

I hope y'all had a good weekend.

Missing the cello...

Abet took me to a concert by the Manila Symphony Orchestra at Phil-Am last night--Haydn's Symphony no. 104, Paganini violin concerto with Junior Saraza as soloist, and Beethoven's Symphony no. 5. What a nice Saturday evening date! The soloist was amazing, I had goosebumps during his entire concerto (and his two encores), and Beethoven's 5th is always a joy to experience. My boyfriend is the greatest for surprising me with tickets.

I used to be an avid classical and jazz concert-goer when I was a student. Back then, I'd go alone most of the time--none of my friends were into the same kind of music I liked. Now, I have a default companion (who sometimes gets tickets at a discounted rate or even for free), there's really no excuse for me not to watch more often. Plus, I get little lessons about classical music whenever I watch with Abet. ("That's a fughetta, hear that?")

He's taking me to another concert this Saturday, whoopee!

--=-=--

I picked the cello up for the first time in months today. It felt like being reunited with an old friend. Since Joe left for Baguio, the instrument (her name's Jackie after cellist Jacqueline du Pre) has just been sitting forlornly in the little anteroom we have upstairs. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I touched it. I did a few scales and played a few notes of that Bach piece I was working on when I left off--and then I cried.

I missed Joe so bad. I missed my cello buddy. And I was saddened at the thought that he's not making music right now, something he loves to do.

Right now, he is being trained to be the best soldier he can be, something he loves even more.

And that makes it all okay.

--=-=--

Here's Joe the day he got his cello case in May 2007:


He loves that case. We went to a concert at CCP later that evening, just the two of us.

I hope there's a nice concert when he gets to come home after his first year *puhon*, I'm sure he misses concert-watching as well.

SmokeFree QuitMeter

I found this nifty little banner over at Topaz Horizon:

Abet quit smoking on my birthday last year--one of the best birthday presents I have ever received. Those are his statistics above, based on 15 sticks a day at P40.00 per pack.

Over P7,000 saved in seven months. Very nice. Abet had been smoking since he was 14 years old--around two-thirds of his life--can you imagine how much that had cost?

Abet and I met because I asked him for a light, I couldn't find my teensy black lighter inside my giant, multi-pocketed Nine West bag, so I can't really say that I regret all those years that we had been smokers, but I'm mighty proud that we kicked the ugly habit in the butt, pun intended.

I quit months before Abet did, that means that I have saved more... I deserve a little reward, no? Hmmmm...

Hello, everyone!

Finally, this blog is up. After months of writing just for myself, I have decided to share the link to friends and family and all.

I've been blogging since 2003 for contacts on Blurty, LiveJournal, and Multiply, and I'm just starting to write openly here on Blogspot. I'll still be crossposting from Multiply, because that's where my entries actually get read and commented on.

I'm having fun with Blogspot so far, tinkering with the links and gadgets on the right-hand sidebar. Moreso, I'm having fun browsing the blogosphere, I've already stumbled upon quite a few online journals that I instantly liked and will continue to follow.

Why Guwapa? Mainly because that's my email address on Gmail, and it was the default account when I signed up for Blogspot. I hope I live up to my username--it's a beautiful life, after all, and I hope to share little snippets of this life here on this blog.

See you all around!

Flowers of Baguio

Actually, these were just inside Fort del Pilar:

--=-=--

I just love Baguio City. The city is so charming with its pine trees, gorgeous mountain views, cool fresh air, picturesque winding roads, quaint restaurants and cafes--and taxi drivers that give you change down to the last peso.

You know what I like most about Baguio?

The fact that my brother is there, of course. :-)

Souvenirs

I love these clever photographs by Michael Hughes:

Read about the stories behind the pictures at his blog, http://michaelhughes.wordpress.com/.

See the rest of his Souvenirs set on Flickr.

--=-=--
I like to collect items from my trips, little somethings that remind me of my visit. A big chunk of my collection is composed of the usual tourist trinkets--magnets, keychains, maps, and postcards (some of which I sent to myself)--but I've taken home bus tickets, admission tickets, boarding passes, pressed leaves and flowers, tins, table napkins, paper bags, even candy/chocolate wrappers. I'll keep anything that will remind me of my travel experiences. Even the pencils and tape measures from Ikea have earned a place in my "travel" box. Abet gave me a beautiful velvet-lined box last year where I store souvenirs from our trips together, I hope to fill it up with more items.

What do you take home as souvenirs?

Baking High!

I went on a baking spree last night. The last time I baked was New Year's Eve, and I sure did make up for all those months that I didn't touch the oven.

I made cookies for the first time, and they turned out very nicely, if I may say so myself. I started with oatmeal-raisin cookies, and understandably, my first batch didn't turn out too well:

I forgot the basic fact that dough expands upon baking. Epic cookie-sizing fail. Anyway, I learn quick, and just dropped rounded teaspoonfulls onto the cookie sheet. Perfect.

Moist, sweet and cinnamon-spicy, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just like how a nice oatmeal cookie should be. This recipe will be in my repertoire.

I also tried making the classic chocolate chip cookie. This was pretty simple to make, and the fun part was eating the dough itself. So good. No wonder they make ice cream flavors out of this.

chocolate chip cookie dough

Is this a chocolate chip cookie, or is this a chocolate chip cookie?

I also tried making chocolate cupcakes, just because I saw these pretty yellow silicone cupcake molds and floral cupcake liners at Bakers' Depot:

I wasn't too happy with the cupcakes, they're not as moist and fluffy as I'd like them to be, but my mom and sister thought they were good. I forgot to take some to my officemate Cassie who's an excellent baker for diagnosis and remedy. I want to keep making cupcakes, I really want to make pretty frosted ones in yummy flavors such as banana-walnut and red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I'll try making these again next weekend, this time in blue gingham paper liners.

Of course, I made my famous carrot cake, my pride and joy. Mama asked me to make two:

This cake turns out perfect each time and has been a constant hit among my friends and officemates. Mama texted me this morning to say that this was "d best krt kk ever n d hol wyd wrld" and Momon's officemates said my cake was delicious--and that was without the cream cheese frosting yet (I was too tired last night to make the frosting).

Joe has always been a fan of my carrot cake, I'm sure he'll like this, I hope he'll like the other goodies as well. We're going up to Baguio to visit, bus leaves in two hours.

See yah!

Charlie's Grind and Grill

After a two weeks of dieting and religiously going to the gym after work, I felt that I needed to reward myself with seriously good chow for the weekend. Last Saturday was a good time to try Charlie's Grind and Grill, which I first read about on Our Awesome Planet and which my officemate Gelo has been majorly raving about. Anton of OAP claims that Charlie's serves the best burgers pound-for-pound (parang si Pacquiao lang) in Manila, and that opinion alone is enough for me to bump up Charlie's on our ever-growing 'Restaurants to Try' list.

Their specialty is the freshly-ground handcrafted black Angus burger, freshly-ground meaning they grind and grill the beef as you order:




At P175 with the fries, this baby was a steal. The beef was juicy and flavorful with that distinct grilled yumminess, the vegetables were crisp, the bun was fresh, and the hand-cut fries were the best fries I've had. I'm trying to recall if I've had a better burger... maybe I haven't. It's definitely well worth the hype.

I ordered the small Philly cheesesteak--Batangas Triple A sirloin beef steak with caramelized onions, sauteed peppers, and cheese (P220):



This 'Hungry' size is already good enough for two, I can't imagine how starving one might be to finish the bigger 'Starving' size for P380. My cheesesteak was more 'cheese' than 'steak,' which was honestly fine by me.

We ordered half a dozen buffalo wings (P150, served with veggie sticks and bleu cheese dressing):




The wings were crisp despite being drenched in the tangy buffalo sauce that went perfectly with the bleu cheese dressing. Abet and I were already full from the burger, fries, and cheesesteak by the time we attacked the wings, I didn't think we'd be able to finish them, but we did. They were that good.

We're already planning to go back to try their fish and chips, pulled pork sandwich, and meatballs marininara pasta. We also want to try the newest additions to their menu: their desserts. We were so full after our meal to have desserts. (We did get some Angelati Italia gelato a few hours later--yum!)

Oh, and Abet has a couple more reasons why he liked Charlie's aside from the good food: they serve American craft and premium beers (Corona was at P130), and the naughty urinal below *snicker*:



Charlie's, we'll be back!


Charlie's Grind and Grill
16 East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City

Non-matching bridesmaids

My wedding is still light-years away. However, that doesn't stop me from fantasizing about how mine will be like. Didn't we girls do that when we were seven?

Anyway, this early, I already have a nice picture of what I want for my wedding day. I've already decided on the groom, the church, the rings--and I have dream suppliers for the cake, caterer, photographer and videographer. Doing research this early gives us and idea of how much we need to budget for the big day, and how we could come up with that amount when the time to tie the knot comes.

I love browsing wedding websites to get ideas on making my wedding beautiful and intimate and uniquely "us." One of the things I've always been fascinted with are bridesmaids in non-matching gowns. They look so pretty in photographs.

It's nice when the same fabric is cut in different styles:

But this one in different fabrics, styles, and shades in the same color is even better:

I like it best when the dresses are in the different colors of the wedding motif. These two pictures below have the colors that I have in mind for my wedding:


Now tell me, is this not the sweetest?

However, who has bridesmaids of the same height and body type?

On a local note, here's a picture from Stephanie Coyiuto's recent wedding which I read about in The Philippine Star last Sunday. Pretty, no?

*Pic above taken by Lito Sy, grabbed from heart-2-heart-online.com. All the rest are from The Knot.*

Nakakainis naman.

I'm heartbroken.

If not for that darned A(H1N1) virus, right now I should just have arrived in Singapore from Kuala Lumpur via bus. Tonight I would have been eating Hainanese chicken rice and Hokkien mee and satay and kaya straight from the jar. But because I don't want to put my (paranoid) mom's health at risk, we decided to cancel. Disappointed as I am, I just got more excited about my trip to Malaysia this October and to Singapore this December for the annual guitar festival.

Unfortunately, I just read at the guitar festival's website that there won't be a guitar festival this year:

There will be no International Guitar Festival nor
International Guitar Competition this year, 2009 in
view of the global economic downturn and H1N1 flu in
different parts of the world. We regret any
inconvenience caused.

Pfffffft.

There won't be a reason for us to go to Singapore this year. Naiiyak ako. We're supposed to buy our rings there (even if it's eons before we get to use them).

Abet said we'll travel somewhere we haven't been to before next year instead. We've been to Singapore anyway. There's an annual guitar festival in Bangkok he can participate in.

I guess I'll just look forward to that. Still, I'd kill for some authentic chicken rice right now.

Red Mango

I'm thankful for all of the frozen yoghurt places that have sprouted all over the metro. Abet and I are struggling to bring our waistlines and our weight down, and I'm glad that there's now a heathier dessert option other than the Starbucks fraps or Chocolat cakes that we used to favor after our dinner dates.

Our favorite used to be White Hat (Rob Manila and MoA) until we discovered Red Mango in Trinoma. Those are our default orders. Mine is medium green tea + blueberry + mango + peach. Abet's is almonds + banana nut crunch--he leaves the Hershey's chocolate chips on his bowl for me.

I can have this everyday. Ü

--=-=--

I can't have yoghurt everyday. Not in the next two weeks, at least. I also can't have bread, pasta, rice either, and my favorite things in the world are not allowed: corn, watermelon, and chocolate. I had this crazy idea to go on the South Beach Diet, and I start today:

I bought the book so I'll do it right. It basically says that I can't eat any of the things that make me happy for two weeks. No fruits and sweets.

Good luck to me!

Will I be The Biggest Loser?

Four of my officemates and I are aiming to be The Biggest Loser. We weighed in at the office clinic yesterday, we'll weigh in again two months later, and the person who loses the most number of pounds will take home the P4,000.00 pot. I tried to convince them that the contest should be the biggest percentage of body weight lost, but they insist on most number of pounds. Fine by me.

I weighed in at a whopping 143 lbs. yesterday. Eeeew. I've been trying to bring my weight down since our 4-day Davao trip where we ate more than a week's worth of food--to no avail. Of course I'm not dropping any pounds--I can't stop stuffing my face silly, and I barely exercised for the last three months. I need motivation--P4kiao worth of motivation.

If I don't win, my alkansiya will be 1,000 one-peso coins less. I won't mind if I lose at least 10 lbs. If I lose that much, I'll consider myself a winner.

We'll see how this goes. This should be fun.

I want to go back to Davao for this...

Blugré's Durian Gatchpuccino

Abet and I had dessert at Blugré Coffee in Matina Town Square after an inasal dinner at a Penong's branch nearby, and I was able to try this delightful signature coffee concoction. It was heaven in a little blue paper cup, I swear. I can still remember savoring every sip of that buttery durian coffee with real durian bits.

I wonder if there's anything similar here in Manila.

You really won't realize...

just how much a person means to you until he's out of your life.

Miss na kita, Jepoi.

Miss ko na ang mga benta mo sa 39th floor pantry ng RCBC Tower 2. Hindi masarap ang pagkain sa cafeteria dito sa Solaris. Napipilitan tuloy akong magbaon.

...

I'm already crossing my fingers. And praying really hard.

His will be done.