Our New Bundle of Joy

   Last Nov. 29. it was a blissful day for us,  our baby Nathaniel was born. It was one experience I could not truly explain, but one thing is for sure, nothing beats the feeling of motherhood. When they say you fall in love with your baby the minute they were born, they ain't kidding. Because the moment you see your baby you're just surrounded by happiness, oblivious of the fact that you're being cut up on the operating table, numb & cold. When I first prayed for a baby, I wasn't that expectant at all considering my age & the fact that I have endometriosis. But then my prayers were answered & I knew that baby is a gift from God. That's why we named him Nathaniel, it means " gift from God". Going through this pregnancy might be difficult but it's all worth it, I'm truly thankful to God & to all the people who prayed & supported me throughout my pregnancy.

Our Dear Nathaniel

  

  

Lunch At Corniche, Diamond Hotel

     Several days before giving birth, I was able to convince hubby to treat me to a lunch buffet at The Corniche, Diamond Hotel. I was really craving for good food, I rarely went out since I'm already on my 9th month & my doctor told me just to stay home to avoid pre-term labor. Besides, I wouldn't be able to go out for a month after giving birth.  Since it's their 1st year anniversary, the price was 50% off. I would say at 710.00 it's really worth it. There's a lot of food selection & the ambiance was really nice. Cool seafood section, generous servings of lobsters, crabs, shrimps, oysters. Even the japanese rolls were good. too bad I can't eat sashimi, not good for pregnant women. Since I'm gestational diabetic I was thinking I wouldn't be able to enjoy dessert. To my surprise they had several sweets that are sugarless, yey!!! To sum it all up, we really enjoyed our lunch, went home truly satisfied.

This was actually my second plate, tasting small servings of each dish

Seafood Delight :-)

Nice Ceiling Decor

Pool's Lanscaping, very nice

Horray for sugarless desserts :-)

Japanese Section

Dessert Section

Asado, Lechon Kawali, Peking Duck Section

Assorted Salads

Very nice Christmas Tree right in front of The Corniche

  

Remembering Our Beloved Departed Ones

   Nov 1, All Saint's Day, the day we go visit our beloved departed ones in their resting places. Can't believe there's over a million visiting in just one particular cemetery, & there's still a lot more around Metro Manila. It can get pretty crowded that's why a lot of people would visit a week earlier, but just the same, cemeteries were all crowded as usual. Though several rules were implemented it's so hard to control the crowd because of limited manpower. A lot of resourceful individuals were able to sneak in alcohol, sharp objects, karaokes & even video karera machines. To state it simply, maraming pasaway.
   Many people would go at least a week earlier to clean & paint the graves, but some who are financially capable would just hire caretakers especially if it's in a mausoleum. For the lawn type, it's the memorial's responsibility to maintain it.
   A lot would spend the night there on the eve in order to avoid the heavy influx on the actual day. Though in other countries it's a day of deep solemnity, here in the Philippines it's more of a celebration,  it's a day when family & relatives reunite, sort of like a picnic day. Filipinos are known for being close knitted, so eventhough loved ones are no longer with us physically, we  still observe the day with them in spirit.

Maintenance free lawn types

The biggest mausoleum in Manila Memorial Sucat said to be own by the Po clan. It has centralized airconditioning & an underground crypt

The simpler mausoleums

   

Dinner With BFFS at Honkong Emperor Seafood Restaurant MOA

   It's been awhile since I went out with my BFFS. As my cousin would always point out, we are what he calls 'Tropang Patay-gutom", to be more precise "The bottomless pit trio" :-) We were suppose to try out Viking's at MOA but when we got there the place was really jam packed & there's still a long line of waiting customers.
   Plan B, look for another restaurant because we're starving. We ended up eating at Honkong Emperor Seafood Restaurant, located at the seaside front of MOA. Hubby & I ate there once & the dishes were good so I recommended it to my friends. There's this king dao spare ribs that's really delicious but it's no longer on the menu, so we just settled for the salt & pepper spare ribs. I was expecting it to be as good as the king dao but it turned out to be too salty. Same goes for the other dishes, too salty for our taste. Guess when you change your chef, your whole menu changes too, especially the taste.
   We didn't enjoy the food that much, but it's fun trying out different places. Besides, it's the company that truly counts.  Next time we're definitely trying out Viking's :-)

Polonchay

Seafood Roll

Salt & Pepper Spareribs

  

A Day at Nuvali

   Nuvali, a self sustaining community located at the heart of Sta. Rosa, on the way to Tagaytay. It has a central business district, numerous commercial establishments & whole lot of restaurants to choose from, like Italianni's, Conti's, Domo Tomo, David's Tea House, Brother's Burger, Yellow Cab, Pig Out, Claw Daddy & a lot more. What's more awesome about the place is the eco friendly lake full of koi. There's this section where you can feed them, first time I saw that many, as in many. You can buy the feeds there, if I remember it costs about P15.00 a pack. You'll really enjoy feeding them. They also offer boat rides which the kids will truly enjoy. Too bad the last time we went there they were renovationg the lake. Now this is Solenad 1.
   Then there's Solenad 2 right across Solenad 1, which recently opened with more establishments to satisfy your shopping & dining experience. Shops like Army Navy, Payless, Res Toe Run, Time Studio, Aldo & lot more were already opened when we went there. There's also Max's Restaurant & Breadtalk which will be opening soon. For your supermarket needs, Robinson's Supermarket is already operational as well. As for schooling, there's Xavier School which is targeted to be opened by 2012. There are 2 othere schools which committed but haven't started constructing, Everest Academy by the Legionnaires of Christ & Miriam College.
   Retiring in Nuvali is one good option since the place is designed to provide everything when you settle there. Living there & then working in Manila is not advisable though because of high toll fees, it costs P350.00 two way. But do check out the place when you go to Tagaytay, the whole family will enjoy it for sure :-)

The commercial hub

Restaurant Area

Solenad 2

 

Domo Tomo Nuvali Sta. Rosa

   Everytime we go to Tagaytay we'll make sure we'll pass by Nuvali Sta. Rosa to eat at Domo Tomo. It's a small japanese restaurant that serves killer crazy rolls. It's like the jumbo version of maki that's very crunchy on the outside, & take note big servings. We ordered chicken katsudon & chicken terriyaki which can really leave you full up to dinnertime. The food combined with a cozy place & a very nice staff is equals to a place you'll frequently visit everytime you go to Nuvali.

Crazy Roll, you'll go gaga over this :-)

Chicken Katsudon- notice the generous serving

Chicken Terriyaki- very tasty

Anniversary Date at Seasons Cafe

  When hubby & I planned our anniversary dinner, we decided to have it at spiral's...& then typhoon Pedring changed our plans. Spiral had to close down for major renovations because it was badly hit by typhoon Pedring. Anyway, we ended up eating at Seasons Cafe Manila Pavilion. The place was quite full that night, there were several groups having dinner including the Nepal soccer team.
  The place is nice & cozy, elegant interior & lots of lighting. The food, well there were only a few choices. The japanese section only offers several kinds of sushi & sashimi. I was even surprised there's no California Maki in the buffet. Another unusual thing, they don't label the dishes, all you'll see is a drawing or sketch of what food group it belongs to. We were not really satisfied with the food, even the bottomless juices were very sweet. But then again, with all the buffet craze going on you would want to try everything. Should had been better if we had our dinner at spiral's, just have to wait till it opens again :-)

 

The asado section, they should have made this dish a little juicier. The dish was very dry & rubbery

Assorted salads

Assorted cheese

Chicken dish, what specifically we don't know :-)

Same goes with this pork dish :-)

Roast beef

Raw meat which the chef can cook to your liking

Dessert Section