Eating in restaurants is my vice or indulgence, since I don’t smoke and hardly ever drink. I don’t claim to be an expert, but at one point in this blog’s life, I’ve been called a foodie, which is defined in this site as “someone who has an ardent or refined interest in food.”

Ardent, yes; refined is still something I have to achieve since most of the time, I prefer lutong bahay (home cooking), carinderia fare and making tusok the fishballs. Eating out - especially charting untried culinary territory - remains an adventure since you don’t know whether what they will serve you is up to par with your hard-earned peso’s expectation. Unless of course the meal is free, then it becomes less of a burden

I’ve long thought of making this post, from the point of view of a customer who has splurged my salary on food and patronized restaurants all these years. It is true that times are hard and it’s doubly difficult to keep businesses afloat; still, proprietors forget that it is often the little details that count. If you, as a customer, has something else to add or say, please feel free to share them here:

1. Giving me change; giving me very very loose change. I still have to ascertain if this is unique to the Philippines. Let’s say I’ve paid for my meal in cash, and expect a change of P680. I’d surely dread it if the server returns with an assortment of peso bills, two P10 coins, 4 P5 coins and 20 pieces of P1 coins. Wow! Don’t know what they mean by this, but nothing screams more of “gimme a tip! gimme a tip!” I do hope those presumptuous cashiers give patrons the option to determine the amount of gratuity, instead of cheapening themselves by implying that I should give loose change , when in fact I mean to give a whole paper bill

Posted in Munchin' | 10 Comments

It’s a health conscious world we’re living. It’s not just enough to eat your fruits, walk daily, drink eight cups of water, take your vitamins and adopt the whole get-fit caboodle. These days, people also get to “wear their health,” as we’ll see in the following examples.

Subject no. 1: FitFlop! The latest designer incarnation of the ubiquitous thong sandals became famous when the likes of Oprah and Heidi Klum started to endorse it, and celebrities like Julianne Moore started wearing ‘em. FitFlop takes pride in its slogan “It’s the flip flop with the gym built-in.” The official literature says the brand gives your feet a workout through its MicroWobbleboard technology in midsole which lets you exert 15% more energy in walking. More effort means you get to burn your muscles more, thus toning and firming the legs.

Posted in Shopping Etc. | 7 Comments

So another year has gone by. You know you’re getting officially getting old in the digital era when friends greet you via Plurk and your Facebook Wall. I haven’t yet reached the great 4-0 but I realized that am already in my midlife. Still have to write my own profound thoughts on the matter. Certainly, what I don’t want to be is to be old and jaded. I may have mellowed considerably, but I still want to view the world with open eyes and pursue my life’s passions with the same excitement as before, if not more.

One of my life’s passions being food. No way I can celebrate my birthday without it. Some friends and I planned to eat out at the Highlands Steakhouse in Mall of Asia without knowing that they have my favorite prime rib buffet going on. Simply had to have that. Dear Santa would understand if I splurged a little on my birthday, especially as I said before this prime rib was better than secks

Posted in Life & Living | 15 Comments

The past week has been very busy as I joined my first roadshow which had us flying to Davao in Mindanao, Cebu in Central Visayas and back again to Manila for DigitalFilipino.com Club’s bloggers’ networking events. Here, I witnessed first-hand “Blogger Power” and the charisma of Ms. InfluentialBlogger herself, Janette Toral, to pull in the numbers.

It was my first time to join blogger events “on a mass scale,” with the exception of the Blog Awards, and I liked it. It was great to know the faces behind the blogs, and I like the part where everyone introduces themselves. There’s bound to be an interesting story on how one got to blog, or what one has gained from it so far. It’s my first exposure to DigitalFilipino and I think am joining it soon, haha.

Our first stop was the boom city of Davao, home of the Mindanao Bloggers. Close to 100 bloggers had fun in PAGCOR-Davao’s Pantawan Hall where we ate and drank the night away, capped by a friendly tournament of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.

At the Teatro Casino party in PAGCOR-Cebu, members of the Cebu Bloggers Society came in identical “Blogger Ko Bai!” shirts which showed their complete solidarity. Couldn’t resist buying one.

Posted in Blogosphere | 17 Comments

It was only in the Philippines where you find a member of the so-called Manila’s Finest being apprehended for the crime of snatching. It is also only in the Philippines where you can now find the “biggest outdoor art gallery in Asia.” The latter is good news. We love it when things turn for the better, and aren’t screwy, as some events and happenings in this country are.

This humble space can’t help but laud the gigantic effort of the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP) to mount works of art in the metro’s major highways. While it is human to ogle at those beautiful faces and sexy bodies in billboards peppered by artistas and lingerie-clad models around the city, contemplating about art while stuck in the traffic rut can be an edifying experience. And this commuters will see with masterpieces about nature and preserving the environment dominating ad spaces in some of the country’s major roads.

The Manila Outdoor Art Gallery route coming soon in the highway near you. Featured are the works of the most promising Filipino artists Popo San Pascual, Riel Hilario, Eddie Boy Escudero, Jose Terence Ruiz, Mario V. Fernandez, Gari Buenavista, MM Yu, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Lotsu Manes, and Tina Fernandez .

More pictures after the jump:

Posted in Happenings & Events | 12 Comments