BT Cafe, Bagaberde and Growing Old

B and i just arrived from a really fulfilling el cheapo adventure to BT Cafe. BT Cafe, or Batangas Tapa Cafe, is a small resto at the boring end of Tomas Morato (near E. Rodriguez.) It serves grilled chicken, pork and batangas beef and kapeng barako. they give their clients the choice of ordering "eat-and-drink-all-you-can" from the menu for only P239 or a la carte. since we arrived at 9 and they close at 10, we decided to order a la carte.

the items on their menu are pretty cheap. the batangas tapa meal (with rice and fried egg) is P60. a single serving (no rice and fried egg) is P30. you can also order longanisa and beef franks at around the same price. they also serve porterhouse steak with rice for P105. it's P90 without the rice. the t-bone steak is a few pesos cheaper. they also serve sisig for P90. bottomless iced tea is P30.

B and i ordered the batangas tapa, the porterhouse steak and the sisig. the batangas tapa was so good! it was tender and perfectly seasoned. unfortunately, there was only a handful of it so i ordered an extra single serving. B loved the sisig (I didn't - it had egg and mayo!) so he ate everything on the sizzling plate. the porterhouse was thin and a teeny bit tough, but it tasted ok. B ordered another serving.

we had so much fun eating everything that we ordered. we also loved the fact that our bill didn't even reach P500. my only complaints were that they didn't serve hot tea (I NEEDED IT!) and the place was a bit too small at around 3 meters x 7 meters.

All in all, the BT Cafe really gives value for your money. However, it is definitely not for the claustrophobic.

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last night, my officemates and i went to bagaberde to see MYMP live. B was supposed to join us but backed out when he learned that MYMP will be alternating with the wiseguys.

when we arrived at around 9:30, the place was already packed. the wiseguys were already performing and i was surprised to find myself enjoying their show. each of the guys had acceptable singing voices and i appreciated their attempt to sing in harmony. they more than made up with whatever they lacked in talent with their stage projection.

after an hour and a half, it was MYMP's turn. i just love juris' voice! however, it was the only thing i liked about their performance. hearing them sing live wasn't too different from watching their music videos. BUT, there are only a few bands who have real talent so i still enjoyed their set.

when the wiseguys came back on stage for their second set, my officemates and i were ready to dance (busog na kasi!). the wiseguys didn't disappoint. they sang dance tunes for an hour and didn't give us an opportunity to stop. the funny thing was that not everyone in bagaberde was dancing. there were only a handful of us but we weren't so bothered about it since we were seated at the back so we weren't blocking anyone's view and we really didn't care what other people thought of us. plus, from the way some of the younger girls grooved in their chairs, we knew that they also wanted to dance but were just too shy or self-conscious to do so. ha! old age really does come with confidence. it so nice to be old! hee.

B and i are planning to go back on july 23 to watch side a and pido.

exploring pasig

after picking up our DVDs (season 1 of golden girls, ang tatanda na namin!) from Metrowalk, B and I decided to explore the Ortigas area.

since i wanted a facial, we decided to go to robinson's galleria. except for the addition of the east wing (that offers free wifi), there's not much change in galleria. so we didn't have any difficulty looking for our then-favorite stores - the computer shops near automatic center, the pet store at the top floor, and the toy store in front of it. we also visited filbars where i found a CD for bookworm, a game that i'd once given up hope of finding (i went through all the stores in greenhills and failed to find it there.) i was so happy that i also bought B a CD of a scanned X-men comic book.

while going around the mall, we also found a hotloops donut branch. we got the white chocolate donut and the bavarian. their dough was good (better than gonuts donuts) and their donut was not too sweet. i didn't like their bavarian filling, though.

after going around, i got a little tired and took a break at bo's coffee. i ordered tea and i appreciated the fact that the lady on the counter voluntarily told me that i can get hot water refills for free.

we so enjoyed exploring galleria together that i forgot that i wanted to have a facial.

afterwards, we decided to have a little adventure by trying out a new restaurant. (by "new", i mean that we haven't eaten there previously.) we checked out cafe juanita in brgy. kapitolyo.

the little restaurant was a feast for the eyes! it was decked with a lot of different stuff - each corner was filled with breads, masks, stuffed toys, buddha heads, candle sticks, scarves, silk butterflies, and other knick knacks. but it didn't looked cramped at all. everything seemed to fit perfectly and the place made me feel i was in another world!

the servers were nice and recommended the crispy seafood and the two-way adobo spare ribs. the crispy seafood was okay (it was the thai version of the palad that we eat at home) but the two-way adobo spare ribs was excellent! the beef was tender and it was perfectly seasoned. the crispy adobo flakes was perfect with it. it was so good that we decided to order more food (hay, i-justify ba ang katakawan?) we ordered the shrimp wrapped in sugar cane and the spicy spare ribs. The shrimp was okay (B didn't like it, though) but the spicy spare ribs was even more delicious than the two-way adobo spare ribs - the spare ribs were crisp but were so juicy and tasty! SARAP!

we also loved their mango jubilee. it had a few mango balls but it had the right amount of liquor.

and the best thing about it? our bill was only a little above P1,000. maligaya na naman ang mga biik!

afternoon delight

after bugging B for a week, he finally agreed to watch batman with me. we were planning to catch the first show in greenbelt 3 but since i took a long time taking a shower (which is not surprising), we missed it. B suggested that we enjoy a frozen zombie litro (a liter of iced zombie) at masa's while waiting for the 4:50 show.

the zombie was really good! it had a pretty good kick despite its fruity taste. it was perfect with the kesong puti sticks and tokwa't baboy that we ordered. i wanted the nilasing na hipon (my favorite!) but it was not available. we so enjoyed the appetizers that we finished everything in less than 30 minutes! the waiter recommended the clams. he said that he'll ask the chef to make it a little spicy. it's a good thing we listened to him as the clams were the perfect compliment to the zombie! the gluttons that we are finished off the generous serving in less than 15 minutes! but since we were feeling a bit full, we just ordered kesong puti sticks. we also ordered another zombie litro.

after an hour and a half of drinking, we finally left masa's. we passed by the globe hub before going to the cinema to follow up my phone line. the lady at the counter was so nice. she was also efficient as i got my line the next day.

when we got to the cinema floor, we got popcorn from chimara. the lady at the counter was so nice! unfortunately,the popocorn was overcooked so we didn't fully appreciate the white cheddar flavor.

the girl at the cinema door was also cheery. it was then that i realized that i was walking around with a silly grin on my face. no wonder everyone was smiling at me.

the movie featured the darker side of batman. but we enjoyed every minute of it! the puns were funny and the cinematography was great. but the biggest joke was that the supporting actors were bigger stars than the lead. and sorry to christian bale fans, but my tipsy self just didn't see his charm. all i saw was that he needed dental work. i still loved the movie, though.

we passed by grappa's before going home. B wanted to drink their freshly brewed beer. i had to wake early the next morning so i just ordered orange juice. i guess i was still smiling stupidly as the servers were very nice even if i was just wearing a big shirt, really short cut-offs and slippers.

it was a good day. so good that even my nightmares made me smile.

and with B as my hubby, i'm sure there'll be more of that.

taking a break

these past few weeks has been crazy for me.

there's always my day job (which i love, despite the thousands of hair strands that i lost because of it) and enjoying life as mrs. b (we finished watching all seasons of the sopranos, the first season of desperate housewives and about a dozen korean movies. we're now enjoying the second season of golden girls.)i also finished andie's scrapbook (andie is my officemate's daughter. she's not my goddaughter but she calls me ninang. the scrapbook featured pictures taken during her first birthday party. i finished in time for her 2nd birthday. hehe. as for the scrapbooking, i enjoyed doing it. which is good since my other officemate requested me to make scrapbook for my godson's birthday.) I'm also trying to design the invitation for my niece's first birthday. as for our wedding album . . . well, there's a time for that. (hopefully before our first year anniversary!)

on the other hand, i also learned how to use adobe audition to create ringtones for my phone. plus, i also managed to link my computer with B's so now we can surf the net at the same time. yippee! now, i've convinced myself that i can learn anything so i'm really considering facing my fear of numbers and taking a second degree next year - accounting! (since i have no plans of taking a leave from work, i'll have to take morning classes. yaiks.)

anyway, B and i took a break from all these activities today and spent the afternoon doing other things that we enjoy - B shopped for books while i had a back massage. we capped the day by trying out this new resto - rasa.

rasa is a singaporean restaurant located at the araneta coliseum. at first, we thought the the place was small but when we got in, we saw that there were more tables at the second floor. the waitresses were very friendly and efficient. taking a cue from the symbols on their menu, we ordered their specialties - the hainanese chicken and the singaporean chili crab.

the hainanese chicken was excellent! the chicken was tender and it was already flavorful even without the ginger, the chili paste and the soy sauce. each part of the chicken was perfectly cooked.

but nothing beats the singaporean chili crab. the crab was obviously fresh (we saw him when he was still alive) when it was cooked. it was so perfectly cooked that the meat just falls off its shell! the chili singaporean sauce was also very delicious. even after we finished the crab meat, B ate the sauce with the remaining half cup of rice (and he is NOT fond of eating rice.)

we also tried the raffle's cheesecake and it was also good. it was not to sweet and it tasted like heaven was melting in your mouth.

rasa is really an eater's paradise!

we're already planning what dishes we'll be trying the next time we visit.



sarap kumain!

Fwd: happy about my new toy

stuck in traffic again. but my new toy is keeping me from getting bored.

for a person who used her nokia 5110 until year 2003, even i was
surprised when i got this expensive gadget. i don't understand why
people had to change their phones every so often. phones that look
like pdas but don't have pda functions irritate me. i find phones that
look good but do not have any extra features a total waste of money.
and i get frustrated with people whose use of their treo or O2 phones
is limited to what they can do with a nokia 3120.

but this communucator was something that i really wanted. it looks
like a brick but it has some functions that i needed. like most pda
phones, it allows me to check my emails and surf the net whereever i
may be. it also allows me to use mp3 files as ringtones. i can also
download and read ebooks. it also allows me to blog more often. but
more importantly, i can draft and revise word documents and i can even
make power point presentations! it has been less than 2 weeks since i
got the phone but i already had to use both functions. (it also has
spreadsheet capabilities but since i'm an idiot in excel, i do not
have any idea how to take advantage of this program.)

PLUS, i get to play mah jong! yipee!

i'm really happy i got one. now, i'm enjoying surfing the net and
looking for software that would justify my not shopping for 2 months
just so i can buy this phone without guilt.

oh. and dio, naku, sana nga di ko mabagsak-bagsak. but since it is a
bit big, it's not easy to drop. as for losing it, i already had it
insured. hay, magastos maging maluho.