Blinded @ Blind Pig

It was one of those midweek-get-together-to-get-through-the-week that saw us heading to Blind Pig at Legaspi Village. 

Hubby and I were early because we wanted to get dinner first and thought we could do that at Blind Pig. But as it turns out, Blind Pig is a prohibition-esque bar with light nibbles, so we head over to Stockton Place next door. 

After dinner, we headed back to Blind Pig to joine our friends. To be honest, I really like Blind Pig's idea - like we were off to some clandestine rendezvous. And the entrance to bar fits the whole theme excellently. There's no signage to say that this place is Blind Pig. The only identifier is a Braille brass plaque on the wall. To get in, we have to knock on the door (such a shame there wasn't a secret knock) and the waiter/waitress will open it to let you in. 

It was a very small place and very dimly lit. Once shown to our place, and the waitress handed us the menu, which also laid out the bar etiquettes. It mainly has speakeasy cocktails, but that's not really our poison, so we had whiskey instead. 

The shocker came when we asked for our bill. For 3 whiskey between the two of us (hubby had 1 Hibiki 12 years and I had 2 Laphroaig quarter cask), the bill came up to Php 3300 excluding taxes! 

When I related my experience to another girlfriend, she said the drinks Blind Pig are expensive and she has been there once but hasn't been back since. Maybe it is part of their strategy to keep the clientele exclusive. I don't know. 

One thing for sure, it is living up to its name (pun intended). 

Travel stories: Hiking at Mt. Batulao, Batangas

If you ever wondered what is it like climbing up and down the back of a stegosauras, hiking Mt. Batulao is the closest one you can get to experience this.

For a hiking novice, it was an extremely grueling hike. But it was all worth it because when we moved to Manila, hubby and I made the resolution that we must travel in the Philippines. We regretted that we didn't do more of this when we were in Indonesia.

We left Makati at 630am today for a 2.5 hours drive to Tagaytay, and started the hike at about 9ish. After slightly over 3 hours, we finally reached Batulao's pinnacle. Along the way, there was plenty of walking up and down numerous hills and valleys, which was pretty alright, until the last stretch for peak ascent. By this time, the sun was right on top of us, and I was so afraid I was gonna pass out from the heat! To give you an idea how hot it was, hubby and I could see heat haze, where the air was so hot that it kinda waved and shimmered right in front of our eyes!

My peak ascent picture just got photo-bombed by a cloud!

But the view at the top that greeted us, it was all worth it! Brilliant, unfettered view of Taal Lake and Batangas, as far as the eye can see.

Going down Batulao is the part that is akin to walking on the back of stegosauras. Up and down, and up again, and down again we went, until every uphill going filled me with dread because it meant there's a downhill ahead and feeling own bodyweight bearing down on me poor knees.

Walk the stegosauras!

An added challenge of Batulao is that the dry season made the trail dry and sandy, and thus, lacking grip in certain parts. While at the top, we shared our lunch with Melvin, our 14 year old guide, and that certainly paid off. On the slippery slopes, I had to rely him to provide extra support.  *blush* Strictly for the physically fit and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

As I'm blogging this, my knees are feeling the after-effects. It certainly brings back memories of climbing Mt. Kinabalu aeons ago and had to suffer achy legs and painful joints for a week after. However, it had been good fun, with friendly expats from the IN community. I am certainly looking forward to more adventures! 

Eats: Mangetsu Japanese Fusion Restaurant

I've recently come back to Manila, and the first dinner I had was at Mangetsu. The Hubby has been frequenting this place quite often, and promised to bring me here. 

The interior of the restaurant is rather minimalist, accentuated with rows after rows of wine. These seemed Japanese, and I think most likely sake. At a landing corner, where staircase leads to upstairs dining room (presumably), there was a miniature statue of a full samurai garb. Kinda remind me of our trip to Hokkaido last year, where Hubby had a pose in full samurai garb. 

Our usual Japanese fare included a sashimi, which for Mangetsu, is depended on what is fresh for the day (of course!) This was what we had, clockwise from top: salmon, tuna belly (divine!), a type of white fish (beyond the usual salmon, tuna, and mackerel, I'm pretty clueless in identifying white fish served sashimi style ;p ), a type of clam, and cured mackerel. In the center (can's see very well in this pic) is chilled, cooked sea urchin roe. We checked that with waitress coz we weren't sure what it was. The texture felt like just-cooked liver, but it lacked the distinct liver-ish taste. Apparently, according to hubby, they usually serve fresh sea urchin roe instead. 

I wasn't very full so I ordered a crabstick salad and a stewed beef tendon for sharing. 

The salad came in rather huge portion. So much for wanting to have a light dinner. However, the ingredients were kept nice and chilled by placing the serving plate on top a bowl of shaved ice. 

Now, this stewed beef tendon was to die for. Although in the menu it was stated that "stewed in white soy sauce", it was flavorful, and the meat so tender. Awesome! 

Hubby went for his usual pork ramen. I can't comment much since I'm gluten free, but as far as the soup and the pork are concerned, again flavorful and oh-so tender meat. I suspect they kinda pressure-cooked the meat, which explain the soft texture but still packfull of flavor. 

A short update

It has been more than 10 months since I last updated my blog. Eeekkk.

In the meantime, many things have happened.

Probably the most exciting of all is that we have moved! Our annual migration came earlier and this time it was to Manila, Philippines. Hubby got the news to move sometime early October last year and we had a scouting trip at the end of October to see if we like the city and country. We decided to move because we think we needed a change of scenery. We officially moved after CNY 2014.

In that 10 months, I tried to conceive via IVF again and failed both times. From my first IVF attempt in December 2012, it took me a year to build my courage and faith to try again in October 2013 and the third attempt just a short 3 weeks ago. Needless to say, I'm disappointed that all attempts failed to result in a pregnancy, especially when the negative result of my most recent attempt was made known on the eve of Mother's Day this year. On a more positive note,the TCM doctor that I was seeing before my recent attempt was very encouraging and advised me to consider trying again, although the thought of mentally preparing myself to go through the process kinda feels me with dread (perhaps it is due to my recent failed attempt). I guess I really need a break from all these babies and kids thoughts and talk.

So what's next? It is back to Manila come this Saturday. Out of the 10 months that I have been out of action in blogosphere, I have spent 7 months in KL mainly for IVF treatment. I'm quite excited to be going back to Manila, and I'm sure hubby is ecstatic about it too because it means home-cooked meals for him. I'll update more when I'm back there. See you in Manila!

Eats: Sunday brunch redeemed @ Common People, Kemang

On the other hand, our Sunday brunch which has now turned into Sunday lunch got redeemed all and proper at Common People. We have been here before on previous occasions for dinner with friends and the experience had been good so far.

When we stepped in, Common People was packed except for a few tables. Definitely looked very promising. :)

Something funny that kinda describe very well our breakfast experience that Sunday. But then again, never stand between a man or a woman who's serious about their bacon and eggs on Sunday. So you've been "warned" ;p

There were some interesting breakfast choices at Common People apart from the usual eggs benedict and fry-ups. I settled for the Spanish eggs which consisted for baked eggs with chorizo and tomato with sourdough bread on the side. Absolutely yummy, although I wished they put in more chorizo.

Hubs had the eggs benedict with crab cakes. I tasted a bit of it and the crab cakes was really yummz.

Common People is definitely a keeper especially on days when we don't feel like driving all the way to town for Social House.



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Common People
Plaza Bisnis Kemang I,
GF, Jl. Kemang Raya No. 2
Jakarta 12730

Lousy brunch @ Lulo Kemang

On last Saturday, as we prepared for bed, Hubs mentioned that he thought of checking out Lulo, a cafe in Kemang which, claims a couple of online Indonesian news and lifestyle portal to serve a wide variety of breakfast choices. It's been awhile since we do a Sunday brunch, which by our definition means a fry-up i.e. bacon, eggs, hams, sausages, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and all the works, so I said why not.

From the decor and furnishing, Lulo looks like a comfy place to chill out on a lazy Sunday, but that is ALL I can say about this cafe. As the waiter sat us down at our table, there was only a couple of Japanese guys who were already halfway through their bottles of Bintang and about to order their meals. Since we took awhile to look through Lulo's eclectic breakfast menu, by the time we ordered, another group of 4 who came in slightly later than us had placed their order ahead. So it means that we only have to wait for 6 breakfast sets ahead of us before it's our turn.

We ordered 2 lattes which arrived like after a 15 minute wait. While it look more like somebody poured warm milk into my coffee, the latte which was lacking a thin layer of foamy milk turned out to be OK, probably saved by the quality of beans that they used. And that marked our 1 hour wait for our brunch.

I mean, honestly how long does it take to fry a couple of eggs and bacon and assemble everything on the plate. Therefore to wait for more than 1 hour before our food finally arrived is really an insult to my amateur cooking skills. We waited to the point that conversation ran dry between us and we started fiddling with our phones. Halfway through, the waiter served up 2 Oreo cupcakes which looked hard, as an apology. I hit it with my teaspoon and it actually made a "thud" sound! Cupcakes turned out to be cold and hard.

At this point, Hubs got frustrated and walked over the the drinks and bar counter to find out what exactly is wrong. He came back with a disgusted look on his face. According to the waiter, it usually takes that long to cook breakfast. WHAT?! We decided to wait another 10 minutes and if no food turn up, we will just pay and leave.

And the food arrived shortly after that. Mine was a Spanish breakfast set which according to the menu consisted of potato tortilla which pork bacon. Potato tortilla turned out to be more of a potato omelet that was not salted. I had to eat it with the the crispy pork bacon to add some flavour. And the pork bacon, it wasn't even hot from the fryer/oven, meaning that it was definitely prepared way before hand.

Hubs was a German breakfast which consisted of 2 pork sausages which felt like the processed type because it sure wasn't filled with ground meat like those you get gourmet deli. He had the same crispy pork bacon, 2 sunny side up and one sad-looking grilled tomato. The more we tried to feed ourselves with what was served, the more we got upset with having to wait 1 hour for such a sad and dismal brunch. In the end, we just eff it, paid and left with most of the food untouched.

The age-old adage of "never eat at an empty restaurant" proved to be very true time and time again. We ought to know that something isn't quite right. From the moment we stepped in, the cafe was empty except for the Japanese chaps. And it was also already very late in the morning. Had the cafe been serving quality food, it wouldn't have been this empty.

We are very serious about our Sunday brunch fry-up. Despite claiming to serve a wide variety of fry-up breakfast, Lulo's version is utterly disappointing and deserves a mention to prevent serious fry-up fans from falling for this trap.

Weekend muckin' around the pool

Some random pictures that I took when we decided to muck around the pool over the weekend. Our first visit eversince we moved in more than 3 months ago.