Red Ribbon and Shakey's for my nephew's birthday

For my nephew's third birthday we celebrated it with a pizza party! Well of course my nephew doesn't eat pizza yet but he does like blowing candles from a cake and he loves chocolate cakes! My sister bought him Red Ribbon's Chocolate Fudge Cake. It was so yummy and chocolaty and scrumptious that a thin slice is enough for me. It reminded of the chocolate cake from Conti's but this one is creamier.

Red Ribbon's Chocolate Fudge Cake

Cross-section of Choco Fudge Cake

Mmm creamy!

As for the pizza my sister ordered at Shakey's their Angus Steakhouse and Manager's Choice both thick and thin.  We availed their Pizzanatic Supercard for P299 so we got a free Hawaiian or Pepperoni pizza with the same size for each pizza we ordered. Not bad especially for my brothers who likes to eat pizza as often as they possibly can.

Shakey's Angus Steakhouse Pizza

 I have to recommend Shakey's Angus Steakhouse pizza.  It really tastes good.  And my sister even said that the meat smells so good.  Well I didn't really smell it since I devoured it right away but since it's Angus it must be. Actually I think our Shakey's branch (Sucat) overcooks the pizza but Angus Steakhouse tastes great anyhow. So it must be better in other branches where they cook it just right.

Shakey's Pepperoni Pizza (thin)

 This is one of our free pizzas when we availed the Supercard. Free pizzas are either Pepperoni or Hawaiian.

Shakey's Manager's Choice (thin)

The reason why we keep ordering at Shakey's.  Their Manager's Choice Thin Crust is one of their bestsellers.  I was wild about this before but not recently ever since the branch near us has moved to another location. I think they overcook their pizza because their manager's choice doesn't taste the same. Well I will tell them about it soon.


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Midweek chill

When you don't have funds in your pocket because your salary only arrives once a month you don't have a choice but to stay home.  It's lonely and sad most of the time but not so much when you have lots of people living inside your house.
 

homemade baked tahong (mussels)

 This is what I had for lunch!  I don't know who funded it, my sister or brother.  But it's times like this that I'm so glad to be alive :) and glad to have a mom who likes cooking. *sigh* my stomach is satisfied.

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Sugi and Conti's

Yesterday was the third Saturday of the month so Therese and I met again for our monthly day out. This time we decided to try Sugi, Greenbelt 2 to try out a high-end Japanese restaurant and avail a 10% discount as well when we use a Citibank card. I always pass by Sugi whenever I go or pass by Greenbelt by a colorum.  I was always intimidated by the place because it looks "sosi".  Well I think now I'll be comfortable eating there now that I know the staff are friendly and the atmosphere great.

Sugi at Greenbelt 2

Well the prices are a bit expensive but you don't have to buy the expensive meals.  They have dishes like combo meals from fast food restaurants to make it cheaper.  I think the quality will be the same anyway.  Well Therese and I tried the expensive dishes.  She ordered Jo Kaiseki and I ordered the Makunouchi Bento.  I can't say I was 'wow'ed with what I ordered.  It looks like a typical bento for me.  I was thinking maybe I would have gotten more in other restaurants with the same price.  Well honestly I thought my mom makes a better tempura and the sashimi was no different from others I've tasted.  Well at least the iced tea was good but the mango for our dessert was sour.  Anyway, maybe I was hoping the bento had some pork in it and so I was disappointed it was mostly seafood.  Next time I will order probably the Unaju, a teriyaki dish, a curry dish or katsudon for my next visit.  They're cheaper and maybe will have more taste in them.  Therese was so full with her Jo Kaiseki.  I even helped out a little bit in eating.  There was an unagi dish with her Jo Kaisek and I was glad she gave me one to taste.  That one was great.  Maybe I was just overwhelmed with what I had when all I wanted was as simple dish.  I think I've learned my lesson and listen to what my stomach is saying and not to what my eyes wanted to take a picture of.  But anyhow what we ordered was really great to take pics of.  In the Jo Kaiseki pics there are some dishes taken away and some added to make room for the table.

Do you ask if I will come back here again?  Yes maybe I wasn't satisfied with what I ordered but I will definitely come back again to try other dishes and I haven't tried sitting in the Sushi table yet which from what I hear is an exhilarating experience.  Maybe someday 'll be able to sit there.  I know I know for normal people it's no such big deal but for shy people (like me) I need to gain courage first.

Makunouchi Bento

Jo Kaiseki part 1

Jo Kaiseki part 2

Jo Kaiseki part 3

 Since we only had mango for dessert Therese and I decided to go walk a little to one of my favorite merienda place, Conti's! (also located in Greenbelt 2).  Therese ordered a blueberry cheesecake and I ordered Mango Bravo (which I always do whenever I go here).  The cheesecake I wasn't impressed at first but when I tasted it it was so creamy.  This is the type of cheesecake I like, not too salty or sour.  Love it!  Well the Mango Bravo, what can I say?  It's their best seller.  It's just so creamy and nutty and not too sweet and cool and crunchy.  It's mostly what I love in a cake.  I guess the only downside is don't take too long to eat it because it won't taste the same.  It is a frozen cake after all.

Conti's Blueberry Cheesecake

Conti's Mango Bravo

Conti's Mango Bravo (cool and just right)

We also watched a movie after our lunch.  We saw Despicable Me in 3D in Greenbelt 3.  The movie was so cute.  The main character, even though he's kinda evil in the beginning, was adorable when he first appeared.  I guess deep down we wanted to do the things he does.  The girls Gru (the main character) adopted are really cute as well.  But the cutest of all are the minions! I'm hearing everyone wants to have minions and now I know why.  Well every animated movie should have a mascot and in this movie it's them.  It's an adorable and funny movie. I would love to see them again. 

Gru's minions

To be honest I don't like watching in 3D so much because the 3D glasses slides down on my nose but Despicable Me is worth watching in 3D especially since there's a roller coaster ride scene.  If I felt my chair move a little bit I would've freaked out because I could feel I was in that ride.  Well maybe in the future regular cinemas will have moving chairs as well to accentuate the 3D.


food

Nonexistent

This is my first time blogging.  Actually I have blogged before in Friendster but that's about it.  I'm just sad that it doesn't appear in search engines yet. I used to have webpages before at Geocities which is closed now *sniff*.  Oh I miss my pages! Back then I could find my pages in search engines right away.  I don't know why my blog hasn't reached Google yet or maybe there is not much content in it.  I will learn more about this when I have the time.  Need to get back to work... *sigh*

Kenji Tei

First time I saw Kenji Tei Ramen House I blurted, "How cute that is!" And when I said 'cute' it meant that it was a really small restaurant. It's one of the smallest restaurants I've ever seen actually. So, I just look at it and smile whenever I pass by it along President's Avenue in BF, Paranaque. That is until my younger sister and her husband told me to try it out because they said the ramen there is good. Also they said that the place opens at noon, closes in the afternoon, then opens again in the evening. That really made me smile because it sounded like a real ramen house. Well I'm not that experienced but I have watched a fair amount of anime throughout my couch potato life to be familiar with ramen.

So one day my friend Therese suddenly asked me out to have lunch around BF and said maybe we could try Kenji Tei. I was happy of course. I have mentioned the place to her before but I thought she wasn't interested. It was a Saturday that we went, the third Saturday of the month. We both agreed to meet in the resto. I arrived first around 11 and I was the first customer they had. The place had about 20 chairs I think, more or less. I've lived in Batangas before and the fast food places there can be really small but I was tickled with the size of this place. It's pretty cool inside even with the hot mid-noon sun outside. I thought at first it would be warm because of all the glass windows but it was comfortably cold. Therese arrived and had a hard time with the sliding door. She didn't notice it was a sliding door at first. I think other people would have the same predicament also since there's no indication that the door slides. Anyway, we ordered Crispy Chicken Teriyaki, Cheese Gyoza and Shoyu Ramen.

Cheese Gyoza (left) and Crispy Chicken Teriyaki (center)

By the time our order arrived the place was already getting packed. A family of seven came in then a couple then another couple and so on. I love the Crispy Chicken Teriyaki but wished that I have ordered the Chicken Teriyakidon which is the same dish but was made a topping on a bowl of rice. The one I ordered was ala carte so the rice was insufficient for me and the chicken serving was too much. I wished I had taken it home and grabbed a lot of rice there. The Cheese Gyoza I'm not much of a fan. When it comes to fried dumplings I guess the one in Kaya I like best. Therese said the ramen was so, so. As you can see in this pic she separated her noodles from the soup. She was trying out something but in the end she put the noodles in the soup as well. Well I can't really comment on the ramen since I have to taste it myself. Maybe next time when the world becomes a little cooler :).



food

Chocolate Mint Spa

My first post here will be a review about a spa place. I'm not much of a spa person myself but I decided to give my sister and my mom a treat since they've worked hard this past few weeks when our helpers took a vacation. I searched the internet for a good massage place and found one that's near called Chocolate Mint Spa in BF, Paranaque. The price is just right for a good massage and the place is really nice, very professional. Well like I said I'm not a spa person so I didn't go with my sis and mom. I just gave them funds for their treat which is a two-hour massage and body scrub. Before they went mom was saying things like it's too expensive, maybe she should just call Jun, the reflexologist who does home service. I kept convincing her that it's fine. They should try it out for me, etc, etc. You know moms right?

Anyway they finally got there. Three hours later they told me how satisfying it was. They said the place was really neat, relaxing and quiet. I thought at first it was located inside a house or something but it was located in a building establishment. They also said it had the nicest bathroom they ever went to. Lol! They both had the body scrub first for one hour then they went in the sauna (which is free by the way every time you visit) and had the two-hour massage. My sis had the Swedish and mom had the Chocolate Mint massage. They were both satisfied with it. This is coming from two ladies who are addicted to massages. My sister always wanted the hard massage and mom wants the light one. I was happy to hear they were both satisfied :). The body scrub they're satisfied as well but mom said the airconditioning was too cold and she felt uncomfortable while doing the scrub. They were able to adjust the temperature anyway so it was fine. When they got home the first thing they said was, "Ang sarap!"

I think they want to go back when I have extra cash again. Well I'm happy that they're happy. And mom learned that it's better to try out other things to know which is better. By the way, I found the spa through sulit.com.ph. Here's the link: click here