Life, Day by Day

I spent 6 nights in Manila from June 17 to 22, 2013 to attend a Trainors' Training for the Zuellig Family Foundation's Health Leadership and Governance Program.  I was taking the 3:55 PM PAL flight from Bacolod, only it was 20 minutes delayed, so that we departed at 4:30 PM instead.  There was some delay in landing and we finally got out of the NAIA terminal 2 just a few minutes before 6 PM.  We walked to the taxi stand at the other end of the terminal but there were no taxis as it was raining, not heavily but not stopping either.  We finally got one at about 6:40 PM, and the driver asked if we can take the skyway, as traffic was terrible in EDSA and Magallanes.  To end a long story...we got to our destination in Makati Avenue which is a short distance of approximately 10-12 kms from the airport more than 3 hours later!   I think I kept yawning not so much from low sugar (hunger) but from lack of oxygen (CO2 saturated enclosed space).

June 6, 2013 was a pretty busy day since it was the first day of Prep school for my little girl.  My mom who does volunteer work as the parochial pre-school administrator was also busy getting ready to come along with us.   It was only after I brought them to school and leaving for work that she casually said, "today is Papa's birthday".   "Papa" was my grandfather, Lolo Bitong and it was his 109th birth anniversary. 

The SM Store Bacolod finally opened it's SM Prestige Lounge last May.  Lifestyle bloggers and writers from Bacolod and Negros Occidental were invited to have a first hand experience of it's amenities and cozy atmosphere. The area is very spacious (180 square meters) and elegant, fully carpeted with comfortable sitting areas, powder-cum-fitting rooms, a Nokia phone charging station, courtesy package counter and soon to be installed WiFi connection. It is a haven within SM Department Store for the exclusive use of SM Prestige members. 

Who likes Mexican food?  I do!  And so when the chance to check out Spice Kitchen, a restaurant in Bacolod specializing in Mediterranean/Mexican food, I immediately said yes.  I was familiar with the name since they have a food booth at the University of St. La Salle covered court and I have tried their rice meals there.  I would usually get their chorizo or sausage rice.  And so, it is good that they have decided to open a regular restaurant where people can sit, be comfortable and enjoy delicious food and great company.

I finally got to experience what many of my blogger friends are talking about...the good food of Saigon Cafe, albeit an abbreviated one.  Together with two co-workers, I decided to go for the Pho Bo Friday Special last April 26.   As I wrote in my previous post , the location of the place and the time were mainly the reasons why I did not go with my blogger friends when they checked out the place.  Surprisingly, although out of my usual way, the place was not hard to find.  From Pepsi, all I did was to go straight ahead, then turned left into the Marapara road (you can see the sign: Bacolod Golf and Country Club), then again going straight and turned left in the first corner I saw (thank you Glady of Experience Negros for pointing out that it was in the street right after Marapara Golf).  But it was in this narrow street that I got a little lost since I was looking for a big sign.  Asking around, I was pointed in the direction of a house with a bamboo fence.  As we approached the open

SM City Bacolod had the grand opening of The SM Store last April 19, 2013.  Although I was invited, I decided to forgo the event since I could not leave the office that morning.  Besides I really don't like early morning events and this was for 8 AM!  The new department store has three floors that are filled with merchandise enough to make any shopaholic happy for the rest of her life  :)

My cousin works in Saigon and Hanoi, and he has entertained us with stories about his great food experience there.  Well, I have always been curious about Vietnam and was very surprised to learn that there is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in town that my blogger and non-blogger friends are raving about.  Three weeks ago, I was invited to join some of them for food tasting in the Saigon Cafe-Garden Resto , unfortunately because of myriad reasons (foremost of which was the time and distance), I have been unable to go.  However, my blogger friends Rick Gotera of Adventures of Hijo A de Pongol  who made the first two invitations, Sigrid Lo of Mama Cooks  and Glady Reyes of Experience Negros  wrote great reviews of the place and they must have love it because in a span of two weeks, they all went back a few more times bringing with them their families.  I feel bad not coming along and so, to atone for this, I am posting some pictures taken from their facebook site, as well as that