三十四：Thank you for the year 2012!

I would like to thank God for the year 2012. I received so many blessings that I cannot count or remember them all. I am very, very grateful. Again, a lot of my wishes came true. I have been to different and beautiful places both local and foreign. Met new people and made new friends. Met bad people but most of them are gone (the rest will surely follow). Hurray! Though there have been tough times, which I consider are lessons in life, the blessings are so much greater. It made me aim even more to become a better person.

 

I currently have sore throat and a slight fever but I don't take it as a bad sign. It's actually something that will make my last day of 2012 memorable! Next year would be an even greater year. I expect more blessings more happiness. More blessings mean I have more to share than this year. I learned a lot especially in life. I thank those who were kind and good to me because you made my life better. For those who weren't and still not good to me especially those who stab me behind my back (is that what they call insecurity? ^_^), I thank you because you made and will keep making me stronger and you make me feel that I am such a nicer and better person than you are.

 

For 2013, more goals, more answered prayers, more wishes granted, more blessings to receive and to share, more happiness, more places to visit, more beautiful people (inside and out) to meet, more love to give and receive, more knowledge and wisdom...

 

My wish for other people, to become better persons and be the person deserving to receive the blessings by the one above us all. What you give from the heart, you will get back tenfold from the universe. Give hatred and you will receive hatren tenfold. Give love and respect and you'll receive love and respect tenfold. Let us all be humble, generous and respectful to others and we shall all be exalted, be respected and receive even more blessings than what we have given.

 

Thank you Year 2012 and Welcome Year 2013!!!

 

三十三：Invention of Love and Yiruma, River Flows in You

The year is about to end and a few weeks ago I heard a familiar tune on the radio. It was played on a piano and it was very soothing, I knew I heard it before but cannot remember the title. I kept on searching on Google some classical compositions hoping that it might be one of those famous music composed by famous composers from the 1800s. I was thinking of Chopin or Tchaikovsky, two of my favorite classical composers. For weeks I was not able to remove it from my mind that I even asked my colleagues if they know such melody but I was unsuccessful. I thought I won't be able to know the title of the song until this day, the last day of the year.

 

I was searching for some nice videos in Youtube and I searched for beautiful forests until I ended up with a short animated film entitled Invention of Love. The story has a steampunk theme in it and is of course about love. The animation looks like shadow puppetry, those played in Indonesia or Thailand I think. It's a sweet but sad story of an inventor and a lady. Symbolically I think the movie is about giving true or real love because in the film, the lady yearned for the natural things that she missed before she moved in with the inventor while he tries to replace it with his mechanical inventions. Or maybe it tells us that something that looks or feels similar cannot replace the real thing, like true love cannot be replaced with someone or anything that is just similar. I also think it aims to tell the viewers that we should take care of nature as well. Watch the video for you to find out.

 

 

While watching the short animation, its background music reminded me of that melody that I have been searching for its title until I remembered Yiruma's River Flows in You. I quickly searched for it in Youtube and played it and I was right, it was the song or melody that I have been searching for the whole time and to think it's the last day of the year 2012. I think God did not want me to end this year without knowing what the title of the song was ^_^.

 

River Flows in You is one of those songs that can make you relax or fall in love or cry. The first time I heard this years ago, I played it numerous times and even played until I fell asleep. Everytime I hear it I imagine beautiful sceneries or I try to reminisce good old memories. By the way, Yiruma is a Korean pianist and River Flows in You is under his album: First Love. Listen to it and hopefully you fall in love with his music as well. ^_^

 

The song played in Invention of Love was by Frédéric Chopin - Prelude in A Major (op. 28, no. 7) 

 

This is my gift to you this 2012. Happy New Year! Enjoy!

 

三十二：Review of Swiss Baker and Baguio's Best Choice Strawberry Jam

Cakes!!!

 I cannot quite remember if my friend and I went to this place because of the Strawberry Jam or if it was accidental that we found out that the strawberry jam that we were looking for was sold here. Anyway, this bakeshop sells great bread and cakes as you can see from the picture.

We were able to taste their cakes when my friend ordered a Black Forest cake when we ate at the Dad and I Bistro just located upstairs of this bakery. The cake was soft though it was not the best cake that I have tasted but it was definitely good. We were supposed to try the Tiramisu but it was sold out already and the new batch was ready for serving after we were done eating.

They serve both local and foreign types of breads such as monay, putok, kabayan, croissant, danish breads, cookies etc. The price are surprisingly not that expensive. I was tempted to buy a lot but I was worried that it might spoil during the trip so I just bought the strawberry jam.

The best strawberry jam that I have tasted.

Onto the strawberry jam. When we were at Mines View Park, there was this lady with a small table and there she laid soda crackers with a little bit of strawberry jam spread on it. My friend and I tasted it and our eyes widened as it was delicious. Unfortunately we did not have enough cash on hand so we had to go back to our hotel first and I am not sure if we asked ate where we can buy the jam but I remember that she said it was sold in SM Baguio. I cannot remember if we did look for it in SM Baguio but one thing is for sure, it is one of the best if not the best strawberry jam that you will ever taste. Here in Manila you can buy one at Santi's Delicatessen. We bought it at 180 pesos for 1 bottle of jam.

三十一：Restaurant Review of Dad and I Bistro

Our orders

During our last day of vacation in Baguio, my friend and I had lunch at this restaurant. At first you won't notice the restaurant because it is actually located at the second floor of its building but they do have a sign along the side walk and it's just along Session Road.

Boneless bangus

We checked their menu and they serve mostly Filipino and American dishes such as sinigang, tapsilog, burgers and steaks etc. and the prices were quite cheap around 100-200 pesos. We ordered their 89'ers which has a viand, rice and mixed vegetables. My friend chose boneless bangus and I chose sweet and sour pork.

Sweet and Sour Pork

I tasted both and it was delicious. The bangus was tender and flaky and the sauce was good. The sweet and sour pork was crunchy and the sauce not too sweet nor too sour. The side dish of mixed vegetables were also good, not salty nor too oily and the rice fluffy.

 

I really liked the place and the waiters were nice. The ambience is cozy. I think at night it turns into a sports bar because they also serve alcohol as I read in their menu and they have LCD televisions which plays sports clips.

 

They also serve cakes and pastries which are from the Swiss Bakeshop located at the ground floor of the building.

三十：Restaurant Review of La Creperie

My friends and I love to eat and we also love trying different retaurants and food. One day, we were searching for a restaurant to eat since it was pay day and we saw this cute little restaurant in Eastwood Mall. It looked like a small doll house with nice white chairs and it's wall decorated with yellow and white striped wallpaper. It looked like a French Café. The restaurant is small and has only a limited number of tables, I think about 3 to 4 tables inside which can seat 4 people each. Everything is dainty in my opinion. If you like doll houses, you'll like the theme of the restaurant.

 

 

The restaurant I believe is also owned by the owners of the famous juice stand, Big Chill so they serve a lot of fruit shakes and drinks.

  

The menu consists mostly of French foods such as crepes, breads and pastas. We ordered carbonara, cheeseburger with I forgot what some rare cheese it had with fries on the side, French toast and for dessert, flambéed crepe with kiwis, mangoes and strawberries.

 

The burger was good but I think the meat was not that juicy but the cheese was quite different in a good way but not that spectacular.

 

The pasta is also on the dry side but was okay. The French toast is also good but it's your usual toasted bread with sunny side up and they added a bit of greens on the side. I think we liked the crepe the most. It has a bit of orange liquer and was served flaming. The fruits were sweet but not overly sweet and it complimented the thin crepe. I think it is best if you get it ala mode.

  

Since it's a relative of Big Chill, we ordered fruit shakes as our drinks. We ordered kiwi and lychee shakes which are actually good and not too sweet.

  

  

We spent about 1000 pesos for all the food that we ate. I think it's quite expensive in my opinion since most of the dishes can only feed just one person, not really enough for sharing.

二十九：Movie Review of Moon

A sci-fi movie about a man with a job on the moon. He is all alone on the moon and he is hoping to go back to his home planet the earth soon after some years of working there to be reunited with his wife and family. He can't receive live messages from earth but taped ones from his wife. Along the story he discovers some shocking truths about himself and his job on the moon on why he is there etc.

It is very mind boggling. The effects aren't flashy but the setting as a near future event is not impossible such as the robot Gerty his assistant and his pod. No floating robots and transparent LCD touch screens etc. There aren't any special graphic effects and only one actor, Sam Rockwell. It is very dramatic and shows us what may happen in the future. As a viewer you should not stick to whether it has great special effects or if it is a high budget film but you should appreciate the story itself. If you don't want to have your brains working a lot as you watch a movie then this movie isn't for you.

二十八：Restaurant Review of Zola Cafe

Our Dinner.

 My friend and I had dinner at this restaurant during our trip in Baguio City. We were looking for a nice place to eat and this was very near where we were staying. The restaurant is just along the famous Session Road.

 

The one behind is the Vanilla Milkshake and Oreo Milkshake in front.

 The place targets teens to young professionals based on the design of their restaurant. Once you enter you'll see a beautiful victorian type of couch and a chandelier which you and your friends can take pictures with but my friend and I didn't because we were too shy.

 

Inside the restaurant, it looked more like a bar and they do have a bar inside where you can order beer or cocktails. Black wooden tables and leatherette covered couches and chairs fill the restaurant. They also have LCD screens playing music videos of pop music both English and Korean due to the large population of Koreans in Baguio. I actually felt like I was the foreigner because the restaurant was filled with 70% Koreans and I cannot understand a word they say though the waiters of the establishment are all Filipinos and the food are still your common Filipino bar food.

 

Their supreme pizza.

My friend and I ordered milkshakes and a large pizza. The shakes are priced at 80 to 120 pesos each and the large pizza was more or less 300 pesos. The food was good though not great and I actually think it was quite cheap for a bar and restaurant. The pizza dough was almost like just bread with pizza toppings or should I say the typical Filipino pizza but it was okay, we finished everything. The Koreans I think have adapted to our taste because the restaurant does not serve any Korean food but rather our tapsilog, longganisa, sisig etc. and other western type of foods.

I think the place is great especially for barkadas because of the nice ambiance (and if you like being surrounded by Koreans ^_^). I cannot judge their food much because I've only tasted the pizza but if in case I visit Baguio again, I would not mind going to this restaurant again.

二十七：Restaurant Review of Sambokojin

 

Sambokojin is an All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Buffet. It's not just a buffet but they also have this yakiniku grill where you can cook your own meats and it is smokeless because they use a stove instead of the typical charcoal grill. The branch that we visited was at Eastwood City in Quezon City, Libis but they also have a branch along EDSA.

 

The yakiniku grill.

As far as I can remember, we paid around 600 to 700 pesos for our dinner and we went there during a weekend night. I think it's cheaper if you eat during lunch and it's a weekday. You order the drinks seperately if you want one.

 

Different choices of sauces.

Before you start cooking, a waiter will show you how to use the grill and in our case, the grill was not working right. It took around 3 waiters or servers and about 15 minutes to have our stove or grill fixed. I actually got quite scared because I was worried that the gas from the stove might leak if it's not working right and flames might just burst right in front of us. I asked them if we can transfer but they got it working already. Our waiter showed us the sauces and which types are best for a certain type of food etc.

 

So many types of sushi.

 After the grill started working, my family went ahead and picked whatever we wanted to grill. I went to the sushi bar and took different types of sushi. I also went to the meat section and picked beef slices and some wrapped on vegetables and sausages. I was not able to take a picture of the meats because I was busy eating and forgot about it. I actually made a huge mistake of eating a lot of sushi because my stomach got full right away because of the rice. I rested for a bit and I went to the dessert section to get some ice cream next.
 

Dessert.

 At the dessert section, they have cakes, chocolate fountain, cupcakes etc. Since I was full, I chose to just get ice cream because I cannot eat cakes anymore. There was a very long line and after waiting for about 30 minutes in line, and yes I waited that long because at least my stomach had its time digesting the food I ate. When it was my turn to scoop I found out the reason why it took that long for people to scoop their ice cream and it was because the ice cream was rock hard. When I tried to scoop the ice cream, the scooper just slid on the ice cream. I had to like stab the ice cream before I can scoop it. I wanted to get a lot of ice cream but since it was really hard, I just filled whatever I can on my little bowl and becauase my hands were already tired. Some of the people were actually laughing at themselves as they scooped their ice cream because... they can't.

 

I made a great effort in scooping this ice cream.

 I actually think it's a great all-you-can-eat restaurant, a bit expensive but reasonable. Those who eat a lot will greatly enjoy eating there so I suggest you go there when you are really, really hungry. They also serve other East Asian cuisines such as Chinese and Korean cuisine. They have tempura, sukiyaki, beef stew, spring rolls etc. As a tip, stay away from starchy foods such as sushi and noodles if you want to make the most of your stay there. Go for the meats like beef and seafood such especially the shrimps and squid.

 

二十六：Movie Review of Paco and the Magical Book.

 

I watched this during Christmas Day because I wanted to watch something magical.

 

Plot Summary:

 

The story is about Paco, the little girl who owns the "magical book" and an old man named Onuki. Onuki and Paco are both patients in a very weird hospital with unusual patients, doctors and nurses.

 

The cast of the movie.

While Paco is a sweet little girl, Onuki is a mean old man who is the owner of a large company. Onuki lived a hard life and he struggled to make his company successful making him greedy, unfriendly and disrespectful to others. He thinks that people only know him because they want his money and he hates it when people know him or recognizes him.

 

Due to old age, Onuki's nephew takes care of him at his quirky hospital and there he meets very interesting characters. As Onuki is very mean, Paco on the other hand is innocent, naive and sweet. Paco always bring a book with her and she reads it everyday.

 

During their first meeting, Onuki gets mad at Paco for getting too close to him and annoying him with her book reading. Onuki introduces himself to Paco rudely but offers to read the book to her when he finds out that the book is about a selfish toad prince.

 

The Selfish Toad Prince.

 

The next day, Onuki notices he lost his gold lighter which he bought when his company earned its first profit. While searching, Onuki sees Paco while she was again reading her book about the toad prince. Onuki asks Paco if she remembers him  but she doesn't recognize him at all. Onuki searches for a lighter to smoke and she shows him a gold lighter. Onuki thought Paco stole his lighter and punches the little girl on the cheek.

 

The patients and doctors hurriedly helped Paco and explained to Onuki the girl's situation. Paco is actually an orphan who lost both her parents at an accident where she was the only survivor. It was Paco's 7th birthday the time of the accident and after she gains consciousness they have observed that the girl never remembers anything that happened the day before after she sleeps. Her memory lasts only for a day explaining why she doesn't recognize Onuki at all.

 

The next day, Onuki sees the girl and she is again reading her book. He asks her why she always read the same book and tells her that he will buy her more books and expensive ones. She then explains to him that it was her birthday yesterday and her mom gave her the book as a present. She shows to him the first page of the book where her mom wrote, "Happy Birthday, Please read it everyday." Onuki then understands the girl's situation. He touched the girls cheek where he punched her the day before and the girl remembers his touch but never his name. Since then, Onuki would always touch her cheek and tell her his name and he always offer her to read the book.

 

Onuki's heart continued to soften and he aimed to be remembered by the little girl through her favorite book also with the help of the other characters in the hospital.

 

Review:

 

I liked how the setting was just in a quirky little hospital but the props, costumes, makeup, cinematography, special effects and great acting of the characters made the movie really enjoyable.  It reminded me of Mr. Scrooge with a mix of Alice in Wonderland.

 

Magical Set.

 

The movie has lots of funny scenes and also lots of dramatic ones which made me teary eyed and might make some people cry buckets of tears. The story has lots of twists and is very unpredictable. The characters are also lovable whom at first you would really hate. I would like to emphasize their child actress for Paco who looked like a living doll for me.  

 

She is like a living doll.

This is really a magical film. It's one of the best movies that I've seen so far. Everything was done great in this movie. I recommend it to everyone. The whole crew and cast of this movie really made a great effort in creating it.

 

 

 

二十五：Restaurant Review of Rai Rai Ken

 

Rai Rai Ken is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in ramen.

 

My friends and I had dinner at this restaurant in Megamall and we all chose to order ramen. One of my friends ordered the Gomokumen which is mostly seafood, the other one ordered Seafood ramen but it also has large chunks of tofu and if my memory serves me right I ordered tantanmen or whatever was served spicy.

 

Lots of vegetables and seafood.

 

I specifically requested that my ramen be spicy because I really like spicy foods. When my ramen came it was orange in color mainly due to the chili sauce added. My friends noticed it and requested chili for their ramen as well.

 

Seafood and tofu with thick soup.

 

The ramen was delicious. At first all the ramen looks almost the same but when we tasted the soup or the broth of the ramen, each had it's distinct flavor. You can almost tell what type of broth was used like if it was seafood or meat. The bowl is also full of toppings like vegetables and meat. One bowl was enough to make one hungry person like me feel full. I was satisfied.

Lots of chili in there!!!

 

An order of a bowl of ramen is somewhere around 200 to 250 pesos which is quite expensive but reasonable. They also serve Japanese rice bowls and appetizers. The branch that we visited was at Megamall but unfortunately it's not there anymore but there are other branches like in Galleria and in SM Taytay.

二十四：Cafe Review of Shimino Japanese Crepes

Just in front of the Cinemas.

I was strolling along the hallway of One Utama (1U or also known as Bandar Utama) which is one of the popular malls in Malaysia when surprisingly, someone called my name. At first I thought it might just be a coincidence that someone would have the same name as I have in Malaysia but there isn't no harm if I try to turn to the direction of the person calling me. I slowly turned to my left side and it was actually a fellow mountaineer back in Manila who's been staying there for months already. I told him I was there for a vacation and he was there managing a food establishment.

 

There's a heart shaped decor and a map of Malaysia's Metro Rail system for customers who want to take pictures.

Being a foodie and since I haven't eaten yet that time I asked him if I can take a look at the shop that he was managing. He said there were two stores but the other one is just a food stall while the one that we visited was definitely bigger and had tables and chairs and even free wifi for customers.

 

 

The shop is located at the top floor of One Utama's new wing just in front of the Cinemas.

 

I ordered their chicken sausage crepe since I haven't eaten lunch yet. You may choose if you want a medium size or a large size crepe. I chose the large one and it was around 10RM which is about 130 pesos or 3USD. My friend gave me a free iced tea and also a staff discount so I only paid about 7RM which is about 100 pesos or 2USD.

 

The crepe was soft almost like a very thin pancake and it has a sausage cut in half lengthwise with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn kernels, mayo and sweet chili sauce. It actually tastes good but the crepe was sweet and too soft that it would not even hold it cone shape so I had a hard time eating it. They gave me a spoon and fork but I think it did not help much.

 



Sausage crepe and iced tea.



While eating, I gave my friend my opinions regarding the store. First I told him that the idea is good and is something new to the Malaysians and the place itself looks cute but it looks as if something is missing or it looks a bit bare. I told him that if they are after the teens, it should look more like a place where you can hang out, maybe place couches or play Japanese music or videos. Oh, and they actually have free wifi but there isn't any sign that they do.

 

On to the food, the crepe itself is too soft in my opinion that it cannot hold the fillings inside and breaks right away because of the fruit or vegetable fillings. I think Japanese crepes are meant to be a little crispy to very crispy that is why it is shaped in a cone so it can mimic an ice cream cone in some way. They also had too few selections on their menu. They don't even have a "choose your own filling" type of crepe and they actually serve "dripped coffee" which is the same coffee served in UCC Cafe but you won't notice that unless you go to the counter.  They do advertise it on a LCD screen but the screen itself is at the wrong angle so the passers by cannot actually see it. I myself did't notice the advertisement.

 

So Shimino is for those who like Japanese crepes but doesn't like the crispy type of crepes in a cone. It tastes good I promise it's just I prefer mine to be crispy. It's somewhat a nice place to hangout especially if you like the idea of free wifi. I hope that when I come back to Malaysia they've listened to my suggestions and implemented it. ^_^



二十三：Drama Review of Moon Embracing the Sun

 

The series is set in Ancient Korea. The main characters are King Lee Hwon (Sun), Prince Yang Myun (2nd Sun), Heo Yeon Woo (Moon), Queen Yoon Bo-Kyung (2nd Moon).

 

The young Prince Hwon met the young Yeon Woo by accident when she accompanies her mother and brother at the royal palace. The two fell in love and Yeon Woo was chosen to be the Crown Princess. One of the queens who want to gain more power ordered the state shaman to kill the crown princess and replacing her with Bo-kyung.

 

Yeon Woo miraculously escapes death but loses her memory and continued to live as a shaman and was taken care of by the same shaman who was hired to kill her. The story continues after eight years and Lee Hwon has been crowned King already but both him and his half brother Prince Yang Myun has never forgotten Yeon Woo whom they both fell in love with until they met the new shaman, Wol, who looks exactly like the crown princess Yeon Woo.

 

It's a romantic drama of kings, princes and princesses of ancient Korea with a little fantasy but it's more than just a love triangle, it's more like a love spiderweb. At first I was thinking of why they entitled it Moon Embracing the Sun but then I think it's because they compare the King and Prince to the Sun and the Princess or the Queen to the Moon therefore when the crown princess fell in love with the king, she embraces that love for him.

 

It's a very sweet and sad drama series. My favorite character is Prince Yang Myun and I feel sad for him because he loves Yeon Woo so much that he was always there beside her protecting her but he can never have his love for the girl is in love only with the King. You'll find that there are lots more characters int he series who go through the same dilemma and you'll really feel sorry for them.

The romantic scenes are accompanied with the beautiful sceneries and palace of ancient Korea. The characters are also dressed with beautifully embroidered Korean costumes.

二十二：Movie Review of Easy A

Easy A is a comedy movie starring Emma Stone (Super Bad, House Bunny, Zombieland and Spiderman). The movie is about the life of high school students particularly the ones who aren't popular and how they struggle with it. Emma Stone portrays Olive Penderghast, a nice, smart girl and though pretty, she is a very unpopular and is almost invisible in her school until one day she lied about losing her virginity to her best friend and it spread like wild fire. Things got even worse when she gave her gay friend a favor and lied even more. The rumor spread and desperate virgins who know about her secret started asking for her help as well. Olive became famous for her promiscuity and at first she did not like it until she realized it made her popular and even enjoyed it but of course it took its toll on her. Olive relates her experience to the book The Scarlet Letter which is about adultery though she kind of took it the other way around.

I personally like Emma Stone even with her previous movies such as Super Bad and House Bunny. This is her first starring role and I really think she did great. The movie is really funny in my opinion and you can learn quite a lot of lessons from it.

二十一：Movie Review of Ace Attorney (逆転裁判 Gyakuten Saiban)

 

It was a coincidence that I watched this movie in time for Christmas. Why you ask? Because the story of this movie happened also during Christmas.

 

Phoenix Wright: Objection!!!

The movie is based on a game released for the Nintendo DS by Capcom titled Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I've played the game years ago but I cannot remember all the details of its story so my comparison of the game and this movie is more on the looks of the characters and how they were going to show the gameplay in the movie.

 

Phoenix: Hold it!!!

The story revolves around Phoenix Wright, a new attorney. He is to defend the accused and in this movie he defends Maya, who was accused of killing her older sister Mia who is Wright's mentor. He also meets Miles Edgeworth, a famous prosecutor, whom he later defends due to murder accusations as well.

 

Main Characters in the game L-R: Phoenix Wright, Mia Fey, Maya Fey, Miles Edgeworth



As a fan of the game, I was delighted to know that a movie was made from one of my favorite games. It's actually a simple game. You play as an attorney and your goal is to prove that the accused is not guilty by collecting, presenting and examining evidences, searching and investigating witnesses and stuff like that. The graphics and animation are not that fancy. It's more like reading manga for me. It's the story and simple gameplay that I think made it enjoyable. There is also humor in the story so it's like a comedy, drama and suspense game in one.

 

Face Off

When I watched the movie, it looked like a cosplay turned into a movie because of their hairdos. They really tried copying the weird hairstyles of the characters in the game and I think it was a good thing because their funky hairdos and costumes made it easy for me to recognize the characters that were in the game and you can also tell which scenes were changed based on the characters used. I also liked how the actors comically acted their roles especially Larry Butz, detective Gumshoe, Miles Edgeworth and of course, Phoenix Wright making it look like you really are watching a scene from the game itself.

 

Live Action counterparts L-R: Von Karma, Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Mia Fey

In the movie they also used a giant holographic machine to present their evidences maybe because in the game you can also just point at an evidence and you can rotate it or zoom in and out to investigate it.

Watch out for that flying hologram!

I really can't compare the movie's story with the game that much since I forgot the whole story but watching the movie was almost as enjoyable as playing the game and it made me want to play the game again.

 

 

二十：Merry Christmas! My Christmas Wish!

Merry Christmas!

圣诞快乐！

メリー·クリスマス！

Maligayang Pasko!

Feliz Navidad!

Joyeux Noël!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα! 

 

Warm Hugs and LOVE!!!

It's almost Christmas, what's your plan? I am happy my family is complete. My parents and brother cooked dinner. This is the first time after I forgot how many years since we celebrated the Christmas as one complete family.

 

I like this season because I was born during the month of December and my name was based in it. I also like the fact that people are kinder, more generous to each other. Most people are happy, most of the families are complete.

 

Like any other year, we hope that the generosity and kindness does not stop after this event. I pray that all people are happy. I pray that people would continue to be kind and become even kinder, more generous, more forgiving after this. It's not hard right?

 

And so I have been trully blessed again this year. More blessed than the past years. Received more better gifts that the past years (and I am not just refering to monetary gifts). I was thinking for the past few days that I am able to buy things that I really don't need, why not share some of the money for that to those who need it instead?

 

I am planning to share it to someone. Someone whom I know is not that happy this Christmas eve but I salute that person for I can see how strong he is even though he is going through a lot of problems.

 

I am actually quite sad that I failed to do my mission earlier. I wanted to give him something earlier. I was waiting for the right time but I failed. I still have tomorrow and I hope I can make him at least smile...

 

The person that I am referring to has lost his loved ones just a month ago. I myself have my family complete this Christmas but his was taken away from him... I want to make him at least smile. Though I failed earlier. I will make sure that I will be able to do it tomorrow which is Christmas Day.

 

If only I have a lot of time and money, I will make all sad people happy but I don't have that yet but I know that at least I can make this one person smile. I know I can't make him fully happy having lose someone days before this special day.

 

I want to thank God that I am this blessed and this is one of my ways of thanking him this Christmas. I will be giving something and will be receiving even more in return... a genuine smile. That would be the greatest gift that I know that I want to receive this Christmas and no money or anything of monetary value can be better than that.

 

How about you? How's your Christmas? What's your plan? What gifts are you expecting to receive?

十九：Review of Mr. Ramyun

PSY is that you?

As we all know, there are so many Koreans in Baguio because of the climate which is almost similar to their homeland. Mr. Ramyun is just one of those Korean establishments built to meet the demand of the Korean population there for Korean food and stuff.

Mr. Ramyun is a Korean cafeteria that serves Korean instant noodle dishes and other Korean foods such as kimbap, kimchi, Korean ice cream and other snacks. I am assuming they use the brand Shin Ramyun which is the most popular and best selling Korean instant noodles while here in the Philippines we have Lucky Me.

My friend and I were in a vacation in Baguio, it was lunch time and we were so hungry that when we saw this along the street going to Burnham park, we went ahead inside the cafetria.

The cafeteria looks like your typical Filipino carinderia (not the turo-turo type because there is nothing to point at) which is small with wooden panels, simple wooden tables and plastic chairs, no waiters, just a counter with their menu on a tarpauline hainging on the wall. Most of their patrons are of course Koreans. The price of their food is also cheap, 50 pesos for an order of the noodles with your choice of toppings and kimchi as your side dish. I think the priciest in the menu was 75 pesos which is the dumplings which looks like the Japanese gyoza to me but it was not available when we went there.

The noodles cooked in a little stainless bowl on, what looks like is, a sizzling plate and comes with kimchi as your side dish.

You can choose from spicy or non spicy ramyun, seafood ramyun, beef ramyun etc. After choosing your noodles, most of the ramyun dishes in their menu comes with your two choices of toppings such as cheese, egg, ham, dumplings, crab sticks etc. I think I chose the spicy seafood but it was not available to I chose spicy beef instead and I think ham and egg as my toppings.


Mmm... noodles..

The serving was of course fast (should I say it's almost, instant? *pun intended*). When you look at the dish, you can definitely tell that it's instant noodles but it tastes really good. They cook it in a tiny stainless pot and they serve it to you by just placing the pot on a sizzling plate. The noodles were firm and thicker than our local instant noodles. The kimchi also tastes good and it does compliment with the noodles. The spiciness was just right not too spicy and the soup not too salty. The spiciness of the noodles also compliments with the cold climate of Baguio. I thought the serving won't be enough for one person but surprisingly it made me feel full. (or maybe because I drank all of the soup?)

I was not able to take a picture of the place because there was a group of Korean children eating and I am not sure if I might offend them if I take pictures and by the way, the cooks of the cafeteria are also Koreans.

After eating my noodles, I tried one of their ice cream which was priced at I think 75 pesos. You can just choose and pick the ice cream from their chest freezer and pay at the counter. I have tried Korean ice creams before and I like them. I chose the one that I haven't tried yet and this one looks like a mochi ice cream. From the packaging it looks like it's green tea flavored mochi with red almost brown colored ice cream. I assumed it was red bean because those two compliments each other and I was actually right.

Mochi ice cream.

It has two mochi ice cream inside and comes with a small plastic knife or fork that you use to pick up the mochi.

Two is better than one!

I tried poking the mochi to see if it was rock hard because the other mochi ice cream that I've tried before needs to be thawed for about 5 minutes before you can bite into it or prepare to lose a tooth.

I then skwered the mochi with ease and bit into it and lo and behold it was soft!

Red bean flavored cream inside the mochi.

I thought my jaws were going to hurt chewing the mochi but it has just the right chewiness but I was kind of disappointed with the ice cream because it was more of like fluffy cream than the milky ice cream that I was expecting but it was still good. I tasted the red bean and it even has bits of ground red bean in it. I don't think there was food coloring in the filling because it was pale in color as if the red bean itself colored the cream naturally. You can also taste the macha in the mochi itself but it was not that bitter. It was a nice treat but I don't think I will be buying it again.

I never thought that someone would actually build a cafeteria that serves mainly instant noodles. Overall, Mr. Ramyun is a nice cheap Korean cafeteria and I think I can imagine myself eating there maybe more than twice a month if I was to live in Baguio. I think it's the counterpart of our lutong-bahay carinderia to the Koreans. I think I read on their flyers that they have a lot of Mr. Ramyun in Baguio so you won't have a hard time looking for one.