十二： Review of Tsoko.Nut Batirol Cafe.

When you hear this café's name, you'll think of our famous chocnut, short for chocolate and nuts. I did read somewhere that it should not be read as tsokonut but as tsoko dot nut instead. Tsoko.Nut Batirol has a branch located in Eastwood City, Libis at the Excelsior Building and they serve good coffee, pastries and even meals. They serve both hot and cold drinks but I prefer the cold ones and I especially like their amaretto flavored chocolate drink.

Tsoko.nut is proudly Pinoy and their chocolate drinks and some pastries are made of tablea which is our local chocolate made of roasted cacao beans and shaped in about a half inch thick and 1 1/2 inch round tablets. Unlike the modern chocolate bars, tableas don't have any milk or cocoa butter and are most of the time unsweetened and is rough in texture therefore you can actually say that it is pure chocolate. The tableas are also used in making the chocolatey, sticky rice porridge called champorado.

The cafe is also proud that their hot chocolate drinks are prepared using a batirol which explains its name and logo. A batirol is like a kitchen utensil to froth liquid which the Spaniards introduced to us during colonization. The way of frothing the drink is called bati. They use a batirol which kinda looks like the stick that you use for scooping honey and you mix the tablea with the hot water until it froths and you get a tsoko batirol, a traditional hot chocolate..

My friends tried the choco loco and the kasuy batirol drink (hot chocolate with cashew) and both said they were delicious. We also tried their pastries like the tablea cake and the chocolate cake. I actually didn't recognize the difference between the two but they were both good though I think the cake should be moister.

chocolate cake

tablea cake

Prices of their drinks are around 100 as well as their cakes. They do have a drink and cake combo and they also serve a few rice meals and other Filipino dishes like the tapsilog and palabok.

十一： Restaurant Review of Komoro Soba

Komoro Soba for me has the best katsudon (カツ丼) when it comes to fast food Japanese restaurants. I have been passing by this restaurant at Megamall for the a couple of years already but it was just last 2010 that I tried their dishes and I'm glad I did. The price for dishes for me are cheap, around 70+ per dish considering it's almost authentic meaning it's cooked the Japanese way and tastes very Japanese but the rice isn't the authentic Japanese rice. Their katsudon (カツ丼) is really tasty and tender. I have also tried their other rice bowls which are nice but not that fantastic.

The combo meals!

  They also have combo meals which includes a noodle dish either ramen or udon (饂飩) and a rice bowl as a side dish which is kinda ironic because usually it's the other way around but great because you can choose the katsudon (カツ丼) as a side dish. Prepare yourself for the combo meal because the serving is quite large and can be good enough for two if you don't eat that much. 

  My friend and I actually had to take the katsudon home because we were already full just by eating the noodles. I am not a fan of their noodle dishes maybe because it's too heavy on the tummy because of the soup and the thick noodles especially if you order udon but I like their ramen, very tasty. For 100 pesos you can order a dish and an iced tea or soda. I tell you, you really should try their katsudon.

Komoro Soba is located at the ground floor of SM Megamall Building A near the old location of Toy Kingdom.

十： Restaurant Review of Yoshinoya (吉野家)

Yoshinoya (吉野家) is a Japanese fast food chain that serves the best beef bowl or in Japanese what they call gyudon (牛丼). It's soft, melts in your mouth beef strips with a sweet salty sauce and caramelized white onions over hot steaming rice. The first time I tasted it I got addicted to it that I wanted to eat at Yoshinoya every week and order their gyudon.

The famous Gyudon! 牛丼

Most of their dishes are also delicious like their noodles and their dimsum but of course, what you should really eat there is what they were made famous for, the gyudon. I have tried the gyudon of other Japanese restaurants but nothing compares to Yoshinoya's.

kani shumai

One more thing that they are famous for is their red iced tea. I even remember the time when you can order it bottomless but they don't offer it anymore which is quite sad because it's really good. Their servings are just right not that large but good enough to make you full.

power lunch!

beef udon

Ambience is nice with oriental themed wallpapers and wooden furnishings. The price is quite reasonable because you're eating almost authentic Japanese cuisine but quite expensive considering it's still a fast food restaurant. Expect to spend around 200 per person. Other dishes that you might want to try are their teriyaki chicken, beef misono and their shrimp tempura.

You may find Yoshinoya in famous cities around the world (I saw one in Hong Kong near Yee Wo street) but here in the Philippines I usually go to their SM Megamall branch which is located at the ground floor of Building A.

九： Rainbow Cake or Pancakes 彩虹蛋糕 (虹ケーキ)

I like art and I like to cook and bake especially pastries. I've seen pictures of these rainbow cakes on the web and I thought of doing it using pancakes and so I did. I used the regular ingredients for homemade pancakes.

Ingredients: Instant pancake mix. egg, margarine, food color and pancake syrup!

 I followed the directions on the box, adding the egg first then melted margarine or butter then the food color.

with the egg first

with the melted margarine or butter

 Cook the batter using a frying pan with a little margarine or butter or use a non-stick frying pan.

cooking the red pancake 赤

 Tada! This is the stacked pancakes. I made almost all the colors of the rainbow except for indigo.

plain stacked rainbow pancakes

 And with butter or margarine cubes on top with maple syrup... *DROOLS*

YUM!!! おいしい！

Cross section of the pancakes. Colorful!!! すばらしい！

八： Movie Review of Precious. (based on a novel entitled "Push")

It's about a teen African American girl molested and abused by her family. She isn't treated like a daughter by her mother where she is always screamed at and thrown objects at even while doing household chores. She is also molested by her mother's boy friend and the mom doesn't care at all. Because of the sexual abuse, she got pregnant twice. She's doing bad at school and has no friends at all.

You can really understand how a young girl can lose herself with this kind of situation. But in this movie you can see how the girl struggles to survive in such an environment. She daydreams about her dream world where her mother loves her and the people around her notices her and she's so happy.
She met people who helped her in the story such as the teacher, male nurse, and a social welfare employee (Mariah Carey).

Overall it teaches you how to fight for your rights. Not to let anyone step on you, not even your family. All of us can think. We know what is right from wrong. We should not tolerate abuse nor harassment especially to us women.

P.S. The movie won Oscars for best supporting actress for Mo' Nique as the mother of Precious and best adapted Screen Play.

七：Game Review of All Talk for Android

All Talk is a word game from PocketGems for Android phones wherein you describe a word by recording your voice on your phone and another player from any part of the world can try to guess it and vice versa. There are rules in this game where you are not allowed to use some words that are very related to the word being described. An example would be let's say you were to describe the word BUTTER but you are not allowed to use the words DAIRY, TOAST and BREAD. What you can do is describe it as a spread made of churned milk fat or something like that. There is also a time limit of 30 seconds when describing the word but none when you are trying to guess it. There are also levels and different categories. On the easier levels, you are given a word and you can think first before you start recording but in the harder level, the word pops out and you don't have time to think and therefore should start recording right away.

For me it's a fun game and it develops speech and exercises your brain. You can hear your own voice once someone tries to guess the word you describe so you know how you speak and you have the chance to maybe improve it if you want to.

Check out All Talk at Play Google:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pocketgems.android.alltalklite

六：Review of Cello's Doughnuts

cheese and chocolate topped doughnuts

People have been raving about Cello's Donuts for the past few years and it was just a few months ago that I was able to try it. My friend and I were at SM North when we passed by their branch there. I was like, "Okay I gotta try this now!" And so I went inside their store and bought one donut. I bought the one with the chocolate topping with some crushed Oreos I think. Just when I saw it, I knew what it would taste like. I've heard people saying how soft the donut was and why you need to eat it fast before it gets cold. Their donut is yellow just like an ensaymada and I was not wrong, it even tastes like one. It was good, soft indeed, also like an ensaymada. I'm happy my curiosity has ended. I'm not saying it's not good but for me it tastes like ensaymada and so I'd rather go for the real one instead and as for the price-30 pesos per donut, another reason not to buy one again, a bit expensive. Oh, and the one with cheese on top reminds me of another bread... the local cheese bread. I'm not trying to say it's bad, it's just not my type of donut.

Other flavors..

五： Movie Review and Summary of Dorian Gray

Summary:

Dorian Gray is based on Oscar Wilde's book The Painting of Dorian Gray. It's about a beautiful young man who didn't grow old. He had a painting by a painter named Basil who got fond of his beauty. Another friend, Lord Henry Wotton also a friend of Basil taught him that only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfillment of the senses. Dorian was naturally kind and good and very naive. Learning this, Dorian tried to live that kind of life. He got scared of getting old and he doesn't want his beauty to fade and so he sold his soul to be forever young and the painting Basil painted would rather be the one to age and rot.

He enjoyed everything and while doing so, he was already committing sins especially lust. As Dorian was enjoying his beautiful life, every sin he committed  causes his painting to look old and rot indeed. In life not everything that you are enjoying or you think is good is right. He tries to get pleasure from almost anyone, everyone.

Dorian then met this singer and actress Sybil who fell in love with him but doing so she loses her abilities. Dorian who is obsessed with just the beauty in life rejects Sybil after she lost her talents which resulted to her suicide.

Before leaving to Paris, Dorian talked to the painter Basil and blamed him for his fate and killed him. Dorian hid his painting and indeed he stayed forever young and continued doing the same immoral things.

18 years has passed and everyone he knew got old. Rumors spread about him that he never grew old. He returned to London from Paris in a party and met Lord Henry's daughter, Emily. He fell in love with her and thought of giving up his immorality but when he saw his painting, it was even worse.

Lord Henry who knew about Dorian's relationship with his daughter went to his house and searched for the painting. Dorian was able to catch Lord Henry and they had a fight. The painting's cover was then removed and a fire started from a burner and they both saw a very old, rotting man. Dorian was stunned looking at his painting. Lord Henry ran out and locked Dorian inside the room just when his daughter  arrived to check what was happening. Dorian then tried to destroy the painting by piercing it but it was piercing him back. The real Dorian was then revealed. A very very old and rotting man like that in the painting and then the room exploded caused by the fire and gas leaks.

Dorian's body was found burnt but the painting was saved and miraculously went back to it's original form.

Review:

The movie was great and I highly recommend it. The actor Ben Barnes was really perfect for the part of Dorian Gray. I have liked him since Narnia: Prince Caspian movie haha! A very handsome man.

There are some differences from the book and the movie though like Dorian's hair color which should be blonde and not dark, how James, Sybil's brother died, how Dorian died and some characters in the story like Emily which was supposed to be Hetty.

You can learn a lot from it's story because it's about immorality, narcissism, and how it can ruin your life. Some say the movie is kinda out of pace that it quickly jumps from one event to another without some explanation etc. I think it is understandable though. I haven't really read the book but I was able to understand the story. I think everyone can relate to it's story because each of us has a part where we only think of the things that can make us happy even if it isn't the right thing to do. As for myself, I liked it because of how he didn't grow old. People tell me I look young for my real age and as a lady, it is a big deal to us to look young. And so the Dorian Gray syndrome is explained here. People are scared to grow old and will try to keep that youthful look. I'm not a hypocrite and I'd say I am happy I look young but I think I won't result to surgery to maintain it lol. It's a gift and I am grateful for it. As for the sins Dorian committed, I know I think about some worldly things but I am trying to change that. Watching the movie made me realize that it can also happen to me lol. Losing yourself because of all those worldly temptations. I don't want that. :P

Overall it was a very good movie. Great one. Consider it a dark, gothic, fantasy drama. Don't forget Ben Barnes is the lead actor. <3

四： Of Typhoons, storms and flood. 2012年8月6日

Last August 6, 2012, Philippines was struck by typhoon Haikui.

I was at home that day when the heavy rain started to pour. The next day, August 7, 2012 the flood was waist deep outside our house but it did not get inside our house. I consider us lucky this time because it was nothing like what happened years ago.

Three years ago, September 2009, The Philippines was also devastated by typhoon Ondoy. Hundreds of people died because of the flash flood which happened very early in the morning when people were still sleeping.

I can still remember what happened that time at our house. It was around afternoon when the rain started pouring really hard and the wind was really strong. It only took two hours and there was flood in our house. Another two hours passed and the water was knee deep inside our house. My family brought everything that can still be saved upstairs like television, computers, clothes, important documents etc. We also brought our two dogs and two cats upstairs. My mom cannot be called a girl scout since she never has an emergency kit. We did not have any candle, matches and she did not even buy food for us to eat. Good thing I baked banana chocolate chip bread the day before and that is what we ate until the next day. The night after the flood got into our house was totally dark. There was no light everywhere and you can hear water splashing due to furnishings crashing into the water and people swimming to safety. I would describe like it was a scene from the movie Titanic when the boat was already sinking.

I actually did not mind what happened since I know I will survive for a few days but what I cannot stand was that my mother kept on yakking inside my room about the dirt and to think that she should be thinking about how irresponsible she was when she did not even think of buying food for her family when she knows we will be needing it. Needless to say, she still did not learn from that and it was the same thing that happened to us during typhoon Haikui and again lucky for them I stocked up on food which they eventually ate during the flood.

During typhoon Ondoy, I actually had my ex boyfriend save me from my unfortunate situation and he brought me at his grandmother's house to stay for a few days because there they had electricity and food. This time, I never had to depend on anyone because luckily, we did not get affected much though we did not have electricity for a couple of days and I was not able to go to work for two days because all the roads going to our office are not passable due to flood.

Just today, there is another typhoon in our country called Helen and fortunately for us living in the Metro, we aren't that affected much but those up in the northern part of the country are again experiencing floods and strong winds. I hope everyone is safe there...

So this post is getting a bit too long and I might stray too far from my title and since typhoons will never stop passing by our country, (since we are located at the middle of the ocean and we are a tropical country) I do believe there is something we can do to prevent disasters from happening and just to give you guys a hint on where this will lead to, I believe that the major issue here is the never ending issue of... waste or garbage management. ^_^

I will leave you guys with the saying...
Save the earth, save not just yourself but everyone.

三： What's up? 2012年8月14日

What's up?

Hello.

你好。
こんにちは。

You might be wondering why you are seeing Japanese and Chinese characters on my website and this is because I aim to become multilingual (since I am only bilingual). I have been interested in studying different languages since I was very young and it was just a month ago where I seriously wanted to achieve that goal. Since I love to travel, learning a language of another country will make it easier for me to visit there and meet new people. It was what I learned and it was really frustrating when I went to Hong Kong where there is rarely someone who can speak English.

I have recently enrolled myself in a Mandarin language course in one of the most prominent schools in our country and I am studying Japanese through a sensei whom a friend referred to me. My colleagues and some friends said I am a bit crazy trying to study two languages at the same time. I really don't find anything unusual with that because when we were at school, we are studying more than 10 subjects or courses and it was a rare instance that one will go crazy studying all of those at the same time. Some says I might get confused but Japanese is based on the Chinese language and they almost have the same sentence structure and I take it as a challenge studying the two at the same time.

After about a month and a half, I now know how to count, greet, construct a basic sentence, describe something using basic adjectives and use basic verbs in sentence, ask a basic question both in Mandarin and Japanese.

I am actually proud of myself that I have learned all this in a short period of time and my goal is to become very good if not great in the two language or at least be conversational when I talk to a native speaker.

How about you? What languages do you speak?

Thank you.
Salamat.
谢谢。
ありがとうございます。

一: How my journey started.

My journey started due to the fact that I was not allowed to go out when I was young. I studied in an exclusive school for girls until I reached high school and was never allowed to go out with my friends and this is because of the fact that it is not safe in our country for a young girl to go out alone. And so I had this dream that when I grow up, I would travel a lot. It even came to a point that my friend and I tool this horoscope test at our school's book fair and it says there that I like to travel a lot and I will be traveling the world. I showed it to my mother but she did not believe it because again, I never go out of the house but that phrase stuck in my mind.

During my elementary years I studied different languages on my own like French, German, Italian but I really got interested in Japanese and somewhat with Chinese. I bought books and tried to memorize the characters and stuff but eventually I got tired and stopped studying. My main reason for studying was that it might help me in going abroad.

When I reached college, I still was not allowed to go out and was even enrolled by my parents to study at the same school where my mother teaches. I always wanted to go to an art school or study language but my parents did not allow me and instead had take a computer course. I was very frustrated and so many unfortunate things had happened to me until eventually I graduated from school but I was still stuck at home because I did not have a job.

I became a bum and stayed at home surfing the web and being a couch potato. I did not have any exercise and eventually became fat. One day I realized that I should do something about my life and started to enroll at a gym. I met a lot of great friends at the gym and I became healthier, more fit but I was still stuck at home. I then had the confidence to look for a job and earn my own money and gain more new friends.

Last 2010, a very old friend popped me a message on Facebook. The last time we talked was like seven years back!. He asked me about my current hobbies and that time I was into running since I took kickboxing lessons at the gym and wanted to continue being fit. He then told be about his hobby which was mountaineering. At first I was like, "What am I going to do at the mountains?". I imagined dirt, mud, mosquitoes and everything disgusting when it comes to climbing the mountains.

My friend then showed me pictures but I still was not convinced until he told me about this beautiful mountain called Mount Pulag in Kabayan, Benguet all the way at the north side of the Philippines. I searched for it over the net and I was blown away! It was so beautiful and ethereal and instantly I was convinced to go mountain hiking.

I joined their organization and I was still skeptical at first until the day of our first climb arrived. I was clueless on what to do, what to wear, what to bring during my first climb which I will share to you in details on my next post. Anyway, it was very memorable for me since it was my first climb but after that, I was able to travel to different parts of the country and climb more than a dozen mountains in the span of 2 years.

On this blog, I will be sharing to you the mountains that I've climbed and the different places that I have visited since 2010. I haven't climbed again for almost a year but I have traveled and will be traveling again in and out of the country which i will be sharing as well on this blog.

I have and will always enjoy all my travels and I hope you enjoy my stories as well.

Hello! 您好！こんにちは！

Hello! This is Ella. I am a person who loves to travel a lot. It has been my dream to travel the world and my journey started just two years ago. I have traveled to different beautiful provinces in our country and have been outside the country once but I have scheduled trips outside the country for this year.

I named my blog UnderElla because it sounds like Umbrella. The reason why I named it such is because I would love to share everything that I will be experiencing or anything that can be "under an umbrella". ^_^

I have created a blog before but I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to write so on this blog, I will be focusing more on my travels and my amazing experiences on the different places that I have visited and will be visiting in the near future.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

Thank you very much!
谢谢！
どうもありがとう！