Hospital food is blah.

Or bland. Or tasteless. Or no flavor. Whichever you prefer. Hospital food tastes like... nothing. I had to "suffer" eating flavorless food from the hospital for 5 days and 4 nights. I felt like I was going to be sicker. 

Here are a few photos of the food that I had during my stay at the hospital:

I was only served either Beef or Pork because I was on a Hypoallergenic Diet. That was the first time I heard of such a thing. I have 5 meals per day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. The only food that I actually enjoyed eating was my second day breakfast (the second picture), Beef Tapa. It was a little sweet, a hint of taste...finally! The rest of the food was just okay. Well, what do I expect. It's not like I'm having room service at a hotel, right? LOL. I think another factor that added up to my Hypoallergenic Diet was the fact that I have a family background of Diabetes too. Thanks Dad! It's okay, I don't have it... yet. 

I still have a lot of food photos from the hospital. I took a shot at every meal I had and it's too many to post here. My blog would be covered with hospital food and it's not even palatable. Tsk. So I'll only post 4 here. They all look the same anyway. Blech!

Now that I'm back home I get to eat normal flavorful food. Yum!

Really Late Dinner at Uncle Moe's.

I mentioned yesterday about a food tasting session that I will be attending today. Well, it wasn't like what I have expected. Sure there were lots of food but well, some friends of mine including myself served as food critiques. Some food were great though just a little improvement and all. It wasn't that bad.

But since we only tasted a few of each (they served enough food but we didn't enjoy some of it), we were still hungry afterwards. So we walked a few steps to get into Uncle Moe's for some Shawarma and Beef Kebab. Here's what I had for dinner at 10PM:

Beef Kebab w/ Buttered Rice and Iced Tea.

Too bad tomorrow's dinner date was cancelled. Oh well, Apple and I are still meeting up and that means we are going to eat one way or the other hence, more food pictures (hopefully) tomorrow! :)

Late Afternoon Snack at Oliver's Sandwiches.

I went out with my usual mall buddies and 3 of my closest girlfriends from high school earlier toady for some late afternoon snack-slash-early dinner at Oliver's Sandwiches in Shangri-La Mall. We were all undecided at first on where to eat and we have come up with three different choices: Oliver's Sandwiches, Pepper Lunch, and Pho Hoa, I finally picked one after a couple minutes since I am so craving for a very nice sandwich. Yes, Oliver's Sandwich was the final decision.

Here's what I had: half Hungarian Sausage Sandwich, Ube cake, Cream of Mushroom Soup and Coke Light. It was all for only P199. Money very much well-spent. I was so full and satisfied. :)

Looks like this week would be a week full of eating, well mostly. Today was late afternoon snack, tomorrow would be food tasting for a friend's friend who will be opening his restaurant soon, Thursday we will have dinner with some friends, I'm not very much sure about the weekend though. Fooooooood!! My college degree kicking in! I hope I find a job soon.

More food photos tomorrow. :)

Wednesday Cravings!

I have been conditioning myself to go on a healthier (I would like to think that I AM eating healthy already--just not healthy enough) diet for the past weeks but I always have 1 cheat day or two every now then. 

Today, I am craving for: 

Frozen Yogurt: Lulu Belle's or California Berry's.

Pepper Lunch's Beef Pepper Rice.

Seeing my photos of these food is seriously making me drool. Hahaha! Well, guess have to wait for another more week. My friend, Apple, and I made a date for Pepper Lunch when she gets back from Bora the week after next. I have to endure until then. Can't wait!!! :)

Brownies & Revel Bars!

A friend of mine gave me a box each of brownies and revel bars last night after the Alumni Homecoming.

Brownies & Revel Bars

Brownies

Revel Bars

Yummy pastries! :) Thanks a lot Karen!

Foodtrip Friday!

What a great way to spend Friday:

Urban Bazaar at The Rockwell Tent

Lunch at Cibo

Stroll inside the mall

Watch a movie

Bazaar again

Dinner at Kenny's

Home

A little exhausting since my day started at 1pm and it all "ended" by 9pm and I got home around 9:30 or so. So all of the above mentioned happened within an 8-hour period. Fun and tiring.

And because I entitled this entry as Foodtrip Friday, I would like to share to you some of the meals I had for the day (I say some cos I didn't take a shot of my food inside the theater and the food I ate when I got home):

Lunch at Cibo: Mozzarella Panini and Lemon Iced Tea

Dinner at Kenny's: Seafood Clam Chowder, Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and Coke Zero

FYI, I had my first meal (breakfast-lunch) at 2PM and dinner at 8PM. I had chocolates in between. Goodbye diet--again! It's just so fun eating. And as one friend said to me "Go eat fat girl in a skinny girl's body!" :) Whatever. Food's grrrreatttt!

Cafe Mediterranean and Lulu Belle.

I have been wanting to eat Kebab since Sunday but it's either I am not in the mood to go out, I have no one to go out with, I have no money to spend or well worst, all of the above! So when my cousin who got back from abroad gave me money for my Kebab craving, I immediately took a shower and got dressed before my mood get the best of me. There's one condition with the money my cousin gave me though, I have to buy something for everyone at home. S'all good. Fair enough.

After 2 hours of deciding where to go, I made up my mind and went to The Cafe Mediterranean at Powerplant to have my Kebab dinner.

Before

After

For a P350 bill I felt more than satisfied. Way more satisfied. After my glorious dinner alone I headed up to Lulu Belle for my frozen yogurt (P120). I'd love to post a photo of my FroYo but Blogger can't seem to upload it here. Anyway, although this dinner is less fun than what I usually have when I'm by myself, it was still okay because at least I get to indulge to my cravings of Kebab and FroYo. :)

The After Treat.

My final interview is done and I am not ecstatic about it. I am so not in the mood to elaborate further and I'm not being pessimistic when I tell you guys that I don't think I'll get the job but I'm about 90% sure about it. I saw the HR Director's face and I'm pretty good at reading people's faces. So there. On the brighter side, I don't feel upset or the least disappointed about it. I am unbelievably calm and positive about other things. 

Anyway, after the hunting feeling of nervousness and anxiety over the now-done final interview that I've been talking about it here for weeks now, I treated myself with my usual Nail Spa appointment and had early dinner at Secret Recipe with my Mom.

Hello Yellow. :)

Kids' Fish and Chips.

Mee Goreng.

Food prices in Secret Recipe are very affordable and worth it. They have Asian food, American and Italian. Their prices range from about 120-500 per meal. I wanted to try out their pastries but I'm too full already. Their cakes look really yummy and I would definitely try their Mango Madness and their Chocolate Banana Cake since I read it's two of their bestsellers.

Tomorrow is gonna be another food trip for me so I'll be posting more food entries--again! :)

Pepper Lunch's GOMA.

Okay, before I start reviewing for my Impact Interview on Monday, I would love to share first that I have already tried Pepper Lunch's GOMA soft ice cream for dessert earlier this afternoon. I only took a photo of the dessert this time cos I had Curry Beef---again and I already have a photo of it here.

I like the Kuromitsu more maybe because I love Caramels. :) But GOMA isn't bad. It's black sesame flavored by the way to those who haven't tried it.

Next on my list to try would be the Cheesecake. :)

Back to Pepper Lunch.

For the I don't know how many times these past couple of weeks, I was back again at Pepper Lunch at Shangri-La for a late lunch. I had a friend with me who's a first timer there. I just got her to eat with me and try the food. I think she liked it cos she finished her food minutes before I finished mine up.

As usual, I had Beef Pepper Rice. I promise I would try the other items on the menu when I go back one of these days.

This photo is my "after" plate. The only part I didn't eat was the "fatty" part of the beef.

This photo is my dessert. Caramel Soft Ice Cream.

As usual, I left PL satisfied and smelling like food. :)

Here are my other blog entries about Pepper Lunch if you want to read more about it:

Pigging Out Again

My Diet's Ruined

Pigging out again.

I woke up feeling all grouchy this morning yet again. It's not really that unusual for me to be in a not-so-good mood when I get up in the mornings but I'm trying to control it with no luck.

So, when my Mom asked me to go with her to Shangri-La, I lazily got my grouchy self to dress up. Not smiling and not talking.

It was already past 2 PM when we left the house and I successfully muttered under my breath the words: "I'm so hungry."

When we got to Shang my Mom headed to her appointment in Nail Spa and she just gave me money to go get myself lunch.

Here's what I ate:

Beef Pepper Rice

Yup, Pepper Lunch again. All by myself. It was my first time to try PL in Shang since it opened last week. I'm not sure if I just didn't smell myself but the food's smell didn't stick to my body as strong as the one's in Powerplant.

I was so hungry I just remembered to snap a shot when I already started "cooking" it and I felt like I was in heaven after that I forgot to take an "after" shot and share how my shiny plate looked like. I finished every single grain of rice and beef and corn on my plate!

After Pepper Lunch, I bought 4 cupcakes at Frosting in Rustan's but I can't upload the photo right now cos Blogger's kinda slow. Would post it maybe tomorrow. Anyways, headed to Starbucks for coffee, strolled around for a couple of minutes and then went home already.

I'm less grouchy but I'm still not in the mood today that's why I told my Mom that I wanna go home already. I still feel so full from my PL meal that I skipped dinner and ate 1 cupcake and drank 3 glasses of water instead. :)

Next pig-out: Next week probably.

I wonder what food am I gonna share here again.

See yah!

A Very Merry Heaven and Eggs Christmas!

Before this day comes to an end, I would like to greet every one a very Merry Christmas! I hope all of you are having a great time with your friends and families, enjoying great food, great company, and of course, having fun opening up those presents.

Don't ask me how my Christmas eve and Christmas day went though or I'll be pulling you down with me with my current emotions.

I just hope ever one's having a blast. If I don't

 and didn't, at least others are happy.

The only happy thing that has happened was earlier today, brunch at Heaven & Eggs in Glorietta with my Mom and my cousin.

Here's what I ate:

Head Bangers'

Red Velvet Cake and Cappuccino

I loved the Head Bangers', the Omelet is so delicious and the US Angus Tapa is so flavorful! I can't say the same thing for the cake though, or maybe I was just expecting it to be something like Mary Grace's Velvet Cake. Mary Grace's is a lot more yummy than H&E. 

I loved my Mom's cake though:

Tres Leches

It's not to sweet and not too blunt either. I should've ordered this one instead of that Red Velvet.

Oh, I feel that I should mention this being an HRIM graduate, the service of MEL was really really great. He attended to our needs with a smile, he made small friendly talks while my Mom and I decide what to order, he's so polite and because of that we left him a larger tip than we normally do with other restaurants.

Aside from the food's taste and maybe the ambiance, SERVICE is the most important thing in food establishments. If your service crew is slow, impolite and obviously aren't people person eve if your chef makes good food, potential and even those return customers would think twice of coming back.

Guests LOVE to feel like V.I.Ps.

Okay, I'm having this lecture. I'll have it in another appropriate post sometime. This one is just to greet everybody a wonderful Christmas and share how my Christmas day went.

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!

I'm not anorexic!

Some high school friends of mine kept saying that I'm a potential anorexic. I disagree. A little. Or not. Whatever.

Am I anorexic?

I still eat though. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and most of the time I even have snacks in between.

They started telling me that while we were eating 

in the baptismal reception of one of our friend's baby.

I ate these:

Fish Fillet w/ Tartar Sauce and Carbonara

Buko Pandan

Oh yes, that two cakes were mine: Conti's Chocolate Mousse and Mango Bravo.

I had 2 slices of Mango Bravo btw.

So, how did I become anorexic? I just said my diet's ruined again but it's okay since it was my first real meal for the day. I only had whole wheat bread and yogurt for breakfast at 11 AM.

I AM NOT ANOREXIC. 

May anorexic bang bilog ang mukha??? Hahaha!

Conti's cakes are yum yum!

My diet's ruined!

My diet for this week has been ruined. I have a no-rice diet for the past couple of days only eating whole wheat bread for lunch and dinner and drinking water and yogurt drink for snack. 

Last Thursday, my high school friends and I had super late lunch-super early dinner at Pepper Lunch in Powerplant. Super early and super late because it was already past 3 PM.

Here's what I ate that day:

Curry Beef Pepper Rice

I don't really mind ruining my diet for this. I just considered Thursday as my cheat day just so I could get away from eating rice. Pepper Lunch is worth the "cheat"! I have been craving this for a month now and I'm just so happy that I get to eat with friends there. It's not enjoyable eating alone especially if it's as delicious as Pepper Lunch. Thank you to Katrina Lozano for the treat! I want to try GOMA (their new dessert) but yeah, diet. I even avoided the best dessert ever: Molten Chocolate Cake w/ Soft Ice Cream! Grrrrr. I'm gonna go back next week for this. I swear!

If you haven't tried this yet, then you better go and see what I'm talking about. You can visit Pepper Lunch at Powerplant Mall in Makati City and they recently opened a new branch at Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong City. 

And then today, I went out with my Mom and my cousin to buy some gifts for my Mom's office mates in Shangri-La. 

Here's what I ate today for lunch:

Tender Bob's Baby Back Ribs

Scrumptious! Really really love this one. Although I was actually wanting to eat at Pepper Lunch again and let my Mom and cousin taste for themselves what I've been talking about at home, I just let my Mom decide instead plus I don't feel like smelling food afterwards. :)

Oh, unlike last Thursday, I didn't finish up my rice. I hardly ate half of it. The Baby Back Ribs however, it was gone in less than 15 minutes. It looked actually small in this photo.

There goes my diet. I'm justifying cheating by thinking that I burned the calories already from all the walking and stuff and I'm not gonna eat dinner anyways. Really. I'm just gonna say hello to my Nestle Yogurt Drink tonight. IF I get hungry.

Her first day.

As I've mentioned in my earlier entry, my friend already arrived yesterday at 4 AM. My 2 friends and I who are going to pick her up and her brother at the airport were late by an hour cos their flight weren't supposed to arrive until 5:05 AM. PAL schedules are either super early or super late. Never on time.

We weren't that late, we arrived before 6 AM at the airport. Went straight to their house in QC to dislodge their luggage and pick up their parents. Kuya Paul drove their car with their parents and Kat rode with us. We had breakfast at Pancake House in Metrowalk. It was a good 1 and a half drive because of the super heavy traffic yesterday.

We were all starving when we got there  and we all ordered Beef Tapa except for Kat's mom who ordered Omelette instead. After about an hour of eating, we went our separate ways. Us 4 headed to Apple's dorm to pass an hour of waiting for the opening of the malls.

10 AM we headed on to Megamall to buy leggings. Only the two Katrinas bought cos as much as I want to, I don't really have the budget to buy anything (except for food) at the moment.

Then we went to Shangri-La to watch The Day The Earth Stood Still at 12:20 PM screening. I'm going to write a review about that movie later.

Ate soup and some dimsum at Mongkok after. The service yesterday there sucked bigtime! We were all irritated because first, 2 of us (Abs and Apol) didn't really get enough decent sleep and 2 of us (Kat and I) didn't sleep AT ALL, second, we only asked for house water and we asked for it more than 3 times before they served it to us, third, Apol ordered Buchi, we waited for more than 15 minutes and we followed it up after that only to find out that we have to wait for another 15-20 minutes because they just cooked it so cancelled it and asked for the bill instead. We waited another 5 minutes for the bill to arrive. Annoyed, irritated and pissed we paid the exact amount and didn't leave them any tip! Here's the greatest part of all, there weren't even that many guests eating! There were only about 3-4 other tables occupied with only 3-5 persons sitting. How great a service is that?

Moving on, we strolled around for a couple of minutes before deciding to retire. Our group driver, drove us all home. Kat first, me second and Apol third. Heavy traffic as usual. Thank you big time Abs!

When I got home at around 6 PM, I just ate a bowl of Cheerios, brushed my teeth, changed my clothes and hit the sack already. I slept for a good 14-15 hours! I was so sleepy and tired that I didn't even have the energy to accompany my mom to her nail spa appointment earlier today at 10 AM.

I have a couple of things to blog about today so I'll get started with the others.

See you!