WE FINALLY MEET, PAPA JOHN'S

This was the picture that made me realize how badly I needed a haircut

            Pizza is my own personal Kryptonite. When I get even a small dose of it, I'm out of commission within minutes. Sadly, that's how my body works. I'm hyper-acidic, so it's something I've had to deal with for quite some time now. The Pizza that hits me the hardest is Yellow Cab, which unfortunately for me, is my favorite pizza chain in the Philippines. 

         Despite my troubles with Italy's gift to mankind, I was psyched when I found out Papa John's Pizza was opening in the Philippines earlier this year. Whenever Rina and I would talk about going there, she would just say something like, "I don't want you getting sick. Let's go somewhere else for now". Months passed and Rina and I never got around to visiting their restaurant in Galleria. 


        And then, a month or so ago, my dear friend Rain tells me that they opened a branch just down the street from my office. So all bets were off. One Friday evening, a few of my workmates and I got done with our work early and decided to make take that jeepney ride down the road to the newly opened Papa John's. Rina said it was fine, because she was busy with our baby Rain, and my dear friend Rain had her Digicam.. so we were set!  


       But knowing that it could spell doom for my fragile stomach, I realized this what Frodo must have felt when he brought the ring into Mordor.  

BANG FOR THE BUCK: HAINANESE DELIGHTS

          Rina and I have a tradition, where we go on what she calls a "Parlor Date" (but naturally I call it a "Barber Date"), where I get a P100 haircut and she gets a P100 pedicure. Unfortunately for my wife, fate threw a monkey wrench in her plans, because the resident Pedicurist, hadn't arrived yet. So instead, she decided to do a little window shopping (You never know when you'll need an extra window *rim shot*). 
   
       Word of advice, never fiddle with an electronic device or anything that will distract you when getting a haircut. Otherwise you just mind look up at the mirror suddenly and not recognize the person looking back at you. I know the barber asked me if I wanted to trim my bangs a bit, but don't recall ever giving him the go-signal to lop a big chunk off (Darn you Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter!).

        Anyways, not happy with my hair, Rina went with me to go shopping for a new bonnet and a few other things we would need for Christmas. As we were about to leave, I asked Rina to call up our helper to let her know that we would be on our way home so she could prepare our lunch. Since the holidays was coming, I wanted to tighten our belts for the mean time and not eat out so much. However, as we made our way to the escalator I got distracted by a sign of a store a few feet in front of us.

       Hainanese Delights.

      I stopped in my tracks and said, "Rina.. Put down the phone."

DISTRITO NIGHTS

                  I've mentioned in the past that I'm a big fan of Mercato Centrale, but the Midnight version, not so much. However, when I found out that Anton Diaz and RJ Ledesma, the same people behind were coming up with a night market in the heart of Makati, I was ecstatic! Considering I'm in Makati five times a week, how awesome would it be to have a mini "Mercato Centrale", literally just a five minute drive away from my office? 


           Since it opened I've been there twice already, so I can confirm that the answer to that question is, "Pretty Frickin' Awesome!!"

JAPANESE-WESTERN FUSION AT MA MAISON

            Just so you guys know, I don't live in Greenbelt. I know I have a lot of posts from Greenbelt, but that's due to three reasons: The first being I lived two blocks away from it for two years, the second is because I've worked in that area for the past five years, and lastly, Greenbelt 3 Cinemas is our default movie theater of choice when Rina and I watch a movie, so it's more convenient to eat there before a movie (The fourth reason is I'm actually lazy to go looking for anywhere else). That being said, during a stroll along the area with some officemates, I noticed a new restaurant had opened up, named "Ma Maison". 

          From the name alone, I couldn't figure out what cuisine they were serving. I knew "Maison" was French (isn't it?) but the word "Ma" before it, threw in a for a loop. And there were some Asian characters that confused me even more. Further inquiries helped me discover that Ma Maison is actually a Japanese-Western Fusion restaurant. 

        One fine working day, when My Giant Joel and my friend, the lovely Donna got sick of the usual suspects for lunch, we decided to go to Greenbelt for something different for lunch. And it helped that we had just gotten our 13 month bonus (May it Rest In Peace.. Sniff).  

WE WERE A FINALIST AT THE 2011 PHILIPPINE BLOG AWARDS

         Last July 4, I got an email from "The Philippine Blog Awards", telling me that my blog was nominated for one of the "Major Categories" (I went out on a limb and suspected it had something to do with food). I was a little taken aback because, The Pickiest Eater In The World had only been barely a year in existence and to get recognized by a body as prestigious sounding as "The Philippine Blog Awards" was a big deal. Imagine, one or maybe more of my readers liked my blog so much that he/she took time off from their day to point the panel of judges to my blog, because they deemed it among the best in the country today. Of course the feeling was exhilarating.  


      Then I find out that it was my wife that nominated me.


     Apparently a friend of hers told her about the awards, and suggested that she place my name into the hat, seeing what would happen.


      After confirming the nomination via email, that was pretty much it. Months went by, and I didn't hear a peep from them. Then recently I saw a list of blogs that made it to the best blogs of Nuffnang or something like that. For some reason I assumed that it was the same thing as the Philippine Blog Awards. When I double checked the Philippine Blog Awards site, it said that the awards night was December 3, and since it was mid-November, I thought my humble blog didn't live up to the standards of the Blog awards. I thought to myself, maybe I'll just try again next year.


     Then on December 2, the day before the Philippine Blog Awards Night, I get an email congratulating me for being a finalist in the Food & Beverage category on the National level.     


    So I called up Rina to tell her the good news, and that we needed to go to the awards night the next day. 


     And all she could say was..


     "What am I gonna wear!?"


     *Sigh*... Women. 


    

AN ODE TO MY YAYA

Parts lifted from an old facebook album

This is me and my Yaya Kit when I was four years old. 

        I wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to someone who has a very special place in my heart. This is the woman that changed my diaper when I was a baby. She took me to school when I was a child and waited for me until the bell rang. She would cook me my favorite meal upon request. Plain and simply, she took care of me. I wouldn't be the man I am today without her unconditional love and selfless nurturing. Who is she, you ask?

          She's my Yaya.

RINA'S GREENBELT DATE WITH EDWARD, JACOB &.. FELIX!?

         Convincing Rina to leave the house without Baby Rain is next to impossible. But I can't blame her either. Rain is still just one month and five days old, and we're both first time parents, so even a trip to the bathroom that takes longer than it should can induce the feeling of panic. But even when Rain was still a little speck in her mommy's tummy, Rina was already making plans on who would take care of our daughter on the weekend of November 20. 

     Why? Because Breaking Dawn Part 1 would be showing that weekend. 

      I'm not ashamed to admit that I've read all the Twilight Books, and save for the first one, I actually enjoyed them. The movies, on the other hand, are another story. But Rina and her sister Chaikka are crazy over both, and both were asking me to reserve tickets for "Breaking Dawn" as early as the closing credits of the midnight screen of "Eclipse" in 2010.

        I bought a voucher from CashCashPinoy to the restaurant, "Felix" in Greenbelt 5 a couple of months back, hoping to use it during one of our movie trips. (After a few experiences in different cinemas, we resolved that, with its online reservation and forgive me for a lack of a better term but its "Classier" crowd, Greenbelt 3 Cinemas would always be our default choice when wanting to watch a movie). 

     So since everything just seemed to be timed so perfectly, Rina finally got to go on her date with Edward, Jacob, and Felix. 

    (Oh and yeah, I was there too.)

WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES, JAMBA JUICE!

Warning: Long intro up ahead

           So it's been almost a month since Rina gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Rain, who with the grace of God was delivered in good health for both Mother and baby. With no disrespect to all the other babies out there, but she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my entire life (I'm biased, I know). I'll be writing about that experience soon, but this time, I wanted to share with you another story. 


      Before Baby Rain was born, the baby of our family was our little Shi Tzhu, "Schatzi". He has accompanied us in a number of our food adventures, most notably during our trip to Uncle Cheffy and most notably, during Mercato Centrale's "Doggie Love" days. Schatzi would sleep in our room with us (not in our bed though), and before we would turn the lights out, I would give him his "Denta" treat, which he anxiously waits for every night 


      The night Rain was born was only Schatzi's second time to sleep without us in the same room with him (The first time was when we were in Singapore). According to our helper, he cried the entire night.


      As soon as we got out of the hospital we stayed a couple of weeks in my parents place in Antipolo. We brought Schatzi along with us so he could play with his brother, Spike (owned by MY brother, Ryan). Our plan was to keep him busy so he doesn't feel like we're neglecting him. With Spike there, it was easy to keep Schatzi pre-occupied (The two of them would rumble around to the point where they look like just one big ball of fur). But as soon as we got back home, it was clear that Schatzi was looking for the attention that we would shower on him in the past. 


     With Baby Rain in still such a delicate stage, we don't allow Schatzi in the room anymore. In fact, we don't allow him upstairs anymore. I love Schatzi deeply but it's obvious that he's not the most hygenic creature in the world. You can tell he's feeling a little bit sad, yet he lights up the minute one of us calls out his name. 


      Last Sunday morning, Rina and I decided to take Schatzi for a change. It wasn't easy leaving Baby Rain and home, but she was sleeping so soundly, and we knew we would only be gone for an hour or so, so we headed off to one of our favorite places to take him, Bonifacio High Street.


     I realized it would be the best time to try the recently opened juice bar in the new section of High Street, the world famous "Jamba Juice".  

(warned ya it was a long intro)

THE CHIC-BOY MADNESS

           The weeks before Rina gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Renee' Amelie aka Rain, we would have to go for her check ups with her doctor in QC. Naturally, we would eat out immediately after, which is how we ended up going to "Kanzhu Hand Pulled Noodles" (I'm still craving for their Lamb Dumplings) and "Size Matters" (I still need to try their "Breakfast In Bed" with an English Muffin). We usually head out to QC by 8am so we can be at the Doc's office by around 9am. It gets really packed, so we try to make it a point to get there as early as possible, just to make sure our lunch plans don't get hassled. Unfortunately during this trip, the doctor texted Rina after we had left already, saying that it would be best for us to get to her office by 12noon instead of 9am, throwing a monkey wrench in our lunch plans. 


      Instead, to pass the time, we decided to visit my grandfather who happens to live in QC as well. We then decided to head off to the doctor's office by 11:30, to get there, "Early". Unfortunately, all her other patients were thinking the same thing, so technically we were already late. The receptionist told us we would be waiting for roughly around an hour and a half or so, and advised us to get some lunch nearby and wait for her text. 


     With my growling stomach starting to alarm the other patients in the room, we headed downstairs where we saw the huge sign directly in front of our doctor's building.. "Chic-Boy". 

BFAST & BFURIOUS: THE MYSTERIES OF THE AYALA TRIANGLE III

This is what we did the day before Rina gave birth.. Coincidence? 

Well, there's a good chance Rina stuffed herself so much, 

that there just wasn't any room for the food and a 6lb baby anymore

           Just last week I found myself alone in the office early in the morning, starving, and dreaming of a breakfast buffet. I asked some of the members of the Pickiest Eater facebook page for suggestions of places with breakfast buffets, and a few came up with some very good recommendations. It was Genevieve Emeroso's suggestion that really stuck with me. Gen simply said "Chef Laudico", and just like that, bells went ringing in my head, and I remembered been wanting to go to Chef Laudico's "BFast" at Ayala Triangle for the longest time (Thanks Gen!)!


        After seeing my post, Rina too was attacked by breakfast buffet cravings, and naturally blamed me. She said since I was the one who put the thoughts in her head, it was my responsibility to get them out. So being the dutiful husband I am, right after hearing mass in preparation for the birth of our daughter Rain, we set off on a beautiful Sunday morning to Ayala Triangle  for our long awaited assault on Chef Laudico's breakfast BFast Buffet...


 For what might be our last Pickiest Eater adventure in a long time..