Thank you 2016!!! We look forward to what 2017 will bring...

At the start of this year, I remember creating 2 goals for myself.

First Goal:

Only 3 Personal Trips with Sofia (as 2015, which you can read about here got a bit too hectic with all the flying I had to do as part of my work). DONE

I told Fi we could only go on 3 trips together, and she chose them really well.

1. Taipei

We celebrated my birthday weekend here so she really didn't have a choice.
#37inTaipei

2. Europe - 

This was my concession to Fi for being away so much. 

I let her plan her own itinerary in Paris and she did really well. You can check out Sofia's tips on Things to do in Paris for Kids here.

Not only did we do Paris... we did Pisa: Read post here.

Cinque Terre: Read post here.

Riomaggiore

Monterosso Al Mare

Vernazza

Manarola

Firenze: Read post here.

Mercato San Lorenzo. Shopaholic like mom.

 

3. And for Sofia's last trip, she asked for a Legoland Birthday trip to Singapore. 

(Sorry, no post on this yet). 

We did Brick or Treat after the Waterpark in Legoland.

Sofia planned the whole Singapore itinerary.
It was made all the more special since she was allowed
to play in the "IKEA SMALAND PLAYGROUND"
for the LAST TIME... twice!!! 

Just like Performance Management where I work... the personal trips came out to be a 3+1.

We did a very impromptu weekend trip to Hong Kong to help my future sister in law plan their Hong Kong wedding (which BTW is still up in the air). Read post here.

We love our future sister in law... but she doesn't like sharing her
Salted Egg French Toast. In fairness, masarap talaga.

Second Goal: Blog at least once a week. DONE. 94 posts in 2016 if I am able to finish this one. So let me breeze through the rest of my highlights.

Work still continued to take me places. 

If I'm not mistaken, I think I did 25 different work trips, squeezed into 15. I get 2 for 1 on my trips since I am now smart enough to do my Singapore mtgs during the layover for the none direct flights. Even for business trips, I am a sucker for a good deal. Hahaha.

Singapore

Vietnam

Malaysia

Indonesia

Thailand

I visited a new place, Myanmar, and I loved it. I was lucky enough to visit thrice. Read post here.

Yangon

Bagan

The secret to success at your job (well at least in my case)... is loving what you do and loving the people you work with.

I am lucky enough to work with this team that feels like family.
Complete with our dad, my kids and my pesky brother. Hahaha.
You know who you are.

My mantra for 2016 was "Dream. Then Do." 

If I were to refine it further, it would be "Dream Big, because You Can Do It!" (thank you Nike!)

It goes hand in hand with stretching your creativity to its limits, and let me
tell you... there are none.

I learned how to make my own Jewelry in Bali.

I also developed myself to myself to be a leather artisan and entrepreneur.

Wanderlust Sandals has expanded into Ballerines and leather accessories.
I'm so proud of what we achieved in our first year:
3 styles, 11 colors, 300 pairs sold, 3 styles in the pipeline

I now think I can make anything. Seriously.
Some ideas just need more honing than others.

I learned how to make scented candles too.
Thank you Tita Joy for generously teaching us your craft.

Lastly, I would say, this year was about Adulting. (Such a Millennial phrase)

It was both an honor (and a shock) to be asked to be a Godmother at
Peachy and Karlo's wedding, but I am very happy to be there for them.

On the same topic, I was happy to finally meet my cousin Jay, who has
literally been "ahente ng gastos" who has been aiding me in
Condo Hoarding because I started planning for my retirement
12 years and 2 months from now.

Excited for what 2017 will bring. I already see Hong Kong, Barcelona, Lyon, Paris, Madrid, Segovia, Marrakesh, Casablanca, Sri Lanka, more Singapore and definitely more Legoland in the plans, with tickets included. Clearly we don't have a 3-trip rule next year. 

So that makes 94 posts this year. Hope your 2017 will be just as exciting as ours. just saying.

HAPPY 2017!!!

Recession Coffee The first Pay-What-You-Want Craft Coffee Shop I've visited

My sister and I normally have lunch in Eastwood on weekends, because it's the only place I'm willing to drive to without a driver. We normally do lunch in one of our usual places, sometimes we also get our nails done, and when we are out of the house too long, we also need to find good coffee.

I like trying new coffee places and Recession Coffee inside Digital Walker has always been on my must try list.

We were a bit confused though when we tried to order, and we saw the sign below. It was also confusing for our Barista, because my sister handed her her PWD ID so she could avail of the discount.

Then the Barista explained to us that it was a Pay What You Want concept, and we should just adjust the PWD discount by ourselves. It was a bit embarrassing trying to figure out what to pay, without knowing what you're getting and looking like a cheap freeloader. Hahaha, I even asked the lady if I could try their coffee first but she said that was't allowed.

We decided to pay a Php100 bucks each for our coffee initially, then adjusted what we wanted to pay through the tip jar.

The flat white is quite good. I love it that they even make an effort with the latte art even if you order it to go.

They also have Scout's Honor Cookies and Pastries but for those, you can't pay what you want. just saying.


Recession Coffee
Orchard Road, Eastwood Mall
Libis, Quezon City, 
1110 Metro Manila, Philippines

Cucina Peruvia

Since our office moved to Fort, I've had a 10% bump in my close to non-existent weekday social life. It's much easier now to meet up with friends for dinner, because all I need to do is stay in the office until dinner, then I walk to where we want to eat.

One of the places we tried was Cucina Peruvia because I thought we shad a company discount, which unfortunately was no longer honored when we tried it out. Interestingly, the owner/chef is Jem's cousin but it was also her first time to try it out.

Dinner with Mau who was in for a week from KL.

Mau arrived early, so I just walked down from the office to catch-up with her, unfortunately, the starter recommended by the server was so bad (some fried quinoa chicken balls) we were tempted to change restaurants, but we were too lazy to go elsewhere.

Things looked up after Jem arrived because she did her research and we ordered dishes that had good reviews.

Potato with sauce starter. Just ok, but much better than the first dish.

Now, the mains were really good! Servings were very big too!

Arroz Verde Con Pollo - Highly Recommended!

Lomo Saltado - Highly Recommended too!
Imagine Salpicao with Potatoes. Yummy.

Brochetas de Pollo - Highly Recommended too.

Honesty, you can live on those three dishes alone.

Adobo Peruvia had good reviews, but I just preferred the other dishes better.
In my opinion, you can skip this unless you are looking for more variety.

We wanted dessert, but when the same server that recommended the sucky starter suggested something, we decided not to trust her taste so we left instead. Hahaha.

So nice to see you Mau. Thanks for treating. Ivan owes us a birthday treat!  just saying.

Cucina Peruvia

Ground Floor, Bonifacio One Technology Tower

Rizal Drive Corner 31st Street, 

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Foie Gras Sushi and Sushi for Meat Lovers at Hokkai Don

I first tried Foie Gras Sushi when I saw an offer for it on sale at the Food Hall of Siam Paragon. You can read about my post on that here. So when I was back in Bangkok, I tried to look for it again, not realising that more than one place serves it. 

This time around, I had a chance to try Hokkai Don also at the Siam Paragon Food Hall, but closer in location to Gourmet Market. Interestingly, they had much more meat options from their sushi menu, which of course, I had to try.

The Foie Gras Sushi is less generous that what I remember from the other
place, but it was well cooked even when eaten cold, and enough to satisfy.

I must say I definitely need to remember the name of the place this time. This deserves a second visit. just saying.


Hokkai Don Siam Paragon
อาคาร Siam Paragon Rama I Rd, 
Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, 
Thailand

After You's Cheddar Cheese Shibuya Toast

I've tried After You's Famous Honey Shibuya Toast before, which you can read about here. but we always had to order it to go, because we had absolutely no patience for the line, but this time around, I was so tired from shopping that I actually welcomed the wait, since there were seats for waiting anyway. In fact, I wasn't really hungry, I just wanted to sit. Hahaha.

Browsing through the menu, I saw that they had Cheddar Cheese Shibuya Toast. It was a no-brainer. I definitely wanted to try this!

Absolutely delicious! I didn't remember the toast to taste drenched in butter (in a good way).

Since I wasn't hungry, I just ate all the good parts!

Next time, I will just come back when I'm tired so I won't mind the wait because I need more Cheddar Cheese Shibuya Toast. just saying.


After You Dessert Cafe
Ground floor, Siam Paragon 
991, Rama 1 Rd., Pathum Wan 
Pathumwan, Bangkok 

Sharky's Deli and Restaurant Myanmar

If Manila has Santis, Yangon has Sharky's. It's a deli with a full service restaurant too, and they have really yummy food, some of which you can also buy from the deli.

We first tried Sharky's when Angge served us their
Crunchy Cashew Nut Butter with Sea Salt at breakfast
in her home. It was so good as an open sandwich with
bananas that both Anna and I wanted to bring some home.

Then we over shopped and decided we could live without buying any. Hahaha.

I was intrigued and tempted to buy their different pates too, so we ordered it
for dinner.

The highlight of the meal was the Foie Gras Salad.
It's the first time I've seen pan seared Foie Gras top a
salad this generously. Sharky's actually didn't want to serve
any salad because they didn't have lettuce, but when we
were hell bent on ordering the foie gras anyway, they got
some alfafa sprouts for us from the deli.

We also had roast chicken...

Sausage, and Pizza... then we decided to have Xiao Long Bao for our second
dinner. Needless to say, there were a lot of leftovers for Jo. Hahaha.

Maybe next time we can just come here for the Foie Gras Salad, so we can have a proper dinner elsewhere and try more of Yangon's yummy restaurants. just saying.

Sharky's 

Dhammazedi Road, 

Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)