I Will Always Love You...... Whitney

And I'm realizing that. You're not coming back. And it's finally hit me all at once...

Been singing her songs since I was a kid. 

Hearing this song, made me so sad. Just felt like i lost a friend. 

I will remember you Whitney not by your tragedy , 

but by your tremendous talent that made a mark in the industry, and in our hearts. 

U've always asked the most sought-after and 

exasperating questions in behalf of the sad and heartbroken. 

You will always be loved....

Sushi Samba: A Taste of Music in Delectable Rolls

The kind of fun one has come to expect when you have a group of friends, a microphone and a song list that could rival your iTunes collection knows no bounds. And as any veteran music aficionado would tell you, nothing beats a place like Red Box when the urge to belt out a ballad hits you.

“Red Box is just as much about music as it is about sharing and celebrating. It’s been the venue for birthdays, reunions and even wedding proposals. We have grown to become a destination that is recognized for being a place for shared celebrations and we want to continue to be recognized that way by evolving our offerings to make it more relevant to our market,” shares Walden Chu, Managing Director of Red Box.

Their bid to elevate the music experience in a country that loves singing as much as the Philippines does is evident. The technology behind it unsurpassed, their interiors are notable and the food—the oft forgotten aspect of this favorite social pastime—is widely lauded.

“Apart from having the widest selection of songs, we are also known for our ala carte and buffet offerings. It’s rare for a music destination to put this much focus on food, but being a place for shared celebrations, it has always been an integral part of what Red Box has to offer,” he adds.

Introducing Sushi Samba

With the intent of bringing the best of what the world has to offer in terms of experience and flavor into one destination, Red Box is now adding their Sushi Samba collection to add to their list of gourmet selections.

The menu says it’s the craziest, tastiest sushi rolls in town—and indeed it is. In an era where sushi bars in cosmopolitan cities across the globe have become the dining destination du jour, Red Box now brings the same experience to the country by combining the best of Japanese cuisine with their brand of creativity, fun and youthfulness.

“Think of your basic California maki,” Chu explains. “It took the classic sushi roll and adapted it to the American palate. It’s essentially what we’re doing here. We’ve diversified the classic sushi roll in such a way that makes it bigger, younger and more fun.”

Conceptualized by a Japanese trained sushi chef, the rolls are notable for using only sushi-grade ingredients and for being able to creatively satiate the diverse palates of Red Box patrons.

“The menu is initially available in our newest branch in Eastwood, but you can certainly expect that we will be rolling it out in our Greenbelt and Cebu branches soon,” he adds. “Because when it comes to food, Red Box knows that creativity, diversity and size does matter.”

Invading the radio stations and music televisions, Katy Perry’s “Firework” is also the name of Sushi Samba’s scrumptiously deep fried roll made with shrimp tempura, kani, tobiko, combined with anago aburi sauce.

Carl Douglas has popularized this song way back in 1974 and Sushi Samba brings back the classic beat with their very own “Kung Fu Fighter”—a delicious roll that daringly combines salmon, ikura, and shrimp tempura.

It’s forever summer with this roll named after Madonna’s hit, La Isla Bonita, which is made with an enticing combination of tobiko, avocado, kani, itokagi flakes, and salmon skin.

Beyonce’s Bootylicious may be out of the charts but Sushilicious is definitely in—the Sushi Samba’s menu. This luscious roll is specially made with salmon, unagi, avocado, shrimp tempura, 

and topped with melted cheese.

Entice your palate with the delectable combination of unagi, mango, kani and anago sauce that will leave singing to the sweet tune of Michael Jackson’s classic hit, “The Way You Make Me Eel”

A delicious combination of savory shrimp tempura and tobiko with aburi sauce complemented by the addition of tangy mango gives Walking on Sunshine—Sushi Samba’s best selling roll—a dose of sunshine.

* * * * *

Red Box Rock.Dine.Roll is open from Mondays to Sundays. For inquiries and reservations, please dial: 7576188 (Greenbelt ), 3557921 (Eastwood), (032) 4171675 ( Cebu ), and Red Box Star 9018833 (Trinoma). For other announcements, visit and like the Red Box Rock.Dine.Roll official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Box-Rock-Dine-Roll.

APPETITE Magazine Anniversary presents: Taste the World

I received a personal email from Appetite Magazine, inviting me for the Launch of APPETITE Restaurant Festival. Several Restaurants will be participating in the said event, including C2, Cave Provencal, Claw Daddy, Cravings, Crustasia, Cyma, Green Tomato, Lemongrass Pages Deli, Pepper Lunch, Pho Hoa, Secret Recipe, Sing Hainanese Chicken House, and a lot more. 

APPETITE Magazine will be celebrating its anniversary this October. In line with this, they will be having their yearly event, Appetite Restaurant Festival, which will be launched at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall on October 13, 2011. Spread the word foodies, and see you at the Festival! 

Not included in the RSVP? You can still be a part of the event. Read the details below.....

Also, like then on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/appetitemag

Stuffs that I Miss Doing

I miss eating and cooking decent food! Whether its trying-to-be-healthy, decadent, man vs. food quality and quantity, pretentious fine dining, fusion, imposing authentic, or whatever fits my category of decent "enough" food. I even miss fastfood! I miss my own cooking.. Seems like I've been eating only for sustenance or to aid hunger.... Should I start doing "Eat, Pray, and Love?" :)

I Love Vintage!

Undeniably.. 

 I have this fascination with vintage stuffs. Vintage fashion, history, trinkets, music, icons, and all that jazz.I go crazy over vintage-inspired flicks, though they said, my fave movies, are the ones that  are nice to sleep onto. 

This started out when I had a peek inside a vintage American House in Baguio. From then on, my fascination with vintage stuffs became more and more expansive. 

From the 20s flapper girl and mafia boy with a tommy gun, 
Bonnie and Clyde theme, 
Neo-Gothic with Art Deco and Baroque fushion
Audrey Hepburn
50s and 60s stepford wife and diner girl, 
50s and 60s pinup girl
50s traveler, carpooling, or boho lifestyle,
70s Stevie Nicks Bohemian 
and the list doesn't end there.

I usually do photowalks everywhere but just using my point-and-shoot. And thinking of vintage photography concepts are always included when doing photowalks. This is where I get our creative juices going that more and more vintage concepts and ideas are overflowing. Owning just a simple point and shoot camera maybe a leverage in this case.

So since I wasn't born on the yesteryears era, and just want to have a delusional simulation that I have lived during the bygone era, I have edited some of the photos we have taken o everywhere and edited it using Photoshop. 

My obsession with vintage is not merely because of the "trend". I believe that vintage is more of a substance and style than a trend. Trends do fade, but style is eternal.

In the future, with the help of my photog friends, i hope we could make our concepts possible, and much better if they could exceed our expectations... U

(my apologies for the novice touch ups) :)

Our Ongpin Invasion for Dumplings and Rings: An Empyrean of Dim Sums and Emporium of Jewelries

(Sequel included: Tinderella's Search for her Shoes)

Twas Sunday morning when Armie/Jhonnie and I decided to meet up at Ongpin. As always, we're the usual tandems in some culinary journeys whenever our asawas would go abroad for work. We share the same tastes in food. And whenever were together, we would always devour ourselves with food, food, food, and nothing but food. You will never see us going to the gym together haha. Instead, you will always see us pigging out somewhere.....

So since my friend will be out shopping for her wedding rings and her fiance was out of the country for work; additionally, she was craving for some Chinese cuisine, she tagged me along to Ongpin, a perfect place for dumplings and rings. An empyrean of dim sums and emporium of jewelries.

So our blitzkrieg begins....

She arrived 30-40 minutes earlier, so she was able to shop for her wedding rings first while waiting for me. After a series of exchanging text messages about each other's whereabouts, and being caught up in the middle of the traffic jam, plus my dorm is from Valenzuela pa, i arrived at around 12:30. Na tomjones ang bubbly bride so we had lunch at the Old Maxim Tea House.

The Old Maxim Tea House.

Only thing that changed was the Logo.

The menu of MXT includes numerous dim sums,

congees, haofans, siopaos, rice toppings,

Roasts, and other Oriental viands etc.

While waiting for other food orders....

Picture2 muna ng wedding rings at ng mga kanya knyang aura.

Panalopi cruz!

Yebah! very chef's theme wedding talaga.

Nuptial rings served with shallots, scallions and sweet dumplings.

Sugar and spice, and everything nice.... :-)

Thirst quencher. Black Grass Jelly and Tapioca

In other words, Sago't Gulaman. hahaha

Han Sui Gok

A Royal Chinese dumpling made up of

ground pork wrapped in a sticky, gelatinous

rice, seasoned and fried. Its both sweet and savory

Ika nga ni Armie, an appetizer and dessert in one. :)

Chicken Feet Dim Sum

braised in sweet soy and spices

(bagong footscrub ang tiility kaya

super lambot at minus the callos hahaha)

Steamed Hakao for life.

Wrapped in glistening Ha Kao sheet.

Some just have plain whole shrimps inside.

Others were grounded and with spices and shoots.

Chinese Que-kiam

Ground pork and vegetables wrapped up

in bean curd sheets, glazed with sweet sauce.

The bean curd wrapper is much more delicate than

the ordinary pinoy kikiam.

It tastes like loh-bak actually,

only that loh-bak has more variants and sauces.

Stewed Turtle Soup

The meat, skin, and organs were all in the dish.

Tastes like bah kuh teh, because of the sweetness

and its herbal essence. You can taste the

szechuan peppercorns, ginger, scallions, star anise.

I wonder if they have cinnamon and ginseng,

I kinda tasted like there's something in it.

Don't have any idea if this is an aphrodisiac too...

(Ya know, some people would dare to

eat something beyond other's gastronomic tolerance

for the heck getting a long lasting hard on...teehee!)

Steamed Soy Chicken

Wasn't able to finish the whole plate

for i got so extremely full with all the dumplings already.

Dig in!!! Galit galit muna...

Attack!!

Tinatantya ko pa kung busog na ba ko.

Kota na c armie. ngsusuba na eh...

Can't remember how much our total bill was, but its reasonable. Its 52 pesos for each dim sum set plus the turtle soup (yup, also 52, such a low-tariff price for that, knowing that it's an exotic dish and rarely on a menu compare to fried frog legs). Very cheapo compare to the price of the menu of other Chinese restaurants like Tang's City, HapChan, and Mr. Choi; Although the ambience is underrated in comparison to the said restos. Its a typical dirtylooking chinese resto, which we all know, where the Chinese food tastes better and more authentic). Excellent place for those who want to have their bellies expanded but are on a tight budget.....We left MXT fully tummified and satisfied........

* * * * *

Tinderella's Search for her Shoes

The Sequel Continues

After eating, na-energize nanaman ang mga aligaga, so we hop in a cab and headed to Midtown Mall, Robinson's Ermita. Accompanied her to hunt for some wedding shoes. We went from store to store -- every shoe store in the mall -- Aldo, Charles and Keith, VNC, etc..... There are lots of nice pairs but Armie wanted mid-high heels, something comfortable for the long standing hours. Pain for the sake of vanity is out of the question, and obviously not applicable...

We were almost on the "brink of frustration" when we entered the Main Department Store of Robinsons. "Cge dito na nga lang".... We passed by the stalls of leather school shoes..We were jokingly saying "Teh, pag wala ka na tlgang nahanap, baka ang bagsak mo niyan, GIBI collection hahahhaha"...

Just a few meters away from another shoe stall, we saw a shelf of formals shoes, but we could barely scope for the designs. "Parang malakas un te"... As we gawked up the signage, twas "GIBI COLLECTION"...... Aura!! Tumbling! Sommersault!! Isa pang flying trapeze.... Tumbling ulit!! hahahhaa.. We never expected that GIBI would launch such a chic and classic collection. And in the first place we were jocular about the GIBI thing before we even saw the stall. In other words, we ate our own words...... bleh...

Perfect match sa peds..

Fabulosang Glitteratti..... pak!!

Chandelier type, strappy, mid-high heels

embelished with sparkling charms, and stones..

Perfect accessories for a simple long white bridal gown.

Very "A Whole New World" ang eksena..

Napaka shining, shimmering, splendid!!

The price is a steal!!... So Bb. (Busy bride/ Bubbly bride) Gandang Chairman dint think twice for seizing the opportunity, hence, she purchased the shoes. And to think of, that's almost close to the style of shoes that she has been scouting for months... Hitting two birds with one stone... Kudos!.....

At the end of the day, we went home bloated but gloated.... We're looking forward to hit Ongpin road some other day again........