What Made Our Stress Go Away

We left home earlier than usual for our appointment. We wanted to eat a heavy breakfast because of our back to back appointment. The lifts in the building could take so long, so we wanted to avoid rushing to eat lunch.

We made good time from our home to the hospital. One of those lucky days when traffic wasn't horrid. Our well made plans though was messed up. It took us almost an hour to find parking space. The hospital sequestered customer parking space for their staff and additional space had reserve cones for "those who own it" said the guard.

Good thing Miggy came too, so we were able to split up. Sweetie continued to look for parking, while Miggy and I went to buy some food. But, guess what? Sweetie beat us to the cafe because the elevator that kept going to our floor was under maintenance. Gahhh. Of course, it took awhile to go up to the clinic because not all the lifts were working.

I was so stressed and tired by the time we got to the doctor's office. I was lucky I didn't wait long to be called. Ahh, but the wait for Miggy's turn for his doctor took longer and I basically just conked out on his arm. 

When we finished our hospital errands, I requested to eat somewhere else. I just wanted to forget the horrid time we had looking for parking. We headed to One Ayala and dined at Secret Recipe.

We try to visit it once a quarter (we're rarely in the area). We have fond memories of dining at Secret Recipe in Singapore/Malaysia and Indonesia, so it's a family favorite. The boys are following no meat Fridays and got seafood. I got carbonara.

We each tried interesting beverages. Sweetie got kiwi lime tea. I forgot what was mine called but it was berries with black tea and mint. Miggy got a shake.

We just got some cake for takeaway since we didn't want to get stuck in traffic going home. Traffic was heavy but moving past Magallanes Interchange. SLEX was moving so slow, so we used the Skyway. We were home right in time for my plant watering schedule. 

Take care of yourself, your pets and plants! The heat has been really bad. I just hope the hospital realizes they have a really bad parking problem. We heard a lot of people complaining the whole day. I took the initiative to send them a complaint through their website. Oh well.

#BeKins #StaySafe

Tried Secret Recipe at One Ayala!

I know One Ayala has been open for awhile now. We're kinda slow when it comes to visiting new places! We had a chance to finally visit One Ayala a few weeks ago. What drew us was to dine at Secret Recipe. It's one of the restos we frequented in Singapore. I first tried it in Jakarta and had the chance to also visit their KL branch (where it supposedly originated). 

We were pleasantly surprised we were able to park easily since it was a Saturday. We had a doctor's appointment and decided to have lunch at Secret Recipe. We were surprised to see that our local Secret Recipe had a very different look compared to the branches in other countries. Every nook and cranny is "Instagrammable" haha. We sat across the cake display. I am always mesmerized by cakes (biggest one I've seen is Calea in Bacolod). Anyway, I digest. 

We ordered these -

To be honest, I found the dishes here much more delicious than in Singapore. My original favorite Secret Recipe was the one in Jakarta. I'm glad our branch here is so much better. I ordered carbonara and had Miggy try it. He said it was delicious and Miggy approved. I didn't get to try Miggy and Jay's dishes, but they said it was really good. 

Of course, we had dessert. I had a hard time choosing, but eventually decided to get a slice of red velvet cake. I've been craving it for about a month now. It did not disappoint. Here's what we ordered -

We learned a lot from Argel about how the restaurant came about. She mentioned that the chef trained for a couple of months in their headquarters. They also pushed to make the restaurant more decorative. Secret Recipe branches in other countries are just usually white all over. The one we have at One Ayala is special. I guess the crew appreciated sharing our experience. They gave us a slice of complimentary dark chocolate cake. It was so good!

We got lucky with our bill. The payment method we used provided 50% off. I was also able to use my PWD discount. We walked off what we ate by exploring the mall. We look forward to coming back to dine at Secret Recipe again. We'll probably go when Filbar's is open. 

#BeKind #StaySafe