Best Buffet Experience Ever!

We finally had a chance to get together with family yesterday and decided to try out a new buffet place we heard about from some YouTubers. Eating at a buffet place solves the issue of individual food preferences and dietary restrictions so we thought it was a good idea to try it out for our family get together.

Arrived bright and early at The Alley by Vikings in BGC and we all just took a tour of the place first to check out what kind of dishes they had available. It was honestly so hard to choose since there were so many options. Sweetie and I started with some Japanese food. The salmon and tuna sushi were really fresh and a good starting point.

It was a struggle to choose what to eat, but I was magnetized by the sisig with mayonnaise (this is how they usually prepare it in Visayas and Mindanao) and I wanted to try out the bagnet. My mistake was pairing it with adobo rice and soon enough I was full! The bagnet was perfect and I can't stop thinking about it until now (haha). I managed to try the pizza and pasta and would've loved to eat more if I wasn't full already from the sisig and bagnet. I skipped the Chinese and Thai dishes since that's always available in Singapore.

Video round-up of the yummy food at The Alley by Vikings

When I get a chance to eat there again I already have a list of what I'll try out - the salads, salisbury steak sizzling plate, quesadilla and I'll probably try some of the Chinese dishes too. For dessert I focused on the puto bungbong since I've been craving for it for some time now, but I'd like to try the cheesecakes and pastries. And yeah the coffee was good too. 

My Yoda Toy Collection

I've had this thing for aliens since I was a child. I was a young child when I watched Star Wars, ET and Star Trek. Later on I was also enamored by Alf! My Mom absolutely abhored my fascination for aliens and banned me from re-watching ET when I was pregnant with Miguel. 

Growing up I collected a lot of stuff, but most of it went under water during Typhoon Ondoy. After that it took me years before I started collected anything again. It was a colleague, Hadi, who actually started me on collected Yoda stuff. We had this contest at work where we had to decorate our team work spaces. We decided on Star Wars and I just came in one day and my desk was decorated based on the character of Yoda.

After that day I thought about it and realized I was ready to start collecting again. I decided on Yoda because he's my hero, I find him cute and I thought that it would be pretty limited compared to the other Star Wars characters. My collection was supposed to be limited to small Yoda figures, but it has expanded to other things because of family and friends who have been indulging my love for Yoda (thank you so much!).

I've been intending to make a catalogue of what I have, but I haven't had time to do it. Here's a short video of my collection which is in my home in Singapore (will find time to turn it into a Youtube video). It's been hard to make a new video since my shrine is quite cramped now and I have to find a way to expand the space. Some of my Yoda items are also in Manila.

Now about the Mandalorian baby Yoda... I'm still thinking whether I would collect that or stick to old Yoda hehe. What do you think?

Can't Live Without Pinoy Food

Since I got home a few weeks ago I've been eating more Pinoy dishes. One of the drawbacks about living abroad is the availability of more Filipino food options. There's a Filipino food stall in the mall near our home, but they have limited options. Here's a few favorites I've been nomnoming on again and again the last few weeks -

Barbecue (pork/tuna/hotdog)

Grilled bangus

Chicken (lechon manok/Don Hen buffalo wings/Max's fried chicken)

Kwek-kwek, fishball / other street food

Mojos

Silog (tocilog/tapsilog/longsilog)

Bakery Goods like Goldilocks/Red Ribbon/Becky's Kitchen (ensaymada, mamon and other yummy pastries

Sisig

Lumpia

 Makati Supermart spaghetti

Banana snacks (turon and banana cue)

Pinoy breakfast bread (Pandesal and Spanish bread)

















Fruit shakes (mango especially)

Baked scallops (my fave is from AA BBQ in Cebu)
















Ube from Good Shepherd















I would have included adobo, sinigang and Jollibee on the list, but I can cook adobo and sinigang and there's now 6 Jollibee branches in Singapore. I could think of a gazillion other dishes and snacks, but the ones I've mentioned are the ones top of mind for now.

What about you? If you're a Filipino living abroad, what other dishes/snacks/Pinoy food you wish was easily available?

10 Years and Forever

Last December, Sweetie and I celebrated our 4,450th "click" or 4,450 days of being together. On our wedding day we wanted to integrate our being "techie" in our theme. Our wedding day was our 800th "click". I remember making a full write-up about our love story, but for the life of me I don't remember where I posted it (probably in our dead couple website haha).

Like everybody the last ten years have not been easy for us. Barely two years together I was moved to Singapore and we had to manage our LDR for 5 long years. A guardian angel eventually urged us to be physically together so the boys both migrated to Singapore. In between being in a long distance relationship we also had to contend with my crazy health. Our love has kept our family strong and happy the past ten years.

Recently we have also become empty nesters since Miguel has finished his studies. He decided to move back to Manila and we're giving him the time and space to figure out what he wants to do with his life. It's been hard for both of us to adjust to not having him around all the time. I'm still figuring out my new purpose now that Miguel doesn't need full-time "mothering".

I am grateful that God wrote my love story in the most beautiful way. It started unfolding without me knowing that it was already being written. Fast forward to ten years after we exchanged "I do's" we continue to celebrate our love every single day in many different ways.

I love you Sweetie, to forever and beyond =)

Self-love for 2020

A blessed New Year to everyone!

Thought I'd start the year with a blog post. I stopped crafting new year resolutions a few years ago. I thought it wasn't really important to write things down since I always had my compass at the back of my mind. I usually wrote down things I wanted to improve on and things I wanted to do. It was my wishlist for the year. Without a compass I ended up just focusing on work. I forgot to have fun, enjoy and spend more time with the people I love. The stress also caused a lot of health issues.

By September last year I knew I badly needed a break, but I was so busy and couldn't take a break. I love what I do so I trudged on and continued to do a lot of traveling. I was like a candle that was slowly melting away. At the end of October something happened and the light blew out. I finally burnt out.

After being on break for a few weeks now I think I'm starting to warm up, but I'm still very far from normal me. The people who helped me before I went on break stressed that I need to give myself a lot of self-love so I can come back to my usual perky self. I thought it would be good exercise to write down 10 things I'm going to do (for starters) to give myself some self-love:

1. Do my daily exercise for my back and swim at least thrice a week.
2. Create a better balance in home management, both for chores and finances.
3. Plant the seeds to financial freedom.
4. Allot time every day for reading and writing.
5. Set up annual break time.
6. Eat better.
7. Spend time doing nothing.
8. Plan trips to places I really want to visit.
9. Work on hobbies.
10. Ignore those who should be ignored hrhr.

I'm not too happy with the list yet so I'll probably update it as I discover more ways to love myself. Would appreciate no work-related pings/inquiries so I can focus on the task at hand to sync back my body and mind.

Happy new year and praying for a happier and healthier 2020! 

Rebuilding Me and a Surprise Quilt

The past year has been a stressful year for me and by November I was barely functioning properly. It was a mix of many things and I thought it was the best time for me to take a long break. I have been really ruthless with myself and I was told I should love myself and be selfish for once. As much as I felt guilty dropping things I knew it was best for me to take a break. So thank you to all those who supported me these last few weeks and for releasing me so I can rest and relax for now.

My coping mechanism is rock solid. I know when I can, when I can't and when it's time for me to hit the panic button. After a hard day's work I usually spend time doing something creative at home. Like my Mom I can never be bored at home and can spend days without going out. I quilt, crochet, work on my scrapbook (yes I still make scrapbooks!), read, cook, bake and of course there's Netflix, Spotify, YouTube. There's so much to do at home! Things hum along nicely when I can do any one of my hobbies at night.

When I travel I have a bag that contains my current project (usually a quilting project). I sew on the plane or at the hotel after work. I do go out, but I compared to normal people I need more time to rest. I guess my age is also catching up with me and I need to decompress, clear my brain cache and just basically reset. I had not been able to enjoy my free time the past year. I've been too exhausted to do anything when I get home and I did some crazy travel the past few months.

The last few weeks to keep my balance I embarked on a grateful project. I made a quilt project for friends who recently tied the knot. It was truly a labor of love since I had to work overtime to finish it in time for the wedding (hello eyebags!). I call it the grateful project because this two people have been taking care of me for a long time now and I wanted to show how much I appreciate them and their friendship.

One thing I didn't anticipate though was the size of the project. It was huge and heavy! I couldn't find a gift bag or box to make it fit! So I had a brilliant idea of sneaking in the blanket in their room. With special agents Paola, Hester and Ate Ingrid we snuck in their room during the festivities. We had staged the perfect surprise. Here's how we made it work -

The is my first vlog after almost six years! That's probably how long I haven't really been giving myself any love. I hope bringing out the creative side of me will help heal me so I can serve again at the level I usually do. 

Dear Juned

Dear Juned,

I finally found the email you send almost ten years ago. That email that made me so mad at you for sending. It never occurred to me that the day would come. I had a hard time finding it because you always had a beautiful way of putting words together. I write the way I talk and that's probably why all the search words I was using didn't work. It took me almost two days since I found out you were gone.

I was enroute to visit my MIL at the cemetery when Karla pinged me. I've been a zombie since then and it didn't help that I've been suffering from food poisoning too. I could just imagine you dispensing advise on what I could do to alleviate my condition. That's what you've always been to me my dear friend.

Funny I don't even remember exactly when we met, but our friendship just grew through the years. When I was trying to find the email I found a gazillion chat messages between us. It always started with a good morning from you checking on me and it continued for many years. Our chat sessions dwindled eventually and we only managed to catch up whenever I went home and squeezed in time to meet. The last time we got together was January last year when you hosted a dinner with blogger friends at your new pad.

I have so many happy memories with you Juned. The events we both attended were just excuses to meet up and do our tsismis sessions in person. There were also lots of trips! One of the most memorable was when you went to Baguio and typhoon Yolanda hit. I insisted you stay with us. We all stayed in my room. I only managed to sleep through the scary winds because you were there. Then there was our trek up Borobudur. It was an achievement for both of us because I just had heart surgery and you had to go up with assistance. Good thing JR and Vanj were there to take care of us.

Of course, you were our lifesaver during our wedding. Our bridal car did not show up and after reception both our parents left Jay and me to fend for ourselves. We both didn't have any money to take a taxi back to the hotel and so your Ford Fiera instantly became bridal one. I think from everything that happened during that day that's one memory I will always cherish.

Thank you Juned for the 12+ years of friendship. For being a great listener, for all the stories (even though sometimes you'd doze off midway!), for bailing me out of situations, for being a great supporter (you were always there for all my events!), for everything I have learned from you (some photography skills yo!), for the respect, the trust, for being a true great friend. I love you my friend, you can now have your bottomless crispy pata and Coke without Fritz the pulis getting mad at you. I'll do my best to do your wishes. See you at the end of the rainbow. 

Love, your friend,

Aileen

*Juned's wake will be from Thursday to Saturday at the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral (map).