Mall of Asia

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Clay, Bree, Owa and I attended the 9:45am mass at Mount Carmel Parish in New Manila. It was their fiesta, so it was pretty crowded.

After church, we went to Mall of Asia. This is the newest mall, and currently the biggest! Wow, was it big. So spread out, the layout was kinda convoluted. Even with its huge-ness, it still got crowded. It seemed everyone was there at the same exact time we were.

We walked around a bit. Bought a couple of clothes for Bree. Then time for lunch. There was huge selection of restaurants. Everything you can think of: Filipino, Japanese, Chinese (I heard The Good Earth is pretty good), Spanish, American, Mexican, and a whole lot more. We decided on Gumbo - New Orleans style of cooking. Owa had grilled porkchops, Bree had baked lasagna (hmmm, not typical Nawlins cooking), Clay had the seafood jambalaya, and i had stuffed crab. We like the food. Bree loved their lasagna. I guess Owa liked the porkchops, too, because she finished it. Clay's food was good, but of small (actually, mini) quantity. Mine was very good. It was four pieces of crab shell with crabcake stuffing.

When we left the restaurant, the restaurant was getting very crowded. There were a lot of people waiting for their tables.

I would love to go back to Mall of Asia, but it has to be on a weekday. Not on a Sunday, payday weekend.

Eastwood

July 15, 2006

Clay, Bree and I went to Eastwood center. Clay and I were trying to decide which restaurant to go to. I said i don't want Italian food, because all they have are CARBohydrates. Don't get me wrong, i love Italian food. But I usually want a balance of carb and protein for my meal. I don't want carbs to be the majority of my meal, i prefer half and half.

We asked Bree where she wants to eat, and she said she wants pasta. Just what we were afraid of! So, off we went to Fazoli's pizza and pasta place. She ordered baked ziti, i forgot what Clay had, and i ordered the pesto pasta. It was pretty decent italian food. And the garlic bread were pretty good. The bread lady goes around the dining room and refills your plate with the warm bread. Did i say i didn't like carb? Hmmm, at that particular time, it was heaven... yummy!

After dinner, we just walked around the mall part of Eastwood. Tried to watch a movie, but all the best seats are taken. Upscale movie theaters in Manila are now assigned seating. Before you pay for the tickets, they give you a layout of the seats so you can check which are still available, so you can reserve those seats. But both Pirates of the Carribean movie and Superman were almost fully-booked. So, we decided to just go home.

Robinsons Galleria

Journal of our Philippine trip Summer 2006

Friday, July 14 - Went to Robinsons Galleria with Peeya, Pau and we met up with Roelle there. Had new eyeglasses made, Burberry frame and best quality lenses for less than $100.

Ate at the food court. I was walking around looking for the best-looking pork bbq with java rice. There was a sizzling place that looked good, however, the line was like 10-deep, so i bypassed it. Right next to it, i think the name was Nelia's bbq or something, they had pork bbq but no java rice, just garlic rice. Also, they had no customers, so i decided against it. Then i saw Makati Skyline, and just a couple of people in line. I ordered my food from them - 2 sticks of pork bbq and once cup of java rice for 50 pesos. What a deal! Then, my next difficult task was looking for diet coke. Makati Skyline ran out of them. I asked about 2 other places, nothing. Finally found it. Now i can eat.

So, i was eating my pork bbq. Somehow, the 2 sticks were not enough. I had half of my java rice uneaten. I decided to buy just a couple more sticks, and went to Nelia's (which i rejected just a few minutes ago). It was fairly good bbq, but Makati Skyline's was better.

Pork BBQ with Jave Rice craving - resolved.

Sampaguita Vendors

In the Philippines, kids of all ages (some are much younger than Bree), sell Sampaguita leis in the busy streets. Bree sees them knocking on our car window, asking us to buy their sampaguita. One night, Clay took pity on one of them and bought one strand of sampaguita lei for 10 pesos (about $0.20). Then i was explaining to Bree that these kids need to sell the flowers in order to have money to buy food. If they can't sell any sampaguita, they won't have food.

Bree's response to me was, "Well, do they have a permit to sell?"

What an Appetite

Bree is in Manila for the whole summer. While at the care of Owa, she has become accustomed to eating like a regular Filipino - lots of rice. And with a spoon and fork (as opposed to just a fork).

Here's a picture of what Bree was eating a couple of days ago. The amount of rice is about triple the volume of what she normally eats in the US.

Takaw!

Bridging to Junior

As you are probably aware, Girl Scouting plays a major part in Sabrina's life. She started as a Daisy during her kindergarten year. Then became a Brownie during first through third grade. As she now approaches fourth grade, she recently "bridged" to a Junior scout.

Bridging in scouting is what Graduation is to traditional school. She bridged from Daisy to Brownie. And just last month, from Brownie to Junior. After being a Junior for 3 years, then comes Cadet, then Senior.

Here are a couple of pictures during the Bridging Ceremony held at Stough Canyon Park in Burbank last month. This first one is a picture of Bree still wearing their Brownie sash, which will be taken off. Then she crosses a bridge (there was a real bridge, but i can't locate that picture). And at the end of the bridge, she is given her Junior green vest (second picture).










I hope she stays as a Girl Scout as long as she can. When girls grow up, scouting becomes less "cool" and a lot of them just stop attending the activities. I expect that to happen to Bree, too, but i hope it's not in the near future.