nando's

i first had a taste of nando's peri peri chicken when we went to malaysia. ot: we were hopeful that we could shop for cheap clothes and shoes, but that didn't happen. it's a good thing nando, whoever he is, did not disappoint us. :)

nando's opened in singapore some time ago, and this is the first time we tried it here. thumbs up for mang nando!

ikea sunday

ikea will never fail to entertain and amuse visitors :) while i heard that ikea is not for the rich in europe, ikea always makes me (and anyone i tag along) happy. it only means one thing. i am not rich. and i don't have dugong bughaw bwahahaha! the downside is: it has the effect of making you feel that you suddenly "need" a lot of things. we usually go there to just waste time or buy sandwich bags hehehehe. we end up with a lot of "needed" stuff and a bruised credit card. arouch!

one fine sunday, mike and i went to ikea. we boarded a double decked bus. we went to the "2nd floor" so we could enjoy the view of the country, este the kalsada lang pala. we found a lovely site as the seats are all empty!

as expected, we loved the road viewing hehehe. the ride was short and sweet.

bonus: lovely afternoon clouds just outside the store :)

i wish all sundays were made of these! roadtrips and food trips and cloud trips!

christmas and new year 2012

being an ofw means you get to spend christmas and new year differently each year.

on 2010, my first year being married, we spent christmas in aklan with mike's parents, and new year in cavite with mike's family. papa is a seaman and he doesn't get to spend christmas and new year at home that much so he requested that we stay with them during the holidays.

last 2011, i spent christmas in tarlac with mami, tito danny, wawin, and mike. new year was spent in cavite with mike, mama, and ate yogi.

last 2012 holidays, mike and tito peps (april's papa) went here to sg. so the feast was celebrated in our humble home in pasir ris.

during new year, this was the menu:

- roasted chicken courtesy of mr. fair price. i bet he roasted chicken for a number of families during the holidays :p
- tita's pancit canton could pass for max's!
- lumpiang shanghai courtesy of caths. there was also lumpiang mami. chochal may choice ka pa?!
- macaroni salad made my april. i love macaroni salad and the fat it promises hehe! well, all dishes promise fat during the holidays!
- my ref cake was a failure. maybe it was the thick layer of crushed marie biscuits. whatever, it wasn't for the win.
- fruits and some instant juice and some really nice plates from ikea.

we wore green because we heard it's the lucky color for this year. i don't know if an old shirt from yesteryears still has the same effect though. wala nang luluma pa sa pambahay kong ito. yey!

flashback some 20 years ago (i know this time will come - when i'll do flashbacks from 10+ years ago!) - christmas during my childhood would mean fiesta ham, bread, fruit salad, and some other stuff. but the thing that i remember most is lola's chocolate drink. it's that small green can of ricoa cocoa. lola would boil it with water and, once served, you could add evap and sugar and mix every now and then so the cocoa would not settle at the bottom of the cup (cheap brown cups bought from the malaking palengke) life was too simple then. simple yet complicated, complicated yet sweet. i wouldn't trade my childhood holidays for anything else! :)

but wait there's more! mike sweetly offered to cook aka mix the lumpia filling. here's one of the rare pics you see him helping in the kitchen. i now declare, "my husband could cook!" triple A rating! fireworks! love love love for the effort! :)

marina bay day

it was a friday night last december. the family (semi-complete with tito peps and mike here for the christmas break) thought of having dinner at glutton's bay. it was closed for quite some time last 2012 for renovation, so it was the first time we're visiting it after it reopened.

here are some pics ;)

auntie, keyla, and tito smiles galore!

keyla and tito belat

red and white doggies and kitties at the esplanade

we watched this combo. keyla loved it too and danced along with the music :)

buildings and lights and water

mrt ride going home

dim sum night

still posting from last december. major backlog :)

during mike's december visit, i did not file for leaves because i just joined a new job, and i believe that newbies don't just go on holidays during the first few weeks of employment. :p  to compensate for that, we just continued with our date-night-after-work thing. i'll go to work as usual, and after work, we'll try to go out on a date. we only get to do this when we are together like this. it's a shame that he had to stay at home during the day, but maybe it's better that way. super rest... if you could call it that.

inspired by our swee choon find, we thought of searching for places that are not highly commercialized. maybe there's life beyond din tai fung :) i left the searching part to mike.

that led us to this.  the keywords say it all: dim + sum + good. that's all we need. mike said it's walking distance from my office in tanjong pagar. so we walked. a lot. but that's no problem at all because we enjoyed seeing good sites like this:

these little spaces are actually offices. i like.

i'm not sure what this is, but i was just attracted to the lights :p

and more shops like this. so beautiful at night!

we walked and walked and walked and walked. sometimes forward, sometimes in circles. the address said 80 neil road. and this is 80 neil road, which isn't dim joy. it's some other restaurant that definitely doesn't offer dim sum. i searched again for dim joy (these are the moments you become thankful for 3G or LTE or whatever). we found out that dim joy is already closed. nice. hehehe.

80 neil road isn't dim joy. how dim. at least the moon was looking good that night.

in the end, we decided out of hunger and exhaustion, and got inside this small tim sum restaurant. only 1 table is occupied. looks promising. hehe. but we were so hungry we could eat anything, really.

that small dim sum restaurant

we ordered fried rice, siomai, adidas, and siopao. it's either we were so hungry or the food was really good. may pagsusungit pa si ateng serbidora dahil sa chili sauce. ok fine. nagtampo na kami. ayaw na namin ng chili sauce.

the good stuff

mike refusing to look like a fool

fine. smile properly raw. :)

food tiangge

these pics were taken during the last christmas break. there was a food tiangge at pasir ris and we had a lazy afternoon. mike had shawarma from this seemingly authentic shawarma stall hehe. i had a big potato on a stick - deep fried and bathed in cheese powder. and we had some deep fried stuff that were not so good. we bought bottled drinks from the nearby uncle store, sat down at the park, ate our super healthy  food, and had a real date. at some point, we shared food with the ants, but it's all good. hehehe. love days like this. :)

2nd year and 2nd month

i was able to dig some of our earliest pictures!

probably my first visit to your house ca. 2005

a pic at the moa area - off to watch the pyro olympics with my family ca. 2005

dinner with your parents ca. 2005

this is us now! chubby cheeks and tummies with baby fat. hahaha.

at 2 years, we could say that our marriage is still in a stage of infancy. the last 2 years were tough. tough because we could not get what we want, and that is to be physically together. while the regular couples enjoy this early honeymoon stage, we were busy struggling to make ends meet.

the bad news is: marriage isn't all about years of convenience, sweetness, and golden spoons.

the good news is: marriage does not promise years of hardship and challenges ONLY.

i believe it's a mix of both, and this is what will make us stronger - both as a couple and as individuals.

cheers to compromises - and to no compromises.
cheers to robbed opportunities of enjoyment.
cheers to more years made of this.
cheers to tears that are overpowered by laughter.

one day we'll be together again... and it will be more awesome!

your gifts being showcased by keyl. thank you :)

old and new

it's raining. i have nowhere to go and nothing to do. a perfect time to reminisce. :)

it was the year 2007 when i first ventured into singapore. the bank had been trusting enough to hire me even if i didn't have background in financing. to add to my luck, my teammates in sg were all filipinos, who later on turned out to be my most reliable friends.

jan and marco and caths - spectrum forever hahaha

christmas party 2007 @ suntec city

shining bright like diamonds at the small room

lunches at the pantry

staring at something like this, and actually making sense out of it

looking at the fountain of wealth from a distance

breakfasts are made of these

being "serenaded" by the dragon on chinese ny. being "swallowed" would make you lucky! 

having unfathomable facial expressions when you are under stress

and simulating your face using inanimate objects

having your own bring-your-spouse-to-work day

feeling close with olympic athletes after work. naks.

getting stuffed animals from the sweetest work colleagues

cooking/swimming event with the team

it was also here that i had the opportunity to see europe on 2008. i feel so blessed to have set foot on this side of the planet. even more blessed to have met wonderful work colleagues and new friends. face-to-face is definitely better than phone calls and chats.

ballenberg with loli and the girls

my 28th surprise birhtday pajama party :)))

lucerne and our pinoy na pinoy pose

visiting swiss homes and riding a truck to travel at the mountains

visiting a fil-swiss home and listening to tales of love and life

visiting lugano with jake, and establishing "for just a moment" as our theme song

einsiedeln monastery with gunnar and the girls... and enamels and hosts.

train timings so precise it could make you cry. wow.

bern with jan

mt. pilatus with ate fritzie and family

seeing the original icon of our lady of perpetual help in italy

the colosseum in rome

buying a ring rosary 

accidentally seeing the pope in rome!

the spanish steps

the pantheon

and the famous swiss guards

making a wish at the trevi fountain

"clubbing" at zurich. naks! akala mo naman!

watching lola madonna

viewing the most bizarre museum

having ham and cheese croissants

being overly friendly with a gramp, who's probably a pedo. i don't know who's the victim: him or me. hehehe

whew! an instant collage! but it will never be enough to tell my wonderful tales in this company. i only have good words to say. the bad ones are being swallowed wholly by the good. in the end, i hope that i could come back. you know, the song "grow old with you" is also my theme song for this company. this, for me, is the best company! woohoo!

on my last day, i received a greeting card from my teammates in zurich. it was very touching because my team is an all-boys team (if you could think of me as a boy), and boys don't do cards like this. hihihi. a for effort! i love my team! i wanted to hug them all if only they were here in sg... but even if they were, i think they would think i'm a freak for being so dramatic that way. hahaha! 

"sorry you're leaving," said their card to me. "so am i," said i. wow! best actress! palakpakan!

and so that chapter of my life ended (for now) last dec, 2012.

i joined a new family together with my SIL, april. i am hoping for the best in this new home. just in time for the holidays, april and i gave the new team christmas cupcakes. cheers to new friendships, relationships, work learnings, and life learnings!!!