Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Mercato Centrale Weekend Market

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 21, 2010

Mercato Centrale

Today, November 21, was the launch of the newest weekend market in the metro, Mercato Centrale. I woke up early in the morning just to get a glimpse of it. I ended up not only getting a glimpse but went home with tons of food goodies and an almost empty wallet hahaha!

Mercato Centrale wasn’t the 1st weekend market I went to. I remember the 1st tweetup I attended was also in a similar environment. In fact, while I was talking to some merchandisers earlier, they were telling me they also have a stall in Salcedo Market (located in Makati).

The 1st day of Mercato Centrale was very successful. I arrived a lil before 8AM and there were tons of people already. Sellers were very enthusiastic too as it was their 1st ever venture in bringing their products to the now popular Bonifacio Global City. Whenever we walk along a stall, they would offer us free taste of food, provide brochures of their products, explain what their products were, it was overwhelming! 🙂

mercato crowd

I even saw some celebrities checking out the stalls in the market too. I gathered enough guts and walked up to them and asked if we could take pictures with them. Coincidentally, we were watching Sports Unlimited in ANC before leaving the house then we saw Marc Nelson in person! My mom and I are also a big fan of Angel Aquino who was awesome in a TV series titled Magkaribal. I was telling her that we watch the show then she told me that I have great skin. I told her it’s because of Olay, she laughed and thought I was just teasing her (she’s a model of Olay). I then told her that I’m actually working for P&G (company who owns Olay).

mercato celebrities

Brought to us by the same people behind Ultimate Taste Test & Mommy Mundo events, Mercato Centrale promises us with unique, great tasting food finds. Following the footsteps of Mercato Centrale in Florence & Boroughs Market in London, I believe they did a good job with the inspiration.

mercato crowd 2

So many stalls in Mercato, they have over 150! You can find almost any kind of food you can think of in the weekend market. They have pastries, frozen meat, organic foods, fresh juices, snacks, sauces, desserts, vegetables, cooked food, sandwiches, ice cream and a lot, lot more!

mercato centrale products

Here are some of the stuff that we bought:

Picole Healthy Ice Pops (Php 35)

mercato ice cream

I love popsicles! When we saw this stall near the back entrance of Mercato, my mom already knew that I would love to buy one. We chose the blueberry cheesake flavor which they call Yogu Pops. Apparently, there are different nutritional facts in each kind of ice pops. The one that we got has high calcium, low fat, fiber and low calories. Healthy eating is the way to go!

Assorted Vegetables

mom at mercato

My mom, of course, was in the lookout for fresh vegetables to cook for me! 😀 There were lots in Mercato, that we ended up just buying and buying as we strolled around the place.

I also found this guy, in the photo below, interesting. While my mom was buying vegetables from the neighboring stall, he was actually teaching my mom how to cook it hahaha! I actually felt bad that I didn’t get to buy the free range chicken (Php 950) that he was selling. It definitely looked delish but I have kept in mind the location of his farm which I plan to visit in the future.

mercato chicken

The name of the farm is Pamora and it is located in Abra. They raise French breed free-range chickens, organic vegetables, fruits and other things. There’s a guesthouse where we can stay for the night while being served with healthy food. It’s so nice that aside from producing healthy products, they are also promoting tourism through the beauty of Abra.

Frullati Smoothies

mercato milk smoothie

The girl told me they offer delicious fruit smoothies which are made from natural ingredients. I was curious. Based on what we bought so far, I believe that whatever we buy in Mercato would be something worthwhile. They put frozen buko cubes (lots of it) then poured milk (Milk Magic), I’m not that fond of milk but boy, it did taste so fresh & natural.

Chile Vitas Chile Cheese (Php 164) & Cropeck (Php 50)

chile vitas mercato

My favorite among the things that we bought today. I tried all 4 flavors (Chile Cheese, Chile Mustard, Chile Pepper, Chile Vinegar) but I just couldn’t forget how delicious the Chile Cheese was. We immediately bought one and also bought several packs of Cropeck. I’m opening one now as I write this post 😛

Herbs Best Chips (3 for Php 200)

mercato snack

I am constantly looking for a healthy snack to munch on while I’m at the office. when I saw this, I thought it was noodles. Apparently, they also have noodles but the one for free taste were their snacks. They have malunggay, luyang-dilaw, carrot, spicy tahong, ampalaya and carrot-kalabasa flavors. We bought malunggay, ampalaya and spicy tahong. I’ll surely enjoy eating this without feeling guilty. My mom also bought the noodles.

Rawlicious Green Monster Xavier – 500 mL (Php 95)

healthy shake mercato

Another option for natural beverages. The owner was very enthusiastic that I ended up buying even though I wasn’t planning to at 1st glance. The different smoothies have their own good effect for our body. The one that I bought is particularly good for digestion, in short, for detoxing.

Organic Balut/Organic Salted Egg (Php 15)

organic eggs mercato r

Organic eggs! I asked them what’s the difference between a normal egg and an organic egg. I was told that the chicken was fed with only healthy and natural food thus the eggs that they put out were organic. I believed them that’s why we bought several.

Whew! Whatta morning! I really enjoyed my experience. It’s good to see sooo many selections of wonderful and healthy food. Truly a haven for people like us who love to eat!

Roch at Mercato Centrale

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Mercato Centrale at BGC
Corner of 30th & 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines
(0917) 531-8949

The Curves Workout

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 21, 2010

Curves Workout

I discovered Curves when I visited a wedding expo in Rockwell a few months back. They were offering free 1 month passes for future brides as long as they put Curves guest passes in every wedding invitation to be sent out. They were also offering free trials for those who were just looking around the expo. I signed up for it and was called up to claim my guest pass to try out the new gym. I was searching for a gym to enroll in anyway.

When I arrived at Serendra, I was greeted by the friendly and pretty staff of Curves. They were all smiles and upon having a 1st glance of the gym, there was a very home-like ambiance to it.

curves personnel

The 1st thing they did was to measure my body weight and BMI, gauge my fitness level as well. It was needed so we would know what goals to reach and how effective the focused Curves workout will be. I was very impressed.

curves fitness assessment

curves measurement

I already knew I needed help. I wasn’t surprised with how big my fat percentage was hahaha! Anyway, while I was being measured, I noticed heart-shaped notes posted on the walls of the discussion area. I began reading some of it. The girls really enjoyed their stay in Curves. It was a community gym after all, members support each other in achieving their fitness goals with the same workout training.

curves messages

I was excited to finally try out Curves’ 30-minute workout! The workout is actually done only 3 times a week and it aims to help women keep fit, gain muscle strength and get healthy.

The Curves workout includes all 5 components of a complete exercise program:

Warm up
cardiovascular training
strength training
cool down
stretching

For 30 minutes, we moved around the circuit, changing stations every 30 seconds. You don’t have to time yourself because there’s a recording signaling you when to change stations. There’s also a time wherein they’ll ask you to check your pulse. Plus, there’s even a TV screen with a visual demo on how to use the machines. The awesome friendly staff are there to support you as well.

curves visual

So, here’s a preview of the Curves 30-minute workout that is designed for women. Yes, Curves is an all-women gym. Now, we don’t have to worry about how we look when we’re working out hahaha!

curves 1

Squat – works the hips & legs, including quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals & iliopsoas muscles.
ab/back – works the torso, including the abodominals and erector spinae muscles.
hip abductor/adductor – works the inner & outer thighs, including tensor fascia latae and adductor muscles.

curves 2

chest/back – works the chest and back, including the pectoral, rhomboids & latissimus dorsi muscles.
leg extension/leg curl – works the upper leg including quadricep & hamstring muscles.
shoulder press/lat pull – works the shoulders, arms and back, including trapezius, deltoids and latissimus dorsi muscles.

curves 3

leg press – works the hips and upper legs, including quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals and iliopsoas muscles.
bicep/tricep – works the upper arms, including bicep and tricep muscles.
glute – works the hips & legs, including quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals and iliopsoas muscles.

curves 4

Lateral lift – works core muscles of the torso, including the obliques and quadratus lumborum muscles.
pec dec – works the chest and back, including pectoral, rhomboids, trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles.
recovery stepper – used as a recovery station in the circuit and is not intended to overload the muscles.

It takes us 2 rounds in order to complete the circuit workout for 30 minutes. In between each machine is a recovery station where you can jog in place, dance, stretch whatever.

curves stretch

Once you’re done with the circuit workout, you’ll then head on to the stretching station to perform, nothing other than what else but, some stretching excercises! hahaha! It felt like a complete workout even if it’s just for 30 minutes.

Stretch Machine

It’s nice that they brought Curves to the Philippines. It’s located at Serendra and is open from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 7:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. It’s truly perfect for the busy woman. 30 minutes is all you need to keep fit and healthy.

curves serendra

Curves actually has a promo from November 1 to December 31 wherein new members can experience the circuit workout for 8 weeks for just Php 3,381. No long term lock in period of 12 months! If you work out at least 3 times per week during those 8-week session, you can join as a full member for free. How cool is that?

Curves 8 Weeks Promo pesos

I’m glad I tried out Curves but unfortunately, I didn’t register as a member because the location is a challenge for me. It’s far from both my workplace and home. So I had to find another gym to go to. I’m sure those who live or work nearby would love this specialty gym for women. Why don’t you try it out? Contact details can be found below 🙂

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Curves
2/F Serendra, McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Serendra, Taguig, Philippines
(02) 828-0208

UNO Magazine lands in our Apple Mobile Gadgets

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 19, 2010

Isn’t it amazing that we are fast becoming a paperless society? I welcome such a change and I’m glad UNO magazine is joining the bandwagon! They have entered the Apple mobile platform through an application called PressReader.

Now, we can keep a soft copy of UNO magazine wherever we go, without much need of cabinet space, and not to mention, it’s also much much cheaper too! I do know some people that would still prefer the paperback version of the magazine. For someone like me who’s a technology addict, the mobile version is much more appreciated! 🙂

UNO magazine sells at Php190 while the PressReader version sells at US$0.99 per issue. We can save almost Php150 just by downloading it through PressReader! We get the same contents, literally! The articles, photos, even the ads are in the online version! 100% scanned page by page.

UNO 4

Plus, the fact that PressReader is easy to use. PressReader runs on iPhones (which I have and is used for this review), iPod Touch & iPads! iPad I believe is the best gadget to view UNO magazine but my ever-reliable iPhone is good enough for me.

We can read the contents in normal mode or in landscape mode. We can zoom and scroll as we want to. We can flip the screen just like how we read conventional magazines and we can stare at those awesome high-resolution photos as long as we want to! hehehe! It’s UNO magazine, they have awesome photos, features and stuff!

UNO 2

uno mag 2

UNO 3

If you’re tired of using your fingers to zoom, scroll, flip, you can make use of the text version of PressReader. Less effort, more time to read just not in the same format as how the magazine put it though. In order to do this, you click on the highlighted title of the article and you’ll be brought to the text version.

uno mag 1

No more flipping & zooming. All you need to do is read from top to bottom. BUT there’s more!! You can actually have the application read the article for you. Just click the headset image at the bottom and you can listen and rest your eyes. Can the traditional UNO magazine do that? No! hehehe! That’s why I really prefer this over the usual Php190 paperback version 🙂

uno mag 3

So far, there are 3 issues of UNO Magazine in PressReader. September, October and the recent November 2010 issue featuring Ramon Bautista & Paloma. I’ll definitely get the next issue too and the next one after that, and the rest of the future issues definitely :p

Not to mention, you get 7 free issues upon download of PressReader. I’ve used one up for UNO’s November issue and used the other one for an Inquirer issue. For my 5 remaining free issues, I’ll make sure I use it solely for UNO Magazine’s future issues.

UNO Issues

UNO 5

Kudos, UNO Magazine for embracing technology! I hope other magazines follow suit too 🙂

A Vegetarian Dinner at Sze Chuan House

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 18, 2010

Sze Chuan House

According to my mom, Aloha Hotel where Sze Chuan House is located was a very popular place among their generation. Celebrities & politicians used to go there a lot. Well, now it’s a different thing, the place isn’t that popular anymore. I believe though that Sze Chuan House is still one of the best places to go for a family dinner. They serve good Chinese food with a lot of selections that will cater to a variety of people’s taste.

Sze Chuan House even has a menu specially for vegetarians. That was basically one of the major reasons why my mom and her siblings decided to dine there. One of my uncles is a vegetarian, along with his whole family. The rest of us of course would have to eat the same food hehe. Well, no complaints, at least we were able to eat healthy for once 😛

My mom and I arrived 30 minutes early. Sadly, we ended up waiting for almost 2 hours because everyone was late. We were really starving and the free nuts just didn’t cut it.

nuts at sze chuan

I asked if we could order 1 or 2 items just to keep our stomach from complaining (it was growling already hahaha!). We ordered some non-vegetarian items, since we knew for sure that we would have loads of vegetarian dishes later.

Here are the dishes that we pre-ordered:

Pork Siomai

pork siomai sze chuan

This pork siomai was good but partly because I was starving. I did really enjoy the food though, I was able to finish like 5 pieces I think. It was meaty and with calamansi, it tasted better. The good thing about this siomai is that you could tell that it hadn’t been sitting there for hours, it was moist but the wrapper and the siomai itself was not soggy, which can sometimes happen if the siomai has been steaming for too long. The reason why I love siomai that is steamed perfectly is that the flavors are not lost, and the seasoning still comes through with every bite.

Hot & Sour Soup – S (Php 240)

hot and sour soup sze chuan

This was definitely not a favorite among the items that we ordered. I just felt that it was a bit too salty, and yet we were still able to finish it haha :p Definitely proof that we were just a bit too hungry. This was definitely a good distraction from our already growling stomachs.

Hot and sour soup is one of those dishes, and soups specifically, that I try to order if it’s a Chinese restaurant. But, I’m picky with this soup because I already know what a good hot and sour soup is supposed to taste like For me, if a dish is too salty or is not seasoned correctly, it’s definitely one of the major sins when it comes to cooking, and could be the fault of the chef, or whoever conceptualized the dish. Hot and sour soup is supposed to be a great marriage of contrasting flavors, light but with a slight sour taste that compliments the lightly salted broth.

Fresh Buko Juice (Php 90)

buko juice sze chuan

I was able to finish my order of fresh buko juice before we officially started our meal. I stuck with the free service tea afterwards. There’s really nothing more to add here, fresh buko juice is just one of my favorite all time drinks. It’s just so refreshing!

When everyone came, we officially started our vegetarian meal. It’s rare for me to eat vegetarian meals but I welcome it. I know it’s good for our health plus I want to lose weight too. So here goes:

Bamboo Pith with Veg. Ham & Mushroom Soup – M (Php 360)

vegetarian soup sze chuan

I honestly am not a vegetarian, and I don’t think I will ever be. Vegetarian dishes, especially soups really lack that solid broth that is needed in so many soups, and unfortunately many broths are meat based: chicken, beef, and turkey broths are just some examples.

So with this dish, I didn’t like it at all. It wasn’t tasty, the seasoning couldn’t help with the base of what this soup was made of. I guess vegetable soup doesn’t really cut it for me. Ingredients in this mushroom soup are vegetable ham, bamboo pith and some vegetables.

Sliced Abalone with 3 Treasure (Php 800)

abalone vegatarian sze chuan

I noticed that vegetable dishes are mostly imitations of popular meat dishes. I usually don’t appreciate it except for this dish. It’s a work of art, and boy the tofu replacing the abalone? It tasted sooooooooooooooo good!

Double Cooked Sliced Veg. Duck (Php 425)

lettuce wrap vegetarian sze chuan

Another dish that I appreciated. It may look like meat but it’s not. Vegetables all the way. We just wrap the fake meat in lettuce and put the special sauce. I ate a lot of this, I enjoyed it like I enjoyed the previous dish (tofu abalone-like).

Diced Veg. Chicken with Hot Pepper (Php 395)

kung pao vegetarian sze chuan

Surprisingly, I loved this too! The dish does look spicy but this definitely was the opposite, it was SWEET! Yes, you saw it right, it was super sweet! I can’t tell exactly what the fake chicken is but as I tasted it, I felt it was ‘sweet potato’. This is their vegetable version of the kung pao chicken hahaha truly unique! Love it!

I must admit, when it comes to vegetarian dishes, it can either be good or just really bad. I’m really glad though that I was able to try this dish. The great combination of flavors really made this dish stand out, the peppers gave it even more flavor and that spice that we all look for in kung pao chicken.

Spinach & Black Fungus with Egg – M (Php 350)

vegetarian veggies sze chuan

I dislike this dish. Enough said.

Beancurd with Veg. Ham & Mushroom Brown Sauce – M (Php 320)

tofu vegetarian sze chuan

There’s something with vegetable ham that I don’t like. urrghh but I love tofu though. So with this dish, I just decided to pick out the ham and eat just the tofu. Nothing special about this. But that mushroom sauce did taste good, and they cooked it well with the tofu which absorbed a lot of that flavor.

Vegetable Pancit Misua Guisado – M (Php 375)

fried vegetarian noodles sze chuan

Finally, fried misua that isn’t oily! I didn’t like the ingredients though but it was a decent dish. I love the noodles! I would definitely have left out some of the greens, maybe added some spring onions, and added a bit more garlic. I think with the right balance of ingredients, fried misua whether it’s vegetarian or not will taste good.

I know that Sze Chuan House serves good crab but unfortunately we went vegetarian. I might go back again just to eat normal food! hahaha! Then I’ll share with you guys, but right now, my post is all about their vegetarian offerings.

It was good, we loved it! Very smart of the chef to be able to imitate famous meat dishes and make them healthy by having only vegetable ingredients. Pretty good presentation of the dishes too! Though the dishes were good, I can’t say it’s enough to convert me to be a vegetarian hahaha!

me and mom at sze chuan

If you’re a vegetarian and want to have more choices of restaurants to go to, Sze Chuan House is a good addition to that list.

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Sze Chuan House
2150 Roxas Blvd. cor.Quirino St. Malate, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 526-8088

Unstoppable Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On November 16, 2010

Unstoppable

I’ve been watching very good movies these days, one of them was Unstoppable starring Denzel Washington & Chris Pine. I think maybe because of my age, there were times that I just slept through a movie (remember, Salt?).

Unstoppable was different though, I was wide awake during the course of the movie. PLUS, I was actually sitting straight the whole time and almost screamed at some of the scenes. The movie was exciting, touching, action-oriented and with lots of suspense!

I must admit when I saw the trailer, I said to myself, “why would they make such a movie? It’s just a train who loses its brakes and then what?”. I was quite hesitant actually when my mom invited me to watch. Anyhow, it’s a Denzel Washington movie so I said to myself that I’ll reserve all feedback after we finish watching the movie.

With my brief description of it in the previous paragraph, I’ll try to go a bit deeper so that you will have a sense as to why this movie is truly a must-watch. Unstoppable, is a movie of not only about a runaway train, but it’s a train carrying toxic and dangerous chemicals that is racing towards a city. The train is literally carrying enough hazardous chemicals that it will surely destroy the city when it gets to the point of a curve that will cause the train to derail and have its chemicals spill into a fuel oil tank farm causing the disaster that everyone is trying to avoid.

This is where Denzel Washington (Frank Barnes) and Chris Pine (Will Colson) come in. Denzel Washington portrays a seasoned veteran engineer while Chris Pine is a new hire just 4 months into his position. In the beginning of the movie, there’s obvious friction between the two characters since many of the older workers believe that Colson is not qualified for the position since he’s too young, inexperienced, and they believe he got the position only because of family connections.

However, as soon as they find out about the runaway train, Frank Barnes decides to take it upon himself to try to stop the train, and Colson although hesitant momentarily decides to join Barnes.

It is Rosario Dawson’s character (Connie Hooper) that portrays the yardmaster in the movie. She’s in charge of the trains coming in and out of her station. And it is in fact her yard which the 1 kilometer long runaway train had originated from. So her role is definitely a central role in the movie as well.

The interplay between the characters is masterful and wonderful to watch. The development of each character, their side stories, especially that of Colson is well done by the writer and whoever has done the screenplay in this movie.

The action in the movie is not only constant as soon as we find out that the train has caught speed, has no brakes, and almost has no means of stopping, but it is brilliantly mixed in with great drama and character play as each character including Barnes, Colson, and Hooper all have a great stake in stopping this disaster from happening.

As all great movies often have, the main thrust of this movie is not just the obvious sequences of great suspense and action surrounding the stopping of this 1 km long runaway train, but it is also a story about love, compassion, bravery, teamwork, trust & responsibility.

While both Denzel Washington & Chris Pine were excellent in the movie, it seems that my favorite character in the movie was definitely Rosario Dawson’s character, Connie Hooper. Rosario Dawson really gave the role some great depth and not in one instance did I even realize that this was an actress playing just another role. She really immersed herself in this role, and I think the movie was greatly lifted by her performance. I could feel all her frustrations, happiness, nervousness all throughout the movie. I honestly believe that she deserves at least an Oscar nomination for her role in this movie.

A must-see movie if I may say. Don’t miss this movie, you won’t regret it. Non-stop action, wonderfully made movie, unstoppable indeed.

My Rating for Unstoppable: 4 out of 5 stars