Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Breakfast at Granvia CafÃ©

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 19, 2009

Granvia CafÃ©

The A.Venue Hotel Suites, Antel Lifestyle City, 7829 Makati Avenue, Makati City

(02) 403 0865, (02) 403 0888

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If you stay at A. Venue Hotel Suites, you’ll have free breakfast buffet for 2 at Granvia Cafe. Breakfast is served daily 7-10AM.

Take note that there is a STRICT dress code, no sandos, slippers, shorts and even spaghetti straps for ladies. I do understand the sandos, slippers but I totally don’t understand why spaghetti straps are not allowed to be worn inside. I went there wearing my spaghetti strap dress and I was approached by the server and informed me that it is not allowed. I kinda appreciated though that they did not let me go up and change, they just told me that next time it is not allowed.

Here are some of the menu items included in the buffet:

Cereals & Milk
Cold Cuts
Sardines
Yogurt
Fresh Fruits
Atchara
Bread Section with Butter, Strawberry Jam, Blueberry Jam & Mango Jam
Boneless Smoked Bangus
Roasted Chicken
Hash Browns
Pork Beans
Egg Fried Rice
Steamed Rice
Grilled tomatoes
Bacon
French Toast
Chicken Noodle Soup

Guess what menu item is my favorite? It’s bacon!!! I put a lot of bacon in my place, seemed like I really didn’t care about my health hahahaa. But It’s just rare that I see sooo many bacon that I can’t resist it.

I’m still a rice person and I would have loved this if they served longganisa, hotdog, corned beef, tapa, danggit… more like filipino breakfast… Their breakfast menu is more for people who loves american/intercontinental breakfast and I’m not that type of person.

You also have an option to choose between coffee and tea. I have chosen coffee but after 10 minutes, it became cold! The temperature in the cafe is just too cold hahaha. I think they just need to change the temperature a lil. I guess it’s their way of forcing their guests to wear more appropriate clothes (remember sandos, slippers, shorts & spag straps are not allowed?) hehee.

Before I forget, you can request for them to cook omelette for you. This is my favorite, freshly cooked. You can choose between a vegetarian omelette, ham & cheese omelette, mushroom omelette or everything inside the egg.

Palamis Resto Grill

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 19, 2009

Palamis Resto Grill

Sadsaran, Poblacion, Alami City, Pangasinan

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Our travel package at Pangasinan doesn’t include dinner.. so we usually eat out by then.

We had our last dinner at Pangasinan at Palamis Resto Grill. It’s like a place for drinking.. coz there’s a karaoke machine, lots of alcohol and food are mostly “pulutan” or food that you eat along with drinking.

I didn’t appreciate the food but I’m sure my colleagues did coz there was no leftover

Here are what we ordered:

Sinigang na Hipon (Php100)

This like a homecooked sinigang. Lots of sabaw with vegetables and shrimps.

Pigar-pigar (Php100)

I have to ask what this is because of the name… I don’t know what pigar is… but according to them, this is just beef fried. Nothing special, good pulutan.

Fried Chicken 1/2 (Php130)

Spicy Chicken Wings (Php130)

this is indeed very spicy. I think it’s just the same chicken but with spicy sauce.

Fish Fillet (Php80)

Chopsuey with Quail Eggs (Php80)

Plain Rice (Php10)

Sizzling Sisig (Php100)

Not the type of sisig I want because it’s not well done. From the looks and taste of it, seems like the traditional Filipino sisig.

Overall, I think I wouldn’t choose this restaurant for a full meal. But I think this is a good place to hangout if you like drinking at the same time singing.

For the Karaoke, we are asked to pay Php5 per song. Pretty cheap but since we’re a party of 12, the guests from other tables was just waiting for us to finish. So we decided to go back to the hotel early and just continue chatting/drinking there.

We didn’t discover any good places to eat in Pangasinan coz we ate mostly fastfood (Jollibee, McDo, Chowking). So this is the only restaurant that is locally Pangasinan.

Newly Opened Blue Water Day Spa Capitol Hills

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 19, 2009

I tried the twin package (foot reflexology & back massage) at their Makati Branch just recently. See my post here. My WoW guildmate commented on my post and informed me of this contest. Apparently, Blue Water Day Spa is giving away free invites to the bloggers event with free foot reflex & swedish massages to 20 lucky bloggers!

The place is located inside the Golf Club, it has great view. Isn’t it nice that while you try to go to a spa to relax, you can also see such great view? It is like going to Tagaytay Highlands for a weekend

view-of-the-golf-course

While I browsed through the page, I noticed how beautiful the facilities of their Capitol Hills branch. The concept I think is very consistent throughout all their branches, beach theme.

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One thing that I’m excited about is their Spa Home Theater system that is equipped with 50-in HDTV Plasma TV with surround sound and (take note) BlueRay Players!! Wow! not only can we relax but we’ll also experience great entertainment.

I do hope I’d be chosen as one of the winners so I can try out their services. But 1 particular service I love to try is Botanical Rice & Milk Scrubs, I would like to try this in their private room. You can find more details on their services through their website.

If you live in Q.C., you can go to Blue Water Day Spa’s Capitol Hills branch. Here are the details:

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Blue Water Day Spa Capitol Hills Branch

Capitol GreenStreet Commercial Center, Capitol Hills Golf Annex Building, Capitol Hills Drive, Old Balara, Quezon City

(02) 473-0455, (02) 952-4829, (02) 435-0114

Foot Reflexology & Back Massage at Blue Water Day Spa

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 16, 2009

Our office organized a wellness fair sometime last month, a lot of establishments participated in the event. Some that I can remember are:

Burgoo
The Spa
Blue Water Day Spa
Slimmer’s World
Fitness First
Nestle Philippines
BTI Marsman
Honda Cars
Cashflow Group
SM Cinemas

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I bought gift cheques at Blue Water Day Spa due to their promo of Php50 to Php100 off on services. I know I have to grab that opportunity coz it’s not everyday that we get discounts on spa services.

I’m not really fond of body massages, I tried it out before but I ended up just laughing my heart out coz it tickled me a lot hahahaha! So what I usually do to relieve stress is to have a foot spa.

I have chosen to buy their twin package of foot reflexology & back massage. I bought 1 for their Makati branch and 1 for their Ortigas branch. I have yet to try their Ortigas branch but last monday, me and my friend Maus tried out the Makati branch.

While I was writing this blog post, I checked out their website and saw this description for the twin package: Relax the feet, back and the face, too, with this treatment that includes a 10 minute-Facial Crystal Massage. They didn’t give us the 10-minute facial crystal massage!!! That’s false advertising! Anyway, Php350 for a Php450 service is already okay, so no more complaints hehehe.

The Foot reflexology room has a beach theme. You’ll see several white chairs lined up with blue towels and a big poster of celebrities Piolo Pascual & Marian Rivera at the back of the room.

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They’ll bring out the foot spa machine with warm water and soap to where you’re sit at. You have to put your feet there for a few minutes.

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That’s my feet, oh yeah! You see the red marks on my feet? SUNBURN!! badly sunburned during our trip to Pangasinan last week. I wish the original color of my skin would come back though it’s really nice to see tan lines all over my body heheheehe an evidence that I went to the beach.

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The next thing is the actual foot massage, this is soothing. Maus even took a nap while I control the remote and watch television. I was able to watch an episode of Ghost Whisperer. Relax galore!

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Lastly, the back massage. Tickling hahahahaa. But very good, I’m pretty sure the massage therapist felt the stress in my body. I also noticed that the person is well-trained as the massage is really soothing and relaxing.

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Php 450 is a fair price for this twin package. Personally though, I wouldn’t spend that much amount for a foot reflexology service. I got this for Php350 and I’m happy.

If you wanna try it out yourself, here is their Makati branch details:

Blue Water Day Spa

G/F Tropical Palms Condominium, 103 Dela Rosa St., Legaspi Village, Makati City

(02) 817-3126, (02) 817-5455

Realization about World of Warcraft

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 16, 2009

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since end-November 2008. I was a bit addicted that I subscribed to a recurring 6-month subscription, bought the World of Warcraft Battlechest then Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack.

I started playing at “Coilfang” server then moved to “Bonechewer”. With the help of a plurk friend, I was able to reach level 55 as he levelled his new character with mine at the same time and also helped run my character in dungeons & instances using his main.

I was also able to join a famous filipino guild called Shadow Circle. Last night, I attended their eyeball for the 1st time. I felt a lil out of place coz their characters are already level 80s (mine’s only 55) and they’ve known each other for such a long time (way back Ragnarok days). I myself don’t know any of them and being a very shy person, I ended up just listening them talk while I play with my phone & camera.

They are soo passionate about the game that I ended up reflecting myself. Do I see myself being so serious about the game? Am I willing to allot hours every week just to be able to join raids? Do I have the time and energy to learn about the game and be good at it? Am I willing to shed 15 dollars every month? lots of things went through my mind.. I really admire the guild members & officers for being so good at the game yet they also excel at things outside the game WoW.

I think I can still continue to play as long as I take it slow, meaning I’ll just play on my spare time (maybe just twice a week for only a few hours). Play at my own pace, even if I’ll level only once a week. This is so I can appreciate the game more and at the same time, I have enough time for other stuff.

Anyhow, I decided to cancel the recurring subscription to WoW. I can always bring this back, but for now, I have to control myself from being addicted. My subscription ends July 12, 2009. Let’s see.

I still have 3 months to play the game. Will I be able to reach level 80? (I’m afraid that if I will, I won’t be able to control it and be addicted completely.)

Do you think I made the right decision? Tell me your thoughts..