Charice Pempengco will launch her self titled, debut album, on the Oprah Winfrey show this coming May 11th. I’m really excited and happy that she finally launches her international album this month. She deserves it.
I liked Charice when she was still a contestant in the singing contest over at ABS-CBN, and I was really actually rooting for her. But Charice ended up in 3rd place I think.
It makes me sad though that artists like Charice and even Arnel Pineda have to become popular outside of the Philippines first before being recognized and respected here in the Philippine music industry.
When all of a sudden she became famous because of Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres, I have still supported her, but the realization just came that it is indeed sad, that sometimes Filipinos will appreciate only talent that is recognized internationally first, before looking in their own backyard.
But I really think she has great talent — great great talent. And above all, she loves her family.
She still seems to be grounded, and down to earth, and that is important for me. Good luck to Charice and her album launch, with her new single Pyramid, which is currently #4 on Billboard’s dance remix chart. I cannot help but root for her, not because she has been recognized by the international community but because she is a wonderful Filipino talent, period.
Do you want to be part of history? Do you love to run? And would you like to help save the Pasig River? If your answer is yes to all the three questions then sign-up in the 10.10.10 run for Pasig River!
10.10.10. Run for Pasig River is brought about by ABS-CBN Foundation as another effort to bring back the glory of Pasig river. Last April 15, they launched “Malinaw” advocacy which aims to achieve a clean Pasig river that is sustainable for the present & future generations. To further strengthen the advocacy, 10.10.10 Run for Pasig River aims to raise fund and awareness for the river. Here is our chance of showing that we filipinos, do still care for our environment. We can run together and show how we can gather together for a very good cause.
The event is targetting 101,010 runners from different groups/sectors (companies, government offices, schools, etc) & this will be the largest run ever organized in the world! We might be able to bag the Guinness Book of World Records for this! Exciting isn’t it?
It will consist of 4 major starting points:
SM Mall of Asia (3Km)
Luneta Park (5Km)
The Fort Bonifacio Global city (10Km) and
SM Markina (21Km)
All runners will converge to one finish line at the SM Mall of Asia where a grand celebration will be held! Wow! I wanna be a part of this! Must be exciting and at the same time it’s really heartwarming too.
Here’s a video where Piolo Pascual shared how ‘Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig’ is working toward rehabilitating the Pasig river waters. With programs like Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), information, education, communication (IEC) campaigns, relocation, and area redevelopment.
So October 10, 2010, let’s save the date! Let’s sign up and create history together! Help save our very own Pasig River. Let’s bring it back to its old glory. Visit 10.10.10. RUN FOR PASIG RIVER to know more about the event & sign up! Be part of the 101,010 runners! wohoo! 😀
Since it’s my 1st time to go to Cebu, I would want to try out restaurants I haven’t tried before. Siam Thai Cuisine looked very interesting, so when asked where to eat, I suggested Siam Thai Cuisine. Definitely, a good choice! No wonder why we had to wait for a few minutes to be seated. People really spend time to wait until a table is available. It is definitely worth the wait!
The ambiance is very welcoming, the lighting & the art work are really cool. The food is most especially mouthwatering & delicious! I wish we had this in Manila. I’m pretty sure it would be a hit.
Service is pretty cool too. While we were dining, the servers went to the other table singing happy birthday song hahaha! I never thought that they would do something like that considering that Thai restaurants really don’t do those things.
We ordered the ff.:
Tom Yum Prawn Soup (Php 195)
This is like my favorite dish from all that we ordered. It was spicy but definitely very tasty. It had that sour taste to it too that is characteristic of this soup. Seafood & vegetables inside the soup. They cooked it perfectly.
Chicken in Garlic (Php 115)
This dish is actually surprisingly good considering how simple it is. Best for appetizers or if you just want to have something to munch on. The chicken is soft and very tender, and the breading has a great taste to it.
Siam Grilled Fish in Thai Gravy Sauce (Php 250)
I thought this was chicken curry that I almost never tried it. Good thing, I heard Nick’s friend said that the fish was really good. I have to look around and find where the fish was hahaha! It was this dish all along and I must agree, it was good! The sauce was not curry sauce but thai gravy sauce. It looked the same though 😛 I think this dish was also one of the more popular ones on the table.
Sauteed Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Php 170)
This is in short, kung pao chicken. Cooked just right, thought this was a Chinese dish. Anyways, it’s tasty & delicious. No complaints! 😀 What more can you ask when they mix the right combination of spiciness, sweetness, saltiness into one dish. Not to mention the fresh taste of every ingredient.
Phad Thai Noodles with Egg (Php 180)
I had a lot of aahhh moment in Siam Thai Cuisine. This particular dish, I thought was omelette. I was quite surprised to find out that it was actually the Phad Thai. Phad Thai is a very popular fried noodles in Thailand. Very nice touch to make it like omelette.
Chatuchak Spareribs (Php 190)
Spare ribs done Siam style. Again, like the chicken before, very simple dish, but I believe the best dishes are always the simple ones. Although, I usually like my ribs more tender, and probably grilled rather than fried. I must admit, that the preparation for this dish had to be done well because once again, it was seasoned perfectly. And tasted so great. If you’re into fried ribs, this is something worth the try.
Crab Fried Rice (Php 180)
Bagoong Fried Rice (Php 180)
I love the bagoong they put here. There was a lot of sauce so it gave the rice more taste. Best to combine all the ingredients before serving.
Siam Iced Green Tea (Php 65)
Siam Iced Tea with Milk (Php 65)
This was better than the green tea. I wish I ordered this one over the other. Anyway, it’s nice that I was able to try both.
Glad we tried Siam! The food was too good! Loved it! The pictures can be found in my Flickr album.
——————– Siam Thai Cuisine The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu (032) 417-1318
Tsim Sha Tsui Dimsum & Tea Bar 2/F The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu, Philippines (032) 238-9209
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Looking around for a place for a light snack we found ourselves at The Terraces located in Ayala Center. But we wanted delicious food with Chinese flavors. Good thing we found it with Tsim Sha Tsui after looking around for around 10 minutes. As we looked over the menu, you could tell it was really focused with just the right amount of menu items to choose from.
Focused mainly on dimsum & tea, this place is definitely going to be a success if opened here in Manila.
The menu was well-designed with pictures of the items and it was a treat to read. I was so amazed that I took each and every page of the menu. You can find them in my flickr album (the link is at the bottom of this post).
Here is what we ordered:
Soft Tofu with Preserved Egg (Php 80)
I love tofu, and with this dish tofu has never been so rich, with such nice sauce, and some century eggs to go along with it too. It’s definitely light, but very appetizing.
Pork Dumpling with Chili Sauce (Php 65)
The dumpling was also really good. By itself, it would have been great, but oh how much better it really was with the Chili sauce. I remember the dumpling to be cooked just the way it should be, not overcooked, and the wrapper soft to chew into too. Good thing we weren’t that hungry that time, or else we would have definitely gotten another order of a few items that we ordered.
Meat Spring Roll (Php 60)
The spring rolls were okay, but I do have to say that it wasn’t as greasy as some spring rolls tend to be. It wasn’t salty either, which is always good.
Lo Mai Gai (Php 70)
It’s called “machang” in chinese. Just the usual steamed rice with pork and some other ingredients.
Tsim Sha Tsui Original Steak (Php 75)
And you thought eating light meant you couldn’t have steak, well you can hahahaha! And oh, you should really try this dish. It looks too salty, but it really wasn’t at all. Did I mention it’s sooo tender?
Watermelon Mocktail (Php 70)
This is the drink that I ordered. At first I thought it was just me, so I took another taste. It didn’t taste like watermelon at all. In fact, it tasted like soda only a bit sweeter. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, it’s just something I wouldn’t order again.
Black Mamba Iced Tea (Php 50)
The black mamba, according to Nick was really good. Sort of like a cross between iced tea and fruit punch. On a hot day, this is definitely something to drink because it’s refreshing.
In terms of ambiance, I love Tsim Sha Tsui’s interior design. Green color, very bright, cool menu too! Pictures can be found in my online Flickr album.
Mey Lin Chinese Cuisine G/F Jupiter Place Building, 136 Jupiter St., Bel-Air, Makati City, Metro Manila (02) 899-8999
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The lunch had been organized for weeks, postponed once, but finally we had it last Friday. It was a reunion of sorts for our DSS group, old & new. Though it was organized for quite some time, a lot of people didn’t make it. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great time. We very much enjoyed ourselves, although it could have been better if we were complete. Our first reunion was held in Mey Lin & we decided to do it again in the same venue.
Mey Lin has good food, has a private function room, and has good ambiance. The food is a bit pricey though. I’m not complaining coz their food is really good but I wish they could lower their price a bit so it can be a bit more affordable.
Here is what we ordered:
Jelly Fish (Php 160), Century Egg (Php 60)
This jelly fish dish is really good. This has always been a favorite menu item to order whenever we visit Mey Lin. We can order century egg with it, 1 piece does cost 60 pesos though. Perfect appetizer for Chinese food.
Siomai (Php 90)
It’s funny that we almost finished this dish even before the soy sauce, calamansi arrived hahaha! The siomai is cooked to perfection, meaty and has generous servings of each major ingredient. This is how siomai is supposed to be cooked, tender and moist on the inside, good firm texture, and also moist on the outside but not soggy.
Sio Long Pao (Php 100)
I expected sio long pao to be juicy because it was that way when I went to China before. Mey Lin’s version was very dry but it still tasted good. Just not the way I expected it though.
Fried Beancurd (Php 150)
This reminded me of another restaurant’s version of Tofu. This tasted just okay, nothing special or out of the ordinary, but still worth a try. Crispy tofu with Mey Lin’s own special sauce.
Fried Intestines (Php 240)
Fried Intestines with vinegar is heaven!! My all-time Mey Lin favorite dish. No matter who I’m with, as long as we’re in Mey Lin, I make sure that we order this dish. It’s just too delicious to pass up.
Broccoli with Beef (Php 260)
Fish Fillet with Taoso (Php 270)
Great presentation. The fish tasted fresh too. Taoso is a great, great finish for this dish. Taoso is mashed soy bean, very crispy and tasted sooo good! Put in a container like that made it more yummier as it will always be hot.
Dried String Beans (Php 190)
I always see this as a Chinese version of sitaw or string beans. It says dried but I never felt it was so. Another favorite menu item that I order every time I go to Chinese restaurants. There are only a few Chinese restaurants that serve this though, luckily, Mey Lin is one of them.
Chicken Cubes with Dried Chili (Php 240)
Lemon Chicken (Php 250)
This was really good! Chicken with lemon, a weird combination but it worked perfectly well. This is definitely a twist on the classic orange chicken that is more popularly made in other Chinese restaurants. The balance with this dish is of course the crispiness of the chicken along with the sauce. We even ordered another one as the first one was finished in just a few minutes and everyone just wanted more 🙂
Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 210)
Fried Rice with Salted Fish (Php 220)
Lemonade (Php 80)
I kept raving about the lemonade while drinking. I think colleagues who were seated next to me was getting tired hearing me say how good the lemonade was. I also kept mentioning that they should make it a bottomless one. Mey Lin’s lemonade is just the best, it’s soooo good! You should order this drink when you visit the restaurant.
Mango Sago (Php 90)
For me, the best Chinese dessert is the mango sago. I’m not sure how this was done but I think it’s mango puree/juice with tapioca. Served cold, very tasty.
You might be wondering that we ordered too much food hehehe 😛 but look at just how many we were… The rest of the pictures can be found on my Flickr. Yaiks! I’m really craving for Mey Lin now! Must resist!!!
