Mel and the New Normal

Joining the growing ramen community in Alabang is Bangaichi Restaurant, located right behind Festival Supermall (at it's Riverside Area). If you need a landmark for it, it's located in the strip of restaurants behind Save More Supermarket side. You can park right outside it, which is super convenient. Two stories tall, this restaurant is pretty hard to miss when you're in the right area. Upon entering, I noticed that Bangaichi had an industrial feel that's pretty popular now (unpainted walls, bare bulbs lighting fixtures). It had a very modern feel to it. They were still on their soft opening when we tried it, so possibly the restaurant may look different inside by now. As you can see, the restaurant has lovely views of the "Riverside" creation of Festival Supermall, and it has wonderful natural lighting. With regards to the Ramen, we really enjoyed it. I was happy to have butter corn ramen here in the South (since I also get to have in the ra...

We were on the way to Army Navy (Alabang) when we spotted a new restaurant right beside it, Coco Hut! Peering inside, I saw it looked almost exactly like Army Navy, and thought it would be nice to try something new. Anyways, I was pretty sure that Army Navy owned it, so the taste would be more or less the same. Open Kitchen I could be wrong, but I really think the company behind Army Navy owns the place too. Looking at the menu design and the equipment inside the kitchen, it was almost exactly the same in design! Cute nipa-looking canopy The specialty of the place, obviously, was fried chicken and fish. For some reason, even with the name and design of the restaurant, I thought it was more of US style of frying fish and chicken, but the restaurant served items that were quite different. I think it's supposed to a Filipino restaurant but made into a cooler looking fast food concept. Cute poster, hehehe! Simple benches and table setup. That's Mika reading beside...

Maple Maple Maple. Everyone from the North / Fort / Makati area seems to love Maple! I've always understood it as the high-end version of Pancake House, but never had the chance to try it, even if I always drive past the McKinley branch with Just. (He must have heard "Hey look, it's Maple!" a million times from me already) So imagine my glee when they opened a branch in Alabang just this December! Alex and Pi scheduled our annual Christmas 3-Eggs Brekky here (instead of our yearly Pancake House.) Sosyal na kame, haha! Thank goodness they were open on December 24. Usually Justin comes with us, but our company Christmas party ended at 3AM, and needless to say, he didn't and couldn't get up on time! Maple may be tricky to find since it's not facing or along a main road like Commerce Avenue. So the best landmark is once you see Army Navy / Yellow Cab or Mona Lisa, you're in the area. Just circle the complex. Maple has lovely rustic and woody interi...

*I ate here a long time ago, but forgot to write the words for the draft, so forgive the lack of details. After a few weeks of seeing my friends post about this place, Justin and I had the opportunity to drop by after renewing our Alabang Hills sticker. Their juicy burger photos with matching #organic hashtags made me curious, and I was glad I had the chance to check it out. Their entrance is right beside Alabang 400s - if you are familiar with Southridge, it's near that area. It's on the 1st floor of a building, and you may have to park a little far since there a lot of cars in front during the weekdays. The ambiance is very straightforward - wooden tables, dark colored but well-lit interiors.  Their menu board lists all the organic steak and burger offerings. They have a lot of choices for a place that sells organic food.  They also have desserts for those who can't end a meal without one. Though not the ultimate in terms of presentation, they were ac...

I'm ashamed to say this, but Ramen Yushoken was one of those restaurants that was COMPLETELY out of my radar. How out? Well, I was in Molito almost daily for eating, work, errands, and I NEVER even saw this restaurant. Never heard about it from my friends until a few weeks ago, in fact! Tsk tsk. So out of the loop! The only reason I came to know about this restaurant, was through this article: " Foodies pick top 3 new restaurants of 2012 ." (This is a MUST READ, BTW)

In a failed attempt to eat a Ramen Yushoken at Molito (they were closed, since they were on broken hours), J and I decided to try Con Gusto, the new restaurant beside it. What enticed us was that it was by Buon Giorno, a restaurant fave of J and I in Tagaytay. We would literally just drive up to eat there when we needed a few hours of peace (i.e., we would email and answer calls from there). They were, unfortunately, still on soft opening (see picture below of soft opening sign) at the time we were there (early January). Sooooo it would be unfair to blog about them now. I could tell they were still training staff, and several dishes and drinks were still unavailable. But what we had was good, though I felt, was in smaller servings that Buon Giorno. Also more expensive (which surprised me?) I'll let the pics speak for themselves. It's definitely worth a try if you're craving for some pasta, I plan to visit again in a few months.  Menu Choices (so blurry)

Since learning how to drive, J and I love eating at bonjour of Total. The staff are kind and polite, and the food is good and well-priced. We often go there for our breakfast and coffee when we're on the go. They now have this promo where you buy their Nescafe Allegria tumbler (therefore joining the Bonjour club) for only P185 and you get 15 free cappucinno refills! I can't tell you how happy that promo makes me feel. Haha! Tried it today, sulit!

Earlier this evening, I was feeling a little sad (I know, I'm so emo, you can probably tell from this blog).   It really came out of nowhere -- I was working on payslips with Itunes on my Mac, and the song "We are Young" (the Glee version) came on, and it reminded me of last Christmas, when I was driving alone in my car and the song was playing, and I thought I could possibly be pregnant. See, almost everything is a trigger for me, haha. Anyways, the song got all me sad and quiet, and I went to lie down for a while. J noticed the sudden change, left the room, and came back with the 2 kids. And 2 puppies. Then had the kids climb on top of me on the bed. Then dumped the puppies on my head. (My husband, thru almost 15 years of being together, knows what distracts me). Alas, the puppy and kids dumping was not enough tonight (and the fur was making my cough worse), and the kids were eventually called off by their yaya for dinner. J took the puppies down and invited me to vis...

Finally done! It's like a huge burden has been lifted from our shoulders. You'd think since we do this for a living, we wouldn't be stressed out over it. And actually we weren't, it was our staff that shouldered all the work, therefore confirming my belief that it is very very difficult to DIY a party like this. But anyways, we were worried about how to have everything fit within a budget, because as mentioned in a previous post, we didn't have any! But God is so good, he gave us so many bookings this month and next month. Grateful for generous friends in the industry who gave me their services as gifts, or super discounted prices. Here are a few pictures my brother took. Still tired from the weekend (17 bookings this weekend, crazy!) but will post more details eventually. It was a bittersweet event. We were so grateful our friends and family came and mingled, but at the same time we knew it would be different and so much more joyful is Kat was with us. Happy Birt...