Bicol Food Trip

After a very long drive from Lucena. We dropped by Bigg's Diner to have breakfast. It is this old western inspired diner with really colorful and fun ambiance. The appeal of the place would pretty much capture the taste of many and a lot of fastfood chains would run for their money. Aside from burger and fries, they also serve tapsilog and tosilog and other pinoy favorites for breakfast!



Bicolanos are known to have this appetite for hot and spicy foods. In Let's Special Pinangat (restaurant) in Camalig they serve -well, what else but Pinangat, it is made in gabi leaves and mixed with coconut extract. Bicol Express is also one of Bicol's trademark food and our order was served in this little plate, almost like a saucer! But when we tasted it -oh my goodness! It's super dooper spicy! You can also buy frozen pinangat here.

Pinangat

Oh you should also try the Laing in tita Mila's restaurant. It is the best Laing I have ever had so far, hands down! And their Bopis is good as well! Hay! They also have a wide variety of goods made of Pili nuts such us Pili Polvoron, Pilietas, Bombones, cakes, etc. Mila's Restaurant is located at a gas station along Maharlika Highway in Pili, CamSur. Cagsawa buses usually stop over this place.

Laing and Bopis

Cagsawa Ruins, Albay

It was drizzling when we arrived there. The skies fortunately cleared after a while and the clouds finally showed off the amazing site of the Mayon volcano with the Cagsawa tower at the facade. They have this some sort of superstition that if you get a clear view of the Mayon volcano then it means that you are welcome in Bicol, something like that. I remember that I only used to see and read about this tourist attraction not only in postcards but in our books and also when we went to Nayong Filipino for a field trip way back in grade school. But at last! There I was, standing in front of that spectacular view, the astounding landmark of Bicol... in front of the real thing! I was simply like "wow"! I mean really, "wow!"

We feel fortunate that the view of the Mayon volcano is clear

There were these group of young people near the entrance who would approach you and would voluntarily escort you in the park and would even give some brief introductions about certain parts of the ruins on which we are stepping on. The Cagsawa church was engulfed by the flowing lava when the Mayon volcano erupted in 1814. The arches at the side of the ruins are in fact the windows already. Not only these kids gave us a tour, but they also offered to take pictures of us and even suggested to create some camera tricks with the tower in the background. Here's how it looked:

Not bad eh? The entrance is filled with souvenir shops where you can buy T-shirts, accessories, and other stuffs. Here's what I got:

Vampire Movies

Vampires are mythical creatures who exist by sucking the life out of living creatures... sucking blood, that is. You can geek yourself about vampires here.

There are so many movies out there about vampires, which one is your favorite?

Here's my TOP 5 PICK on vampire movies, in no particular order (or maybe close):

1. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Who could not ever put this on the list? You got Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, plus an award-winning breakthrough performance from Kirsten Dunst! I think this is simply the best.
2. QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
Here's another from Anne Rice. Although this was pretty much about the vampire Lestat, which was played by the hottie Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah left a really riveting performance in this movie.
3. BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
I find this movie visually haunting with wild, bloody, pure scary scenes. Magnificent actors... oh wait, Keanu Reeves?

Go get him Dracula

4. VAN HELSING
"It's alive! It's alive!" A classic line from Dr. Frankenstein, I just love saying it. Notice Kate Beckinsale's efforrrt on the Trrransilvanian accent in the movie. It's just oh-so-goody!

5. MR. VAMPIRE
Never heard of it? Well, this is a Chinese film. But in some ways it did not manage to scare me, it just made me laugh so hard that I even craved to see the second installment of this. Crazy? Hehe.


So there you have it! No, I am not a fan of the Twilight Saga. The movie may be good, but the story? Oh c'mon! Anyway, here's an upcoming funny treat for the not-so-Twihards... or whatever you call them... Vampires Suck!

Salt

This is like The Bourne Identity meets Mission Impossible type of movie. A quite typical spy thriller which showcases impossible action scenes. Jumping from one truck to another. Taking down all the enemies in seconds, no matter how bigger or many they are.

I have read from an article online that the role was first proposed to Tom Cruise before it landed to Angelina Jolie. But Cruise only declined due to prior commitments (and perhaps since Mission Impossible and Minority report is in the same line) and then the script was rewritten for Jolie.

Friends commented that the movie was really good, so we watched the film. How was the movie for me? It definitely has a lot of twists and turns yet I find it a little bit predictable. The action scenes are good but not enough to bring me to the edge of my seat. Bitin! You can still relax on your seats while eating popcorn or nachos. Angelina Jolie is great in action films though. I personally like Tomb Raider, but I least like this one so far.

I rate this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

Maybe I expected too much from this film.

Towed

Paeng failed its engine on me just when I was already SO CLOSE to our badminton tournament's venue! The engine wouldn't start and I was already in panic. Especially when an unknown tow truck approached and a man looked out of the window and asked (in an intimidating way) "anong problema niyan?!". I tried to manage a little smile as I dropped the hood, "Ay, wala po! Ok na! Ok na!"... I lied nervously. I don't want them to tow my car! Plus, I don't know if their towing service is even legal (there are some fake towing services, so be careful). So I phoned the Wheelers Club instead (after letting my parents know, of course).

My knight-in-shining-armor and my co-workers came to the rescue. So I made it to the tournament. I really thought that I will not be able to play which will make me feel more devastated!

Right after the game, I immediately called the Wheelers Club to send me a truck to finally tow Paeng. It took us 3 hours from Mandaluyong all the way to Novaliches. Why? The tow truck that they sent us is a Wheel-Lift type and the driver needs to check the hooks and chains every now and then. He says that it's slipping and that the car might fall if he will not check and fix it. I was getting a bit upset already because I was so tired and I wanted to go home early. They should have sent us a flatbed type. Grrr!

Here's Paeng at the back of the Wheel Lift tow truck.

Sixplosive: Badminton Tournament

This is the sixth year that URC is having their Inter-BU Sportsfest (B.U. for Business Unit henceforth, shall we?). Sixth year, so they came up with "Sixplosive". The sports are basketball, volleyball, badminton and this year they included bowling in the list of sports that you can join in as well.

We had our badminton tournament this morning, which was held in Metro Badminton in Mandaluyong. It was nice to say "hello" again with some good old participants that we have competed with last year. We are all quite familiar with each other already. The badminton team for our BU is bigger now compared last year that there were only six (6) of us.

URC Flour Badminton Team 2009

URC Flour Badminton Team 2010
(Photo from JB Clavecillas)

I was nervous and excited at the same time. This is the second year that I joined and paired with Mian for the Women's Double category. We won in our first game! YES!

My partner Mian for Women's Double
(Photo by JB Clavecillas)

The girls of our team.
(Photo by JB Clavecillas)