K-10.

Thanks to Faith...eto na at yung mga 'K"...pano kaya maging picture yong kembot-kembot to the left? hehehe

Not in any particular order ....ready, set...go!

KASTANYAS as we call it in dear old Cebu, otherwise known as chestnuts. The sight and smell of roasted kastanyas during Christmas is enough to make me very nostalgic and wish it was Chirstmas every day of the year.

KEROPI - an ode to the toad...I mean...frog...ay...ang cute-cute (kawaii as the Japs would say) niya...kagaya ni KERMIT, THE FROG.It is not easy being green, but he's got the good life.

Almond na KISSES chocolates is just one of my favorite sweets to eat.

However, I also like bestowing the honest-to-goodness kiss on my favorite people....*tsup!*

My 1st ever favorite hero -KENSHIN Himura from "Rurouni Kenshin" also known as "Battousai"....the hitokiri (assassin) from the Japanese war between the Ishin-shishi and the Shinsengumi - what's not to love about him?

Not only is he the fiercest and most deadly man-killer of all, he also an excellent cook and does the laundry too. Kaya siguro am just spoiled na...I have him as my ideal man...hahahaha! Not too tall though, and he's taken to wearing a fuchsia gi...but darlings, if you saw him the OAV..*faints*

KYOU KARA MAOU (God Save Our King) is one of the newer animes I favor today. Granted, its all "bisshies" or "bishounen" meaning they feature guys who can make you drop your clothes and run nekked to them....and may hints of shounen-ai or boy love (imagine, na engage yung Demon King to a guy who is the younger brother of his beloved godfather, dahil sinampal niya, ano yon?) but its really hilarious as a comedy. There's magic and surprisingly the story is also not that bad...*gush* ang gwapo-gwapo talaga nila...call me shallow..but my heart goes pitter-pat...

KITTENS - need I explain? need I elaborate?

Also known as baklava, the KATAIFI is also part of my sweet tooth list of victims....mwahahaha! This is defined as a Greek pastry made from shredded phyllo dough and filled with walnuts. When served it is often topped with honey. This pastry can also be served as a topping for other desserts, such as custards and yogurts.

I'm including this in my list coz its funny sometimes thinking about it. I used to wonder if I could change my name to something more out of this world. But, have you ever experienced people keep on calling you by another name? I've gone thru this less than 8 times in my whole life..but I've noticed that after I've introduced myself as "Catherine Herrera", they keep on calling me either "Kristine" or "Katrina"...was it because I spoke my name too fast? Last night, I got called in a phone conference as Katrina..complete with rolling rrrrss....so now...I've resigned myself to liking these names too...

Introducing my female Jap spitz...the last of the Mohicans - KOBEY is her name.

Unfortunately I can't find my picture of her..so this will have to do..its still a jap spitz pup...and since all puppies look the same...well, she did look like this when she was younger..honest!

Last but not the least, one of my fave forbidden books - the KAMA SUTRA.

I say forbidden because during my college days, I had no idea what it was...and was just hoping for a glimpse of it

(it wasn't in our dusty library...well I could hope...but...)

When I had money to spare (after I got a job), I brought one from a book club...

sadly though, it was all text...*grin* no pictures...darn it!

- Jul 3, '07 2:51 PM

Full June 2007 Weekends 2/2

     

The last weekend of June 2007 is not over, but again on Friday I received an unexpected call, I had posted in an album here some pictures I had taken during my first ever Enchanted Kingdom trip, way back in 1995 if I am not mistaken. Yes, surprises of surprises, Nina - my dorm mate and friend who, along with Frank accompanied me to EK, was in town and proposed meeting each other that night. Since I had a scheduled gimik with Dingdong and some ex-officemates, I had to move it to a Saturday.

 

Supposedly we were going to Zirkoh at Greenhills (?) but it didn't push through.

Too bad since I had egged on Janine (ex-officemate who provided the "Do You Know" song link) to go to our former office. Since the plan was scrapped, I did not go anymore to Ortigas..but Dingdong said that the plans changed and that he and his girlfriend, plus the friend of his gf, planned to have dinner and see Transformers. Coolness!

I was going to see Transformers the next week with some officemates, but hey, this gave me a good excuse as any to go ahead. They popped at Bubba Gump at around 11:15 pm, I joined them for dinner (Makati is really small, I even saw a couple of my current officemates there)  and at 1 am, we trooped to Greenbelt 3, where I had the time of my life watching on the big screen all the beloved characters. Ah..it would be great to have that Camaro on my side anytime...*Sigh*  At 4 am, with eye bags and bleary eyes, I said goodbye to Dingdong and his Pam...and to her friend Jackie. 

It was amusing to realize that Nina and her sis-in-law Manichel, both of whom I would meeting for brunch in 6 hours, would also be from Pagadian, the same as Dindong's Pam and Jackie. I revisited Pagadian by asking them during dinner (and nibbling on Shrimp Shack Pasta with delicious feta cheese and medium-sized shrimps) if the tricycles were still the same (tilted by 45 degrees, you felt like you were to zoom off the planet 

 

when you rode one); if Hotel Camla where I stayed was still there, with Sunburst restaurant with its delicious beef tapa was still around; if there were still live crabs being sold at the airport, and if the restaurant named Tru Lab, which was sitting in the middle of a fishpond was still merrily serving its customers good fresh seafood (btw, the letters in Tru Lab stand for something.....which I have forgotten...but I think it was for a cooking method, ingenious eh?)

At 10 am that day, I blearily looked at my cellphone since I had asked Nina to give me a "miss call" (so that I would be able to wake up to meet her)...*guffaws* We three met at Greenbelt 1 at Delifranz, where we were also talking animatedly about previous roomies and the life we had after we left the dorm. Her sis-in-law was training to be an officer at BPI Head Office, and I had the idea of asking her about loans since I was interested in slaving away for a condo of mine here in Makati. After two years of paying rent, I finally realized I would be staying a little longer in Manila..so I made the decision.

We finally decided to have lunch, and I dragged them to Italianni's, where we had penne fergure and a classic pizza along with grape fruit shake, a soda and iced-tea.

. 

I remembered that Italianni's had a P500 discount coupon for a P1K meal, but I had given it to Dante when I met him for lunch earlier that month...so I had to content myself with the 20% discount card. btw, they will be changing that card effective July 15, 2007 - it won't be transferable anymore.

We continued reminiscing over the other roommates we had, and we were surprised when our waitress Mavy spoke to us in Bisaya...hahaha! another Bisdak in Manila. We introduced ourselves to her, by saying Tuguegarao, Pagadian and Cebu while pointing to each girl separately. Mavy, was a very nice waitress and gave us very good service, and even took our picture posted somewhere on this page. 

Nina is quite talkative while Manichel was quieter. A variety of subjects were bounced back and forth, and we giggled as girls are wont to do.  

We swapped phone numbers, and since I was planning to visit a couple of brokers that day, I first went off to doze for a couple of hours more then came back to visit a broker we girls had passed by when walking back from Italianni's.

I talked to two brokers. While Ayala development is really good if you want to invest, for the life of me I could not really appreciate the location of their Columns. I text-ed Sir B, who agreed with me that it wasn't the best of locations (corner of Pasay Road or known as Arnaiz and the Amorsolo street, which is already Makati Cinema Square).  The Residences showcase was on the top of Greenbelt 3. Unfortunately, no studio units were left in the first tower, and its only the third tower which has 9 units left...and just thinking of the price made my eyes spin for a little while.

After visiting showplaces for The Columns (another Columns is at the back of RCBC Plaza, and this is the only one which can really use the address of Ayala  since its at the corner of Buendia and Ayala Ave)...and The Residences, both Ayala development projects, I finally succumbed and went back to Bizu, where I bought a variety of macaroons and munched on them happily all the way back home since I didn't want to think of the debt I would be racking up. Oh well, another day, another weekend...and its July 2007 coming up the corner.






- Jul 1, '07 3:30 AM

Full June 2007 Weekends 1/2

Aside from weird working hours trying to catch people not only in Asia, and Europe but also NA and goodness knows where else, I actually had a much better June 2007 than I expected. There were some difficult times (not related to work) but all in all, not a bad month I should say, especially since some rains did fall and helped cool a little bit the baked earth or asphalt of Makati.

The beer party at AIM for the new batch of hopeful MM students (batch 2008) is one affair that I try to never miss.

Not only is it a good way to see a couple of my batch mates, it is also an easy way to keep in touch with the MM network and AIM professors. In fact, come to think of it, it seems to be always three people of the MM05 who pops out without fail, one of which is constant...yep...me!

This year it was Jobet (lawyer) and Shan (marketing) who were the familiar faces. Sir B didn't show up (he probably was swamped with work and since his birthday was coming up - he could be excused), and neither did Cathy and her husband Navneet.

In the picture somewhere on this page (if the links still work),  Professor Gavino is sitting beside me...and on the other bench are Shan (red shirt) and Jobet.

I still got to meet with the assistants Queenie (in light blue) and Weiss who were always very nice and helpful to me, even now when I am out of the august halls of the AIM dorm and campus.

Queenie was tipsy with a couple of tequila shots..and I left the party shortly after the picture was taken but had to come back afterwards after checking the email at the library and finding out that Jasper (my MM classmate who is in Singapore) wanted me to meet up with his best friend (a guy I saw at his wedding but whose face I could not remember anymore).

Apparently, Jasper was sorry that he had to miss the party since he longed for the occasional beer and talk during these activities. Nakaka-miss ang Pilipinas daw...

On June 11 (Monday), which was swapped for the official June 12 Independence day by GMA, I met up with people I formerly worked with in Ortigas. Dante, our QA guy who now works in Makati treated me to lunch at Sugi. Thanks to him I had my first taste of parsley tempura - a dish I was really curious about since Ms. G had looked for it in vain the night she and Sir B treated me to dinner. It was the first time I ate tempura without thinking about the calories and fats...thanks to the parsley!

Dante and I talked and talked (hey, he is a Gemini if I am not mistaken) and after patting our stomachs, I treated him to a different kind of iced tea and my fave macaroons at Bizu's while we continued talking on a variety of subjects: money, realty, Ayalaland, condos, love-life, career, food, his company, cellphones, computers etc.

The last time I had a taste of the heavenly macaroons at  Bizu when my MRR (thesis) adviser Professor Coloma gave a boxful to me as a gift. It is still as yummy as ever!!

Unfortunately I completely forgot I had my smaller camera in my bag due to the sight of so much beauty..I mean food..in front of me during the whole shebang that I was not able to take a picture of us after gorging ourselves, which was still going on 4 hours after we started talking.

Daryl (I sometimes call him fondly as Daddy Daryl), who was my team lead for a couple of assigned software projects, and who is working for another company in Ortigas met up with me later that night in Shakey's Ortigas. Oh, my goodness...another Gemini! How amusing.

We talked and ate and talked and ate since he was famished, after playing Dota no less...tsk..tsk...and at his age too!

It was his birthday and he had so many debts to pay to me, I wonder if he could ever get himself out of the hole he had dug!

See, I used to tell him that for every bug I saw in his programs he had to treat me to merienda and since he was "game" well...too bad I was a good bug catcher *ehem*. Subjects we touched on included the food (it seems to be always a common topic in my conversations with people), his kids and his wife (who was due to return from the US..and he was excited about her and of course the pasalubongs), his work at the company where another developer of mine also had moved earlier to.

After a while, another ex-officemate of ours and also one of my lead developers dropped by at Shakey's and munched off the remaining pizza. The two of us listened to Gio expound on how it was progressing in the company Daryl and I had left..but after a while, we really had to be shooed off by the waiter *grin*.

Luckily, Starbucks at Emerald Ave was still open and so we walked over there. They had drinks, I did not..since I was stuffed to the brim at that point. Lately, I have been able to control my appetite during night times, so my stomach has adjusted its growlings.

To their credit, they did offer to buy me something to drink (aaah! its so nice not to be the boss anymore..that way you can always sit back and wait for them to offer, unlike before, when you were expected to fork over the money hahaha!). More talking till around 2 plus in the morning, where this time, it was the Starbucks' guard who marched us off the premises. Oh the shame of it *grin* but time really flies when you are with friends...

Middle of one week, if you will recall, I attended the Japanese film festival Eiga Sai at Shangri-la Mall, Although the picture we took of the initial party was blurry and incomplete with the members of the J-club (Japanese club), I will include it here since I had really enjoyed Kamikaze Girls.

Two Fridays ago, after attending my first origami session with some officemates, I got a totally unexpected call, saying to come over, again to Ortigas and this time it was Congo Grill at El Pueblo (?), where apparently somebody had the outrageous idea of treating people out to dinner/drinks and good ole chikahan. I don't know what Gio had for lunch or breakfas that day, but it certainly turned out lucky for us....*prays to the good Lord to have him do the same thing again hehehe*

There was another invitation at an earlier hour - a despedida for an officemate of ours who was going to be working in Singapore, but since I had a phone conference on Friday (as usual!), I made the choice of going to Ortigas - if the guys would not mind my being late.  Since they could start on Congo Grill's famous dish - the sizzling sisig - without me...it was all I could do to not drool in the taxi while thinking wistfully of the dinner plans.

Since I was in a rush and Friday is such a bad time for Makati in getting taxis etc. I totally forgot my camera (hence no pictures inserted in this blog of that particular occasion), and a good thing too, as some guys (whose name I will kindly not mention anymore but they know who they are!) got a little bit tipsy and provided some hilarious moments.

Gio, Sam, Dean and Redgie were drinking merrily and again there were topics which were funny, topics which were touchy, topics which were inane, and topics which..well, are fodder for spirited discussion especially if mixed with beer and pulutan.

I really should not get into a discussion with guys who have been drinking beer for quite a while..but then, its so nice needling them, I just can't help it!

- Jul 1, '07 2:05 AM