Weekend Footnotes: Hole In The Wall at Century City Mall

A few Sundays before summer officially ended for the kids, C and I decided to take the kids out to Century City Mall to try Hole In The Wall.  The concept is that of a food hall where you order from different restaurants and eat it at a common dining area… the concept is like that of fast food, but the atmosphere is definitely much more upmarket.

  

{Weekend Footnotes} Summer Palace + The Wholesome Table

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday! I hope everyone found the time to say a short prayer of thanks to the Lord who died on the cross for us.

Happy Ressurection Sunday! Let's all remember that it's not about the bunny and the eggs... It's all about the Lamb. {John1:29 "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!} #RessurectionSunday #easter

A photo posted by The Phenomenal Mama (@thephenomenalmama) on Apr 4, 2015 at 8:39pm PDT

Weekend Footnotes

I was invited to an 80th birthday celebration last weekend.  My friend and his siblings wanted to celebrate the birthday of their mom, and they did so in a grand way!  The Grand Ballroom of Makati Shangri-la was transformed into an enchanted garden.  To keep everyone entertained, the family members presented special song numbers for their ah-ma.  The evening was perfect as the food and company was great!  I wasn't able to take photos of the food, except for my soup bowl, because I was catching up with friends seated on our table.  This chicken broth with bamboo pith, mushroom, asparagus and sliced chicken was so good.  This is one of my favorite soup when we eat at Chinese restaurants.  

Look at the photo above, on the lower right ^^^ guests who were wearing red took home "angpaos."  Yay! Hahaha!  And for the 8 lucky winners of the games, they took home electronic gadgets such as Samsung tablets and Samsung LED TV!  Bongga noh?

Weekend Footnotes

Last weekend started early for me  because my girls had their last day of classes mid-week.  It is officially summer!  We had to celebrate that, of course!  We went to UP Town Center and had lunch at Dulcelin and sweets at Cafe Shibuya.

Weekend Footnotes: A Night Out With My Mooncake Moms

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be a guest at an intimate party to celebrate a milestone birthday for one of my DML mooncake moms.  It was a surprise birthday party organized by the husband of the celebrant.

My Mooncake Moms.  Parang Koreanovela lang!:)

So there we were, all ladies.  It was a gathering of all of her good friends accumulated from the time she was in school herself all the way upto all the mommy groups she has formed through her kids.  She has 4 kids so you can just imagine how many groups of friends she has accumulated.  It was enough to fill up the entire function room.

 Everyone enjoyed the sumptuous spread, from the buttered prawns to the roast beef.  But these dessert shooters were the star of the dessert table.

Clearly, CYMA's Roka Salata ruled!  I think everyone in my table went back for seconds or thirds.:)

 The Tonnos Salata was also good, but I have always loved the Roka.

Here is the birthday girl.  She is everyone's achi in our group, and we have learned so much from her. Dealing with kids, husband, and even how to diet. hahaha!:)  I have always admired her dedication to all of her four kids. Four kids, imagine that!

Happy Birthday, Helen! 

For me and my friends, it is a good way to catch up and our long awaited night out. :)  I hardly go out at night with friends anymore, my meet-ups are usually breakfast or lunch dates when the kids and husband are away.  So this was a good excuse to be out!:)

FOLLOW ME!   

   

Weekend Footnotes

Belated Happy Chinese New Year! So how did you celebrate yours?

My family celebrated the Chinese New Year's Eve by having dinner at LiLi, the Chinese restaurant of Hyatt Manila. 

Of course, we couldn't resist having the two-way Peking Duck.  The second way was served on a bed of lettuce, which we barely touched because we were too full already so we just brought it home to enjoy as the next day's meal.

We didn't see the dragon dance, but we were visited by this "Chinese emperor" who went around giving treats to everyone.  He was actually carrying a tin can filled with thin wooden sticks, similar to the one they have in Chinese temples when you visit the Chinese fortune teller.  Our table got lucky and won a bottle of wine!

Look what my fortune cookie says.... looks like traveling will be done in the foreseeable future!!!

On Saturday, the SoMoms and SoKids were invited to attend the 20th Anniversary of Gingersnaps at the SMX of SM Aura Premier.  More about the #Gingersnapsat20 in a separate post.

After church last Sunday, lunch was at Kimukatsu the East Wing of Shangri-la Plaza.  They boast of their extremely juicy 25-layer pork cutlet.  We ordered the four-piece family set, and it came with unlimited rice, cabbage, miso soup, and Japanese pickles.

That's about my weekend!  Till the next one!:)

FOLLOW ME!   

   

Weekend Footnotes

I woke up 5:15am today to prepare my kids' lunch for school, and went back to sleep right after.  I only got off my bed again at 8am when the hubby woke me up for our daily breakfast date, before he leaves for work.  I am still too pooped from last weekend's activities, and my body is demanding some more rest!:)

Last week was the start of the Palarong Pambansa (NCR meet) festivities.  Our city of San Juan hosted this year's regional games, and so a parade was in order to officially start the games.

San Juan swimmers pose for photos before we go to the assembly for the parade of athletes

For three straight days, Wednesday to Friday, I was at the poolside cheering for my girls!  J has moved up to compete for the secondary girls of San Juan, and B made it to represent the elementary girls of San Juan. It made both girls so proud to represent their school and city in this year's Palarong NCR.  It was no easy feat for this tired mama as I sat by the bleachers with the other swim-moms, cheering our kids on from sunrise to sundown.

Since I had less time to prepare my family's meals, being that I am also at the poolside for the entire day, meals were limited to rice toppings with meat and veggies that are quick to prepare.  The photo below shows one such meal that took me less than 30 minutes to do.  The roasted black sesame seeds sprinkled on top makes the meals seem so much more special and elaborate that it actually is, don't you think?:)

Grilled chicken with roasted sesame dressing and steamed brocolli 

Moving on to other topic, here's a quick rundown on where I ate the past few weeks...

I think three days of swim-mom duty ought to be rewarded with 2 whole pizzas, eaten in bed while catching up on my favorite tv shows.:) Everyone agrees!

I met up with some friends at The Red Crab over at Eastwood Mall a couple of weeks ago.  The pancit sa tinta was so good that no one minded the black stains it left on our teeth.

The Red Crab Alimango House
Ground Floor, Eastwood Mall, Quezon City

Meeting up with friends over good food is really one of my simple joys.  Trying new restos are made more fun with them.  So I find myself at Tampopo trying the house specialty, the Tampopo Black Pig Shabu Ramen.  The Black Pig, also known as Kurobota in Japanese, is prized for its exceptional flavor and tenderness.

Tampopo
Unit 115, Ground Floor Promenade 3, Greenhills

Our favorite cupcake shop is now nearer!  Cupcakes by Sonja has a new location at the new addition to the Promenade in Greenhills.

Cupcakes By Sonja
Ground Floor Promenade 3, Greenhills

How about you, how did your weekend go?

FOLLOW ME!   

   

Weekend Footnotes

Weekends are usually always about eating out for my family.  This time around we tried Lugang Cafe at SM Aura.  Lugang specializes in Taiwanese cuisine, and we have tried it several times before at the Greenhills branch, and it never fails to make our tummies happy.  This new branch doesn't disappoint , as well.

Xiao Long Bao is a MUST order for my son.

Weekend Footnotes

It's back to the daily grind for me and the rest of the moms with school-aged kids. It seems like the holiday break just flew by... Bitin! How did you spend the last few days of the Christmas break?

We were invited last Saturday to the first birthday party of the youngest sister of one J's good friends. It was an Alice-in-Wonderland themed party held at the Isla Ballroom of the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel.  There were a lot of activities for the kids - cupcake decorating booth, face-painting, glitter tattoo, a booth for decorating a mad-hatters hat (for the boys) and a booth for designing fascinators (for the girls).

Since J was seated with her friends, B and I made the most of our being early by having fun. We tried on fascinators and took selfies.:)