My Best Friend Chef and Baker boy

What I like about my best friend is that he's a fast learner. Once he's into something makes a point to master it. As for this year, he's into cooking and baking and mastered to art of it. Galing!

Well, we've been best friend since 2008 and i must admit I only got to taste his cooking only this year!

Crazy isn't?! Every time we met, we only go out and eat at restaurant. Never we've tried cooking at each others house. Walang time and walag chance kasi =)

A couple of months ago, he invited to visit him on seminary (yes, he is a seminarian) to have lunch with him and introduce me to his co-seminarians and rector. Since the place is in far-away Marikina (yes i find that place very far from Las Pinas!) so I ask him to cook the food that I want. Hahaha.

Salads was abundant! He knows that i'm into dieting so he prepared me these two types of salads. One is a combination of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and other leafy stuff while the other one consist of the same leafy vegetables plus some crab meat and mangoes.

Healthy Eating!

Another variety of salad anyone?

As for the main dish, he prepared a seafood ensemble. It's a combination of fish meat, shrimp, olives, sauteed in coconut milk. It was delicious!!!!

I don't know it's name but it was delicious!

Floro's cooking was so good, when we ate at this fine-dining restaurant in Loyola (which is sooo expensive and little servings pa! LoL! di puede sa mga PG like me!) we where not satisfied. In short di kami nasarapan! LoL!

Floro ordered this fish-something entree while I ordered a pasta.

The break through performance of Floro as a chef was his baking skills! He only teach himself by watching videos on You Tube and cooking websites. Super galing!

Custard cake which is so good when it's cold (or naiwan sa freezer for 2-3 days)

This Christmas 2011, i asked my bestfriend to baked me different cakes for our Noche Buena. We prepared apple pie, lemon custard cake, chocolate cake and that leche flan inspired cake. We started to bake at 2:00pm and finished at around 8pm na! Ang tagal right??! LoL! But it was worth it.

The apple pie smelss so good when we removed it from the oven. The smell is so promising!

The Baker Boy at Work (taga picture lang ako!)

He's so proud of himself because he mastered the art of separating the yolk of an egg. Ikaw na!

Pouring in the layer of the lemon custard cake.

The Baker Boy's finished product.

If we just put our attention and time on something we love to do, surely we'll become successful and eventually will master it.

Merry Christmas to All.

Cebu! Cebu!!!

Sa wakas, nakapunta narin ako sa Cebu!! Yes, sa dinami-dami na ng lugar na napuntahan ko ni hindi pa ako nakakapunta sa Cebu. Salamat sa Piso fare ni Cebu Pac nakadalaw din ako sa "Queen City of the South" (notwithstanding the tons of work sa office lol).

Salamat din sa bagyong Frank, we we're stranded in Cebu City for a whole day because the typhoon (who was ravaging LUzon at that time) cancels all the ferry service to Bantayan island (where we we're supposed to go first).

We roamed around Cebu City since morning time. We went to this building where the "skywalk" tour is located. Mahal pala sha in fairness, tinakot ka na nga magbabayad ka pa! :P

Next, we went to downtown Cebu, we had mass in Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral before lunch time.
It was a nice church.

Facade of the church

Mini-plaza at the church

After that, we proceed to one of the ancient Augustinian church of the Philippines, the Sto Nino Cathedral. This is the church that is fully devoted to the infant child Jesus. The church was magnificent (based on my standard ha!). It has the same hard stone structure just like San Agustin church of Manila. It's a formidable fortress of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. 

Hail to the chief of Philippine church!

Plaque inscription dating back 1941

Magnificent!

The Augustinians really know what grandeur is!

A trip to Cebu would never be complete if we didn't visit the world famous Magellan's cross. I was surprised to see that maliit lang pala yun. I though it was huge. Nevertheless lakas padin ng effect sa akin gn famous spot na ito =D.

Hello there Magellan's Cross!

Fresco painting on the dome's wall.

After the downtown trip which last till lunch time, we've decided to take our lunch on the famous "Larsian" bbq area. Since it was lunch time the place are not totally open. Only the stores near the entrance sell their bbq. All the other stores are close. n fairness the bbq are clean and cheap. Had isaw for lunch. Ang sarap! Malamang mas masaya at mas madaming tao sa Larsian pagdating ng gabi. Sarap tumambay at mag-inuman dito!

Larsian barbeque is a must-try eating experience in Cebu

The best part of our dining experience here in Cebu was the visit to the famous Zubuchon of Cebu! I'm not a big fan of lechon but lechon cebu is cooked differently and Zubuchon does it the best. In fairness mura lang sha compared to the lechon that you can buy here in Manila.

They have different fresh flowers everyday. Lovely noh?

The secret of Zubuchon, besides their tasty lechon, is the "Kamias shake"! Healthy na masarap pa! I didn't know kamias can turn into a shake! Galing!

When Anthony Bourdain went to Cebu, he did visit Zubuchon and make the famous remark "Best pig ever!" and I couldn't agree more with Anthony.

After that tiring day, We went to our hotel a happy camper. It was fun to roam around Cebu in just one day. Can't wait to go back there.

Bantayan Island escapade next ;D

China Travel Diary 5: Acrobats Galore

I know that the Chinese are great in Acrobats, or should I say in gymnastics, by simply watching them compete in Olympics makes me wonder "when will the Philippines ever get a athlete to compete in that sports?".

We had a chance to watch a acrobatic show in downtown beijing after our trip in the Great Wall earlier the day. Was excited though to watch this show since this is my first time to see an acrobatic show. I remember a couple of months ago a group of chinese acrobats had a show in Araneta Center and I was wondering whether the show is worth your money or not.

Chinese Opera House Lobby

Ang aga namin dumating sa theater, it was so early the earlier show was still on-going when we arrived. Muntik na kaming pumasok sa loob ng theater. Since we still have 1.5 hours to kill time, we decided to visit their souvenir shops muna.

Chubby panda, panda in panda headgear, panda's with bamboo. Panda everywhere!!!

Big and Small Panda!

While Olive and Rose are busy looking for some jewelry, I was mesmerized by the cuteness of the giant panda bear. Gusto ko syang iuwi!!

Infairness cute daw si kuya according to these two.

Dear Panda: Be mine



I made a sneek peek inside the theater, but this guard forbid me to take pictures while they are cleaning the theater. I didn't get the point bakit bawal but since masunuring bata ako I did not take many pictures. Hello papasok din naman ako later dyan noh =P.

The seats before the storm....errr before the people enter the premises

Side Entrance ng theater which is near the souvenir shop

Then it was time to get inside the theater. I kid you not when I say that people (i.e. locals) literally RAN and shove other people just to get a seat. Balya kung balya. I think falling in line is not their best characteristics. Kawawa though are the old people because hindi sila puedeng makipagsabayan to the throngs of people who barrage inside the theater.

The show was supposed to start at 7:30PM but due to commotion it was delayed by 15 minutes. And when the song was played and the acrobats appeared everybody was silenced.

First group was this group of young men doning a "Spartan-type" costumes. They only did a short dance number.


Next was this traditionally inspired costumed guys, Now this is where the acrobat and the exciting part begins. In the picture above, he performed his pottery trick (see picture below). It was awesome!

Sige na, kayo na ang best in balancing!

Next was the hat dance acrobat performed by these young guys in tights. Im not sure but meron ding ganitong sayaw/performance/trick sa philippine dance natin right? Please correct me if im wrong.

Mag juggle ba ng sombrebro?

After the sombrero performance comes the girls with their gymnastic props performance. I think some of the props that they used are traditional chinese games, like the yoyo-like toys. It's so nice to watched them because they act in precision and sabay-sabay.






I think the most amazing part of the show was this three-men gymnast who performed a statue-like number while showing off their hard muscles. I admire their strength and agility while performing this acrobats. It was truly amazing!

Look Ma, one hand only!

The last performance was the motorcycle daredevil number. One by one these motorcycle drivers entered the metal globe and circled inside until they get hilo. LoL!

At first, one or two motorcycle is just ok, but when the third, fourth and fifth driver entered the globe then the excitement began. Kakanerbyos!

One driver..bwahahaha (basahin ala count dracula ng sesame street)

Two driver...bwahahaha

And then there were five drivers!

After the motorcycle performance, the show ended. It was a fun one-hour show in fairness =D

We did enjoy the show, I swear. Kahit na we've push through at the entrance or need to change seat twice, still the show was worth it.

Oh btw, we've bought some panda stuff as well from the gift shop. Thank God we bought here because we didn't have enough time to buy at the Beijing market due to time constraint.

Three happy theater goers


Traffic was light when we went home. We didn't get a chance to talk to the other foreigners (mostly Europeans) who was with us at the coaster van (it was a package tour) becausethey think we we're locals. Lol!

May susunod pa po kaya abangan =D.