Ced Veni, Vidi, Voxed

My family and I went to the Greenhills Shopping Center this
weekend. On the way there, the streets are jam packed, mainly
because it's a weekend, and it's December already.

Finding a parking spot wasn't as difficult as it used to
be. Yes, there are long lines of cars waiting to enter the
parking area, but I'm happy to see that they now have a
new system: you are guarranteed a spot when you enter. The
security guard would actually tell you where the vacant
spot is! Nice.

Proceeding to the Christmas Show (free to the public) area
is a little difficult due to the long queue of people at
the entrance. It's also crowded inside, since there is also
a Christmas bazaar in the other half of the area.

The show this year was based on the story of the Nutcracker.
It was short and sweet, but of course the show repeats every
half hour. (Yay for the kids.) Getting decent pictures is
impossible, especially if you have a crummy camera like
mine.

Lots of food at the site, such as barbecues and sandwiches.
Grill smoke and yummy aroma was virtually everywhere, and
deciding what or where to buy food proved to be an exhausting
exercise. We had some pork barbecues on sticks, pork ribs,
java rice, and beef shawarma sandwiches. Very nice! *Burp*

After the meal and multiple viewing of the show (my kiddo
was already telling us in advance what would happen), shopping
was on the agenda. Make sure everybody knows the meeting
place and time for the end of the shopping time. And yes,
a fully charged mobile phone, too. It is very easy to get
lost, or disoriented at Greenhills. (Happens to me all the
time.)

Well, the Greenhills Christmas Show is a nice simple treat
for the kids, a great reason to pig out on the barbecues,
and a good excuse to do some evening shopping.

I recently had a very early breakfast with my brother and
his family at Something Fishy, Eastwood City. I was doing
some online work during the wee hours of the morning when
my brother called and offered to fetch me for some early
eats.

The all-you-can-eat buffet was great. It had steamed or
garlic rice, chicken or pork adobo, cheese-filled hotdogs,
tocino, beef tapa, smoked bangus, mami noodle soup, arroz
caldo, pancit malabon, and palitaw for dessert. Bottomless
drinks were available, having a choice of soda or iced tea.

By the way, the buffet is available daily, from 12 midnight
until 10 in the morning. Whether you are a morning person,
or a "night creature", you'll surely get a hearty and satisfying
meal at Something Fishy.

It has been quite a while since my family and I ate at Burger
King. We were at Glorietta, Makati, to do some chores, so
we decided to have our lunch at the BK branch there.

I had the Whopper with large onion rings & large soda, while
my wife got the Whopper Jr. with onion rings, soda, & chocolate
sundae. Our kiddo nibbled on some onion rings, and as usual,
wasn't interested in the burger.

One of the BK Staff approached my toddler and gave him a
toy. That caught us (my son included) by surprise, and my
toddler was quite hesitant to receive it. He did get the
toy after a while, but was too "shocked" to thank the nice
girl.

We always love going to Burger King for its burgers and
onion rings. The kind staff and great customer experience
is "icing on the cake". We will definitely prefer this BK
branch!

My family and I recently watched the recent Mr. Bean movie
at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. Finding an empty
parking space at Megamall was quite difficult, so I ended
up parking at the rooftop.

After the movie, tummies were growling so we decided to
go to the Barrio Fiesta restaurant, also inside the SM Megamall
building. There was a merienda buffet available (3pm to
6pm), so my wife and I decided to try it. The buffet had
a nice variety of Filipino dishes, like the fresh lumpia
(without the skin) & sweet peanut sauce, ground pork with
tomato sauce, Dinuguan and white puto, Mami noodle soup,
Goto, Pancit Canton, squidballs with sweet & sour dip, Tokwat
Baboy, and a few more. There was also Puto Bungbong, Maja
Mais, Ginatang Halo, and Sapin-sapin. I'm sure I forgot
to mention a few more dishes that were available.

The food was nice. Nice indeed. I particularly liked the
Dinuguan & puto, squidballs, Goto, and Tokwat Baboy. And
also the Maja Mais, which had just the right sweetness and
corn goodness for finishing off the hearty meal.

And if you don't like the mentioned dishes above, you could
always order Barrio Fiesta's famous Crispy Pata, Kare-kare,
and steamed rice. That was what my mom-in-law, nephew, and
niece had at that time.

We recently visited the North Park Chinese Restaurant, Market
Market branch in Taguig City.

We had the usual pork siomai dimsum, as well as the beef
and brocolli. I forgot what the fried rice with sauce was
called (a variation of Yang Chow fried rice?), and we all
agreed that it was yummy. We requested that the sauce be
put in a separate bowl, since not everyone was fond of "saucy"
rice. The sweet and sour pork, and fried canton noodles
were scrumptious. It was also the first time I tried the
salted spare ribs, and I loved its perfect crunchiness,
and right amount of saltiness. The hot tea was nice to have,
while we wait for the food to arrive.

The service was prompt and friendly, as with the other North
Park restos we've gone to. The service staff were happy
to accomodate customer requests (such as the separation
of the sauce from the fried rice), and most approach you
with a smile on their faces. High chairs for toddlers were
readily available, and the waiter even had the initiative
to offer the high chairs as we arrived at the table.

Overall, my family and I had a great experience at this
North Park branch, and will certainly be one of our favorite
places to have some chinese food in the Taguig City area.

If I were to describe Bonifacio High Street in a few words,
it would be an open-area park mall. Think of an urban park
with catwalks, plants, and lawns, place in speciatly shops,
arcades, and restaurants, and there you have it - Bonifacio
High Street.

There is a Krispy Kreme branch there. This was actually
the main reeson we went to Bonifacio High Street. I was
surprised that despite the quite expensive donut prices,
there was still a very long line which even extended to
the outside of the shop. Personally, I like Gonuts Donuts
the most, although I would readily munch on any donuts from
Dunkin' Donuts, Mister Donut, or Hot Loops.

There are lots of shops to see at Bonifacio High Street,
but the ones I readily recall (aside from Krispy Kreme)
are Timezone gaming arcade, and Starbucks. You will find
various clothing, food, and specialty stores, but unfortunately,
there were too many to see, and I only had little time to
look around.

Tired of your usual shopping and hang-out destinations?
Give Bonifacio High Street a visit for a refreshing experience.