Chow Fun - Jose Abad Santos St, San Juan

J. Abad Santos (Wilson area, San Juan) is a good place to visit when "where to eat?" is the only thing you want to think of. There are new places in the area that you can easily miss - Tori Box, La Creperie, and Eat My GF - but we'll get into those soon. Along J. Abad Santos is the huge-ass signage for Hong Kong Street Food and the bright signage of Chow Fun. Oh, how fun, there's Chow Fun! (This won't pass as their slogan, ever.)

Chow Fun has simple red, grey (no paint), and black interiors with a touch of printed tarpaulins at the sides and pretty overcrowded lamps. It's a no frills easy place to come into, you won't get intimidated with the interiors and the servers. As usual, the problem along J. Abad Santos establishments is the parking space. So please have the patience and some saltine crackers ready if you're really hungry already.

So bright like the stars at night. Whut?

Their menu is not to die for. I asked the server if there's a chance that their menu will add more items and she said yes, since the place is still relatively new. I kept on looking for the "basic" ones such as noodle soup and some fried rice. Let's give them time to double their food menu before we strike the hatchet on this. Since we're not that hungry, we opted with their famous starter: the Chinese Fondue.

Interesting!

The Chinese Fondue contains fried veggie cakes, sliced squid balls, and squid. It is served with a cheese-and-curry dip (I suddenly miss Macao) over a lighted candle. Fondue fun-due! It's a very interesting fondue and since I'm a fan of curry dips, this is worth my Php155 (although I know I can eat so much more for this price). Aside from the fondue, I ordered Broccoli X.O. which also has mushroom in dried seafood sauce but was too excited to eat so I wasn't able to take a photo. HA! Their iced black tea strawberry is really really good! It's a must!

It is somewhat pricey for the serving size and almost all items are for sharing. Not a good day to be an only child who went out for some late-night snacking! You have to bring your friends or family over to make the trip here worth it. For dessert, we had a toss-up between Haw Flakes Pastry or their Butchi. The Reese's Chocolate Butchi won! Since I'm the younger one, I ate 2 out of 3 pcs. Mwahaha. I like Reese's and I like buchi, it's a win-win situation for me! Friends said that Eat Well offers 6pcs chocolate buchi but I have yet to see the price range for Eat Well (which has a lot of good reviews, by the way). Maybe Chow Fun's PHP 120 Reese's Butchi stands a chance against Eat Well's.

PHP 120 for 3 pcs.

Chow Fun

103 J Abad Santos St., Little Baguio, San Juan (near Serenitea and Ristras)
+632 624 1009

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero retires from professional tennis. Bring out the tissue.

Oh God, why?!

The 32-year-old Spanish former world number 1 decides to call it quits after losing in the Valencia Open 500. Born February 12, 1980, JC Ferrero won the 2003 French Open title. I always tune in when he plays so I'm feeling pangs of sadness right now.

Final tournament.

This face.

This man.

This champion.

Why can't Radek Stepanek retire instead?!

TWG Tea 2

Originally posted Oct 23, updated Nov 27 with the 1837 Green Tea and 1837 White Tea.

So basically coming off from the first post about TWG teas, I have tried Weekend in Venice and Sakura! Sakura! Tea. Also joining the pack is Kiel's stash of Happy Birthday Tea and the 3 new ones from my mom: Weekend in Shanghai, Green Tea, and White Tea. Oh she also brought me macarons which she got for free. She got it from the Filipina sales attendant at TWG and they chatted for some time and then for some reason my mom got free macarons. Na-budul-budol si ate. She didn't know what hit her, HA!

The (new) line up of leaves I got from TWG:
Happy Birthday Tea is a blend of "mild" black tea, sweet red berries, and a touch of vanilla.
Weekend in Shanghai is green tea infusion of ripe red berries, "mystical blossoms", and a hint of mint.
Green tea and white tea are of the basic kinds. They do not have infusions but for some reason, they still smell so good! Very similar to the "usual" TWG smell. Mabango pala talaga ang mahal na tea.

Still, the champion tea for me is still Weekend in Venice, it must be the pineapple. It has to be the pineapple! Sakura! Sakura! comes in a near second place, while Happy Birthday Tea is also a good tea - it's black tea with a sweet taste. Weekend in Shanghai tastes a little different, I thought the ripe red berries would bring good justice but the mint balances the sweet taste.

Remember, a teaspoon for every person and another for the pot!

Both Weekend in Venice and Sakura! Sakura! are green tea with fruits and flowers. I drank flowers, amazeballs. :|

Update!! I can't believe that I just opened the 1837 Green Tea with the description from urbantea.com,
"A fragrant fantasy, this aromatic green tea blend of TWG Tea’s signature 1837 Tea is a voyage, boasting a lofty fruit and flower bouquet that leaves a delicious aftertaste of red fruits and caramel with a light touch of astringency. A delightful tea for any time of the day and perfect paired with desserts." It even has blue petals!

Green and blue. Sister said "Crayola!" :|

While the 1837 White Tea, "A twist on TWG Tea’s renowned signature tea, 1837 White is an ethereal blend of white tea with notes of fruits and flowers from the Bermuda triangle, which leaves a lingering aftertaste of wild berries and anise. A crystalline and sophisticated tea for the evening."

And Then There Were More CDs

Imagine getting a vinyl record and setting the pin on to it, listening to wonderful music singing out from your player on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Chillin' like an old person, waiting for the wind to blow the chimes in tune to the music.

Well that vinyl idea would be out for now. Since setting up and reconstructing our vinyl player (bodega alert) entails a lot of time and resources (where in the world will I get vinyl records of recent artists here in the country?), that idea is going to be parked for now. We'll get back to that later, more than sooner. So for now, we'll let the DJs violate and scratch the vinyls first while I settle with my CDs again. I really need to look for a new container for these, as they're piling up on my table.

Of Monsters and Men's "My Head Is an Animal", The xx's 2nd album "Coexist", and Ellie Goulding's "Halcyon" which is also her 2nd album. It was a good day to burn money for Amazon!

And we're listening to Gold Motel's "Safe in LA" at present. Gold Motel's lead singer is Greta - the other half of the amazing The Hush Sound. :)

5-Peat

Oh in case you missed it.

We won our 5th straight UAAP Senior Men's Basketball Championship.

2008: Bring Back the Crown
2009: Back to Black
2010: Three-peat
2011: Mary Four You
2012: One Big Five

The Ateneo community also includes Captain Picard in the celebration.

Cliff Diving at Ariel's Point - Boracay

Sept. 30, 2012

They say YOLO - You Only Live Once. And they use it as an excuse for all the irresponsible things they could think of doing. Well, if you've been to Boracay Island (Philippines), Ariel's Point is the famous cliff diving spot. It's way higher than Tali Beach's cliff diving spot and here you can really say YOLO as in "You only lunod (drown) once" as there are 3 planks (5 meters, 8 meters, 15 meters) and one more jump-off point at 3 meters. Meters? Let's convert it to feet: 5 meters is approx. 14 feet, 8 meters is approx. 26 feet, and 15 meters is around 49 feet and that's if it's not yet low tide.

You pay PHP1,500 for the boat transfer, buffet (eat all you can and drink all the alcohol you can consume), snorkeling and kayak gears, and of course, inclusive to the package is for you to scream your lungs out (actually you can't scream as you'll be frozen under the heat of the sun) at the dive areas. It's a good price to pay whether you're going to drown yourself or just pig-out at the area or do both. After all, snacks and beer are aplenty. No one barfed from anxiety, by the way.

You can also torture yourself by building on the anticipation of jumping off 15 meters. Try the lower jump-off planks first to practice your form and (as mentioned) to scare yourself silly. It's really a good place for trying out new things and to have your regular dose of adrenaline. The crowd is amazing, they cheer you on and egg you to jump especially when you're just standing there waiting for the sun to set while thinking "did I really pay this much to fracking torture myself?!"

15 meters is a long way down.

Q: What if I don't know how to swim?
A: They have swimmers at the bottom armed with life vests so when you jump/dive, the moment you swim up by instinct (natural buoyancy will bring you to the surface anyway, even if you do minimal movement), they're going to give you a life vest so you can just float, relax, and flutter kick your way to the ladder.

I Can't Like You

So I still have loads of backlogs clogging my list and my mind. What to do, what to do? Post unrelated entries like it's what you do every day!

Thought Catalog has been really mainstream. It soars way above the mainstream line and well, it's a good thing that people are reading more interesting things nowadays. This specific post has been in my browser tabs for quite some time. Maybe it's time to put it here so I can finally close it.

I Can't Like You by Christopher Hudspeth


I like you. I mean I actually, like you. I realized it a while ago and I’m not thrilled because I already know that I shouldn’t. I can’t. I won’t. There’s no happy ending that could possibly come of this – not even a half decent one. Not for you, not for I. In fact, the chances of things ending in any fashion other than a love life massacre are alarmingly slim. If only there were a way to enjoy your company while controlling and diffusing this pesky crush, that would be ideal. It’s obvious that we both know there are undeclared feelings that exceed those of a regular friendship; we’re just hesitant to say so. Or at least I am.

It’s tempting to just tell you, and if your immediate facial expression displays anything other than joy, I can quickly declare “Just kidding,” making you feel like the foolish one for buying into my obvious ‘joke’. But eventually I decide that it’s better off being left an unspoken thought in my mind, because the potential of rejection or complication is far worse than keeping my mouth shut. Unreciprocated feelings ruin good friendships. They make one person ask for more than can be given, create discomfort, and serve as a cancerous tumor to the platonic bond. When we avoid expressing feelings and hold them in, it’s benign. Yes they still exists, but being left unspoken makes them harmless.

There are those days where boldness from an unknown source makes me go as far as writing out a text message professing my feelings. I read it, reread it, evaluate each word and consider various outcomes. After a while the little voice in my head thinks better of it and holds delete until every last letter has been expunged. It’s safer that way and right now, caution feels wiser.

You’re just too unavailable. Emotionally unavailable. Physically unavailable. Simply unavailable. Or is it unattainable?  Either way, I know that I can’t like you. And there are many reasons as to why you’re not a possibility, but do quantity and details really mean that much? In reality, one legitimate reason is enough, and with that knowledge our feelings should be kept in check. Or I should say, my feelings – to avoid making any assumptions.

So these thoughts will be suppressed. They’ll be stuffed into a bottle with the cap screwed on tight. It’s better this way. Or at the very least, it’s safer. All that’s for certain is that I can’t like you, for so many reasons. And if just one of those reasons would be enough for me to keep distance, the fact that there are multiple only solidifies any anxieties. The crush will have to go somewhere far, far away. Maybe it’ll dissolve, evaporate, or vanish suddenly – whatever the case it can’t expose itself. Because yes, I really like you, but I can’t.