Bubba Gump...Heaven

Rating: 5/5

Ever watched the movie Forrest Gump? Okay, I'm going to admit that I haven't. I must be one of the veeeery few who haven't watched it. Anyways, there's this restaurant that is inspired by this film (or book--is it a book?) It's called Bubba Gump at Greenbelt 3.

We still had a lot of time to kill before the screening time of This Means War began, so we decided to try this out. The restaurant was very unique. When you entire they will welcome you and assist you to a stop line where you will be ushered by another waiter.

When we were finally seated, we ordered Onion Rings, Mama's Southern Fried Chicken, Grilled Dory with Jambalaya, and Alabama Mud Pie.

Before I tell you more about their delish foods, I would like to relay the awesome mini-quiz they gave us. Thanks to Karen, who answered all five questions about the movie, we got ourselves some free strawberry yoghurt! Yay!

Now on to the food...

Onion Rings

Of course, first came the Onion Rings. And this is the best I've tasted so far! There are other onion rings out there, but the problem I usually encounter with them is that they are either soggy or not properly coated. This one's just perfect.

Grilled Dory with Jambalaya 

This one's for Karen, but because I love the Jambalaya, I ate almost ate half of that two. As for the dory, I let her eat that on her own. In lieu of eating most of her Jambalaya, I shared my boneless chicken with her. See below why.

Mama's Southern Fried Chicken, Regular

See how big that chicken is??? That's like almost half of a chicken, I think. Since it's boneless, all of that is pure meat! There was a small portion of this, but since it was my first time ordering this, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't want to end up with a very small portion to I ordered the regular portion and voila! I shared half with Karen and even took some home. That's how big this is! :DD

Alabama Mud Pie

We both love sweets, so we decided to share this huge slice of heaven. It was also huge that even with the two of us, it was still hard to finish. Since we couldn't take it home with us, I ate more than my share just to finish it off. And I have to say, I don't regret it. It was just so good! The layers of ice cream and chocolate were just too good to resist.

And...our dessert number 2! This was the prize for their quiz. I love this too! I didn't know its name but it tasted like yoghurt ice cream. I would love to try this again when I come back to Bubba Gump.

This restaurant is just so good, I'm craving for it now as I write this! <3

This Means War: One Awesome Movie

Rating: 10/5! Awesome! :)

Ever experienced sitting through an entire movie laughing your ass off because it was just so hilarious? Well, if you have watched this movie, you know what I mean. Two spies who happened to be best friends fighting over the same girl? Just genius!

Casting-wise, I have to say that the chemistry between Chris Pine (FDR) and Tom Hardy (Tuck) is so cute (yes, I meant the two leading men. :D) As for Reese Witherspoon (Lauren), I have to say she still looks as lovely as she did back in her Legally Blonde days. I don't even care about the age gap between the three.

Being a fan of Chuck and Nikita, I was excited to know that McG was the one who directed this movie. It was just so freakin' hilarious from the beginning to the end! I'm babbling here because I can't tell you how much I love this movie. Plus, I'm totally crushing on Chris Pine too! Tom Hardy, your accent is awesome (I absolutely love the pun in the movie about him being British).

It was a bit of a surprise when Lauren finally chose because I was gunning for her and Tuck's relationship. But as my friend Karen had pointed out, when they include someone in the cast (in this case Tuck's ex-wife) who would look good with the other guy, the partner-less guy always gets the girl. And to think that FDR was ready to give up Lauren for his best friend too! Well, both of them were actually willing, but of course, we all know how it works. :D

I'm going to cut this review short and just invite you to watch this movie if you haven't done so. Go ahead! You have my blessing. :)

Reviewing The Vow

Rating: 2.5/5

Okay, I know a lot of people liked this movie, and I did too, because it was such a unique story. And it's inspired by true events too! Plus the team-up of Rachel McAdams (Paige) and Channing Tatum (Leo) is just so hard to resist. 

Casting-wise, I don't think anyone else can play such amazing roles other than these two. I don't know most of the rest of the cast though, so I can't say anything about them. 

Story-wise, I kind of think that this movie has no climax. It opened with Tatum narrating about moments, moments, and lots of moments colliding into one another. It was kind of boring for me though. I would love to hear his voice some more, but not when he's narrating like that. And when Paige had the amnesia (it's been so long already, am I still spoiling anyone?) I think she was a little too mean. There was one scene when she went out with her friends and she just let Leo standing there are the bar while they talked about their high school lives. I mean girl! Even if you had amnesia, you could at least be polite to the person who had been trying so hard to fight for you. 

I would have wanted more outbursts from Leo! I mean, if I were in that position and my spouse suddenly turned into someone who hates everything she used to love, heck I would throw tantrums too! But you know what they say, a sick person needs to be pampered. Paige did get A LOT of pampering too. It was just too much.

I expected this movie to be really dramatic. We were actually hesitant to watch it at first, but we succumbed to the call of the big screen at the end. You should know that I am a crybaby, so I expected to cry at the lines that they were going to throw at one another. Imagine my surprise when the only line that made me cry was the one from Paige's uptight stereotypical suburban mother. 

So there. I am disappointed, that's all. 

CYMA

Rating: 3/5

Forgive me for the hiatus...but I come bearing reviews! I haven't entirely been slacking off, if you know what I mean.

A few weeks back, my friend had posted a review about this Greek restaurant at Greenbelt 2. Not being a fan of Greek food, I was hesitant to try this myself, but since she highly commended it, I decided to try.

Before I reached Cyma, there were other restaurants that caught my attention too. I might try them out next time. As for this restaurant, we ordered Chicken Gyro, Pastitsio (Baked Macaroni), and Moussaka.

So what can I say about the food? It tasted...very Greek-like. In the sense that you can taste all the herbs and the extra virgin olive oil.

And just when I'm about to post the images of the delectable dishes we had, I realized that when we went to Cyma, I did not have my camera with me! So much for being prepared, eh? So here are just the photos from various bloggers. Credits are theirs, of course.

Moussaka, the national dish of Greece. PhP 250. Photo credits go to the owner. 

 Karen ordered this and I took a bite, mostly because the top layer (cheese) was just soooo delicious. I can't say the same for the other layers though because I don't eat eggplants. :) But I guess she was satisfied with it.

Pastitsio, PhP 230. Photo credits go to the owner.

Notice how the stacks of macaroni are neatly piled there? That's the first time I saw such an arrangement! However, it's one arrangement I wouldn't recommend though because the taste of the dish is concentrated on the top and bottom layers, one layer being cheesy and the other being sour because of tomatoes. It left the middle layer a little too bland for my taste. Plus the tomato bed was too much, if you ask me. I love love love the cheese though.

Chicken Gyro, PhP 160. Photo credits go to the owner. 

This Gyro has a story. We were so full with the dishes we ate that we had this one packed instead. From Greenbelt 2 to Greenbelt 5, we had walked without realizing that we left this behind! We hurried back to get this and when we arrived there, the restaurant was already filled with a lot of customers! Being the shy person that I am, we waited outside as the waiter handed us our Gyro. So there, we ate it at home instead.

There are a lot of other dishes that I would love to try from Cyma, and I can recommend this to Greek food lovers out there. I wanted to try their flaming mangoes, but I got scared of the way they shout while serving it. I hate it when people look at me. :)

So there you have it. Have you eaten at Cyma yet?

I'm a Freak!

Today, when I looked at my desktop, I freaked out. Why? Because there were four rows of icons of various files that I have not sorted out yet! For those who know me, I am a very messy person, but when it comes to the files on my computer, I make it a point to store them in folders (and if they cannot be sorted, always be ready with a folder named "find files here" to make the desktop look cleaner).

The normal number of rows of files on my desktop? One. At most two, whenever there are new files I need to find ASAP, but never more than that. I don't even have desktop shortcuts on the desktop. Whenever I install a new program or software, I delete the shortcut automatically created. There's the task bar where all the things I need frequently are kept.

So there, I'm a freak. But I guess it's in a good way. :)

Oki Oki Review--Is it Really OK?

Rating: 2/5

Prior to writing this post, I searched for reviews about Oki Oki, a Japanese restaurant with a branch at TriNoma because I wasn't sure about its name. Mostly, I saw positive reviews, but I don't think I share the same thoughts with them.

Why?

Before you read further, you should know that my basis of how great a Japanese restaurant is is their Katsudon. That's friend pork with egg on top of rice. I have tasted a lot of Katsudon dishes from various stores, but the one that I love the most is still the one found locally in Los Banos, Laguna, where I live. As for the Katsudon at Oki Oki, its serving was huge! I was not able to finish it all, and if you know me, I try my best not to have any leftover food on my plate because I have any food going to waste. But their serving was really too much for me.

Katsudon, PhP195

On the other hand, my friend, Karen, loves Gyudon, so she ordered a Gyudon meal set complete with miso soup and iced tea. Just like their Katsudon, and I think all of their other dishes, it was served in an overwhelming quantity. If you are a big eater, this restaurant can fill you up!

 

Gyudon set from top to bottom:  Miso Soup  Iced Tea, , and Gyudon, PhP 195

Since we love Japanese food and wanted to try out other dishes, I decided to order a serving of Yaki Gyoza and Karen chose a skewered dish that I forgot the name already.

Yaki Gyoza. This order was supposed to be fried. 

What did I expect from the gyoza? Meat. What did I get? Ginger. But hey, there are various gyoza varieties, so I can't judge them poorly just because I didn't like their recipe. The five pieces were already too much as a side dish for me.











Karen ordered these skewered shrimps, which I forgot the name already. For her, they tasted overly sweet, but for me it was okay. I'm usually the one that likes sweet dishes, that's why. :)






I just have to say that Oki Oki needs to add more stuff outside their counters and cooking areas. When we visited, there was only one waitress (green shirt) and I'm assuming that the other female helping her out occasionally was the manager because of her different uniform. Just imagine how hard the waitress had to work and shuffle all over the room just to accommodate everyone. I felt really tired for her because the place was packed and she had to alternate in ushering them in, seating them, taking their orders, serving them, and addressing their food concerns.

One or two more waitresses would have made it all better, even if that meant adding service charge to the total bill.

Dessert Alert! Parvati Review

Rating: 5/5! :)

For some time now, Karen has been asking me to go to this desserts and pasta place called The Parvati Store, which she saw on Facebook. But since we don't like commuting very far often, we tend to keep to Glorietta and Greenbelt to hang out. The nearest Parvati branch was at TriNoma. So when we finally had something to do at TriNoma (Karen attended a wedding planning seminar there), we said we would not leave until we have tried this place!

But luck wouldn't allow us to eat at the small branch since it was always loaded with diners. Their food must have been really popular--not even a single chair was empty! As a last resort, we just decided to get two of their famous desserts to go--macarons and truffles! And I have to tell you, you should try these out! 

Choco Truffles, PhP299. You simply need to taste these! 

Box of 12 Assorted Macarons in four flavors (chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, and  queso de bola), PhP350

Excuse me for the poor quality of photos. The lighting in our condo is mostly dim and yellowish, thus, flash or no flash, I can never get the quality right. 

Let's move on to the taste. There isn't really anything else to say but that these desserts are to die for! I highly recommend that you get these macarons and truffles home with you. Oh, and it has a long life even away from the refrigerator. Trust me. We had to travel from TriNoma to the Ayala MRT Station, shopped at Forever 21 at SM Makati and spent some time at various shops in Glorietta before we finally decided to come home and eat our desserts. Even then, the desserts were still delectably amazing. I couldn't help but sigh with every bite. 

Because of these treats, now I have a reason to brave the MRT just to visit TriNoma. I will definitely try this again. :)

Restaurant Review: Krazy Garlic

Rating: 3/5 

Last year my friend and I got a privilege card from The Bistro Circle, which entitled us to a 20% discount and is valid at any branch of their seven bistros and restaurants (namely Fridays, Italianni’s, Fish & Co., The Stock Market, Flapjacks, Pig Out and Krazy Garlik). But since then, we were always loyal to Friday's. It was only tonight that we decided to try another restaurant--Krazy Garlik at Greenbelt. 

So how was Krazy Garlik? My verdict would be that it's a so-so restaurant, one that I would try again sometime IF I have no other choice. Why? Let me recall the incidents of tonight.

We were ushered into a booth near the entrance of KG. We were seated and were asked our order by the manager (we didn't know then that he was the manager). Upon ordering, we heard him relay our order to one of the uniformed waitresses which confirmed the order to us. 

We ordered Flat Iron Steaks, with the mashed potato substituted with rice, Tweedle Dum, and Chocolate Milkshake. I have to raise the issue that I specifically ordered for their Tweedle DEE beverage, but the waiter (manager) could not understand it and misheard that I was ordering Tweedle DUM thrice even after my constant repetition of the word. I even pointed at the menu where the word was written for him to understand it correctly, but he never did understand. In the end, since Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee only had one different ingredient, I decided to just let him have his way and ordered Tweedle Dum instead. 

Flat Iron Steak with Mashed Potatoes Substituted with Rice

Flat Iron Steak with Mashed Potatoes Substituted with Rice

And when our steaks came, they were loaded with mashed potatoes after we mentioned twice that it was to be substituted with rice. The server hurried into the kitchen to fix this, but I can't say he hurried in returning it to us. Basically, the time it took for them to cook their steak was as long as it took them to change mashed potatoes into rice. 

Chocolate Milkshake

Tweedle Dum

The food was great. The milkshakes were great, too. Tweedle Dum tasted great and it was in a tall glass. My only complaint is that they should have put a longer straw in it to make sure that it could reach the bottom of the glass. But it's not a big deal. My friend's chocolate milkshake tasted good (according to her), but it didn't look like chocolate milkshake to me. For one, it was colored white. Was it vanilla milkshake? I don't know. They did not specify in their menu that they would use white chocolate in the shake, so it baffled us. I wasn't able to ask her if it tasted like chocolate either. 

The size of the steak was just enough to fill our stomachs. It wasn't like at Friday's where I could barely finish one serving (not to mention the serving of rice in Friday's is way more than the serving in KG, but hey, a PhP300 difference goes a long way in terms of serving size, so I guess it's just the right serving). 

Now on to the bill. When we asked to bill out, it took them an awfully long time to give the bill. Why? It seemed that they could not find our privilege card. They asked us at first if we had one, and we said yes, we gave it to the first man who served us, the manager, before we ordered. The server said there was no problem and she would just adjust our bill to reflect our 20% discount. So we waited. 

And we waited. 

And she came back to us again asking for the name on the card. Usually after taking our card at Friday's, the server would return it immediately without any hassle. At this point I was skeptical. Had they lost our card? Hopefully not. I hoped it was just coincidence that after taking our order, their manager was suddenly nowhere to be seen. 

Thankfully, after more waiting, they were able to locate the card and gave us our change. We were on our way home after that.

The verdict? I would try out Krazy Garlik again, but not that often unless they change their ways. They seem to lack coordination in their actions. For me, they are not that organized yet (I am hoping for some improvement). 

Have you tried eating at KG before? How was it? :)

Movie Review: Underworld Awakening

Rating: 3/5

After about a month of hibernating inside our unit and living on takeout food, I have finally gotten the chance to get out again and enjoy myself. Work can really be a bitch sometimes, but hey, I can't complain. I was really excited about this movie (I wanted to watch it so bad months ago when I first saw its trailer). To be honest, I was never a fan of Underworld. I only saw Rise of the Lycans and a few scenes from the other Underworld movies. As I headed for the cinema, I was really excited.

What can I say about the movie? The plot was not that great. The movie was packed with action scenes more than a good flow of story. With 1 hour and 30 minutes (approx) of screening time, I think the producers would have been able to squeeze in more. A few more minutes of screen time wouldn't have hurt if it could add to the thickness of the plot too. And the end was not expected, since it came too soon and there was a huge cliffhanger, possibly for a new movie in a year or so.

As for the graphics, let's just say that I have outgrown the fear of CGI monsters and creatures a long time ago. At twenty-two, I believe that everything I see in the cinemas is mediocre. But hey, it may just be the Computer Science student in me talking. Whenever  I see a sprinkling of big bad scary Lycans on screen, what comes to mind is how poor/great the graphics was. So there, the imposing creatures didn't really have an effect on me. I can't say the same for my friend though, because she kept covering her eyes and whimpering whenever the Lycans in their true forms were shown. She said she had the creeps for such creatures, hence the cringing. (Just a quick note, I am BAD at commenting on movies especially in the graphics aspect. I'm hard to please and all that. :D)

Personally, the choice of actors were great. Kate Beckinsale (Selene) was effortlessly the hottest vampire in town (if you don't count Mia Kirshner whom I loooove). It was my first time to see India Eisley (Eve) act, and   this kid really has a future in the acting industry. I would have loved to see more screen time for Theo James (David) though. Even Kris Holden-Ried (Quint) acted his part out great.

If you haven't watched this movie yet, go and see if you agree with my review or not. :)

A New Chapter

It is weird wanting to revive a blog that had been dormant for over five years. There's that gap from 2006-2012 that I will never be able to take back. And I regret not being able to write any of the adventures during that time, especially since a lot of things has happened. Those were some of the best years of my life, the experiences of which had been scattered around various blogs and diary entries in the computer and on paper.

I can only sigh and hope that this time I can commit to being a better blogger and writer.

And so, the new chapter of my life begins.

conver...

and cyan walks alone.

nobody sees the tears she sheds as she crosses the bridge.

the sky turned gray, she noticed.

i give up...

she clasped the note tightly, thinking against herself to tear it to pieces.

there's nothing more to continue...

as she reached the center of the hanging structure, she stopped. she remembered something again.

that line...that last line... she held the iron bars, borrowing force from them...

and thus...with this kiss...

i die...

to prove her intention to end her life, she jumped off the bridge.