Happy 60th birthday Tito Obet!

Last Sunday, we celebrated Tito Obet's 60th birthday.

He arrived from Canada a few weeks earlier, so the plan is to spend his 60th birthday together along with the Dumantay clans at Dad's megamall.

The Meryendad's promo starts at 3pm, so Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and myself  headed out around 1pm to head to Mandaluyong.

Along the way, we went to Hi Top Market to get some milk formula for the baby. I asked that we drop by Daiso along Mother Ignacia in Quezon City as well, to see if they had any available items we could use for Thirdy's party. We got a couple of glass jars for 88php each out of that side trip.

When we arrived at Ortigas, we saw that The Podium was having a sale, so we decided we'll drop by later to see what we could find for Thirdy's party.

We arrived at Megamall a little past 2pm. We checked with the receptionist already while waiting for the rest of the Dumantay clan to arrive to make sure that we will have seats. It was fortunate that we arrived early since they didn't take reservations, only a priority list.

After a few minutes, Chea's mom arrived along with her sister Chie, brother Cyrus and nephew Justine. Just before 3pm, we were seated already by the main entrance. By 3pm, Chea's dad arrived with Tito Obet and Tita. And soon after, the buffet station was opened and we started with queueing for food. Chea, Tita Fe and myself had passed on lunch, so we were a bit anxious to get started even when Tito Obet hadn't arrived yet.

So while Chea looked after the little tyke, I went ahead and raided the closest buffet station. I came back with 3 plates full of bounties.

Mini burgers and corn dogs.

Chicken mami and fried dumplings. 

French fries for thirdy. Of course he isnt finishing all of that. Just a few little bites.

The first plate had mini burgers and corn dogs. Second plate was filled with fries. And the third plate had chicken mami and some fried dumplings.

I started wolfing down most of the food while Chea ate some of the fries and fed Thirdy a few bites. I then went back and filled a fourth plate with dinuguan, puto and pansit.

The perfect pinoy merienda combination for me. Mmm mmm mm.

By this time, Chea's mom took Thirdy and Chea was able to hit the stations for herself, and filled her first plate with a few things.

Let's see. Bibingka, taco, turon, kamote que (without the stick actually),  puto bumbong. And i cant recall the white one. Im bad with names.

I then went back for palabok and a couple of kakanin's.

Chea then went bank for the desserts, which I never got around to taste, as I got full with a second round of pansit.

Looks good. But i passed.

Overall, the food was great. It's flavorful, so for 229php with bottomless drinks (199php for weekdays), it was money well spent. 

I mean, if you're going for a buffet, you really won't go for rice, so full filipino meals isn't the best menu for a buffet as they're really strong on the flavors which is tempered down with generous servings of rice. So for buffets with a Filipino flavor, it's really best to go with meryenda menus like pansit, palabok, kakanin, etc. It allows you to eat more as they're usually lighter.

As i said, the food is flavorful, as compared to what Tramway offers. Based on my experience, Tramway's selection, although it's larger, is somewhat bland. But for 245 (without drinks), if you want to really pig out, that's pretty cheap. But if you want your palates to experience something better, you can't do better than Dad's especially at this price.

I personally loved Dad's pansit since this is one of my favorite foods. Their pansit's flavor is a bit different when you compare them to your normal pansit. It isn't mind blowing, but it's pleasant, and it makes you want to eat more, which I did. The dinuguan was ok. I wish it had more meat. 

I love mami, so I wish they had bigger bowls. There's always a line around that station because they were serving the pork siomai and fried dumplings at the same area, so I just got lazy to go back and get more. 

The kakanins are ok, i wish they had more variants. I didn't notice if there was maja blanca as that is my favorite kakanin. I may have just overlooked it as i skipped a few trays.

I didn't like the burger. It was too dry. And really just didn't taste that good. The corn dog was great especially at that mini size. The ratio of the batter to the hotdog was just perfect. The problem I have with big corn dogs, is that they have too much batter so you're just basically eating batter, and then get to a small hotdog inside. But these mini corn dogs are just perfect. 

There were other items like pasta, shawarma, etc, which I didn't bother to taste since I was already full. 

A few minutes before 5pm, everyone was done so we were just chatting. And when 5pm struck, we had already paid the bill and were on our separate ways home.

Thirdy and Tita Fe will be spending the following week with Chea's family in Antipolo. He usually spends a week at a time in Antipolo so his Lola Tess and Lolo Rico will get some quality time with him. 

After saying goodbyes, Chea and I first checked out the baby section in SM Megamall Department store to see if they had clothes for the baptism. We couldn't find any so we went to the Home Section to check out their dinnerware, to see how much the plates we will be using for the buffet costs.

Chea and I then went to The Podium to check out the sale. We were mostly looking for items we could use for the party, or something for Thirdy. We didn't get anything except for a jar decoration from Living Well, which I think we won't be able to use anyway.

Chea did bump into a college classmate of hers who had a display selling cakes. After a brief chat between the two, Chea and I then proceeded to Landmark in Trinoma Mall for one last dinnerware hunting.

We took note of the prices of their ceramic ware. And also checked some items that could be used for decorations. 

After that, we went home and got some rest. This coming weekend is going to be busy as well since we'll be having a studio photoshoot with Thirdy.

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Dessert Hunters

So my wife and I decided that we'll be having a dessert and cookie buffet for Thirdy's first birthday slash baptismal celebration.

She's been scoping out the interwebs for a couple of months already trying to look for a supplier that will give us the most bang for our bucks. We're a bit tight on cash, so we want to make sure we make most of whatever we will be spending for the party.

It seems that booking One Cafe for the reception leaves us little to spend on dessert and cookie buffet suppliers. If we get them, we'll end up with a menu that's very light and very few for our 100+ guests.

So that leaves us one option: Try to set up our own dessert and cookie buffet which doesn't sound as easy as it seems.

Aside from getting suppliers for the cookies and the desserts, there is the issue of buffet stylings. There are buffet designs in the internet that we can easily ape, but that means spending for the very same decors. Not to mention the plates and holders needed for the pastries

So what do we do? Start by canvassing the items that we will need.

First on the plate? Plates. Yes, we need plates to put the the desserts on. Our first stop? Uniwide Sales Club. Yes, they still exist. And fortunate for us, one such branch exists near our place.

Last Saturday, 03/02/2013, we went to Uniwide Sales, Novaliches. I knew they had cheap ceramic plates there likely imported from China. When we got there, we found several square and rectangular plates. We also saw some jars we plan to fill up with small cookies. And there was another pleasant surprise: cake stands! And pretty cheap to boot.

Now that we've checked out Uniwide, our next destination? 500 Events Shaw for a Mommy Mundo event.

We arrived at the place past 2pm, and we looked around. We managed to buy a new pair of shoes for Thirdy, but other than that, the event was mostly for toddlers and older kids.

It was past 3 and we were already hungry, but we needed to drop by Lia's Cakes in Season at Kapitolyo.

But on the way there, I wanted to drop by Regalong Pambahay in Pioneer. They always had amazing home decors that you can always use for buffet decorations.

When we arrived there, it was no longer the warehouse it was used to be the last time we visited when we were planning our wedding back in 2004 (although we do drop by at the same location for perfume and toy sales). It was now a showroom. But that wasn't the surprising part. What really surprised us, was a few of their items.

It seems that one of the event stylists we've fallen in love with the past few days, sourced some of his items from Regalong pambahay. No wonder their services are expensive. The decors they use are expensive too. But with a secret, maniacal laughter (mine of course), I thought gleefully, that we can get the exact same things to decorate our buffet tables. Mwahahahaa (there I go again).

Now, on to Lia's Cakes.

Cakes! and cupcakes! Oh my!

Chea wanted to know if they cater parties. Unfortunately, the owner (didn't get the name as I was erstwhile distracted by cakes) told us they don't have the manpower for catering parties. So I guess we'll just get some cakes from them.

By this time, it was 4pm, and since we didn't take our lunch yet, we looked around Kapitolyo for a cheap but fulfilling meal. We ended up at Tropical Huts. I ordered the dinuguan meal, while chea went for the bangus. Ahh, the simple joys of life.

Pig's blood. blah blah blah.

After the brief late lunch, we headed over to visit my brother's remains at Divine Word Columbary at Christ the King, E. Rodriguez Avenue which we do every weekend.

I then prodded my wife that we hit Suki Market in Mayon Street, Sampaloc. I wanted to check for vintage items we can use for decorations as well ceramic plates for the buffet. Unfortunately, they were'nt as cheap as we hoped they'd be. For the last few years, the place simply started to sell items at premium prices. It's just cheaper to buy at some malls nowadays really, like the ones in Binondo.

We did find, however, a dog's bed, that we will be using for , er, Thirdy's photoshoot the following weekend. It was 3 feet long, a foot wide, and about 6 inches deep. And we managed to get it for only 100 pesos. Quite a bargain. Unfortunately, we arrived there already around 5pm so we barely managed to see everything before the shops started closing down for the night. We'll just try and visit again when we decide to go to Divisoria.

With still some hop in our step, we passed by Papemelroti in Roces Ave. I loved their products when I was a kid. They hearken back to simpler times, where everything was well thought out, and every gift had a personal touch.

We wanted to find some photo frames, decors we can use as center pieces, and anything vintage that related to our party theme. We did find a few, but they were expensive. So we took note of the prices, and decided that we need to concentrate on the important ones first and see how much is left of our budget that we can use for the decors.

So after that, we went on our merry way home. But along the early night drive to our house in QC, my wife wanted to drop by S&R to buy baby wipes.

As it turns out, they were having pre-sale (Mar 13-17) sales that day, and quite a lot of them had marked down prices already. We lucked into a 3-tier pastry holder for only 600php that originally sold for more than 800php. We bought 2. Another was a 3-tier stainless serving platter for only 400php, which was originally 600php. So with that, we now had 3 serving dishes for our dinner buffet. So I guess, we're definitely going with doing the dessert buffet ourselves.

Steeled with determination, we then looked for desserts being sold for a discount. We got our hands on a box of M&M cookies and a small bag of Hershey's nuggets. We decided that we needed to go back on the actual sale dates and see if we can get more cookies or chocolates we can use for the buffet.

After grabbing the baby wipes, and a few other items, we paid with the cashier, and then had a small dinner composed of S&R cheese pizza, french fries and a tumbler of OJ.

Tired, but happy with a very productive day, we headed home for the night and managed to have some quality time with Thirdy before we hit the sack.

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Happy 10th birthday Fiji!

Last sunday, Feb 24, 2013, was my favorite nephew's 10th birthday. In honor of that momentous occasion, his ever loving parents treated the Mendoza and Galecio clans to eat-all-you-can dinner celebration at Sambo Kojin.

Yes, that is a paper napkin. My sony xperia mini pro phone started acting up and this was the only shot I was able to take for my first trip to Sambokojin. I pity myself.

So after getting my nephew a gift (it was a remote controlled flying ball, which was basically, the rotors of an RC helicopter, in a plastic ball cage, which was pretty cool), we headed to Sambo Kojin, West Avenue for the 6pm get-together.

I envy today's kids with their hi-tech toys.

It's my first time to eat at Sambo Kojin although I've eaten at their other sister companies.

Their branch at West Avenue had around 6-10 parking slots at front (can't remember), but they have valets that can park for you, so parking won't be an issue. Just drive along their small driveway up to the front doors, and their valets will do the rest.

Once inside, the interiors are pretty modern. It's very well lit, tables are adequately spaced for a person to walk between them, and the chairs are quite comforable.

At the middle of the table is a grill, which you can turn on just by flipping a switch on the side of the table.

You get a plate, chopsticks and a napkin (which is the only one I was able to take a picture off, thank you Sony for my buggy phone). A rectangular condiments dish with partitions so you can pour in the different marinades you can dip your meat before grilling. And then there are the jars that contains the different marinades and the sesame oil for cooking on the grill.

There were basically four food stations. One held the different japanese delicacies like sushi rolls, sashimi, maki, etc as well as some Korean items,  which I profess I do not know much of. But it's there, so that means it's edible, and that's good enough for me.

The other station has the meats for grilling (yakiniku), which has beef, fish, pork, chicken, and some vegetables as well.

They also had a dessert station which had some creme brulee, mini cake rolls, chocolate mousse, cream puffs, cup cakes, ice cream and others.

I never had the chance of going to the fourth station as most of the time I was at the tempura station and the yakiniku station. I do love me some grilled beef.

The only time I wandered away from these two stations was when I sauntered to the dessert station to grab an eclair, a creme brulee, and a few (but hard worked) scoops of mocha ice cream.

And since it was my nephew's birthday, the staff sang him a birthday song and gave him a cupcake with a candle to blow out. The staff are really accommodating: Almost all the tables had a 'birthday celebrant' among them, which made the staff doing the rounds and singing the same song over and over again, yet, they belted them out with the same vigor.

I'm not a big eater outside of home, so I rarely go to buffet restaurants. The only time that I do go is when I get invited, or when I treat my team to a very well earned dinner or lunch. My wife and I usually just go out for set meals, even with my parents since they're not big eaters as well. Most of the time we always end up taking food home since we're unable to finish them.

But as far as eat-all-you-can restaurants go, Sambo Kojin is pretty good. The price is affordable, the staff are very accommodating, the place is clean and everything looks in pretty good shape. If  I had any complaints, it would probably be that beverages are not included (Although I'm not sure since I didn't pay for the meal. I'll probably just ask my sister sometime).

All in all, a pretty good first time at Sambo Kojin.

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Do you love desserts?

I'm not really big on desserts. I won't say no if you give them to me, but I really won't go out of my way for them. Nor would I order them along with meals.

But my wife loves them. And I love my wife.

She's been telling me about this place somewhere in Banawe that offered eat-all-you-can dessert menu called Love Desserts. A couple of weeks back, we managed to pass by it on our way to have lunch with my parents at Everything At Steak. We promised to go back there, and last weekend, we did, to see if they offered pastry catering for our son's birthday. Turns out they only did so in their shop. They don't do caterings outside.

Still, we decided to eat there since the wifey's always wanted to try it out.

Eat all you can desserts. Not for the faint of heart or a diabetic

The buffet starts at 199php, including drinks, which is a big plus. So if you're really into desserts, you'll find yourself in nirvana. We arrived around 3:40pm (the waitresses write it down on a piece of paper attached to your table's menu centerpiece), so the place is nearly full. We were lucky that there was a free table at the back, but we transferred to a larger table in front of the buffet set up when it freed up.

The cafe is really small and quaint. It can fit around 20 persons, but you'll bump into people maneuvering around the place. Parking up front is good for 3 cars, but there are other parking slots that are shared with the other establishments around the building.

Now onto the buffet itself. There were several pastries being offered, but I only managed to taste a few before I got my sugar-fill for the year. I tried my palates against cream puffs, eclairs, pork empanadas, silvanas, a shot glass filled with dessert I didn't know what it was called, and some cheese sticks.

I'm not sure what's in the shot glass. But it seemed like it had some kiwi in it. And to its right is a pork empanada. And at the bottom is a silvana. The crumbs are what remains of its twin I had murdered.

Cheese sticks! and mayo! Who'd thunk they're desserts?

Everything was good. I can't remember if anything stood out. But I really don't have a sweet tooth. I'm more into salty food, which is why I liked the cheese sticks.

I forgot what other pastries they served, so I'll just update this post after I ask my wife if she remembers the other desserts.

I do remember that they have halo halo, milk tea, ice tea, milk shakes, and ice cream as well, which includes a selection of toppings you can put on it.

They do serve sandwiches not included in the buffet. I saw a hamburger, but didn't bother to look at the rest of the menu as I was craving me some ramen at the time.

You're allowed to stay for around 2 hours, so we left by 6pm. At that time, there were still 3 groups of people waiting outside despite customers coming and going. I guess Love Desserts is pretty popular around the area, especially with the younger crowds. The price is just about right, great location and pretty warm staff.

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The technologies that I love : Wireless Fidelity

I'm a fairly techie person. Having owned my first x86 PC back in 1996, and getting on the Internet around 1997, I have always tried to keep in touch with all the latest tech news and gadgets and if able, own some of them.

Ever since I got on the Internet, our main problem was that we could only access it from our PC. And since we only had one PC and one modem attached to it, we had to alternately use it. And with 2 other siblings sharing, it was such a pain waiting in line to get the chance to go online.

Back then, I didn't know anything about networking, and I never occurred to me to set up one at home. I always thought you only did that for businesses. Especially since most networking equipment you needed might have cost an arm and a leg during the early 2000s.

But after getting broadband internet at home around 2003 (geez, has it been that long? That means Ive been a loyal BayanDSL user for a decade!), my soon to be brother-in-law (who's a Network Engineer then) introduced me to the wonderful world of Home Networking.

He gave me a Linksys WRT54G and connected it with our dsl modem. It's a router that has 4-wired ports for use with ethernet cables, and wireless-G for use with wifi-enabled gadgets. And my life has never been the same.

Having wifi, allowed us mobility. We no longer needed to connect a wired cable from our laptops to the router just to be able to access the internet. Having wifi-enabled laptops allowed us access the internet all at the same time. I could bring my laptop from our living room, to my bedroom without having to disconnect and connect cables. When I cooked, I could bring the laptop to the kitchen and look up the recipes online.

And that was when you can only access the Internet on PCs. But with the introduction of wifi-enabled phones and tablets, it literally changed my world.

Now I can access my stored files on any of my PCs and laptops from my phone or my tablet. I can listen to music, look at pictures, watch movies that I stored on my media server, anywhere inside the house and even a few meters outside. I no longer need to sit in front of a PC. I could be lying on my side on my bed, stand outside the gate, or even inside the bathroom and still be able to do anything i want because of my wifi setup at home.

You were no longer tied to a router via a network cable. Everything's wireless. And my tech life is just getting better.

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Finding that special place

So my kid's celebrating his first birthday on the 17th of April this year. At the same time, we're getting him baptized as among the billion strong Roman Catholics out there.

Naturally, we want to celebrate it with family and friends. So first we have to do is find a place where we can  hold that celebration.

One of the criteria we're looking for is the location. It needs to be very accessible as not all of our friends drive cars, so it's necessary that they can commute to the place using public transportation.

Another criteria, is that it needs to be near to the church we're having the baptism.

Another, the rent should be inexpensive, if not free altogether as long as they provided the catering services. And if that's the case, the food should be good enough, if not outstanding.

Finally, one that I'm particularly obsessed about, is that it should be as private as possible. A place that we can have for ourselves. So chinese restaurants or places subdivided into function rooms is definitely out of the question.

We did most of our searching online and relied heavily on fora, especially for parents.

There were quite a few places that would have been great, if it only met all three requirements:

• Dad's - They have two places that are great locations, one in Glorietta, and the other in Megamall. Accessible locations and are near to churches. Both locations offer Meryendads, an eat-all-you can promo for merienda time for less than 300php, which is perfect for the time we would be having the party as well as budgetary constraints. Unfortunately, you can't rent the entire place although you get a function room. 
• 500 Shaw Events Pavilion - This is a fairly new place, started around 2011, and we accidentally found it when we came from Ortigas on our way to Archbishop's Palace to inquire about having a baptism there. It's along Shaw Boulevard and it's very near the Archbishop's Palace. The place is very new, has a high ceiling and it's really perfect for events. It's inside 500 Shaw so you have covered parking, which is free. The rent is also free if you choose them as your caterer. It's not exactly cheap, but it's relatively inexpensive compared to other places. For around 58,000php for 120 adults, that's just 490php per person, which is definitely a bargain when you compare it to other events places.
• Prestige Towers - Hidden within the confines of Ortigas Center, is an events place in the penthouse level of Prestige Towers. They don't have an online presence, but do some serious online searching and you'll find out that they have been hosting events, especially birthdays, for quite a number of years.  Based on the reviews, food is good, and more importantly, very cheap. For around 30,000 php, you get the place for free and enough food for 100 guests. It's very accessible, and is just beside an open area parking. On weekends, there are barely any office workers in the building, so you practically have the entire place all to yourselves. The only drawback, is that it's a bit old, the lighting is gloomy. It's really a great place to have celebrations, except if you want it to be really, very special.

So, who's the winner for our kid's party venue? It's actually the first place my wife and her sister dropped by for an ocular visit. We found it in a local online buy and sell forum.

One Cafe Events Place - The venue is located at the 6th floor of One Corporate Center. If you're an Ortigas-based slave like me, you'll know that the building itself is fairly new (finished around 2009).  The function room isn't really sprawling, and the ceiling isn't that high. But the main function room along with a smaller adjacent one can fit 170pax easily. The design is modern, with floor to ceiling windows covered by blinders you can easily adjust to let more natural light in. The place is free but you'll have to make do with their in-house menu as the place is really a cafe foremost, with available function rooms for special events. But from what we've heard, the food isn't that bad, and they don't charge corkage fees for certain items. They have AV equipment you can use for free along with a projector. They have set-plate menus for full meals or meriendas, and buffet set-ups as low as 345php per person. Kiddie meals are priced at around 150php. 

It was a toss-up between Prestige Towers and One Cafe Events Place. I really wanted to go with 500 Shaw Events place, but after the initial excitement of seeing the place and I had sobered down a bit, you can see how it was a bit impractical for us. We wanted to have a great first birthday and baptism for our still only kid, but the 60k we'll be shelling out for the place, doesn't cover our other expenses such as the giveaways, invitations, and other miscellaneous expenditures. So our final costs might nearly reach 80-90k. We want the event to be special, but we don't want to get broke in the process.

Prestige Towers seemed like the one that offered most bang for your buck. You had the entire place to yourselves and it was a step up from celebrating birthdays at a fastfood or chinese restaurant. Not that we are averse to the idea, or seem too snotty. But the place really seemed gloomy to me with the lighting and rather old interiors.

So, after debating for a while, and having seen One Cafe for myself, my wife and I agreed to have the reception at One Cafe. Although it means we'll be tightening our belts for months to come, parenting does mean putting your kids first, before yourself. And even if our kid won't remember the party itself, I still have that old saying to ease my worrisome wallet: It's the thought that counts.

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Onwards and Upwards

I do love tinkering with things since I was a kid. Sometimes I even made my own toys from parts of old ones, sticks, or whatever I could lay my hands on.

Eventually, my love for tinkering, especially with electronics, made me take up BS Electronics and Communications Engineering at UST. Granted, I never got a career related to being an ECE, still, it was an experience well worth it.

Anyway, one of the best electronics I've ever bought is my Linksys WRT610N router. It's a simultaneous band router, meaning it serves up wifi simultaneously on the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency. I got it around 2009 i think, for 5,000php, as barely used (less than a month i think), which was a steal, since it was going around for 7-8k at that time.

So it's been loyally serving me for more than 4 years, and it's been chugging along quite nicely at 300Mbps wifi, and 1Gigabit on wired. I've flashed the firmware from stock linksys ROM to dd-wrt which really opened up possibilities for this router.

But my complaint was I wanted a longer range for it, but since it didn't have removeable external antennas, I had to rely on using UTP cables to really maximize the range for my network. Unfortunately, this doesnt work for devices which didn't have Ethernet ports (the tablets and the mobile phones).

Fortunately for me, I came across info about being able to add external antennas. All I needed were U.FL to RP-SMA pigtails. So i logged onto ebay, ordered a number of them from Hongkong, and 1 month later, I get to mod my trusty router.

So there you have it. From a poor 0 to 1 bar wifi signal from my bathroom, to a steady 2 bar wifi signal.

Now I can surf to my heart's content while doing a number 1.

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