Thursday, July 5, 2007

4 (malls) in 1 (day)!

Is it Thursday already? Wow, time flies and I haven't even written about my weekend experience yet! Where did the time go? Anyway, here goes:

Last Saturday, we were invited for brunch by our wedding godparents. There is such a thing here in the Philippines. Anyway, they chose to meet us and my in-laws at North Park, Market Market since it was the only restaurant open at 10:00 am. The food was OK, but the service stinks. There were only three or four groups dining that time and our orders came after half an hour. Our godmother ordered this rice soupy thing. It's weird.



Fortunately, a lively conversation made up for the lackluster food.

For dessert, we trotted off to Krispy Kreme at Bonifacio High Street Mall, a block away. I hate to admit it, but this is my first time to have Krispy Kreme. I'm not much of a donut fan so I don't crave it that much. We had almost ever flavor available. The winner in my book is still the glazed donut. It really melts in your mouth and it's not too sweet nor heavy. I will definitely go back there. I got a special tip too: if you see their sign (outside) lighted, and it's the middle of the day, go line up in the counter and they will give you a free donut! Cool eh?





The kids will have a fantastic time too seeing the donuts go through a conveyor belt.



I imagine, if we had a kid, this is what we would typically look, stroller and everything. We used our niece Jessica as a prop :-)



After parting ways with everyone, hubby and I decided to loaf around Serendra and Market!Market! again. Serendra is basically just a collection of restaurants located in the fabulous Serendra community. The high end condominium units by Ayala. We were still quite full from our brunch and Krispy Kreme experience and decided to forgo buying cupcakes. Duh, since I make them now at home :-)

At Market!Market!!, we saw this interesting collection of pumpkins in various colors and sizes. I asked the sales lady what dishes can I make with them. She looked horrified when I asked. Apparently they were used strictly for decoration :-) The pumpkins last for 4 months and can be purchased for P250 a kilo. I think it will go well on the dining table placed in a nice big wooden or artsy bowl. Better than the fake fruits that adorn most traditional Filipino dining tables :-) The fruit selection there is also wonderful. We were able to buy these cherries for just P160 a pack and some mangoes for P75 a kilo, avocados go for P75 a kilo also. Hubby was even ecstatic that he found some watercress! Watercress is so hard to find here in Manila and to find it in Market!Market! is like finding buried treasure.





Market!Market! is also home to the famous Ineng's Barbecue located at the al fresco food court. I've never dined there and so I was eager to try the famed barbecue that everyone was raving about. Verdict: it was good and very tender, it's no wonder people love it. The barbecue marinade is very subtle and not overly powering. I have to admit though, in terms of taste, it doesn't hold a candle to my mom's barbecue. But Ineng's get the highest mark for meat tenderness.



It was pretty early when we left and went home. After resting for a few hours at home, Hubby and I decided to watch a movie at Festival Mall in Alabang. We wanted to watch Transformers but the seats were all gone. We ended up watching Fantastic 4 instead. The movie was entertaining enough. Like it's predecessor, the fight scene was bitin or over too fast, the villain defeated too easily. The CGI and sound effects were good at least.

Whew! it was a very long, exhausting and fun-filled day! Sa Saturday ulit!

2 comments:

Socky said...

You must really try and wake up early this Saturday and hit the Salcedo Market. Open 7am-2pm. Early bird gets best parking.

ericbau said...

Next time, we'll go for the record-breaking 5 malls in 1 day!