Beautiful beginning

Remember Bizu Patisserie and its lovely and delectable pastries? Turns out that they also make wedding cakes.

European-inspired

Eurotel is a chain of small, inexpensive hotels in Metro Manila, most of which are located in commercial centers with easy access to public transportation. This is the hotel in the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City which is across the street from the Araneta Coliseum, Gateway Mall, Farmers Plaza and the Cubao Station of the Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRT).

A tale of three cities

THEME DAY: BIG • Is three cities big enough? This is the view from the deck of the dining room of the Timberland Sports and Nature Club which is located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range in the town of San Mateo in the province of Rizal. Metro Manila, with its seventeen cities and municipalities, is too big to be encompassed by any single view (unless you're up in an airplane) and my friends and I figure that we could only see three cities from Timberland: Marikina, Pasig and Quezon City.



Size is relative so it'll be interesting to see how City Daily Photo bloggers around the world will define big. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Manila hemp

During Spanish colonial times, one of the most important export products of the Philippines was marine rope made out of abaca (Musa textilis) fiber, known worldwide then and now as Manila hemp. It proved to be more flexible and resistant to salt water damage than rope made out of hemp, to which it has no relation whatsoever. Classified as a hard fiber, abaca is one of the strongest and most durable natural fibers in the world. Its pulp is used to make specialty papers for tea bags and money. It is also used widely in Philippine handicrafts like furniture, rugs and carpets, clothing and fashion accessories. This Filipiniana dress designed by Jontie Martinez, part of the Maria Clara exhibit I caught at The Block at SM City North EDSA, features a kimona (the blouse) and panuelo (the shawl) made out of abaca. With today's technology, textiles using the fiber can be as delicate and smooth as silk but it was the rough texture of this piece—its 'naturalness,' if you will—that caught my eye. Amazingly and wonderfully, the coarse-looking cloth proved to be very soft and smooth to the touch.

Waiting to leave

Back in November, I mentioned in a post about its arrivals waiting area that only passengers are allowed inside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). This means that everyone with international flights have to show their tickets and passports before they can even enter the building. Despite having a separate entrance for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), on very busy days the line of passengers snaking its way towards the entrance can be so long it spills over onto the driveway.

Yet another

Looks like the lovely shopping and dining promenade that is Eastwood City Walk is not enough to serve all the residents and tenants of the many condominium and office towers of Eastwood City. Megaworld, the property developer, recently opened Eastwood Mall in the middle of a ring of towers, some of which are still being constructed. Some of the shops in the Walk have transfered to the mall, including the cozy A Different Bookstore (whose new store is no longer as cozy, unfortunately). The shops and restaurants in the mall are more upscale (Crisostomo is on the second floor of the mall, just above where the young girls are) and seem to be targeted to 40-somethings and older, while those at the Walk are trendier and younger. I guess I don't fit in their demographics—I still like the Walk better.

Across two cities

Looking north from the fifth floor of Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City, I saw this cloud touched by the late afternoon sun rising high over the tallest buildings of the Ortigas Center in Pasig City.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Twenty-four hours

Ministop is a 24-hour convenience store franchise from Japan brought into the Philippines in 2000 by the Robinsons Group. It is the direct competitor of the older 7-Eleven chain, which opened its first store in the Philippines in 1984. I don't know which of the two has more branches in the country or even in the metro, but I see more Ministop branches in the places which I pass through everyday.

Leaping for joy

Trinoma mall in Quezon City is designed in such a way that many of the restaurants and cafés are centered around open areas which extend from the second to the fifth levels. Those open areas are filled with plants and interconnected water features. I've already posted a photo of the charming location of the Starbucks on the fifth level and another of this same area but looking up from the third floor. The jets of water are shooting up from fountains on the lower levels.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

Additional defense

One side of the outer wall of the Spanish colonial era Fort Santiago in Intramuros overlooks the Pasig River. Just outside the high walls is a lower wall for additional defense called a falsabraga. There are two of these overlooking the river and this one, which is at the very tip of the fort, is called the Falsabraga de Santa Barbara. I can almost imagine a guardia civil standing watch in that tiny guardhouse.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

After a heavy, delicious meal, what better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon than playing board and card games with family and friends? Aside from taking a nap, that is. The past five years have seen a resurgence of the popularity of tabletop games in Manila, thanks to European designer games. The games are not inexpensive, however, so it didn't surprise me when I once saw a board game café somewhere. Though I'm not against computer or video games, there is much to be said for games where you face other people rather than a video screen. This particular game is Bamboleo, a balance game that can tax your dexterity. Can you guess the goal of the game?

Sunday lunch

It was my husband's birthday last Sunday and we decided to try the new Filipino restaurant of chef Florabel Co at Eastwood City. Crisostomo, which boasts of "turn of the century Filipino cuisine," is named after the main protagonist of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere." All of its dishes are named after other characters in the book and even the servers and busboys wear name tags of characters in the book, not their own names. One thing you have to remember about Filipino meals, whether it's Filipino cuisine or not: food is meant to be shared. In Crisostomo, the dishes are served 'family style,' which means that they are placed in the middle of the table and each person is expected to serve himself. Actually, even in non-family style restaurants where your entire meal is on one plate, it is not unusual for Filipinos to dip into each others' plates. Anyway, enough about Filipino eating customs—let's eat!

The appetizer: Ostra Maestra, Elias' Choice – oysters with garlic and cheese. There were two other choices available for the oysters, one of which was raw. In fact, I suspect that Elias' Choice was not baked either but that melted cheese was spooned over raw oysters. Very fresh.



The drink: fresh buko juice. With the coconut meat sliced and served in the glass too. Of course, you'll have to use a fork to eat the slices. I think that coconut juice (some call it coconut water) is pretty good for cleansing the palate between dishes with strong flavors. Filipinos will also tell you that buko juice is very good for the digestive system, but I have no idea how true that is since I have never read a medical report about it.



The rice: fried garlic rice. No Filipino meal is complete without rice. Crisostomo has different kinds available and if you order the basic steamed rice, you can have as much of it as you want.



The vegetable dish: Noli Me Talong – tortang talong (eggplant omelet) with kesong puti (white cheese). Kesong puti is a local Filipino cheese traditionally made out of carabao's milk. The carabao (Bubalus bubalis carabanesis) is a type of water buffalo important to Filipino farmers as a plow animal and as a means of transportation.



The fish: Bella Bandida – panfried bangus (milkfish) belly with burong mangga (pickled green mango). The green mango was mixed with a little bagoong (shrimp paste) too.



The prawns: Doña Victorina – prawns in aligue (crab fat) and gata (coconut milk). Cholesterol heaven. And yes, the prawns are served whole. I don't think I've seen a restaurant here serve prawns that have been shelled or deveined. It's just not done. The butterfly cut is acceptable though. Of course, it takes some practice to learn how to remove the shell with a knife and fork.



The dessert: Kapitana Maria – frozen Brazo de Mercedes. The traditional Spanish-Filipino Brazo de Mercedes is a log-shaped pastry of meringue (egg whites and sugar) with a cream filling made out of egg yolks, sugar and milk. Admittedly, Brazo de Mercedes is not a very flattering name for a pastry—it means Mercedes' arm. Use your imagination. Kapitana Maria has a cookie crust, is frozen and drizzled with caramel sauce. I think it's better than regular Brazo de Mercedes.

Heaven

Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City has five floors of books, from the basement (science fiction, fantasy and graphic novels) to the fourth floor (music CDs and audio books of different genres). Starbucks has a coffee shop on the third floor, where the lower balcony with umbrellas is. The top floor, which also has a balcony but with plants, is a large events space perfect for book launches, writing workshops and poetry readings. Bring your own caterer.

Solid

Side and front views of the massive Renaissance Towers condominium complex in Pasig City. I've never been inside, and I doubt if I ever will, but I hear that it's very luxurious and that security is very tight. I just wish there was some way to take photos of it up close without those equally solid-looking utility cables.