Philipino (sic) Food: Fancy Names and Chocolate Stew…

I found them on Google the other day and tried their Caldereta. It was a bit too salty for me, but it was ok. I brought back Brazo de Mercedes that day and everybody at the office loved it! They called it ‘the rolls with a fancy name’.

They wanted to try Filipino food so we scheduled for a lunch out. C misspelled Filipino. I didn’t correct her, because probably it really made sense to spell it with a Ph, since the country is called Philippines. (Yes, I know it was Filipinas before, but why not rename the people to Philipinos? hahahaha)

We invited our team, the DBAs, some QA and the Config Manager. We were so busy today since it was a code push day, but everybody still wanted to go.

There were 2 Vietnamese, 4 Chinese, 1 Pakistani, 6 Americans and Me (Filipina).

I ordered for our table. We ordered Lumpiang Shanghai, Lumpiang prito, Bihon, Crispy Pata, Barbeque, Caldereta, Sinigang na Catfish (don’t know what it is in Filipino), Adobo, Kare-kare and Dinuguan (yes, Dinuguan!)

It was a fun, fun experience.

While ordering:
Me: blahblahblah… and 1 dinuguan …
Waitress: Are you sure?
Me: Yeah, I want them to try it [evil grin]
M: Typically I get scared when the waitress asks, “Are you sure?!?”.

On Caldereta:
M: Hua, how is it? I don’t trust Cheryl.

On Caldereta:
M: Hey Cheryl, look at that! I’ve got French fries on my stew! (Pertaining to cut french-fries-looking potatoes [not fried, though])

On Kare-kare:
M: What part is this?
Me: Stomach, I think. (To waitress:) What part is this?
Waitress: That’s the intestine.
M: That’s even worse! That’s further down the digestive chain…[laughs] But ok, I’ll try it. (Eats the tripe with a funny looking face… something like he’s grossed out but doesn’t want to show it [but it still shows])

Offering the Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew) to the other table.
S: Do you want to try this?
C: What is it?
M: No! Don’t tell them what it is. Just tell them it’s authentic Filipino Stew. Or Chocolate stew… just don’t tell them what it is. [laughs]

While eating:
M: So Cheryl, is there any American food that you say, “They eat that?!?”.
Me: Hmmm… none that I can think of.
H: Big Mac

On Adobo (was served last):
K: What’s this?
Me: Chicken in Soy Sauce.
K: Chicken on what now?
Me: Soy sauce.
K: Oh, ok. It’s safe to eat. I better be careful. [laughs]

After Lunch:
Me: How’d you like the food?
K: I loved the food. I really liked the “Meat on Sticks” .

Sooo funny…

They said the Dinuguan was not bad. M wasn’t a big fan of the tripe (Kare-kare) though. J liked it since he said he was used to eating tripe (people say it’s a good energy booster for his motorcycling gigs).

They all said they loved the food. (Not sure if it’s true or they were just being polite)

How did I like it? It was fine. Nothing exceptional, really. It’s just like your typical carinderia. However, their Sans Rival and Brazo de Mercedes are exceptional! Yumyumyum… =P~ (They were originally a bakeshop anyway)

Will I go back? Not really. I eat Filipino food everyday at home. Maybe I’ll go back only when I’m craving for their desserts. =P~

So I got the Pearl…

Small, smart and stylish. That’s the Pearl’s slogan. I’ve been hearing that so much in the office that it was one of the factors why I chose this phone. Most people said I made a good choice.

Good thing I ordered the phone a few weeks ago (received it last week). There are new phones that looked interesting (Motorola Q and T-Mobile Dash [HTC Excalibur]). It would have taken me another month to decide!

How do I like the Pearl? Well, I can’t say I love it, but I don’t hate it either.

It will take me a while to get used to the keyboard. QWERTY is fine. I just don’t like that it has 2 letters per key. Yeah, I know it’s a tradeoff with the phone’s size.

Mail synch is good, but I really don’t like getting [work] mails on my phone anyway.

I haven’t tinkered with it much, maybe because there isn’t much to tinker anyway.

I give you this, though. It really is small and stylish. It’s so light, small and thin. Even thinner than my old phone.