My Valentine Roses.

I was actually no longer expecting him to give me anything because it was a hellish day for him at work back then and I was sure he wouldn’t have the time to grab a bunch of flowers somewhere anymore. Deep down, though, I was a little envious of my attached lady friends because there were posting picture after picture after picture of the flowers that their significant others have given them on Facebook.

Then, doorbell.  I opened the door to a semi-harassed but still smiling flower delivery guy. I actually think I forgot to thank the guy because I was so excited, haha! At last, I thought, now I can post pictures of valentine’s flowers on my Facebook profile, too.

My friend is as lucky as I am. Her husband never gave her flowers for anything before but, he had an officemate who did give flowers to his wife for no reason. I guess, it rubbed off on him so my friend now gets flowers any time for no reason, too.

Some guys don’t understand that girls do love receiving flowers, even though we say (or think) we don’t. Our husbands know this now and that’s why our relationship blooms.

This is the Navajo Lake in Utah. It’s one of the more breathtaking lake sceneries I’ve seen in a long time. My family and I love to drive long-distances to new places we haven’t been to before, especially during long weekends when there’s a lot of time to explore.

I’ve been looking into some affordable Branson vacation packages and I am thinking what a great idea it would be to visit Missouri. Missouri is located just north of Dallas (where we are), and its not that long of a drive. Apparently, there is a lot to do at the “Live Music Capital of the World”. They have museums, thrill and water rides, family entertainment centers, golf, shopping, and of course the great outdoors. Just thinking about this makes me so excited. I’ll be sure to tell you all about our Branson experience, soon!

Last weekend was Father’s Day, and we always celebrate Father’s Day by eating out wherever “the Dad” says he wants to eat. For this year’s choice, “the Dad” was in the mood for some good ole texan barbecue. We ended up having lunch at Rudy’s Country Store and BBQ.

The Dad had their fabulous beef brisket and spicy sausage, the daughter had a turkey sandwich and the regular sausage, which she shared with the photographer/mom who had the yummy pork ribs.

Save for the excellent food, the day was really reserved for “the dad” – Ninna’s papa, my husband, the strongman of the family who alternates as the cuddly indoor or outdoor pillows as the need arises, our best friend, the love of our lives. We love you, Papa. More than the yummy grilled meat we stuffed ourselves with, promise.

My family and I are currently billeted in a hotel as we wait for our apartment to be readied. This, therefore have translated to “no home cooked food” for the past two weeks. However, we, particularly my daughter who has had only authentic home-cooked Filipino food for the past seven months, still crave for – saucy, greasy, but uber flavorful – Filipino food.

To solve this problem, we headed over to one of the more famous Filipino restaurants here in Dallas – D’Kusina.

Located at Richardson, TX, its but a few minutes drive for our pinoy food fix.

The decor and ambiance is very authentic, in the sense that you will find this kind of decor at any true-blue karenderia down any given Manila street. Simply put, the eatery is not at all pretentious.

My Ninna getting ready to dig in.

At the mention of Sinigang, my daughter just couldn’t contain herself with happiness. We ended up having a serving of the Sinigang (sour broth with pork and veggies), and a huge Fried Tilapia to go with it. Fried foods sometimes tend to activate a pimple breakout with me but, I didn’t care. I could always click here to find a great acne wash for that. I needed my prito!!!  Anyway, we also took home an order of Chicken Adobo and Lumpiang Shanghai for future consumption.

We have a few more places to try out so I’m really excited that we have a lot of options for home-cooked meals (or to my cooking in general, haha!)

~~~
D’ Kusina Restaurant
2122 E. Beltline Road
Richardson, TX 75081
(972) 238-7199

Or Pork, if you were me (who does not eat beef).

Here’s what I had the other night, after attending my daughter’s year-end exhibit. (I am one proud mama, I’m telling you. ) So, since I’ve always wanted to try their sizzling menu but was too wary of coming out of the restaurant smelling like pepper steak, hubby indulged me since dinner was our final stop before heading home anyway – no one would be subjected to my eventual sizzlin’ hot aroma anymore, hehe. Our destination was the Sizzling Pepper Steak stall at the Promenade in Greenhills.

My Pork Pepper Rice. Half-raw.

Our dishes came with the trademark paper cylinder shield around the sizzling plate (wasn’t able to take a good pic of it so, just try very hard to imagine it, hehe!) and since nobody told us what to do (we’re too clueless, sorry) that I wasn’t able to turn my pork pieces over so that the sizzling plate could cook it. Hence, the rawness in some parts of my pork.

And then, when hubby informed them about our predicament, the kindly manager told us what we should have done and then promptly asked the cook to re-heat our plates. When our second time a-sizzlin’ plates arrived, we knew better.

Hubby’s Beef Pepper Rice-ish dish. It had another name but I totally forgot what it was.

My daughter had her usual staple food in any Japanese restaurant: Ebi Fry.

Ninna with her rice and shrimps. She must have loved it, she ate three out of five of the giant ebis.

I had my pork steaks with pepper mayo. Yummy. Hubby had his as it was. When I asked him how was it, he simply said: tapsilog.

Please do not ask me to make a hydroxycut review while eating here. I can eat their pepper rice every day (with pepper mayo) and be absolutely fine (and stuffed and un-guilty, hehe!). Unfortunately, even though the dining area is ala-food court at the Promenade and we actually sat pretty far from their store, the peppery smell stayed with us until we got home. Oh well.

At least, its a smoking hot alternative to my home-cooked meals, hehe!

We always pass by Panciteria San Jacinto in Pasig on our way home, and the always-full parking lot never fails to intrigue us every time. So for Tatay’s birthday, we finally parked alongside the many cars on their lot and had Binondo-style Cantonese cooking with a twist – the ambiance of the restaurant itself is American country-style.

I have always considered Chinese food as comfort food, so it was really great to have celebrated a wonderful occasion here. No matter if I had properties in North Carolina and get threatened with Outer banks foreclosures, I will always find comfort in Cantonese food.

We ordered a lot. We had the San Jacinto Soup, Ampalaya con Lechon, Camaron Rebosado, Pata Tim, Long-Life Pancit, and Shrimp Chopsuey. I especially loved the soup – very yummy.

Happy tummies. Our family sans the food that have seemed to disappear.

The birthday celebrant with his family – still looking good at 76.

Will we celebrate more birthdays here? Of course.

~~~

Panciteria San Jacinto
106 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave, Ugong, Pasig City, MM
6715942 / 9140830 / 9140832

http://www.panciteriasanjacinto.com

We love it there – the food, the climate, the views – Tagaytay is just spectacular!

Anyway, one of the meriendas we looooove to stop for is Abundant Place’s Palitaw Roll. I learned about this via my friend Emmie, who frequents tagaytay more than we do, haha!

Their recipes are made with all organic ingredients.

I didn’t even have to ask my daughter twice to pose. She loves their palitaw roll so she’s all willing to make the endorsement, haha!

Presenting…

Flattened sticky rice balls cooked in hot water until they float. Thus, palitaw.

Instead of the usual sugar and sesame seed toppings, they give you some organic chocolate to dip your palitaw in. Super yummy. Each serving is P40, but if you get the combo – palitaw roll and hot chocolate – its P70. The ambiance inside the restaurant is pretty calming too, especially if you need a good rest from a long drive. Abundant Place can be found in Silang, Cavite, along Aguinaldo Highway around 15 minutes from Tagaytay.

New year, new posts. But first, let me share with you what exploded in front of our home.

This fearless cuteness!

At first, I thought that the fireworks would scare her to bits but it turned out that she’s a brave as she can be! She really enjoyed the mini-fireworks show that the neighbors put together. It’s a good thing they don’t put asbestos on those things or else everyone in the neighborhood would need mesothelioma treatments, haha!

From my family to yours, a prosperous 2010!

My girl turned six last week. I got this cake for her on the 26th, which is her exact birthday. After this, I got her two more cakes – one for her small celebration in school and another for her big party celebration. So all in all, we had three cakes stuck in the refrigerator, hehe! The next logical question is: where is the fat burner? Haha!

So anyway, since we did have a lot of cakes this past weekend, we decided to just share the cakes with our neighbors and friends. This one in the picture is the only cake we kept at home, mainly because it’s the one we lit on her actual birthday and also because it’s the yummiest, hehe!

Happy birthday, Ninna! May your days be not as dark as a black forest but instead as sweet and fluffy and as this cake – with cherries on top, too. Love you!

On our trip to St. Augustine, FL, we had lunch at OC White’s. Operating since 1790, the house where the restaurant now sits, served as one of the first hotels in St. Augustine, which is the US’s oldest city.

For our lunch, my daughter had her usual – a “white” pasta or, in this case, Dutch Garlic Shrimp served over a bed of pasta with fresh parmesan. She shared this with her dad.

A delightful blend of shrimp, tomatoes, onions and garlic, topped with fresh parmesan, served over a bed of pasta

As for me, I had one of their specialties, O.C.’S Homemade Blue Crab Cake Sandwich.

Fresh Maryland blue crab mixed with sauteed peppers and onions grilled to perfection.

We really enjoyed our food as well as our small taste of history. Service is great and the prices for the lunch menu are reasonable, too. One of the things we appreciated about the place also is that they have their own parking lot (free for dining customers), which is quite rare in those parts. All I need now are the best diet pills for my full tummy.

~~~

OC WHITE’S
118 Avenida Menendez
St. Augustine, Florida
(904) 824.0808

http://www.ocwhites.com/