Thank you, Moonleaf

When I started this blog, I was pretty sure I’d be blogging non-stop. But as with all my other blog efforts, well…here we are now, barely alive.

I’m really just squeezing this post in to thank Moonleaf. I wrote about them when they were still relatively new and significantly smaller. That post is the only post keeping this blog from fading into oblivion. So there, thank you Moonleaf, not only for the weekly tea fix and chicka that my friends anna and aneka now share in your new home, but more because you’ve ushered in a few guests here in my dusty online home.

One of these days I’ll bounce back and blog again.

mycoolmintspa – Katipunan

I wasn’t big on massages until I started working sports events. Benedict and Karen, with whom I work now, can attest to that. But, like I said, since we work sports events, massages have become both a necessity and luxury for me.

And because we do not want to use up all our earnings from those tiring (but fun) events, we have made it a mission to find the most soothing massage at an affordable price.

One such place for us is mycoolmintspa in Katipunan. I have been meaning to try it before, but with its proximity to Ateneo, Miriam, and La Vista, I thought that maybe this would be out of my budget. Good thing our friend Aneka (both a Knoller & Atenean hehe) told us that it was actually very affordable and that her massage was not bad either. And they have private massage rooms– a definite plus in my and Benedict’s book.

So we went. But that first time, they were full and we didn’t have a reservation. Bummer. Thank goodness we didn’t have to travel far just to be turned down.

We kept that incident in mind and made a reservation the next time. We booked ourselves for 9.00 pm, but because we were tired and excited (weird feeling, I know), we were there by 8.30 pm. No worries, because this time we were lucky and they let us use the rooms already by about 8.35 pm. We really appreciate that relaxation started 25 minutes earlier.

The rooms were austere and clean. Very basic, with just the bed (with minty fresh sheets I’m such a sucker of), a table for my stuff, and the shower. Exactly as Aneka described it.

We got our treatments at 9.00 pm as scheduled and we were done by closing time, 10.30. Both of us got combination massages (Swedish & Shiatsu) and a cleansing facial in private rooms for only about 600 each. Yeap, that’s right, our very relaxing two hours of excellent soothing massages and cleansing only set us back 600 bucks each. Perfect for when a massage is a necessity more than a luxury. Great value for money, right?

Here’s more of their menu from the last time we were there:

Massage Therapy (Private Room rates; 150 less for Common Room)

Shiatsu/ Swedish/ Combination/ Reflexology- 1 hr. – 500

Lymphatic/ Aromatheraphy/ Oriental Herbal Compress- 1 hr. – 600

Head, Shoulder & Back Massage- 30 min. – 175

Coolmint Footsie- 1 hr.- 280

Body Treatments (Private Room only)

Botanical Salt Body Polish/ Coffee and Spice Citrus Whitening Body Polish/ Apricot Body Polish- 30 mins. – 500; 1 hr.- 700

Seaweed Wrap/ Dead Sea Wrap- 1 hr. – 1,500

They also have facial, hand & foot, and wax treatments, as well as special packaged rates (including sparties) so make sure to ask about those when you call to inquire/book.

mycoolmintspa is just right after turning right to Katipunan from CP Garcia Ave., very near where we work. It’s easy to spot, just on the right side of the road. We’re coming back to avail of the weekday afternoon promos (Combination massage for 400 bucks, private room, Monday to Thursday from 12 noon to 5pm). With reservations, of course. ;p

mycoolmintspa
G/F Elizabeth Hall Bldg., Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights, QC
Open Daily: 12 noon to 10:30 pm
436-1160/ 920-9531/ 0927-444-6132
*Prices may have already changed so be sure to double check when you call! ;p

Commonwealth Ave. Ride

It’s the country’s infamous accident zone, so when a Commonwealth CMR was announced last week, I thought, “Wow. This may be my only time to bike this road, ever! This is sure gonna be something.”

And when they said the president was riding, I thought, “Good, maybe they’ll even close the road then,” *evil laugh mwahaha*

But nope, the president didn’t bike Commonwealth, and nope they didn’t close the road. And the ride wasn’t something either.

It was S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G. Hah!

By that, I mean I almost didn’t make it to the ride. I woke up late, called up Binoy to see if I can still make habol, made a mad dash to get ready, and then woke up my dad to bring me to UP, where my bike was.

On our way to UP, we passed by Philcoa where I saw Ricky and the Firefly Brigade marshals assembling, so I was confident I was still going to make it. When I got to UP, my bike was ready, I changed into my Philippine Dodgeball shirt (just in case I get a photo op with Pnoy, hehe), waited a bit for Benedict, then we pedalled on to Philcoa, only to find…no one.

So by SOMETHING, I mean Benedict was kind enough to bike with me to catch up with the group before he goes off to train up Sierra Madre. Thank goodness we saw a lone Mr. Marshal who was also on his way to catch up with the group, which was by then already in Sandiganbayan. Benedict left me with Mr. Marshal, but because of the rush, I was already feeling tired. I didn’t want to have no energy left for the ride back toQC Circleso I cheated and took a cab from the Tandang Sora intersection.

But the smart, mayabang feeling didn’t last long. As soon as Sandiganbayan was in view, I saw zero bikers. A quick call to Binoy confirmed that they were already on their way back toQC Circle!!! Darn it! All that rushing for nothing?! This can’t be!

So by SOMETHING, I mean I got off the cab and stood on the road with my bike, not knowing what to do.

Until a group of bikers approached me and before they could say anything to me, I asked if they were there for the ride with Pnoy. They said yes, and I said, “E bumalik na po silasa Circle. Pero magbibike pa rin po ba kayo?” They looked at me like, “Duh…is that even a question?”  

my adoptive group…

Of course they would still ride to QC Circle! What’s more, they said I could ride with them! I felt like a lost kitten adopted by a pack of big cats. Like in the cartoons. They even gave me a flaglet. Del Delivers. Apparently they are all from Marikina. Marikina is a city supportive of cycling, so I didn’t mind it at all.

My Poodle bike!

But while standing there, waiting for the ride back to start, I realized something. These are hardcore cyclists! In racers! And I’m a newbie! In a folding bike! My face probably showed what I was thinking, so they quickly assured me, “Inaantay pa natin yung mga nahuli. May mga baguhan din. May mga naka-japanese bikes.” Whew!

So by SOMETHING I mean we very coolly biked out as soon as the rest of their our group caught up. Hmmm…I was going to be able to ride Commonwealth peacefully after all, I thought. Lalalalala…

Then it started. Sunday morning Commonwealth Ave. + racers. Oh it was definitely on!

They just basically flew and left a trail of dust for the rest to follow! I desperately tried to catch up because I didn’t want to be biking alone alongside the busses! I am very thankful to Kris (a friend I made there) who biked near me, else I would have literally and figuratively folded and taken another cab back.

So by SOMETHING I mean we biked most of Commonwealth at the fastest I could. Which may not be very fast for many of you, but for me, I felt like makakalas na yung bike sa bilis. Kris said that at one point we were at 25kph. For me and my 20in.wheels, that was SOMETHING.

I had never been happier to be in the QC Circle. I had never been happier to see Lisa, Pio, Ethel, Karen, Rosar, Ricky, Binoy, Froi, Sam, Titus, everyone!!! Ever!

Karen, Me with tabingi helmet, Lisa, Mon, and Sam

Then I found out Pnoy wasn’t even there yet. Why was I not surprised.

Isn’t his name Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III? C for Cojuangco?

When he did get there we all went out to ride with him around the Circle, and just as we got out on the road, I felt something wrong with my bike. I looked at my gear indicator thingy and it said I was on the hardest gear. But why didn’t I feel that when I pedalled? I looked down by bike, and the next thing everybody heard was me screaming, “Ricky!!! Yung kadena ko!!! Natanggal!!!” LOL

I went to the sidewalk and I tried to remember how Benedict fixed the darned chain before. I was scolding myself already for not paying attention when I saw that Ricky went back to help me and Pio was right behind him. Ricky got my chain back to where it’s supposed to be and because it was just going to be one loop around the Circle, we just biked back inside. Thank you very much Ricky and Pio!

Two presidents! Ricky of the Firefly Brigade and Pio of Tiklop Society of the Philippines!

So much for biking with Pnoy. LOL

Muse mode with Marikina bikers and Sir Jimmy Ancheta of Tumana (Dad of Capt.Ziff!) LOL

With Rosar, Karen, Jimmy Ancheta, and Freddie

We imagined the monument to be the Eiffel Tower hehe…

All that said, I now conclude: The May 15 2011 Sunrise CMR along Commonwealth Avenue, ladies and gentlemen, is my most memorable ride so far. *bow* Join me in the many more most memorable rides in the future! *grin*

Happy Ms.Tabingi ang helmet

The past three weekends…

…have been amazing. We took on two big projects, launched the historic 1st Barangay Dodgeball Tournament in the Philippines, and did the huge huge bike parade. And the weekdays weren’t bad either.

Thank you Lord, indeed!

All bags are bike bags (but a Yadu would be nice ;p)

Of course, right?! There’s no need to have a special bag just for bicycling! A basket would be perfect for carrying a lot of types of purses, but hey, I’ve been managing without one.  Take a look at some of the bags I’ve used while biking and see for yourself how the bike CAN really fit into a daily life.

A pink bag to a Rondalla concert…

A Longchamp during a WoW bike clinic and ride…

A laptop bag during another WoW ride…(and when I was working the QCIM, I really did bike a lot with my laptop this way. Please pardon/excuse my pride. )

And a big one for laundry. Yay!

But lately I’ve been using my Yadu when biking. It was given to me by Yadu and the Tiklop Society of  the Philippines as a thank-you gift when I volunteered to be the bike ukay-ukay tindera at the Kuklos Bikefest last month, and I’ve been using it a lot since. Here I am wearing it on our way to the laundromat.

It fits me well even though my stuff don’t really fit inside. But it’s okay. I still love it all the same, especially since the prints remind me of my sarees. Thank you again, Yadu and Pia for this beautiful bag!

And just for fun, here’s Benedict, during that same trip to the laundromat:

And when I just learned how to bike, he offered to carry my bag for me:

These are in no way comparable to the amount of bags and stuff that people load on their bikes in Copenhagen, but hey, we gotta start somewhere, right? ;p

Toaster Disaster

Okay, so my blog has been sadly neglected for the past couple of weeks (or more, gasp!). I guess this is what happens when I finally have a spectacular offline life to put online– I lose time for the online part. LOL But not complaining at all! Anyway, I’m back…and my comeback story is…a disaster.

There were some left over dry chicken adobo on the table this morning and I rehashed it with some spicy tomato cream sauce and parmesan cheese. But since there were only about four small pieces of chicken, i was left with a tiny bowlful of the sauce. So I decided to make it in turn, into a tuna sandwich. I just mixed in some canned tuna flakes, some herbs, and more parmesan cheese. I thought the sauce would make the pandesal soggy so I popped the pandesal into the oven. While the bread was toasting, I went to my sister’s room to make her lambing, and that’s when it happened– I forgot all about the bread! Haha!

Can you imagine how our kitchen smelled when I opened the oven? LOL But I didn’t want these to all go to waste so I salvaged the part that wasn’t yet burned. Look at my cute little halflings! I was able to make three halflings while toasting a new batch of butterflied pandesal (which also almost got burned). The original plan was also to melt some cheese on one face of the pandesal, but after the first batch, I didn’t bother anymore.

I then wrapped them all in wax paper, photographed them and dumped them into a paperbag before I whizzed off to work. They were my baon, and I shared them with my boss. He said they tasted really good and asked what was in them. Yay! All’s well that ends well. Hehe. The moral of the story? Don’t leave anything toasting before going to make lambing to your sister! LOL

Yeah I used a cosmetics paper bag to transport food. So? Haha!

Another Burger Project Post (Plus Emmanuel’s Chicken Burgers)

We always have the best times here.

Last week, when our friend Emmanuel, and our new friends from the Singapore wrestling team Aaron and Gabriel, were in town, we took them to the Burger Project and we all had a great time with insane burgers and insane laughter and…get this…PEPE SMITH. Rock and roll. ^0^\m/

These are what we ate. Custom burgers of epic proportions. LOL.

Even big guy & certified foodie Emmanuel is no match to the double Angus beef burger that he made! It was a delicious monster he called The Rock Bottom Burger. Mine was The Happi Burger, with beef patty, zero cheese, zero sauce. Just the basic poppy seed bun, tomato, lettuce, and pickle, with guacamole and mango salsa. The best I’ve made so far. The perfect omnivore’s burger: juicy beef plus the crunch, freshness, and light flavours of fruits and vegetables. It’s sacrilege in the eyes (or taste) of a major carnivore like Benedict, but hey. That’s what we love about this place.

The photo above also reminded us, especially Emmanuel, of our first amazing burger dinner at the Linden Suites. Emmanuel and our brothers from the Dodgeball Association of Singapore stayed there during the 1st Asian Dodgeball Summit here in Manila, and he prepared the most amazing chicken burgers ever!

He can build a restaurant on this recipe alone, I tell you. (That’s Karen looking like a cute 5-year-old girl).

Meanwhile, after the crazy ass week of our working a huge project (Thank you God), Benedict, Ron, Rowell, Sot, Kate, Danilo, Anna, and I, all headed to the Burger Project (from Quirino Grandstand) to feed our already zombie bodies that have been working overtime and overload since March 29.

We were too tired for pictures. We invited Aneka, too, but she and Anna had a whole world to themselves talking about stuff. While we wolfed down our insane burgers and filled the place with insane laughter from our insane experiences working this insane run with an insane 24,000 participants.

I told you we have the best times here.