Pepper Lunch photos

Here are photos from our dinner at Pepper Lunch. We would've taken more photos but we were afraid that we might overcook the meat. So instead of taking a gazillion shots, we took a couple of shots, then we attacked the oh-so-yummy food.

Here's OHA's cut steak and hamburger combo:



Here's my Pepper Rice:

We're going there again tomorrow, and I'll try my hardest to take better pictures. Maybe I'll even have the chance to capture it on video.

OMG, I'm so excited to go there again!

Approximately 29 hours to go!

Pepper Lunch!!!

Guess where my OHA and I are eating dinner later? :p

Here are some clues:
1. It's local franchise of the diy steak restaurant from Japan
2. It's in Rockwell
3. It has branches in Singapore, Korea, US, Australia, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand

Since I know how annoying guessing games are, I'll just tell you. We're eating in...

(drumroll please!)

Yay! Pepper Lunch!

I'm super excited to eat there. I've been salivating over the pepper rice for the past couple of days, while my OHA's been craving for the cut steak and hamburger combo. He also wants the Shake! Shake! Salad.

I brought our camera so I can take pictures of the lurvely food and post it here.

Busy bee

I've been busy with work and baby preparations that I hardly have time to rest properly, let alone write a new post. I do have a lot of things to write about, I just need time to organize my thoughts. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ok, time's up.

Here's what's I've been up to:

1. I had to go see an orthopedic last week to have my ingrown toenail checked. This is the second time I've had an ingrown toenail and I thought that this second time was a lot better than the first time because it didn't bother me as much as it did before. Good thing I had it checked because this second time is actually worse since the nail got really embedded on the right side of my toe!

Long story short, I underwent surgery last Saturday to get rid of the stupid ingrown. The doctor said it was a good thing that I decided to have it removed because it might just get infected and that would've been worse for my LBJC and I. I wasn't allowed to take any painkillers (oh joy), but I was asked to take antibiotics. The only brand I can take is Augmentin because it's the only brand that's safe for babies. It's about P89.00 per tablet (I so did not want to spend on this) and I had to take it three times a day.

I took the last tablet today (hurrah!) and boy, am I glad that it's over. Augmentin gave me tummy troubles! It made me feel bloated and gassy. I hate it.

The next time I get tempted to cut my toenails too short (I really like cutting 'em short) or the next time I get tempted to wear ill-fitting shoes (If there's a cute pair of shoes that I like and the only one available is one size smaller, I buy them anyway because they're...well, cute), I'll just remind myself that it's not at all fun to deal with an ingrown toenail.

Some people have it easy because they can have their ingrown toenails removed by their faithful pedicurists, but for some reason, I REALLY CAN'T TAKE THE PAIN! Why am I not like those people? Oh well. I think I'll throw my nipper away. The doctor said I should just cut it straight and that I should not use a nipper to shape the sides because that's how you get ingrown toenails.

2. I've gotten so big. REALLY BIG! It's getting harder and harder for me to move around by myself. Shifting positions in bed takes a lot out of me. I can't wait to give birth so that I can feel "light" again! Of course, that's not the only reason why I want to give birth already. The ULTIMATE reason is that I'm super excited to meet my LBJC. I want to hold him already!

I still have seven weeks to go before I give birth. Hopefully, he's not in a breech presentation anymore. Tomorrow, when we go to our OB's clinic, we'll find out if I'm delivering him normally or through a Caesarian section.

3. My in-laws saved us a ton of money! How? They gave us a baby crib, a playard, linens, and a sterilizer! Thank God my in-laws bought the big items on our to-buy list. Now the only big thing on that list is a breast pump.

We haven't seen the crib, but my mother-in-law said it was pretty big. The playard that we got was the Pooh Graco playard. OHA and I aren't crazy about Pooh, but hey, we got it for free so we're not complaining! The sterilizer that we got was the Avent steam sterilizer.

Here are the new bebe thingamajigs (images taken from the web since I don't have photos of the actual loot yet):

Avent steam sterilizer

Graco playard
(Same color and style as our playard, but different design pattern)

3. My OHA and I watched Iron Man last April 30. I loved the movie! I'm not that big a comic book fan, but seeing Iron Man is making me want to read comics. I want to see it again, but I don't think I'll have the time.

I think my LBJC also enjoyed the movie because he was kicking up a storm during the movie! My OHA was quite proud and said, "That's my boy!"

Before we watched the movie, my friends and I decided to eat in Barrio Fiesta because I wanted to eat sinigang and it's been ages since I last ate there. When I was a kid, I used to love Barrio Fiesta because their sinigang and crispy pata were top notch. Their sinigang's still good but the other dishes we ordered were just so-so. The nice surprise was their sisig! It was so yumpy! Too bad their servings are really small. AND EXPENSIVE. Which sucks big time. Well, the food's really not that expensive but the price is somehow not proportionate to how small their servings are. I think I would've been happier in Triple V.

4. I've been playing Virtual Villagers a lot lately. I didn't think I would get into this game because it takes so long for anything interesting to happen. I find it surprising that I immensely enjoyed playing the game. I've downloaded part one and part two, but so far, I've only played the first part.

My OHA said VV is like The Sims. I've never played The Sims so I wouldn't really know. It was boring at first, but as soon as I started unlocking the puzzles, I found it more interesting. I've unlocked ten or 11 puzzles out of 16 in the game. I've reached level two on the technologies, except for farming and construction becuse I'm already on the third level with those two.

Kool Fever insta-pets

About a month ago, I went on leave for a week due to a really bad case of flu. Since I couldn't get out of bed, I asked my OHA to stock up on Fern-C and Kool Fever. My OHA, however, doesn't know what Kool Fever is so he looked it up online just to make sure what it looks like.

After surfing, he bought my flu supplies and told me that we have to do a "project" involving Kool Fever. It was something he picked up online and he was dying to try it out. I couldn't imagine what we could do with a silicon patch, but believe me, producing an alien-looking worm was the farthest thing from my mind. That's exactly what we came up with.

We soaked discarded patches of Kool Fever in water. After a couple of hours, we had insta-pets that looked like this:

If ever you're sick, buy a couple of patches of Kool Fever and try this little experiment :) This will certainly brighten your day (if you're crazy and demented like OHA and I).

Happy burp*day

I celebrated my 25th birthday last April 20. On the days leading up to my birthday, I was busy planning for a "unique" celebration since it's my first "married" birthday. I wanted it to be special because it was also my "last" birthday alone with my OHA. Next year, we'll be with LBJC. Yay!

As the 20th loomed closer, I felt panic mounting since I still haven't planned anything yet. Little did I know that while I was busting my head for ideas, my OHA was conspiring with my colleagues to throw me a surprise party! Here's how they pulled off the party:

On the 17th, my boss asked me to go with her to a meeting in Makati. She asked me to pick her up in her condo around 930 AM so we could go to the meeting together. When I got to her building, she asked me to go to her unit and snack on something since she still wan't done dressing up.

When I got to her unit, she offered me a gazillion things to munch on but I settled for the good, old Prima toast because I was trying to eat "healthier." After a while, she asked me to change my dress (I was wearing a black dress) because she's also planning on wearing a black dress and she doesn't want us showing up at Valero wearing matching outfits. I was taken aback but I didn't say anything because she's my boss. Besides, I couldn't refuse the lovely blue, green, and white Armani dress she was giving me.

So long story short, I changed into the dress. After a while, she told me that there was some emergency in Valero and that the meeting was cancelled. She told me to just go to Intercon with her to pick up spa gift certificates for the media. After about an hour in Suriya, she told me that she has to pick something up in Greenbelt so I said ok. She led me to Red Box where we saw Allan from Innove. They were talking about Jay being late for their meeting in one of the rooms there.

I was wondering why we were meeting in Red Box because there are like a gazillion other places in Greenbelt where we can have a nice, quiet meeting. My boss was talking to Allan so she told me to go on ahead and enter the "meeting room." When I entered Room 11, there were Happy Birthday signs on the billiard table and on the screen. I was kind of hungry that time so I was a little out of it and I totally didn't get it.

I looked at my boss and asked her, "What's going on?" That's when everyone started singing happy birthday. Yay! I can't believe they were able to pull this off without me finding out. We were always together so I don't really know when they planned the party.

On the 18th, I decided to treat my office mates to lunch (OHA joined in). Since we have limited options here in Pioneer, we went to Grilla. We had a cholesterol-laden feast that day. Since I forgot to take pictures, I'll just list down our orders:

-fried quail eggs
-grilled mussels with garlic and cheese
-chicharon bulaklak
-pork sisig
-chicken barbeque
-inihaw na baboy
-lechon kawali
-grilled tuna belly
-chicharon rice

Since we had an appointment with our OB on the same day, my OHA and I decided to have a mini-celebration for dinner. We went to Claw Daddy in Shangri-La. Here's what we ordered:


-Chicken Fried Pork Chop with Andoville Gravy (mine)


-Shrimp and Oyster Poboy (OHA's)



On the 19th, OHA and I went to my house to celebrate with my family. My sister wasn't with us that time so we just ate a simple but yumpy dinner of pancit canton (my request since I've been craving for this for like, weeks) and grilled liempo. There were other dishes as well but I don't remember what they were.


On the 20th, my family and I went to Mall of Asia to hunt for a good place to eat lunch. Out of all the restaurants there, I honestly didn't understand how we wound up in Burgoo. Here's what we ordered:


-Large chicken tender fingers



-Seafood Caesar supreme

-Large N'Awlins classic platter

-Hamburgoo (I dunno where the sides went!)

-Tomato and basil pasta (I was busy eating when this arrived so I wasn't able to take a picture)

On the 21st (yes, I went on leave), I bought four pies from Amici for OHA's family. Since I was craving for chicken fingers, I told OHA that I wanted to go to Friday's and that we should just call Amici to place our order. I told him that we could pick up the pies on our way home. He agreed (thank God) so here's what we ordered:

-Cajun chicken fingers (mine)

-Classic cheeseburger (OHA's)


After our meal, we went to Amici to pick up the order. I got two Tutta Carne pies, one Quattro Formaggi pie, and one Prosciutto e Funghi pie. Oh and macapuno gelato. Since I was too lazy to take pictures of the pies individually, I asked OHA to just "pose" with the boxes :)



Whew! That's how I celebrated my 25th birthday--with a lot of food :) I wasn't able to come up with something to make my birthday unique, but my 5-day celebration more than makes up for my lack of planning skills.

I'm very happy, though, that my OHA was there with me on all the mini-celebrations. That's really what made my birthday happy.

Adi-post :)

My OHA and I were finally able to watch the first episode of Doctor Who Season 4! After months and months of waiting for David Tennant to flash his trademark smile before boarding the TARDIS, we finally got our fix yesterday. It was worth the wait.

Lookee lookee at the teeny Adipose creatures from the first episode:

Aren't they cute?

I can't wait until they bring back Rose!

Happy weekend

Yesterday, OHA and I went to In My Womb in the new Glorietta Link building for a Congenital Anomaly Scan (CAS). A CAS is a basic fetal screening to check the baby's vital organs like the heart, kidneys, etc.

OHA and I were super nervous because we didn't know what to expect. It was such a relief for OHA and I that my OB, Dr Sheila Jane Illescas, really goes out of her way to put her patients at ease by being wacky.

The scan took about an hour and it was the most excruciating hour of my life (I'm sure that I'll change my opinion about this once I've experienced going into labor)! It wasn't until Dr Illescas told us that the baby's fine that I was able to heave a huge sigh of relief.

Our LBJC was a little hyper and gave Dr Illescas a hard time in trying to take a photo of his face. He's also a little on the chubby side, but still perfectly normal. The only thing I have to worry about is that his position's breech. My OB said he'll still have time to move but that I should start watching what I eat so that he won't take up too much moving room in my womb.

At P3500, the CAS is a little pricey but definitely worth it! When we were viewing LBJC in 4d scan, it was just a breathtaking experience. It brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe that OHA and I made that beautiful baby. I could go on and on with the sap fest, but what I just want to say is that parents-to-be shouldn't miss out on this opportunity because it's wonderful.

Btw, the doctor said he looks like me but my in-laws say our LBJC looks like OHA. We'll just have to wait and see!

After In my Womb, OHA and I went to Greenbelt to celebrate (hurrah! our baby's normal!). We originally planned to go to Sugi but I changed my mind and said I wanted to eat in Segafredo only to find out that the stupid place is already closed! So we ended up eating in Sugi because I was too pissed to think of another restaurant.

OHA ordered the kaki teppanyaki and yaki meshi while I ordered the Katsu Donburi and green mango shake. Because we were famished, I forgot to take a picture of the food *insert sheepish grin here*

After Sugi, OHA and I went to Gourdo's beside Gloria Maris. It was like going to chef heaven! They have all kinds of spices, sauces, and other thingamajigs that are used for cooking. If I knew how to cook anything other than pasta, I would have cleaned out my wallet in this place!

I was trying to get OHA to pick out stuff for himself like bratwurst or German franks but he didn't want to. I, on the other hand, ended up buying a big box of Honey Bunches of Oats, Nature Valley peanut butter granola bars and three pieces of soap for my mother-in-law.

There's still something I haven't written about, but I'll reserve it because it deserves a separate post.

Happy Friday!

Everyone at work's happy today. Why? Because we received our Annual Incentive Package! Ka-ching, ka-ching! BONUS! Yey!

It would've been a truly happy day if not for the amount of taxes deducted from our paychecks. My tax deduction is almost 10 grand! That's nothing compared to the deduction of one of our colleagues--almost 60 grand! I could go to Hong Kong with that amount!

My OHA and I will be celebrating tonight. I was thinking Cafe Ysabel or Casa Armas, but we might just settle for Cyma or Bubba Gump. We're also going to be shopping for our LBJC. Happy day!

Btw, as promised, here are our bookstore purchases from Singapore:

From left to right top row: Eternal Egypt, Heroes Volume One, Richie Rich Classics, I am America and So Can You, The Au Pairs, The Au Pairs Skinny Dipping, The Au Pairs Sun Kissed

From left to right bottom row: Nova Swing, 20th Century Ghosts, Daughter of Hounds, The Atrocity Exhibition, The Overnight, Best New Horror, Dead Sea, The Everlasting, Ghouls

My leg cramped really bad last night so I had to plaster two salonpas strips on it. The thing is, I wasn't so successful in completely scrubbing off the adhesive traces this morning. To make the long story short, I went to work today with itty bitty traces of salonpas on my left leg :p

I pray that my legs won't get all crampy again tonight because my OHA won't be home to massage them. Where will my OHA be tonight? :) Tonight, my OHA will be conducting his first business writing class in Libis. I'm so proud of my OHA! Goodluck, OHA! Knock 'em dead! Woot woot!

Before he goes to Libis for the class, my OHA still has to pass by UA&P to get his transcript of records. Hopefully, he won't be hassled too much. OHA, when you go to UA&P, try to relax ok? Don't get too stressed out. Remember, you have a long day so don't waste your energy stressing.

I wonder what I'll do later while I wait for OHA at home? Should I watch a movie? Should I play Pharaoh? Should I post gazillions of pictures here? Or should I sleep and just wake up when he gets home?

Pathetic, senti moment in three, two, one...I just realized that I'm the most useless person in the world because I can't even function properly without OHA. Huhuhuhu. It's just that I really love being with him that I didn't realize how much I'm getting attached to him. OHA, don't ever leave me because my life will seriously come to a screeching halt, then it will crumble into a gazillion pieces.

He did it!

Lookee at the shirts my sister-in-law gave us!

We've only worn these shirts once, when we went to my house one weekend. OHA was worried that my parents might get offended because of the word "bitch" on the orange shirt. I told OHA not to worry about it since my parents are pretty cool about stuff like that. True enough, when we got to my house, my folks barely paid attention to our matching shirts.

This is my shirt:

This is OHA's shirt:

I wish I could I could wear this again soon, but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I give birth to my LBJC because my tummy's getting too big for the shirt. I told OHA that he can wear his shirt but he doesn't want to wear it unless we're matching :)

Holy Kettle Corn love

I'm quite bored today in the office. This feeling isn't entirely too alien to me because I'm always bored in the office. It's just so hard to muster up the enthusiasm to do mundane things every single day. I wish I could just stay home and spend time with my other half A (following my rule with LBJC, I'll refer to his father as OHA).

Speaking of OHA, I wonder what he's doing now? Hmmmm. Knowing OHA, he's probably tearing into the Holy Kettle Corn bag I asked him to buy. OHA and I have a funny game that's Holy Kettle Corn-related: I would trick him into buying a bag for me. It's not as bad as it sounds, ok? What I'd do is ask him to buy popcorn or something else that I know he likes and pretend that I'm the one who's actually craving for it. I'm forced to resort to dirty tactics because he doesn't like spending for himself!

He was so delighted the first time I played that trick on him. I always try to ask him to buy stuff but I don't always succeed. I actually tried to pull that stunt today, and I got him to buy a bag. I don't know though if he bought one because he believed me or if he was craving for it. Anyway, DHA, I'm glad you bought one. That bag is for you. I'm not craving for it right now.

If you would only listen to me, I wouldn't have to trick you. For the nth time, I'll tell you this: you should never hesitate to buy something that you like, especially food. OR ELSE.

Pffft, thinking about food is making me hungry. Extremely hungry. Oreos would be goodright about now. Or Froot Loops. Or fish balls. Sigh. Fishballs, how I long for you. Fishballs with spicy vinegar. Oh and kwek-kwek. Yummy, yummy kwek-kwek. Huhuhuhu. Why am I torturing myself with thoughts of food?