Where skewers and chopsticks meet

For this month Mav and I decided to try something different. I've always been curious about Nanbantei of Tokyo in Greenbelt 3. As might be obvious, this is a Japanese restaurant, but its fare isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill tempura and sushi fare. Instead, Nanbantei is a yakitori joint, the Japanese equivalent of the grillery.

Skewers of meat and vegetables are grilled by the cooks and served to you as they come, hot off the grill. We tried the "Bestsellers" variety platter and found the chicken negima especially appetizing. Most of them had asparagus skewered on them and that vegetable was a natural fit with yakitori. Everything was served with miso paste.

This is also where Mav and I finally tasted our very first yaki-onigiri, the grilled version of the famous Japanese rice ball wrapped in nori seaweed like a burger. It was as filling as it was delicious.

It was here that Mav also learned how to use chopsticks! She learned pretty quickly. All she needs is more practice handling the harder foods...such as rice.




All in all, a great date. Nanbantei's cuisine is a little salty but very delicious.

Hontou no Nihon-ryori ramen da!

The week I was off work, Paolo Campos and his dad took me along to Makati Cinema Square with their shopping and errands. Our afternoon stopover was a rather run-down place called "Shinjuku." What the place lacked in glamour, it more than made up for with its authentic Japanese ramen---just about the most authentic Japanese I've eaten, even besting Jipan in Glorietta 4. Both establishments are owned and managed by real Japanese guys, not some gaijin who corrupts the process, taste and ingredients to suit local palates.

Just take a look at that countertop---exactly how you'd imagine a real-life ramen stand is in Japan. I'm planning to take Denise there for our next dinner date.

Hitching a ride, a game and a dinner

To cap off my week-long vacation leave, I spent a lot of time with my buddy Paolo Campos. Conveniently, he had arrived from his three-month post-graduation vacation in the US, and he invited me over for a few games of Forza Motorsport 2 on his brand-new Xbox 360.

Forza is just about the most realistic driving game I've ever tried. I had to relearn how to play using the Xbox 360's gamepad and how to drive using the game's physics. Driving there isn't as simple as just holding down buttons mindlessly; you have to feather your throttle and brake inputs and stay smooth throughout the course. Depending on your car's drivetrain and power characteristics, stabbing the throttle too hard too soon can cause your car to fishtail, while being clumsy with the brakes can send you straight to the barriers. It took me quite a while to get used to it, but on my second day I was driving pretty well already, cornering on part-throttle and making smooth entry with the brakes.

It wasn't all gameplay too. Yesterday we went to Greenhills, while today I hitched along with Pao and his dad while laughing along in their Pajero. They even brought me to Shinjuku, an authentic Japanese restaurant in Makati with the best gyoza dumplings in town, and their kakiage tempura udon is pretty damn good.

Not a bad way to cap off a week-long vacation, I reckon.

Date with Denise: January

Continuing our promise of having a date each month, my girl best friend Denise and I went out to CPK Glorietta a while ago for dinner. All we ordered were my mom's favorites, the Tuscan Hummus and their Mango Tandoori Chicken pizza, but we walked away stuffed.

Well okay, technically we missed one month (December) already due to the hullabaloo of the holidays, but that was excusable. I'm still glad she and I see each other to relax and just be ourselves. Den was glad she discovered some new foods and new music too, as she enjoyed listening to Incognito and the Brand New Heavies' brand of acid jazz on my Jazz.

I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Night of the bloggers

The meet-up with Joy went ahead tonight at Brooklyn Pizza in Alabang Town Center, along with her husband Tom, her friend Chingkai and her other WordPress-blogging friends Mervin, Laverne, Agnes and Malen.

Not even the decidedly subpar food and the insufficiency of the air-conditioning dampened the generally bubbly atmosphere of the meet. It was great making new acquaintances and friends. Tom and Laverne in particular were quite helpful with advice about the basics of professional blogging. Chingkai shared her colorful stories of being a writer in a country that doesn't appreciate them one bit. Mervin lamented the pitfalls of Smart broadband, while Agnes and Malen missed the Alabang exit on their way to the meet. As for Joy, she had a lot of fascinating stories to tell also.

I gave Joy my old "blue pill" USB flash drive, loaded with song rips of Sugar Free's first and third albums. She was looking for Filipino songs and those are pretty hard to find in Norwich.

I had fun, guys. Thanks.

Invasion of the English!

Invasion of the English!

This week was a pretty busy one because we had visitors from the UK, Paul Hepplestall and Mehret Habteab, and we took them out for three days. I guess it's a good break from all the project-related work that hasn't been going our way so far, and I only hope Paul and Mehret enjoyed themselves while they were with us.

Day 1 was lunch out at the Hard Rock Cafe. Next up was videoke night at Red Box in Greenbelt, and finally there was dinner and bowling at SM Megamall. Mehret was game for the singing, while Paul was a competitive fellow who liked shooting pool. Do click the links for pictures.

Over the course of the week I became less intimidated of them. Despite their accents, stature and Paul's expressions of disappointment thinly veiled with humor, they're genuinely helpful folks who are willing to share a piece of their mind when we needed help.

As of this writing, Paul has already left for Radbroke Hall because of urgent problems with our current project, while Mehret is staying until Monday afternoon, after which she'll be on holiday in Dubai for a week. It was good meeting them.