Las Vegas - January 2010

Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Started off 2010 with a trip to Vegas with my close friends Therese and her bf Vincent, Anne and my sis Ang and now bro-in-law D. Stayed at the lovely Bellagio(thanks to Anne's hook up) and was able to visit Anne's cousin and our close friend Stine and her husband and their cousin Earl. Thanks to Stine, we got on the list to Haze at Aria for John Legend's Birthday!! Therese and I are huuuge fans of Mr. Legend *ahem* he's freakin HOTT!! In celebrity style, we had to wait half the night, but we still had so much fun dancing! Finally, he appeared on the balcony and sang a couple songs. Luckily, we were on the balcony across the way and had an awesome view of him gahhhhh! Best night eva! On our last night, we had a nice dinner at Rick Moonen's RM Seafood restaurant in the Mandalay Bay. Enjoyed a scrumptious 3 course meal that included a butternut squash soup, RM Style "Cioppino" and fried banana and bacon egg rolls with chocolate dipping sauce. Anne and Therese enjoyed the Diver Scallops. Ang had the Arctic Char. Had a blast with my peeps! Love ya guys!

San Francisco - August 2009

Boom boom pow! Ohhhh I heart my girls - Ang, Therese, Sheryl and Anne. Girls trip to SF was so much fun. It was my and Ang's first time here and we enjoyed every minute of it. Therese's dad has a townhome about 35 min outside of SF and were fortunate enough to stay there. We did all the tourist spots: Golden Gate, Fisherman's Wharf, downtown riding the cable car, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli's. Had a nice dinner in the city and later hit up a club to enjoy the SF night life at Infusion lounge, a suggestion from a street vendor that was selling some pretty cool hip tees, which Ang and Therese bought from. The last day, we spent the whole day in Napa Valley. Napa was amazing. The rolling hills and fields was like a movie and so picturesque. We stopped at 3 wineries Castello di Amorosa, Sterling Vineyards, and V. Sattui Winery. Castello was just breathtaking with the huge castle you drive up to, we all enjoyed the sweet moscato wines and walked away with a several bottles. At Sterling, we rode a gondala across a pond and up on hill to start the tour. The last stop, V. Sattui was a bit more commercialized unlike the previous 2, but it was still enjoyable with our meat and cheese purchases for a small picnic on the premises. Girls - we need another vacay!!

Philippines 2009

The fam and I (minus Ang) headed to the Philippines in January 2009 as part of Chi's college graduation present. Chi was last in the Philippines in 2000, when Grandapa passed away, so he was rightfully excited to go back and most of all check out Grandpa's Mustang that he wishes to ship back to the States one day. My mom's childhood home is homebase when we visit and we then hop around to my dad's sister closer to the city limits in Quezon City. Traffic is horrible, it will take you about 2hrs to get to the city that should only take 30-40min. So, we spend a lot of time in the car...sleeping! hahaha. Nonetheless, going back to visit is always exciting and fun. This time around we hit up Coron, Palawan, about an hour or so plane ride southwest of Quezon, then a 25 minutes drive to the port, then 25 boat ride to our resort, El Rio Y Mar. El Rio was AH MAZE ING. A private resort of about 14 cottages on the serene beach front. The rooms or private cottages were so clean and had plenty space, only downside was no TV, but I quickly learned to appreciate the quiet time and beautiful surroundings. There was running hot water and air conditioning too! Our family loved this place! Our 4 day stay included all inclusive meals and drinks and your selection of excursions. The meals were amazing, just right for our liking. Many of the tourists were Europeans and some Asians, we were the only Filipino Americans staying at that time. Upon our arrival, we signed in and were greeted by song, dance and a frothy iced tea. We were led to our cottages, my mom and I shared one and Chi and Dad had their own. The inifinity pool was another great feature to this resort, the entire time Chi and I couldn't believe we were there. The first day was an excursion tour of the island. Activities included snorkeling in the Twin Lagoons and Cayangan Lake; hot springs visit and into town for some local shopping. Palawan is known to be an eco-envinroment. The breathtaking views and land are amazing and definitely an experience.

 

We had to climb up 200 steps here at Cayangan Lake...

to get to this unbelievable site...

Bahamas

My bestie from college, JoAnne, and I took a trip to the Bahamas in August 2008. It was our first "major" vacation we took. JoAnne and I have been friends since day 1 of college, hence we were college roomies. It was meant to be, we had the same bedding, mine was in blue and hers green. JoAnne is such an awesome friend, we've seen each other grow and have been thru each others highs and lows. What better way to spend some quality friend time than a trip to the Bahamas, a first for both us. Not many food pics here bc we mostly enjoyed *ahem* fruity and tasty adult beverages hahaha, so here are just a couple pics of our vacay. We stayed on the Grand Bahama Island at the Sheraton at Our Lucaya. Someplaces we visited was the National Lucayan Park and the Gold Rock Beach, where the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. Walking distance across from our hotel was the market place, filled with restaurants and markets to buy souvenirs. There was an open courtyard where bands would perform on the weekends and for the locals and tourists to enjoy themselves. We also were invited to a fish fry, participated in a dolphin excursion and lastly had a blast on a booze cruise hahaha. Most of all, we enjoyed the poolside time we had and I almost got hit in the head with a coconut from a nearby tree. Enjoy the pics!

Edwards Orchard

Tis the the season again for apple cider donuts. This year (2008), the family and I headed to Edwards Orchard to get some apple cider donuts and some good eats. YUM.

NYC - Seester trip

Ang and I decided to take a trip to NYC in June 2008 for some quality sister time and bonding. We took several family trips out here growing up because of family on my dad's side and also piano competitions. Yes, piano competitions..hahaha, that's a whole different life we had which turned out to be great and worthwhile because some of my closest friends today were made during that time of my childhood and we had a one of kind bond. Anyways, this trip was an adventure. We planned to do all of the tourist attractions including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, China town, Central Park and visit the famous Serendipity for some frozen hot chocolate and lunch. We stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which was a perfect location and very close to the trains. One of my goals during this trip was to get on the Today show on that Sunday morning, I made a sign before I left Chicago, unfortunately Tim Russert, NBC's "Meet the Press" passed away that weekend and the show was dedicated to him. There was still a small crowd and I only made it with a picture with one of the homeless guys who is staple in the Today crowd. Some other highlights of the trip included purchasing a $40 heavy duty umbrella from Bloomingdale's enroute to Serendipity and our flight back home was cancelled TWICE! We stayed 2 more days in NYC due to storms and we only had the clothes on our back since we checked our baggage and they cancelled our flight while we waited at the gate. Fortunately, we have family there and we stayed with our cousin and his wife in upper Manhattan, where we did laundry and had to buy more necessities. Lesson learned...pack an extra set of clothes and always carry my phone charger in my backpack.

In Chinatown, we hit Joe's Shanghai for the best soup dumplings. A must visit when you come here!

Enjoying some sweetness at Serendipity

Arizona - Cubs Spring training 2008

It was my second time going out here for Cubs spring training. The first was with my two best college friends and we had the best time. What more than watching your favorite baseball team, laying out in the sun and quality time with your friends with a frosty adult beverage in hand. The second time was with Mae and Ang. In honor of new player Kosuke Fukudome, we made tshirts splitting his last name in 3 sections. We got a lot of attention and made friends with our creativeness. We caught a couple of games at Hohokam Park and enjoyed the spring training experience. Being in Arizona, there's a lot of southwest and Mexican flavors, which are my favorite. We had a nice dinner at Ztejas with a juicy steak with Chorizo and cheese, mashed potatoes and vegetables. One night, we decided for some sushi. As it was before smart phones, we asked the hotel front desk if we could use their internet for some quick browsing and found Sushi Ai. The sushi was pretty good and affordable. Our last day, we hit up a Mexican restaurant named Aunt Chiladas for lunch that was close to our hotel. I had the enchiladas and a margarita, yum! After lunch, we drove to South Mountain for a breath taking view of Phoenix. Had a fun time in AZ!

Thanskgiving

One of the many holiday gatherings that I enjoy is Thanksgiving. As a kid growing up, my dad's sister hosted all holiday dinners. She enjoyed cooking and feeding her family and friends because it was sense of satisafaction for her. Her eldest son, my cousin Kuya Mel, took over the hosting responsbility about 7 years ago and things have not changed. Kuya Mel is once awesome cook and plus he's a restaurant manager and has been around food ever since I can remember and he worked at food establishments growing up, so it was only right for him to go into that industry. This Thanksgiving, Kuya Mel's younger brother, my Kuya Arn and his family came up from Indy. It's extra special to have family from out of town come in and makes it a great time. My two lil' neice and nephew posed so nicely to gobble this turkey. Every holiday, we typically have an American feast, this year included turkey, sweet potatoes, corn bread, mashed potatoes, asparagus, etc.

Apple Holler

Mae and I wanted to go apple picking because it was the season, yet the warm weather in October threw us off back in 2007. Mae, Ang, Stex and I visited Apple Holler in Sturtevant, WI on a Sunday morning. Drive was only an hour for us, which made a nice quick day trip. Apple Holler is an orchard that also has a on site restaurant, where we had a nice hefty breakfast where we discovered cheesy hashbrowns. These hashbrowns were so good, salty and cheesy with a nice crunch on top. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but we've come back here a couple times already and always look forward to these hashbrowns and props to Mae for making these in her own kitchen and it tasted the same, but better! Stex was looking forward to go apple picking to make her apple pies, but it was somewhat late in the season that there was nothing to pick from the trees so we had to pick from large crates. We made the best we could for the day and then on the way home, we stopped at Mars Cheese Castle to pick up some good ol' Wisconsin cheeses and beef sticks. haha. Here are a few pics of our day road trip.

Thailand 2006

We took another getaway trip to Bangkok, Thailand with my 3 aunts. Our visit was amazing. My dad coordinated the tour from KBS Travel and Intertrade Co. Ltd. The 4 day tour included a private tour guide, Ole, and our own private minivan that had AC. I remember the weather was very hot and humid during that time. I'd have to say KBS did a wonderful job of making us feel comfortable with our stay from our hotel and excursions in Bangkok. Ole was soooo nice, informative, friendly and got along with our crazy family very well. He spoke English very well and understood our needs. He was with us from the time we arrived at the airport until the very end of our trip and dropped us off at the airport. If you ever want to visit Thailand, I highly recommend this travel agency.

After checking into our hotel, The First Hotel, Ole took us to MBK for lunch and some shopping to help us getting settled. MBK is the largest mall in Thailand, very similar to Mall of America. It's interesting how their food court operates. You have to buy a meal ticket worth a certain amount and then you can go around from restaurant to restaurant to buy what you want. Confusing at first, but it made sense for them. I went for the classic Pad Thai. After lunch, we walked and my mom and aunt came upon this store that pickled anything that can be pickled i.e. some common ones, mango and tamarind. If you like pickled food items, this was the place to get it.


The first full day was a visit to Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple in the Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok. Here resided the Temple of the Reclining Buddha also known as the Sleeping Buddha, 143 feet long and 49 feet high. The site of this statue was unbelievable. The amount of material to create and the details were unreal.
We visited Suan Lum Night Bazaar in the Pathum Wan district. Again, unbelievable place of shopping and bargaining. We went back here a second time because we couldn't finish it the first time we went. After the second visit, my dad stumbled upon Savoey Seafood Restaurant in the area to have dinner. We only ate the seafood because it was so fresh and we enjoyed how it was cooked. The bill for dinner was cheap after converting to US dollars, with 7 people and our entire meal was seafood, it was only $80! That's unheard of when you're in the US for a nice sit down meal.
Years later, I could still taste the food because of it's quality and freshness. My parents still talk about our Thailand trip til this day, plus my brother in law is Thai and they're always reminiscing whenever we talk Thai food :)




We discovered a new way to eat our favorite fruit, mango. A popular dessert in Thailand is ripe mango with sweet sticky rice topped with coconut milk. OMG, this was delicious! The sweet and fruity flavors combine so well, that it's addicting. Our family is lucky that my sister's father in law makes this and we can request it, ha!

Our overall trip to Bangkok was truley enjoyable. It was great to experience the culture and the people. The people were polite and always smiling, which made us feel comfortable. My next trip to Thailand will be the beaches and along the coast.