Wicked

I've been scheduling a lot of meetings at the newly opened wing of the Shangri-la Mall, and this time we wound up having coffee and sweet desserts at Wicked, the "sinfully good" pastry outlet of the Cravings group (not to be confused with the musical of the same name). With around P200 per person, you can have a very long merienda session; the offerings are really sweet, and you'd probably just nibble on them to hold out against taste bud fatigue.

Cunanan's Ensaymada

Vicky was able to order some fantastic ensaymada from Cunanan's at Valle Verde II in the Pasig area.  Fluffy, light, topped with finely grated cheese!  So yummy!  The box of 12 was gone in a couple of days, as Monique and I couldn't contain our excitement.  Each piece comes to something like P50 to P60 (Vicky doesn't remember how much exactly) and I get a kick opening them as it brings back old memories--you see they come wrapped in wax paper, and I haven't seen that wrapping material in ages!

So Close

Writing about the Carpenters made me remember another one of my favorite girl power movies, So Close, the Corey Yuen action film starring Shu Qi, Zhao Wei and Karen Mok.  The girls are assassins, and put on their earphones and play Close To You, sung by the Carpenters, while they blast their targets away.  Beautiful women shooting down all the goons and gangsters!  Sexily awesome!

CLOSE TO YOU

(Burt Bacharach and Hal David)

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you

Why do stars fall down from the sky

Every time you walk by?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you

On the day that you were born the angels got together

And decided to create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair

Of golden starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town

(Girls in town)

Follow you

(Follow you)

All around

(All around)

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you

Christmas Portrait

* photo from leadsister.com

It's December once more, and our thoughts turn to the most wonderful time of the year.  My favorite Christmas song comes from the 1978 album of The Carpenters, Christmas Portrait, which I have on cassette tape, and which I treasure to this day. The song was initially released as a single in 1970.  Simple melody, painful absence, yet the song expresses the fullness of life and love.  Karen's unmistakable voice just brings me back to 1978 all over again.  Listen to it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING

(Richard Carpenter and Frank Pooler)

Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one for you

Merry Christmas, darling
We're apart, that's true
But I can dream
And in my dreams
I'm Christmasing with you
Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But every day's a holiday
When I'm near to you

The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year too

I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you
Merry Christmas, darling!

Pasteleria La Terrazza

Our visit to Robinson's Magnolia was a bit hectic; Vicky and Monique were looking for some gifts for a birthday party that they would attending, some school supplies were needed from National bookstore, and some chocolate freebies had to be claimed before the promotion period was over.  After some time, my feet were squished to the point of extinction, and I hurried over to Pasteleria La Terrazza to order ahead, while my two ladies were finishing up with their shopping.

Vicky had previously dined at their branch near Sanctuario de San Antonio, and it was a pleasant experience, so when I suggested that we try the branch, she was all for it.  As I sat down, I was given some bread, tomato dip and liver pate--if I didn't stop myself, I would have been full just munching on this.  We had tagliatelle in truffle cream, topped with porcini mushrooms and parma ham, and 2 thin crust pizzas.

The all meat pizza was flavorful enough, but the pepperoni pizza (with olives, capers and anchovies) was truly delightful to the palate.  I just wish that the crust were a bit crunchier such that when you hold the pizza slice, the tendency for the slice to fold is minimized.  We topped dinner with a slice of chocolate cake, which we shared among the 3 of us.  Overall, we spent some P550 per head, but since we couldn't finish the pizzas, we had a lot of food in our take home paper bag.

Nelson Mandela

* photo from Wikipedia

NELSON R. MANDELA

(1918 - 2013)

Chopstop

I had to grab a very fast lunch in Makati, as I was already late for my court hearing which was scheduled at 2pm.  The usual places were quite full, and I luckily spied the Chopstop along Valero St.  If I recall right, the place used to be a bookstore, and I was a bit surprised to see a new restaurant sign.  The place serves all kinds of chops--and I tried their bestseller, the tonkatsu chops, which was priced at P149.  It came to me right off the frying pan super hot!  It was thick enough to be make me satisfied, and the sauce had that oriental flavor, but also had some tinge of Texan BBQ flavoring.