My Bubble Tea Adventure

This is the Bubble Tea branch along Tomas Morato, Q.C.

My maiden surname may be Adams, but when it comes to food, I am a die-hard Pinoy food fan. It’s Peter, my husband, and Peachie, my hubby’s best friend, who love authentic Japanese and Japanese fusion food. Peter treats it as his comfort food whenever he’s very stressed at work, or feeling so sad about the early passing of his mom, or when he simply wants to enjoy his meal without having to think of what’s good to order.

These are the first of the ,many  dishes I tasted at Bubble Tea: Unagi Lover and Aspara Bacon Yaki… yum!!! Thank God I wore a loose blouse that night!

As you may know, Peter loves to cook too but for some reason, he never cooks Japanese food. He always leaves it with the experts. In fact, in 1999, when Peter first courted me, he brought me to this authentic Japanese restaurant, and at the age of 21, that was the very first time I tasted Japanese food. The rest of our short 12-day courtship, he’d just cook me pasta at my then little apartment back in Quezon City.

Me and my Honey Dew Miik Shake… Mmmmm…

In terms of refreshments, my comfort drink has always been tea. It’s not only healthy, but it also makes me feel good about myself in general. Tea wakes me up without the palpitation that I get from coffee. I can drink it hot or cold or with milk. In fact, whenever we’d do our groceries, I always include a bunch of flavored tea packs in my cart and even when I first went to Vietnam last January, Lotus tea was the very first thing that my friend Jem and I went looking for.

A variety of Bubble tea Milk Shakes and Milk Teas!!! Wow!!!

So when I found out about Bubble Tea offering real tea drinks and Japanese Fusion food, Peter and I couldn’t wait to go. True, I usually see Bubble Tea whenever I’d go to SM Megamall and SM North Edsa.  But I never really got to try all of their offerings before. They’ve been around since 2007 when they opened in Megamall. And just last April 2010, they opened their third branch in Tomas Morato. Then come November, they’ll open their 4th branch in Wilson street, Greenhills. I hope they open another one here near Alabang! That would be so perfect!

Honey Dew Milk Shake… my fave!

Anyway, out of all the milk teas and milk shakes I’ve tasted, my favorite Bubble Tea drink is the Honey Dew Milk Shake. It has the right fruity sweet taste that leaves my mouth craving for more. I don’t get to buy honey dew fruit that often because it’s more expensive compared to the other seasonal fruits available in the market. So having this Honey Dew Milk Shake at a competitive price of Php145 (large) is a real treat. I also love their Coffee Milk Tea, which tastes so authentic, and Azuki Red bean Milk Shake too coz it tastes different, yet familiar… it’s sweet and tangy at the same time. It’s just so mouthwatering too!

Peter loved his Azuki Red Bean Milk Shake!

When I asked Bubble Tea’s CEO, Mr. Reagan Tan (who went to Dubrille Culinary School in Vancouver, Canada)  what is so special about their tea drinks, I found out that they are the only one in their category that serves PREMIUM fresh milk tea. They use top quality ingredients and high caliber tea which they make fresh, meaning, they only brew the tea upon ordering which is why their milk tea drinks produce the best and softest chewy bubbles. Wow! Now I know why it took a short while for our drinks to be served. They brew first class tea leaves (not instant powder like most milk tea shakes companies!) as it is ordered, then they concoct their milk tea drinks using first class ingredients. No wonder their milk shakes and milk teas are so titillating like I never tasted before. Awesome!

That’s Mr. Reagan Tan iin beige polo while he’s telling us all about Bubble Tea “Tokyo Milk Tea Place”.

As for their Japanese fusion food, Peter and I are speechless. I mean, I’ve tasted a lot of good Japanese food before but Bubble Tea really caught my taste. You see, I’m not much into raw, bland food. More often than not, I just tolerate Japanese food because I like mine flavorful and tasty which is why I primarily love Pinoy food. But Bubble Tea’s creations are just so right for me. The way they cooked their dishes tickled my appetite and fancy for Japanese food. And because of that, I think I am starting to love this brand of food the way Peter and Peachie do.

All of Bubble Tea’s Japanese fusion dishes were really tasty and great. But these below are my super duper most favorite!

TAKOYAKI

Takoyaki - It’s this grilled octopus-filled balls made of pancake batter, topped with mayonnaise, katsuobushi and sweet soy sauce. I’m a big fan of pancake… In fact, I have tons of pancake packs at home which I try to cook every chance I get. And, I don’t recall having eaten octopus before so that’s a real scrumptious surprise… I’m no fan of mayonnaise but with Takoyaki, it further yummified the dish (if there is such a term ^_^)…  So delectable and appetizing!

TORI PESTO SPAGHETTI

Tori Pesto Spaghetti - I swear, I’m no lover of pesto and you can ask Peter about it. Out of all the herbs out there, it’s pesto that really gets to my nerves so I rarely eat anything that has it. So I was a bit cautious when I tasted their Tori Pesto Spaghetti. But man, it was so exquisite! I couldn’t believe that it was pesto I was tasting! The spaghetti comes with pan-fried chicken with pesto cream sauce. Just thinking about it makes me drool with all the more.

SALMON FOIL YAKI

Salmon Foil Yaki - I am a salmon lover! Peter and I cook salmon steaks at home whenever we have the time. Salmon is this incredible fish that I can eat raw, buttered, fried, grilled… it doesn’t matter, it’s always so tasty for me. So when I got to try Bubble Tea’s Salmon Foil Yaki (salmon steamed fillet wrapped in foil), I felt like I went to heaven that evening!

GREEN TEA AND CAPPUCCINO CAKE

Green Tea and Cappuccino Cake - Of course, desserts won’t be missed. And though I loved their mango cheesecake and oreo cheesecake, the Green Tea and Cappuccino cake  was something different for me. I loved the blend of green tea and cappuccino. There’s nothing like it.  All pastry recipes by the way were developed by Mr. Tan’s wife,  Aileen, who went to Vancouver Community College for her pastry and culinary education.

Perhaps a lot of you have already tasted Bubble Tea’s delectable dishes and  flavorful milk tea drinks. If you want to know all about their latest promos and foodie adventures, like their fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/tokyobubbletea. Did you know that they currently having this PICHUR PICHUR CONTEST? C’mon let’s join! We might win a Nikon S230 camera!

To see all the photos we took, click My Bubble Tea Experience.

Funky Bowling at SM Bowling Center

The last time I went bowling was ages ago, a decade ago to be precise, when I was still a Quality Monitoring Specialist at Etelecare. These days, I only play bowling on Wii that I forget how fun the real game could be… especially when you do it the weird, funky and crazy way. Teehee.

I’m talking about this new concept, Funky Bowling,  developed by SM Bowling Center which I got to witness firsthand last weekend. I say witness coz  my proxy, Princess, funky bowled for me while I took photos of the entire event. Find out why I didn’t funky bowl. Story here.

Bowling is actually a team building sport. It’s not something that you can do on your own coz that would be boring (unless you do it on Wii that is, like me, haha!). When you’re bowling with a team, the dynamic alone can help build the team spirit of your entire organization. Because team effort is needed when you play bowling and if you want to win in the game, a healthy sense of competition between teams is developed and this helps build productivity in the entire organization.

At SM Bowling Center, they not only provide the venue and means for this to happen, they’ve also brought it to the next level by bowling the funky way.

So last Saturday, Peter, Princess and I went to SM MOA’s Bowling Center to do some funky bowling. Players got to funky bowl by lying down on the floor, blindfolded, while doing the moonwalk, after spinning around, and through other wacky positions that made it so much more fun and lively. Why didn’t I think of this before? It would’ve made my bowling memory a lot more… memorable. ^_^

It didn’t matter that the players were sweating from fun. Food and drinks were constinuously served and so all the players just kept playing. It was different and it was fun. Our team won the Funky Bowling Team Award that night! Now I regret why I didn’t play. Hehehe. 

For team building purposes, here are a variety of games that SM Bowling Center offers:

Regular Tournament:
This is the most famous of all that can do a wide range of bowling formats.

No-Tap Tournament:
If a bowler knocks down a chosen number of bowling pins or all of the pins for that matter, a strike is recorded on the first ball.

3-6-9 Tournament:
In his kind of game, a bowler automatically gets a strike in the 3rd, 6th, and 9th frame of the game.

Baker System:
This one emphasizes team effort. Each team would consist of 5 members. They will follow a certain order, one after another. Each game will last 10 minutes and is very fast-paced. This is what they usually use for competitions.

Scotch Doubles Tournament:
Any combination of two bowlers are allowed. It is a 3-game series played with bowler A throwing the first ball and bowler B bowling at whatever pins are left. If a strike is made by bowler A, then bowler B would make the first throw on the next frame. Scoring is similar to Tenpins.

Best Ball Tournament:
This allows a combination of 2 players. Each bowler would roll one ball per frame. The better of the two balls rolled as the score that will be counted for the team.

Headpin Bowling Tournament:
For this type, 100 is the best possible highest score. This allows the rolling of ten balls in a game, or one ball to a given frame. When this is followed, it is required for the bowler to hit the headpin on each delivery for the scores to count with no extra ball allowed on the 10th frame.

As for me, the next time we’d go bowling, I think we’ll still do it the funky way, while applying the Baker System. It’s more fun, fast-paced and more competitive that way. ^_^

How about you? Perhaps you could visit SM Bowling Center this coming Halloween. I wonder what my funky bowling outfit would be… Four of their branches will be having a Funky Halloween Bowl on October 30 - November 2 — SM City Cebu, SM City Fairview, SM Mall of Asia and SM North Edsa. Check out my wiccan blog for more details about this Halloween Bowling event. ^_^

See the complete set of photos I took that evening here. 

Marriott’s Global Thai Dinner Party

I only see Marriott Hotel Manila whenever my hubby and I would go to the airport. There was also this one time when we attended a formal affair at Resorts World Manila and I also saw a glimpse of this magnificent hotel. So when I got invited to a Thai Food Fest blogger event, which was a few hours after our Nuvali bloggers tour, I was leaning towards saying yes despite the fact that I still haven’t slept for more than 24 hours then. I just didn’t want to miss tasting all the scrumptious Thai food Marriott has to offer!

Marriott Hotel Manila is located in the world class tourism complex of Resorts World Manila. It is strategically located in Newport City across the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

On that particular evening, Oct. 20, all Marriott hotels from all over the world were serving thousands of customers their exquisite Thai dishes in order to break the Guinness World Record of hosting the world’s largest Thai dinner party. And I was part of it! Woohoo!!!

I’ve never been to Thailand but I do know that their food taste great. I plan to go there one of these days. But for now, I should be content with the variety of Thai dishes that were served to us that wonderful evening. This Thai Food Fest is part of Thailand’s efforts to restore its position as a major Asian tourist destination.

Through the food that people love the most, Thailand is reaching out to its international customers in the hopes that Thailand would gain the popularity they once had in the field of tourism, and I am pretty sure they will. With all these great and wonderful dishes, who wouldn’t want to visit Thailand and really taste authentic dishes right out of a real Thai kitchen, right?

This worldwide event took place during Marriotts‘ Customer Appreciation Week. By treating their customers from all over the world with dinner full of Thai flavors and a purple gift box filled with amazing Thai recipes, Marriott offered a unique and flavorful way of saying thank you to its patrons and customers.

This scrumptious buffet meal is priced at Php1,350 net per person.

For the complete set of photos of food I took, please go to Marriott’s Worldwide Thai Dinner Party.

Nuvali - a First Look

I remember our best friend, John Aguilar, (owner of Street Park Productions, and is currently the producer of ANC’s Philippine Realty TV), telling us about Nuvali before… that it’s this eco-friendly village nestled right in the heart of Laguna, particularly in the cities of  Calamba, Cabuyao and Sta. Rosa, where he plans to build his next housing project, Project Green Home, which will surely become a hit after the successful construction of his Project First Home.

So when I got invited to attend the bloggers event for Nuvali Evoliving on October 20, I immediately sent my confirmation.

The organizers and bloggers met at Makati Stock Exchange early that morning. There was a bus waiting for us all, an exclusive Nuvali bus that indirectly and characteristically defined the kind of luxurious lifestyle that homeowners at Nuvali would definitely experience. I think this is the first time I’ve ever boarded this kind of bus — the one comes with a toilet similar to those on planes if I’m not mistaken. Anyway, the point of the matter is, I was immediately impressed.

 My Marc Jacobs sunglasses look and feel awsome. ^_^

We headed to Laguna at around 9:00 a.m. I haven’t slept yet from the day before since my shift at work ended at 5:00 a.m. I tried to take a nap on the way there.

After about an hour or so, I was greeted by lush greenery and fields all over. We were then approaching Nuvali. Our first stop was the Evoliving Center for some washroom break before we tour the fields and do some bird watching. Good thing that I was wearing comfortable clothes that day. I was prepared to do a lot of walking and touring for this event.

Nuvali consists of 1,840 hectares of land. It’s quite impossible to tour everything that morning so the organizers just showed us the stretches of land that are currently being developed by Ayala Land. Touring by bus, we passed by the following huge parcels of land:

Abrio - This village being developed will have the most extraordinary level of exclusivity, privacy, and security to Ayala Land’s top-tier clients. It will have the most expensive eco-friendly homes for clients who value their utmost privacy without having to live behind tall and huge walls. Once these homes are finished, we wouldn’t be able to see them from street view as their roads, which are designed to be as wide as Ayala Avenue, will help conceal these very private homes.

Montecito - This village, perched on a rolling 60-hectare terrain, which is the heart of Nuvali, deemed to be the country’s very first ecopolis (to be as popular as our current Makati) ,offers tranquility, greenery and wildlife. Lots are amply spaced and nature will surround the whole community. One would feel removed from the city, even if the city is just a few kilometers away.

Santierra - This village will be the perfect urban refuge right beside the emerging NUVALI residential and commercial districts. It is designed to optimize and maximize it natural surroundings, hence, its clustered neighborhoods will be surrounded by a park that stretches 5 kilometers which is the longest of its kind among existing Ayala Land premier communities. Homeowners will find it easy to socialize, interact and do outdoor activities.

Treveia - This village offers distinct themes for its small neighborhood clusters - earth, wind, water and wood. At the center of Treveia will be a 2.5=hectare grand central park with a luxurious clubhouse and an impressive outdoor area that will cater to all sorts of outdoor activities.

Avida Settings - This is the most affordable of all the housing development being done in Nuvali. It’s around Php2M for an 80 sq.m. house, and it looks very homey and cozy too. Right now, it’s the only village that is already done so we saw a lot of houses and some people already living in there. Look at the model house we visited:

There are windows all over and the wood panels and roofing are built in such a way that prevents the house from getting warm, hence, you won’t need any airconditioning unit thereby helping you save energy in the process.

master’s bedroom

girls’ bedroom

boy’s bedroom

kitchen

dining room

living room

bathroom

Anybody can actually go to Nuvali and experience what I have seen. Check their location and just register at their office once you get there. You can do a lot of activities in Nuvali like birdwatching, boat ride, hanging out and dining at Reyes barbecue and other numerous restaurants, and  fish feeding at Solenad,  a visit to One Evotech (the first BPO building within Nuvali), and visiting the model houses if you’re on the hunt for the perfect eco-friendly home.

For more information, you can call 0917-5-ASKNUV (2756888).  Cheers to evoliving!

~~~oOo~~~

To see more photos on this trip, please click Nuvali Bloggers Tour.

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