Start of a Rainy Weekend

Aloha Everyone,

The Uptown Mall was packed with shoppers. Stores were giving away coupons to buy 2 and get the 3rd one for free.  

Mary Grace, located on the rooftop level, still had open seats. I asked J.J. to choose plates that were photogenic :-). Not sure if it was worth trying. The quality of food was okay. My complimentary dessert was a tiny sponge cake. At least we were able to avoid the heavy downpour during lunchtime.

Spent some time on my travel sketchbook in the afternoon.  

Fely J’s was our dinner venue. Our server knows what we normally order. Today, trying something new, J.J. ordered a couple of dishes. More photographically appealing but couldn’t say the same for the taste.

Aloha -- Cathi

International Thanksgiving Meals

Aloha Everyone,

Las Flores is known for Spanish cuisine. It was too early to have paella. Besides the waiting times was 20-30 minutes. J.J. and I chose salads and vegetarian soups and leave some room for churros con chocolate with ice cream.

They were delicious! Service was excellent. We are adding Las Flores to our list but plan to return for dinner.

A light drizzle and the windy weather was enticing us to stay indoors. We chose Flying Tiger, one of our regular favorites for dinner. Thai foods are spicy even though we asked for them to make our dishes less spicy.

To reduce the effects of spice, we had Thai HaloHalo for desserts. HaloHalo originated in Japan. Today, we can find so many regional HaloHalo adaptations and added local ingredients such as mangoes, papayas and pineapples.

My niece was preparing a Thanksgiving meal with turkey, honey baked ham, pies, etc. My sister was taking care of sides including stuffing and vegetables.

All of us are thankful for our abilities to be able to observe Thanksgiving in our own fashion.

Aloha -- Cathi

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aloha Everyone,

This turned out to be a very memorable Thanksgiving Day. Japan Home Centre has almost anything you need especially small items such as a simple tweezer. One of their salespeople knew exactly what we were talking about. 

We returned to our condo then a little after 9:00 am. Going to Landers next door, J.J. and I purchased yogurt and coffee, but weren’t able to find any fresh fruits except for tiny apples.

Today, we scheduled a movie date. When the mall opened at 10:00 am, the two of us went to purchase our tickets.  The process is rather confusing. You choose your desired time then choose the seats. Not knowing the configuration of the theater, our chosen seats were located towards the top.

Went to have our early lunch then walked around a little until we were admitted to the theater 15 minutes before the show.

First few minutes were local government propaganda followed by Filipino National Anthem. Several other films were previewed.

My daughter-in-law asked me to rate the film. J.J. and I didn’t wait. Before the intermission, we walked out. I think if you are 13 or younger, the movie might be worth watching. They gave us each a promotional ice tea on entry. Little children were sipping syrupy drinks and eating purchased banana chips.

We had an early dinner at Prologue, an Italian restaurant located in Mitsukoshi Mall. Great food, reliable service. For dessert, we enjoyed Green Tea Tiramisu. No turkey, ham or apple pie, but it was still a very memorable Thanksgiving. 

Oh, and one more thing, I decided to quit the video game that I’ve been playing for nearly 10 years. Just go cold turkey.  Instead, I will focus on my drawings and languages plus Kundalini yoga meditation and exercises.

Aloha -- Cathi

In Search of Tweezer

Aloha Everyone,

Simple tweezer is what we were looking for. The first and to us an obvious place was Watson’s. They are usually better equipped than Mercury, another drug store chain. From there, we tried Market Place, a supermarket. A clerk suggested we go to True Value, items often found as clearance. From there we were pointed to All About Baking store.

For one thing Filipinos do not like to say, ”I don’t know.” Instead they try to be helpful. After spending 30 minutes searching for a simple tweezer, we found out everyone is “out of stock.”

J.J. and I tried to have dinner at NoNo’s. No indoor table. We walked to Manam, where we haven’t been able to get an indoor table on our 3 previous tries. J.J. and I got seated at a perfect table. So this is serendipity.

Good dinner with Halo Halo dessert. Things worked out surprisingly well.

Aloha -- Cathi

To BGC High Street for Lunch

Aloha Everyone,

A hectic day, but we managed it well. Had a good breakfast at our place. Then we did two laundry loads. 

The Panasonic washer/dryer in our condo does its own thing. For example, when we place some clothes, it will calculate how long to wash, rinse and dry. But there’s no definite time. It could change as the machine is in spinning cycle.

By the time we finished our washing, it was already 10:00 am. Walking to BGC High Street takes only 20 minutes. But we try to select shaded streets so that could prolong our walk. 

Our lunch destination was Empress Dynasty. Older, elegant establishment where quality of service and food are reliable. The best of our dim sum choices included a noodle soup dish for J.J. and for me, purple colored buns with sweet bean paste filling.

Can’t believe that there was at least one more restaurants the two of us haven’t tried in the Uptown Mall. Scouts Honor had a nice ambience and good service. Only thing was that we both ordered spaghetti carbonara. It was prepared in thick creamy sauce with bacon. Neither one of us finished the dish.

At National Book Store, I purchased 2025 Daily Planner and a larger size sketchbook.

Our granddaughter sent me her latest drawings. She is extremely busy with her schoolwork and other activities but still manages to find time for her artistic work. I must also be as focused with my art as I am with my daily Kundalini yoga practice.

Aloha -- Cathi

Follow-Up Dental Appointment

Aloha Everyone,

My dental appointment was at 10:00 am. I was 15 minutes late and by the time my dentist was available, we were close to 11:00 am.  

Filling 2 cavities took about 90 minutes including full mouth x-ray. I was adamant not to have a root canal done. The dentist pre warned me that because one cavity is due to bacterial infection. Well, she was able to come up with alternate solutions and for now, my tooth is saved.  It might be a temporary solution. My 2nd tooth took a shorter time. The total bill Including novacain to numb my gums and x-ray came out to US$150. I am very satisfied.  

Food at Fely J’s was kept light and easy to eat. In the afternoon, I slept for about a hour possibly due to the novacain remaining in me.

For dinner we went to Italianni’s for light spaghetti alla Vongole.

We are planning a morning trip to BGC High Street. Looking forward to trying a couple of new restaurants this week.

Tonight, Jeff is attending the Nanakuli High School’s latest production, HONK. Looking forward to hearing about his comments.

Aloha -- Cathi