Date with my two valentines

Weekends are always special for us since it's a time where we can spend quality time with the family. Last weekend was really special since it started a day earlier as I took the day off last Friday to go ice skating in Megamall with my two sweethearts :) When we arrived at our destination, a big surprise came to us - The SM Megamall Ice Skating Rink has already closed! yeah! It was already closed last August 2009 and we only knew about it just now. We're a bit saddened about it as we don't have anything to do aside from that so we just brought our little one to the kiddie rides..

and to the super fab ride, the walkalator which Jared enjoyed the most (and also the one I liked most because it's free! haha!)

Saturday was spent again with my 2 valentines in Trinoma to do our grocery shopping. While Sunday, the big day - valentine's day, Chinese New Year, and my MIL's birthday. We celebrated it at home with spaghetti and a mango graham cake made by MIL. Too bad, wasn't able to take photos..

All in all a good valentine's weekend!

Dinner at Kanin Club

Our first time to dine at Kanin Club in UP-Ayala Land Techno Hub. I've been wanting to try this place before with their first branch in Paseo de Sta. Rosa in Laguna but never had the chance so when we heard that there was a branch at the Techno Hub, we wanted to try it at once.

Jared was asleep when we arrived at the restaurant. He was so deeply asleep so we just decided to wake him up when the food arrives.

Anyway, since it's Kanin Club, we had to try some of their flavored rices. We had their famous Sinangag na Sinigang rice and Aligue rice. They're both good but with the dishes we ordered, I think they are better paired with plain rice.

Crispy Liempo. Thinly sliced pork liempo and fried to crisp perfection

Hototai Soup. Has lots of veggies, meat and mushrooms.

Aligue Rice. Like this. Not for those with high cholesterol.

Seafood Karekare. This is my favorite, so flavorful and we really kept coming back for the peanut sauce.

Crispy Dinuguan. This is so so. It was like chicharon with the bloody sauce. Umpe's (hubby's grand aunt) dinuguan is way better than this :)

Sinangag na Sinigang. It's dry sinigang and taste like real sinigang, can be eaten as is because it has vegetables and 2 slices of pork liempo.

Sizzling squid but it was not sizzling hot when served to us.

Overall, I wasn't that impressed with the food. It was just OK. Good thing we had coffee afterwards to ease away the suya. Thanks to my sis Tin for the coffee treat :)

Our Saturday Adventure

I've heard a lot of good reviews about this kiddie place in C-5 so H and I decided to bring our little one last Saturday. Our first stop was Ark Avilon Zoo. It was an indoor petting zoo wherein you can get the chance to touch or interact with some of the animals. Entrance fee is 300 pesos for adults and 200 for kids.

At the entrance of the zoo. It looks like the Noah's ark we see in books but I was not able to take a photo of it.

First, we checked out the animals in the cages. There was a pair of puma, tiger, sun bear and jaguar. Other animals were the Malayan Tapir, Silvery Gibbon, White Tiger. There were carps, tortoises, turtles, and different kinds of birds on the middle part of the first floor.

Then we proceeded on taking photos with the friendly birds.

A family picture with the newest member, the orangutan :)

At the bridge, where the alligators, arapaimas and flamingos are located.

On the way to the 2nd floor, you'll see an aquarium with eels, different fishes and a turtle.

The upper floor contains other reptiles, birds and domestic animals like sheep, goat, and horse. There is also a feeding station wherein you get to feed the animals personally but of course with a fee.

Jared and H tried feeding the hamsters and rabbits and the carrot was finished off in no time at all.

After Ark Avilon and lunch at Tiendesitas, we headed to the Fun Ranch to complete the little one's day out.

At the Fun Ranch Bridge

Went to Active Fun so the little one can play and maybe interact with other kids. There were tunnels, slides, balls and other toys to keep the kids occupied while parents can go shopping. In our case, H accompanied Jared inside while I check out other shops outside.

Entrance at active fun is 175 for kids and 125 for adults, both are hourly rates. Don't forget to bring socks, they're a must. But you can buy from them if don't have one.

After an hour at Active Fun we decided to call it a day so we headed to the parking area. But when we got into the car, the little one requested that we go back for a 2nd visit to the zoo so he can see the tiger again. And how can we say no to that? So we headed back. The good thing about going back.. we saw Kuya Kim of Matanglawin (ABS-CBN TV Program) at the zoo. I immediately asked him if we could take his picture with our little one and he gladly obliged :)

A Gastronomic Experience

It was a Monday afternoon when hubby told me that we would be having dinner at the newly opened Tong Yang at SM Fairview. Since Tong Yang is in a buffet set-up, I decided not to eat snacks for that afternoon and reserve all that space inside my tummy (if there's still) for dinner. Oh and the best thing about it is that it will be a dinner treat by my SIL, Mei. (sweet!)

So I was a bit late when I reached the mall and they were already complete when I got there. I took the task of marketing - getting raw food and ingredients from the buffet table while hubby, the Iron chef for the night, took over the shabu shabu pot and the grill pan. Well, I think I ate everything that they offer - sea foods, meat, dim sum, noodles, ice cream and halo-halo. Now I need to run 10k for this :) And we were all having fun that our dinner ended till almost closing time.

On getting fit

The main reason we got into running was to get in better shape or just be fit and healthy. But for this year, I noticed that most of the race organizers have increased the registration fee into almost twice the previous fees. So now, we will only choose the worthy races to join and maybe join as bandit runners (haha!) But good thing, we went back on playing our previous sport, the Badminton.

Badminton became the most popular sport in the Philippines for some time. Badminton courts have sprouted all over the metro and everyone got hold of their own rackets. But today, I think, running has overthrown the said sport. So many people got into running and joining marathons. And I think, because of that, those race organizers decided to increase their fees, talk about law of supply and demand..

Good thing, my friends Flory and Cel invited us to play badminton again. It was really fun and exhausting too. I hope we'll be doing this on a weekly basis :)

First run for 2010

We were supposed to join the PSE Bull Run for this weekend but when I saw the registration fee of this "Go for green" run, I immediately convinced my running friends to just switch into this race. Good thing, they all agreed. Well for a hundred peso fee, they really must! haha!

We left home a bit late since Jared suddenly woke up when we're about to go and we had to make him go back to sleep before heading off. Luckily, we arrived at the venue when it was still dark and the race hasn't started. In fact, it started about 15 minutes later than scheduled. Their reason was they were waiting for the sun to shine (yeah right).

Anyway, Gibo arrived a few minutes after us and people went all over him like he was a celebrity. He was so cheerful to everyone and also to my hubby whom he greeted with a handshake hehe!

Back to the race, it started differently with a countdown and not a gunstart (maybe because of the gun ban haha!) My sister Tin was with us and it will be her first time. After 7 or 8 minutes in the race I saw her behind me and she suddenly tripped. She couldn't walk after but there was a good man (a runner too) who lifted her up and took her to the sidewalk area. He also asked for assistance to help us get to the start/finish line. Few minutes after, an ambulance arrived and picked us up. It's just odd that they did not clean Tin's wound or they thought it was too small for a treatment.. And when we were dropped off at the finish line, a free goto was waiting for us. We ate it while waiting for Cel and hubby.

It's sad that I was not able to finish my first run but good thing my sister wasn't that hurt and she's now okay.

the two finishers but weren't able to eat the free goto haha!

Thanks to my friend Cel for the photos :)

Play school

It was Jared's first day at play school last weekend. We enrolled him to develop his social skills by interacting with classmates and teachers and also to give him the idea of how it is going to school. We chose the MSA play school in SM Fairview as it was the most accessible and the only one that has that play camp thing. Unfortunately, he has only 2 classmates and were both girls.

At first, he was so shy, really shy - he wasn't talking or even answering to his teacher's questions. But after a while he somehow got the hang of it, I saw him talking and playing with the 2 girls. We cannot hear them because we're outside the classroom but good thing the dividers are made up of glass so we can still watch them. Their activities were reading a book, doing some artwork, coloring, and learning the red color and the circle shape.

And while Jared was in his class, we sneaked out for a while to try the 6 minute video in 4D which was also located inside the mall. We chose the roller coaster video which was good and feels close to riding a roller coaster. Perfect for my hubby :)