Monday, October 30, 2017

October hodgepodge

October had its fair share of sad moments. Two very good friends their dads. Both of them live in the US now so they had to fly back to Manila. I made sure to go to both wakes. Hopefully my presence there was able to provide some support and solace to my grieving friends.

October also had its fair share of firsts. It was the first time I visited Estrel's in Quezon City. Estrel's is very well-known in Metro Manila for their caramel cakes but in this case, I was actually after their leche flan. I tried it once before a few years back and I really liked it. I had been meaning to buy some for myself but I never got around to it. At least not until early this month. The place was full of people when I got there but thankfully it seemed that almost everyone was after the caramel cake since their leche flan was still available. I left the place with three - one for my family, one for my grandma, and one for me. :)

It was also the first time I got to try Tim Hortons. While walking around in the Glorietta area one weekend, I saw a Tim Horton's right next to Anson's near Shangri-La Makati. I'm a big fan of coffee and donuts so I decided to have my afternoon snack there. I realized when I was there that they serve bagels, of which I am also a fan, so I ended up having an early dinner instead. I ordered an Italiano bagel, a Chocolate Graveyard donut (their limited-edition Halloween donut which was only available in October), and coffee. I really enjoyed my food.


I also ended up getting a dozen donuts which I brought home to my family but what I realized was that the Tim Hortons donuts don't last as well as Krispy Kreme or J.Co. A few hours after my purchase, the chocolate glaze on some of them had somehow slid off. Given this, I would recommend eating chocolate glazed donuts as soon as you order them.


While this one is not a first per se, it was the first time in more than two years I think that I didn't have a single game night in the entire month. My friends actually organized a game night in mid-October but I was unavailable on the scheduled date so I had to miss it.

I managed to watch one movie this month: The LEGO Ninjago Movie. I actually enjoyed this film more than the first LEGO Movie. I found the premise to be quite interesting - the hero is actually the son of the villain, but unlike The Empire Strikes Back, in this movie, it is the son who knows about the relationship while the father doesn't. It was such a fun and entertaining film to watch. The fact that Jackie Chan was part of the cast made it even more enjoyable for me. :)


Finally, after living on my own for such a long time, it was only this month that I sorted out cooking stuff at home. I bought a 2-burner electric induction hob a long time ago but I never got around to having a kitchen cabinet built for it. That is, until last month when I finally found a contractor that could build one for me. I purchased a stainless steel cooking set - a skillet, a sauce pan, and a pot - and I matched it with a stainless steel set of knives. The first thing I cooked? Instant mac and cheese LOL. I have a couple of cookbooks at home so I now need to start learning how to cook proper meals.

Speaking of food, I also got to spend a wonderful evening with my friends Doms and Zaza in Lugang Cafe in SM Aura. I suggested this place because I hadn't eaten in Lugang Cafe in maybe 7 or 8 years and I suddenly missed that place. Apart from the good food, I also really like the ambience. I think it was the first time that Doms and Zaza got to try this place and they both enjoyed it as much as I did. We capped off the evening with coffee in Coffee Bean before calling it a night.

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