Evangelista Day

Yesterday, I finally pushed my butt to go to Evangelista instead of just lolling around in bed. Had breakfast with Waya at home and lunch at Saturday market with Paolo, Angel and Angel's friend, who is vacationing from the US. Did a little food shopping. Saw Civet Coffee being sold at a scandalous P500 for a teeny tiny bottle. Civet aka alamid eat up coffee cherries high up the mountains, the seeds get wrapped up in their stomach oils and they shit it out. Coffee pickers then pick the shit (ewww), wash 'em and what ends up is what is reputedly one of the most expensive and tasty coffee beans in the world. Yeah, even more expensive than Blue Mountain coffee. I have never tried it yet, the idea of how it is made deterring me from trying, but maybe another time when I drop by Bag o' Beans in Tagaytay.

After a quick nap, Waya, Paolo, Ige and I went to Evangelista. Took South Superhighway, turning right at Makati Apartelle to drop by Fat Michael's to ask for a map (they have a fabulously illustrated map with details on where the nice vintage stores are). Parked near a cafeteria and walked all around Bangkal. The sensation was something else. When you work and live in Makati, you don't quite get the same feeling. Lucky us, it was fiesta season for Bangkal, and loads of people were out celebrating. Bands were practicing and playing. Kids were out having fun. So Waya and Ige had a field day taking pictures.

Meanwhile, Paolo and I scoured the vintage and ukay stores for nice finds. I was thrilled to find a few jewels in my quest: 2 glass decanters (P300 each which I haggled to P200 each), and two vintage frame bags, one dark brown, the other a nice tan leather with gold rivets (P450 each which I haggled down to P500 for both).

I saw a nice 50s-esque sofa and chair, but I held out for a bit, thinking first of how it would fit in the apartment. We already had the requisite light wood and white color scheme, and a dark wood sofa and chair would not only look out of place, it would take up much precious space. In any case, I know now where to go if ever we did redecorate. Wasn't lucky in my quest for a chandelier, though. No one quoted me below P6,000.00, which I balk at 'cause a nice brand new one in Home Depot (crystal pa) is worth only P4k max.

We encouraged Waya to put up a site to upload her pictures. She has a very good eye and it would do well to hone her talent. Am waiting for the pics. We looked like we were having a fabulous time.

Tired and hungry, Ige pointed us to this small restaurant near Kamagong which serves Iloilo-style Bulalo. And boy, for P150+, a real good deal. The flavor nuance of this version of Bulalo is more on the sour side. I detected a little kick of either kalamansi or vinegar, which I don't find in Batangas and Tagaytay bulalo. I forgot the name of the restaurant, dang it, but I'll post about it as soon as my foggy brain remembers it.

I managed to drop by Ene's house in Kamuning to bring her Christmas gifts, which have been under our tiny white Christmas tree for some time, and something Paolo wanted me to hand to her. Oh fuck it I forgot to get that signed letter the office needs from her! Darn my brain's getting all fuzzy. I better call her later, maybe drop by tonight. Lisa needs it for accounting for her "services rendered" to the office as 'talent' (naks) for one of our print ads. We haven't had time to meet up recently which is a drag 'cause she's so much fun to be with. Anyways, mental check. Must not forget that.

In the meantime, I'm blogging here at the 'rents, waiting for them to dress up. Family day means malling but this time, it's my cousin Cathy's bday, who's in the country for a while on a vacation tour of Southeast Asia and I think we're having our usual looooooong dinners in Podium or Shangri-la. I don't know where yet. She's based in New Jersey, and I think she's here with her Filipino fiancee and is going to introduce him to us. I bought her a nice bag for her to use in her trip.

Am a bit upbeat lately as I've had lots of rest this week compared to last week. We have another round of deadlines this coming week at work. Duh. Hope everything turns out well.

Oh, I saw a former client use our print ad as a billboard while driving around in the Fort. Duh.

oOo

Friday night, met up with Munster for a snack then after, went out with Dave who just flew in from Sydney. We had dinner at Longgrain (?) in Rockwell, one of the places I haven't tried. When we went, it was empty save for one customer. Which didn't bode well, right? But my Beef Rendang was awesome as did the eggplant side dish they served. D loved his Green Curry and thanked me for bringing him there. We shopped a bit as he was looking for some Ministry of Sound CDs. I brought him to the right section while I looked for the latest Killers album. Damn CDs now are real cheap, like P350 for an original Killers album. And according to Dave, still cheap here compared to Sydney so he bought a bunch of 'em collector's editions.

The record companies better lower their prices or else they lose to Limewire and the pirates in Makati Cinema Square hehe. Had a bit of coffee. Walked around. Then went home around past 10. The accounts guys were still in Coquina, but sleep was more attaractive to me at that point. Zonk. Zip. And that's all folks.