simple serendipity

Monday, April 2, 2012

Just Because

Great 1st time around, fantastic the 2nd time around! nom nom nom

Seriously - i think if I wasn't doing what I was doing now, I'd be perfectly content taking pictures of food and new places I've visited. Then again, who wouldn't right?

You can never go wrong with lamb chops

This was a chicken & pork dish - but special mention goes to the awesome red rice and the cinnamon saba!

I know i JUST posted this pic - but it was just divine. Sweet lamb tapa with scrambled egg drizzled in truffle oil & garlic red rice?! YUM!

Tasty squid ink pasta. Al dente goodness!

This was heaven - truffle cream pasta

That it is!

Jumbo red velvet cupcakes for the new graduates!

Called crispy milk but it's pretty much deep fried panacotta. SO. DARN. GOOD!

Crunchy on the outside, delicious on the inside!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

March

March has been ridiculously mad - and by mad, I mean mad madness!

Singapore-Jakarta-Singapore-Manila-Pamgpanga in 3 days!
Destination Love: S & T's funtimes wedding weekend in Pampanga
BBQ + night out dancing to old school tunes
Manila again for R's graduation
Watching a great production with my siblings & tita + seeing L, M, J & A
Warhol Exhibit + movie night with J & M
Drowning in work + days running on 1-3 hours of sleep

It's been a mixed month - always happy and grateful for opportunity to travel and see family and friends, but reality and expectations at and from home can also be draining and stressful. Excited to be learning about new things at work, but accelerated growing of a never ending to do list is keeping me from enjoying it. Thankful for opportunities and the luxury to do different things on the weekends, but takes away from hours I could be resting! Especially since I really have had sh*t sleep recently!

So all in all I'm pretty darn tired.

27 days left till I leave my 20s (sheeeet) and enter my 30s. I'm getting down to basics and focusing on me:

Prepping for 2 upcoming trips in April - so they'll be more enjoyable than stressful
Fixing how I run my day - which means upping productivity at work, getting appropriate amounts of sleep and scheduling in time to exercise
Streamlining my finances so I can get out of debt sooner rather than later and get around to saving for me and my future

Ok well - reading that list again, parang that's my focus talaga this year and not just these last few day of being 29. But ya, you get the point - I think i've reached my peak stress levels this quarter so I need to dial it back. April doesn't look to be slowing down with the things that need to happen, but I'm hoping I can take it in stride, instead of being such a schlumpy and grumpy me!

Nothing like Pancake House comfort food

Quick breakfast with the family before heading out to Pampanga

Photo op with T&S; last night as singles

Beautiful set up at the church

The newlyweds!

At the reception

Happy graduation!

My delicious Lamb Tapa - one of many delicious things we had at Mamou

Quick coffee with some of the original ACS kiddies

Seeing the doggies is one of the top reasons I want to go home - stress relievers! <3

Don't usually fly during the day - so this was a nice site to see!

Dinner + "In The Heights" - awesome. Filipinos really are so talented

Chloe trying very hard to look like an inanimate object

I almost brought her back with me

All done with school!

Checking out the Warhol exhibit - i love museum design! Thanks for freebie M!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Art Attack

On it's last weekend, I checked out Open House in Tiong Bahru with two friends.

My friend does a lovely job explaining the concept here, so check out his post.

Thought the premise behind it was brilliant - bringing art to homes in a neighborhood for all the world to come and take a gander? Perhaps only in Singapore.

I thought it brought art appreciation to a different level of experience - something beyond museums and public spaces.

While the I found the art underwhelming - the entire experience definitely rated a thumbs up from me. Beyond the art, you learn about architecture, the history of the neighborhood AND you get to see how other people live. hehehe. A win win situation if you ask me.