Weekend with the Girls: Ate Our Way Through Hong Kong!

Last March, I traveled with my high school barkada for the very first time. First time in our 20+ years of friendship! It's one of the those spontaneous moments and the next thing we know, we're all booked and ready to go! I almost didn't make it to this trip because I didn't realize that my passport was already expired until about a week before our trip!!! Epic fail talaga! Mind you, our flight was booked last January pa! One night, maybe around first week of March,  I was taking a bath, shampooing my hair when I thought to ask BOS to check my passport if it's still valid. EXPIRED NA! Expired for 6 months na. OMG talaga! Parang lahat ng dugo ko pumunta sa ulo ko! I told my barkada about it and I was apologizing na baka hindi ako makasama!!!  I really wasn't expecting my passport to come out on time, I didn't pack pa because I didn't want to be disappointed.  Hay grabe, that was such a stressful week! Thank God for a friend who helped me get an appointment ASAP and I got my passport two days before our trip. Thank you talaga!!!

One of my barkada, Clarissa, is getting married on September and this was sort of a very early send-off/bachelorette party. Our goal was to eat, bond, eat, drink, sleep. Repeat for 3 days! No kids, no boyfriends, no husbands for 3 days. Woohoo!

It was my first time to stay in TST. I've been staying in Causeway Bay for as long as I can remember. It was a good change because I was looking into staying here too for our family trip on October and I need to know where are the good restaurants are, the MTR stations, bus stops, etc.

We stayed in Marco Polo Prince. Big room and beds!

We ate where our feet led us to. We followed Cindy's lead because she's the one who knows where the good food are in TST. We pooled money for our food so we don't have to split our bill every time we ate.

Chinese Kitchen Taiwan Beef Noodle

I thought they are serving Taiwanese cuisine based on the restaurant's name but they're not! They roast duck is really good! Everything was yummy or baka gutom lang kami haha!

Mak's Noodle

I was the one who wanted to try Mak's Noodle but I was disappointed. It's 42 HKD for a small bowl of Wanton Noodles. Inhaled it in 10 minutes. Not sulit!

After walking around Harbor City, we had a night cap at Aqua Spirit. We had three bottles of wine... we ordered the cheapest one on their menu. It was 699 HKD. Kaloka!!! Hahaha! Takip mata na lang kami, we were there to enjoy ourselves naman. 

Of course we have to take photos for IG purposes hihi! A for effort lang!

It has been a really long time since I had a drink with these girls and I don't have to worry about driving home because we just walked back to the hotel!

On our second day, we went to Central. Window shopping lang and had high tea at Cova. I had one of the best Tiramisu I've ever tasted. They have a high tea buffet but the selection was not as good as the one in Harbor City so we just had their set and ordered Tiramisu and Lobster Sandwich.

Street Food

After Cova, we went back to TST and Jacq wanted to check out Etude House. Hindi ko na alam which area we were in TST. Maybe Granville? Haha! After shopping, we had our street food fix on in an alley beside Cotton On.

YUM!!!

Ka Ka Lok Fastfood Shop

And as if we weren't full from all the street food we ate, we had a late night run to Ka Ka Lok for some fried chicken and sausages and 7-11 for some beer! Fried chicken with beer, so bad yet so good! It's all take away so we ate it in the hotel.

Le Cafe de Joel Robuchon

Our 3D2N trip went by so fast! The most memorable and yummy (and most expensive haha!) food we had was at the Le Cafe de Joel Robuchon. Lahat masarap! Sorry not a food blogger talaga, I just enjoy food! Basta masarap siya for me.

So good that we finished everything! Worth every Hong Kong cent! Heehe!

This trip was one for the books! Thank you girls for the wonderful weekend! I hope there will be a repeat... but I can't promise it to be yearly hahaha! I'm sure BOS was relieved when I came home na!

Holidays and Renovations

Oh what fun is to... have renovations this December! We're currently squatting at my mom's house and it's getting really chaotic with all of our stuff and Christmas gifts scattered all around the house. I'm hoping (really really hoping) we can move back before New Year s my mom can have her peace and quiet back. Heehee!

I can't wait for our renovations to be done!

The renovation started in the middle of Y's exam week which made it a challenge when it comes to review time, I have to go up and down from our house to my moms for reviewer printing to reviewing Y. I did what I can and hope Y did her best. And with all the renovations and exams, it was also Christmas in Common Room! I had to restock three times in two weeks! I didn't complain because busy means blessing!

A rare peaceful time at Common Room during the busy Christmas rush!

Wrappers for all season! I'm not sure though if these are still available.

Each of the partners in Common Room made a dreamcatcher or two or three. I made one lang hehe! I used scrap baker's twine, paper straws and jute twine and added a few little  balls I have at home. At first I didn't want to make one at all because I'm not really a crafty plus with all the holiday hullabaloo going on, I wasn't sure I was going to finish it but I did!

Mine looks like an art project beside the other dreamcatchers haha but I love it anyway! My sister told me it looked like the sawa firecracker! Haha kainis! It's up for sale by the way, if any of you wants to buy it. :)

Then Christmas get-togethers started as early as first week of December and it got busier as it nears Christmas. Good thing I finished gift shopping as early as November!

First Christmas dinner was with the titas! We planned it earlier because we all knew we will be busy with our families. We had a lovely dinner at Raffaele at The Bayleaf in Intramuros, prepared by Eli's brother Chef Carlo Santiago. You can read all about our dinner over at My Mom Friday's!

It was a super fun night! We brought our glass (2 for me haha) of wine to the roof deck to continue the fun and more chikahan!

Then a potluck Christmas dinner with my college barkada.

Angus Beef Belly from H Cuisine, Baked Salmon and Iberian Chicken from Mama Chows!

And when it's the holidays, the eating never stops! I have to thank some friends who sent food and made their home our pick up point for some lechon belly! Yum!

Lotsa' Pizza's Bibingka Pizza was surprisingly good!

Then there's Manila Belly! I have no photo of the lechon belly itself haha! But that Truffle Lechon Belly was sooo good! You must order this for every special occasion!

Later New Year's Eve dinner naman! Oh I can't believe 2015 is coming to an end! It was a great year and I'm looking forward to 2016 and moving back to our home! Heehee!

Get Connected With PLDT heyÜ and Win Awesome Prizes!

Technology makes our lives so much easier and convenient and it is now a necessity! I don't think I can live without internet! And this makes connecting with my family and friends so much easier! I live near my parents, grandma and SIL but we don't get to see each other everyday, one of my sisters is in another city while the other one is in the province naman so we make sure we get to talk online and send each other photos and videos of the kids and their cousins!

PLDT heyÜ is a new fun way to connect with your friends and family! PLDT heyÜ features life free & unlimited heyÜ to Ü calls and heyÜ to PLDT landline calls nationwide, P5/min for calls to SMART, Talk 'N Text and Sun, as low as P1.50/min. for calls to U.S.A. Mainland, Canada, and Hawaii, group chats, secrets messaging, video calls, stickers, and emojis, learn a number of different new ways to say hello with the new heyÜ.

I love that heyÜ is a locally designed communication app specifically created for the digitally active Filipino family. heyÜ is very easy to use!

1. Sign up and register your details

2. Download the app at www.pldtshop.com or Google Play Store

3. Plug in the username and password provided by PLDT upon registration

4. You're good to go!

Still clueless about PLDT heyÜ? Watch this video to learn more and win prizes too! 

heyÜ uses the wide network of PLDT to ensure clear, quality, and consistent connections for its subscribers. Voice calls to and from other heyÜ subscribers, and to all PLDT landlines nationwide are free and unlimited. When users want more than just voice calls and instant messages, they can take advantage of heyÜ to heyÜ video calls, which are also free and unlimited. Over 10,000 heyÜ subscribers are already enjoying this new feature!

I am super excited to try heyÜ app with my friends and family. Instant messaging is fun and interactive with heyÜ. Group chats are our thing. You can even meet new friends thru chatrooms. Send photos, videos, stickers and emojis thru the heyÜ Sticker Market!

heyÜ Instant Messaging features

Peer-to-peer instant messaging.

Private group chat

Public chatrooms

Delivered, read, and typing indicators

Secret messaging

Rich media attachments

Images from Google Play

Enjoy best and value-for-money heyÜ call rates and get in touch with your friends and family, here and abroad without the fear of bill shock! Get the latest chismis from your barkada, updates on your relatives abroad or where will your next family get together be!

Calls to Smart, Talk 'N Text, and Sun subscribers are at only P5 per minute, while IDD calls to US, China, Canada, and Hawaii are as low as P1.50 per minute while heyÜ to heyÜ calls and PLDT landline calls nationwide are free!

 

Other new heyÜ features include secret messaging, auto-buddy matching, application geo-locking, and application geo-blocking.

Getting started with heyU is easy as 1-2-3! Simply download the

app and tap the “REGISTER” button.

You will be prompted to input your account details, including your PLDT Account Number. Upon completing the form and account verification, you will receive an e-mail confirmation with your login credentials. Launch the heyÜ app and enter the username and password e-mailed to you to get started.Log on to http://pldthome.com/heyu for more information. 

Register now and not only get all these privileges and perks of a heyÜ user, but win exciting prizes!

Click here for more details!