Coffee to the MAXXXX

Forget Amazon's Prime free shipping nor Netflix's binge watching. There's a new subscription in town.

Just discovered Panera's unlimited coffee for $8.99/mo. Any size and you can get one every two hours. Thats not a bad deal, since their drip coffee would run you at an average of $2.50

My only gripe is, since coffee is not their forte, it's very inconsistent on how we like ours made/customized. We still have to tweak it a bit to our liking. But overall, this would be the deal of the year for me. At least, something nice came out of 2020. And by the end of the day having 4 large servings of iced coffee,

Curiosity killed the dog

Went to Ikea to buy stuff for the kids to have things organized before school starts with distance learning. And on our way out, I had to pick up some essential things like the meatballs, but then, it was almost lunch time and their veggie dog caught my eye. THe most logical thing to do was to go ahead and buy it. We then ate the thing in the car. The size was decent, around 5 inches and since this was not keto, Anna and I shared. It had those crunchy onions, pickled radish (I think) mustard and the veggie dog itself. For 75 cents, it was good for that price. The taste was something that we both cant really describe in a way that every bite tends to represent its ingredients. But this wont replace my regular hotdog, Costco would still get my vote.

Stop it with the free stuff

As stores slowly to open up. And our Nespresso stash was just down to maybe like 5 pods, we had to drive up to UTC La Jolla and stock up. Anna jokingly said, “Yep, were about to spend $200 on coffee again”. With the $$$ signs suddenly shocking my thrifty nerves, I said “Hell no, we’ll limit ourselves to only 10 sleeves”.


We got there as early as 10am unknowingly that stores open now at 11am. We had enough time to ponder on what flavors we would get and get a cup of Starbucks. We then got in line and prepped up. But all that conditioning was brought down to a crumble when the person helping me out in my orders uttered “Sir, if you get 15 sleeves, we’ll give a freebie”.


Darn it. That's it. First, it was 5 more sleeves on my intended purchase. And now saying there's a freebie which include a pod holder. I then took a slow deep breath and said “Thank you for letting me know”.

After doing all our errands, we got home. I’m so proud of myself i was not compelled to buy and give in to that so called promo of theirs.

Fudge, went home with 30 sleeves and 2 of that free container. I was suckered in again. On a positive note, these pods would last us a good 3 months the most. Grrrrrrr

Quarantine

Been several days since we came back form our trip. On a 14 day self quarantine and most of the world is on the same predicament. Our means of communication is through online news, Facebook and several other media outlet on different streaming mediums. For now, Anna's been catching up with her Netflix shows.


One thing we're so thankful is for the fast and reliable internet.

Yema Cake

Visiting Lola in Cabanatuan was one of our task that needs to be done while here in the Philipines. And a visit to Cakeland is a must. It's where we would get our baked goddie fixed. And the yema cake caught our eye. We've been wondering what the fuss is all about. Friends and family have been raving about it on Facebook, and unfortunately San Diego has not caught on, unless we've been to lazy to hunt it. By the way, yema is a sweet custard confectionary from the Philippines. It is made with egg yolks, milk, and sugar. The name yema is from Spanish for "egg yolk". As a kid, my mom and grandma would make these a treat and wrap em in a plastic colored celophane. Small community stores would also sell these. But upon trying it out, and since we've been on the Keto diet, the sweetness was just overwhelming. We have a video review to show our take on this gooey goodness.

AngryDobo

Judy Ann Santos is on our subscription list on Youtube. And now that we're in the Philippines, we get the chance to actually dine in her retaurant named AngryDobo which mainly focuses on her signature adobo dish.



We actually just happen to stumble on her Westgate branch since we just got done shopping some neccesities in S&R. It was passed 8pm and we cant decide where to have dinner. Upon strolling the nearby restaurants, Anna said we should try this place. The menu was easy and it was different take on most Filipino favorites.



So we ordered Kanchos, which was kangkong (water spinach) deep fried with batter topped with salsa, adobo flakes, cheese and black olives. Adobong Kangkong and Adobong pork belly. We also had the Calamansi Juice which was so refreshing.

All three are good but the pork belly was too salty for us. We think that this should be eaten with rice. Majority of the menu are adobo dishes. Too bad we warent able to eat/order more than 5. Given the chance, we'd probably go back just to try what other frankenadobo they have created

Price: 3 out of 5. Since we're based in the US, the price is actually not too bad.
  
Customer Service: 4 out of 5. You order upon entry and food gets served after seating. Staff was friendly and attentive

Food: 3 out of 5. Kinda like a Filipino fusion. The menu is probably 80% adobo dishes

Parking: 4 out of 5. We parked by Uniqlo/S&R and it's paid.

Address: Westgate Center, 1770 Filinvest Ave, Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines

Website: They dont have one. They have an FB page (I think)

A different take

Given what we felt was a very limited time to travel Japan, we had to maximize and make the best out of our stay in Kyoto. One of the places we've had in mind was the Starbucks covered up as a traditional building/house in Kyoto's popular geisha district, Gion.


We saw this at one of the YouTube videos prior to our travel. It was packed when we got there on a midday after a long walk coming from Fushimi Inari Taisha. It was not easy to find as everything is subdued to keep the look and standard of the town. There was not your typical green sign big enough to see from afar. The coffee shop was huge by Japanese standards and the volume of customers was just too much on a Sunday. What sets this Starbucks branch apart from the regular ones was the tatami section depicting the Japanese tradition. The tatami section was located on the upper level and relatively smaller in person compared to what we saw on the YouTube video. To gain a spot, you must arrive very early in the morning. Needless to say, we did not get our chance.


Honestly, nothing was really out of the ordinary except for the ambience. They still serve their regular coffee and pastries. The only real attraction was the tatami seating accommodation on the second floor. You get your coffee/order at the back of the store.


Food: They carry the regular Starbucks menu items
Parking: None
Address: starbucks 349 Masuyacho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0826, Japan

Fits the name

This is day 2 of our Japan trip. At this moment, we're in Kyoto for 3 days. The sun is already down when we got here. Just went for a quick walk to the nearest mall to grab whatever has Uniqlo can offer.

On the way back to the hotel, we had to make a quick stop at Lawson around the corner. We were only to buy water, but I had to get my ice cream fill even though its 40 degrees outside. But then, the keto in me had get my regular fill of fried goodness.

All these convenience stores here have their own version of different sorts of deep fried chicken, shrimp or whatever meat they can deep fry. This is my second time to actually buy deep fried goodness from Lawson. I got the hot/spicy chicken and the minced meat ball. Both are so good that I can actually see myself eating these things almost everyday.

And these things are so cheap with an average price of $2 each, buying multiples would not hurt your pockets