Crepelato

I first heard about Crepelato in Facebook ~ a friend was tagged at a photo from the store’s fan page. I got intrigued because 1. I LOVE GELATO, 2. I LOVE CREPES, and 3. I AM ON THE LOOK OUT FOR NEW STUFFS IN THE CITY.

 

Crepelato is a relatively small store along Mayon St. (right across the street from the old Sampaguita Inn). I guess it a cool “chill out” place if it’s not packed but if it is… hmm. the place is not that spacey for big groups.

What I love about Crepelato is the fact that you can taste test all you want. While it is staple in all major gelato shops the world over (yes, it is), it’s a first for the mega-third world that is Davao.

There are 12 flavors to choose from (I guess). Clockwise R-L: Blueberry, Mango Float, White Chocolate with Macadamia Nuts, Capuchillo, *forgot*, Vanilla yogurt, Pecan, Strawberry, Avocado, Cranberry and Yogurt, Chocolate, and Durian. And I believe, all their gelatos are HOME MADE!!!

I first went there on my own on a random afternoon before hitting the gym.

Forgive the indulgence. The gelato is 98% FAT FREE so yes. Let us ignore all the calories of the chocolate syrup, whipped cream, chocolate chips, walnuts, corn flakes AND the crepes. Let us focus on the FAT FREE but I digress. Their CAPUCHILLO crepe gelato is love.

I brought my mom and sister there on my second visit. I had the CRANBERRY AND YOGURT. It’s definitely one of my favorite flavors! I got it plain on their Belgian cone.

When I went there again yesterday with mes cousines, I got this:

That’s their MANGO FLOAT crepe gelato. YUMMY! It really tasted like Mango Float!

While Crepelato gelatos are not as rich as I’d have liked it ~ forgive my standards for they are level with Gelatisimo ~ they are still very good considering they are home made! MUST TRY!

Telai’s Rating:  4-stars!

 

okthxbye

P.S.

I heard Crepelato’s meals are also really good. Shall try them next time!

The Chosen One: A FAN GIRL MOMENT

 

I have just finished reading the last two books from the Harry Potter series. I started on Saturday evening with The Half Blood Prince and finished The Deathly Hallows a little while ago. No matter how many times I read the book (I’ve read each at least twice already), it still gets to me as it’s the first time – always!

While bawling my eyes out, it got me wondering how the hell did people even compare Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga to the genius that is JK Rowling’s Harry Potter?! Some people, I guess are just nuts. OR they’re too stupid to favor obsessive vampiric orgies to the pure love, courage, and friendship that Harry Potter just reeks off. 

Have you ever had that experience of after going through a book, a thought, or even an experience, again and again, and each in each repetition, you discover something new? Well, that’s what reading The Harry Potter series does to me.

When I first read the 6th book, I really didn’t care much about “the half blood Prince” or the importance he would play. So what if Snape was the HBP (shortcut!)? He was only relevant as it for a while, but what really struck me was the Death of Dumbledore. Even the horcruxes didn’t really matter to me. I was busy mourning over the loss of my favorite professor in Hogwarts. Blimey! It really does feel as if Dumbledore and McGonagall have been my teachers in school. I should always remind myself that I am no witch (well, maybe I am sometimes) and that I do not study at Hogwarts. But going back to mourning about the Dumbledore’s death, I realize that I cry even harder the succeeding times that I’ve read the book!

After finishing the 7th book tonight, I’ve arrived at a new appreciation towards the whole adventure of Harry. Having read the literary trash that is Twilight (Yes, I swooned over it for a while. Edward did, at the start, create an image of a macho and chaste vampire that I could lust over all day. Imagine, a sexy vampire at your bidding. Want – until I banged my head into reality that is.) But tonight, after reading 500 pages of the book nonstop (I couldn’t stop reading even if my life depended on it), I’d like to bang my head for real for ever succumbing into the Twilight crap. (SINCE WHEN DID THIS ENTRY TURN INTO A TWILIGHT-HATE BLOG?)

So anyway, I noticed something twisted about me. I like crying, and I like it a lot. I cry even at the smallest things that I’ve read or remembered. And the more I know about incoming deaths and such, the harder I could control my sobs. I still don’t get it why Tonks and Lupin had to die. Or FRED! It was just too horrible. It made me wonder if in real life, would we really need to sacrifice a lot of blood to achieve peace?

And I just have a few random questions. What subject did Dumbledore teach in Hogwarts? What house did he belong to? His brother Abeforth? And who did Teddy Lupid stay with? And who exactly is Victoire, the Weasley’s cousin? Is she the daughter of George, Percy, Charlie, or Bill? But seeing as the name is French, and Teddy is already 19 years old – almost just as old as the number of years that Bill and Fleur has been married, I assume then that Victoire is their daughter? OH WHAT THE HECK AM I TALKING ABOUT?! And then I wonder how Ginny and Harry got together after the duel. How everything resumed to normal? What do they do, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron? I wonder what their works are. And how was Dumbledore able to talk to Harry after he willingly “died” in Voldemort’s hands? SO MANY QUESTIONS AND NO MORE HARRY POTTER BOOKS ANYMORE! THAT’S THE SADDEST THING IN THE WORLD – BOOK WISE. I did wish, in fact I still do, that JK could’ve extended the book at least with one more installment. Dedicating half a book to the life of Harry Potter after the downfall of his mortal enemy, Tom Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldyot Voldemort. BUT JK ROWLING WAS LIKE A DEMENTOR WHO SUCKED IN ALL MY HOPES AFTER RELEASING THE DEATHLY HALLOWS AS THE LAST PART OF THE MUCH LOVED HARRY POTTER SERIES. SHE BROKE MY HEART. HUHU.

Ok. I’m not making any sense here as usual so I’ma go now.

 

okthxbye

 

P.S.

I gave a grade of 35% for a defense I paneled during my lunch break yesterday. It’s my first time to give that low!  The other day, I only gave away 65 or so as the lowest. OH THE HORROR. I’M SORRY. That’s all. *remorse* and oh… LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I Like To Disco

Ever since I discovered The Pipette’s “Pull Shapes” last month, I’ve been hooked! It’s 80’s music all over again with the RETRO POP genre!

Just follow my lead and we’ll 1,2,3! PULL SHAPES!

 

CLAP YOUR HANDS IF YOU WANT SOME MORE!

 

You’re welcome!

 

okthxbye

Hana Yori Dango Adaptations, IMO

Because I was watching (again!) the ending of Boys Over Flowers One More Time in ABS-CBN Primetime, here’s my opinion on the 3 TV adaptation of the manga Hana Yori Dango.

Hana Yori Dango (Japanese version) has the best story ever, Makino and Tsukasa wise. I love the ending for HYD2, and the movie for HYD3 was awesome even though it was kinda outrageous. The point is, all the endings from HYD1 to HYD3 were never bitin.

I also think that they casted the prettiest version of Makino Tsukushi. She’s really pretty and adorable. And though I’m not a fan of Matsumoto Jun (IMO he looks like a louse), I think he played a pretty good Domyouji Tsukasa. He eventually grew on me as the series progressed. Among the F4 for the Japanese version, I had a crush on Hanazawa Rui. He’s not usually what I’d like but he’s the most attractive already in the group. (Napilitan. LOL) The other two, I forgot their names, are obviously irrelevant to me.

Boys Over Flowers (Korean version) has the hottest guys among the adaptations. In order of hotness, I rank Seo Yi Jeong as the most attractive, and then Gu Jun Pyo, Yoon Ji Hoo, Dao Ming Si, and Hwa Ze Lei (the last two from the Taiwan version).  They also have the best clothes – probably because they’re the latest. F4 Taiwan looked pretty good to me before. LOL.

The best part of Boys Over Flowers would probably be the Yi Jeong-Ga Eul story, though the ending definitely wasn’t enough. I find Jan Di cute, but oh well, I’m still pro-Makino! HAHA. Song Wu Bin was the most irrelevant but at least I know his name!

Too bad this is only a one-part story. I’ve already mentioned I didn’t like the ending. NOT ENOUGH. The soundtrack though was AWESOME. I love most of the songs! Unlike in HYD, I only know their intro song “Love so Sweet” by Arashi.

And *drumroll please* the last but not the least, the original METEOR GARDEN (Taiwan version). I’m sorry but this is still my favorite version ever. I have a soft spot for the show that sparked my all-things-Asian addiction. I’m referring to Meteor Garden 1, okay, just to make it clear. I didn’t like the second one that much. 5 out of 10, at most. I have the biggest crush on Dao Ming Si. I originally liked Hwa Ze Lei, but Ah Si’s character grew on me as he proved his love to San Cai over and over again. And while a lot of my friends were lusting over baggy-clothed Mei Zuo and preppy prince Xi Men, I was busy cutting out photos of my Ah Si and Lei and laminating them so I could look at them over and over again. LOL.

I also like San Cai. She was feisty but she was also really endearing! And the soundtrack marked my first foray into CPop. For the record, I bought the original CD’s of F4 and Meteor Garden OST. And until now, I still have songs from those albums in my playlist. And oh, did I mention that I had a crazy moment before when I had the picture posted above edited to change San Cai’s face to mine? Yes. I have the photo here somewhere. I shall post it one of these days. LOL

I am obviously a fanatic. What do you think?

The Blind Side

I’ve finally gotten to watch the movie “The Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock among others. It has such a great story, it really touched me and made me cry buckets. But until the end, I’ve never realized it was a true story. It was actually an adaptation of the life of Michael Oher, a All-American football player.

 

The Tuohys generosity and kind hearts touched me as well as Michael’s experiences as a child. Who knew people like the Tuohys still exist at this age of paranoia and distrust? But what they did was really nice. It inspires me to do better, to change the world at least one person at a time.

Courage is a hard thing to figure. you can have courage based on a dumb idea, or a mistake. But you’re not supposed to question adults, or the coach, or your teachers, because they make the rules. They maybe think they know best. But maybe they don’t. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn’t at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up and joining in the other side? I mean, Valley of Death, that’s pretty sultry stuff. That’s why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes, you might not even know why you’re doing something. I mean, any fool can have courage. But honor, that’s the real reason you either do something or you don’t. It’s who you are, and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage. And that’s pretty good. I think that’s what the writer was saying. That you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do, have some to. –Michael Oher (The Blind Side, 2009)

I really, really, really wish that someday… I’d also be like the Tuohys and you know, make a difference in people’s life. Because – I’ve said this before – it would all end up to two questions: “Have you found joy in your life?” and “Have you given joy to others?” And those two questions matter the most.

So anyway, no spoilers here. If you’re looking for a good movie anytime soon, this is the one you’re looking for. Two thumbs up.

P.S.

OMG Sandra Bullock is HOT HOT HOT in this movie! She has an amazing body! I wish I’d have a body like hers in my 30’s, let alone now in my 20’s. I digress.

Family Time

Spent some bonding time with my family these past two weeks.

Here are a few photos:

Lunch at Kusina Selera.
My parents had a row during lunch which totally killed the mood.

 

The next day, I treated my family for dinner at K1 Restaurant.
We ordered 2 20-inch pizzas and a lot of other side orders which, apparently, were not enough for all of us.

 

And on my birthday last Tuesday, we had dinner at Salutti.
My dad was not in town, but we were joined by my grandma and my Uncle Toto.
TBH, I was almost broke by this time and thanks a lot to my grandma for splitting the bill with me!

 

RESTO REVIEW

On Kusina Selera: Read my review HERE.

On K1:
My parents thought the place was still named Red Moon, a branch of a famous restaurant in Cebu. But now, they’ve ditched the franchise and simply became K1 resto. It’s the restaurant adjacent to the KTV/Coffee Shop in Bak Bak Compound, Torres.

The food there were not exceptional though they serve a mean 36-inch pizza! Their pizzas were really cheap, though the crusts were very thin din. And my sibs and I loved the shrimp balls we had. The ambiance – well, so so. There was this big group at the other end of the resto who discovered a cockroach underneath their table. EEW. The service was bad. We waited for a long time for our orders, in fact, we had a little time to kill checking out the stuffs at the Bazaar across the street in Dav Con.

The verdict: It’s not in my Top Favorite Restaurants in the City.

On Salutti:

I thought it was going to be like a lot of the Italian restaurants I’ve been to in the city (errhm Salutti, duh?), but well it wasn’t. It looked like a bar from the outside. Salutti is located inside the Casa de Habana compound in Rizal Street. I decided to bring my family there for my birthday dinner because I heard the food was good. Unfortunately, it was the wrong place to bring them because though I super loved the food, the ambiance and the service were bad. The place was too small. And it looked more like a bar than a restaurant. Thank God the food made up for it. But still, it was kinda disappointing, especially since I brought my grandmother along. The orders took a long time. And they told my grandma that the serving could be good for two already, but they aren’t. On the upside though, I’d recommend their Kani Salad (it was nicely spicy, though if you hate Wasabe you won’t want it) and their Mashed Potatoes! Their Beef Salpicao was delicious as well, though it could do with a little less garlic. I think I had Chicken Pesto something. LOL. It was good as well. To tell the truth, all our orders were delicious! And it’s not really expensive there. The food ranges from 100-300 only. So if you’re willing to sacrifice ambiance for good food, then Salutti is one of the places to go to. I think it may just make my Top 20 Fave Restos in terms of food quality!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

 

I loved the 6th installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise. It was deep, dark, and wonderful. The movie gave justice to the book. Although I was kind of disappointed from the lack of action scenes especially in the last part, I have appreciated the approach taken by the director. They’ve focused on dialogue which I think was more important than the action scenes in connecting the movie from the previous to the next books/movies.

A lot of revelations were in the 6th book, and so it was vital that all these revelations be conveyed to the movie goers, especially those that don’t bother to read the great literature that is Harry Potter.

My friend Ann told me she didn’t like it because it was boring, but I love it. The acting was great, the effects were amazing, and the screenplay was just wow. I can’t wait to see the next two movies!

On another thought, I told my friend Jude that I think I may appreciate Harry Potter more because I feel like I have a close relationship with the characters and all. In fact, we grew up with Harry Potter. I was a freshman in high school when the first movie came out. It was November and on the Saturday of the first week, me and my friends rushed to the SM Cinemas and queued with the rest of the populace just to catch our favorite wizard on screen. It’s been 8 years, I’ve graduated from college already, and I am still looking forward to the books and movies. Too bad J.K. Rowling ended the series already.

Sookie Stackhouse Series (Charlaine Harris)

After a couple of weeks, I’m finally done reading the first 8.5 books of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series.

Although it kinda got a bit weird at the end of book 8, it was still very very interesting! It broke my heart to find out that the next book won’t be out until May 2009 (5 months to go! ). 

Honestly, I’m not big on the suspense / mystery / supernatural fiction that involves a lot of killings and blood (except for Harry Potter, and Twilight doesn’t count since its a crappy love story). But this series really got me hooked. I love it. 

Click here for the downloads.

Iisa Pa Lamang: Quotable Quotes

This has been all the hype lately: Iisa Pa Lamang is a movie turned prime time television series of ABS-CBN starring Claudine Baretto as Katherine, Gabby Conception as Raphael, Angelica Panganiban as Scarlet and Deither Ocampo as Miguel. The rest of the cast are a talented pool of the best stars in Philippine Show Business: Susan Roces (Lola Aura), Cherry Pie Picache (Isadora), Laurice Guillen (Estel), Melissa Ricks (Sophia), Matt Evans (Cody*) and many more!

But forget about the main cast. The best part of this show is definitely the antagonist, Isadora. Isadora is the mother of Miguel and Sophia whose sole purpose in life is to have as much money in life, and to get back at Catherine. Isadora has definitely shelled some of the best lines in the series. Cherry Pie Picache has portrayed a character that is much hated, yet loved by many for her scheming ways and unparalleled wit.

 

Here are some of the best lines from Iisa Pa Lamang:
(Grabbed from Lloyd Genesiran at multiply)

 

“Ganito pala ang feeling maging hampas lupa, kaloka!” – Isadora

Blood is thicker than canal water!
- Scarlett,
on her speech to persuade the Board of Directors to make her the president of Dela Rhea Foods

“Alam mo bibinyagan na lng kita ng bagong pangalan ‘Mrs. Katherine Maperang-mapera y Huthutera Byuda de Impostora! “

* Katherine: “Ikaw lang ang alam kong may kakayahang pumatay ng tao, Isadora!”
Isadora : “Well, I’m flattered!”

“Bakit ako magrereport sayo? Anong palagay mo sakin, reporter?”-Isadora

“Wala akong panahong makipagbalagtasan sayo catherine.
Tapos na ang linggo ng wika, hindi ka ba naabisuhan?”

* Katherine: “Papatayin kita Isadora!”
Isadora: “Pwes, pumila ka muna!”

“Ba’t ang daming bobo? Ang bilis naman nila manganak!”

* Isadora: “Masahol kapa sa dumi ng putik!”
Katherine: “Kung ako ay putik, ikaw ang imbornal… o say mo? Mas madumi yun kesa sa tae!!”

* Lola Aura: “Magkaka-patayan tayo, Isadora!”
Isadora: “Dahan-dahan ka dyan sa wini-wishmo. Baka magkatotoo!!”

“Hindi ako defensive…. offensive ka lang!” – Isadora

“Talaga nga namang may pakpak ang balita at my tenga ang lupa. O talagang chismosa ka lang?”

“Perfect ako pero nagkakamali rin…” - Isadora

* Lola Aura: “Ilan bang paso ang kailangan mo, Isadora?”
Isadora: “Haciendera ako at hindi hardinera, Aura! At isa pa, isa ka lang dumi sa akin.”
Lola Aura: “Tandaan mo, balang araw, ang duming ito ang makakapuwing sa yo!”
Isadora: “Eh di magshe-shades ako!”

Isadora to Rolando: “Aalis ka ba dyan (dahan-dahang hinuhugot ang baril sabay tutok)? O babarilin ko yang bad trip mong mukha??”

Isadora: “School, school, school. Puro ka na lang school. Kita mo namomroblema nga ako eh! Ikaw talaga napaka-selfish mo!

* Sophia: “Ma, may mga tao!”
Isadora: “Naku, lintik na! — ay, si Aura lang pala… kaya ko ‘to!”

Isadora: “Ang Hacienda Amadesto hindi pang kawang gawa… gusto mo ba talaga palitan si Rosa Rosal?

* Sophia: Mommy, tama na. Hindi ako bulag.
Isadora: Oo, alam ko. Hindi ka bulag. Pero sana pipi ka nalang kasi naririndi na ako sa mga pinagsasasabi mo.

(Maid is about to leave Isadora)
Isadora: Pagkatapos kitang binaba sa bundok mo at pinatikim ng corned beef, lalayasan mo ako?

* Isadora: “Oh aren’t you excited to see me?”
Scarlett: “Excited? Alam mo bang mas excited pa akong magpunta ng dentista at mag pa root canal kesa ang makaharap ka?”
Isadora: “Ikaw naman, nagpapaka-funny. Kung ang lahat ng bulok na ngipin ay kasing ganda ko, o di wala ng bibili ng toothpaste… I’m so witty!”

 

There are some lines from Catherine and Scarlet that I also like and they are best viewed on video.  

“Desperate Housewife From Hell” – Catherine to Scarlet

The above is the official cut of ABS-CBN’s Quotable Quotes from Iisa Pa Lamang

IISA PA LAMANG FULL LENGTH TRAILER (Below)

I hope you enjoyed the series as much as I, and a lot of people I know, do!  

Chic Lits: Total Life Savers!!!

For the past few days, I’ve decided to be boring and spent so much some time inside the house, for a change. I was totally being a lazy dork – a starved lazy dork, if you really wanna know. So you might want to know what I do at home when all nooks in the kitchen are empty, and I was sick of being online all day.

Here’s the 411: I woke up and decided to download free e-books of anything that caught my fancy.

Believe me, I really did download quite a number of stuffs that I found for free! Mostly they were Chic Lits, though. You know, the ones where the girl is so overly cheezy and the guy is all dopey in love the cheezy girl and then they hook up, they bicker and quarrel and separate, and then one thing led to another, and the next thing you know – they freakin live happily ever after. I mean, who lives happily ever after these days? 

Though I’m not really all-hyped about the happily ever after thing, you know, after Bella got hitched with Edward, and Twilight had to end and all that, I wasn’t exactly repulsed by the existence of books containing such horrendous - and utterly frustrating - love stories. In fact, I ingurgitate (MWCD – swallow greedily or something like that) these said books like I would if I was served a buffet of Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Ice Cream. 

So after knowing what a lazy ass like me does when I’m left to starve at home, your next question would probably be: and so? And so… what was I supposed to do with the eBooks?? I felt compelled to read through each one of them and wallow in my own world of single-ness. Well, I haven’t actually read through each one of them yet but I’m planning to in the next few weeks or so. 

I hope to be able to read at least 10 more books before the year ends. And reading Chic Lits’ is really a breeze, you know, with all the society and people angle going on. So it’s a total life saver. I mean, how am I supposed to finished at least 10 more books by year’s end if they are as thick as Harry Potter books, and written as boring interesting as Lord of the Rings Trilogy??? You get what I mean. So, I have to get back to my reading!

Wish me luck on the 10 more books, though.