Ala Carte Buffet at Chef Laudico's Bistro Filipino

Bistro Filipino is the brainchild of Chef Roland and Jackie Laudico, with the former specializing on the main dishes and the latter on the desserts. Thanks to my Tita Julet who treated us here on a Sunday lunch for her advanced birthday celebration.

There are few tables and seats outside the restaurant, which you can really enjoy especially on a Sunday lunch. There ain't much people and cars on weekends, so you can catch a fresh breath of air and feel the sunny sunshine smiling on you.

Upon entrance, you'd see three columns of wooden tables and chairs which can sit about 30 people each. We sat on the rightmost part, where there's a cushioned-sofa attached to the walls.

There are also different variants of truffles that you can purchase on the side, beside the cashier.

The Ala Carte Buffet allows you to choose from more than 40 dishes, desserts and drinks.

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Thanks but No Thanks, Citibank

That's what I was thinking after seeing my Citibank card on top of my desk at home.

Remember my anger blog entry about Citibank's poor customer service? If you look at the date of that post, it was more than a month ago.

Guess what, Citibank has called me last October 27 upon reading my blog entry and receiving my case as an escalation. D'oh! I was at the middle of doing some work, but I listened to what they would say.

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Banchetto Street Food Expands Soon

Update (February 09, 2011): Banchetto opens third venue!!!

Fellow bloggers Franny, Richard, and Calvin have been mentioning Banchetto for quite a while now. Finally, I have had the chance to try it myself at its Robinsons Forum branch.

What is Banchetto? It's an Italian word that means "Feast." A portion of the street is closed at certain hours of the night till wee hours of the morning for a feast of different food.

They serve different kinds of food - fish balls, squid balls, quekiam, hotdogs, fruit shakes, barbecue of all sorts, spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna, burgers, sandwiches, lechon, inked squid, veggies, brownies, mango dessert, iced tea, orange juice, shawarma, putubumbong, and a lot more.

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Nokia N8 Spotted Online for Php21,000

Since the official distribution of Nokia N8 in the Philippines last October 23, I have not yet gone to Greenhills to check out the price of the phone. Nokia Philippines is selling it for Php23,699, while Smart Communications offers it for free if you get a Plan 2,000 with unlimited data plan and some more.

You see, Greenhills is known to be the perfect place for good finds when it comes to mobile phones. Some consumers like me love buying from the gray market, simply because they're cheaper.

Not because I am not loving the Nokia N8 that was lent to me by WOMWorld, but I am still deciding if I'm gonna get my own unit, since my Nokia E51 is still standing strong on me. So what I did last night was to visit my usual online stores (i.e. Kimstore, Gadget Grocery, Ebuystore, DBGadgets, CgeNa, and The Gadgets Group) to check on the lowest price possible.

To my surprise, only one store is carrying it to date -- it's The Gadgets Group. They're selling the Nokia N8 at Php21,000, which is equivalent to Php2,699 savings compared to the ones from official Nokia stores. It includes a warranty, although I'm not sure if it's a service warranty or Nokia warranty. It also doesn't say what colors are available, so it might be better to inquire first before purchasing. I myself haven't had any transaction with them, so I can't say much.

If you see some other cheaper rates, please comment below so we can share this to everyone.

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Do you want tips for your new Nokia N8?

So the Nokia N8 from WOMWorld has been with me for 6 days now. Here are a number of unsolicited tips that I think are worth sharing to the new proud owners of the Nokia N8 come October 23rd:

1. Change your APN to avoid getting charged unintentionally. That is if you're NOT on unlimited data plan. The Internet connects from time to time without you knowing it, even if you choose for it to connect on WLAN only. Just change the APN to make it wrong. In my case, I just added "p" at the end, so it won't connect anymore.


2. Make the most out of your home screens. It's useful and powerful!
   
• Shortcuts for (1) clock, (2) profile switching, (3) calendar are already there, so don't add them as additional application shortcuts anymore.
• (4) Add up to 20 of your most important contacts in the home screen for faster calling, texting, etc.
  

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The Touch and Type Kind of Phone

Nokia's innovation led to the creation of another kind of phone that uses the unique combination of touchscreen and a traditional 12-button phone keypads. Aiming to give newer options to fit different needs and market segments, Nokia debuts two Touch and Type devices called Nokia X3-02 (left) and Nokia C3-01 (right).
With the many types and choices today, technology makes us lose sleep and money thinking what gadget is the best one to buy. For phones alone, designs vary in many types from classic, slide, and fold to touchscreen and full qwerty keyboard.

We have seen a variety of mash-ups amongst designs like the Nokia N900, E7, N97, which are all slide + touchscreen + full qwerty physical keyboard or perhaps the Nokia 2220 Slide and X3, which are both slide + traditional keypads. This time, it's not a slide neither a qwerty phone, it's something different.

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Cinema One Originals Accepting Entries for 2011

Work your way to be one of the ten finalists of Cinema One Originals and win Php1,000,000 grant each to produce your movie. Calling all upcoming screenplay writers, actors and directors, start writing your original stories and submit them on or before January 14, 2011.

Going on it's 6th year in 2011, Cinema One Originals continues to fuel the local film industry as one of the major film festivals in the movie landscape. Next year's digi-fest will be better and bigger as 10 finalists will be chosen to present their movies. This is a sign that we are more aggressive, brave and diverse to present new movies this time.

Here's how to join the competition, taken from the press release:

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Muji Mania Hits Manila

The Japanese retail company MUJI has finally arrived in Manila and has opened its doors to public since October 16, 2010. It's located on top of Gap at Bonifacio High Street, just before the street crossing to Serendra.

If MUJI is new to your ears, I suggest you visit them personally to see why people love their items. Generally, the store sells a wide variety of household items that are distinguished by its design minimalism and emphasis on recycling. You will notice that the items do not sport any Muji logo and their packaging are plain and simple.

I first heard of the store back in 2008 when I was in Hong Kong. Now that it's here, it has taken Manila by storm, as evidenced by long lines at the cashier and items running out of stock.

Pictures below show apparels priced around Php1,150 each and shoes priced at Php1,650 and above.

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Right Dermatologist Matters, Recommending Dr. Michael Chua

Many years have passed since I started breaking out - my pimples that is. Several dermatologists have come and go in my life. Through the course of finding who's the right one for me, I have realized that not all dermatologists who were able to cure my friend's skin can also mine.

Pictured above are my before and after pictures. The photo on the left is dated April 2009, when I was still seeing several dermatologists, one after another, when their prescriptions and treatments weren't working for me.

I have tried a lot of options in the past several years, just to see what will emerge as winner in killing my zits. I have tried taking in Isotretinoin, which is expensive and kinda dangerous to the kidney or liver when taken in excess. I have also tried using Proactiv and Obagi, which weren't effective on me as well.

Lo and behold, last November 2009, I went to Imperial Dermatology in Ortigas to consult with Dr. Michael Chua (nickname Mike) on what I can do with my face to lighten the scars, prevent acne, etc. Aside from the usual Facial Cleaning and Diamond Peel, he suggested me to get what they call Intense Pulsed Light or IPL. Quoting Wikipedia,

Intense pulsed light (IPL), is a technology aimed at producing light of high intensity during a very short period of time. It involves specific lamps together with capacitors whose rapid discharge provides the high energy required.

In terms of rosacea, IPL offers one of the few effective treatments to relieve the facial redness associated with the disorder.

After 6 consecutive sessions (once every month) of IPL, my facial skin showed immense improvement that many people have recognized. It has lightened the redness of the scars and made my face look more vibrant and young.

Nowadays, I see to it that I go to Doc Mike once every month for facial and diamond peel to ensure that my face is maintained to look its best as much as possible. Of course, we have to take into account our food intake and sleeping habits and not just rely fully on our dermatologists.

Imperial Dermatology's rates are lower than other derma clinics and is operated by a real dermatologist. Try it out and see it Michael Chua is the right dermatologist for you. Tell him you saw it in Glenn Ong's site, and let me know your experience.

--
Imperial Dermatology by Michael Chua
Rm. 907 Prestige Tower, F. Ortigas Jr. Rd. (formerly Emerald Ave.) Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Tel. No. 637-4097 [first come, first served]
Open on Monday - Saturday, 2PM onwards

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Philippine Launch and Unboxing of Nokia N8 (And Contest Alert)

The media had its first peek of the actual Nokia N8 unit in the Philippines last October 15 at The Tents. Aside from the introduction of the the new line of Nokia smart phones, participants of the said event were given ample time to shoot and edit a video using the Nokia N8. The shooting activity aims to help Pier Roxas remember his lost 8 days through a number of identified clues. My friends Rowena and Art were part of the lucky group who brought home tons of gift certificates.

At the end of the event, another friend Fritz luckily won the grand raffle prize of a brand new Nokia N8. Not as lucky as him in raffle draws, I thank WOMWorld for sending over the beautiful Nokia N8 for me to try it out for three weeks. Here's an unboxing video of this amazing phone:

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Hail the KFC Chili Lime Variant

We all know KFC to be the "finger lickin' good" food chain that gives us a unique taste of, well, chicken. Currently, they only have two flavors namely Original and Hot & Crispy, with which some of us are already having a hard time to decide which one to get.

From the media launch that happened yesterday at Blue Leaf Pavilion, I was lucky to be invited as one of the first group of people to taste their newest chicken variant.

Without further ado, let's hail the newest chicken variant of KFC called Chili Lime Chicken...

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Vote Bulan, Sorsogon's Cheesy Cassava con Saba Snowball for Eden’s Sarap ng Pasko: 100 Days of Christmas

Help realize Bulan, Sorsogon's simple community wish by voting for them to win 2M in support fund and 100,000 for yourself. This Christmas, it's time to give joy to the Bicolanos and the Masbateños by making their wishes come true.

Bulan, Sorsogon is the home of the Butanding (whale shark) and known for its Sabang Community Park & Beach Resort, Padaraw Festival, and Bulan Paradise. Like any other provinces in the Philippines, their source of living are agriculture, fishing, and trading, from which it gets to feed a population of about 91,730 people in 63 barangays.

Aside from the attractions, each town in the Philippines has its own food specialty that attracts the satiating sweet tooth of every tourist. This year, Bulan, Sorsogon boasts of their Cheesy Cassava con Saba Snowball (pictured below) and joins Eden’s Sarap ng Pasko: 100 Days of Christmas competition. The competition aims to bring out the best culinary creativity in each town nationwide, as Filipinos gather with hope and faith this Yuletide season.

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Nokia C1-00 Two-in-One SIM Solution

Nokia has released a series of Dual SIM mobile phones, for which Nokia C1-00 is the cheapest among them. Nokia C1-00 is tagged as the Finnish company's first ever mobile phone that features two SIMs in one device.

On the onset, the key features of this phone are the following:

• Dual band EGSM 900/1800
• Long battery life
• FM radio enabled with 3.5 mm AV connector
• Flashlight
• Integrated hands-free speaker
• Runs on Series 30
• Built-in Games (Sudoku, Bounce, Forbidden Treasures)

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