Trio and Telfast

Mang Al, our reliable driver, was not feeling well today, so B had to pick me up from the office. And since he was so nice about it, I volunteered to buy him dinner.

We decided to go to Trio at the Fort Strip. I had lunch there a couple of weeks ago and I loved their salciccia. The resto was almost empty when we got there - only 3 tables were occupied, which probably contributed to the prompt and efficient service.

We ordered their Insalata Mista, the Trio Sampler and the Shrimp and Scallop Pizza.

The Insalata Mista was described on their menu as

Mixed greens with an assortment of smoked salmon, shrimp and squid tossed in our special lemon-mango vinaigrette

That was a pretty good description. The lemon-mango vinaigrette was definitely special as the sourness of the lemon was perfectly blended with the sweet mango juice. Unfortunately, there was just too much dressing on the salad. (B loved it, though.)

The Trio Sampler was a plate with small servings of their best selling pastas - Frutti di Mare, Pancetta and the Agnolotti. The Frutti di Mare, or seafood pasta, had clams, mussel, squid tentacles and fish on white-wine olive oil sauce. The white-wine-olive oil mix was wasted on the not-so-fresh seafood. B liked the vodka-based tomate cream sauce of the Pancetta. The sauce blended well with the penne, smoked bacon and the chopped tomatoes. However, like the salad, I thought that the Pancetta would have tasted better if it had less sauce.

What surprised us was the spinach agnolotti stuffed with portabello and spinach. It tasted so good that I didn't mind that they were swimming in the garlic cream sauce.

The Shrimp and Scallop Pizza had roasted garlic, caramelized leeks, not-so-spicy shrimp and baby scallops that probably grew into adulthood in Trio's freezer. I loved the thin crust but the pizza as a whole tasted flat. A good sprinkling of chili flakes made it taste a lot better.

Actually, the dinner wasn't so bad. In fact, we wanted to taste their dessert, but the trio of girls with their irritating colegiala accents were getting on out nerves. I had a cup of ice cream from FIC, instead.

Unfortunately, when I got home, I felt the beginnings of an allergy attack so I immediately took a doze of Telfast. I wasn't surprised since I always get rashes when I eat seafood that's not fresh.

So will we be returning to Trio? Yes, but only for their agnolotti. I'd steer clear of their seafood, too.

Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street

B hated picking me up when I was still working at Legaspi Village in Makati City. He loved some of the restos in Greenbelt but he always found the Ayala Central Business District too crowded.

Now that I'm working at the Fort Bonifacio, he always jumps at the opportunity to pick me up. I have to admit that there is more breathing room at the Fort, but what tempts my B like a moth to a flame is the 4-storey Fully Booked branch at the Bonifacio High Street.

The Fully Booked branch is on soft opening but most of its selling area is already filled with hundreds of books. It has stock of all the old bobo books that I've been looking for and it also sells the photography books that I almost ordered online when I couldn't find them in any of the stores here.

The comic books and popular fiction are at the ground floor, together with the pretty notebooks and scrapbooks. It took me several minutes to browse through all the sci-fi and the chic lit that I love to read.

Half the second floor is for kids. There are are rows of colorful children's books that looked interesting. The artwork on the new children's books are all so pretty!I'm already planning to buy a book on faeries and an illustrated book of poems.

There are rows and rows of travel books at the 3rd floor and I'm sure I'll be hanging out there when I'm planning for my next trip (which will be 10 years from now since I recently spent all my money in China and Singapore.) B loved browsing through the non-fiction books at the same floor.

There are CDs and videos at the 4th floor but there's still a huge space for art and other hobby books. We loved browsing through the books on interior design. And of course, I lusted over a couple of photography books.

The Starbucks at the 3rd floor isn't open yet but there are several soft seats scattered around the place. We literally spent hours there. It truly is a heaven for book lovers like me! (Of course, there's hell to pay when you get to the cashier.)

[Note: All photos taken using my Blackberry]

View from Our Office Window

Cubeville isn't so bad when you have this view:



Oh, yeah. I haven't blogged about my new job!

So where do I start?

Hmmm.

One crazy day last year, I decided that I didn't want to practice law anymore. It was a fleeting thought and the decision lasted only about an hour or two. But in that brief moment, I submitted a resume for a legal content administrator position. At that time, I sent out my resume from time to time just to confirm to myself that working at a high-profile law firm, with its extended working hours and a stress level so high you'd be amazed there's still hair left on your head, was a choice.

I didn't hear from the advertisers of the job for months and completely forgot about my not-so-lucid job application. So, I was surprised when someone called me up for an interview for a Professional Support Lawyer (PSL) position. Curious about the job title, I scheduled an interview on a slow daw at work. For most part of the interview, Mich, the HR Director tried to explain the the work of a PSL. I honestly didn't understand a lot of what she said but the phrases "work-life balance", and "lots of travelling" convinced me to agree to another interview when they called me up a couple of months later.

The 2nd interview was a puzzle to me since it was not actually an interview. Marian, a lawyer who worked as a PSL for a couple of years before she was promoted, explained to me what she did on a day-to-day basis. The "interview" gave me a picture of what is expected from a PSL. It also became clear that there were a lot of positions above the PSL level in case I decided to pursue it as a career.

A couple of interviews and a written "test" (I was asked to summarize a couple of cases and a powerpoint presentation) later, I was offered job. At that time, I was spending too much time in the firm working on both client and administrative matters. The job offer was an opportunity I couldn't turn my back on.

I've been working as a PSL for a month and a half now. While there are still a lot about the job that I need to understand, I appreciate the flexy time which allows me to choose which 8 hours of the day I would spend at the office as well as the challenging tasks that I am asked to do. I love working in a virtual team , and even if my boss tends to ignore me for days (after all, they do work in an international firm), working on tasks without a partner breathing down my neck feels like drinking a glass of green mango shake in the middle of Boracay (this is definitely exaggerated but the point is, it feels good to work without so much stress!) Of course, the small and light-weight laptop, the huge LCD monitor and the blackberry issued to me help boost my contentment level.

I was sad to leave my job at the firm because I would be leaving co-workers who have became close friends. I didn't want to miss our extended lunches where we talked about anything from entertainment gossip to the latest Supreme Court decision. But with my new job, I still get to visit my old officemates and I am now enjoying lunches with my new ones.

The only things that I truly miss from my old job is my enclosed room (with 4 solid walls and a wooden door) and the services of a waiter. But I'm slowly getting used to cubeville (besides, I don't have to "live" in it!) and I have, in fact, started to personalize my space in it. As for the waiter, well, it's not difficult to microwave my own food and clean my own mug.

Cheering for Cutie-pie and Orange Cakes

Everytime I see Araneta Coliseum, I am always reminded of the times when Papa, Vanni and I would watch the Toyota-Crispa championship games on our 14"-Sony color TV at home. The reception on screen was a bit cloudy and there would be some static when the wind blew on our rooftop antenna, but we would clap and cheer for our favorite team - Vanni for Toyota, Papa and I for Crispa. A few years later, we would be watching the UAAP games at the Araneta Coliseum with Vanni and Papa cheering for La Salle, and me cheering for Ateneo.

Nowadays, I would only get to watch a basketball game when B plays NBA Live on the XBox. So, I got really excited when an officemate invited us to watch her husband's game. Actually, it was a bit embarassing since I didn't know who her husband was - the only players I remember are Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Alvin Patrimonio and Jojo Lastimosa who all stopped playing at least a decade ago! I had to wait until I got home so I could ask B.

It turns out that my officemate's husband played on the Alaska team and we we had tickets to their 4th semi-finals game against San Miguel. B reminded me to cheer for Alaska.

The game was at 4:30 PM but we arrived at the Araneta Coliseum at 5:30 PM, when the game was halfway through the 2nd quarter. We had nice seats - we were seated a few rows behind the game officials. I was still trying to figure out who the Alaska players were when the buzzer announced the end of the 2nd quarter.

I was a bit disappointed that the coliseum was only half-full. I thought that people would watch the game live because it was already a semi-finals match. It didn't help that the few times I watched other basketball games, the coliseum was fully-packed with people. Nevertheless, I heard myself cheering for the Alaska players. At first, we just clapped every time they sank a shot. But as the game progressed, we started screaming every time they stole the ball, when the ball was stolen from them, and even when the San Miguel players missed a shot. We even cheered even if we didn't fully understand what was happening! It was a good thing that another officemate was kind enough to answer all our questions.

Halfway through the 3rd quarter, I could already match the names of the players with their faces even without looking at the back of their jerseys. I started cheering for them individually. Of course, when I noticed Ferriols for the first time in the middle of the court, I just had to scream, "Go cutie-pie!" not knowing that his girlfriend was seated 2 rows in front of us.

By the 4th Quarter, we were all screaming and clapping continuously, specially after Alaska stole the lead from San Miguel.

It was a good game that left our hearts pounding until the end. We were ecstatic when Alaska won the game! I was amazed at the range of emotions I felt (and the amount of adrenalin my body pumped into my blood!) for a team that I just "met".

After the game, we were so hungry, that we were almost in a hurry to go to Bellini's at the Marikina Shoe Expo.

Bellini's is a cozy restaurant with painted walls, Italian home-cooked dishes, home-made sweet wine, a cheery Italian owner and Italian-speaking waiters. Our waiter patiently explained the items on the menu to us. When we ordered the vino dolce, he explained that it didn't go well with the food that we ordered and that it was more suited for dessert.

Food was served in a few minutes and I loved my fetuccini al vongole. The clams were fresh and the sauce was lightly flavored to emphasize the taste of the clams. It was perfect.

The Bellini pizza that we shared wasn't bad - I loved the thin crust. I would have preferred a pizza with less toppings, though.

After our pizza and pasta, we decided to have orange cakes so we can properly enjoy their home-made vino dolce. The orange cakes were so good! It had the texture of butter cake, the moistness of a good rhum cake, and the orange shavings on top added a chewy texture. It wasn't too sweet but it wasn't acidic either. We easily finished the generous servings on our plates.

The vino dolce was very interesting. It wasn't as sweet as the other dessert wines I've tasted but it effectively masked its alcohol content. By the end of the evening, we were giggling like school girls.

On my way home, I realized that watching a PBA game and having dinner at Bellini's were pleasures that should not only be remembered but experienced over and over.

[Note: Araneta Coliseum doesn't allow spectators to bring in cameras so I left my bulky DSLR and smuggled in my little point-and-shoot.]