Lately anything and everything has been getting on my nerves. Certain people, certain things. I don't know how to explain it. I'm pretty sure it's a case of PMS, seeing as I'm supposed to get my rag next week, but still...I feel like people are being extra stupid lately.

Baby, baby, baby, ooohhh!

Well the past few days have been quite exciting, if I do say so myself! On April 17th, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Jamie Melia. We all had a feeling she was coming because of the zany weather (my sister got engaged on a rainy day, and it rained on the day of her wedding as well). It was only right that little Jamie made her debut on the day of the April rain/snow/hailstorm!!

Vee had an amazing delivery, she did it

completely natural, no epidural!! Such a strong woman! It was actually really quick, she said she felt contractions at 6am and by 4:17pm Jamie was here! 4:17 on 4/17.....that's how we know our little girl is someone special :)

restaurant review - Max's of Manila

First of all, let me just say that I love food. I think my tummy is solid proof of that haha. Anyway, on April 11th it was my eldest sister's birthday so we decided to celebrate at Max's of Manila on Steeles and Dufferin. It was a bit of a drive, seeing as we come from the heart of Scarborough, but it was definitely worth it!!!

We weren't able to make any reservations but since it was a Monday the staff told us that it wouldn't be a busy night. I guess since the place is new their definition of "busy" is a little different, because the place was still pretty packed! That's always a good sign though, everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. I liked the ambiance of the restaurant, it took me back to the Philippines; the tagalog songs were a nice touch haha. The only problems were that the tables are placed so close to each other so waiters were squeezing through and knocking things over when they passed by and I could clearly hear the conversations of the families around us. (Filipinos are very loud people. VERY LOUD. )


We ordered the Per Table Menu C (this is the menu in the Philippines btw), minus the roasted nuts, bangus and sinigang na hipon (wasn't offered) and with buko pandan replaced with vanilla ice cream (I wanted buko pandan but what can ya do) and we added crispy pata (of course). Now, before I go on about how marvelous the meal was, I'm going to break it down for all the non-Filipino people reading my blog. (All one of you).




The Per Table Menu C consists of the soup of the day, plain rice, Max's fried chicken, lechon kawali, pancit bihon, kare-kare, and a cup of vanilla ice cream for dessert.


The soup of a day was a creamy blend that tasted like potatos with a little sprinkle of ground meat (bacon I believe). It was sooo yummy and it was like the perfect comfort food, if only I had figured out exactly what it was haha.


The pancit bihon (noodles, basically) was delicious, but it wasn't exactly anything new. You can get pancit of pretty much the same quality from other Filipino restaurants.

Max's fried chicken was amazing as always. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, but cooked without batter or any extra oil. This is the kind of chicken that can make everyone happy haha.

Lechon Kawali is pan-roasted pork. This dish isn't for the faint-hearted (literally). One bite is full of flavour and juices, but also full of fat. Of course true Filipinos (myself included) love it and it just wouldn't be a birthday celebration without it. But this one should be eaten in moderation, folks.








The kare-kare was definitely one of my favourite parts of the meal. It's a stew made with vegetables and ox-tail in a yummy peanut sauce. It's usually eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste) but can be eaten without it. I'd say it's the best kare-kare I've ever tasted, hands down. But of course, my Tita Purita's kare-kare is a close second haha.


As for our add-on, the crispy pata (pork leg), I didn't try a large piece as I had the lechon right beside me and I kept sneaking pieces onto my plate haha. From what I did try, it was cooked to perfection, nice and juicy with the skin perfectly crisp, just like what you'd expect from one of the best Filipino restaurants!

For dessert the birthday girl ordered the halo-halo (crushed ice in milk with a mix of sweet beans, fruits, and other things topped with a scoop of ube (purple yam) ice cream and leche flan (custard)). I tried a little bit and loved it! I just wish they had put more ube ice cream haha.








All in all the food was amazing and the service was alright. The meal itself was a little pricey ($208 CAD from what I saw from the cheque) but we had enough food to last for a few days and everyone was satisfied with the meal. I suppose when more chains open or they add a few more staff members the service will be a lot better. All of the employees were very polite and gave us that feeling of true Filipino hospitality. I will definitely come back someday and bring a lot of friends with me!!!

movie review - Arthur

To be completely honest, I didn't think I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. Though I do love Russell Brand's sense of humour I thought this might just be campy and lame like other film remakes.

Admittedly I've never seen the original but I definitely want to check it out after watching this. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Arthur and Helen Mirren's character Hobson. They were so sweet together and from the very beginning it was clear that Hobson thought of Arthur as her own son. Jennifer Garner was hilarious as Susan, she's quite good at playing a psychopath hahaha. I also really liked Greta Gerwig as Naomi. She was an excellent choice of a love interest, and her reactions were so real; I could actually feel her excitement and at some times her pain.

This movie had me laughing pretty much throughout the whole hour and 50 minutes (usually I can't sit through movies without fidgeting), it's just that there weren't any parts that were particularly memorable aside from the cute date scene.

Anyway, I'd give Arthur a 3.5 out of 5. It was pretty funny, but nothing really stuck out in my mind.

I'm hoping to start watching more movies, I miss actually going to theatres. I just wish there were more comfortable seats at Morningside, my back was killing me afterwards. Oh, and I promise that I will be getting better at making reviews :P Like I said, twitter and tumblr broke my brain.

Guess who's back

Okay....I'm trying this whole blogspot thing again. I pretty much have any kind of blogging/social network site that's ever been created haha. Mainly I've been using tumblr and that's been awesome, but I'm finding it hard to actually blog the way I used to on livejournal. I think it's just the fact that I know that once I hit "post" more than a hundred people will be able to see my innermost thoughts and that freaks me out a little bit. Plus my life has become drastically boring since I stopped writing in my livejournal...it's almost as if I forgot how to write properly. It's like twitter and tumblr broke my brain haha.

Anyway, I think I'm going to bed now. I just wanted to mark my return to blogspot :P