On which church can you find these doors?

I’m a soup fan, and I try to order soup whenever we eat out. Here are some of my favorites:

Shakey’s Chicken and Corn
Creamy soup with chicken and ham (?) bits, topped with potato shavings. Okay, so it’s probably one of those instant mixes, but it’s good! They also have Shrimp Chowder, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Branches: Glorietta, SM Megamall, SM City North Edsa, Makati Ave. (They have a lot of branches…those are just ones I know off)

French Baker’s Soup in a Bread Bowl
A filling meal by itself, this is a combination of their yummy soup of the day and freshly baked bread. The inside of a dome-shaped hard-crusted (but not too hard!) bread is scooped out and served along with the soup in the bread bowl and a small tub of butter. Soup of the day can range from Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Asparagus or Seafood Chowder.
Branches: SM Megamall, SM City North Edsa, Cherry Foodarama Congressional

Soups from the Soup Kitchen
I’ve seen this restaurant since 2003 (or even earlier), but I haven’t tried it until last Monday. Now I know what I have been missing those past years. Like the French Baker, they serve different soups everyday. Some are creamy, some are clear, some served in bowls, some served in bread bowls. At the counter, the soups are labeled with a short description of their content and markers if they’re vegetarian. Their bread bowl is smaller than French Baker’s, but is deliciously herbed for added flavor.
Branches: SM Megamall, Glorietta

Maxim’s Mami
The best thing to eat during a cold rainy day! They serve the most flavorful clear broth of chicken or beef, served with noodles, meat or dumplings and the optional wonton.
Branches: SM Megamall, Glorietta

Guess which city just got featured in the latest Wallpaper Magazine?

Wallpaper* is a design-inspired lifestyle magazine that searches high and low to present its readers with the best the world has to offer. Wallpaper* doesn’t feature products just because they’re the latest, the most luxurious or the most costly, but because we believe they’ll be the design classics of the future. At Wallpaper* our mission is not just to excite and entertain our readers but also to inform and enlighten them.

– The Magazine Group

Great to know Manila has some of the best the world has to offer. Here’s the online city guide at the Wallpaper* website.

Props to Carlos Celdran for this good news

Visiting Manila? Try some of these quick escapes that take less than half a day.

5. Greenbelt 3 and Ayala Museum.
Staying in Makati? Try walking about Greenbelt 3 then relax at the new Ayala Museum for the rest of the day. If the foliage in Greenbelt 3 ain’t breezy enough for you, then the Ayala Museum’s air-conditioned halls should cool you enough.
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Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and American cuisines, they’re all there.

And beer.

I’ve seen these beer kioks in SM foodcourts and thought it harmless enough. That is, until this morning when I saw this grandfatherly gentleman drinking what seems to be his 3rd mug at 10:30 am.

Suddenly, it seemed so wrong.

Where in Quezon City can you find this sign by the parking lot entrance?

I was walking inside the mall the other day when one shopper standing in the middle of the hall suddenly thrust a flyer in my direction. I politely declined and continued walking.

Going down the elevator to the food court, a welcoming committee is formed by 4 or 5 servers from various food stalls. They too stuck their arms out, waving flyers for their latest promotions. Again, I declined.

Walking on, a smartly dressed woman asked me if I’m already 21 years old and have a credit card. Noticing the kiosk for some life insurance company nearby, I answer that I don’t have a credit card yet.

This morning, going down the stairs of the MRT station, several leaflets litter the steps. At the bottom, two agents stand on each side giving out more flyers. Once more, I decline.

Do you entertain sales people? I don’t because: 1) I’m not interested in their product, and; 2) I don’t want to get a flyer I know I’m just going to throw away.

There are people I know who does the opposite, though they’re not interested in the product or services either. They reason out that these people shell out their own money for the flyers and that they had a hard day and it’s a way to ease their pain or something. I must have screwed that last part out. Anyway, their point is, though you know you’re not really going to buy their product or service, you should still show some interest to be polite, by getting a leaflet or letting them say their spiel — it’d only take 5 minutes.

Still, I say no. I believe it’s better that they spend 5 minutes of their time on somebody who’s intested (even just slightly) than waste 5 minutes on someone who would just disappoint them in the end. Besides, and daming puno nang namatay (too many trees have died).

Want Filipino dishes with Kapampangan flare? Try Mangan with their sumptuous Kare-kare and nilaga. Plus their plate of grilled fish, pork, shrimp, eggplant and mussel is great for barkada lunches. Their branch in Glorietta is a bit small so you can come in early or late in the afternoon.

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MS Flyer

Originally uploaded by happyeclair.

Last week was Linux World 2005. It was held in Dusit. There were a lot of speakers talking about things related to free/open source software (FOSS). There were several tracks: business, technical and advocacy. Some of the issues tackled in the advocacy track included the use of FOSS in health care and by NGOs. The technical sessions were quick demos and talks. Some of the topics included Zope/Plone, Beowulf clusters, using Subversion and many others. There was a trade exhibit hall that had some groups like WSI, Mozcom, ASTI and also Microsoft.

It was 12 midnight and over 2 days of non-stop rain flooded our house for the first time in over 5 years. The last time our house flooded, a shower of rain came from the ceiling, cabinets and chandeliers as a neighbor’s felled mango tree blocked the rain gutter with leaves. This time was different, it came from the back porch as flood water outside our house was preventing water to get out. A river of water snaked from the kitchen to the dining room and bid farewell at the front door. As to pledge an encore, the second floor started flooding too as water from the balcony was not getting out into the flooded street. Water poured down the second floor stairs as we tried to rescue as much furniture as we can. With half the house in 3 inches of flood water, we retreated to our dry rooms to salvage anything that we can when the rain stops.
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