Let me pose my question as simply as possible: Where can I get really good tomato soup in Manila? It is easy to find a place that serves great sisig (Dencio’s! Aysee’s!), great Sinigang na Baboy (Congo Grille!) and pork barbeque (Countryside!). Now what about tomato soup?

It’s not standard Pinoy fare, that’s for sure. But when I’m craving for something sweet and sour at the same time, tomato soup seems the perfect dish to satisfy that desire. Kitchen (Greenbelt 3) serves Tomato Soup (see picture) but I find it too sweet. It is as if a spoonful of that soup would set my blood sugar rising. I hardly finished it. The Tomato Soup at Jammin’ Jamaican (Mall of Asia) was hardly palatable. I do remember liking the Tomato Soup at Cibo (Shangrila, Power Plant, Glorietta) though. Where else can one get really good tomato soup in the metro? Any recos? Help!

Librarians without borders?

It was a Thursday, January 4, when a ship short of the ordinary docked at Pier 13 in South Harbor. The “Doulos”, as christened across her bow, seemed like your ordinary ship, ferrying people across the vast seas. But the Doulos is much more different, instead of cargo or passengers, it’s carrying thousands of books!

As our very own Migs reported, there are over 6,000 titles are stacked shelf by shelf inside this grand ship that has been sailing for over 90 years, now currently recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship.
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When the new year was welcomed, stores all over the metro need to say goodbye to old stock. This is why there seems to be thousands of stores on sale this month from fashion to sports, books to toys.

First on top of the list is Ayala Mall’s 2007 inventory sale, from January 13 to January 31, stores like Bench, Penshoppe, and more are slashing their prizes by up to 70% off! Time to roll out everything you’ve saved up from Christmas?

We thought yesterday’s morning traffic near Nagtahan was caused by drivers who wouldn’t give way or messed up traffic lights. Before we our tempers rose to insane levels, we found out traffic was a little bit slow because of a parade. Whew! That was an okay reason to halt traffic for awhile. I get entertained by marching bands, especially those from little neighborhoods.
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the summit has started. almost all the delegates have arrived. some of them will be arriving tom. hopefully, nothing unfortunate happens. please, no more to shore rallies (calling all fishermen), no more bombings (calling leftist groups), and no more negative write-ups (calling all responsible journalists).

well, this is one event that the filipinos can be proud of. it’s quite an effort to mount such an event. i hope our government gets to close winwin deals with our fellow asean nations.

what do you hope our government gets out of this summit? post them.

Allow me to shamelessly plug an upcoming “neo-photo exhibit” in Baguio City. And here’s my justification: the event may not be in Manila, but it will nonetheless feature one of the finest up and coming artists and Manileños I know. A photographer, a cinematographer, a graphic design artist, a true advocate of the Filipino. His name is Budo Baylosis, and “Sipat” is his one-man exhibit scheduled to open January 27 at Bliss Café in Leonard Wood Road in the city of pines. It will run until February 23, and is a project that will benefit Chin Chin Gutierrez’s “Out of the Ashes”.

If the name doesn’t yet strike a bell, here’s the description of the event invite:
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I got this from my email today. It looks very interesting! Let’s go!

Come to RODCON 2007–a two-day literary convention organized by READ OR DIE INC. in partnership with POWERBOOKS seeking to bring together readers, writers, publishers, government and school organizations and book dealers and highlight the importance of reading and literacy in building an open world for every Filipino through books.

The event will take place on FEBRUARY 3 and 4, 2007 at the HOTEL INTERCONTINENTAL (AYALA AVENUE, MAKATI CITY); the convention will be open from 9AM to 8PM daily. All proceeds of the event will be donated to AHON FOUNDATION. The event is supported by the NATIONAL BOOK DEVELOPMENT BOARD, the DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION and UNICEF.

I came upon a private lounge at the top floor of SM Makati last month. I peeked behind the glass and saw families resting with their shopping bags surrounding them. The place looked really cozy! And so I entered the place to ask the receptionist about it.

Turns out there is an elite loyalty program called the SM Advantage Prestige . The private lounge is just one perk of being part of the program. One can unwind here after hours of shopping, have coffee… then go back out to the mall and shop some more! The place did look very relaxing. Along with this perk comes freebies and discounts.

One can be part of this program if you spend PHP 200,000 (cash or card) on SM Advantage partners within 1 year. At least it’s not 200,000 points like I thought it was! Check out the point conversion here. Once you reach PHP150,000, your status will be evaluated. Just hang in there and wait for feedback from SMwhen you’ve mde it to the Prestige Club.

Thanks for the clarification, OJ!

Who hasn’t eaten at Kitchen? It’s a safe place to eat — safe meaning there’s a delicious dish for everyone in the group. There are good salads, filling rice meals, tasty pasta, refreshing drinks. They also have this yummy appetizer. It is deep-fried squid served with two dipping sauces. It was so delicious! While it was a very good starter, it would also make for very good pulutan. :D Definitely a must-try!

Know who these four are? Meteor Garden’s still very much alive for this jeepney!