Happy CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2014's Chinese New Year (you might also call it the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival) starts today, January 31.

from ownbound.com

2014 is a year of the horse. The Horse is one of the eleven Chinese Zodiacs, together with the Dragon, Ox, Rooster and many more. If you were born in 2002, 1990, 1978, or 1966, it's your year (according to the Chinese Zodiac)! 

You might celebrate the Spring Festival in a variety of ways. Dragon dances are popular not just in China, but also in different parts of the world (find them in their Chinatowns), visiting relatives and family members, having a family gathering and a meal together, giving red envelopes with money (usually to young children) and watching a display of fireworks. 

So, to the people born in any of the years of the Horse, it's your year. Remember to make the most out of it, get some red envelopes and see you tomorrow for Part 2 of Lucky Numbers Around The World. 

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Read More -- Where To Go In The Philippines?

Featured EATS -- The Bellman Cafe and Konditori

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Lucky Numbers Around The World

You might think of numbers as that annoying thing you just see in Math class (might as well add in the variables, huh?), but some numbers actually mean more in different cultures. Read on to find out more!

• The Number 7. In Egyptian Mythology, the number 7 is a symbol for being whole and perfect. Examples of the number seven which is depicted in Egyptian Mythology are the seven zigzag lines that form a pool (representing water) and the Nebu (Egyptian symbol for gold) had seven spines on its underside.

A nebu which represents gold. from egyptianmyths.net

• The Number 8. Another one for Chinese culture, the way you say the number eight sounds like the Chinese word for rich or wealthy. Maybe this was the reason on why the 2008 Beijing Olympics started on 8.08 in the evening. And you know what date the opening ceremony was? 8-8-2008!

Beijing 2008 Logo from wikipedia.org

• The Number 4. In Ireland, the number 4 is lucky because of the "lucky four-leaf clover" superstition. 

• The Number 13. Although considered unlucky in many areas around the world, the number 13 is lucky in Italy. This is perhaps because of an Italian betting game called "Totocalcio" which was based off Italian Football. The person who manage to correctly bet on 13 results won the largest part of a jackpot. (from http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080816091700AAECP31)

• The Number 1. In Greek Mythology, the Number 1 symbolizes the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite and the Greek god Apollo, the god of truth and beauty.

And finally, the Number 10,000. Maybe not lucky for a culture, but lucky for me. My blog just reached 10,000 pageviews. Thank you to everyone who read my blog, and to the people who refreshed it (*wink*). Hope you will continue to support and read my blog, because there will surely be more to come this 2014. 

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Part 2 (Unlucky Numbers) Coming Out on Saturday!

Read More on the Co-Authors and Non-Daily Posting

Read More about the University of the Philippines

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UPDATES: The Contributor's Corner + Non-Daily Posting

• Contributor's Corner Update

With the announcement of the co-authors, they will post in the blog with a parenthesized (CC) on the title, which stands for Contributor's Corner.

If you want to see all the CC Posts, just click here and click Contributor's Corner. CC Posts start on the first week of February!

• Non-Daily Blog Posting

Sometimes, it's really difficult for me to stir up an idea, so we will not be posting daily anymore. I (Euan) might post three or two times per week, but this blog will still be fully focused on nevertheless. I look forward in hitting 10,000 on February 1! 

So that's it. I just wanted everybody to be updated on the things that will be happening for quite some time on the blog. Again, thanks for reading and thank you for your support.

Read More -- Philippine Street-Speak (Phil. Slang)

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3 National Symbols of the Philippines

• The Philippine Flag. The flag of the Philippines is commonly known as the "Three Stars and a Sun". The royal blue part of the flag symbolizes justice, peace and truth, while the scarlet red part represents bravery, courage and honor. The three stars represents Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three major parts of the Philippines. Finally, the eight rayed sun symbolizes the 8 provinces that started the 1896 Philippine Revolution, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Manila, Tarlac, Bulacan, Pampanga and Cavite.

Something unique on the Philippine flag: If the Philippines is at war, the flag is turned upside down, where the red side is up.

from wikipedia.org

• The Sampaguita. The Sampaguita (sam-pa-gee-ta) is the Philippine's national flower. In where I live, San Pedro in Laguna, it's actually called the Sampaguita Capital of the Philippines. We also celebrate an annual Sampaguita Festival.  

The Sampaguita festival is a really fun event to experience. It's filled with tons of street dancing, exhibitions and a hell of a lot of dance contests. Everyone participating is seen with a garment of sampaguita, may it be a necklace, bracelet, crown, or maybe even their underpants (I'm kidding, who would wear a flower crown?). You might also see floats and a parade!

from dipologcity.com

• Philippine National Food? From my knowledge, the Philippines has lots of "national foods", all of which are disputed. I personally like Lechon which is a whole roasted suckling pig, 

from pangbahay.com

I love Lechon, especially it's toasted, crispy skin! However, they also say that adobo is the national dish. Adobo is meat marinated in a sauce of soy sauce and vinegar. Another disputed National Dish is sinigang, a soup with pork / fish and tamarinds. Sinigang = very sour.

***

That's it. Thank you for reading!

Sorry, that the plan of Stockholm's Parks in Winter didn't do so well, so I scrapped the idea. Maybe next week?

Read More:

 Jollibee (Should be considered the Philippines' national fast food chain)

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THE SURPRISE!

So before I spill the deets, I just wanted to say that I spent some time thinking about this and I thought it would be good both for the blog and for themselves.

THE SURPRISE: Introducing The Co-Authors! 

I (Euan) will still be owning the blog fully, and managing a larger part of the blog than the co-authors. I feel like I'm only sharing my experiences here, and I think letting other people share theirs is a good way for them to publicly share thoughts and for you to get an insight to what other people are thinking. 

Of course some readers may dislike this motion, but keep in mind that I'll still be posting mostly. In fact, the plan we're having now is to have 2 days for two separate co-authors to post per week, with the remaining five days for me. So you won't really miss me that much *grin*. 

Please also keep in mind that this is still in the dry run / practice stage. My original plan is to test this out for two months and see if a majority of people like it.  

Most importantly, I want to thank all of you who are reading and supporting the blog. It means so much more than you can imagine for people like you to read my blog. I hope you will still continue to read and support it, with this major renovation coming up. 

You might get to know to authors at a later date.

***

   Read More  -- Espressions Coffee Shop - Arlanda Airport

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Featured In Our School Magazine!

We just published the first ever school magazine for our school! The ISSR Voice's December 2013 Winter Issue just sold out and I am so proud of not just myself, but also the crew and my friends (and our English teacher who guided us) for making this a success! Woo-hoo! 

I was an author of the magazine and I chose two of my blog posts to be published in the magazine. First was the Stockholms Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum) post and the Vasa Museum blog posts.

Because of the success of the magazine, we raised over 1300 Swedish Crowns which will be donated to the World Wildlife Foundation. 

I know you might think that "Oh, it's just his school... big deal.", but it is actually an honor for me to get my opinions out to the school, kinda like what I'm doing here with the blog (but with a broader audience). 

See you tomorrow for another post! Special thanks to Shriya & Gloria for making the layout for the articles! 

***

Read More--

Beef Rydberg in the Hemma Vasastan Restaurant

Where To Go In Manila, The Philippines?

        

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Those Boring Moments...

Source: wordfromthewell.com

So once in a while when you're travelling, you'll get bored. You won't get bored with the things you see in the country, the experiences, and blah blah blah, but you will experience either a long train / air-plane ride, a flight layover that seems like eternity, or even just waiting for the bus going to town. So here's some stuff you can do to let that time pass by:

• Probably, the most obvious thing you can do on a long flight / ride is to sleep and rest. Recline your chair and just close your eyes for a minute, or even an hour or so. Sleeping can get you relaxed and will make you more energetic and pumped up to go to your location. Just remember to fasten your seatbelt when the seatbelt sign is on. 

• A long flight is a great opportunity for you to catch up on your reading. There are a lot of available books to choose from today. Or maybe read more about travelling? I recommend Europe on a Shoestring from Lonely Planet for a good read on travel in Europe on a budget! 

• Listening to music is another great option. When I was sick when I was back in the Philippines, I listened to music and it just made me feel more energetic. Sounds kinda "cheezy", but music can also make a difference to your waiting time.

• Remember to fully charge your phone, iPad or any other kind of technology and play games.  

• Write, sketch or draw. Exercise your skills in literary writing, drawing or even just talk about your flight experience or doodle. As long as you're getting entertained in what you're doing, it will contribute to that lameness of what you're feeling throughout the trip. 

Well, that's just some advice that I can give you, but I'm sure that there are tons more. Oh, and by the way, I just want to say thank you for reading and supporting my blog. Means a lot. :) 

***

Read More: Eats: Love Desserts (It's a dessert buffet!)

Read More: The Arlanda Express 

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EATS: Hemma Vasastan

Hemma Vasastan is a restaurant literally about sixty feet within our apartment in Odenplan. 

The restaurant seemed pretty calm on the outside, but the things completely changed after a step through the front door.

30 to 50 people were crowded near the restaurant's entrance, where the pub is, talking and shouting, watching a football match of some sort. That immediately changed my perspective.

Fast forward onto our appetizer: garlic bread with mozzarella and chili aioli. I don't quite know why I'm a sucker for garlic bread. It's just so good! It tastes even better with the mild aioli. Just perfection.

Main course: Biff Rydberg with mustard cream. Beef Rydberg is one of my most favorite meals EVER and they manage to keep the meal my favorite. I ordered the meat medium (as always), and it came with potato and roasted onions and an egg yolk. Definitely one of the best dishes I've ever tasted. Mustard cream was gross for me. Eew.

Generous portions!!!

Finally, a three tier sorbet to finish off the dinner. Admittedly, the sorbet was plenty, and consisted of mango, strawberry and green apple. Not that sour, but it was a great dessert nevertheless.

My dad, mom and sister had cheese and crackers, a generous portion of ice cream with Bailey's topping and chocolate truffle for their desserts.

Cheese and Crackers

Chocolate Truffle

This has been an amazing experience, and I would definitely go back if we had the chance.

***

Read More -- Strandvägen Harbor & Stockholm City Hall

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POST ROUNDUP - The Philippines Trip {Dec. 2013 - Jan. 2014}

Our holiday to the Philippines has been so much fun, and as you read this, I'm already at Stockholm in School. Here's a rather new segment of the blog, Post Roundup, which will recap the posts for you. Enjoy!

• Highly Recommended Posts To Read

Group Bonding at the Alabang Town Center  - It has been five, almost six, months since I've seen the people which I normally see every weekday, so it was awesome to spend a day with them at the mall and arcade we love!

EATS: Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant (Greenbelt)  - After the scrumptious scrambled eggs served with my tapa and the clubhouse sandwich with French-bread, Conti's really proved to me that they serve the best cakes ever.

The University of the Philippines  - It's been four years since I've been here, and it's really great to see the Oblation and the Sunken Garden again.

EATS: Love Desserts -  A buffet of ice cream, pastries, chocolate mousse and peach cream in shot glasses and cakes all for PHP 199 (~ $ 4.50). Experienced with an awesome bunch of travellers too, this has been one of the most unforgettable experiences in the Philippines ever!

Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant

The University of the Philippines' Oblation Statue

• More Awesome Philippines Posts

Jollibee  -  Probably one of the most iconic things in the Philippines. No trip to Manila is complete without experiencing Jollibee, a fast food chain that offers a range of hamburgers, fried chicken and even pasta, for a very affordable price.

The Filipino New Years   -   Experiencing the replacement of the old year to the next year is incomplete in the Philippines without knowledge on some of the superstitions we Filipinos follow, like jumping at the stroke of midnight and those 12 round fruits. 

Festival Supermall   -   One of the popular malls in our area is undergoing a "facelift like no other", where it will expand its area to accommodate much more shops and restaurants and attract loads more people. 

Greenbelt Mall  - Another Philippine mall that offers a wider range of boutiques, shops and clothing stores, all of which may be a pure Filipino brand, or one of the more internationally known brand. Greenbelt Mall also has a chapel, and features numerous food stalls and eateries. 

Street Food @ UP  -  Street food has been a part of Philippine neighbourhoods for as long as I can think of. It features a bicycle with an attached cart filled with cooking needs and even a stove!

EATS: Starbucks at the Greenbelt  -  It's Starbucks. Let it speak for itself.

EATS: Rodic's Diner at U.P - Rodic's is a diner in the University of the Philippines' Shopping Center which serves their all time best seller, tapa. This blog post is exclusive for Facebook Page Likers, but you can still click to read the post. 

Jollibee at Festival Supermall

Rodic's Diner @ U.P Diliman

***

Read More --
Eats: Chopsticks Restaurant and Asian Buffet (Stockholm)

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EATS: Love Desserts

After our trip to the University to the Philippines, we went to Trinoma and to SM City North Edsa (I was going to blog about these two, but there was not enough content). We met with a ton of good friends of my auntie and uncle.

These good friends (I think) they met via WOWTrippers (Backpacking adventures to the Philippines!). It was the owner of WOWTrippers' birthday (Janine / J9!) and we met her at the TriNoma Foodcourt.

After a hell of a lot of browsing in at a store that sells backpacking and hiking gear (Good Lord, I hope my description of the store is correct), we went on a car journey to a place that has a buffet. But this is not an ordinary type of buffet, this was a dessert buffet (diabetes for everyone!)

NOTE: Once you see a word "shot" on this blog post, it was a non-alcoholic thing, and was purely cream, toppings and calories. I'm not that stupid to consume alcohol. It was just in a shot glass, that's all.

When we got there, we just sat down for a literal five seconds before everyone got up, got plates and browsed the selection of desserts.

There was an array of cakes and pastries, cookie jars were present, so was tarts. On the other side, the  crew was making fresh crepes, make-your-own halo-halo (shaved ice with toppings! very Filipino), ice cream and toppings and three drinks, water, iced tea and boba (pearl milk tea / buble tea)

From Top Left, Clockwise: Smarties Cookie, Cookies & Cream Shot (non-alcoholic),
Brownie and a Mini Tart.

Off the bat, I didn't want to try any cakes, because they were heavy on the stomach. The cookie, brownie and the tart tasted the same, which was very surprising. The Cookies & Cream shot was awesome. 

I also wanted a crepe. They had four crepe flavor options, and I took strawberry. Tita (auntie) Janine and Tita Joy opted for the blueberry crepe. Crepe tasted purely like jam. 

The best part of this was the shots (Please read the note above if you haven't already) and the ice cream. The ice cream I had was vanilla and strawberry. They also offered three shots, Cookies & Creme, Peach and Chocolate Mousse. The Cookies & Cream one was to die for. I would have it every day if it wasn't for the weight I'd gain and the diabetes I'd get. 

From Left - Cookies and Cream, Peach Shot, Chocolate Mousse

The buffet of desserts was incredibly affordable, at PHP 199 (~ USD 4). I would say that I mostly enjoyed this EATS because of the company I had, which was friends with my uncle and auntie. I didn't enjoy the food that much, maybe because I sampled the same things all over again. Hope to change that.

***

CONTI'S BAKESHOP & RESTAURANT 

Contis' has the best cakes I've ever tasted. Really.

How To Make Simple Cheese Crackers {Recipe}

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EATS: Street Food at The UP Diliman Campus

You might see people riding around your neighbourhood in a bicycle, with the bicycle having an attached cart with some sort of pan or whatever. These are the street food vendors.

Some Filipinos call street food "tusok-tusok", because most street food requires you to get a small stick, stab your chosen street food item, and if you want, dunk it into a container filled with some sort of sauce. "Tusok-tusok" can be roughly translated as "stab-stab", but it's like a light form of stabbing. (Does that even make sense?) 

Just outside of the U.P Shopping Center was a stall that sold street food. It's not a restaurant, but I just wanted to blog about it because "tusok-tusok" and street food has become part of the Philippine streets as long as I can remember. 

First off, the most common street food you can find is called fishballs (my auntie had this). Fishballs aren't even balls, but they're sort of small "chips" of fish, flour and other ingredients. She also had another iconic Philippine street food called kikyam, which is a mixed of vegetables and ground pork in a bean-curd wrapper. Recommended Sauce: Sweet and Sour!

I had shu mai, or as the Filipinos spell it, siomai. Shu Mai are typically pork dumplings, and are served by the Chinese as dim sum. Although not as popular as fishballs and kikyam, there have been some siomai vendors cycling with a steamer filled with the dumplings. I prefer to have them with... Recommended Sauce: Soy Sauce! 

Finally, my sister and my uncle had kwek-kwek, which are basically just quail eggs dipped in a batter with the iconic orange-food-coloring color before being deep-fried. A larger version of this consists of a whole egg dipped in the batter and deep fried, called tokneneng. Recommended Sauce: Chili Oil!

Fun Fact About Euan: I don't eat street food with any kind of sauce. I would eat siomai with soy sauce, but the siomai vendors are so rare, that we just eat the savory pork dumplings in supermarket stalls. 

***

Stockholm's Science & Technology Museum

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UPDATE | Farewell Philippines!

The Philippines trip has been a blast, and the Holidays are almost over. I had 10 extra days here, but today is the day where I say goodbye to the Philippines for now.

This trip has been amazingly fun, and I coped with the weather better than I expected. It was nice to see the family and friends after about half a year in Europe.

The posts from the Philippines will still continue until January 12, of which there will be no post for the following day (13 January), just for jetlag allowance.

If any of my family is reading this post, I will surely miss you, but this is not the end. I have a great, travelling filled life ahead of me, and you can always read what I experience in this blog. Love y'all :)

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(Exclusive For F.B) | Eats: Rodic's Diner at U.P Diliman Campus

Following our trip to the University of the Philippines, we ate at Rodic's in the U.P Shopping Center.

But we'll do this a bit differently today. I've always been saying that you'll get exclusive blog post updates and some extra pictures and travelling information when you like the official Facebook page of the blog, and you still will!

This blog post will only be present in the official Facebook page, as a pledge that you will get some additional exclusive content if you like the official page. 

For this post, we ate at Rodic's Diner at their branch inside the University of the Philippine's Shopping Centre.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE POST!

1. \

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The University of the Philippines

Four years ago, my auntie and I went to the University of the Philippines - Diliman Campus, just to feel the physical environment and atmosphere for me, and a walk down memory lane for my auntie. Four years later, we went to it again, this time with my sister and uncle.

Before you go inside the campus, you will be welcomed by the U.P Oblation Statue in front of the Quezon Hall. You might think that the Oblation is just some random naked guy with outstretched arms with a head facing upwards, but it actually represents a person sacrificing himself for his country and depicting selflessness.

A superstition / urban myth goes that if you take a picture with the Oblation and you study at U.P,
you won't graduate.

We originally parked at the Vargas Hall, so we went there to get the car. We then drove to the U.P College of Law and stopped to take pictures of the Sunken Garden. 

It's sinking! Group yourselves into... (Who gets that reference?)

The Sunken Garden measures 5 hectares (12 acres). According to Wikipedia, the gardens sink about two inches per year, although there is no proven study that verifies this. It also says that it sinks because of the trenches below the garden itself connects to the Marikina Fault Line that runs across the east of Metro Manila.

We then went to the Art Circle near the Bahay Ng Alumni (translated as the Alumni's House). The Art Circle showcases great paintings, most of them (in our experience) were directing about the Philippines and Filipino life. 

People engaging in a cockfight.

A seemingly rural town.

We then planned to go to the Carillion Tower, but it was closed and no light was visible. That ended our trip to U.P.

I leave you with this shot I took in U.P, which is one of my favorite pictures ever.

***

Swedish Traditions (Crayfish, Midsummer, Etc)

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EATS: Contis' Bakeshop & Restaurant

With the urge to see my auntie at work (and the suggestion of my mom to see her in her working atmosphere), we went to Contis' Bakeshop and Restaurant in Greenbelt 3. 

{Yes, I know that yesterday's post was also in Greenbelt, but this happened after Christmas, not before.}

Disclaimer: I'm posting my true experiences here, and not just "sucking up" to the restaurant just because my auntie work's there. Just saying that this is the truth. We don't want conspiracies, don't we?

I ordered Tapa from their "All Day Brunch" section of the menu, while my mom and my sister ordered some Lasagna and a Clubhouse Sandwich respectively. 

* Tapa -  Usually marinated fried pork is what I imagine "Tapa" is. 

The tapa was good! It was a great match with their atchara (I think this is pickled papaya). It was also served with vinegar, but I prefer not to eat the tapa with the vinegar. However, the scrambled egg was the showstopper! I really was lost in the flavor of the egg that I don't even recognize the other ingredients used besides the egg. As always, no Filipino breakfast is complete without garlic rice.

Lasagna

Clubhouse Sandwich

My mom said that her lasagna was kinda salty, because of the cheese covering the lasagna. As always, my sister was not disappointed, and nor was I (she offered me some) on the clubhouse. 

Our auntie also gave us complimentary slices of cake (ain't she nice?)! I got my favorite, Turtle Pie, while my mom had some sort of peach cake and my sister got a Blueberry Cheesecake.

The Turtle Pie. It was absolutely... wonderful. It was a thick layer of chocolate before some sort of salty caramel before the crust. It was also topped with walnuts. Just like the Daim chocolate I had in Sweden, the slight saltiness and the decadent sweetness of the cake mixed together very well. It's just  absolutely wonderful, and you just need to taste it yourself to share my joy. 

Click Here To View EXCLUSIVE Photos Of The Cakes We Had!

Overall, our experience here in Contis' was grand. Additionally, Contis' offers an extensive range of pastries (from sweet to savory things) cakes, and savory dishes. From all the cake shops in the Philippines that I've been, I have never tasted cakes as great as Contis' have. I would surely, 100% come again.

***

Midsummer & Crayfish - Swedish Traditions

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EATS: Starbucks ~ Greenbelt 3

For our first trip at the Greenbelt, we stopped by to get some drinks at Starbucks.

I got a Strawberry and Cream Frappuccino (No coffee, 'cuz I don't like it with coffee) while my mom and my sister got a Chocolate Chip Frappucino.

We also got our drinks with a Chocolate Glazed Doughnut (for me) and a Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie (for my sister).

It looked more high-quality in my phone. Sorry!

My frappuccino tasted really good at the start, until I found out that it didn't fully mix, so the strawberry syrup stayed to the bottom of my glass, leaving me with a less-fruity (and therefore less awesome) taste once I got to the middle of my drink. It was practically just milk and a faint taste of berry when I was at the middle. I got a great *burst* of fruit and milk goodness at the start of my drink, but not when I was halfway. Kinda like winter?

Strawberry to the left :D

For the doughnut, it tasted really creamy, but there wasn't enough chocolate. Or I'm just a hardcore chocolate lover. Who knows?

This is literally my second (if not my first) trip to Starbucks. So don't judge me as I judge their ambience.

The place was really comfy and gives off a nice, relaxed vibe to it. Christmas music was still playing (as this was experienced about two days before Christmas eve), and the smell of butter croissants baking in their kitchen delightfully gave me a grin on my face that was wiped off the exact time the strawberry syrup was wiped off out of my Frappuccino. The staff was very welcoming! Even the security guard occasionally comes in to the building and says "good morning"! No joke!

*** 

There Aren't Any Starbucks In Sweden (If there are though, they're really rare). They Have Their Own Chain Off Coffeehouses Called "Espresso House". 

Public Library of Stockholm

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Greenbelt Mall

Our trips to Manila for our vacation here in the Philippines frequently end up here, in Greenbelt Mall, so I think it's about time I give you some insight about it.

Greenbelt is a shopping mall in Manila, and (from what I understand) is kinda separated to Greenbelts 1 through 5. Each part of the Greenbelt houses different kinds of services.

Based from Wikipedia, Greenbelt 1 features hardware stores and stores that sell home appliances, while Greenbelt 3 and 4 feature international brands (like Topman, Hermes, Calvin Klein...) and boutiques of the high-end quality (such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada) respectively. Filipino boutiques can be found on Greenbelt 5. Most of the "parts" of the Greenbelt have some eating options, both sit down and fast food.

One of the many entrances of Greenbelt 4.

The mall is very popular to the public. It's not as popular like the Alabang Town Center when it organizes major discounts and "perfect for haul" days where lots of shops have freebies and even half to 70% off discounts, but I have seen lots of people gather around it's clothing stores and its make-up shops.

Greenbelt also features a chapel, which adds to the popularity of the place. The chapel sparks a "nature-theme" because of the GREEN around it.  Also, the gardens near the chapel contains a koi pond and some sculptures (I really think they're sculptures. It's gonna be awkward if they're not) like this one:

Behind the sculpture is the Greenbelt Chapel.

Also, the chapel is near to a walk filled with coffee places like Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee!

***

A Fun, Kid-Friendly Recipe To Make Pizza! (Eats - Recipe)

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EATS: Jollibee @ Festival Mall

Ahhh Jollibee. If you roam around the streets of Manila, there's a 90% chance of you spotting one or two (or four, or twelve...), Jollibee is the most iconic Philippine fast food chain. It serves fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches and even pasta. 

We went to the Jollibee at the Festival Mall's fourth floor. No doubt, it was really busy. If you're living in Scandinavia, Jollibee is as busy, if not much more busier than Jensen's Böfhus. 

So they're famous for their Chickenjoy, which to me is a really weird name for fried chicken. My sister had this. 

I had the Burger Steak! They're basically two burger patties smothered with some kind of special gravy and a bit of mushrooms. The patties were "eh". I needed more gravy and mushrooms though.

Some fries on the side. There fries are really good because their long and crispy. Highly recommend!

Honestly, Jollibee is just one of those things that you need to experience when you're going to Manila, or the Philippines. Just get some fries and a Coke or whatever, and just experience the atmosphere. I really don't know if you'll like or hate the atmosphere, but as long as you experienced it. 

***

A 3 Million US Dollar Painting Inside An Apartment?

The Big, Huge, Fat, Gigantic, Fantastic Surprise On The 19th Of January!

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Festival Supermall

From panoramio.com

Currently (As of 3 January, 2014), Festival Mall is only composed of four floors, with an okay variety of shops, restaurants and kiosks. In my opinion, it's outside looks unappealing in some areas. It has two of each supermarkets and hardware / shops, and a department store.

Also, 'till this day (date above), it's going through (what they call) "A facelift like no other" or some other thing like that, in order to expand the space, and maybe bring some new life to a mall that opened in 1998. 

What Festival Mall is today (3 Jan) is represented by the picture above.

Here's a picture of what Festival Mall would look life after their facelift:

From skyscrapercity.com

Based from the picture above, Festival Mall will look absolutely gorgeous from my perspective. I would say it would be more gorgeous than the Alabang Town Center.  

Back to it's features. The mall has two arcades, one of which contains a roller-coaster. Yes, a rollercoaster in a mall.

• Opinions

- I think that the mall is very child-friendly, because it does have attractions suited for children, such as a ride mocking a train going through various parts of the mall on the ground floor and a fun house on the third floor connected to an arcade, actually named Pixie Forest. 

- The mall has a numerous amount of fast food restaurants, if you're a person who likes to dine on fast food. However, I prefer the restaurants near the Alabang Town Center, which are more sit down and order than line and order before you sit down. 

- Finally, I think that the mall will be much more popular among the people when the renovation is done, and I can say that I am looking forward to go there when it is. 

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Can These Be Found Elsewhere Besides In Stockholm?

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Group Bonding @ the Alabang Town Center {Timezone}

After 5 months in Stockholm, it was really good to meet The Group and have some fun! I see them almost every day back in the Philippines, so it'll be very good to meet them again.

On the picture is (from left to right) Yonits, Pauline (Pau), Sean (Mica), Michael and me.



We went to the Alabang Town Center! What I like about this mall is that it's really big (for me), and that it has lots of "natural elements" to it. It has an open area in the mall which is a nice touch for like, sitting down and thinking about your life (there's a coffee shop right next to the open area, so think about your life while downing a latte).

The main mall building has a whole lot of shops, may it be electronic, restaurants, bookstores, kiosks (which often sell tees, shirts, etc), and et cetera. There's also a food court, a 7-11, a movie theatre, and a lazer tag center.

 

The Open Area @ The Alabang Town Center

Photo from panoramio.com 

We spent most of our time in Timezone, which is an arcade on the topmost floor of the Alabang Time Center. 

Timezone has lots of ticket redemption games, claw machines {spoiler: they never let you win} and they even have karaoke stations! You're required to load up a card and swipe the card on the swiping things on the machine you want to play. 

Our experience was really fun! Yonits and Pau really enjoyed DJ Teknika while Michael didn't even come close to 6,000 points in the Temple Run arcade game... I enjoyed Slam a Winner, cause it was a piece of cake to get 100 tickets.

Everybody clearly enjoyed the karaoke booth! {The topmost picture was us in the booth}

We ended the bonding with a dreadfully long walk to the open area shown above and to Jollibee for a sundae.

The 1st group bonding was (In my opinion), the best one we had. This was fun though, nonetheless! Looking forward to meet y'all again!

This post has a clue on the Big, Huge, Gigantic, Fat, Fantastic Surprise on the 19th of Jan!

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