Merry Christmas!

Have a happy and meaningful Christmas. :)

Baby, you're a firework

2013 is almost at an end. I can't help but reminisce about the year that has been and look forward to another great year that will be (fingers crossed). It's been so hard to get a good 8-hour sleep. what with the reunions/parties/dinners/gift-shopping that have been piling up, filling my social calendar to the hilt. Aside from spending time and catching up with my loved ones, the two things I always look forward to the most are Christmas food (hello ham!) and New Year fireworks.

To get all of you excited about the upcoming festivities, here are some shots I took from The International Pyromusical Competition earlier this year. These photos didn't do justice to the fireworks. They were breathtaking. Enjoy!

IHOP

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Agree? I sure do! I always feel more full and energized when I don't skip breakfast. And really, who can resist the smokey smell and sweet-salty taste of bacon?! Not me!

Breakfast food has always been my weakness. I especially love bacon, boneless bangus (milkfish), sinangag (garlic fried rice), kamatis (tomatoes), scrambled egg, tuyo, pancakes, and tapa (fried/cured beef). I can eat these the whole day, every day. So when I heard that IHOP is finally in the Philippines, I immediately coerced asked my boyfriend to take me there.

International House of Pancakes, otherwise known as IHOP, has been around since the 1950s. They specialize in breakfast food, but also offers a wide variety of dishes for lunch and dinner. I first tried IHOP when I went to Cali 5 years ago and God, the food was sinfully gooood!

Judging by the crazy line that welcomed us, I'd say people were pretty stoked! We waited for almost an hour just to be seated. Crazzeehhh! I ordered their Quick Two-Egg Breakfast (P295) and Strawberry Banana Pancakes (P265). My boyfriend had the Quick Two-Egg Breakfast as well and Whole Wheat Pancakes with Blueberries (P225). The food took a while to arrive, which wasn't surprising considering the crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Munchpunch:

• Quick Two-Egg Breakfast: two eggs, hash browns and your choice of two crispy bacon strips or two savory pork sausage links, served with toast
• Strawberry Banana Pancakes: two pancakes filled with fresh banana slices and crowned with cool strawberries, more banana slices and whipped topping
• Whole Wheat Pancakes with Blueberries: two whole wheat pancakes topped with sweetened blueberries and powdered sugar, servied with a slice of lemon

Here are the different syrup options for their yummy, oh-so-fluffy pancakes! I tried each one and, being a lover of everything basic, still preferred the Old Fashioned syrup the most.

Here are the "after" photos. Wow, ang linis!

 

Now that they're open in UP Town Center, I can't wait to go back and try their Bacon Temptation Omelette and New York Cheesecake Pancakes (this was out of stock then)!

IHOP:

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Branches: 

• W Global Center, 30th St. Cor. 9th Ave., BGC, Taguig; 808 9589
•  UP Town Center, Katipunan Ave., QC

Dog personalities

My friends know that I'm a dog lover. You can probably tell as well from my posts here and here. With all the dogs I've encountered, I noticed that they also have different personalities. Some are happy and energetic, while some are melancholic and apathetic

But are these personalities really natural (from birth)? Or is it possible that these are learned personalities? Both my dogs are very playful and energetic. They get so excited that their whole body shakes, not just their tail. They jump up and down, run excitedly around the house, lick my hand, then repeat the whole excited/exercise thing again. They have an unending supply of energy and I think they can play 24 hours straight if given a choice and playmate. Playing with them has even become my regular exercise. Then there's my mom's very quiet dog. She sits in the sofa corner and keeps to herself the whole day, just sleeping and staring at our other dogs playing. She comes to you, not to play, but to cuddle and ask for massages.

Seeing all three of them in our living room got me thinking... Is it a mere coincidence that both my dogs have the same personality? Or is there a correlation between their personality and mine? Whenever I come home, I always greet them in my excited voice (if you're a shopping addict, it's the same OMG voice you use when you find out that your favorite bag is on sale). My mom, on the other hand, just calls out her dog's name the same way she calls us for dinner. My mom's not the playful type either, unlike me who plays hide and seek and runs after my pets like crazy.

What do you think? Any thoughts on dog behavior and personalities?

Here I am with one of my dogs, Hershey.