B's officially in First Grade

Today was B's first day as a first grader. He had a new uniform since he's no longer in Prep and the grade school students wore trousers as opposed to the Prep kids who wore shorts.

Here's B looking all dapper. 

with classmates

As early as the first day, I wanted to have a photo of him standing beside the Achiever Tree because I want him to have a visual that he is an achiever and that the phrase "I can't do it!" is not acceptable. I know this because he is my son and I see the potential. 

Lastly, here I am, the stage mother experiencing separation anxiety. I didn't want to leave him but I saw that he was raring to be with friends and the teacher was giving me the evil eye. LOL.

I'm pretty excited for the new adventures that my son will be experiencing and I know that he will do well because he has me and my family behind him all the way. Add-on: FM is really good in Math which has always been my waterloo so this year, we will be a tag team and ensure B lands first honor. :)

Cebu ... Queen City of the South

I recently went back to my hometown with FM. I was very excited about this trip because it was the first time that I was going to explore my own province. Yes, I was a tourist for 3 days in my own hometown. This is Day 1 of our trip to Cebu.

First stop, Sto. Nino Church and Magellan's Cross. Magellan's Cross is one of the most famous tourist spots in Cebu for inside the wood carving is the authentic and actual cross that Ferdinand Magellan stuck on the sand when he first set foot in the Philippines.

The candles you see below are the ones lighted by the dancing prayer ladies who would pray for your family or any wish that you may have. This is an old tradition that stems from the Spanish era where you pay someone a small fee to pray for your wishes or the soul of a departed love one.

As for the church, it is one of the oldest in Cebu and houses one of the most "miraculous" Sto Nino's in the country. The structure alone is worth taking photos of and the history, worth learning.

At night, we went to Larsian, a food market that sells only grilled food and pu-so. Pu-so is hanging rice and is covered in banana leaf. I ate Soriso which is one of Cebu's best delicacies.

yummy soriso

pu-so

FM and I with the kids

Our first day was very relaxing. We did not go around that much but we sure had fun. We saw some sights and savored the food. For that, I bow to the queen city of the South, Cebu.

Lugang Cafe

We had dinner at Lugang Cafe because it was the twins birthday and they treated us there. It was a great thing because I have always wanted to try out the different dishes of Lugang Cafe.

Lugang Cafe is more popularly known for their Shia Long Bao and the dessert that they have. However, my brothers have eaten at this place for more than 20 times so they had a pretty basic idea of what was good and what was not.

They ordered the following and I'd like to apologize in advance because I wasn't able to track down all the names of the food. I was having too good a time being with my family and FM to be a good food blogger at that time. Still, I wanna share with you the food because it was just OH SO YUMMY!

shrimp xiao long bao Php180

This one was pretty good. You can taste the shrimp and the soup inside was really good too. Be careful with putting the entire thing inside your mouth though because it can be pretty hot.

xiao long bao Php180

This one is a classic. It's no wonder that they are famous for these because it was just the right mix of meat, soup, saltiness, and hot. It is an experience eating this and one order simply wouldn't be enough.

This fried chicken is around Php500+ if I remember correctly. It's pretty expensive in my opinion though it does taste better than most fried chicken. The oil used is not your normal or standard oi. I have no idea what they used but I think it costs more than it should have.

The pineapple rice on the other hand was divine. It was sweet, tangy, and just the right combination of everything it should be. The pineapple they served it in was a tad bit too small but that was the only downside to it.

The milk jelly tea was something ... something good. The taste was more tea-ish (is that even a word?) than milk but the jelly countered and balanced everything. Overall, I'd definitely order this again as my drink next time.

The vegetable omelette was yummy. I'm not a big fan of omelette but this one was really good. The veggies inside were cooked to perfection. The serving was just right for 3 people (2 if they are really voracious eaters) and the taste was not overpowering.

This rice is something that chili lovers would love. It was spicy and had lots of spices on it. I didn't like it that much.

pork noodle

I had a few bites of this because I was attending to FM and B but I can definitely say that this took time to cook because the pork was soft and the sauce tasted really well. You can actually just pour the sauce over rice and it would be a killer already.

fish head

The fish head is the main thing that my brothers recommended. They are both not fish person but this one they loved. It was not "malansa" (I honestly do not know what this is in English *shame on me*). It was really fresh and the way it was cooked, there was no hint or smell of the fish. I'd rate it 4.5 out of 5.

Now, for the classic order that FM and I always place ... the fresh lettuce and meat. This one is second only to the PF Chang one that I had. FM has not tasted PF Chang's version but this would be pretty good already. The meat was noodle like which added some freshness because it looked so different but overall, I wanted to take home 5 orders of it.

Bellagio Dessert

This dessert was pretty impressive when I first saw it. The preparation that went with it definitely took some effort. However, the taste was not all that in my opinion. It was simply a mix of beans with a lot of condensed milk.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend Lugang Cafe to family, friends, and readers. The ambience was cozy yet classy, the chairs comfortable, the service was good, and the food, really great. Its worth every peso you spend.

fish tissue roll

It was one of those afternoons that B and K were both bored. They wanted to watch TV, they wanted to play, they wanted this and that. Thankfully, I remembered an arts and craft book that I bought at Museong Pambata when we visited the place. It was also a good thing that the kids of the helpers were there and they were very much into arts and crafts.

B got it and they poured over it. Finally, they picked one and started making me crazy; in a good way. They took all my arts and crafts material and started to work on what would be known as the fish tissue roll.

Doesn't it look nice? It's really a work of art! :)

Little Asia

FM and I had dinner at Little Asia with his friends. He chose this because I haven't tried it yet. :) He's really supportive that way.

We ordered the following items. The fresh lettuce and minced pork has now become a staple for FM and I when we eat at a Chinese place. 

The fresh lettuce and minced pork never fails. I don't know if the places we go to are just really good at this or we just really like the taste that its almost always 100% yummy.

The emperor's rice and the Little Asian fried chicken were both heavenly. I could have finished the entire plate but of course I did not. However, if we were to go back, I'd definitely order these two again.

Here we are with his friends. It was a night of good food, good conversation filled with learning about life and love. I look forward to more evening like this with FM and his friends.

V's 12th birthday ...

It was V's birthday. He was turning 12 and since it is a tradition with FM's family to have dinner during birthday, I knew that we were dining out. I just didn't know that we were eating at a place that I have been wanting to eat at and that it was FM's way of surprising me.

This was one place that my friend Mitchy of Dekaphobe has been telling me about for the longest time. She got me to the point of being curious enough that I wanted to try it myself. Thankfully, FM delivers again.

It was a pretty simple dinner celebration. I'm glad I brought V a cake because apparently, cakes were not their thing. It was mine though and I know that I made V happy when he got to blow a candle on his cake for his birthday.

I plan to introduce this kind of tradition to FM and family. I think its something they would welcome with open arms. After all, I'd buy the cake and all they need to do is make a wish and blow the candle. :)

Casa Verde (Cebu)

When I initially told my friends that I would be going to Cebu, almost everyone had the same recommendation. Eat at Casa Verde. Now mind you, I have never heard of this place so it was surprising to hear about it from so many different people. Case Verde, casa verde, casa verde.

Of course we had to try it out. I'm just lucky as well that FM is so supportive of my desire to try new places to eat at.

Upon getting to Casa Verde, I just had a good feeling about the place. It looked cozy and there were a lot of people eating inside even though we were there after lunch already. Clearly, this was a place that had a loyal following.

The interior was pretty cute. It had a 50's - 70's kind of feel to it, with a jukebox and flying planes decorating the ceiling.

We ordered quite a number of things on the menu. We started with the soup which was creamy bacon and cheese. It was actually really creamy and tasty. The only downside for me was that it had too many leeks on top.

B had the shrimp pesto pasta and though it was a bit oily, it was actually pretty good as well. He finished it all by himself so I'm guessing that he liked it.

The Carly's Green salad was not lacking in  greens, cheese, corn, and meat. It was really good but we were not able to pay attention to it because of the burger and milkshake.

This is the biggest burger and the biggest milkshake that I have ever seen. It's called the 9 inch burger (Php388) and the Milky Way (Php288.) For a burger, the meat was actually tasty. It wasn't just a pound of meat. It was meaty and it did not leave an aftertaste on the mouth. As for the milkshake, it was your typical chocolate milkshake. Still, the novelty of it was pretty charming.

FM and I sharing the 9 inch burger

We had a great time at Casa Verde. Word of warning on the milkshake though; do not try to transfer it to separate glasses. Please ask for help or you might just have everything spill over just like what happened to us. It's a good thing that FM knows to laugh things off like this. He did not get upset that the milkshake spilled. He just ordered another one. He scored 1000 pogi points for that one. :)

the one prepared by the staff after we spilled the milkshake

Overall, I'd recommend the place to anyone. It was a great afternoon, the place was very nice, and the food was great.