Buhay Bahay-Bahayan

When I say beautiful, I just don’t mean my wife. :beurk:

Since she’s so into paper and notebooks, which was why she was sooo ecstatic when we visited a Muji store in Singapore, for this year’s V-day, instead of flowers, like I did last year (read here), I thought of giving her a hand-made notebook.

So I paired up with one of the craftiest persons I know to come up with my gift, i.e., Glenda of Oodles of Goodles and Paper Atelier. We edited her laundry note card design, which I really liked, to serve as front cover for the notebook to something more us. The blue PJs to depict me look alright, but the dress was chucked. Instead, I asked Glenda to replace it with my wife’s favorite PJs with pink polka dots. Then, to highlight our coming baby, the onesie was pimped with an argyle design from one of the onesie designs I sent her. Printed using Gocco, the resulting design of the notebook was so much more than I expected. It measures 4 1/2 by 6 inches and comes with 50 pages of pale peach paper inside. Not too big and not too small either! Just as I specified. Perfect! Beautiful!

In addition, she generously added a few notecards and a bookmark that my wife has been eyeing! Coolness!

So excuse me if I gush over them for a bit. And in case you’re still looking for a wonderful V-day gift, why not try your luck visiting the Paper Atelier shop. You might find something you like. Contact them too if you have ideas. They’re very sweet and accommodating. Just look at how mine end up. I’m sure you’re wanting one too!

We have read so many good things about the restaurant Mamou that it had always been on our list of restaurants to visit. About three weeks ago, on a Monday night, I was able to reserve a table to celebrate J.‘s (my wife’s cousin’s) birthday. Our reservations were for the 6:00 to 6:30 PM first seating. The second seating is at 8:30PM. But we came upon this horrendous traffic, so I called the restaurant and asked if they could hold our table until 7PM, which they did. Bonus points there. But we did arrive on time though.

Baskets of soft warm bread were immediately served after giving us the menu. I ignored the menu for a little bit and focused on eating the delicious bread that I smothered with butter. Sarap! It was gone in a few minutes. But they quickly refilled it.

We started with a Grilled Veggie Salad. And for our entrees, we ordered WAWA’s Roast Prime Rib Platter (the bigger one). We also had Roast Pork and Chicken (half serving), Mamou’s Linguine Vongole, Duck Adobo Flakes, and Baked White Fish.

The Grilled Veggie Salad had capsicums, eggplant, zucchini, and fusilli with anchovy dressing. Since I have this allergy to eggplants, I just took a small bite and noted the grilled smoky flavor. It is quite different from the usual salads with greens, but it was very tasty. It looked more like a pasta dish to me because of the fusilli.

WAWA’s Roast Prime Rib Platter came with two side dishes. We chose Mashed Potatoes and Cream Spinach. The prime rib itself looked good. As you know, I don’t eat beef, but I took one tiny piece and tasted it. It was palatable, at least for me,  and so I was able to eat this. While the serving looks big enough for two or three, I noticed that it was quite thin. Very thin. :oups: A far cry from those seen in the different reviews I’ve read. I was expecting something like this.

(Photo Source)

But the Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach were very good.

The citrus-rubbed Roast Pork and Chicken that came with red rice and black beans and the Duck Adobo Flakes with red rice and scrambled egg were satisfying.

I enjoyed Mamou’s Linguine Vongole the most. The linguine was cooked to perfection (al dente), and the clams were very tasty without that fishy taste. Very well done.

The Steamed White Fish was succulent. Unlike frozen fish used and served on most restaurants that tend to be flaky, Momou’s fish was very firm and yet soft. You can tell that it was fresh.

Despite our disappointment with their steak, it was still a good meal. The service was excellent. The restaurant has this homey casual ambiance and isn’t pretentious at all. We’ll be coming back to sample a few more of their dishes and maybe to give the prime rib another try.

Mamou

Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Contact nos. 0917-816-2668; 8563569

Time for an ice cream weekend! :o:

And to help us bum over the weekend are these two tubs of Ben&Jerry’s ice cream in our favorite flavor, Banana Split, that were bought on sale at S&R, Aseana branch, in Macapagal Blvd. The other ice cream flavor on sale was Pistachio Pistachio.

Photos were taken in our empty freezer. :oups:

Ditch Selecta, Nestle, and Magnolia.

Have some Ben&Jerry’s ice cream.

Enjoy! :8