Hiatus

Sorry for being MIA for so long! It was such a haze, but nothing happened much anyway. I just developed an extreme addiction to Yellowcab's Tomato Cream Soup. 

Anyway, let's start fresh again. Yesterday, I went to Megamall with my mom after visiting our house in Pasig. You see, Megamall's always our favorite because I practically grew up there. I mean, it's so near our house that's why it's our default mall. We practically memorized each nook and cranny there. And lately, since we live so far away now, we've been experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not being able to visit. Yesterday, we simply went to buy some soup bowls and serving bowls. I went to Forever 21, and mom followed. I thought she was paying for everything, but it turns out, she made me pay! Haha! Well, she was the one who persuaded me to buy shoes, so I did, thinking she'd pay for it but nooo! It's a good thing I didn't buy much. So, here's what I bought:

And here are some close-up pictures. Sorry for the poor quality, I haven't tinkered with the ISO settings from the night before.

There you go. Anyway, I'm happy with the things I bought. It's sort of a feel-good buy, since I've been getting depressed lately. Lately, I've been having such weird mood swings so this is sort of a change. I like feeling all giddy and excited. So anyway, after shopping, we went grocery shopping because I'll be cooking for the Sunday family lunch the next day. After the supermarket, we went to dinner at this new Italian place in Mega Strip called Abbondanza. We were waiting for my brother, so here's what we ordered:

This is called Penne alla Arrabiatta. It's a tomato-based sauce with basil and cheese in penne pasta. It's actually a bit salty, and the chocolate bread tastes weird. Still, it's passable.

I just LOVE Italian Soda. It's just soda with fruit syrup, but I love it! The first time I've tasted it was in Ristretto in LB, and I thought that it was simply a concoction. However, many Italian restaurants really serve Italian Soda, I concluded that it's legit. I looove Italian Soda. I usually order Kiwi or Peach, but this time, I ordered Passion Fruit. I love Passion Fruit too, with a passion. My favorite Starbucks drink is Mango Passion Fruit juice. I also love the Ceres Passion Fruit juice. Anyway, with that, I'm sure you already know how much I love Passion Fruit and Italian Soda. So there, heaven in a cup. My mom ordered Peach, which is also yum yum.

This one's called Pizza Genova. It's a one-of-a-kind pesto-based pizza with parmesan cheese. I was intrigued, so I ordered it. It's actually kind of yummy, except that too much parmesan makes it too salty. Still, I loved the tangy aftertaste of the pesto.

Finally, my brother arrived and we were ready to go home. It was already late, and even though we're used to staying in Megamall at such wee hours, we live pretty far now so we had to go home. When my brother arrived, he came from Little Tokyo with his friends. Being such a sweetie, he bought me this iced tea! It's Hyun Bin oppa! Hahaha. My mom also watches it, so she knows him and she laughed. ZOMG he's so good looking right? Well, that's it for Korean fetishes. Anyway, we went home. The thing about Italian cuisine is that I think it's the best in the world. Don't get me wrong there, I really love other cuisines too. For example, Japanese cuisine has so much form and artistry that it's almost too beautiful too eat; and I still haven't mentioned the taste. However, there's just something with Italian food that the Italians have really mastered.The most popular dishes in the world come from Italy, like pasta and pizza, among all others. Anyway, Abbondanza isn't that much. I still prefer Amici and it's still fast food. Well, when it comes to cuisine, I think it's still one of the best.

So anyway, that's it. But before I end today's post, I'm gonna show you what I cooked for today's family lunch. It's called Carnitas in Cilantro-Lime Rice and Salsa, Mango Salsa, and Guacamole. However, we didn't have any avocados so I wasn't able to make guacamole. Too bad though, I just read in Chase's tweet that he made guacamole yesterday. I love Chase's cooking too, he's going to be such a good father. Anyway, without too much ado, here's what I made: