Mom & Dad Food Trip: New restaurants you need to try now!! Like, Really.

Since my youngest turned 2 years old, it's been easier to leave the kids at home without having that feeling of guilt since my youngest can pretty much play on his own or with his siblings already and therefore, does not miss mommy that much anymore (or at all!). haha.

I love to eat good food and discover new yummy places from referrals from friends. Over the past few months we've been adventurous with our food, meaning we've been much more open to trying new restaurants other than our usual hangouts. Some were disappointing, while others are worth writing about! The type that it makes my mouth water and want to plan my next visit just thinking about the meal I had there. HAHA.. can you say Fatness?

Anyway, here's a run down of my top newly discovered restaurants in the Metro. PS- I know some or most of these aren't "new restaurants" but they are new discoveries to a cautious foodie like me!  haha Enjoy planning your next meal outing and comment below if it was good for you as it was for me! Like, seriously, I wanna know how you guys found the food in the places I love! :)


El Chupacabra - Poblacion, Makati

Now I don't normally frequent myself in the "red light district" area haha, but apparently there are a lot of hidden gems of restaurants in that strip! Who would have thought! This restaurant is a small, run down, literal like a hole in the wall place. Felt so authentic like I was in Mexico lol. The food was well worth the trip there, and considering there was no air-conditioning... it was worth it! I absolutely LOVE Mexican food. I ordered the soft chicken taco and OMG it was so good. If I was there on a normal hungry time I think I would be able to eat 3 of those. haha. We also ordered the nachos which was yummy as well. Love also the different sauces they had to add to your dish. Planning on coming back and trying other awesome dishes. BTW, I had so much fun wolfing down my meal that I was not able to take a pic. haha.

Soft Tacos. Photo grabbed from PhoneBooky

B&T Mexican - Tuscany at Mckinley Hill, Taguig

Did I mention that I LOVE Mexican food? haha. So, we live in the area and we still have yet to try all the restaurants in this area, but I recently decided to eat here (like maybe last month?). I was previously wary of trying it out since it was not so aesthetically appealing. Haha. So happy I did because I've been ordering from this place at least once a week for the past month now. I've tried like almost half the items in the menu and I must say that my favorites are the classic nachos, cheese quesadilla, chimichanga and the chicken burrito! A bit heavy on the stomach though so it's better to eat here for lunch than dinner! I took snaps of this before (Please follow me on SNA
PCHAT!! Username: vaneeya) but forgot to save it to my camera roll.

Nachoooos. Photo grabbed from Burpple.com 

Earth Kitchen - Bonifacio High Street, Taguig

I'm all for the "healthy eating" kind of food as long as it tastes good! Well since I tried Earth Kitchen, eating healthy DOES taste good. In fairness. I have yet to try the other items on the menu since whenever I go I always order the same thing because it's that good. Get the mushroom soup and the mushroom spring rolls!! Add on a fresh fruit juice to compliment the meal. I also really love the ambience of the place. It feels as if I'm dining in  a fab garden. Plus the prices are very reasonable.

Ahhh so yum. My favourite mushroom rolls!

Ally's All-Day Breakfast Place - Sikatuna Village, Quezon City

If you love breakfast like me, then it's simply heaven to eat at a restaurant that serves breakfast food ALL DAY LONG. In come this quaint little restaurant in the north that does exactly that. Now I don't frequent that area as often, but heading out to eat here sure makes it worth the trip! Everything in the menu is yummy and very reasonably priced. I had the beef tapa the last time. Sarap with egg and tomatoes and vinegar... but my all-time favourite are the banana caramel pancakes! As in. I don't know how they make their pancakes, but it's really not like your normal pancakes. So fluffy and malasa or tasty! You hardly need much syrup even!

Ahhh this makes me wanna go there now. haha.

Charlie's Grill - Kapitolyo, Pasig

Since we used to live in the Pasig area, I would always frequent Kapitolyo and would always hear that it's a great place to find amazing restaurants to try. I've gotten rave reviews from friends about Charlie's but never got to trying it out since, again, the appearance was not that appealing. Haha.. (guys I swear I'm not superficial). The small restaurant is right beside a car wash! I guess the owner of the restaurant owns that as well, and looking back it's a pretty good idea since you can eat while you have your car washed. haha. So anyway, tried this place 2 weeks ago and I have been back 2 times since then. Always go back for the same thing. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit! The house fries... OMG so yummy and cheesy like all over your fingers... and my favourite burger the Black Angus cheeseburger with shrooms!!! Aaaahhh. If you're looking for a burger fix, thats the way to go. A bit pricey though at P450, but so worth is bec you can really taste that the meat is really good and with that portobello mushroom... O. M. G... then add pa ketchup and mustard FTW!  PS- the last time we went, we had the car washed for only P150! Niiiice.

My fave burger!

Juju Eats - Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati 

My hubby and I chanced upon this place while on the way to pick up our daughter. We were still bit early and hadn't had lunch yet and we saw this resto along Pasong Tamo ext. and decided to try it out. Now, I've seen people post about this but again, it was one of those healthy eating places so I was not so eager to visit since I thought it might not have that much choices and be horribly overpriced. lol. To my surprise, I was very much happy with the rice bowl I ordered. Although I picked the quinoa as the base, since you can mix and match ingredients for your healthy bowl. So I mixed quinoa (i am in love with this grain.., it it a grain?) , hard boiled egg, strips of chicken, cucumber, tomatoes, corn and cheddar cheese! WHAT? SO YUMMY! My husband got one of those teriyaki bowls that have fixed ingredients already and he was happy with his also. Picture doesn't look like much, but it was seriously yummy. Plus didn't feel so bloated and heavy after but I was definitely full and happy. I also had a fresh slush drink, calamansi I think... it was so good also. Will definitely come back to try a wrap or just order the same thing again! hehe.

Our orders!

Feeling any cravings yet? haha. Well I certainly am!!! Hope you guys will enjoy these places as much as I do them. Let me know what you think? :)

As my Ysabella would say... Happy Eating!

Santino's 7th Birthday: His Dreamplay Adventure

My eldest son, Santino was approaching a milestone... his 7th birthday! And just like any parent, I was scrambling to find the perfect "party" that he would like and that would fit in our budget! :) Since  we weren't planning on having any huge bday celebration, and Santino did not know exactly what he wanted to do, I had to present options for him to choose from to which he would invite his closest friends to join in not the fun.

Now, thinking of a place for a 7yr old and friends to enjoy, when I started thinking hard about it, is a challenge! haha.. but luckily, we were able to come up with options. For those in a similar dilemma, will share my full list since the option we decided to go with may not be your son/daughter's top choice.

The final list of possible birthday places to go to:
1. Kidzania (The Fort)
2. Dreamplay (City of Dreams)
3. Enchanted Kingdom (although logistics of this would make it a challenge)
4. Laser Tag (Greenhills)
5. Active Fun (The Fort)
6. Swimming Party at home (in our clubhouse, haha)

Now, I guess from the title of my blog you know which one we went to. Since I can't share a full experience on the other ones, will just focus on Dreamplay. Sanction ended up inviting a total of 11 kids. Some his classmates from school, cousins and siblings. There was a pinch in the wallet, but in the end, all the kids had a fantastic time so it was worth it. OK, Im getting ahead of myself.

First off, Dreamplay is located in City of Dreams which is near the area of SM MOA and SnR (haha).  It's open everyday by 10am. I wanted to be first to avoid the rush of people so we were all at the venue by 10 and it was a good decisions since the place was nice and clean since it just opened and we had the whole place to ourselves with just a few other people for a good 2 hours maybe... considering this was a Saturday. The rates vary for weekdays and weekends/ holidays. Obviously it's more expensive on weekends/ holidays. We went on a weekend so we got the more expensive rate (weekend rates are cheaper, and for the more full list of fees, you can check their website (cityofdreams.com.ph/dreamplay) For Adults it's a rate of P400, Kids (17yrs old and below) P880 and Toddlers (below 100cm) P100. These rates are all for 4 hours of play, which for me is more than enough time to get around everything since the place is not that big. You can also get an unlimited day pass for more. I would also advise buying tickets online since it would save you the hassle of lining up at the venue to buy. The website has a built in ticket purchase that redirects you to SM tickets. NOTE that they only email you a voucher, so you still have to go to a SM ticket net outlet to redeem the tickets.

The great thing about Dreamplay is that it brings to life great characters created by Dreamworks, which are all familiar to the kids. You have the penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek.

Santino and Friends at the entrance to Dreamplay

The place is very interactive. It has a lot of activities that kids, especially hyperactive boys can do. Run, run, run, slide, climb. There are a lot of long slides, places to climb, hands on activities to do. Each "area' inside is dedicated to a specific movie that is designed to take you into the actual movie set where the kids can pretend to be part of it.

Inside the airline of the Penguins of Madagascar

Climbing up, up and up

Slides that look like your moving inside a snake.

With hyper 7yr olds, this was the ideal place. Not too big that I couldn't keep tabs on them, but packed enough with activities to keep them busy.

The only downside  was the expensive food. Obviously, you are not allowed to bring any food or drinks, so you had to eat at their facility, how else will they make money? haha.

There are a lot of things to do for young kids, but there are also other activities that are preferable for bigger kids like 10/11yrs old and above like wall climbing or wearing a harness and climbing the steep poles like in Kung Fu Panda.

Not for the faint hearted!

Instructional activities to teach kids

Baking class

My daughter particularly enjoyed the baking class since she got to make her own gingerbread man. NOTE: you have to sign up in advance for the classes since you have to reserve a slot.

All in all I would say that is was a success since my son said it was "The Best Birthday Ever!" haha (he says that every year by the way). For first timers, would definitely recommend coming for the 4 hour pass. Would I come back again? Hmm.. maybe not since when you've gone once, you've pretty much seen it all.. unless they would add on new activities, then that would be worth going back to. But do give it a try, I think it's worth the entrance fee to see your kids favourite movies come alive and they can interact with.





And the best thing about this, to my surprise, FREE PARKING!!! hahaha...

Oh and of course you HAVE to pass the gift shop on your way out.. so naturally... we ended up getting a toothless cap for the birthday boy. :-)

Happy Birthday, Santino! <3

Summer Activities For Kids

While summer is something all kids look forward to, it's also the time most parents with toddler aged kids and up dread because it means having to fill up days with activities that will keep kids busy and active as opposed to have them just sit around and watch TV or iPad the whole day.

There are so many activities you can get your child in to.. sports, art, music, etc. As a first time summer activity parent, things can get overwhelming and super exciting at the same time. I remember  the first year my son was "eligible" to attend summer sports, I signed him up right away for a sport that turned out to be something he was not interested in. I guess you could say I was one of those "photo mommies" that just wanted that 1 great pic to upload on Instagram and FB. haha! But now I know much better. This time around, my kids are , 4 and 1 respectively and I more or less have an idea already of what they want and what is worth spending on (these activities are not cheap!).

Depending on what your kids interest is, you will be able to find something for him/her. In my case, I'd like to share the activities that either my kids are in or that I think are worth trying out this summer.


SPORTS
A good sport to try for beginners are Basketball, Soccer/ Football and Taekwondo. Futbol Fanatics for Football or in your kids school, they usually offer summer classes. For Basketball, there are a number of summer clinics you can enrol into or go for the bigger ones like Milo best. Schools also offer summer classes for all kids of sports. For Taekwondo, there's AAK in Megamall and I heard Monsour del Rosario also has a Taekwondo school.

Personally,  my 6yr old son too shy to be part of a big group. So we did not enrol him in any summer class, but what my husband does is that he brings our son with him during his weekly basketball games with friends and allots some one-on-one time where he teaches our son the basics. This way, Santino develops confidence and there's no pressure. :)

Not to mention it's a really good bonding experience for my boys. :) Excited to wear their basketball outfits. haha!

BALLET / DANCE
Now for all the little girls out there, it's definitely either ballet or gymnastics! Although there are older ones that also like other alternative dance classes or hip hop. And for those in the middle school age, you can usually try piano or voice lessons too. There are numerous places that offer these activities.

For my daughter, since she had gone to baby ballet the previous year and she still expressed interest in doing ballet again, I felt like it was time for her to attend a real "ballet school" which had more structured lessons and would also have a culminating activity such as a recital at the end. After searching, I chanced upon the Ballet Philippines newly opened school in the Fort, SM Aura.

There are a total of 15 of them in their class. A bit big, but still manageable. I've sat through 2 classes so far and Belly has been very dedicated and follows instructions to a T. haha. Although if there was something I would want, it would be that the teacher have an assistant ballet teacher to manage the class better. Let's see how the next few sessions progress. This is also more structured in a way that it's a regular MWF class so it feels much more "serious" and official... plus I love her cute little pink ballet tutu! <3


ART / WORKSHOP
If kids are not that into sports or dance, there is also art! This is pretty universal since for kids, you don't need to be an expert or know how to draw so well. It's just another great way to express their creativity! Last year, I had an art teacher come over. I gathered friends who wanted their kids to join some sessions and we put up "a class". This is another alternative to sending kids to art class where there are so many kids vying for the teacher's attention.

For my son, I noticed that he always likes to make and build things. So imagine my joy when I chanced upon this workshop beside the Gymboree place my youngest would go to. The place is called BEME and it's basically a workshop where can kids can pick which "projects" they want to do.  Then each session is them completing the project. No time limit and no minimum number of kids/students necessary. at your own pace.

Here Santino picked a plane. He was given the different parts. He used glue and a hammer (under supervision) to put it together. Then he got to paint it in any color he wanted. Pretty cool, right?


SWIMMING
An all time favourite! Perfect for kids of all ages and such a good skill they should learn! So many places to enrol for this. Basically may be any venue with a pool will most probably be offering lessons! For me, I contacted a swim coach and ask her to come once a week to our village pool where she does 1-on-1 sessions with my kids. It's logistically easier and more focused for my kids.

There is really so many things that kids can do. At one point I was even considering enrolling my kids to be part of a fast food kiddie crew. but my son backed out. haha. It all just depends on what your child wants to do or is interested in. There's also no need to rush them into an activity if they're not really into it because it will just end up being a waste of money!