Doi Speaks

my boo boo

Posted on 3 December 2010 | 3 responses | 1,064 views

While swimming at the Kenyama Beach I happened to touch some rocks and after taking my hand out of the water, I discovered my finger got stung by a sea urchin. It was a good thing I only got stung on 1 finger. I immediately tried taking out the needle that got stuck. Soon my finger was bleeding. I tried to squeeze the finger to push the blood out so that it would stop bleeding. Then I suddenly remembered I was doing this in the open sea. At the back of my mind, I thought what if sharks would start arriving? so I just stopped squeezing it and continued swimming, this time more careful in case sharks do show up

Having Lunch at Breakthrough Restaurant in Iloilo City

Posted on 2 December 2010 | 2 responses | 1,584 views

After reading a blog posted in the FB PTB Group about the Breakthrough Restaurant in Iloilo City, we made sure we paid this food joint a visit. A friend of lakbaydiva.com also recommended the place so before we went to Miag-ao, we had lunch here.

We rode a jeepney going to this area on a Sunday. It wasn’t really that far from the city proper as what I read from some of the blogs I stumbled upon.

When we entered the place, there we saw a lot of folks having lunch and the place was packed! There were attendants at the food counter who were ready to take our orders. Some were even wearing headphones so that they can communicate with the staff in the kitchen.  After ordering our food, we found a nice table with a good view of the restaurant and the shoreline in front of it.

So while we waited for our order, we just ate the bibingka I bought outside of Breakthrough.

the placemat resembled that of a Manila paper with the word Breakthrough printed in it

Then after some time, our order came one by one.

Pangat @ P15.00

When I saw this one at the food counter and learned that this small pangat only costs P15.00, I immediately ordered 1 serving to taste the dish. However, I was disappointed with its taste. My mom prepares this dish better than Breakthrough’s. I didn’t enjoy eating this. Thumbs down for this dish.

Ginat-an @ P38.00

Who would have thought that this big serving only costs P38 right? And who would think that this one’s cooked in coconut milk? Ed thought this was cooked with tomato sauce. I’ve tasted this dish before less the spice and the color. This dish deserved 2 thumbs up! Oh, this is fish cooked in coconut milk. Not sure why the color of this food’s orange though. Maybe atsuete? nah!

Ensaladang Puso ng Saging @ P45.00

Weird, this one’s more expensive than the Pangat and the Ginat-an na Isda Anyway, this dish is just right for my taste buds – not too sour so 2 thumbs up!

lucos lagba @ P65.00

This one’s squid stuffed with onions and tomato. I give this 1/2 thumbs up since there wasn’t really anything fancy about their version of the grilled stuffed shrimp.

Sisig Baboy @ P125.00

This sisig is different from what most of us were accustomed to since it doesn’t come with cracked egg on top. Just calamansi for flavoring. I failed to notice what was added on top of it since I was busy nomnoming but Breakthrough’s version of this sisig baboy is really yummy. I also liked how some of the sisig were crunchy. 2 thumbs up!

Scallops @ P120.00

I remembered Estan of langyaw.com asking the PTB thread what Iloilo food is worthy of blogging and Jerik of Pinoy Boy Journals mentioned the scallops of Iloilo. I got excited at the thought of eating this in Breakthrough. There were different ways of having this food prepared and we opted to have it baked. I wasn’t pleased though with how they baked it. I wasn’t amused at all. I like my scallops to be buttery not garlic-y so this one only gets 1 slanted thumb up from me

my fresh buko juice for P30.00

I would have preferred a cold version of this but I know they can’t keep the whole coconut in a fridge It will also loose its freshness. hehehe. I just wondered what happened to the coconut meat since I hardly saw any. tsk tsk tsk

Even at past lunch time, the Breakthrough Restaurant are still being flocked by groups and I now understood why. They have great tasting food and the best part is that their food are really really cheap! As in!

Ed ordered Mango juice shake for P45.00 while Edwin ordered Mountain Dew priced at P15.00. Their plain rice was P35.00 for a platter good for 2-3 persons. We consumed a total of 2 platters and 1/2. After all those food we ate, our bill amounted to P585.50.

I noticed that most or some of their food were cooked with coconut milk which reminded me how my mom prepares food like the ones we ate at Breakthrough. Now I’m wondering if the dishes of Iloilo are Bicol inspired or the other way around since I found a resemblance based from my mom’s cooking. Oh well, the best thing is I enjoyed the feast we had that time.

I wish Cebu will have something like this too. Cheap food by the sea. The Sutukil stalls in Mactan are far from what Breakthrough have to offer to their fellow Ilongos.

Salamt gid!

Discovering The Best Bibingka in Iloilo City

Posted on 2 December 2010 | 5 responses | 1,386 views

On our way to have lunch at the Breakthrough Restaurant in Sto. Niño Norte, Arevalo, Iloilo City, I saw this small stand selling bibingka (rice cakes) just across the food joint.

Mena’s Bibingka is what’s written on the roof’s side

I bought 1 pack which contained 5 small pieces of thin bibingkas and paid P20.00. I had no idea how it tasted. I just bought them since I love kakanins and bibingka is one of my favorite.

the rice cakes before they were cooked

While waiting for the food we ordered for lunch, I opened the paper bag containing the food I bought outside and found 5 thin bibingkas.

We started eating them and my eyes widened when the first bite landed my taste buds. It was so yummy! I like!

To date, this was the best bibingka I have ever tasted. It was not the normal bibingka sold in the markets or the famous bibingka of Mandaue. Nope. This one’s really thin. When you bite this one, you’d have to scrape the food off from the banana leaves since it’s moist on the insides. You can also see those long coconut strips from the bibingka. It’s like eating macapuno after seeing those coconut shreds but way better. I guess this one’s best eaten while still hot too. Some may find this too sweet too but for someone like me, this bibingka is a winner!

I wonder when will I be a able to eat this again *sigh*

Customer Service at Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu

Posted on 1 December 2010 | 1 response | 1,486 views

Warning: Long article ahead

Due to a friend, I got the chance to stay at Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu since they had this promo rate where we only paid P1,200/night to stay at this new hotel in the Queen City of the South. Although the building was really old since it wasn’t occupied for a long time after the construction was finished back in the 90′s, you could see that everything is spic-and-span.

the lobby of the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu

Upon entering the lobby, you will notice how spacious the area is. The staff are also courteous and very polite. As a new hotel in town, I guess one of their top most priority is to please their clients.

I really liked Radisson Blu Hotel. Everything was brand new. Everything looked neat and the deluxe rooms where we stayed also looked impressive.

What I didn’t like are their goose-feathered pillows and duvet comforters since there was a certain smell that came with it. Of course it is hard to get rid of that scent due to the material used in it. I just don’t like its smell. It’s like smelling my brother’s pillow when he uses them and the scent of his sweat gets stuck in the pillow. That was the reason why I didn’t like it. But that’s not really a biggie.

the hotel room’s LAN dock

The only major thing I didn’t like about Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu is their internet connection. Positioning as a business hotel wouldn’t work for this hotel if they can’t fix their internet connection. They will just get irate clients if they keep up with this poor added feature in their hotel.

I agreed to stay here in the hopes of getting free wi-fi or internet access while working comfortably but their internet connection sucks big time. The first night I stayed here, I could hardly connect online. I had to use my Smart Bro Plug-it in order to get access to the Internet but this one’s slow too. Then on the second night, everything was fine. The speed of their wi-fi connection was pretty fast. I Was able to do my work that night. Then I went home to sleep in our place and came back the next day. I thought that their internet connection was fine that time. But it wasn’t. Even if I used their LAN or wifi connection, I couldn’t connect online. So I had to do what I had to do. I called up the operator and told them of my dilemma. They said that their IT personnel has left for the day and they couldn’t do anything and kept on apologizing and recommended to turn me over to their Duty Manager. I had to turn irate on the operator (even if I wasn’t) and asked her how am I gonna work now that they can’t provide me with the proper Internet connection. She said she’ll just ask their duty manager to give me a call.

In less than 15 minutes, I got a call from their duty manager who was asking me what my concern was. I told him I couldn’t connect online using their wired or wireless internet connection. Their homepage designed for the hotel won’t even show up on my laptop. Then I asked them if they can powercycle whatever system they are using to be able to refresh everything. He said that it wasn’t possible since it might cut the connection of the other guests using their internet. Then I thought to myself and asked him “So you mean I am the only one complaining at this hour?” This was actually at 1030pm. He said “Yes”. I didn’t believe him.

Anyway, he offered for me to use their business center so that I can finish whatever work I needed to finish. I asked what time it will close. He said 11pm. That won’t work for me. I told him I do online work so I really need access to the internet. He then told me he will try to contact their IT staff and get back to me as soon as he gets word from them.

After 15 minutes, he phoned again.

Duty Manager: “Hello, Ms. ___ are you still having issues with your internet connection?”
Me: “Yes”.
Duty Manager: “Is it okay if I get inside your room and have a look at it so that we can check what the problem is?”
Me: “Ok”.
Duty Manager: “I’m actually outside your room now. Is it ok for me to get inside?”
Me (toinks! wanted to laugh while at the same time got impressed by this kind of service): “Ok”

rebooting Lenny as part of my T/S steps on connecting online

Then I opened the door and I met the Duty Manager. I forgot to ask his name or check his name plate. But I showed him how I couldn’t even see their homepage where it will ask me to Accept their terms of service before using the internet. I also told him that I already rebooted my laptop a couple of times and both tried the LAN and wi-fi connection to no avail. All this time, he was taking down notes. And after determining that I really couldn’t connect online, he left and told me he’d call back.

At the back of my mind, I thought that they really cared for their clients making sure concerns are not left unanswered.

Then he called again. He mentioned that since I couldn’t connect well, they’ll give me access to their business center where I can use it as long as I wanted for the rest of the night till we got the problem fixed. I told them I’m fine with it.

But after getting stressed from those troubleshooting, I just told them I’d just sleep this over and work tomorrow.

Then the next day, someone came to our room. His name was Vexer from their IT Department and he was bringing an HP laptop with him. He helped me try to troubleshoot the problem. He could see that I cannot access their main page too. Then I told him that I can however, access the internet using my Smart Bro Plug-it. He also tried to say that sometimes if I load too many pages, it won’t work but I showed him how I can browse different websites using my Smart Bro Plugit. Having worked for an ISP company, I know my way through troubleshooting internet connection issues so I was not a novice at this. He, however, can access both the wi-fi and LAN connection from his laptop. I couldn’t. I was thinking that probably it has something to do with his laptop’s configurations too being that it was a property of the hotel or something.

The only solution he found was to ask for my wireless MAC ID so that he can register it in their system and give me access to their 5mbps speed. I learned that each of the rooms there are only allowed a burstable speed of 2.5 mbps. What he’s offering me was access to the higher speed without the need to access that homepage where I had to accept the terms of usage. I was able to accesss the net after this via LAN connection but still couldn’t via wifi. The LAN connection was still slow. And since my other companion had to use the internet too, I just gave the LAN connection to my companion while I continued to use my Smart Bro Plug-it.

In a way, I was disappointed at how I couldn’t use the hotel’s free wi-fi or wired internet connection. But after the treatment I received from the hotel’s staff, I know that I had to concede since they have already given me the best option possible.

I liked the fact that the Duty Manager of the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu did everything they can to fix my concern. There was a quick response from the management (or maybe there are really not that many guests there which was why he was able to respond to my concern quickly). Or perhaps it was also due to a sign I saw on the table letting their clients know that if they don’t like the service, they are not required to pay to compensate for the dissatisfaction. Am not sure.

One thing I know is that I appreciate the quick response I got from the hotel staff when I aired out my concerns and I hope the management and staff of the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu will continue this good performance till forever. I just hope this is not for show just because the hotel is still new and there are lesser guests around.

P.S. On Friday, at around 1200nn I turned on the housekeeping button. I waited for an hour and no one came. Then I called the operator telling them my room needed cleaning but no one still came. There was a housekeeping cart 5 rooms down the hall and I specifically mentioned this to the operator. She said she’ll let housekeeping head know ASAP. I think I called them 5 times to follow up. It was almost 2 hours and still no one came. I wanted to speak to the housekeeping personnel for some specific instructions but I had to leave. When I went out of the room, the housekeeping cart I saw down the hallway skipped my room and was cleaning the room next time mine. Grrrrrrrrr. I just sent a text message to my companion to keep calling the hotel and follow up on cleaning the room.

For more information on the this new hotel in Cebu City, check this out – Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu

Eating Ginataang Kinason at Langka

Posted on 30 November 2010 | No responses | 738 views

My mom really cooks great food so a person like me who’s been dying to go on a diet will really have a hard time resisting the dishes she prepares for us on every meal. Ever since, she makes it a point to serve at least two dishes on each meal to have a balanced meal in our dinner table. I’ve pleaded countless times for her to avoid cooking great tasting food so that I won’t be distracted with my diet but to no avail No matter how hard I try to resist them, they keep saying “Hi” to me. And if I don’t eat them, they might make “tampo” or “mangluod”.

one of the dishes I love to eat

Instead of eating oats for dinner, I end up nomnoming this “ginataang langka at kinason” along with “paksiw na bangus” (milk fish cooked in vinegar) for dinner. To eat the kinason, you just need to suck the shells to force the meat out. If nothing comes out, suck the other part of the shell. If you are just sucking air, that means that there’s no longer any meat inside the shell and move on to the next shell. However, when sucking the bottom side of the shell and you feel the meat, reverse it again and suck the main hole of the shell to force the meat out Then remove the shell-like small circle from the meat. If you also find the greenish bottom part of the meat bitter, you can also remove it before eating the rest of the shell’s meat.

When I asked my mom what’s the tagalog name of kinason, she said it’s hala-an. Langka is jackfruit and ginataan is anything cooked with coconut milk. Happy eating!

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