Shine Bright!

You know how hard it is for night owl people to wake up early, right? Last week had been filled with very early morning routine for Fat Voyage. 4 - day straight of morning walk which starts as early as 530am! But spending the rest of the day sleeping. Boom! Isang malaking kalokohan. Haha.

This week though is a bit different. Yehey! Day starts with waking up as early as 5am. But to make things closer to our goal, we opted of just having heavy breakfast instead. We realized that lifestyle changes should be taken one step at a time. Trying to adjust our night owl bodies is not easy at all. For the following days, we hope we'd be able to incorporate exercising first before having breakfast. But for now, we were very happy to meet our goal: sleep early, wake up early, productivity for the rest of the day.

We had our breakfast at Jollibee Blue Wave. We were so full that we took with us apple pie and fries. We walked for a bit then we checked out the San Mig Food Ave. They had this coffee area with choices of hot or cold or "shake" coffee in different flavors. We ordered a cup of caramel macchiato and shared random stories.

Happy Tummy Tuesday!

Simple Steps on How to Make Milk Tea

It's nice to see that people nowadays are becoming more and more health conscious. One obvious example is the rise of different milk tea shops. Some may claim it's just a hype, but at least, it is good for the health. Tea is known to be an antioxidant. It's actually good for daily intake. But the problem is that despite the eagerness of having it everyday, masyadong masakit sa bulsa. The average price of milk tea ranges from 50 - 150. 

So Fat Voyage is here to show you simple steps in making milk tea at your home. 

1. Make a tea using 2 tea bags. Let it cool. Then, pour the tea in your glass. 
2. Add 1tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp condensed milk, pearls or sago. Then, stir. 
3. Add some ice and your milk tea is ready!

Let us know if you have other ways of making a milk tea or if you tried doing this, we would love to hear your feedbacks.

A Love Affair With Kiamoy

Ever since it came to our life, Vann did nothing but binge on his favorite food. We saw it at a Chinese Delicacies store, and in that very moment, I did feel Vann's intense and deep stare to it at ang naguumapaw na pananabik. Huhuhu. Sakit sakit. When it landed his hands, he immediately grabbed a piece of it, seemed to him that he tripped down the memory lane when he was still studying at a Chinese school. "ohhh memories keep flashing back". I did, I did try to understand, pero hindi, hindi ko kaya ang lasa nya. Hahaha! I could eat all sorts of seafood that Vann couldn't take to eat, pero Kiamoy lang, hindi ko kinaya? But Vann likes it so much. So much that he needs to have it before sleeping, after  waking up, while watching t.v, or during his spare time. It hurts but I have to let him go and enjoy his love affair with his childhood bestfriend, Kiamoy.

Hahahahahaha. Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

555

Celebrated our 5th Valentines together and 55th Monthsary. Hence, 555. Dahil dyan, we had 555 tuna! (Nge! Corny!) Haha.  

First off, evening of Feb. 13, we decided to have an early Valetine's day dinner date. Initially, we agreed to have some Korean dishes. We checked the nearest Korean food stall and we saw the prices ranging from 100 to 200 per meal. Hmmm. Within the budget naman, but the question is, would the price be reasonable for the food itself? It's not even a restaurant. It's located near U-belt so probably talaga, student ang target, but with 100 to 200, medyo hindi yata worth it. No choice but proceed with plan B. Goal: Persian Dishes - Vann's favorite. First thing that comes our mind, with reasonable prices, good food is Mister Kabab. That was almost 7pm, so traffic is a bit heavier especially along Espana Ave going West Ave. So we don't wanna go there, good thing there is another branch at Blue Wave Macapagal. Finally, we reached the place. Compared to West Ave. branch, customers here were fewer. We had Special Beef Chelo Kabab, Shawarma in Plate and Melon shake. Yummmm yummmm. We were so full that Vann even took home half of his Shawarma with Pita bread. Ayan ha, alam nyo na, when your looking for Persian food to try out, try Mister Kabab, with your 200, busog na busog ka na and satisfied pa. 

Since we were already at Pasay, we took the chance of going to one of our favorite hangout places, seaside at MOA Complex. We just sat there, kwentuhan moments, with our Zagu shake. 

Come Valentine's day itself, hindi kami nakatiis! We had another joyride and food trip moments. We went back at China...Chinatown. Just like what we said from our last post, there is just something interesting about Chinese culture. So we strolled around and bought those. Hopia, Kyamoy, Guava Candies and Lumpia. 

After that, we went at the picnic area in front of Quirino Grandstand. Very random lang ito since we're still not yet satisfied with our Chinatown Escapade, we thought of place we can visit without spending so much. We came up with the idea of picnic style. We bought the nilalakong pansapin sa damuhan and ate the food we brought with us. We just laid back there pero walang PDA moments yun ha? We didn't even hug or landi landi with each other. Hahaha. Naniniguro lang kung sakali nagiiba ang takbo ng iniisip nyo hahahaha. 

We were almost leaving the place when Yellow Pedicab pizza passed by and we decided to have pizza. By the way, yun talaga name nya, yung pizza stall is like nasa pedicab style and yung vendor, parang nilalako nya yung pizza. While waiting for the pizza to be heated, I bought water. I came back with a surprise gift for Vann. That is a flying kite. Haha. In fairness, hindi nasayang ang pambili because he did enjoy it very much. Just like a kid trapped in an adult body. Hihi. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! God bless you. :)

A Glimpse of Spain at Intramuros, Manila

One random day, Vann and I decided to visit Intramuros. Upon arrival, we were already astounded with the structures in the area. You could really notice how influential Spaniards to us centuries ago. Hence, a glimpse of Spain at Intramuros, Manila. Last time we were at China...Chinatown. Haha.  If you are an aspiring world traveler, pagpractice-an nyo na muna dito sa atin. We would love to explore more of beautiful places Manila can offer and would definitely blog about them. hehe. For now, let's enjoy Spain. haha. 

Most probably, this church is already a familiar place for most of you. This is the Manila Cathedral. We are not much particular about different church structures, but I think this church has sort of resemblance with that of the UST Church. Anyway, it's really nice to see that there were actually a lot of foreigners visiting the place. To think that it was a weekday, Tuesday to be exact.

Next Place - the very famous grade school field trip itinerary - Fort Santiago! Yes, we kid you not, we went at Fort Santiago. For same age bracket like ours (20's), perhaps this would be the last thing on our minds to spend a free weekday on. Why? Maybe because it's boring. But hey, it won't hurt to pay this a visit, seriously. If you are planning of para maiba naman place with your friends, girlfriend/ boyfriend, bestfriend o kung sino mang buddy buddy mo, please do include this on your list. Entrance for adults is 75.00 and 50.00 for children. It's open from 8:00AM to 6:00PM. We tell you, your money won't be put into waste. 

It took us 1 hour to explore the area. Okay, guilty people here. :( At first, honestly, we felt like: what?! 75?! 150 na agad kung tayong dalawa. Mahal naman!!! After the tour, bigla kaming nahiya. 'Pag authentic international cuisine, okay lang kahit ang mahal, pero ang sariling atin, wala pang 100 galit na galit na. We know some of you are also guilty of this attitude. So please if you have time, please allot an hour or two for this trip and we are very sure, at the end of the tour, you'd be proud because our Tourism has these kind of places in Manila. Imagine, we were there and ang lakas maka turista kasi ang daming foreigners. By the way, kung hindi bumenta sa inyo ung mga photos that are shown here, don't worry, we really intended not to, because we don't wanna be spoilers. It's be better if you see it yourself. :)

Another thing, sulit na sulit talaga ang entrance fee nyo, because you also get to visit a museum - like inside the Fort Santiago. In that place is where Dr. Jose P. Rizal's contributions to Philippine Independence are displayed. 

There are also a lot of places for photo op. Uiiiiiii. Pupunta na talaga sila. Haha.  

The whole tour made us really hungry. So we went at Pedro Gil to have dinner at King Sisig. We had chicken and pork sisig with unlirice. *Burp* 

We really hope that you would visit the place. :) 

Kung Hei Fat Choi

There is just something about Chinese culture which fascinates us. Vann likes their foods, from dumplings to their richly flavored spareribs to their soft and filling siopao. Hmmmm. (napaghahalataan ang hilig) While I am more interested about their history, most especially how Chinese people influenced the world, from philosophies to trading to civilizations. Well aminin naman nating lahat, most of our subjects back in college, kapag pinaguusapan ang ekonomiya ng bansa, hindi mawawala ang bansang Tsina sa kasaysayan. I remember when I was taking up one of my subjects, Ports and Harbor, it discussed the history of Manila Bay Port Area; expectantly, Chinese/ Chinoy were included and most of their contributions took place at Tondo, Manila. Even during my Literature class, our professor told us how Divisoria started. It was because divisoria was divided into two parts by a certain waterway. With that, Chinese sought this an opportunity for trading business; hence later on making this place their residence. Okay, enough of this history stuff. It's kind of making you bored, I know. Going back, I was very very happy because Vann finally was able to bring me to Chinatown to witness the Chinese New Year. 

Upon arrival, I couldn't get any happier seeing my dream to witness Chinese New Year come to life. I don't care if I'm getting lost or what as long as I was able to follow the group of people doing the dragon dance. Vann was just following me, and when I got tired, I turned into him only to find out he was more elated seeing how the business at that place was going on.

Me: huwhat?! maloka loka na ako sa saya halos makisayaw na ako sa dragon dance nila tapos ikaw titig na titig jan sa mga paninda? 

Vann: *napatawa na lang sya*

I thought we're only gonna check the place out but Vann told me he's gonna treat me for a Chinese cuisine dinner. Yey! We promised 2013 would be a year to save and as much as possible, to limit ourselves in splurging so much for our meals. Obvious naman sa aming mga katawan kung saan napunta ang mga allowances namin for the past years hahaha. Segue, we are already on our 20's and that he told me I that I should now start managing my finances well. Anyway, we had Bola bola Soup, Salt and Pepper Spareribs and Yang Chao Fried Rice at Ping Tao. 

I thought we're gonna end our Chinatown escapade as we end our dinner, but hey hey, when we were about to buy Tikoy, a group of dragon dancers started to gather right beside us preparing for a dragon dance. Hoooooh! We were so happy. We were able to see live a Dragon Dance! We took a video but since I don't know how to upload it here, maniwala na lang kayo sa ikukwento ko. So the dragon dance was conducted by two young men, the dragon was dancing (hindi totoong dragon ha, basta gets nyo na yun), while a man tied a box of tikoy with a 500 peso bill and he hanged it and started it in pulley motion. The goal is for the dragon to get the 500 peso bill and the tikoy with its mouth. And then in the middle of the dance, a firework (more like a judas belt) was lit and the dragon started dancing beside the firework. Wow. Our jaws were dropped knowing that it could really be a dangerous one, but they were able to execute the whole act perfectly. We may not know the explanation behind that tradition, but we fully express our respect for those people for the devotion they give to what they believe in. After that, another dragon joined. And another tikoy and 500 peso bill were hanged and fortunately, both dragons were able to get them. The dance ended with another firework lit with dragons dancing beside the firework. 

We left Chinatown by 7pm and we wanted to make the best out of that Sundate so we went to MOA. Another surprise was when we realized that MOA grounds was having a Chinese New Year celebration, too. Sulit na sulit talaga. But wait, there's more!  

We actually planned of just having sort of kwentuhan and relax time over the seaside. We bought our foods and when we were finally settled with our seats was when the time fireworks started. We only had few shots and the rest of the fireworks, we just enjoyed watching them with each other's company. As you may not know, when 2013 started, we were faced with a trial in our relationship and it wasn't too late to greet each other Happy New Year and praying to God to bless our relationship. 

Fat Voyage hopes you all had a wonderful weekend and a very productive weekdays ahead all of us. 

Ube Dip

Capping off Monday night with vanilla ice cream in ube dip. Yumm! We thank God for giving us a productive Monday.