incessant rambling

Oriente Poliano (Orient of the Polos) chronicled the fantastic travels of the Polo family: the famous Marco, his father Niccolò, and uncle Maffeo. Their travels took them to the heart of Asia and beyond. What took them decades to do I was able to accomplish in one and half hours, walking, with a plate in one hand, and my nose following the aromatic trail to food bliss. The Cafe Marco buffet has steadily built a reputation as the best buffet in Cebu City with the most extensive food selection arranged in food stations serving chinese, japanese, barbecues and western dishes. Appetizers my food trip started with "west lake beef soup" from the chinese food station. a clear soup made from beef stock that curiously tasted like it came from a bouillon cube instead of hours boiling bits and pieces of beef meat and bones. i found it too salty for my liking although the chopped parsley created a decorative accent to the soup. next is a sampling of chinese siomai - take note that the on...

Desserts The best things are often called the sweetest things in life, it is not a wonder then that desserts cap a meal to sweeten the palate and wash away the heavy flavor of meat. This post is the last in a series of food review for Cafe Marco, Marco Polo. after a heavy main course, i made my way over to the dessert selection and got a few samples from the array of sweet lil' angels. if you're diabetic, i strongly suggest you stay away from this part of the buffet - the mere smell and sight of these sugar puffs is enough to induce an attack. -blueberry mousse cheesecake in a shot glass i don't like cakes, specially if they're the sponge or chiffon type. i don't crave for chocolates either unless they come in a balikbayan package. on the other hand, chocolate decadence is anything but airy or spongy and it is packed solid like a brownie - less the flour and more on chocolate. this is the only thing i went back for in the dessert spread. -chocolate decadence fruit b...

Main Course the least visited food station in any buffet is the salad section. not that there's anything wrong with eating your fill of leafy greens but buffets are meant for carnivores. meat chomping sessions rule this experience and the meats section usually have the most traffic. for a change, i decided for some fish before grabbing any meats and settled for a herb encrusted fish fillet in white sauce. i carefully laid out the fish on top of a lettuce leaf to give some color contrast. the slightly bitter taste of the lettuce complimented the creamy sauce and herbs that crusted the oh-so-tender fish meat. i was a tad disappointed that they didn't have any lamb kebabs that i loved in a previous visit to this buffet together with some mint jelly. i settled for roasted beef and had it done medium well. the meat was tender and succulent with just the right amount of salt, pepper and spices rubbed all over the roast. one can enjoy the meat in a plain manner or slather on gravy for...

That question was asked by an anonymous visitor who posted a comment in one of my older ramblings about cebuanas.com . Apparently, he was concerned how long do marriages work between a much older man and a young woman as most of the women he met doesn't seem to have a problem with the set up. I would have loved to share my pop-psychology-oprah-winfrey advise to the fellow but since he didn't leave an email address, here's my reply: Quote: "...there a some mistakes in my earlier post,most of these girls have no problems in age gap marriages, do these marriages last?" 1. with lots of Viagra - Yes, it may work for Approximately 3 hours. 2. On the question whether the marriages last - Mostly NO, usually one of the participants DIE of Old Age, and it's not the young lady. (click on read.more...) 3. in the case of Australian men, NO - the young asian lady usually gets knocked off for insurance by the husband. 4. With enough money - Yes, it may work. Don't worry,...

quickly posting a picture of an interesting dish i found in brown cup (st. patrick's near redemptorist) - pesto butter porkchop. the strong garlicky basil flavor of pesto perfectly complimented the succulent grilled slice of pork, the melting butter serve as gravy - mix with rice, add a dash of soy sauce and you have sin served on a platter . additional plus: the meal is served with iced tea.

if you're on a food trip for delicious maki mi then head off to the Sykes building along F. Cabahug and visit Golden Bowl. For Php 75 they serve a humongous bowl of maki topped with generous fried pork cutlets. This one i shared with my best friend and got myself an order of Pork Humba for 80 pesos. pork humba The restaurant serve other dishes ala carte but these two dishes are personal favorites. I have a peculiar habit of picking out craving-dishes in every restaurant and when the urge strikes expect me to drive halfway across town to have a meal. They don't call it Food Trip for no reason. Just like the fried chicken of Apurado , the Beef Ribs of Casa Verde , Binagoongan Pork of Quaddro, Sizzling Pochero of Abuhan and Grilled Pork Belly of Lola Eats, maki mi satisfies my craving for noodle soup. shhhlurp it up! namit! maki mi if you're like me, i suggest you ask for chili oil to spice up the soup. condiments is what completes a chinese meal. side note, ketchup and siop...

"Fr. Gamaliel Tulabing, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Dumaguete, yesterday joined the growing number of people who have voiced their objection to the LTO's move to require Dumaguete motorists to wear helmets." - Cebu Daily News, 20 Sep 2008 his reasons for opposing the move is that people will start to wear their helmets to mass when taking communion AND that helmets will take up pew space. if he was being funny, I am not laughing. moronic statements like this will not win additional followers of the flock. and you wonder why there should be a distinction between state and church? i believe that protecting human life is more important than helmet-wearing parishioners and pew space. seems like the church has a grudge against wearing protection, helmets and condoms alike.

It was just too good to be true. Cebu Pacific launched a promo giving free rides for passengers with no check-in baggage. Me and my friends rushed to the nearest counter to book ourselves a flight to manila. It wasn't a surprise that the reservation agent looked at us in alarm as we crowded the counter asking about flight schedules. But it was a BIG surprise to us as I am sure she didn't even check the computer when she declared that the free seats are all reserved and we would have to pay full fare. and I am absolutely sure I heard her mutter: "if i had my way you'd be paying double the fare!" How is it possible that all 50,000 seats are all reserved in the first day of the promo? Disappointed, the gang proceeded to have buffet at Tong's but was turned away by the guard because all seats are occupied - from where we're standing, a lot of the seats don't have any asses on them. This is turning out to be a crappy day. Anyways, the gang all posed for a ...

Leech is at it again. the post title is the same as that of another SPAM email from my frenemy . I seriously think she's missing a few marbles in the head. oh wait, there's nothing inside her head - my guess is that the liposuction shlurrrped more than just the fats on her titanic hips. and arms. and (add every other body part here). usually this immediately goes to my trash folder but like a moth drawn to a flame, i decided to have a look at the other recipients. i therefore conclude that she is not only lacking a few marbles but is afflicted with Alzheimer's. I can definitely count the number of people who wouldn't have her name in Santa's good gels and boys list, or the animal list, or the inanimate object list. when you've done so much "enhancements" (ehem) on yourself the biological classification becomes blurred. Frankenstein was not human. For the record, spam email should be ILLEGAL for anyone above the age of 60 and if you count Gabriella and...

the only reason i see for needing an Elevator Operator is if i am a midget and i have to get to the penthouse of the Burj in Dubai [which is just the taaallest building at 167 floors]. speaking of midgets, i imagine one behind the elevator panel announcing doors opening and elevators going sideways... err.... up or down. i hate it when people test the automatic sensor by sticking out a foot or hand. [warning, doors closing, please stand back] then they "accidentally" have their butt cross the laser sensors [warning, doors closing, please stand back] . these are times i wish the midget behind the panel would shout: [idiot, i said the doors are closing! get your fat self inside!!] then again, that is fantasy... or is it? a cousin sent me pictures of an uber fabulous advertising campaign for a jobs company in denmark. if midgets DO stay behind elevator panels, would it be too far off to imagine people behind coffee dispensers, atm machines and photo id cubicles? indeed, life is...

that's the title of a cheesy email i got. apparently, it is designed to encourage people to keep on replying to each other to prove their friendship. didn't realize only friends have access to email. eneways, i'm obviously a victim of this scam as i sent a reply to MY friends. interestingly, i got the very same email from someone i DON'T consider a friend. perhaps yes, in another lifetime - back when i was a rock and she was a leech that spread her slimy ooze everywhere she goes. obviously, rocks can't shout invectives and insults. hello, rock ako. as the story goes, she has ceased to exist... as a friend, which makes it so interesting to get THAT particular email from her. an olive branch for peace? that's like so old testament . then again, that fits her perfectly: OLD. glutathione, malathione and formalin can't stop the migration of certain body parts to australia. in short, down under. correction: industrial strength, wire enhanced, radiation repelling +...

I gotta say this, some bloody idiot mistakenly went into Formo instead of ALA gym and got into a good-ol-has-been-so-last-season rambol. that's like soooo high school. can't blame them, ALA and Formo are in banilad town center (btc). if the (slightly intoxicated, alcohol induced...) accounts were right, some sona-dumbo-ass dressed up in cargo pants and tawdry shirts decided to make Formo a diskoral. not to discriminate, but helloooo..... mambaling is like way up in the mountains while btc is right in the middle of a... construction site. complete with murderous traffic. if at this point you're like huh? whaat? who? then you're obviously less of a chismoso/mosa than me. you see, the (bloody) story has been going around about the free-for-all rumble that happened in Formo last saturday. technically, it's not really a free-for-all, i heard the damage reached Php 68,000 pesos. mostly from broken bottles of Absolut and vintage Don Perignon. Syet, sosyal ang away sapoka...