Heya.

Oh well welcome September!

I know I haven’t written anything in a while because I was kind of busy lately that I was only able to write one blog entry last month, what a bummer right? I have been too busy I can’t even finish reading Lang Leav’s “Sad Girls.” I started reading the book last month and just when I thought I was few pages from finishing it then bam! I found out I just finished reading Chapter One lol. The book was kind of tricky though because as I was checking on my progress I saw 30 pages to go and it did not say off Chapter One as I was under the impression t’was the entire book so I was surprised to know I have another hundreds of pages to read before I reach the finish line oh my Gawd. Anyways, not that I’m complaining it’s just that so far I’m not enjoying ‘Sad Girls’ compared to Lang Leav’s book of prose and poetries. I’ll see how it goes though because it may still be too early to judge as some writers have major revelations towards the end of their novels and I’m kind of looking forward to it. 

Rainy September...

Meanwhile, it’s kind of sad to welcome the month of September with a downpour but what can we do it’s been pretty stormy since last month? Typhoons are globe trotters—their names just change whenever they enter another country then they start lashing again. Hurricane Harvey is another heartbreaking news because it’s been all over social media and I saw how devastating it was. Tons of families have been affected by really deep floodwaters that they needed to evacuate and leave their pets behind to be rescued later. The typhoon eventually also marred other countries here in Southeast Asia such as Hong Kong, Japan, etc. I heard HK was just lashed by a Signal #10 storm named ‘Hato’ and  I honestly thought it wasn’t even possible until I saw the footages online. I guess typhoons are here to stay so we better keep ourselves safe and warm and our pets too. I hope every government will have a better and faster means of disseminating information once calamity strikes especially if there’s  a need for settlers to evacuate their homes. I know how important it is to save human lives first but animals are living beings too so I hope someday they will be a priority too (no questions asked) during evacuation because I myself have pets too and it’s just really painful to leave them behind when you know they won’t be safe neither. 

Studio 18 Residences (Condotel)

Studio 18 Residences #18 Gen. Capinpin,
San Antonio, Pasig

Moving on, my sister and I checked in at the Studio 18 Residences in Pasig for a few days to take care of a business matter down South since our house in Manila is quite far from where we’re headed. It’s this simple white and red building in the outskirts of San Antonio Village along Gen. Capinpin Street. Studio 18 is alongside residential houses and Condominiums and is not accessible to PUJs except Grab taxis which are technically private vehicles except they’re being used as Grab cars. To get there you have to turn right from Shaw Boulevard (you should see Mercury Drug) once you see the entrance to San Antonio Village (FX taxis bound to SM Megamall-Quiapo route).

Studio 18’s lobby isn’t very spacious as it’s pretty straightforward, you see the front desk as soon as you step inside and the elevator to your right. My sister booked our room through Agoda.com and we got a pretty reasonable rate for a few nights stay. We arrived past 3PM for the usual 2PM check in time and headed straight up to our floor. We were assigned a corner room on the 4th floor which was alright because it was a quiet area. It was just a little confusing to get to our room though because of the detours lol. Amenities wise it was good because they have pretty much everything that you need: plates, coffee/tea making facilities, cutleries, a range hood, in-room safe, slippers, towels as usual, decent toiletries (shampoo, body wash/gel), heater in the shower, dental kit, small soap, cable TV with limited cable channels though, A/C as usual, daily free bottled water and 3-in-1 coffee. Their staff are also pretty responsive when it comes to guests' needs. I called up the front desk because the safe isn't working and I'm looking to leave my valuables inside the safe when we leave the next day and the response was fast. Few minutes after my phone call they sent someone up to fix the safe and it was all good, the passcode just needed a reset I guess. Transportation isn’t a problem neither if you have a Grab app on your mobile phone because they can just pick you up and drop you off to your preferred destination which was really a breeze. If you don’t have any Grab app you can just simply request from the front desk to call a cab/Grab car for you at a minimal cost (I read somewhere it’s P50/$1 USD). I think parking isn’t a problem neither but it would be safe to indicate it on your reservation. Studio 18 by the way serves breakfast (roof deck or room service) from 7AM-2PM. If you go hungry after those hours (like my sister and I did), you anyways have an option to call up any fast food company to have food delivered downstairs, just make sure to indicate your room number and the front desk will call you up once delivery guy has arrived. Another option would be the eatery beside Studio 18 (to the right) they sell rice meals for Php40/meal or less than $1 USD. So what’s amiss? They have limited cable channels which are often scrambled/no signal and very weak wifi signal in our room. And oh, an in-room fridge would be better I guess. 

Milkcow, SM Megamall A
Matcha Crunch & Cheesy Berry

So, what’s up?
I’m looking forward to making my own smoothie bowl one of these days after I saw Bliss Bowl in SM Megamall building A few days ago. It’s this smoothie bowl bar beside Milkcow which serves one of those colorful and healthy smoothie bowl I frequently see on Instagram.

  source: tropical-summer-icecream.tumblr.com/

I’ve been yearning to make one long before but I never got the chance to shop for ingredients until after I saw how pricey a smoothie bowl cost outside considering it’s fairly easy to make, all you have to have is a blender,  a plant based milk (soya, almond) some frozen fruits, nuts, coconut shavings etc. I’ve been eating a bowl of rolled oats for breakfast every morning and preparing a smoothie bowl is far more easy than cooking rolled oats. I’m actually having some thoughts and research lately on plant-based foods and meat substitutes/becoming a Vegan someday for health reasons and of course for the animals. If everyone in this planet is a vegetarian, then there's no need for livestock, no need to slaughter chickens, cows and pigs. I don't think it would be so hard as long as there's Tofu. So much thought to ponder.