Grouper Fish and Prawn Sinigang, Bow!

Mamul and I went to Chinatown to check some travel packages. It was fun talking to travel agents and checking out the best deals for our travel plan. The travel agencies were mushrooming at the People's park center and complex. Even if the place was packed with travel agencies, there was no shadow of the Chan Brothers. It was a bit hopeless when we could not find any internet cafe, just to check the Chan Brothers Travel Agency for their vacation deals. When we asked Olga about it, her phone could actually go online so we were able to at least check for the land line of the agency. When Mamul got her mobile rang for a talk with one of the agents at Chan, it was a doom for that day as there was nobody on the end - only a voice operator trying to tell us of their office hours.

So we decided to go to Vivo City to check our other friends - Agnes, Olga and Christian. We went their to check other things. I was again window shopping at Vivo and could not decide what to buy. I have been actually planning to get a new phone. I feel that I needed to change my sickly and a bit dilapidated Sony Ericsson K700i which has been with me for the past 4 years. I bought a very simple Samsung phone but I can't seem to enjoy it so much. Mamul by the way went to Keppel to buy her diving gears. We were planning to see each other at Vivo, specifically at Food Republic for dinner. Olga was still checking out something and Agnes together with Christian, also were going in and about the mall checking for great value electronics. I was on the other hand, checking some clothes which by the way I don't need. I should be checking phones already, so I went up the next floor and check Sony Ericsson shop, Nokia and Samsung. I am still a Sony Ericsson fan and even if I am so attracted to the Experia, I still won't afford to buy it because it's too pricy and my budget for travel would shrink, which I don't want to do. So checked Olga where are they and so I went to Best Electronic store. Olga was with Agnes and Christian already. I informed Mamul that I will wait for her for dinner and that we will see her at Best also. We were checking some phones and laptops, and they were really good gadgets. Crazily, since the Mac had this internet access, I check with the Chan Brothers site when Mamul arrived - and they had the best deal yet so far. Well, I kept on looking at the Experia and Mamul was teasing me already. But frankly, I just can't buy it mainly because of the reasons I had mentioned above.

Anyway, our stomach were screaming of hunger already so we decided to dine at Food Republic. I usually go for the Western Food stall but then this time I opted to checkout this Chinese stall. Their food looked delicious so I ordered a meal from them. My friends decided to get some fried noodles with prawns which I was able to taste and they were delicious too.

After that dinner, we decided to cook sinigang. Agnes had this two packs of Sinigang mix sa gabi(taro) and sili (pepper). Sinigang is actually a Filipino food that's sour and sometimes spicy, which has also tamarind on it and some vegetables. It was actually 10PM and we decided to sleep at Mamul's den and then cook and eat sinigang the next day. Mamul was planning to go to the market to buy the ingredients.

At Mamul's den, we had this simple chit chat and sharing of some information which are confidential I supposed. Anyway, we viewed some funny videos online like this little girl wanting to get the rent. See it here:


I have had a good laugh of this video a long time ago but Mamul had not seen this one so we shared it to her. We also checked bryanboy's interview of the average joes about fashion.

Anyway, we ended the night talking about Yoga. Since Mamul had this Yoga book, and Agnes just started her Fitness First membership, and had some muscle pains, we started doing some yoga poses. Basically, I read the instructions on the book and showed them the poses which by the way was the same as what I was doing when I had my Yoga class last week. Somehow were having fun at doing some weird positions but then it was a good stretching of the back and the legs. We ended up doing the final relaxing posture which was called the dead's lie where you just rest your body on the mat or floor placing your hands on the side and closing your eyes. What a good way to end the day and sleep, zzzzzzzzz.

The next day, when I woke up, I was alone in the room. I found Olga on the sala with her eyes glued on TV. Olga told me that Mamul together with Agnes went to the market to buy the ingredients for our Sinigang recipe. I washed my face in the bathroom to have that refreshing feeling.

After 10 minutes or more, the two girls arrived with all the purchased ingredients. Agnes asked me if we needed a taro and I said yes but then when Mamul asked me of what needs to be prepared, I forgot to tell her that we need gabi. We did not even have string beans because I forgot to tell her about it as well. Anyway, I found out that there was no green pepper so after Agnes and I did the slicing of the vegetables, and washing the prawns and grouper, I went out of the condo to buy string beans and pepper. It was a quick buy at this mini grocery near the LRT station, so I arrived really fast. Maybe because it's my walking that was really brisk.

I washed the string beans and the green pepper. Prepared the water to be boiled in this big covered wok. I was looking for the sinigang mix but it was no where to be found. We tried to check things and we thought that Mamul kept it in her bag. By the way Mamul left to D. Ghaut, because her uncle came to Singapore and she has to meet him for a tour in Singapore on that same afternoon. Anyway, we were trying to reach Mamul because we can't find the mix. We were also asking if we can use the rice stocked in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. The sinigang mix will actually make or break the food that we were preparing. But I realized that Mamul was bringing with her a plastic bag where she had her diving mask so I thought she could gave placed it there also. Good thing it was there because we would have ended preparing a totally different recipe which will be disaster I guess.

The cooking continued for the next 15 - 20 minutes and I had to eat a slice of bread because I'm a bit hungry already. Well, the two girls were checking some ASAP videos online. ASAP by the way is a variety show of the biggest T.V. network in the Philippines. Movie artists would be there to show their talents be it singing or dancing, or sometimes promoting their concerts and television series.

When the food was ready, I called the girls that it's about time to eat and eventually judge the food we prepared. And the verdict was it's a success. The food tasted really good and it's something you'd drool over. LOLZ. Our sinigang escapade in Punggol went successful. Too bad Mamul was not there, but, we left her with Sinigang in the wok. Hope it's still good to eat.

It's getting late so I needed to sleep already, so bye for now. Ciao!

Yoga at Fitness First

I was out at the office by 7PM and went straight ahead to Fitness First. But before going to the gym, I dropped by at Starbucks to buy a sandwich. I had few bites to it while going my way to FF and when I got to the FF located at the 23rd floor of the building. I presented my ID and then got my towels and then I got a glass of iced tea as a quencher. I then proceeded to the mens locker room and got my own locker. I changed clothes. I then walk out of the locker room. It so happened that I passed by the Yoga studio and I met Rika, an officemate, who will be attending the Yoga session. We exchanged few words. When I proceeded to the free weights section, I saw three of my team mates waving their hands and calling me in. They were inside the Yoga studio. So, I went inside the studio and ask if it's difficult to follow and asking more if I can even do their Yoga tricks? Hehehehe. Audi told me that it's just easy and all I have to do is just listen and follow the instructor. So I was a bit excited already. It's going to be my first time to join the Yoga class.

Things started with this breathing technique while sitting on your legs' tendons (I don't know what they call the position) with hands placed on top of your lap. It was like a controlled breathing and finding your balance and letting go of those tensions in the body. Relaxing the mind, focusing your thoughts to your breathing and finding the center of your balance while in a sitting stance. It was actually quite easy but it was just the start. When things went on, the positions and movement went a bit difficult. The instructor went to my place when I was doing this sort of stretching wherein I was like putting my feet backwards and my two hands forward on the floor. She had to tell me to raise my butt backwards which I got with her very close assistance. It became difficult when we had to raise one leg pussing backward. Somehow I was able to get the right position but on the stretching part where we had to place our one leg forward slightly bent to our chest and the other leg backward fully stretched, that proved difficult. There was this other position wherein we wee lying on the mat folding our legs inward hugging our knees and we needed to like assimilate a rocking chair. It was also difficult and I even had a few chuckles. I even heard some farting but I thought it was just the cracking of the bones or ligaments of some sort.

Anyway, I was liking Yoga already because it made me feel very relaxed after the session. So that was my very first ever Yoga experience at Fitness First after a 4-month long membership with them. I still have 8 months for my 1 year membership with them so it's a long way to learning the basics.