Author: ajay

“Moderate their greed,” as said by Romulo Neri to Jun Lozada in the full-blown ZTE scam, is my favorite phrase of the year.

Of course, people say the scrapped deal was disadvantageous to the government and would further widen the gap between this country’s rich and poor. Hmm, what about the gap between the rich and the greedy rich?

Here are some reasons why the already-rich won’t “moderate their greed” and would like to be filthy rich by all means possible: (as quoted/adapted from an old article in the Sunday Times of London clipped by this blogger)

Rich is a house in the country; very rich is a house in another country.

Rich is having two cars; very rich is having two chauffeurs . (heck, five chauffeurs even!)

Rich is owning offshore investments; very rich is owning offshore islands.

Rich is being able to hire an accountant; very rich is being able to fire an accountant.

Rich is a eating a large steak in a top restaurant… in New York! ; very rich is a large stake in a top restaurant… in New York!

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Here’s another of those reasons why the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig is shaping up to be a more prestigious address than neighboring Makati City:

They are using aircon jeepneys slash electric jeeps in Makati while Taguig’s Global City has just unveiled its fleet of Mercedes Benz coaches to shuttle residents and employees to and from their place of residence and work.

Public transport in the Fort utilizes the Mercedes-Benz O 500 M 1725, the same motor coach service used in more cosmopolitan cities like London, the official press statement says. The bus seats 20 people, boasts of spacious interiors and has provisions to accommodate wheelchairs for the disabled.

Happening at the Fort beginning March, for only P10 per trip, per passenger.

We wanna ride!!!

For this lazy Thursday, am suddenly craving for a tasty serving of shrimp biryani at Ghazal, the best little hole-on-the-wall for Middle Eastern food in my book, even better than Shawarma Center. Don’t expect anything fancy, the resto is an affair of eight or so tables in the busy thoroughfare that is Mabini St. in Manila, a walking distance from the Hyatt Hotel. What you can find here: various kinds of biryani and tikka, kebabs, lassi and other home-cooked specialties that escape me now. In this place, I go to the extremes and slather my hot rice with butter… it’s really good!

Ghazal just happens to be one of a few restaurants in the city serving authentic halal food. There is certainly much demand for places offering halal food… but the question is, where to go?

For purposes of this discussion, halal means food that’s permissible to consume by Muslims and non-pork eating people. They shouldn’t contain pork or pork-related products (such as lard) and must have gone through the proper slaughtering process.

Luckily, I have Facebook friend Fahim to show us. There happens to be a useful guide being distributed to students of Asia’s top management school AIM which should come in handy for expats and Muslim tourists to the country looking for genuine halal food. Here it goes:

Assad’s Café - Pakistani joint serving decent Indian and Pakistani fare. Value for money. Meals cost P400 for two. U.N. Avenue, opposite Unilever, Paco, Manila. Telephone No. 5261349, 5265034

Ghazal - Muslim-owned eatery. 1551 A. Mabini Street, Ermita, Manila

Halal Caterer to Indonesian & Brunei embassies (Gerry) - serves/caters halal meals on daily basis on request; separate cutting boards, knives & utensils for halal meal preparation. Charges Peso 40 delivery charge per dinner, if less than 5 orders. Cebu Financial Services, Rolex Building, Paseo De Roxas (next to AIM)

Hossein’s Persian Kebab - Meals for two cost an average of P1,000. Original branch at 7857 Makati Avenue, Makati (Telephone no. 890-6137) Can also be found in Serendra.

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Okay, I might have erred preparing all those creamy concoctions for V-Day. Just read now that meals made of cream , milk and cheese contain trytophan which makes one drowsy. Tsk, tsk..you’re supposed to sleep in ecstacy, not when dinner is just starting Or maybe I just like cream and cheese so much, never mind if it’s heavy on the tummy and makes one, well, sleepy.

I actually wrote an article before about aphrodisiacs before for a wedding magazine and am rescuing it now for the sake of this blog. The list includes some which are exotic while a few are surprisingly just staples on the kitchen cabinet:

Oysters are reputed to have very high aphrodisiac properties. They are very low in fat and high in zinc. Casanova was said to have eaten 50 of them raw every morning.

Anybody who has been to Chinatown must have heard of Soup No. 5 whose secret ingredients are legend among men who want to increase their virility. In some parts of Asia, snake blood is served as a rare delicacy. The snake tail is pierced and the customer sucks blood from it for a few minutes. Other kinds of animal genitalia prized as stimulants are eels. goose liver, seal penises, dove brains, goose tnogues and the musk glands of a deer, among others.

The lowly onion, simmered in extra virgin olive oil, can add an aphrodisiac touch to many different dishes.

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Sweet Little Miss Wifely Steps has an ongoing blog carnival entitled “Show of Hearts” where readers and friends are invited to post anything heart-related.

My entry of course has something to do with the just-concluded V-day. The bf was by his usual thoughtful self and made it in time for our Valentine celebration across time zones. Thanks to the magic of online shopping; never really gave this thing a thought, until My Sweet told me to check out a few Filipino-owned sites and how their prices compared against each other. He finally settles for makulay.com because their items were reasonable, and of course they were able to actually deliver the items to my doorstep!

The heart-shaped strawberry buttercream cake from Goldilock’s was a revelation. Never really tasted this cake before and we loved it… the mild strawberry flavor blending well with the creamy center.

Hmm, I wonder why the bouquet of flowers I got didn’t contain a single rose, but I was certainly glad to find a number of edible roses on the icing of the cake!

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