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Camwhoring at the Banana Booth

Before, there was Neoprint (which thankfully came at a time when I was in my teens so it was okay to pose in front of those pink machines and look crappy) and there was Foto-me, that instant ID picture taker.  Sadly, however, Cebu doesn't seem to have a Foto-me, so there goes one opportunity to be a camwhore.

Banana Book at the 4th Level of Ayala Center Cebu now offers a better alternative.  Enter Banana Booth. 

Yup, it's a digital version of Foto-me.  At P95, you get two copies of your pic column composed of 4 different poses. Like Foto-me, it gives you around 5 seconds to think of how to pose next and if you're the type who likes to have coordinated poses with friends, then you have 5 seconds to deliberate and pose as you like.

Banana Book actually offers other services for the vain: photo books, photo magnets, photo bracelets, among others.  You can customize ref magnets with pictures of you doing different poses, making different faces, wearing different colored shirts. In fact, you can have the Banana Booth print cut into two -- for the separate columns -- and get a ref magnet (the same size and length of one column) from them for P30. You only need to stick the print into the magnet. 

Banana booth pictures come in sepia, full color, or black and white.

If you have a little one, getting her to stop looking upwards (at the camera instead of the screen) might be a challenge though.

A Banana Booth has also been spotted at the occasional bazaar at the Asiatown IT Park.

You can also cram the banana booth.

This post was written by A.

Women Loving -- Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz

Joy Cruz is a beloved professor who imparted to me the more intricate techniques in Art Appreciation (both for ArtApre1 and ArtApre2) and Literary Criticism.  I put that in sentence case for the sheer respect I have for both courses back in college.  Ms. Cruz has a Palanca, M.A.'s earned from DLSU, enviable teaching credentials under her belt and lots of literary types the likes of Alfred Yuson, Virgilio Almario, Bien Lumbera as friends or colleagues.  She was one of my coolest professors, and she's a self-professed lesbian (bisexual?).

So it is understandable why I had some sort of pseudo-intellectual orgasm when I found a book titled Women Loving written by a Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz.  I wasn't sure it was the same Joy Cruz, the cool professor, but I bought it anyway.

Having said that, I am going to be honest and say that it sucked.

The premise of having a book that explores the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, lives and loves of lesbian women is just irresistible, I think.  Also Alfred Yuson's recommendation on the back of the book, convoluted and verbose as it is, is quite convincing.

But if you are looking to gain insight in that sense, look elsewhere.  Women Loving is a nice collection of stories where one or more, or all characters are lesbians to varying degrees, but that is it.  Sometimes, lesbianism is not even a central theme, but more of an afterthought.  It's as if Cruz finished a story 10 years ago and decided to include it in this collection, so she just adds "by the way, I'm a lesbian" at the end of the story.  Sappho would have been livid.

What the reader is given is an avalanche of stereotypes.  It is easy to feel like the book was written by a straight guy posing as a lesbian.  Nothing of the intuition that riddles the pieces in Ladlad, nothing of the acerbic realities and witty introspection that is present in Louie Cano's worst blog posts.  The reader is left with the feeling that he/she is being cheated of a sneak peek into the mind of a genuine lesbian.  And like most of us who can only aspire to be lesbians in this life, it feels like Cruz is an outsider looking in... taking notes and relating to us what she's seeing, hearing and feeling, but never what she is experiencing.

There are times when you find yourself really entertained.  Cruz does write killer proses and her imagination gifts the reader with the most impeccable details and imagery.  And there are times when a story starts off as having enough potential to make you read on, hoping that like a dental extraction or a bad breakup, it would get better.  But that simply does not happen.  And perhaps it is knowing how good a writer Cruz is that makes the disappointment more glaring.  You know that Cruz could translate angst, mental quandaries, and psychological dilemma well into words, so when you don't read these even when the story is shouting for it, you know that it was simply not intended to be there.  Cruz can make ink transmute into blood, she is that good, but she doesn't use that power here.

I've finished the book just last week, and I can't remember a single story or character.  Nothing stands out.  To me it's all a mishmash of the same boring person with nothing to do, only that she has different names and finds herself in what should be interesting situations.  I guess it's a lot like life that way, you are given everyday to live life and you choose to sleep.

Finishing the book, it makes me wonder if I were not mistaken.  Maybe this book was really not written by the Joy Cruz I know.

This post was written by A.

RaiRai Ken - Gaisano Grand Mall

Mactan has had a Rai-Rai Ken for the longest time, but they close after 2pm only to open at 5pm and they don't have proper airconditioning.  At least not the few times we were there.  So it was nice to see Gaisano Grand Mall open with a Rairai Ken branch.  And we just had to try it out.

Bummer.  Their airconditioning was not working too when we got there.  They said that they relied on the mall's airconditioning which conked out the day before.  And they had no fans. But that didn't stop us from ordering their Ramen.  My absolute fave.  Rairai Ken, I think, has the best ramen in Cebu, barring those expensive authentic Japanese places where you're forced to take off your shoes and squat like an Indian to eat.

This ramen is far from Japengo's version, which tastes like overcooked instant noodles.  Dining at Rairai Ken is always a pleasure and for somebody who has a picky eater as a wife Japanese food is a rare treat.

 This tofu soup came in free with the wife's order.  We forgot to take pictures of what she had out of sheer heat and hunger.  But she said it was good as well.

Rairai Ken is quite pricey, where a good meal for two people could easily run up P500 to around P700, but it's worth it.  In fact, it was so good that the wife was terribly inspired that upon arriving home, she worked on origami geishas

and raped the kokeshi dolls.

Just kidding.

Rairai Ken had cool lanterns and great interiors too.

Now if they could only work on their airconditioning!

This post was written by A.

Brewpoint Mactan

For years, Mactan Island has been getting the short end of the stick.  While Cebu has been getting a bulk of the region's development, Mactan in particular languished.  The Island does not have a single cinema with the closure of Gaisano Mactan's cineplex.  For a while there good coffee was nowhere to be found on Mactan, unless you count McDonald's brewed coffee (which is too acidic for me).

Enter Brewpoint.  One of the three coffeeshops I know in the island, and the only one worth being tagged as a coffeeshop and not having to contend with Caucasian habitues looking for a good time.  Having a tagline like "Making Mactan Island better one cup at a time" might seem lofty, but all it takes is a visit to know that they're working on it.

First disappointment was their lack of food.  I first found out about Brewpoint from Facebook where there were shots of pasta and cakes.  When we got there, I was told that they still are not serving food at the moment.  We came back after a quick lunch at Dimsum Break and got these for dessert:

I had the Mint Mocha, and the wifey's first comment was, "Where's the whipped cream?"

The whipped cream less concoction was good, however it could have really used the whipped cream not just for the aesthetics, but for added taste.

The wifey and the kid shared the Chocolate Cookie Blast:

This one, was yummy. :) It was really rich and the flavor stays with you hours after you've left.  

You should really try their champagne rose cake:

The kid really liked this one.  We also did. Champagne rose is one of a kind, and it was good. To-die-for even.

But probably the best thing about Brewpoint is that they provide you with a cozy place to hang around especially on a lazy and HOT Saturday afternoon.  It was this hot outside:

But inside it was really comfortable.  So much so that it was a perfect for some mother-and-daughter tete-a-tete.

I heard that they also have Wi-fi, but I was laptop-less during the visit so I couldn't check.

Brewpoint is at the ground floor of the GMC Arcade, two doors down from Dimsum and two doors up Rose Pharmacy.  GMC Arcade is across the old PUJ Terminal.

This post was written by A.

Hmmmn.... That Was Yummy!

Lately, Greenwich has been coming out with great food to expand their already good selection of pizzas, chicken and other foodstuff. 

The latest, I think, is Crusty Breaded Porkloin.  This one came with rice and fries.  I really loved it. All for P131 (delivery price). That came with a regular coke.

You can see a photo here.

Greenwich also added three new pasta dishes: 

3-Cheese & Sausage Macaroni

Bacon Chicken Carbonara

and Meatball Spaghetti (as opposed to the old spaghetti that they had)

I had the 3-Cheese with my delivery and it was ok.  Their Premium Lasagna Pasta Supreme still reigns as their best pasta dish.

Greenwich Delivery serves all areas of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-lapu.  Call 254-1000.  Be ready to repeat yourself after every other sentence, and be very patient when you give out your phone number, they tend to make you repeat it 10 times before getting it right.

Visit Greenwich's site to see their new food selection.

This post was written by A.

REDiscovering RED Ribbon

Back when I was still with my old company, the money was not really that flowing and we had to scrimp on dining out.  Red Ribbon was usually a treat that we'd reserve for Sunday lunch (and almost always the Sunday after payday).

We used to take the baby and hie off to Country Mall to enjoy an hour or two eating whatever Red Ribbon had cooked for us.  Char.  And I say it's a treat because it cost us a day's worth of wages to eat there.  That Red Ribbon routine came to a halt when we moved to Lapu-Lapu City.  Other than that, I really don't know why we stopped eating there even if we spend almost every weekend at SM or Ayala, which both have Red Ribbon branches, given that a meal there costs lower than the meals we have at other places.

Fast forward a couple of years later and we found ourselves in line for a Red Ribbon meal.  And so, it was time we REDiscovered RED Ribbon.

Red Ribbon now has cake shakes.  And it's perfect for the summer heat.  I got  the Chocolate version:

It really could have used some added flavor, but it was ICE COLD and that's all that mattered to my parched throat.  

Of course, we just have to order their chicken lollipop...

...which was -- and always will be -- a favorite of ours.  The kids (our three-year-old imp and our niece) shared the plateful of their good-old spaghetti that came with the chicken.

And since it has been roughly two years since we ate at Red Ribbon, we tried out two things on their meals menu that was new to us. One was this Chicken and mushroom dish (for me):

and their tocino meal (for the wife):

Of course, what's Red Ribbon without cake? So we ordered a slice of Tiramisu Cake with one of the meals. Delectable.

All in all, the meals and the drinks for two parched adults and two equally parched kids, were satisfying.  And they totaled LESS than PHP500.  Not bad.  I think we'd eat at Red Ribbon more from now on.

This post was written by A.

Yummy Mesa

The wife and I first tried out Mesa when it was still on soft opening, and to be honest, I didn't really find the food good.  But faced with three friends who had a craving for food somewhere they haven't tried yet and somewhere conveniently located (convenient usually means somewhere in the mall), we decided to have our kid's (overdue) birthday celebration and one of her "godmother's" (much more overdue) birthday treat at Mesa.

"Godmother" Omar was the other birthday celebrator.

Mesa is at the Ayala Terraces, and is owned and operated by the same people who own and operate La Mesa Grill at SM.  Their facade promises Filipino Modern, and they did deliver on that promise.

Mesa is a quaint place that had big tables obviously targeted at family or barkada dining.  And this is what you'd first notice when you enter the place; each table has groups of 6-8 people.  There is an area for twosomes and couples right outside the main door, and it's al fresco, but seeing that it was a hot and humid summer night, we opted for the air conditioned comfort inside.

Mesa is not really a cheap place, but it's not outrageously expensive either.  Not bad for the price of the food, the ambiance and the taste. 

Our first order, the Tofu Sisig, is not really that appetizing to look at.

In fact, forced to described it, it looks like somebody's regurgitated dinner.  But one taste and I fell in love with it.  It is yummily cheesy!

Omar ordered Crispy Fried Tilapia with Four Sauces, and we were awed by the presentation.  We obviously didn't expect it would be served in easy-to-eat bite-size pieces.

Take heart, the feast is not just for the eyes, but for the palate too.  This was really one of the best fish dishes I've tasted thus far.

The pregnant friend was actually late for this dinner and texted ahead to get her something spicy. Or any chicken dish, because she's such a chicken person (that if we didn't know any better, we'd be compelled to think she'd be growing feathers very soon). It was an either/or, so the wife ordered this:

Garlic chicken. And for the third time, we were simply awed.  This was mouthwatering as well!

A little disappointment was the Crispy Boneless Pata, which was the most expensive dish we ordered that night at PhP400.  It wasn't crispy.  It was CHEWY. It was even difficult to slice through it using a knife.  Needless to say, there are better crispy patas in town.

Food was running low and the pregnant friend still wasn't sated.  Besides, we ordered 8 servings of rice for all 5 1/2 of us (the half being the three-year-old imp who can only consume one-fourth a cup of rice). And because we never really anticipated that their cup of rice was bigger than most restos.  So we added this:

This two-in-one beef dish (forgot what it was called) was half gone by the time I remembered about taking a picture.  One bowl was a dried and fried beef dish, while the other was a curried one, which reminded me of Indian curry, but it was really, really good.

All-in-all, the food is great, the price is okay, the waiters were attentive.  A group of five grownups coming into Mesa famished and hungry spent PHP2,000 for great food with drinks included, came out complaining how difficult it was to walk with their very full tummies.

Here's our rating ( = perfect)

Food:

Service:
Ambiance:
Washroom: (clean, one for female and one for male, spacious)

This post was written by A.