Dibo's First Haircut Experience

Backlogs, backlogs and mooore backlogs. I know! I got a lot of things to blog about and I can't seem to squeeze in some time to do it! Well, except now. 

But before these photos get dumped deeper into my archive, let me share with you Dibo's first haircut experience. I am going through a major throwback here and is going to recall some of the exciting things that happened to me in the last 4 months.

It was during  the Mother's day that we finally decided to say goodbye to my son's gorgeously messy curly hair. Given the choice, I would love to keep it that way but hey, it's about time to really get him into doing some toddler stuff (and while we still got the chance to do it before the second baby's arrival).

I wanted to make this one a memorable one with the certificates and all, but we were in Laguna that time and Cuts 4 Tots doesn't have any branches near by. We found this salon for kids called Cute barbershop in SM Calamba and decided to try it. Nothing exceptional but good enough. 

This is Dibo before getting a haircut.

And this is him during his haircut!

Define chaos! hahaha It was so adorable and heartbreaking at the same time but we survived. It took two persons to pin him down so the barber can properly shave his head. Look at him after:

We got a little Shaolin toddler for a while and I guess it was fitting to end the experience with some warm and delicious Chinese food. We celebrated Mother's day at Ding Hao Chinese Restaurant located just beside SM Calamba. Ding Hoa offers a couple of set meals good for 6 and 12 people. We ordered Set A menu that is good for 12 (Php. 3550). Ding Hao is a famous Chinese Restaurant in Calamba City that is known to have witnessed a lot of family occasions and social gatherings. I personally like this place, too. My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary dinner here. 

Bird's nest soup with quail eggs. 

Yang chow fried rice. 

Ding hao fried chicken.

Pork tenderloin with A-1 sauce.

Fried shrimps with ham on toast.

Pancit Canton.

Sizzling assorted seafood.

The dessert were simple ice cream on cups but my son enjoyed it.

We spent around 350-400 for this haircut and we will absolutely not gonna shell out this big on his next one! But nevertheless, it was fun and memorable. I even took a video of his crying moments! hehe

How did you go about on your child's first haircut? 

Ding Hao Chinese Restaurant

National Highway, Calamba, Laguna

049 545-1585 / 545-1905

Getting a Taxi the Easy Taxi Way

I'm on my 35th week of pregnancy and commuting is now a big challenge to me. I cannot even lift myself to ride a bus without exerting too much effort. I know walking is good for me but too much is just too much. We do not have a car and even if we have one, I wouldn't trust myself driving along EDSA. My only choice now, although a bit expensive, is to ride a taxi going to and from the office. But I live in the metro, and we all know how hard it is to get a ride during peak hours. Good thing I discovered the Easy Taxi app.

At first I thought, hey this is just new. Maybe only few taxis are registered to this app and instead of making things easier, I might just end up frustrated. Plus, do all the drivers have internet mobiles? But what do you know? The first time I tried it, it was efficient and there were relatively more taxis registered than I can imagine! Of course I had to make a few attempts in requesting, and there's also the waiting factor for the taxi to arrive once your request was accepted. But the though that the taxi is specifically reserved to you and no other passengers can steal it from you is way beyond relief! Their drivers would even call you to confirm their location. They also have operators that would make a follow up if their passengers were indeed picked up. And with this I feel safer knowing that we, the driver and I, are being monitored.

Requesting is very easy! But your mobile needs to be online.

Here's a documentary of my request from tracking the driver assigned to me to actually sending out feedback after boarding:

I provided my pick-up point and my destination. The app can also automatically locate where you are. But since most map applications do not always provide the exact location, I made sure to give detailed information so the driver won't be confused. You will see all the available Easy Taxis around you.

Once a driver has accepted, the app will alert you together with the driver's photo, his contact number, and an option for you to call. Sometimes, the drivers themselves would call me to confirm my ride. My only suggestion on this part is that I hope they can provide a way to just text the drivers. Calling them using the same line affects my signal and internet connection. The app sometimes disconnects whenever I do that so my tendency is to request for another taxi. Lately I've been using my company phone to call instead. Here you can also see how far the driver is from you :) I am so grateful that I can track his location. I tend to look for a comfortable place to sit while waiting and when he's already near, that would be the time that I would stand up and place myself in a visible lane for him to easily see me.

Here the app tells me that the requested taxi has arrived. I just have to confirm if I indeed boarded the taxi. Sometimes, an operator would even call me to verify if I was indeed picked-up. So very thoughtful of them.

A survey at the end to implicitly tell us that they value our feedback. I suggest you should really take this opportunity to share your thoughts and feedback. :)

See? I always make sure to complete the whole process until the last step. You can opt to skip this part if you want.

Just a tip, request in advance to lessen the waiting time. I usually make my request before leaving my desk at the office so I wouldn't wait that long for the taxi to arrive. 

I've learned that the drivers are receiving competitive and reasonable compensation for each passengers that they take. So expect that they will eagerly choose and prioritize request over the Easy Taxi app. I've also learned that Easy Taxi is an international company and that they provide each drivers with smartphones and Smart postpaid accounts that enables them to stay online all the time. Sosyal!

So far, all the Easy Taxi drivers I've encountered are friendly and very considerate. I hope they won't change. By the way, an additional Php70 booking fee is collected when you request a taxi through the Easy Taxi app. But the good news is that they have a promo running from May to June 5 - no booking fee for every request you make. So why not take advantage while you still can! I have been using the Easy Taxi app for a couple of times now. 

The Big 3-0 Celebration Part 2 of 3: Giligans @ Robinsons Galleria

My team is composed of 83% bullies (yup, I calculated the head count!) so I really braced myself for a lot of treat hirit weeks before my birthday. Good thing our team also had 2 other birthday celebrants for May so I wasn't the only one who shouldered the whole expenses. Thank God!

Since it was the three of us who would treat the team at the same time, a simple Pansit Malabon and Pichi-Pichi from Amber is not enough. So we agreed to treat the team for lunch instead. Only few restaurants in Robinsons Galleria offers group meal packages and Giligans' menu presented a lot of choices. I, together with the other two girls from the team, took an early lunch break to go ahead and ordered in advance. We ordered 3 sets of the same group meal that is good for 6 people. Can you believe it was only Php 906? How tipid, right? Anf the menu? Well, it was okay. Nothing special but good enough to feed an entire team composed of 83% testosterone. 

I agreed to the choice of the set we picked simply because of this Calamares Fritos. Unfortunately is was a little spicy for me.

 Calamares Fritos

Their Lumpiang Shanghai was tiny so to better appreciate it, you need to consume at least 2. I had 4 of these. 

 Lumpiang Shanghai

Their Sizzling Peppery Steak was good but the serving was small. I had to stay conscious and refrained myself from getting a lot more since I might end up finishing the whole plate. 

 Sizzling Peppery Steak

There is nothing extraordinary with their Inihaw na Baboy. I also find the serving of this one small. But I have to commend that it was fairly cooked.

 Inihaw na Baboy

Their Sinigang na Baboy had just the right amount of sourness. The meat was tender and just enough for the group. Too bad there was no lady's finger (okra) in the soup.

Sinigang na Baboy 

The group meal set comes with iced tea drinks and a platter of rice. You can upgrade the rice to unlimited servings for only Php50. 

Here's the happy team before the meal, please excuse my pale face as I was a bit tired that day.

The team after the meal:

You may have noticed that we didn't have any dessert after the meal but I had it covered. It was my turn to bully our former manager, who was no longer deployed to our team, to use his connections and get me my favorite cheesecake from Asian Development Bank (ADB).

You may be unaware but ADB's cafeteria and bakery offers good food and pastries. I got to try their cheesecake during my sister's birthday way, way back while my brother-in-law was still working at ADB. It has haunted me for years! And the painful part is that it is only sold exclusively to ADB employees. Good thing my former manager still had some connections inside. Yes, the line "I have connections, connections that you don't have" in Laida Magtalas' tone is very much applicable to him. And I cannot wait to bully him again in getting me their big chewy crinkles next time. 

This is me with my cheesecake! I'm telling you, every bite is such a delight. The cake was baked to perfection! The toppings was not that sweet and it doesn't overpower the fullness of the cheesecake. You can really feel its texture in your mouth. I got to share this with my colleagues and family. The husband liked it. He's not fond of sweets and the likes but he liked it!   

I guess I must end my entry now before I crave for another slide of this glorious cake. Stay tuned for my third birthday celebration. This time with my love ones :)