A Post-Valentine's Celebration

Housewife chores can be very monotonous! Being at home most of the time and taking care of Tim can be very tasking---specially with his penchant for attracting all kinds of accidents and his uncanny way of getting into your nerves! Now, with Justin already walking, it's definitely double the craziness! Which is why I take my wife for a date every opportunity I get. Naturally, Valentine's is such an opportunity. With the kids all bribed and oriented as to what needs to be done at home, we scurried off to Cubao to do some post-valentine's celebrating last February 15!

It has been years since we set foot in this part of town that we both agreed to check it out. I have been hearing much about Gateway that we made this the target of our gallivanting. Well, the place did not disappoint us but getting there(from Farmer's Plaza) proved to be an adventure! The myriads of stalls coupled by the volume of shoppers made navigating disorienting! Anyway, we finally made it to Gateway and it was a real treat! Lots of shops and...there's Taco Bell! I have

been craving burritos ever since I got a taste at Enchanted Kingdom last year, unfortunately, no burrito joint is within my area of prowling---now here I am face to face with a menuboard screaming BURRITOS!! I was already salivating as I ordered two burritos for me and the wife. Oh! Now I understand why the cashier was looking at me oddly! To hell with that oggling cashier! At that point, everyone looked like a burrito to me!

I also spotted Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Since Jhoy haven't tasted that yet, I bought one for her to counteract the rich spicy flavor of the burrito. When I finally got to sit down, it was with great effort not to gulp down that one foot size burrito in one giant bite! So I controlled myself to be as finese as I could possibly be! Mental note: plan for a return to Taco Bell in the near future.

As I tried not to choke on the burrito I was trying to savor in small bites, Jhoy told me about a Nescafe promo girl who approached her to sign up to become a member of Nescafe's elite club. So I looked around and there was this foreign looking young lady going about handing out membership cards for anyone who'd care. I was a marketing assistant at Jollibee before and it was part of the gig to approach strangers during surveys and I can emphatize with her going about the foodcourt and trying to choose who's not going to reject her approach. I'm sure that she had a quota to deliver so I called on to her to give me one. Jhoy and I exchanged small talk with her and found out that she was half German and half Filipino. No wonder she looked foreign. Anyway, her age reminded us of our daughter Chesca---kinda look a little bit the same too...

After we had our fill, we chanced upon a condominium showroom and decided to check it out. Who knows, the 210M lotto jackpot is still for grabs! Well, according to the agent, Ayala has big plans for the Cubao area and by the looks of it, they are planning a building spree of high rise condos in the next 3 years! I say it's about time that somebody decided to develop Cubao! In the 70's and 80's it was the primier commercial district. I can still remember the time when my parents would bring us to Cubao every after Christmas to spend our "pinamaskuhan" at SM, Ali Mall, COD or Rustan's and then go for rides in the carnaval. Cubao lost its luster when SM started building their one stop malls!

We were ushered by an agent who showed us the different condo models available. Price tag is between 2M - 6M depending on the model and what floor your unit is at. There were three condo models but what we loved the most was the "two bedroom combine" because it had space for each part of the house: sala, kitchen, dining area, and a laundry room. It also had 3 bathrooms that were absolutely georgeous! However, it can only accomodate a family with three children. Hmmm...I wonder who I need to give away...nahh, just kidding!

Not wanting to get stuck in the helter skelter at the Cubao bus stop, we decided to go back to SM Fairview for dinner and buy that winning lotto ticket (can't win if you don't buy, right?).

Jhoy was craving for paella so we went through the menus at Jay-R's, Gerry's Grill, Flavors of China, and Max's but to no avail. Since Max's was the last eatery we went to, we just decided to

sit down and order what's in the menu. I guess, looking for that elusive paella proved to be an appetite boosting activity judging by the ceramic bare plates we had after!

Over all, it was a fruitful date: eat, window shop, eat, condo tripping, eat, more window shopping, and more eating!