Comfort Food at Pen Pen (de Sarapan)

Pandesal with pesto-kesong puti?! Penoy Carbonara??!!! Tomato Kebab Rice????!!! These are just some of the food that caught our attention when we visited Pen Pen (de Sarapan) last week. It boasts of "comfort food araw araw" at very affordable prices. Indeed, we take our hats off.

Pen Pen at 105-C Scout Castor St., South Triagle, Quezon City, Metro Manila is a small cozy restaurant that serves comfort food such as various pandesal filling like adobo, kesong puti, menudo, ham and sardines, soup combo with pandesal, pasta with local flavors like tinapa, aligue, penoy (duck egg), crispy liempo (bacon-cut), rice with flavors like kebab or aligue and more.

(Obviously, this resto is not for the health buffs who are concerned about calories and cholesterol. :)

We tried their carbonara, double burger steak, molo with kesong puti, tomato kebab rice and crispy liempo. I am not so much into white sauce for my pasta (but my little Julia is), so we ordered the carbonara. I have to say the preparation is very tasty. The sauce is not too creamy-sticky (which I don't really like) but rather, light and smooth. The topping is a mix of bacon, cheese, and a white chewy 'thingy' that feels very much like the white part of the penoy-egg (we didn't order the Penoy Carbonara that's why I'm not sure of this - blimey, we didn't ask!)

The fried liempo looks and tastes like bacon to me - Andy who is really a pork lover - enjoyed it. Geof is a burger kid so that's his order. The burger is tasty - the mixture is acually similar to how I prepare my own version (naks!) The sun dried tomato-kebab rice was a delight.

I was the most 'adventurous' and hence, ordered the pandesal with kesong puti-pesto and the Molo soup (ok, not that adventurous :) But to my surprise, the molo soup has melted cheese on it (feels and tastes like pizza cheese).

And, as always, the price is the best. Food prices range only between P50-P150. It even has free wifi. Every Tuesday, if you feel like pigging out on pasta, it offers pasta all you can - where, according to their ad, 7 sauces are available! View more photos of Pen Pen food offerings at clickthecity.com.

Presenting, Toby and Coby Hamsters!

Last Summer, I made a pact with Julia, that as soon as she finishes her summer swimming lessons, we'll get her hamsters. She was ecstatic that just after the first day of her swimming lessons, she bugged us to no end about "the promise." How can one refuse a kid who bargains with that sweet little eyes and smile ...

So we got the hamsters - two males since we don't want a poultry of hammies. Naming them was tricky. We argued on several names - Bob, Rocky, Brownie..., until the names just sprang out - Coby and Toby! Coby is the colored brown hamster, while Toby is white one.

(Though Toby 1, the white hammie, suddenly died after just 10 days for reasons we couldn't understand. We buried him and had a small white tomb with his name on it. We got a second white hamster and named it Toby 2).

Very tiny when we got them, now they are "adolescents" - how did we know? Because their 'testicles' suddenly appeared from nowhere that we had to research if they are afflicted with a sickness called 'huge testicles syndrome' or something. We soon learned that it's normal for hamster, as soon as they reach puberty, to have huge t's and there's nothing to worry about (Believe me, they are H-U-G-E- huge)

They have been a joy ever since, Toby and Coby. After a tiring day at work/ school, just watching these two energetic kiddos fool around and exercise their hearts out is enough to put a smile on our face... They actually are good inspirations to those too lethargic to exercise.

(in the first video is Coby in the exercise wheel while Toby is busy cleaning himself)

(in the second video, Coby and Toby share the wheel)

Magic!

I am really amazed with the fast hands of magicians. During the birthday party of Julia at Kenny Rogers, we hired a magician to entertain the guests. One of his tricks which you can watch in the video was the "Magic Newspaper." After tearing the newspaper into small pieces as seen by the audience, he finally presents a newspaper - in one piece. Wow! I watched the video several times but I can't seem to catch the trick. You know I developed an interest in magic tricks. I was inspired by my nephew, Memong who does magic tricks during our family reunions. I did one of his magic tricks, "the missing drinking glass", during our department and college christmas party. I taped the trick in video and this was presented in our college christmas party. My DLSU colleague, Dr. Raymund Tan, a genius and an NAST awardee is still wondering how I did the trick. Magic tricks can not be explained by mathematical equations. It's in the hands!