Romano's Macaroni Grill in Dubai Mall

My colleagues and I decided to drive around the area and look for some nice halloween costume for Bella, for her trick or treat event and might as well look for the ones that we would use in the office for a Thursday halloween party. 

Halloween, according to wikipedia is also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows Eve, or All Saints' Eve. A yearly celebration observed in a number of countries, dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints and all the faithful departed believers. Typical festive activities include trick or treating, attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins, telling scary stories and watching horror films. 

In the Philippines though, we observed November 1 a holiday, as it is a "araw ng mga patay" to us, literally means Day of the Dead, it is a yearly tradition for the families to gather together, light candles on the graves of our dearly departed loved ones and stay from morning till dawn in the cemetery. 

Those of us who can't go home during this time of the year, still pay respect to our deceased. I bought this nice lamp from IKEA long time ago, very convenient and safe to leave outside your house until the candle is finish burning off, but make sure to it keep it away from anything that may easily caught fire. 

Anyway, so we went first to  Mr. Ben's Costume Closet - it is a costume and fancy dress shop located in 2nd December Street (Old Al Diyafa Street)/Al Wasl junction, and check out their costumes Prices varies for kids and adult, but unless you are seriously considering scaring the hell out of officemates or winning a prize, it is not worth the expensive attire.

So we went to Dubai Mall and bought some headdress instead. After a while, we were starving already, we decided to use one of our entertainer vouchers and dine in Romano's Macaroni Grill. Nothing catchy about the name, but don't be fooled by this though, the dining experience was to die for. Okay, that was a little exaggerated. But let me take to one of the restaurant you wouldn't want to miss.

The place was located at the back of the famous big aquarium. 

This is the first time I discovered this area, the nearest you can get to the glass of the aquarium. 

The place was also impressive

We were introduce to our server, this we usually forget, even if they wear their nameplate, this one is something different, because, they write the name in your table. What is more amazing is that, they write it backwards, up side down text. By the way, table cloth are made of papers.

Neat right?  We were give our complimentary bread with dip in olive oil and pepper.

The bread dipped in olive oil and pepper was fine and healthy, but using butter instead was way better for me.

Our voucher was a buy 1 main meal and get 1 main meal for free. What we did was buy 3 main meals and drinks and split the bill minus the free meal.

To start off with our order

One of my colleague chose Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Flatbread. AED 48

this menu is caramelized onions, truffle oil and herbs. Highly recommended, they serve it hot, so it is best to eat while it is still crunchy.

Next on the list, is Mama's Trio. AED 74

From the name itself, three pastas in one plate, chicken parmesan, lasagna bolognese, chicken & mushroom cannelloni. AED 74

If you are a pasta lover, I would recommend you to order this. However, most Filipinos are into Filipino Style Spaghetti. So you know what I mean. 

I am not sure how many of you went gaga over Twilight Saga but I was and still am.  One of the scene on the first Twilight movie is when Edward took Bella for dinner in Bella Italia Restaurant in port Angeles, Bella ordered none other than my very own order.

Mushroom Ravioli. AED 61.

It is a porcini-stuffed, caramelized onions in marsala cream sauce. The serving is just right for a single meal. 

That's about it, for now. You may want to consider this place for a dine in experience. Share it with a friend or bunch of friends. People who love to eat are always the best people.

Cheers!

All the best,

Am I a Hypochondriac?

My friend and I just had a conversation just a few hours ago, that I am so paranoid about being sick. You see, I am feeling a heavy pain in my chest a few week's back. So I had myself check. The doctor ordered x-ray and ECG and all my tests turned out to be normal. But I guess the Doctor felt I wasn't convince, so again ordered several tests for me just to ease my mind.  I again went to the hospital today, after they seek approval from my medical card. Today, they took blood from me to tests my Total T3, T4 , TSH, Na, K, CI (Please don't ask me what are those for...I have no idea) Then I went through 2D echo, where I could  hear the sound of my heartbeat.

and finally, the stress test, where they put sticky patches on me and made me run in a treadmill barefooted, they didn't tell me though when to stop and the rate just keeps on increasing. I wasn't prepared for it and I just lasted for 10 minutes.

After all the tests, the Doctor told me that all are normal. Except for the blood tests, I need to wait for 2 days to get the result.  I was relieved of course, only thing is that, I can't get this nagging feeling that it isn't. Then I thought of searching this psychological disorder just for the heck of it and come across Hypocondria, the excessive preoccupancy or worry about having a serious illness. I think I have a mild one. Nothing to be worried about. By the way, this is just a thought, that I now intend to forget. 

Anyway, I am just happy that all is well. Just waiting for the final result of all the tests and hope everything is alright. 

I just want to share, 1 funny photo of me after we left the hospital.

Someone left something on me. 

All the best,

Girl Scout of the Philippines in Dubai

I decided to have some time off today from work to make way for my mini-MEs scouting event.  Every year her school is organizing the scouting activity. From KG1, KG2 and now that she is in Grade school, a Star Scout.

I remembered the only time I joined such even is when I was in Grade 3, where I was still studying in a public school in our place. We stayed the whole day camping in our school grounds cooking rice and dishes for the day and setting up campfires. I had to admit that I didn't enjoy it much.  Maybe because I'd rather play then?

So what is really the meaning of being a Twinkler, Star Scout and Girls Scout? I believe its mission is to help girls and young women realize the ideals of womanhood and prepare themselves for their responsibilities in the home, and to the nation, and the world community.  

Do you think its beneficial to add this to our curriculum? Does it really serve its purpose? Its really difficult to say, depending on how you practice being one, but if you will like just stay in school grounds with mock campsites and all? Really? Or better yet why not improve on how school conduct the activities for their students? I watched one of the episodes of Sofia The First (one of mini-MEs favorite cartoons...and mine too) where the girl scouts who went into the forest and have first hand experience on how to survive and be independent in real life situation, that is the ideal activity. although, in my opinion, there may be other things that would be more appropriate trainings in preparing our kids for the future. But anyway, maybe its just me. 

Moving forward,  I just want to share with you some of the highlights of her event.

 All the best,

Title less entry

I can't really think of a title for this, its been a while since I blog, like ages ago! I'm really excited to start all over again. I visited my site from time to time and still able to see some of your comments, Thank you for still reading my entries. I guess this will be a start of a new beginning for me in the world of blogging. Hopefully I will still be able to keep it up and running in spite of my busy schedule.  Far-ouT is also on my case why I wasn't blogging anymore. Well, for one thing, my minnie me, for some reason, manage to spill water on our ASUS laptop and it short out, now typing on its own.  Since then, I have been relying on my Iphone5 which made it difficult for me to keep up with blogging.

My Far-ouT was generous to buy me my new laptop and not just another ASUS or HP one. Its one of A-List (number 28)...My very own, 13-inch  Macbook Air. I am still getting the hang of it so bear with my for a while.

I won't make this entry a long one. I just want my presence felt. I am so back! Hopefully a more informative and detailed entries.