Worst Service from JRS Contractors/ Jackie Salas

*Note: JRS Contractor has a new name and sulit.com.ph site: FurnitureFairStation

Let me share this unfortunate scenario involving us and a company who sells furnitures over Multiply and Sulit.com.ph:


We ordered a bed frame, nightstand and 2 seater dining set from JRS Contractors. We chose from the designs they posted in their multiply site: particularly the Gumila bed, Bexhill dining set and 1 nightstand which came with the Gumila bed. We went to their Mandaluyong office to pay 50% deposit for our order.

Upon ordering, we were assisted by one of their staff and we selected our orders in their office computer. We were advised by Jackie Salas of JRS Contractors (same as JRS Furnitures) that an order will take around a week to finish. She also told us that the furnitures we ordered were "ready made" contrary to what we thought as "made to order." Thus, it is just safe to assume that our orders will be delivered faster than expected of a "made to order" or custom made furniture.

Xtremely Xpresso: surely for the xtremely hungry!

We spent one long weekend at the Subic Yacht Club with friends and our children in tow. And with kids who yell "FOOD!" and "HUNGRY!" every once in a while, one great place to satisfy everyone's appetite in Subic would be Xtremely Xpresso.

Xtremely Xpresso is a coffee shop but they are known for their gigantic pizza. Their small being 14 inches in diameter---yep, you read it right, it's their smallest size, while their largest is a whopping 22 inches!!!

The tarp says it all

Johnny Rockets: the mother of all monay burgers.

Johnny Rockets Eastwood Mall

Johnny Rockets in Anaheim marked the venue of my first time to drink a malt shake. During my brief stint in California, I made a mental list of food I'd like to try out, usual U.S. fares that I only get to see in the movies and in Archie comics---stuffs like chinese takeout, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and malt shake.

Bangkok taxi fare

To add to some useful information you might need to do your own DIY Bangkok trip, here are some tourist tips when going around Bangkok via taxi.

When planning your trip, have an estimate of your fare in case there's no BTS near your planned destination.

I did this with the help of googlemaps and a fare table of Bangkok's taxis. Here's how I went about it:

Thuk Thai: hidden thai food gem

Mr. Lee's phad thai (left) & another phad thai in one of Suan Lum market food stalls (right). Both are from our Bangkok trip last year.

Absence makes the tongue grow fonder.

Nope, the above statement is not a typo error.

After tasting authentic phad thai in Bangkok last year, I've been craving to taste another one here in Manila. I've tried several Thai restaurants in the metro, like Som's---all boasting to serve authentic phad thais. But alas, all failed to meet this phad thai hunter's expectations.

Steamed Fish Fillet with Garlic (taken from CTS' blog)

My version of Steamed Fish Fillet with Garlic

Crave Burger Katipunan: are their burgers something to crave for?

For those who frequent the White Plains area, you might have noticed this relatively new burger joint called Crave Burger fronting the plant stores along Katipunan Ave. This burger joint kept us intrigued for several trips going home (since we always pass by this area) until sudden hunger pangs prompted us to finally try it out.

Crave Burger Katipunan Ave. Branch

Lumpiang Bangus

 

I love lumpiang shanghai --it's the Filipino version of egg rolls or spring rolls. When I didn't know how to cook yet, I favor the lumpia of Meal Stop (Telephone No. 523-1558) in Manila and Luyong's (featured in one of Connie Veneracion's Pinoycook blog entry). When we moved in to our own place, I vowed that I wouldn't buy something that I can prepare in my own kitchen. Among the recipes in my kitchen line-up is that of lumpiang shanghai.

The Best Chicken Adobo Recipe Indeed!

Adobo. Every non-Pinoy with a Pinoy friend has probably tasted this dish. It's a process of cooking meat, usually pork or chicken or both, stewing the meat in vinegar and soy sauce. It's one of those dishes you'd want to prepared in one big batch since it does not spoil easily plus it does taste better when you reheat it.

During the first months of my married life, I've tried (in vain) to cook a decent adobo dish. With absolutely no background in cooking (I couldn't even fry egg decently), I thought it was a relatively simple dish to start cooking with since it contains few and no elaborate ingredients. But boy, I was wrong. My adobo turned out to be too salty, too runny or worse, it turned out to be an asado (braised dish of pork or chicken in sweet, salty sauce)!

Just when I almost gave up on cooking adobo, I came upon this recipe which claimed to be the best adobo recipe ever. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got this recipe to give the author due credit. Whoever it is, thank you and it is the best adobo recipe indeed!

Bangkok DIY Temple Tour

 The golden chedi: one of the many attractions at the Grand Palace

This is a continuation of my DIY Bangkok itinerary posts. The first post, Bangkok DIY: The Search for the best Phad Thai included our prepared itineray for 3 days. The second one, Behind the scenes of the DIY Bangkok Trip, discussed useful sites you can use in preparing your DIY trip to Bangkok.

For this post, I will discuss, in detail (as much as I can remember), our second day in Bangkok where we toured the Wat Pho, Grand Palace and Wat Arun. We capped the day with mall hopping at Siam Center and MBK.

CHICKEN EMBUTIDO

In my father's hometown in Laguna, there's this particular lady known to make great embutido (steamed meat roll). My paternal grandmother would make sure that she orders from this lady several rolls of embutido enough for us to feast on and there's even more for us to take home. We just store them in the freezer and fry or steam it whenever we want our embutido dose.

Embutido is similar to meatloaf; it is a mixture of ground meat, spices, egg and extenders which is usually day old bread. You can bet that there's always embutido on the table during birthdays, fiestas (town feasts) and other occasions.

Sinigang Na Lechon

Our neighbor gave us a generous amount of lechon (roasted pork) left from their New Year celebration. Like any other person, one dish came to my mind when I had to decide the left-over lechon’s fate—you’re right: Paksiw na Lechon.

Macau Map and Bus Route

I'm currently preparing our itinerary for our Hong Kong - Macau trip this year. Everything seems to go smoothly until I got to the day where we are supposed to have a day tour around Macau. 

Unlike Hong Kong, there's not MTR or anything like our good ol' MRT in Macau. I had the impression that getting around the area won't be as convenient since we have to rely on taking the bus or the cab. Of course, Macau has its advantages over Hong Kong in terms of savings on transport expenses with the presence of numerous free shuttle buses from major hotels and casinos in the peninsula. 

Behind the scenes of the DIY Bangkok Trip

Making your own travel itinerary may seem tasking, but several members in travel forums I've joined say it's easy. Just how easy is it?

When I made our itinerary for Bangkok, it's as if I faced a major road block--- I didn't know where to begin.

Bangkok DIY: The Search for the best Phad Thai

Anyone set for Bangkok?

Before you contact your travel agent or get on a set tour, allow me to share our DIY (do-it-yourself) Bangkok trip for our fourth year anniversary.

It was my first time to plan (in detail, as you would see later) an out of the country trip for me and my husband. I did plan our past out-of-town trips within the Philippines, but I initially doubted that planning a trip abroad would be just as easy---well, to be honest, it's not! Heehee...

Okay, I'm supposed to entice you to do a DIY Bangkok trip, right? I won't say it's as easy as planning a local trip. It can be intimidating at first, with all that worry about currency conversion, language barrier, etc.---but trust me, I was able to do everything without a glitch! (Wink!)