My Top 3 posts for 2013: Whitemoon Bar, Aling Banang's, Amber

This is my first post for 2014 so however late, let me greet you a Happy New Year. I wish you blessed days and months ahead, with your needs and heart's desires granted by our awesome God. Well, my 2013 was a good one, especially when it comes to this foodie diary. After a year and a half since its inception, The Awesome Grind had over 20,000 visitors at the year's end. I know it was no big feat but it made me very happy, to think that I almost gave up blogging at the start, sad that nobody seemed to read my posts apart from my husband. So to everyone who visits my blog, thank you so much! Mwaah! Truth to tell, I really don't consider myself a true-blue blogger. To me, I'm just a hobbyist. Though I'm a writer and editor by profession, I'm a mere amateur when it comes to photography. Also, I'm no geek and so I've no idea how to "beautify" this blog. Given these reasons, I know I can't be lined up among the "legal" bloggers, and I certainly am just happy there are people like you who read my posts in this blog of sort. Hey, before I move you to tears, let me share with you the Top 3 posts in The Awesome Grind last year, based on the number of hits or visits. 
Here they are:

3. Amber on a Black Saturday  (March 31, 2013)

I had two posts about Amber last year and the first one made it to No. 3. My first visit to Amber was on Good Friday. Lucky for me (and family), their Tomas Morato branch was open. Since then, I'd visited Amber two more times till the year's end, both occasions at their T.M. Kalaw branch. My family loves Amber because of the superb Pinoy food that they serve, at pocket-friendly prices to boot. No wonder this resto is a popular Google search, and the reason it's one of my most-visited posts. Amber is famous for its delicious Pancit Malabon and Pichi-Pichi plus a lot more of our favorite Filipino dishes.

2. Aling Banang's: Over eight decades of glorious carinderia food (July 3, 2013)

Aling Banang's is a carinderia that started inside the San Juan Public Market in the 1930s. After some 80 years, it now has some 14 branches around Metro Manila, though their FB page says only 11 are authentic. It was my husband, who grew up in san Juan, who first brought me to Aling Banang's, boasting about how good their ice cream halo-halo was. You see, this refreshing and sweet dessert at Aling Banang's is unique because it has no ice - only homemade ice cream. Well, they also serve regular halo-halo with ice but it was the ice cream halo-halo that made Aling Banang's famous. Last year, one branch of this carinderia opened just a stone's throw away from our office in Quezon City. Needless to say, I'm always there. Haha! Their pancit bihon is too die for, with the crunchy-skinned lechon kawali on top. For just P45 per serving (which is huge, I never finish it in one sitting), it is such a joy! There was a period before the year ended that I ate pancit bihon at Aling Banang's everyday. Haha! But before I discovered their pancit, I ate lechon kawali with fried rice at every visit. Check out Aling Banang's for some down-to-earth yumminess.

1. Whitemoon Bar: Where sunset tops the menu (February 12, 2013)

We (my two daughters and the eldest's beau) were at Whitemoon Bar February last year. What a bliss to be at this place at the Manila Ocean Park in time for sunset. For lovers of the sea and dusk like me, this bar is pure bliss! You get to eat, drink and just chillax while enjoying nature. No better way to unwind and shake off all the stress at work. We enjoyed their baked mussels, nachos, tacos and carbonara. The spaghetti with meatballs was not so good, though. Prices are steep but the cool ambiance makes up for it.
This 2014, I look forward to more foodie discoveries to share with you, guys. Hope you visit my blog in the weeks ahead. Together, let's enjoy good food and just have a good time. 
God bless!

Fresh start, new beginnings

New year, fresh start! As 2012 was a challenging year for me, I welcome 2013 with a big smile and arms wide open. To me, it offers hope for a better life ahead career-wise and on the personal front. Oh well, 2012 was not so bad. A lot of beautiful things happened inside the home and family and while it was quite difficult in the third quarter at work, things turned brighter toward the last quarter. 

On the home front, three of the kids graduated in March - our eldest from college, the second from high school, and the youngest from kindergarten. Those were joyous occasions for me and my husband, never mind that these incurred huge expenses. Haha! Around March also, I started this blog, inspired by the numerous food blogs that I read. Doing photography (though amateurishly. Hehe!) and writing each post excite me and give me a sense of fulfillment both as an artist and a writer. Come summertime, my two sisters based in the US and Canada came home and all of us in the family save for our dad went on a weekend vacation in Legazpi, Albay. Seeing Mayon Volcano up close and personal was indeed an overwhelming and exhilarating experience, what with its majestic beauty and magnificence. We also spent two weeks in our father's hometown of San Francisco in Quezon Province, where we spent almost every single day swimming in the beach or simply walking along the seashore. I thoroughly enjoyed burying my feet on the sand, breathing in the fresh, cool air and taking pictures of the sunset by the sea. Meanwhile, December offered a different high for me as the office Christmas party presented me with an opportunity to go back to my first love and showcase a talent long buried in the hills of my personal life - dancing. When I was young, it was my dream to become a member of OctoArts or Wea Dancers so I could dance on TV. No kidding! Haha! Dancing was my life at school and elsewhere until college at UST but when when I entered the College of the Holy Spirit, went into a serious relationship and eventually finished college and got married, dancing (and choreographing) took a backseat. Until our Christmas party in the office came. Were my co-workers surprised that I could actually dance and even choreograph a dance number! Haha! I was thrilled to be dancing again. These were the highlights of my 2012.

Dusk. I took this sunset photo in our hometown in Quezon Province.

My sister's snapshot of Mayon Volcano. The file of my own shots was destroyed by virus, sadly and unfortunately.

 

And now, it's 2013. I hope to be able to dance in more occasions. Haha! Also, there are other things I hope to be able to do. I want to be able to finish and hang a painting, to do fashion design again as I did in my teenage years, to relearn playing the piano and try new recipes. As a new year resolution, I hope and will try my best to manage my time and wake up early in the mornings. More importantly, I want to have a closer relationship with God and to be able to spread His word in my own little way. 

Have a blessed, bountiful and beautiful 2013 everyone! Cheers!