Quezon City – Anne Goes to Places

This year’s Lantern Parade was my last since I will be graduating on April. Compared to the previous Lantern Parades I’ve attended, this year’s was the only parade where I went on my own. Challenge accepted to do the #foreveralone peg in this prestigious UP Diliman event. While waiting for the parade to start, I took these pictures to distract myself…

_MG_2408 — Palma Hall looking grand and majestic

The only lanterns I saw were up until those from the Asian Institute of Tourism. Before I left the area, I saw College of Education’s lantern nearing AS Steps.

Reason #1 why I left early: My only companion, best friend Kim, can attend the parade but she had to go home early. Since all the good spots were already occupied and she hasn’t arrived yet, we would not be able to have a good view of the lanterns.

Reason #2: A lot of people standing had cameras and whenever a lantern was approaching, everyone would flock there. Curse my height because I could not see anything anymore; thus, I could not take any good pictures.

Reason #3: Lantern Parade is a signal for me that Christmas is approaching but for some reason, I don’t feel the Christmas vibes. The spirit of Grinch and Uncle Scrooge has probably possessed me. I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll be exorcised this week, though. 😦

Anyway, here are the only pictures I had during the parade…

Whenever I think that graduation is fast approaching, I feel ecstatic and at the same time very sad. I will surely miss sceneries like these, especially during sunsets.

Spent the rest of the evening with Kim. We headed to TriNoma to hang out and catch up with each other’s life. I missed you big time, propphi! 🙂

Best friends forever <3 — Best friends forever ❤

Overdue post.

Finally found the time (and kasipagan) to post where my family ate to celebrate my younger sister’s 20th birthday. Oops. I think I was not supposed to say the age… but she does not look 20! 😉

Anywaaay, I’ve been hopping around Filipino food blogs for the past two weeks to look for hole-in-the-wall kainan or restos I haven’t heard of. I stumbled upon The Pickiest Eater‘s post on Dimsum Break, which is the first Luzon branch of Ding Qua Qua / Harbor City. A few people know that I spent three years of my childhood life in Cebu. Even if I was not able to master the language of Cebuanos, I still feel I’m a Cebuana at heart.

One thing that will always remind me of Cebu is the famed steamed rice from Harbor City. My tatay went back to Cebu a few months ago and I begged him to take home even just one order of steamed rice since it’s been years since I last ate one. And yes, he really bought just one order for me. Haha! So, imagine my excitement and happiness when I read that Harbor City opened up a branch in SM North EDSA. XD

Dimsum Break's menu — Dimsum Break’s menu

What’s different in Dimsum Break is they do not have people pushing around carts where you can choose the food that you want to eat. (That’s how they roll in Harbor City… or at least when I was still a kid) Instead, they have a counter where you can choose different dimsums on display. They also have a menu where you can choose noodles/soups, siopao, desserts, and beverages.

I introduce to you, my readers, the steamed (fried) rice! One bowl of it is enough to fill your stomach. My sister and I can’t help but say that it’s already expensive since back then, this dish costs PhP25 only. But that was back in 1999 pa eh! It has pork, shrimp, and peas together with Dimsum Break’s special sauce. 😉

My sister ordered this and I was so happy since this dimsum is full of shrimp. The “blooming flower” appearance of this dimsum gives the effct that it’s huuuuuge though it’s really enough to take away your hunger. 🙂

I actually can’t remember how these two dishes were called but the names I gave them are enough to help you determine the main ingredient of the dimsum. *wink wink* Both are really delicious but I like the crab dimsum more. I’m not a fan of super oily foods so if you’re like me, you will definitely love the fried dimsum the restaurant offers.

So far, this is the best lomi I’ve ever eaten. There is a generous serving of meat and vegetables plus the bowl is big enough to share with another person. It’s not too salty for my taste and the soup was really hot when they served it.

Dun dun dun dun! Hail Dimsum Break for combining two of my favorite foods in the world — bacon and siomai. Duh! I was quite nervous how this dish would fare since the bacon is steamed, not fried. As far as I can remember, this dish was not yet present during my family’s stay in Cebu. Anyway, one bite of bacon siomai erased the doubts I had on it. Absolutely D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. I will definitely place this in my to-order mental list whenever I eat at Dimsum Break.

After eating, we went around the mall since we ate so much. Good thing we did because we accidentally spotted a Hello Kitty exhibit at The Block. ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ Here are some pictures I took with the family.