How Can We Help?

I did not want to blog about the grimness of the onslaught made by the typhoon Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) to my home country, Philippines, last Saturday (26th September 2009). It is too heart-wrenching for me to recall and post photos of the sufferings of my kababayans. I couldn't help but cry with them for their tragedy when I watched video clippings and photo slideshows of the aftermath from youtube and facebook.

Instead, what I want to focus on in this topic is about how to give help in rebuilding the lives and homes of those affected.

The recent event is one of the rare moments wherein the rich and the poor leveled on the same ground. Everyone needed help and everyone is extending help.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia.org) Typhoon Ondoy as it leaves the Philippines
So, how can we help?

It doesn’t matter where we are in the globe. We can help our countrymen thru any of the following 4 ways, as long as we are able.

1) Be a rescuer. If not possible in the flesh, do it thru the use of technology. You may call, send SMS or email to the following agencies to ask help for those who have yet to be rescued, if you heard of any (or worst, bodies to be recovered):

NATIONAL DISASTER COORDINATING COUNCIL (NDCC): +63 2 9125668, 9111406, 9115061, 9122665
NDCC Help hotlines: +65 734-2118, 734-2120
NDCC Email: ndcchelpdesk@gmail.com
PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD: +63 2 5276136
AIR FORCE: +63 908 1126976, +63 28535023
METRO MANILA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (MMDA): 136
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL RED CROSS: 143, +63 2 5270000

2) Donate in cash or kind. Send your donations only to the legitimate donation centers. Many are taking advantage of the situation and giving false accounts and information for their own benefit.

DSWD-NCR: +63 2 734-8622, 734-8642

WORLD VISION FOUNDATION: +63 917 5594272
For $ donations, BPI: USD acct #4254-0050-08

PHILIPPINE NATIONAL RED CROSS: visit their site HERE for various ways to donate

Akbayan: 63 2 4336933, 4336831

UNICEF: 63 2 7581000, 7581442
Metrobank account: UNICEF C/A 066-7-06631209-3

CARITAS
Domestic Cash Donations can be deposited through the following CARITAS MANILA bank accounts any branch nationwide:
Banco De Oro: Savings Account No. 3970006958
BPI: Savings Account No. 3063-5357-01
Chinabank: Savings Account No. 103-3099715
Metrobank: Savings Account No. 175-3-17506954-3
RCBC: Savings Account No. 3-000-90221-6
UCPB: Savings Account No. 128-162208-7
Security Bank: Current Account No. 0141-019452-001

For overseas donors, please deposit your donation to Caritas Manila-BPI Dollar Saving Account No. 3064-0033-55 or PNB Dollar Savings Account No. 108566600025

For US based donors who want tax incentives, you may course your donations through Ayala Foundation USA 255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428, Redwood City, CA 94065, USA

ABS-CBN SAGIP KAPAMILYA: +63 2 4132667, 4160387
Bank: Banco de Oro, Mother Ignacia branch
Acct name: ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.
Acct no.: 5630020111
Routing code for international cash donations: BNORPHMM ABS-CBN Branch

GMA KAPUSO FOUNDATION: for cash and cheque donations
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (METROBANK)
Peso Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 3-098-51034-7
Dollar Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 2-098-00244-2
Code: MBTC PH MM

United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB)
Peso Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 115-184777-2; 160-111277-7
Dollar Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 01-115-301177-9; 01-160-300427-6
Code: UCPB PH MM

Banco De Oro (BDO)
Peso Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 469-0022189
Dollar Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 469-0072135
Code: BNORPHMM

Philippine National Bank (PNB)
Peso Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 121-003200017
Dollar Savings
Account Name: GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc.
Account Number: 121-003200025
Code: PNB MPH MM

3) Be a volunteer. Go out and help in packing food and clothing for our displaced kababayan.

WORLDVISION FOUNDATION: +63 917 5594272
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL RED CROSS: +63 2 5270000
AKBAYAN: +63 2 4336933, 4336831
ABS-CBN SAGIP KAPAMILYA: +63 2 4132667, 4160387
GMA KAPUSO FOUNDATION: +63 2 9317013

4) Pray for the victims. Let us do this on top of the above.

Dining at Chili’s with Friends

It was more than three weeks now since Boq, I and two of our friends, Randy and Raquel, went to dine in at Chili’s. The two were my former officemates. We really bonded well together with our other Filipino co-workers in our previous company in Dubai and have maintained the friendship even when we left the company. Since they are now also based here in Abu Dhabi like me, we get together once in a while. Three Fridays ago was one of our get together moments.

Why Chili’s?

A week before the said occasion, our other friends from Dubai, Amy and Levi, introduced to us the fajita quesadillas served in Chili’s (Dubai Mall branch) during our visit to Dubai with Clifford. I was still full at that time so I could not enjoy the meal. I suggested to Boq that we try it again. I also liked the restaurant’s idea of serving bottomless tostada chips. It is common to find bottomless beverage on a restaurant’s menu but not on appetizers.


The Restaurant

Whether you are a frequent guest, a first timer or a passerby, you would immediately notice that big red chili pepper hanging from the ceiling of any Chili’s Grill and bar. That’s the restaurant’s appropriate “symbolic figure.”

The Chili’s branch we went to was in Mariah Mall located at the rightmost corner of the ground level. The mall is situated in the busy intersection of 6th and Hamdan streets. The look of the restaurant is more or less similar to other Chili’s branch I visited, specifically the high industrial type ceiling and the colorful mosaic tiled tables.

One thing I like about Chili’s is its informal ambiance. You don’t have to worry if you are dressed to kill or on your simple shirt and jeans only, or whether it is allowed to laugh out loud without being stared at by other guests. It’s simply fun and unpretentious.

The Food

Boq and I arrived at Chili’s a little early than scheduled but the restaurant was already busy then because our timing coincided with Iftar. We were made to wait for a while to be seated.

Once seated and while waiting for our friends to arrive, we ordered our drinks and the bottomless tostada chips, which took very long to arrive. It was past seven p.m. and the two haven’t arrived yet. And since the service was getting real slow, I suggested to Boq that we take our orders for the main course and thought that either Randy or Raquel wouldn’t mind. (True enough they didn’t mind at all.)

As I mentioned, I wasn’t able to take much pleasure on the feast the last time we ate at Chili’s so we mimic the same selection that Amy made then: beef fajita quesadillas, chicken crispers and our pre-ordered warm crispy tostada chips. We just added in garlic shimp alfredo pasta, as we were also craving for some pasta dish.

The bottomless tostada chips were saltier than the one served in Chili’s Dubai Mall, but the house made salsa was as great. The chips were served in a very large serving basket. We were unable to request for a refill as the first serving was more than enough for the four of us.


The fajita quesadillas was a plateful of buttery toasted tortillas filled with marinated fajita steak, grilled onions and jack cheese. It is normally being served with rice, black beans, sour cream and pico de gallo (chopped veggies). But, instead of rice we requested to replace it with sweet corn on the cob. For me, the sweet corn was a better choice than the rice as it complemented the sour cream and pico de gallo. The fajita was good. I just wished, similar to tostada chips, they would lessen the salt. Aside from the fajita steak, Chili’s other quesadilla choice is grilled chicken.


The chicken crispers were strips of hand battered fried chicken minus the bones and skin, if I’m not mistaken. It can be likened to fried chicken fillet covered with bread crumbs. The crispers were served also with sweet corn on the cob, French fries and honey mustard dip. The honey mustard dip was great for the chicken and a welcome alternative compared to the usual catsup or gravy.


The shrimp alfredo pasta consisted of penne pasta with spicy shrimps seasoned with garlic and lime tossed in creamy alfredo sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and served with garlic toast. I thought the creaminess of this pasta dish was just about right. Not too heavy and not too light. The shrimps were quite tasty. I was happy with our pasta choice.


The Drinks

The usual selection of beverage from fruit juices, shakes, soft drinks, bottled water and iced tea were available. We all opted for bottomless iced lemon tea. Chili’s is one of those restaurants that served tea on ice and lemon without sugar, then you will be given a separate container with sugar syrup to sweeten your iced tea as you like.

I’d say that we all had an enjoyable evening, especially when Randy’s cool (and really expensive!) digital camera started rolling.

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing Chili’s. I am simply blogging my eating out experience.

Thai Crab Curry Recipe

I love Thai food!

Having lived in Thailand for more than 4 years, I developed my fondness for Thai food. Fortunately, my hubby Boq has a penchant for the same.

Since I have now learned my way into the kitchen, I would like to experiment on Thai cooking especially on some of our favorites. For a start, I prepared Thai Crab Curry. In the days to come, I will be posting more Thai recipes.

Thai crab curry is one of our favorite Thai food. I checked a couple of Thai cooking tutorials and found out that it is not that hard to prepare it.

Thai Crab Curry
One setback in Thai cooking is that it involves a lot of ingredients and some are usually unique to Thai cuisine. Some of the original ingredients for the crab curry were not easy to find in the market here so I made do with whatever was available. The result was good especially for a first-timer but I know that I can still make it better next time.

Frying Crab Pieces
Here is the recipe for the Thai Crab Curry.

Ingredients:
½ kilo fresh crabs, wash clean
1 tbsp. Thai curry powder
1 stalk celery
2-3 stalks spring onion (scallions)
1 large onion (preferably white onion)
2-3 pieces red chili, sliced
2-3 tbsp. oyster sauce
½ tsp. ground pepper (preferably white ground pepper)
2 pieces egg
1 to 2 tbsp. Thai chili paste (preferably roasted Thai chili paste)
1 cup evaporated milk
Cooking oil

Chili Paste, Milk ang Egg Mixture
Cooking Instructions:
1) Combine the chili paste and the milk then beat in the egg. Mix thoroughly then set aside.
2) Remove crab shell then cut the crabs into pieces. Separate large claws and crack them including legs.
3) Heat oil in a large wok or deep pan then fry crabs pieces until done.
4) Add Thai curry into the wok.
5) Pour in the mixture of chili paste, milk and eggs.
6) Then add oyster sauce, celery and spring onions. Sprinkle with pepper. Mix well and continue cooking until done.

Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes
Serving size: 2-4 persons

Goodbye Patrick Swayze

When I opened my Yahoo Mail this morning, the sad news of Patrick Swayze’s passing appeared on my screen. According to the news, he died on Monday (September 14) after a 20-month long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Photo credit: The Internet Movie Database
His movie “Ghost” opposite Demi Moore became such a big hit in 1990 in the US and internationally. In the Philippines, it was run in theaters for months, and there was even a re-run of the film a few years later. It was no wonder because Ghost was a great romantic drama film. The acting and story were just superb. Who would ever forget Sam and Molly, pottery and Unchained Melody?

Photo credit: Wikipedia
Aside from the movie Ghost, Patrick Swayze also starred in another hit film titled “Dirty Dancing.”

The news also reported that Patrick Swayze died peacefully with his family at his bedside. For me, one thing to be thankful about the passing of someone you love or very dear to you because of lingering illness is for the reason that you are able to show them your affection in their last days on earth. Unlike sudden deaths, the degree of pain may be the same but the acceptance of their passing is probably easier.

Goodbye Mr. Swayze and rest in peace.

Almost Loving Figaro’s Pizza

We had a very filling dinner at Figaro's Pizza in Marina Mall on Friday evening courtesy of our friend Cliff, who, as I mentioned in my previous post, was here in Abu Dhabi for a three-week work assignment. He is about to leave in a few days and so he took the chance last weekend to offer us a dinner treat, which Boq and I happily obliged. Some friends were supposed to be with us but were not able to make it, the result; I had a date with two gentlemen!

The Restaurant

First of all, Figaro's Pizza is not at all related to Figaro, a famous coffee shop in the Philippines. One of the staff who happened to be a kabayan confirmed this when my curiosity got into me.

Figaro's Pizza
The restaurant is located at the second level in Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi. It is rather small but with chic furniture and lighting fixtures. There were not too many service crews but most were very attentive. The service was also fast. We did not have to wait very long for the food to arrive considering that there are quite a number of guests that evening.

Figaro's Pizza House
The Food

Figaro's Pizza serves authentic Italian pizzas and pasta dishes. They have a large selection of pizza in the menu. You will be made to choose which crust you fancy from thin, medium and thick.

For appetizer, we ordered hot chicken wings and mixed salad bar, while for main course, it is seafood supreme pizza and lasagna.

Boq and Cliff rushed to the salad bar right after our order was taken by a friendly service crew. They did a decent job on filling up a small plate with enough salad for the three of us. The plate was slightly bigger than a saucer, and if you are an expert in piling up salad mix onto such a plate size, it is more than enough for a single large order.

Mixed Salad
The Figaro’s Pizza Salad Bar contains the usual items you can find in a salad bar, potato salad, corn kernel, macaroni salad, croutons, mixed steamed vegetables and some fresh produce, also with choices of the usual dressings. For our mixed salad, the guys favored for French dressing. As always, I do enjoy mixed salad and I definitely took pleasure in this one.

The hot chicken wings are super spicy indeed. I was not able to enjoy it because the spiciness overpowered the taste of the chicken. But with only eight chicken wing pieces per large serving the plateful dish was emptied.

Hot Chicken Wings
As for the lasagna, I did not like it at all. I took just a small fraction and yet had the hard time to finish it off. It is too sour. If I have to eat at Figaro's Pizza again, I will skip lasagna. Can't blame me, I tasted much better.

Lasagna
Unlike the lasagna, I did enjoy the seafood supreme pizza. When the pizza arrived I was amused by its size. Really sooo big for us three I thought, about 16 inches in diameter. We ordered the large size medium crust pizza with eight equal slices.

As expected for a seafood pizza, it contained shrimps, squid and crab sticks combined with chopped onion, green and red bell peppers. It had no sign of tomatoes for the pizza topping base, instead, aside from the mozzarella cheese, some other white sauce-like was used for the topping base. We were only able to consume 3 slices and took home the rest. Not that it's not delicious, it was just really too much for us three.

Seafood Supreme Pizza
The Drinks

A few selection of beverage in the menu include soft drinks, water, fruit juices and if I remember it right, fruit shakes. I didn’t bother to look much on the beverage selection so I couldn’t tell what type of fruit juices and shakes were available as I don’t particularly like ordering juices when I’m in a pizza house, it’s either soft drinks or iced tea for me. But since they don’t serve iced tea, I’d settled for Pepsi diet. Boq and Cliff followed suit with their choices.

The restaurant does not also serve bottomless drinks, but the soft drink is served in a big glass mug, which is just about the enough size (for my small stomach) already.

Although I did have a little issue about the lasagna and the absence of iced tea in the beverage list, I consider Figaro’s Pizza as a good alternative for a pizza house (at least for the pizza).


Disclaimer: I am not endorsing Figaro’s Pizza. I am simply blogging my eating out experience.