ripples of a prettytwistedchick: macki's despedida

Backrow Girls @ 2011 (minus Charmie, Susan, Aina and Philly)

Date: March 8, 2011

Time: Tuesday night to Wednesday morning

Last week, we heard the news that our friend Macki is leaving for Singapore this Thursday (tonight actually!). So despite our very busy schedule, we took the time out to see her—a sort of "send-off"—as she embarks a new life in that foreign soil.

As always, I'm the early bird. Our dinner was scheduled around 7pm at The Kitchen in Greenbelt 3. Since I am a-skip-and-a-hop-away from Greenbelt, at about 5pm I am already there. We (Mai, Millet, Claire and Che) agreed to give Macki a tumbler, as a going away gift, and I was tasked to buy it just because I have a lot of spare time. By 5.30pm I have nowhere else to go, and it is not within my agenda to roam endlessly for 2hours, knowing FULL-WELL that my friends have this tendency to be late (this is a given already!). Starbucks was filled with people and so was Coffeebean (my fave café in Greenbelt). I decided to stay and wait for them at Seattle's Best Café (literally beside The Kitchen).

As I wait, I ordered Caramel Javakula and Oreo Cheesecake, while I read my book-of-the-week, The Time Traveller’s Wife. Their Caramel Javakula is quite good, surprisingly. It was not too sweet for a caramel-based drink. Just right for my taste-bud! Yuh-meh!

However, their oreo cheesecake was a disappointment!!! It was dry, I think it was over-baked a bit. It pales in comparison with Starbuck's oreo cheesecake—the best I've tasted, so far! (my goal in my "culinary/baking" life is to be able to come-up with oreo cheesecake similar with that of Starbucks hee hee hee)

The first one to arrive was Claire, 7.15pm (not bad right, only 15mins late!). She shared with me her new found hobby—baking!

Yehey! I found a partner!

While I've observed our group's love for eating, not too many of us are fond of cooking. Actually, Millet is the "cook"; I was more of a "baker" and now Claire too!!! We talked about taking short-baking-courses, before we actually enter the real "culinary" school world.

Then Che arrived. A few minutes later, the reason for this meeting arrived—Macki. This is our despedida for her. We've decided to continue our discussions (girly-talks) at The Kitchen.

logo...cool, right?

The Kitchen was actually a surprise. The ambiance was great (although a little too dark for a person like me who needs my contact lenses/glasses to see things clearer). I liked effect of the "lighting" or the (slightly) lack thereof in pictures. Our pictures turned out great! Hahaha

The latest to arrive are the siblings—Mai and Millet. The reason, they bought some Justin Beiber tickets! (I still cannot believe these 27/29 years old, respectively, still got some Beiber-fever haha!)

Huge Peak

As appetizer, we ordered, Huge Peak, a combination of seared tuna, chicken wings and mozzarella cheese. I loved the fried mozzarella cheese and the chicken wings (plus the vegetables on the side) but I did not taste the seared tuna. Despite being a huge fan of tuna, I have an aversion with eating anything raw—except vegetables, I eat washed lettuce! hee hee hee

big meal

As a meal, I must say that the serving was gigantic—meant for sharing! (But we did not share our food with this one so I was a bit overwhelmed by what I ordered).

Sirloin Swirloin

Mai and I both ordered Sirloin Swirloin, described as mouth watering grilled sirloin swirled with sweet-salty demi glaze. Funny because I had a hard time finishing the meal but when I looked at Mai's plate, everything was wiped clean! I envy her metabolism, darn her! Hehehe

Mai's plate (upper left) and my plate (upper right)

Mai finished the whole thing while I ate only half of what was served!

Macki, ordered Hot Tomato!—Penne fritanier, tomato-ginger sauce topped with pan-fried beef tenderloin (says the menu). I was eye-ing this one in the menu but Che told me that the pasta was quite HOT. So I decided to order the swirly thingy! It looked appetizing, though! :(

iced tea...a little too bland for me!

Sheepish Grin

Claire, on the other hand, ordered Sheepish Grin—juicy lamb chops dressed with pepper sauce (again, according to the menu description). I thought it was the adobo meal, but Claire corrected me and said that it was the lamb meal! (that's actually how we described our food!hehe)

Achl's Indulgence

And lastly, Che and Millet went for the Achl's Indulgence, described as spicy prawns in linguine pasta. I wanted to order this one too but the minute I saw "prawns" I backed out. I don’t want to spend the entire evening with allergies all over me! No, thank you!

As drinks we ordered Iced tea (ulk! It tasted bland!), Lemonade (how I wish I ordered this one), and Coke Zero.

Over-all evaluation of the place was great! The menu is a bit pricey (but then again the serving was meant for sharing) so I'm not complaining!

We had our share of stories—reminiscing the past, updating with what’s current and plans for the future. We talked about our soon visit to Singapore (hopefully the tickets are courtesy of Macki hee hee hee) and to CamSur (sponsored by Ains—not with us in this dinner). As usual there were lots and LOTS of laughter. Mai, Che and I were the crazy ones who never lasted 5minutes (during our meetings) being serious. I dunno how we did it but there’s always someone who’s idea is waaaaay out of the ordinary and funny! We leave it to Claire, Macki and Millet to keep things in order and put us right on track! :D