Maginhawa Foodtrip: BRGR – The Burger Project

I rarely go out during weekdays because of my odd working hours so when my friends heard that I will be at UP Diliman during regular working hours, we immediately made plans of meeting up in the afternoon. Since there wasn’t any good place to hang out at UP by sunset (except for Chokiss, of course), we agreed upon meeting up at Moonleaf Tea Shop instead to plot on what else to do.

After two hours of milkteas and cat-in-a-washing-machine stories, we felt the pangs of hunger and debated on where to grab our dinner. I can’t remember how but BRGR -The Burger Project bested over other food stores but I’m pretty sure that Gayuma ni Maria was its top contender.

And so we headed to BRGR. Too bad that we didn’t get a pic but I was riding Eugene’s mountain bike at that time. His bike was incredibly light that it turns at the slightest swerve. I think I narrowly escaped bumping into a car – twice.

I have been hearing tales about The Burger Project but I haven’t really tried it before. The main idea is to let diners customize their own burger – choose their preferred patties, buns, and toppings.

The highlight of the night was filling out the order form. It took us quite some time choosing the ingredients,  imagining how it would taste like, and computing how much it would totally cost. We even joked around that the order form was harder to fill out than any other exam we took in college. The hardest part was coming up with the most awesome-est name to represent your burger, especially after I spilled that a well-done burger with a witty name can be hailed as the BRGR of the month.

You know those moments when you are pressured to look so clever that you end up being so lame. That was what happened to me and my burger with the lamest name of all – “Wait For It” (which ironically came in earlier than everybody else’s).

Moving on, here is Paeng’s burger, the Scherbatsky Burger. Because it’s Canadian and hot, with Canadian bacon and Jalapeno peppers. And yes, too much How I Met Your Mother reference we got here.

Now, Jodie had trouble choosing the ingredients for her burger since she is currently on a strict diet after a high uric acid diagnosis. She had to consult her list of foods to avoid before checking the boxes, thus her burger earning the name “Uric-reduction Burger,” which she totally regretted after the person at the counter yelled it out loud enough to everyone to hear.

Eugene’s burger is undeniably the wittiest of all – Tokwa’t Baboy. Named after that famous pulutan of diced tofu and pork, his burger is made up of tofu patty and bacons with Marinara sauce.

Non-burger but delicious nonetheless – their fat and yummy mozzarella sticks.

Even before we could finish our own burgers, we have started devising on what to mix up next time and the possible names we can call them. I think we already have plans for Tokwa’t Baboy ver.2

I may be a noob to Maginhawa food tripping but I highly recommend this place. It might be a bit pricey but it’s crazy fun especially when you’re dining with crazy friends.

Find them:

BRGR: The Burger Project
122 Maginhawa St., Teachers Village, QC
Open Daily 11am – 12mn

P.S.

Check out the behind-the-scenes shot here: http://lancemalvien.tumblr.com/post/23932437388

Tanay Roadtrip

Finally! I can now cross-out something from my bucketlist – go on a roadtrip to Tanay!

We had our company outing last Saturday at Momarco Resort in Tanay, Rizal and being always the pasaway, my boss and I decided to ditch the official bus (which is scheduled to leave the office by 5:30AM) and just go on a road trip by ourselves.

My boss (who was in charge of the wheel) have absolutely no idea of the Rizal roads while I, despite of growing up in Rizal, have only reached Teresa as the farthest.  So armed with just a Google Maps cache on my iPod, we met up at Robinson’s Cainta by 8:30 AM and started our adventure.

I was more concerned in spotting the landmarks and making sure that we were on the right track so I didn’t get to take pics. But there’s this downhill curve somewhere after Antipolo (and right before Teresa) that feels like we were on a road trip to Baguio. You can see a great view of the  lower areas of Rizal, including the a part of Laguna de Bay – similar to how you can see a body of water, which I think is the Lingayen Gulf, on your way to Baguio.

Our travel was pretty smooth except for some traffic buildup at Antipolo proper. By the time we reached Tanay, the Google Maps cache can no longer be trusted because of its lack of road details so we relied on the most efficient way on determining your location – asking the locals. They are pretty helpful so don’t hesitate in asking.

Travel time took about almost 2 hours. We reached the resort around past 10AM and the morning activities have already started.  It took us quite a while to find everyone because the place was enormous! From what we have heard, the entire area (including the undeveloped area) was a whopping 280 hectares.

Despite the long drive, I really would not mind going back. The road trip itself was a lot of fun and I really wish I was able to capture it in photos. I guess I have something new to put in my bucket list.

 

Because Blogging is a serious business

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I found this post accumulating dusts on my drafts folder, alongside six others. It was supposed to be a coverage for last year’s blogging summit but the lack of motivation overpowered me.

And since the iBlog 8 is just around the corner, I have been forcing myself to absorb all the needed motivation to finish this post. Apparently, it would be futile to still blog about iBlog 7 so I will just use this post as an invitation for everyone to attend this year’s summit.

Just a snippet from their site, iBlog8 is a 2-day event. And its FREE! The first day (May 25) will be for bloggers, marketers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and maybe anyone who wants to understand the potential of blogs as a medium to promote their products and services.The second day (May 26) is for everyone interested about blogging.

Don’t forget to register! By registering, you get that nice ID with your name on it, free snacks (AM/PM) and lunch, and a welcome kit. I am really hoping that this year’s kit would be great – I kinda missed the free pens and notebook back in iBlog 5 (or was that 6?)

I’ll be there on the first day because I’m awesome like that. And I really need some good insights on digital marketing because I am now paid to do it. I know, I got the best job in the world. I’m skipping the second day because it’s for noobs Summer Komikon 2012!

PNKY Travel Cafe’s Maid to Travel

Baguio City’s PNKY Travel Café, with the participation of anime group Gomen, celebrated their 7th anniversary with a twist! Adapting the emerging trend of cosplay cafes from Japan, the PNKY was transformed into a maid café with staff members dressed in French maid and Lolita outfits.

Since my friend Vince was selected as one of the judges for the Art Contest, it was a perfect excuse to momentarily leave the Metro and travel all the way to Baguio for this event.

Highlights of the event include the major contests (Cosplay competition, Maid and Butler Contest, Cosplay Photo contest, and the Art contest), raffle prizes, and of course, the presence of cosplayer Jin Joson and the whole Tuxedo Team.

Kudos to my college orgmates Rain (Priestess) and Eri (Blacksmith) for joining the cosplay contest, Kahlil for winning the Best Otaku Butler title, and Rui for bagging the first prize for the art contest!

We had so much fun pigging out, posing with moustaches, hoarding the raffle prizes, and meeting each and everyone from the event. ♥

More of my pictures at my Multiply site.

Here is the official video coverage of the event, from Luis Magsino:

I’m totally too lazy to post a blow-by-blow account so if you want to read more about the Maid to Travel, you can check out the following blogs:

MOVE. GROOVE. UP!

The UP Pep Squad managed to defend its crown and reigned on this year’s UAAP Cheerdance Competition. Daring to be different, the performing squad dyed their hair blonde and danced to the tunes of popstar Madonna.

DLSU Animo Squad came in second, followed by FEU Cheering Squad

Please excuse my gallery for lacking pictures of UP Pep Squad’s actual performance. The moment the routine started, we were on our feet and cheering at the top of our lungs. Too hyper to even get a decent snapshot.

Here’s a video of their performance from YouTube user bjhernandez: