PICS Convention at Business Inn

Business Inn main door

Philippine Instrumentation and Controls System Convention (PICS), Business Inn, Bacolod City

            The latest annual PICS convention dated last July 19 - 20, 2012 was held at Business Inn, Bacolod City. Business Inn was chosen to be the venue for the said convention because of the large numbers of participants who confirmed to join the said event. This was my opportunity to roam around the hotel and capture some photos of both the participants and the venue.
           Honestly, this is my second time to visit the hotel. I came here an hour earlier just to have some ample time to take pictures inside the venue despite of the bad weather. Below are the photos of some of the areas in the ground floor. Honestly, I could not get up to the second floor due to some policies imposed by the hotel.

Wara Wara

The Korean owner of Wara Wara

    A Family Dinner at Wara Wara

     Wara Wara is a relatively new Korean restuarant in the city at Central City Walk, Robinsons Place. This is also one of the famous Korean restaurants in the city that provides two ways to cook your own foods, namely Shabu Shabu and Yakiniku. The Shabu Shabu area is for those who love to cook soup, while to those who enjoy grilling their foods must proceed to the Yakiniku area. As we entered the restaurant, I noticed a Korean owner (shown in the photo) personally assist some of the hungry customers who are quite confused on what foods and appropriate ingredients for grilling or for the soup.
     The Shabu Shabu area has tables with a large stove in it. You can cook your ingredients at your own desired taste and style. As for Yakiniku, each  table has a grilling apparatus where you can have your meat grilled either medium rare or well done.
     At the right side of the entrance of Wara Wara is the array of various ingredients for grilling and soup which include the beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, spices and sauces. At the opposite side is the display of different types of kimbap, salads for desserts, plain rice and fried rice.        

21 RESTAURANT

Afternoon Snacks at 21 Restaurant

     Another famous restaurant along Lacson Street in Bacolod City is the 21 Restaurant. This is a fine-dining restaurant which provides the best delicacies of the city. The restaurant is also famous for its Batchoy, a noodle soup with thin slices of pork, pork liver, pork chicharon and egg. Most of the time when we come here for batchoy, the ingredients are already out of stock especially during rainy days, which shows how good their batchoy is.

     One afternoon we decided to stop by and have some hot batchoy and cheese sticks for our afternoon snacks. Cheese sticks and batchoy are our favorites here and are at very reasonable costs. Aside from their best delicacies, the restaurant is a nice and cozy place for all diners who wish to have a comfortable place while enjoying their favorite meals. The place is very clean, the service is good and the food is a must try.

Surprise Birthday Lunch

Surprise Birthday Lunch at the School

         It was July 25, a day with morning and afternoon classes, papers needed to be returned, and deadlines to be done before the day ends. This was no special day for anyone else in the office with deadlines to catch and classes to meet. As for me, I have to find time with friends in the college because today is my birthday. Actually I already asked them to have lunch with me a week ago so they could save the date. We even decided the particular foods to buy just for a lunch enough for us.
               Well, hours before lunch time when I asked my friends to buy some additional foods or drinks for the lunch and they told me we had enough already. However, while I was in the office I never knew my friends were busy preparing something I did not know, a big surprise lunch!

Birthday Lunch at Tagamolila's Residence

with the Tagamolila Family

Belated Birthday Lunch at Tagamolila's Residence

        My second birthday celebration was at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Juan Tagamolila at Puentebella Subdivision. It was scheduled on the 28th of July, Saturday to make sure everyone was at home and could have lunch together.
       Most of the foods we prepared are our favorite dishes, such as fresh fish kinilaw, birthday misua, spicy chicken adobo and sinugba pork chop. Neneng also baked her masterpiece, the rich and sumptuous chocolate cake as our dessert to be teamed up with chocolate ice cream, and of course paired with cold softdrinks. Shown in the photo above, from left to right: Tita Miriam, Tito Johnny, David, and then me, the birthday girl.

My Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku

A Special Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku 

       It was July 25, a special day for me with a planned dinner with David and Tita Miriam at a relatively new restaurant along Lacson St. in Bacolod City. According to one of the restaurant crews ShabuNiku is owned by some Korean businessmen who bring about the Korean delicacies to the Philippines.  Outside the main entrance are the tall baskets of flowers displayed at each corner of the main door.

Free Starbucks Refresher Drink

              Starbucks Refresher Drinks

            Most of our available time is spent here in Starbucks Coffee at Lacson St., Bacolod City. This has been my favorite place to have a hot cup of decaffeinated coffee mocha during my leisure time at least twice a week. As a result, two of us were given this special coupon. It's all about their limited offer from July 31 to August 12, a buy one, get one Starbucks refresher beverage for lucky individuals. Well, I am not into iced non-coffee based drinks but this time, I truly wanted to try and enjoy the special privilege.

Overcharge with Sweets at Calea Pastries & Coffee

    Calea at Balay Quince

           Calea Pastries & Coffee is one of our favorite dessert havens in the city. This is located at the ground floor of Balay Quince, situated along the business district of Bacolod City, Lacson St. 

            The photos I posted here are mixtures of two (2) events. One was just an after-lunch dessert with my boyfriend, while the other was on my birthday right after our heavy dinner. Calea Pastries & coffee is famous even outside the region due to its irresistible cakes and sumptuous pies which all mark the uniqueness of Calea.

Healthy Buffet Lunch At May's Organic Garden

Buffet Lunch at May's Organic Garden, Pahanocoy, Bacolod City

     It was an unplanned lunch when we thought of going to Pahanocoy to try the healthy Eat-All-You-Can lunch at the new organic restaurant owned by Ramon Uy. This was my second time to visit the place, yet this was my first time to dine and try their buffet. We came in a little bit earlier than the usual lunch time because we knew a lot of health conscious individuals come here for lunch. Luckily, we were able to choose a nice spot inside the open restaurant, an area where the display of foods was just next to us. Indeed, early birds get the best spot to eat their foods! The picture above shows the streamer hung at the back entrance of the open restaurant.

Milk + Tea Station at Balay Quince

Balay Quince building

           Milk + Tea Station at Balay Quince, Bacolod City

           It was a fine sunny Saturday afternoon that made us decide to look for some refreshment before going home. Since we were already driving along Lacson St., it was better to stay at any of the famous dessert and coffee shops along the area. Until finally, we parked the car in front of Balay Quince and was able to catch the vivid photo of the colorful rainbow above the building.

        Balay Quince is one of our favorite stopovers along the business district. We agreed to go to Milk + Tea Station for some cold and refreshing milk teas with various enchanting flavors mixed with your favorite flavored jellies. Milk + Tea Station is located at the second (2nd) floor of the building where people from all walks of life come here to savor the healthy and famous milk teas in town. In addition, Milk + Tea Station also offers hot coffee such as espresso, cappuccino, etc.

Organic Overload at Fresh Start

            Fresh Start at Central City Walk, Robinsons Place, Bacolod City

     It's now time to go green and healthy! A lot of health conscious individuals come over here at Fresh Start to try not only the vegetables and fruits but also the organic chicken served in delightful style with green leaves and fresh sauce. As for us, gradual transformation into being a vegetarian is not that hard to do anyway. Organic meat is also tasty aside from being a healthy food.
     As we entered Fresh Start the scent of strong  and fresh herbs was the first thing we noticed.  They do not have much various food options to choose from, so I guess that was one of the reasons why the menu was written on the wall or blackboard at the cashier's space. Homemade piayas are displayed at the cashier's area at very very low price. I did try their piaya because most of the people I know assured me that it has a unique, rich filling and one of the best in town.

Heavy Dinner at Chikaan, Central City Walk

                Heavy Dinner at Chikaan

     The Central City Walk of Robinsons Place, Bacolod City is relatively new in the city. There are a number of restaurants, boutiques, cakes and coffee shops, etc. outside the mall where people love to have a lazy walk during the weekend and also right after office hours. Although Robinson's Place mall is one of the best malls where we could shop our basic necessities and latest fashion trends, but with the new City Walk most people would prefer to hang around here for food. There are various category of restaurants to choose from, such as Mexican, Filipino, Korean, Thai, etc.
       For us, we opted to have a meaty dinner with a Filipino twist at Chikaan. Every time we come here at Central City Walk most of the restaurants, including Chikaan are already full and tables are reserved, that was why we hurried up to come here a little bit earlier than dinner time.

English Cafe, USLS, Bacolod City

Afternoon Snacks at English Cafe

       For students, faculty members, and staff of University of St. La Salle (USLS) who crave for desserts or hot drinks after every meal but do not have adequate time to go out, English Cafe has the capacity to provide the common types of coffee, tea, softdrinks, juice, shakes, cakes, noodles, korean ice cream, etc. English Cafe is established within the USLS campus near Gate 1 and Coliseum. Some students love to do some of their homeworks here, surf the net, or just take a break with friends and classmates while waiting for their classes. Likewise, Korean students love to stay here maybe because the La Salle Language Center building is just beside the two-storey, fully airconditioned English Cafe building.

Coffee Break at Starbucks, Bacolod City

            My favorite place to unwind at any time of the day is Starbucks Coffee. We come here at least thrice a week for a hot cup of coffee or tea with chocolate-covered donut, a slice of sweet cakes or some vegetable sandwiches right after a heavy meal. Its building is very much accessible because it is located along the business district of Bacolod City, Lacson Street.
              I am 101% sure that this is the right place for me for the reason that it is very cozy and amicable especially to those who wish to make oneself at home. This place also alleviates me after a whole day of work. In addition, I would like to stay here even for the entire day due to the sweet aroma of freshly ground coffee before it is served. Likewise, the people who come here are those who find time to take time out with friends, and hear them discussing each other softly about weightless topics.
           Gladly most of the baristas here already know us and they know exactly our favorite drinks and the usual time we come here.

Gelato Break at Kuppa Coffee & Tea, SM, Bacolod City

               We had a busy afternoon  at SM, Bacolod City. We paid some bills and bought some personal things in the grocery store. We even passed by some of the boutiques and tried to peep in if there was anything on sale. We noticed most of the boutiques were on sale that day but I was not so lucky to see a new pair of shoes and bag because the particular style I want was literally out of stock for the moment. After a few hours of walking around and window shopping, our feet started to ache, so we chose Kuppa Coffee & Tea to give ourselves a short break.

East Block Veranda, Bacolod City

              A new place to hang out with friends and barkadas in Bacolod City is the East Block Veranda. We tried to have an early light meal here in the late afternoon prior to attending an important event held inside the East Block building. We were quite curious of this place maybe because mostly young adults and professionals come here. I guess it must be the place, or the food, or it could be both. When we got there, there were families taking some afternoon snacks and some were having their beers already.

              Now it is time for us to look for food and we have plenty to choose from. While still searching for the best meal, I also took the chance to take pictures inside Veranda.

New Government Center, Bacolod City

New Government Center

          The new hang out place of the young people in the city is the New Government Center or locally known as the NGC. Some call it the White House, but I would like to call it as the White Mansion because its architectural design is  very majestic even from a distance. Early in the morning before office hours, people come here to perform their healthy rituals such as walking and jogging. In the afternoon after sunset, people come here with their family and friends complete with prepared stuffs such as foods, drinks, utensils and mats ready to spend a few hours at the park in front of NGC for an evening picnic. While others, like me want to come here at sunset to walk and jog around NGC area for an hour just wanting to be relieved from stress due to the day's work. One reason why I like this place is because of its environment. It is clean, well-maintained, fresh air and of course there are policemen assigned in some areas especially at the back of the White House.