We nearly always eat our breakfast just before leaving the house for work. If we didn’t, we could end up weak, dizzy or just plain cranky on the trip to the office.

This morning though, we got up from bed later than usual so we ended up skipping breakfast. Well, not completely. I grabbed a banana from our fruit basket so we could have a little something to eat on the way. We would just buy our breakfast in the city when we get there, I thought.

I originally counted on having some tamago sushi or “chicken tempura” sushi for breakfast but the two sushi places along our route were still closed for business. Bugger.

There was this cafe/cafeteria just outside our building that served breakfast food. We looked over the food available and we thought they were either too greasy or too expensive. I thought there were delicious-looking food but they all contained ham or mince meat. If you didn’t know, Raquel and I avoid eating meat that isn’t either seafood or poultry. So we had to look for breakfast elsewhere.

In the end, we bought two Chicken Breast & Lemon Mayo sandwiches at 7-Eleven for $4.95 each. It was shredded chicken breast mixed in mayonnaise with a hint of lemon juice and egg whites on Helga’s Soy & Linseed bread plus some tomatoes and roquette lettuce. It was surprisingly great!

At $4.95 a sandwich, it still seemed a bit pricey for us but I would be willing to buy it again one of these days for breakfast or merienda. Or, I may even try making this sandwich at home and see if I could duplicate it.

It had been a while since we’ve gone out with friends. In fact, we haven’t since last December. Since we live in Werribee, we now live close by to Milkshake, a Pinoy friend of ours. He offered to drive us around Werribee to show us places like this Filipino shop at the Woodville Park Shopping Centre (Melway 206 E3), the nearest bowling alley - the Werribee Superbowl at Riverside Avenue (Melway 205 J11), the Toyota service centre, a music instrument shop and the Medicare office along Watton Street (Melway 205 J9).

Since our vegetarian-to-be friend Irar who lives in Altona (also a Melbourne western suburb) needed help with her broadband Internet connection, we told her we’d drop by around lunch time. After Milkshake showed us the Filipino shop, we went to Irar’s place where we were offered a delicious home cooked dish called Beer Tofu with obligatory rice. There was even a “Jollibee” sauce/dip for the tofu (actually just UFC banana ketchup plus mayonnaise).

While at Irar’s, we got to see Edge again since meeting her at a general gathering last year. After figuring out that there was nothing essentially wrong with Irar’s broadband connection and having our lunch, at the spur of the moment we all decided to go to the Highpoint Shopping Centre for a little shopping.

When the mall closed at 5 pm (yeah, it’s early but we’re used to it by now), Milkshake drove us back to Altona to drop Irar and Edge home. But when we got there, we made another spur of the moment decision. This time, we decided to all go bowling in Werribee. Edge and Irar picked up their socks then we all continued our drive to Werribee.

I haven’t played bowling for some time now, too. So, it felt great to bowl again. I seemed to have lost my touch though as I didn’t score that high yesterday. But it was okay. Edge even gave me some tips to improve my game. Much appreciated.

While at the bowling alley, we also considered forming a West bowling team so that we can challenge our friends who live in the eastern suburbs. Maybe when I can bowl a bit better.

We finished bowling at around a quarter to nine. We accompanied Milkshake on the drive back to Altona to drop off Irar and Edge. On the way, I started to feel a bit ill. By the time we were driving back from Altona to Werribee, I really needed to get off the car and get some fresh air.

Raquel and I normally have dinner at around 6 pm. It was already past 9 pm and we still haven’t had our dinner. When I’m hungry, I either feel my stomach growl or I get dizzy. That time, I got dizzy. And having to go through a lot of roundabouts only made me more nauseous. I thought I could still make it back to Werribee but when halfway there Milkshake suggested we stop at Hungry Jack’s, I had to agree.

I was ready to throw up but at the same time I was very weak from hunger (and probably tired from playing bowling). I ordered a grilled chicken burger value meal but I was in no mood to eat even though I knew I had to. It was a horrible feeling. I had to eat but at the same time my body seemed to be resisting the food.

In the end, I was only able to eat three bites from the burger and maybe five French fries. I drank a paper cup full of Diet Coke though. That at least got me going until we could get home where I was able to eat a hot cup of noodles. Ahh. What a relief.

Even though the day ended on a not-so-high note, I still enjoyed it overall. I originally planned to go out again for a game of badminton with our other friends today but I just remembered all the things that’s still waiting to get done in the house. That and I’m currently sporting a very stiff neck. Maybe next time.

Although we usually bring our own food to work nowadays, there are times when we just want to eat out during our lunch break. It just so happens that most of the time, we want to eat something with rice (as Filipinos do). And on those occasions, we usually have a bite at our favourite Japanese fast food places.

The first one is Tokio on The Causeway near Bourke Street. They seem to serve authentic tasting Japanese food. But, since I’m not Japanese, don’t take my word for it. I guess I just meant that it doesn’t taste too Western and it’s probably because the food was cooked by actual Japanese (I can tell by the language they were using).

I personally liked their teriyaki-don while Raquel liked the fish bento. And back when we were still eating pork and beef, we also liked their katsudon and sukiyaki-don. The dishes only cost less than eight dollars each.

As much as we love it there, we couldn’t always eat there as that would get tiring after a while. Not to mention the fact that it seemed like they’ll be closing down real soon.

The second Japanese fast food place we love to go to is Shuji Sushi. They have one shop right near our office at Flinders Lane corner Queen Street. There is another one at the Galleria’s food court along Elizabeth Street. And recently, they’ve also opened a new branch right across the Melbourne City Library along Flinders Lane.

They sell both cook-to-order dishes like katsudon and ready-cooked dishes at less than seven dollars a plate (sorry but I can’t remember the exact cost). You can have either one dish or half of two dishes and it would still cost the same. Our favourite was always the Teriyaki Chicken along with the mixed vegetables.

The things we like most about Shuji Sushi was that apart from having delicious teriyaki chicken, the serving size was always pretty generous. It’s certainly more value for our money.

Recently, we also tried another Japanese fast food restaurant but it’s a bit farther this time. It’s called the Ume Sushi House. It’s along Little Bourke Street near Hardware Lane.

We just thought to give it a go one day and I ended up liking their Oyako-don. Raquel tried the Curry-don. Although she didn’t like it as much as the oyako-don I ordered, it was still pretty good. And, like in Shuji Sushi, they have big servings there, too.

So, if you happen to be in Melbourne and you have no idea where’s a nice place to it or maybe you just want to have a quick eat at a Japanese place, you may want to try any of the three fast food joints I mentioned. Can’t wait to go eat there again soon.

A lot of people who enter “Palabok” as their search criteria in Google usually end up in our site. Most of them, I expect, would be looking for a recipe for this famous Filipino dish but would instead be greeted by a site that carries the name but has no recipe of it in sight. There may also be people who know us personally but may not be familiar with the name or the dish.

Palabok is a noodle dish that has a variety of ingredients like garlic, onion, meat, seafood and hard-boiled eggs among others. It is served with a thick orange sauce achieved by using annatto seeds during preparation. In recent years, the word palabok has entered Filipino slang to also mean beating around the bush. How a popular dish came to be associated with a manner of speaking is beyond me. My guess would be that having to talk about things indirectly may cause a speaker to hint at his meaning in very creative and long-winding ways, thus the conversation could have as many ingredients as a Palabok and be as long as the noodles used in it. But I speculate.

If you’re after the recipe, there are numerous cooking sites that offer their own versions. Examples of that here and here.

Why name this site Palabok? Well, we wanted a short domain name, easy enough to remember even for non-Filipinos and yet still have a distinct Filipino flavour/feel. There’s also the the consideration that we want to be able to discuss a variety of topics, much like the variety of ingredients found in a plate of palabok so we thought the name a good fit. Hope you enjoyed your serving of palabok trivia today!

Gj and I recently discovered the wonders of Haigh’s Chocolates and have been getting our supply of chocolate frogs and pastilles from their shop in the Block arcade. I’ve been eyeing their box of assorted dark chocolates since our first visit but the $16.80 price tag always puts me off in the end. Well, not today. I figured I might as well try one and be done with it, see if I like it or not.

The 200g cardboard box contains 14 chocolates inside with a little catalogue of the different chocolates that might have been included in the box. Yes, that’s correct, not every dark chocolate in their selection is included in the box so I guess Forrest Gump’s saying about never knowing what you get in a box of chocolates really holds true. Half the fun was actually from identifying the ones included in the box, the other half is just old-fashioned savouring of the goods.

Geejay was hunkering for some Nagaraya peanuts and thought that it may be available at Asian shops so off we went to Chinatown, in search of this particular brand of peanuts. We went to the Asian grocery store we normally frequent and browsed the aisles of shelves. There were packed peanuts on sale, but unfortunately for Geejay, no Nagaraya in sight. I was trying to convince him to try the other brands of peanuts but said that only Nagaraya would do, adobo flavour specifically. We didn’t leave empty-handed though as we bought some seaweed and peanut cakes. Yum.

On our way back to the office, we went to another Asian shop inside an arcade along Bourke street. Still no Nagaraya for poor Geejay but there were rows upon rows of tinned mooncakes on display. Geejay customarily buy hopia whenever he goes to an Asian shop and with his predilection for anything with eggs, a mooncake promising 2 yolks is a tempting purchase for him. He bought one with white lotus paste filling with 2 yolks while I got one with only one yolk. The cakes came in small gorgeous tins. Geejay is in it for the cakes, I was in it for the tin. Proof of this, Geejay ate his cake the minute we got to the office while I waited till we got home from work before consuming mine. The mooncake festival is celebrated every 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and if this Western to Chinese calendar converter is correct, we still have till the 18th of September this year to enjoy more mooncakes and collect a few more tins.