Myron's Place

Review: 1 out of 5 stars
Restaurant: Myron's Place, Greenbelt 5

Last Saturday night, Blue and I tried out Myron's Place at the new G5. I've had two okay experiences at the other Myron's Restaurant at Powerplant so thought this would be easy-breezy. As a part of a family that favors seafood over meat, I'd pick prawns and oysters any day over lambchomps and turkey. But, I do get my meat cravings and satisfy them once in a while. As kids, we used to go to Melo's (whoopee!) for special occasions where I would be happy to tell the waiter I'd like a 6 oz. black angus cooked medium well thank-you-very-much. Truth be told, I am sad to see Melo's in Wilson go. I did love their mango jubilee and their Caesar salad. Recently, I've been very happy with Katre's angus and thus, don't bother much trying out the wagyu's and kobe's littered around Manila.

SO, we were doing fine with our brown bread and soups (mushroom cappuccino for me, pumpkin soup for blue) when my steak plate came and ooooh, I instantly noticed that it didn't look good at all. First of all, the Bianca cut (smallest slice available for rib eye) in front of me was almost dark brown/black that I could taste its dry quality just from the look of it. True enough, it was arid as errr, day old bread and unforgivingly tough. Lo and behold, when I peeked under the slab, there was a much thinner slice of steak that looked way better. A bonus perhaps? Quickly realizing they just undercut my share, I asked the waitress and she confirmed it for me. A mistake indeed.

For a fine-dining restaurant that has steak as part of its name, their rib eye is a shame! (oh it rhymes) I was too disappointed to point out to them that:

1) my steak was cooked "well-done"
2) a bug in Blue's strawberry shake should have warranted a gratis meal
3) instead of discreetly adding the "bonus" slice (which actually was cooked better) they should've given me a totally new one

I've learned my lesson and will trust Katre to fulfill my carniverous craving. Or maybe try Prime 22 or Elbert's Steakroom...

r.e.a.d

I purchased this book from Amazon and started on the program to jump start Caelum's literacy skills. There are a lot of reasons why I want Caelum to start reading early. First, for me, reading is the best way to learn. As an early reader myself, I remember that thirst of reading anything I could get my hands on. When I was kinder 1 in poveda, I remember reading storybooks while my classmates were at the playground. My mom taught us early and thus we developed the love for reading. I remember also poring through each volume of Childcraft and memorizing my Why? book. Second, it really is proven that early reading supports a child's progress in the big schools later on. As a preschool teacher, of course I have to think of what is developmentally-appropriate for Caelum (because reading at 3 is definitely not, according to DAP standards). My directress would be scolding me if she learned I was having daily lessons with Caelum using a teacher-directed (!) and non- hands-on (gasp!) method. ;)

BUT:

1. Caelum learned the alphabet through a song and a poster on the wall from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (without formal instruction) at 24 months
2. He knows all his letter sounds already
3. He's progressing well and can now read some CVC words!

So at the moment, we are on lesson 17 and he can read sentences such as: "see me eat". Of course his attention wanders and he prefers to be the teacher rather than the student. He looks forward to these lessons somehow and likes our one on one time. Personally, I think this is an excellent book, it takes on reading phonemically (which is the best way) and gradually builds on skills learned. There are times when I have to repeat lessons to get Caelum to master the tasks but overall, I would recommend this book.

got milk?

For a while, Caelum had lost his lovable tummy flab and suddenly sprouted a neck. What used to be a nonexistent neck suddenly appeared, slender and all. This sudden weight loss was due to his decreased milk consumption. Turns out, it was just a tiny drought because C's back to drinking every 3-4 hours. When he was a newborn, I tried mightily to breastfeed Caelum. I made the mistake of not relaying rigid instructions to the nursery that I wanted to breastfeed exclusively. As expected for mixed feedings, pretty soon Caelum tired of the breast and wanted the bottle. Plus, he developed this super nasty allergy that gave him splotchy red rashes on his cheeks and forehead AND his cradle cap (though I know it was harmless) was truly truly scary for a newbie mommy like me. He moved from S26 to NAN HA1 to NAN HA2 to Progress Gold for the present. I knew NAN couldn't taste great just from the smell of it, but when I saw Caelum gulp his 5 0z of PG in less than a minute, I got curious and wondered what what so special about it. So last night, I asked Caelum, "Hey Pocoyo (my new name for him, I'm Paco) can I taste your milk?" With Caelum's permission, I took a sip from his bottle and said, "HEEEYYY, it's sweet! That's why you like it." And Caelum just smiled :)

So PG does taste good, it tastes like vanilla and it is sweet. Just for those wondering what formula tastes like...

shoes shoes shoes!

The other night, I stayed up till 2 in the AM just browsing this mommy blog. She had some great and unique finds for toddlers. Since she's based in Europe, most of her posts and picks were things endemic to Europe. I was hooked looking at all the pretty things; organic baby clothing, contemporary fabric prints, etc. One post featured this danish shoe company called Cocomma which is now known as Bisgaard. I scoured the website for prices and shipping but sadly, found none.
Well well well, if I had a daughter, I would get her these sandals. They look well-made from leather with a rubber insole and lambswool even. It's been increasingly harder to find shoes for Caelum since he has quite a chubby pair. Really fleshy toes and well padded soles limit him to wearing flip flops or the ubiquitous Crocs. I don't even want to recall the trek we made all the way to Vivo City in Singapore just looking for the Puma Kids store. When we got there, I had nothing to do but sigh when I saw Caelum trying to wiggle his foot into one of the shoes. Why'd they have to make them so damn narrow??? Unfair.
So now, unless I manage to find an online shop site for those drool-able shoes, Caelum will just have to make do with his havaianas or his etnies (which thankfully are wide-feet-friendly footwear).

starting now

I'm starting this blog today for my sake. :p It seems I'll be having some extra time in my hands. I will definitely miss being a toddler teacher but I'm not complaining about my new title: full-time mommy to 3 year old Caelum. I'll be subbing though from time to time for absentee teachers, wonder how that'll go.
Switching from part-time to full-time teaching has been a drastic change. It was difficult having less and less playtime with Caelum with all the tasks I was bringing home as a teacher (cutting- we do a lot of this, making videos and newsletters, and spending stagnant hours in school to fulfill the 120-hour requirement). Also, family reasons are keeping me at home. Anyhoo, it'll be great to start goofing around with C now that Blue's starting his work (as teacher too! flight instructor) in Pangasinan and Clark.

Some things to look forward to in this blog:
1. travel adventures and reviews
2. foodie opinions
3. great toddler/preschooler picks in toys, etc.
4. cutee caelum snapshots

Comments will definitely be helpful!