I Love Bar Dolci

Whenever I go home back to Manila, I try to drop by Bar Dolci for my gelato and macaron fix. A lot of Manila-based food blogs have already waxed praises for this little sweet spot somewhere in Bonifacio Global City. I, too, fell for Bar Dolci's gelato and macaron, and have recommended the place to friends a good number of times already.

Mae taking photos

I thought about writing my own Bar Dolci piece after having read Mae's review in When In Manila and in her personal food blog, Eats A Date. Mae seems very satisfied and I am happy that she likes it there. It is not too often that I zealously recommend a place to eat, since I am a very sensitive person and I take it rather hard when a person that matters to me (i.e., a good friend, a member of the family) does not enjoy the restaurants nor the dishes that I like. (LOL!)

Gelato attack

Macaron fix

Bar Dolci's gelato and macarons are some of the best in Manila, I think. I kind of expected Mae to go crazy over the best-selling gelato Salted Caramel. :) My favorite, however, is the Ferrero gelato. I am also a sucker for anything pistachio.

I was there when Mae reviewed the place, taking pictures and sampling the food as I watched and munched away. Paula and Badeth were present as well. It was a drizzly Sunday evening, just the perfect time to lounge around. I surely miss this face of Manila: on a Sunday afternoon, there are places in Manila that seem to stop with time, and the best way to spend it is to sit comfortably on a couch and read or chat with friends while nibbling on snacks.

It's also great that Bar Dolci is near my house as well. Can't wait till I get back home in a few weeks. Sigh. Dagupan City (where I spend time for the most part of late) has some cool places to eat and I like it there also, but I guess it will be always true that there's no place like home.

Bar Dolci is here:

F133 Forbeswood Heights
Forbestown Road, cor Burgos Circle,
Bonifacio Global City,
Manila, Philippines

The Existence Of Dark Energy Proven?

Appropriate theme, yes?

I stifled a snicker when a friend (Xtin again! Grrrr...) provided a link to an article stating that a group of young scientists have proven Albert Einstein's previous proposal that dark matter and dark energy exist.

The team is headed by astrophysicist Reinabelle Reyes. Reinabelle is an alumna of the Ateneo De Manila University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Physics. She did this study while completing her Ph.D. studies at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Reina, together with her team, also identified a hidden population of powerful black holes in the universe, putting her in newspapers in 2008, according to another article.

I frankly do not know to which I would say "WHOA!" first: Whoa because Reinabelle made these studies, or Whoa because the existence of dark energy is being studied and proven?

(Of course, nothing beats reading the actual study to reasonably say that the existence of dark energy has indeed been proven.)

But this certainly has implications in the living world, the so-called yin-and-yang, the balance of opposites. For we all know that the world that we live in is a loose microcosm of the world outside the one that we know. Everything is somehow linked to one another.

For instance, would it still be prudent to say that all creations are by nature, good?

Is the human being really inherently good?

More questions???

To ask questions about our immediate surroundings, sometimes it takes us to look way beyond ourselves and our environment.

Hmmm, can I go back to reading about Orlando Bloom instead?

My sources are this, this, and this. Photo from the Wiki site.

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If you are a non-resident of Manila and are thinking about going there and about, you can take a look at my post about the Metro Star Rail System in my new blog, Manila and Beyond. Click on the link HERE!

Public Service: A Typhoon Named Ketsana/Ondoy (and more typhoons to come?!)

Ketsana (PAGASA name: Ondoy) : the proper name for the typhoon that left Metro Manila (National Capital region, Republic of the Philippines) and its surrounding areas practically underwater, creating what is now said to be the worst flood to have hit Manila in 50 years.


The winds started rushing in late in the morning of Saturday, September 26, and soon after the rains were pouring in. Perhaps I underestimated this outburst of Mother Nature, because I was still bent on walking from my house to Powerplant Mall to get some groceries.

Many hours later, I found out that I was one lucky lucky bastard.



Lucky because, I live in a high place and my area was one of the very few parts of the metro which was not hit by floods: all I had to deal with along the way that fateful Saturday was numerous puddles and temporarily lost cable and connection services. SMS were coming in from friends, mainly checking on one another's safety, and then reality gripped me. More than 80% of Metro Manila was flooded, leaving 246 people dead (as of the latest count) and many more homeless, without electricity, food, and water,



This is just an example of how the typhoon has affected the lives of even the people I know. Fortunately for my friend Jan, the floods receded and her family was alright. (You can read about her own account here and see some other photos courtesy of Maren Mae here.) As of this time, there are still people left stranded on the rooftops and in buildings, and as such boats and divers' services were being solicited. Many homeless families in Marikina, one of the places hardest hit by the storm, are cramped in classrooms, babies still covered with mud, and many with wounds. There is no electricity nor water for the most part of the area. It is likely indeed that an epidemic will break soon.

It also does not help to know that another typhoon is about to come in on Thursday, tomorrow .... (yep, Parma is not just another name for ham nor the Italian city anymore :( )

It is disheartening, to say to the least. TIME asks succinctly, why wasn't Manila prepared? Indeed, when disasters like this hit our city, we often find ourselves huddled, fending for ourselves, helping one another, cursing tragedy and thanking the heavens at the same time ... and the government, until 3 to 4 days later, was hardly in sight...and that's another (bad) story.

Eventually it is just about us, and the people who care, the people we care for, and the people who need our care.

There are many ways to help, and a list can be found here. A good friend forwarded me this link which will take you to a spreadsheet containing a good number of places where goods and monetary help can be donated. This is sufficient information for the moment. Do take time in going over the list, that alone can give you many ideas on how to help out. No one should pressure you to give beyond your means, for no effort is too small nor insignificant, as long as it comes from the heart. Another very useful link here on ML Quezon III's blogsite. Check it out.

[I will be going back to my usual self-indulgent posts next time when it is more appropriate. *grins* See you later, friends.]

The Last Song Syndrome 10: Manila Girl (Urban Bandits and Put3Ska), Because I Am One

"Manila girl, Manila girl
No walls gonna block you
Nobody's gonna stop you..."

One quintessential Pinoy Punk song turned into a classic Pinoy Ska song. It's all about what I am and what most girls in Manila are.

I love and hate Manila at the same time. Manila is both beautiful and ugly, warm and stone-cold. It is a boiling city, and yet it is in a state of decay. But I was born in the heart of Manila, grew up and spent most of my life in Manila. This may sound like cliche, but I have seen many prettier and cleaner cities, and have wanted to leave Manila many times, but I always find myself staying on.

Manila is my home. I am a Manila girl.

(In photo: Sunset at Manila Bay)