Despedida Dos

September 16, 2011

Friday Night

Finally, I was able to fulfill Phase 2 of my send-off program for Ira, my reliable assistant who resigned recently.   For a change, we skipped Serendra and High Street in Global City and went to Powerplant Mall in Rockwell.  The last time I’ve been to Powerplant was in 2003, my MBA final year at the nearby Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB).   I have a lot of fond and funny memories of Powerplant and AGSB, for me they are synonymous.  Powerplant has been our hang-out during those years in the graduate school.  

Powerplant Mall, Rockwell Drive, Makati City

Not much have changed.  Beauty Bar, Rustan’s Supermarket, McDonalds, Burgoo, the Cinemas and Starbucks have remained in their original locations. Dulcinea, Kulinarya, Kaya and Mongkok are still in their same spots in the upper basement.  I did not see Cinnabon anymore, instead there’s Cheesesticks. Among the additions in the upper basement are Banana Leaf and Cucina Victoria.  Cucina Victoria used to be located outside the ground level.  

Ira wants Italian food so we walked around and looked for Italiannis.   We did not see one inside the mall.  Probably it’s outside.  I think we both felt lazy to go outside the mall.  So we went to Cucina Victoria. 

The facade of Cucina Victoria

No regrets that we did not find Italiannis.  Cucina Victoria has a homey ambiance.  The inside floor area is not that big.  More or less there are just 10 tables inside, but extra tables are outside the multi-color tiled entrance.  At the left side is a corner couch, leaning on the wooden wall with black and white photographs of noted personalities and politicians.  There are two blue cupboards containing the condiments.  There is an orange shelf displaying jars and other decorative items.  At the central part of the area, a straight couch leans on the wall with three brightly colored contemporary paintings.

The entrance lintel is covered with colorful tiles

Ira, getting comfy on the corner couch

Not aware of the shot?

One of the blue cupboards

Paintings on the central wall

For soup, we had Clam Chowder.  It’s not overwhelmingly creamy, has the right seafood flavor, especially when sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.  I love the freshly baked bread.  It has that ultimate crisp sound when tapped and broken by fingers.  The herbed butter is the perfect spread for the bread.   

For main entrée, we had pork medallion pasta, the pasta sauce is like chicken parmigiana, but the chicken is replaced by pork, in pomodoro sauce.   

We tried Pizza Pinoy, with toppings consisting of tomatoes, kesong puti (white cheese), bell peppers and salted egg.  The Pizza Pinoy I think would be a good contrast with any meat pasta. 

After dinner, we roamed around in the new wing, where bargain-like stalls sell accessories, clothes, shoes and bags.  But the price tag is definitely not bargain.  There’s a Happy Lemon outlet near the stalls, there’s a long queue of people waiting for their turn.  We further walked around and went to National Bookstore.  The NBS here has a set-up similar to Powerbooks.  We looked for CFA calculators because we aspire to take the CFA review and exam, to put us in the elite group of investment professionals!  :)

 

After further rounds in the apparel, accessory and shoe stores, my feet, or rather shoes, were already killing me!  I was wearing heels and for some strange reason, I think my feet grow bigger as the night deepens.  We went to Starbucks near the cinemas at the 4^th level. Contagion is currently being shown. 

 
Probably it’s a good movie,  with an ensemble of Oscar-nominated actors.   I will watch it, not tonight, but on another day. 

The Powerplant Cinema adboards carry the faces of Marion Cotillard and Jude Law.  Probably because the two have the most beautiful faces among the cast.  Marion is a french actress known for La Vie en Rose while Jude Law is a true-blue brit actor, who had his beginnings in B movies.
 

French actress, Marion Cotillard

British actor, Jude Law

While I was resting my feet, Ira ordered fraps.  Mine is Green Tea Frap.  It’s Ira’s treat.  We’ve gone kooky while sipping our fraps.  We took turns in taking our photos in different crazy poses.  Some poses were serious or pretending to be unaware of the camera.  Some were truly smile-ready for the cam!  

Ahh... sit back and relax...

Half-ready for the cam, my feet still ache...

Remember this face!

Guess what's running on my mind?

This is how to sip demurely

'Sadako' sips frap, face powder has melted! :)

Calculating the forthcoming wealth

Multiple choice: a) "I don't care..." b) "I'm fed up!" c) "I see lizard on the ceiling"

I tried to mimic the expression of Marion Cotillard in the theater board, but my version looked like I was mentally deranged. I immediately deleted the photo while guffawing.  :)))  Who says you always have to be serious even after work?  We need to unwind and have fun, without a care that someone is measuring our actions.  In a clinical observation, it was shown that people who are too serious, has a lot of stringent rules in life, and do not unwind-- grow old mean and ugly.  So, if you don't want to be mean and ugly as you grow older, take time to have fun after work!  

Also, never lose kindness in your heart-- a great beautifier.

                                                   

Finally! An average, normal, run-of-the-mill pose!

Going back to our kooky picture taking, there’s one ok picture of mine. I effortlessly posed before the cam, and the result looks a bit like Amaya of GMA 7. (Laughter!) :)))  

Ira urged me to reactivate my Facebook and post it as profile pic.  I deactivated my Facebook since March 20, 2011.

It was past 10PM when we left Starbucks.  We planned to have crazy photo op at Anne Klein (Ira says my mocha straight dress looked like one of the outfits in Anne Klein’s shelf) and Dorothy Perkins (Ira says this is the only high-end store that she has a size).  But when we went down, the stores were already closed.  We forgot the time because of our kookiness.  My feet now are feeling alright.  

Before we went home, I took a photo of Powerplant against the night sky.  The backdrop was sort of dramatic.  It feels good to go back to a place which had been close to my heart.

Powerplant by twilight

I’ll be back , Powerplant.  Soon…. 

:)