Adarna Restaurant!! A gem tucked away at the heart of QC...

I found out about Adarna restaurant from my wife who found out about it from an old friend who was raving about Adarna to my wife who in turn was raving about it to me for the longest time ever.  After I got back from Finland, we decided to try it out for ourselves as a sort of anniversary dinner.  Finding the place is easy 'coz it's just along Kalayaan Road in Quezon City.  And special thanks goes to Google... for you know... Google maps!  If you're coming from Quezon City circle, you won't miss the Kalayaan road sign from there and when on Kalayaan, it will be just at your right side.

Adarna Restaurant was named after the mythical bird from the fabled Filipino story "Ibong Adarna".  If you don't know it's story or even heard of the Ibong Adarna then shame on you!  It's a classic and I urge you to read it.  Go on... google it... I'll wait.

Upon arrival at Adarna resto... the first thing you will notice are the fighting cocks they kepp at the front... Not!!!  Seriously, if the name hasn't tipped you off, the first thing you'll notice is that this is definitely a Filipino restaurant... the decor, the posters, the furniture... everything gives a sort of Filipino vibe with a splosh of spanish here and there.  I really liked what they have done with the place!  It really gives a comfy feel like you would when you're visiting your Lola in the province.  And you definitely know that you're in for good food and a hearty meal.

The place itself, upon entering, you'll be greeted by a spacious lot with a humble fountain in the middle.  The actual resto is divided into smoking and non-smoking areas.  We picked the non-smoking section because it is airconditioned while the smoking area is not but it does have open windows that peer out onto the fountain.  We got to our table and dove into the menu...

Adarna restaurant has a lot of specialties like their Pork Adobo and the Piassok which is a slow cooked beef in a special sauce!  I wanted to order both by I heard from the table behind us that they were already out of the Pork Adobo... *sigh*.. I was looking forward to the adobo.  So we ordered the Piassok, the seafood special, the adobong kangkong and the tofu rebusado.  For the appetizers, I got us some sweet and spicy dilis and an order of vegetable spring rolls.  To quench our thirst, the wifey ordered the Sago't Gulaman... as for me, I wanted to be adventurous so I tried the Felizidad drink which was a concoction of egg, milk, and rhum among other things... in short, I think it was eggnog. heheh.

The food came and I was so excited that I didn't care which was the appetizers and the main course!  The Seafood Special was so good!!!  The taste just melts in your mouth!  I think their secret was the small chopped squid that I first mistaked for garbansos!  

The sweet and spicy dilis was addicting and can be mixed with any dish we ordered!

The kangkong even came topped with dilis which made the kangkong first rate, if you ask me... I usually like kangkong topped wth lechon kawali, but this was definitely better!

The Tofu rebusado was amazing!!  I am not a tofu lover but they mixed the tofu with the the egg and the tomatoes and other herbs so well that it just became one of my favorite dishes!!! mixed with the sweet and spicy dilis of course... ehehe.  So far so good...

The last one I haven't tasted was the piassok... and as advertised... it was as soft as a baby's bum!  Really, I could shred it without using a knife!  Unfortunately, the Piassok was the  only real dissapointment for me.... I had such high hopes but the taste was just... meh.  Take away the softness, it was just plain ordinary.  

Oooh... I almost forgot the spring rolls... it was okay and was a fitting appetizer which turned into dessert for me... :)

Overall, the food was great, the ambiance was great... we had a great time and a great dinner!  I would recommend this restaurant to anyone I know... including you! Plus, I also plan to go back to sample the Adobo!!  Hehe...

Talking about food always gets me hungry... so here's my stomach mumbling away... 'till next!

The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Starts next week!!!

Oh Yeah!

The Vampire Diaries is back!!!  Elena is back!! Damian is back! Stefan is back!  This time around, it's a fight for to get Stefan back.

And it all starts next week!

Mumbling away as i count the days when all our fave series is back...

The Sony Nex-7!!! Holy Crap! It just got better! (and more expensive!)

Recently, Sony unveiled it's newest EVIL (Elecronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens!) camera that buries into the ground most of what the critics hate about the nex series of cameras!

Picture is from the Engadget site!  Article link at the end of the post!

The Nex-7 is the big brother of the Nex3, Nex 5, Nex-3n and also the recently introduced Nex-5n.  I mean literally, THE Big brother!  A quick view would show that the Nex-7 has a bigger form factor than the rest of the old Nex cameras... but that has purpose and boy does it ever have a purpose!

The Nex-7 comes with a built in flash! Yep! built-in!  No screwing around with an attachable flash.  This one pops out from the body (see why it's bigger?).  Plus!!! Aside from the 3++ inches of LCD screen, you get a built in Electronic Viewfinder!!! (Now are you seeing why it's a teensy bit bigger???).  But Sony didn't stop there!  It added 2 new scroll wheels on top which can be a dedicated control wheel for whatever function you want (I think you configure it thru the settings menu) like ISO, shutter speed, etc...

Those mentioned above were just the thing that critics were bitchin about the old nex series but here Sony gave almost everything a full fledged DSLR to this baby... it's still smaller than a DSLR but with almost all the bells and whistles!  And nothing about the micro 4/3rds crap here... this baby (like all nex cameras) sport a full fledged DSLR sensor. Ain't it cool!!!

As much as I am drooling over this baby... this baby comes with a price... a very steep one... but one that may be a deal breaker for most... the price tag is over 1000 USD.  Yep! at that price, you can certainly buy a decent DSLR... but If I have money to burn, I'll do arson for this baby...

For more information on specs, head on over to Engadget where they look at the Nex-7 in depth... http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/24/sony-unveils-nex-7-24-3-mp-sensor-oled-viewfinder-1199-price/

mumbling my love for EVIL...

My stay at Oulu, Finland

Oulu city in Finland is said to be the capital of northern Scandinavia.  Oulu  (pronounced " Ohw-Loo") is an old northern dialect which means "flood".  It is one of the most populous city in Finland with an approximate population of less than 200,000.  It's one of the most largest cities in the northernmost parts of the world (granted most of it is lakes and forests).   It's also known as the location of the world air guitar championships (hell yeah!) and former tar and salmon capital of Finland (Ho-hum). 

I'll be staying for 3 weeks for business reasons and I am glad to have a chance to travel somewhere in Europe.  I've been to most places in Asia and North America and this is my first trip to Europe! Yey! At first, I thought I would be able to travel other parts of Europe but I found that Finland is quite far from other European countries... *sigh*.  It would be a long travel by train and a very expensive one by plane.  Oh well, then I'll just have to make the most of my stay at Oulu!

What I discovered though is that Oulu, is a quiet and quaint city in the edges of Finland.  There are lots of natural parks and lakes and if you're a nature lover, this would be like heaven to you.  I was born and raised a city boy and I do miss the hustle and bustle of city life but the quiet times I get here is, to quote a friend, "eerie-ly calming".

Finnish people are not ones for small talk so I rarely get to talk to anyone except when I'm at work and we usually talk about work.  I also found out that they roam around quite late in the day.  In fact, my first weekend (Saturday) here, I went out at 10am and there were barely any people in the streets.  After lunch is when the people start coming out of their shelters and getting together with friends or go shopping.

There are a few landmarks to see in Oulu (that are quite near) which anyone staying here should not miss... there is the Oulu City Hall, which is a majestic building open for view for tourists.

For quiet reflection, there is the towering Oulu Cathedral which is not far from the City hall.

Also not to miss is the Market Square!  This is where a lot of tourist go to... to eat, to shop and buy trinkets... and within the Market Square, is the Market Hall!  The Market Hall is a landmark in Oulu since it's been there for over 100 years!  It's a big barn like structure (made of bricks!) which houses stalls for different peddlers of trinkets, souvenirs, produce, meat, toys and other native handiworks!

There are also a few other things yo can do in Oulu, like a city bus tour (though I prefer to walk), a riverside cruise which takes about 4 hours and some other things (but it depends on the season) like rafting, boating, fishing and skiing.  In January, right at the Market Square, there are reindeer pulled sled races!  After you've seen those, there is basically nothing much more to see or do.  What is left is to sample the food in Finland.  In the Market square, you can find all sorts of cuisine to suit your tastes.  There are arctic fish, leg fish, white fish and salmon for sale (already grill cooked) and they are delicious!  There's also a restaurant/pub that serves reindeer meat and bear meat.  I'm still thinking if I'm gonna try it...

As I am writing this, I have only a week left on my stay and I'll probably spend it going back to the Market square to see if there's anything I've missed.  All in all, it was a good experience and maybe next time, I can go to some other parts of Europe! Yeah!!!

Mumbling my thanks in finnish... Kiitos!

Schengen Visa part 2

Sorry I had not posted in a while...as I have posted a while ago, I was busy with papers and other things since I was going to Finland for a business trip.  I hope you guys understand and as I am writing this, I am now in Oulu, Finland!  I'll try to post every weekend since I'll be busy during the weekdays but I'll try to update you guys more as soon as I can!

Anyway, to the post... After you have applied for a Schengen Visa, it is now your responsibility to follow it up.  They won't email you or call to tell you that you  have been approved or you have been declined.  You have to call them yourself or visit their office in Buendia.  Now, In my experience, after the 15 days processing time has passed, calling them was a bit difficult.  I don't know if it coincided with the recent storms but I just could not get a hold of the embassy!  I always get the auto attendant system and it keeps trying to pass me to the visa department but after a few rings, it goes back to the auto attendant system.  I used to make auto attendant systems, and I guess I can understand the loop but it is just really annoying..

 Hoookay... so if calling them didn't work, I would suggest that you drop by their office to follow-up.  There's just no other way around it, it may be a bit more legwork for you but hey, It's your visa!  After I followed up mine in person, I got informed that I was approved (yey!) and that I only had to present the duly paid return tickets and my insurance and I was good to go.  And that's it!

Hope you fare a lot better with their auto attendant system than I did!

mumbling my finnish which I don't....

Applying for a Schengen VISA

Okay.. so I gotta go for a business trip to Finland and I need to get a VISA to get there..

What's a VISA?  A VISA refers to an entry permit granted to an individual for a short time  (no more than 90 days within a period of six months).  This is for the purpose of visiting another country temporarily for tourism, visit, or business reasons.  Almost every country you will visit would require a VISA with some possible exceptions (for short visits) like Hongkong and Thailand and probably others.

Anyway, after checking out the website for the Finland embassy (http://www.finland.ph) here in the Philippines, I found out that I need a Schengen VISA. What? Schengen??? But I'm going to Finland!!??  Apparently,  a lot of European states require a Schengen VISA.  Getting a Schengen VISA means that you would be able to visit any of the Schengen countries since they have a unified VISA.  A Schengen visa entitles a person to enter the Schengen area provided that  other preconditions for the entry are met.  Philippine citizens need a visa to visit the Schengen area.

The 25 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland .

Note: If your main destination cannot  be ascertained, the Schengen state whose territory constitutes the main destination of the visit in terms of purpose or the length of stay will be responsible for granting the visa.  The Embassy of Finland in Manila is representing also Estonia in Schengen visa matters in the Philippines. Kindly follow the same requirements, application forms and instructions as for Finland from this website. Please submit supporting documents in English.

Alright, so we got that cleared, so what else do I need to apply for a Schengen VISA?

1.    visit to the Embassy in person (also minors)
2.    passport (which is valid at least three months following the end of the visit) and a copy of it
3.    old passports
4.    Schengen visa application form carefully completed, dated and signed by the applicant
           -  visa application forms can be downloaded from the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
           - Please carefully fill out the form along with all necessary appendices
5.    a recent color passport photograph, taken within the past six months
           - size 36 mm wide x 47 mm high, the facial dimensions being 32 mm X 36 mm, against an off-white or light background) 
6.    flight reservation (Please DO NOT purchase the actual ticket beforehand. Submission of the ticket is only upon the approval of the visa)
7.    travel insurance (Submission of travel insurance is only upon approval of the visa)
8.    NBI clearance (National Bureau of Investigation, purpose for Travel abroad, max. 12 months old)
9.    birth certificate (Note: Only National Statistic Office (NSO) certificates printed on a security paper are accepted by the Embassy)
10.  other documents maybe required on a case to case basis

Additional enclosures depending on the purpose of the travel:

Private visit (processing time 15 days) :
1.    an invitation letter stating the required details concerning the host and visitor (names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers), the purpose and duration of        the visit, confirmation of accommodation including the address, account of the relationship between the host and the visitor. The invitation letter must be signed        and dated
2.    a latest marriage certificate if the applicant and the host are married
3.    a certificate of kinship between the host and the applicant (such as latest birth certificates or marriage certificate), in case of a family visit.  (Note: Only National Statistic Office (NSO) certificates printed on a security paper are accepted by the Embassy)
4.    a copy of the host's passport or other identity document. If the host has visited the applicant in the Philippines, also the copies of entry and exit stamps has to be         included
5.    proof of sufficient funds (such as a copy of a bank statement from the past three months or a written certificate from the employer stating regular monthly income). The level of means of subsistence depend on the length of visit, purpose of the visit, and also on the cost of living of the Schengen State or States to be visited
6.    certificate of employment and approved leave of absence from the company/employer
7.    DTI / SEC registration of Business if applicant is self-employed / entrepreneur
8.    school certificate if the applicant is a student and proof of enrollment
9.    other documents maybe required on a case to case basis

The Finnish legistation allows the family member of a Finnish citizen to travel to Finland in order to file a residence permit application at a local police.  But even if an applicant is a family member (e.g.spouse), the status does not accord him or her an automatic right to a visa. Also in this case a person has to fulfill the general visa requirements.

Note : Late registrations are not accepted as such, the applicant must also provide e.g. school records (elementary or high school originals, Form 137) or hospital records of birth. Important : the embassy requires true verified copies of documents that led to late registration of a birth/death from the competent Civil Registrar, should these documents not meet the requirements of Rule 26 of the Philippine Administrative Order the birth/death certificate in question will not be accepted.

Note: If the applicant and/or husband/wife was married before, an annulment/divorce/death certificate on NSO security paper authenticated by  DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) has to be provided.

If the applicant  was single before marriage, the single status certificate called Certificate of No Marriage in the national indices of marriage on NSO security paper authenticated by DFA has to be provided.

Tourist visit (processing time 15 days)
1.   detailed tour itinerary and the contact information of the local and Finnish tour operator
2.   flight and hotel reservation
4.   proof of employment and approved leave of absence5.   DTI / SEC registration of Business if applicant is self-employed / entrepreneur
5.   proof of studies/holiday.   evidence of sufficient funds (such as a copy of a bank statement from the past three months)

Business trip/conference (processing time 15 days)
1.   flight and hotel reservation
2.   an invitation letter from a business partner/organisation, which  states the contact information (name of the contact person, phone number and address), purpose and date of travel
3.   employment certificate
4.   confirmation by the sending company/organisation about the travel and its purpose
5.   DTI / SEC registration of Business if applicant is self-employed / entrepreneur
6.   evidence of sufficient funds (such as a copy of a bank statement from the past three months)
7.   the Embassy may ask for additional enclosures, as appropriate, such as an extract from the Register of Companies

Seaman (processing time 3 working days)
1.   valid passport and Seaman's book
2.   original POEA contract and OEC (Overseas Employment Contract)
3.   ticket or confirmed booking from the airlines
4.   letter of  guarantee from the local manning agency in the Philippines
5.   letter of invitation from the shipping agent in Finland

Note : The Embassy must receive a confirmation in Finnish,  Swedish or English language by fax from the shipping agent in Finland,  including the name list of the seamen

The visa processing fee is  60 euros and it is charged when the application is submitted to the Embassy. The fee is paid in cash in the Filipino currency at the valid rate of exchange (3750 pesos in July 2011). The processing fee is non-refundable.    The fee is not charged if the visa applicant belongs to one of the following categories:
- children under six years
- school children, students, post graduate students and accompanying teachers who undertake trips for the purpose of study or educational training
- researchers travelling for the purpose of carrying out scientific research

Update: I forgot to include that if they require you to present an invitation letter from Finland, you'll need to submit the original or a scanned copy (as long as it is signed) of the invitation letter and then have them email the invitation letter from the inviting company/person who is in Finland to the Finland Embassy.

Whew!  That was a lot!  Do check out the website of the embassy of Finland to make sure that you have everything they require.  Good luck to all!

Mumbling my prayers that I get approved... hehehe

The 2011 (2012) Kia Picanto Review

Kia has just released their newest take on the Picanto series... and this time around, they got it right!

I had the chance to drive around the newest model of the Kia Picanto and I gotta say, it was impressive! Whoa!  I gotta stop gushing like a 16 year old chick here and give you some specs of the model I'm reviewing...

The Specs:
Model:    Kia Picantio 2011 (2012)
Engine:    1.0L Kappa MPI I-3 SOHC 12V Engine
Power:    69Hp at 6,200 rpm
Torque:     9.6kg-m at 3,500 rpm. 

Transmission options are manual and automatic.

PRICE:     The MT variant is priced at Php545,000 while the AT variant is priced at Php599,000.

The one I got to drive is the Automatic Transmission variant.

The competition (Direct):
The Hyundai i10, Suzuki Celerio, Chery QQ(??), Chevrolet Spark


The Interior:
The interior is nothing to sneeze at except possibly when you have a cold..  maybe not even then... unless your cold is really, really bad.

The interiors trim of the dashboard is simple yet elegant.. it's made of hard plastic but doesn't project any cheapness... it really looks sturdy and would last a lot longer than you.  The driver's console also looks great with a lit up and readable tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge.  A trip computer is also included so you can monitor your fuel consumption.  There is also an eco display which displays "ECO" to let you know if you are driving economically... Duh!  One thing I miss is that I can't see the engine temp gauge on the console... according to the manual, when the car is starting to overheat, it will display the Engine Temp symbol on the console... (Hookay! That might be a little too late)... 

The new Picanto comes with comfortable bucket seats which can be reclined and moved forward or reardward.  No height adjustments on the seat but it still gives you a commanding view of the road.  The car comes with one glove compartment and at the front passenger seat, below the seat is an extra drawer (for shoes or other documents) which is really cool.

The only real drawback is the boot which is really tiny... you can probably fit 2 duffel bags side by side and then if you want to add some more then you have to stack them up... but if you really need more space, and you're not carrying passengers at the back, you can get some additional space by folding the back seat which folds flat!  Not as flat as the boot floor (there's about an inch differnce in height) but flat nonetheless which is more than I can say with other small cars in the same category...

All models available here in the Phiippines come with central locking, car alarm, keyless entry, power windows, power side mirrors, power steering (Motor Driven Power Steering - MDPS) and a CD/radio player.  Although here, they swapped the player with a JVC one.. It's decent but the original player was better looking and I think more compatible with the dasboard... they probably swapped it to help slash off the pricing a bit...  It also comes with Manual Airconditioning... the climate control was swapped with the manual one... guess why?  To slash some price off the top again...  The climate control would have given this car a sense of elegance... I mean, a mini car with climate control is almost unheard of unless you're driving a mini cooper.. but alas, price is more important and they had to keep it down to make it competitive in the small car segment.. There's no stop/start engine button in the Philippine model either for the same reasons as the above, I guess. 

Regardless of the compromises they had to make to keep pricing down, the interior is still better than most small cars out there.. and that is already saying a lot!


The Exterior:
 With an exterior designed by Peter Schreyer (also a designer for Audi), this little car looks really sporty and cool... no more girly designs like the last model.  This little car is uh... uhm... a man's little car!  Seriously, the exterior is really great from the body design to the sporty headlights!  Fog lamps come as standard (Yeah!) and 15" alloy rims are standard (Double Yeah!) on the automatic version.  Although it is a small car, it still manages to make itself look like a small tiger and would definitely appeal to the younger dudes out there.  I can go on and on and on about how cool and awesome it looks but your taste may vary so let me stop blabbering about the coolness of it's sporty look (Just look at the pictures!).

This new model is a teensy bit longer than the previous model and also a teensy bit wider which gives the impression of better stability (I hope!)  while cornering at high speeds (I haven't tried cornering at high speeds and have no intention of doing so)...

A rear wiper and rear backing lights is also available as standard for all variants.  It's too bad the electronic folding side mirrors didn't make it to our shores but such is life...












The Ride:

The feel of the car while you're on the road is deceptive... small bumps and other small road imperfections are just handled very well by the car... also, you don't feel like you're driving a small car.  Normally, a small car is hindered by small bumps and bruises on the road but this is one small car that feels like a big car.  The cabin is also relatively quiet on the inside and you can barely hear the engine throttling away... although to be fair, I haven't tried to run the car faster than 60Kph, I mean, how could I? I'm in the Philippines running in the Greater Metro Manila Area!  Traffic is horrendous here!  I have not tried highway speeds (NLEX/SLEX) yet and I would really love to see if the cabin is still as quiet when running at 80Kph or higher...  speaking of the engine, having a 1.0L seems really low... with only 998cc of power and an output of only 69Bhp, you'd think that this car would be struggling on the straight road let alone any uphill travel.  Although I have driven the car for just a short time, I was able to put it to some paces... I went up mall parking ramps from the ground floor to the fifth floor (and then watched a movie!!), I went up some relatively steep elevations (Within QC and at the Fort) and I have yet to hear the engine struggle... granted, there were only 2 passengers but that is still very impressive for me... it's actually surprising!  Hopefully, I would be able to test it going up to Antipolo and once I do, I'll update this post.

The Motor Driven Power Steering (MDPS) performs rather well and is very light when running on low speeds for more control but gets a bit stiffer when on higher speeds.  Making a U-turn on the new Kia Picanto is easy peasy while parallel parking is a breeze on this car.  Although I have to say, the horn on the steering wheel is a bit stiff... I had to press it really hard to get the horn to sound off (I would've used the word honking but somehow it sounds a bit too porny... hehe).  Also, there's a bit of sharpness protruding at the edges of the horn too.

Fuel consumption (FC )should be no question on this car since it has a small engine.  But I find that my FC at around 8-10KpL which is far from the published Fuel Consumption (16-18KpL for AT and 18-20KpL for the manual).  Be reminded though that I have not driven it for long and FC may improve with prolonged usage (or maybe my driving just sucks!).

Summary:
To sum everything up, this proves to be the best version of the Picanto yet.  It may not be perfect but it has an almost (emphasis on almost) perfect balance of usability, style and accessories while keeping the price low for the mass market.  Which means Kia is really doing something right.  I mean, after the success of the Sorento and the Sportage, and spitting out more cool models like the Soul and the new Picanto with the New Rio right on it's heels, the Korean car manufacturer is now proving itself a force to be reckoned with in the automotive industry.  If the Japanese Automakers don't watch their back, they just might find themselves looking at Kia's butt from a mile away while eating their dust.

This is my first review of a car and if you're wondering what are my credentials, there is none.  I'm just a normal everyday driver just like you and approached this review as such.  Take it as you want it.

Update!!! (07.19.2011)
I was able to go to Antipolo today since I had some rather important business to attend to...  I brought the 2011 Kia Picanto with me to try out the steady uphill travel to Antipolo.  To my delight, there wasn't any problems going up Antipolo, the ride was smooth and I even had the aircon on!  Really, this car is great but my FC during the travel was still 8-10Kph which is not good for a 3 cylinder car.  If this persists until the first checkup, I'm going to ask the dealer to have this checked out.  But this car is still a joy to drive and I hope I get the chance to break it in before the checkup... it might help improve the FC.. who knows...  anyway, I'll update this post again once I finish breaking it in.

'Till next everybody!  Mumbling my vroom! vroom!!!