Century Diner Buffet

Location: 220-18 Hillside Ave., Queens Village, NY
Cuisine: Chinese, Buffet
Phone: (718) 468-8757
Prices: $8 (for lunch buffet)
Credit Cards: All major

Food:
Chinese: 7
Japanese: 7
Italian: 3
Desserts: 5
Drinks: 5

Service: 9
Value: 9
Environment: 8

Frequency: Frequent

I just had a New Year's lunch with my parents and a couple of family friends, but I come here a lot on special occasions. My parents and other friends who live in Queens are big fans. It's one of the better buffets in Queens. The popular East chain is overrated.

The Chinese food is pretty good here with a variety of fried and unfried items. The dim sum is OK. It's less flavorful as dim sum places, but better than most buffets. For Japanese, the sushi lacks variety and quantity. I try to get sushi during my first round, but they didn't have it ready until my meal was done. The chicken teriyaki was great though. It had the right amount of sauce and they used the dark meat of the chicken. Generally, the Italian food is lacking at these buffets, but Century offers a little less than its competitors. Desserts were just OK... mostly packaged cookies, generic ice cream and fruits. Drinks were also generic... soda, coffee and tea... nothing special.

The service was excellent. There was a waiter/waitress stationed at certain strategic locations so that they could clear used plates immediately. The value is what got my parents going there a lot recently. It's an amazing amount of food for $8. The soda is included. That's not usually the case, even with more expensive buffets. The environment was clean and well-laidout. Most buffets aren't as spacious as Century.

Life in the Matrix

A Quick Look @ Facebook

I have my own place that I share with two pet dragons. They have completely different personalities, but get a along just fine. The small green dragon just likes to eat junk food and compete in races. He has a group of various small creatures that he hangs out with, but mostly practices with a kangaroo. The large blue dragon likes to practice fighting and hunt for treasure. He befriended another dragon of the same species owned by L.Y. The three of us usually have breakfast together and hang out in the morning. They're more like roommates than pets because they sort of take care of themselves in many ways. I don't really have to worry about them too much.

Many of my close friends and family live in my neighborhood too. They're literally within poking distance, so I never feel lonely. We do spur-of-the-moment things together all the time like a quick snack at Yum Cha Restaurant, watching movies and cheering on the Yankees.

I spend some time each afternoon with a racing team I put together. L.Y. & F.H. Wing have Mustang GTs. D.L. & J.L. are working on Mini Coopers. I'm currently powering up a BMW M3. The bolt-ons are as easy to install as plug-and-play. It just takes some work to raise money for parts.

At night, I usually meet up with W.S. and J.L. for Sith training which consists of a lot of studying in the archives, practicing lightsaber moves and building up force techniques. After that, I often see B.B. and we just share with each other what we've done throughout the day.

I could get used to this. Life in the Matrix is heaven. Thanks to Downtown A.B. for giving me the red pill! Thanks to F.H. Wing, B.B. and Bongie for helping me settle in!

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas!

Despite missing out on Black Friday and having 2-week handicap (vacation), I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done. It took all the way up to the 24th though! Every year I try to find a good match for each recipient... based on something I pick up over the course of the year during conversations or get-togethers. Some people think that I put too much effort into every little gift, but I work hard to avoid giving out "regiftables." I made the kids' presents (5 total) the first priority when I first though that I wasn't going to complete my shopping in time. Those were mostly based on interests and for the ones I'm less familiar with, I try to find something fun and educational. For the adults' presents this year, I was glad to be able to support a couple of my friend's Online stores while fulfilling gifts for other friends. Another theme to some of my gifts was natural health since I became a follower earlier in the year.



As far as celebration, it was simple and sweet this year. I made my "Santa Claus" run from the 21st to the 23rd. That consisted of one last minute snail mail (which made it on time!), a couple of online purchases and drop offs at 2 friends' houses. I spent some time catching up with friends on the 23rd. On Christmas Eve, sister EM, my cousin's family and I met up at my parents' house for dinner, while watching some recent family DVD home videos. It wasn't as festive as years in the past, but still very fun because of the newest member of the family, Wesley, who was born in August of this year. Whenever there's a baby, all the attention is on him/her no matter what holiday it is! Most of Christmas Day was spent reorganizing and cleaning up... much like a Sunday. My sister and I met up at my parents' again for a left-overs dinner, a few NBA games and a movie.

Now it's back to work for a few days and looking forward to an upcoming New Year's weekend!

Mr. Hobbs' Beowulf

Original Date: Fall 1992

I received my Beowulf soundtrack in the mail a few days ago and have been listening to it every day. The composer, Alan Silvestri did his homework because the beats of the tracks evoke the same feeling as drum beats of how the original epic poem was performed. How do I know this? Well... listening to the music took me back into the 12th grade... Mr. Hobbs' English 12H class to be exact. I sat in the front (either 2nd or 3rd row) on the left side of the room (Mobile 1).

In that class, we really went in depth and dissected every little bit of this poem. Here's a list of 10 Beowulf notes/theories from Mr. Hobbs in 1992:

• Didactic poetry... meant to instruct.
• Life & death theme; a cycle of kings.
• Beowulf's tragic flaw is hubris, the sin of pride.
• Grendel was a descendant of Cain.
• The swimming race with Brecca foreshadowed the underwater battle with Grendel's mother.
• Grendel's mother's lake represented the mouth of Hell.
• The dragon symbolized punishment for the sin of pride.
• The 3 battles were an allegory to Beowulf's 3 stages of life.
• Hygelac, Beowulf's King was an actual historic figure who died in 521ad
• Christian allegory of the coming of Christ, resurrection and eternal salvation for the 3 battles.

Mr. Hobbs taught the most interesting literature lessons. Before having him as a teacher, it was one of my weaker subjects (B-A range). I didn't get straight A's until my interest increased during the 11th grade in Mr. Hobb's 11R class. He then put me in his 12H class the next year where my A streak continued.

Frommer's Xiamen

The Xiamen information on Frommers.com came in handy during my recent trip. Since I didn't need the entire China book, I printed out all of the Xiamen pages from the website. Now that the vacation is over, I added some of my photos to the site to give the little city some more visual appeal.

Whenever I'm on vacation, I make it a point to take some nice destination photos aside from the usual family & friends portraits. These look great on DVD slideshows, desktop wallpapers and Frommers.com, now that we have the slideshow feature up.

Click here to check out my photos on Frommer's Xiamen.

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash

"WONDERHAM is a comic of a rambunctious, cheeky hamster's antics. He survives life in a mundane pet shop with an overactive imagination, rodent acrobatics, gluttony for late night TV and a super hero alter ego."
- James Li

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash is a CafePress store with products featuring James Li's Wonderham. There's a line of products made just for the holiday season, including greeting cards, mouse... err hamster pads, bags and shirts.

Visit Wonderham's Super Secret Stash at www.cafepress.com/wonderham.

Pure Soaps

Pure Soaps is an Online store run by my friend, Jene Wallace. She produces natural soaps, lip balms and scrubs made of vegetable glycerin soap, olive oil soap, shea butter soap, soy soap and goat's milk. They make great holiday gifts. The craftsmanship is neat and each one smell good enough to eat! I just bought a bunch of these myself and am going to arrange them in some custom containers for a couple of special gifts.

Since I'm a follower of natural health, 2 rules I try follow are: 1) If man made it, don't eat it; 2) If you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin! These soaps are good stuff!

Check out Pure Soaps at pure.etsy.com.

Gala Manor Banquet Hall (for Dim Sum)

Location: 37-02 Main St., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese
Phone: (718) 888-9293
Prices: About $11 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Frequent

I spent the day off in Flushing, so I had Dim Sum with my parents at Gala Manor. Normally, this place is an expensive Chinese Restaurant, but during weekday lunch hours, they have dim sum at budget prices. It was nice to get back to some real dim sum after the fake stuff in the Philippines!

I'll start with my favorite... siu mai. I always get 2-3 orders of this one. There were no special toppings, just a measly kernel of corn. But more importantly, it was nice and meaty (some places mix a lot of dough into the ground pork). Yi chi gau is my parents' favorite. It was also pretty good here. I don't like it in some places because sometimes there's a weird after-taste for me. We pretty much went with our usual routine today. Other dishes we order were pork ribs, beef ribs, turnip cakes and honey tofu. One new dish that I haven't seen before was a bittermelon dumpling. It was a slice of bittermelon surrounding a pork meatball. It was interesting... nice contrast of tastes. If you haven't had bittermelon before, it's an acquired taste.

Service was pretty good. The carts came by frequently and we didn't have to wait long to get all of the dishes we wanted. The staff was prompt in clearing out finished dishes and filling up our tea kettle. The space is extravagant (well, it's a banquet hall) and very clean.

It's amazing how versatile large Chinese restaurants such as Gala Manor are today. They could accommodate a very expensive wedding banquet and have budget lunches in the same place. I didn't get to try this out, but they also have a booth where you can order custom dishes.

Camera's Eye

I'm in the middle of editing the wedding video and it feels like I'm attending the wedding for the first time. When I was shooting on December 1, it didn't feel like I was there at the wedding. I was merely working on auto-pilot as I framed each scene with the camera. This happens all the time when I'm filming. I concentrate so much on getting the shot that I'm not actually absorbing the moment (the event) itself. When I actually take everything in while editing, I'm getting a somewhat superhuman experience because I'm seeing the event through the camera's eye. I get more details than the majority of guests sitting in the church because of the zoomed scenes. I get to hear the dialog without the distraction of ambient sound in the room.

Adjusting to the Flow

The part I hate most about long vacations, particularly ones to Asia is the recovery time upon return. I don't do well with jet lag when I'm back home. It's been over a week since I got back and I still feel its effects. It's more than just the sleep too. My body seems to malfunction in many ways. I usually get sick because my immune system feels weakened. I also get cold in temperatures that I'm normally OK in.

Philippines has its quirks. It's hot, damp and smelly. The hotel I was in was in the process of being built and my schedule was extremely busy. But in the end, I would much rather be hanging out with my extended family than battling through NYC rush hour. Perhaps this adds to why I get jet lag on the way back, but not when I head West.

Unfortunately, the pains and effects of the return trip are what get stuck in my mind when I think of vacations to Asia. And it makes me reluctant to make another trip soon even though it's paradise once I get there.

Pinoy Superstore

Have family in the Philippines? Now there's an easy way to get X-mas gifts to them. Check out Pinoy Superstore, a service run by my cousin, Richard Ng for people who have friends and family in the Philippines...

www.pinoysuperstore.biz

There are a wide variety of store items that include flowers, gift baskets as well as high-end electronics.

6 for 6 in Delays

The return trip on EVA was also plagued with delays. Delays are part of flying, but it's just ridiculous when it happens 100% of the time... 6 out of 6 flights! The flight from Manila to Taipei was delayed for "fleet rotation." Shouldn't things like this be accounted for in the schedule. A fleet rotation should be planned for and accounted for. This was a 3-hour delay! This was followed by 2 30+ minute delays on the next two flights. As good as EVA's flight/safety record is, I have yet to experience a smooth landing. But at least we walked away, right?

Greenhills Élan Hotel Modern BETA

Location: 49 Annapolis St. Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Phone: (632) 744-7878
Website: www.greenhillselansuites.com
Price: Standard Room ($50)
Credit Cards: All major

Rooms: 6
Service: 8
Value: 8
Amenities: 7

Length of Stay: 6 nights

Swire Élan Suites is a condominium conveniently located in the heart of Metro Manila, across from the Greenhills Shopping Complex. The lobby and first few floors were recently converted into a hotel, Greenhills Élan Hotel Modern. I labeled this establishment as BETA because portions of the hotel are still under construction.

The rooms were laid out nicely and have a Japanese/modern look to them. Some items weren't complete though. A couple of the lights were missing bulbs and the broadband Internet wasn't "live." The bed was comfortable. The minibar and bathroom were very complete. The AC was efficient and cooled the area quickly.

The hotel is run by some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Everyone is very polite. Any problems that came up were taken care of right away for the most part. I didn't give it a "10" because there were a few areas of inexperience. Keep in mind that this is still in BETA. In a little while, I'm sure this would become a "10."

The elevator system was a little strange. The doors closed way too quickly and have no sensor to tell you that someone is halfway in. The gym, located on P2 along with the recreation room was in bad shape. The equipment itself was all there, but many of the machines were not completely assembled. This floor could use a full time staff member. Internet service was spotty and overpriced. It was 150 Pesos ($3.50) per hour or $600 Pesos ($14) per day. Internet access at the business center (6th floor) was 60 Pesos ($1.40) per 15 min.

Related: Review of Élan Café, Swire Élan Suites

Gloria Maris Dim Sum

Location: Greenhills Shopping Complex, San Juan, Metro Manila Philippines
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum
Hours: MON-THU (11am-2pm, 6pm-11pm); FRI-SAT (10am-2pm, 5:30pm-12am)
Phone: 722-5508 to 10, 721-3504, 722-5760
Prices: About $10 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique (for dim sum)

Gloria Maris has been THE Chinese restaurant in Manila for a while now. They've expanded to be several restaurants within the main restaurant... hot pot, dim sum, etc.

The Dim Sum here was actually pretty good... much better than the fancy Summer Palace. There sui mai was descent. They had something I've never come across before though... shark fin sui mai. It's the usual prok sui mai, but mixed with some shark fin and wrapped in seaweed... almost like hot sushi! We ordered extra bowls of those. They "halo-halo" congee (congee with everything) was pretty good too.

The wait staff was polite, but unskilled. When we got to the table, items were randomly missing. One spot had no plate, two had no chopsticks, etc. The waiter brought back items one-by-one. Also, when we ordered multiple quantities, he would bring them over one-by-one. Soup was served without soup spoons... the waiter used another trip to get the spoon... not efficient at all.

The environment was clean and well-designed. Seating was comfortable.

Related: Map

Christine & Nino

My cousin's wedding... the highlight of the trip to Philippines. Everything went well. The wedding took place at Grace Christian Church, a nice cozy church in Grace Village, Quezon City. The reception was at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Hotel, one of the top hotels in Manila and a common location for wedding receptions. The wedding and reception were both short, sweet and simple. We all had a chance to catch up with family and the newlyweds and didn't have to sit through a parade of events.

The professional video above was done by Ohdy Genilo and Lomel Genilo of Smart Shot Studio. Amazingly, it was edited between the ceremony and reception. The final cut was played for the guests on a large screen during the reception. That's what I call extreme editing!

Jollibee

Location: San Juan, Metro Manila Philippines
Cuisine: Fast Food
Phone: (02) 721-08-90, 722-92-02, 722-92-14
Website: www.jollibee.com.ph
Prices: About $10 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 5

Frequency: Uncommon

I didn't get a chance to eat at Jollibee in 1999, the last time I was in Philippines. It was in 1991 that I last had it... over 16 years ago. I knew I had to make an effort to fit it into an already tight schedule. It worked out perfectly because I just got back from Xiamen with my Mom, Dad, Aunt & Uncle and were waiting for EM to get back from dinner w/ my other Aunt. So we went along with cousin, I4 to a Jollibee around the corner.

I ordered the Champ, their equivalent of McDonald's QPC. It claims to be a third-pounder, but totally isn't. Despite the size, it still tasted great... just like 16 years ago. The burgers here have a unique taste to them... could be some tomatoes worked into the patties. I wouldn't say they're better than McDonald's burgers, but just treat them as something else.

An interesting note about Jollibee... they're the only local fast food restaurant in any country that has not been eclipsed by McDonald's. That's pretty impressive. It seems like the unique taste matches the Filipino appetite. I4 mentioned that another friend from the US did not like the taste and had trouble finishing it.

Philippine Air

Philippine Air was the exact opposite experience of EVA. The fleet is old and has not been renovated. Service seemed to be very disorganized overall. The food was terrible. I was nervous during takeoff and landing because of the accident record. Philippine Air had 68 reported incidents, but no total crashes like China Air. There isn't much of a choice for travel between Philippines and Xiamen though. There's the tainted Philippine Air or the infant Cebu Air. Surprisingly, both landings (to Xiamen and to Philippines) couldn't have been more perfect... no bumps at all.

Related: Philippine Air, Philippine Air on Wikipedia

Hokkien Majority

I felt at home in Xiamen even though my stay there only consisted of 4 days & 3 nights. It was a strange, but welcome experience to be in a city where everyone spoke Hokkien (aka Fukianese, Fujianese). I normally do a double-take when I hear it because the only people I'm used to hearing it from are family members. In NY, I hear it occasionally, but it sounds different because it's often the Taiwanese version, which is heavily accented. So it felt unreal to hear it from cab drivers, store operators, hotel staff and tour guides.

Can Your Hear Me Now?

It's worth noting that I had a full signal with the Verizon Wireless network in all parts of China. Even the small surrounding villages were in the coverage area. Philippines had no coverage... not even in Metro Manila!

Fujian Roots

For our second full day in China, we headed out of Xiamen to the surrounding villages... about a 2 hour drive. The farmlands in this area looked very much like the province scenes in Jet Li's Fearless. Our first stop was So Village, the original home of my maternal grandfather. There are actually 2 houses under my family's ownership still... the house my grandfather grew up in and the older ancestral house. We then took a lunch break at a local restaurant before heading off to Ang Village. Ang was the original home of my maternal grandmother and Auntie Day's (Mom's cousin from Long Island) father. Auntie Day made an effort to trace her roots during this trip and we were able to find her family's descendants in the village. They were positively IDed when they brought out a photo of her father with a note on the back from 1933 to her uncle.

The trip was physically exhausting as we climbed steep hills and dodged cars on narrow roads, but very rewarding as we all learned about our past and met relatives we never knew existed.

Peony Wanpeng Hotel

Location: 19 Huyuan Rd., Xiamen, China
Phone: (86) 592-2662888
Website: www.peony-hotel.com
Price: Standard Room ($50)
Credit Cards: All major

Rooms: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Amenities: 8

Length of Stay: 3 nights

China has some of the best hotels at the best prices. Peony Wanpeng Hotel is just one of those in the Xiamen area. The rooms were a little on the small side, but built with high quality material. The closets, minibar and desks were equipped with everything I could think of. They even had umbrellas and a safe in the closet. The window was huge and offered a great view through the front of the hotel.

We didn't really use the services much here, but the front desk was very helpful. They gave us a pro-rated price on one of the rooms when we needed it for storage a few hours after their standard checkout time.

I didn't stay long enough (3 nights) to check out all of their facilities, but the business center looked very complete. There's a 2-floor restaurant taking up the 4th & 5th floors and a cafe on the first floor with breakfast buffet. Internet service in the rooms was stable, fast and most importantly... FREE!

Xiamen in 1.5 Days

We arrived at night on 11/27 with enough time to check out Zhongshan Lu. The next day was a full day which we split between Garden Show Park and Gulang Yu.



Zhongshan Lu: [Attraction] This is the main shopping street of Xiamen. It consists mostly of designer clothing stores and sporting goods. It's not like the shopping areas of Shanghai & Beijing where you can find small souvenirs and gift items. The side streets are filled with DVD shops, restaurants and food stands.

Huasheng Tang Dian: [Restaurant] Located at the end of Zhongshan, My Mother's uncles made a point to stop by here for a peanut soup (huang ze he) snack as they were our tour guides. This is a specialty of the Xiamen area. It was also served after dinner at the Peony Wanpeng Restaurant.

Garden Show Park: [Attraction] This is the home of the 2007 Garden EXPO and is made up of 98 different gardens. We spent about 2 hours here and saw 5 gardens. They were some of the most artistically arranged gardens I've seen, but I can't imagine anyone sticking around for all 98!

Gulang Yu: [Attraction] The original home island of my paternal grandmother, Gulang Yu is now a tourist attraction made up of historic buildings and shops. Tour guides can be picked up right after the ferry drop-off. They start at 40 RMB, but can be bargained down to 10 RMB. Our group of 10 took about a 4-hour tour, so we just paid her the full 40 RMB anyway. It didn't even tranlate to much in USD ($5.40), but 40 RMB can go a long way in China.

Yuan Xiang Kou: [Restaurant] Our first stop on Gulang Yu was this small restaurant that specialized in fishball soup. I was a little reluctant at first because I didn't feel it wa exotic enough to try out and none of us were really hungry, but the tour guide convinced us to try a little. I'm glad she did because it was a the best fishball soup I've ever had. It tasted like real fish meat as opposed to the processed stuff we're used to in the US.

Xiamen's Cast

Joining Me and my parents on this side trip were:

Auntie Remy: Mom's younger sister, has lived with us in NY during my childhood
Auntie Ida: Mom's oldest sister
Auntie Solidad: Mom's youngest sister
Uncle Ruben: Mom's younger brother
Granduncle Manuel: Mom's uncle
Granduncle Robert: Mom's Uncle, builder of schools, bears a striking resemblance to Thomas Haden Church (Sandman in Spiderman 3)
Auntie Day: Mom's cousin from Long Island

Later on, we met up with the following, who arrived a little later:

Uncle Ramon: Mom's younger brother, well-known architect/designer in Philippines and Asia, majority owner of Swire Élan Suites
Auntie Élan: Uncle Ramon's wife, yes... the hotel is named after her
Kim: Their daughter

Razon's of Guagua

Location: Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Filipino, Dessert, Fast Food
Prices: About $6 per person

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

I had just finished shopping for some local crafts and had some extra time before the next family event. So I4 suggested that I try out the halo halo @ Razon's. I was never a big fan of that dessert, but wanted to try it out because it's a well-known dessert and the best in the Philippines deserves a try. It truly was the best halo halo I've ever had. It had just the right amounts of everything. For those who don't know, halo halo is an iced dessert made up of shaved ice, milk, beans and fruits. Razon's version is less wild and more to my taste. Some people really like loading up their halo halos with everything! The dish ends up looking like a rainbow. Razon's looks appetizing to eat. It's just a white & brown mixture of ingredients, topped with flan.

Service was the typical of Filipino restaurants. The decor was actually pretty nice for a fast food place. It had a nice color scheme (earth tones) to it and that had maps and historic information about the origins of the restaurant and the original village of their food.

Élan Café BETA

Location: 49 Annapolis St. Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: International, Filipino
Phone: (632) 744-7878
Website: www.greenhillselansuites.com
Prices: About $10 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 6
Service: 9
Value: 6
Environment: 10

Frequency: Common

Élan Café is a new establishment located on the ground floor of Greenhills Élan Hotel Modern. Decor and presentation were great. The service, like all places in the Philippines was courteous, but the staff had moments of inexperience. We ordered cold soda without ice. They brought it out with ice-filled glasses. Then we just took the cold cans and used the empty cups at the table. Much later, they brought out more empty glasses for the soda... uh... a little too late?

I only had lunch here for one day of my visit... the day I arrived. I ordered the Signature Cheeseburger (lettuce, tomatoes, gherkins, coleslaw, crispy fried onion rings, fries). It was pretty good and had an original taste to it. The meat was a little on the salty side though. I heard the same from other family members who ordered beef items.

Breakfast was pretty good. I had the breakfas buffet a number of times. It's much different from the prison food continental breakfasts offered in many American hotels. Eggs and pancakes can be ordered in any style. There's a wide assortment of breakfast meats, breads and pastries. I couple of things one has to get used to is that they eat things like hot dogs, hamburger meat and rice for breakfast here in the Philippines. The diet here is highly carniverous!

Quarterly Meetings

I was catching up with Sidney & I4 after the party. We talked about how big my Mom's side of the family is and how get-togethers worked in the Philippines. Just to give an idea of size, Sidney is considered by nephew because he's the son of my cousin, Betty. Betty is the daughter of my Mom's oldest brother (the oldest of 11 siblings). So I'm actually closer to Sidney's age than cousin Betty's. So gatherings are huge and happen 1-2 times per year in this family. Sidney & I4 mentioned that they attempted quarterly meetings at one point, which worked for a while but eventually started feeling too often. I thought that was funny. The family's so large that it needs to be treated like a business with a quarterly report!

Mom's Birthday

We missed Thanksgiving this year, but that also meant that we missed my Mom's birthday celebration. Her birthday is 11/24, which often falls on or close to Thanksgiving. So every year, we celebrate it along with Turkey Day. But we made up for the lost holidays and more with a gathering of her relatives @ Élan Café for lunch.

Heat

Healthy Eating Amazing Tastes

Location: 1 Garden Way, Ortigas Centre, Mandaluyong City 1650, Philippines
Cuisine: Seafood, Asian, Buffet
Hours: SUN-THU (6am-12am); FRI-SAT (6am-2am)
Phone: (632) 633-8888 ext. 2738/2739
Website: www.shangri-la.com/en/
Prices: About $30 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 6
Service: 10
Value: 5
Environment: 10

Frequency: Unique

Heat is an upscale seafood buffet located inside the 5-Star Edsa Shangri-La hotel. The most notable thing is the decor in this restaurant... Japanese style architecture, glass rooms and ice sculptures.

The food is probably considered great for the Philippines, but I'm from Flushing, NY where we have tons of these types of buffets. It doesn't really measure up. The sushi selections are slim and really just include the generic ones. The dim sum selections were also weak. The crabs and lobsters are original though. We have nothing of that size and taste in NY. The soup station was my favorite. You get a choice of noodles, soup bases, meats and spices. Great coffee too. The dessert station looked tastey as I walked in, but after dinner, it didn't look too appetizing anymore.

I gave the value a 5 even though it's a standard buffet price in NY because $30 for any meal in Philippines is really high.

Jekyll & Hyde Service on Eva Air

The 20+ hour plane ride felt like one long day, but it was actually about 1.5 days... 1 day flying time + 1/2 day time difference.

Overall, Eva Air was OK. The onboard service was great... probably the nicest flight attendants I've come across. The food was surprisingly good. It wasn't the usual airplane rations that consist of hydrated astronaut food. By contrast, the gate service was terrible and disorganized. When it was boarding time, they had passengers in wheelchairs and families traveling with children go first... that's OK, except they let a family with 3 teenagers mix in. "Kids" should be babies, toddlers at most. There's no reason for a family with a teenager to board first. They also did not call the "Evergreen Deluxe" passengers during the boarding, so those who paid for upgraded seats ended up being the last to board, behind Economy class.

Pre-Flight / Non-Thanksgiving

It feels weird to skip Thanksgiving. This is the first year that I can remember that we're not celebrating it. It's the only way to get a trip to Asia while cutting down on vacation day usage though. Right now, I'm at the airport with my parents, waiting for our flight to the Philippines on Eva Air. Most of my family is headed there for my cousin, Christine's wedding on December 1. My sister, EM is already there. She headed there a week earlier so she could include side trips to Thailand and Cambodia. I also have 2 pairs of uncles/aunts heading out from NY & Boston after Thanksgiving.

The flight is surprisingly full for Thanksgiving night. Check-in went by at a normal pace... no problems. The security checkpoint was a mess though. Laptops needed to be in a separate bin. So I ended up with 3 items... 1) backpack; 2) laptop & 3) bin with miscellaneous items. Of the 3 of us, they chose my mom to be patted down. Whenever I travel with my family, security never checks me. Usually, it's my dad they get. It's ironic because I'm by far more suspicious than my parents. I'm almost fully covered in black, including gloves, hat and hood. My backpack is filled with electronics that security guards have never seen before. Any one of those items could easily be a bomb component. Yet I never get searched. One other thing... if my laptop has to be taken out of the bag, then passed through the x-ray, then I lack confidence in the ability of the x-ray machine to protect my security.

About Video Game Ratings

Category: These are the basic video game categories... RPG, action, adventure, fighting, shooter, sports, racing, etc.

POV: Either 3rd or 1st.

Graphics: 1-10 scale on graphics and animation, 10 being the best.

Controls: 1-10 scale on ease and responsiveness of controls, 10 being the easiest to control.

Difficulty: 1-10 scale on how easy/hard it is to learn the game, 10 being the hardest.

About Movie Ratings

Story: Based on completeness of story, original ideas and holes (or lack of) in the plot.

Action: Martial arts, gun fights, car chases, war scenes, etc.

Acting: Quality of cast; Believability of how the actors portray the characters.

FX: Explosions, integration of CG, animation, audio etc.

Durability: My favorite movies are movies that I never tire of. So I created this category to display that. There are movies out there that are great when watched once, but then lose total value if watched again.

All categories will have a 0-10 rating, with 10 being the highest.

About Flashbacks

"Flashbacks" are stories from my past that I want to share with the world. I will break them up into the following subcategories:

Wonder Years: These will be my childhood years going through high school. So it's basically anything in 1993 or before.

SCAD: From 1993-1997, I attended the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). So I'm naming this period after my school because anything that occurred during these 4 years was either while I was in school or on one of my extended breaks.

Golden Age: This subcategory is named after the "Golden Age" of the Internet... the Dotcom Era.

About Hotel Ratings

Rooms: The quality, condition and design of the rooms.

Service: This item rates the professionalism of the staff. Part of this is based on politeness and the other half knowledge & skill.

Value: This means "bang for buck" basically. It doesn't mean cheap or expensive. An expensive hotel that has great service and amenities can have a great value.

Amenities: Number and quality of amenities in the establishment.

Length of Stay: I think this is worthy of mention because more weight can be given to my opinions for longer stays.

About Chinese Buffets

I'm probably going to start reviewing a number of Chinese buffets in Queens and this cuisine type is a little different, so it deserves a short intro.

Rating System
For the most part, the rating system is the same as my restaurant rating system, but I'm going to split up the food stat into the different types of food common to these restaurants. The majority of the food is Chinese. Japanese food will be rated on teriyaki and sushi. Italian food will be rated on pasta & pizza. Sometimes there's American food, but I won't rate those items because they're usually generic and people don't go to Chinese buffets to eat french fries and hot dogs... nor do I! Desserts will be rated separately as well as drinks.

Tips

1) All of the food is made to look good, but you won't necessarily feel good after you eat it. Take a little bit of everything on the first round, no matter how good it looks.

2) Don't overload your plate. Many of these places have penalties for wasting food.

3) Limit the fried items. The grease has a tendency to ruin your appetite for other stuff.

4) Don't be carnivorous! The meats look tempting, but you'll probably feel sick after eating too much. Alternate with some non-greasy veggies.

5) Eat slowly and take sips of tea between bites.

6) Pass on the soda. It's tempting because soda is great with Chinese food, but the carbon will limit your capacity.

About Frequency

I wanted to add a "frequency" rating to my restaurant and store reviews because I believe it adds a level of perspective to the other ratings. Many published reviews are based on a single visit by a writer. I think it's important to note which places I've visited once and which I go to all the time.

Unique: Only one visit.

Uncommon: About 2-3 visits or multiple visits, but spaced out by lots of time.

Common: Multiple visits with little spacing of time (multiple trips to the same place during a single vacation)

Frequent: Visited on a regular basis.

All the Time: Visited all the time.

About Restaurant Ratings

Note: The category name is called "Restaurants and Eats" because I will be reviewing delis and food stands also.

Food: This rating is purely for taste. The healthiness of the food is not taken into consideration.

Service: This item rates the professionalism of the staff. Part of this is based on politeness and the other half knowledge & skill.

Value: This means "bang for buck" basically. It doesn't mean cheap or expensive. An expensive restaurant that has great food and portions can have a great value.

Environment: Deals with comfort, decor and amenities of restaurants. This will be omitted for food stands and street vendors.

About NY Local

In this category, my goal is promote NYC restaurants, stores and events. I'm going to concentrate mostly in the Flushing, Queens area since there's already a ton of information out there about Manhattan. For part of my childhood, I grew up with friends in Flushing and have lived there for about 6 years. I think it has some of the best restaurants in the world, yet it doesn't appear in many travel guides, not even as a side trip from Manhattan.

Introduction

Hello World!

Sorry for the default design on this blog. I just want to get a few travel related entries up while I'm on an upcoming trip to the Philippines and Xiamen, China. I don't know yet what the overall subject matters will be yet, but I'll start with my trip and go naturally from there. When I have a better feel for the content, I'll skin this with a much nicer design.

Enjoy!