Why I’m Going to Use ShopWiki Next Time 16 September 2009
Posted by Renette in ShopWiki.add a comment
I’m pretty new to the entire online shopping experience. So far I’ve only bought stuff from two sites – Amazon and eBay. However, I recently discovered this site called ShopWiki, which is basically a search engine for all internet shopping stores.
What I liked about it is that instead of having to check all the other shopping sites out there for some of the hard-to-find items that I want, I only need to log in to ShopWiki and it will search the entire web for me. When I tried to look for the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre Series of The Chronicles of Narnia (one of the items on my wish list), I was routed to a site which sold it for less than Amazon did.
Another nice thing about it is that they have buying guides as well. It’s always nice to read insider tips on what to look for before purchasing the usual stuff I buy, like books, DVDs or movie memorabilia. They also have a pretty comprehensive list of related links.
I wish I discovered ShopWiki earlier so that I could have compared the prices for all my other online purchases. The next time I’m buying online, I’m going to use ShopWiki for sure.
Pizza and Pasta from PASTO 26 August 2008
Posted by Renette in Munch Punch, Pasto.add a comment
To celebrate our 42nd month together, Sid and I decided to go ahead with our plans last month (which I talked about here) to try a new place for dinner at Eastwood City. Since we weren’t very hungry (plus I didn’t have much of an appetite for the past few days because of my Dad’s accident), we decided to try PASTO, an Italian casual dining place.
Since I like cream-based pasta, we had alfredo (“spaghetti with fresh cracked pepper in a creamy parmesan sauce with grilled shrimp”), which cost Php195.00. I thought the price was a bit too steep if you consider that the serving is only for one, and it wasn’t anything out of this world. Like anything creamy, it’s easy to get tired or sick of it before you finish the whole dish (the Filipino term is “umay“), but the grilled shrimps balanced it out very nicely.
We had their proscuitto cotto pizza which had Italian smoked ham (proscuitto), asparagus, caramelized onions and mozzarella, which cost 
Php225.00. We, uh, actually chose it because proscuitto is ALWAYS mentioned in Everyday Italian, one of our favorite Food Network shows, and we’ve always been curious of how it tastes like. Funny, those Food Network hosts always say that prosciutto tastes like bacon, but I thought it tasted more like the fiesta ham we always have for Noche Buena (Christmas Eve dinner). The texture of some of the asparagus stalks were so stringy that we had to spit it out, but I loved the tomato sauce they used on the 12-inch, thin crust pizza. If they gave the pizza about an extra 3 to 5 minutes in the oven so that the crust would be crunchier and very very slightly burnt, it would have been perfect for me. But on the whole, I really liked it, and will definitely go back to try more of their pizza.
For dessert, we had torta al frutta (“creamy dreamy cheesecake with fruit toppings” – the one we ate had mangoes). It wasn’t as tasty as it looked – I didn’t like the texture of the cheesecake itself. It was flaky and was NOT creamy at all, and I kept wishing we headed to Heaven N’ Eggs for their mango crepe instead.
In case you’re interested, here are the contact details of the branch we visited (which I got from Munch Punch, one of my new favorite websites): Pasto Eastwood, 188 E Rodriguez Jr Avenue, Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City, Philippines, telephone number (632) 911-2768.
About SHELFARI (and the Previously Mentioned Shelfari Challenge) 19 May 2008
Posted by Renette in Shelfari.add a comment
For those who haven’t heard of SHELFARI yet, it’s this social networking site for bibliophiles like me. So far, I only have one active friend in SHELFARI (Mike R), with whom I had a bet recently that I have read more books than he has. I actually mentioned this in my first blog entry, because the bet resulted in my seeing the movie Step Up for the first time, which indirectly resulted in my starting this blog. I won the bet (and the Php500.00 gift certificate from a bookstore of my choice) with 222 books (most of which I deleted already since they were “sub prime”) against his 200-something.
The SHELFARI challenge really made me remember all the books I’ve read in my lifetime, which is a good thing to do. I realized that I’ve come a really long way literature-wise, from fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen to Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. (By the way, we decided not to include Sweet Valley, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew books we’ve read because they’re literally too many to mention, plus I don’t think we can remember the titles.) In addition, this also encouraged me to keep on reading because that’s who I am and that’s what I enjoy.
So if you’re a hardcore book-lover like me, or if you just want to document all the books you’ve previously read or are currently reading, I suggest you sign up for a Shelfari account too. You may also check the remaining books on my Shelfari shelf (back to 120 as of today) on my personal Shelfari account here.
