A DOME-ful Delight

I had the opportunity to try out a new cafe today, I saw it when I was browsing through books and magazines at Powerbooks SM Megamall, the name of the Restaurant was NERO by Dome and what intrigued me most is the picture of Churros on their Small Tarpaulin which you will see when you are about to exit Powerbooks. I love Churros and I told myself that my daughter and I will be eating some Churros before heading home.

When we went there the place was almost empty - probably because its almost closing time, we arrived 8:15 PM. Or maybe because the Cafe is not very notice-able outside powerbooks, unlike other Cafe’s and Resto’s where the Neon lights will make their presence known, Nero by Dome is just force hiding in the shadow.

My daughter and I were seated in a comfortable coffee table - coffee chair. I looked at the menu and saw the Tuna Nicoise and went to order that as well, it looked delightful in the menu pictures and I didn’t want to just order dessert without having dinner first.

The first to arrive was the delectable Giant Raspberry Iced Tea:

I wanted to try a different flavoured Iced Tea since most restaurants only offer Lemon Iced Tea. Although this is not the first time I tasted Raspberry Iced Tea, it was still Deliciously different. And they said it was Giant, it really was. Although I was really thirsty from playing and walking the whole afternoon so I emptied my glass with no problem.

Then the PHP95.00 Churros came, it was really hot from being cooked to order. Each Churro was perfectly cooked and crispy from the outside and soft on the inside, just like all Churros should be. The chocolate dip was so divine, it was not melted Nutella (like some that I experienced from being a frequent Churro buyer) It was real melted Chocolate, it was not just sweet but you can taste a quality chocolate flavour. If I had not been stuffed by the Tuna Nicoise I ordered I would eat this heavenly Churro to the last crumb.

Ahh the amazing Tuna Nicoise, at first I thought I wasn’t hungry, but when I saw this dish on my table I wanted to munch it to the last bite. The Chips that came with it I believe was not home-made (I might be wrong though) It was flavoured Sour Cream and Onion, but it was delicious and complimented the Tuna Nicoise perfectly. I had my first mouthful of the Tuna Nicoise the moment the platter was laid down on the table (of course after I took a picture of it) and it was a real mouthful, the panini was stuffed with so much Tuna, Olives and all the works that you cannot take a bite and not spill some stuffing everywhere. But the first was really heavenly, it was hot and delicious, the olives complimented the taste of the tuna and the onions, the scrambled eggs were perfectly cooked. Once you take a bite of this sandwich it will be hard to stop, and I didn’t. I finished the dish (of course my daughter took a few bites) without hesitation.

I can’t wait to go back to Nero by Dome and try other food from their Menu, and I am sure I will be coming back for more, because its not just the food thats delicious, their ambiance (they offer free wifi) and the waiters are really friendly and nice.

A New Adventure

Yesterday My Sister (Tiggy), her son (Kian), My Daughter (Nike) and I went to Eastwood to celebrate the weekend. This is something both my sister and I thought would be something necessary to do for our children, so that they have something to look forward to every week. Last weekend we all went to Robinsons Galleria to Celebrate Kians 3rd Birthday. We ate at Burgoo and enjoyed a whole afternoon in Tom’s World where the children had so much fun riding the Ferris Wheel and Nike had a go at the crazy bus. It was all new for all of us, we usually just go to fun ranch - active fun and let the kids play with slides and balls. But we decided we wanted something different to try every week. And we did.

Yesterday all 4 of us went to Eastwood to celebrate yet another weekend. My sister and I decided we will enroll them to Gymboree Play and Music. We both had 5 free 1 hour play stubs along with our enrollment and yesterday my sister and I used 1 each to let our children enjoy the play gym. It was a smaller place compared to Active fun, smaller slides and no pool balls, I thought Nike might get bored with the place, but lo and behold she loved it even more than she loved active fun, which is saying a lot, because she loved active fun to bits!

They had mattresses everywhere where babies from as young as 6 months can play, though they have an age limit, only children aged 5 years and below can play. I like the set-up this way no bigger kids who plays more rowdily and dangerously can harm the babies who are just learning to walk and the little kids who can barely stand up straight.

They had balls that children can play with, and these soft contraptions where I can play hide and seek with my daughter. There are a few small slides that little children will not get scared of riding, they also have 1 rocking horse, a wooden monkey bar and a wooden 2 way swing that up to 4 children can ride. They have inflatable Donut shaped things that children can hide in, or parents and guardians can lie on.

The ambiance is really great, its colorful and well lighted, well ventilated, and its light to the eyes. It really was a very charming place, and my daughter and my nephew loved it there. I even had a short conversation with my daughter on the ride home from Eastwood:

Me: Nike did you have fun?

Nike: Yes!

Me: Did you love Gymboree?

Nike: Yes!

Me: What do you love more, Gymboree or FunRanch? (I purposely ended the question with Fun Ranch because I did not want Nike’s answer to be influenced by what I said last - kids tend to just repeat the last thing they hear.)

Nike: ummm… GYMBOREE!!!!

And from that short conversation, I realized that I did make the right decision of having her enrolled in Gymboree for a month long class in July. So we will see more of Eastwoods - Gymboree really really soon.

Casino

Wikipedia Defines a Casino as -- a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. It is furthered explained by indicating the history of the term Casino -- The term "Casino" originally meant a small villa, summerhouse or pavilion built for pleasure, usually on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo. And it is still furthered ellaborated by explaining the history of Casinos themselves and how it was incorporated with gambling -- The Chinese recorded the first official account of the practice in 2300 B.C., but it is generally believed that activity of gambling, in some way or another, has been seen in almost every society in history. From the Ancient Greeks and Romans to Napoleon'sFrance and Elizabethan England, much of history is filled with stories of entertainment based on the games of chance.

Still according to the ever trusty wikipedia, Casinos in the earlier years were known in the US as saloons, I was amazed to know this as I usually see or hear the word saloon in old texas / western movies where the cowboys would go to saloons for drinks and pass time. Which is what most of the people inside Casinos nowadays do, spend money, drink beer, eat, waste money and have a great time.

Here in the Philippines, Pagcor is the legal place for gambling, it is one of the most prominent Casino names in the country. Maybe its because its the one owned by the government.

PAGCOR stands for -- The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.  Pagcor was created to: regulate all games of chance, particularly casino gaming in the country, to raise funds for the governments' socio-civic and national developmental efforts, and to help boost the country's tourism industry.

But did you know that PAGCOR, being a government owned casino gives a lot back to the nation by distributing all its earnings to good causes. Examples of these good causes would namely be:

• 5 percent of net winnings goes to the BIR as franchise tax;

• 50 percent of the 95 percent balance goes to the National Treasury as the National Government’s mandated income share;

• 5 percent of the balance after the franchise tax and the National Government’s mandated income share goes to the Philippine Sports Commission for financing of the country’s sports development programs;

• 1 percent of the net cash income goes to the Board of Claims, an agency under the Department of Justice, which compensates victims of wrongful detention and prosecution;



• Cities hosting PAGCOR casinos are given a fixed amount for their respective community development projects;
The remaining balance is then remitted to the President’s Social Fund to help fund the priority projects of the government.

And there is a lot more good charities or causes that PAGCOR is part of. So taking your time to enjoy in one of their casinos not only helps you personally enjoy, but also helps our government achieve their socio-civic goals and responsibilities.

But besides the facts that can be researched from wikipedia about casinos and from PAGCOR's website about the pagcor casino, did you know that besides the wide variety of gambling activities or games that you can play, they will also offer you free unlimited drinks and food that they have available in their kitchen? thats right, they do!

My husband, Noel, and I went there tonight to celebrate the weekend and to welcome fathers day. The original plan was to go to The Library Restaurant and Comedy bar, but that did not work out due to the very eerie location that the comedy bar was located in (Malate, near Adriatico). Noel is very particular about where he parks his car as he is very careful with his car and sadly The Library like any other establishment in the adriatico circle did not have a really decent parking. Luckily, when we were driving around the place we came across one PAGCOR Casino where Noel mentioned that if we do not push through with our original plan of going to the comedy bar that we should try spending our date night in the Casino and I totally agreed. Besides, that will count as my second time inside a casino.

So were there in PAGCOR, we decided to spend a maximum of Php2,000 for that night. Once we were inside I told him that we should start by playing with the slot machines first, start small and start slow. We changed one Php500 bill to slot machine coins and played for almost an hour on 1 of the slot machines. Then I mentioned to him that we should order some food and drinks because its free. He did not believe me at first, but I remembered during my first Casino visit with my dad that I ate 3 clubhouse sandwiches and tons of iced tea and did not pay even 1 peso. So to be sure that the rules are still the same, I called the attention of one of the attendants and asked whether the food and drinks are still free, and to Noel's surprise and disbelief, it is. The only difference this time is that you have to have this PAGCOR ID before you can order anything. So we immediately went to the concierge, asked what the process is to get the PAGCOR ID, and within minutes we had our ticket to our free meal!

So the night went on, we were fed and watered, well we were mango-shaked *wink*. I decided its time to play the baccarrat. We went to the gambling tables and left the trusty, slot machines and went to the other side of the room, where the baccarrat tables are, along with the pontoon tables, the roullettes, the craps tables and the poker tables. I told Noel that we should observe the tables first, watch which tables are lucky for the players and which tables are lucky for the "house" (the Casino), there was this one baccarrat table that I was observing and it was unbelievable because while I was watching, I noticed that the House (the dealer of the casino) is really, unbelievably lucky. He kept winning the hands even if he had the most terrible cards. If my calculations are correct I can assume that he won 19 out of the 20 deals that he made, and I am not exaggerating. So I thought, ok maybe I should try it out. But being the smart person that I think I am (LOL) I went to the other baccarrat table to ask what the minimum bet is, and to my dismay the minimum bet is way beyond my budget. See, I was hoping to exchange a Php500 bill to the house money and play the baccarrat table, I was hoping to bet Php100 per game, unfortunately I was shocked to hear that the minimum bet per game is Php500. So I decided not to play, as I felt that baccarrat is something that I really can not afford. After hovering some more on the other tables, watching rich players lose their money, Noel and I decided to go back to the slot machines and order more food.

Although I was disappointed that we were not able to watch a comedy show, I was really happy at this new experience that Noel and I shared.  I would say that this is something that we can talk about in the years to come, something that we can reminisce about. And although it was sad how expensive the baccarrat tables were, I'm glad we got stuck in the slot machines where I realized that I am not a gambler and that I went to the Casino to just have a different kind of fun. We still ended up losing Php800, but We managed to get stuffed with all the free food and drinks that we can get. And all in all I think 800 pesos is but a small price to pay for this fun-filled night that I am sure Noel and I will remember for the rest of our lives, besides its the first of all the Casino (free food and drink) trips that we will have.

Till our next!