In Part 2 of this continuing coverage of the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour, organized by Yehey- the country's premier portal and search engine, we visited TriNoma's 2nd level. The easy favorite was La Maison. Also visited Cabalen. We had three more levels worth of food merchants to visit and half an afternoon to go.

By now we realized that twenty to thirty minutes each level just wasn't going to be enough, if TriNoma and Yehey wanted us to cover all the restaurants on the list. The list indicated five participating establishments on the this level- which meant a scant five or six minutes per resto- and that's hardly enough time at all.

Someone in the group I was rolling with suggested we be more strategic about it: pick a few good ones- restaurants we haven't tried before- and spend at least a good leisurely ten minutes to sit down, hang around a bit, get to know each other some, take some pictures, and basically have some fun.

I have to agree it was a pretty good idea.

The first stop was Pampanga Restaurant Abe- "where good friends dine", it said at the entrance. A few bloggers were already there ahead of us taking pictures and sampling the food. It offered Filipino food- but had some very unique and interesting dishes. There was this impressive looking pla-pla (a fairly large-sized tilapia fish) dish on the table, as well as a roast chicken, and what seemed to be kare-kare.

I've had the chance to try out Abe in Serendra (wasn't that the very first branch?).  While the restaurant positions itself as a bastion of Capampangan cuisine, they also serve other interesting dishes from other regions of the Philippines.


After taking some pictures, I grabbed myself a plate and got just a little bit of rice to eat with some binagoongan (pork stewed in shrimp paste), lumpiang pica-pica (egg rolls) and tried some of the relyenong mais (stuffed corn patties). One of the Abe staff politely explained that the relyenong mais is actually a pattie made of a mix of corn and shrimp meat bound together with egg and flour- a pretty interesting dish that went rather well with what we were already having.

Our next stop was a mediterranean-cuisine restaurant not too far away called Hossein's Persian Kebab. I remember seeing one of its branches along Makati Avenue, but never had the chance to try it out. The staff kindly directed us towards a table where they talked about the food they wanted us to try that afternoon- some pita bread, mediterranean-style salad, beef kebabs, with sides of hummus (ground chick-pea paste) and mutabal (eggplant mash with yogurt). Bring it on, I say!

The Hossein's staff directed us to our seats. I took pictures while the others waited for the food. See, what I liked about Hossein's was that they had us sit down, and then served us in small little groups. There were bloggers occupying two or three tables- and it was a nice chance for us to share food among new friends, even from separate tables. It was then that we finally had the chance to talk about what we did for a living, and swap stories and basically get to know each other.


Over pleasant conversation, I had myself a small plate with a beef kebab and some pita bread and mutabal. The staff graciously offered us more, but we had a couple dozen restaurants left to check out, and we needed the extra tummy space.

Interestingly enough, our little band of bloggers has remained intact up to this point.  Shown in the foreground of the picture are husband-and-wife team Michael (the online forex trader) and Myra (chef and food stylist).  In the background are our online buddies Michael and Christine (who deal in toys). Not shown, but very much around (see the last pic on this blog, taken in Haiku) were Jomar, Jolou and myself. 

At any rate, we had just about enough time to check out one other food merchant on this level before moving on, so our next stop was the quaint little Japanese restaurant next to Hossein's called Haiku.

Just like the resto before it, the staff led us to the showcase table. You have to give these guys points for presentation. They used this intricately-arranged salad for a centerpiece, with some wine and an interesting-looking sashimi plate right next to it. The staff then allowed us to hang out for a while and take some pictures of the place, while they prepare our sampler salad-and-sashimi plates.

Personally, as a dude, I prefer more-filling meat dishes and steaks to lighter fare like sushi, sashimi and salads. But I have to hand it to Haiku- the salad they served us (I think they call it The Best Ever salad- gotta check if I got it right) was downright delicious! My fellow bloggers were busying themselves trying to figure out what's in the salad, but I just wolfed it all down because it tasted quite alright.

We finished our plates just as another group of bloggers were on their way in. Anne, our helpful little guide from TriNoma, joined us at Haiku, and advised us that the fourth floor had a lot of heavy-hitters. Apparently, the two groups before us all had a grand time there- and naturally, we were curious and excited to find out for ourselves.

With that, we gathered our gear and headed upstairs. Oh, and we took the stairs this time to burn off whatever we could to make more room for more food!

More of the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour coming up, as we explore the fourth level of Ayala's newest mall in Quezon City. You can check out my other write-ups of the Bloggers' Food Tour here:

• The floor-by-floor coverage. Part 1 of 5, Part 2 of 5, Part 3 of 5, Part 4 of 5, Part 5 of 5.
• You can find pics on my Multiply site, "Get Your Geek On!"
• Other sides to the story can be found here on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"
• A compilation of other bloggers' entries can be found here (to follow).

To all our participating restos, Yehey!, TriNoma, and my new blogger buds- thank you for the wonderful experience.

Cheers!

Start:	Nov 24, '07 11:30a
End:	Nov 24, '07 8:30p
Location:	5/F The Podium. Powertips Business Center.

Hey everyone :)

Christmas is just around the corner, and we sure could use a little extra cash :D

So let's help each other out- our small, growing network of entrepreneurs and business-minded folk have arranged yet another workshop to give you an idea on how to make a decent amount of money through a simple everyday activity such as blogging.

Spread the word, bring your friends, and get into it before everybody else does!

Cheers, everyone!
-------------------------------------

The MONEY TALKS! workshop series for raketeros and raketeras continues with: "Blogging For Money featuring Abe Olandres". For intermediate- to
advanced-level bloggers who'd like to not only get people to visit their
blogs, but also make a whole lotta cash by doing so!

interMEDIA Strategic Marketing Solutions presents ....

Money Talks: Blogging For Money featuring Abe Olandres

Happens on Saturday, November 24, 2007, 11:30am - 8:30pm
at the Powertips Business Center, 5/F The Podium

For details:

Call or drop us a message at: +63916.435.3882 or +63918.937.2147.
Email us at: intermedia.workshops (at) gmail.com
Or visit the blog: makelotsofmoney.wordpress.com/about

Start:	Nov 24, '07 11:30a
End:	Nov 24, '07 8:30p
Location:	5/F The Podium. Powertips Business Center.

Hey everyone :)

Christmas is just around the corner, and we sure could use a little extra cash :D

So let's help each other out- our small, growing network of entrepreneurs and business-minded folk have arranged yet another workshop to give you an idea on how to make a decent amount of money through a simple everyday activity such as blogging.

Spread the word, bring your friends, and get into it before everybody else does!

Cheers, everyone!
-------------------------------------

The MONEY TALKS! workshop series for raketeros and raketeras continues with: "Blogging For Money featuring Abe Olandres". For intermediate- to
advanced-level bloggers who'd like to not only get people to visit their
blogs, but also make a whole lotta cash by doing so!

interMEDIA Strategic Marketing Solutions presents ....

Money Talks: Blogging For Money
featuring Abe Olandres

Saturday, November 24, 2007, 11:30am - 8:30pm
at the Powertips Business Center, 5/F The Podium

For details, call or drop us a message at
+63916.435.3882 or +63918.937.2147

Email us: intermedia.workshops (at) gmail.com

Or visit the blog: makelotsofmoney.wordpress.com/about

Hey, we all gotta start somewhere. One of the reasons why I left my last couple jobs was due to the fact that, despite having written so much about the company and stuff, I've hardly done any writing for myself. And man, did I have a lot of stuff to vent back then!

Anyway, I only started blogging last March- totally inspired after an invigorating trip from Singapore. Yeah, I've had a few friends who have already been regular bloggers at the time, but other than that- I have had no experience at blogging at all.

A friend of mine gave me a few tips to help me start out (thanks Gabby! -you can check out her blogs here). I now include those tips here, together with some of mine.

Later on, after setting up my first few blogs, I've ran into other bloggers- some a lot more into serious than me, others more casual- you really get all kinds, you know?

Blogology 101

Blogs start off with the idea of putting your thoughts online- think of a blog as a diary, a notebook, a bulletin board, a review column, a collection of media, or any mix thereof. The beauty is that it can be pretty much anything you want it to be.

Many people write for various reasons. Traditionally bloggers write for the purpose of informing and communicating. But a lot of bloggers do so because it makes for a great outlet to get creative, go crazy, or get into an experimental mindset.

It's great for socializing- think of it as setting up a room online where others can visit you, and from which you can also visit others. Be a good neighbor, and you can see others be good to you and your blog when they drop by too.

So how does one start getting in on the Blogging Bandwagon?

Setting Up Your Blog Empire

For starters, let's set up your blog. I would suggest you make use of free blog services like Blogger, Wordpress or LiveJournal.

Blogger/Blogspot is a great blog service to start with, being extremely user-friendly, simple to use, and allows you a number of widgets (nice little applications you add on to your basic blog).

Wordpress is also good, allowing you more applications to play with. While not as easy to use as Blogspot, it looks a great deal sharper and more professional. Also, if you plan to go professional, there's a pretty good chance you might be using the Wordpress interface, so you might as well get used to it now.

LiveJournal is great because, while it has the most simple features compared to Blogspot and Wordpress, it seems to allow you the greatest deal of privacy- so you can choose who gets to view your blog.

Later on, when you've gained more experience and think you can handle your own hosted domain, you could choose to do so.

Good luck, and let me know how your blogs turn out!

Cheers!

"Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!" is positioning itself as a blog-building resource for starting bloggers- an online source for tips and advice for anyone who wants to get into the blogging lifestyle.

Started by Renzie Baluyut in May 2007.