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One good thing about Facebook: I can ask my friends all sorts of questions and they will happily answer. Here’s my query this weekend: “what do you love to do when it’s cold and raining?” (it’s not what you think )

Nina: burrowing under the covers and sleeping in. Then getting up and eating hot and very sour bowl of sinigang and tuyo

Vicky: i just love watching the raindrops fall on my porch, observing the surroundings get moist and damp and watching the water flow into the drain….

Tess: Cuddle up with someone special Awww…but I just remembered, I’ve got no one right now

Stephanie: Sleep and/or cuddle with the kids and a good read-aloud book that has to do with water or the sea or storms — like Black Ships Before Troy.

Karla: I love to make a cup of hot chocolate (preferably the native sort) and wrap myself in a thick blanket and read a feel-good book.

Noemi: I love to wrap myself in my silk comforter and just sleep. Pitter patter of the rain is soothing to the nerves.

This has been a year when rain in the Philippines has been few and far between. Am actually missing the rain though I don’t actually miss the kind of rain (and wind!) that Milenyo brought last year which was downright scary. I do envy the answers of my friends who have the luxury of snuggling between the sheets when they feel like it. My pathetic life demands that I have to get up and work at certain hours of the day, even during holidays. But I do share in Karla’s answer that a warm cup of hot chocolate is enough to chase the blues away, since some people actually feel depressed when it rains.

It was actually a joy discovering this local chain of coffeeshops recently which specializes in preparing hot chocolate the old-fashioned way. The name is Tsoko.Nut Batirol and “batirol” as you know is the native wooden stirrer our old folks used in whipping up the drink. It brings back childhood memories and bygone days when everything was prepared from scratch. These days, kids like mine just have to reach the cupboard for instant hot drinks like Milo, Swiss Miss and Cadbury’s Choco.

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Sakura food

By now, readers of this blog should have noticed that my food philosophy really is not to spend my hard-earned peso on places that are too pretentious and fancy when I can get the same in other restos for so much less. Especially since I’ve seen how delectable food is much more affordable in other places in Asia, or out-of-town like Angeles City.. Good cuisine shouldn’t make one feel like there is some sort of highway robbery going on, even if some poor guy or publicist is footing the bill. Some restos in Manila are hyped so much when we should know better as wise consumers. it is not really our responsibility to subsidize somebody’s expensive studies in a culinary school, if you know what I mean. Besides if you’re even wiser, you can cook and embellish the same old pasta or seafood at home.

This is the reason why am always on the look-out for the best value-for-money eating places that Manila offers, unless you feel like giving yourself a treat and would like to partake of the newly-launched Diamond Hotel Indulgence Card .

Take for example Sakura Japanese Grocery and Restaurant, an old standby in Glorietta 4 which I only had the pleasure of discovering recently – thanks to my friend Jamie who treated moi. While Japanese food is generally viewed to be expensive, the dishes here are in the price range of less than P100 to below P300 (for the bento boxes). Owner Amelia Castillo proudly declares that prices have stayed the same since seven years ago.

Sakura is where Amelia’s son, composer Archie Castillo, showcases his kitchen prowess, like the spicy tuna sashimi I munched on that evening (P148), a tower of fresh fish cubes mixed in some mayonnaise dressing then sprinkled with hot sauce and chili powder. My friend, meanwhile ordered the scallops and asparagus teppanyaki and had a most heavenly langka and banana nut homemade ice cream for dessert (P115 for 2 scoops) which the resto consigns from a Japanese chef.

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Jakarta food in Manila.

I have never been anywhere near Indonesia but the thought of vicariously tasting their cuisine is something I will never say “no” to. It just so happened that there’s an Indonesian resto at the far end of our Malate street. I have been eyeing the place for months and in fact entered one time, just to look at the bar and the rest of its cozy surroundings. Having found the menu interesting, I finally convinced a dinner companion to give the place a try.

Our verdict: this is one resto you could indulge your appetite in, even though tucked in a discreet corner and far from the madding crowd of Malate. There’s no harm trying out satay or nasi goreng once in a while when all that the tourist district offers are karaokes as well as a smattering of Korean and Japanese restos.

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