Esme's Despedida

The PNB Treasury held a despedida lunch at HK Chef for Esme. She availed of last year's early retirement program.

Mangoes

Bought some mangoes from Boss Dan. They were delivered today.

The Dartboard's Here

When the year started, we in the FX group started to collect PHP10 for every deal that has to be reversed. We increased the penalty to PHP20 in March. By the first week of April, we had collected a total of about PHP600.

We decided to use the money to buy a dart board. I asked Boss Mon if it was okay for us to install a dart board and he said yes as long we don't play during work hours.

I asked Rey to look around and said the good ones cost at least PHP1,000. I told him I'd contribute PHP500 since I wasn't able to give a real Christmas gift to the group last December, then if what he buys cost more than the pot money, we'd divide the balance equally by 5.

He had the dart board this Monday and we asked the carpenters to install it on this post.

By jingfrey73, shot with SONY ERICSSON P1i

Labahita ala Bacalao ala Vizcayna

One food I look forward to eating every Lenten season is what we at home simply refer to as "bacalao". Technically it is Bacalao ala Vizcayna, but since bacalao is either expensive or hard to find, we use daing na labahita. We use the recipe my father brought from his home province of Cavite.

By jingfrey73, shot with DSC-W70

Spanish olive oil like Borges is the best to use when eating this: apart from cooking the fish and sauce with olive oil, we also pour a little olive oil on top before eating bacalao. I recommend Spanish olive oil because I have tried other kinds and they just don't have the right taste that will complement the dish - they are usually bland and I am used to strong flavored olive oil.

MIAS 2009

Bee and her brother have been talking on facebook about going to the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) that I thought of going there with Jon who likes cars ... sort of a birthday gift to him.

As usual, after Jon and I had taken pictures of the cars, Jon would "hunt" down the sexy models and ask me to take a picture of him with them. I think one of them appeared in FHM. The clip below are my pictures of the cars.

My 2009 Birthday

Went to work yesterday instead of going on birthday leave. The brokers, who make it a habit to send something to traders for birthdays, had to ask if I was going on leave or not. Hahaha! They know I usually take by birthday leave on my birthday. Only Tradition asked me what day I wanted them to send the food.

Yesterday
Tullett Prebon sent a bouquet of flowers and a Sugarhouse cake.
ICAP sent a chocolate cake, pancit, and barbecue.
Amstel sent a suckling pig with dinuguan.

Adie had her picture taken beside the suckling pig...to add to her collection of pictures of lechon.

Unexpected were the CDs Gelyn of Amstel gave me... didn't think that when I commented on facebook that I lost my Alanis Morisette CD, Gelyn would buy me another one. The movie soundtrack CD should have been for "Now and Then" if she found a copy, since I also mentioned that I liked the movie and its soundtrack.

When I got home last night, my sister Tessie gave me a Goldilocks cake and some roses.

Tradition sent a mix of Japanese and Korean food today which we ate for lunch.