Happy birthday to me!

This is my third consecutive birthday that I am celebrating in Oman.

Two years ago to date, I spent an exorbitant amount of money to buy imported pork and cook and eat dishes of this all day long (more like all week long, to be honest).

As for last year’s birthday, Peter and I had dinner at Chilli’s in Muscat City Centre and went on to Markaz Al Bahja to catch the midnight screening of Inglorious Basterds.

This year, we did lots more of things together because we both had a day off work, thankfully, on the day before my birthday!

Taken during the eve of my birthday, 23 September 2010, on our way to Markaz Al Bahja for a late afternoon snack.

Again, we went to Markaz Al Bahja in Seeb to browse through the shops, spending quite some time in Muscat Sports having a look through their winter collection. Nothing of note, especially for ladies, since I was actually looking for some leggings and tops that could double up as casual and gym wear.

We then had a late afternoon snack, with sumptuous, affordable Chinese food from the Chinese Palace booth at the food court. I love, love, love Chinese Palace – it is my favorite restaurant in Oman, in fact. Not only are the prices wallet-friendly, the selection and dishes are fabulous as well. The Chinese people running the place are also very friendly and accommodating.

Corn soup from Chinese Palace, with carrot and chicken bits. Really smooth and hearty.

Chicken and vegetable combo from Chinese Palace, which has deep-fried chicken fillet strips, veggie balls in savory-hot sauce and oodles and oodles of stir-fried noodles!

After eating, we went downstairs to check out the movies running at Al Bahja Cinema. Sadly, all the tickets for Tekken and The Expendables were sold out for that evening. We decided to catch a show at City Cinema in Shatti Al Qurum on the following day.

We decided to make the trip across town to Rock Bottom Cafe, Ramee Guestline Hotel, Qurum. It was long drive, with the streets full of Thursday night weekend-revelry traffic.

At Rock Bottom, we didn’t pay any entrance fees, reward for arriving before midnight. The host led us to spacious booth at the dining area, which had huge LCD screens displaying UFC fights. We both ordered the steak-and-wine combo, just in time to have our dinner with the band’s first set.

After eating, we danced the night away until the end of the band’s third and final set, which was around 2:30 AM. We had a really great time, needless to say.

Gah.

It is 2 AM in Oman right now and, yes, I am still wide awake. Blogging here, of course, and watching ASAP XV over TFC. Rawr!

I have been cooking “soul food” like mad for the past couple of days and feeding the people in my immediate surroundings, most especially my baby.

Savory-sweet chicken wings by Shi!

I’ve made nilagang baka (clear beef stew), sweet roasted chicken breasts and wings, potato salad, vegetarian spaghetti with garlic bread, and lemon-marinated fried chicken drumsticks.

A visit to the Al Falaj Hotel in Ruwi was in order today for business reasons. I was there for a few hours in the early afternoon.

I was able to get neither a decent breakfast nor lunch, so I decided to have a late brunch in the hotel’s Coffee Shop, which has a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet.

However, since it was a bit late, the lunch buffet was finished and a la carte was the only option left. I went through the menu and selected an iced fruit juice for my drink.

For my main course, I asked what kinds of spaghetti they had available, because I was actually craving for some Spaghetti Bolognaise. The waiter responded that they only had Spaghetti Napolitaine.

I had spaghetti with plain tomato sauce back in the Philippines from the Sbarro restaurant chain, so I assumed this would be more or less the same thing. Besides, having something vegetarian for a change would be healthful.

The service in Al Falaj’s Coffee Shop was efficient and professional. A short while after I placed my order, I received my drink and this hearty bread basket:

There were various types of bread: sticks, garlic, whole wheat, white, Arabic. A generous amount of butter was also provided. I enjoyed eating these as appetizers along with my cold fruit juice.

After only a short wait, my main dish was served:

It was tasty and different from the usual flavors of spaghetti I am accustomed to. Overall, I had a very nice meal. I definitely plan on coming back another time, for their buffet selections.

I went out tonight with several people from our martial arts school. Basically, we embarked on most sinful food trip.

For dinner, we had savory barbecued chicken wings and steaming-hot rice. We then went to a nearby bar for drinks and fries.

This is where we spent most of the night – talking, laughing and, in the case of two of our friends, “emoting” about their respective complicated love lives, which consisted of painful break-ups and unexpected responsibilities.

Afterwards, we crossed the street to one of the 24-hour fastfood places for some halo-halo.

This Philippine dessert is perfect for the hot summer weather, more so when it is topped with melon and ube-flavored ice cream.

The term itself literally means “mixed,” as halo-halo is indeed a very refreshing mixture of ice, milk, sugar, fruits and other delicious ingredients. Yum!

Lunch was grilled bangus (milkfish), a delectable dish swathed in a rich blend of soy sauce and calamansi. Our mealtime conversation veered towards the nuances of Oriental eating practices, particularly those of Filipinos.

Asians are seemingly more concerned with the steps associated in consuming food and drink. The Japanese have their hours-long, amazingly ritualistic tea ceremony. The Chinese have their 30-course lauriats, an experience so bloating that someone not used to it would end up swearing off Chinese fare for a month or even longer.

We Filipinos have our infamous fiestas, an excuse to show off cooking skills for the celebrators and to freeload food for majority of the feast-goers.

Filipinos likewise spend much of their time with food in mind: that would be including the time spent grocery-shopping and market-going, taking inventory of cupboard and refrigerator contents, preparing the food for consumption, spending hours in langorous meals, and, finally, cleaning up afterwards.

Perhaps Orientals are so sensual that the palate may be yet another mode of expression for such attribute.

First, you ask, what is balut? The full answer could be found here.

However, here is the skinny on the delicacy, from filipino.com.au: Balut (or “Balot”) is one of the Philippines’ real native culinary delicacies that is sold everywhere on the streets. It is simply a duck egg cooked by boiling it for not less than 20 minutes. What makes balot special is that it is not simply an egg with the white and the yoke. It actually has a half-incubated chick inside.

Yes, I just had dinner. Two servings of balut, a tall glass of iced tea and a steaming cupful of Great Taste Instant Cappuccino.

Very nice to be at the end of the week. My favorite “time” is Friday night going on Saturday morning. I just cannot help but feel relaxed. Ironically, I tend to drink massive quantities of coffee during this period and shy away from food. The polar opposite of what happens on Sunday night going on Monday morning.

It is, of course, the start of Kasadyahan less than seven hours or so from now. I will probably do some stuff throughout the night and wait up for the very start of the telecast at around six in the morning. I get a kick out of doing that sort of thing.

I will be posting updates on the significant ongoings of Dinagyang weekend in this journal as I get ahold of the pertinent information.

The event is not really comprehensively covered by any big national Philippine newspaper so I believe people on the Net are deprived of the real taste of Dinagyang, even if it is just through news about it. Most of the time only the winners are stated, with some luminaries names’ mentioned and a brief explanation on how the event came to be. Definitely not enough.