Restaurant Caterer Review 3: Primadeli

Primadeli Ristorante

Primadeli is a quaint little restaurant located at the bypass road near SM Tarlac. A lot of people actually go there, since they serve very good Western food, and Tim liked their lasagna. The only thing about this restaurant is they're a little bit pricey, and not a lot of their dishes come with rice, so it has a very niche market.

The chef. Photo grabbed online

I wasn't even sure if they did catering so I sent Tim out to ask if they did it, as we were in a hurry at the time.

Tim came back to the car with three pieces of paper and a calling card. I asked him what other amenities they had, and he wasn't able to ask. We eventually talked to the executive chef who was very knowledgeable about everything. Tim and I were impressed. Plus, their menu has pictures! It was a first! We did not need to imagine what the food look like!

Come on, let's face it, most restaurants fancy up the name of the food to make it sound posh, but really, they're just lumpias guised as "thai seafood spring roll"

How the restaurant looks online. Image from google

The normal questions:

Tiffany chairs? They can arrange it, but there's extra charges
Carving table? They can arrange it , but extra charges

Pluses: they offered a mobile bar, which I was ecstatic about, because I searched far and wide on the interwebs and have not found any in Tarlac.

PRICE RANGE : Php 500-ish per head, additional if other features are availed

INCLUSIVE OF: decorations for buffet and guest tables

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % , plus 12% VAT

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/Primadeliristorante/ , they're very facebook active, which is a plus for us who work and like transacting online

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : n/a

PROS: very accommodating and responds promptly to concerns online

Restaurant Caterer Review 2: La Maja Rica Hotel

La Maja Rica

Photo from their website

La Maja Rica Hotel and Restaurant has been the go-to reception venue and menu of a lot of weddings in Tarlac, since it has very very few competition in Tarlac. There are only 3 or 4 hotel restaurants in the city, and it is the only one that's located in the city proper.

It also close to the Cathedral, where a lot of weddings take place. My two married girl friends have stayed there for their pre-wedding preparations as well.

We went there on Valentine's Day and the area was dressed up really well. Tim and I were invited to sit at the bar area where a friendly lady talked to us about our wedding.

The first thing she asked for was the wedding date, and she pencils us in on their calendar. It scared me a little bit since I wasn't sure if we want to take them on yet. It's ok, she says, they do this to all possible clients so if in case we want hire them, then we can go back and we already have a record.

Amenities

If you want your wedding reception there, you can rent out the Function Room, Dining area or the Poolside. I think they all can sit 150 pax comfortably.

Photo grabbed from Google

You can stay for four hours at the venue and they will give you a free hotel room to change or touch-up or what not.

They also have a tie-up with Azaya garden resort for prenuptial pictures.

If you are going to avail of their more expensive package, they will give you a free overnight room with breakfast for two.

They have 8 choices of packages, and I asked if we can switch items if there's something that we don't want on the menu. They said that may be possible but they will have to check if we need to pay more if in case the food we want have more expensive ingredients than the original item.

Their food items per package looks very few, especially the ones in the A category. For example, B2 only has two meat items: Baked Chicken and Pork Medallion with mushroom. This, and the standard soup, appetizer, vegetable, rice, dessert and pasta.

The D package has more food items of course, unfortunately Tim doesn't eat carbonara or lengua.

The amenities are very good though, especially the free hotel room. That will be very handy for the pictorials, and a touch up room for the guests if they need to.

Backstory

Tim and I have attended a couple of receptions at La Maja Rica, and I asked him if he still remembers the food. He remembers the prawn crackers and the leche flan. Other than that, he says he remembers that it wasn't very spacious and he wants a place where people can walk around and not just sit uncomfortably during the reception.

PRICE RANGE : Php350 - Php600 pax.

INCLUSIVE OF: different amenities, see pictures

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % , plus 12% VAT

FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/lamajaricahotel/?fref=ts , only posts during holidays

OFFICIAL WEBSITE : http://www.lamajaricahotel.com/ they also have an inquiry tab but it's empty

PROS: very close to the city, so when Tim's relatives come over, they can stay there

Restaurant Caterer Review 1 : Rustica Restaurant

RUSTICA RESTAURANT

Concepcion, Tarlac

Photo not mine

Some backstory

Rustica was my caterer on my 18th birthday, so coming in, I know I had my biases and this was a top caterer contender.

Unfortunately, time changes everything

My family and I had lunch, then afterwards asked for their wedding packages and they handed us a big hardbound book. I was going to be impressed until I opened it and saw pictures and nothing else. I mean, if I were planning a wedding and going to restaurants, I wouldn't ask for the pictures, I would ask for the wedding packages first.

After a few calls to the waiters, somebody finally gave us their wedding menu. (Pictures at the bottom).

We asked what was included in the package, and the guy went, "everything that you need in a wedding." He was obviously in a hurry so I asked for the person in charge of wedding preparations. The guy said that was him.

Okay I thought, let's give this guy a chance. We ask him to sit while we talk about things because he was just hovering and it was hard to look up at him.

Photo grabbed from the internet

By, "everything we need in a wedding", does that mean:

Tiffany chairs? No.

Table decorations? No.

Cake? No.

Emcee? No.

ummm... Wine? No.

Carving station? Additional fee for the table and the waiter.

Table for gifts? No. Additional fee.

I eventually gave up. Ok but maybe we can save this. I look at the menu and thought I really like this one set, but Tim doesn't eat one item so we ask if we can exchange it with a different item, unfortunately, the answer was also No.

My mom, who became friends with the owner of the restaurant on my 18th birthday tried to drop names for the Kuya to straighten himself up. He did not.

I wonder if he was just having a bad day, or if it was the end of his shift, or if he was about to go to lunch, but unfortunately, that kind of disappointed me.

However we are keeping their menu, maybe the reason why they're haughty is because they have the best catering menu Tarlac has to offer.

Anywho, this is their menu.

PRICE RANGE : Php350 - Php1500 pax.

INCLUSIVE OF: "everything that you need for a wedding"

No other details provided

SERVICE CHARGE FOR OUTSIDE CATERING: 10 % 

FACEBOOK PAGE: none

PROS: good food

Setting the Date

October 2015...

It's been a month after the proposal but we had not discussed any details yet. The most common question that we were asked after we announced the engagement on Facebook was the date.

At first, I wasn't really comfortable discussing plans, and most especially dates, because I didn't want to seem eager. The ring is there, the promise is there, what's the need to hurry up?

It was when our parents started asking that we realized we had to take it seriously. It was a series of back and forths and discussions and months of finalizing before we told them the decision.

The Factors.

a. Tim's Family and Friends

Tim's parents are in Japan, his sister, Deb, is in Texas, and his two best friends in the world, Bil and Pat are in the US as well.

Tim and his family, when he visited

them for thanksgiving in DC, 2014

These are the most important people in Tim's life and we had to make sure we give them enough time to prepare for a trip to the Philippines. It's not going to be cheap, everyone knows.

Tim's mom also has a reunion sometime January 2017 and she wants to go, but I think only has two weeks worth of leave (I might be mistaken), and Tim wants the date to be enough that his parents can stay for the reunion as well.

b. Tif's Family and Friends

My mom and brother are here in the Philippines, so there was nothing to worry about. However, my dad, who works as a chief engineer, has a very erratic schedule, depending on the contract that they receive for that journey. I don't know the logistics of it all but what I know is he stays a minimum of 6 months on a ship, most of the time extending, and even if he was on vacation, it could be cut short if the ships need him.

We counted March or April for his vacation here in the Philippines. If he leaves May, then he can come back December.

L-R: Kay Ann and Carl, Me, JM and Patrick

My two best friends gave me a bit of a problem though. Patrick, who is studying medicine, starts his internship / clerkship / whatever that's called on May, and no more rest after that.

JM, the other best friend, says he's leaving for the US of A sometime first quarter of 2016. He might not be able to go he also said.

I yelled at them, and they promised they will make it work. They HAVE to be there, or else, Hala.

c. Work

December is the students' Christmas holiday. No issues.

d. Tim's relatives in Olongapo

Tim wants a weekend wedding, a Saturday wedding to be exact, for his relatives to be able to attend, have time for a drinking party, and ample time to relax.

and so we looked at the calendar.

Ze Proposal : Part 2: This is it.

2nd Night, Dinner

Ok, so remember Vanessa? We met with her on our second day, and she wanted to go to dinner. Tim was dressed up fancy schmancy for dinner and I went out looking like a normal person. We didn't realize that it had gone late already, since she came over to the hotel at 4pm-ish already. Her: omygosh the stairs killed me! We talked for a while and we went out at about 7 or 8 pm.

Before we went to dinner, we walked around the city, going in different shops and everything, Marks and Spencers, Cotton On, Uniqlo, etc. We were finally hungry by 10 pm, and Van was insisting on dinner.

The M&S in Central was huge! Photo taken from Britannica

I conceded. I didn't want to go to dinner because I knew our budget was tight, and we were walking through Lan Kwai Fong, Hongkong's nightlife street. Van wanted a very nice restaurant to go to because it's "our birthday" dinner- which made sense, so we looked at every nice looking restaurant, and they were already- weirdly, for a supposedly nightlife active area- closed for the day.

I was eyeing this pizza place (Tim likes nay, loves pizza) However, for some weird reason Tim was quiet and would not budge. I thought, something is wrong, Tim doesn't want pizza. But I guess he respects that Van wants a nice going away dinner too.

We finally went to a place called Café Siam, which is at the very end of the street, and they were open, and it was a resto-bar so yay we can eat dinner! We ordered and Tim and Van went out to talk.

Ok, it was a little bit suspicious, but Tim was feeling a little bit sad, maybe because he was sleepy and he didn't want to go out for the evening anymore (he has a thing about travelling. read: aversion or read: I spent too much), so I thought they just walked out for a little bit of pep talk. Van is amazing at pep talks. She had done it to me a million times already when I feel like doubting myself.

Suspicion at that time number 2: Ooooh I wonder if they bought me cake. I would love some cake. there's no cakeshops here in the area though, maybe Van knows a place and it's far-ish so it's taking them a while. Ugh they better not come in here with balloons and flowers and all that, I wouldn't know what to do with them. ugh. not bouquets, how am I going to take that home to the Philippines. Why would Tim want to do that?

They came back bearing nothing. Tim was a little bit happier. Ok, I relax, no awkward bouquets to carry. Must be suspicion 1 then. Tim's smiling while eating Thai food (rare occurrence, so mesmerized I didn't take a picture) , so Van did a good job perking him up.

It was getting very late, and we had an early flight the day after, so we decided to get the check. It was midnight, officially my birthday. Yay!! Tim goes to the counter, and returns, with a guy holding a cake in tow. I was elated.

This was similar to the cake he gave me.

I regret not taking a picture of mine.

I look at Tim and Van, and they were smiling very proudly. They both know me and they both know I like cake. blah. I look at it and it's Haagen Dazs, impressive. Better eat it before it melts then. I kiss Tim, I say thank you, and I start focusing on the cake.

I like cake.

Tim, on my left, says, "give Vanessa some of it," and I feed her. I take another bite, "it's strawberry ice cream!" I say, turning to him.

And there he was, kneeling (we had argued about this, I said there was no way he was kneeling. He showed me the video, he wins.), with a ring in a box. I started giggling, because, what else will I do? I'm a nervous giggler. I was buzzed, Van made me drink some alcoholic drink called Nothing, (which was very hard to order btw).

He gave me ample time to recover, and very calmly asked, "Will you marry me?" *I'm rolling my eyes while i'm typing this, it's all very corny but much appreciated but oh gawd I'm not used to this*

I, of course, who rolls my eyes at sappiness, made a noise that sounded like "ugh", but eventually said yeah. The restaurant, very nice of them, played romantic music afterwards.

His Recap

Whenever he surprises me, he likes telling me how he did it afterwards.

Him all nicely dressed and me, and my backpack

For this one, he says he had the ring delivered a few weeks before at my mom's house, so my family has kept it from me, plus he's been carrying the ring around with him for a while already, waiting for the perfect moment. That was the reason why he was dressed up the whole time when we were in Hong Kong. (He just told me he always wants to look pretty when he's travelling, I just conceded, he DOES like dressing up)

He said he also talked to Van, and told her his plan. She came up with the cake idea though, so that was a nice touch. He also thought about putting the ring inside my cake, but then he didn't want ice cream and sugar and all that to be stuck inside the stones.

I wouldn't want that as well, lest I end up on one of the what went wrong segments on the news.

Ze Proposal 1: Hongkong

Ze Ring

The backstory

As I have mentioned in the previous post, I decided to fight my last employer about the turn of events that led to me leaving the company. Lawyers were involved and everything came to an amicable settlement which left me some dough as compensation.

With everything that happened, I figured Tim and I were exhausted from fighting "the big guys" and deserved to go on a holiday for my birthday. Also, I promised myself, long before I met Tim, that every year, I have to not be home on my birthday.

I was looking at Macau, Cebu, Boracay, Singapore to go to on my birthday, but Hong Kong tickets were the cheapest. We had gone there in May for my brother's graduation gift, and went to Ocean Park and the Victoria Peak, but Tim and I were not able to fully enjoy the experience since we were broke at the time.

On the week before my birthday, after my lawyer and I set the date for compensation collection, the other attorney stopped replying which made my inner OC self panic. We had no way of paying off the hotel and the plane tickets! Tim's parents came to the rescue, I promised to pay them, but they insisted on just letting us keep the money as a birthday present.

Our feisty lawyer came through though, I don't know how she did it, but she was awesome. So, a day before we left for HK, we had moneys. Yay!

Goofing off at Tokyo Café a few hours before our flight

This was going to be my third time going to Hong Kong and I decided to not book a travel agent anymore, because we were going there as a reward for all the hardwork we had done, aka shopping! hahaha!

I researched on everything, the trains, the operating hours of malls, the outlet malls to go to, etc. I had also decided to skimp on food, since that would take away from you know, shopping money.

Hong Kong

Hotel

We booked a cheap-ish hotel called the Mini Hotel in Central, Hongkong. We based the choice on the location since Central was get this- in the center- of all the trains. HK had 4 colors of MTR (that's included on the type of card we bought), and it would be easy to go anywhere and we would not need to transfer trains.

Mini Hotel Lobby

The hotel room was very small. It was indeed a mini. The bathroom was behind the bedroom, and the bathroom wall was clear glass! So this place is not advisable to those whose relationships are still new, or those who are conservative with their bodily functions. (Tim was the latter. If one of us goes to the bathroom to do things, the other one NEEDED to go out of the room, and loud music would be playing) 

It was located a few steps (and a million staircase steps) from Central's bar area. Man, you cannot get drunk if you want to stay in this hotel. You will pass out on the painful steps leading to the hotel. It looked very nice, though. A bit pricey since it's in the center, but the cheapest of the priceys.

Vanessa

She's ultra cute especially when

she wears her squirtle hoodie

I would like to introduce to everyone this friend of mine, called Vanessa- Van for short. Van is my friend from my very first call center and I have kept her very very close to my heart years and years after that first headset hello that rattled the hell out of me.

She lives in Hongkong and we promised to meet to have dinner, and she was going to show us around the shopping districts and she was going to be our tour guide. She celebrated her birthday on September 11, and I made sure to bring her a bag of goodies from the Philippines (iced gems, yema, dried mangoes, MDS' book, all that great stuff) only to find out that there's a Filipino mall right across our hotel. Talk about globalization

 Anyway, Van did not show up on our first day, which was ok since Tim and I were able to explore (get lost) on our way to the first shopping mall I wanted to go to.

Van would be a central character in the engagement story. We'll come back to her in a bit.

Shopping!!!

Yes, I am sometimes a girl, and sometimes shopping makes me happy, especially when that time of some permits me to have shopping money.

As I researched all the stores where we could go, Tim made me a mental list of what we need to accomplish while I was there.

My idea: fast food equals cheap equals more shopping money

1. MAC Makeup - for some reason it's very expensive in the Philippines. I look on Amazon and it's cheapish. It's also very reasonably priced in HK. Ah the perks of no taxes.

Result : Accomplished. Bought 2 matte lipstick and liquid eyeliner. Regret not buying more.

Where I bought it : Times Square

2. Anything from Coach - there was a Coach store near Mini Hotel but we did not dare go inside. Outlet stores baby. But even in outlet stores, it's still very expensive. Like we need to cross out a lot of things on the list expensive. It's very surprising though, that the other people inside the store were grabbing 3 bags at a time! How much do these people earn!?!?

Result: Accomplished! I was able to buy some noice looking shades and a wristlet that would be able to fit my gigantic phone in. Bonus: the shades case is worth it.

Where I bought it : Citygate Outlet, Tung Chung station

3. Shoes - I didn't have any specific design slash brand in mind, I just wanted to buy some new shoes. I was initially thinking some Timberlands or DMs, but man were they expensive!

Result: Accomplished! I don't even remember the name of the place or what brand it was, but it was on like 80% off and it was purrty.

Where I bought it : Citygate Outlets, Tung Chung station

The boyfriend not letting me carry shopping bags.

 I said I could it, he refused. Ah chivalry.

4. Clothing -  Scarves, shirts, whatever, I need cotton on my list.

Result: Accomplished. Giordano in HongKong, and I think the rest of the world, is very affordable

Where I bought it : Citygate Outlets, Tung Chung station

5. Anything from Forever 21 and Cotton On - Vanessa told me that when she went on a holiday in the Philippines, she was surprised on how expensive F21 and Cotton On were. So I made it a point to look for F21 and Cotton On outlets. They were very easy to find.

Result - Yes, and yes. and yes on the prices. I would go back and say yes again.

Where I bought it - F21 was a big building that you won't miss at Causeway Bay. Cotton On was everywhere.

6. Bag - It was supposed to be a Coach Bag but I looked at the price tag and, no. Just no.

Shopping for pasalubong

Result -  Success! I saw a Guess bag and fell in love with it. Well, it was a rebound love since the bag of my life was out of my reach.

Where I bought it : City Outlets as well

7. Watch - I like watches.

Result - Nada. I kept putting it off until we couldn't squeeze any time for it anymore. I wanted this one from Swatch, (yes, corny, shut up) but it wasn't on sale and I felt like I could find something similar someplace else. I didn't.

8. Godiva Chocolate - I have read about the majestic chocolate that is Godiva. I don't think we have it here in the Philippines, but if we do, I doubt we can afford it. The chocolates were... still expensive. We keep converting everything to pesos!

Chocolate we can't afford

Result - We were already there and my mouth was watering and I was very curious! So we bought what we could- ICE CREAM! and yes, they were as majestic as chocolate ice cream majesty can go.

9. Pasalubong - umm duh?

Result - Umm.... Duh?

Where I bought it: EVERYWHERE!!

10. Something for Tim -  I insisted on buying anything for Tim, but he wouldn't have it. I begged and I begged for him to choose anything, and he didn't, insisting that this was my birthday and my shopping time so I shouldn't bother. It made me sad, since I wanted to do something special for him too. His only request was for us to eat at nice restaurants, which was weird because he never had a liking for Chinese food. He later said it was because he was looking for the perfect spot to propose to me.

Result - fail on both our parts. hahahahahahahahahahahaha. I wasn't able to get him anything because he was so stubborn on refusing! On his part, we only had one nice fancy meal because I didn't want to spend on food. That one restaurant where we had lunch was about to close for the afternoon and the waiters spoke zero English so I guess it kind of killed the mood.

At the end of our trip this was how the room looked like:

I don't know how it came to this. I'm not sure what the thought process was on this blog, but it was supposed to be about the proposal. Amsarreehhhhh. I would now have to make it a two-part. Well, I hope somewhere, somehow, this piece will be helpful, if not at least entertaining.

One more vanity pic

Where The Bloody Hell Are We?

... off to Tarlac!

Over the years when Tim and I were together, we had jumped from callcenter to callcenter, feeling fatigue over the repetitiveness of the job. A year ago, my very close friend, Amarie, messaged me about a perfect job opportunity in the province.

Tim, Me and Amarie. This is one of Amarie's last few days in Manila

Amarie was my colleague in the Philippine Women's University in Tarlac, and we've kept close touch with each other even after we parted ways. She worked in Manila for a while but found the atmosphere too stressful so she went back to the province where she could earn a mediocre amount of money but be with her daughter.

Ate, she says, there's a school that is newly built in the province, they want to apply for an International School and they're looking for specifically UP, UST, La Salle, Ateneo graduates, and Native Speaker teachers! The pay is big!

So Tim and I went to the province, interviewed, and passed. The pay is going to compete with the rates of those in public school, the school administrator promised, as they want to hire the best that the province had to offer.

Goodbye, Makati, Hello Tarlac!

The Tarlac House

And so we packed all our things, and transferred our whole life in this quaint little province that I consider my hometown. My parents set Tim and I up at their vacant apartment units. The school was an hour's drive away from home, but what the heck, for what we will be earning, filling up the tank won't hurt us at all.

But life, as we discover, is not as nice as everyone wants it to be. We would soon find out that the rates that they promised us were, a. not as big as we expected it to be, and b. not the work that they promised us to have. The company withheld that the pay was not what was published in their job placements, and they withheld it for too long, that we only knew how much we were going to get paid after the school year has started and we were going to receive our first pay.

The school that literally changed our lives

The school was very good though. It looked nice, it has a swimming pool, there's very few students inside one classroom, and the teachers are all very friendly. It was excruciating but we had to bear it because we did not have a way out there, we were stuck. We had no savings, I waged a war against my last employer, we had bills to pay, and nowhere else to go. We had to stay.


In addition to all the money problems, Amarie resigned because of some problems with the management. The head during our time was a very strict Korean boss who would not listen to anything that we would say/ suggest for the betterment of the students. He also eventually resigned. Tim, our resident American, was ironically not given English class to teach and was put in the MAPEH (Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health) department and taught Art History, PE and swimming to junior high school students. He found that he loved teaching and he fell in love with the students as well.

Tim's parents would send us boxes full of goodies that Tim eats (very picky eater) and rations, and we would save a lot of money. There was always something in the box for me as well. I guess he gets his generosity from his parents. Admit it, not a lot of parents would think about the children's boyfriend/ girlfriend when sending them packages. We would be able to save a little, catch up on some underpaid bills, and then there are some instances that the pantry would be empty, and we would have to do grocery shopping that hurt us a little bit. We would only have date nights once a paycheck. When we were in Manila, we did it every weekends. It was a life that we both separately were not used to, but we had to and were able to make do with.

A full pantry was worth taking pictures of

Some months later, Tim proposed (different blog post, will insert hyperlink later), and we started planning for the wedding.

So Tarlac wedding it was.

And that's why I started this blog. I have searched far and wide for Tarlac suppliers and there were just so few that I can see online. I hope this blog can help future brides and husbands to be.

PS.
Tim and I are moving back to Manila for a better job opportunity (crossing fingers) but we've already put the downpayment on the venue. So in addition to Tarlac wedding things, I'm also going to write everything in between, and their province rates.

PPS.
The school administrator who deceived  hired us has been demoted, so if you find yourself looking at this same exact looking school, give it a chance, the new lady is very nice and uhum qualified.

Diablo, White Collar and Pancake House

... and then...

We started talking some more on Facebook, on top of texting and seeing each other at work. Over weekends, we would interview each other and just ask random stuff and commenting about what we're saying, you know, getting to know kind of thing stage whatchamacallits.

He complimented my knowledge in American Sitcoms, my ability to use idioms and colloquialisms and pop-culture references effortlessly, and I in turn would compliment him for... I don't remember anymore. I'll ask him later.

But all that started with a single text.

Tim: What are you doing?
Tif: Downloading slash torrenting the whole season 1 of White Collar. The seeds are very few and it's taking forevers!!

Downloads... some three years ago

He went nuts. apparently not a lot of girls he's dated even knew that White Collar existed. Actually apparently not a lot of girls he knew watched American TV as well. (I said I didn't like the dramas though~ One Tree Hill and all those sappy things, he was disappointed haha) I would later find out that the fiancé is an art enthusiast as well. He was also amazed that I knew torrents. I would say it's common knowledge (which come on, it is) but he seemed impressed. A lot of good TV were/are not available in Philippine TV.

We continue:

Tim: If you only played video games then you would be perfect and I would have to marry  you.
Tif: I've been dying to play Diablo 3, but it's expensive and you can't torrent it.
Tim: If I buy it for you, will you go out on a date with me?
Tif: Sold.

Some two weeks later:



and right after that,

Yes.

and some weeks later,

Hohohohoho.

He was one sweet-talking, generous, persistent, cute lil thang.