The Adventure Journal Entry #1: Surprises, Sweet and Cozy - The Tomas Morato Adventure

November 10, 2013.

A super typhoon passed by the country few days before the weekend. I was anxious that today's "adventure" would be called off. Luckily, Mr. Sun was proudly soaring the blue skies, almost unhindered by a considerably few amount of drifting clouds. The weather justified the phrase "clear sky." It was indeed clear.

It was the perfect day to have a brand new experience.

Me and Kakat were supposed to meet at around four in the afternoon. I promised that I would take her to an afternoon walk along the streets of Tomas Morato, a place she has never been to (surprisingly). Actually, it's going to be my first time too, so I went there ahead of schedule and tried to do a look-see of what's in store for us before the agreed meetup time.

I was imagining Tomas Morato to be like a walk-able street. I've been hearing a lot of stuff about the place, like it's one of the best places to visit if ever you hit Quezon City. I've heard that it's lined with restaurants, diners, bars, and entertainment shenanigans, so yeah, my expectation was that the area would be akin to a park.

I couldn't be so wrong.

Tomas Morato Avenue. Well yeah, it said "avenue", not "park."
(I don't own this photo. Credits to whoever who posted this on the web.)

While the place looks lively, it's not ideal for strolls. I certainly don't want my partner to get all dusty and weary from walking such a busy road (I used the word "road" instead of "street", because this is what it is). 4pm is also too early for dinner too, so I had to come up with something.

Aside from places where you can dine, Tomas Morato is also popular for their "gimikan" places. An example of which would be karaoke bars. I was supposed to check out Music 21, but I couldn't find it, even with the frigging Google Maps. So I had to hunt for an alternative. Here's what I came up with:

Strange. A "bank" with no ATMs. Good thing they have Kumyoung. Credits to OpenRice.com for the pic.

The place is quite neat, I should say. It's cozier than the ones me and my friends visit at Jupiter St., Makati. I wasn't able to scout the place before bringing her here, but thankfully, it was accommodating enough for us.

To note, this is also the first time I'm bringing someone to a karaoke place. I'm not a pro when it comes to stuff like this, so at first, I had to admit that I was nervous. Good thing Kakat's a good sport; she had her nice repertoire of songs, and even sang beautifully. I usually would take note of the songs one would sing, but I had to admit that I was absorbed in the moment whenever she would let out a voice that's very pleasing to the ears. What I do remember though is that she can sing songs of Evanescence quite well. Though she told me she was a "feelingera" of a singer, I'm damn too sure she wasn't. :)

Two hours of taking turns singing, and as we concluded with Eraserhead's Spoliarium, we decided it's high time for some nice dinner.

Really nice handwriting here. Kakat's a genius for making this on a tissue marked with the place's name, as I forgot to take a shot of the place's exterior.

I promised her that I would surprise her with the places we'll visit. Kimono Ken is the first part of that surprise. We ordered a pretty simple, but definitely nice selection of Japanese signature dishes. A good start for newbie adventurers like us. :)

Chicken Teriyaki Roll (Maki) and Gyoza selected by my dear partner. We forgot to take a pic of the Tonkatsu. :) Pictures taken by Billy using Kakat's phone. :)

I'm not good with gourmet commentaries, but I certainly enjoyed what we ordered. Especially the Chicken Teriyaki Roll, which at first I thought was just a clone of California Maki. The tonkatsu's meat is tender and the gyoza was rich in flavor too. :)

Since we started dinner early, we finished early too, like around 7 something in the evening. I knew by then that it's time to hit the finale of the evening - an experience that's both sweet and cozy.

Snagged again from someone's website. Credits to the owner of the pic.

Maybe it was luck, but this place was less crowded than Starbucks at that time. The place was popular for their nice selection of desserts and coffee products. They offer pastries, but what's special about their selection is their gelato.

Latte art photographs. I'd like to have some of these in my room - if I had one. :)

Shining shimmering splendid Gelato and Coffee beverages. 

Kakat chose Strawberry as her gelato flavor for the night. I ordered Stracciatella, which, according to my research, is supposed to be an egg-drop based cuisine. It certainly did not taste like egg to me. Along with these two gelato's were beverages to keep us cool and awake for the rest of the night.

We spent the remaining hours of our adventure sitting side-by-side, sharing some things about ourselves and about our past adventures. My partner's such a good company, as she listened to my stories (and occasional jokes) without being bored (I hope? haha). It'll take more pages of this blog post if I'll post everything we talked about, so I think we'll just keep it for ourselves in the meantime. :)

What mattered most to me at that time though, was that she liked this "adventure" that I set up. Nothing's more fulfilling than making a woman smile after all that I did. I'm certainly going to take her out to more places both of us can enjoy. I sure hope she won't turn me down. :)

So there you go. The first journal entry of our adventure. Quite lengthy right? (le pardonne, my style) but I sure hope you enjoyed reading this.

Stay classy, planet Earth!

-Billy