Christmas 2012

It's Christmas in Manila for me but just like last year, it's different. Amidst all the festivities that I have yet to weave through, I'm ambivalent of all the sights and sounds so far. Even the joyous and peaceful aura that Christmas brings elude me. Maybe I should start shopping? Nothing ushers in Christmas than generosity and gifts.

Kai Neo Japanse Cuisine

Since I moved to Germany, I realized my taste buds have significantly changed. In Bochum, I found most dishes bland and lacking flavor. Non-spicy Mexican food, non-salty Spanish food, or simply "empty"-tasting Vietnamese salads.

So when I had lunch at Kai Neo Japanese Cuisine recently, I really appreciated the clean flavors of the dishes. None were oily and what you taste are just the natural flavors. E and I ordered a lunch menu each (I had grilled mackerel and he had seared pork) accompanied by their house sake, and a sashimi platter because I missed raw salmon.

Badalona, Bochum, Germany

One somber Saturday in December, I was out in Bochum with a friend. If it weren't raining, we would have found ourselves at the Weihnacht. But it was a sad day for me and I wanted somewhere cozy and familiar. 

At the corner of Sudring and Brüderstraße is Badalona, a tapas and cava bar. For so many months, I've always walked passed it but it was always closed or I was on my way to dinner elsewhere. That evening, it was the perfect venue for a very poignant time in my life. 

I wanted to have croquetas de bacalao but they didn't have that evening so S and I just had a serving of croquetas de jamon instead. I couldn't taste the jamon let alone find it inside the tiny croqueta. But it was okay. I loved the ambiance. Later on, S had some torta de papas, then we ordered calamares a la plancha and chorizo de merguez, which is not actually Spanish but French - S' favorite, apparently. With this, S had Belgian beer and I had white wine. I know, I didn't even ask where it was from or what kind. I didn't want to think.