Team Lunch at Guevarra's

The food lovers most awaited prize, our team lunch!

BACK TRACK:

From the "Kasalang Bayan 2014" blog, we won the grand prize of 2500.00php. Instead of dividing the amount amongst us, we agreed to have a team lunch instead.

And with the help of our bff G (google.com), we decided to try Chef Laudico Guevarra's.

The place was an old house which the Laudico's bought through a friend, since the place really has a relaxing ambiance which is what they wanted to have for a new restaurant, they kept the original style of the house as it is, with some minor renovations made.

We were aiming for this one room with the round table, but another group was able to reserve it ahead of us. You can do walk-in, but I highly suggest to make a reservation. We had our schedule on a Monday lunch (July 14 to be exact), but still, there were a lot of people who had made their reservations for a Monday.

Our table, good for 6 to 8 guests.

The part of the buffet table, this is one of the things I really need to improve on. Once I got near the buffet table, I automatically get a plate, then I would realize I need to take some pictures. :D

My plate, with the famous Angus Beef Tapa, which is really good! The Lumpiang Shanghai, and I just loved how they cooked the Grilled Squid, it's soft and easy to chew, not like the usual na makunat. Of course, the shrimp always gets into my plate. :)

Pardon me for this picture, I already had a taste of this Brazo de Mercedes before taking the picture (again, one of my weakness).

The Ice Cream, they only have two flavors though, Vanilla and Chocolate. Hope they could have more flavors in the future. And it's not the one's like you need to scoop it, but the ones in those ice cream dispensers like in those fast food chains. Both flavors were good, but more options on ice cream flavors would be better.

The Friend Chicken Adobo was good, but I found it a bit dry. The Beef Caldereta, the beef was cooked just fine, loved it as well. 

They also have an outdoor setting, which is fine as long as it doesn't rain of course.

Operating hours: Monday - Sunday / 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Location: 387 P. Guevarra St. corner Argonne St., Addition Hills, San Juan.

Contact Informtion: 705.1811 / 705.1874 / 502.5006

                              cheflaudicoguevarra@gmail.com

Rates: Monday to Friday, Lunch - 399.00php + tax

          Monday to Friday, Dinner - 499.00php + tax

          Saturday and Sunday, Lunch and Dinner - 599.00php + tax

Other restaurants owned by Chef Rolando Laudico and Chef Jacqueline Laudico.

- Patisserie Filipino, located at Eastwood City Mall

- Chef Lau's Pugon Roasters, located at Ayala Trinagle, Makati

- Chef Laudico Bistro Filipino, located at Bonifacio Global City 

Kasalang Bayan 2014 (sa office)

25th of June 2014 when the event “Kasalang Bayan” was held at the office. No, hindi po siya totoong kasalan, isa nanaman siyang theme day na naisip ng aming mga bossing.

And the criteria for judging are:

- most creative team

- originality and resourcefulness

- relevance to the theme

Ang prize?

- 2500.00php for the winning team and 1500.00php for the runner-up.

Again, it’s a competition accross all accounts being handled by our Senior Operations Manager, kaya eto nanaman kami. Research nanaman ng magandang wedding theme with our very reliable bestfriend G (a.k.a Google).

We originally planned for a Black Wedding Theme, kagaya ng wedding nina Jay Contreras ng Kamikaze and Sarah Abad (sister ni Kaye Abad). Since along the planning stage, di sinasadyang narinig namin ang plano ng kabilang team (no intention talaga, lakas kasi ng boses nila, nalaman tuloy namin. :D). So, we had a sudden change of plans. At dahil sa malilikot naming imagination we came up with a Luau/Shot-gun Wedding Theme.

Now with the needed design, ang mga dating diy (do it yourself) paper flowers na nakalagay sa arko na ginamit namin sa Santacruzan theme day ay ginamit namin uli. Well, di naman lahat. Only those na maayos pa tignan and I made a bouquet out of it, and added more for the additional bouquets, assorted colors naman ngayon. And of course, hindi mawawala ang ibang props like the wedding invitation, garter, floral headdress, bouquet ng bride, wedding cake (from mamon and cupcakes), wedding cord, arrhae at wedding ring! And ang frame para sa aming photo booth. Our teammate Marichie even had some summer hats for an additional props.

We even had a pre nup pic ng groom and bride and the colorful toy gun. At mawawala ba ang wedding souvenirs? We had munchkins in plastic shot glasses na nilagyan ng mini umbrellas.

Good thing nakisama ang queue. Halos wala kaming nakukuhang emails so we had most of the time preparing, di pa kasama iyong mga naging homework namin.

This time ang outfit namin ay floral dress with matching white slippers, ang guys naman nakafloral polo and shorts.

The other two teams from our account had the traditional wedding theme with the brides wearing white gowns.

The winners were announced the next day, (pero nalaman na namin bago pa naiannounce, not sure how my team mates found out) and the winning team is…

Yes! The ECare Team wins again!

The other team from our account with the Black Wedding won as Best Groom and Bride with a 500.00php worth of Starbucks GC.

As of the moment nag-iisip nanaman ang mga bossing ng bagong theme day. But my teammates wanted to rest muna. Give chance to others daw muna, lagi na lang daw kami nananalo. :)

photo credit to my teammate Rau. :)

Santacruzan sa Office

And here we go again, another theme day sa office.

Bakit may “Theme day”? This is sort of a stress reliever for the employees. Minsan compulsory, minsan it’s up to you if you wanted to join. There’s the wear anything red, minsan shorts day (pero iyong decent shorts ha, hindi super short shorts), flip flops day, at marami pang iba (kung ano maisip ng mga bossing).

And since May is the fiesta month, a competition in regards to the Santacruzan theme was announced across all accounts being handled by our Senior Operations Manager.

A little trivia:

The Santacruzan or Flores de Mayo (Spanish for Flowers of May) is a month long celebration of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was held in honour of Helena of Constantinople (known as Reyna Elena) and Constantine on the Great finding of the True Cross in Jerusalem.

And of course the winning team will get a free a free lunch as their prize. And the prize is…. Shakey’s Monster Meal!

But it’s not all about the prize (well, partially), its more on the prestige. It’s more on how ECare team (our team) and our effort would be recognized. Sa madaling salita, we are after the popularity! Hahaha!

Our team already won two theme days, the Pyjama Theme Day, where I won a gift certificate from Starbucks and shared it to the rest of the team (kung saan nag share ng additional 500php ang aming ever supportive Coach Vince. Actually, plano kong solohin yung GC kaso nahiya na ako kasi nga nagshare na si coach. Hahaha! Selfishness!). The other one was the Mother’s Day Event, just submit a mom and daughter/son pic with a heartwarming quote, our teammate April won this one (GC din ata ng Starbucks prize niya).

So, if we get to win this Santacruzan Theme, it’s the third straight win!

And now the exciting part (exciting nga ba? parang mas nastress ata kami, hahaha!)… we need to decorate our bays (or stations), and make a floral arc. So, we need flowers to set things up. No, we are not going to purchase any flowers from the famous Dangwa market in Manila. Instead, it is all going to be DIY (do-it-yourself) paper flowers. Thanks to Google and YouTube I was able to search for some easy patterns.

One of our teammate, Jecille, did a little research on the characters of the sagala. After selecting our characters, our next problem… the gowns.

Oh, yes! It’s not that easy looking for one. Our first option, manghiram sa mga friends or family ng gown. Unfortunately, none would fit to some or talagang walang maipahiram.  I decided to rent for my gown. A red and black combination with 3 black roses as a highlight along the waist line and a spiral glitter design along the black tool fabric of the gown’s skirt. How much did the rent cost, 1,400.00php with the 700.00php will serve as deposit and will be returned to you once you return the gown. Not to mention the dry cleaning cost of 350.00php, and you would get the gown after two days (it will double the price if you would like to have it rush). It’s really quite expensive, but I’d rather rent than buy one. Besides, its only for a one day (or should I say night) event, so renting, if you were unable to borrow one would be preferred. I would not be wearing the gown everyday anyway.

And of course hindi pwedeng mawala ang props! (Effort kung effort! Career mode ang peg! Hahaha)

May floral headdress, keys made of illustration board, flower bouquet, pati wooden sword!

My headdress

Rau's Headdress

Actually, suggestion ng kateammate naming si Rau ay gumamit na lang kami ng broccoli for the bouquet, tapos lutuin na lang daw niya after the event. Kaloka di ba? Hahaha!

Up to the day before the event gumagawa pa rin ako ng decors, wala na akong plans gumawa ng arko, kaso gumawa iyong ibang team kaya gumawa na rin ako. Hindi puwedeng wala kami!

At eto na, May 28, ang araw (or gabi) ng theme day. Bihis ng gown (pero mga naka-chucks. Hehehe!), ayos ng buhok, lagay ng simpleng make-up and after a few hours, pumarada na ang mga sagala. Not once, but twice for the judges to decide kung sino ang dapat maging winner.

gowns and chucks

After a few hours they have announced the winning team. And yes, we made it! The ECare Team wins! We got our Monster Meal (though the next day na namin nakain dahil may free food din ng mga panahong iyon. Sayang tuloy ang mga pasta, napanis lang.) and a treat from our Coach Vince days after the event (promise niya iyon, manalo, matalo treat niya kami).

It was fun, lumalabas ang pagka-creative naming lahat. Another theme day is coming up and we are looking forward for it!

photo credit to my teammate Rau.  :)