Marikina Life

Mar 10, 2009

SM City Marikina 3 Day Sale

SM City Marikina will be holing a 3-day mall-wide sale on March 13, 14 and 15, 2009. Up to 50% discounts on selected items will be up for grabs.

Too bad I'll be out of town during the sale. Hope you get a good bargain and happy shopping !

Mar 9, 2009

I remember that when I was in high school, there was a Magnolia ice cream parlor along Shoe Avenue adjacent to the Marikina Sports Center. They served all kinds of ice cream, popsicles and frozen desserts. Their banana split was one of my favorites. I've never seen another ice cream parlor in Marikina ever since.

That's why I was surprised to discover an ice cream parlor across the Riverbanks mall called "Ice Cream House - Sa Riverbanks".

I haven't tried it yet but it any store dedicated to desserts like these is already tempting and favorable in my book. In addition to ice cream, they also serve pizza and coffee. With summer now here and each day is a hot and sunny day, this is a cool way to relieve yourself of the weather.

"Ice Cream House - Sa Riverbanks" is located across Country Style at the Riverbanks Mall. It's at the ground floor of the call center building and along RCBC and the Security Bank ATM.

Mar 8, 2009

Biksa Coffee

I discovered this coffee shop in a strange way. I was having my car fixed at Rey's Electric Automotive Shop at the corner of Gil Fernando. While I was waiting for the car to be serviced, I walked around the corner and was surprised to see a coffee shop. The exterior looked like it was a coffee shop of a hotel but in the heart of a residential area. And it was a break too from the busy streets of Gil Fernando Ave.

I finally got to try them out a month later with my blogger friends. The inside is cozy. The interiors are so well decorated like an elegant sala of a modern day mansion, that you'll forget that this is just behind a bank, a school, a car repair shop and the houses surrounding the area. There are pieces of furniture like comfty sofas, elegant lights and lamps, high-dangling curtains, artistic wall-mounted frames and their unique love seat with matching pillows perfectly fit for two. Lighting is just right to relax the eyes. This is all what you'll see the moment you step in. And we haven't yet talked about their food and drinks.

I ordered a cafe mocha. They call their servings "Executive" and "Tycoon", representing "Medium" and "Large" respectively. In a way, it's like a self-gratifying notion of whether you want to be an executive or tycoon for the day. Their tycoon serving is huge. I was served a big mug of cafe mocha with a generous topping of whipped cream and a dash of chocolate that entirely covered my drink. I have to say it was a tasty mix. My girlfriend ordered mint tea and we were both surprised that instead of given a cup of hot water and tea bag, she was served an entire teapot of Moroccan Mint green tea. That was a delightful surprise since it was obviously more than a regular cup of tea.

Aside from cold and hot variations of tea and coffee blends, they also offer desserts like slices of cakes and pastries.

Did I mention that they have free WIFI and it's really fast ? It's another reason to stay and enjoy your drink and food.

The first time I saw their name, I was thinking what heritage or culture does the name "Biksa" come from. I learned through a TV feature that they're called Biksa Coffee, so when someone asks you where you are in Tagalog, you'd reply "Sa Biksa Coffee ako", which when heard in another manner can translate to "sabik sa coffee ako" (I am fond of coffee).

If you do pass by the area, I suggest you try them out. I heard that they're open till 1 or 2 am.

Biksa Coffee is located at 18 Gil Fernando Avenue corder Dragon Street (just behind BDO).

For more information, visit their website at http://biksacoffee.com

View Larger Map

Mar 7, 2009

Be a Blood Donor

On Palm Sunday, April 5, 2009 from 8am till 12 noon, the Sacred Heart Room at the St. Paul of the Cross Parish in SSS Village will be accepting blood donors. This is a joint project by the Parish Pastoral Council and its satellite ministries and organizations, spearheaded by the Social Services Ministry with the Gabay Aral Committee as point person. The have a target of 175 donors on that day as to support the "save lives" mission.
Any male of female aged 16 to 60 (donors below 18 need parental permission), with weight of at least 110lbs, regular pulse between 60-100/min, blood pressure between 90/60 to 140/100 and hemoglobin not less than 125g/100ml are eligible to participate in the blood-letting event.

Individuals with active pulmonary tuberculosis, diabetes under insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs, rheumatic fever, asthma within two months of last attack, chronic eczema, dermatitis or recurring boils, cardiovascular diseases, convulsions, epilepsy or other mental diseases, acute gastric ulcer within the past two years, current allergic reaction, cancer, filariasis, yaws and other long-standing skin diseases, hepatitis B, liver disease, syphilis and other sexually transmitted disease, HIV infection or anyone who had a serious illness within the past 3 months are not eligible to donate blood.

For more details, please call the parish office at 490-7973.

Mar 6, 2009

Marikina Transformed into a Robot City

If you're in Marikina, you'll see traces of this everywhere... 10 feet high scrap-metal robots.

It's part of what our Marikina Mayor, Marides Fernando described as the city marked its 11th cityhood anniversary in December 8, 2007. The transformation from a town of Rizal to a munincipality of Metro Manila to what it is today as Marikina City is what is being celebrated.

The local government in coordination with the Engineering Office placed 56 life-size robots scattered through key and major thoroughfares to symbolize the city's transformation. Aside from this, you'll see some posters and billboards of Marikina City officials' heads being placed on top of the same robotic bodies used in the "Transformers" movie.

It's kinda cool and worth taking pics of. The newly constructed Marikina Convention Center has a scorpion-like robot in front. One of the robots along the side of Dutch Marikina seems to be shooting your way. And if you drive fast enough, you just might move your head by reflex to avoid the robot's gun pointing your way.

Mar 4, 2009

Krung Thai - Thai Cuisine in Marikina

I didn't know there was a Thai restraurant in Marikina till some friends told me about it. What's even worse is that I've been passing through the street where it's located for the past 13 years whenever I get down from a jeep and walk towards the tricycle stands heading home. So, me together with my blogger friends finally got to try it out.

Krung Thai is a small Thai restaurant located in the heart of Bayan, Sta Elena in Marikina City. It's at the corner of a building where part of the palengke meat and fruit section is but it does not in any way look like it's beside a market. They recently celebrated their 13th anniversary last Feb 19, 2009. How could I have lived in Marikina and not known this place for 13 years ?

We went there in the evening to have dinner. While we were there, families came in to dine and suddenly filled the place.

Despite its small area, the interior is decorated reminiscent of Thai culture from the paintings on the walls and lamps to the tablecloth. Their menu is a combination of Thai and mixed foods. Most of their dishes include combination of vegetables like beef in oyster sauce, sweet and sour fish, catfish with mango salad, Thai Panang chicken curry, spicy squid salad, and fried mixed vegetables with pork or bagoong rice. We had spring rolls as our appetizer then proceeded to order pork satay and pad thai. Pork satay was served in a set of 5 sticks while pad thai was a huge serving of noodles with shrimps. We also tried their Thai style iced tea which was a very tall glass which contents may had been equivalent to 2 regular glasses. Our friends ordered a heap of crab rice and soup which was good for sharing.

I'm not into Thai nor spicy food but it was worth trying out something that escaped my eyes all these years.

Their generous servings are moderately priced so spending much is not a problem. If you'd like to sample Thai food at an afforable price, try Krung Thai.

Krung Thai is open from 9am-9pm daily and is located at the Marikina Public Market M Cruz corner W.C. Paz, Sta Elena Marikina City. You can also reach them at telephone numbers 646-2005 or 681-7696 and mobile at 0927 792-0587.

View Larger Map

Mar 3, 2009

Gil Fernando Ave Undergoing Repairs

Gil Fernando Ave. is currently undergoing road repairs. Several sections of the road's stretch is being blocked off. The sections blocked off are the road sections in front of Pot of Gold and Marikina High School. They are currently being drilled and dug up for a fresh pour of cement to be laid.

Gil Fernando Ave is one of the most passed through roads in Marikina City. It's the route of buses and jeeps heading to San Mateo and Montalban coming from Marcos Highway and one of the alternate routes of Marikina residents going out of the city. Numerous trucks including those coming from Fortune Tobaco pass by this busy road several times a day.

Mar 1, 2009

SM City Marikina WIFI Stress Test Event

Last Feb. 28, 2009, SM City Marikina soft launched their new service, mall-wide free WIFI.

Being the newest SM Mall having opened its doors to the public last September 2008,

SM City Marikina is the first on the list of SM malls for deploying WIFI and they invited bloggers for an afternoon WIFI stress-testing session.

After registration, bloggers scattered around differents parts of the mall to try out the free WIFI. Bloggers were equipped with laptops, wifi-enabled mobile phones, PSP's and PDA's.

Several bloggers reported that WIFI signals were detected from the basement up to the top floor and were able to conduct live blogging during the event. I was able to stream some youtube videos from my laptop and download updates for my anti-virus program.

By 5pm, all bloggers proceeded to the Cyberzone area where SM officials raffled off some prizes. I won a Microsoft cap. Sha, my blogger friend won the grand prize, an ASUS laptop. Incidentally, that day was her birthday so it was a great surprise and gift for her.

Personally, I's say that SM City Marikina is stepping up to the plate in terms of offering WIFI. The other malls within the vicinity, Robinsons Metro East and Sta Lucia East have been offering WIFI for a while too. SM City Marikina can now compete head on with the WIFI-enabled malls.

The city will also benefit from this as one of the biggest mall chains now offers free WIFI in the city of Marikina.

Here are some other blogger posts about the event: