Capricciosa

One of our family's favorite "Italian" places lately is Capricciosa. I put quotation marks in Italian because this restaurant is actually of Japanese origin. I think it has been around for quite some time now. I first tried it 4 years ago in Greenbelt 3 and thought that the food was actually great. For some reason though, I never went back until recently. It seems to be the kind of place that serves great food and has fantastic service but is never the top-of-mind choice, perhaps due weak marketing or poor location choices.

Capricciosa along Connecticut in Greenhills

Favorites: thin crust Quattro Formaggio, best while still hot and fresh

And tomato and cream pasta with mushroom, most dishes come in regular or family size. Family size, which is usually around Php 600 per plate is already good for 3 to 4 persons.

Capricciosa in Connecticut holds Quiz Night every Wednesday night at 9pm. It's the only time that I see the place packed.

Otherwise, it's empty on most nights, which is sad because right beside Capricciosa is Conti's, where food is nothing extraordinary but is busy with customers all day long.

Yes, yes, I got myself a Columbia University shirt when I visited NYC. Too bad, Queen J deliberately forgot to get me a Harvard shirt when she was in Boston. And also, this is a shot of me taken by Dad using his new Voigtlander 17mm lens on his M8. I can't wait as he promised to pass it on to me as soon as he gets an M9!

Making Progress

Recently I:

1. Joined a styling workshop with Noel Manapat in iAcademy. I will tell more about this once I have completed all 8 sessions. So far, we have observed the preparations for a mini fashion show and discussed various inspirations for styling.

2. Went to my first charity event in Dreamland with Tzu Chi, the organization responsible for the successful separation of the conjoined twins from Cebu. Activities included cleaning up the place, reading to kids and feeding them, and giving away goods. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of my involvement here.

I can also tick off driving from my list as I expect to be going about on my own really, really soon. It's turning out to be quite a good year, and I have one more quarter to tick off a few more things from my 2010 list. How about you, how has your year been so far?

Frozen Yogurt, One

It is only recently that I've come to appreciate frozen yogurt, the lesser evil substitute for ice cream. This is only part one since there are still many others I haven't had the chance to try, particularly the popular Korean franchise, Red Mango, but I can't wait to share these:

Froyo - At Php 120 with 3 toppings of your choice, this has the most value for money among the 4 I've tried recently. Plus, it tastes great, especially with the toppings.

Lulu Belle - More ice cream than frozen yogurt, Php 120 comes with only one topping, and my choice of brownie bits looked sad on top of the frozen yogurt.
Golden Spoon - I tried Cake Batter, their bestseller as I was told. It was more like ice cream than frozen yogurt, plus the cake batter flavor was vanilla-ish and didn't quite taste like actual uncooked batter. At Php 85, I only got a kiddie size.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Perhaps the best frozen yogurt, it's great even without toppings. There are many flavors, which are categorized as either sweet or sour. The only downside, it's more expensive than other brands, and there are no toppings to make the whole experience more fun.

Daunting Trends

These are some looks that I find interesting but not easy to pull off.

socks:

platform wedges:

socks AND platform wedges:

ankle boots and knee-length skirt:

and slightly-above-the-ankle boots:

(Sources: Harper's Bazaar and NYLON August 2010 and Vogue September 2010)