Adventures on Easy Street: Spending the Night with Nocturnal Creatures and the Question of Where have you been all my Life

In college, my thesis/feasib/fishmates and I would spend countless nights in fast food joints along Timog Avenue or Katipunan Avenue in the hope that we would get some work done for school. Our rationale was simple, by doing this, we would

•  be able to keep each other awake and focused by working together (guys, did that work?)
• not starve to death what with all the energy we were burning through brain activity
• not die of dengue by working in a clean-enough environment 
• have wi-fi for our sanity and (supposed) productivity

While this worked well enough for us (insert brags about our fantabulous grades given by one of the most notorious professors in our college), we really could have used an area that could have answered to all our needs without the hullabaloo of fast food joints.

Which is why I was so wowed when, through a friend, I recently discovered Midnight Owl.

Personally, I think it’s a blessing for all the students in the area who have the same reasons as us for studying out so late. Or for those who just can’t stay awake when they’re at home.

Not only do they offer a wide array of brain and comfort food, they even have forms which people can fill-up when they want to have short naps and want to be awaken by the staff.

The glass boards, white boards and chalk boards are also free for anyone to use- either for work or play.

It’s a little embarrassing to go there to chat with friends what with all the studying students but it can still be achieved either with hushed tones or by opting for the outside seats.

As for the food, well.

I became a fan of their picture-ready chicken ala king even though I thought it had too much salt when eaten on its own. The pocket pie dough it was served with was able to balance the flavor out well, though.

The roast beef was tender and well seasoned and was served with a small serving of creamy mashed potato.

The Korean Beef Stew was another favorite. Served steaming hot, this sweet-and-(tiny bit) spicy concoction had melts-in-your-mouth tender cubes of beef.

The fried chicken looked and was too small to quench our appetites even with the side of Russian potato salad.

The real showstopper for me though, were the Cookie Smores. They were topped with marshmallows and as if that wasn’t enough, a chocolate square. It comes in three variants—milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate. The crumbly texture of the cookie itself was well balanced with the chewy marshmallow. Served heated, it felt like the perfect comfort food.

Was good enough to inspire me to make my own version which gave birth to this fantabuous Campfire Cookie I cannot help gushing about. But that’s another story.

Midnight Owl Snack Cafe

Mapagkawanggawa st. corner Mabait st. Teachers Village East, Diliman, Quezon City

(+632) 4352186, 0917-8428048

Mon - Thu: 4:30 pm - 4:30 am

Fri - Sun: 5:00 pm - 3:00 am

Vote for the Philippines! Know your candidate-- List for Cavite (part 1)

Being an election year, one of my personal projects is to Vote for the Philippines (as in, bumoto para sa Pilipinas)- and give people the opportunity to do the same by giving them information on candidates.

And because I’m die hard probinsyana like that, I’m focusing on candidates from Cavite.

To begin with, let’s start by publishing the list of candidates for those vying for positions in the House of Representatives. Now what we have to remember is that because the municipalities of Bacoor and Imus have been converted into cities in 2012, they will each have a representative in Congress.

Source: List of Candidates for the 2013 Local and National Elections

What we have to accept now is that people usually have very little idea about what their representatives do or more importantly, what they're elected to do.

Committees, or small groups of representatives (called congressmen/women) study proposed laws (bills), and other matters relating to issues and concerns affecting our lives and our society. They, together with the members of the Senate, form the government's Legislative Branch-- or basically the branch in charge of enacting law.

In the next few weeks, I'll post the other lists and some information about the candidates and their parties. I think I'll try to write this series in Filipino so that the demographic I'm targeting will better understand it (good luck with that, self).