5 Master Crammer Techniques

Admit it, hell week brings out truly the worst in us. The crankyness, mad fits, group bitching, and endless rants on Facebook statii and Twitter updates sums up just about every student's week of death. Every professor is unreasonable, every lazy group mate becomes an enemy, and even the toughest friendships get tested under the institutionalized system otherwise known as school. The breadth and magnitude of every final paper, test, and presentation carries so much weight on final grade so of, course you decide to start it..... at the very last minute. Most students have already earned their Masteral degrees in Cramming way before their college graduation rites are so dearly bestowed on them, beat that! Of course, if you are a master crammer, you must also know the 5 Master Crammer techniques to fully maximize... your master crammer time:




1.)Switching to Facebook when you've decided that you've gone into a deep black hole preparing for Finals. Just a few clicks to check the news feed won't hurt right? Wrong. Before you know it, you've spent a good total hour clicking away. Oh, and look! Another interesting update!


2.)Ranting on Twitter how hell week has turned you into a zombie. 3 seconds in, and somebody has replied explaining the same sentiments. Another 3, and a few more replies! You are determined to fully explain how unjust and unreasonable this workload is that you begin to reply, retweet, tweet, tweet and tweet some more. Then, you check back on your original tweet and figure that 1 hour ago might be some lapse in technical judgment by the Twitter team. So, you decide to tweet about it, and then... the tweeting goes on.



3.)The  "crap-I'm-hungry-better-grab-something-to-eat" mode before fully diving into your work. You figure, food will give you more energy, which will make it easier for you to get things done right? Another wrong! A few bag of chips here, a few rice with ulam there, and you're on your way to munching yourself away into your bed. You bring your notes along with you and convince yourself that memorizing will be a lot easier now that you've finally converted all the sugar you've eaten into energy! Simple science! Then, you surprisingly feel sleepy and give yourself time to rest your eyes. Before you know it, it's finally 7am, and there you are, struggling to find your notes in your laway covered pillow. Yup, it's Finals day and you've got 3 hours before your first class.



4.)The power nap that turns into a full fledged snoozefest leading to the morning. Every excuse of a power nap is one way to escape into dreamland without ever finding your way back to reality aka studying again. The glorious sleep that enthralls you forces you into a force field of dreams that will be a thousand times better than equations, readings and your notes.





5.)The worst by far, the "group study" that perpetually turns into pig out x inuman craze. We all know how this goes! Grab some food in the fridge, pop some beer, and look intently in your notes as if you were actually studying. A couple of Foster the People songs later, everybody has gotten engaged into another conversation about Battle Royale vs. Hunger Games. Before you know it, the night has turned into kwentuhan instead of actual studying.


Aren't we all too familiar with these 5 master crammer techniques? We're all currently basking under the summer sun, but once school knocks around the corner, we all know what we will be turning to. The only good thing about summer is that these master crammer techniques morph into master bummer techniques! At least this time around, we do it guiltlessly! Hooray to summer and boo school. How has your summer been so far? :)

1950's Pandesal by Pan de Amerikana

Pan De Amerikana was jokingly dubbed as the "upside down restaurant" by our friend. We always passed by this because it is located in Katipunan Avenue near St. Ignatius. We were always so curious what kind of food they served! Pan De Amerikana is more famously known for their American style of pan de sal because of its family size. It first started in Marikina and eventually branched out to Katipunan, Greenhills, and Makati. 

During one sunny afternoon, we were urged by our empty stomachs to finally try this restaurant out and boy, were we surprised! 

Not only is it upside down outside, but also inside! We rotated this picture to make it look like a normal sala, but in Pan De Amerikana, it was attached to their roof! It would be pretty funny if, by some case of misfortune, the screws loosened and fell on top of a customer's head! Haha!

We were really curious as to the reason why there were so many articles about cars and monster trucks that decorated the walls of the restaurant. We figured that maybe it was another hobby of the restaurant's owner. They also decorated it with the awards of Pan De Amerikana as a restaurant.


Here were the MANY choices of food we ended up munching on:

Baked Macaroni

This was extremely creamy and the cheese on top was melted so well that I couldn't help but keep on eating. I couldn't believe that this piece of goodness only cost me Php55! Definitely sulit for merienda.

Lumpiang Ubod

The peanut sauce of the lumpiang ubod went too over the top with the sweetness but it was still good! 

Chicken Pan De Sal

Anything chicken is considered, by default, my comfort food, and to pair it with pan de sal just seemed too good to be true but this one disappointed me. I was taken aback by the fact that the first pan de sal served to me had ants in it. They probably weren't maintaining their pan de sal well. Also, the chicken spread wasn't anything special at all.

Laing

The laing wasn't as spicy as we expected. It was more on the oily variety of laing, which tasted okay. The amount of pork served was generous. 

Pinaputok na Pla-Pla

This was our favorite dish! The fish was deep-fried well and wasn't dry inside. It was extremely GOOOOOD because there was so much garlic! It also comes with green chilies which resulted to the spicy flavor of the fish.

Halo-Halo

This was nothing special, and tasted like any other halo-halo that you can buy on the street.

Bilo-Bilo

It was served hot which made it good to eat. The way they made it is how Filipinos usually serve this at their own homes, which gave us a sense of familiarity when we ate it.

Pan De Amerikana surprised us with how affordable all the dishes were! Most of them were under Php100 and you could order as much as you wanted without breaking your wallet. It is a Filipino-styled restaurant which is a perfect place to have lunch or merienda with your barkada or family. The more, the merrier! 

Pan de Amerikana

118 Katipunan Avenue, White Plains, Quezon City
Telephone: +632 421-1966, +63 917 881-1884

Unit 4, Madison Building, Wilson street Greenhills, San Juan
Telephone: +632 384-6741, +63 917-5664424

Constellation Drive corner Makati Avenue, Belair
Near North Park along Makati Avenue
Telephone: +632 387-9413, +63917 571-2224

Restaurant Verbena, Discovery Country Suites Tagaytay

For our first anniversary, Thirdy decided to bring us back to a place where it all officially started. Tagaytay is the most chosen haven for people living in the Metro since it is easily accessible and is just a few hours away. It also offers the best spot and view of the Taal Lake, and is our own little version of a place that likens to the coldness of Baguio. Restaurant Verbena is part of the chain of restaurants by the Discovery group and sits at the heart of Tagaytay city. Here's what we ate for dinner:

Complimentary freshly baked bread with Dips & Spreads

Our a la carte dinner started with their complimentary bread with dips and spreads. All their dips were extremely good and even the bread was freshly baked because it was still very soft inside.

Roasted Bone Marrow with Caramelized Onions & Melba Toasts

This was our appetizer. Although this has an extremely winning taste on our tummies, you should take precaution when eating bone marrow due to the fact that it can lead to certain heart ailments. It's good to share for a group so you can divide the amount of fat (haha) between all of you, but between two people, it just seems too much! We can't deny the goodness of the taste, though! Thirdy, being his usual big eater self, felt pain in the lower part at the back of his neck due to too much cholesterol! 

Black Truffle Risotto with Deep-fried Soft boiled egg

This was Thirdy's favorite dish because of how extremely creamy the risotto was. The arborio rice (which is the type of rice utilized to make risotto because it turns creamy once cooked) was al dente! The serving of the truffle was generous which complimented the taste of the risotto greatly. The risotto was topped with lardons or salted pork.

Thirdy most especially liked the cooking technique done on the egg because it became soft-boiled despite deep frying it, which is an unlikely technique in other restaurants.

Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Garlic Confit, Pomme Puree
Portobello Mushrooms and Asparagus

This was my favorite dish! The mashed potato was so creamy instead of grainy, which made it so smooth to eat in the mouth. It was cooked well because despite the creaminess, it wasn't runny, but instead, was able to hold the texture of the mashed potato well. The chilean sea bass was extremely good because it was soft, as if freshly caught from the sea. It was cooked so well that I could still taste the amazing flavor of the fish.

Restaurant Verbena's Al Fresco dining area

Since we were out on a date, we decided to stay in the al fresco dining area which was such a treat! The cold weather in Tagaytay really made the atmosphere more romantic.

Restaurant Verbena's Main Dining; view from the Al fresco area

Restaurant Verbena's Main Dining

Their service was really good too, because the waiters attended to you quickly and were very hospitable. We suggest that you guys try this out when you're out on a date, or even when you want to dine with your family for great food quality.

Restaurant Verbena at Discovery Country Suites, Tagaytay City

Address:
300 Calamba Road, San Jose, Tagaytay City
4120 Philippines
Telephone:+ (63 46) 413.4567 (Tagaytay)