To shake off the feeling of displacement that I’ve illustrated here, here’s a post about where I ate yesterday. Which is: Ukokkei Ramen Ron, an almost cult-ish ramen haven for ramen nuts! It closed down for a while, but now it’s back in business, and would you believe it was both mine and Sarie‘s first time to eat there last night?

We got the Tantanmen ramen (Php 390), which is one of their more “special” items. I don’t really know what that means, but it’s not on the menu (it’s on the wall) and it sure tastes special. The broth is thick, flavorful and rich, and the noodles were superb. Sarie and I are doing splitsies now because of mutual weight gain, but the serving was more than enough. We had the gyoza as well, but it’s nothing worth noting.

The ramen, though. You must try it at some point in your life. Judging from the color of the broth, I’m thinking they used a lot of la-yu, the sesame chili concoction that I eat with everything. The waitress said it was a mix of miso and sesame, so you can imagine the potential party in your mouth.

On another note, I don’t know if it’s notable or anything, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’ve decided to try something different! No, it is not to dress in a manner that will make me more likely to be assaulted on public transport, but just to dress “better.” Of course, I don’t know if it is actually better in an objective way, but hey look—color!

My clothes are from Primark, which is a super cheap, kind of trendy apparel chain in London. I don’t normally like wearing rompers because it makes me feel like a giant baby, but I liked this one a lot, even though it takes quite a long process to um, pee. I also love this sweater, because duh, it is trés cool. My headscarf is from a super cute Etsy store, Chichi Dee, which is also based in London.

Meet my cute watch! I got it in Venice, and though I don’t normally wear watches with faces this big anymore, I am quite enamored with it. It’s by Fullspot and the idea is you can mix and match the straps and the faces to suit your personality and mood. Apparently, they’ve started selling these babies in RONAC last month, so I have to check out which colors I can get from here in Manila, because I only got one other watch strap (a grey-white). I checked the price point and it doesn’t seem to be that big of a difference. I’ve got my eye on some of the animal print faces.

For kicks, Sarie has captured how I apparently look like when we eat together:

And to end, please please please grab a copy of the October issue of both Rogue and Preview, on account of well, me!

Preview has included me in their Creative It List for 2012, which I think was awfully nice of them. :) The photo was taken by Everywhere We Shoot, and the words were written by the wonderful Karen Bolilia. Thanks to both of you, as well as the Preview editors and the rest of the Preview team.

And! My first contribution to Rogue’s Columns section, which is on the Golden Age of Television and why we (the Philippines) are not a part of it. Thank you to Clinton Palanca for helping me out on this one. Snaps for Paulina Ortega, my seatmate for all of (college) eternity, for putting my words into pictures.

I would appreciate it if you guys grabbed a copy of these issues because they are both quite special things to me. That said, Arrivederci! I shall see you all in my next installment of The Great European Backlog of 2012.