The One About Pipino

Aaaaaaaaannnd I'm back!  In my last blog post, I shared that at the onset of my school's semestral break, I was to go on a creative retreat.  While I did not exactly go somewhere, I used the weeklong break to be in solitude and engage in creative pursuits.  This post is the first of several ones that will show the highlights of my creative retreat.

On the first day of my creative retreat, I headed to Pipino, a small and homey restaurant in Teacher's Village in Quezon City, that serves vegetarian fare.  I am no vegan but people who know me well know well enough that I try to eat healthy as much as I can.  I try to shun canned goods from our family menu (but I can't resist Virginia's corned beef!  To my friends in Cebu, forget danggit or lechon, THIS is my kind of pasalubong!), I make my own tapa and tocino, I make lasagna noodles from scratch, etc.  Knowing I cannot drag Hon-some to Pipino, I was only too happy to indulge in vegetarian cuisine on my own.

Pipino has charming interiors.  So charming you want to spend the entire day in the place.  It was quiet and lovely.

I took a picture of the dessert menu simply because I loved the watercolor illustrations.

I ordered the Cilantro Soup which was perfect for that particular day because it was raining.  The vegetables were soft and the broth was really tasty.

For my main course, I ordered the Stuffed Demi-Dried Tomatoes with brown rice, mushroom salpicao, and orange leek salad.

It was soooo good and surprisingly filling!  It was visually appetizing and all the flavors from the mushroom salpicao, the tomatoes, and the oranges all meshed beautifully in my mouth.

While having my meal, I decided to do some work:

Creative work, that is.  I listed down my goals for 2013.  Never hurt to get started on it early.

I came up with about 23 goals and as a reward for a productive lunch, I indulged in the Choco Peanut Banana Cupcake.  It was not too sweet, which was to my liking and as I took a bite, I thought of how healthy this sweet little thing was.

When my meal came to a close, I thought of how my creative retreat was off to a good start.  Dining at Pipino (and doing some goal-setting) really set the tone of what I was to engage in for the rest of the week.  Will share more stories next time. :)