Anniversary Pig-out (aka premiere of Jessa and Don's Mini-Guide to Buffets)

Lately, I'm on a diet, but not on a really strict diet. I reduced the amount of what I eat (eg: from one cup rice to half-cup), substitute some stuff (oatmeal while typing away at the office) and introduce some others (add more fruits, sometimes fresh fruit shake, and salad at times). Not to mention the workouts I've been doing for almost a month now - I'm doing Hip Hop Abs at the moment, and I'm trying to get my hands on Zumba to try it out next month. But I still dig in to some of my guilty pleasures in some days (two slices of pizza yesterday, a small box of Meiji Macadamia chocolates last week). The result? No, I did not become model-thin, despite my efforts for the past month; BUT I did lost a few inches off my tummy and a few (read: two pounds at the moment).

...

But that's not the point of my entry today. The point of my blog entry today is: I do feel good about eating healthy, working out and losing some flabs along the way. Yet I miss those days when I pig out to my heart's content, so much that one time it made me look pregnant.

Just like this...

So how did I get this 'fake baby bump?'

That was two months ago, when Jowa and I celebrated our anniversary at Tong Yang in SM Fairview, perhaps the only pig-out destination in the mall nearest to my house.

I once told Jowa that I wanted to try out eating in that place because Mom have been raving about this place for quite some time back then. And when opportunity came that we celebrated our anniversary, we chose this place. It wasn't actually the first choice -- we initially planned to eat out at a resto near Tong Yang, but seeing that we were quite short of funds (nag-sine pa kasi kami, ahahaha!), dito kami bumagsak.

Once we were seated, a service crew put a small metal bowl over the stove in our table. After which he asked us what kind of broth we want. We said chicken, and after a few moments he came back pouring in some broth into the bowl.

The broth after all the sahog are put in...

We went on picking out the stuff we'd like to put into our broth, as well as those we want to grill into our grill. And boy, the choices are almost endless.

Veggie section...

Green leafy veggies section...

Cold cuts section...

Fish section, labels...

Sweets section (aka halo-halo bar)

Mini sushi bar...

Drinks section: lemonade, iced tea, orange juice, soft drinks...

And so we had our food fest...

The broth with shrimp and hotdogs cooking on the grill...

Some of the finished products: franks, longganisa, some fish fillet (can't remember the names)

Each customer gets a plate of sliced beef. This is by request, so if you want this one, make sure you ask the waiter to get you one.

Jowa eating his fill...

Siyempre, busog na busog kami after ng lahat ng tsibog. But we still made sure (actually si Jowa lang) to make room for dessert. In this case, it's a cold concoction made of different fruits and some sahog na pang-halo-halo. It's a halo-halo in the most literal sense of word.

But for me, the best part of this pig-out experience is... Eating out with my eating buddy -- my Jowa.

Patty Laurel made a post about surviving buffets just like Tong Yang many days after our anniversary (see the date). But then, to mark our anniversary, Jowa and I made a video (using my Nokia N70 phone's front lens) entitled "Our Mini-Guide to Buffets."

Tong Yang Shabu-Shabu and Grill is located af G/F Annex 2 SM City Fairview, Regalado St. cor. Quirino Highway, Novaliches, QC. Branches are also located at SM Megamall, Quezon Ave., Malate and Jupiter St., Makati.