Ermahgerd! : The Jean Padilla Braces Story

Creepy Psycho Smile: One of the hallmark signs of a braces noob

I got my braces last June 12 and I am only blogging about it now because well, I'm lazy. First off, many people are wondering why I got braces since I am usually categorized under "People with Good Dentition". 

Go ahead, bask in the glory of my good dentition.

Apparently like most fat kids' pictures on facebook (mine included), my good dentition was only an effect of angular deception. If viewed from a socially acceptable angle, my teeth look perfectly aligned and cute as fuck but if you look at my teeth from an angle medical professionals are only allowed to look, you'd see that my teeth aren't really that cute as fuck.

I have an overbite and the alignment of my teeth has a mild case of can't be tamed.

Since my dentist is also my aunt, she can't have it on her honor as a DMD that her niece has not-so-perfect dentition so I let her put some torture corrective contraption on my teeth. The process wasn't as long as I thought it would be which was just shy of 3hours. Afterwards, I felt like a cyborg and the OS for my mouth hasn't been installed yet. Everything about my mouth was suddenly awkward. What are teeth and how do they function? And my tongue suddenly became such an intrusive presence that I can't help wondering what was it doing pre-braces. After sometime, sores dominated my oral mucosa. As in singaw, singaw, singaw everywhere. The pain was initially so distracting that I had to be fed painkillers regularly to tone down my irritability to not-murder-everyone level. I wasn't able to eat anything solid for the first week because of the mutiny my oral area was having because of the annoying metal thing I forced on them. My diet consisted of only soup, tea, ice cream, and ortho wax. At first it was all good since I love the first three and ortho wax doesn't really taste like anything so meh but it got tiring to eat only soup after a while so I tried eating apple mash with honey which my brother called baby food.

I'd punch a baby for this heavenly baby food.

It was good though and my mom was really supportive of my temporary disability and made food that are easy to chew and digest. After the first week, I was able to chew a bit and I moved on to more solid food for my nutrition. Ice cream never went away though because well, ice cream.

Triple Threat: Delicious, Dulls the pain of mouth sores, and Leads you to the path of Type II Diabetes

Now, I can already eat most of my previous diet. I still can't bite hard food and I avoid leafy veggies because they enjoy hanging out within the nooks and crannies of my braces. I just had my first McSpicy last Thursday so I'm happy with my progress to regain control of my teeth. However, I ate my McSpicy in a way that cannot be described as poised or elegant so I still have work to do.

BTW Protip: Use Tea Tree Oil to treat your sores. Just dab some using a cotton swab on the sore. It hurts a lot upon application but it will be painless afterwards and the sore will heal in no time. And no matter what they say about good girls, DO NOT SWALLOW. Just spit the accumulating saliva that might have tea tree oil. It just takes 2-3mins before it is safe to swallow or ingest anything so it's not that hassle. Reapply when sore starts to hurt again. You're welcome.

I'm back.

And I swear I will not be a lazy-ass anymore. Let the internet be my witness to this promise. I. Will. Blog. Regularly.

Baguio Food Trip Part 2: Bohemian Food & Cafe

I found Bohemian Cafe by accident. My mom was on a meeting with someone and I didn't wanna go with her to the meeting to sit and look bored so I decided to go around Session road. While I was exploring, I turned a random corner and I saw the sign. I looked at the restaurant to see if this could be a good restaurant for my mom and I to have lunch. The restaurant looks cool and there are a number of people eating in it but not enough to discourage me not to eat. I hate crowded restaurants.

Apparently, Cafe Bohemian turns into a bar at night with live music performances.

Ambiance: The Bohemian Cafe has an overall good ambiance. The atmosphere was casual with current music playing in the background. There are enough numbers of patrons for it not to be too crowded and not to be deserted. There are a number of Korean patrons as well and of course it has the Baguio coolness to it. The walls near the al fresco dining part has a cool design which my mom and I took pictures of ourselves with. The overall look of the restaurant seems to be a nice "inuman" place or to just have a couple of beers with friends.

Pictures of previous customers. I get the polaroids of customers while in the cafe but 1x1s?

These are the walls that adorn the al fresco dining area.

Food: The food was okay. It was not a mindblowing gastronomic experience but the taste was pretty decent. If we're going to factor in the cheap price, I'd say you get what you paid for. Their food is a combination of several cuisines including Korean. they also have Korean beers. They have different coffee and tea choices (could be iced, frappe or hot). They also serve various beers, wine, alcohol and cocktails. We ordered combo meals which I forgot to note their names but here are their individual reviews:

My order. I forgot which combo meal this was. P150.00

This was my combo meal. It has the typical salad with thousand island dressing, fried chicken, spaghetti and chicken sandwich. The salad was unremarkable, it tastes like how you would make a salad with thousand island dressing at home. The fried chicken was good imo. It was crispy and well-seasoned enough. The spaghetti was on the sour side perhaps tasting a bit more Italian tasting than most cheap spaghetti. The spaghetti lacked complexity compared to the spaghetti my mom used to make. but then again, you get what you paid for. I loved the chicken sandwich. The bread was toasted and they didn't scrimp on the chicken. Can you see how big the gap between the two slices of bread? The chicken was also chunky which I enjoy. It was almost as good as my mom would make it.

My mom's order. P150.00

My mom's combo meal included the salas, Pinoy bistek, rice and fried dumplings. The salad was the same as mine. The pinoy bistek had a lot of soup as compared to what I'm used to. Flavor-wise, it tasted okay. the meat was tender enough and the sauce was not bad.The fried dumplings came with a sweet and sour dip and it tasted like regular fried siomai. Wasn't that remarkable but then again, it was cheap so It was ok. The good thing about their combo meals is that it may not be mindblowing tastewise but it is filling and cheap.

Soup. This comes with our combo meals.

The soup that comes with our combo meal is good. It seams to be made with some broth with eggs and random vegetables like carrots, onions and celery. It had a homey taste to it.

Watermelon Italian Soda. P50.00

I love Italian sodas and I order them whenever they show up on a menu.I like the taste, the watermelon was subtle enough to add a refreshing taste but not too much as if you were drinking carbonated syrup. It is a no-frills soda as most restaurants would serve it with whipped cream and/or a cherry but for only 50 pesos, I'm not complaining.

Nutty Strawberry Shake. P100.00

My mom ordered the nutty strawberry shake. It was rich and you could tell they used ice cream with it. I didn't get the nutty taste but it did have bits of some nut (maybe peanuts?) with it.

Blueberry Cheesecake. P80.00

DO NOT ORDER THEIR BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE. The cheescake was horrible! It did not taste at all like blueberries and the topping seems like it has too much extenders that it tasted like "kalamay" or just sticky stuff that looks like blueberry. The sad lonely cream has also hardened. 

Service: Ther service is good and fast. The waitresses are attentive and has good personalities. They also smile a lot which I like :)

Overall verdict: I would revisit Bohemian Cafe only to see if it is a good "inuman/tambayan" place. I would recommend this if you would like a filling and cheap meal but I wouldn't go here for the sole purpose of just eating lunch unless I had no other choice. I would visit other restaurants if I wanted amazing food though.