Mochi's Ordeal + The Non-Supermoon at Vieux Chalet Antipolo

MOCHI

First of all, some good news. Mochi, my dog is alive! We wouldn't know until a few weeks if the virus is completely gone, but he's back to normal. The whole experience was a nightmare for us. It all started when Mochi stopped eating. The vet said there was nothing to worry about. But after two days, he contracted colds and cough. The blood test showed distemper virus. I couldn't accept it at first because you couldn't even imagine how obsessed I am with taking care of this dog. His shots are complete, he's taken to the vet/groomers every week, he eats well, and he takes more vitamins than I do! So I was really heartbroken, more so when the vet told us that he has a 50-50 chance of survival. Distemper virus affects the respiratory and nervous systems. If the disease progresses, the dog might be paralyzed and will eventually die. The vet told us there is no treatment and that his immune system must be strong enough to fight it on its own. The first treatment Mochi underwent was supportive, which means they started to boost his immune system by injecting him with vitamins C and B-complex and antibiotics for his colds. After 3 days with no improvement, we were referred to Vets in Practice in Alabang for an experimental spinal tap procedure used on chickens. At this point, we were desperate because we heard the three other dogs that contracted the same disease already died. Poor babies. The vet injected antibiotics on his spine. The treatment seems successful because after a couple of days, Mochi started eating by himself and running around already. We still need to give him vitamins C, B-complex and antibiotics. But I can say that the worst part is over. If you need more information, feel free to leave a comment here and I will give you my contact details.

Mochi!

VIEUX CHALET

Last week, I read about the supermoon on Yahoo news and immediately thought that Allen would probably enjoy taking photos. Being "south people" we've never gone to Antipolo for a date so I thought this would be a great opportunity to catch the supermoon and try out a new restaurant. Research led us to VIEUX CHALET. It would've taken us only 40 minutes from Katipunan, but we got lost somewhere so we arrived after an hour. The restaurant was not at all what I expected. It was very old style and home-y. It reminded me of my Lola's house, with all the old furniture and fixtures (there's a creepy lola's cabinet!) and quaint decorations. 

Vieux Chalet

The View

Unfortunately, we didn't see the supermoon, or any moon for that matter, so we just set our eyes on trying out the cuisine. We started our meal with the potato and pumpkin soup. It was okay, a little bit one-note and flat. Perhaps some pepper would've made it better. Then we tried the ricotta ravioli and spaghetti (supposed to be fettucini) padilla. The ricotta ravioli was our favorite. The noodles were perfectly al dente and tasted homemade. They didn't scrimp on the ricotta cheese. The spaghetti padilla was okay and less of a treat than the ravioli. Perhaps because the noodles weren't homemade. The sauce was really creamy though, which is always a plus. The salty slivers of majestic ham were complimented by the sweet shitake mushrooms. We finished it off with the swiss chocolate cake. This was our favorite. The dark chocolate ice cream was homemade, and it was so creamy, it didn't feel like the regular ice cream at all. The texture was so smooth, and felt like eating pure chocolate-flavored all-purpose cream. The cake had generous amount of cinnamon and was so moist, but not under-baked. This satisfying meal set us back only P1000. Main courses definitely cost more though. 

Cream of Pumpkin and Potato Soup

Ricotta Spinach Ravioli

Fettucini (Spaghetti) Padilla

Swiss Chocolate Cake

Vieux Chalet is truly a lovely restaurant, but I guess we're just not big fans of the theme and the food. There was also this very strong scent of incense, which made my throat hurt. A lot of blogs have given great reviews though, so we might just give it another try.