Hello Red Cups!

When Starbucks changes their traditional white paper cups to red, it signals one thing, that it's sticker collecting time! While at Glorietta a few weeks ago, I chanced upon the snowflake glass etchings at the Starbucks stores, signaling the return of the planner. Although I don't follow trends or go where everyone goes (I don't watch Glee, I don't play Facebook games, and I'm not keeping tabs on the Pacquiao-Cotto fight right now), this is one trend I do follow since I've always liked the Starbucks planner where I write down my appointments or discovered Youtube tutorials.




Anyhoo, a trivia I found out is that it's only here in Manila that they have the Starbucks planner program. Although the drinks are available also internationally, we can't collect stickers there like we do here.


And on for the drinks:
Last year's Dark Cherry Mocha still is here but Praline Mocha has been replaced with an old favorite... Peppermint Mocha, which took a break last year. Erika and I were sad that it wasn't in last year's roster of drinks but now, I'm glad it's here. Actually, it's what I've been ordering everytime I'm there, and obviously, with my face right smack on its picture, it's been my favorite. I order it this way - short (or tall), hot, decaf nonfat, no whipped cream with sugar sprinkles please. The mint flavor is smooth rather than shocking cold, so I could have it as an after-dinner drink. The two other flavors, since these are richer, I order with no cream. The sweet buttery flavor of Toffee Nut Latte is a good morning drink, while I reserve Dark Cherry Mocha in the afternoon or again, for an all-nighter shoot.

This year's planner is just like last year, in terms of bulk. I found the leather-bound planner too bulky to fit in my already bulky bag. This one is slimmer, although they come in just one color. Oh, and they have coupons too. Yay for the coupons again!

The coffee bean and coffee ground covers in macro settings caught my eye, since my photography is mostly macro.

I just wish they had grids, though because I can't write in a super straight line.

But hey, at least I could do more abstract cubisms while I'm bored.

I'm almost quarter-filled with filling up my sticker book. However, since it was started early, there might be time for a second one. A friend of mine already had two. :)

Affordable Sushi Platter? Yes Way!

I just realized that I haven't written for so long here in my food blog more than I do at my makeup blog. Guess I was so neck-deep with work and all that the kitchen and I have very little time to bond. Well, I don't cook for one thing (I'm super basic when it comes to cooking) plus the fact that I'm reinventing my diet since I had a huge bloat problem no thanks but thanks to my new addiction.



Anyway, I've got a lot of free time now so I have more time to work on blogging about food. This time, I actually know about this before but I got to blogging about it just now... after 10+ orders of it. hehehe.



On my way to Mike's I always pass by a stand along Makati that sells really affordable sushi. There's also a branch of it near my place here, so one time, I took down the number. While at Mike's for a shoot, we were expecting quite a number of people and when I mentioned it to him, he decided to give it a try and ordered a bilao this big...

It's bigger than my head! Hahahaha. It's a plateful of maki and kani sushi with a chockful of wasabi. Yummm! And yes, they deliver. Yes, they have a branch in Las Piñas so I could ask them to deliver when I get my Japanese food cravings.

I really love Japanese food, especially sushi and sashimi. I go for the raw food, and during buffets, I usually latch on to these exotic babies rather than the usual rice bowls. I could have those any time but not this. I really take advantage once there's sushi coz they're really expensive and not to mention quite rare. Wasabi's rates are really affordable and they're perfect for office parties, gatherings, or in this case, a photoshoot with 20 people. Boy the crew could really get hungry here. The rice isn't just authentic Japanese rice but the food tastes good nevertheless.

To order, you could call their two branches:

Makati: 703-0795

Las Pinas: 874-6548

For delivery, there is a minimum order requirement, as with all deliveries, but you could call them anyway for to-go orders.

Exotic Dishes abound

Location shoots for me are a chance for me not only to experience a new place, even if it's local or international. In last week's shoot, I had a chance to not only travel but experience a different kind of meal.

Exotik restaurant at Caliraya is known to serve exotic dishes, exotic meaning not your regular poultry, meat, or fish. But it's like you'll never guess until you eat it. For me, this was something new for me, since the most exotic thing I ever ate was uhm, well... isaw.

For a very basic start-up, I had fresh buko, served from the shell, with a spoon to pry the meat. I was told to put ice inside for a refreshing treat, since it was quite a hot day.

First dish that was served to us, which was a regular favorite, Crispy Pata. Since a horrid experience made me shun away from crispy pata, I skipped this, but my colleagues who still eat crispy pata adored this, diet begone and all.

Second dish looked like ordinary tapa.

Turns out, it was tapa, but not ordinary beef tapa, but Tapang Usa, or deer tapa. Funny, the concept was quite quasi-cannibalistic for me though (Bambi eating... err... a Bambi?) but I had to think deer, deer, deer. It was good though. The meat was softer than the tapa I usually have for breakfast, and a bit sweet. I went for seconds and thirds, and it really went well with the pinakbet.

This dish-happened to be Exotik Restaurant's bestseller -Ginataang Pating - shark meat this time. I'm really intrigued too, since I never had shark meat before, and shark's fin soup doesnt count. The coconut cream and ginger flavor masked the rather "fishy" shark meat taste but I like how it had little bones on the shark, or is that because it was deboned well (my comparative anatomy is quite rusty at this point to decipher the shark and bony fish's skeletal system comparison). It's basically the same like eating fish meat, with larger chunks. It's not tough at all, but not as melt-in-the-mouth as dory. It was good nevertheless, and this I enjoy with plain rice and Sinampalukang Manok soup on the side.

Other meat served in the restaurant are manta ray, duck, and eel, but we didn't have to try this too. I'm quite interested on the manta ray though, as I never thought of it as meal.

Aside from the food the restaurant is also a menagerie of birds and exotic animals. I saw a huge albino python that really caught my eye.

Beautiful, isn't she? Humongous too.

The hornbill is another character, I can't believe I'm seeing one eye to eye a creature I usually see on TV documentaries. It's so cute, it actually posed for the camera. :P Before I grew attached to it (having to tend to birds at home), I had to leave for the next location with the crew.

This restaurant is an adventure in itself, sight and taste. Plus I like the open-air atmosphere as well. Staff are friendly and they are there to answer your query, especially if you're new to exotic flair.

On With Better Things In Life

An evening drink last Saturday to cap off a great shoot and for another fantastic work week(end) been working from Sunday to Saturday last week and I'll be working on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week:

BoNa has made me calmer, hyper, awake, sober, and now BoNa infuses my system with alcohol with this cocktail: Tequilla Rose with Chocolate Shavings on the glass rim. Fills my sweet tooth and also my alcohol rush need. The chocolate shavings are a huge plus too.

A Rant: The Sugar Bug's Blanching Incident @ KK

This incident happened to me a while ago at the Krispy Kreme store at Glorietta. Before anything else, I want to make it clear that I do not plan on filing lawsuits or take this to legal matters since the attendant did give an immediate sincere apology and there was no serious damage done whatsoever.

Just this evening, after my shift at the store, I had a usual light dinner since I wanted to keep myself light since it's dinner time. I wanted to digest my food and it has been my habit to purchase a cup of tea to subside the bloat. I had a chipper mood too, since I had a lot of fun at the store today doing makeovers and sales was great as usual, and this was carried out from dinner time. As I lined up, the female attendant got my order and told me to go ahead to the cashier. I chose my tea from their magic box of tea bags (Jasmine. Wanted something Oriental this time) and I chose a large size for my cup. After I paid for my order, I waited for the attendant (not the first one) to prepare my order.

As my order came, I thanked the guy who prepared it and I picked up my cup using my left hand. Just then, the bad thing happened. The top apparently wasn't closed tightly and so, the contents of my hot tea spilled on my left hand and got a bit on the customer next to me (owie, double). I did get the initial hurt. Of course my "OWIE!" and the spillage caught the attention of some people and one of the attendants saw what was the culprit. Apparently, the attendant who prepared my order didn't use the right size of cover for my cup, so a gentle squeeze of an open cup could cause a bit of toppling over spilling the contents, in my case, hot water.

The dudes at Krispy Kremes immediately took action, and prepared a replacement tea for me free of charge. As for the pain, I did feel the sting but I thought it would subside anyway, so no fuss. I didn't make a complete fuss about it there throwing divaish bitch fits or anything, since I didn't want to completely make a scene there, being a regular client, and to spare everyone who would care less about the whole hullaballoo.

As we left the venue, the pain started to get worse. My left hand started to sting and it started to feel cold compared to my right hand. I couldn't take the pain anymore and it was the sort of numb-burn pain. Instead of going to the parking lot, we had to take a detour to a drugstore so I could buy burn ointment for my hand. By this time, my hand, especially the areas that got in contact with water were already red and my fingertips were cold. When I paid for the burn ointment, my left hand was too tender that I had a hard time fishing my money out of my bag and opening the box. The burn oinment provided immediate relief. The pain level lessened but it did hurt from time to time.

When I got home, I took pictures of the burn. There's still no blistering and the swelling in some parts have somewhat subsided.

Owie. The shine from the hand is due to the burn ointment. If you look at the webbed portion between the thumb and index finger, even from that distance, you'd see it's red.

See the redness? The reddest part is where it hurts the most. All areas of pain are actually still tender to palpation or even gentle touch or pressure. For the pain levels, refer to this diagram. The one with the most pain, I actually had pain radiating up to the palmar side.

As of now, the greatest area of pain still hurts and I feel a sting at the metacarpal joints. I feel that it would blister soon, so I took the necessary precautions and first aid. I'm just relieved that there was no serious damage done, that my hand is still functional but it would be sort of immobilized at this time. Also, this is not the makeup hand and I could still be fully functional at work and necessary adjustments could be made for me to perform well.

Hi-Tech Dining at Sango!

Restaurants have their own different features to attract customers - organized systems, one-of-a-kind fusion food, something to tame the kids, interiors, the list goes on and on. One burger joint stood out during a resto adventure, not due to the menu but because, it's a high tech restaurant. Although I'm not much of a techie (my computer knowledge is just Photoshop, upload, download, surf, etc, no gigabyte mumbo-jumbo or the like. I'm a girl that way), this resto sure did surprise me.

Sango! had a branch along Milelong in Amorsolo and also a branch at Alabang, near Westgate. But since I came from Mike's at Bel-Air and he had to go to Rockwell for an errand, he dropped me off Shu Uemura for me to visit EJ and have a chat with Ms. Mari then dinnertime at Sango!

Looks like your ordinary fastfood joint? Uhm... not quite. This is Japanese with rice burgers, wasabe burgers, green tea milk shakes, and the like. Of course like any other fast food joint, it had the traditional counter people. Amusing, like an ATM machine. I just hope makeup counters do not have this apparatus or we'll be losing jobs too.

But hey, what's the fun in that when they have an automated touch-screen machine that takes your order, processes it, and even dispenses change when you pay in cash.

Just a note: please get your receipt after or else the next person in line will curse you because when the machine dispenses their receipt, it sorta eats up the paper and the natural, organized trend of movement will be interrupted. Not good.

I kept dinner light with hot dog on a stick and master fries. I'm not a ketchup fan with my hotdog so I opted for mustard. My big surprise too, was the mustard was actually... Wasabi based. Wiiii!

Pikachu and friends do like my master fries too. Fries with chilli and block slices of cheese. The Pokemon book actually came from the mini-library of Manga and Japanese books, along with the usual newspapers. Cute! Sorry boys, I didn't get to see Sailor Moon, maybe in the other branches.

I like the Milk Tea drink too. It tasted natural instead of like coming from the powder packs. Authentic and brewed and good for the lactose intolerant. With me forever pounding pavement and studios by being coerced to teet around in 5-inch stilettos on occassions, I need calcium too. Oh, and it was refreshing. Next time I'll try green tea as well, another drink I've been a fan of.

I just had to take a picture of these controls when I visited the loo. I remember my good friend Lenard, who's currently based in Japan, who told me about their high-tech toilet at home, which controls the toilet seat temperature, water flow, flush, bidet, squirts, stuff like that. Take a look at these controls:

There was no button on the toilet to flush it. all is in that keypad with the controls, and the seat is heated. There's even air circulation control. I don't believe it (expect a long line at the loo here, because I couldn't figure out the controls. Unggoy.)

Prices? definitely reasonable. Alot like Php250 per person on the average, depending on the order you're getting. Maybe next time when I've mastered the controls on the toilet, I'll blog that too, to minimize the long line on the bathroom that I could have created.

Happy Birthday Krispy Kreme!

One monday, it was raining. As a rain-phobic like me would just stay home... nothing could keep me away from attending Krispy Kreme's 72nd birthday. My love-at-first-bite donut treat and I had to bond in this special day so I was armed to the brim - a semi-filled tummy so as not to experience sugar rush while having room to eat donuts, a loose outfit (for that same reason), rain boots, and umbrella.


Krispy Kreme welcomed us with the usual cheery atmosphere, the scent of the glaze curtain, and bottomless Krispy Kreme - eat all you want, drink all you want. Be happy... it's Krispy Kreme's birthday! And when asked what I wanted to order, I ordered my favorite... NEW YORK CHEESECAKE AND GINGER ALE!

Red balloons meaning happy Birthday Krispy Kreme at the background and my expression eating my NY Cheesecake was priceless (I got to take home one too). Certainly is a happy day. As I went around after my round 2 of Chocolate Sprinkles donuts, I saw the donut conveyor belt being hosed down with water. When I asked why, the reason for this was they already made the batch for chocolate glazed donuts and now it's time for original glazed so they had to hose down the conveyor belt to make sure everything is clean so there's no flavor mixing. :)

Krispy Kreme definitely made my day today despite the heavy rain, which started pouring once I headed out the door, original glazed donuts in tow. It's really cool how a brand like this really caught right on here in Manila, with a whole lot of stores opening in different locations. I'm still eyeing on a location here at the south though, and for Krispy Kreme to stay here for a long time.

Happy 72nd birthday KK!