Hello Hmm-Hmm

We are all living in the same city now, but it still takes 6 months for the three of us to get together. Is it because of hmm-hmm, who always seems to be unavailable because of her mountains of readings, busy doctor-to-be schedule, and frequent trips to her home in the province where she always hides out when her nose is not buried in the said readings. For all I know she spends more time FB-ing than actually reading. [Just kidding, you know I'm very supportive of you right? :D] But it doesn't really matter now because last night the three of us were all there, plus one.

I narrowed down our choices last night to Felix, Thai Patio and Usso (the French-Italian resto with no name) in Greenbelt 5. By unanimous decision, we went Thai, but next time, I want to try Felix and Usso, too.

Thai Patio is no authentic Thai food place but I appreciate that it has a lot of vegetarian choices, always a plus for me. I liked the vegetarian pad thai the most--the noodles are firm, the sauce, sweet with a hint of spiciness, and the marinated tofu and sliced mushrooms (fresh and not canned), very tasty. The stir-fried mixed mushrooms with garlic was also yum, but the vegetarian pineapple fried rice, not really.

Afterwards, we looked for a place to play rock band in GB without success so we proceeded to eat some dessert in Manila Peninsula. We, the girls, all said no to Pen Pals. After all, four people should not be forced to eat 20 scoops of ice cream. We shared the yoghurt ice cream, 99% fat free but still incredibly creamy, and Belgian chocolate fondue. It was so dark in the lobby with all the dim lights that it felt like a mini bonfire.

The sun is always shining in Manila Pen. See you all again soon.

Coffee on the Go

Something new brought to us by URC, makers of C2 iced tea: Coffee Twist Iced Black Coffee, Classic flavor. It's a ready-to-drink bottled iced coffee with syrup. I find it a little too sweet, but I think it's yum for P 14.

It also comes in orange flavor, which I haven't tasted yet.

Enjoy!

Meeeh Likeyhhh

In Le Divorce, Isabel Walker (Kate Hudson) received a red crocodile skin Hermes Kelly from her French lovah. I think it's a truly beautiful bag and looks chic whether it is carried as a handbag or slung on the shoulder, but the crocodile skin looks rather stiff.

(image: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/ledivorce/)

This Parisian's Kelly on the October issue of Lucky Magazine is a far more youthful and understated version of the bag. The leather is soft, the color, low profile and matches the gold hardware perfectly.

Food for Thought

The recent typhoons brought environmental issues to the forefront right here in Manila. Damage to our environment is not anymore a cause for concern in the near future but a problem that has reared its ugly head here and now.

Nowadays, lunch hour in the office doesn't go by without the recent calamities, along with environmental issues that caused it, being brought up.

So how can everyone help save the environment without taking on too much responsibility all at once? No need to wait for smart cars to become available in the mass market, this effort can be too expensive at present and may take a few more years to become a viable solution.

The simplest way is to try being a vegetarian. Of course, deciding to turn vegetarian doesn't have to be a lifetime decision right away. One vegetarian meal at a time is all it takes to start helping save this environment. According to http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp "Eating 1lb. of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV 40miles."

For more facts, features, links to other websites and documentary trailers on the environment, visit:

http://www.leonardodicaprio.org/

The solution need not be complicated nor expensive, and you can start helping right away. Try being a vegetarian for a day.

Starting with these tasty choices, salad and pizza from Kulinarya in Powerplant:

Drool-worthy

This is the future of shopping:

http://www.net-a-porter.com

An online shop featuring the latest in fashion, straight from the runways. Net-a-porter offers same day delivery in UK and the US, talk about a fashion emergency. No need to buy, just view the items to get an update on what's new. But after looking at Net-a-porter's online magazine, you may just be tempted to whip out your credit card and make a purchase.

(http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/02/technology/net_a_porter.fortune/index.htm)

Place your cursor over an item to get a glimpse of how it looks when worn as part of an outfit.

Enjoy!

Quote of the Day

"It is no way to live, to wait to love." 

- Valentino Achak Deng, What Is the What by Dave Eggers

What's in That Cup?

At Php32, this brewed coffee from Mister Donut probably has the best value for money. It tastes better than the coffee from McDonald's and Jollibee, and for me it's even better than Starbucks brewed coffee. Put 2 packets of cream and 1 packet of sugar for the best taste. On another note, Mister Donut now uses the more environmentally friendly paper, as opposed to styrofoam, cup.

Bag Lady Lives Here

My room used to be my haven. I could stay in there for hours and go out only to eat or look for food I can take back to my room. 

Now my room has been turned to a storage space with a bed, and I only go in there to sleep. Living this way is driving me crrrrazy. 

At one point, I bought every issue of Preview magazine. The more I bought the more I wanted to keep my collection, and I refused to throw a single issue away. Now I am donating the magazines to the parents' charity organization where they re-sell old magazines from Php5 to 20 each.

 

My meager collection of Vogue and a couple of other foreign magazines. I can't bring myself to give them away, the fashion spreads are just too beautiful.

My new stash of magazines is piling up again.

Books...

This shelf is 3 layers and each layer is 3 rows deep.

and more books.

And there's another pile on my Ama's wooden rocking chair.

Toys from my childhood and some collectibles

My collectibles/supplies shelf - The tin cans and boxes contain Sanrio pencils, erasers and pad papers.

Things I need to throw out, give away or sell

   

Drawers are the best places to hide all sorts of crap and collectibles.

  

Over the past few years, my family has been on a mission to get rid of as many things as possible. I had donated piles of school books to different organizations, organized 2 ukay-ukays with a friend, and sold hundreds of other things online. My parents donated many, many items to their organization already, and our helpers are the constant recipients of our family's old clothes. But it seems no matter how much we throw out, donate, or give away, we are still left with 2 roomfuls of unnecessary and unwanted items.

When I go shopping with my friends, most of them always buy more stuff than I do, but they never seem to complain about the mountains of stuff they don't use anymore and the lack of storage for the said items. I also know that among my friends, my family throws out, gives away, re-sells and donates the most stuff. 

So my question is what do people do with their old things? Why does everyone else seem to have unlimited storage space in their homes for all the things that they buy regularly and from trips abroad and those they wish to buy in the future? 

During the last few months I discovered that I am actually capable of living out of a suitcase, so my goal in the future is to be able to fit all of my possessions in one huge bag and become a certified bag lady.

The Madness Equation

Freaky late night movie + outdoor market the morning after = madness from lack of sleep

The movie was District 9. The execution was quite original. Even the outer appearance of the aliens, prawns as they were referred to in the movie, was a new take on the alien concept, but I found the giant, rusty, metallic, cockroach-like creatures really freaky.

Dinner at Zuni in Greenbelt 5 was snooze-inducing. Despite having a full-page vegetarian menu, which to me meant the dishes would be promising because this restaurant gives importance to vegetarian patrons, my Trio Risotto failed to evoke an ooh-la-la moment. My order, which consisted of red and brown rice with boiled mushrooms, carrots and celery, was more appropriate under the description of tasteless rice pilaf than risotto. I've been a vegetarian for four months now. Surely, vegetarian dishes need not be this boring!

Compared to the risotto, I liked this Php 120 vegetarian combo my mom found in the Legazpi market this morning a whole lot more. For vegetarian dishes, it is very easy to tell which dishes are laden with salt and MSG and which ones are fresh and naturally tasty. 

Pasta salad, roasted potatoes with dill, lentil with yogurt sauce (not in picture) and couscous. Yum!

My dad and I were hungry and impatient so while my mom went ahead to look for other vegetarian choices, Dad and I settled for this vegetarian longganisa, skinless, which was just in front of us when we were looking for something to eat. The stall also sells barbeque, java rice, and plain rice, all vegetarian. The tasty longganisa would have went very well with a mountain of plain rice.

While many of the same stalls set up in both the Salcedo market on Saturdays and the Legazpi market on Sundays, the latter offers more ready-to-eat dishes than the former. I personally prefer the Salcedo market which has a simpler layout than the maze-like Legazpi market. 

This morning I tried a Strawberry Yogu, a creamy, almost unsweetened yogurt popsicle that had strawberry chunks in it at Picole, a stall that sells healthy ice pops. It was pretty good.

Starbucks was the only coffee shop near the Legazpi market. To avoid a repeat of my previous Starbucks catastrophe involving an overly sweetened drink, I decided to try the new DARK ROAST blend. I got an Iced grande sugar-free vanilla dark roast coffee jelly latte. It turned out to be a really good choice, in fact, a must-try. Hoorah! Just a note, the new coffee jelly is more like pudding; it is softer and less chewy than the old coffee jelly.

While we were in Starbucks, we saw two Korean children watching videos contentedly on each of their own laptops. Times are surely a-changing. When I was their age I only toted a Sweet Valley paperback with me to pass the time.

Me while waiting for F and J last night. I got these shoes last year. I noticed that oxfords are still in the fall/winter lines this year (http://www.style.com/vogue/voguedaily/2009/06/the-verdict-is-in-the-new-flats/esquivelfeet/) so I celebrated the coming of the -ber months by taking my shoes out a for a spin. My old colleague called them witch's shoes, which they kind of are because of the slightly pointy toe. My next target is a pair of flat patent leopard print Repetto oxfords. Or maybe a pair of plain ones will do.

Last Hoorah

Summer in Hong Kong is drawing to an end. As summer's last hoorah, it was hotter than ever in HK with the temperatures rising up to 33 degrees C, as if the summer season were trying to make up for all the rains and typhoons during June and July. So the best remedy was to hang out in shopping malls to enjoy the free A/C, which was turned up to extra cold.

I noticed that retail stores are always on sale now ever since the financial tsunami last year. The winter sale season started as early as December 1st of last year, 3 weeks earlier than usual, and lasted until the end of February. The summer sale season started so early, on June 1st, that by June 30th, the official start of the sale, most stores had slashed the prices of items to half of the original price. Now, as the -ber months are looming ahead, most retail stores are still on sale as they try to discard the remaining pieces from the previous season. This situation makes buying anything at full price pretty much unreasonable. 

One of my favorite places to dine in nowadays is Shanghai vegetarian restaurant Kung Tak Lam located on the 10th floor of the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay. I ate here before I became a vegetarian and loved their food even then. The food here is not heavy on seasoning and spices as is the case in many vegetarian dishes, the place is brightly lit, not crowded at all, and has a harbor view, and the service is impeccable. Many monks come here to dine, too, because all the dishes do not contain any garlic or onions.

My top 2 favorites are the pine nut and seaweed rice (HKD 48) and sweet and sour fake pork (HKD 88), for which mushroom was used as substitute. So far, I have not been disappointed in any of Kung Tak Lam's dishes yet. Kung Tak Lam also serves dim sum from 11am to 5pm; my favorite is the siumai.

This sweet and sour "pork" is crunchier than most real sweet and sour pork dishes.

Finally, Kung Tak Lam has a lunch set on weekdays for only HKD 45. Another affordable option is the Dan-Dan Mian or Sichuan Spicy Noodles, vegetarian style, very yummy at only HKD 28.

At long last, I finally found a boutique that imports Cath Kidston bags from UK. I tried to Google the bag in HK but the search only yielded pages in Chinese. Lately, I noticed many HK-ers toting a Cath Kidston, much like the Harrod's shopping tote phenomenon in 2005. When I saw a woman carrying one in the grocery, I gathered up my courage and asked her where she got hers. She told me that she bought her Cath Kidston in UK; luckily, she knows where to get it in HK!

Zazie Store (Shop 208) is located in Laforet, a mini shopping mall beside Giordano across Sogo, along East Point Road.

I ended up getting the biggest tote. The picture posted in my previous entry is only a book bag which is flat. The small handbag version of the big tote is also cute but the pattern I like is not available in the small size.

I also got Mom a purse with a metal clasp, which she is crazy about.

And the piece de resistance of my recent purchases is this item I came across by accident. Japanese jewellery 4°C collaborated with Sanrio to come up with a line of gold Kitty pieces. The pieces are so tiny, I thought it was a line for children, but the sales personnel assured me that it is for adults. What struck me are the clarity and cleanliness of the lines and dots on Kitty's face and the ribbon made from coral.

While having dinner at rbt in Causeway Place, I was blown away by the loudness of this B-bag. It was huge, fire-engine red, and has big gold hardware. I asked for her permission to take a photo of her bag which I liked a lot and discovered that she got it in China for 500yuan. Wow! It looked so real!

Trying to get a full paparazzi shot of the bag without success. The shop sells all sorts of knick-knacks. Given the sky-high rent of HK retail stores, the current trend among shop owners nowadays is to divide the rent among many different tenants. Anyone who has something to sell can get a box and display their wares in the box. During the whole course of my fast-food dinner, the foot traffic in this shop was non-stop. Some items sold here include mini flat-irons with fun prints like zebra lines, sunglasses, toys, accessories, displays, etc.

As closing, I use my MacBook for all my post entries as well as editing the layouts of my blog. When I checked my blog using an IBM laptop running on Windows, the font and pictures came out in a different size from my original configuration. I'm not quite sure how to fix it, but if my blog appears distorted, it's not supposed to look that way..I think.