sinfully good

Ever since I've tasted Garrett's popcorn in Universal Studios Singapore, I've been crazy over this Chicago-based goodie. Nothing comes close to this delicious popcorn! It's oh-so yummy and sinfully good ...every pop, so good. The best flavour, caramel and cheese. Despite being so pricey, it's worth it. Believe me. One bag not enough. I haven't tried the caramel-cheese mix but I'm sure it would be oh-so tasty and very addicitve. Imagine the sweetness and salty taste in perfect combination, mmmm...must be heaven! Must try, peeps! :)

Mommy Bloggers Summer Outing

Venue: Tagaytay Highlands Country Club
Date : May 16, Saturday

It was a perfect day for the Mommy Bloggers' Summer Outing. We were blessed with good weather for the entire day. Kids enjoyed the animal farm and the swimming treat, Daddies played basketball and the mommy bloggers busy eating, taking photos and talking. All in all, the summer outing went well. The plan for surprise party was executed and everyone went home full, tired but happy. Wishing we could do this as our annual summer tradition for the MBAPs.

8am : For early birds, Animal Farm visit
10am : Basketball Game at TH Sport's Clinic
1130am : Lunch buffet Country Club Poolside
12-4pm : Swimming for kids / Chika moments / Beer-drinking of Daddies
4pm : Fishing time
6pm : Pack up time/photo-session

Don't we all look lovely in our pictures? LOL. I don't think any diet supplement or fat burner will do the trick to lose those post-preggy weight. With kids in tow, I think running and taking care of our kids already enough to shed off those unwanted fats. A miracle drug-wonder, don't you agree. Hehehe!

Sharing some of our summer pictures (photo courtesy of alpha, aggie, thea and kathy)



Daddies after the basketball game

Royce chocolates ...

indeed a melt-in-your mouth chocolate sensation.

So smooth and creamy.

Absolutely yummy.

Thanks Beng for the New Year's gift. So sweet and thoughtful of you to remember my wish.

Finally, was able to satisfy my Royce chocolate curiosity.

Now I am hooked and craving for more!

off to Bangkok

For our upcoming anniversary treat on February, I've already arranged our travel plans for Bangkok, the City of Angels. I've never been to this place and I am very much eager to set my foot in Bangkok. I've heard so many good things about the place and I can't wait to see (and taste) the real thing. For 4D/3N, hubby and I will explore the enchanting city. Thus as early as now, I am busy as a bee checking the web for fab places to go, must-see tourist destinations, list of shopper's haven and yummy places to eat. From the fascinating Buddhist temples, busy flea markets like the Chatuchak, Authentic Thai restaurants, cabaret show and of course, cruise at the Pattaya River. I just can't wait!! Of course, since there will be a lot of eating here in Bangkok (love their spicy food!), must bring with me weight loss products I bought on the web. Hahaha! I think this will come handy especially with all those yummy thai food I plan to eat! Haay, Bangkok... just few more weeks to go.

healthy take out meal?

Don’t you just love holidays? It gives you a perfect excuse to forget all your diet and just enjoy all the meals you want to eat.

For weeks now, I’ve been craving for Dampa seafood. Remember my previous post how I love to eat shrimps, crabs and squids … crave no more! Last Monday, hubby and I decided to pig-out (which we normally do!) by ordering to go meals from Dampa Libis. Since our helpers decided to have a holiday-off, hubby and I drove to Dampa Libis to get our ever favorite, buttered garlic shrimps and crabs. Imagine, just the three of us for dinner … we ordered a kilo of each just to satisfy our seafood cravings. Oh so yummy and oh so bad! Not your healthy way of cooking food. And with so much fat from all the buttery food, we neutralized our palate by ordering grilled squid. An attempt to healthy cooking with so much guilty eating cholesterol and fats that day. Hahaha!

Regretfully, I forgot to take pictures of the said seafood feast. With so much excitement and hunger from our take-out order, we immediately attacked and enjoyed the food. Hahaha!

Baguio Trip

Day 1 : 08.07.08 Thursday

Arrived at Baguio by 8pm. We took the steep, winding and zigzag road of Kennon going to Baguio. Since there was a landslide at Marcos highway a day before we left for Manila, our options either take Naguilian (2 hours more drive) or Kennon Road. Bravely, we opted to take the latter. After checking-in at the Manor Hotel, famished and tired we went straight to Cafe by the Ruins along Otek Street. Despite the heavy downpour, we chose to have our romantic (and yummy) dinner here to enjoy the sights, smell (of pine trees) and taste of Baguio! :)

the Partner's angels ... moi, ruth, beng and coleen

pandan iced tea with lots of honey

hot biscuits with butter and strawberry jam

carbonara with bacon slices (not bits ha!) and garlic bread

since I am a rice person, I ordered this yummy treat : tapa flakes with garlic rice and soup. best choice!

Day 2 : 08.08.08 Friday

Woke up early and went to Session Road for breakfast and ukay-ukay or wag-wagan madness. This is Baguio's thrift or bargain stores wherein you can buy second-hand branded clothes or bags like Gucci, LV, Prada at very cheap price. Actually, not so cheap anymore ...I was able to check an old Gucci bag and was surprised with its tag price, P10K for a second hand bag! No way will I pay for 10K old bag! Checked some suits and coats, but not satisfied with the selections. I guess I am too lazy to check out those racks for good finds. Decided to leave the ukay ukay of Session Road and went straight to John Hay's Mile Hi or commissary (near the Manor).

At the Mile-Hi (commissary), was able to get good knitted coats for Sam. I was told that the items sold here are usually export over runs of Marks and Spencer's. Actually one of the knitted jacket I bought has a M&S tag on it. Got really good warm knitted coat for Sam in pink, and another short overlay coat in dark blue. Enough to protect her from the cold aircon inside her classroom. I got the knitted coats at P250/pc. Not bad.

Lunchtime spent at SM Baguio. Because we need to prepare for the afternoon wedding, we decided to book at David's Salon for some hair fix. Surprisingly most of our Bayan colleagues (and their wives) also at SM Baguio for some beauty preps.

By 4pm, we were all good and ready to attend Anne's wedding at Our Lady of Fatima, Benguet. For wedding kwentos check out here

Day 3: 08.09.08 Saturday

After partying the night before (and watching the Olympics opening at the cable), we woke up early and left the Manor for some pasalubong shopping. As early as 10am, we were eating breakfast (inihaw na pusit and mais) at Mine's View Park. Bought some goodies here like choco cornflakes and oatmeal cookies, peanut brittle, walis tambo and Ifugao oranges. Then we proceeded to Good Sheperd Convent at Gibraltar Road and bought jars of ube jam and strawberry preserves. By 11am, we were all busy at the Baguio market for some fresh veggies and more pasalubong shopping! Got brocolli, cauliflower, sayote tops, lettuce, green pepper, garlic, sitsaro, carrots and potatoes at a very low price. Unfortunately, no strawberries available during this time. :(

Our last stop before leaving Baguio, we went to Petron Station near Kennon Road. We were told that freshly-baked breads from Baguio Country Club can be bought here. Same price that of BCC without the hassles of securing the signature of club member. I bought their yummy banana and raisin bread. Real yummy! I was told that their carrot loaf bread was good too, sadly I was not able to try it.

Officially, we left Baguio at 1pm after having lunch at Pancake House. Still raining .. but what the heck, we enjoyed our short stay at Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines! We had few stops but the travel from Baguio to Manila was less than six hours. No traffic.

Our Baguio stay was short but sweet ... and I vowed to be back by end of the month. I tentatively booked at the Manor for another Baguio trip and I am hoping it will push thru. This time, I want to bring Sam along so she can enjoy the cold weather of Baguio. Tried booking during the August holidays, sadly... no more available rooms. 101% fully-booked! Darn...sayang promo. Anyway, still hoping by EO of August I can get a suite and the weather will be cooperative (not rainy) by then.

The Longest Breakfast Menu List

Been very busy lately ... and I almost forgot this tag from Jody.

The Longest Breakfast Menu List

Everyone likes to start their day with a comfort food for breakfast. What kind of food do you take? This would be a good way to find out your blogger friend’s favourite food for breakfast.

All you need to do is to put your name down, the country you are in and your favorite breakfast meal. Let’s see how we can have this breakfast ‘menu’ travelled all around cyberspace and learn what each blogger living in different country and what they eat for breakfast. This meme was created by a little lady with a penchant to spy around little baskets while marketing. Her favorite breakfast of the day is none other than Roti Prata, an indian flat bread. What about you? What is your favorite breakfast meal of the day?

1. Spymama, Singapore - Roti Prata 2. Janeth Vicy’s Life Journey, Philippines - Ham and Hotdog with Rice 3.As The World Turns, Philippines, Milk and Biscuits. 4.Just Me.. Eds, Philippines- Sausage and Egg with Garlic Rice/Fried Mash potato 5. KATHYCOT, Phils, Fried Spam, Chicken and Scrambled Egg paired with Fried Rice 6. Alpha, Philippines ~ McDonald’s Big Breakfast 7. Aggie, Philippines ~ Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich 8.Jane, Philippines ~ Caesar Salad and Egg Mayo Croissant 9. Jody, Philippines - Tapsilog. 10. Jacqui, Philippines - Hotcakes and Sausage by McDonald's 11. Your Name, Country, Food

*End copy here*

Since I am a working mom and mostly on-the go, I usually have my breakfast via Mc Donald's drive-thru (Libis) or food delivery. I so love their hotcakes and sausages with lots of maple syrup and butter! Yummy! Then add hash browns on the side and OJ ... perfect breakfast companion for office meetings.

Care to share your fave breakfast foodie Pat and Annette?

Sam's favorite treat : Roasted Chicken with Corn

This is Sam's favorite treat, Turbo Roasted Chicken with Cream Style Corn. Its been almost a tradition and our weekend staple food.

Would you believe whenever I ask her what she likes for lunch, she'll always say "chicken corn" with so much gusto! She can even guess that I am preparing her surprise treat by the smell of the chicken while being cooked. When she was little, she would even dance around the table and watch her chicken corn being cooked from the roaster. Really funny seeing her doing her famous chicken dance! Oh I can even remember her first taste of the concept "hot", was when she burned her fingers by attempting to touch the roaster! After this incident, she never touched the roaster again.

This is her comfort food! And she never gets tired eating this yummy treat! and Kuya too! Perfect lunch mates.

Off to Cebu...again

I am bound for Cebu tomorrow ... again. This time, it will just be an overnight stay.

We have an official function at Waterfront Mactan for our Cebu-based Corporate clients thus we need to be there for courtesy appearance and show our support for our provicial sales team. It will be a fun-filled and exciting night at Waterfront Mactan since Bayan will be hosting casino game for our VIP clients. Awesome prize awaits our lucky clients, MAC Books and Ipods will be given away as "casino" winnings. Hmmmm...truly exciting!

The best part of the trip, food trip galore! Love Cebu's sutukil restaurant at Mactan. This is Cebu's version of Dampa! Fresh seafoods and yummy grilled tuna served here. Also, I look forward visiting Taboan Market. Despite the smelly surroundings, love buying (and haggling) dried pusit, dilis and danggit here! Then of course my trip will not be complete without the famous CnT lechon. Real gastronomic, high cholesterol yummy treat. Hubby will be very much disappointed if I won't bring home CnT lechon hence a must stop here too.

Wanted to try Chi Spa too at Shang Mactan... been couple of years since my last Spa experience here and I am contemplating if I'll treat myself for an ultimate spa treatment. Very, very pricey indulgence! Though not sure if I still have time to indulge... but still hoping.

Anyway, will miss bratinella's futbol camp this Saturday. I'll also miss shoe shopping of hubby and Ico too. It's gonna be boys day out as they claim, Hmmm... I wonder if Daddy can handle Sam (and Ico) for couple of days. Let's wait and see.

Holiday Off

Holiday break was spent again to our favorite summer get-away, Club Manila East. Since this is only 8 minutes drive away from our place, this is our immediate answer to beat the summer heat. With our swimsuits on, we headed towards CME right after breakfast.

I heart CME so much because of its proximity to our place. It offers reasonable entrance fee and cottage rental, and food price is very, very affordable. Despite no food and drinks allowed in the area, Jollibee and Shakey’s food carts available here. Restaurant food is also yummy with our favorite mangga with bagoong, sizzling squid and sisig. Real yummy!

As usual, Ico and Mike spent most of their time enjoying the giant slide (as in countless times!) and wave pool. While I was tasked to be Sam’s nanny in the kiddie pool.

Sharing some of our summer pix at CME ...

After spending the day at CME, went home and decided to cook something special for the family. Since I still have left over spaghetti sauce last week, decided to do magic “quick-fix” and cooked more sauce to serve the hungry boys. Sadly, was not able to take pictures of the pasta meal since it was immediately goofed down by Ico and Mike. Well, next time …

Then for dinner, was in the mood to cook kare-kare. Ever since I discovered Lola Idang’s Kare-kare near our place, was sooo lazy to cook this viand. It is easy to buy take out you know! With P160, you can buy one palayok of kare-kare hassle-free! But recently, Lola Idang’s resto is undergoing renovation thus no kare-kare/ crispy pata available for take out for months now :(

Anyway, take a peek to my simple kare-kare below…

sauteing the pork tail and cooking bagoong on the side ... (alternative since no oxtail available)

the end product ... kare-kare ala jacqui!!