Scavenger Hunt Sunday 101313

I wasn't able to continue with FatMumSlim's October Photo a Day, but I was able to take a picture of some of the prompts this week.


1) M is for...
Moe-Moe Furballs, our baby cat. Again, he was trying to convince me that it's time for bed, so after hopping on me and disturbing my tv watching, he started playing stints by cleaning himself on the desk, directly across me.


2) What you saw today
A typhoon just left, and when I checked the garden to assess the damage, I was surprised to actually see a plant blooming.


3) Corner
An image of the Rocky Road Brownies, taken near the corner of the pan before I pop it in the oven toaster.


4) Pink
The only pinkish picture I took this week - another one from the garden. It's just cute to see how green turns to pink and pink to red.


5) Hands
When my nail polish starts to chip, I either take it out (chipped nail polish often results to chipped nails so I had to do something about it asap) or I experiment with nail art. Not a good outcome of the ombre sponging technique, but it's always great to try... at least I know now that this combination doesn't work. :)

This weekend, the girls and I...

• Cleaned the house. I don't know how and why, but last Friday night when the rain poured real hard, I saw about two or three cockroaches near the stove, so yesterday morning, we cleaned the entire house and sprayed a tin of insect repellent. It's so icky to see cockroaches, we had to eliminate it right Baway.
• I baked Rocky Road Brownies using the oven toaster. It wasn't a very successful one, but not a failure either.
• We went to the mall - eating lunch together, bought shoes, and did the grocery shopping.
• Listed the things needed to do for the coming week. For me, it's all about diet and exercise. 

It's a great thing that the rain has stopped and the sun shone today, and we are all looking forward to a great week ahead.

* Jenn *

A Foodie Kind of Weekend

Hello, hello!


My weekend started last Friday when I went to Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas to attend the launch of the newest Jack & Jill Potato Chips, which they called "Shake and Roll." Very interesting kind of product as it have Japanese flavors - Salmon Sushi Wasabi and Unagi Kabayaki flavors. It was a short program, but I was glad to have attended it because I got to see several blogger pals, which I can only interact online.

My friend Vance and I walked together towards the bus station, and while walking we talked about books. Our conversation led to the recent news item about Dan Brown's latest book, "Inferno," in which he mentioned Manila (the capital city of the Philippines - where I am from) as "the gates of hell." It sparked many commentaries from different Filipinos... and Vance & I just shrugged it off, for the book is a work of fiction... although of course, me being a Filipino was hurt just a little bit. I got to read the pages of the book and somehow, I could say there's a hint of truth in it (sex trade happens in six continents, by the way... and yes traffic and pollution is bad here), but calling it "the gates of hell" was a little too heavy to take. Well, my country's not really that popular, so when one mentions it in books or tv shows or movies, it is considered a big deal, so it was a little saddening that in the little exposure the country had turned out to be negative. I just would like to show a little empathy to Sienna (the character in the book who traveled to the Philippines) - and just think that if it happened to me... regardless of which country I am at... it will be hell for me.


Anyway, my brother's girlfriend flew here in Manila to attend a conference, and of course my brother met up with her... and when brother got home, he shared with me a cupcake they bought. I only had a tiny taste of it as it was already midnight when brother got home, but it was good.

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I went to bed around 12:30am, and at 3am I was already up because I will be traveling with my sister to Makati City. Her shift at work was at 6am, so she had to leave the house at 4am, and because I have to attend a class at the Maya Kitchen at 10am and I wanted to be with my sister just to accompany her in traveling, I had to wake up very early, too. Well, she treated me to breakfast while I wait for my class, and I just used her netbook to lurk around GoodReads. I couldn't read any of my eBooks that time because my phone's battery runs out easily, I had to preserve as much battery juice as I could.


By 10am, I was already at the Maya Kitchen to attend the Thai Cooking class with chefs J. Gamboa (a famous celebrity chef here in the Philippines) and chef Malichat, a native of Thailand. They prepared five dishes that day, and I truly loved the steamed fish. This table spread was for presentation as they allow every participant to take pictures of the dishes, but we were served a taste each of the dishes.

Of course, after the class I went back to sister's workplace and waited for her to get off at work at 3pm. Together, we walked from the restaurant to EDSA Ayala, where we took the bus going to Ortigas.


From Ortigas, we walked until we reached Moonleaf Tea Shop at the Ortigas Home Depot, which was quite a long walk. Well, I am grateful for this walking because it allowed me to move and get sweaty (ooops, "glowing" I mean - K would be upset if I tell I am "sweating," he doesn't like that word). If you recall sometime ago, I received some gift certificate for this shop, and I wanted to share it with my sister, and this became the right time for us to use it.

As always, she had the Wintermelon Milk Tea, while I went for the Passionfruit Yakult (I love, love, love Yakult). We also decided to have early dinner that time and we shared Tuna Alfredo Pasta, a slice of Double Fudge Brownie (though I only had a taste and my sister ate all of it), and a piece of Butter Sambos. I received 4 gift certificates - good for 4 cups of drink, so the other two we took with us - I had the Honey Aloe Vera (first time for me to taste aloe vera and it was delicious) and she had the Hakka Milk Tea.

Again, we walked from Ortigas Home Depot 'til we reached the bus station in Ortigas EDSA where she took the van going to Marikina (she's sleeping over her friend's house) and I took the bus going home. Surprise, surprise... I saw my friend (and neighbor) Ria at the bus stop, so we traveled together... sharing stories.

Today, my sister and I ate lunch together, and while at Booksale, I received a call inviting me for a Japanese food tasting tomorrow lunch... so no exercise again, but on Wednesday, I will. I am having Aunt Flo in the house again, so it's dizzy, dizzy days for me again... when I go out tomorrow, I'd make sure I have some candies in my bag.

May we all have a great week ahead!

Mothers Day Weekend

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there!


Yesterday, I met up with two of my closest friends in high school - Liz and Mai. We actually live close to each other (just a few kilometers away), but it is very rare for us to meet up and get together because of our schedules. We've been planning to meet up since last year, but it was always Mai who I got to see; Liz's always busy. Last February, I set up a get together with them, but Liz got sick, so again it was just Mai and I. That time, I borrowed Mai's purse and because she is going to use it next week, she set up a get together. Thankfully, Liz was able to join us.

Obviously, we chit-chatted the night away. Talks about relationships and family (both of them are single moms), as well as recalling past memories from high school. Liz recently traveled to Bukidnon and met another one of our high school friends (Girlie), so part of our chats was a little plan for us four (including our another friend Jobi who's in Saudi Arabia at the moment) to travel to Bukidnon for a reunion. I hope it pushes through.


Today is Mothers Day, so of course our little family went out to eat, and brother surprised mom with a Mango Cake. Brother apologized that he wasn't able to buy a cake for me (my birthday is coming up), but it's okay.. I don't have the appetite anyway.

Speaking of appetite, this weekend has been good for my eating. I was able to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, although my lunch today was quite a struggle because I had a difficult time eating all the food on my plate, and was thinking of giving it to the cats, though my mom got a little upset, so I had to eat it. I guess it's great that mom's at home, because if she's not, for sure I will only eat twice within the day.

A Date with the Genius, Billoinare, Playboy, Philantropist

Well, if you're a fan of the Avengers... you know by now that I am talking about Tony Stark - aka Iron Man. :) The Philippines was one of the few (if not the only one) that first showed Iron Man 3 last 24 April 2013. I was very eager to watch it as soon as possible, and I was a little bit devastated that I couldn't join Nuffnang's special screening (because I am not a Sun Cell subscriber), but I told myself that I would watch it at the cinema, not only because Iron Man is favorite super hero (since I watched the first movie), but also because I have always had this huge crush on Robert Downey, Jr. since I was in college.


Last Saturday, I was happy to finally watch it. I really wanted it to be us three girls (mom, sis, and I), but sister was at work and would stay at her college friend for the weekend. I wasn't sure until when the cinema would show the movie, so I asked mom if she would like to watch with me. My mom didn't know any of the Iron Man movies, but because I told her we would watch it on 3D, she decided to come with me.

Of course it was a great cinematic experience. I laughed, and there were a little tears shed, too (especially towards the end)... but as always, I stayed until the very, very end... because I knew there will still be a little snippet after the credits have been rolled out. If you still haven't watched the movie, please... don't leave the cinema until the very end, because not only was this very last scene funny, it was such a relief as well.

I thought my mom didn't like it because yes, the movie was a little slow at first and my mom was yawning loud, but I was still happy that she laughed at the certain scenes - like the Dora the Explorer watch and the Tony Stark tattoo. In the end, she was okay about it...even telling brother about certain things about the movie.

images taken from Google Images - credits to the rightful owners

I couldn't find any images and movie scenes (edit: found this video on YouTube)... but I just wanna say that Tony Stark's Audi R8 was such a drool-worthy car! I think this car Robert Downey, Jr. drove at the premier was the Audi R8 Spyder, but the one in the movie was the Audi R8 E-Tron. Well, if James Bond has the Aston Martin, Tony Stark has the Audi. Too bad the car wasn't used that much in the movie (unlike how he used another Audi R8 at the Iron Man 2).

I unlocked my GetGlue sticker by watching this movie... and this crossed off my list, I am now looking forward to watching Despicable Me 2...also in 3D.


Also last Saturday, I had a little pampering time - I had my eyebrows shaped and my upper lip hair removed using the newest tend - sugaring. My eyebrows aren't virgins anymore, and I liked that the sugarer (the salon staff) didn't take too much of my eyebrows. She understood that it was my first time to have my eyebrows trimmed and shaped... so she just made a clean arch. After a month, if I still want to, I will just have it trimmed more.The upper lip hair thing, I didn't really plan to do... but while shaping my eyebrows the sugarer told me about my upper lip hair, so in the end I just had it removed, too.

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Next week, I am hoping to visit a gym. I am practically begging my brother to come with me at the gym (even for just one week) just to help me get familiarized with the machines. I know this sounds very dependent, and I know I can just go to gym if I really want to, but like a lot of things, going to the gym was a big leap of faith for me - kinda like a child going to the school for the first time. I really do hope that he will join me just until I can familiarize myself with how each of the machines work, but if he really doesn't want to, then this week I will just continue with my scheduled workout.