Jeedjard tamarind sticks for quick tamarind fix!

These babies are absolute love!! :)

One time I was doing my usual rounds at a supermarket, I found little packets of Jeedjard tamarind, not this kind, the one in sachets - I think they are meant to be single-served. I bought just two tiny packs, no more than 10Php each, as I would only be trying it. It was good however when I came back, they were sold out :(

So yesterday when i saw this at Makati Supermarket Alabang Town Center branch, I quickly grabbed one. Yep just one as I didn't know where exactly it came from and I highly suspect that an unknown mom sneakily took this off her cart and shoved this between mentholated candy packs when her kid wasn't looking. lol :) 

8pcs, 4g each in a packet for 33Php. They are chewy, coated with sugar bits and indeed taste like the real thing. not bad as they are individually wrapped and since I seldom consume anything in just one sitting, I could just bring this along anywhere and not worry about bugs getting into the candies first :)

#quickcravingfix!kisses!

Tous Les Jours Christmas Cake

This is a very very very late post - like a month late? - but since Valentine's day is just around the corner, I thought this could be of help to lovebirds who would like to celebrate hearts day in style! lol :)

So last December, I was able to bag a free cake from Tous les Jours just by sharing their giveaway post on my Facebook wall. I wasn't really expecting something to come out of it since I am not really a lucky person when it comes to draws and contests, I just gave it a try since it didn't require much from me. yep, really lazy person, that's me.

Long story short, I was one of the lucky 5 - i think, or 6? I chose to pick up my cake from their SM North Edsa branch as this was the most convenient branch for me at that time.

SM North Edsa The Block

Just beside the supermarket - or front? lol sorry, I'm that bad with directions. ^_^

cutie breads! yumm

equally cutie cakes!  ^_^

Korean drinks and more breads. very nice!

Me and the hubby weren't expecting anything spectacular as the cake was only a freebie and hmm, let's just say, my hubby is quite allergic to cutie things, add to that the fact that he is a fierce Red Ribbon fan. So just imagine his surprise - and mine too - when we got this:

The cake is sooooo nice!!

..and it comes with a plastic cake knife, 4 skinny but tall candles and 2 pink headed matches (the matches are inside an envelope with a scratchy side) so kawaii! 

yes, the cake did not disappoint! It was moist and chocolatey, with a hint of coffee/dark chocolate which I truly love! The kids were delighted as well and we all enjoyed our little cake party :)  

My baby girl had a sweet time checking out Tous les Jous, she loves all things girly, that's why. She didn't even hesitate to pose for this picture. We're looking forward to our next visit, which is probably next week to sample some of their breads naman. :)

#lifeissweet,kisses!

Glittery Pink Nails With Butterfly Bits

My daughter and I share the same kind of curiosity when it comes to nail polish. We always raid nail polish racks when we're out shopping. These are our very recent finds. The pearly pink one used as base is Nature Republic PP401 (although i am not very sure if this is really an identifying number for this color. lol) 65Php per bottle, but if you buy three, you get a transparent, plastic pouch for free! yay! The glittery nail polish that has gazillion butterfly bits in it is Chic Nail Color Glaze Butterfly Away- a local brand, applied as topcoat. Bought this at Robinson's Festival Mall, only 32Php per bottle. However, you need to fish out the butterflies - or shake the bottle VIOLENTLY - as they tend to settle at the bottom *hmft, lazy butterflies!* 

#mereadyformydayofftom!kisses!

Blog Post Using Mail2blogger From An iTouch With Photo

These past few days I've been looking for ways to autopost or, say, integrate my sites. My hubby got himself an iPhone so i got his iTouch as a hand-me-down which isn't so bad as I was getting tired of lugging around that humongous BB Playbook. Autoposting to Twitter is such a breeze however, autoposting to a Facebook Page is such a pain!! I'm really getting frustrated. So far, all that worked - decently, but I'm not satisfied - is Posterous, so I guess we're stuck with Posterous for now.

Also, I would like to autopost to here (blogger) but that proves to be painful as well coming from an iTouch. Posterous was able to get the post through but it needed some editing as for the title etc (original post coming from Instagram) 

During earlier days of this blog, I tried using my Samsung Omnia phone for mobile blogging, while it was able to get through a couple of my posts, I got tired figuring out its email client so I abandoned that idea now. Now I'm giving Mail2Blogger a second chance and this is what I came up with:

Snapped from preview

My Mail2Blogger was set to save as draft as I would like to be able to edit the post first before it actually goes live. So if I do it this way using my gmail:

1. Type title in the SUBJECT field.
2. Attach photo
3. Type blog post in the MESSAGE field

.. you'll get something like this (photo above) 

The title looks great - exactly what I was expecting but the photo layout was, hmm.. not looking so nice as I would like it to be centered, not aligned to the left. Also the texts are too close to the photo, so it needs some editing too before actually publishing it. Well, this could work for me if I'm out and would like to get things ready for me on draft when I get home and just do little adjustments on  a proper computer before publishing the post.

Here's how to set up your Mail2Blogger if you're using Blogger: Mail2Blogger From Samsung Omnia Phone Success!

The French Baker's Parisian Macaron :)

Above is The French Baker's Parisian Macarons in Mocha, Chocolate and Pistachio. 38Php each and they are bigger than the 45Php ones from Bizu (btw, those are FRENCH Macarons, these are Parisians so they're kind of different in texture, but yummy, just the same) I just wish The French Baker will come up with cute boxes too, not just this transparent plastic thingy. They could make a great gift to family and friends, yeah? That is, of course, if you could keep your hands off these babies. lol :)

#thefoodieinmeishungry 

Posting From Instagram to Posterous to Facebook Page and Blogger

Chef Tony's Chocolate Mallows in cute Cars tub. The baby picked this :) this is also a test post from Instagram to Posterous to FB page and my blog. Fingers crossed :)

Verdict:  Well, it posted alright but some parts need editing. Like this post. lol :D

Posting from Instagram to Posterous, well the caption will instantly become your post's title so you might want to be short and sweet with that. 

That was my caption on Instagram.

From Posterous to Facebook page, it came out like this:

Yey! Very nice ^_^

then from Posterous to Blogger, it came out similar to the Instagram to Posterous post. Sorry, I wasn't able to snip an image of it before I clicked on the edit button. Me no likey :( 

Also, I'm noticing the URL, it's all numbers :(

me no likey again :((

Now i'm off to fixing my Posterous post and thinking of another work around to this. hmm..

Oh, and that popcorn is good! 110Php for small tub. lol :) that's chocolate flavored popcorn with melted marshmallow drizzles. Two thumbs up for the cute Cars tub!

#justmeexperimenting

Saying Goodbye To Our Good Old Airpot

I felt that it is only proper to give some kind of tribute to our old, broken but still serviceable airpot. I've held on to it for as long as I could even if the hubby was already giving me the tiger eyes everytime I forgot to unplug it. See, sometime last year, it stopped automatically turning from "boil" to "hot" (you know those lights that turn green to red indicating that the airpot has already reached its boiling point so it's just keeping the water inside it warm?)   It no longer turns red, it just kept on boiling so you have to unplug it then just plug in again if you need hot water (I know, not so practical, but we seldom need hot water in a day so it works for us really)

So yesterday, we were in a hurry and the hubby forgot to check the airpot. This task of checking all outlets every time we go out was assigned to my daughter who was soooo excited to go to yesterday's birthday party that she missed that particular outlet. On any other day, the hubby would check them all too just in case my ever-forgetful daughter missed an outlet. When we got back, the hubby was the one to discover the "overlooked" airpot and by OMG, spell PISSED. I quickly sent my daughter to bed to avoid any ugly argument between my daughter and the hubby from happening. I could tell that the hubby is still pissed and he is pointedly ignoring my daughter today (this is actually a good sign that he is past his boiling point, we just have to wait it out for a little while more, the daughter knows this too so she's behaving like an angel. lol) Me, on the other hand, is just thankful the airpot didn't burn down the house along with everything that we have. However, I couldn't argue with the hubby anymore when he said the airpot really has to go.

I'm being all sentimental about it because it was one of my first appliances, from way back 10 years ago, when I got married and started a family. It was there when we made the move from my parents house to our first rented apartment. It witnessed the paranormal happenings at our second rented apartment that prompted our move to my parent's rest house which basically is located halfway up a mountain, where cows and goats roam the streets at all times of the day. It was there during those times when I frantically boil some water for my coffee to wake me up and be able to drive for an emergency call in less than 15 minutes and actually get there in one piece (a drive that would  normally take 30 minutes) - that was the time when my mom was undergoing her cancer therapies. The airpot was also there when we moved to the city again as I couldn't afford all those frantic drives anymore and had to be within reach as my mom got worse. It was also there when my mom died and I decided to mourn by myself - on my birthday. Good old airpot was there when my father kicked me out of the family and disowned me - stripping me of my job AND my ties with the family. It helped me get through the hardships of late night cramming and deadlines when I finally became a certified virtual service provider - a freelancer as some would call it, a WAHM, and at the same time, trying to finish a short course I enrolled myself into as part of my backup plan. It came with us when we moved from the last rented house to our current dwelling that remotely resembles a house.

..and how about that time when my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD? or that time when I stowed away with my one year old daughter after hearing that my hubby had been flirting with someone and this "someone" didn't have qualms telling people about the "affair"? or when we celebrated my very first sweldo from working online? Of course, let's not forget the time when I gave birth to my son - my second child :)

The list is virtually endless, it was there all throughout my married life witnessing my ups and the hardest of my falls. It witnessed how life changed me and my family. I've always considered the airpot as new but as I look back, I realized how old it must be feeling right now and that, it may be thinking of retirement for quite some time and I was just oblivious about it - or in denial. I would like to think that its last act of love for me was to prevent that fire from happening because the accident certainly would have caused a fire - should have. And, in some way, its way of telling me its time for it to retire.

Goodbye airpot, I will surely miss you. You've served your master well.

#sadandemoting.  

The Face Shop Peeling Day White Jewel Review

Lemme just share another peeling agent that I'm using right now. Then a revitalizing ointment further down.

It was an accident when I stumbled upon this product which is now pretty much a mainstay in my skincare routine. A sorry looking tube sitting atop my sister's shower counter got me curious since it has "peeling" written on its label and obviously it was well-used by my sister. lol. I sure was not looking to buy another peeling cream/gel since I just bought Tonymoly Appletox a week before but curiosity got the better of me so i tried a small amount on my hand. Well.. the rest is history.

A tube sells for about 470Php, good for a hundred use. lol :D really, a dime-size of this is enough to cover the whole face and that tube is big enough to last you at least 6 months of 2-3times a week use. To use, apply all over the face and massage for 1-2 minutes then rinse with water. Recommended to use 2-3 times a week. Since I'm still using the Appletox, i opted to use this just once a week, every Monday morning. 

What got me hooked though was the peeling action itself. Similar to how Appletox works, you get white particles when messaged which is supposed to be the pearls sloughing off the dead skin off the face. However, Faceshop's Peeling Day "white particles" are more visible, bigger, and i do detect some brightening effect after washing. According to label, this peeling gel has pearl powder that exfoliates the skin surface and removes impurities for skin that glows like pearls. nice ^_^

cream on skin

when messaged

big chunks of.. eww..dead skin cells?

While the product claims that it is mild, well as you can see from above photo, one could doubt how mild and since, based on my weeks of use, it can be drying on skin, add to that the fact that its smell is a little strong, that is, no-delicate-flowery/fruity-scent-here kind of smell, I assume it's a little stronger than Appletox, hence my decision to use it just once a week. Then followed by a heavy moisturizer. Nowadays, I am using Dr. Jart's V7 Vitalaser from my very recent Ebay haul. 

Dr. Jart V7 Vitalaser sample size, good for 3 full-face uses

This ointment type of skin revitalizer does a good job of moisturizing. As claimed, it has 7 types of vitamins to help smooth wrinkles and at the same time brighten the face. I don't  know about the brightening part and the wrinkle smoothing part as I think that would mean using the product for a long time but I can guarantee its moisturizing effect. In fact, it can be quite heavy on skin when worn that I suspect it won't fit all types of skin, mine is a combination so there were parts of my face that were happy to be applied with the Vitalaser but the t-zone wasn't really happy about it, i could tell. It's an ointment, what to expect? I got this from an Ebay auction for 100Php. I don't think I'm going to buy this again anytime soon.

Food Stop: North Park Noodle House

Me and the hubby love chinese, and I suspect the little boy too. Definitely not our picky eater whose name starts with the letter R (that would be my daughter, fyi)

..and because I'm craving for something Chinese this late at night, I am going to put together a North Park post!

We love eating at North Park because the service is fast, their staff is accommodating, big servings but reasonably priced, and their food has authentic chinese taste to it similar to, say, President's?

So here are some of our favorites:

Fookien Style with Sauce around 180Php

This normally comes combined but you can request to have them separated. The rice is good on its own and so does the sauce. Also, the sauce is quite a lot, you can even doggybag it afterwards. 

Steamed Rice with Nanking Beef around 180php

The rice, being steamed, is just your average plain rice, only, i suspect, they are using jasmine rice as the grains were longer. BUT the beef was a real knockout! I'm thinking pares, only cleaner and more flavorful - yes, beef pares. My hubby absolutely loves pares, partly - and I am assuming - because that was where we first met, in a pares house. lol :D

Just FYI, Beef pares is a popular street food in the Philippines, particularly in the streets of Manila. Sadly, beef pares houses are slowly diminishing in numbers, most are shutting down, i reckon, due to the ever rising cost of beef/carabeef meat. I found a very nice recipe with photo here.  

Salted Garlic Squid around 200Php

This comes with vinegar that's kind of sweet which complemented the saltiness of the squid. I also liked the way the squid was cut bigger hence it didn't lose its distinct flavor.

Hongkong Noodles with Nanking Beef light around 130Php

You get to choose your noodles but i always go with Hongkong noodles for no particular reason. lol. Of course, this is best paired with..

Asado Pao around 60Php

That dough is supposed to be white, for some reason it came out yellow. lol. stupid cam.

Braised Noodles with Szechwan Tantan Mien around 165Php

This is actually my newest discovery, unfortunately the hubby didn't like it so it may take some time before I get to eat this again :(

Sorry about the prices. I lost my "nenok" menu/paper placemat so I'm just  grilling the hubby about the prices while blogging. lol. ^_^ Servings are always good for two adults. Or two adults and a kid. ^_^

Try their fried noodles, it is good too. serves 3-4. Honestly, everything in their menu is good so you don't have to worry about ordering a bad one, just go ahead and order what you like! If in doubt, just ask the one taking your order for recommendations.

Cheers! ^_^

The Face Shop Raspberry Roots Collagen Eye Patch Review

It's back to back Korean beauty products as I have just applied the last eye patch - still on my eyes while blogging actually - and I don't want to do the review without the package to guide me. So I'll just make this quick and painless. lol.

I discovered this eye patch by accident. Had I known the real price, I probably wouldn't buy it - but thank God I did as this eye patch  is sooooo good! I was at The Face Shop Trinoma for their Peeling Day White Jewel after sampling my sister's tube and was impressed by its peeling action. As I was about to pay, this eye patch caught my attention

Just right on time! I was looking for an eye patch then as I noticed the skin around my eyes - particularly the dark, undereye area - was "desert dry", like there were cracks such that when you apply a cream concealer, it would crack too sometime after, leaving an embarrasing, highlighted fine line just under the eye. I was thinking that a good collagen dose would do the trick. 

A quick read through the description - with the words "hydrogel" and 'hydrates" standing out - got me asking about the price, which the salesgirl graciously answered, "..65 ma'am" so I thought, "hmm, why not? not bad a price considering there are two separate packets." Then she rang my bill, which totaled in the vicinity of 700php, I was flabbergasted! The peeling day, I was sure, should only be 400php-something. I was expecting 500ish only. I didn't want to make a scene so I just paid and quickly scanned the receipt on my way out. The eye patch costed 265php. So there.

Now that I am a proud owner of a 265php collagen eye patch, might as well have a go at it and enjoy, right? 

A packet has two lemon-slice-shaped, slimy eye patches. The semi-transparent one would be collagen patch to put undereye. The white one is for protection, I think, or for easy handling? The collagen patches come in a tray so you just have to slide out the tray, grab hold of the white, non-transparent thingy then pinch out the collagen eye patch from it. This should go straight onto your undereye. 

This I tell you, the first time that collagen eye patch laid itself on my skin, I felt heaven! No joke! It was cool and very soothing and smelled really nice, I almost heard my undereyes holler "Hallelujah!". The eye patch should be left alone for 30-40 minutes, it was so good I pushed for an hour. lol :D

Oh, and it has instant firming feel right after application which felt weird at first - remember that was my first time to try collagen eye patches so I wouldn't know if that is just normal for all other collagen patches - which stayed on  for about two days (the firming feel)

Now I'm keeping an eye for it on Ebay auctions. lol :D

outtobattleundereyewoes!

Cheers! :)