jj tales

tuesday night was meet-your-friends  night with  jan, marco, anne. it never fails! we start talking about our beginnings and the jj tales resurface like crazy! police interrogation, thesis defense, graded recitation, confession of sins, job interview, pop quiz - alin dyan ang nangyari that fateful friday on 2007? malay ko. haha! hanggang ngayon 'di ko pa rin mapaliwanag.i just know that jj taught us the hard way:i learned that you should never mess with ip tracking systems. not that we did, but if we did, we probably could have...

the little treasure spot that's swee choon

last saturday, we went to mustafa to buy some things we thought we needed. we decided to grab a bite from a food center that we saw on our way from mustafa to the mrt.before crossing the street so we could get to the new world center, we passed by a chinese restaurant named swee choon. there are lots of people on queue and the place seemed sooo busy. we were lured like moths are invited to the flame. weh.it did not disappoint. here are the treasures...

trip to mustafa

it's been a while since our last trip to mustafa. when i go to mustafa, i expect that my nose will be abused like crazy because we usually end up like sniffing dogs in the perfumes section. in the end, all the perfumes smell the same and you won't even know what to get.so for our saturday mustafa trip, after another episode of having a battered nose, i got these:johnson's baby lotion vanilla oatmeal - love the scent, love that it's not greasy, love...

human nature

i've always been intrigued with human nature products. i first read about it in the glossy features of divasoria, and read that these are natural products that are made in the philippines. go! support your own :)i asked mike to bring some on his last visit. this is my pasalubong set! feminine wash - i haven't used it yet so i can't tell if it's good.body butter cream - good skin moisturizer, good berry scent, but i find it a bit greasy. i only use...

friday - family dinner and gardens by the bay

friday was mike's last night. we had a good dinner with kuya, april, and keyla to celebrate life's overwhelming blessings, and at the same time to bid mike a farewell-for-now. dinner was jap food at mof in suntec. service was slow. there seemed to be a shortage in staff. when the food finally came, kuya and april were super happy with their sukiyaki and salmon teriyaki. on the other hand, mike and i were not not satisfied with our food. that's putting...

thursday - pampabango ang chippy sa monumento

thursday is pasalubong shopping for ate and manang and mama. mike wanted to buy them perfume/cologne. from suntec, we went to dollars and scent near city hall. i found some good scents for me too :) cologne nga sila. super bilis mawala ng amoy hehehehe. not bad for the price though. for dinner, we bought chippy from the basement of raffles city. we thought we could eat this in ben and jerry's area and have dessert after, but they don't allow outside...

wednesday - breakfast for dinner

day 3 of our week-long-night-dates... dinner at strictly pancakes :) i first heard of this place from jan. she said there was a good pancake house at prinsep street. i found it odd at first - eating pancakes outside the breakfast time frame, but since i tried it, i couldn't stop recommending it to other people :) i successfully recruited donna and maricor 2 weeks ago. this week, i recruited my husband.i let mike lead the way from bras basah to prinsep...

tuesday - dinner with hazel

hazel is mike's colleague from manila. she's been here for just a few months working as a pre-school teacher. that's my dream job! i'm not equipped to be a teacher in terms of academics, but i believe that my heart is more than equipped. wow. gumaganung drama talaga?hazel wanted to eat western or italian food. we learned she hasn't tried din tai fung yet. whaaaat? you are missing a lot, missy. with a little persuasion, she agreed to try DTF. she...

monday - astons and helix bridge

we didn't properly plan any out of town trip, so we thought we'd just make the most out of mike's week-long stay by going out on nightly dates after work. for a week, may sundo ako! wow!day 1 of the project date night :)we went to astons at suntec city for dinner. i had new york strip and mike had ribeye steak. good food :)collage made by mike.  here's a little secret. the original collage had hearts.  mike removed them because he said...

sunday - grocery and ikea

grocery shopping is one thing mike and i like to do. when he was still here, it was a toka toka thing. team a - kuya & april. team b - mike and cat. team a would do the groceries + cooking. team b would do the dishes + house cleaning.we love shopping for groceriesbecause i feel it's a therapeutic/stressful activity. hehe. therapeutic because you get to see new products. it also gives you a sense of fulfillment and ownership when you pull items...

saturday - sentosa

i've always envied mike's work.  being a guidance counselor means having a student-like schedule.  when the kids go for recess, you go for recess.  when the kids go home at 5pm, you go home at 5pm.  when the kids have a sem break, christmas break, summer break, you also go to a break.  isn't that the best? mike spent the sem break here in sg.  we badly wanted to spend even just a weekend at a beach in malaysia or indonesia,...

tampines eco green

it's been a while since we last went to visit parks.  during the holiday on oct 25, we went to tampines eco green park.  the park is visible from the mrt.  we've always wanted to visit it, but katam rules... so there.  we finally went and it was such a beautiful day :) the journey started via the park connector.  such clean kanals and esteros :)  i'm lousy with directions so please don't rely on my literature...

early morning monologues

lahat ng items garantisadong oa. some lines that i want to say to someone, or lines that others would probably want to tell me:- hindi mo ako alepores. wag mo akong utusan. please lang. kung gusto mo edi ikaw ang mag-ayos. :(- move on na. ang daming bagay na kailangang gawin. hindi ito isa sa mga yun. try to save the world kaya? :(- para kang anchor. heavygat sa kalooban. hindi lang sayo umiikot ang mundo. privilege nating lahat na ikutan ng mundo. :( at hindi nga pala umiikot ang mundo sa tao dahil kasama tayo sa pag-ikot nito :)) - life is like...

dependence

the telephone is such a marvelous invention :)  my first encounters with it involved calls of only "important matters".  we didn't have a phone in the 80s.  if we wanted to relay important messages to our parents, who were working at their offices, we had to go to the neighbor's house to make calls.  that was the only use of the telephone until we had our own phone line.  papa went a bit crazy and had extension lines installed - in all the 3 bedrooms!my first telebabad-mate was my cousin, irish.  that was some time...

for donna and leny

1 batch for leny, 1 batch for donna and caloyevery cupcake batch has a story :)this is a late present.  i have all the time in the world now!  i can bake, i can blog, i can walk again! belated happy birthday to donna & caloy and leny.scribbles made of purple, orange, red colored cream cheese frosting.originally, i wanted to make paisley designs.  pero dahil hindi ko alam ang tawag sa paisley kanina, i didn't know what to google....

for maria and ate a

1 batch for ate a, 1 batch for mariahappy birthday, girls!every cupcake batch has a story :)i told maria that i have a birthday gift for her, and that i wanted to give it to her.  we met during lunch break and i handed it to her.  she seemed happy :) i told her that because i am poor, all that i could afford to give is my effort.  sniff sniff.  pang famas.  hehehe.red velvet, cream cheese frosting, pink and white sprinkles,...

for ahngel

for _____ ahngelevery cupcake batch has a story :)i ran out of chocolate chips.  so colored frosting na lang.  designs:checkedswirly flowerstime-space-warp-looking substance.  if design attempts go wrong, ang tanging remedyo na lang ay gulu-guluhin na lang ang design :)))happy birthday, ahngel.  this batch is memorable.  there was a barter of cupcakes and good news....

for aldwin

kuya's midnight birthday cupcakes (for last july 13)every cupcake batch has a story :)kuya loves chocolates. this is the 2nd time i baked this recipe.  first time was practice - a week before this occasion hehe.chocolate cupcake, chocolate filling, chocolate ganache.  oa naman siguro kung white chocolate pa ang pang lettering?  so i made a tiny bit of buttercream.  i am aiming at light purple, but it turned out to be an awkward...

random thoughts

* it's a lazy sunday afternoon.* feelings: liberated! excited! anxious! hopeful! scared! happy!* if you can do it, why can't i? yes, i'll do it too!* i can hear birds chirping. i feel so atpeace.* convincing myself that...* i'm happy with my new vegetable diet. this time, meat becomes the side dish and vegetables take the center stage.* elmo's done = almost done (keyla lingo)* i had a good walk last friday. it's a tranquil walk.* i was born to cram. * i thought i was immature. then i met you. i'm not immature after all...

mike's august visit

late, late post :(mike visited me on my birthday.  this was his first visit after he went home.  all good :)  too bad he didn't make it in time for my birthday dinner.  food was great, courtesy of chef aldwin :)on my way to the airport, i saw these candles.  they celebrate the hungry ghost festival here.  candles abound :)the next day, we went to ICA for mike's long term visit pass renewal.  it went by so smoothly. ...