Merry Christmas!

Compared to Filipino culture, we don't really celebrate Christmas with as much dedication and passion.

But since our family lives here, more or less we got influenced by the Filipino's festive spirit!

Honestly, I sometimes envy my friends who get to celebrate with their titas and titos. Going to mass together and all. Never got to experience that.

Nevertheless, I had fun this Christmas.

Christmas eve

 We celebrated in our family friend's place in Dasma with family friends. (say what)

At this point, you might wonder where I am. Well, I looked too stressed out that day so never mind. Let us just admire the photography lol

On the way home, we were craving for cake so we stopped by Heritage Hotel to buy one.

Php 1100 

Chocolate with hazelnut. 

I liked the frosting since it wasn't that sweet thus making the cake not "nakakaumay"

It tasted like Toblerone chocolate made into a cake.

The price may be a bit high but it is reasonable considering it was bought from a hotel.

Christmas Day:

So we had a BBQ session with family friends again.

It was more casual so I had more fun this day

uncle Peter

Oyster Miswa// soup

One taste of the Miswa and I felt like I was in Taiwan.

(Leaving tomorrow anyway ;] )

It was really authentic.

This kid is TOO cute and I'm sure he'll be a rocker in the future. We made him try all the instruments in Garage band and the only ones he liked were the electric guitar and the drums.

Cutie patotie!

My new friend from Enduran. She's half Taiwanese and half Korean!

I am a big fan of coconut! So this fruit salad, which was composed of 80% coconut, made me CRAZY.

And lastly, Mango Bene from Mary Grace.

This dessert is a must try!

Each bite makes you go to Mango Heaven.

The mango is really fresh plus the cream.. ahh.

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Anyway,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!

<3

Nihonbashi Tei

Considering this is a food/travel/life blog, guess it is time to post a "food only" blog post.

Today we grabbed a quick lunch at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants.

Believe it or not, I only discovered the name of this restaurant a while ago. I never really pay attention to the names of Jap restos. 

Well except for those which are so commercialized it is difficult not to remember ( like, Teriyaki Boy).

A Japanese old man opened our car door for us and when we entered, the staff started showering us with their enthusiasm. Well trained, indeed.

We ordered two set meals only since Kevin (my little brother) doesn't eat much when it comes to Japanese cuisine.

I believe this is Matcha tea. We usually drink it hot but because of the weather, we decided to just drink it cold.

Our first set was composed of raw beef (for grilling), Ebi Tempura, Miso soup, rice and dessert.

Been craving for ebi tempura for a week already so I finished everything hehe

Wasn't able to take a picture of the whole thing since we were too hungry. 

My dad grilled the beef for us. He first dipped the raw beef in that sauce with sesame seeds you see on the right side. When cooked, dip it on the sauce in the left side. But I suggest don't dip sauce anymore after cooking because it might cover the taste of the beef.

Set number 2 can be seen in the picture. It has squid and fish sashimi, grilled fish, tamago, mini salad, Ebi fry, cucumber/squid/seaweed soaked in vinegar, and this other dish (I forgot what you call it)

Since my dad can't chew the squid and I don't eat raw food, I just grilled the squid for me to eat!

AND, it was only today when I learned that there is yellow wasabi?! See that yellow thing beside the shrimp? (Call me noob haha)

Yellow wasabi is the milder one compared to the green one we usually have.

I had iced coffee for 'dessert' and Kevin had nata de co co.

hi Kevin

This restaurant will always be our place to go when we can't think of anything to eat during lunch time. 

set 1- 450 pesos

set 2- around 550 pesos

Address:

483 Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, Manila, Philippines

Tel: +632-708-2807

Oh they have a Makati branch too!

Grad pictorial

Time flies too fast. 

Remember years ago I wore a dress for pregnant women in the Grad pictorial lol (not kidding)

Anyway, we were required to prepare 3 outfits..

1.) Toga Shot

2.) Personality

3.) Creative

1.) For the toga shot, I had my make up done in school since the artist seemed professional. Requested for a rocker feel and I ended up looking like Nicki Minaj. Aside from that, it was not that bad. 

2.) Personality shot

Edgy with a hint of girly style = Me

Music player and lover= Me

So combining the two, this is what I ended up with

Took this photo BEHIND the backdrop hahaha

Really not used to smiling without teeth

3.) Creative shot

TOMATO

I know what you are imagining. A huge red inflatable tomato outfit seen in children Halloween parties.

what's up ketchup

If I did wear that, no doubt my children, grandchildren, grand grand children... would give me no respect. 

Opted for a little Katy Perry feel in the outfit so:

That green thing is my brother's CHRISTMAS DECORATION

I brought real tomatoes! 

Tomato is one of my popular nick names! 

Because whenever:

.. The temperature increases

.. I feel ashamed

.. I laugh

.. I get "kilig"

.. ETC ;]

I turn crazy red. It's really easy to make me blush. 

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Bookmark? :>

Teenpreneur

Okay, so our school has been participating in this competition for 5-6 years already.It is an inter-school business/entrepreneurship competition where 10 people from each school, together with their apprentices, mentors and a teacher, help innovate the products of the nanays and tatays.

This year, our initial product is THROW PILLOW from Nanay Nena in Malabon. Her place is not more than 40 sqms with a sewing machine in it. She lives a very simple life with her husband and three children.

 One time when I felt really sleepy, she arranged all her pillows in the wooden chair for me to sleep in. That's one thing I noticed about the Filipino culture: no matter how bad your situation is, you are still willing to help others. (Our helper at home is also like that. Even though she receives a small salary, she still treats my brother Jollibee. See how generous?)

I don't know how it ended up in jejemon text. (my helper)

We had a problem in the process. The innovation we proposed was rated "too cheap" and "not appealing". So our mentor, one of the biggest names in the business world right now, said we should change our bag into "this" type of bag. So there we changed it. Let us not judge whose view is better. Let us just say more people preferred what we designed.

INITIAL PRODUCT. Zipper on sides and front. 

And here goes another problem, this guy from the organization gave us the seed money ONE WEEK, yes, ONE WEEK, before the Expo date.
Obviously, Nany Nena was only able to produce a few.

Stop blaming, start selling.

I'll skip the details..
Just going to say, hey this year is successful, too!
Nanay's product is going to be part of the souvenir store of Zoobic Safari in Subic. Yay for nanay!

Anyway..

Feel free to book mark ;]

Love, Tin

Taiwan Day 2- EG, Haircut, Shopping

(I didn't picture the shopping part and the haircut part though.)

We ate in 義果義大利美食坊
This restaurant is known for using healthy and organic ingredients. 

photo credit: my dearest auntie Sara
(They misspelled ITALIAN) 

grabbed from Google

                         The ambiance here is calming and soothing. The designs are really appealing,too.

Girl's C.R.

We each ordered from the lunch set menu.
The meal started with bread with butter and tomato as dippings.

Then there's the salad and soup.

I ordered

Spaghetti with chicken and pesto sauce

Their serving is really generous. Large amounts of chicken and pesto were added to it. It's tasty yet not "nakakaumay".
(I do not know the direct translation for this Filipino word. The closest word I can think of is "fed up".)

I forgot to picture the drink. It's my favorite, Pearl Milk Tea <3

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Went shopping and had my haircut done. After "The talk" with the hairstylist, I started primping up my hair. Tired of just letting my hair loose without any accessories. 

Fullbangs // side bangs

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Feel free to bookmark! ~

                                                 

TAIWAN Day 1(11/2)

TAIWAN day 1(11/2)

We were supposed to go to Thailand, but decided to reschedule it to December.

And so we flew back to my home town, Taiwan (Which I actually more prefer going  than Thailand)

*Taiwan Kaohsiung- father's side*

Traveling alone is fine. But bringing my little brother? Added pressure.

I feel like my brother's mother these days.

I was welcomed with this drink

Red tea with almond pudding and 4 different kinds of sago/pearl

I edited it already and made it a portrait image but apparently it did not work out.

For now, please turn your head 90 degrees to the right. (hehe)

Taiwan Roasted Sausage

That used to be my favorite food. It's juicy with a bit of roasted sweet taste when you bite it. Since I don't eat pork, Kevin(my brother) ate my serving. 
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That's all for part one. Feel free to bookmark!