Year 2011 - in terms of awesome goodness

Jan 2011
My sister's birthday was fun even if we were just at home. I baked
some goods and her request was cream cheese brownies. I kinda failed
but she ate them anyway. AD gave us a visit and we were glad for it.
She's so sweet to us. Sometimes I feel spoiled hahaha.

Feb 2011
My birthday was fun XDDD We went to Binondo and ate at Wan Chai. It
was KKB but I brought home-made cupcakes. And Valentine's Day was
pretty special too. JM and I went out for lunch in our favorite place:
Twenty One Plates. We then went to Serenitea where I started
crocheting my birthday gift to a friend, and in the evening we
watched a play where his friends were part of.

March 2011
This was a cake month. Lol. My sister and I made two birthday cakes.
One was for Josh who loved Sponge Bob Squarepants so we made him a
chocolate cake with fondant as decoration. It was pretty cool :) And
mom's birthday was a week after and we made her one too. But something
more feminine so it was a white cake with store bought icing flowers.
I think I met Madz around this time. Madz is a very talented girl and
a great cosplayer. She even has a pretty pretty doll named Alice.
April 2011
Glenn and Shane visited Manila :) We even had a family day of sorts
hahaha. It was a day of bonding with them, Chelle, Josh, JP and his
siblings, Martin and Renee. It was a great day! Too bad JM was out of
town that day but at least Glenn and Shane were around for a week. :)
And Glenn was there when we went to Punta Fuego for our summer outing.
It was me and my 'siblings' who shared the room with JM so all that
time we had so much stuff to talk about. I wish Shane and JP were
there too but they had to do other stuff that weekend.

May 2011
Surprise of the month was Enzo's birthday party. I think we shocked
him so well that his expression was so priceless. Everyone was in on
the scheme! Including their high school barkada and his girlfriend.
It was so much fun! I am not sure how we could top that next year. We
also had bonding nights that time because we went OT on some nights
and on other nights, we would be playing Taboo in the office, whether
it's just us or with Ruth's sisters. XD The interns were such great
people to hang out with.

June 2011
JM's birthday happened and because I didn't really have enough budget
for a really big gift, I treated him to Yakimix because food is
glorious! Hahaha. XDDD Food will always be special, I think. The
banana muffins were fine :3

July 2011
JM and I had a lunch date at Spirals Clair + Food = Happy Time! I dressed up a bit for a change and I was
glad he really appreciated my effort in primping up haha and another
special thing from that day was that he gave me a dip pen set. :3

Aug 2011
August was the time that I visited Manila Zoo once again. I know I
should go back because I really want to see how the animals are doing
and if the handlers are doing fine as well. The visit we did was an
eye-opener for me and it's still at the back of my head, trying to
figure out what's the best way to help them. I need to follow up on
this thing in 2012. :)
I think it was around August that I started frequently replying to
Andhie and Kurn's blog posts XD

Sept 2011
Our company turned 1! We had a photoshoot at Citrus Snap and they
were so nice and accommodating. We filled up their entire studio
because everyone was there for the shoot. We had a party too and
everyone helped out in making the decorations. XD I learned a little
bit about flower arrangement from Liyan, the one who headed the
decoration team. I also recall that September was the time that I
watched a fashion show which involved some of my favorite people from
the internet: Cat, Chai, Luisa, Sese, Leny. After that, I added a new
fave: Yapo. Not everyone of them knows who I am but watching them
progress is just amazing. :)

I also had some fun learning moments during September. After all, FFC
happened then. :)

Oct 2011
Surprise birthday visit to Glenn XD It was my first flight out of the
country and it was really awesome! I wish our other friends were there
too but it's ok. At least we were able to give him a nice surprise.
Not just the visit, but we also had a video for him. XDDD Had some
shopping done in Sg! Cotton On is a great place to shop. And food trip
galore in Sg too :D We also had a company event which involved trick
or treats with kids from two NGOs. :)

The Ongaku gig happened in October. It was a blast! Funny thing was
that my sister, our friend Anna and I all won at the raffle in between
performances hahaha.

And October is special because I witnessed another special couple who
got married that time. Glad to have met Sacha and Wayne again after so
long! All the way from Canada
Nov 2011
I think it was November when we saw the schedule of the L'arc en Ciel
pre-selling of tickets. XDDD I spazzed. Seriously. Hahaha! Oh and the
last Momo Manila event was held in November. We were late but JM won a
Blackberry Playbook hahaha XDDD And it turns out that some friends of
mine from high school and college were there during the event too.

Dec 2011
December was a busy time! So much to do and so little time. Some
notable things include meeting new people online and offline. :) And
get togethers! This year was the most fun get together at my lolo's
house because of the bingo thing and the gimmicks that my uncles and
aunts did. And glorious food! Again. I think I have a one-track mind
XDDD I could just think about food food and food!cross-posted via posterous.com: http://eclair.posterous.com

Recipe: Choco and Cream Semifreddo

I just saw this at the back of the tetrapack of Nestle All Purpose
Cream tonight when I was making the usual new year's eve ref cakes.
Anyway, here it goes:

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar
1 pack of 250ml Nestle cream
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup kitkat wafers

Procedure:
1. On a small mixing bowl set atop a pan of simmering water, beat egg
yolks until pale yellow in color.  Add sugar and beat until light in
texture. About 2 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, beat Nestle all purpose cream until soft peaks
form. Add in vanilla.  Fold beaten egg yolks into whipped cream and
set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat egg whites into stiff peaks.  Working in 2 or
3 additions, fold egg whites into cream mixture until no white streaks
remain.
4. Fold in chopped kitkat wafers and spread mixture onto a loaf pan
lined with plastic wrap.  Freeze for at least 2-3 hours or until
solid.

I cannot vouch for the recipe yet because I haven't tried it myself.
But I am saving this for future reference. Or maybe next year's cake
:)

Local talents: Techy Romantics has a gig this December 9

The trio known as Techy Romantics will have a gig this Friday in Saguijo. Bring your iPod or whatever music player you've got and download their music then and there for PhP150 only!  It's not just the digital album, they will have some add-ons too so don't hesitate to be at Saguijo then. ;)

I saw them at gigs before, and we really enjoyed their music.  And when they released their first album, we couldn't help but be there and hear them perform their upbeat songs. If you like electropop, then make sure that you check their music.

If you're not yet a fan of the group, check out their website: techyromantics.com.  They have a free download of their latest single Escape.  You could also follow them on Facebook/techyromantics.

Check out Food Trippings!

I love food and food blogs are so fun to read. At Food Trippings, you can check out what Karla Redor and Sharlyne Ang have to say about the different places and dishes they've tried.  And this week, they even have contests sponsored by Jollibee!

Today is Cars Day so don't forget to post a comment on their blog post if you want a chance to win a car care kit, a demuhimifier kit and Jollibee gift certificates. ;)

Check out Food Trippings!

I love food and food blogs are so fun to read. At Food Trippings, you can check out what Karla Redor and Sharlyne Ang have to say about the different places and dishes they've tried.  And this week, they even have contests sponsored by Jollibee!

Today is Cars Day so don't forget to post a comment on their blog post if you want a chance to win a car care kit, a demuhimifier kit and Jollibee gift certificates. ;)

Because food is good... Eat Fresh!

The other night, we were hankering for good food!  We thought about going to Distrito but because of certain logistical concerns, we ended up going to Eat Fresh, a place where they serve Hong Kong street food. My friends Kathy and Liyan went there before and they really swear by the food. Of course we couldn't help but be curious. ;)

We ordered a lot! And I wasn't able to take the pictures of everything we ordered ~_~ Talk about forgetting to shoot then eat. Ahaha.  Anyway, here are some of the things we tried:

Milk tea with grass jelly.

 This is basically nai cha XD It's not too sweet that's why I like it!  Kinda reminds me of the one from Zen Tea but not really.  I think this is just PhP 55. :D  Awesome deal, right?  They have other milk teas too but I wanted to try this just because.

The remnant of the lobster ball and the radish cake. 

The radish cake is way cheaper than the one from David's Tea House and it's fried in such a nice way. :D Crunchy outside. Nom nom nom! 

Takoyaki!  

It's not the best takoyaki out there but it is good! So much bonito flakes. And it's tasty. :)  Not too salty. The texture is ok too.  Just so happy that they put quite a lot of bonito flakes which I really love about this.  I think I like the one from Octoboy better but it doesn't mean this is not good.

Special Fried Rice

This is good for two people! I think this was just PhP 85. :D Then again, we were eating all those glorious dishes hahaha. XDDD

Seafood Mushroom and Stuffed Tofu

The seafood mushroom was something JM wanted to try when he saw it on the menu. The stuffed tofu was highly recommended by our friends who were also with us that night. The stuffed tofu didn't have a weird smell. (Yay! Plus points for Eat Fresh!) And it was crunchy outside, soft inside.  One order has two big pieces so we happily devoured that hahaha.

Pancake Balls

These were so yummy!  Just enough sweetness.  It's the addicting kind of sweet. Lol.  It's a bit crunchy outside and soft inside.  And you could easily break off one pancake ball from the rest.  You could share this sweet treat with others too.  Unless this is the only thing you're ordering.  Then again, it's so good, you could probably keep eating it if your appetite is that big!

I wasn't able to take pictures of the fried noodles. I should ask JM if we ate other things I can't recall at the moment.  But right now, just thinking about Eat Fresh's delicious food is making my mouth water.  We were thinking of going back there on the 15th. XD

The place isn't that big but it's alright.  It's not a fancy restaurant so it's quite relaxed there.  They also serve food fast, at least during the time we were there. You could bring your barkada there and enjoy a great time eating and laughing together.  One more thing I love is that they have a nice assortment of food on their menu so there's probably something for everyone in your group.  I wish we could've ordered more but we were quite full already.  Between me and JM, we had all that yummy food and our total bill was around PhP 550.  It was way better than eating out in Makati because of the variety of food and also because of how filling the dishes were all in all.

For more details,  check out Eat Fresh's Facebook page.  And if you want to go there, here's the address: 100-A Maria Clara Street, Quezon City
Sorry but I don't recall where Eat Fresh is located exactly. But you could click this link to get an idea of the general area. ^^;;; 

Their store hours: 10:30am - 12:00 am