Up Close and Personal: Orchids et al

This set of photos speak for themselves.

"Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers also feed the soul." - The Koran

"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today." - Indian Proverb

"Bloom where you are planted." - Mary Engelbreit

"Be like the flower, turn your faces to the sun." - Kahlil Gibran

"The flowers take the tears of weeping night, and give them to the sun for the day's delight." ~ Joseph Cotter

"Flowers are love's truest language" ~Park Benjamin (1809-1864)

"Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into."

~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

Pinky St. Doll: The Newest Girl

Truly, the cutest things come in small packages, just like the birthday package I got from my dear brother in law last February.

Meet the newest girl in my collection, pk029!

Ain't she pretty!

She comes with two bags... just as pretty as her.

She is off the box and ready to go! I wonder what I'd name her...

Selecta's Hersheys Collection: Milk Chocolate with Almonds

One of the tried and tested ways to beat the summer heat is by indulging in ice cream. This we did the other day when we bought a tub of frozen goodness. With the many different brands in the market now, picking out the flavor isn't easy anymore.

Selecta's Milk Chocolate with Almonds from their Hershey's Collection looked good. It was Hershey's milk chocolate ice cream loaded with chocolate chips, roasted almonds and real chocolate swirls. How can that go wrong!

Plus, I like the look and feel of the tub Selecta used. :))

And after several scoops that afternoon, we were right about it! We did get to beat the summer heat deliciously and delightfully!

Cadbury's Fruit & Nut Dairy Milk

There can only be one Fruit & Nut Dairy Milk bar for me. Cadbury.

New Laptop Bag c/o SM Advantage Card

I finally found the laptop bag for my little Asus! I have been scouting different department stores in different malls for the bag that fits the style I want, and after months of searching and waiting, I saw this in Shoemart! Lucky me, it was even on sale that day! And thanks to my SM Advantage Card which had enough points to purchase me this, I got my bag "free"!

My asus netbook fits inside perfectly... not too tight, not too loose.

There is enough room for a few items you need to pack with the laptop, plus an extra zipped pocket inside.

The straps are thick and well attached to the body... The seams are well done... And the front pocket fits the charger like hand in glove!

And most of all, the overall look is chic. Now I can take my netbook anywhere I go fashionably! :))

Supermoon 2011

With only my short kit lens in hand, I ventured into moon photography for the first time on the night of the Supermoon 2011 and came up with the most decent shot I could. I know it needs a whole lot of improvement and practice but I was pretty happy with how my shot came out.

Mang Ambong's D Original Barbecue

When it comes to barbecued stuff, Mang Ambong's D' Original Barbecue is one of the best we have tried. Located right along Dona Soledad Avenue inside Better Living Subdivision, their stall is pretty easy to see and smell!

We always order their pork barbecue which has that perfect blend of sweet and salty timpla we love. And their meat is always tender and well cooked! Pricey restaurants and posh diners should learn a thing or two from Mang Ambong when it comes to making the perfect delicious bbq's!

You get to pick your sticks from their trays of almost-fully-cooked stuff and they would cook it for you to your desired doneness, fast and easy.

Their inihaw na balat is another treat we indulge ourselves in, sometimes. This gets grilled and fully cooked until the balat is so tender it almost melts in your mouth, nearly falling off the stick! Sinful! Just sinful, but good to the bite!

Some of the stuff we haven't tried yet are their balun balunan/gizzard...

... this, I forgot to ask what it is...

...and their isaw/IUD/bituka ng manok...

We never get tired of coming back. Prices have remained affordable, while their barbecues are so big in taste!

Alpo Classic Chunky

This is Disney's favorite and only favorite food. He used to like dry kibble but after a couple of months, he lost his love for it. I switched to wet dogfood and tried all kinds of brands, in all different flavors, and he only loved Alpo Classic Chunky.

Disney eats twice a day, and 0ne can lasts for two to three days, depending on his appetite. So, I always keep it in stock. Unfortunately, a note on the can I bought just the other day announced that the Classic Chunky is being discontinued by Purina!

So while there are still a few more in stock in stores, I better start weaning Disney off this and introduce a new favorite for his dining pleasure fast!

Eng Bee Tin Diner

We stopped by Eng Bee Tin store along E. Rodriguez (across St. Luke's Hospital) to grab a few packs of our favorite hopia for meryenda, and to our delight, the store was actually an EBT restaurant/diner! Although there were only a few tables inside, the place was clean, bright and cheerful.

We decided to have our meryenda right there and we were happy we did.

This huge bowl of beef wanton was good enough for even four people!

We had a side platter of pork siomai to complete our meryenda. Food was actually good, not the best, nothing special, but good enough; and very affordable.

And so our ube and monggo hopia ended up in our take-out bags for much later.

Going Up

This isn't my usual type of blog post, actually. But when I had my tank filled up yesterday, I just couldn't help but feel scared at how fast fuel prices are rising! (at a rate of almost one peso a week!)

Just a week ago, it was 53php to a liter and now... it is 54.25php! Well that is pretty steep. And rumor has it that the numbers might reach 60php to a liter soon!

Chinese Medicine

I got this cheap at a Chinese Drugstore in SM Bicutan for only P65. I do not understand a single word/character written on the box, nor on the bottle itself, but I got one anyway, because my dearest friend swears by it.

Seal, check... Expiration date, check...

The leaflet inside the box is, as expected, written in Chinese, too. But I could see 'Ketoconazole' written in a couple of lines.

I now understand why my dear friend recommended this. Two words: It works.