2017—You're on Notice!

Quite a few things have happened since I've last posted and I'm considering sharing a few "back log" entries from 2015 to 2017. Just a bit—Mainly highlights of the last two years.

A few of those include:

• My best friend's surprise bridal shower in Hong Kong
• Our family trip to Italy
• My trip to Korea with friends
• Our family trip to Vietnam
• My progress with calligraphy (which I need to start doing again)
• My growing obsession with Korean make up (and make up in general), no thanks to YouTube :|
• My other growing obsession with LUSH 
• My baking adventure and experiments thanks to my new little oven
• Misadventures with Nox
• Behind the scenes as Janeena's personal assistant/minion

I'm actually excited to write more about that last topic—It's like a sneak peek into how I help her out with her feed, how I feel #blessed with the swag she gets which I get borrow (or take without asking), and into what really goes behind the scenes in her shoots (lots of waiting), hosting gigs (must find the best seat with ample mobility for photos), and more! It's going to be like Stage Sister 101, which I'm, maybe, THE best at. (No joke. I've been doing this for seventeen years!) I'd also like to breathe new life into my Ten Terrific Things series! I'd like to share with you my discoveries on and offline—places to eat, things I obsess about, current events, things that make me happy... And hopefully, make you happy too! :D
It's Janeena who has actually been pushing me to revisit this dusty old blog again—Who knows how far this will go? 
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Adventure # 15 - Taipei April 2014 Part Four

The last leg of our quick Taiwan getaway was right at our hotel's backyard—Ximending. This colorful, bustling, urban maze was such a delight to get lost in. Ten out of ten, would definitely come back just to be able to see everything as the five or so hours we had in this district was too few!

As this was our final stop before heading to the airport, most of the NTD we had went to food, souvenirs, and more food! There were so many novelty themed restaurants there we would have loved to try if time permitted. 

And now, finally—nineteen months since the actual trip, here's part four of our Taipei adventure!

Cooling off, after our zoo escapade with green tea ice-cream. 

It took roughly an hour to get from the Taipei Zoo back to Ximending.

Hello, my dear friend. Cilantro—the answer everything.

Adventure # 14 - Taipei April 2014 Part Three

I decided to split our final day in Taipei into two posts—This part will be about our unplanned Zoo adventure and part four will be about our last few hours spent in Ximending. To be perfectly honest, I plan like crazy before going for a trip and that meant matrices, schedules, screenshots, pre-loaded maps, pages of research and notes all nicely printed out and stapled and ready to be referenced. Call me the prepared Adventurer. (Haha.)

Exhibit A

This trip, however, took an unprecedented turn when I lost my whole printed itinerary during our FIRST stop. Lesson learned: Always print multiple copies of the itinerary!! I had a slight panic attack and went into a minor fit before regaining my footing, found wifi and was able to download the pdf of the plans. Suffice it to say, it was very difficult to keep consulting a tiny screen to figure out where to go next. :\ Anyway, with that little hurdle over, I was able to calmly readjust half of our trip when both mom and my sister wanted to see the pandas. Taipei Zoo wasn't really a major part of our plans (more like a Plan B), and I didn't expect that we'd be spending most of our day there! I sadly had to say "see you next time" to some of the spots listed on our itinerary. :(  I guess I'll just have to go back to Taiwan!

A ten-minute walk from the hotel we stayed at is the Ximending Red House Theater—This was originally a market building that became a theater after. Now, aside from being a theater, it also houses shops from independent artists. Photos inside in Part Four!

May I humbly introduce my favorite donut—EVER. Mister Donut in Taiwan mostly carries the pon de ring, mochi variety and it was love at first bite. It was sweet and chewy and nibbling those cute spheres was such a delight! I've been trying several pon de ring donuts here in the country, our local Mister Donut included, and it just didn't taste or feel the same. (The search is still on!!)

This particular outlet was at the Ximending MRT station.

Adventure # 13 - Taipei April 2014 Part Two

That was quite a hiatus in between this 3-parter post. My apologies—Work and life got a bit hectic. Actually, it still is. But I've been putting my updates on the back burner for faaar too long. So without further ado, might I, after a more than a month, present Taipei Part Two! :D

On our way to Yong Kang St., we passed by THE original Din Tai Fung. This was actually the first ever branch that opened and its fame was absolutely palpable. Just look at that queue!

Adventure # 12 - Taipei April 2014 Part One

Taipei, Taiwan was quite the adventure—In many ways, this trip wasn't like all the other trips I've planned (or micromanaged), seeing as I've had a relatively shorter time mapping everything out. This trip was more open-ended; more spontaneous; more susceptible to changes and spur-of-the-moment decisions (like suddenly visiting the zoo!).  It was kind of refreshing, not being bound by a physical to-do list I feel compelled to check off one by one. Of course, losing the actual physical copy of that list on the way to our first stop helped a lot. My trip to Taiwan will surely be the first of many—There's just simply too much things to see and do (night markets to cross off my list) that a few short days wouldn't be enough!

I guess visualisation really works! I drew these giraffes on the plane bound for Taipei (copied off the latest issue of Smile magazine) not really anticipating that I'll be actually meeting them on this trip.

Just look at the gorgeous architecture of the Taoyuan International Airport. Doesn't it take your breath away? I certainly paused and drank it all in before hurrying towards immigration.

Waiting for the 1819 Kuo Kuang Bus to take us to Taipei Main Station.

Adventure # 11 - Birthday Weekend Part 2

All it took was one suggestion and the next thing we knew, my sister was running back up from the car, grabbing scarves and jackets, and we were on our way to Tagaytay! With no absolute plan in mind, we managed to find our way to The Inn at The Cliffhouse Tagaytay. It was someplace we've always passed whenever we go there but never seemed to get a chance to stop by.

Were we glad that this (impromptu) opportunity came up!

Look at the gorgeous view! Too bad it was a bit hazy when we got there at around 5pm, but at least we were able to catch the last hour of daylight considering we left Manila close to 4 in the afternoon!

Adventure # 10 - Birthday Weekend Part 1

March 15, 2014 was quite a fun day! Chabeli and I both got our Saturdays off from our out of town shoot at Anvaya (Wednesday to Friday) so I get to enjoy a full weekend to celebrate with family and friends. 

First stop was Kimukatsu at Shangri-la East Wing. Their specialty is 25 layers of thinly sliced pork stacked together covered with fresh breadcrumbs. Their kimukatsu sets come in different flavors- plain, black pepper, garlic, cheese, negi shio (spring onion), yuzu kosho (yuzu fruits and green chilli pepper), and ume shisho (Japanese sour plum and shio leaf). Nox and I decided to try out the plain and black pepper flavors for our first foray. Couldn't wait to try out the more exotic flavors next time!

All kimukatsu's come with a rice set which includes unlimited rice, red or white miso soup, cabbage and Japanese pickles. The red miso soup has a stronger tangy taste to it than the white (which was your standard miso). Nox preferred the red while I still liked the white best.

I love the modern asian interiors—Especially that printed woodblock accent wall! I couldn't tell if the image was directly printed or stickered on though. I'll try sitting there next time.

I always love crushing the sesame seeds to be mixed with the katsu sauce. Its smell is so earthily good!

Adventure # 9 - Anvaya Cove Behind the Scenes

Just to be clear, when I say I go to shoots, I'm never in front of the camera (except to act as a stand-in for blocking). 

My sister already has the modelling side spectacularly covered! I'm usually found behind the camera, art directing or buzzing around the location or telling our actual models what to do.

Last week, we spent 3 days and 2 nights over at Anvaya Cove shooting for their image bank and video. 

Chabeli and I worked with Elle Decoration photographer, At Maculangan, Cinemaworks, Hexacam Media and our production and wardrobe stylists, Marta Lovina and Martin Masado—There were some bumps along the way but overall, 

it was a blast working with everybody!

Adventure # 8 - Dipping into (Brush) Calligraphy

Let's say I was in a musical mood this afternoon. ;)

Oh! Fun fact about the backgrounds—these were created via brushing water over a thick paper stock and dropping food coloring on the page. It's super fun and produces amazing results!

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Adventure # 7 - To the South We Go!

Alabang was the destination of choice for our Valentine's Date this year and we really had no set plan except for dinner at Le Petit Cheri in Molito. Suffice it to say, we super enjoyed winging it. We ended up driving past a branch of Project Pie, making the snap decision go and scarf down an artisan pizza, going to the supermarket next door and ended up buying my cat a new collar, and finally, going to Molito where we both tried out the Magum Gold?! and deposited ourselves at Le Petit Cheri for some French fare. 

We also wanted to hit Magnum Opus if we had the chance (because, TARDIS) but unfortunately, I think we spent too much time in the supermarket. I really want to go back to Alabang and try out all the food places in Aguirre Avenue! It's a shame we don't journey South more often—I'll see to it that we change that. 

Project Pie is my personal slice of heaven. You get to choose your pizza, out of 6 customisable bases, (285php) and add all the toppings you could want for no added cost! The pizza people behind the counter strongly advised us not up everything on it. She was particularly adamant about it going, "Sir, no. No. Just don't. Please don't." when Nox asked if anyone has ordered it already. Then her colleague by the meat toppings station chimed in with a reasonable explanation—it will be hard to have your pizza cooked through-and-through if you put everything on top. He said it'll be like eating raw food. :| 

However, he did say we could have all the topping IF we only put a smidge of everything so that the pizza still looks like a pizza (not a small mountain of toppings) and it cooks evenly.

They sell Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay in itty bitty bottles for 280 php!

View from the second floor.

Tada!! We chose pizza # 6 (grilled chicken, sliced red onion, cilantro, mozzarella, gorgonzola, bbq sause) with parmesan, pepperoni, italian sausage, crumbled meatballs, Canadian bacon, proscuitto, caramelized onions, fresh mushrooms, rosemary, artichokes and black olives. Well that was a mouthful of toppings!