Cafe Altria's Peppermint Mocha

We were waiting for another resto to open up ( most good establishments in elbi and elbi square opens at 12:00nn ) so when we have time to kill and start the must needed girlfriend catch up, the nearest coffee shop within the area (of elbi square)  is the way to go.

When there's a new coffee shop, I always order the safest flavor so that the potential regret is bearable. I love frappes and cold coffee, and when all the other good coffee shops in elbi are still closed at 10:30 in the morning, this Cafe Altria, was already welcoming potential customers with their "Eat All You Can" offer. It's a good thing that they offer hot and cold coffee, smoking area (for smokers) and refreshing capiz curtains while sitting on their wooden furniture. 

This time, something finally caught my fancy: They have Peppermint Mocha on the Menu.

Peppermint Mocha, for only Php 70 (Cigarettes not included. Lol)

This is pretty good for Php70.00, if you have Starbucks as benchmark, then forget it. But if you want to be realistic and very much in need of caffeine, Cafe Altria's Peppermint Mocha is a good way to go. :)

How To Make Crisscut fries

I've always wondered how to make Crisscut fries. My sister Apy, who is the Queen of Rare Finds and the expert in finding the most one-of-a-kind items from bazaars, secret shops, etc., like as if she has ESP on these things, came home one day with this item: 

Veggie Cutter

Items inside

For my mommy readers, this one is for you. Here's how this thing werqs!

Notice the "pinky" Haha!

There's the potato grip

How it works

Instant Crisscut fries!

Special participation of our youngest doggie, Bieber. Yes, Justin Bieber

Potato

Other tricks of the cutter: Spiral Fries

Deep Fry

Voila

And Serve! 

And the best part is - She got the veggie cutters for a very, very cheap price while some sell it online for more than three times of what she paid for!

Get yourself some of Baz Luhrmann's Sunscreen

My feel good song do not possess a reggae beat, booming sounds, dance-able beat with artists saying "Nigga" and "Bitches". The lyrics of the song did not talk about leaving things behind and not looking back, nor talked about revenge. It doesn't talk about rain how it drenches your tears away, or how loving yourself is the greatest love of all.

Back in 2004 ( I think) When there were no iPods yet, no free WiFi, downloading from the net can only be done by the so-called experts of the manongs (older brother) of the University Belt computer shops, a friend gave me a CD with downloaded songs in it. One of the list says: Sunscreen.

I popped it in the CD player that we have in my dorm room, listened to it and was intrigued why it was more of an audio book (with background music) rather than what I call 'music'. Little did I know that this "song" would still be applicable to those "in the future". And from that moment on, when I was able to listen to the entire song, I knew that I will and must listen to that song whenever I feel down.

Ladies, Gents and Gays, I am sharing one of what I think the most brilliant songs (if that's what it can be called) and I hope you find time to look for the song and download it in your player so you can experience the  same feeling that I had when I first listened to this song. ( Or you can ask friends who knows how to download songs or if they already have the song, then good! As per Jenni Epperson, Sharing is Caring, so go!)  I've highlighted the things that struck me most in the song, only to figure out after, that I practically highlighted the entire lyrics of the song!

Anyway, I hope you'll love it as much as I did. :)

This is from Baz Luhrmann.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…

Turf: A Wife is to her Kitchen while a Spinster is to her...Pad.

A good friend of mine and I had an interesting conversation over lunch a couple of months ago. We were talking about ownership of space and stuff and she said that a married (with kids) woman "owns" the kitchen, because it's "her place". I would  really like to discuss more about how brilliant this theory is, except, It's not my own and I don't want anyone people stealing her ideas! ( yeah, I'm protective like that! )

Then it got me thinking, how about us, spinsters? (Spinsters talaga?) Then, it hit me. I am going to write, while I am still in my personal sabbatical, about my old Bachelorette Pad.

One thing that I am very proud of was when I declared independence and lived on my own. Since I was 16 I've pretty much shared rooms, dormitories, lived with people in a condo and never really had my very own apartment. No it's not the "My-folks'-house-is-just-10-minutes-cab-ride" away kind. I pretty much lived on my own, that's why my mother is often, if not always, worried that no one is there to know if I had died in my sleep, not to mention I rarely text them.

So I lived in this small ( approx. 24 sq m) 1BR apartment in Makati for almost two years, I was the first tenant of this baby and it was love at first sight. I remember moving in when the rest of the building is not finished yet, and that gave me all the "royal bitch rights" to demand when the manong guard was an ass to my mom one day. I don't want to rent in a condo because I know that I'll be too tired to use their amenities and I had to pay pa for association dues, etc. So I prayed really hard for an apartment complex still within Makati City and I found it just in time for me to leave the old condo that I used to share with other people. I remember friends from work gifted me with Chinese good luck charms when I first moved in, I remember some people scaring the hell out me during my first night, I remember friends who went with me to shop for that huge cabinet and helped me assemble it.  I remember shopping for some furniture, although my major furniture necessities were recycled, and I remember my self spending a lot of time in SM Makati's home world, happily imagining stuff that I will buy for my pad.I also remember throwing a house warming private party during my 25th birthday, letting bff live in my pad for more than two months when typhoon Ondoy ruined her condo... and so much more. *wicked, evil, naughty grin*

Here are some pictures from my old apartment.

My living room ( The Pop Art was a Christmas Gift from my sister Apy)

Left: To the Bathroon, Right: Window Curtains leading to the bedroom

Kikay Nook 

View from the bedroom

My Bags. I carry a huge amount of stuff that they call me "girl scout"

My then Organized Bags

My "Last-Girl-Standing" Shoes while the rest were sent in for repair

Can you imagine how my feet are well-rested nowadays after I traded my heels for flipflops?

View from my tiny veranda

I told my friend that my "turf" is the bedroom. Since my teenage years I feel like the bedroom is my sanctuary.  

My Bed

My Mini-Library

Reading Nook, which is just the other end of the bed 

Living alone has its perks. I remember so well calling all the shots in my life. I also remember budgeting everything! From groceries, to laundry, to water to electricity. Yun lang, there are times when it gets really lonely. Like you had a bad day at work and there's no one there to talk to. That's why I am super happy when I have guests staying over, I'm excited to go home and it feels good to have someone to talk to outside the work vicinity.

Do I miss my old pad? Yes! Am I happier where I am now compared before? Hell yeah! I was able to really experience  living on my own in my twenties. There's just something about freedom and independence that means so much to us Sagittarians.  Now my next plan is to live mala-"Friends" type because it's really fun living with friends.

Oh well, that's the plan. :)

Thrift to Memory Lane

I've been really, really pushing my luck with book sales this weekend until fate finally decided to tell me to stop pushing it.


I went to the nearby book sale that a friend told me about only to ....

Me: Ate, is this shop closed today? (while looking at the piled up books)Ate: Inventory po.

Didn't I just asked a close-ended question, which is answerable by yes or no? 


So to make the story short, I couldn't dig in because they are doing inventory, but why did they allow customers to still come in and take a look only to be told that they couldn't sell me books because they are doing inventory?


So I decided to move on and check the books of "The Practical Shop" instead. The Practical shop is the local thrift shop near UPLB and it houses the biggest store of second hand stuff from old second hand clothes, to books and wooden furniture.


My friend from grad school was raving about it because she just loves antiques and buying wood furnitures. I just decided to check out the book section to see if there's something that I can buy. 


I think the last time I was inside this shop was... more than two to three years ago?

 

 

 

I see a good back drop for concept shoots

Stairs going back to the ground floor

How's this for "Reading Nook"?

Teenage Classics

The pink "Sexual Happiness in Marriage" book is under MYSTERY. Lol!

Ahh... Sweet Valley High! Oh how I love the series! 

Old School Romance

Old Magazines

Maybe I should get this for Chimy and Stew

I think I have this when I was younger... a lot younger. :)

Paging Bossman Samuel Jay Pasia

I still have this at home!

They have the Unicorn Club series

I think I remember my Ate Helen reading Judy Blume when I was still in grade school

I had a hard time trying to associate people upon seeing this. I remembered na lang someone I knew from work who's now Post-Op, a.k.a. The Man is now a Woman. :) "She" had hers "changed" in Thailand.

S Club 7 + N Sync + Hanson + Westlife = CLASSIC!

A couple left their stuff to do a little... romancing, ay roaming pala! 

I remember my kumare, Bonggak owner Cecile, who collected the NSync dolls.

*grins*

I remember JLa and Me on our way to Feb Fair! 

If you are into old school paperback books, this store might be good for you. They have a wide range of books, majority are novels from way, way back that instead feeling sad that I was not able to get anything from the thrift shop, it turned out to be a nice trip to memory lane. :)