Pineapple Express

One of the benefits of having friends that can bake or cook wonderful food is the fact that they need other people, like me, to taste their creations and give feedback to their recipe.

Efren is my office mate in Crimson Logic. Ever since I met him, I already know that he has the capability to cook gourmet meals and delicious "ulams". So, lunchtime with him is always fun because I get to try all the meals that he cooks.

Recently, he has been into making desserts. I tried his Apple Crumble already and I like it so much specially with ice cream on top. Mind you, he didn't get the perfect Apple Crumble recipe at first. He practiced always, which was a good thing because we were always there to taste the outcome. As for me, I liked all the outcome types that he brings to work. After not so many tries, I believe he can make an Apple Crumble even with his eyes closed. So, he started on with a new dessert recipe called Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Today was just the 2nd time that I tried the Pineapple dessert. The first time Efren asked me to try this new dessert, I liked it right away! I love the taste of the sponge cake that he actually made for the dessert. He told me that he added crushed pineapples in the cake batter which gave the cake the sweet and salty taste.

The picture above is how the pineapple cake looks like. It looked heavenly and the taste was to die for. I liked that this recipe had somewhat burnt edges that gave the cake the chewy texture. I had this slice all to myself! I left a small part for Doms to try. I hope I can control myself from eating that small part.

83rd Oscar Awards Red Carpet Best Dressed (For Me)

I've been raving about the Oscar's since last week. I know I promised to watch all the Best Picture nominees but as always, I didn't have the time to do it.

I'm also kinda sad since I cannot access any streaming site here in my office so I just rely on people's tweets (with envy) about what's happening in the awards night. I've been waiting like FOREVER for sites with red carpet pictures but nothing loads so far! Seems people kept on accessing all the celebrity sites just to get a look on how the actors/actresses are dressed. Or maybe, the sites keep on updating the photos that's why it so long to load.

I just read that The Social Network won Best Film Editing and Inception won Best Visual Effects. Shucks! I want to watch the Oscar's now!

I'm loving the following gowns already! Pictures taken from TMZ.com Of course, these are what I think are the best dressed because I love their gown style. I already saw 2 gowns that I hated and I will blog about later.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Mandy Moore

Sandra Bullock

Mila Kunis

I love Mila Kunis' gown! It reminded me of my wedding. When I was so busy searching for the right neckline. If I saw this, I'd probably use this design.

And for the best dressed to me... Drum roll please!

Scarlet Johansen

I love the lace style! I love the cut! I love everything about it! It really looks good on her. Until my next blog about the Oscar's!

Wifey Note # 4: Empty Drum

Always remember that an empty drum makes a lot of noise. So to those people who just wants attention, stop blabbering and fill your head with ideas with sense.

Reasons Why I'm Loving AI10

I've been very vocal about me loving the latest season of American Idol. I never thought that I'll be writing a blog about. Well, ever since Idol started, I loved watching the episodes already. But, I don't like the audition parts. So, I always wait for the time when the Top 24 contestants has been announced and that's the time that I will start watching it.

Anyway, in the past years, I've been "lazy" in watching Idol episodes. I don't know why but maybe because I was so tired of listening to the judges' unreasonable comments. There was even a time that I was tired of looking at them! It was really a good move for the creators of Idol to change the judges.

I was at first reluctant when I found out that Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez will join Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest in this season of Idol. My first reaction was, "Jennifer Lopez? She will just whine and be too gentle on the contestants." While for Steven Tyler I just said, "F*ck! Who *bleep* thought of getting  that *bleep* kind *bleep* *bleep* of a person?". But all of those initial reaction swished out of the window when I first watched an episode of Idol 10 .

The 3 judges' aura in the television was amazing! They click together. JLo's comments were not that sweet but very objective. A lot of contestants love her and they were starstruck when they see her. Steven Tyler's reaction when a contestant was out of tune in singing has always been hilarious! He's like, what?!? (with eye brows raised to the roof!). His comments were straight to the point and he knows what he is saying. Randy on the other hand, was still kinda stuck by how the past judges does their criticisms. He was like "Listen, dawg it's not for you..." This annoys me. Why not just tell the contestant the parts that he/she needs to improve on? Anyway, good thing I don't pay too much attention to him. I particularly liked the part when the judges met Cris Medina's wife in a wheel chair. Steven was like "You know why your husband sings well, because he sings it for you". I was teary eyed when I watched this.

Ryan has always and will always be the life of the party. I never realized that he can be as kind-hearted and sweet person. His interaction with the contestants and their family was just too natural. It really shows that he likes working with people.

Honestly, the past judges (Simon, Paula and Randy) just clicked to me after season 3 or 4. In the first seasons, I always feel that they were mismatched. But the judges now (JLo, Steven and Randy), clicked and jumped right from the TV the first time I saw them together.

1/3 of the reason why I like watching Idol10 was because of the contestants. The group was a combination of great talent! I can't wait for their performances already!


Until the next episode!

Loving My Cookie Snacks

If Scooby Doo has his Scooby Snacks, I have my Keebler Soft Batch cookies. I admit, I am really addicted to these soft, yummy, and oozing with chocolatey goodness cookies.

I can't help it! Everything about Soft Batch cookies is what I want in a cookie. I never really remembered who introduced this snack to our family. I guess it was my mom. I remember her doing her grocery shopping in Rustan's in Makati and she just tried this brand and all of us really liked it.

When I'm in Manila, I make sure that I buy one pack of these lovely cookies and if I get the chance , I make sure to bring another pack for Doms. I really wish that they have Soft Batch here in Singapore so I can just munch away all I want! Even Yuan loves these cookies!

Wifey Note # 3: Tag Line

In buying products, make sure that you read the tag lines that they out in their packaging. You'll never know to much extent suppliers will describe their products.

Things To Do When You Are Bored

This really made me laugh! I was searching the internet for blog that are funny so that I won't feel sleepy and I found this site which lists the 474 Things To do when You're Bored. I found the suggestions hilarious but some of them are not "do-able".

Here are some of my favorites:

• Boil ice cream (I wonder what will happen...)

 

• Drink straight shots...of water (Can!)
• Plant a shoe (... and grow a shoe tree!)

 

• Write a letter to Plato and mail it (this really made me laugh loudly)
• Staple (I love stapling stuff!)
• Drop your cat off the roof to see if it lands on all four feet (Great! I hate cats!)
• Go to McDonald's and pretend you can't speak English (Will try this in the future)
• Sandpaper a mushroom 
• Throw a tomato into a fan

 

• Sing the ABC song backwards (I think I did this before)

Maybe I can try some of the stuff listed above later since Doms will be on another OT (it's Thursday) and I will be all alone at home.

Dessert Making Addiction

I suddenly became addicted to make my own dessert. It started when I made a Peach Refrigerator Cake. I loved it and everybody who tasted it also loved it. Then, I tried making my own version of Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate Truffle. I loved it so much to the point that I wasn't able to take pictures of it because it was eaten immediately. 

Now, I'm searching for another dessert to make. I'm kinda hoping it's a dessert that needs no baking because we still don't have our own oven.

I'm now looking at the No Bake Cheesecake recipe. It seems easy but I wonder if it's OK to use my hand in making the cream fluffy instead of a mixer?

Well, I guess I'll just get to know the answer when I try the recipe that I saw this weekend.

Wifey Note # 2: Rush Hour

Don't expect people to be courteous or kind to you in trains or buses in a rush hour. They will shove you aside just to get ahead of you. They will even pretend to be sleeping and ignore the pregnant women or the aunties who need the reserved seat. If you don't want to be pushed around, wake up early to avoid the rush hour. And for those sleepy heads, get their attention and let them know that they need to give up their seat for those in need.

Wifey Note # 1: Yakult

Never ignore your guts.






Drink Yakult at least once a day to aid in the cleansing of the digestive tract.

83rd Oscars Best Picture Nominee: Black Swan

Starting of with my first review blog about the 83rd Oscar Awards nominees for Best Picture is the film Black Swan.

I have had only a little feedback from friends about how this movie is about. A story about a ballerina with hopes of being the star in a feature performance of Swan Lake is not that appealing to me. So, I delayed my time in watching this film. I waited to get a DVD copy of the movie instead of watching it in theaters.

My first impression of it was it was thrillingly nice. Natalie Portman really rose above everybody else in her performance as Nina Sayers. She was very convincing and she really nailed the part. Well, she really should excel because training for 6 months for a role like that is not that easy. I particularly liked the part when she started to have hallucinations. She played the role of a distraught, pressured and confused ballerina amazingly. I will not be surprised if she wins Best Actress because her performance was excellent.

Other cast members like Mila Kunis as the loose and totally opposite ballerina that Nina thinks is sabotaging her performance to get the main role, Winona Ryder as the antagonizing ex-Swan Queen, Vincent Casell as the perfectionist instructor and Barbara Hershey as the overbearing and over protective mother made the movie more absorbing. They played their role very well and I really believed that all of them suit their roles perfectly.

The musical scoring, the setting, the overall appearance of the film added to it's goal of being a psychological thriller of the lead role's struggle on being perfect. I wasn't that happy on the ending. Well, I'm not a fan of bad endings that's why I felt bad when she died. I think I even mentioned to Doms that I was a bit teary eyed.

My overall rating of this movie is 8/10. Kudos to people who are behind this movie. But I really must say that Incpetion is still my bet for winning Best Picture.

iPhone Case, Not!

Ok, ok! I know that people from Crumpler might message me and tell me that the merchandise that I bought from them is not really an iPhone case or pouch per se. It was really intended to be a camera case. But what the hell?!?! I liked the pouch the first time I saw it.

My Crumpler iPhone Case

You know how Crumpler names their products, right? Like, Doms' camera bag is called "6 Million Dollar Home". The reason, I don't know. My pouch is called "The Grub". It's a stretchable case made with a soft material that acts as a padding for anything that you put in it. It has a small finger hole attached to it so you strap it to anywhere and leave it and the contents hanging to free your hands.

One downfall of this product is that it doesn't have a zipper or a latch that will prevent the item inside from slipping. Other than that, it's OK.

Crumpler "The Grub" case" cost: S$26

Road Signs

Walked from Admiralty Station to Northoaks.

Tested the Lomo Lomo iPhone App.

Pictures by: Doms and Dindin




















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lomo iPhone Apps

Ever since I learned about Lomography, I wanted to try and buy a lomo camera. I like the texture and the way the picture turns out using a lomo camera.



Half way through my "want" path to buy a lomo cam, I found out that there are free iPhone apps that I can download that will give the same output that I want in a real lomo cam.

I downloaded a bunch of lomo apps but only 2 apps became my favorite: Instagram and Lomo Lomo.

Instagram is a free photo sharing application for iPhone or iPod. It allows you to capture pictures and lets you choose the output texture and style from a series of choices. It also allows you to link your social networking accounts like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Flicker etc and upload the picture that you took in those mentioned platforms. Instagram also lets you add friends who installed the same app so you can share pictures with them easily. Here are some of my sample pictures using Instagram:

LomoLomo in the other hand, is an iPhone app that truly gives a feel a lomo camera feel. This lomo app did a great job in capturing effects but additional effects will cost you. Well, I don;t really care. I love the 2 free effects currently in my app so no harm done. I could buy the other effects but not in the near future. Here are some of my shots using this app:

So with the mentioned apps, my super "want" mode in buying a lomo camera lessened. I know, lomo camera users will tell me that these apps are not the real things, but for me, it's OK already.

The Handburger Experience

I was craving for "something" when I woke up this morning. I wasn't sure what type of food was it I was craving for. I wanted something new to my taste buds, something unusual. Good thing I checked one of my favorite Singapore based bloggers' site and I saw her post about a burger joint in the city called Handburger.

The Handburger is an elegant burger joint located in 2 distinct malls here in Singapore namely Raffles City and 313@Somerset. We tried the one in Raffles City mainly because that resto just opened.

The Handburger's Unique Wooden Serving Dish aka Place Mat

 The Handburger serves fresh gourmet burgers made from the finest ingredients. From a far, we can already smell the baking buns in the air. Doms and I had a hard time choosing which burger to get because everything in the menu looked terrific.

Doms ordered "The Works" which made of grilled beef patty with onion rings, bacon, fried egg, mushroom, cheese on a toasted onion bun. I think there were more ingredients but I couldn't remember the rest of it. He topped up around S$4 for drinks and a bowl of wonderful tasting fries and the magic dip.

Milk Shake, Iced Lemon Tea and Fries with the awesome Magic Dip

 When his order arrived, it looked heavenly!

The Works Burger from Hand Burger

I wanted to taste it right away! Doms was just trying to figure out how he will "attack" his burger. When he tasted it, I was very sure he liked it because he finished it right away!

The Thinking Doms

As for me, I wanted a little bit of everything so I ordered the The Sliders. It consisted of 4 slider burgers of my choice. It's a recommended order for people who are not familiar of how the different burgers tasted.

The Slider. Consists of The Handburger Original Slider, Pulled Pork Slider, Battered Dory Slider, Chicken Caeser Slider

The first one was missing because I ate it right away, my bad! I loved everything about The Hand Burger. The waiters were nice and the ambiance was great! The waiting time was kinda long but it was understandable because they were baking the breads right on when people order. Also, their 1 for 1 Milk Shake promo was kinda unexplained to customers that well. But I don't like to dwell on that.We loved their burgers and we will definitely come back and try the rest of their burgers in the future.

 Total Cost: S$35

Amazing YouTube

It's really amazing how YouTube affects the lives of millions and millions of people. With a simple click of a button, your homemade video, showcasing your talent in singing, dancing or whatever, can be seen and watched by millions of people.

Just now, Doms showed me the video of a Fil-Canadian girl named Maria Aragon, who did a cover video of Lady Gaga's Born This Way song. She really sings very well and she has feelings while giving us a rendition of the song. Here it is:

Nobody knows how it happened but Lady Gaga got hold of the video and she was able to watch the little girl perform and viola! The video now has over 1.2 million views!

Lady Gaga even posted her video in Twitter saying:

Now that little girl's life has changed. Same as the other people like Arnel Pineda, Charice Pempengco, Marie Digby and Boyce Avenue, who also posted their homemade video for people to see. Now, all of those names mentioned are stars and famous.

Modern Family: An Ideal Blend of Heart and Smart

I really love the American TV Series, Modern Family. I've been watching this show ever since I learned about it in the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards. I know right?!? Season 1 was almost over when I learned about this funny show. Since then, I never missed an episode. Even Doms is into this show.

Being one day late from the US, I usually download the latest episode Thursday nights. To those of you living in a rock for the past year, here's a short summary of what this awesome TV series is about:

The story follows the families of Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) who live in a Los Angeles-area suburban community. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell); they have three children. After splitting with his longtime wife, Jay has re-married with a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria Pritchett (Sofía Vergara), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez). Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily Pritchett-Tucker.

I have tons of favorite episodes and lines from the show! My favorite character is Lily Pritchett - Tucker. She's so adorable! I love her! I want my baby to look like her. Haha!

Another thing that makes this show top rated is that each episode is a learning experience to the viewers. It has values and lessons that people can learn from. So congratulations to the creators and writers of this wonderful show. It's about time we devour on shows with witty lines and moral lessons.

Roots

I started my first ever blog way back when I was still in college. I remember that blog being my outlet. That was where placed my stories about school work, deadlines, thesis and other things I considered "important" at that time of my life. Of course, stories about my experience with boys were also embedded there. I remember recounting the times I was happy and of course the times I was sad.

I remember changing and changing the title of that blog to what I was feeling at that time. I maintained that blog for 2 years, 2004 to 2006. Towards the end of that blog, I found myself writing bitter stories and mad posts. The main reason was because I was in a bad time. So, I decided to close that blog to forget all the nasty and sad moments that I was going through at that time.

There was a gap from my last blog to my next blog. I became busy with work that I didn't have the time to create a blog. to keep me busy, I became obsessed with another form of social networking site in those years. I created a blog too in that site, but it never prospered. But, something inside me was missing. I didn't have a place to put all my stories about work life, about deadlines and crazy colleagues. So, around July 2008, I created another blog. 

That blog was the closest and dearest blog to my heart. I started that blog in a good time. I was in a happy relationship with Doms, who is now my husband. I was also employed in a very good company at that time and my love for writing and sharing my experiences to anyone out there bloomed more.

Now, I decided to close that blog to give way to another chapter in my life.

The Wifey Notes will have the same tone and atmosphere as my previous blog. It will talk about food, places, merchandise, photography, movies, books, series, events and anything and everything under the big bright sun! I will maintain this new blog the way I maintained my 2 other blogs. I will try my best to update it always to keep up with the trends and fads along the way.

Having a blog has been part of my life already. I love writing and this is the main reason why I love having a blog. I love sharing my opinions and stories to everyone. I really hope that people from all over the world will come and read my new blog. That's too much to ask but what is wrong with dreaming, right?