Here's to the round peg in the square hole...

And here's my favorite article about him.

summer makeup tip

June 28, 2011 was a milestone in what I'd like to call my "budding makeup career". I did my first ever fashion show makeup gig for my cousin's event called Australia in Cebu. I had a free-hand in the makeup looks since the organizers were guys and pretty much left it up to me to decide what look to do. The show was promoting Roxy, Billabong, Quicksilver & Ripcurl so I went for a sunkissed, effortless look.

The star of my makeup look was Revlon Colorburst in Coral. I just fell in love with this shade and I thought it looked great with all the models. It's not as sexy hot siren as red lipstick so it's wearable for daytime. I recommend it for those days when you're kinda lazy to dress up but you can't leave the house bare faced too. Blushed cheeks, mascara and a few swipes of lipstick can get you looking tres tres chic :)

Classic. Nostalgic. Romantic. Oh, and it comes in fours!

Midnight in Paris.

Looks like another quirky winner from Woody Allen :-) The movie automatically won a soft spot in my heart because... you guessed it - It's about the beautiful city of Paris.

One Day.

Wow. Just saw the trailer of this movie. It moved me. I'm not sure if it was the background music, or the romantic premise of this couple seeing each other one day a year for 20 years, but I can't wait to watch it. The only thing I'm a little unsure of in the trailer is Anne Hathaway's accent. Other than that, it's definitely got that 'kilig' factor. As usual, I will refrain from reading the book before I watch the movie because the book will always be better. In my experience atleast.

Does this look like something you would watch?

Kani Salad ala Pepper Lunch

If you're ever in Manila, swing by Pepper Lunch (located at Greenbelt 5 & Rockwell). They serve sizzling steaks Japanese style. My favorites there are the chicken pepper lunch with extra chicken & their kani salad.

I decided to try and recreate their kani salad at home and this is what I came up with.

You'll need:

Salad greens

Cucumber

Kani sticks - bought these at Machiya mart in Banilad and they're pretty tasty

Broccoli -  Cut up a head of broccoli, put in a bowl of hot water and microwave for 3 minutes. Rinse under cool water when done. Drain water & pat dry with paper towel. Salt lightly. 

White udon noodles - Dunk the whole packet into hot water, cover and microwave for 3 minutes. Rinse under cool water when done. 

Nokikake rice topping
*brings back so many happy memories. my cousins, the Onozawas would come over to play with us and we'd snack on nothing but this and rice. it's really good especially on good rice. you can pair it with anything and it instantly gives you that japanese twist. 

Dressing

Japanese mayo

about 2 tablespoons sugar

about a tablespoon of vinegar

Miso paste

water

I pretty much eyeballed the dressing. I guess you can season as you like. Just add the ingredients a little at a time so it won't be hard to fix if you make a mistake. 

i think i'm turning japanese

If Stan and I could eat one thing everyday for the rest of our lives, it'd be Japanese food. We probably eat at a Japanese restaurant once a week to satisfy our craving for sushi, sashimi and the like.

Lately, I've been feeling adventurous and decided to try cooking Japanese. You can buy almost anything Japanese pre-mixed but of course, reading the directions on the box is an entirely different story. They also all come in Japanese characters. So, after many trial and errors. here's what I've learned. *apologies for no finished product photo. will upload soon :)

Mabu Tofu Rice

You'll need:
 about 1/4 kilo of ground pork
diced carrots, zucchini, eggplant - or whatever similar veggies you would want
chopped spring onions
about half a bulb of garlic finely chopped
about a tablespoon (or more if you like) of finely chopped ginger
good tofu (the ones that come in a plastic tube with red & blue design that is available in Country Mall is ok)
mapu-tofu mix ready mix - i tried all the "spicyness" levels and find that the spiciest one suits me most. *shown in photograph. It's not spicy at all and is pretty tasty.
about 2 swirls of Mirin - It's my new favorite seasoning.

white pepper to taste - i put in a couple of dashes
salt to taste
light soy sauce - I use Lee Kum Kee Premium soy sauce
dark soy sauce - I use Kikkoman

What you need to do:
Prepare the ground pork by marinating it for a bit with the following:
mirin

white pepper 

salt 

1:1 dark soy sauce/ light soy sauce

*just put enough soy sauce to color the meat. you dont want the meat saucy

Set aside the ground pork. I usually leave it for about 10 mins.

Set your stove to low heat. In deep frying pan, add a little bit of cooking oil and saute the garlic and the ginger. Add your vegetables. When tender, add the ground pork and lightly turn over so it doesn't burn and cooks evenly. You don't want to touch the meat so much so it still remains soft. 

Take the packet and mix the white powder in about a cup and a little less than a half of water. Pour it in. Pour in the contents of the red packet. Your mabu mix should be a bit watery. Reduce the mixture till you get the consistency you want. Stan prefers it a bit saucy. 

Add in your tofu. Give it a bit of a stir to break it up in the sauce. 

Serve over hot rice and enjoy. 

PS. I love how the vegetables are camouflaged and picky eaters eat them. 

You Had Me at "L 'Essentiel"

                                   I desperately want one of these. Available at Moleskine Asia.

Another One Bites The Dust.

Literally. We have finally saved enough money to renovate our dining room and our outdoor dining area. I am full of excitement and cannot wait for everything to be finished! It is very very dusty in our home now but all I have to do is to think forward and imagine the rewards we'll all be reaping. Hopefully before the summer ends, we'll all be able to hang out in our new porch, sipping ice-cold lemonade, or hold a nice dinner in our functional and swanky new dining room!

For now I leave you with the inspirational photo (from the Brooklyn Home Company) that started all this. The custom shelves in this photo is what sparked everything. We've tailor-fit the shelves to fit stuff that we already have, and I may or may not style it like in the photo, but this is the idea. Can't wait to show photos of the finished room!

Looks like a real heart warmer :)

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here we go ladies... only THE best chocolate chip cookie recipe!




1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups real chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cream butter until smooth; add sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda and beat into above mixture. Add chocolate chips.

(Put the dough in fridge overnight for easier handling when placed on the cookie sheet)

Drop 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
(I personally made it one teaspoon only since the cookie tends to spread)

Bake 8 minutes.
(Depends on your oven... suggest you keep watch to ensure that the cookies don’t burn)

Warning: This is addictive!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I found this recipe on Pinterest, a wonderful, happy place where you catalog all the things you love. The recipe had me at "cream cheese" and "cilantro".  I substituted a number of ingredients, but my biggest substitution was using the toaster oven, instead of the oven. Worked like a charm.

Addiction warning: I was eating this every night for a whole week. When I ran out of tortillas, I used it as a dip with Tostitos. Still good.

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa (I used Tostitos salsa)
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (I used pan-fried chicken fillet, seasoned with the usual suspects: salt and pepper, oregano, cumin, etc.)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas (I used wheat tortillas)
kosher salt (I used sea salt)
cooking spray (used olive oil and a brush)

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Roll them up as tightly as you can. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top. (Key step!)

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Enjoy!