Don’t really have spring here so I just pretend I have spring cleaning. Even though it’s summer. So let me just be a Snow White here and clean out my closet.

Oh the things you find in junk (actually there’s still box-loads of junk and I just had a major Epiphany which I will share in my NEXT blog post) especially TONS of stuff toys. I didn’t realize I’ve amassed a collection until I saw that they were gathering dusts (and maybe cobwebs and a few spiders who knows) in my closet and I’ve decided to scrub em till they shine! Well lookie what I found!

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Sorry for messy beds background

That’s just 1/4 of the family and I’ve got some more tucked away in Narnia waiting to be found. Most of the stuff toys I have now were mostly gifts and this is one of the reasons why stuff toys aren’t really my ideal gifts… O_O where would I place all these without them gathering dust? I am thankful for each of them though and they are darn cute, you gotta admit it! I did find some… weird ones, one was so freaky that our dog kept barking at it.

But he wasn’t scared of his new toy

It creeped me out at first, I mean what is it and why doesn’t it have ears or something? See, having ears makes a difference. A lot of difference.

I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately and I hope you can check them out here. Add me up on Goodreads, am always on the search for another perfect book. I love fantasies such as The Hobbit, Harry Potter and also magical realism books such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, and also books with animals on them (Life of Pi did it for me I think). The last book sale blew a huge hole in my wallet but I died a happy bookworm. Tea Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife is a gripping read, one of the few books that made me actually want to join a book club and discuss its meaning because there are so many twists and turns and I NEED to know what really happened. It’s also about a Balkan country which I know next to zilch about so it was a very interesting read. Full review of my read books can be found here.

As you can see, this set has all my preferences

I swear you have got to read Habibi if you’re an aspiring artist or designer because of its intricate patterns and designs on the drawings. Just for that I’ve already given this book a WHOPPING 10 but it is for mature audiences. This is the third volume of Y:The Last Man and since the bookstore only had 1 copy left… I couldn’t help but by it T_T And Free Comic Book Day is coming up on May 19 with 20% off on graphic novels… *gets shot more* Somebody help me control my book shopping tendencies. Maybe I should check in a support group.

I’ve also been bitten by the culinary bug. Well it’s actually more like my mom’s doing.

Mom: I don’t want to cook anymore, you’ve got no job yet anyway so you can cook for us.

Me: But but but I do help with the business…

Mom: No, you start today.

Me: Okay… *polishes my rusty cooking skills from 2 years ago*

I haven’t cooked really or had the desire to cook since my student exchange last 2010 but I thought what the heck and since our new helper at home actually knows how to cook, she helped me with my chopping skills and mentored me as we cooked these dishes. I was the mastermind and strategist while I learned the correct basic cooking techniques as I never received any proper training. Searching for recipes is the funnest part and I somehow became immune to the heat even while cooking. I didn’t despise it anymore as long as I can cook good food and see the happy faces of my family. Seeing the joy of somebody relishing good food is really something. Makes you feel happy like Santa. If Santa’s out there…

And now I want to introduce you to one of my inspirations (besides my mother and brother because he does cook good food), THE PIONEER WOMAN (Ree Drummond)! She was the one who saved me during my student exchange because of her step by step VISUAL recipes. I never had the patience for cooking videos because what if I missed a step and I had to rewind it back then I’d be hobbling around the kitchen frantically making a mess out of things. So when I saw her WONDERFUL WONDERFUL SITE, I became a disciple of her good cooking and inspired me to actually take good food photography (and I still fail at it, sorry ). What I love about her blog is not only the mouth-watering delectable pictures and easy to follow recipes (heck I’m even thinking of canning and making cinnamon rolls, what the fudge), but also her style of blogging. It really appeals to me. And maybe because she talks and answers herself a lot.

Oh yes she does.

Like me. Sort of.

See? Am answering myself again. Oh the beauty of solitary soliloquy! Oh where were we? Oh yeah food.

SO YEAH GO VISIT HER BLOG! Here are my “exam results” and I hope you guys… like the virtual food? TATA FOR NOW!

My first dish, Spicy Shrimp Aglio Olio (very unconventional as we decided to put Tomato, this is a no no for aglio olio BUUUUTT it kinda worked, it’s still tasty!)

Spicy Tuna Carbonara (didn’t follow Ree’s exact recipe, has Filipino touch to it)

Pasta Puttanesca (Had to substitute some items, be creative as they say! XD)

Chicken Parmigiana, my first love at her site and this was infinitely better than the one I made in France

Above: Baked Blueberry Cheesecake for Chair’s birthday!
Below: No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake from mom’s recipe
Baked = cheesier, no bake = ice cream-ier

Fresh Strawberry Smoothie.

Lasagna. We didn’t follow the recipe exactly and it came out a bit soggier than usual

After much Italia cuisine, I decided to cook healthier dishes LOLL coz I think we all became fatter afterwards :/ Chicken Couscous with Chick Peas and Harissa Paste. This recipe was from some dude in Foodily. I kinda forgot who…

Roast Herbed Chicken. VERY HERB-Y! This is Jamie Oliver’s recipe (I seriously love his shows. And his family is like the BEST FREAKING CUTEST FAMILY EVER! Check out his instagram) but I used breasts instead of a whole chicken. You need to lessen the oven time coz it cooks faster.

OF THE BEGINNING! *oh also the beginning of a new rebranded look of my site! Pls read my previous post on explanation THANKS!*

Sorry just wanted to twist the words a bit! But you know with the impending Mayan prediction that 2012 is gonna be our last year ever… I’ve been thinking a lot… like which planner to get. (Okay the least of all my worries but I’m a realist-optimist-ifthere’ssuchathing and in my gut feeling, the earth still has many years to come -andheckIdontwantittoendyetcoz…) Everybody has been raving about the 2012 Starbucks planner and as my brother and I’s annual Christmas tradition of collecting at least 3, we indeed were able to get 3! Maybe we might even get a 4th in January, all these thanks to the help of our friends! We gave away 2 and 1′s for my brother. Actually one was set aside for me but I didn’t find it appealing enough and I needed bigger space. I’m not really a planner person but I want to sort out my life on 2012, it’ll be a good change.

Another planner that I’ve been hearing about is the moonleaf planner. But I’m not that much of a fan of moonleaf to actually want a planner from moonleaf but I can’t deny the sleek and wonderful design.

More info on this blog

And I figured that a lot of people would be eyeing this planner and I’d spot everyone using that planner now (do you also get that feeling of wanting to be unique? I’m kinda like that especially with clothes. The minute I see someone who wears the same shirt as I do, I don’t wanna wear that shirt again and I might stop buying clothes from there. Just like what happened to me and Zara though I still like Zara!). Belle de jour is also out of the question since it’s too thick for me.

So where can I find this unique, inescapable, awesome planner? Well I think I have a few choices and maybe you can help me? Being Little Miss Fickle, I need help!

So there’s

1. Slate – liking the planner because of the color, simple front cover and the art inside! More info here and photos of pages

2. Because I love food and this planner is by Our Awesome Planet food blogger so there’s definitely a lot of food tips in here. And the design isn’t too bad too!

3. Cover says it all. And I doubt that this is sold in stores.

Hmmm so there, am in a pickle…

On other news… WE JUST GOT A NEW DOG! We wanted to preserve the lineage of our first favorite poodle, Hollywood the first (R.I.P. ), we asked for one of Pawpi’s pups. So we got little Hailey! Isn’t she adorable? The great thing about her is she isn’t too boisterous nor too timid. She’s just right (ala Goldilocks LOL)!

Isn’t she adorable? 8D

OH AND I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO BLOG ABOUT THIS! OMG! After that long disappearance and that stint with cooking (please check out my gastronomic food post!), I’ve decided to try my hand at…

BAKING!

YES! I HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BAKING AND I’VE DONE IT!! Crosses off bucket list

*EVIL CACKLE*

So I’ve done Butterbeers and such, BUT WHAT ABOUT…. BUTTERBEER CUPCAKES? My love for Harry Potter is still alive and will always be alive, so I decided to celebrate Halloween by baking my very first batch with the help of Chair! The first 6 didn’t come out that nice but the rest were like natural cupcakes! I lacked moisture and softness but they were edible and looked like cupcakes! I then tried Carrot Cupcakes on my own and I can say that my cream cheese icing was AWESOME! hahaha And they turned out better too. So here’s to MORE BAKING STUFFS!

Creamy Buttebeer cupcakes!

Adding ze ganache

I suck at icing decors. Well I think coz I have the wrong icing tip.

FINALLY CARROT CUPCAKES!

Next on the agenda is baking a REAL CAKE! I have to study a few youtube videos still though. Baking cakes are definitely WAAY harder now. I’ll start with chocolate cakes. Nothing too fancy yet. Hope that I’ll be able to do it!

WELLL TOODLES NOW

Questions:
1. Which planner did you like best? Do you have a planner or planning to have one?
2. DOGGIES?
3. Do you cook? Bake? What’s the last thing you cooked/bake/what’s your fave food? LOL

I haven’t written anything personal for a while… okay maybe I have but I haven’t really blogged because I wanted to just write for the heck of it. I’ve always been writing as if I were in a mission or something lately like that NU Skin Scam (part 2 is coming right up!) and Ensemble E-Travel/Metrodeal Scam but now I just wanna share what’s been going on lately (which isn’t much… i think I’m becoming as useful as a fly… which isn’t really useful more of a pest… *talks more to self* ) through photos! Narration is just too long and I know that everyone’s busier than a bee these days! Also tune in for a GREAT REBRANDING/MAKEOVER of my site!

I’ve also got a new tutorial for Mac users concerning how to use and add subtitles. I’ve done a bit of research and have found a way to play subtitles with MKV files. So if you got a problem with it, check this out.

Ever since becoming a Pottermore beta tester, I’ve been actively participating with Order of the Lions, a Gryffindor order where we share tips and tricks of Pottermore and share other Gryffindor creations. I’m really happy because I found such good friends and we were even able to put up an Unofficialy Daily Prophet. Please check out Issue#3: Halloween Issue and read on what’s happening in the Wizarding World My favorite part is you can read up on your Astrology news and Trelawney will predict all sorts of things for you. Read all about it here!

So I’ll stop and leave you guys with some things… HOPE YOU GUYS HAD A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Do tell me how did yours went

I’ve always hated cooking because one, HOT environment and I always thought that it’s such a waste to prepare something and have it disappear at once. It turns out this selfish notion disappeared because I now feel so worthwhile when somebody says, IT TASTES FANTASTIC!, after having someone eat your cooked meal. Brother and I made Roasted Iberian Chicken, Garbanzos, Yogurt sauce and I think we did well! My brother is a great cook really.

Got meself a panda iPhone 4 case. <3

Addiction to Angry Birds made my brother and me want to perfect each rounds

I’ve always hated cooking because one, HOT environment and I always thought that it’s such a waste to prepare something and have it disappear at once. It turns out this selfish notion disappeared because I now feel so worthwhile when somebody says, IT TASTES FANTASTIC!, after having someone eat your cooked meal. Brother and I made Roasted Iberian Chicken, Garbanzos, Yogurt sauce and I think we did well! My brother is a great cook really.

New iPhone 4 wallpaper

Needed a haircut. Nothing new really

New Leopard print headband. Haven’t bought a headband in years!

AND NOW ANOTHER DREAM COME TRUE! Whenever I read JK Rowling’s description of butterbeer. I can’t help but IMAGINE tasting it and LOVING IT. And when Halloween came and brother didn’t allow me to cook a Halloween dinner, I then decided to make drinks, Butterbeer Latte (milk version) and Cream Soda version with my friend and BOY did I love making it! For recipes, comment here and I shall show you Next time I’ll be baking cupcakes, another thing to cross off my bucket list. Oh I do love latte version better, especially after leaving it in the fridge for a while. I wish I could have trick or treated though NEXT YEAR I SHALL PREPARE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Sorry if this post came out so late! I actually have a new issue in the works but I’ll go ahead and post this first. It’s most likely that you’re here because you’ve been waiting for the second installment of my experience with the most stressful travel agency I’ve encountered (please read this first if you haven’t). Well surprisingly… they were able to book everything except again, I have some complaints.

Photo credits to Mich and Chair! THANKSS!!

Us!

Airphil’s Airbus

Puerto Prinsesa Airport. It’s a really small terminal

It wasn’t written in the deal but the airline that they got us was Airphil Express and it was my first time to ride with them. I was really nervous because the only domestic flights I trusted were Philippine Airlines (even if they’re always late, they are established) and Cebu Pacific so I was really apprehensive. And to think I watched this feature on National Geographic about this air-crash investigation before boarding haha! Good thing though nothing bad happened except for a few delays of a few minutes. I was asleep for most of the 1 hour and 10 minute-ride there so didn’t experience any strong turbulence unlike the one I experienced with Cebu Pacific going to Shanghai. Man THAT WAS THE WORST FLIGHT EXPERIENCE -__-. This flight didn’t me migraines at all and I commend them for that. So don’t be afraid of Airphil express Their terminal by the way is located at NAIA terminal 3. If your flight is at 7:30am, don’t be deceived that there will be a “short” line. There’ll actually be a long line when you arrive at around 5:30am but this is manageable as the long line is actually for Cebu Pacific flights. GOOD LUCK TO THEM! By 6:15am we were actually waiting at the gate and had enough time to kill. Oh and for those who booked with Ensemble, you only need the photocopy of the credit card of Joey Regis or whoever PAID Airphil thing. You don’t need their valid IDs but don’t forget to bring your valid ID too and the travel docket!

This photo of Kookaburra Travel Lodge is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of Kookaburra Travel Lodge is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of Kookaburra Travel Lodge is courtesy of TripAdvisor

We stayed in Kookaburra Lodge finally after demanding Ensemble that this hotel was the one written on the deal so I really wanted to transfer here. It was a good decision even if the location was 10 minutes away from the main city because the people there were really so friendly and SERVICE-ORIENTED (unlike some people *COUGH COUGH*). I was texting one of the staff before we arrived because I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to attend the Underground River Tour that we booked with them (instead of Ensemble, GOOD THINKING. it’s 1,500 pesos though but I think you can get a cheaper deal if you book early) because our flight was scheduled to arrive in Puerto Prinsesa at 8:40am and the tour was at 9am. Of course I feared for the worse like our flight getting delayed and true enough it was delayed for 10 minutes. Surprise surprise when we arrived, Kookaburra arranged to have a separate van to transfer our things to the hotel and the Underground Tour van was already there waiting for us. Good thing we were able to dress properly and we immediately got on! Our tour guide Tita Nids was so nice and was very motherly to us. We were with other tourists from another hotel and Kookaburra. Oh a tip, book your tours in advance with the hotel because they need to secure permits for the Underground River tour.

I kinda forgot how many hours exactly it took from Puerto Prinsesa City to Sabang where the Underground River was (it was 8 kilometers long under a mountain! we were able to travel only 1.2km though as the rest of the river can only be traveled when you’re a researcher). I think it was around 2-3 hours of a joyous ride because of the remnants of the “Abortion Road” (when the road to Sabang wasn’t developed and when pregnant women can’t travel there XD). Because there were foreign tourists, conversation was very lively and interesting as we got to know that they were traveling around the world and Tita Nids was also sharing her stories and explaining the different cities in Palawan. My friends and I bought sun hats too which were perfect for the occasion as it was really so hot and sunny that day! We then had lunch at this coastal restaurants where Badjaos (people native there) were selling their handmade accessories. They were really cheap too but DON’T FORGET to bargain! haha! And be careful because usually a swarm of sellers will surround you O_O You have to be assertive when you don’t want to buy at all. I was able to buy some though WARNING TO FOREIGNERS, please make sure that they are selling you the right price.

Food that comes with the package

Boat ride to the Underground River

Entrance to Underground River.

Tips: PLEASE WEAR JACKET OR PUT PLASTIC AROUND YER BAGS Droplets of water and maybe some guano (aka batpoo) will fall on top of you. Helmets are provided so don’t worry about your crown. Also spray INSECT-REPELLENT coz there are little insects buzzing around. If you’re lucky, you might get a glimpse of a swimming monitor lizard, LOVED IT! We were able to see one at the entrance of the cave. Also if you want to hold the spotlight (it’s POSITIVELY DARK INSIDE THE UNDERGROUND RIVER), sit up front but again, you will attract lotsa little critters. The bats I found out are SUPER CUTE! They’re not vicious at all but tiny little darlings Also get RENE as your boat guide. One of the corniest/funniest man I’ve ever heard/met. Seriously he’s really funny.

Overall, the Underground River was a lovely 40 minute experience. Those afraid of the dark though, this experience would be quite scary…

Us by the beach

TIME TO PARTEY HAVE DINNER! One of the best Filipino restaurants I’ve been to!

So here’s evidence of our pigging out. OH and we ate WOODWORMS. WORMS.

Fish Chips

Rice

Gising Gising (my fave! veggies, shrimp, etc!)

Buttered Prawns OMG YUM

Beef steak (Filipino style!)

Crispy Pata (Pig’s thigh feet) OMG SO HEAVENLY BUT OH SO CHOLESTEROL-Y

THE CARNAGE! Our moms taught us well to not leave anything behind

Oh yeah, did I mention THE WORMS??

Day 2 begins! Now I was really worried about our tour that came with Ensemble, the Honday Bay Island Hopping tour. I was reassured a bit when Joey Regis, their ACCLAIMED CEO (I was wondering though, WHY THE HELL IS THE CEO THE ONE UPDATING OUR TOURS? WTF?), suddenly called me and reminded me of our tour at 9am. It said though in their travel docket that we were supposed to be picked up at 730am. I wondered what the hell happened but I told him okay. I also asked for the contact number of our guide and got it anyway. I asked Kookaburra’s staff about our tour and they honestly can’t give me any answers coz Ensemble really is the only one who knows about it. SO PLEASE, WHOEVER GOT ENSEMBLE’S DEALS, PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK WITH THEM ALL THE TIME COZ YOUR HOTEL WON’T KNOW EITHER. And I actually asked Tita Nids about Ensemble and they have been hearing horrible things too especially this story about Ensemble ruining a couple’s honeymoon because they booked them at wrong times and they could only go on the City tour which they had to book themselves. Really frustrated couple. SHEESH. Ensemble MUST LEARN.

So we got up and had breakfast at 8am and surprisingly, the guide arrived before 9am and we were able to go with a couple of people who also booked with Ensemble (again we shared our own experiences with them, ALL NEGATIVE). It was cool that we met Mich’s long lost relative there and also met a very nice couple. They got Cebu Pacific’s flight though. It turns out that Ensemble ONLY provided a tour handler, NOT EXACTLY a tour guide so he wasn’t like Tita Nids who talked about Palawan. So I absolutely didn’t learn anything about the islands. We didn’t have a snorkeling instructor or guide too (I saw that other groups had someone go snorkeling with them) which was a pity coz they could have taught us the proper way to snorkel. I knew how to swim but I didn’t exactly know how to dive. I did see the pretty fishes and got to feed them! Oh by the way, we rented out beach shoes and snorkeling gear and had some free fish food There’s a stop on the way to the port. We were able to hop to Snake Island (my fave coz of the LOADS of fishes) and Pandan Island (LOTS OF ALGEA! Some starfishes and fishes but not as many, you could ride on banana boats, jetski and other activities though) only because our guide said that they were doing some renovations or what on Starfish Island. SO THEY SAY. So Ensemble again FAILS in this department because our tour wasn’t really equipped with a guide. WTF really. To those who have arranged Honday Bay Island hopping with other travel agencies, did you have a “real” guide? So I’ll let the pics do the talking

On da boat!!

DELICIOUS LUNCH THOUGH!! Our tour handler was a great cook! Now that’s a good thing

Snake Island!

Next stop was DINNER AGAIN! haha boy we loved our dinners! Oh by the way, Kookaburra can arrange tricycle rides to the main city BUT it’s really MORE EXPENSIVE! 20 pesos per person though the tricycle was indeed better than Manila’s trikes, i still think 20php is STEEP. So when going back from your location, you can either get another trike offering a cheaper price or contact Kookaburra again to pick you up So we had ours in Kalui’s! They were fullybooked by that time and it’s a good thing we reserved a place. I LOVED the ambiance of the place and we had to go barefoot inside the restaurant. The sounds and lighting were perfect. Except I actually loved the food at Kinabuch’s better though. Kalui’s seemed lacking something… hahah!

Front of Kalui’s. Yeah Lui owns this restaurant

No slippers or shoes please

We kinda pigged out again except we had more fishes and vegetables Kinda too lazy to put everything. I’ll only put if someone requests the 7 dishes we 4 girls ate

Dropped by Puerto Prinsesa’s Bay walk area!

BEAR CAT! SO FLUFFY!

Baker’s Hill!

DELICIOUS HALO HALO!

Basically I LOVED my Palawan trip except for some minor flaws (Ensemble -__-). Our island hopping day could have been better. I sure wish we stayed here for more than 3 days. It just isn’t enough. And now I’m wishing I could go back. But definitely not booking with Ensemble anymore (unless they hire me and I’ll fix their booking system, HA! XD)

So toodles all!