Monday, Monday, Monday

Matcha tea is oh so perfect during
rainy days..

I just love my morning Matcha tea especially during cold and rainy days. It’s been raining for almost a month now here up north and it’s just really flaky not being able to say 'hello’ sunshine for such a long period of time. Let me also share that I went to National Bookstore last week and they still do not have Lang Leav’s ‘Universe of Us’ book, yeah what a bummer right? Anyways, what to do but wait.

isn't he adorable?

Moving on, I recently learned that Nicholas Hoult is here in the country for the AsiaPOP Comic Con (APCC) and I was like wuut? I love Nicholas Hoult (yes I’m a fan) and practically almost watched all of his movies (which you’ll see if you scour my blog entries) and wrote quite a few reviews of his movies including my all time fave ‘Warm Bodies.’ He’s matured a lot because he’s quite scrawny and young when I first saw him in Warm Bodies. I just suit myself looking at photos of him on Instagram for the Comic Con lol. And yes, he doesn’t like ‘balut’ ("Fertilized Duck Egg”) as well like myself. Don’t get me wrong, I eat a lot of Filipino street food (fish ball, kikiam, Squid ball etc.) but ‘balut’ isn’t something I would devour because I find it weird to see an egg embryo, what more eat it?

My Sabbath

something for a cat person
like me! :)

Being away from work even just for a couple of days is so divine for me. Today, I chose to eat out and rummage the vintage stalls for great finds and eventually got myself a cute pair of slip on shoes and a jacket. I also tagged my sissy along this morning to this new cafe in town that serves vietnamese noodles and coffee because we were both curious with their Pho Bo (beef noodles) since we didn’t get the chance to try it during our trip in Hanoi, Vietnam last April. We only got the chance to taste Vietnam’s Pho Ga (chicken noodles), Vietnamese coffee, Banh Mi and egg coffee during our stay there and felt our trip wasn’t totally complete. Because it’s payday I decided to treat my sister to The Coffee Library to try their Pho Bo and Green Tea smoothie. We went there before lunch time so the place isn’t hogged by students (as it’s close to tons of schools) since we both hate crowded places because of the noise and all. 

Pho Bo & Green Tea Smoothie

Apple Pie ala Mode with
Vanilla ice cream

The Coffee Library is located downstairs from Rex Hall Residences. It was cozy  although a little small like other coffee shops. The service was swift and we were handed the menu the moment we settled to our seats. I love the food presentation by the way because a vietnamese noodle is served in such a way you have to mix the condiments yourself (veggies, chilli sauce etc.) because that’s how it is really served in Vietnam. The Green Tea smoothie is also a must try because it wasn’t too sweet, that's how it is anyways with healthy beverages, sugar shouldn’t be too much or it'll turn into a dessert. And, last but not least, the Apple Pie ala Mode topped with vanilla ice cream for dessert which my sister and I both enjoyed, seriously it was really good and also a must try. I never thought we can even put ice cream on pies lol. I’m not into desserts that much but, their apple pie is very delightful to the palate. 

Pho Bo (Php150)

Green Tea Smoothie (Php130)

Apple Pie ala Mode (Php95)

They actually have more affordable items on their menu like their Breakfast meals etc. We just chose the healthy ones because we’re weight conscious people that’s why and that’s how it should be as you get older lol. 

Moving on, I really enjoy looking at my sister’s Bento Lunch project feeds on Instagram for our niece. She told me that our niece enjoys her lunch so much because of those quirky characters she puts inside her Bento box. Well, I couldn’t agree more after I saw them, I mean, a concept for a Bento lunch ain’t easy since you have to be really creative and patient. Hmm..I don’t think making Bento lunch is my thing lol, just baking and cooking I guess. Seriously, it is a pretty tedious thing to do. 

Alright, I’m happy that my new cactus is still alive despite being exclusively indoors for many weeks now. So, what I did, I skipped removing the cactus from its original potting soil (the one that came with it when I bought it) and just shoved it to a vase and so far it hasn’t withered yet. I’m looking to add some snake plants to the house in the future because I learned it’s also an indoor plant. 

And oh, I just picked up my parcel from the local post office today which is another one of those items I bought in eBay. I ordered it second week of July and travelled all the way from Shenzen, China. It's a LAN adapter for my macbook air since it doesn't have any LAN port. I bought one so I could use my ever reliable D-Link router instead of the modem that came with my DSL internet (because my internet connection gets really slow upstairs) and I'm hoping the old router would be much more reliable, hoping...hoping..then crossing my fingers. Yeah the adapter was cheap for $3.00 but I paid $2.42 for customs fee which was almost the cost of the actual item geez. I know right? 

Ok, 'nuff of my so called weekend. 

Rainy Days and Fridays

The week long monsoon rains is driving me crazy. I am not a fan of rainy days nor summer because I just long for something in between and too much of something is always bad enough. Heavy rains makes flood whilst prolonged heat makes drought. Anyways, moving on, I just suit myself shopping online to alleviate the melancholy brought about by the rain, it’s just really gloomy these days.

Ok, so I gave Lazada another shot because I found this really cute watch I wasn’t able to find on ebay or other local online shops (plus the seller accepts credit card payments). I was apprehensive as usual and prepared myself for the worst having bought items from Lazada before and they all took ages before I got them. Let me just say that I love quirky and androgynous watches secondary to make up that’s why I’d face all the odds just to get myself one thus led me to shop with Lazada one more time. I ordered my Q&Q watch couple of days ago and learned that the estimated delivery would be between 22nd-26th of this month so I anticipated to receive my item between those dates or even later just to save myself from all the dramas I’ve been through with Lazada before. I downloaded the app to my iPhone so I could track my item’s whereabouts and was surprised it was shipped early yesterday. What’s more surprising was I just got my item today yay! Isn’t that awesome? No, I’m not being sarcastic, because I’m seriously pleased I got my watch ahead of schedule and  I even wore it today for my sissy and I’s lunch date and I effin' love it. I think it’s always best to set the delivery date later than earlier because it makes their customer feel they went an extra mile once they receive their item earlier than expected. If they continue to do business this way then that’s truly effortless shopping.

Yes, I am a happy camper this time.



A Dose of Love

I love poetry and every time I come across prolific poets over the world wide wed I really take time to read their works and follow their social media accounts. I was first blown away by the works of Nayyirah Waheed, author of ‘Salt’ because of her profound writings. Her poems are mostly about love and her command of words are very simple yet powerful and striking, there’s just this inexplicable sensitivity to them. Her poems will find its way to your heart. 

my personal favorite from Lang Leav's
The Universe of Us book. 

Then, just recently, I discovered Lang Leav, another prolific poet behind the books ‘Love,’ ‘Memories,' ‘Lullabyes’ and her latest work which I’m so raving to have ‘The Universe of Us.’ I swear I’ll grab my copy as soon as it hits the local book store because I was stoked after I saw some of its pages from her Instagram feeds. I really love her poems about love, they’re so heartfelt, so sensitive. I was blown away by Lang Leav’s poems, smitten If I may. You know a great poet when you found one because I also dreamt of becoming a great poet at one point in my life and reading Lang’s poems inspired me to let my heart do the talking and my hands do the writing. 

Conundrum

Today's another gloomy Sunday morning because of the downpour since last night. It could've been a perfect bed weather day hadn't I shoved my jeans to the washer yesterday and thought it'd be a sunny day today, yeah right. I should pay more attention to the weather report from now on.

Anyways, moving on, my sister and I rushed our niece to the hospital due to Dengue. She's been feverish since Friday which we thought was just a simple case of toothache. She gets feverish every time a tooth is about to fall off so we just gave her some paracetamol and thought about taking her to the Dentist on Monday (the Dentist won't be available until then) until she started vomiting yesterday.

I suggested to get her blood tested since frequent vomiting often calls for urgent medical attention plus I heard there's a Dengue outbreak where I live so I immediately suspected that may be the case and I was right. She was prescribed some meds and Oresol since she's already dehydrated. The challenge was, she refused to eat anything nor drink Oresol so we badly needed to rush her to the hospital before she gets worse or have nose bleeds. We could've rushed her to the hospital to seek immediate medical attention hadn't the alternate Pediatrician advised she takes Oresol first since we weren't able to get a hold of her attending pedia until this morning. My niece was admitted to the hospital this morning and her attending Pediatrician told us that she should've been admitted yesterday because she's already vomiting. We were also informed that Dengue has three phase and my niece has already entered the critical phase. I was like wtf? We were worried sick last night she might start bleeding and stuff that's why we decided to rush her to the hospital this morning to prevent furthermore catastrophe. I'm just amazed with how some medical practitioners nowadays are able to take matters like these so lightly while it can be so life threatening.

So far my niece is alright, currently hydrated because of the IV fluids and is able to consume food in very small portions. I just wish that the local government take some initiatives to combat the outbreak and not wait for the problem to be full blown before it is addressed unless we're waiting for mortality rate to spur up.

Cactus Galore

I decided to purchase more succulents last week to make use of my ever growing collection of tin cans despite the odds figuring out where to hang them after I made couple of more diy plant hangers. The first thing I had in mind though was for the succulents to experience sunshine everyday without the need to take them outside to bask under the sun. So, here they are now adorning my veranda cupped in tin cans. I hope the tin cans won’t get corroded with rust over time though because it’s been raining a lot lately, water and metal equals rust. I honestly wasn’t into plants before until flower shops started selling these miniature cactus so I thought why not? Cactus plants are very easy to manage because they can survive indoors plus you don’t have to water them very often, they even come in different shapes and sizes. What’s not to love about them right?

Hello August!

photo courtesy of m00nchildr0cks

It’s an overcast Monday morning and I can’t help but feel gloomy and all because of the non-stop rain since yesterday due to typhoon Carina and it’s friggin’ cold outside. I’ve been yearning to have a dose of some Matcha tea but it ran out of stock where I’m based so I just have to suit myself with regular green tea and a driblet of lemon, that should save the day. 

My sister’s been busy lately making this Korean dish called “Gimbap” and I so love it. I love the taste of seaweed wrap (she bought from this local Korean shop) for some reason plus the yellow radish. It’s just really delectable I guess it’s because I rarely eat Gimbap lol. I would like to make one myself when I get the chance and time of course. I’ve been caught up with work lately that I don’t have anymore time to bake or cook oh my, I can’t even snuggle with my cat eh? Anyways, I bought my cat this baby powder scent litter sand and yes they seriously make scented litter sand these days.