The Tea Square is one of our favorite stops whenever Ali and I are in Glorietta. 100% Natural Tea Leaves are infused in hot water then mixed with fruit juices of your choice. Our favorites include Sweet Apple, Four Red Berries and Blueberry Breeze. My recent favorite is the Caramel Cream (?) Tea, it’s a rich milk tea. You can have your tea blended or just iced. Their Bread Bites is a must-try too (especially for cheese lovers like me!).

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Is Chinese food unhealthy? Or is it Chinese take-out? What’s the diff anyway? Chinese food is very popular in a lot of countries. But Chinese food has often been criticized too. There is always that issue of Chinese food containing a lot of saturated fats and carbohydrates. Then there’s also the term Chinese Restaurant Syndrome which was coined in the 60s when some Americans who ate at Chinese restaurants experienced a combination of symptoms like drowsiness, tingling, headaches, and slight numbness on the back. It is also called monosodium glutamate symptom complex since MSG is a very common flavor enhancer used in Chinese dishes. So is it really bad for you? (more…)

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I have a sudden craving for some macarons de Paris. Oh I can imagine its chewy exterior with a hint of crunch. And its sweet, sweet flavor! I’m not fond of too much sweet but I seem to really like those raspberry and pistachio flavored macarons. Awww. For a perennial dieter like me, this is definitely a no-no. Wel, maybe I’ll just reward myself one of these days if I’ve been good. Can’t wait.

Here in Manila, you can buy macaron de paris from Bizu Patisserie. They are available in 13 flavors: Raspberry, Rose, Blueberry, Hazelnut, Caramel, Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla, Lemon, Mango, Pistachio, Orange and Mint. Yum!

Photo courtesy of Bizu Patisserie

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I have a lot of Chinese friends (I’m often mistaken to be of Chinese descent myself, sometimes even Japanese) and I used to attend Chinese New Year celebrations during my college days. There were dragon dances, temple visits and magnificent fireworks display. And of course there were a lot of really fine food. The Chinese people really know how to party! :) Last Friday there was an advance Chinese New Year celebration at my place. I wasn’t able to attend because I’m still at work. Here at home (in Lipa), every Chinese New year my mom cooks misua (a thin variety of egg wheat noodles and is often prepared during important festivities) with egg for breakfast. This morning she prepared lasagne too. Yum!

Happy Chinese New Year to everybody. May this year be filled with great blessings, good luck and happiness.

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As a perennial dieter, I’ve tried lots of stuff so I could lose a few pounds. I came across a website a few days ago promoting wu-long (oolong) tea as a slimming tea. I decided to check it out further. In the testimonial section, one user even said she lost 50 pounds by using this product and slight diet modification (she omitted fast food). Wow, 50 pounds? I got more interested (yeah I’m quite gullible when it comes to weight loss thingie), not that I need to lose 50 pounds but if others can lose weight I can do it too. (Quite determined, eh?)

I read and read then when I reached the part of the page selling the product, I stopped. $37 for 60 tea bags? I think it was really expensive. I remember drinking oolong tea in Chinese restaurants and I guess they were serving it as a house tea, free of charge. Well that was a long time ago, most Chinese restaurants now don’t give free tea anymore. But then $37 for some tea? Nah. I’m not that gullible. I thought of researching some more and then maybe find a substitute for the said premium tea.

Here’s what I found out about oolong: (more…)

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Yesterday I suddenly told Ali that we should be snacking on fresh fruits instead of our usual blend of chips and soda and some other junk that we feel like eating. He agreed and gladly accompanied me to a nearby grocery store. We love apples so we got some red ones and some granny smiths too. We also bought green mangoes, bananas and oh was I glad that fresh strawberries were also available!

I told him I’m going to make a strawberry banana milkshake. He was quite excited about it. Then I also told him that I haven’t tried making that even once. Ali just smiled while I fumbled upon the would-be ingredients of my soon to be famous milkshake! *lol* (more…)

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Ali and I usually hangout at a local coffee shop near our place. We were there this evening and Ali ordered his usual iced mocha, I, on the other hand, asked for a caramel shake. But then the barista told me that they don’t have caramel shake, he offered chocolate but I was not in a chocolatey mood so I ended up ordering iced mocha too.

As we were walking home, I’m still kinda craving for caramel. So when I got home, I quickly googled the ingredients of caramel sauce. There are several recipe variations of caramel sauce. I frantically searched my cupboard if I have the items to make my own caramel sauce. (more…)

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For the coffee and chocolate lovers alike, here’s my very own recipe of iced mocha and coffee jelly.

For the coffee jelly you’ll need:
1 pack (90 grams) of unflavored gelatine
1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
3 tablespoons sugar

Cook the gelatine according to package instructions. Over low heat, dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and carefully mix in the coffee mixture. Pour into a rectangular mold and let it set. Chill the jelly while you’re preparing the mocha.
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It’s a lazy, lazy Sunday afternoon. You know what’s nice on an afternoon like this? A cool fruit shake. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 medium sized red apple, sliced
1/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail
3 tbsp. simple syrup*
8 ice cubes

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