My favourite things..Part 1

McPingu and I both love to eat. I guess it's apparent from the piccies we took together. Well, for one most of them were food-related. :P Not that i minded at all..

Let's start from our 1st date..

We went to Hajime for Japanese ryori.

Camwhoring while waiting for our food to be served.

Hotate ninniku

We love love the scallops. They were fat and juicy and what's more..it was value for money at RM16 per plate.

We ordered 2 types of hotate (scallops) - hotate ninniku and hotate avocado - as i couldn't decide which one. I wasn't too impressed with the hotate avocado though (maybe it was because it was fried with garlic and i wasn't too keen with the garlicky aftertaste). It was maa maa desu (so so only).

Black spider maki and california cheese maki. Oishi desu ne!

Grilled wagyu beef

We were a tad bit disappointed with the foie gras maki. It was supposed to be a special maki but somehow the taste of the foie gras was overwhelmed by the other condiments. Pingu then told me he'd bring me to this French restaurant in Manila for 'to-die-for' foie gras. :)

Grilled saba. Pingu loves this fishy dish. Must be a penguin thing :P

Kurogama (black sesame) ice cream and pumpkin pudding

The dinner was pure decadent....Pure pure guilty pleasure :P

~*~*~*~*One week later....*~*~*~*~

I went to Manila during the Merdeka weekend. Yups, those of us having long distance relationships make the most of each and every long weekend we can get.

Prior to flying, I baked some cream puffs to bring over as a surprise for Pingu.

This is my very first attempt at baking cream puffs. Was kinda nervous they wouldn't turn out nicely.

Piped a couple of heart-shaped ones too as I was feeling kinda mengada creative :P

My very first batch of cream puffs. Not too bad eh?

*note to self: must brush tips to avoiding burning them.

~*~*~*Manila - Day 1*~*~*~

Bonifacio High Street

We had designer burgers at Brother's for lunch.






Love the juicilicious beef patty.




Pay close attention to the building behind me..





I stumbled upon Nuffnang's PH office :p Can you spot the Nuffnang logo?




It's the weekend, and you can see lots of ppl hanging out at High Street lepakking. Oh, I forgot, they have a term for it, it's widely known as 'Malling'.

At night, this is like the place for dog owners alike to bring their four-legged best friends out for a walk. I love it here.

Hmm..i wonder how I'm gonna be able to bring my 4 shihtzus out to play.. :P

Can anyone tell me what kinda orchids these are? These looked unreal :)

Bonifacio High St is like 5 minutes walk from Pingu's place. I love how convenient his pad is to most of the lovely hang out places. :)

Oh, have i told you that filipino's love to camwhore too? They do it everywhere and anywhere...anytime. When I arrived, I saw 2 pinoys camwhoring in the restroom at the airport upon arrival. Mind you, it was 5am at the time.

Next stop...Greenbelt

I've actually been to Greenbelt before. I was in Manila for a 2-week student exchange programme when I was 16. The programme was sponsored by both Rotary Club PJ and Rotary Club Makati West. Me and 4 other fellow Interactors had a swell time when we were here immersing in the culture and were being pampered like crazy by our gracious host parents.

Anyway, back to Greenbelt. The Greenbelt I went to at the time, was probably Greenbelt 1 and 2. They have now extended up to Greenbelt 5. So this place is huge now.


McPingu with his McGorgeous @ one of the more scenic walkways around Greenbelt.

Thought this was quite a nice picture of two girls prancing around playing to their hearts' content, without a care in the world. Their heads were bopping up and down and their hair were flying everywhere. So cute. :)

What a lovely gal. And she camwhored for me. awwwww.. :)

There's a lovely chapel in Greenbelt. It was time for mass and the chapel was overflowing with people. So, we hung out by the pond outside the chapel and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this lovely pair of ducks. They looked so in lurve, didn't they? (or issit just me?)

Dinner at this 'atas' French restaurant, Je Suis Gourmand

This is the place Pingu was raving about. The place for the to-die-for foie gras. Je Suis Gourmand is known for its delicious French cuisine and generous serving. Personally, i think each serving was big enough for more than 1 person.

I love how this place has an intimate setting and only has few tables inside and some outside (the smoking section). We were seated in a cosy corner that was not cosy enough to not hear what the other patrons were saying. Yeah i know, what an oxymoron. :P

This was taken using my lousy Casio Exilim

And this..using his canggih Canon SLR (fyi, i didn't do any photoshop here..mainly cos i dunno how)




Watch me operate his SLR. Dun play play :p




True to his words, this pan seared foie gras served on a bed of salad with reduced honey balsamic sauce was awesome! We ordered a serving to share and this was only my portion. Generous rite? Mmm..i am drooling again. I so miss this...

I had the cream based tomato shitake mushroom soup whereas Pingu had the white fish soup.

I wished I didn't order the soup though, cos i was stuffed after that. I couldn't eat when my main arrived.

Do penguins eat steak? I know one who does :P

My main. The prawns were perfect - so darn springy and chewy and ooh..let's not even get me started on the scallops. Yumm..

Only thing was, the pesto + buttery sauce made it very 'jelak-fying', i couldnt even finish a quarter of it.

For desserts, we had souffle with dark chocolate & grand marnier sauce.

I know i know, i told you i was stuffed, but i've got a totally different stomach for desserts :p. The souffle was superb i tell ya!

Je Suis Gourmand
G/F, Net One Center, Bonifacio Global City
Taguig City, Metro Manila
(02) 815-8801

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I shall post more later. Am having a tough time as blogger is pretty unstable/wonky at the moment. Just gonna post this and resume later. Till then take care, and stay tuned.

Happy weekend everyone! Muakisses ;)

xoxo
McGorgeous

Random wishlist

I've made a resolution to spend less, save up and clear the credit card bills. Thanks to Carmen for the motivation. :)

Therefore, I'm currently sticking to a shopping budget. Hence, I'm not allowing myself to shop impulsively anymore. *sigh*

I was out the other day and somehow got sucked into trying some star products at Benefit's counter. Oh gosh, unless you have a heart of steel, do not, i repeat, do not go near the counter. There's bound to be something to buy.

This is what I got...Dr. feelgood

In fact, i wanted to get the other 2 items as well. But my conscience got the better of me. Thank goodness or else the guilt trip would've be worse. :P

Gotta be... Gotta be..gotta be..disciplined.

dr. feelgood
Like its name, this VitC packed balm gives the complexion an even coverage with a feel-good finish - hello, the skin dr is here to make house calls! ;p
It mattifies and reduces shine, leaving skin silky to the touch. I love its lightweight texture.

Dr. feelgood can be worn alone, under or on top of makeup. Perfect for mid-day touch-ups. Oooh..what's more this small little balm magically reduces the appearance of fine lines and pores. Someone should have created this much earlier. :)

Okay, that one's done.
These are the 2 items that i've got on my wishlist.



#1 Posietint
What it is? It's a poppy-pink tinted lip & cheek stain.
Why i heart it? The colour looks fantastic on my cheek, giving it such a natural long lasting glow. And there's no touch-up required.
Con: It's a tad more pricey than the Paul & Joe ones I'm using. At RM145, I can almost get 2 blushers from Paul & Joe (approx. RM90 each).

some kind-a gorgeous
This foundation faker is perfect in every way! There's no more hassle to find a shade that matches your skin tone anymore, this wonderful product does it all for you. The translucent shade miraculously blends into your skin tone, giving a natural and even finishing.

I love how the oil-free, lightweight texture makes me feel and look oh-so-gorgeous. :)

If you havent already checked out Benefit, pls do. The stuff are fantastic :)

Standout Party with Nuffnang and Tiger ~ my version

Here's the much delayed blog post..
As usual, i am fashionably late in submitting the entry. :p

This is what i wore to the party. Lots of bloggers i met that night asked where i rented my costume. Hehe..i told them these belong to me as i do perform belly dancing sometimes. I borrowed the orange top from my instructor, Brancy.

Sis dressed up as an angel. Love her wings.

The limited edition bottle designs. Gotta collect them all!
What a fresh facelift for Tiger beer. :)

It was my very 1st nuffnang get-together event.

And we met lotsa interesting bloggers there.

This bunch dressed up as Spartans. Talk about the power of numbers!

Benard the cow was our constant makan and drinking kaki that night. A really cool guy.

Candid back picture

The cash-rich cow (yeah, he collected heaps of nuffie dollars) who loves a good spanking.

The two angels.

Kenny Sia dressed as Susan Boyle. Trust him to come up with something so funny and outta the box.

We were all given Nuffie dollars of about $20 each. To earn more dollars, we had to cheat win them from other bloggers via activities like arm wrestling, one-two-juice, etc.

We could then use the nuffie dollars we've earned to buy slaves from the auction.

With PinkPorkChop the most outstandingly dressed blogger that night. I tell ya, she had a tough time moving around the crowded place.

Nihonjin and Superman.

I was nominated to go on stage to vie for the Standout Queen title. In total, there were 3 gals and 3 guys on stage. Jojo Struys and Liang were the fabulous hosts that nite.

The nominees..

Cleopatra, Joseph Scissorhand, Carrie the belly dancer, Pinkporkchop the Gungho Queen.

MIA - Benard the cow, and Kenny Sia as British's Got Talent's most outstanding performer Susan Boy(le).

All nominees were asked to do something to validate why they deserve the 'Standout' title. Well, since i was dressed as a belly dancer...i did what i do best. :)

Kenny was such a good sport. Molested him Did a couple of body rolls with him while dancing. LOL!

Soon, it was Kenny's turn to perform. He wanted to sing, but the crowd wanted him to flash. And..he did! Talk about having balls man!


The finalists with our fantabulous hosts - Jojo and Liang.

We were all so glad that our turns to perform's over. Thanks to Benard and Joseph for keeping me entertained on stage. Boy, I was so nervous.

While waiting for the results...
We camshored a lil more..

Standout King title goes to Joseph Scissorhand for his funky popping/break dance. He won a Xbox.

Standout Queen goes to Pinkporkchop who did a bridge. She won a pink Coach bag.

The rest of us won the 'Pacifier sucker' award which includes a pacifier (of cos!), mini bolster and RM100 Topshop voucher.

Timothy, co-founder of Nuffnand presenting me the 'Pacifier sucker' award. I ditched the pacifier and only posed with the bolster.

Woohoo...I've been getting Topshop/DNP vouchers almost every month. Life's good. :)

On our way out, we bumped into Ringo/Cheesie. She's really nice and interesting in person.

Another picture moment with Jojo Struys.

Thanks to Nuffnang and Tiger for organising such an Outstanding partaaayyyy!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Many asked me if i've used the voucher.

Indeed i have. Instead of getting something from Topshop this time (i couldn't find anything i like as i've bought the ones i like already), i bought this Coral frill tea dress from Dorothy Perkins.