Food Porn!

I've just had a lovely sem break and I'd just like to share some of the places I've discovered up north.

• Olives Restaurant
• Matutina's Seafood Restaurant
• Sea and Sky Restaurant
• Kubong Sawali
• Cafe Isabela

Olives Restaurant is part of the Thunderbirds Resort in Poro Point, La Union. It is really pretty over there! While the hotel is really expensive, you can always content yourself with merienda in their inhouse restaurant and taking pictures while waiting for your meal (like I did). I was able to take a picture of two of the cakes we ordered below. Each cake came with iced tea (I think it costed around P200 on a promo thing).

Blueberry Cheesecake (Olives Restaurant)

Tiramisu Cake (Olives Restaurant)

 The cakes were  yummy and nicely decorated, but the iced tea was the one to seal the deal (my picture is too ugly to be posted so I won't). According to our server, it was a mix of powdered and brewed tea, orange juice, cinnamon and vanilla. The pizza we ordered was also delicious, and was pounced on before I was able to take my camera out, but it was nothing to really write about.

The servers were really attentive and it was a nice hot day, so we sat indoors. The only snag to the entire meal for me was that there were no desert forks for the dessert; dinner forks are fine for me normally but given the location and the fact that their forks were on the heavy side, I'd have appreciated one nonetheless.

On the less expensive end of the spectrum, Matutina's Seafood Restaurant serves good food at great prices. While I was able to take a picture of their sizzling chicken, it's their Crispy Pata that was the real treat (picture unavailable due to hungry people). It was easily big enough for 4 people and costed less than P400, I think. You get a lot more pata then you'd ever get back in Manila. Also, while we didn't order their sinigang, we had some free soup and it was excellent (they also won some sort of best sinigang award). If only we weren't full, we would have ordered some. Matutina has several branches, but we ate at the Tarlac branch. The only con of the meal, the looooonnggg waiting time due to the large number of customers.

Sizzling Chicken (Matutina's)

If however, you want somewhere more intimate, try the Sea and Sky Restaurant in La Union. It's also a hotel restaurant, but not a fancy one! Rooms in the hotel are cheap for those who are budget conscious. But then I'd go to a resort if I went all the way here. The Crispy Pata costed around P200, good for two people and is delicious on the right side of crispy. Like Olives Restaurant, you're actually paying for a great view; while Olives is all landscaped beauty, you can actually hear the waves lapping at you from your table from Sea and Sky.

Crispy Pata (Sea and Sky Restaurant)

 Also in La Union, with a few more branches elsewhere including Baguio is Kubong Sawali. It has excellent sea food, especially with this Tahong Soup Thing (IDK it's real name). The two were bought as a platter for aroung P600 and feeds 4-5 people. Except for the soup, which should feed 2 hungry sillysloths. For smaller parties, you can get 2 starters for P185 which could feed 2-3 people.

Seafood Platter Thing (Kubong Sawali)

Tahong Soup Thing (Kubong Sawali)

Finally, Cafe Isabela in the Bencab Museum is another must see. Mostly for the museum itself! The cafe has a nice view of the surrounding grounds and mountains in Baguio, and rewarding yourself by chilling with a treat after touring the place. The pancake costed P160 with the ice cream at P150. The food is decent, but their vegetables are what make this place appealing (not pictured but eaten - if food comes while I'm eating, it's probably not going to get pictured). My only regret is  that I couldn't try any of their drinks.

Cinnamon Pancake with Banana (Cafe Isabela)

Volcano Ice Cream with Strawberries (Cafe Isabela)

One of the best things about the provinces: good food at good prices.

How was your break?

Review: Sunsilk Pink

I’ve always found myself conflicted about brand re-imaging, repackaging and reformulating. In fact, I feel the same way about any type of change in general. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve lost an old friend, as I felt with the Skintel change. However, I was delighted by the not-so-recent renewal by Sunsilk as it seemed to spur on innovation in other hair brands.

Sunsilk pink or Sunsilk Co-creations Smooth & Managable under Yuko Yamashita -because she is supposed to be a straight & smooth hair expert- is supposed to keep your hair more manageable with it’s Keratin Yogurt Nutri-Complex®.

Sunsilk Co-creations Smooth & Manageable Conditioner (left) and Sunsilk Co-creations Smooth & Manageable Shampoo (right)

I have forgotten how much this costed but it was less than P200 (around $5) for the lot.

Ingredients

Shampoo:

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Dimethiconol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Perfume, Sodium Chloride, Carbomer, Glycol Distearate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, DMDM Hydrantoin, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Lysine HCI, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Yogurt Powder, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, TEA-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Magnesium Nitrate, Magnesium Chloride, Aminomethyl Propanol, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, CI 17200

Conditioner:

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Behentrimonium Chloride, Perfume, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Amodimethicone, Methylparaben, Lactic Acid, Disodium EDTA, PEG-7 Propylheptyl Ether, Cetrimonium Chloride, Lysine HCI, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Yoghurt Powder, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiozolinone, Dipropylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Magnesium Nitrate, Magnesium Chloride, Aminomethyl Propanol, Citric Acid, , Potassium Sorbate, CI 17200

 This info came from the 90ml shampoo bottle and 180 ml conditioner bottle I finished.

Sunsilk Co-creations Smooth & Manageable Conditioner (left) and Sunsilk Co-creations Smooth & Manageable Shampoo (right)

All the Beauty Boxes

OMG! Beauty boxes are finally in the Philippines. For those who are confused, beauty boxes are monthly subscriptions wherein for a certain set fee, subscribers receive a monthly box full of goodies. These goodies may be trial sized or full sized, and you never know what you'll be getting. 

Here's a list of all the subscriptions i know about. Don't know which one to subscribe to :(

• bdjbox.com - 480 for 1 month (until April 30), 580 starting May. Better deals for longer subscriptions, brands known.
• glamourbox.ph - 595 for 1 month. Brands unknown.
• saladbox.com.ph - 500. Brands known.
• Pretty Fix Collections -599. Found via FB. Newcomer.

I'm leaning to the bdjbox because I know which brands are coming, but since it's shipping next week, I don't know if I'll make it in time.

On the other hand, if you are interested in trying out new products and want to go a step further: try sampleroom.ph. Unlike Beauty Boxes that are simple pay and receive transactions, sample room works like this:

 Receive 100 points > Get product(s) > Review > Get points > Get product(s)

Latest Edit: April 15, 2014 (prices unedited)

Coke

Okay. I haven’t posted in 4 months! Studying is really taking a lot out of me. But I will try to make at least 1 post/month. Because I should have some kind of outlet, right?

Coke: the softdrink, not the drug. I’ve recently gone on a grocery run and bought myself a 2 Liter bottle for less than 50 pesos (that’s a bit over $1, maybe $1.25). I was gonna get myself 2 cans, but a can costs P19 (around $.50) in the grocery (much better than the P25 when I buy it outside). I decided that I might as well buy the 2L version since I’d be drinking it all week to alternate it with coffee. I know it’s unhealthy, but when I have to study, my body does take a hit when I’m on a budget.

 Actually, my wallet takes a hit too.

For me, it’s easy to make this decision during my hell weeks (def. a horrible time wherein I have to stay awake and active for long periods of time in order to complete an infinite number of tasks).

Given life on a student budget, I felt that it would be an acceptable trade-off. However, some people might think that it’s always better to buy something that will save you money in the long run. But what about your health? During 75% of the school year, I would prefer buying the 2 cans compared to the 2L bottle. Why? Because I wouldn’t need to drink 2L. I would have to think twice about opening that can (because I would have to finish that can after opening it) instead of just refilling my glass again and again and again. Cans actually end up staying in the fridge longer than I expect.

Heys

• Think twice about buying that jumbo sized something. Think twice about buying anything at all!
• Share with friends. A sneaky way not to drink everything yourself.
• Dilute with ice to drink less. You'd be surpised at how much space ice actually takes up.

Just a few things I found at the back of my bottle:

Coca-cola 2L

Serving size: 240ml

Calories per serving: 100

Total carbohydrate: 25g

Ingredients

Carbonated water, sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

Extra nerd stuff?

What I found really annoying was that the coke bottle gave something about needing X glasses of water/liquid per day and drinking coke to hydrate yourself.

First, there is no actual amount prescribed for how much water you should drink per day since there are many factors that affect how much water you actually need. Second,  coke will only make you more thirsty. Read the ingredients! Hint: one reason starts with an s and the other with a c.

Finally, How come making this stuff is so cheap, yet they sell them in restos for even 100% more than their market price.