my week of cuteness

My whole week last week was a mishmash of the cutest, most adorable things that made my heart go pitter-patter!

Day 1:

My niece was in the hospital for dehydration. :( But when we visited her, she was quite smiley, playing games on her iPad. I myself couldn't help but smile at the wallpaper in her room! Isn't this wallpaper the cutest?

Glad you're all well now Denise! :)

Day 2:

I was delighted to discover that Saizen Galleria now has a whole shelf of Sanrio stuff! Yes, Sanrio knick-knacks for PhP88!

I was sooooo tempted to buy the Little Twin Stars bags (that I have absolutely no use for). Awww... Kiki and Lala... Memories of my childhood...

Day 3:

Such cute colors all in one bangle! Reminds me of these yummy colors.

PhP280 at the Greenhills tiangge.

Day 4:

Ate with my friends L & T at this cute little restaurant, Stacy's, in Capitol Greenstreet in Capitol Hills.

The interiors were sooooo adorable!

Notice the pink rotary phone & fridge, the chalkboard panels & matroyshka print? Oh, happiness!

They actually had me at hello because that pink polka-dotted mug with popcorn, strawberry pretzels & marshmallows is what they greet patrons with. I was late for our lunch date and L & T resisted eating the sweet table treats just so I could see the pretty mug when I arrived. Such sweet friends, right? :)

I was also delighted to see my heart-shaped rice. :) Too bad I forgot to take photos of the striped paper straws that the drinks came with and the butter ball candies that came with the receipt. They really paid attention to the littlest details... like these ones...

The servers actually wore Cath Kidston aprons like those. And that picket-fence area is actually a play area for kids - with a mini garden set and toy bread in a gingham-lined basket. Is it obvious I was smitten?

Day 5:

I was still gushing over Stacy's so I decided to write a post about it. But I couldn't remember the new name of the Capitol Hills complex where the resto belonged. So I googled it and stumbled upon Our Awesome Planet's review of Stacy's. He called the interiors "Heima-inspired" so naturally, I clicked on the link and found the website of the cutest store! Heima sells the most adorable things too (washi tapes included)!

I want the chalkboards in all colors (they also have it in a mustard-looking orange and a navy-looking blue gray)! And I loooove the subtle tiffany blue button-tufting & seat-piping peeking out from the gray T-shaped chair!

Day 6:

I trooped to Rustan's Shangri-la Tower for Dwell Studio's End of Season Sale.

I was never a big fan of pink, but I guess all the cute pinks this week got me so enamored by the pink version of my chocolate Madison Dots bag.

Day 7:

The Bitbit The Rabbit Plush Toys I ordered from Spinkie arrived! I bought them as gifts for 2 adorable babies.

But I secretly wanted to keep the plush toys for myself. Even through their plastic container, they looked so soft & cuddly.

Oh, it was such a delightful week! All these adorable things, as Heima perfectly put it, "made my senses smile & my heart flutter". Happiness!

Photos are my own and from Heima & Spinkie - edited on my iPhone with the free Instapic Frame/Collage app.

Oh, in case you didn't notice, the colored words throughout this post link to more happy, adorable things! Happy clicking! :)

Today, I am loving...

The kids are back in school so my new year officially begins today. Am back to "work" on my errands & projects today. The date & days of the week are again important to note unlike during the Christmas break when it really didn't matter what day it was (it just seemed to be one loooong happy weekend!).

So today, I am loving... these free 2013-calendar printables! Just click on the colored links below...

Love the cheerful colors of the letters of each month, especially against the gray typography of the spelled-out 2013 of The Tomkat Studio.

These polka dot calendars from The Twinery are pretty too!

You can even download them in a mini-calendar size!

Here's a gray & yellow (remember this combo from here?) full-year calendar from L@u's Notebook.

Notice the washi tape holding up the calendar? :)

Here's a whimsical option from The Ink Nest.

If you adore owls, try this one from My Owl Barn. 

You can customize your calendar with artworks of owls from many different artists.

My favorite of all is this candy-themed mini-calendar from Eat Drink Chic. Of all the printable calendars in this post, I chose this set and had it printed at Kameraworld for PhP7.75 per sheet (you just need to convert the pdf file into jpg).

Am not really sure what I will use it for (Perhaps a desk calendar? Eeep! Should I have just printed the other polka dot calendar, the one from The Twinery? But...) I loooove the pretty striped & dotted patterns of this sweet calendar!

Plus, you know how I love candy here & here.

Isn't this the most adorable calendar set?

Today, I am loving... these free 2013-calendar printables all over the web. I am amazed at the generosity of the artists who designed these pretty calendars and made it available to everyone for free! 

Not all, but most of these, I found via deliciouslyorganized.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am loving... series.

halloween hangover

Isabella wasn't with me when I discovered Made In Candy in Powerplant Mall here. So I brought her there last weekend to replenish our stash of literal eye candy and let her watch the candy artisans work their magic.

And they did! They had just started working on a customized design when we arrived. Here's the sketch they had up on their glass wall.

They stuck strips of black & orange candy together to make the jack-o-lantern's mouth. Three triangular black rods formed the eyes & nose.

See the jack-o-lantern starting to form?

Then they added the green strip to form the stalk & a lot of white candy for the background.

They then wrapped it with a mat made out of orange (& dark orange) candy strips.

And voila! The jack-o-lantern in a huge cylinder!

The candy makers then pulled & tugged with all their might on one end of the huge roll until it stretched out into a thin tube.

Which they sliced into the finished product...

Isabella loooooved it! She had track & field practice that day but gave it up to watch the candy being made. She kept gushing, "I want to work here! I really do Mommy!" So much that she even asked one of the owners about the possibility of a summer internship.

Look how happy she was, finally tasting the candy we had watched being made for close to an hour!

Really love that 15-year-old Isabella is still a kid! :)

Now what's with the title of this post? I guess the halloween part is self-explanatory. Hangover, on the other hand, has to do with how delayed this Halloween post is (I mean, it's already November!). And the delightful surprise of this new candy design in our new stash of candy (the first batch I bought didn't have this particular design)... A tiny pink martini!

The best part is it tasted sooooo good! Like pink grapefruit martini or maybe pink lemonade. Certainly the kind of candy I can be drunk on! :)

Photos are my own and from Made In Candy's facebook page.

Whimsical Wednesday!

Two whimsical things about me: (1) I loooove candy. I would love to have a room in the house filled with candy. And (2) I love pretty things.

So I was giddy with delight in this literal eye candy store: newly-opened Made In Candy at Powerplant Mall Rockwell!

Aren't they the prettiest candies?

Similar to how they make jewelry beads out of polymer clay, the candy artisans keep rolling the layers of candy until they're almost as thin as pencils.

You can watch these candy artisans mold the rock candy right in front of your eyes!

It's amazing how the huge logs are turned into such intricate tiny pieces of candy! The elaborate bunch of grapes and even the ornate butterfly were quite impressive! Isabella even squealed with delight when she inspected a little orange slice and noticed they had tiny seeds (and not just 1 seed per section like the first photo in this post, but 2 to 3 per triangle section!)!

They come assorted in a tiny jar (PhP90), a pouch (PhP100) and a jam-sized jar (PhP260).

The best part is that they're not only lovely to look at; they're also lovely to taste! Each pretty design is a different mix of delicious flavors of hard candy.

Love, love, love this literal eye candy!

Have a whimsical pretty-candy-filled Wednesday!

Photos are my own and from Made In Candy Philippines' FB page. Made In Candy can be found at Level 2 Bridgeway, Powerplant Mall - right in front of Bayo and La Senza.

Click here for previous posts from the Whimsical Wednesday series! 

one gustatory night

When our friend A comes home from Jakarta, we take him out for a gustatory night. Here are the highlights of one palate-pleasing evening (thanks to J & K, the best food & drinks itinerary planners).

We started the night off in Mangetsu on Jupiter Street. Their Sea Urchin Tempura (P295) is the best I've ever tasted!

Just a rundown of our orders during our dinner in this Japanese fusion restaurant, owned by Chuvaness' dad: Karaage Fried Chicken with 3 kinds of salt (P380; quite good!), Beef Sukiyaki (P420; I am generally not a sukiyaki fan, but Mangetsu's Sukiyaki is pretty delicious sukiyaki!), Pork Gyoza (5 pieces for P290; tastes like most gyozas but the plating was excellent), and Salt-Water-Boiled Broccoli with spicy cod roe mayo sauce (P295; I liked this a lot because I looove Japanese mayo).

Then we moved to Cova, a tapas & sangria bar on Jupiter as well. I think we tried 3 types of sangrias, but the best one was their Summery Peach White Wine Sangria.

We were stuffed from our authentic Japanese dinner but couldn't resist their Huevos Cabreados because it seemed like someone thought of all his favorite things and put them together in one dish! Shoestring potatoes, fried egg, chorizo bits, aioli. It was delicious bar chow.

Then we capped off the night at The Blind Pig. More than the drinks, I think what's more talk-worthy was the experience. 

The Blind Pig is a cocktail bar with a braille sign and a locked door. You will get buzzed in and upon entering, you will get a whiff of a spa-like smell which made us half-expect some blind masseurs. Instead, we were greeted by a very dimly-lit bar with a friendly staff. While they have a tiny card with their menu in 4-point font, they encourage you to get a personalized drink. They ask you what alcohol you like, if you like it say, sweet or sour. I chose vodka and adventurously asked for a salty drink. 

When my drink arrived, our server called me by my name (how's that for personalized?) and told me they made me a Gorbachev's Cup, a vodka-based cocktail with muddled cucumber, finished with sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper. It was an interesting drink, largely because of the salt & pepper. Refreshing too, because of the cucumber. Next time, I plan to change my brief to "something candy-like". I wonder what they'll come up with?

It was definitely one awesome gustatory night!

Mangetsu

38 Jupiter St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City

somewhere between Makati Ave. & Fiama

(632) 4783292

*Prices quoted above are based on downloadable soft-opening menu on Mangetsu's website.

Cova Tapas Y Sangria

22 Jupiter St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City

(632) 478-9700

The Blind Pig

227 Salcedo St. Makati City

The door is perpendicular to the road so I sure hope you find it!

Photos from frommetoyou, here, subtleyetrobust, here, here and my friend A's.

jellybean art

I looove candy. But it took me a while before Jelly Belly caught my attention. Sure, I love their cotton candy & tutti-frutti flavors and the feast of colors every box brings. But it was only when they came out with their Harry Potter Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was I wowed!

It amazed me because grass really tasted like grass. And earwax and booger really seemed like what they would taste like, if someone ever dared taste the real thing. Vomit and sardines were the most awful for me! I hope I never have to taste them again, but I was impressed! I was thinking that the flavor guys at Jelly Belly are true artists!

And they are! See how they made a Harry Potter artwork out of jellybeans!

Peter and Roger Rocha made more art out of jellybeans.

And recently, director Greg Jardin created Kina Grannis' In Your Arms music video with 288,000 jellybeans.

Watch the incredible video here.

The behind-the-scenes video starts with a wall of translucent containers filled with the truckload of jellybeans donated, of course, by Jelly Belly - segregated by flavor. I just love the idea of so many jellybeans organized by color! It took 22 months to recreate 2,460 frames out of differently colored jelly beans with 1 still camera, 2 ladders and a jellybean animation team of 30 people. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the process. Absolutely amazing!

Who would have thought one could make amazing art out of jellybeans?

Have a wonderful, colorful weekend!

Photos from here, here, here, here and here. First discovered via adverblog and now, Kina Grannis has guested on the ellen show!

Click here for previous posts from the art series.