My Tile Fix

Went to Wilcon earlier today to look at some bathroom fixtures and saw these!!! I've always had a thing for large wooden planks. It's just sad that in order to get them you'd need to chop off a huge tree that's grown for so many years! That's why I was so happy and amazed when I saw these tiles!!! It's like eating ice cream without the guilt!

Not too expensive too, compared to real wood!

Ippudo in Hongkong

Ippudo at Times Square Hong Kong.

Wanted to try out something new and heard this was one of the best places for Ramen. The line was crazy when we got there! Our number was...

And they were serving...

Goodness, there were 23 tables ahead of us! Since we were already there, we just waited for our table.. After about 30 minutes we had our food. I was too hungry to even take pictures of the food so sadly, I don't have any pictures of our dinner. 

My verdict: So-so! I am a big fan of noodles but not ramen. I'm probably not the best person to ask about it too. But but but, I think if brought to Manila, this could work and have a loyal following :) I should try it again when someone does bring this to the Philippines! Maybe they can change my mind :)

Starbucks Chinese Style!

Took time the other day to visit the newest mall to open in Manila - as in downtown Manila. Lucky Chinatown Mall is right beside 168 mall! As of now only about 10% of stores are open but a lot of brands are going to be there. From National Bookstore, who by the way has one of the most Chinese interiors, to Starbucks and 158 Designer's Boulevard.

Stayed at Starbucks for a meeting and was impressed with their interior. From the outside, it looks like a regular Starbucks but once inside you'll see all the effort they took to add Chinese details to the branch.

Drive thru meds at Ortigas

Over the past few months I've become a true "suki" of Mercury Drug. Not a week has gone by without me buying something from the there.

Imagine my joy when I found out that the newly opened Mercury Drug along Ortigas Ave. just outside the Greenhills North gate had a drive thru window!!! Buying meds are such a hassle coz they don't usually have a lot of parking spaces! But this one is located in the old Burger King structure so they just used the existing driveway and voila! Convenience for lazy people like me! Plus, this branch is open 24 hours. Yes, not all branches are open 24 hours and we had to learn that the hard way one time when I needed to buy something at 12 midnight. So congratulations to the smart people over at mercury. Another stroke of genius by the modern day Filipino. :)

Mcdonald's German style

Every time we go abroad, we always get to visit McDonald's at least once (or more). Fast, comfort food. That's what it is! So on a recent trip to Berlin, we found ourselves having a quick lunch there. Only, the experience was different!

First of all, they had Ipads lined up on their counter!

This would definitely never happen in the Philippines. For sure, it would only take an hour or two for one of these to get stolen. All of it within 2 days I bet! Although it would be nice to have accessible Ipads for us to use in every McDonald's location!

Next, they had really, really nice planks of wood as part of their interior design! Now I'm no expert in wood but these look so thick and nice compared to the wood laminates used by the local McDo franchises who are probably cost cutting.

Last but not the least, I couldn't help but notice their washrooms! You know you're in a first world country when you see them using Grohe and Villeroy for their bathroom fixtures!

And the food! I had their McWrap! Haven't tried this in other countries so I think it's their local twist on the regular menu.. It was sooooo good! Would have gone back for seconds if we had the time. Maybe on my next trip!

Good food, good times!

Things that keep me up at night

I've been through so many apps the past few months. I call them my flavors of the month.
First it was Snoopy Street Fair. Lifespan on my phone - 1 month.

I got bored coz after a while I was able to get the cute stuff and the upgrades so I moved on to..
The Sweet Shop!

Sweet Shop's cute! You have to get all these ingredients and combine them to make cute colored candies that your customers buy. Again, it was a waiting game. I only had this one for about 2 weeks then I realized it was taking up too much of my time (not like Snoopy didn't). Well maybe more like I just got tired of waiting.

Then I found this one on the Ipad. Mystery Manor. I'm a sucker for games where you need to look for stuff so I really enjoyed this. Downside was you have to wait until your player has enough energy before you can go into the rooms to play the game. Or you could just buy energy and diamonds to get stuff on the game. I'm too stingy for that so I wait til the energy bar becomes full. Definitely not paying good money to play. Hehe.

Now I'm hooked on Temple Run. And so are a lot of people I think.

I'm no good at it, but it doesn't stop me from trying. This screenshot is my inspiration. But I doubt they did it without cheating. :)

So there. Boredom. What a wonderful thing.

Orajel to the rescue!!! .... NOT.

This is what I needed a couple of days ago when babyM kept waking up at night coz she was bothered by her teeth!

Unfortunately, it's not available here, and if I ordered from Amazon, it would take oh-so-many days for to arrive. Her teeth might already be out and I'd have giant eyebags after many sleepless nights -- the horror! So we had to settle for this!

Yes, the picture of the baby on the box is a little umm.. what's the word? ... Hmm it's lent. I'll save my comments to myself. So you be the judge. But just me, I would've picked nicer colors and design for the packaging. Xylogel is brought to you by the same people who make the Salinase brand. It comes in bubblegum flavor -- not like babyM will know what that tastes like -- and has Xylitol. Don't ask me what Xylitol is, I have no idea. I just saw it on the box and seemed like an interesting thing to add here. [Ok, so I had to wiki it coz I couldn't stand not knowing - it's a naturally occurring sugar substitute. There. Now we know.]

Anyway, it got the job done so I'm pretty happy with it. Good to know local pharmas know what they're doing :) Will still be buying Orajel Baby though, since according to other moms it's the big, bad ass teeth that come out later are more painful. I heard some pediatricians are selling Orajel. Hopefully it won't be too expensive!